Happy birthday my love

This weekend we celebrated your birthday. We spent most of Saturday recharging in nature, channeling the raw energy from the rugged West Coast, listening to the waves crashing, the birds singing, the wind blowing through tall trees. We shared thoughts, food, wine, each had our own little meditative moment. Then, we used all this new energy to express the vitality of our current years. We felt like queens, you of the fire and warmth of the Mediterranean, me of the ice of the Nordic countries. We danced, connected, celebrated. Others celebrated with us. We attracted good energy.

Interesting times are ahead. We are both returning to school, both our own anchors and each other's anchor. Both ready to feed our bodies and brains to continue living the vitality we experienced this weekend.

Happy birthday Lara.


Lara

Now THAT was amazing...

Vancouver Festival of Lights 2006 - Italy

This actually looks like a tomato plant!

First long Sunday run in a while... very slow

It didn't help that the temperature was quite high, even early in the morning. In the shade, I was doing OK, but as soon as I hit the sunny areas, I had to slow down.

It was a beautiful run though. And memorable. Shortly after I ran under the Burrard bridge, going towards Kits beach, I saw a bald eagle attacking a crow. I know there's a nest in the area, you often hear screeching. I guess the crow had been a pest and was flying too close to the nest. It didn't take long for the eagle to kill the crow, but not before the bugger cried for help. In a few seconds, the eagle was swarmed by an flock of crows. Then, I felt something fly right above me, another eagle, this one all black. I'm thinking that must be the baby, he doesn't have his white head yet. All this was happening only a few feet away from me, as I stopped running to admire the beautiful bald eagles. The eagle eventually flew away with his kill, surrounded by very noisy and angry crows.

Oh, and on the way back, I saw two seals pop their heads out of the water in the harbor.

Who needs the Discovery channel when you live in Vancouver!

I spent a few hours this afternoon at the outdoors salsa event, at Robson Square. It was great, in the shade, with a bit of a breeze, it only got really hot after dancing a few quick-paced songs. Great idea, free salsa in the downtown core on Sunday afternoons!


Sunset

Caliente!

Vancouver, for a city that is right by the water, usually has dry summers. Today, I actually heard someone mention the dreaded "humidex" in the forecast. It's 29, but it feels like 35... That's nothing like Kelowna (in the Okanagan) where it's 35, but feels like 40 today.

Needless to say: I'm melting. I wanted to go to the pool, but the sun is very strong and I want to avoid burning. I'll have to go for a stroll along the seawall tonight, to cool down.

This is a quiet weekend for me. Lara is in Montreal, Gerri is on the train, a few other friends have official "functions" (weddings, staggets, showers). I'm going to enjoy a bit of reading, maybe some salsa outdoors tomorrow afternoon, and hopefully a run in the morning, before the temperature turns unbearable. I'm going to sign up for the Fall Classic again this year, but I'll run the half marathon, not the 10k. Training starts tomorrow.

Top 30 before 32

This was waiting in my Inbox this morning, from a daily newsletter I receive called Vitamin V. Although I'm already past 30, I thought it would be fun to check what I've been up to these past (almost) 32 years:

Top 30 Things To Do Before You Turn 30
30. Learn to open a bottle of champagne.
> Easy. I would also add "and not send the cork flying through the room while half of the bottle is emptying out before you can even pour the first glass."
29. Make love with someone from another country, in another country.
> Nada on this one. Probably not going to happen in the next few weeks either ;)
28. Find your signature scent. Then change it every five years.
> I've been a Givenchy girl for probably five years now: Hot Couture. I still like it.
27. Go sailing.
> Nope, I assume this was meant to mean "on the open ocean".
26. Dye your hair.
> Check! With a strong preference for copper-like colors.
25. Throw a dinner party to celebrate the achievements of a friend.
> I can't say I've done this one specifically, but I have thrown dinner parties.
24. Jog around the lagoon in Central Park.
> Central Park NY? No. Stanley Park? Check!
23. Learn to recognize a lesser-known composer, like Franz Liszt.
> Check! I blame my five years of high-school for that (I was in a program specialized in classical music).
22. Go camping in the mountains with someone you trust.
> Check! Good times.
21. Learn to bake one thing really well. Like scones.
> Muffins? But I don't usually make them from scratch...
20. Buy a pair of designer shoes that you will wear for the rest of your life.
> If Anne Klein counts as a designer, Check! Otherwise, sorry.
19. Be the first to say "I love you."
> Check! A while ago.
18. Get your driver's license. But walk instead.
> Check!
17. Read Ann Patchett, not Ayn Rand.
> Since I don't know who these authors are, I'll say No.
16. Buy a beautiful piece of antique jewelry for yourself.
> I don't need to buy antique jewelry, I receive a few nice pieces from my grandmother.
15. Volunteer once a month for a year.
> I don't think I have volunteered regularly, but I have for more than one year.
14. Banish pigtails.
> Was never an issue.
13. Visit Paris.
> Done. May 2005.
12. Pay off your student loans.
> Was never an issue. In a few years from now though, we might be looking at a different story...
11. Go to the opera, even if it's a matinee.
> Check! Many times.
10. Visit a developing country and remind yourself how lucky you are.
> Not personally. But I did listen carefully to Lara's stories about Haiti.
9. Go on a blind date.
> Check! Not impressed.
8. Quit smoking. For real this time.
> Check! Over ten years ago.
7. Dance with someone at least twice your age.
> Maybe in salsa? Was there anyone over 60?
6. Throw away your high school and university papers and textbooks. You will never need them again.
> Check! Long time ago... moving three times in three years helps.
5. Buy a large book of amazing photography and open it to a different page every day.
> Check! But I look at photos online. Save the trees.
4. Set goals, don't make resolutions.
> Check for the goals, and I do make resolutions (and often keep them).
3. Catch a fish.
> Check! When I was a kid, with my dad.
2. Find the love of your life.
> Sorry... No luck here...
1. Make friends with your mother.
> I think so, long distance friends ;)

Monday report

I made it through day 1, didn't spontaneously burst into flames from all the new responsibilities and projects with a "red" status (i.e. late, high-risk, high-priority). Cool.

I had my appointment at the respiratory clinic, did the lung capacity test and was told that I had a pretty good lung capacity. And then breathing in Ventolin didn't change the results. Cool.

I received a CD with some pictures Fred took during his visit. I posted a few good ones on Flickr. Cool.

Some PR guy in Vancouver created a blog to denounce some of his peers who are paid to create confusion and doubt around climat changes and global warming. You can also read more about this guy on The Tyee. Cool.

I will stop writing "Cool" now.


View from the peak of Whistler

Who needs a man when you can BBQ your own lamb?

Another pretty nice weekend coming to an end. Another weekend spent with girlfriends.

On Friday, my promotion was officially announced and I'm starting the new position on Monday. I think the transfer of knowledge went well, although I expect to be fielding questions for the next few months. A few colleagues were stepping out for a drink after work, so I decided to join them and celebrate this big step in my professional life. I didn't stay for very long because I already had plans to meet Lara for a movie at 7:30.

We saw An Inconvenient Truth, the movie about Al Gore's crusade to inform people about the mess we are in (global warming). I wasn't originally really hot about seeing this movie, I thought it would be depressing. It's obviously not a happy subject, but the premise is not about negativity, but forcing people to realize how much of an impact we have on the planet. And when you see charts plotting temperatures and C02 levels for the past 650,000 years where the past 50 (and next 50) years are way off the chart, you know we've been up to no good. I have to admire Al Gore's energy and conviction. If only he had been elected president...

Saturday was spent walking, for most of the day. I did another training walk with Typhanie and Joanne, two other members of my team for The Weekend to End Breast Cancer. We walked for over five hours and probably covered over 20km. Those walks are also very good for getting to know your teammates :-) In the evening, I met up with Gerri and we went out for drinks with some of her colleagues from the train. The gang was heading out to a party after the drinks, but I was so tired from all the walking and the sun that I left them and went to bed early, around midnight.

Today, I did some grocery shopping in the morning and bought a few nice pieces of lamb. I was in the mood for a BBQ. I called Lara and asked if she had any dinner plans. We walked to Granville Island to have an ice-tea while watching the boats float by, and also to buy some veggies for dinner. I marinated the lamb with Dijon, fresh rosemary (from the balcony), oil, salt and pepper. Lara marinated the veggies with oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic and salt. Everything came out perfectly (except for the onions, didn't cook enough), especially the lamb. Yum! I'm really starting to figure out the BBQ ordeal, it's not that complicated ;)

Fun little project

In the past few weeks, I've been receiving e-mails from former high-school buddies trying to organize get-togethers. We graduated from high-school 15 years ago yet, somehow, many of us are still keeping in touch.

I, obviously, cannot attend the get togethers, and neither can a few others who don't live in Montreal or are often out of town. However, I thought it would be fun to see what everyone looks like, who has kids, who lives where. So I replied to all on one of the threads and offered to piece together a photo album. I asked for recent pictures (and names of others featured in the pictures), which I will post on my Flickr space.

Should be really fun to see what some of these crazy kids are up to...

Girlfriends

Even though Gerri, Lara and I live only a few minutes away from each other, we don't necessarily spend all our time together. Except for most of this weekend ;)

This all started with a trip to Max's on Friday after work to get one of their yummy sandwiches for dinner. Who do I spot sitting right outside the bakery? None other than Gerri, in her Rocky Mountaineer uniform, waiting for her boyfriend Joe to finish work because she forgot her house keys. I sit down with Gerri and we start chatting, Joe shows up half an hour later and we decide to have dinner together at Max's. We were all beat with the week's work, but promised to call each other if the weather was nice on Saturday.

Saturday comes, and the weather was very nice. We decide to meet at the Kitsilano pool, conveniently located right beside the ocean. Lara also meets us there and we spend most of the afternoon gossiping away. Joe is a good sport, but he leaves often to do laps, blaming the heat. It could also have been the intense conversation three girlfriends can maintain. Saturday evening, I had sushi with Lara and we then walked over to Joe's place for some drinks before going out. Joe says he's a bit sunstruck and won't come out, but we all suspect that he felt the girls needed their night out.

We ended up spending the entire evening in a nice lounge in Yaletown called George. George is a trendy place, plays good music and serves some pretty (expensive) neat drinks. The fresh watermelon martini was delicious, and so were the mojitos. Next thing you know, we're looking at our cell phones (nobody wears watches anymore) wondering where the night went. It's 2:30 by the time I'm in bed.

Sunday is the World Cup final, Gerri and I congregate at Lara's place for the 10:30 kickoff. Our analysis of the game/players would have probably offended the true soccer fans, as we are happily commenting on how cute this player is and other girlie observations. Lara and I have played the game, so we do comments intelligently (somewhat) on a few plays. Lara and I are cheering for France, Gerri for Italy. Until the very end of the second overtime where things turn ugly and they have to revert to penalty kicks. We feel bad for the French team, you can see they were devastated by the turn of events and lost their momentum. Nice win Italy! These guys couldn't stop dancing, silly ragazzi!

Gerri made us a frittata for lunch and then we basically did nothing else but talk and sit around, tired from the sticky heat and few hours of sleep.

I hadn't planned to spend so much time with these two but I have to say, this was a fun weekend. There are some things that you can really only talk about with your girlfriends.

Copyright

Last night, I was doing a bit of random blog browsing (look in the top right corner, there's a Next Blog button, you click it and surprise! you end up on some random blog hosted by Blogger). It is quite surprising what you can come across. Some bad (pretty bad actually), some boring for anyone else than the author and their family (maybe like this blog for anyone who doesn't care to read about my daily life), some with pretty pictures, some in languages that my browser has a hard time displaying.

But last night, I came across a blog where was posted a control to play a video from Gnarls Barkley's song Crazy. I don't know Gnarls, I don't know the song, but I click play anyways. Thing is, I now realize that I do know this song. It would automatically play every time I would visit Raf's blog for a week or so. Raf had posted a funny video about a kid grooving to this song (and singing along).

The video with the kid singing was annoying, but now that I was listening to the song (with the video that was intended to play along), I actually liked it. So, I searched for Gnarls Barkley on iTunes, find the album with the Crazy song, and start listening to the other songs. I really like his stuff. I buy the album.

Moral of the story: thanks to the copyright infringement of the blogger who posted the Crazy video on his personal site, Gnarls Barkley has one extra album sale.

Varekai

There is nothing ordinary about a Cirque du Soleil show. I had great expectations when I went to see Varekai last night. Indeed, nothing ordinary.

The music in Varekai was not the best I've heard from the Cirque, I still prefer the dreamy soundtrack of Alegria. However, the performers were outstanding, with acrobatics that would seem impossible for human beings to perform. The costumes were outrageous and colorful.

A few parts were less impressive, the trapeze artists focusing mainly on creating shapes with the four bodies and the contortionist adopting poses that I've seen in other shows. However, the flips and twists and tumbles of the performers on the spherical swings were simply breathtaking. I also enjoyed the hand-to-hands while one performer was sitting in reverse on a special chair (bum where your back would normally be) to flip another performer using their legs and arms. Visually, the best sequence was when they pulled a blue surface on the stage, made apparently from a very slippery material. The movements from the 20-or-so performers, sliding past each other, turning on the spot, using their bodies to stop and start, made the entire sequence magical.

Did you know that Vancouver is currently the only place in Canada where the Cirque has a show?

A Frog in BC now on Flickr

I used to post sets of pictures on MyPhotoAlbum.com. Besides an increasing number of banners and ads, MyPhotoAlbum also has the disadvantage that you cannot use it to share pictures. The right-click functionality is disabled. It must have something to do with the fact that they try to sell you prints ;)

Lara asked me for some help to create a Web site for her trip to Haiti. I imagine she wants to upload pictures to share with her family and friends. I immediately thought of Flickr, which I know many of my friends use. I tried it myself with a few pictures and decided that from now on, photos would be posted to A Frog in BC on Flickr. You can look forward to seeing Fred's pictures on Flickr when I get the CD by snail mail.

Not so fast...

It sounds like my transition into Program Management will take a bit longer than a few days. Maybe a few weeks. In a way, I expected this. I have a fair amount of work to hand-over to colleagues, three products, four releases, all at different stages, all with ongoing deliverables. Everyone wants to make sure that the transition is as painless as can be. Myself included, since I wouldn't want to have a job-and-a-half because I'm actively supporting doc activities.

I was a bit disappointed, I was so eager to start the new role immediately. Patience, patience...

Happiness is... (part 2)

1. Going shopping for a bikini, FINDING a very cute bikini in the first store you hit and then being told the price tag is only $30.

2. Walking 22 kilometers around Vancouver (wait, the happy part is coming up), taking in the sights and sounds of an entire city enjoying the summer heat and waking up the morning after NOT feeling sore at all.

3. Going for dinner with friends, at a restaurant that has a beautiful terrace overlooking False Creek and being able to WALK to the restaurant in 10 minutes flat.

4. Knowing that your best friend is back from her two-week vacation in Haiti, she DIDN'T get kidnapped and she brings back a gift of local rhum.

This was truly a weekend to remember.

Happiness is...

1. Spending an afternoon at the beach, playing volleyball, hanging around with friends, waddling in shallow water because the tide is out, and NOT getting a sunburn.

2. Meeting up with other friends (James and his buddy from the navy, Anthony) for all-you can eat sushi, eating all the sushi you CAN eat and ending up with a bill that's less than $20 (per person).

3. Going dancing to some old-school house music that reminds you of clubs you went to ten years ago AND waking up early the following morning with some energy to boot, ready to enjoy yet another fabulous day in Vancouver.


Rafael

Christina, aka "Kookie" 

Volleyball on the beach 

Low tide at Spanish Banks