Woolsey

The Ontario Girl Guides have several camps that groups can use. In the Ottawa area, it's Camp Woolsey.

The camp is an amazing place. It's on the Ottawa River and has 6 separate cabin sites as well as quite a few tenting sites. It's beautiful and peaceful, and it's a fabulous place to camp - not just because of the site itself, but because there are always multiple groups camping, which gives everyone a chance to interact with other levels of Guiding.

A few weeks ago, an e-mail went around asking for help cleaning up from storm damage and preparing for winter. There were three weekends to choose from.

I didn't want to help. I hate giving up my weekends, and I just didn't want to do it.

But ... the camp is wonderful, and the land is probably worth a fortune. If we don't care for it, we'll lose it. I said I'd go up for Saturday morning.

Once I'd committed to going, it wasn't so bad. I didn't have to pack much - I grabbed some tools and threw them in the car, and off I went.

(Usually it takes me about 10 trips to get everything to the car when I'm going to Woolsey, so that was a treat in itself.)

I got there a little before 9 and we got started. I walked down to check out the fire pits on the sites and immediately ran into my neighbour, who was there were her Guides. After I figured out what needed to be done there, I went back to the parking lot and met up with the others ... and promptly ran into someone I used to take Irish Dancing with.

We moved furniture out of one cabin, fixed rails, and moved logs cut to sit on.

Before I knew it, it was noon. I would have considered staying longer, but I had a meeting to get to, so that was it.

I write a lot of blog posts that you never see - and by "write" I mean "compose in my head while nowhere near a computer".

This is probably good as it avoids this blog becoming focused on rants about terrible drivers and construction. (Are Ottawa construction workers paid bonuses if they disrupt traffic longer, in stranger ways, and at weirder hours than ever before? Because I've been caught in traffic jams at 9 p.m. the last two Wednesdays.)

That's not all that hasn't made it to a computer though.

There was the story of the only marginally responsive guy passed out on York St. at 7 in the evening, and the picture of the chair I painted on the weekend that I never quite got around to taking. There's the story of apple picking and the news that my contract at work was extended. I didn't talk about the first meeting for Sparks or the community corn roast.

I didn't even talk about how I spent three evenings last week reading the Hunger Games series (which I loved and highly recommend, by the way, even though the concept sounds terrible).

I didn't even rant about how I don't mind so much when racoons/chipmunks/groundhogs/etc. eat my tomatoes, but it's adding insult to injury when they climb up on the patio furniture and leave the tomato skins there.

Maybe next time.

Going in circles

The more I do, the more I have to do.

It started in July when I noticed some siding on the house needed painting. I spent an evening painting, and noticed that the windows needed to be re-caulked.

I spent the last two weekends re-caulking the windows. While I was doing that, I noticed that the metal posts under the overhang (you can see them in the far right of the picture below) needed to be painted. Yesterday, I sanded them and put on a coat of primer.

While I was doing that, I noticed some siding that needed painting.

Paper or plastic?

I mentioned a while ago that I got a Kobo e-reader, and I thought I'd share some thoughts now that I've had a chance to get used to it. Keep in mind that I have the wireless version that pre-dated the touch, so some of this might be different on the touch.

It's been a few months, and I still have not bought a single ebook. I have bought two paper books. One of them will be passed around a group of friends, but mostly it feels strange to spend money on an ebook. (Yes, I have worked in high tech since 1995. And yes, I do occasionally buy music online. I don't really know why it feels different with a book.)

Having said that, I've never bought many books. I read a lot - if I bought every book I read for $10, I could easily spend $160 - $200 a month on books. And I wouldn't be able to walk in my house. Since I'll read almost anything, I borrow books from the library, friends, and family.

It's definitely not the same experience as a paper book - there are pros and cons to each. Here's what I've found so far.

Paper or plastic?

• Borrowing library books - Plastic. Much easier, faster, and it can be done from the couch.
• Returning library books - Plastic. It took me a while to figure out how to do this, but now I love it - especially since Ottawa Public Library only lets you have 10 ebooks out at once.
• Storage - Plastic. No piles of books around, just one little device. Well, OK, fewer piles of books around.
  
• Killing spiders - Paper. Plastic might work for killing spiders, but I suspect it wouldn't work for anything else afterwards.
• Going back a few pages to reread something - Paper. There's no concept of "It was on the bottom quarter of a left-hand page" with an ereader. And I find turning multiple pages at once really slow.
  
• Skipping ahead to make sure an enjoyable character survives the book - Paper. Um, not that I do that.
• Borrowing books someone else has bought - Paper. If anyone knows how to do this (legally) on an ereader, let me know.

Some books (and again, keep in mind that these are borrowed books, not purchased books) are better formatted than other, and a lot of them are a little too close to the physical book. For example, a lot of ebooks have as their second page an excerpt from the book or some quotes about the author. In a physical book, that gives you some information about whether you'd like the book. In an ebook, it's too late - you already have the book.

I'm really enjoying the Kobo - I'm reading a lot more (even by my standards), but I'm also reading things I might never have come across in a paper book world. I'm also considering figuring out how to make PDFs that work with it so that so that I can move my recipe book onto the Kobo.

Of course, given how splattered some pages in my recipe book are, maybe that's not such a good idea.

Rollin'

Remember when I used to do new things? By the end of the year, I was all "oh, it's so much easier to do new things now".

Then I stopped.

This week (last week? Sometime recently) I heard about a roller derby open house. I've always thought roller derby looked like fun, but I didn't want to buy all the gear, and I was afraid I'd hurt myself.

When I found out I could rent shoes, I was in. After all, I didn't think I'd get terribly badly hurt the first time.

Today I left work, promised I'd be back on Monday if I didn't kill myself at roller derby, and promptly picked the worst possible route home. (Stupid construction.)

When I got home, I just had time to change before Wanda and I were back in the car. It was good to have someone along to keep me from chickening out.

We got there, paid our $15 for the time & the shoes, and started getting ready while the people who knew what they were doing did some sort of loaves and fishes thing with the other gear. ("We're out of knee pads ... oh wait, here's some more.)

I got gear before Wanda and went for a lap around the rink.

Have you ever taken someone who has never seen snow ice skating? You know how they kind of shuffle along as steadily as a boulder balanced on a stack of tea cups? That was me.

I eventually made it around the rink and back to where Wanda was still getting ready. By that time, I was tired and would have happily gone home. That seemed kind of pathetic, though, so I talked myself into staying.

I got a few tips from people and tried it a few more times. I had conversations with other new people about how much harder it was than it looked, and how none of us knew how to stop. Wanda finished getting ready and joined us and we skated around again.

Eventually, we broke up into groups - people who had been there before went off to do something involving exotic skills like stopping while the rest of us learned how to fall, stop, and, eventually, skate.

After a while, the entire group came back together and did some things in groups of five. One of them involved 5 people in a train with only the middle person skating. Another was "pass the gross thing". I'd explain, but I'm sure you can imagine how that worked.

By the end of the night, I wasn't good, but I was a lot better than at the beginning.

It was a lot of fun.

Despite my fears, I never felt like I was in danger of hurting myself. Between the knee pads, the elbow pads, and the wrist guards, I felt pretty secure.

But I'm pretty sure I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

What to eat

I usually go grocery shopping after work on Friday. The sales start on Friday (so they're not usually sold out), plus it gives me one less reason to leave the house on Saturday.

I shop with a list, but when something's a really good deal, I'll buy it even when it's not on the list. This works well - until the cupboards and freezer are full.

Last Friday, I bought two weeks worth of milk. I don't plan to buy groceries again until the first weekend in September. Maybe even later.

It's been three days and we're out of snack-type food. Also, the potatoes that are left are rather more squishy than I'd like, and I fully expect we'll run out of cheese.

I suspect I'll be at the grocery store before the cupboards and freezer are totally empty, but it will b e a good exercise in using up some of the food on hand before it goes bad.

Customer Service?

When I'm at work, I keep my cell phone on my desk. This isn't so much because I want to be instantly accessible as it is because if I lock it up with my purse, it doesn't get any service and the battery goes dead fast.

It hardly ever rings - I'd say in the past 18 months, I've received maybe 8 calls at work. I keep the volume loud (so that I have some hope of hearing it in the car), so when it does ring, I jump out of my skin.

When it rang today, it was a robo-caller from Bell Solo (my cell phone provider) telling me that because they value my business, they're giving me extra minutes every month. I have 100 peak minutes included in my plan, and based on the past 6 months, the most I've ever used was 25. That was much higher than the other months. I don't have long conversations on my cell phone. Extra minutes are of absolutely no value to me.

I signed up for this plan three years ago. It's a three year plan, and when I signed up, I was offered a year of voicemail & caller ID.

I didn't get it.

I called them, they said that wasn't an offer. I called again, they again said I couldn't have been offered that because it didn't exist.

I wrote to Bell executive customer service, who routed me to a supervisor at Solo, who -that's right - had no interest in honouring what I'd been promised. They couldn't possibly do it.

My contract expires on September 12.

Do you think the useless minutes will convince me to stay?

Summer's still here, but it seems to have one foot out the door.

It's still hot during the day, but it cools off at night. It's getting dark earlier - it's not even 8:30 and it's pretty dark out there.

It doesn't feel like fall yet - we haven't had one of those days where the air is crisp and you know summer is over - but we're getting there.

I've enjoyed my summer. I got sunburned more times than is healthy. I went camping (sunburn #2). I wrestled with the half-dead tree. I visited with friends and family. I watched baby rabbits on the lawn. I worked from the patio. I dug out that annoying thorned vine that grows by my compost bin.

I ate ice cream in Old Montreal. I made (and ate) orange-yogurt popsicles. I ate tomatoes still warm from the sun. I BBQed - steak, pork chops, chicken, salmon.

I went to Italian Week on Preston. I canoed on Dows Lake. I went to the Carp Farmer's Market (sunburn #1). I sat in the courtyard at work and read a book in the sun. I figured out how to rid the kitchen of fruit flies (a glass with a little apple cider vinegar and a splash of dish soap). I went to Calypso (sunburn #2). I slept with the fan on and didn't get cold.

School supplies are on sale. (I love school supplies, even though I haven't been in school since 1994).

Soon it will be time to get back into a routine. Boxing's first - I have just over two weeks until the fall session starts. A few weeks later, Sparks will start and I'll be back in my normal routine.

And that's OK.

Some years I don't want fall to start because it doesn't feel like I've had a summer. (2008, I am looking at you.) This year, I'm ready.

Calypso

I've been having lots of fun with my niece - a trip to Montreal on the train, visiting relatives (who have a pool), the Lion King, Mario Kart, etc.

Today, though, we went to Calypso.

There had been some debate as to whether this was a good idea - after all, B has been scared of water slides for years. She's a good swimmer, she just was too scared to go down a slide. In the end, we decided to go (after extracting a promise that she wouldn't try to spend all day in the wave pool).

We got there around noon and the first place we found was the wave pool. Now, I've only been to a wave pool once before, but it was nothing like this. These waves were 2 - 3 feet high. It was easy to end up with a face full of water. (Um, not that I did.)

After a while, though, it was time to get out and try other options. We found the jungle run - a river ride where you let the current carry you along as you float on a flutter board.

Next, we checked out the slides. We agreed that the Canyon Rafting (which allowed 4-6 people to ride together on a raft) looked OK. We started climbing the stairs. We were one flight from the top when my niece started crying. It was too high and she was too scared.

We managed to talk her into the raft.

As we careened down the ride, everyone got wet - even Grandma. We got to the bottom and she wanted to go again.

We did that ride several more times (along with the wave pool and the jungle run), then I wanted to try some other slides.

My niece refused. She liked the blue slide and there was no reason to try another one.

I offered to buy ice cream. She still refused. (At one point, she told me she was cutting me out of her family tree.)

Grandma and I went down the slide (Black Hole, one that is almost totally dark), and while we did, she and Wanda went to Pirate's Aquaplay. Somehow, Wanda talked her into trying those small slides. When they got done one of them, Wanda said, "Did you like the one in the dark?" B said she did, and they were off to the Black Hole.

The first words out of her mouth when she got down was "Can we go again?"

She's not afraid of water slides anymore.

And I'm back in the family tree.

My mom and my niece arrived yesterday. They got in around 1 and I didn't really have much planned for the rest of the day. They had lots of energy, though, so we went to the dinosaur museum - a.k.a. the Museum of Nature. The dinosaurs were popular, as was the wild bird clinic.

Today was a pretty quiet day, but we did go to Dows lake and rent a canoe for an hour. (I wanted a paddleboat, but I was overruled.)

We saw ducks, seagulls, and lots of seaweed. It was a beautiful sunny day - a little too much, after a while. By the time we finished canoeing, we were pretty thirsty. Still, it was a nice way to spend an afternoon.

Warning: I'm about to babble about boxing again

Tonight was week four of the five-week summer boxing schedule.

This is only the second time I've done a full summer session. Normally, a session is 8 weeks long, so for a 5-week session, they just cut out most of the easy weeks.

(The first week, we had 15 people in the class instead of 12, so they had to add three stations. I suggested chair massage, manicure, and pedicure, but they went with shadow boxing and two extra skipping stations instead.)

This week was the boxathon - i.e. 24 stations instead of 12.

For the first couple of years, I'd hit a wall at station 4 of the boxathon. I'd just be tired and wondering if it would ever be over, even though on a regular week I'd still have 8 stations to go.

For the last year, I wouldn't hit that point until station 14 or so.

Tonight, I never got there. I'm not sure whether I did better, or whether I just wasn't working as hard.

It's possible I wasn't working as hard. Over the past 4 weeks, I've bought new gloves, new hand wraps, and knuckle guards. Knuckle guards are basically these heavy foam pads that go under your hand wraps (and hopefully result in a lack of x-rays). Watching me try to wrap over them is ... kind of comical. They move, they bulge out in odd places, and when I finally get them on, my hands are a lot bigger than usual.

That works well on the heavy bag stations (once I struggle into my gloves), but less well on the speed bag.

I have to assume it'll get easier eventually, but I'm sure not there yet.

Let's call it a draw

There are three evergreen trees in my yard - one on each end of the lot by the street, and one in the backyard. They all could use trimming, but one in particular needed work.

The problem tree is right beside my neighbour's driveway. When I moved in, there were Christmas lights woven around the tree.

There's no outdoor plug end on that end of the house. I have no idea who put the lights on the tree or how they turned them on. (Did I mention I moved in in June?)

Anyway, the lower four feet of that tree were dead on my neighbour's side. One of my other neighbours had volunteered to trim the lower four feet of the tree last summer, but it didn't happen, so today I went out with my awesome hand trimmer from Lee Valley.

I trimmed for a while, then, Wanda was kind enough to join me. She trimmed while I worked on bundling the cut branches.

We worked until I ran out of string. There's still some work to do, but it looks a million times better already.


My arms and legs are covered in scratches and a rash (guess I am allergic to that tree after all), but I'm glad I got it started.

Like other projects I've procrastinated on for years, it look about an hour.

Camping

As I mentioned, I went camping last weekend. There were 10 of us in total - 6 adults, 4 kids.

There were a few mishaps (a downpour on Friday night, a child who woke up with the sun at 5:30), but everyone had a good time.

On Friday night, I noticed a trail to the Lusk caves, 3.5 km away. Saturday morning, some of us decided to go for a hike. We didn't plan to make it all the way to the cave and figured we'd turn around whenever we got tired.



Now, when I picture a hiking trail, I think of a path that goes up and down, one that curves and meanders through the woods.

That was not this path.



This path went up, then curved, then went up, then flattened out for a few feet, then went up ... it was basically 45 minutes of walking up a hill. (We didn't make it to the caves, we just turned around after 45 minutes.)

Do you know what comes after 45 minutes of walking up a hill? That's right, 45 minutes of walking down the hill.



Now, I'm in pretty good shape, but by the time I got to the bottom of the hill, my legs shook when I tried to stand still.


I joked that my legs would be so sore by Sunday that I wouldn't be able to help pack up, but that wasn't the case. I was fine while we packed up.


Getting out of the car when I got home was another story. My calf muscles were stiff. So stiff, in fact, that every step hurt.

I didn't walk much on Sunday.

Monday was a bit better, but my legs were still sore. By the time I got to boxing on Tuesday, I was fine.

Tonight, I tried a spinning class for the first time.

It was an excellent workout, but I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

I guess I never learn.

Blog out loud

When I looked at my schedule for this week, there were a lot of things that
needed to happen. I'm camping tonight, so which meant I had to pull all of the
camping equipment out of storage and go through it to make sure there were, for
example, enough plates. I had to pack my personal gear. I had to take the car
in for an oil change so that they could figure out why the brakes sometimes
sound like metal scarping on concrete.

Of course, there was the usual life stuff as well. I had to clean the house.
Since I'm gone for the weekend, I had to buy groceries - there's no way I'll
want to do it when I get back on Sunday. I had to fight the jungle of weeks in
the yard. While I was out there, I noticed the tomatoes needed staking (which
somehow makes them sound like vampires, which they are not).


And, of course, Thursday night was BOLO - Blog Out Loud Ottawa. I wanted to go,
but I wasn't sure it would work amidst everything else that had to happen.

Spoiler alert: I went.

It was a good time. Like last year, I had to duck out early (due to the
aforementioned packing). Also like last year, I wasn't reading, just sitting
around and listening, but somehow I was more relaxed - in part because I
recognized more people. I also recognized more people's name tags.


(No one's delusional enough to think I'm going to link to last year's post,
right?)

I met people I've only know through the internet. I chatted with people I'd
never heard of before. I listened to people who brave enough to read - they did
a great job. I wish I had been able to stay until the end.


Maybe next year.

Timeline of a Bike Ride

4:45 I know, instead of going to the gym, I'll go for a bike ride
5:00 Sitting on the couch checking twitter
5:10 Clean dust of bike helmet
5:11 Locate appropriate footwear (well, sports sandals, not really appropriate footwear)
5:12 Wrangle bike from the basement to the backyard
5:14 Pump up front tire
5:15 Fill water bottle; place on bike
5:15 Put on bike helmet; notice it is far too tight
5:16 Deduce helmet problem is caused by ponytail; change to low ponytail
5:17 Notice front tire is flat. Crap.
5:17 Take off bike helmet, grab keys
5:25 Purchase new tire tube
5:26 Stupid traffic
5:38 Take of front tire; pull out old tube
5:38 Read size of old tire tube; note it is 2 inches bigger than the newly-purchased tire
5:43 Back at Canadian Tire
5:45 Correct size tire located; waiting in line at customer service
5:55 Tire successfully exchanged
5:58 Traffic successfully avoided
6:05 Tube replaced
6:05 Notice part of mechanism that attaches the tire to the bike is missing in the lawn
6:06 Found! Attach tire to bike
6:07 Put on bike helmet
6:07 Get on bike
6:12 Adjust seat
6:15 Hmm, the seat is slipping
6:15 Ignore moving seat
6:23 Why is everything uphill?
6:40 Home at last
6:41 How does this bike fit into the shed again?
6:42 Hey, I didn't have any water! *inadvertantly pulls the entire lid off and spills it*

Colette's Exercise Tips

1. Figure out what activities you like.
If you don't know, try lots of things. Personally, I've tried step aerobics, low impact aerobics, water aerobics, archery, boxing, strength training, cycling, cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, Irish dancing, belly dancing, ballroom dancing, yoga, zumba, gliding ... there are probably more. Sometime this summer, I'm going to try spinning (*cough*).

2. Figure out why you like them.
I like boxing and strength training because they make me feel strong. Everything else I do is to support those activities, because that's what motivates me. Maybe your thing is yoga because you like feeling flexible. Maybe you like biking, because you like the wind in your face. Figure out why you like what you like and you'll know what motivates you.

3. Figure out when (and how) you like to do them.
Are you a person who is fine with exercise first thing in the morning before you're fully awake? Do you like doing 10 minutes here and there? Are you the kind of person who needs to exercise on the way home from work? Do you need a class because, like me, it's too easy to make excuses to stop or work less hard if you're on your own? Do you like the freedom of being able to start and stop on your own schedule?

4. Put it together and come up with a plan.
Maybe you're going to swim at lunch 3 days a week. Maybe you are going to get up 1/2 an hour early and spend 20 minutes on the elliptical. Decide what you're going to do and commit to it - maybe to someone else, but mostly to yourself.

5. Follow your plan.
If your plan is to swim 3 days a week, pack your swimming stuff the night before so that you're ready. Change your alarm clock so that you get up 1/2 an hour earlier. You've committed to exercise, and it's as important as any of the other day to day things you have to do, so treat it accordingly.

6. Stuff happens.
Yes, exercise is as important as the other day to day things, but sometimes it's not the most important thing. People get sick. Cars break down. Sometimes there are urgent things that derail the plan. That's OK - start again the next day.

7. The Yoga Corollary
If stuff always happens at the same time, you need to rethink the plan. Either you didn't pick the right time, or you didn't pick the right activity. Personally, I dropped yoga after I noticed that days I had yoga were always the days I had to work late. Work wasn't the problem - the problem was that I was doing yoga because I thought I should, not because I liked it.

I took today off.

I can't remember the last time I took a day off for no particular reason - no guests, no travel plans, just a day spent at home. Sure, I've been unemployed, but that's not the same thing.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. Since it's Monday (BodyPump day), I looked for classes earlier than my usual 5:30 class. (Let's face it, if I had waited, there was no way I would have made it.) I'd expected there to be a 9:30 class, but they appear to have moved to 10:30.

Before the class, I loaded up the car with various clothes & household objects to give away. I dropped off the old computer at BestBuy for recycling, then went to the gym.

After the gym, I dragged Wanda along to drop off the rest of the stuff, then we went for lunch.

Lunch was good, but I may never eat again. It's five hours later and I'm still full.

This afternoon was a mixture of lying outside reading a book, taking a nap, and playing wii. It was lovely.

I even got motivated to do some gardening this evening, which resulted in the discovery that I'm allergic to more than one type of evergreen in my yard. Somehow, my hands reacted even though I was wearing gardening gloves the whole time. Luckily, thoroughly washing my hands and arms with soap and water stops the reaction.

Still, it was a really nice day ... even if I have to go back to work tomorrow.

The ides of June?

Boxing was great this week. It was week 8 - last week of the session -and we did a ridiculous class of 8 stations followed by 8 punch outs. I was hitting hard, and I left feeling fantastic.

Before I went to sleep, I turned off my laptop. I don't do that every day - usually it's once or twice a week - but it seemed like time.

Little did I know that things would take a turn for the worse on Thursday.

I woke up and went to read my e-mail, and ... my laptop was installing update 15 of 19. That's right, it hadn't finished turning itself off.

I left it alone and went to work. It was annoying, but I could deal with a computer problem since I was in such a good mood from boxing.

I went to leave work and discovered that it hurt when I separated two of the fingers on my right hand.

As I often do when I discover I've hurt myself, I went to the gym. It didn't make it worse, but it didn't make it better.

I got home, and my laptop had turned itself off. I turned it on, and discovered it would no longer connect to the internet. I fiddled around with it a while and then gave up. (That's right, I went an entire day without Facebook or Twitter.)

When I woke up this morning, I had forgotten all about my hand hurting. I got in the car to drive to work and discovered it hadn't gone away. (Apparently, I like to drive with 2 fingers on top of the steering wheel and two fingers curled underneath.)

I got to work, and it hurt to use the mouse, so I moved it to the left side. I called my doctor - it turns off she was off today.

All day I debated whether to go to Emergency at the hospital or to a walk-in clinic. I decided to go to Emergency. I got to the Queensway-Carleton at 5:15. I checked in with the desk and sat down to wait. After 5 or 10 minutes, the triage nurse called me up and did her thing.

I sat down to wait again.

After another 5 minutes or so, I got called up to registration.

The Queensway-Carleton has a FastTrack program. I don't know the official details, but it seems to be a program for people who need (or might need) x-rays. I ended up in that program and was sent down to that waiting room.

Again, I sat around for 10 minutes or so, then they sent me to get an x-ray.

By now, I'm sure you know the drill - 5 or 10 minutes of waiting, then the three x-rays. After that, it was back to the FastTrack waiting room.

There were several other people making the same journey through the hospital, and we chatted about the experience (all of us agreeing that it's a great program). This time, I think I had to wait 15 minutes. The doctor did a physical exam of my arm, checked my x-rays (which didn't show a fracture), and I was on my way. I was out of the hospital at 7.

When I turned on my cell phone again, I got a text from Wanda telling me she had managed to get on the internet on my laptop.

Yup, still alive

I'm not going to talk about Sparks camp (last weekend, Fairy Tales & Monsters theme, big success, very tiring, forgot stuff at the camp & had to go back to get it).

I'm not going to talk about the bird whose nest is in my cedar bush (and thus who eyes me suspiciously every time I walk to my front door).

I'm not going to talk about boxing (had the option of moving to level 5 but opted to stay in level 4, signed up for the summer session).

Instead, I'm going to tell you about my Air Miles card.

A few weeks ago, I noticed it was missing. I didn't think too much of it - I just figured it fell out of my card-carrying wallet and into my purse.

After a couple of weeks, I actually cleaned out my purse. No luck. I vaguely thought "I should call and get a new one", and then I ... didn't.

Today I dropped something down the side of my comfy living room chair. I reached down to get it, and my first thought was "hey, there's a card down here!" My second thought was "Ew!!!"

I dug around and discovered three cards that had fallen out of my card wallet (including my Rogers card that I haven't used since the year 2000).

When I'd retrieved all the cards, I went and got the vacuum and started vacuuming.

Despite the fact that I vacuumed last night, I saw a few other places that needed vacuuming and went to work and ... somehow I managed to vacuum up a Subway bag.

Naturally, it got stuck in the vacuum hose.

I detached the metal end of the hose and looked through it. It wasn't stuck there.

I detached both ends of the flexible part of the hose. Now, I couldn't just look through this part of the hose because both ends have a hard plastic angled piece.

Not only could I not see through the hose, I also couldn't use a broom to dislodge the bag because the hard plastic pieces were angled just enough to prevent it.

I needed something that was heavy and small. I found a battery and tried that.

It got stuck in the plastic bag.

Great. Obviously, I needed something both heavy and and flexible.

I went down to the furnace room in the basement and found a chain hanging on the wall. It's one of those things that was here when I moved in, and I just never got rid of it. I threaded the chain into the vacuum hose (which made the hose heavy) and ... it got stuck.

Luckily, gravity is my friend. I jiggled the hose until I could feel the chain move down to the bottom. By that point, I could see the bag, so I used a pliers to pull it out.

The chain was stuck, but a little more jiggling made it slither out onto the floor.

And that's how I found my Air Miles card.

The Goldilocks of Cross-Trainers

I mentioned a while ago that I was going to need new cross-trainers for boxing soon.

That day has arrived.

Well, actually, it arrived 5 weeks ago on week 1 of the current boxing session. (Tonight was week 6.)

Before week 2, I went and tried on a bunch of shoes and bought a pair. I wore them for week 2. By the end of the night, my feet were fiery bricks at the end of my legs.

Those shoes went back and I bought another pair. I wore them for week 3. They were OK. I wore them again week 4 and decided they didn't fit quite right. Back they went.

That weekend, I bought 2 pairs of shoes. I wore the first one to the gym ... not quite right. I wore the second one to boxing week 5 and ... they weren't too bad.

I wore them again today, and I think they'll do. It's an incredibly enthusiastic endorsement, I know.

I really should have bought 2 pairs of the style I had last time.