Turns out you need more than one day to see all of Egypt

Tuesday

Today we were in Egypt. The boat arrived in Alexandria at 7 a.m., and left at 10 p.m. We had to meet our tour at 7:30.

Once we got on the bus, we had a 2.5 hour drive in to Giza and the pyramids. As we got in to Giza, we could see the three pyramids on the horizon. We were warned that merchants would follow us around trying to sell us stuff, and that the best way to deal with it was to ignore them entirely. We were also warned that if you went for a camel ride, there was one price to get on the camel and another, larger price to get off.

There were many merchants and people with camels at the pyramids. Oddly, the pyramids seem larger from a distance than they do close up – although walking around one of them would take a while. There are 9 pyramids at Giza – the great pyramid, two other large pyramids, and 6 small (“baby”) pyramids.

After a while there, we went to get a panoramic view of all three major pyramids. We then went to the other side to see the sphinx. By the time we finished there, it was around 12:30 and time for lunch. We had lunch at a hotel very close to the pyramids.

After lunch, we went to Memphis, the first capital of Egypt. We went to an open air museum and saw a huge statue of King Ramses II. We had 40 minutes for that stop, but due to the heat and how tired everyone was, we were all back on the bus in 30 minutes.

Next it was off to the Step Pyramid of King Zoser. We went in to some of the tombs around the pyramids. They are covered with hieroglyphics, and look like something out of a book. We could see more pyramids (the Red Pyramid, and one that is oblong) in the distance.

Finally, we went back to Giza for a stop at a papyrus institute, to see how papyrus is made. The stem of the papyrus plant is a triangle. They cut it to the proper size and take off the green outer coating. Next, they beat it with a mallet to flatten it, then use a rolling pin to flatten it more. This makes it pliable instead of brittle. The next stage involves soaking it for 6 days (for a light colour) or 12 days (for a darker colour). After it has soaked for the right amount of time, they then take the strips and put them horizontally and vertically (kind of like weaving, although I don’t think they actually weave them) until they get the proper size of papyrus. They put this in a press, and keep it there for 6 days. When it comes of the press, the different strips have fused together and it’s ready to use.

We also went next door to a bazaar, and picked up our kartooshes that we had pre-ordered. A kartoosh is a pendant with a name (or word) in hieroglyphs. I got a silver one with my name in gold hieroglyphs.

Finally, it was time for the 2.5 hour long trip back to Alexandria. When we got back, we went for supper and managed not to fall asleep. Immediately after supper, though, we went back to the room, since we were all exhausted.

Trivia

Since we arrived on the ship, we've been playing some of the trivia games. One of our favourites is "Name that tune". They had done several different types of songs. Today was movie trivia, and we won! Actually, it was a tie, and we won the tie breaker. One person from each team does the tie breaker. The movie the song was from was The Mask of Zorro. The other team got "Zorro" and "Mask", but couldn't put them together properly, so we won. It was pretty funny (although it felt a bit like cheating).

Greece, Turkey, and Porpoises

Friday (con’t)

At dinner on Friday night, I spotted something in the water. At first we thought it was dolphins, but it was too small. We now think it was porpoises.

I’m not sure if it was the same ones or not, but later in the evening we saw more porpoises jumping in and out of the water. It was pretty cool.


Saturday

Today we were in Rhodes. We started with a walking tour of the walled old city. Rhodes is where the Knights of St. John were for many years. (After they left here, they went to Malta. I was in Malta on the last cruise I did, and I remember them being mentioned there.)

Since we started our tour at 8, the shops weren’t open yet and the streets were quite quiet. We started in the Jewish section of the city. There were over 3000 Jews in the city when the Germans took over during WWII. Those that survived largely left Rhodes, and now the Jewish population on the island is 35 people in 4 families. We saw the square of Jewish Martyrs, and then our tour took us to the Hospital of the Knights. It is now a museum. We saw the patients’ room, as well as several other rooms such as the dining room. The museum houses several statues and tombstones that have been found in and around Rhodes.

After that, we went to the restored Palace of the Grand Masters. It is where the leader of the Knights lived. It suffered a lot of damage during one of the occupations of Rhodes (I think it was the Turkish occupation). The Italians restored it as a summer home for their king in the 1940s. The king never made it over here, though, due to WWII. While the Italians were restoring it, they moved several mosaic floors from other places, including the island of Cos. I cannot imagine moving a mosaic tile floor. I suspect that would be very difficult.

Our tour was supposed to last 3.5 hours. Luckily, it only lasted 2 hours. I was definitely ready for it to come to an end. We stopped in a restaurant and had some beverages. They came in boot-shaped glasses. It was good to have a break.

After that, we wandered down one of the main shopping streets. We took our time and bought a few souvenirs. Eventually, we were back at the ship. We boarded, and had a lazy afternoon.


Sunday

Today we are in Turkey. We docked in Kusadasi, and took a tour to Ephesus. Two thousand years ago, Ephesus had 200,000 inhabitants and was a major seaport. (Anyone familiar with the bible has heard of the letters to the Ephesians. This is where they lived, and St. Paul preached here and was buried here.) Today it is a few miles inland. Ephesus has been rebuilt 5 times – on 5 different sites – and we visited the third location. It is all in ruins, obviously. We saw the marble road that lead to the temple of Artemis (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world). We also saw many of the ruins, as well as the terrace houses. The city was quite large, and apparently only 15% of it has been excavated so far.

Ephesus was really interesting, and there was lots to see.

Today was quite hot, and we spent around 3 hours at Ephesus. After that, we went to the archeological museum. Our guide walked it through it and showed us some of the items found in Ephesus. After about 45 minutes, he looked around and said “You all look exhausted. Let’s go for lunch.”

We had a Roman lunch – we all had to put on Roman garments, and the waiters were dressed as Romans as well. The lunch had a set menu. We had a chick pea salad, a green salad, some dried fruit, some beef stew, some lamb stew, some skewers of meat with noodles. For dessert, we had something billed as fig and walnut cake, but it was basically a fig with walnuts and other ingredients in it – it wasn’t what we typically thing of as cake.

After lunch, we went next door to the rug making workshop. We saw a rug making demo. It was really amazing. After that, they served apple tea and showed us many carpets. The apple tea was very, very good. The rugs were incredible, but outside of my price range.

Finally, we ended up back in Kusadasi. I did a bit of shopping. The shops were more Western style, and it wasn’t possible to haggle much. When I was in Tunisia a few years ago, I really enjoyed haggling, so I was a little disappointed.

After that, it was back to the ship for an hour or so of relaxing before supper


Monday

Today we’re at sea. We went to a lecture on the various Greece and Egyptian sphinx figures. We also went to a port & shopping guide presentation on our two remaining stops – Alexandria/Cairo and Corfu. Later this afternoon we will be going to an enrichment lecture on King Tut.

.

It's all Greek to me

Friday

Today we were in Mykanos. We didn’t have an excursion booked, so we got off the ship around 10:15 and took the shuttle in to town. It’s very beautiful – white houses on the hill, and small, winding roads designed to confuse pirates. These days, they mostly confuse tourists.

Yesterday and today were the first days I've spent somewhere where I can't read the signs. I don't speak Italian (much), but I know a few words, and it's close enough to French and English that I can usually figure things out. Same with Spanish. Greek uses a whole different alphabet, and I'm not used to that. Tourist places usually also have English signs, but it's different not being able to figure out what anything says.

We walked around and looked in some of the shops. After a while, we stopped for a snack and drink, as we’re trying to make more of a point of drinking enough water. We stopped at the Oasis Garden restaurant. It was beautiful – outdoor tables covered by leaves, with flowers and a palm tree in the middle. After that, we continued wandering over to see the windmills and the pelican. I didn’t realize how big pelicans are – I’ve never seen one that close before.

After we’d been in town for a couple of hours, we were ready to head back to the ship. I wanted to stop at a couple of shops we’d seen earlier, and Anita and Camille didn’t, so they headed back to the ship ahead of me. I found the shops without a problem, made my purchases, and then went back to the shuttle. I was the last one who made it on to that bus, so I rode back to the ship in the tour guide seat (beside the driver) on the bus. I got back to the ship about 5 minutes after the others.

Since it was only about 1 when I got back, we had lots of time this afternoon. We went for lunch, then I grabbed a book and went up on deck to lie in one of the lounge chairs and read. I was close to falling asleep, but didn’t quite get there. Now I’m sleepy.

Sea day & Athens

Wednesday

Today we spent the day at sea. To my surprise, there wasn’t a lot of free time. We got up late, then went to a port and shopping presentation. We aren’t particularly interested in shopping, but we did get some good port information for Mykanos and Turkey.

After that, we had lunch, then went to a presentation on the 7 wonders of the ancient world. I hadn’t realized that the location of some of the wonders was known and that fragments had been found – I thought that the only remaining one was the pyramids, and that the others were totally lost. Also, the theories on what the hanging gardens of Babylon looked like are nothing like I assumed.

We played mini-golf in the afternoon, then got ready for the formal dinner. After dinner, we rushed off to talk with the port guide about some questions we had, then went to the Captain’s welcome aboard reception. After that, we went to the show (an Elton John impersonator), then it was time to go to sleep in preparation for Athens in the morning.



Thursday

We got up this morning and got on the tour to Athens. The weather was beautiful – sunny and hot, but pleasantly so. The first place we went was the Acropolis and Parthenon. We walked up to the Acropolis. It was crowded – a lot of other tour groups were there at the same time. It was very impressive. They are restoring it right now, but they have been restoring it since 1992, so it’s not like we came on a bad day.

We looked around the Parthenon and the Erechtherion temple (which is also at the top of the Acropolis). We had 45 minutes of free time to take pictures, and with the crowds we needed every minute. After that we went off to a souvenir shop for 20 minutes, then we did a bit of a city tour. We saw the stadium used for the first modern Olympics, as well as the remains of the temple of Zeus. We then headed to the Plaka, which is a historical part of Athens filled with a bunch of shops.

We had lunch, then started looking through the shops. Much to our surprise, all of us bought rugs. We also bought a bunch of cotton clothes – Anita bought some shirts and I bought a dress.

By that time, it was getting late in the afternoon, so we grabbed a taxi and headed back to the ship.

The first two days

Monday

Well, we met up with Anita only an hour later than anticipated. The hotel we're staying at isn't easy to find, and it has two locations, so there was some minor confusion. However, she hadn't left the airport until after we had planned to meet, so it wasn't too bad.

Monday we got up and went to the restaurant for the breakfast that was included with our room. It was a croissant and coffee or tea, and was quite good. We then decided to look around the area for a while before heading back to our room. We wandered a few blocks away, and it started pouring. We waited in a store for 5 or 10 minutes, then dedcided to run for it.

We got soaked. Once we got back to the room, I had to open up my suitcase to dig out a dry shirt.

After we got organized again and checked out, we got a taxi to the hotel where we needed to catch the shuttle. Luckily, it was only 10 euros. We got to the other hotel and checked in with the shuttle around 11, and were given a departure time of 12:30. That was perfect, as it gave us time to get some lunch in the bar.

At 12:30, we got on the shuttle and went off to the cruise ship. The shuttle wasn't full, so we had lots of room to stretch out. We arrived at the ship and checked in.

I went on a cruise 4 years ago, and this was much more enjoyable. That time we got off the plane and went directly to the cruise. We were exhausted and jet lagged. This time we had a day to adjust first.

We did a little looking around the ship, then we had our lifeboat drill. After that, we went off to supper. We had to wait a while to get in, but finally got to sit down to eat.

The last cruise I did was an Italian cruise line. This one is American. So far, there are pros and cons to both. The food was better on the other cruise, but this one is far more organized, and more people speak English. It feels far less foreign.

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Tuesday

Today we were in Naples. We got up late and had breakfast, then walked into town. We were off of the ship and heading towards the town when it started to rain. Naturally, people selling umbrellas appeared out of nowhere. It didn't rain long, and we walked around for a while. It was some sort of holiday, so we came across the tail end of some sort of parade or military demonstration.

We didn't stay out long, as we needed to have lunch and get ready for our afternoon excursion.

In the afternoon, we went to Pompeii. I had been there before - I was robbed there last time I was in Italy - but this time we were on an official tour. Our tour guide gave us each a walkie-talkie thiing, and so we could listen to her explanation whether or not we could actually see her.

Like the Vatican, it's hard to understand the sheer size of Pompeii if you haven't been there. It's big. Whole-city-buried-by-a-volcano big.

Naturally, it rained a few times over the course of the tour.

We have been told that it's likely the weather will improve. I hope so. Cold & rainy weather is something i can get in Ottawa.

In Rome

Day 1 is Rome. My sister and I arrived at 11. We found our hotel (which was a little complicated) and were settled in by 2. At that point, we went out exploring. We're staying at Hotel Vatican Holiday tonight. It's (not surprisingly) close to the Vatican. We were originally intending to go to the Vatican museums, but you need a lot of time to do that and it was getting late. Instead, we stopped for lunch, then went to St. Peter's Basillica.

If you haven't been there, it's hard to understand how big the place is. The church is tiny compared to the square. The church, however, is ridiculously huge.

We got there around 2:30, and the line stretched about half way around the square. It moved quickly, though, and we got in about 20 minutes later.

The first thing we did was visit the tombs of the popes. You can also see the columns from the original basillica many hundreds of years ago.

The tombs weren't that interesting - they were too crowded, and Pope John Paul II's tomb was a bit of a spectacle (as in people were hovering around that one in particular). Generally, if you feel like you don't get jostled by enough strangers in your day to day life, I would recommend the tombs on a Sunday.

After that, we went in to the Basillica itself.

Have I mentioned that's is huge? Beautiful, but huge and lacking seating.

Anyway, we finished going through it around 3:30, and decided to stay for mass at 4.

Eventually, we figured out where mass was - it was in an area behind the main altar. You couldn't see it from behind the barricades (which were there, presumably, to keep people from wandering through the service), but it was the size of a normal large church.

Mass was in Italian. I didn't follow the sermon, but I gathered that it was Pentecost, and there was a lot of talk about the Holy Spirit (which is more than I remember when mass is in English sometimes).

We're resting in our hotel room now, but need to leave soon to meet up with our cousin.

See you in a couple of weeks

I'm off on vacation later today. I'm bringing my laptop, but I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update. I expect to have internet access on occasion, but pictures will have to wait until I get home, I suspect.

The garden is planted, my bags are packed, and I'm checked in. Since I'm an elite aeroplan member this year, I have the option of bringing 3 bags. Since I have to carry my bags, I'm bringing one (although I will probably have 2 on the way back - dirty laundry expands, in my experience). I also can have heavier bags, which means I don't have to worry about how heavy my suitcase is. That's kind of cool.

Look for the pictures when I get back in mid-June. In the meantime, I will try to keep my twitter feed updated.

What's that smell?

There's a church near my house that advertises that they sell compose on the morning of a couple of Saturdays in May.

Every year I forget.

Except - this year I remembered. Today I bought compost from the church near my house. It's not the pre-packaged odourless stuff - they package it in garbage bags, and there is definitely an odor.

Anyway, I'm now ready to plant the garden as soon as they finish the work on the windows.

The work continues

In fact, theyre almost done.

They dug the third hole, installed all of the window wells, and filled them in. They've got some clean-up left, but they are mostly done.

The windows from yesterday's pictures:

And the window that hadn't been started yesterday:

High & dry

A while ago, I mentioned that my basement was leaking. It hasn't gotten any worse - it only leaked twice when we had heavy rain coupled with melting snow - but twice was two too many times.

I got a couple of estimates a while ago, and today the work started.

The work consists of digging down by three windows, filling any cracks, making sure the weeping tile is doing its job, putting a waterproof membrane on the outside, filling in gravel & sand (for drainage), and installing window wells. There is probably more to it, but that's the bits I remember.

Step 1 (today) consisted of digging holes by two of the three windows. Here are some pictures.

Look at me, updating twice in one week!

Last night was our advancement for Sparks. This is the night when the girls who are old enough officially move off to Brownies.

It wasn't the most organized of events - it's the end of the year and the leaders are all mentally done - but it went well nonetheless.

One of the mothers has mentioned how good the program has been for her daughter, because she's shy. (I have not seen this shyness - which is probably because she joined with a friend and thus she's always been comfortable.)

It's amazing to see how much all of these girls have matured over the last year. They were so ready to move up to Brownies and have more adventures. It's really cool.

Gardening

It's the Victoria Day weekend in Canada, which is traditionally the weekend when gardeners plant their gardens.

I usually have a garden, but I haven't planted it yet, because I'm having some work done outside this week, and the garden will get in the way. Hopefully after the work is done, the basement will no longer leak.

Anyway, back to the garden.

Since I've had the garden, tomatos grow well. Cucumbers are fine, corn is OK (I know it's ready when the racoons eat it). However, that's about it.

This year, I tested the PH level of the soil. I bought a tester and followed the instructions. Basically, it consists of putting some dirt in the tester, adding the contents of a capsule, then adding water, shaking, and waiting a minute. The tester contains a sheet that lists what each colour means. My soil is slightly acidic, but nothing drastic.

I guess I still don't know what the problem is.

Hey there!

It turns out that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth.

Work has been crazy for the last couple of weeks, and when I get home I don't feel like turning on the computer, so here we are.

Last night I went to see the play Scotland Road. It was enjoyable, but confusing. Afterwards, the director and cast came out and talked with the audience members who remained to explain what their interpretation of the play was. It definitely helped explain what was going on.

Today I got a pedicure. The woman applying my nail polish took 15 minutes to finish it up, which meant I only had 10 minutes for it to dry before I had to leave. As a result, I left wearing "shoes" made of fun foam. I'm sure it was funny to watch me trying to walk.

I was talking with my sister on the phone when my niece asked her to hang up so they could play hide and seek. My sister didn't want to hang up, so my niece suggested that I play with them.

I was on the cordless phone (which has a speakerphone). She carried me with her, and I played hide and go seek over the phone. I wasn't much good at either hiding and seeking, and I was told that I whispered too loudly, but she seemed to have fun.

It's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood

I got up this morning and went to get some things done. I got dressed (jeans, t-shirt, jacket) and went outside ... to discover that summer arrived overnight. It's sunny and humid today, so I was way overdressed.

(By the way, one of the errands I got done is renewing my car registration, so that is taken care of).

I had intended to update last night to tell you about my boxing class, but apparently I have the memory of ... something that doesn't have much memory, so I forgot.

Anyway, back to boxing.

I've talked about boxing many times before. As I've mentioned, usually a class consist of 12 stations and a couple of punch-outs. There are a few weeks that are different, usually towards the end of the session. Last night was week 8 of 8.

A punch-out consists of 2 or 3 people on a bag, taking turns punching and switching every 10-20 seconds. They are usually for speed (i.e. in & out 20 times in 20 seconds) or power (i.e. in & out 12 times in 20 seconds, but hitting harder).

During the last session, week 8 consisted of 8 punch-outs in a row, then 8 stations in a row. It was very challenging.

Yesterday was a split circuit. In a split circuit week, you usually do a punch-out, 6 stations, 2 punch-outs, the other 6 stations, and then a punch-out, It's a bit different, but not too hard.

Last night, we started with a punch-out. After that, we split into 2 groups. Each group did 6 stations. (One station was shadow boxing using 5 pound dumbells, which is crazy hard.) After 6 stations, we did a punch-out, then we traded sides to do the other 6 stations. At the end, there was another punch-out ... followed by "OK guys, switch sides again, time for another 6 stations".

One of my classmates is in the Monday class as well. Her comment was "I almost cried on Monday".

After our final 6 stations, we did one last punch-out, for a total of 1+6+1+6+1+6+1 = 22 2-minute stations.

We do 24 stations one class each session, but the difference with this one is that we didn't know we would be doing the extra station.

I was lucky, though, because I only had to do the shadow boxing station once. It was hard enough the first time, I don't know if I would have been able to do it twice.

I did some new things on the weekend, but I don't remember what they are

A few years ago (OK, probably 10 years ago), Ontario passed a law requiring all cars more than a certain number of years old (3?) to have an emissions test before the province will renew their registration. They send you the reminder a couple of months in advance - I think I got mine in February - but I believe you have to pass the emissions test within 30 days of your renewal.

Today I took my car in to get the emissions test done (along with a few other things, like the fact that pressing the button for windshield washer fluid was ... pretty much futile).

Anyway, I got moving early this morning. I didn't get up any earlier, I just was more focused on getting out the door. I put my gym bag in the trunk, my laptop and purse on the front seat, and then went to drop off the car. When I got there, I grabbed my laptop and purse, gave them the keys, and got a ride in to work. I got there at 8:15, which meant I was the first one in. I had to unlock both sides of the building.

This afternoon, they called to tell me that they had figured out what needed fixing, but that they needed to get parts - did I need the car tonight?

I originally said that I did need the car, but then I started to think about it. I had nothing going on tonight that I specifically needed the car for (other than going to the gym, home, and then back to work tomorrow). I would need to get a ride to the garage to pick up my car ... and then go through the whole process again in a couple of days when they had the parts.

Instead, I could go to the gym, then take the bus home & back to work in the morning, leaving them the car until they got the parts tomorrow.

It took me a while to realize my gym bag (with my runners, gym clothes, and gym membership card) was still in the trunk of the car.

Oh well, that's a good excuse to skip going to the gym, right?

I called them back to say they could keep the car overnight, and they had managed to get the parts in. My car would be ready to pick up by 5.

Normally, my Monday gym class starts at 5 at the gym beside my office. I wasn't going to be able to make that class. (Plus, you may recall, I had already resigned myself to skipping the gym today anyway.) However, if I felt really, really motivated, the gym I go to on Wednesdays had a class starting at 5:30. Of course, that depended on picking up the car promptly at 5.

One of my co-workers gave me a ride to the garage, and I was out of there by 5:05. I couldn't justify skipping the class, so I headed towards the gym.

When I was halfway there, I remembered that this is new release week. Four times a year my gym releases new music & choreography for their exercise classes. During release week, selected classes preview the new routines (usually with multiple instructors taking turns). You have to sign up for the release classes. The next week, all classes do the new routines. The four release weeks are the only times you have to sign up for classes in advance. They aren't usually too picky about it, but it could depend on how many people show up.

I got to the gym and, yes, the class I was planning to attend was a new release class. However, luckily only 2 people had signed up (because last Monday was a holiday, and thus the class was cancelled).

The point of this story? I went to the gym today.

(Also, if someone could remind me to renew my car registration before the end of next week, I would appreciate it.)

Many, many excuses

Today is an amazing day.

You may remember last year - before October - I used to go to a Body Combat class on Thursdays, then eat, try to fit in a quick new thing, and then go to boxing later in the evening.

This stopped in September when my 6 p.m. class moved to 7 p.m.

Back in January, I stopped boxing on Thursday nights and started boxing on Fridays. I planned to start going to my class again.

However, there was:
- the bus strike
- a job hunting meeting
- a cold
- March break (this was grasping at straws, excuse-wise)
- the flu
- grocery shopping for camp
- whatever weird illness I had last Thursday

As a result, I made it back to class tonight, only 3.5 months later. It was really, really good to be back.

Because I've been sick so much, I haven't hit many combat classes at all this year. I noticed yesterday that there was so much tension in my back/shoulders that it hurt to move. (This is not usually a problem, but I haven't been to boxing in a month.) I went to my weight lifting class yesterday, which took care of some of the tension, but it took this class to really get rid of it.

Here's hoping I stay healthy for a while.

Changing the subject (which I can do, 'cause it's my blog), Sydney was asking how hard it is to make croissants. The answer is that it's quite easy, as long as using yeast doesn't scare you - but that's my opinion, it depends on how familiar you are with baking bread. Also, I made a group of 5 & 6 year olds make their own pizza dough a couple of weeks ago, so it's possible that my love for fresh bread products blinds me to the craziness of making the bread products.

Here's the recipe:
1 tbsp yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 egg yolks
1 cup lukewarm milk
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/3 cups flour
1 cup butter (do not substitute)

Sprinkle the yeast into the warm water and let stand 10 minutes (until it starts to grow). Separate your eggs, saving the whites in a sealed container for tomorrow. Beat the egg yolks, stir in the warm milk, sugar, salt, yeast mixture, and 2/3 cup flour. Beat until smooth and set aside.

In another bowl, use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the remaining flour. The goal here (and the reason for using a pastry blender) is to get the butter into pieces about pea-sized. Pour in the yeast mixutre and mix slightly with spatula just until the flour is moistened. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or foil (or, you know, put on the lid if you have a bowl with a lid). Chill at least 2 hours or until cold (up to 3 days). I usually make it the day before and let it chill overnight, 'cause I want them for breakfast.

When you are ready to bake them, turn out your mixture onto a floured board and knead lightly. Here your goal is to mix in the flour and make sure the whole thing is basically evenly moist (i.e. you don't want part of the dough really sticky and part a pile of flour). Flour on your hands works wonders here.

Divide the ball of dough into 3 parts. Roll each piece into a circle about 16 inches. (Again, flour the rolling pin). Cut the circle into 12 pie wedges. Starting at the widest part of each wedge, roll it up. Place the rolls point down on baking sheet. Cover with a towel and let rise at room temperature until double in size. (I'm not this patient. They're lucky if they get to rise much at all.)

Remember the egg white from yesterday? Take it out of the fridge and beat it until it's frothy. Brush the beaten egg white on each croissant.

Bake at 375 F oven for 20 minutes or until brown.


These will likely be much smaller than croissants you would get in a supermarket (especially if, like me, you're impatient waiting around for them to rise). They will, however, be much tastier.

Note that (in case the cup of butter didn't clue you in), these are very rich and are by no means health food.

Guess what?

My Easter sunday started with a long distance phone call at 8:15. It was my niece. ("Guess what the Easter bunny brought me?") Sadly for everyone else in her house, it was 6:15 there. She was a little excited.

After that, I got up to cook the traditional Easter croissants (to go with fruit salad for breakfast). When I lived with my parents, that was what we had on Easter morning, and I continued the tradition after I moved here. A couple of years ago I went back for Easter ('cause I was unemployed and had time to spare), and ... they were surprised about the croissants. They don't do that anymore.

After last year's fiasco, we had gone to the Easter vigil on Saturday night, so there was no church on the Sunday, so it was a lazy day.

In the afternoon, I made a banana cream pie. Sadly, there was so much food that we didn't actually eat it. I should have some now.

Generally, it was a lazy day and a very relaxing weekend.

My day today

I woke up this morning around 7. I don't usually rush to get up on Saturdays, but around 7:15 I remembered it is garbage day today (since yesterday was a holiday). Four seconds later I was out of bed on my way to take out the garbage.

After that, I went out to run a couple of errands. I had some stuff to pick up at Rona, so I made a list and packed my old paint in the car, and I took back paint to Rona for recycling. I've repainted since I moved in, and the old paint was still sitting in my basement. I'm glad there was somewhere I could take it.

After that, I went to the grocery store. I got there around 8:30. Now, the thing about Ottawa on Easter weekend is that, well, everyone is in a panic. You see, the stores are closed Friday and Sunday. When I got there at 8:30, the store was busy. Very busy. It took me an hour to get my groceries and get back to the car.

The other thing about this particular store is that it has those annoying carts - you know, the kind that lock if you take them off the parking lot? I understand they don't want them walking away, but I parked off to the side of the store, which is outside the carts' range. I was a little concerned, because I had bought a lot of (heavy) groceries, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to carry them all. However, I was lucky, because my cart was broken! That sounds like a bad thing, but in this case the only thing that was broken was the demobilizer that would have stopped me from taking the cart to my car. I went to my car, unloaded, and then brought the cart back - partly to be nice, and partly to stop them from realizing that the cart was broken. It might come in handy again some day.

On an unrelated topic, yesterday I really wanted broccoli salad. I knew I had had it before, but I couldn't remember where (or who I should be getting the recipe from). After a couple of hours, it occurred to me that I had the salad at Christmas. It's my mom's recipe! I called her, and she suckered my sister into e-mailing the recipe to me. I made the salad this afternoon.

For those who are interested, here's the recipe. We had it as written at Christmas, but today I substituted plain yogurt cheese for the mayonaise. I should know tomorrow whether it's as addictive this way. (Also, it turns out the this broccoli salad has cauliflower in it as well ... but I didn't remember that at all.)

1 medium head cauliflower, broken into florets (about 7.5 cups)
1 medium bunch broccoli, cut into florets (about 4 cups)
2 cups seedless red grapes
6 green onions with tops, sliced
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp vinegar
1/2 to 1 pound sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled
leaf lettuce
additional red grapes, optional

In a large bowl, combine the cauliflower, broccoli, grapes, onions, and mozzarella cheese. Combine the mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, sugar, and vinegar; pour over vegetable mixture and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Just before serving, stir in bacon. Transfer to a lettuce lined bowl. Garnish with grapes if desired. YIELD: 15-20 servings.

Cooking & cleaning

I'm happy to say that I'm feeling much better today. I had a very productive day cleaning. I also did my first pass at my income tax. I always enter my info once, leave it for a few days, then go back and verify that I have entered everything correctly. Often I find silly mistakes this way. I've got a little over 2 weeks to go back and do my second pass and submit it to CRA.

This evening I finally got around to watching some of the depression cooking videos on YouTube. They are done by a 93-year-old woman who lived through the Great Depression. She shares recipes that they made. I had seen people talking about them a few weeks ago, but hadn't checked them out myself. Today I finally got there.



(Did you notice I figured out how to embed a video?)

And ... I'm sick again

I'm starting to think I will catch any minor illness from anyone who is sick within 100 miles. Yes, I'm sick again. This one isn't a cold - it's something digestive. (I will spare you the details.)

Anyway, when I woke up I realized that going in to work wasn't a good idea, but I hadn't brought my laptop home last night. Anyway, I got up and went in to work simply to get my laptop. I walked in, got my laptop, chatted with one of my co-workers briefly, and then walked out. The people standing in the lobby remarked on how quickly I was in and out. I told them I am so efficient I can do a day's work in minutes.

Not much to say

Well, today I went back to the gym again. I actually wasn't too sore after Monday's class - a twinge here or there, but nothing much. Today I started working my way back up to the weights I was using before I got sick. (You wouldn't thing being sick for 2 weeks would have much impact, but you would be wrong.) One of the frustrating things about the many minor illnesses I've had this year is that I keep missing whole weeks of going to the gym. Hopefully I will feel well for a while.

In other news, the long weekend is fast approaching. One more day of work before having Friday off. I'm very much looking forward to it. Also, chocolate is fast approaching, and that's always good.

Random

I almost forgot to update again today, but I remembered seconds before turning off the laptop. Writing something every day is much easier when I have something (like a new thing) to focus on.

Tuesday means Sparks. Tonight we made face cloth rabbits. It went well, but required me to know how to tie bows. I've never made the chick before. In fact, I didn't know it existed until I was looking for a picture to explain what on earth I was talking about. I might have to try those sometime.

Let's pretend

I'm writing this on Tuesday, but let's pretend it's still Monday, shall we? (I completely forgot to update.)

As I was walking in to work this morning, a few snowflakes drifted down. I expected that to be the last of it, but within an hour the entire world was white. It warmed up later, and by the time I left work it was mostly gone.

After work, I went back to the gym for the first time since I got sick. I normally do 2 classes on Mondays, but I decided I shouldn't push myself, so I only stayed for the first class. It was the weight lifting class, so I will be sore tomorrow. Expect much whining.

Back from camp

Camp went very well. It was tiring (as usual), but fun. The parents were a great help - I made a big mess yesterday (we made our own pizza dough) and I didn't have to clean it up. Wonderful.

It rained much of yesterday, but we still did a treasure hunt in the rain. The girls loved it. One of the clues told them to go on the path until they found a bridge. They saw some (wet, rotted) logs across the ditch, and were going to go across them. I got them to wait and see if there was a real bridge later - and when we got to it, they were afraid to get across. Wet, rotten logs are one thing, but asking them to walk across a solid bridge was too much.:)

We also went outside for our campfire last night. It was actually snowing at the time. It was much more pleasant than it sounds. Everyone was dressed for the weather, and it wasn't that cold out.

This morning we cleaned up. We were finished early - so all of the girls went home before our official end of camp. It was great. Normally we wouldn't be able to do that - but since the mothers were there, we didn't have to wait for them to arrive. It was great. I was home, showered, and unpacked by 1:15.

It's off to camp we go

Well, today is the day. I'm off to Sparks camp. It's a mother-daughter camp, which is different from anything I've done before. We're going to be pirates. We have a treasure hunt, scavenger hunt, and many games planned. I hope it doesn't rain all weekend.

Have a good weekend everyone - even those of you who are didn't get up at 6:30 this morning. :)

They wake you up at 7, and they sleep in 'til 9

I actually made it in to work today. This has been a busy - but productive -week. After wrok I met some friends for supper, then it was home to pack. I'm off to camp tomorrow. I think I have packed everything I own. Not literally, of course, but I have packed a lot of stuff.

I've been a leader at camp many times, and yet everytime it takes me longer to pack than I expect. I am finally packed now, which is good, because we're leaving at 7:30 tomorrow.

The best laid plans

I think I've mentioned that I had an agreement with my manager that I would work from home Tuesdays and Thursdays until I felt better. I know I mentioned yesterday that the exhaustion is gone, and I'm feeling better. I was intending to go in to work today.

I got ready, put on my jacket, put on my shoes, picked up my laptop bag, reached for my keys, and ... they weren't in my pocket. I looked on the bench inside the front door. They weren't there. I checked the end table. Still no keys. Eventually I reached the conclusion that Wanda (who was the last one to use the car) had taken them to work with her. The end result? I worked from home today.

Yay!

I worked from work today. It was very frustrating, because I had sporadic, reoccurring network problems. I was always able to reach the development servers, but was not always to reach the internet or our mail server. In order to fix the internet/mail problem, I had to disconnect and reconnect the ethernet cable - which dropped me from the development servers.

The good news is that I'm finally starting to feel better. I'm not completely better - I'm still coughing - but I'm not nearly as exhausted as I was. This is wonderful news. I'm going to continue taking it easy for the rest of the week, since I have to be ready for camp on Saturday. Hopefully next week I'll be back to normal./

Working from home

I talked with my manager yesterday, and I'll be working from home twice a week until I'm feeling better. Today was one of those days.

Some things are harder from home - I can't just wander over to someone's desk and ask a question - but in some ways it's quite nice. First of all, there's no rushing out the door in the morning. Also, I can lie down whenever I want to. It's also much easier to concentrate when I'm working on something specific (although honestly, I'm usually the instigator of the distractions, not the victim). Anyway, tomorrow I'm back to working at work.

Playing around

Another day, still sick. You may remember a long, long time ago I bought a Nintendo DS. Since I spend most of my time lying on the couch these days, I'm very glad I have it. It gives me something to do that doesn't require the amount of energy that holding up my head does.

Anyway, I bought a game that includes various card and board games, as well as pool and darts. I am getting better at darts and pool on the DS. I bowl about as well on the DS as I do in real life - so, in other words, not very well at all. I've also finally learned how to play backgammon. I'm glad I have the game.

Another boring update

I realize this blog is getting very boring, since every day is the same thing. Yes, I'm still sick. I'd say I'm getting bored, but that's not really accurate. I'm not bored, I'm just frustrated. There are so many things I need to get done, and I can't do any of them - or stand for more than a couple of minutes. Even sitting up for a long time is tiring.

I keep thinking "I'll feel better tomorrow", but thus far that hasn't happened.

As a result, it's difficult to find something to write about - I haven't really been doing much. Hopefully I'll feel better soon so I can be more interesting.

Thawing out

The sun is shining these days, and I am getting more motivated to do things I have been putting off for a while. (I still have a cold, so I do not always follow through, but the motivation is there.)

A few years ago, I bought a freezer for the basement. I love it. For a while I was better at putting food into it than I was at taking it out, but that is no longer the case. However, time and incidents such as leaving the lid up a crack meant that there was frost accumulating on the inside of the freezer. Today I defrosted the freezer. Wanda was kind enough to help me (although I have to admit that it probably would have been more entertaining to watch me trying to reach the bottom of the freezer myself).

It was pretty easy. I took all of the food out and put it in the fridge freezer or in a cooler. I then unplugged the freezer and put a pan of hot water in it to help things melt. The next step was to go out and run errands. By the time I got back, the frost had fallen off of the sides. I took out the pan of water as well as the pieces of frost. The freezer has a drain hole on the bottom, and the next step was to undo the inside and the outside plugs. I then started wiping up the bottom. (This is when Wanda "volunteered" to help me.) Once it was all dry, we propped open the lid and went for lunch. When we got back, it was time for one final drying of the freezer. Then we replaced the food and plugged it back in. Hopefully it won’t need to be done again for a while.

The internet: Making whining easier

Today was day 6 of this particular cold. I did not go to boxing. I decided that since I couldn't make it through a shower without coughing, I shouldn't go to boxing.

I did meet up with some former co-workers for lunch, though. It was good to see them again.

Normally, I'd be boxing right now. Tonight I just want to go to sleep. Perhaps I will do that.

Running out of titles

I really don't know what to talk about today. This is the problem with trying to update every day without really having a purpose.

I again went in to work today, but I'm still coughing. Yesterday after work I stopped at the drug store to get some cough drops. While I was there, I also picked up some tic tacs. I was very glad to have them today as they did a good job of keeping me from coughing.

Tomorrow will be a debate. I haven't been to the gym this week - but tomorrow is boxing. If I'll still coughing, I probably shouldn't go - but it's above a pool and really humid, so maybe I'd be OK. I'm not sure. I guess I'll have to figure it out tomorrow.

What do you guys think? Do you exercise when you're sick, or are you like me and sit around feeling sorry for yourself?

We still look funny

My manager was also off on Monday and Tuesday (although he was worse off than I was). Another co-worker was off on Monday as well. Today, everyone in my department was at work. It was shocking.

I skipped going to the gym today - I'm still coughing far too much for that. I did guilt Wanda into going. While she was gone, I picked up where I left off back in December. I transferred home videos off of my DVD recorder and onto a DVD. I then messed around with transferring them to a format I could upload ... and they're too big to upload. I'll have to do some editing before I can upload them. I am one step closer, though. In another 3 or 4 months, I might get motivated enough to take the next step.

Aaarrg!

Thanks for your concern. I'm glad to say that I'm feeling better today. Not 100%, but much better than yesterday.

I worked from home again today, but I fully intend to go in to work tomorrow. (I'm sure Wanda is glad about that.)

I did make it to Sparks today. We made memory books. I had done the outline beforehand - one page per meeting, with a picture to remind the girls about what they had done - and then they had to draw a picture or write something about what they had done. They loved it! I was expecting them to get about one page done, but they moved really fast and were all glad to take it home.

After Sparks, one of the other leaders and I went off to Party Packagers to look for supplies for our camp. We're doing a pirate theme, and we needed bandanas. We bought bandanas - but we also found amazing pirate hats. We bought one for each leader. (Not out of the Sparks money, for the record). (Ignore the price tag in the dorky picture).

Whining

I probably mentioned yesterday that I have another cold. This is the third one this year and the second one this month. This is far worse than the first one I had. For one thing, I cannot get warm unless I'm in bed. Lying on the couch under 2 blankets doesn't work. Taking a hot bath doesn't work. Working at the computer definitely doesn't work.

I'm hoping that this doesn't last long. I hate being sick all of the time.

In good news, today was another beautiful sunny day. The snow continues to melt, and spring is definitely here. The driveway has vastly improved since a week ago - there are no major icy patches.

A very lazy Sunday

It's laundry day again. I find that doing laundry on Sundays fits in very well with my preference to spend Sundays not doing much at all.

The snow has melted a lot this week, and I again hung my clothes outside. This time I got them outside a lot earlier, and they dried outside. My main reason for hanging clothes outside isn't convenience (obviously), or energy conservation, or that "fresh off the line" smell, or that I like my towels like sandpaper. My main reason is that all of the clothes are dry at roughly the same time. When I use the dryer, my hang to dry clothes don't actually dry until Tuesday morning. The other thing I liked about it is that I can take the clothes off the line in order. For example, all of the pants come off the line at the same time. That makes putting the clothes away easier.

Other than cooking and laundry, I didn't do much today. I'm really sick of having a cold every couple of weeks. I hope this is a short one.

Stream of consciousness

The hardest part about posting every day is remembering to post every day. The timestamp on this one says it was posted on Saturday, but I'm actually writing it Sunday morning. I got home at midnight, remembered, and decided to go to bed anyway.

Last night I was over at a friend's house. I taught her son to play Kings on the Corners, which was fun. The kids went to bed not long after I got there, and then we sat around and chatted.

I'm starting to get a cold (again). Let's see, I had one in August, one in September, one in December, one in early March, and now again. Most of them have been quite mild, but it's still annoying. Hopefully this trend stops soon.

Back in November (when the September cold was lingering on), my doctor prescribed me a nasal spray that I had to use for three months. It worked wonders - I can breathe through my nose better now than I ever could before- even when I have a cold.

I'm sure none of you care about this. :)

I ran the usual Saturday errands yesterday, but the bulk of my day was spent reading a book (The Surgeon, by Tess Gerrison). I read another of her books ages ago, but somehow didn't pick up any more of them. I enjoyed this one (if "enjoyed' is the word to use about a book about a serial killer who rapes and mutilates women). I'll have to check out more of her books.

A good day

The weather is getting nice. The sun was shining, and the geese have returned. I passed a body of water with hundreds of geese on it on the way to work.

After work was boxing, of course. It's week three, which means we move from 12 2-minute stations to 12 3-minute stations. I actually succeeded in doing 9 crossovers in a row. It's not a personal best, but it's been a long time since I've succeeded in doing that many without tripping. Skipping is much more fun when you're not whipping yourself every few seconds.

In other good news, Wanda succeeded in making pitas that puffed up today. Usually they are just really good flatbread. (Wanda also has some other good news, but for once I'll let her write about it first.)

Futile

I've mentioned that I bought a new table a month or so ago. Last week I called a local charity to pick up the old one. They arrived today. I was at work, but Wanda was home. In the end, they did not take the table - because one of the pedastal legs doesn’t come off.

I understand charities need to be selective about what they take, but this is a in perfect condition except for the inability to remove one of the table legs. (How often do you take the legs off your table?) The reason they gave Wanda was that they didn’t know if they had room.

I don’t think I will donate stuff this way again - it caused a delay of over a week waiting for them to arrive, someone had to sit around the house all day (because they couldn’t predict when they would show up), and in the end I still have the table.

You know, usually at some point during the day something will happen and I'll think "I'll have to mention that on my blog".

I never do - because I never remember what happened.

I do recall that I woke up at 5 (which is far too early). I think I fell asleep again - but in retrospect I did have some odd dreams before my alarm went off. I don't remember what they were, I just remember that they existed and they were very strange. I'm talking about the kind of dream where suddenly two days later someone will say or do something and it will trigger a memory that doesn't make much sense.

This afternoon turned into meeting after meeting after meeting. None of them were wastes of time - but still I didn't feel like I got much done.

After work, it was off to the gym. Today was body pump at the co-ed gym. This is one class that I prefer to do at the women's only gym for a couple of reasons. First of all, every once in a while at the co-ed gym you get a "strong" guy in the class who ignores the weight recommendations for warm-up, which drives me up the wall. The maximum weight you're supposed to have for warm-up is 5 kg on either side of the bar. I was in a class where the guy in front of me had 20 kg on either side of the bar. He made it through most of the warm-up and then for the squat track (where you're supposed to increase your weight) he went down to 10 kg on either side of the bar. (I do between 11 and 12.5 depending on how lazy I am that day.) Someday one of these guys is going to really hurt himself, and I'd rather not watch.

The other reason I prefer a women's only gym for pump is that the co-ed rooms are larger - which seems to result in having people in the class who are completely doing their own thing and not doing what everyone else is doing. Pump is relatively stationary, but if someone is making up their own class, they can be moving - and not in the same direction as anyone else.

St. Patrick's Day

I completely forgot it was St. Patrick's Day today. Luckily Google reminded me while I was eating breakfast.

Anyway, because it was St. Patrick's Day, Wanda decided to make potato soup and green lemon meringue pie (without the meringue) as per family tradition.

It's March Break here, which means that schools are closed, so I didn't have Sparks tonight. I arrived home at 5:30 or so, and Wanda was very confused. I'm sure I told her about it, but apparently she's been living here long enough to completely tune me out.

Anyway, I arrived home long before supper was ready, and much to my shock Wanda let me stay in the kitchen while she was cooking. (Usually it makes her nervous - or possibly annoyed as I go around shutting the cupboard doors behind her.)

The end result was very enjoyable though. I haven't had homemade potato soup in years - probably not since I moved to Ottawa.

Let this be a lesson to me

Some (all?) of you will not be surprised by this, but sometimes I can be very foolish.

Last night, for example, I wasn't ready for the weekend to be over, so I started reading a book and spent a lot of energy trying not to fall asleep. (Note: There has never been an instance where a book I was reading before falling asleep disappeared before I woke up.)

Of course, when I finally decided to allow myself to fall asleep, I was unable to do so. The worst part is that it's my own fault.

Anyway, after work I went to the gym. I haven't gotten back to my pre-Christmas routine, but I try to make it on Mondays and Wednesdays. Today was a beautiful sunny day - which unfortunately resulted in the group fitness room at the gym being really, really hot. It was exhausting- but I'm still glad I went.

Random occurrences

I usually meet up with some friends at church every week. However, in Lent we do something different - we do a Lenten journey. This consists of going to a different church every week in Lent.

Today after the service, I heard my sister talking to someone she obviously knew. I turned around, and there were my cousin and her daughter. It was an odd coincidence -the daughter lives in Ottawa, but my cousin was just in town for a week.

This afternoon I was inspired by the sunshine to hang my laundry out on the clothesline. I usually don't start hanging them outside until May, so usually I don't have to worry about the clothesline being shorter than usual due to the foot of snow that still remains on one side.

They didn't totally dry (I finished some of them in the dryer), but it was still nice to dry them partially outside.

Zzzzz

Unlike some people (hi Wanda!) I can't sleep in very late. I'm almost always awake by 7 (if not earlier).

When I was unemployed, I still got up early. I'd eat breakfast, review the new job postings, set up networking meetings, and procrastinate (not in that order...except breakfast). Then I would eat lunch - and invariably I would be exhausted. If I didn't have anything scheduled for the afternoon, I had to take a nap. I didn't usually sleep for long - it was more like rest time than an actual nap - but it became part of my daily routine.

Of course, that stopped when I started my current job. (They tend to frown on sleeping at your desk.)

However, today the switch to daylight savings time plus general fatigue caught up with me, and I took a nap.

I'm a little more rested than I was, but I still feel like I could sleep for a week or two.

Not sure where I was going

And ... this is why I haven't been writing every day. Today was a day where nothing unusual happened. Work, boxing, lounging around at home.

I'm on my second time through level 3 of boxing. The first time through each level is always confusing - there's new skills to master, and it takes a while for your body to figure out how to move. Subsequent times are still challenging - there's a lot to remember, and it's still a really good workout - but not as bad as the first time through.

One of the nice things about being in an advanced level is that I know a lot of the people in my class. There are multiple classes at each level, but by the time you get to level 3 there are only 5 classes - and if, like me, you need a class that starts at 6:30 or later on a weekday, there are only 2 classes. As a result, I've been in previous classes with several of the people I'm in class with now. Everyone is quite friendly, and we typically discuss the class in the locker room while getting changed and taking off the hand wraps.

If you're wondering what my point is, so am I. Let's go with "boxing is fun" and "I need sleep".

Just don't tell Joel

Today's new thing has been in the works for a couple of weeks.

I've mentioned before that I was laid off in 2007. At the time, I got a good severance package as well as outplacement help.

Since the company I worked for has since filed for bankruptcy protection, I know quite a few people who have been laid off with no severance and no outplacement help. I also know people who are looking for a new job, although they are still employed.

In the interests of helping some of them get started, I hosted a meeting to share some of what I learned.

Four of my former colleagues showed up, and they seemed to find it useful. Hopefully it will help.

No swimming here

It's very useful to have a job where you can work from home. I took advantage of that today because I had two appointments for people to come and give me suggestions for how to keep my basement from turning into a swimming pool every time it rains.

I liked the first one more - he did a better job of explaining what the possible problems were and how to fix them. I have a bit more investigating to do, but I plan to make a decision this week.

Time for a resolution

A couple of times in the last week I've thought about posting something but haven't - mostly due to laziness. As a result, I'm making a resolution - for the next month I'm going to be posting something every day.

I'm not guaranteeing a new thing every day, just a new post.

And ... apparently I have nothing to talk about.

Let's see. I had Sparks tonight. We're off next week (since it's March break), and everyone was a bit squirrelly, including the leaders. We were making firefighter puppets, and after the girls finished colouring, the other leader and I thought that the meeting must be over. It was actually 35 minutes into our one-hour meeting. Sigh. Believe me, everyone can use having a week off.

The time change hasn't been too bad so far - usually I hate it because I end up exhausted - but I am tired - and I keep waking up early. (Should I be? I get confused by "spring forward, fall back".)

You ever feel like you are not getting very far?

Sorry, I didn't mean to disappear ... and yet here we are. I won't bore you with the excuses.

Today a colleague and I had a meeting downtown. I had to get moving early enough to get downtown for a 9:00 meeting. I arrived at around 8:45, and my colleague was waiting for me. We stood around and chatted with the security guard until 9:05, at which point my colleague realized that our meeting had been rescheduled for noon. (I hadn't done any organizing of the meeting, I just showed up when I was told to.)

In other words, I showed up 3 hours early for a meeting.

After we realized we were there early, I went home and worked for a couple of hours before returning for the noon meeting.

After that, I went in to work for the afternoon before heading downtown again for my boxing class. I am pretty sure this is the first time I have gone downtown three times in one day.

Skiing

I haven't gone cross country skiing in a couple of years. Last winter between the massive amount of snow and the trip to Botswana in January, I didn't get there. This year I basically just didn't get there.

I enjoy cross country skiing on occasion, but it's hard to find a weekend day where there is decent snow on the ground, the weather is nice, and I'm not busy doing something else. (After work it is too dark to go unless you are going with someone else and you know the trails well).

Usually I drive to one of the NCC trails in the greenbelt and ski there.

Today there was a fresh snowfall and the weather was beautiful but I didn't want to drive to an organized trail, so I walked to the end of my street and went cross country skiing in the greenbelt behind my house. It's a short stretch, but I wanted something short since I haven't gone in so long.

You want me to do that backwards?

I've talked about boxing before, but I'm not sure if I've explained how my boxing training works.

A typical class starts with stretches and a warmup. After that, you rotate around the stations (2 or 3 minutes at each one, depending on the week). The stations for level 3 and up are: heavy bag, heavy bag, speed bag, skipping, skipping, shadow boxing, heavy bag, heavy bag, reflex bag, skipping, skipping, and speed bag. (For level 1 & 2, the reflex bag is replaced with another shadow boxing station.) There is some variation from week to week, but that's the basic routine.

One other thing that I don't think I've mentioned is that I'm (naturally) the world's worst skipper. My class is on the observation deck around a pool. I hit myself in the face. I hit my arms. I get the rope wrapped around my neck. I get the rope caught on the railing of balcony.

I hate shadow boxing after skipping because I look like someone whipped me.

Starting in level 1, we learned crossovers. (In the video below, she starts doing crossovers at around 1:37. Note that I wear considerably more clothes while skipping than she does.) It took me 2 or 3 sessions to get one crossover. The most I've ever done in a row is 18, and that was once - usually I can only get 2 or 3.

Starting in level 2, we learned some backward skipping. I'm just as good at it as I am at forward skipping. :) In level 3, we started backwards crossovers. Friday I successfully did a backwards crossover. In fact, I did two in a row (although the second one was pretty shaky).

Since last week I didn't come close to doing even one, I was pretty happy.

Advice that's worth what you pay for it

I know a lot of people who are either actively job hunting or actively thinking about it.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but a couple of years ago I was laid off, and ended up unemployed for 7 months. (OK, technically it was 7 months and 1 day.)

While I was unemployed, I had access to an outplacement service. In the interests of sharing some of what I learned, here are some key things I would recommend. (Note that the job I got 1.5 years ago was the first job I'd actually applied for or had an interview for in 12 years, so I'm hardly an expert).

1) Figure out what you want to do. A lot of people skip this step, but what happens if you don't know what you're looking for is that you scatter your energy. Pick a direction. (If you pick a direction that turns out to be wrong, that's OK - re-evaluate & pick another direction. At least you're moving.)

2) On your resume, make it as action filled and measurable as possible. What sounds better to you: "Responsible for generating reports on the number of software bugs" or "Compiled data and analyzed problem trends, leading to process improvements that dropped the number of recorded defects by 10%"? They're basically referring to the same task.

3) Again on the resume, hiring managers don't want to know what your assigned tasks were - they want to know what you did with them.

4) Don't know what you're good at? Ask former co-workers.

5) Also, make a list of accomplishments (both on & off the job). What skills did you have to use to accomplish those things? What did you like doing What jobs could you get that would use those same skills and what you enjoyed doing?

6) Network.

7) No, seriously, network. Everyone hates it. A large number of jobs are never advertised, so you need people to know that you are looking. Don't worry, the secret is in #8.

8) Networking? It's not asking if someone is hiring. If you call me up and say, "Colette, I'm looking for a job, is your company hiring", you put me in an awkward position. If we are (but I don't think you're the right person for that job), I'm not going to want to recommend you. If we aren't, the conversation is over. However, even if I don't think you are the right person for that job doesn't mean that I won't want to help you out, or that I won't want to recommend you for a different job in the future.

9) Oops, forgot to put the secret in #8. Networking is talking to people - but not asking for a job.

• "Colette, I'm starting on a job hunt and I'd like to talk to you about what process you went through when you found your current job. "
• "Colette, I'm starting a job hunt. I know you went from working at a large company to working at a small company. I'd like to talk to you about how you found that transition."
• "Colette, I'm investigating the different things that high tech companies are doing in Ottawa and I'd like to talk to you about what the company you now work for is doing."
• "Colette, I'm working on my resume and I'd like to get your opinion on how I can make it stronger."

Any one of those questions will get me talking for 45 minutes. Asking if we're hiring ends will get me to say "no".

10) When networking, ask the person you are talking with if there's anyone else they can recommend you talk to - then follow up with whoever they recommend.

11) Before you start networking, figure out a quick way to introduce yourself. "Hi, I'm Colette. I'm a software developer with experience in the telecommunications and aviation industries, and I'm looking to move into ..." This is also the way to answer a "tell me about yourself" question in an interview.

12) Treat networking like it's your job. (It kind of is.) Dress appropriately, show up on time, stay focused on your objective, and don't run over time (without offering to wrap it up)- the person you're talking to is doing you a favour.

13) If possible, offer something in return. For example, if the person you're meeting with is talking about a problem they're facing at work, offer relevant experience you've had that might help.

14) Send a thank you note (e-mail is probably fine) after the meeting.

15) Networking will boost your confidence, which makes the rest of the job hunt easier. People wouldn't be making time to talk with you if they thought you were an idiot.

16) Proofread your resume. Proofread thank you letters.

17) An interview should, of course, be treated seriously. Prepare answers to common interview questions. Dress slightly better than you would have to dress if you had the job. Show up on time. Turn off the cell phone. Be polite. Look your interviewer in the eye.

18) Interview going badly? I had a horrible interview before I got this job. I knew about 5 minutes in that I wasn't going to get the job, so I treated it as a networking session. I asked about how much overtime people worked. It was a consulting firm, and I asked if their consultants went out to the client sites or if they worked in house. I asked about vacation and salary. It was a chance to get information about the industry.

19) My usual "how to get things done" method - set yourself goals. "I will get a job by June 1" is not a goal you control entirely, but "I will set up and follow through on 1 networking meeting a week" is.

I think that's my full rant for today. Feel free to share suggestions (or questions, which I will answer if I can) in the comments.

Family day

Today I celebrated Family Day. Family day is a new statuatory holiday in Ontario - basically created to give people a day off between New Year`s and Easter. It started last year, but last year I ended up working, so this is the first year I had the day off.

It`s a bit of an odd holiday in the sense that everyone has the day off except federal employees. However, they get Rememberance Day and Easter Monday off (when no one else does), so I won`t lose a lot of sleep feeling bad for them. :)

It was a great day. I basically wasted the whole day doing nothing. Since work has been so busy lately, it was time off I desperately needed.

Inspired

First of all, last week's contest. The winner is Peter for his explanation. (The Easter bunny was early, and his basket was full, so he was dragging it. He got tired of dragging it, so he took the eggs and threw them around (into the neighbours' yards) and then hopped away when the basket was empty.) Peter, your gift will be in the mail as soon as I find your address. :) Thanks to all of you who gave me explanations. They all made me smile. (Also, who is the "Anonymous" who is claiming they sound like Daniel? It's a mystery.)

Let's move on to this week, shall we?

Somewhere around the beginning of the year, I stumbled across Choosy Beggars. It's a website about cooking, and it's very entertaining. In fact, it makes me want to cook which - as we all know - is unusual for me.

A while ago, they had a recipe for kibbeh. It sounded really good. Today, I made kibbeh. It's tasty (but, deep down, it's still meatloaf).
However, to quote Homer Simpson, we can't go this far and not go a little further, so I also made homemade pitas. And hummus.




Admittedly, the pitas turned out more like flat bread, but they are very tasty.

Perhaps I should be building an ark

I've decided that I need to update more often, even if I'm not actually doing new things. (Sorry, I blame work.) Let me tell you about my day - or at least the portion that happened before my alarm went off.

I don't believe I've ever talked about this, but I have no problems washing dishes. I don't dry them - I stack them in the drainboard, and they stay there until a) I have to kill some time in the kitchen, or b) I need to use them again.

So it's winter, and naturally there is snow outside. We didn't get our usual January thaw, but yesterday it started raining.

This morning at 4 a.m. (exactly) I heard rattling in the drainboard. I was very puzzled. And sleepy, let's not forget that.

I got up, and asked my sister what on earth she was doing. She told me that the basement was leaking.

I went downstairs. There was water on the floor - not over the whole basement, but enough to get my feet wet as I walked around.

I helped Wanda get all of her stuff off the floor. (One would think that perhaps that the floor wouldn't be the best place to store stuff, but apparently Wanda disagrees.) While she finished up, I went upstairs and made up another bed for her.

I don't know what happened exactly. My theory is that the rain plus the melting snow caused water to leak in the windows. It rained all day today, and everything is dry now.

I still don't know how rattling dishes was supposed to help.

Another contest

This is the scene in my backyard. There is a long, relatively straight furrow in the snow, with rabbit tracks going out from the end.

My theory is that someone went rabbit bowling (i.e. using a rabbit as a bowling ball), and when the rabbit stopped rolling, he simply jumped away.

What is your theory? Explain how these tracks in the snow happened in the comments (before Saturday, Feb. 14). The most interesting explanation will get a prize.

A follow up

Back in November or so, I mentioned that I was thinking about buying a new table. In January I ordered a table, chairs, buffet, and hutch. They arrived today.

I didn't do anything new, I just felt like sharing