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.

Not much of a weekend... perfect!

Actually, I did quite a bit through the weekend, it just didn't feel like it. My paperwork is up to date, my laundry is done, I baked muffins, made soup, read a few texts for school, cleaned my Hotmail inbox, invited Raf over for dinner Saturday night, rented movies (Bon Cop / Bad Cop and V for Vendetta), made it to the gym, did a bit of personal reading... I feel ready to take on the week which, incidentally, is going to be brutal. I have a 7:30 a.m. start tomorrow, an 8 a.m. start Tuesday (and a class from 6-9:30 p.m.), a 7 a.m. conference call on Wednesday (and another class from 6-9:30 p.m.), should be ready for the weekend by Thursday but then will still have Friday left to work.

As another non-resolution resolution, I have written down three visits to the gym in my weekly schedule, just so I feel compelled to go. Last semester was a disaster and I have so much more energy when I go to the gym regularly. Monday after work, Thursday after work and Saturday morning should be reasonable to maintain. Hopefully ;)

Resolutions

I started the year by deciding not to make any resolutions, but I think I should work on one or two personal goals this year. First resolution: send birthday wishes to friends and family. I took the time at one point to capture birthdays on my Palm, but last year had a horrible record of acting on the regular alarms from my PDA.

Second resolution: I will take one course in 2007 unrelated to the MBA. Maybe container gardening at Van Dusen, or a cooking class at the Cookshop, or even beginner golf. Raf, are you reading this? (It's more fun to take a course with a friend...)