Home Stretch

Here are my new tomatoes for this summer. Unfortunately, they will probably peak after we leave here, but I still can't resist!


Also, I decided only to have one plant this summer instead of two, because they take so long to harvest. Instead, what I decided one day on a whim was to toss a potato eye (from one of the potatoes in the sack that went awry) and let it grow. And boy has it grown - it literally grew three inches over a day!

Will there be potatoes? I doubt it.

Counting this day, I have only 9 days of work left. (For those of you who keep count of "work days" as M-F, in the teaching world it's M-Sun.) It's the home stretch! After the graduation ceremony on the 30th, I plan to jet (train) off to Quebec City for a week, after 6 months of not having visited. It's going to be the BIG BIRTHDAY BASH on the 3rd. I don't know what the celebrations have been like so far this year in QC, but I hope they'll be FREE.

So if anyone wants to come with me (which Jorghnassen can't do because he has to stay here and teach), I'd be so happy. :D:D:D

Then I have to return to Waterloo to get preparations going. And give two workshops for the summer camp at the school. >_<

So lonely :(

HAI POE-PLE!1!

If you have time to travel and would like to see... uh... a lot of horse farms and Mennonites... come visit us! The VIA Rail 59$ sale is on, between Montreal and Toronto, and Ottawa and Toronto. It's another 20 bucks or so to get to Waterloo from Toronto, and that can be done by train or bus probably just as easily.

Come tour the region famous for Blackberries that can't be eaten, pyjama and sweat pants, and a lot of sourdough blobs of flour. Marvel at hordes of altogether six cars during rush hour, farmer's markets with fresh crops from Mexico and South America, and Exciting Quilts!!!!!!

And come see Guelph. Yeah, THAT Guelph.

Wow, what am I going to do in Ottawa?

Finally, I think it is safe to announce, and it's about time. (I waited to let Jorghnassen announce it but he seems to not have wanted to do the official announcement.)

Jorghnassen has secured his tenure-track position with U.Ottawa, and we are going to be headed to Ottawa by the end of August. Exciting!

This means I will have to bid farewell my current students, and the school where I helped develop one of the most gut-wrenchingly depressing mathematics programs in all of Southwestern Ontario. (Depressing... for them, mwa ha ha ha...) Seriously, if they don't give me a good reference then I'm quitting teaching forever. :(

I will also have to go out there once again and find a job where I will not become blacklisted for being maddeningly under-trained by everyone in charge of such work that I have ever encountered. I've definitely had a butt-load of self realization, development, and reflection happen over the course of the last several years. As for becoming a better teacher? I have yet to understand if/how that can be achieved.

I spent the last weekend with Jorgh in Ottawa, but I had to come back today to work tomorrow. Jorgh has a stats conference in Ottawa that he is attempting to attend, but I suppose I'll let him talk about it.

What am I going to do in Ottawa? Well, that will have to wait. In the meantime I will probably blanket some CVs but one thing's for sure: I ain't workin' this summer.

Some :( and :) but more :(

Some time last week, my mum told me that the water spout leading to the outside of our apartment in Quebec exploded and flooded my room. Fortunately only the floor was flooded, but unfortunately it destroyed all the stuff that was paper and lying on the floor. Which was everything under the bed. She had to throw out all the things that were soaked. This soggy wet pile included artwork from high school, school notes, some other books, and other mementos from the 199X's.

However, I have come to a reluctant acceptance of how these things were by no means something I would miss terribly. They were items that did have some significant meaning at the time, and that is why I kept them. But if they had been of more meaning I would have probably put them somewhere not under the bed. (Kind of like the Clean Sweep philosophy.)

This holiday weekend has been rather unexciting. I have a pile of midterms yet to finish, but that is my own fault for being a procrastinator.

Next weekend however, we're heading to Ottawa to hang out with Donnah. :D Jorghnassen has a conference, and I'm going to be taking Monday off so I can stay a bit longer.

Yes, big news looms ahead...!

In the meantime, I have more work to look forward to. The kids want cookies...

I giiiiiive uuuuuuuppppppp :(

Another one of those tax-related worries. For part of the year last year, I mentioned that I was considered self-employed or I was supposed to get some business number otherwise. I didn't register a number and now my taxes are a million times more complicated, including filling out another separate form for a reason absolutely escaping me.

I spent the weekend with Jorgh ripping our hair out over these forms, and tomorrow we're heading to H&R Block and hope to GOD that someone out there will do this for us.

How many :(:(:(:(:('s ? LOTS.

I haven't posted in a while due to general lethargy and/or Puzzle Pirates addiction. Seriously, I think playing as a Playmobil character pretending to be a pirate is awesome, among a bunch of SA goons, to boot.

Anyway, I wanted to report on our most recent outings. Yesterday we went to the Daily Grill, a casual diner style restaurant that would probably more than satiate any person hungry for a plate bigger than their heads. We made the mistake of ordering too much; for some reason, wings as appetizers are a whole meal in itself and comes with fries and this odd cheese dipping sauce... why would you need a super thick dipping sauce for wings already drenched in the most powerful vinegary barbecue sauce ever? Jorghnassen managed to finish off the veal schnitzel, while I barely made a dent in the souvlaki meal. And then I had a hard time getting up.

Last Tuesday, I ordered Gordon Ramsay's new book, Gordon Ramsay's Fast Food, from Chapters/Indigo online. He was also going to be in Burlington today for a book signing from 3 pm to 5 pm, and then Toronto tomorrow at 7pm. Unfortunately, I didn't have the book by Friday, so we bought the book from the local Chapters as well. So I have two receipts of two exact copies of the book.

Being one who takes advantage of any travelling experience, I dragged Jorghnassen out to Burlington today at 1pm, taking a lot of scenic turns (thanks to our misguided GPS).

Scenic route through the outskirts of Hamilton (yes, Hamilton, the city we said we'd never visit again).

We pulled up next to the Indigo, and I let out a "OMFG!" A whole pile of people were wrapped around the building, lining up on the sidewalk.

The store said they had run out of bracelets about an hour after opening at 11 am. They also said we could wait in the outside line because there were three indoor lines already.

So we waited.

Waited.

Waited.

Waited.

Wai- WHAT it's 4:45 p.m. and he's GONE!?

:(

Tomorrow I'm returning both copies of the book I bought. (Yeah, that'll show him!)

Ms C is tired :(

It snowed during the weekend. (Yeah, no kidding.) The entire region is literally wheeling like mad to get out of the mess. However, I've had no problems with the Rav4. (Except for the door lock mess.) It's driven through piles and piles of snow and I am still in one piece.

The first priority a few weeks ago was to fix the giant meter-long potholes that the city is legally required to fill up. Now the first priority is to dig out everyone from their snow packed mess. Then the second priority should be to fill in the giant meter-long potholes the city now has to refill, along with all the new ones.

Thousands of giant potholes. I'm sure people from Montreal would love getting their 50$ times a thousand.

Jorghnassen and I have been making lots of different bread things with the breadmaker. Some have been ugly as hell, while others have come out relatively eye-pleasing. However, there still lacks a certain Montreal bakery charm that these delightful homemade loaves can't seem to recreate. Nevertheless, we've had a ton of stuff so far and now we've already reached the bottom of the 10kg of flour. @_@

Anyway, whoever wants to come visit can now be treated to pizza, boules, and other random things coming out of the dough setting, as well as the weird bread mixes that we create...!