Another milestone

Just before the weekend, I reached another important milestone: the end of two major projects I have been working on for the past 18 months. These were large, million-dollar projects involving, at times, between 30 and 40 team members in India and Vancouver. There were times when I doubted we would ever be able to ship, as these are software projects and you always find bugs to fix in software. That's simply the nature of the industry.

For the first time since I joined my current company, I have a fairly light workload. I have to admit that I'm enjoying the break, and the time to reflect, to clean up my PC and my desk. I also looked at the project slate, and until the end of 2008, we will mainly be working on small projects, service packs and add-ons, nothing ambitious like what we just delivered to market. I guess now it's our sales team's turn to work their magic and close new deals. We're received feedback from customers and partners who have attended a recent conference, and it's been overwhelmingly positive: they like the product.

I think I did a pretty good job on these projects. My boss also seems to think so, as I have received a stellar evaluation earlier this week: exceeded expectations. And today, this beautiful bouquet of flowers was delivered for me at work (from my boss and my boss' boss):

How wonderfully thoughtful. It's a gorgeous bouquet with lavender-coloured roses, lilies, and other flowers I can't identify that are white and dark purple. I love flowers. They brighten up a room, smell lovely and great conversation starters (even with perfect strangers!).

So, I promised a short recap of the past weekend, here it goes. My friend Scott, whom I've met through Tucker, regularly organizes these roadtrips to music festivals. Until now, roadtrips had been reserved for guys, no girls allowed because we apparently would spend too much time on girly stuff and drive the guys crazy. I, not being a girly girl, had been bugging Scott to let me tag along on one of the trips. Well, here was my chance now. Scott and Tucker had planned to spend the weekend at Sasquatch, but they were looking at options to keep the price of the trip down. Scott asked if I was interested, I asked if I could bring another not girly-girl along (Sarah) and next thing you know, the four of us are planning a roadtrip.

Scott had already reserved a hotel room a 30-minute drive from the Gorge, so we had a place to stay, but we didn't have tickets. We soon learned that Sunday was sold out (that's the day when The Cure was performing). "Sold out is a state of mind", said Scott. We had no choice but to believe him and left Vancouver at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. Our destination was five hours away, quite a ways to drive when you're not sure you'll get in to the event.

We made it into Ephrata, Washington and checked in at Travelodge. We dropped by Safeway to buy some food and bottled water for the festival, then quickly visited the Subway for lunch. We then headed for the Gorge. The temperature was very warm and sunny, there was already a lineup of cars waiting to access the site when we arrived. Scott rolled down his window and started yelling: "Tickets, tickets, who's selling? We're looking for tickets if you're selling." Even in the traffic lineup, we got a few show of hands, or calls back. Unfortunately, we had to keep on moving and decided to focus on tickets once the car was parked.

Well, it took well over an hour to get our four tickets. At first, Sarah and I stayed at the car while the guys were scouting the parking lot. We didn't really know how to haggle for tickets, how much we should negotiate them for, hell, we didn't even know what to look for on the tickets themselves (how do you know if you're getting a real ticket?). But after only scoring two tickets, Scott came back, gave us a quick overview of his tricks and set us off to help.

We did pretty well for first timers and managed to buy two tickets (one for Saturday and one for Sunday) for $50 each. The face value was approximately $80, once you included taxes and surcharges. Not bad. With Scott's other tickets purchased at $20(!!), $45 and $50, we averaged $41 each for Saturday's show. I'll save you the details of our experience on Sunday, which was similar, but where we managed to average tickets at $35 each. We were apparently getting better at negotiating, and we bought one extra ticket that Scott managed to sell back to someone for $100. Unbelievable.

The two days of Sasquatch were incredible. If you've seen the pictures, you'll understand what I mean when I say that the site was incredible. Here are my highlights (and lowlights) of the weekend:

• Highlights: Discovering M.I.A.'s music and rushing down to the stage level to dance with the crowd, R.E.M. first hour, no sunburns, napping on the grass between shows, no lineup at the border (each way), people watching (the stories I could tell about how people dress), The New Pornographers and their amazing singer, Tegan & Sara who are two adorable sisters from Calgary, Sarah and I scoring our own tickets
• Lowlights: R.E.M. second hour (rain + wind = freezing), Modest Mouse (mainly screaming, not singing), waiting for The Kooks to start and giving up after 45 minutes of soundcheck, portable toilets in the evening (good thing for the night falling, you missed out on the gruesome details), not having a blanket and getting your ass wet from sitting directly on the grass

We drove back to Vancouver after The Cure (who gave a pretty good performance but played too many songs I didn't recognize), leaving the Gorge at 1 a.m. and making it back home around 5:30. I slept from 6:30 to 8, had a shower, and went to work for the day.

Would I do this again next year? You bet!

All Sasquatched out...

I'll write more later, 'cause right now I'm too tired and heading to bed. We made it back to Vancouver at six a.m. this morning, after driving all night. I slept for about 1.5 hour and went to work for the entire day. Yawn.

I posted a few pictures of the weekend :-)

Mosquitoes

Both my worm bins seem to be suffering from an infestation of mosquitoes. I opened the lids to dump some scraps and was greeted by a cloud of them both times. The good news is I also seem to have a few spiders who have set shop between the two bins and I am hopeful that they will help control the population. But that was a lot of mosquitoes, should I be concerned?

The bins are working well now, I can dump food on a regular basis and have been collecting compost every now and then to sprinkle in the pots outside. I still find the conditions a bit damp, maybe I'll add dry bedding this week to see if I can lower the moisture level.

Hopefully nobody starts complaining about mosquitoes flying around the garage :-(

Taste of summer

Until recently, the weather hadn't really given us a decent taste of spring with mornings usually in the single digits, and afternoon temperatures not going much beyond 12. However, last Thursday, someone flicked on the summer switch and wham! Sunny and warm weather for the next few days. I had forgotten how hot 30-degree weather can be. Nice.

This is a long weekend in BC, even better to fully enjoy the beautiful weather. On Saturday, I did a bit of shopping in the afternoon. I hit Main street which has a combination of thrift and second-hand stores, in addition to being home for several local designers. If you are looking for some unique frocks, this is the place to shop. I walked up and down Main from Broadway to about 23rd. I stopped by a few designer shops, including twigg&hottie and Narcissist. twigg&hottie have beautiful asymmetric clothes which fit perfectly if you are a small size, but don't necessarily translate well to a size 9-10. Narcissist has wonderful dresses and I tried a few, but somehow wasn't sold on any. I then visited Devil May Wear on 21st. There, I fell in love. Not only does Devil May Wear have wearable designs, but the clothes are also made of eco-friendly fabrics: organic cotton, bamboo, even some bamboo from Canada (as opposed to grown in China, as is most bamboo used in fabric). I had a chance to chat with the designer, Steph Ostler, who is such a lovely woman. You can tell she's really excited about what she does and the clothes she designs. She picked a few items from the rack for me to try, as she was describing where the fabric was from, how she came up with the ideas for the design. I settled on two items: a brown tank top with a seafoam lace trim and straps, and a black tube-top summer dress in soft bamboo. I also picked up a few pairs of earrings, not from Steph but from other designers she showcases at her boutique. If you have never visited the store, not only are the clothes affordable and carefully sourced, but they also look fantastic. I'm a fan!

Saturday night was dinner at Monk McQueens. This restaurant has one of the best patios in town and a decent selection of seafood. I won't say great seafood because their menu doesn't seem to follow the Ocean Wise guidelines. I should have asked questions about where the seafood was caught and how, but I forgot. I need to build that into my dining etiquette. It's true that not being part of the Ocean Wise program doesn't mean you don't serve sustainable seafood. However, Ocean Wise is a great promotional tool so I would wonder why a restaurant wouldn't sign up if they qualified. I had dinner with Scott, Sherri and Brian. We ordered some mussels in a spicy tomato broth to share, and I had grilled sablefish with a ratatouille side and mixed-seafood cake. The food was delicious, the sun was coming down over False Creek and the temperature was still warm at 9 p.m. Simply dreamy. After dinner, the gang came back to my place for a drink or two. We intended on going out, but my midnight, everyone was ready for bed.

Sunday morning started fairly early, as I wanted to eat a decent breakfast before my spinning class at 10:45. I went to class, then rushed back home to shower and grab a bite, because Sarah was picking me up around 1. We had plans to go for a hike, along with Sarah's friend Candice. Around 2, we picked up Candice and Charlie, her Pug-Boston Terrier mix dog. Charlie is quite the adorable little creature. He's a small dog but he has a lot of personality and always greets everyone he meets with a wagging tail and so much enthusiasm.

We drove to the North Shore, to Deep Cove as we were going to hike the Baden Powell trail between Deep Cove and Lynn Canyon. One way, it's approximately 13 kilometers on well-marked, fairly-easy terrain. The first part of the trail gains a bit of elevation until you reach the lookout, so it's a good workout, but the rest of the trail is very walkable. We set out around 2:45. Unfortunately, we never made it to Lynn Canyon as we took an unfortunate detour which added almost an hour to our trip. By the time we backtracked onto the Baden Powell and reached the crossing in the residential area, we realized that we still had over an hour of hiking to do and it was getting late. I uploaded a few pictures from the hike on Flickr.

Needless to say that I slept quite well last night. Today, the weather is cooler and it's raining, so I'm going to take it easy. I was going to take the level 2 climbing movement class tonight, but my legs and knees are a bit sore, so I decided to pass. The class is all about using your legs when you climb, and right now, my legs don't want to be used!

Movement

When you get started, climbing is fairly easy. Pretty much anyone can climb up a wall and make it to the top. But then, as you try the harder routes, you see the limits of your technique. Brute force can get you up part of the way, but it can also get you injured. I cannot get past the 5.9 routes.

Tonight, I attended a movement class at The Edge in North Vancouver. I normally climb at Cliffhanger because I have a pass, but the classes are a lot less expensive at The Edge and people who have taken them say they really learned a lot.

Boy was I happy I attended this particular class. Climbing movement is not intuitive, so you need to think about how to position your body. But the minute you pick up the right movement, holding on seems so easy. You struggle less and you position yourself better for the next hold.

I'm planning to attend level 2 on Monday. After that, lots and lots of practice will be required to build the proper movements into my muscle memory.

Speed dating

Yeah, you read that title correctly. I'm going to write about speed dating. Even better, I'm going to write about MY experience with speed dating. Be prepared to be amazed ;)

Speed dating, if you've only heard about the word but don't know what it stands for, is a way for a bunch of single people to meet other single people and determine if they would like to get in touch with any of the single people they meet at the speed dating event. They say you should know whether you've clicked with a person within the first few minutes of meeting them, hence the "speed" part. Speed dating was invented 10 years ago and if you do a bit of research, I'm sure you can find an event hosted in your area.

I went to my first speed dating event on Saturday. My friend Sarah wanted to give it a try and was looking for a partner in crime. I figured I could now check this off my list. Speed dating? Check! I live for new experiences. Sarah also invited her friend Candice. The three of us met at my place before stepping out, for a glass of wine and some chit chat.

At 7:30, we headed out to Juliet's Cafe in Kits. It's a small cafe probably popular with the locals but on Saturday night, it was empty but for a few nervous looking people. Interesting fact #1 about speed dating: girls attend with a least one friend (as we did), but guys show up alone. We were given name tags, a booklet to take notes and where you would identify your matches, and a free-drink coupon. Another glass of wine was certainly a good idea.

Interesting fact #2, as a woman, you get to sit your ass down for the entire event, as guys are the ones moving from one table to the other after each "date". A date is five minutes, and you figure out how much stuff you can really talk about in five minutes. But like they say, you know almost immediately if you are attracted to someone. Indeed, you do.

In total, I think I got to talk to about 12 guys, all between the ages of 30-40. We were all able to have pleasant conversations within the allocated time. Somehow, it's fairly easy to find at least one thing to talk about. Traveling, work, school, climbing... Out of 12 guys, I didn't pick a single match. Pleasant conversations don't necessarily mean that I found any of them interesting, intriguing, and I wasn't interested in seeing any of them for a second "date". Oh well.

Would I go to a speed dating event again? Probably not. First of all, there's a $50 price tag to the event. It seemed a little bit expensive for what you got. We did get one free drinks and some pretty terrible appies, but even then. I mean, $50 is far from the thousands of dollars you can pay to join professional match-making services (I am unfortunately not kidding), but then again, the selection of attendees is fairly random and only based on falling within an age range.

I didn't feel bad. After the event, Sarah, Candice and I went to Joey's on Broadway for some real food and to compare notes. Neither of us picked any matches. Welcome to Vancouver. A city full of beautiful, successful and independent single woman, and very little interesting single guys. If you ever wondered why I'm still single, here's your answer.

Happy

Or at least... content with life. There's nothing special going on, I spent a few quiet weekends now, but somehow, I'm really enjoying the downtime. I've been exercising more, reading more, eating better and cooking a lot (not always to a successful outcome, oh well).

I started my day early, around 8 a.m., so I could have enough time for breakfast and a coffee before my spinning class. I had a good class and this time, remembered to bring my heartrate monitor to help me adjust the intensity of the workout. I don't think I pushed as hard as I could, because I had enough energy to do other things afterwards, but my legs were tired and my right knee was starting to hurt. No point getting injured again.

I had lunch while listening to the end of the Vinyl Cafe and 30 minutes of Cross-Country Checkup. Today's topic was the economy and whether people were worried about their finances and a possible recession in Canada. I showered, dried my hair, and headed out for some shopping. It was a nice enough day, maybe 12-14, sunny with a light wind.

My first stop was MEC. I was looking for some casual clothes for the summer, capri pants, short-sleeve shirts, t-shirts, etc. I tried a bunch of stuff, but nothing really appealed to me (or fit properly). I ended up buying two t-shirts, 100% organic cotton thank you very much (and $10 each, how does that work?). I then walked to Choices and picked up some groceries. I was there for a few specialty items that I can't find at Sunshine Market or Save-on-Foods. Choices also has a better selection of organic meats. Unfortunately, their fish selection is poor. If I base my purchases on SeaChoice Canada's Seafood Guide, nothing at Choices falls in the "best choice" category, at least nothing that was available today. I think I did see one package of Sablefish, but it was tiny and wouldn't even feed one person.

I spent a few hours reviewing documentation (work stuff) so I could send my comments before the day starts in Bangalore. I then made dinner, sole baked in the oven and a green salad. Since I had the oven started, I also prepared a shepherd's pie with organic Russian Blue potatoes from Pemberton, canned corn kibbles and fake ground. The shepherd's pie was OK (I had a bite when it came out of the oven), the blue potatoes are sweet and give a lot of colour to the dish, but fake ground tastes, well, not like ground meat. I think next time I'll try it with ground buffalo.

After dinner, I watched Killer of Sheep, a movie made in 1977. It was supposed to be a classic of American cinema. I didn't really get into it.

And now, I'm happily going to change into my PJ's and read a bit before my eyes can't stay open anymore. The 8 a.m. early start at work doesn't even phase me, I feel well rested and ready to tackle the week.

No easy solution

Making our products and buildings greener means using recycled and less-toxic materials, right? Not exactly say the authors of Cradle to Cradle, a book I recently finished reading. This is a book that I strongly recommend. The book has an interesting position on the topic of product design and recycling:

1. Recycling is good, as we don't need to harvest additional raw material to create products, but it only really delays the trip to the dump. You can only recycle materials once, maybe twice. After that, the properties have been altered and the quality is usually not as good as that of the original material. Creating products from recycled materials also requires energy for processing and, some times, chemicals to clean impurities before making the product. Why is our traditional recycling falling short of expectation? Because products were never made to be recycled in the first place. Materials were mixed in ways that cannot be reversed. If we want to reverse the cycle of cradle to grave (products made for disposal), products must be designed to allow the recycling of their organic and technical materials.

2. Designing products cradle to cradle does not mean an end to economic prosperity. Our industry would transform itself from one of ownership to goods-as-services. Instead of buying a TV, then throwing it away three years later to get the latest model, we would sign contracts with TV manufacturers. We would lease our TV sets, and when new models become available, the manufacturer would replace the old TV with a new one, and take back the old set for recycling. TV sets, instead of being composed of a mix of plastics, metals and chemicals, would be designed to be pulled apart and recycled for raw materials.

There are no easy solutions to our current consumption cycles, but at least Cradle to Cradle offers some insights as to how we could stop creating products meant for disposal. This is an interesting departure from the focus on consuming less to create less waste.