Giddy like a schoolgirl

But wait! Next Tuesday, I am back in school...

$150 textbook for a one-week intensive course? Check!
Laptop? Check! Thanks for my lovely employer for providing the hardware... I'll take good care of it.
Knee-high sox and a short skirt? You wish ;)

I'm looking forward to making my brain work overtime and meeting with other students. I'm meeting the part-time crowd, hopefully other professionals who will bring some valuable experience to the classroom.

What am I doing for part of the weekend? Reading. Course preparation and required readings.

Hi hi hi :D

Harder on my feet than walking 60km!

Walking to and from downtown, salsa dancing on Friday and then dancing the night away on high-heels on Saturday = feet hurting more on Sunday than they did after the long walk last weekend. I swear!

It was however a lot of fun to dance and hang around with Raf, Jamie, as well as new and old salsa friends. Although Saturday wasn't about salsa, you can still dance to hip-hop and pull some ochos :-) Bonus points for those of you who know what ochos are!!

Only one weekend left before school starts...


Always a good time going out dancing!

Extended birthday celebrations

Don't you just love it when your birthday spans weeks, not just a couple of days?

My actual birthday went by without a bang, it was last Friday, before the big weekend experience. That's OK, I don't really feel the need to celebrate on the actual day.

Last night, I had dinner with some friends at a very cute restaurant. Great company, good food, good wine, can't ask for more... Oh! and a few gifts as well :-)

Tonight, Lara and Gerri dropped by with my surprise: tickets to see Zero 7 at the Commodore Ballroom next Saturday (long weekend). This is not a group that I know, but their music is similar to Morcheeba, which I love. That should be a really fun evening.
CORRECTION: After writing this, I realized that the name of the band did sound familiar. My brother bought me their album on iTunes a few years back. Cool, I have to listen to it a couple of times in preparation for the concert.

Libby could not make it to dinner last night, but we're trying to get together for lunch, maybe next week. I haven't seen her in such a long time.

Den & Jen also had to attend to other business last night, but they want to invite me over for dinner next week. Cool.

I love all these occasions to catch up with friends, especially before classes start and my schedule is regimented to the half-hour.

A weekend that changes your life

I made it through the workday today, not too sore, had a bit of a headache in the morning but it went away eventually. I'm still feeling a bit tired, but this is nothing a good night's sleep won't fix.

I promised to tell you more about The Weekend to End Breast Cancer, edition 2006. Some of you have already seen the pictures, but there are so many stories behind the smiling faces and the sea of pink. Truly amazing stories.

Like the story of 2105 participants, hundreds of volunteers (crew members) and supporters who were up early Saturday and Sunday (5:30 a.m. if you were walking, probably earlier for the crew members), full of energy and enthusiasm, ready to embark on this crazy journey.

Like the story of all the walkers who had pinned pictures of a loved one on their shirt, who were walking in the memory of, and the ones who were handed a pink strap for their ID (these were walkers who were also breast cancer survivors).

Like the story of so many with brutal blisters who kept on walking, repeating to themselves that this was easier than going through chemo.

Like the story of hundreds of walkers who, after 35 kilometers through the streets of Vancouver, were dancing the night away after dinner, under the common tent they had set up at camp.

Like the story of so many residents who hanged pink ribbons from their trees, shrubs and fences, who prepared pink lemonade and handed out cold glasses of water, who presented us with sweets to keep us going, who even had pink flamingos firmly planted on their lawn with a sign saying "Thanks!".

Like the story of four firefighters who were walking for one of their colleagues, Dave Veljacic, who was diagnosed with breast cancer. Although in Canada, less than 1% of breast cancer patients are men, this is not a disease that affects only women.

Like the ceremonial last walker to enter the stadium who is walking all Weekend to End Breast Cancer events this year (I apologize for not finding his name, they did call it out at the closing ceremony). This would mean seven events in Canada, several consecutive weekends of walking 60 kilometers.

There were so many stories...

I was asked a few times if I was walking for anyone in particular. My answers was always no, I was fortunate to not know anyone in my family or friends who was diagnosed with breast cancer. But this all changed tonight. My sister called me to let me know that one of her good friends from high-school was just diagnosed a few weeks ago. She's 28. She's starting her treatment in two weeks and will be in treatment for seven months.

So there's no way I'm giving up this fight. Next year, I plan to get a few people together and form a crew to volunteer at the event. And the year after, I will walk again.

Typhanie posted lots of pictures on her site, you should check it out.

Wonderfully tired

I'll describe the weekend in more details tomorrow, but I can tell you it was a success. 2105 walkers, $5.5 million dollars raised for the BC Cancer Foundation, and a really amazing weekend.

Our team did so well, everyone completed and we raised over $17,500.

Until I get a bit more sleep, here are some pictures of the weekend.

Cheering stations

If you are in Vancouver this weekend, here are the locations of the cheering stations for The Weekend to End Breast Cancer. There is no published route for the walk since no streets are closed (we walk on the sidewalks, like everyone else). If you want to know where our team is along the course, call my cell phone, I'll have it on me during the entire weekend.

Obviously, if you can make it to Plaza of Nations for the closing ceremonies, that's where the big party will be!!

I don't get it...

I was reading the Runner's World Stephen brought to work today (we're sharing a subscription) and it has an insert advertizing that, on September 17, an American by the name of Dean Karnazes will begin an expedition where he will run 50 marathons in 50 States in 50 days.

Suddenly, I had an urge for ice cream. Triple chocolate Häagen-Dazs ice cream. Lots of it.

Enough said.

Wrapping up

It feels like a countdown to the fall has started. I wrote a list of things I want to do before September and am crossing off items regularly. Looking back, I'm happy with what I was able to enjoy this summer. Not enough camping, but lots of time outdoors, around the city and beaches. And more important, lots of weekend spent relaxing, enjoying time with friends. I feel ready to take on my upcoming work + study schedule.

Another sign that fall is approaching is that it's by birthday pretty soon. I'm not doing anything special on Friday, I have to get up at 5:30 Saturday morning to prepare for The Weekend to End Breast Cancer, so it will be an early night for me. Maybe a movie.

However, there will be some birthday celebrations next Tuesday, at a French bistro that is supposed to be excellent: Cassis Bistro, in Gastown. Can't wait!

Surprise!

Today was a day of cleaning, grocery shopping, basically preparing for the week ahead and for the fact that next weekend will be spent walking. I invited Lara for dinner and when she called back, she asked me if I was going to have enough food, she said that she was really hungry. I always prepare a bit more, it's good for lunches. I told her not to worry.

She showed up at my place at 6:30, with a cute summer dress and a nice tan from spending the day at the pool. I gave her a big hug and suddenly, from behind her, this dark head pokes out and smiles at me. Charles!!!! I didn't know what to say, I was caught by surprise... What? Charles? In Vancouver?

Charles left Haiti on Wednesday after trying to get a flight out of the country for one week (the road to the airport was blocked by gangs). He's in Vancouver until further notice and even has a job interview tomorrow morning with a local Foreign Affairs office.

What a wonderful dinner we had. Even after six months of him being away, having Lara and Charles over for dinner seemed so natural. Like the order of things had been re-established.

Welcome back my friend.

$2,500 goal attained!

Thank you to everyone who has donated to The Weekend to End Breast Cancer! Yesterday, I met my goal of raising $2,500 for the BC Cancer Foundation. If you haven't donated, there's still time: online donations are accepted until August 17 (correction from when I first posted, NOT August 18). There's nothing that says I should stop harassing people once I meet my target ;)

Back to the West Coast

I made it pretty early to the airport in Montreal yesterday in anticipation of potential lineups due to increased security. The check-in was a lot longer than usual, go figure why people couldn't understand that you were not allowed to bring ANY liquids or gels on the airplane ("yes, mam, you have to put the wine bottles in your luggage or leave them with us"). Even after being told several time at check-in, you should see what security was still pulling out of people's bags: water bottles, booze, all kinds of personal care products...

I had a window seat on the airplane and nobody sitting beside me. Wonderful. I saw a thunderstorm over the Prairies (flashes of light all over the place) and at 30,000 ft, the skies were clear and you could see stars and a full moon (almost full?).

I think that my flight to Montreal was the first and last time I'll fly with cabin luggage only. If the new regulations stay, there's no way you can travel with only cabin luggage (unless you have no problem traveling without toothpaste, gel, moisturizer, and so on). It's unfortunate because you save at least 30 minutes not waiting for the luggage to be unloaded from the plane. I guess it's the new reality of the world we live in. At least, they didn't make me take off my shoes at security ;) I hope they'll allow sealed bottles again, otherwise, how am I going to bring Okanagan wine to my family for Christmas?

A few pictures from the trip are here.

Great time (and weather) in Montreal

The week is going by quickly, but I'm definitely enjoying my vacation. I spent the last four days at the cabin, sunbathing (with lots of sunscreen on), swimming in the lake, reading, eating yummy food and hanging around with the family. Dad was working hard on his latest project, a very elaborate garden shed where he'll store some of the items we currently keep under the cabin. Mom and I helped a bit, we moved a few stacks of wood to a new location. Interesting to discover how many creatures were living in there: large spiders, snakes...

Back in Montreal today, going out shopping with Annie and mom this afternoon, then we are having a few drinks with friends and going to a concert tonight. I found a trick to control how much stuff I buy while in Montreal: opt for the cabin-luggage only option on Air Canada. It doesn't save you a lot of money on the ticket price, but it sure helps tame shopping urges... Unless I buy stuff and ask my family to ship it back to BC... ;)

Bad idea

Partying like it is 1999 seemed like a great on Saturday. However, I'm paying the price this week. I started with my sleep patterns a bit confused (i.e. lack of), then hit the ground running as we are releasing tomorrow. No matter how prepared you think you are, every release I've ever worked on was always a mix of panic and long hours. There has to be a better way...

Added to the release frenzy are all the questions I am fielding from the documentation team as they are absorbing my former workload and from the product team as they are working on high-level design for our next release. Everyone pretty much knows I'm on vacation next week, so I'm booked solid until Friday 1 p.m., at which time I'm running out of the office, grabbing my suitcase at home and then heading out to the airport.

As soon as I possibly can, I personally plan to sit in one of the floating chairs we have at the cabin, a drink in hand, and pass out. Until I turn all pruny or the mosquitoes find me.

Yes, I'm off to Montreal to visit the family for a week. :-)