Flower power

Updates from the urban garden.


Multicolored box is flower happy

Yellow-themed box (with a nice blue backdrop) 

Pink-themed box has a few bald spots and lots of green 

Hopefully each one of these will become a tasty tomato 

No flowers yet, but plenty of new leaves 

Great things come to those who... insist?

By tomorrow, we should receive an e-mail letting the employees know that I was offered and have accepted the program manager position for one of our applications. I learned the good news this afternoon and this should be official by the end of the week. This promotion also comes with a raise, which wasn't really expected since I don't have much experience.

All things considered, this is the best possible outcome. I stay with my current employer and continue working with really fantastic colleagues. I'll get to learn a new product, new processes, and work against totally new expectations. This will be a great learning experience!

I have two days to wrap up ongoing business, as by Tuesday morning (Monday is a holiday), I'll already start the new position. No time wasted, that's for sure!

Hot, hot, hot!

A quick note while I cool down at home and before heading out again. Fred has been in Vancouver for two full days now and he's lovin' the weather :-) It's been really hot (low 30s), sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Yesterday was a drive up to Whistler, then a ride up the Gondola, and a chair ride up to the peak. Breathtaking views. Today, a long walk around Stanley Park and a ride up another gondola to visit Grouse Mountain. Tonight, maybe an ice-cream on the beach, watching the sunset... And tomorrow, more activities, Granville Island, maybe the art gallery after dinner, the beach in the afternoon? So much to do.

Unfortunately, I won't get to post any pictures until Fred goes back home and burns me a CD. His camera refuses to talk to my Canon software, even with the proper drivers installed. So you won't get to see Melissa with a bit of a tan (kidding, red's not a real tan).

:-)

Work update

I haven't posted much about work lately, it's mostly because nothing had changed. But there were some interesting developments this week that I thought I'd share...

I applied for a program manager position internally after it became vacant. Program management is an interesting combination of responsibilities: project management (tracking progress, enabling communication between teams), design and usability (writing functional specifications for a release based on requirements), training (lunch & learn sessions, short papers on specific features)... This would be an amazing learning opportunity. I was told that I've been shortlisted in the top three, with two other candidates from outside the company. Since I don't know who these other candidates are, I cannot speculate on my chances. I can however say that I've had many supporters internally who told very good things to the hiring manager about my work so far. I should know more within the next few weeks.

I have also heard back from another company about a project coordinator position. From the description, the job sounded like it involved a lot of tracking, scheduling, budgeting, similar to project management I guess. The position is at a very large business software company with offices around the world. It could mean a lot of very interesting opportunities down the line. I received an e-mail from HR asking when would be a good time to call me, I gave them a few times, but haven't heard back. Again, I should know more shortly.

Perspective, take 2

I asked my colleague Stephen today if he thought I sounded depressed. I've been asked twice now in a few days, while talking over the phone, if I was OK. I didn't come through as having as much "pep" as I usually do... Stephen said no, I didn't sound depressed, but he said he could tell that I was itching to get back to my regular exercise routine, and that the long recovery from pneumonia was taking its toll on me.

I think Stephen is right. I don't feel depressed, just slightly impatient with the slow progress. But I've been reminding myself about a few things. This is not chronic, it's not cancer, it's just a long illness. I'm not going through chemo, radiation therapy, or taking medication daily and for the rest of my life. Things will get better, they ARE getting better. For the past few weeks, I had pretty bad pain in my chest when I was breathing and after a little bit of investigation, figured that it was due to either a hairline fracture on my rib (from the coughing) or maybe a sprained muscle around the rib cage. Since Monday, the pain is almost gone. I can feel a little discomfort when I take a deep breath, but nothing like before. It was painful to lie down, or switch position in bed. No longer the case.

Unfortunately, the continued presence of the chest pain prevented me from doing my tests at the respiratory clinic. The first test was to measure lung capacity, and I would have had to breathe deeply (inhale/exhale) several times. The doctor was afraid this would slow my recovery and recommended I reschedule the test when I was fully recovered. Once I do this inhale/exhale test, then I have to schedule the second test, specifically designed to identify whether or not I have asthma (asthma was a hunch from my doctor, not a confirmed diagnostic).

Unbelievable!

Trust my insanely resourceful brother to find two tickets for the Madonna show in Montreal last night. The show that sold out in less than an hour. The show EVERYONE wanted to see (including me). I'm so jealous...

Here's an adorable picture of brother and sister just before the show.


Looking striking for the Material Girl

Polite

I read today that Toronto was the third most polite city in the world (on a sample of 35 cities). I have to say this came as a surprise because generally, in big cities, people are NOT polite.

When you ride the bus on a daily basis, you realize that politeness is not something people worry about. Often, I see people pushing their way ahead of the line to get into a crowded bus, others pretending to sleep and not giving up their seat when someone who obviously needs it steps onto the bus, and many not moving to accomodate the flow of riders coming on and stepping off at stops.

I remember this one time when I asked a guy to pull the cord for the next stop because I couldn't reach it. He was standing right in front of the exit door. When we reached the stop, I figured he would move out of the way, he clearly knew that I was getting off. The bus stopped, and he didn't. I had to wiggle my way to the second exit door, but unfortunately not in time. The bus was already driving away. I looked at the guy in the eyes and said "thanks for that". I don't think he even heard, he had hearphones on. He looked at me like I was annoying him.

Anyone ever heard of bus rage?

I never have problems with men holding the door open for me, but women don't seem to think they should bother. I hold the door for anyone following me and even try to pay attention to people that are a few steps behind and might want to catch the elevator. Must be how I was raised... to actually care, even about perfect strangers.

Too cool for school

Nobody says "too cool for school anymore", but this effect called "Contour" in ArcSoft PhotoStudio (came with my digital camera) is the perfect fit for some pictures taken by my good friend Raf.


Special effects (dancing at Sandbar)

Special effects (dancing at Sandbar, check out the skirt pattern!) 

Special effects (dancing at Sandbar) 

Summer time

I woke up early today (8:30 is early when you go to bed late the night before) with no plans for the day. Maybe a little grocery shopping, maybe a little cooking for the week, if the weather was nice, maybe a visit to the VanDusen Garden.

Then, Gerri called and asked if I was up for a BBQ tonight. I'm always up for a BBQ! And since I'm the one with the full size grill, I offered to host the BBQ (it's a small crowd, Gerri, her boyfriend and myself). Gerri/Joe would bring the steaks, I would provide the veggies, salad, potatoes, and we could enjoy the bottle of wine Sherri brought me yesterday for giving her a deal on the parking space. Cool!

Then, as I'm making myself lunch, Soraiya calls and asks if I feel like going for a walk around Stanley Park. Soraiya works with me and she's also walking 60km for breast cancer in August. We get along so well at work, but never really have a chance to chat (she's busy all the time). Double cool!

The weather was iffy this morning, but the sun came out in the afternoon, with a nice breeze. Perfect conditions to walk around Stanley Park. It felt wonderful to get some fresh air, do a bit of exercise, and to finally have a chance to talk to Soraiya. Our views on the world and life in general are very similar, and she has so many good stories, we didn't stop chatting for the entire two hours. I think we will make more plans for "training" walks for The Weekend :-)

Summer must be right around the corner, people go out more, want to spend more time outside... I love it!

Football, hockey, maybe a little soccer?

Last night, I went to see the season opener of the BC Lions. They were playing the Saskatchewan Roughriders and won 45-28. Three touchdowns in the first quarter!! Great game, go Lions!

I went to the game with a group of friends, Scott, Stephanie, Brian, Andrea, Ginny and Sherri. The game was also a chance to catch up with everyone, get the latest news and gossip. Sherri told us she was starting a new job on Monday, at a surgical center a few blocks away from my place. When I told he I lived in the area, she asked if I had any parking in my building. "Do I ever!" (I have two parking spots, no car.) So, Sherri has offered to rent my parking spot and since I gave her such a good rate, she's also buying me a really nice bottle of red wine as a thank-you gift. I'm really happy because I was recently toying with the idea of renting the spot, but never followed up on that idea. I would rather rent the spot to someone I know. It works out well for everyone.

This afternoon, I'm going somewhere in Kits to watch the hockey game with Stephanie and Sherri. It should be a really good game, as the Oilers are playing in Edmonton and the fans should help boost their energy. We're also using the game as a dinner outing, it starts at 5 p.m. in Vancouver.

Go Oilers go!

Tres cool

My good friend from high-school, Frederic, is done with all his courses, internship, exams and can finally take a bit of time off to visit his old friend in Vancouver. He's never been to Vancouver, we're going to have such a great time visiting around, playing tourists :-) He's arriving on June 24, just in time for a few drinks to celebrate Saint-Jean-Baptiste.

I wonder if I have to call him Dr Fred now...

There are no limits to the silly things you can find on the Web

And this one has a really catchy song.

Perspective

Today's news included a story about the average price of a house in Canada surpassing $300K. Let me put this story in perspective: the average one-bedroom condo in Vancouver already surpasses $300K!

When I bought my condo, just short of three years ago, the price was already more than I was originally willing to pay, $12,000 more to be exact. But I had been told about the crazy market in Vancouver and really liked the building, the unit, and the area. So I went for it. Just a few days ago, one of my neighbors sold their suite (same layout, same size, maybe a few additional renovations) for DOUBLE the price I paid. If I was looking at buying in my area on my current salary, I couldn't afford a place right now.

The Vancouver real estate market is just insane.

Road to recovery

It's a long road, but I'm a patient woman. And it doesn't feel so bad to take it easy, even if I'm having a hard time sleeping. My regular workout routine kept me nice and tired, which meant falling asleep almost instantly. These days, I still feel a bit tired, but it's not the same. I guess my mind also relied on the long runs to purge unnecessary items and store the valuable ones. Running represents a form of meditation for me.

These days, my mind is full, bursting!

At least, I went to the gym today. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being pneumonia days and 10 being February, when I was ready to run the half marathon, I'd say I'm about a 5.5. One thing is certain, I will NOT run the Scotiabank Half Marathon on June 25. Not this year. I doubt I could run 5km right now. One step at the time...

Sshhhh... I think it's summer!

Yay for lots of sun for my new plants! So far, most of them seemed to have survived the transition well. And now, they are getting plenty of light.

Back to work was better than I thought, at least I get to think and see people. There's something to be said for my fantastic coworkers and how concerned they looked when I returned. "Already back?" (I'm sure they were wondering if I was still contagious...) I'm still tired and not going to the gym yet. I tried last night, with Lara, but I ended up stretching on a floor mat for most of the session while she was working-out. And we spent a lot more time chatting than exercising. I guess there's a reason why we don't work-out together ;)

It'll take time to return to normal life. Fortunately, I find myself with enough energy for tonight's salsa course. I missed the last two classes, I'll have to ask Raf to show me some of the moves we were learning.

Urban gardening

The weather people said that we would only get sun today, so I thought this was an excellent time to buy plants, soil, and work on my patio. I cleaned the patio not too long ago, with the intention of bringing in the new plants the following weekend, but somewhere in the middle, I went camping and ended up sick, so this was still on my to-do list.

Most garden centers (Home Depot, Rona) don't really cater to the condo population with small balconies. When you buy flowers, you get a flat with the same kind. It's hard to create original flower boxes with one or two kinds of plants. I did a bit of research and found a store called Art Knapp's Urban Gardener, where they sell planter starter kits. You get six little plants in a kit, enough for one flower box. I bought three kits, one for each flower box, some soil and fertilizer. And a tomato plant. I know, tomatoes need a lot of sun, but I'll try just this once.

My first flower box has a yellow theme: Supertunia Lemon Plume (Petunia hybrid), Laguna Sky Blue (Lobelia hybrid), and Margarita (Ipomoea batatas). My second flower box has a pink theme: Vanilla Butterfly (Argyranthemum), Intensia Lavender Glow (Phlox hybrid), Compact Pink Innocence (Nemesia fruticans), and Supertunia Lemon Plume, again (Petunia hybrid). My third flower box has no theme, it has all kinds of colors in there: Supertunia Royal Velvet (Petunia hybrid), Flying Colors Red (Diascia hybrid), and Solaire Yellow (Bidens ferulifolia).

I also bought a Clematis paniculata at the supermarket. It looked sad and I thought I'd try to save it from its ugly destiny.

Now I can say that my balcony looks a lot more inviting! Anyone up for a BBQ (you will need a car though, I think that my tank is almost empty)? I'll cook ;)

Here are some pictures...


Pink-themed flower box

Yellow-themed flower box 

Multicolor-themed flower box 

Cross your finders that something bright and red will grow here... 

Clematis plant saved from Safeway 

Little urban garden 

Finally getting better

By Monday, I should be somewhat recovered. I visited my doctor again this morning and she said that the wheezing in my right lung was gone. I still cough a bit, but less. Next up? An appointment with the respiratory clinic to test for asthma. The test hasn't been scheduled yet, I was told there's a month's wait.

No plans for the weekend, more of this "taking it easy" business. I'm looking forward to resuming a half-normal schedule soon, going back to the gym, back to work, back to salsa. I didn't particularly like being homebound for a week.