Avec Guimauves...

Don't you wish you were at the library that day?

2010-05-19T22:16:00.000-06:00

I'm Only a Guest*

2010-01-24T15:50:00.004-07:00

Last night I went with Ryan to go see Putting it Together at the Cornerstone Theatre in Canmore. (It was a really good show; I left feeling like I need more Sondheim in my life). SSo it is also dinner theatre, but because of the set up, it's family-style. So we're sitting at a table with 6 other people; the 4 at the other end are all together so we're sitting across from a couple of women.

Now it's a bit clear from the outset that they're not interested in making small talk with us, which is fine. But due to the close proximity of our seating, it was kinda impossible to NOT pay attention to them a little bit. They seemed to be a bit awkward with eachother, like they were on a 2nd or 3rd date. (Driving to Canmore seems like a bit much for a 1st date - hence the 2nd or 3rd). The point - we were sitting close enough that we could get a sense of what their relationship might be, and you would think they would get the same idea about us...

So I go to use the restroom after dessert and before the show, and while I'm gone the server brought a carafe of coffee for the table. The ladies help themselves, offer some to Ryan and then ask him if his "guest" would like some coffee. His "guest"? Who says that? We aren't bf/gf obvs ;) but I think our conversation during dinner made it pretty clear that we are friends, and very good friends at that...

It was so weird. Who says that? And then they left at intermission without paying for their drinks (granted the tab was only about $7.50 - yes I looked - but still...) Weird.

*Bonus if you know the movie the title of the post is from

My Olympic Moment

2010-01-20T23:19:00.022-07:00

Yesterday was the big day. My time to shine. At approximately 10:37 AM MST I would carrying the Olympic Flame for 300m. Two blocks. 15th St to 13th St NW - along 20th Ave NW.

The whole event took about 3 hours from registering at a gathering point to being returned there by a shuttle bus after everyone in my group had completed their leg of the relay...

I was super-excited but a bit nervous about tripping or doing something else embarrassing... It all went off without a hitch. I wasn't able to get any photos myself during the day, but here are a few I've gotten so far...

{gathered for pre-run debriefing}

{waiting to board the shuttle bus}

{carrying the Torch}

{passing the Olympic Flame}

{with my nephews}

{the banner - click on an image to see the messages}

{kookie stationary}

It Arrived!!!

2010-01-11T23:15:00.006-07:00

Check it:

I'll get a better picture next week so you can see the whole outfit + torch (and I don't have to balance the camera on my TV to take the picture). It's pretty awesome, I'm not gonna lie.

And I now have the awesome red mitts except maple leaf on the palm is a grip so I don't drop the torch!!

Trade Day

2010-01-07T22:41:00.002-07:00

So I've been in the cellar of my hockey pool for the last couple of months. I wasn't doing too badly at the start, I was holding my own around 7th or 8th place (out of 18 teams) That lasted about a month. And for about 6 weeks straight I had 5 (fairly seriously) injured players - one guy was hurt in the first game, the day of the draft... Since we don't have substitutions, if one guy gets hurt, it kinda sucks, if three get injured things aren't looking good, but with 5 injuries, you're S.O.L. I've slowly been climbing back - Markov has scored at least a point in every game he's been in since coming back.

So Trade Day was earlier this week. As the person in last place, I got to pick up the undrafted player with the most points (Plekanec) though sadly I don't get the points he'd scored to date - that would have made things way more interesting, IMHO. I also ditched one player who was performing so badly that it angered me just to see his name on my roster. I had to trade him. For my sanity. The trades would take effect the next day, but wouldn't you know it - that night, my team scored enough points to move me out of last place. It is all about pride after all.

Speaking of pride - gauntlets have been thrown. Apparently my team needs to step it up for the triathlon. There are a few other teams from my department that enter and last year one group got 3rd place. So yesterday, one of my co-worker teammates came in to find that someone had taken the 3rd place medal out of one office and put it on her desk. Overnight. and her office was locked. We have no idea who or how. Not that we're a threat. We're more interested in just finishing the race, let alone worrying about how well we do.

What have I gotten myself into?!?!?

2010-01-05T23:41:00.002-07:00

During a few work parties and some glasses of wine, I agreed to participate in a triathlon. A. Triathlon. Yeah.

It's actually not quite as bad as it sounds. It's a team-relay, so I'll only have to do on leg of the race - the cycling. And it's a sprint distance, so 17.5 km. But as with all those things we agree to in those moments, you're never quite sure how serious people are - if everyone says "I'll do it if you'll do it," will you actually do it? First day back at work, we signed up.

So on a (hopefully) mild April afternoon, I will be triathloning. I figured I should hit the gym and see how long it might take one to pedal 17.5 km, or if one could do it at all for that matter. The result wasn't terrible, but wasn't great either. I definitely have something to work towards over the next 3 months...

O Christmas Tree...

2009-12-20T12:15:00.011-07:00

On Thursday I went out and got my very own Christmas tree for the first time - a nice tiny little tree for my apartment. It's about 4' tall and was just big enough to fit all the decorations I have accrued over the years. I never bothered to decorate before as I've been traveling for Christmas over the past few years.

I also convinced my mom that she should give me the old ceramic table-top tree that my grandma made years ago, so now I have two trees!!

Though I'm not exactly sure when I'll have time to enjoy them. I think there is some sort of Holiday function every day for the next week. Not that I'm complaining ;) Tomorrow is work-related party 4/4 (yeah, I know I have an awesome job) and then lots of stuff with friends and family. Luckily, I'm almost done with the Christmas shopping - I only have to get my sister-in-law's gift(s). I'm not sure exactly what to get, but at least I know where to shop. I did finish making my nephews' gifts for Christmas though, which turned out pretty well:

Weird Weird Weird

2009-12-08T20:26:00.004-07:00

I got an email today saying that my cell phone bill was ready. (I don't get paper bills, how environmentally friendly of me.) The strange thing is that it was from my old cellphone service provider - a December 2009 bill for a phone I canceled in AUGUST 2005.

Yeah. Not sure what it's all about. I haven't heard from them in over 3 years at least! So I called. I almost didn't. I thought about leaving it for another day; telling myself I was too "busy" to do it tonight. But I called and I'm glad I did...

It turns out that they still owe me a bit of a refund. $27.45 to be exact. A nice little windfall, and the cheque's in the mail.

Some Exciting News...

2009-12-04T16:00:00.003-07:00

I hope that certain people are going to live up to their promise to hold up a boom-box playing Chariots of Fire...

because I get to carry the Olympic Torch on January 19th!!!

I am so thrilled!! Plus, check out the outfit I'll get:

I didn't quite realize...

2009-11-01T21:02:00.005-07:00

exactly how long it has been since I last posted... I would have sworn up and down that there would have at least been an obligatory "Yippee! I started my job & it's my birthday" post but apparently not...

So what HAVE I been up to the past 3 months that's keeping me so busy? The aforementioned job - the past few months have been super busy but it'll start to slow down after Remembrance Day (or so I keep telling myself); I moved into a new apartment which has come together quite nicely; spending time re-acquainting myself with Calgary; and general day-to-day goings on...

In future I will try not to be such a slacker...

Road Trip!!

2009-07-31T14:42:00.005-06:00

I'm glad it's a long weekend - granted every weekend for the past few months could qualify as such in my world - but I've only got two more so I must make the most of them...

On Sunday, Chantal and I are heading out on a mini-road-trip, down to Montana for some cross-border shopping. (fingers crossed that the dollar will climb a bit more before the end of the day). Mainly I'm looking for a few things for my new apartment, and the perfect back-to-work outfit. We of course will have the necessary road-trip supplies (cookies and beef jerky), passports in hand, a camera, and an iPod ready with tunes (and hats - roadtrippin' hats). I'm excited.

As an unrelated aside, I pretty much don't care who wins SYTYCD this season. Since Janette and Ade were voted off, I'm kinda meh on the rest of them. Plus I'm not sure that bringing back the Emmy-nominated routines from last season was a good idea. It just made it ever so aparent how lackluster Season 5 has been.

Have an enjoyable weekend!!

The Un-Exodus is Complete.

2009-07-23T20:26:00.003-06:00

It's official. All addresses, licenses, registrations, identifications, etc. etc. etc. have been notified and changed over. My Health Card arrived today - the last thing I needed to be a full-fledged Albertan again.

After nearly 5 years, I'm back baby!!

SYTYCD - How you disappoint me...

2009-07-09T23:48:00.004-06:00

Let's be clear. It's not the dancing; not really - though I do think last year had way more personality. There have been fewer really memorable or specatcular routines this time around. (Last night's Wade Robson routine excepted)

It's the judges. I know they have favourites. That is bound to happen. But I don't think they have ever been SO blatantly obvious about who those favourites are. And it's getting obnoxious and annoying. Like last week, when Mia Michaels basically told Kayla and Kupono that they were not going home, before they ever danced for their lives. Kupono went on to dance the worst solo in the history of the show, which Nigel basically said, but they kept him anyways.

I can only guess that backlash over that decision led Nigel to "explain" this week that the judges know the bottom 3 in the morning of results day, and have pretty much made up their minds before the solos - and that the solos rarely change their minds, but they can. Frankly if a great solo can save a dancer, then a terrible one should clearly send them home, no matter how favoured they are (especially when they also state they are prepared to go home). Speaking of all the judge-love, I do not get their obsession with Kayla either.

As for tonight - I think Nigel really wanted to keep Phillip for the tour but couldn't justifiy keeping him in the competition as he doesn't do well in a variety of styles, so insteady they just made it a Top 12 tour instead.

All these shenanigans are making the show a bit less enjoyable for me. I am fully aware this is how it has been in the past, it's just way more heavy-handed and blatant now - I'd rather be subtly manipultaed and won over by spectacular, sensational routines than beaten over the head with it...

Happy Dominion Day!

2009-07-01T12:33:00.003-06:00

That sounds so much better to me. I'm not sure why they had to change the name.

After many years of being out of the country on July 1st, I'm happy to be on home turf this year. Thinking about maybe going to see the fireworks downtown but we'll see... And I could totally go for some Harvey's today...

Happy Canada Day!!

Happy Birthday Bek!

2009-06-28T10:58:00.005-06:00

Despite the fact you are spending the day driving to fieldwork I hope it is delightful!! (Hey you could play the birthday card and make Dave listen to Dr. Horrible the whole way... ooooh.) Though I know it won't be as fun as last year (because how can you top that?) have a very happy birthday!! Mwah!

(These pictures are from last year - see how fun it was)

Slap your troubles away

2009-05-27T08:45:00.000-06:00

I was watching a documentary on CBCNewsworld last night - well the commercials were nearly all little infomercials - seemed a bit odd for the CBC but it was getting a bit late...

I saw a commercial for a product I'd never seen before - the Slap Chop - featuring the ShamWow guy. It was pretty funny. The demos reminded me of the Magic Bullet commercial (but without hungover Bernie) and lines like "stop having a boring tuna, stop having a boring life" and "you're gonna love my nuts" just add to the sheer hilarity of it all. But the kicker - this infomercial was filmed before poor Vince's legal troubles, but this Canadian version made a little edit and reminds us to "slap your troubles away, like Vince."

Happy Mother's Day!!

2009-05-10T12:55:00.002-06:00

To a fantabulous mom.

I love you Mummie!!

2009-05-08T00:01:00.003-06:00

Well mes petit-guimauves, apologies for disappearing over the past couple of weeks. Things got a bit busy there. And yes, this is just a tiny post to tell you what you've probably noticed... But I'm back (with a spiffy new look) and the fun will again ensue (soon - I promise!!). I decided to change the layout because the other one had a glitch that made getting a proper alignment/layout with photos a huge pain. Hopefully this one will work a bit better in that regard.

If anything's not working right for ya with the new layout let me know!

You can call me Master-Master

2009-04-18T15:21:00.004-06:00

I'm done the classes and in June it will be official:

I. Am. A. Librarian.

In actuality it was a titch anti-climactic because I did hand in my last paper about 3 weeks ago, but still a great feeling...

The next week is still busy with finishing up at Queen's, packing, movers, EpicRoadTrip, wedding, and finally back to Calgary.

Now I'm just waiting for the Conan the Librarian jokes from my brothers to start...

Project Runway Finale

2009-04-14T21:45:00.002-06:00

I'm kinda sad that this season of Project Runway Canada has come to an end. It was one of the best seasons of PR ever (including all the US ones). It wouldn't be such a great feat if I was only counting PRC since this was only season 2... The designers were mediocre at best (except Sunny & Biffi) but the drama was priceless.

The final 3 were Sunny Fong, Jessica Biffi, and Jason Meyers. The second the judges started talking about the collections it was clear who the winner would be. And I'm proud to say I totally called it.

I'll miss my PRC but at least I have Top Chef Masters to look forward to (NPH as a guest judge!!). Some of the contestants have been judges on the show before and I'm sure they'll be killer in the competition, especially Wylie Dufresne & Hubert Keller. If only they'd gotten Bourdain to do the show too - that would have been awesome.

TGIT

2009-04-08T14:37:00.007-06:00

It is so nice to have a short week. I'm looking forward to having tomorrow off and 3 days of sleeping in... My big plan for the weekend is to hit up stores for 1/2 price Easter candy - yay MiniEggs!! And since Lent is over (Saturday, 7:46 PM EDT) I can get back to my regularly scheduled snacking... Oh how I've missed you my deliciousness.

Spring?

2009-04-02T10:36:00.005-06:00

I was watching Project Runway Canada the other night (if you haven't been watching you're missing out) and I thought I saw the most definite sign that spring has sprung... I was fast-forwarding through commercials (thank you TiVo) and I was sure it was him - The brown jacket, the trucker hat... THE OPG GUY*!! Sadly I was wrong (stupid other commercial makin' a fool outta me)

But just for you Sarah, I went and found him:

*OPG Guy is the Ontario Produce Guy. Yes I know it's redundant with the G and the Guy but OPG doesn't really work on its own and OP Guy doesn't either

RIP TLFKAR (2007-2009)

2009-03-24T18:18:00.014-06:00

Yeah - so the last couple days have been something of a doozy...

I was working on my *very last paper EVER* when my laptop fell; well my foot got caught in the cord as I was getting up - results were not pretty...

*Photo Reenactment

It seemed like it was ok when I first picked it up... but it quickly froze up and wouldn't reboot. When I did the factory reset it was the same error as last August when the hard-drive crashed. FATAL ERROR. Yeah. And I still had to get that paper done... from scratch. Not a good Sunday. And now The Laptop Formerly Known As Roger is no more.

Since I've still got to get through finishing the semester and finding a job I had to go get a new toy to play with. Meet Cyril:

Why Cyril? Since he's a Hewlett-Packard, I felt like he needed an upper-crust sort of name. And for some reason The Raccoons were in my head. Since it's black (like my heart) Cyril seemed very apropos...

The Madness that is March

2009-03-19T14:47:00.004-06:00

I never really enjoyed basketball at all until I filled out my first bracket. I used to think March Madness was boring and annoying because it preempted my TV. But once I'd actually picked a teams to win, it gave me someone to root for; someone to be invested in. Plus I like being right and winning (I still feel like Duke betrayed by me going out in the 1st round that year). And yes, I make some of my picks the girly way - team colours, if I know someone who goes/went there, if I think one team's mascot could beat the other team's mascot in a fight. This year I threw my job search into the equation and if I was applying to that school, or maybe even one near by/in the same state, chances are good I have you getting out of the first round at least... (Hey Pete, if I'm making picks the girly way and our brackets are pretty similar, what's your excuse?)

Question: If you're in multiple pools, do you make the same picks or do you change it up on games you feel are a toss up, choosing one team in pool A and the other for pool B?

I do try and base it on the rankings somewhat, so unfortunately (being ranked #10) I couldn't send my favourite team very far. My Fear Turtles*...

I will be a bit sad when I have to cheer against you, but for now Go Fear Turtles Go!!!

*I DO know that Maryland is actually the Terps

Biped Awareness Day!!

2009-03-12T18:07:00.003-06:00

Yes! People! It is that glorious day! When we all can *stand* proud and say "I'm a biped!!"

I've got two legs from my hips to the ground and,
When I move 'em they walk around and,
When I raise 'em they climb the stairs and,
When I shave 'em they ain't got hairs,
I've got two legs...

~Monty Python

Happy Biped Awareness Day!!