Another Month, Another update

Has it really been a month? My, time is flying. The last month has passed in a blur. First we were preparing for A’s Grandparents arrival getting our house all fixed up. We finally got the registers installed in the basement, the ducts cleaned, the windows washed, the new edging put in the garden and the stump out of the garden (and a bunch of cleaning and other interior fix-ups finished. Then his grandparents arrive on May 2nd. Despite my fears, they seem to love me, so that is good. We were in TO on the 2/3 and they have come down to Woodstock that last two weekends. This weekend A and I are staying in Woodstock by ourselves, and it will be nice to have time with just the two of us and we can relax a bit.

This past weekend we got our annual flowers into our garden, and dug up a patch in our back yard for a vegetable garden, which we also got planted. Hopefully there is enough sun in that location for our veggies to grow! We planted: Carrots, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, onions, green onions, garlic, cucumbers, cantaloupe, chives, parsley, thyme, rosemary, and dill. Oh my!

Triathlon training is going okay so far, I’ve got in most of my workouts. My Swim training is going awesome, and I’m almost back to my best swimming shape, and am looking forward to possibly breaking 13 minutes on the swim for the first time since my first triathlon (which may or may not have been short) Last week I did 8 x 100 m in 1:35 to 1:37 in order to break 13 minutes I need to do 1:44s which MAY be possible, yay! Bike training is sucky. I hate the wind. My times are much slower than two years ago, when I was biking consistently and 20 pounds lighter. Two years ago, I would have finished the 30 k bike in a little over an hour (like 1:01 or 1:02), this year I’ll be happy with a 1:10. Run training is going okay. Not the best, but I’ve certainly been worse. I think I should be able to run sub 6 per km in the race (I’ve been doing that in my bike/run – i.e., brick – workouts). I’m trying to figure out my schedule for after the race to keep in tri shape while training for a marathon, I think I will have one swim, one brick, one bike and 4 individual runs a week which means… doubles! Yay! (Not really, but maybe I can convince myself doubles are fun???).

Anywho, that is all I got. Not an exciting life for me these days.

Hello World!

I feel like I am in computer programming 101 where you write your first program in a new language and it is always to print “Hello World!” onto the computer screen. Nerdy me was just going to print the computer code that would write that on the screen in some language (I hadn’t decided which yet) and then I realized, I DON’T REMEMBER HOW. Yay! Computer programming is no longer a language I speak!

Anywho, what am I up to. Today is my Friday . Yep, you heard that right, I have the rest of the week off. Five Glorious Days. Tomorrow I am going to see the Sound of Music (again!) with Sister S, D, and her older daughter. I’m pretty excited. S&D and I went to the Sing Along Sound of Music together in Toronto together and are all big Fans. S probably the biggest Sound of Music fan in the world. On Thursday and I hanging out as S’s house and we are taking the niece and nephew to the sugar bush. I’m excited since I haven’t got to spend much time with S since I finished grad school. In grad school I took off a few weeks and would go and stay with S and work on my thesis from her house and have a good visit. A is going to take the train down on Friday.

Other good news I forgot to post last week. A’s grandparents got a visa to come to Canada! They are arriving on May 5th (sorry burger, looks like we won’t be able to make it to the derby after all). They don’t have their return flight booked as of now, but their visa is for four months. For me to be able to visit Iran, we will have to have a muslim wedding ceremony, and we were thinking to do that when his grandparents are here since they really wanted to come over for the wedding but didn’t get the visa that time.

Week one of tri training done. Went well, I did a total of 2000 metres of swimming, 1 hour 30 minutes of biking, and 30 km of running. Not bad. Probably one of the best weeks I’ve had since… oh, June 2007 ;) This week is going to be not as great with visiting and travelling and what not. I hope to still get in at least two swims, three runs, and one bike. Fingers crossed!

An Overdue Update

So it seems that over three months have gone by since I have done a proper blog update. I needed a break. Didn’t have much to say. Et cetera.

So what have I been up to? Not much to be honest. I can’t believe the winter passed so quickly and that we are gearing up for another field season. For a goodly portion of April I will be out in the field. Yay.

Married life is going well. Not much has changed – if anything at all – since before the wedding. I can’t believe we got married pretty much 6 months ago now. The time has gone so quickly.

I signed up for a triathlon clinic at my gym. I think I am the only one in the clinic that has done a triathlon before. I probably won’t learn much, but it will help to have people to train with – particularily the swimming. I haven’t swum consistently since I was in grad school. I have just gone to the pool once or twice here and there. I went on Monday and man my chest is sore today! And I have to swim again tonight! Ack! I want to do an ironman in 2010, so I really need to get back into shape. These are my triathlon/running goals for 2009.

1) Lakeside triathlon – June 7 (750m/30km/7km) Burger? You wanna do it with me?
2) That Dam Trail Run – June 14 (half marathon) I’m pretty sure that it isn’t real trails. I might be getting in too deep here if I am wrong!
3) Maybe (just maybe) Muskoka 70.3 in September (70.3 = ironman brand Half ironman. 70.3 = total miles in a half ironman – 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run)
4) Hamilton Marathon November 1 (eek!)
5) Sign up for IM Florida on November 8 (double eek!)

Before and After

Before
















After

Snowed in On Christmas Eve

I'm working from home this morning. It took us 1.5 hours to clear the driveway (WITH the snow blower. yikes!). We finished just around the time I would have to leave on a non-snowy day to make it to work on time. But... The road wasn't plowed yet. Still isn't, so I'm not going anywhere for now. We have about a foot of snow on the road and a nice big snow bank blocking our road at the end. We have to head out to Sister Sarah's this afternoon, so hopefully the snow plow will come by soon, if not, the neighbours have apparently said that they will help push us out of the snowbank when (not if) we get stuck.

I've been diligently working so far this morning. I am heading back to windsor from Jan. 5 to 8th so I need to get stuff organized for that, but after 2.5 hours of work, I'm mostly there. Funny how much more efficient you are when you aren't getting bugged by people all the time! I have some other stuff to work on that isn't high priority, but I might as well get started on it so that I won't have to worry about it later. When I was working, Arash played Snowblower Santa Clause and went around to help all the neighbours get out of their driveway. Now everyones ways are clear, we just have to wait for the city plow to come by our street!

And Now for Something Completely Different

No more political ramblings for this girl ;) At least for now.

So it has been a busy 2 weeks in Laura Land. I made the mistake of saying I wasn't completely busy on the 8th and I have been swamped since then. My Desk looks like a drawer expoded or something. The week of the 8-12 was busy scrambling to organize a field program for a Phase II in Windsor that has a short timeline and then last week I was in Windsor from Monday night until Friday night. Boo! Just where I wanted to be right before christmas.

The 12th was A's Christmas Party at work. I sometimes feel awkward around his coworkers since I have like 0 in common with most of them. His boss and I get along wonderfully, but she didn't go this year. My solution this year. Drink too much. Yep, totally mature. The 13th we planned to get our christmas shopping done, but I was nursing a hangover to end all hangovers and we only ended up getting a little done. I was feeling better by the evening though and managed to stay up for the christmas baking extravaganza which was fun as always. We missed QC and EK, of course, but EL, JC, and Robin were great additions. Sunday we cleaned the house and I think that is mostly it.

Last week I worked 60 hours. Boo! Test pitting Tuesday and Wednesday, Drilling Thursday and Friday. We still aren't done the work, but will be back in the new year to finish the work. We probably have another day of drilling and test pitting and 2 days for GW sampling and surveying. Fun.

Saturday we finished our christmas shopping. We ended up staying in Woodstock and hitting up a bunch of different stores - Winners, Staples, a local stero store, home depot, a local pet store and a local camera store. We ended up crossing everyone off our list, and avoided crazy mall parking lots! It actually wasn't too bad, and kind of pleasent. I'm glad we decided not to head into London/Kitchener.

Sunday we watched movies, shovelled the driveway (we are in a winter wonderland right now. There is about half a metre of snow on the ground. We shovelled the driveway this morning between 6:30 and 7 and by 7:45 we had another 5 cm of snow! ack!) and wrapped our christmas presenets, so we are almost ready to head off to Belleville. We just have to pack our bag and work another 2 days. Christmas plans are shaping up to be another busy year. 24-26 in Belleville, 27-28 in Ottawa, 28-31 in Quebec skiing, 31-1 in Belleville, 2-4 in Woodstock. Yikes!

The Coronation of King Ignatieff of the Liberal Party of Canada

I think the title speaks for itself. I’m neutral in this year’s leadership race. Kennedy came out to support Rae yesterday, and others from his camp have supported Ignatieff. I personally remain neutral. Why? Simple – I don’t like either candidate as leader of the Liberals.

Rae. I like Bob Rae. I always have (except perhaps in 1995 when he was defeated by a crushing majority of the Neo-Con Harris Conservatives who cared more about their own pocket book than the social wellness of Ontarians. Rae has a bad wrap, I think mostly because he was leader of the wrong party. He was a centre-left NDP in a party that had now room for anyone so close to centre. Yes, he was elected leader of the party, but the members of the NDP tried to overthrow him several times. The NDP didn’t like him because he was too centre; the Liberals and Conservatives didn’t like him because he was NDP. Long story short, Rae ruled Ontario in one of the toughest economic times in recent history, and took the flack. Much the same as Michael Peterson is still widely unpopular. Rae could not be as strong in Ontario as the Liberals need to be to win a majority government. He would likely do well in Cities, but I doubt he would be strong in Rural Ontario that has gone conservative the last two elections.

Ignatieff. I don’t like Ignatieff. I never have. Sure, he is an intellect. Sure, he has a smidgeon of charisma. But the guy does NOT no when to shut-up. He is smug. He feels he is entitled to the Liberal Leadership. On top of that he is a little too right for my liking and I think he would have been better suited with the former PC party than the Liberals. At the last leadership race, the Ignatieff supporters were so obnoxious in their refusal to work with the other leadership contenders should one of them win. They full out said they were joining the conservative Party the next day. They refused to believe that the party grassroots were strongly against Ignatieff and to a smaller extent Rae which lead to the selection of Dion as the leader in the first place. Based on my experience from the 2006 leadership convention I am certain that the Ignatieff supporters worked behind the scenes against Dion since 2006 and are partially to blame for the poor showing in the last election. My Liberal party has no room for those kinds of actions.

This being said, I was all ready to accept Ignatieff as leader. I think that he is more electable and I feel his supporters would again undermine the liberal party if Rae had been selected as the leader.

Now, the latest political gossip is that Rae is set to drop out of the leadership race this afternoon. The thing I like the absolute least about the liberal party is the elitism of the Party Brass and the lack of respect for the Party’s grassroots (myself one of them. I never belonged to the Federal Liberals until Gerard Kennedy joined the Leadership race). The fact that the party brass was going to appoint a leader without consultation with its members is absolutely mind boggling. I strongly suspect the Party Brass is also behind the strong arming of Bob Rae out of the Leadership race.

I have already mentioned this to a friend in e-mail, one who doesn’t like to make her political affiliations generally known, but if this is the way the Liberals are going to act, I’m not sure I will support them anymore.

A Few Thoughts on a Thursday Morning

As I sit at work organizing field files from projects over the summer that need to be filed away permanently, I’m anxious to see the outcome of the meeting between Harper and Jean this morning. Obviously, as a supporter of the Coalition, I hope that Jean will deny prorogration pending Harpers proof that he has the confidence of the house of commons. We will learn all that our great Country is to face within the next few hours. But it does give me cause for some thought.

1) What if Jean denies prorogation like the majority of voting Canadians wish? Will the conservatives attack the office of the governor general? Is this the beginning of the end of Canada being a Commonwealth Country? I have a feeling, that if prorogation is denied that conservatives across the land are going to rise up and denounce the office. They will cry, not for Senate Reform, but for abolishment of the Senate, the Governors General, and everything in the country that is Commonwealth. I think that they would have every right to this opinion, but I personally don’t support it. I think it could possibly be a future referendum question that divides the country. Then again, if Jean goes against the obvious will of the House of Commons and grants prorogation, the pro-coalition supporters might call for removal of the governor general.
2) I think all this week is doing in my mind is cementing the idea of proportional representation/mixed member proportional representation. I voted against it in the Ontario referendum last year mainly because I couldn’t wrap my head around it. This week is giving everyone a good idea of how it would work. Likely, the PM would be Liberal, NDP, or Conservative, but they would have to work with other members of parliament and represent the majority of Canadians, and I don’t think this could be a bad thing any more. Coalition governments would no longer be rare, they would be an every day occasion. Unless a party elected has greater than 50% of the seats, they will have to prove that they can work with other members to pass legislation before they are given power. It took a constitutional crisis, but I’ve finally wrapped my head around the idea of mixed member proportional representation, and I think I like it :).

My thoughts on the Economic Update and PM Harpers Lack of Respect

So, I'm guessing that most of you have heard by now that the federal government may be defeated on the first opposition day over the economic update. The Conservatives are busy spinning their spin, trying to convince anyone who will listen that the opposition parties are being undemocratic and that all this is a "power grab" by "backroom politicians".

For several reasons I believe that Harper and the Conservatives at the ones being undemocratic.

1) The Canadian voters gave the Conservatives a minority government. Not a majority. They need to stop ruling like they have a majority, and respect the fact that almost 2/3 of candians who voted did NOT vote for the conservatives and did not chose Harper to be the prime minister.
2) At the first sign that Harper did something wrong, what does he do? He cancels opposition day so that the opposition doesn't have the opportunity to get their message across. How is this democratic? Not letting the people voted in by Canadians have their turn to speak?
3) Canada is NOT a two party system. There are checks and balances like the one being saught by the Liberals and the NDP to make sure that Minority governments rule on behalf of the country, not out of self interest.
4) This is not unprecedented. The Liberals and NDP formed a coalition government in Ontario in the 1980s to defeat the minority conservatives. The coalition served for a year and then called an election at a specified date which the liberals went on to win and practically destroy the conservatives in Ontario. (Obviously in that case the Liberal and NDP coalition pleased the Ontario public).
5) This kind of thing happens pretty frequently in European countries that aren't two party systems, including: Norway, Sweeden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Turkey, and Israel.


Top this off with the fact that the Conservatives failed miserably to provide any much needed economic stimulus to help protect Canadian Jobs. I understand that they are saying "We don't know where to spend it yet, so wait until March". But is that realistic? If we wait until March the Auto industry in Canada could be virtually destroyed as the american package will come much quicker and you can be guaranteed that there will be clauses for job protection and creation in the US. What I believe Canada should have done (and likely will do with a Liberal/NDP coalition government) is annouce an $X billion stimulus package with the details to be worked out over the coming weeks.

As for the public funding of political parties - the issue the conservatives are trying to make this about - the issue that even after it was removed from the economic statement failed to turn around the momentum of the Liberals/NDP.

1) Obviously this wasn't the issue that upset the liberals and NDP the most since even after it was removed, they are still going full steam ahead.
2) In my opinion is a little undemocratic. Yes, taxpayers shouldn't have to pay party subsides, but to announce overnight that these subsidies are going to be removed without giving the parties that rely on them time to recover financially? It is a power grab, pure and simple. The conservatives have made it no secret that it is their ambition to ruin the Liberal Party.
3) I don't believe that this issue would have even ruined the liberals. I bet from that one day alone (after the economic update was released), the Liberals probably recieved upwards of half a million in political donations from Liberals (myself included) that got scared and figured that it was time to support their party more.

Happy Birthday to Me!

So, 28. I’m old ;) Funny, I don’t feel that old. It is actually comforting. My office hires almost exclusively people with masters degrees for the professional track, so even though I was so late starting work (26 versus 22 had I gone to a different university and not done my masters), I am still considered a youngin’ here, even compared to others at my same level.

So, it’s been a month since I last updated. Woopsies.

Brief run down. First weekend in Nov. A’s mum came down. We had a good visit with her. Following week I was up in Sarnia doing stuff at a refinery, next weekend we got our furniture so spent most of the day Saturday putting it all together. Following week mostly in the office with one long day up in Thornbury. I liked it up there. I would move there in a heart beat if I didn’t have to work for a living. Following weekend, Sound of Music! Amazing. On Sunday A left for a week in Victoria for work and my Aunt and Uncle came for dinner and stayed over night. We had a good visit and I got to use our new china for the first time! Last week was a short week for me. Three days of work, then off Thursday and Friday to babysit D’s kids and their 12 week old puppy. LOTS of work. I was happy to be back at work yesterday since it afforded me a chance to relax. Let me run Thursday by you as an example.

Wake up at 6:30, puppy is whining to go out to the bathroom, I take her outside. M is awake. She colours for about half an hour before K wakes up. I get them breakfast, L (puppy) has peed on the floor. I clean it up, while I’m cleaning up pee, L steels dirty diaper (#1 only thank god) from K’s room and proceeds to rip it up. Clean up mess. Get kids dressed, teeth brushed, and hair done. L has peed on the floor again. Turn the house upside down trying to find hats and mitts for the kids, can’t find M’s snow pants for school. Finally about 5 minutes late, I have kids in Car driving M to school and L is locked in her kennel.

After dropping M. at school, I take K to my dad’s house for a visit before he goes off on vacation for a week and a half. I had a meeting with my financial planer at 2 pm. At 1 pm – right before I wanted to leave so that I could run some errands first, I realize K has a smelly diaper. I take off her pants to change, and poop is everywhere, all over her pants. Eew! I changed her diaper, washed her pants, put them in the dryer. 30 minutes later, my meeting is supposed to be starting, K’s pants are *almost dry* so we head off into town. Meeting went well, got myself set up for RRSP contributions. Everyone at the office though K was adorable (which she is!). After meeting we picked Maddy up for school and go home.

L got out of her kennel. Peed and pooped of the floor, tore apart another diaper, my book, and one of the drawings Maddy had done that morning. Ugh. Clean it all up. M and K colouring and playing. Cook dinner, play hide and seek, bathe kids, get ready for bed, done. Wash, Rinse Repeat, 2.5 times.
So conclusions from my foray into parenting.

1) Puppies are cute but a lot of work
2) Kids are cute but a lot of work
3) I’m not ready to give up my life for Kids. I like being independent. Every minute of my day from the minute I woke up in the morning to when they fell asleep (on Friday that was 11 pm for K), my life was devoted to them.
4) I want a puppy  I wish my job allowed for that, but alas, it does not.
5) Getting a puppy while I’m on Mat leave (my original plan) is NOT a good idea!!!

Other than that, not much. I will be posting pictures from this weekend on facebook – probably Thursday? Today is my birthday. Kind of sucks to be at work. In grad school I could just stay home, and last year it was on a Sunday. I guess the last time I had to work on my birthday was in 2003 at club H. A and I are going out for dinner tonight. Not sure where, most of the restaurants in Woodstock are chains, which I kind of feel Meh about, I would much rather go to a family run independent place. That is one thing I miss about KW.