Hold on tight?

I've been nervous about checking my investment portfolio of recent, news of markets all over the world feeling the impact of the US economy slowdown not helping me feel very confident about its performance. I'm mostly invested in Canadian stock, which is obviously going for a wild ride.

When I reviewed my performance stats for the past year, they were pretty poor, barely any gain. However, I recently received the statement for my group RRSP investments (through work) and the funds in which I placed my money did a lot worse than I did, which is surprising because my personal portfolio should be more volatile. I'm mainly invested in stock.

One happy piece of news today was from a company I recently invested in called Lignol Energy, a small startup here in BC that has developed technology to prepare fuel-grade ethanol from cellulosic biomass. When I read about their technology, it made sense to me. Instead of growing corn as a mono-culture to produce ethanol (something that has been criticized by environmentalists as not really being a sustainable approach to reducing our dependence on fossil fuels), Lignol uses what pretty much amounts to scraps from the forestry industry. Pretty cool, no? Well, the US Department of Energy also seems to think so, as they just awarded $30 million to Lignol for the construction of an ethanol plant. I doubt this stock will send me to retirement at 45, but I really enjoy seeing a local company with a cool green tech solution getting some recognition from the market.

As for the rest of my stock? Well, I'm holding on tight. Now is definitely NOT the time to sell. I do have some cash coming in though, any good buying opportunities?

Energy

Mondays are never really days when I wake up and jump out of bed with a grin on my face. It's usually a bit of a drag, you start thinking of the week ahead, all the work involved, and because you went to bed / woke up at all kinds of hours during the weekend, it's hard to even get up. This morning was no different, although I did wake up early for no apparent reason. So instead of tossing and turning for an hour, I decided to make my way to work earlier than usual.

On a low energy day, I like to interact with colleagues with whom I have a good relationship, and limit my contacts with the rest (as much as possible). It makes all the difference in the world, just a smile, a joke, a wink in an e-mail can send bursts of energy through your body and next thing you know, you are in front of your laptop, laughing. Such an amazing feeling.

Since I started my day so early, I also ended it early (fair enough) and while I was making my way back home, I felt like I was carrying a heavy weight once again. But now, it's almost ten, and I find myself wide-eyed, ready to start some reading (I did crack GTD open last night!!), finishing off the day's e-mail, and blogging :-) I probably won't push it too late, I have a long day tomorrow and will need, once again, to get a good grip on my energy.

I received a very nice e-mail from a representative of the Vancouver Board of Trade today. I attended a presentation at school last week where he, and one of his colleagues from the Board, spoke about The Company of Young Professionals (TCYP), a program through which the Board involves young professionals who are interested in networking, building business relationships and gaining valuable insights from seasoned business leaders. I thought the program was very interesting and joined this morning. The e-mail was a personal welcome message and came with a few complimentary tickets to an event tomorrow after work. I'll see if I can make it, I'm still waiting to hear back from Sarah if she wants to climb after work. One thing I'm really excited about with the board is their committee on sustainability. I should get an invitation to an orientation session shortly, I'm sure I will discover lots of amazing opportunities for learning and networking.

Realization

I think I have to start blogging more often. I was going over recent posts and they try to cover too many things at once, without really covering anything well. Maybe little daily posts, capturing the thoughts of the moment?

I'm having a hard time focusing these days. Maybe a blog a day would help me order my thoughts and slow down this whirlwind of ideas and activities that are making my head spin. Ideas for work, ideas for school, thoughts about the future, about the present, about what I want, and what I am getting, about what I can give, about why I should care about certain things more, less about others.

I should really get back to Getting Things Done. The book is great for developing a personal system to manage ideas, tasks, etc. OK, let's make it one of the objectives of this week: finish Getting Things Done. I'm realistic and know I won't come up with a system overnight, but having a framework over which to build a system in the future is one step in the right direction.

So how about that regular blogging? One thing at the time I guess...

Snow, ski, skate, sunshine... so much fun!

It's past 11 PM on Monday night and I only now have a few minutes to report back on my weekend of skiing at Big White. I guess my semester has really started, I'm busy preparing assignments, reading, posting comments in WebCT and listening to a conference call (for work), all at once. Multitasking, you say? Ben oui.

I returned safely from my weekend trip, around 10 p.m. last night. Doing the trip by bus saves you the long drive to and from the Interior, but doesn't make it any quicker to reach your destination. The bus ride was comfortable and we were treated to a few movies each way, not really movies I would rent on purpose but still a reasonable source of entertainment.

Why travel so far for a weekend of skiing, when you live so close to Whistler, you might ask? Well, I had to experience the snow. Whistler, being close to the Coast, tends to have lots of snow, but wet and heavy snow. It's a fun place to ski and conveniently close by, but on a mild day, after a big snowfall, you might not last more than a few hours before needing a rest. And most days are pretty foggy. Big White, on the other hand, is north of the Okanagan, and a lot dryer. Fog can also be a problem, as we experienced on Saturday, but the snow remains dry, powder-like. Skiing in dry power = happy legs!

OK, I am a bit sore after skiing two days in a row, but Sarah and I were on the slopes from 9-2:30 on Saturday and 10:30-2 on Sunday. We also skated Saturday night on an exterior rink at the resort. So much fun! We had fantastic accommodations, right in the village (on the mountain). The P2 level in the hotel has a ski-out exit, which basically means you can walk out of the building, put your skis on and go. Our room had a queen-size bed, a Murphy bed (looks like a closet with a panel that you pull down to reveal the bed), a fireplace (gas), a small kitchen with a microwave and dishes. The hotel gave us access to their pool and hot tub. The hot tub was a welcomed treat after all our skiing on Saturday, but we were very happy to hit the tub early, as we later discovered that whatever capacity had been set by the hotel for this small pool of warm water was clearly ignored by guests who didn't seem to mind cramped quarters. We could see the hot tub from our window and officially renamed it as "people soup" as the evening went on.

Our mini kitchen allowed us to save a few dollars by eating in both lunch and dinner. We did go out in the village on Saturday night for a few drinks.

Sunday skiing was for the braves, as the temperatures dipped from -1 to -12, with a heavy wind blowing throughout the mountain. I took pictures of our skiing experience on Saturday and am happy I did so, because there was no way I was going to unbundle to reach the camera on Sunday. I had every piece of skin nicely protected and warm. I am seriously considering buying a neoprene face mask for a future trip. They are inexpensive but so efficient at keeping your entire face protected from the wind (and sun!).

I managed to wear my new boots on both days and so far, they have been fairly comfortable. A few spots will need adjusting, but apparently, a heat-molding session is included with my purchase. The store guarantees the fit of the boots, and I plan to take advantage of this offering.

Next trip? February 2, when Marc-Antoine is in town for a few days. We're planning to hit Whistler for the day. Weeee!

Windy

The wind is blowing so hard outside that I can feel the building swaying now and then. I am NOT kidding. Needless to say this is a perfect evening to stay home, do a bit of reading for school, and go to bed early.

Classes started again last week, my very last course of the program. I'm having a hard time getting back into the beat of things. Fortunately, the teacher seems interesting and not too dry. Hard to make Project Management really exciting, but at least he might make it helpful and somewhat practical, not all about theories. Since reading the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge, from the Project Management Institute) is required for the course, I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and prepare myself for the PMP certification. Are you tired of reading acronyms yet? I haven't even started!!

I went shopping with Sarah on Saturday and bought myself a brand new pair of ski boots. They are very shiny. I'll have the entire weekend to try them out, as both Sarah and I are heading out to Big White for a few days on the slopes. We booked ourselves on an organized trip, leaving Friday afternoon from Vancouver and returning Sunday night. All inclusive, you bring energy and food (not necessarily in that order). Woot.

2008 is going to be the year of getting back into skiing, I can feel it. Marc might visit at the end of the month, to test his skiing legs in Whistler. Mount Seymour has free skiing on Monday nights for girls, you only need to pick up a voucher at a local store and make a donation to the BC Cancer Foundation.

All is good with the world

I'm drying my fifth load of laundry... Guess who finally received her suitcase with her Christmas presents and dirty clothes from a trip to Montreal? Yay!! I was so happy that it wasn't lost, I dreaded having to compile a list of items I had packed, to search drawers for receipts, and then realizing that some content was simply irreplaceable. I don't think my suitcase was ever really lost, it simply never made it on the plane. Lots of suitcases didn't fly with their owners on January 1. I hope all the misplaced luggage has finally made its way home by now.

I was also reunited with my camera, so a few Christmas pictures are now uploaded to Flickr.

Back home, minus a suitcase

I made it back to Vancouver safely last night, albeit an hour later than planned. I don't think it was so bad, considering I left Montreal in a snow storm. The flight was delayed as it waited its turn in the de-icing lineup. As usual, the plane was overbooked and they asked for a few volunteers to stay an additional night and fly back business class the next day. Tempting, but I had work to do today, so I decided to pass.

We landed around 11:50 p.m., which was really 2:50 a.m. for me since I was still on EST. You should have seen the airport carousel area at YVR when we landed: there was luggage everywhere, the result of an entire day of missed flights, luggage mixups and busy holiday travels. It was a mess. I waited for my suitcase while keeping an eye open for my watercolors in the special baggage area. Well, I can confirm that fragile baggage is indeed handled separately, because my package made it to Vancouver, unlike my suitcase. 30 other passengers also seemed to be missed pieces, so we waited in line to file our baggage claims. "Tomorrow afternoon", they said, "but we don't know where it is right now."

Well, as of tonight, they still don't seem to know where it is. I'm checking AC's WorldTracer online service and I still get the same message: "Tracing continues. Please check back later." Now the problem is I have to wait for my suitcase at home, I don't want AC to deliver it at work and then drag the thing back home. It's too big and heavy for the bus. I guess I can continue working from home tomorrow...

Around 5, I caved in and paid a quick visit to the drugstore to pick up a few personal care products to replace what I had in my suitcase. It's not as if I wouldn't use these things anyways. I'm not too worried about the suitcase being lost, I'm just hoping I don't have to stay home for the rest of the week. I can do 95% of my stuff through VPN but need a LAN connection to work on large documents in SharePoint. Oh well.

That's just too much snow for my taste...

It's been snowing all day and although this weather would make for a lovely snowshoeing outing, this is more than I want to deal with in the city. Looking at the banister on the balcony, close to one foot fell just today! So far, my plane seems to be on schedule, leaving for Vancouver at 7:55 tonight. Fingers crossed. It's already a long flight back, I don't really want to sit in the plane for hours while they de-ice the wings.

It's been a lovely Christmas holiday. I feel about five pounds heavier, but at least I'm well rested, ready for whatever 2008 is going to throw my way. I didn't make any resolutions this year, I'm happy with how life is treating me, and since I'm already working out regularly and eating healthy, I can't think of improvements in my overall habits. Maybe one goal for 2008 will be to start a worm compost in the garage, to reduce the amount of garbage I create. Dad has one in the basement (well sealed, no escapees so far) and even offered to send me back to Vancouver with a handful of critters in a small container. Somehow, I think I'd rather find my own stash on the West Coast. We have lots of worms. With the rich compost generated by the worms, I might have a better success with my patio plants. They were a little bit unhappy last summer. I also blame the lack of sun.

Last night, after a wonderful dinner with friends of the family, I ventured out to meet friends on Crescent. What a zoo. For those of you reading from Vancouver, it's like the Granville Street strip at 3 a.m., but crammed in a one-block radius and just as busy for the entire evening. Madness. The cops were there when I arrived around 1 a.m. and still there, running after drunken partiers at 3 a.m. when the bars closed. I thought it would be very difficult to find a cab to return home, but I only had to walk up Crescent to Sherbrooke to find tons of free cabs that were not sitting in traffic. Vancouver has a thing or two to learn about making cabs available during peek periods. When I was heading out for my work Christmas party a few weeks back, it was about 7 p.m. on a Friday (and raining), which means the perfect storm for cab transport in the city. I tried calling five different companies for 20 minutes before giving up and walking to the nearest hotel on Broadway. I think they only hire one operator (the same for all companies) to answer calls. Silly.