Manic Monday

It's just another manic Monday (oh-woe)
I wish it was Sunday (oh-woe)
'Cause that's my Funday (oh-woe)
My I don't have to runday (oh)
It's just another manic Monday...


The Bangles were absolutely right about today. It was, indeed, a manic Monday.

The manic-ness actually started on Sunday night and continued for 24 hours... to complicate things further, Ross and Kevin are in Montreal, Lee and Allison are in Sechelt, and I'm in Vancouver, and it's all one big juggle to get through today and prep for this Investorside presentation in Toronto. Things that could go wrong went oh-so-wrong today, and bloody hell do I ever need a vacation!!! It's Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday, and I am seriously considering taking off somewhere. The problem is, I have so much course material piling up around me that wherever I go, I will have to take it with me. Anybody have an empty house this weekend I can take over??

Laity Farm

Laity Farm

The kids, Allan and I spent the afternoon out on Laity Farm, an historic working farm with heritage buildings in Maple Ridge. They open the farm to the public in the month of October, and the grounds are completely kitted out for kiddies: a corn maze, a forest filled with scenes from Hans Christian Andersen fairytales and various nursery rhymes, dinosaurs, zoo animals, woodland creatures, gnomes, a pioneer village complete with prospector's cabin, covered wagon, sherriff's office, school, a general store and more! All in a wooded area in the middle of the farm!

Adventures on Laity Farm: the album

Michael, exactly one year before.

I went back in the blog to discover that I'd taken Michael by himself to the farm exactly one year ago. I think it was the very first time I'd ever taken Michael out by himself, and I could tell he was a bit lost without Melissa running around and bossing him around. But we had lots of fun once he'd tasted his first nibble of personal freedom and realized how exhilarating it can be, especially knowing that he didn't have to share my attention with an older sister and a baby.

I think this is my favourite photo of Michael. He's also wearing my favourite "Mister Michael" wear. He had just turned two years old a month before, and still a bit baby-ish. We were playing hide-and-go-seek in the pumpkin patch at Laity Farm, and this is Michael's idea of hiding.

Maddy

Here's Maddy in the same outfit, exactly one year later. I'm surprised the outfit is still in one piece -- Michael wore it all the time, and it has gone through a lot of abuse!

Some Blasts from the Past

with Jamie and Eric

with Rob and Marlene (& Eric & Jamie's baby Lillie)

It's been an interesting week of people activity. I got an e-mail from my friend Eric down in California to inform me that he's now the CFO for Banana Republic and they've moved to San Francisco! Eric and Jamie had been in the L.A.-area a few years as Eric was CFO of Tickets.com. Before that they were in the D.C.-area as Eric was CFO of Choice Hotels. My, that guy gets around. It was great to see both he and Rob last year -- it was a total surprise to see Rob, I had no idea where he was living. When I rang Eric's doorbell, I was shocked beyond belief to see them both standing there! It had been more than 10 years since we'd all been together, and so much has changed since then.

I wrote about the visit on a page in my Geocities site, which I don't really keep up anymore. I've copied the story and pasted it here:

How I met Rob and Eric:

At the end of 1990 I was a Kermit-green 18 years of age and working at Banff Rocky Mountain Resort's sports facilities when I met these two nutters from California, Eric and Rob. In the middle of what was soon to become one of the harshest winters in Banff's history, Eric from L.A. and Rob from Sacramento showed up and settled into a house on the main strip that had no central heating and a landlady named Suki who regaled me with stories from her stint as a bathroom attendant in Italy. Believe me, it was still an upgrade from living in staff accommodation, so I moved in, too! There was also later another housemate, Noel, from Nova Scotia, who thought nothing of answering the door in his underwear and was obviously unfazed by temperatures of -50C (with or without the wind chill factor, it's enough to crack ski boots). That winter for Rob and Eric was legendary. It is just like a fishing story -- the recalled temperatures keep dropping as the years go by. What I can remember distinctly is that Rob and Eric bought space heaters for their rooms, while I toughed it out and slept under the weight of no less than 7 wool blankets. (As a footnote, the house was condemned by the Health Authority and we had to move, but it turned out the town wanted the land to build a clinic. When I visited Banff in September 2000, the lot was still empty. [I was there again November 2002 and February 2003, and it was still empty.])

Fast forward from that crazy winter to the next time I see Rob and Eric together, less than one year later, at the end of 1991, as I am about to head off to Australia with a freshly-purchased airline ticket but no itinerary past the next day. Eric and Rob are living in a house in Redondo Beach, along with an aspiring actor named Craig who is Axel Rose's personal assistant, regaling to their then-girlfriends Jamie and Marlene -- and all other captive audiences -- stories of braving the relentless Arctic Canadian winter...

Fast forward more than 10 years to January 2002: 3 weddings and 4 kids later, Eric, Jamie, Rob (and, later, Marlene) and I are sitting around Eric and Jamie's kitchen, eating brunch and marvelling at the flight of time. Rob and Marlene's two kids are already in primary school, and Eric and Jamie also have a couple of wee ones. Those Banff days seem like lightyears in the past, but that Sunday when I rang Eric's doorbell and the two nutters answered the door, it was like entering a time warp -- they looked exactly the same! Eric and Rob turn 40 this year and say they will write their memoirs. I'm going to read the chapter on "the winter in Banff" with great interest to see how cold it *really* was.

Fedor in Brussels, April 25

I also finally heard from my friend Fedor, a Dutch guy I've known for nearly as long as Rob and Eric but have seen a lot more often on various trips over the years. I saw Fedor briefly in Brussels at the end of April, where he was on a contract for the European Union. I was only in Brussels for the day, since I went to Amsterdam to visit some other friends, and was on my way to Bergamo, Italy, to meet up with the other Chickens -- Iris and Christa, and also my best friend Lucy, her fiance John and her son Joe, who were flying in from England. So we only had time for a beer and some conversation before I had to head off, but it's ALWAYS good to do this, even when the time is short, because you just never know when you're going to see people again.

Now Fedor's on another contract, this time for Mastercard, and he tells me his Thai wife is finally getting her visa to come and stay with him, after being in Thailand for more than a year. Fedor and Da were married in Thailand probably less than two years ago, but because of the visa restrictions and her mother's health, it's difficult for them to be together.

I met Fedor on May 4, 1992, in Australia. I remember that day very clearly. I'd seen a note at the youth hostel in Melbourne that this Scottish guy was going to Sydney in a van and was looking for paying passengers. So I rang this guy, Lachlan, and told him that I wanted to go to Sydney to pick up some stuff and look for work, and we agreed to meet the next day at the youth hostel where he'd left the note. I'd waited and waited and waited, then finally went to the front desk to see if they knew anything about someone waiting for me. Well, Fedor and Lachlan were standing right there, and apparently they were expecting a "Canadian girl," and obviously in their minds that wasn't me!

Fedor had answered Lachlan's ad, too, so the three of us embarked on a journey from Melbourne to Sydney that would normally take 12 hours. We took two weeks.

It was an adventure that sparked even more adventures, which led to other events in my life that would never have happened if I hadn't answered that little ad on a Post-It note square. Some good, some not so good. But never a dull moment.

I Figured It Out!

I read over some comments at Phil's Unofficial Blogger Pages, and obviously I wasn't reading it properly last time, because apparently someone else had the same problem. For archiving titles, when apostrophes are used in subject titles, javascript reports errors because the script thinks the title is over after the first apostrophe. I've been trying to figure out why my pages are loading with errors, and what those errors were... so, I've changed the script to use double quotes instead of single quotes (I just have to remember not to use full quotation marks in the post titles)... now, all the titles that happen to have apostrophes will finally show up! Yay for me!

I'm Losing My Favourite Scrabble Opponent!

Adrian focussed and ready to strike.

I spoke to Adrian briefly on Thursday night when I was on the ferry, and he broke some big news -- he's accepted another position in his company, and he could be moving to Toronto as early as next week!

How do I feel about this? Pretty mixed.... I mean, he was always out of town, anyways -- Adrian's office is in Toronto, and he worked from home, like me. We even have the same accountant because Lou was doing such a good job with Adrian's forms, I took Lou on board, too. There was some comfort in knowing another T2200 (which is what we are according to Revenue Canada). But that's besides the point... Adrian and I go way back, but in the past few years I feel I've been given glimpses into the inner sanctum of his mind, and it's a place not many have access to!

It's not as if I saw Adrian often even when he was around. But knowing that I have to fly to Toronto to see him makes me a bit blue: no more wine nights, fiercely competitive Scrabble... inspections of new piercings (ha ha!). No more concerts, hockey games, or evenings like at Fiction, where we drank 14 martinis between us... hell, I think it's time for a martini... this is getting me all nostalgic...

Sunshine Coasting

Ross, New Year's 1985

Lee (left) and her best friend Marion with Santa, 1967

... a rare occasion of overnighting on the Coast. Normally I only go to Sechelt for the day, but it was easier to go with Ross and Lee as Ross was returning from a conference in Seattle, and I wanted them to go through their photos so I could scan a bunch for the retirement party. I've asked them for photos on numerous occasions, but this was the only way I could make sure they'd do it! They have thousands of pictures, so it was a bit of a daunting task, but once they started going through the albums and going down memory lane, they were glad they did it.

Looking through their photos, I think, made all of us realize how quickly time passes. Life is such a mixed bag, with the morbid and the joyful and everything in between, all jumbled up together: illness, babies, old flames, holidays, embarrassment, weddings, hard times, it's all there. My employers (husband and wife) both turned 67 recently, and are at a crossroad in their lives: retirement. Both of them have been working for around 50 years each. That's a CENTURY of work! That's why this retirement party is such a big deal for me to plan -- it's the kind of event that combines elements of a wedding, funeral, anniversary party, work party, birthday party... you can get married more than once, you have a birthday every year, work parties at least once a year, but how many times (unless you're Michael Jordan) can you retire??

Ross the hippie, far right, 1974.

This is a classic picture. Ross is the hippie guy on the far right, with the beard, long hair, and Jesus sandals. Apparently, he was back from India or on his way to India, and was living out of his van in his brother Hugh's driveway. The neighbours, not recognizing the van, called the police to report a vagabond!

Ross has a colourful past. His hippie days and sabbaticals to India and roughing it around Europe in the 1960s and early 1970s are fairly common knowledge amongst his closer colleagues, but I'm sure there is plenty I haven't heard yet (although I've heard a lot). One time in late 1999, he was giving me a lift somewhere to meet friends after I'd done some extra work in our office when it was downtown Vancouver. He asked me what I was doing for New Year, since I made it a practice to fly somewhere every year. The previous year I was on the Reeperbahn (red light district) of Hamburg, and the friends I was with there expressed an interest in meeting for the 'millennium' New Year in Goa, India. As soon as I said that, it was like a movie flashback started to play in his head, and he started telling me what kind of a drug hub Goa was... !

Lee dancing with her dad, 1977.

1977: Lee dancing with her dad, who passed away in his sleep December 30 last year in Toronto at the age of 93. Because of his declining health, they had to fly to Toronto 3 times that week. I wasn't sure how Lee would feel looking at some of the photos of her dad, because she was close with both her parents, and she was their only child. Her mother had passed away in the 70s, not long before Ross and Lee were married.

Lee's father was always dancing... (keep dancing, and you'll live to 93!) In practically every picture in their albums, Syd was dancing with someone. The man had an incredible sense of humour, even in his final years. And what a sharp dresser! I'd met Syd once, when he visited in Christmas 1998, my first year to work for ERA. He was 89 years old at the time, and when he walked in, Eliza and I were in awe. Syd was impeccable, in a wool coat to die for, a hat, cane, and great shoes. The man had always lived in downtown Toronto, and was the consummate Torontonian: urbane, active, aware. Eliza and I were so excited to meet him, I think we nearly knocked him over with our enthusiasm. (We both loved his coat!) Syd's zest for life made Lee's visits to him in Toronto the last few years sometimes difficult, and with every passing year we wondered how long Syd would hold on. The man was playing tennis in his 70s, and it was only in the last few years that his ray of light started to flicker. It's been a tough year for Lee since her father died, and even though we can't bring Syd back, I'm going to try to restore some of the photos I picked out from the albums to add to their "Hay-Rogues Gallery" (one of their retirement projects). That way Lee can remember her father not the way he left this mortal coil, but how he was for nearly all of it -- a vibrant, energetic man.

I'm looking forward to the retirement party -- some key people are flying in for the event: Marion, the lady in the Santa Claus photo with Lee and her closest friend. Jacki, the lady who took care of Lee's father in his ailing years, is flying in from Toronto. I've lined up some speakers, people they've known for longer than I've been alive. I've also hired jazz musicians and have been working on the audiovisual portion -- LCD projector and such for presentations. I've got some old photos now and the event is coming together.

Putting the Psycho in Psychology

That paper nearly killed me. I did the conclusion so fast I'm sure the tutor marker's going to think someone else wrote it. If I were working at the CDE, I'd make bets with my workmates on how often papers for student # 20006-9827 just manage to squeeze through the fax at precisely 4:30pm. Too many late nights are frying my brain. Just a few minutes ago as I was packing up my stuff to head to the Sunshine Coast I noticed a proliferation of gray/silver hairs on my head.

I find the material for all my classes this term fascinating, but I swear these deadlines take months off my life. Every time I hand something in, I feel like I've just given two pints of blood. I need to top up the supply!

Dunno Why

The first post today won't show up in the index for some reason. I've tried everything, even changing its posted date and time, but it refuses to show. The index, by the way, is at the bottom of every blog page. Blogger quirk? Dunno. Time to get going on this psychology paper.

Need. . . Energy. . .

OOF, took me a while to wake up this morning... too many late nights and last night a bit of wine, and that's all it took.

Maddy's papa (my brother) and her maternal grandparents in Maine sent comments on the videoclip, so I watched it again. Even after many viewings, it still makes me laugh:

Cheryl was having problems getting the candle to light, and Maddy kept looking over at her with a look of "Now what?" Also, after we lit the sparkler, Maddy had no idea why we were looking so expectantly at her -- everyone was shuffled to one end of the table and she was left by herself at the other end. It must be so bewildering to be one year old. People staring and flashes popping left and right... And the singing! What a bunch of goofy adults!

Then Maddy does this funny little swaying motion, and I don't think we were playing any music. Watching babies dance demonstrates that dancing is natural -- we're all wired for it, but if our culture doesn't nurture this natural sense of movement, we become inhibited. Take a look at a nightclub dancefloor, and you'll see what I mean.

When Maddy slaps her hand down on the cake surface and feels the gooey texture of the icing, she shrinks back in apprehension. She's got that "uh oh" look on her little baby face. Maybe it's a girl thing -- Melissa didn't like getting her hands gunked up, either. When Michael had his first birthday cake, he ate part of it with great relish and dumped the rest of it over his own head! He didn't understand why we were laughing so hard -- instead, without missing a beat, Michael picked cake off his face and hair and ate it. Who needs a bowl? Or even cutlery, for that matter? Need a place for your food -- just put it on your head! The stickier, the better!

Maddy has so many allergies: the poor child can't eat beef, fish, nuts, oranges, soy, egg, or sesame. (Also, she's allergic to bees and dogs.) She is also lactose intolerant, so she had to drink rice milk. So then what kind of birthday cake do you get? One that the average person would never eat, that's what. No wonder she got the shivers once she put some in her mouth!

Maddy's First Movie: Now Out on Video

Maddy turns 1

Guess what! I was tinkering around a few hours ago, showing Christa how to use her new Canon A70 (I'm telling you, Canon should be giving me commission!!), which led me to tinkering around with Quicktime Pro, and VOILA!

I produced my first Quicktime movie! I spliced together the 6 short clips of Maddy's first birthday last year, added some music, did some editing, and this is what happened:

Maddy Turns One

The original file is far too large (23MB+) to upload to my webspace, so unfortunately I had to lower the resolution. But it's a funny video to watch as a compilation nonetheless. The expression on her face when she tries her first piece of cake is priceless!

Maddy turns 2 years old on October 20.