The end

OK, I'm a few days late writing this post, but I figured that I needed to wrap up A Frog in BC, since this frog is no longer living in Vancouver. In October, it would have been six years since I first moved here. Almost made it ;)

I'll continue writing, because it's fun and now I have a new set of remote friends to keep informed, but the blog will be different: cue in Relearning Montreal. It's a placeholder for now, until I return from Greece and work on the layout and write a few things.

Bye bye BC, thanks for the good times, hope we see each other again soon. I will miss your mountains and the hiking, the amazing skiing in winter, the seawall, the mild winters and the great friends I have made over the past few years. Take good care of my sister Annie, give her a dry winter like the first one I experienced in 2002-2003.

These feet are made for walking...

And that's just what they did! Woot, another year, another 60 km walked to raise funds for and awareness about breast cancer. Although there seemed to be less walkers involved this year (around 1,600), the total amount raised for the Vancouver walk was incredible: $4.1 million! I raised almost $2,400, short of my $3,000 goal, but given that I did not invest much time in special fundraising events, it's quite the amount. Many, many thanks to everyone who contibuted!! I posted a few pictures from the event here.

Once again, the weather cooperated and we spent a sunny weekend walking around the city. This is the fifth year of the event in Vancouver and the third in which I participate. I've been lucky, because the two years I didn't participate endured rainy weather throughout the weekend. Was I better prepared? Well, not so much as far as the walking was concerned, I didn't do any long training walks but since I do walk all the time and everywhere, I managed pretty well. I was better prepared and educated about the event itself: stretching every hour, using Vaseline between the toes to avoid hotpots from rubbing (I have only one blister, not bad), changing sox at lunch, drinking lots of water throughout the day, and pacing myself were all factors in my making it to Sunday without major problems. Today, I am sore (especially at the hips) and my feet will prefer sandals for a few days but I feel great!

It was a tiring event, if only for the fact that you end up awake at 5:30 on both days. This year, I slept like a baby in the tent. It wasn't extremely cold, but I did wear a thin hat and I think it helped. I also took a muscle relaxant before going to bed, something I believe did contribute to my peaceful night. Joanne, who did the walk with me this year, and I were part of the lucky ones who did not get a rude awakening in the middle of the night. Someone forgot to turn off the sprinklers in the park and all of a sudden, some time around 2 a.m., it started pouring in a section of camp. Some sprinklers even came out from under a few tents. I heard about the commotion in the morning while chatting with other walkers. Sweet, sweet oblivion. Even then, you have to give it to participants to exhibit such positive attitude, campers who were soaked during the incident found the story quite funny the following morning.

And that attitude is a good reflection of the attitude of all participants, crew and supporters throughout the entire weekend. No matter how tired people are, how much pain they feel, the event is always a mixture of cheers, laughter, and overall camaraderie. Breast cancer is a terrible disease, but the fight against breast cancer truly brings the best out of people.

Lean

It's strange to live in the condo when most of my stuff and some of my furniture is gone, the whole place looks very impersonal and empty. The movers came on Thursday and took LOTS of boxes away (where does all this come from? I live in a one-bedroom, how come I have accumulated so many things??). Then, on Friday and Saturday, the painter was working on the place and did an awesome job, especially considering the high ceilings and number of surfaces he had to paint. I'm happy with the results, the walls look so bright and clean.

Annie arrived last night and spent the day with me and a couple of friends at the beach. The weather was looking cloudy and cool in the morning, but the sun came out in the afternoon and we had a great time! I had rented a volleyball net and we played some beach volleyball. I haven't played all summer, it took a little while to remember the motions but I eventually was right back in the game.

This week will be quieter, wrapping up things in Vancouver, helping Annie get settled in and reading my travel guide for Greece. I'm looking forward to my vacation.

Packing

Packing is OK, assuming you don't have a hard time finding boxes. Must be because it's the end of the month, but all stores I've hit for spare boxes are out, including the liquor stores (normally a great source of sturdy boxes for heavy items). I had to BUY boxes, go figure. Fortunately, I'll be able to claim up to $2,000 of my moving expenses with my new employer. Yay!

I met with my realtor on Friday morning. This lady is incredible. The last time I saw her was probably in 2004, when she sold one of my neighbour's place. When I called to set up an appointment, she said "Melissa? Oh yes, with the condo on West 8th?" She's good. I wanted to sit down with her to get an idea of which renovations I should focus on to prepare my place for the market. First thing she said? The carpets have to do. I cringed at the statement, this means the staircase and top floor need hardwood and it's going to be expensive. What else? The place needs a fresh coat of pain. Agreed. Fortunately, I had just met with a contractor (recommended by two colleagues) who quoted me a very reasonable price to repaint almost the entire condo. What else? Replace the linoleum floors in the bathroom and kitchen with tiles. Yup, already on that and I'm getting an estimate from the tile guy working for Rona tomorrow morning.

She said that spending $10,000-15,000 on the place could get me an additional $20,000-30,000 on the selling price. In any case, I'll recover at least the cost of the renovations and it will make my place much more attractive to buyers. The market has become more competitive in Vancouver, condos don't sell as quickly as they used to.

I'm sad that I, unfortunately, won't be the one enjoying the renovated place. Annie will get to live in a snazzy one-bedroom condo in Vancouver. What she doesn't know yet is that she'll probably have to live through some of the renovations, as most contractors are not available to do the job within the next two weeks ;)

Better

Day #2 of my non-employment and I managed to get a few things done, good. Yesterday was my birthday and I didn't lift a finger. OK, I bought food but that's because I was in the mood to cook, not to order out.

Having three weeks to prepare for my move back may seem like a lot of time, but if I'm not careful, the days will fly by and I won't get anything done. Let's be honest, it's quite tempting to be lazy. I just have to keep on reminding myself that Greece will be the place for no work and lazy afternoons on the beach.

Paperwork was the first order of the day, cheques that needed to be mailed, forms that needed completing (including one for my International Driving Permit) and I always seem to have lots of paperwork that needs sorting. I'll have to devise a better system than dropping everything that comes through the mailslot on my dining room table and then sorting it when I need space to eat :-)

I visited a local accountant to understand how I can rent my place without it losing its status as my primary residence. I thought I was going to need an appointment, but he kindly offered me a few tips (for free) and the process is pretty straightforward. So I passed on the appointment.

I then dropped by Home Depot on Cambie to check out paint colors, countertops and tiles. I'm not 100% sure how much I can spend on renovations, but I'd like to do a few upgrades to give the place an updated and clean look. I'm pretty certain I'll have painters in to fix cracks and apply a fresh coat of paint. That's one of the most worthwhile renos if you plan on selling, and because my ceilings are so high, it's not something I would do. I would like to also replace the countertop in the kitchen and tile both the kitchen and bathroom floors. Again, nothing big but visual upgrades that would have an impact. I'm unsure about appliances, I'd like to replace mine, but I think I'll speak to my realtor first. If I put in cheap appliances to sell, they'll be replaced. My appliances are old, but they are good quality and work well.

I found an interesting laminate countertop with a textured surface, in chocolate brown. I also found cute tiles for the backdrop in the kitchen (just a small strip over the counter). I didn't find tiles for the floor yet, nothing HD had was really what I was looking for. I want to visit Rona and IKEA to see what options they have to offer. I'll do that probably tomorrow.

So I managed to knock down a few items from my extensive to-do list. Some progress is nice :-)

I received a call from Sarah today who told me that our friend Gwen gave birth to her baby daughter yesterday, August 18, same day as MY birthday!! Woot!

Just like that...

Yesterday was my last day at work. After three years working with the same company, I finally said my goodbyes, packed my personal belongings and made it out the front door without my access card. It doesn't feel weird yet, but it will on Monday when I wake up and think "is it nice out? should I go climbing?"

:-)

It was a short day, something I was really happy with since Annie and I had gone to bed around 1 a.m. the night before. She flew in Thursday morning and I met her at Christ Church Cathedral downtown for a concert by Cuban pianist extraordinaire Ernán López-Nussa. What a musician! After the concert, we were invited to a house party at George's place in Point Grey (Annie is taking George's place at Festival Vancouver starting in September). The party was lovely, we ate hamburgers on the patio, had wine, and chatted with a bunch of people involved with or participating in Festival Vancouver. The impromptu jam session in the living room was phenomenal, musicians who never played together improvising a few jazz tunes like it's second nature. So much fun.

Last night was my birthday dinner with friends (pictures here). I wanted to have it while Annie was in town, and a few people couldn't make it on Saturday, so we settled for Friday. We ate at Monk McQueen's, always a favourite for fresh seafood and one of the most impressive patios in the city. Especially on a hot summer evening, when the sky is turning all kinds of pastel colors as the sun is setting, and you are sitting by the water while sailboats float by. We arrived at 7:30, only made it to our table by 8:15, but I think we closed the restaurant. Afterwards, we popped in next door at a pub that recently re-opened as a more upscale bar. Once again, another fabulous venue with a large patio over the marina. After closing the bar (it's located in a residential area, so the closing time is 1 a.m.), we headed back home, both Annie and I were tired and I had to get up early to volunteer at Dress for Success. So much fun!!!

Tonight we have another concert at the Chan Centre: the Ju Percussion Group from Taiwan. I can't wait.

I guess it's official now

I am moving back to Montreal in September. Well, OK, not exactly in September because I really only plan to be in town for a few hours on September 10, before leaving for 17 days in Greece. However, when I return from Greece on the 27, my final destination will be Montreal.

After almost six years living in Vancouver (October 26 would have been my sixth year anniversary), I can honestly say that the decision to move back was not taken lightly. It represents a major change and I know that I am moving away from so many amazing friendships and incredible outdoors experiences. I will truly miss my friends from Vancouver, but I felt this was the right thing to do at this point in my life. It also helps that I have been offered a job that I'm extremely interested in. Nothing I have come across in Vancouver and in Montreal stirred my interest like this position. I'm excited.

I will continue working at my current job until Friday. The word has started going around the office that I'm leaving and it's heart-warming to see how people are genuinely sad to see me go. I have amazing colleagues, they've helped me keep sane while dealing with some of the crazy realities of work. After three years, we feel comfortable together and we work efficiently, because we know each other well. I hope I can build such meaningful work relationships in my next job.

Once I'm done with work, I have a few weeks to get things sorted out, pack my stuff and prepare for the move. Moving will be a lot easier this time. First, I'm not taking all my furniture back, as Annie is renting my place and keeping the essentials. When I find an apartment in Montreal, I'll use her furniture until she comes back from Vancouver. Also, I don't have to worry about where I'll be staying until I find my own place, as my parents have kindly offered me my old room back.

My challenge over the next few weeks will be to find the time to meet with friends, take in as much of the Vancouver sights as I can, work on my outdoors climbing skills (in preparation for Greece, where we hope to climb in Meteora), prepare the condo, and pack what I plan to bring back. I'm happy I decided to work only until the 15 because working until the end of the month would have meant a mad rush during the first 9 days of September.

Am I 100% sure that I am making the right decision by moving? No, there's obviously doubt. But I am trusting my gut instinct with this decision, as well as my heart, and both are pointing East.

Who needs TV...

I just discovered I can watch coverage of the Olympics on cbc.ca. Beach volleyball anyone? Very cool. I'm sure if I search a bit I can also find an online recording of the opening ceremonies.

Pain

I can walk, but my legs are stiff. If I sit down for too long, when I get up, I have to take a few steps to let my legs recover primary functions (i.e. not trip over themselves).

I'M SO SORE!

I blame Sarah. We went hiking yesterday (BC Day, woot!) and had an amazing afternoon going up and down Goat Mountain (pictures here). The sun was shining, it was hot, and we had some company on the trail, but nothing annoying. When we headed back down, we discovered the biggest lineup we'd ever seen for the SkyRide down from Grouse Mountain. It represented probably well over an hour of waiting. We were tired, and getting hungry, but Sarah suggested that we walk down instead. "I can't", I said, "my knees won't survive." But Sarah seemed to think the BCMC trail would be less steep than the Grind.

Not.

The BCMC trail is longer than the Grind and just as steep. We even ended up off trail for a little while, until we realized we were heading straight East (wrong direction). We cut through bushes and unmarked terrain to head back to the trail. It was almost 10 p.m. by the time we came out of the forest, we could barely see. We were both relieved and seriously hurting from this last part of the hike. I don't think we were ever in danger, but people do get lost on Grouse and have to call 911 to get rescued off the mountain. Neither of us wanted to call the rescue team, our pride kept us walking down.

Lesson #1: always pack for a longer hike than originally planned. More food, more water... a headlamp would also have been nice. Lesson #2: never, ever, attempt hiking down Grouse again.

Hurray for the long weekend!

If everything had gone according to plan, I would be in Whistler this morning, not at home on the computer typing this post. However, the plan to head up to Whistler was derailed (along with the actual railroad) by a massive rock slide on the Sea-to-Sky highway. If you've ever been to Vancouver and made the trip to Whistler, you'd know that there's one highway connecting the two and that highway is built along a rocky cliff. The rock slide happened on Tuesday night and probably won't be cleared until Monday. The alternative is a seven hour car drive (going to Whistler normally takes 90 minutes), to which we obviously said "no". So I'm staying in Vancouver instead.

There's been a lot of speculation and fear mongering about the slide. What if this was to happen during the Olympics? Could it have been triggered by the construction being done in the area (to expand the highway to two lanes each way)? Could the fact that 40,000 people (in addition to a whole lot of heavy equipment) made the trip to and from last weekend for the Pemberton music festival? Who knows. But hopefully the chance of this repeating itself is slim. When boulders the size of small houses come crashing down, the damage is immense.

Last night, I went out for dinner with Sarah. We headed out to Denman street at Café de Paris, a little French restaurant neither of us had tried. It was a delicious meal, we had terrine de lapin as a starter, then I had osso bucco and Sarah ordered the duck. Yum. After dinner, we took a cab to Granville, as the evening was still young and it wasn't cold or raining outside. We ended up at Republic. Fortunately, we arrived early enough to avoid the lineups and cover charge, and we were allowed to keep our jackets ('cause paying $5 each for coat check seems silly). We sat upstairs and ordered a couple of drinks: one martini and one gin&tonic... $17! Wow. Really expensive, it's not as if we were ordering premium brands. The music in the early part of the evening was good, mainly house. We stepped out around 10:30 to get some fresh air before going back in to dance. Unfortunately, by the time we made it to the dance floor, there was a new DJ spinning and both his choice of music and mixing abilities were terrible. There was no dancing to this crap, most people seemed pretty happy just to bob along ('cause I can't call what they were doing "dancing"), but c'mon. Give me something to work with. We gave the new DJ a chance to improve and headed to the bar for a couple of shots of vodka and RedBull. $20! What?? This wasn't Grey Goose and nectar of some exotic fruit, it was cheap vodka and a sugar/caffeine drink. The music never improved, so we left.

Bar in Vancouver are a hit and miss. I don't go out often, so I guess it's hard for me to know where's the good place to go on a Friday evening. Republic is clearly NOT the place. At least, if the music was awesome, I would have forgiven them for the price of drinks. I'll head back to Ginger 62 before going to Republic again. At Ginger, I remember getting a gin&tonic for $5.50, maybe $6. And the music is typically decent enough for dancing.

Fundraising

I had the pleasure of encouraging my friend Steve through a fundraising stunt that had him post 48 blog entries in 24 hours, all in an effort to raise funds for the Montreal Childen's Hospital Autism Clinic. Steve raised almost $1,800, which is incredible. His initiative was also the focus of an article in the Montreal Gazette on Saturday. In the article, Steve talked about the 24 hours of blogging really being a stunt, maybe a bit of a silly way to raise funds for a cause, just like walking two days for breast cancer. I had a laugh when I read this, because indeed, this is what I'll be doing during The Weekend to End Breast Cancer in September.

A lot of fundraising these days is done through such "stunts". Some are physical challenges that most people could train for and complete safely (CIBC Run for the Cure 5km run for breast cancer, or The Weekend, for example), while others are incredible endurance events that most people would not sanely embark upon (Running the Sahara, 7,000 km in 111 days straight by three endurance runners, raising money for clean water in Africa). I think the common thread of all these events is that not only do they raise funds, but they also raise awareness. When the media covers the different stories, they also publish some background about the illness, or issue. That, I think, is the key driver behind the stunts. It also gives the opportunity for people who want to get involved to feel like they are physically doing something to help a cause.

I challenge you to get involved in a fundraising event in the future. Find an activity that you enjoy doing (you can walk, bike, dance, and even write blog posts) and raise funds for a cause that is close to your heart. Then, tell everyone that you know about your initiative. The biggest donations often come from the most unlikely sources, friends you haven't seen for ages, colleagues you don't know very well... But as I have discovered, raising funds is not that hard because people are really generous and want to encourage you. To this day, I have raised over $7,000 for breast cancer research, $1775 for this year's edition of The Walk.

Go ahead, give it a try.