Brief blogging hiatus...

Hello fine people. Sorry about the blogging hiatus. End of term madness combined with a visit from Bad Influence and a flight home. But I am currently comfortably ensconced in my living room at home, watching The Daily Show (surprise!), and enjoying this:

Bad picture (taken with computer camera), but note the very pretty LED lights that my Mom and I purchased today. I love them, and they are energy efficient too!

I am exhausted and must be off to bed, but I wanted to make sure you all knew I had not dropped off the face of the earth. Given that my lovely family has wireless, and I have my laptop, there is sure to be more blogging to come...stay tuned and hope all is merry and bright in your neck of the woods!

me and julio

No pictures for me (or julio for that matter)...

No pictures. Why you ask? Because of my advisor. My advisor who makes it impossible to hate her, because she is so nice, but who makes you spend 2.5 hours on the phone with her on a snow day!!!!! As a result I have not been outside all day. I have not been in effamy's hot tub. I have no pictures of the snow.

But what I do have (so I should not complain too much) is a finished manuscript! Hurray! I am very proud of it and can not wait to send it off on Monday morning.

I must run, I am going to co-Guider's house for dinner and movies. Hope you all had a lovely day - snowy or otherwise.

me and julio


P.S. I havent forgotten about the pants story

P.P.S. Munchkin Mom #1 - if you're reading - I am going to feature your new family member in my next post...

Snow Day!

Remember when you were a kid and those two words made you SOOOOOO happy! Not so much when your class of 96 students was supposed to write their exam at 9am this morning. Yes ladies and gents, on the day when my first ever class is to write their first ever exam (during the exam period anyway), the university is closed. Sigh.

Now they closed it with good reason. It would appear that we got 50 centimeters of snow last night, and it is still going (although not nearly as much). The roads were already bad at 9pm last night when I was heading home from Guides, so by this morning they were worse. Apparently some people abandoned their cars on the road last night, and I heard from the Chickadee Whisperer (heehee - a new name), that she and some other grad students spent an hour trying to dig out someone's car after a party last night. Also, public transit is shut down until noon today, making it almost impossible for lots of folks to get where they need to go. So yeah, good call on the university's part.

But, this means that the exam must be rescheduled, and that I have received many, many student e-mails this morning. I wish I had something to tell them, but I know as little as they do. We are all supposed to get more information on Monday - so until then it is wait and see. Given than many people, including myself, have already made travel plans, I suspect that they will end up writing in January. But we shall see.

My supervisor, being somewhat on the hardcore worker side, has decided that we are having a phone meeting, so right now I am trapped in my apartment waiting for her to call. But once we get that over with I am planning to venture out, and will post some pictures later on. I may even go over to effamy's and go in the hot tub! Hurray! The exam for her class was also cancelled. She's got some great pics on her blog by the way - go check them out if you want some idea of what it is looking like here.

Okay, I am going to go have some lunch and make some tea. Hmmmm - maybe having a snow day is not so bad afterall :-) Check back later for an update...

me and julio

Some knitting...

So last post I promised politics and knitting. I am not in a particularly political mood tonight so I will briefly sum up my thoughts:

1) I am happy that Stéphane Dion won the Liberal leadership vote. I don't think that any of the candidates were perfect, but I like the combination of him and Gerrard Kennedy, so if they work together I think they will do a good job. I may just be a geek, but I really enjoyed watching the convention itself. It made me want to be more involved in the process as well. Maybe next time I'll be down on the convention floor? Bonne chance Stéphane!


2) This whole Québecois as a nation thing - sigh. I have more to say about it than that. But for now we will just leave it at a sigh and a shake of the head. Stephen, Stephen, Stephen...

Okay, that's it for politics right now. On to the knitting.

I am very proud of the progress I am making on Koigu sock 2.0. Some of you will recall my failed attempt at Koigu sock 1.0 and the disaster of the lost stiches. I will pause for a moment to mourn their loss. But, at our last knitting/games/meet Pokey party, I started over again and things are going much better this time.

As I mentioned above, the wool is Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino in the P462 colourway. I just love the colours, purples and blues, and I think I am making pretty good progress:


(I have to say - taking pictures of knitting is harder than I thought, especially at night)

Here is another view that shows the length a little better:


The pattern is from Lucy Neatby's book "Cool Socks, Warm Feet", the Marietta Rib Socks. It is very simple so far, just a straight rib pattern all the way down, and a Common Heel (not short row). I am scared of the heel, but don't think I will get to it before I am home for the holidays, so I intend to ask my Mom for some help! She started with this same pattern, and this is her finished product:

Nice eh? Yay Mom!

I am also still working away at Pokey's knitted gift. It is coming along - should be done pretty early in the New Year. No progress pictures for that one though, since his Mom and Dad both read the blog. In the meantime I bought him a sleeper, and this is him wearing it and looking as cute as cute can be:

Such gorgeous, gorgeous eyes! What a charmer.

In keeping with the theme of cuteness, I have noticed that people often set their knitting "work-in-progress" pictures out in the garden, or against a lovely background, or sometimes, they even pose them with their pets. Now I do not have a garden, but I do have a pet. However, when it came time to pose, Julio was less than cooperative.

Exhibit A - inspecting the sock:



Exhibit B - thinking about eating the sock:

Perhaps I will think twice about the "with pet" pose in the future.

Finally, I will end with the newest version of my "On Notice" board.

Baseball players have been dropped. #1 labmate pointed out that they has never really done anything to me, and I grudgingly admit that she is right. I have replaced them with the Tim Horton's ladies in UCC - it my just be me, but I do not think that "Earl Grey" and "coffee" sound very much alike. Thoughts? I have also added "Christmas Lists" in honour of the season, and "pants from Cleo" for reasons that deserve their own blog entry (soon, I promise).

'Night!
me and julio

P.S. Il neige...

P.P.S Blogger's spell check function is not working right now - forgive me any spelling errors...

Happy Birthday Jon...and other random thoughts...

Those of you who are not quite as devoted (read: obsessed) to Jon Stewart as I am may not know that today is his birthday. I think he was sillier than usual tonight, which I always enjoy, and he also interviewed Tom Waits, which was awesome - especially when he played a song. Good show Jon, and Happy Birthday!


P.S. A certain someone in my lab insists on spreading the rumor that he is 74 - not so!

Okay, enough of that. I promised last week to blog about my trip to Houston. Better late then never right?

My trip to Houston was really quite stressful. Or at least getting there was. All week I had been looking forward to having some time to myself to read, or sleep, or listen to music while on the plane. I was supposed to fly out of London, clear US customs in Detroit, and then hang around for 2 hours until my flight to Houston. Easy right? Here is how things went down:

1) First of all, I got to the airport in London WAY too early. Then, my flight was 45 minutes delayed. When I first noticed the delay, I did go up to the counter and ask if this was going to affect my connection. The nice man at the Northwest desk did what all employees of airlines do - he smiled, typed random things into a computer, and concluded that he really couldn't say one way or another. So I sat and read and tried not to think about the fact that I was now going to have only 1 hour to clear customs and get to my next flight.

2) We finally took off and you could feel the tension on the plane. No one flies from London to Detroit unless they are connecting to somewhere. When the plane landed we all exploded out the door and raced to customs. The first part went very quickly, but then you have to stand and wait for your luggage so you can clear the second half of customs. Minutes ticked by. When I finally got to the area where you recheck your bag and clear security again I was routed into what I refer to as the "no hope line". Despite the fact that I still had almost 20 minutes to make my connecting flight, it was decided that it was too late to recheck my bag, and that they needed to come up with a new plan for me.

3)The woman who I dealt with next was amazing. I wish I had asked for her name. I got to her desk and I was clearly angry and still sure that if I ran, I could make the flight. She looked at me, and looked at my bag and said she thought I could make it too. Now this was going to require a little bit of finesse, because my suitcase can only be described as gigantic, and certainly not a carry-on bag. It is one of those old fashioned garment bags that business men used to carry before everyone got wheelie luggage. But she said that as long as I did not have any liquids in it, she thought they would let me carry it on. So I frantically rip all of the shampoo, conditioner, hand cream, and foundation out of my bag, chuck it in the garbage and run like hell to security.

4) Security does not share the nice Northwest woman's view on my bag being a carry-on bag. I have now lost it and am yelling. The security people are yelling back. There is swearing on my part and I get sent back, defeated, to the Northwest counter.

5) The woman looks at me, smiles, tells me to get my liquids out of the garbage (which I did), and says not to worry, she will get me to Houston tonight. I trust her, she has a calm voice. I am now sweating, angry, and almost crying. I am also deeply regretting have used obscenities at security (afterall, at some point I need to go through). She tells me that the new plan is to send me to Cleveland, Ohio, where I can catch a connection to Houston. I can check my bag, I can walk to the gate, all is well. I thank her many times, recheck the bag and clear security without making eye contact with anyone.

6) I am now feeling pretty good. I check my boarding pass and see that I still need to hustle to get there, but overall things are much calmer. I get to the gate and see that the flight is not yet boarding so I head to the washroom and wash my face. I now feel like a normal human being again, not the angry, angry woman at security. When I get back to the gate the flight is still not boarding. Hmmmm. I very calmly go up to the desk and ask the woman what the delay is. Apparently there is no crew - they are coming, but the flight is delayed. Okay I think - no worries. Then I look at my boarding pass again and see that I have 30 minutes to connect in Cleveland! There is no time for crews to be late! I go up to the desk again and the agent is not happy to see me. I say that since there is no way I am ever getting to Houston tonight, is it better to be stuck in Detroit or Cleveland. She smiles and says that they are equally good (read: bad), but that she thinks I should still try and make the connection in Cleveland. I say fine but am sure that I am not going to make it.

7) We finally board and the flight is now 20 minutes late. I spend the hour pouting and drinking orange juice to ward off starvation (there has been no time for eating). I wonder if my hotel in Cleveland will have good cable. I think about the last time I was in the Cleveland airport (visiting the ex-boyfriend while in undergrad). But as we begin out descent I look at my watch and think - there is still a chance. The flight lands and I have exactly 6 minutes to make the connection. I practically plow people down getting out of the plane and start to run. I have to run 15 gates. I can do this. People are passing me in those silly little carts and saying "Houston? Keep going!" It is like running a race with people cheering you on. I get to the gate and pretty much throw my boarding card at the poor agent. I concentrate on breathing deeply and not having an asthma attack. I board the plane. Hurray! I now estimate that I spent about 4 minutes in the airport. That has to be some sort of record.

8) Now I can relax a bit. I am still starving but I am now flying Continental where they at least give your peanuts. I am quite sure my luggage will not be there when I arrive so I start making plans about what I will sleep in, when my luggage might come etc. The flight to Houston is very smooth and finally somewhat relaxing. When we land I make my way to the baggage area thinking that I will wait until all the luggage is gone and then go to the counter to see about having my bag delivered to the hotel the next day. I have even looked up the address so I am prepared. I am looking around for the ground transportation desk and pass several baggage carousels. What is sitting there on the carousel, practically glowing? My bag! My bag has arrived. It still contains liquids. I am in Houston. It is Thursday night. Phew.

The conference itself was good. My poster session went well and I got to talk to some interesting people. The number of really relevant talks seemed smaller this year, but I still heard some cool stuff. The best part was getting a break from being a professor for a few days and getting to hang out and be a grad student.

I have to say though, that Houston as a city is not so exciting. There are lots of tall buildings:


An aquarium that I visited:


And a very cool section of town where the light rail line ran over some fountains:


While on a walk I encountered George Bush Sr.


And also came upon some people setting up for what was going to be a gorgeous wedding:


After our walk around town, and visit to the aquarium, #1 labmate and I had to hurry back to the hotel to see our friend's talk. Alas, our progress was slowed by this:

Yes, that is a tree - on a truck. Said tree was taking out parts of lamp posts left and right, and it was decided that perhaps pedestrians should not walk beside it after one of the falling pieces almost hit some guy in the head! They appeared to be taking a whole bunch of trees and planting them here:


(that is the view from our hotel room)

Strange, empty city...and not very representative of Texas as a whole I don't think. I did not see nearly enough cowboy hats and belt buckles to be happy. Did have some authentic Texas BBQ though. Yum, ribs!

Alright, that's the end of my rambling for tonight. Later this week: the London by-election, the Quebecois as a nation, and some knitting!

'Night
me and julio

Music meme...

So this meme appeared on one of the knitting blogs that I read, and I thought it might be fun, so here we go. I promise that I am not cheating with the song selection...

Here's what you do:

1. Open your music library
2. Set settings to "Shuffle"
3. Press play
4. For each entry, type the song that's playing
5. For new entry, press the next/forward button

opening credits: "Me and Jerome" ~ Sarah Slean

waking up: "Forming" ~ The Germs

This song really would wake me up. And it makes me think of my brother and him trying to teach my to play the bass guitar.

first day at school: "Losing a Whole Year" ~ Third Eye Blind

falling in love: "Miracle Drug" ~ U2

Yes, this may require a miracle drug of sorts...

breaking up: "Laid" ~ James

All I can do is laugh here. Eeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeee (see post titled iPod Scrapbook)

prom: "It Sucks to Be You" ~ Prozak

But I had fun at my prom!

life's okay: "Add It Up" ~ Violent Femmes

This song does not imply that life is okay :-)

mental breakdown: "Don't Panic" ~ Coldplay

Teehee!

driving: "Song for a Winter's Night" ~ Sarah McLachlan

Mmmmm - not so much.

flashback: "Glorybox" ~ Portishead

Ummmm...yeah

getting back together: "One More Night (Your Ex-Lover Remains Dead) ~ Stars

Okay, that is really, really freaky.

wedding: "Soul Meets Body" ~ Deathcab for Cutie

Not for my wedding thanks.

birth of child: "Vertigo" ~ U2

I could see how the kid might get some vertigo...

final battle: "Strange Days" ~ Matthew Good Band

funeral song: "Mr. Tamborine Man" ~ Bob Dylan

end credits: "Hot Black Silk" ~ Songs: Ohia

My iPod is very inappropriate. It is responsible for the theme of this meme, not I!

Alright. I meant to post about my trip to Houston but got sidetracked. So I am going to post this and talk about Houston tomorrow. Sleep well!

me and julio

It's the little things...

...that make it all okay. I had a bit of a long day today. But this absolutely made my night! Behold, my very own "On Notice" board.

Stay tuned for frequent updates - and make sure you don't end up "On Notice"! Teehee :-)

me and julio

Soccer update...

Just cause I know you are all on the edge of your seats...we lost out game today..2-1. We played well overall and the other team was definitely better than us. It was a good fight. But remember player I was proud of yesterday for not retaliating after being pushed in the mud? He got a penalty today that resulted in the other team scoring a goal. And, we had another player sent off for being mouthy. Temper temper boys!

And so ends the Fall season. Looking forward to the winter one...where we play indoors and do not freeze to death.

me and julio

I *heart* soccer...

Our intramural soccer team won their first playoff game today...yay! The field was a disaster - just a huge mud puddle basically, but the other team was short players, and we had a good game overall. I did not play because my knee is still not quite right (it still hurts when I go up and down stairs), but I came out to watch. We play again tomorrow (I'll be a spectator again), and then on Wednesday if we keep winning. I think I might be able to play in the Wednesday game, so fingers crossed for tomorrow.

I actually ended up watching a lot of soccer today. On Saturday mornings, Rogers Sportnet broadcasts British Premier League soccer. I watched most of the Everton (0)/Ashton Villa (1) game, and the first half of the Manchester United (1)/Blackburn game (0). If I had to choose a favorite team in the Premiership, I would probably say Manchester United. This is partly because they are a good team, and partly because they have a very high profile, so by default they are the team I know most about. They are the team that David Beckham used to play for, and currently both Wayne Rooney, and Cristiano Ronaldo play for them. Now I know that most of you are not the soccer lovers I am, but I suspect that you may have heard those three names before. During the 2006 World Cup, there was an incident involving Ronaldo and Rooney. While they play together at the club level, Ronaldo is Portugese and Rooney is British. In the England/Portugual game, Rooney apparently stomped on one of the Portugese players and was sent off (he got a red card). But Ronaldo was doing a lot of talking to the ref during this incident, basically making sure that was the final outcome (read more here). There was a lot of speculation about a rift between the two of them. During today's game they seemed to be getting along just fine, but the British crowds continue to boo poor Ronaldo everytime he gets the ball. Everytime! Now I am not Ronaldo's biggest fan, but you have to feel for the guy. He is a skilled player and definitely an asset to the team, and so I have to say it doesn't make so much sense to boo him anymore.

While I am on the topic of soccer, here is one of the saddest pictures from this summer's World Cup. (Yeah, yeah, I should have started a blog when this was actually happening - you'll just have to bear with me).

That is French soccer player Zinedine Zidane, and that is the World Cup that he did not win because he lost his temper and headbutted an Italian player (you can watch the video here). Silly, silly Zizou. Doesn't matter what he said to you, you should have walked away. Zidane got the red card...

...and France lost the game :-( We have some people on our intramural team who have been that worked up before, and who have cost us the game in some cases. It is so frustrating. But today, one of our players actually got pushed in a puddle and he managed to just walk away. So proud of him!

All this soccer watching got me thinking about my humble soccer beginnings. I started playing when I was 6 years old in my hometown house league. My Dad was my coach until I was about 12 years old, and then I started playing in the Inter City league. We had a Dutch coach who spoke English badly, and who spoke French even worse. He was not someone who sugar coated things, but I liked him anyway. If you click on this link, and scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see some of the girls I used to play with when I was a kid. Read all the names...do any seem familiar? Maybe Kim St. Pierre? Yup, that's right, I used to play soccer with one of the goalies for the Canadian women's hockey team. She wasn't a goalie when we played soccer, she typically played forward or midfield. She is such a nice person, her whole family is great actually. It's so strange to think that she has been to the Olympics!

Alright, that's enough about soccer. I am off to bed. I made some good progress on my poster tonight, but I still have a stupid amount of work to do tomorrow. I am both looking forward to, and dreading this Thursday. Looking forward to it because going to Houston should be an awesome time, but dreading it because there is way too much to get done before then.

'Night!

me and julio

P.S. As you can see, Julio is also very stressed right now...

P.P.S. I STILL cannot find the issue of Rolling Stone with Jon and Stephen on the cover. If anyone sees it, please let me know...

P.P.P.S. I updated some of the link over on the right...added more knitting blogs...and blogs of friends as well...

Tabernacle!

That is the first word that came to mind after I stopped suddenly while playing ultimate frisbee and felt something in my knee go crunch. I did catch the frisbee right after though, made a good pass, and our team scored a point, but still not fun. This is not a new feeling for me (unfortunately), but I was doing so well this Summer/Fall and I was hoping to make it through the season with no knee problems. Alas, it was not meant to be. I am doing the usual routine of Advil and ice. Actually I am not using real ice, I am using a bag of perogies!


(this is admittedly a poor picture, but I am too lazy to go get my digital camera and am making due with the one in my MacBook).

My icing method of preference is typically frozen peas, but I have none currently. Don't worry, frozen food designated for icing is NEVER eaten. I label everything carefully! The advantage of the frozen vegetable method is that it is easier to make the ice sit right where you need it to. Bad Influence and I have experimented with several different methods and have both concluded that this is superior to cubes.

Soccer playoffs are this weekend and now I might not get to play :-( I am leaving things until Wednesday and if they are not better I'll be off to physio. And while I very much enjoy my physiotherapist, it is better when I do not see him. Plus I don't have time for things like that this week...too much other stuff to do. I have to prepare for teaching this week (thank goodness one of my classes is having an exam on Thursday), work on my @#&%ing paper for publication, and start/finish my poster for Psychonomics. I know it will all get done, and may not seem like a lot, but there just aren't enough hours in a day recently. Oh well, if I can't play sports that will leave more time for work. Yeehaw!

Okay, I am going to make some tea and finish off lecture #2 for tomorrow.

me and julio

iPod scrapbook...

So today was not as productive as I might have liked, but it was not a complete wash either. I marked some propsosals for one of my classes, and finished making up an exam for the other. I have already been in trouble with my secretary once for not giving her enough photocopying time for my last exam, so hopefully I will get back in the good books. If there is one thing I have learned during my university career it is not to piss off the secretary!

My baby gift shopping expedition was successful. I bought Montreal Munchkin #1 a beaver hat and Montreal Munchkin #2 a kitty cat hat.


Cute, no? Both from Roots and probably a little overpriced, but I am the "aunt" with no children so I think I am allowed to splurge a little. My role is to buy them things their parents would not :-) I also bought them each a very cute book called the ABCs of Canada. Fun illustrations in nice bright colours and Canadian content. I will wrap them up after I finish blogging and put them in the mail on Monday. I love sending mail. Getting packages is always lots of fun.

I also picked up something for the London Munchkin (not sure about using real names so I am giving everyone new ones - teehee). I am working away at a knitted gift for him (no link in case his Dad finds my blog), but I fear it may be a long time coming. I only have one repeat left but knitting time has been scarce lately. So in the meantime I picked up a very cute sleeper. Not that his parents are demanding gifts, but shopping for babies is fun so I really don't mind!

But what I actually wanted to blog about was my iPod.

I have no car and have to take the bus everywhere, and so the iPod comes with me to help pass the time. But what I have discovered is that my iPod (and by extension iTunes on my computer) is like a mini-scrapbook about my life. While I have never been a big writer, I definitely catalogue events according to the music I was listening to at the time. So everytime I hit shuffle on the iPod, it brings to mind all kinds of things that have happened to me. Some examples:

1) Any music by the Stars. I love, love, love the Stars. I can't say that enough. They are a Montreal band and have lots of lovely songs that combine male and female voices which I really enjoy. And they are one of those bands where it feels like they are singing about my life (or at least a life I have imagined myself having).They have one song in particular, "Your Ex-Lover is Dead", which strangely enough, reminds me of my ex-boyfriend. TJ (the ex) is not dead, nor do I wish that upon him at all, but that song is about this guy and girl who used to date, and who meet up accidentally after several years. It's just a really great song (in my humble opinion), and it reminds me of my current relationship with TJ. He actually turned 30 on Thursday. That freaked me out just a little - that someone I dated is now 30, but I consoled myself by thinking that it must be freaking him out more :-)

2) Rebellion (Lies) by Arcade Fire. This is another one that makes me think about Montreal, Arcade Fire being another talented Montreal band, but I have a more specific memory associated with this one. I was staying with one of my best friends from high school "Will" (we will call him Will because if I was Grace, he would be my Will) a few years ago when I was visiting Montreal. It was his brithday and we ended up spending the day with this guy Greg. We had an awesome time, we went to the Labyrinthe, drank beer on an outdoor patio (Will's birthday is in August), and went out for dinner. Come to find out later that Greg was actually living with some of the guys from Arcade Fire at the time. This was before they really took off, but it would have been pretty cool to meet them.



3) Jon Stewart doing stand-up. This does not really bring any specific memory to mind, but it does remind me of teaching because I often use it as my pre-lecture warm-up. Hopefully this does not make me sound nuts. I just figure that doing stand-up comedy is a performance and so is teaching. So if you ever see me laughing to myself as I walk across the Springett parking lot, you'll know why. Plus the man just makes me happy, and how can that be a bad thing before one teaches :-) We all have our little crushes right? He just happens to be one of mine.

One of my other missions for my shopping expedition was actually to buy the newest Rolling Stone magazine, because the cover article is about Jon and Stephen Colbert.





Sadly I could not find it anywhere. The search continues...but here are the cover pics.





4) "Laid" by James. This song is associated with a very silly memory. I was out with the roomates at Molly Bloom's (cause that is where we always went, and still do when they are in town), and Mike O'Brien was playing (cause he always was). I was quite intoxicated at this point and kept insisting that he sing the "Eeeeeee eeeeeee" song. Of course no one had any idea what I was talking about at all. They all thought I meant "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". I kept eeeeeeing, much to everyone's dismay, but good ole Mike O'Brien must have finally heard me because he eventually sang "Laid" and I screamed really loudly. Sigh. I blame the roomates, especially the "Bad Influence" (teehee - it is fun coming up with names). She was the one who made me start drinking beer in the first place...and evenings out with her often end up like this:



I actually spoke to Bad Influence today and we are going to see each other before I head home for Christmas. I am very excited. It was really hard when she and "Other Bad Influence" moved away. I see each of them once or twice a year, but I wish it was more (that picture is from the last time the three of us were together). I'll see Bad Influence in London/Toronto, and then Other Bad Influence when I am home in Halifax. I spoke to her husband tonight on MSN. He was asking for references about problem-solving and decision making. He started his PhD at Queens this year in finance, and he is interested in looking at why people make bad investment decisions. I told him that all roads eventually lead to Psychology :-) But I am excited that he is interested in this stuff - maybe we could write an article together!

On that note, I think I will sign out. Julio is meowing for his kibbles, and my neighbours appear to be taking their balcony apart. Sigh. I hope I am not in for a long night...

me and julio

Be gentle, it's my first time...

...blogging that is. After receiving a "blog memo" from someone I know, I have decided to take the plunge and add my ramblings to this series of tubes we call the Internet (that last link may not work for much longer - Comedy Central is cracking down). I have never really kept a journal, so I am not sure how long I will keep this up, but it's kinda fun so far, so who know. Here is a picture of my lovely co-host, Senor Julio:


Here is another more flattering one:


Handsome no? I think so, and so does he. Vet refers to him as her Latin Lover. Or at least she did until he ripped her office to shreds and peed on her. He is pretty selective about who he is friends with.

Hmmm, what else to say? I am going shopping tomorrow for presents. First birthday presents for these guys:














I cannot believe they are already one! I am so looking forward to seeing them at Christmas time, when I pass through Montreal on my way back to school.

I think this is not bad for a first entry. I believe that I will publish this, and then pour myself a glass of red wine (Yellow Tail Merlot). I also suspect that I may post again tomorrow given how much work I have to get done...there is certain to be some procrastination!

'Night!

me and julio