Trying to update...

I'm thinking of writing in my blog again, after a long hiatus....we'll see how often or how much I stick with it...bear with the template changes.

A free woman!!

I'm done school for the summer! Nearly 3 months of bliss without homework, exams, annoying group work! Yay! I feel like a new person.

Poop on the sidewalk

There was a pile of [human] poop on the sidewalk outside the metro (subway) this morning.

I thought it was extra funny given my post yesterday. Maybe the depositor did not receive the same warning from his/her mother as I did.

watch out for diarrhea

Today I took my first dose of antibiotics ever in my life. Boo! I was hoping to go my whole life without them but c'est la vie. I have a throat infection, which means the doctors don't know what why, but they can see that my throat is sore and they want me to go away...so they prescribed the meds and took a throat swab. Amongst other things, my mom's advice (regarding taking antibiotics) was "watch out for diarrhea", which my 8-tear-old mind still thinks is funny. "Mom said diarrhea!!!!"

Oh, the things that amuse small minds. :)


As a thank you for some hardwork and crazy hours done over the past 6 months, my boss & the president of our company gave each member of our software team a gift certificate for 2 nights away in a fancy hotel & spa in the Eastern Townships (the countryside south of Montreal), for 2 people, including dinner & breakfasts while we're there and spa treatments for each of us. Not too shabby! (Plus it's company policy to get paid in banked time or money for any overtime hours so it's not like we worked for free.) Very nice gift.

Only 10 days until school is over for the summer. Only a month untill we move out of our apt. Yay!

Solid

have 3 weeks left of school and I'm hoping for the summer I'll be a better post-er girl. (Not poster girl.) Ah, puns. Here's a catch-up piece I started and never finished....

A couple of weeks ago, Fred & I went to the Killers concert for his birthday. We looked up tix 2 days before the show, found seats online that looked good (only $40!) and went on a whim. Good parking, no lineup to get in, and the seats rocked. It was in the Bell Center (where the Canadiens play) and our seats were actually chairs placed in the hockey bench of the visiting team! Meaning we were in the front row, far enough back to not have a side-view but close enough to see everything, a foot above the general admission crowd on the floor. Perfect. And we put our beers in the same spot as the players put their water bottles. I don't normally go to concerts in huge venues - the sound and visability can often be poor. But this was certainly not the case here.

The show began with a bang - literally, and millions of gold & silver reflective confetti pieces were dropped on the audience. Extremely environmentally unfriendly but, in girl-speak, "SO PRETTY!!". I loved it guiltily. Lead singer Brandon Flowers was typically daper in his suit, jumping off monitors and pianos throughout the show. Band co-founder Dave Keuning couldn't be more opposite - rock's latest Slow Hand barely moved from his position the entire set & looked like he was transported from the '80s with his long frizzy hair and tight jeans. Bassist Mark Stoermer and drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. were quirky in their own right but definitely not show-stealers. The hired studio musician who played piano in the background was an unknown superstar. He also played guitar, sometimes even keeping the it strapped on while playing paino so that he could quickly switch between the two.

They played almost all of the songs on the new album, and the goodies from the old, including a medley with Can't Take my Eyes off of You (or part of Damien Rice's Blower's Daughter - it was the same line so not sure who was the influence there). And just as Fred said, "Hey, they haven't played Mr. Brightside yet..!" Keuning began playing the familiar opening guitar licks. Perfectly haunting and seductive. Two solid encores and what we initally thought was going to be a fromage exit chez Exitlude turned into a pumped up finish with a repeated snippet of When You were Young.

Great show - solid & entertaining. Definitely exceeded expectations. A perfect night.

a little too enviro...even for me

So lately there has been a lot in the news about the evironment. I pride myself on recycling, on using both sides of every sheet of paper, of re-using (and re-using and re-using) but some people take this to extreme levels.

A fellow greenie at work sent me the article "Zero is the new black" which appeared in the Globe & Mail last month. I'm simultaneously in awe and concerned -- obsession is never healthy. For those who missed it, it's about one guy & his family, who are in a year-long experiment to try to have zero impact on the environment, including not taking elevators, not buying anything that comes in plastic packaging and not using toilet paper. He makes his own vinegar.

My fav quote is this:

His family eats only food that's available within a 250-mile radius. No meat, of course. It's delicious, so long as you have a taste for cabbage and thyme tea.

Admirable? Ridiculous? Both?

Lots of news

So, good news and bad. The bad news is that my dear ol' grandma passed away last week. She was 92 and had lived a long and amazing life and basically just went to sleep. We were expecting it to happen this year (her health had failed) so it was sad but also part of the circle of life. I spent the last week at home in Owen Sound, with my family. It was wonderful to see everyone. The above pic is my grandparents, circa 1938, the year before they were married. She is 23 in the picture and I think he was 27.

The good (well, AMAZING) news is that Fred and I bought a condo!! We move in July and are truly stoked. I wish we were moving now but it will come soon enough. We bought a 2 bedroom apartment in Pierrefonds (West Island for those out-of-towners). I will take a commuter train to work (about 30 min). It has hardwood floors, gas fireplace, central A/C, a big corner bathtub with separate shower, faces west (good for bbqs) and it's on the 2nd floor of a building with an elevator. Love it. And the best part (for me) is the kitchen. It's huge and well-made with beautiful wood cupboards. Unfortunately I don't have pics of it because I forgot to pull them off MLS before the posting was pulled down. You'll just have to come and visit.