Precedence and perennials

I am proud to let you know that my grandmother Monique has defended her PhD thesis on March 23 and came out of the session with a mention of excellence on her research. Way to go! Monique is the first PhD in our family. I'm sad to have missed the post-session celebration, but I'm so happy to see that she has finally completed this enormous challenge. With lots of help from grandpa. Even better.

That's one way to set a precedence for the rest of the family ;)

Vancouver was beautiful today, very sunny, but not that warm. There was a heavy wind as you approached the waterfront and it was a cold wind. Even then, I walked to Granville Island this afternoon, grabbed a coffee a JJBean, then sat down on a bench near one of the marinas to ponder about the world (and escape the mad crowds). It was fun to look at boats, people, seagulls for an hour without feeling the guilt of unfinished homework. Yes, the semester is over, I'm done with school until early May.

On my way back home (long way, through Kits), I stopped at the gardening center next to IGA and bought a few perennials. I thought it would be nice to start filling some of the containers with plants that might return next year. Otherwise, the containers look so empty in the winter. I'll add a few annuals in May to brighten up with flowers. Let's see how that turns out.

I'm also getting a tomato plant from my boss. She's the one who grows over 100 different varieties of tomatoes in her garden, some of which I had the pleasure to sample last Fall. I'm getting a strange variety, with stripes and shaped like a cucumber, or a Polish variety that's hundreds of years old. Both fare well in containers.

Fun.

5 to 41?

How does a party go from having five seats before an election to electing 41 candidates and becoming the Official Opposition? Unbelievable! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you l'Action Democratique du Quebec and the latest provincial election. I'm sorry I missed most of it, I was busy with the final school projects, but it sounded like a really fierce battle. With a 71% turnout, I somehow doubt the words of a Radio-Canada presenter this weekend who said people were turned-off by this election, lacked enthusiasm for the candidates.

I was at a workshop tonight. One of the students had a laptop and was monitoring the results. Out of the blue, he pointed to the letters "ADQ" written on his printout. I wasn't thinking about elections, I was thinking about presentation skills (that was the subject of the workshop), so I didn't clue in. He then wrote "ADQ vs Liberals" and then I got it. That's when he said the ADQ was leading in the polls. I couldn't believe it!

But I digress, I should be working on the final edits for our last paper of the semester.

Still... Unbelievable.

Spring and cleaning

Why is it that these two words seem to go together? The rain (read between the lines: downpour) stops for a day and all I felt like doing was opening the windows to let fresh air in, preparing the planters on the balcony, getting rid of all the accumulated recycling, changing bedsheets, purging the bathroom cabinets of all kinds of products I didn't even know I had... Now that everything is spiffy and smells fresh, I feel like baking muffins and cooking a stew or something that will serve as lunch over the week. My fridge and shelves are full, I went grocery shopping with Lara yesterday.

Except that this week, I don't have to worry about not having enough time to prepare lunches, do laundry, etc. My classes are over until early May, and I only have one final assignment to hand in on Tuesday. Now that the semester is coming to an end, I can honestly say that the workload was just as heavy as during the fall semester, but the final rush was not as insane. Everything felt well-controlled and reasonable. Much better. Maybe I'm getting better at this ;)

Now, if I only had not decided to get a manicure and pedicure Friday after work with Gerri, everything would be perfect. I'm afraid spring cleaning does nothing good to polished nails.

Che Hora Son Mi Corazon

It will soon (well, soon enough) be the evening where I get to see Manu Chao live!! Hola! I found out recently that Manu Chao was coming to Vancouver on May 25, at the Commodore. Vancouver is the only Canadian city on his North American tour. The news spread like fire, it only took 40 minutes for all the tickets to sell out (OK, this is a small venue, but still). I was able to buy a pair through a local reseller, obviously, not at face price, but this concert is going to be so unbelievable, I can't miss it.

And the best person to go see this concert with is my good friend Lara, as she is a huge fan. I told her this morning, it's an early birthday present.

I can't wait!

Any excuse is good

How hard it's been today to stay focused on what I need to finish! I think my mind has already fast-forwarded to April, come back, come back!!! I still have two papers to write! Tonight, I am the Queen of Procrastination. I'm browsing the web, answering personal e-mails. At least I've completed my passport application (online) and will mail it tomorrow, after my dentist signs it. I heard it was 45 days before an application was processed these days. Maybe Lara, Gerri and I won't be going to Las Vegas in April after all. May's OK ;)

I was walking back from Kits on Broadway, when I felt something hitting me behind the head. Not hard, felt like someone just trying to get your attention with a good push of the hand. Except there wasn't anyone. Just a crow. It flew ahead of me and onto an awning. What? Stupid crow. Can't measure distances or was this on purpose? Then you start thinking all sorts of things: eewww, did it shit on me, drop something in my ponytail, is there something in my ponytail it was trying to grab?

Bizarre.

Mainly clothes and food

I visited EPIC this afternoon, the sustainable living expo held in Vancouver. A friend from school and I picked up free tickets for the expo, and when it's pouring outside, I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday. It was OK, mostly focus on organic food and organic/recycled clothing, which is nothing really new. There were the usual suspects, Capers, Toyota and their hybrid line, a couple of local publications, a few local organizations promoting sustainable living... I was hoping for many more green builders and green tech, something like a green condo development. One really cool product was these roof shingles made out of old tires, guaranteed for 50 years! That's twice the guarantee on a regular roof.

The expo was quite small, we spent about an hour in there and then headed out to Steamworks for a beer and something to eat. The place was packed, even at 3 p.m.! Some holiday was also prompting everyone to dress in green, go figure ;)

Now it's 7, I'll make myself dinner and start attacking one of my final assignments. Somehow, I don't feel like this end-of-semester is as crazy as the last one. No complaints, I guess I'm just waiting for the truckload of work to hit me and it hasn't. March 27 is the date we submit our last assignment, exams are already done... Not bad, not bad at all.

It was a quiet weekend, yes

With one sister mending a broken foot and the other trying to catch up sleep, our weekend in Banff wasn't very exciting. However, it was some quality time spent with Annie. Some pictures can be found here.

Things I learned about Banff while visiting for the weekend:

• You can't flag a cab using the universal waving of hands. At least the four cabs that drove by us didn't seem to understand. All had their light on.
• Elks are large animals that you probably don't want to approach. We saw several of them, fortunately, from within a car or the shuttle. Sorry, no pictures.
• It's dry, very dry in Banff. Dry and dusty.
• The average age of visitors in Banff is 18-24, and over 50.
• You can't live in Banff unless you work there. Something about the place being a National Park. Pfft!
• Australians like to work in Canadian ski resorts, not just at Whistler.
• Alberta is one big rock. And the tourist shops will try to sell you little pieces of it. Pretty.
• The sales tax in Alberta is only 6.5%. More shopping.

We had fun, managed to get my school work done while Annie was translating what she learned over the week into an action plan for work. We went out for dinner and beers in a cute Irish pub last night, then headed over to the movie theatre to see 300. Although the movie is violent, it was artistic violence, a little bit along the lines of Kill Bill. Still a bit gory. I didn't know the entire movie was shot in Montreal, in front of a blue screen. I liked it.

On the way back to Vancouver, the flight attendant told us that the weather was calling for light sprinkles and clouded skies. When I saw my soaked suitcase drop onto the conveyor, I knew exactly how sprinkly it was. So much for taking the bus back home.

Hello from Banff!

Yes, all the way from Banff, Alberta, a couple of French Canadian sisters are exploring the town, doing a bit of shopping, getting massages :-) The weather is nice, a bit windy and cloudy today but not cold, which is perfect. Banff is a bit surreal, all the way in the mountains with a tiny downtown area that we've managed to visit in one afternoon. It feels a bit like being in the Whistler village, but with many more pickup trucks.

Annie is doing well, her foot is not so swollen and she can walk without the crutches. She really enjoyed her course, from what I heard.

Tomorrow, maybe a visit to the hotsprings if it's sunny. The movie 300 is playing, we might go catch that as well in the evening, then have a pint at the pub. We can't go to bed too early because we're catching the shuttle back to the airport at 7:30 a.m. and need to factor in the time change.

Two days left

When the hell did March happen? EOS (end-of-semester) falls on March 27 this time, which means I have no time left to complete all the final assignments... Regular MBA stuff ;)

I'm looking forward to Thursday when I leave work for the airport, fly to Calgary, then hop on a shuttle for two hours to Banff. It's like someone from Calgary making a weekend trip to Whistler I guess. Annie is taking a course there over the week and she extended her stay so we could meet up and spend some time together. Doesn't that sound fabulous? It's just a short trip, I'm back in Vancouver Sunday morning, but the break is more than welcome.

This is the song I'm listening to: Baiser Salé, DobaCaracol