The Amazing Adventures of Helga & Hume

HelgaHume Wine Tasting Party VII

2012-02-09T20:39:00.003-05:00

Just before our newest HelgaHume was born, we hosted our seventh HelgaHume Wine Tasting Party! It was a great night, and I loved having the chance to catch up with our friends before the baby -- and its impact on our social calendar -- arrived. ;-)

The theme of the wines was "Clash of the Titans", referring to the fact that all six wines were very high ranking and/or winners of their respective parties. It was a competition of the best, and I was eager to find out which wine would reign supreme. The pricepoints ranged from $9 to $28, and were a selection of reds.

Unlike previous parties, where I would order the wines from lightest to chewiest, this party's ordering was determined by random number selection. The last wine won (again), which speaks either to tipsy guests being more charitable judges, or that Victoria just loves, loves, LOVES its Shirazes. I daresay that more research is required on this front! ;-)

Here are some other things I learned:

While Ottawa's winners included many different types of grapes, Victoria LOVES its Shiraz! Once again, the Shiraz takes first place. Again, it might be due to order (despite having randomly assigned the order of the wines, the "last" wine was still a Shiraz, thus meaning that the tasters were more drunk while rating it...) Agh, the perils of randomization!

Planning a party in the Christmas season is not easy, availability-wise. Live and learn. ;-)
Maybe it was the knowledge that all the wines were former champions, or maybe it was the smaller sample size, but the winning wine broke the record for highest score ever (78%)! Our previous record holder was Jacob's Creek Shiraz/CabSav at 77%.
Some wines actually DO taste wildly different when paired with food, vs. drinking them alone. Sterling is a perennial favourite of ours for host gifts, and it's delicious with food; but by itself, I found it to be kind of awful, actually.

So without further ado, here are the results of HelgaHume Wine Tasting Party VII! Enjoy!

Surprises abound! Happy wine-tasting, all. :-)

Best Films of 2011!

2012-01-17T18:00:00.003-05:00

A major hobby of mine is watching movies -- from brainless Hollywood comedy to artsy independent film, I love them all. Well, maybe I don't LOVE them all, but I do give them all a chance, at least. ;-) (For those of you curious about my reviews/ratings for movies, see my Miso account).

Every year I eagerly anticipate the release of the critics' top ten picks of the previous year. Better still, Metacritic.com publishes these lists together, and I go a step further; I compile all those lists into an UBER-list, and rank the movies by the number of lists each one appears on. (Metacritic itself does something similar, but stops after the first 20 or so...)

Granted, each year there's a lot of bloated, overhyped movies of mediocrity to sift through (I'm looking at you, "The Aviator"!), but in these same lists you can find little-sung gems like "Sunshine Cleaning" and "A Home at the End of the World". This year, I vehemently disagree with the #1 spot -- "Tree of Life" has many good parts that deserve to be in a much better movie. Preferably one WITHOUT random sequences featuring morose dinosaurs. (WTF? Exactly.)

Anyhoo, I always try and see as many as possible, especially as they become available to rent. Which lovely surprises lay in store? We shall see! Below is the list, for your viewing pleasure:

Rank	Movie Title	Votes
1	The Tree of Life	75
2	A Separation	44
3	Drive	44
4	The Artist	43
5	The Descendants	43
6	Hugo	40
7	Melancholia	38
8	Take Shelter	38
9	Moneyball	35
10	Certified Copy	32
11	Martha Marcy May Marlene	29
12	Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy	29
13	Shame	27
14	Beginners	26
15	Margaret	26
16	Meek's Cutoff	26
17	The Skin I Live In	23
18	Bridesmaids	21
19	We Need to Talk About Kevin	20
20	Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives	19
21	Midnight in Paris	17
22	Poetry	17
23	Rise of the Planet of the Apes	16
24	Weekend	16
25	A Dangerous Method	15
26	Mysteries of Lisbon	15
27	The Interrupters	15
28	Margin Call	14
29	Young Adult	14
30	War Horse	13
31	Attack the Block	12
32	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2	12
33	Nostalgia for the Light	12
34	Bellflower	11
35	Le Havre	11
36	Le Quattro Volte	11
37	Of Gods and Men	11
38	The Arbor	11
39	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	11
40	50/50	10
41	Cave of Forgotten Dreams	10
42	Rango	10
43	The Trip	10
44	Win Win	10
45	Contagion	9
46	Super 8	9
47	The Future	9
48	Tuesday, After Christmas	8
49	Warrior	8
50	A Brighter Summer Day	7
51	Incendies	7
52	Like Crazy	7
53	Senna	7
54	The Help	7
55	13 Assassins	6
56	Project Nim	6
57	Submarine	6
58	The Adventures of Tintin	6
59	The Muppets	6
60	Another Earth	5
61	City of Life and Death	5
62	Film Socialisme	5
63	Pina	5
64	Bill Cunningham New York	4
65	Buck	4
66	Cold Weather	4
67	Coriolanus	4
68	Hanna	4
69	Into the Abyss	4
70	J. Edgar	4
71	Jane Eyre	4
72	Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol	4
73	Putty Hill	4
74	Tabloid	4
75	The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu	4
76	The Mill and the Cross	4
77	Another Year	3
78	Aurora	3
79	Carnage	3
80	Crazy, Stupid, Love	3
81	El Sicario, Room 164	3
82	Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close	3
83	In the Family	3
84	Kill List	3
85	My Joy	3
86	Terri	3
87	The Clock	3
88	The Guard	3
89	The Illusionist	3
90	The Last Circus	3
91	To Die Like a Man	3
92	Tomboy	3
93	We Were Here	3
94	Wuthering Heights	3
95	A Better Life	2
96	Alps	2
97	Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey	2
98	Black Swan	2
99	Blue Valentine	2
100	Captain America: The First Avenger	2
101	Cedar Rapids	2
102	Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame	2
103	Extraordinary Stories	2
104	General Orders No. 9	2
105	Hell and Back Again	2
106	Higher Ground	2
107	How to Die in Oregon	2
108	I Saw the Devil	2
109	Leap Year	2
110	Love Exposure	2
111	My Week With Marilyn	2
112	Petition	2
113	Rampart	2
114	Seeking the Monkey King	2
115	Source Code	2
116	Sucker Punch	2
117	The Adjustment Bureau	2
118	The Kid With A Bike	2
119	The King's Speech	2
120	The Time That Remains	2
121	True Grit	2
122	Tyrannosaur	2
123	Winnie the Pooh	2
124	X-Men: First Class	2
125	3	1
126	50	1
127	A Screaming Man	1
128	A Useful Life	1
129	Abracadabra	1
130	Agrarian Utopia	1
131	Amigo	1
132	And Everything Is Going Fine	1
133	Animal Kingdom	1
134	Anonymous	1
135	Archipelago	1
136	Assassins	1
137	Beautiful Boy	1
138	Biutiful	1
139	Café de Flore	1
140	Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer	1
141	Crime After Crime	1
142	Damsels in Distress	1
143	Dogtooth	1
144	Elena	1
145	Elite Squad: The Enemy Within	1
146	Fast Five	1
147	Final Destination 5	1
148	Foreign Parts	1
149	Four Lions	1
150	Fright Night	1
151	Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life	1
152	Goodbye, First Love	1
153	Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench	1
154	Historias extraordinarias	1
155	Hobo With A Shotgun	1
156	Kaboom	1
157	Kinyarwanda	1
158	Knuckle	1
159	La Pivellina	1
160	Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen	1
161	Limitless	1
162	Love Crime	1
163	Mildred Pierce	1
164	Miss Bala	1
165	My Perestroika	1
166	No Strings Attached	1
167	On the Bowery	1
168	One Day	1
169	Oslo August 31st	1
170	Pariah	1
171	Pink Ribbons, Inc.	1
172	Polytechnique	1
173	Position Among the Stars	1
174	Psychohydrography	1
175	Redland	1
176	Rejoice and Shout	1
177	Road to Nowhere	1
178	Roadie	1
179	Secret Sunshine	1
180	Silver Bullets	1
181	Take This Waltz	1
182	Target	1
183	The Deep Blue Sea	1
184	The Double Hour	1
185	The Elephant in the Living Room	1
186	The Green Hornet	1
187	The Ides of March	1
188	The Inheritors	1
189	The Iron Lady	1
190	The Last Lions	1
191	The Mouth of the Wolf	1
192	The Myth of the American Sleepover	1
193	The Princess of Montpensier	1
194	The Return	1
195	The Strange Case of Angelica	1
196	The Three Musketeers	1
197	The Whistleblower	1
198	The Wise Kids	1
199	This Is Not a Film	1
200	Trollhunter	1
201	Tucker & Dale vs. Evil	1
202	United Red Army	1
203	Vengeance	1
204	Viva Riva!	1
205	Voluptuous Sleep	1
206	We Bought a Zoo	1
207	Wiebo's War	1
208	Wrinkles	1
209	You All Are Captains	1

Which ones of these have you seen? Do you have any recommendations? I'm all ears! :-)

Pumpkin Patch Adventure

2011-10-26T15:47:00.007-04:00

A weekend or so back, the family took a trip to a local pumpkin patch. This was the first outing with the NEW CAMERA, so I was totally stoked to try it out. Before even seeing the pictures, I was impressed with how much easier to use the DSLR is than my old digital (which would take several seconds between depressing the button and taking a damn picture). Better still, the pictures look lush and lovely. Happy Karla!!!

So my strategy is to get used to the camera in Auto-mode, and then eventually start branching out into the fancy-dancy settings. There's a while to go yet before I'm fully comfortable with even the automatic mode, but I'm enthusiastic about the process of gradually unveiling my Canon's mysteries. ;-)

In the meantime, as promised, enjoy the pictures! :-D

Will decides to kiss the pumpkins.

The Methodology of a Name, Part Three!

2011-10-23T14:16:00.007-04:00

Finally, after a ton of reflection and soul-searching, Dave and I have unearthed a select few names for our impending HelgaHume. (Though the list is, as always, still secret.)

As luck would have it, for girls, we both individually gravitated towards the same four names. We each liked a fifth, but after some discussion, Dave decided he liked my fifth better, so now we're fully agreed on these five names. Which to pick? Depends on who we meet in December!

Boy's names, on the other hand, we're having a bit more trouble with. We've centred on four first names that we both like, but each one has a big problem associated with it.

Indeed, no name is perfect; I resisted "William" for the longest time on the grounds of, "No child of MINE is getting a TOP TEN name!!! IN-CON-THEIVABLE!!!!" but the fact is, for a huge number of reasons, the name was a perfect choice. (But that's a whole other blog post.)

Still, though, which of the following issues are dealbreakers? Which are no big deal?

One (visually-similar) letter away from a very common name: Meaning, people quickly looking over this name on paper will probably assume it's the common name, not the actual name. Kid will possibly spend his whole life correcting people, which is annoying for him.
Stupid meaning: This name has everything going for it -- great sound, great association, unique but not off-the-wall -- except what it means. It has a stupid meaning. Not offensive, not bad, just... meaningless. Can he live with this?
Unimpressive counterparts: Another name we're considering has everything going for it (see above), except that when I've met the 2-3 guys with this name, I was not especially impressed. (As opposed to, say, Hugh, where every Hugh I meet is a pretty solid dude.) Will he break free of this company, or am I setting myself up to be unimpressed?
Gender-neutrality: Not a bad thing in and of itself, but aside from this one exception, gender-ambiguous names are not usually our taste. I've heard from some that it's inconvenient for two friends discussing you, such as in the following case: "Hey, dude, thanks for the party invite! Mind if I bring along (name)?" "Sure, bro! Is she hawt??!" "Uh, dude, (name)'s a guy." "Oh, that's too bad." Is this an acceptable fate to foist on someone?

Hmm... I've never personally dealt with any of those name woes, so I can't say whether they're problematic or not. Hence, I'm pretty stuck, and would love your input in the comment section. :-)

Looking forward to hearing from you!

New Camera: This time, it's gonna be different!

2011-10-17T23:00:00.003-04:00

I am positively ecstatic to announce that I have finally caved and purchased a new camera! As such, you can expect more pictures to start appearing on this blog. I'm so stoked about this.

My tumultuous relationships with cameras goes back to the earliest digital point-and-shoots. My huge, heavy, battery-devouring, SLOW, unreliable Kodak misbehaved at the best of times, despite the best treatment and care. The next camera, a Sony, was marginally better, but then decided to randomly wash my pictures with psychedelia whenever the air was a little damp. After that, the Nikon ground to a halt when exposed to the tiniest quantity of sand, and then the last camera, my Olympus, incrementally embraced senility to the point of not even *taking pictures* when commanded.

Which makes me think, when it comes to digital cameras, I might be cursed.

So, eschewing the perpetually disappointing point-and-shoots, I decided instead to leap over to the digital SLR camp. (For those of you unfamiliar with the SLR term, it basically means a camera that looks old-school, with a big lens, but it's digital. And spiffy.)

Because this time it's gonna be different. Surely, the curse won't follow me over to a totally different type of camera, right? . ...Right??

So after a ton of research, I settled on an entry-level Canon (Rebel XS), and am now setting about learning how to actually *use* it. My dream is to eventually post rich, beautiful pictures on this blog... but hey, one step at a time, right? ;-)

Anyhow, wish me luck! Feel free to leave me your camera tips/stories/woes in the comments, would love to hear em!

The Methodology of a Name, Part Two!

2011-09-28T23:15:00.004-04:00

Progress has been made in narrowing down the name lists even further, partly thanks to the great suggestions in the comments from the last post. If you have any ideas, keep em coming! ;-)

8. Real Life Pairings

Jenn was right -- certain pairs of names need to be avoided, at the risk of having other real-life personages curb the blossoming identity of our new addition. So despite my love for the name "Grace", having a Will and Grace in the house was not an option. Same for Will and Harry, Will and Kate, William and Trillium, and even Bill and Hilary.

Casualties: Grace, Hilary, Harry, Blake

9. War of the Words!

Both Dave and I have a penchant for word-names. They're easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and can invoke a meaningful totem to guide the child. That being said, we'd rather not have *two* word names, as a name like "Indigo Lily" feels a bit gimmicky to me.

Therefore, the words must all battle one another. There can only be one!

I grouped together all the word names for boys and girls, and then we thinned out the names we were less fond of. With girls, we were able to narrow by subject; we had A LOT of plant names and colour names to work with.

Plant Battle Casualties: Lily, Saffron, Sage

Colour Spectrum Casualties: Indigo, Scarlet, Clementine

Boy-Word-Casualties: Grant, Phoenix, Sterling

So, what's the next step? At 25 names, the girl's list still needs some paring down, which will likely happen by getting pairs of names to compete with another to eliminate weaker options. However, our boy's list is down to a manageable dozen options, so from here we can skip straight to examining the combinations for unfortunate initials and clunky sounds.

And of course, ideas are always welcome! :-D

The Methodology of a Name

2011-09-18T16:49:00.010-04:00

As some of you may know, Dave and I are expecting our second child this winter. We're very excited to meet this new little person, albeit somewhat terrified about the prospect of chasing around not one, but TWO small children. I suppose the evolving/devolving coherence of this blog will be a testament to how we're managing. ;-)

Anyhoo, we are once again having to contemplate a name for this impending HelgaHume. And unlike our first time going through this process, we have less time and energy to sit and daydream about perfect name choices.

We have to be focused. We have to be decisive. And somewhere in there, we also have to listen carefully for the gentle, easily-missed messages from the universe... quiet messages guiding us towards the baby's true name.

No pressure.

So here's the method we are using, in all of its OCD-esque glory. To keep things interesting, I included name-casualties at each turn... the list of active names remains very secret, but perhaps you might be entertained in knowing which names have hit the chopping block, and for what exact reasons. ;-)

1. Buy a name book, preferably one slanted to your own naming sensibilities

Unsure of where to start, we purchased a baby name book specifically tailored to the kinds of names we are drawn to. The tongue-in-cheek book of choice was "Cool Names for Babies" by Satran and Rozencrantz, chosen for its emphasis on less common names, ranging from "a little different" to downright strange.

Casualties: Ultra-popular choices Jacob, John, Emma, Madison.

2. Secretly write down every name you don't hate

Dave and I independently went through the book, writing down every name that we were at least lukewarm about. We also added names we'd come across, or thought up, in the interests of having this list be as complete as possible.

Casualties: Names in the book that didn't resonate... Gable, Otis, Lola, Olivia

3. Combine lists, make notes of overlap

I then combined both lists into a single MEGA-LIST (in Excel), boldfacing the names that appeared on both lists. Note, there were no casualties at this point, as they happen next...

4. Blackball!

This was fun. We'd independently look over the list, and cross out anything we hated. Again, anything that was at least lukewarm to both partners could stay. Still, it was fun to tease each other for "weird" selections. ;-)

Casualties: Elvis, Connor, Lydia, Isabella

5. Points system

We were left with a long list of names, and now needed a way to prioritize them by how much we liked them. I proposed a method involving allocating points, where:

1 point = lukewarm
2 points = kinda like it
3 points = really like it!

Going through all the remaining names, we individually gave points to each according to how much we individually liked them. These scores were added to one another, for a total ranging from 2 to 6.

Then, we sorted the names by points, and removed anything scoring 2 or 3 points, as that meant that neither of us was especially keen on said name.

Casualties: Bigby, Kennedy, Tamsin, Sonata

6. Weird meanings?!

Given that name meanings are important, we looked up the meanings of the remaining names, and removed any with strange or uncomfortable meanings.

Casualties:
Tennyson = "Son of Dennis". Uhm, no, and Davidson/Karlason doesn't sound as cool, or relate back to awesome poets of yore.
Hudson = "Son of the hooded man". Sounds kinda rapey, dont'cha think? :-/
Caledonia = "From Scotland". Not really.
Ingrid = "Beauty of Froy, the mythical Norse horse". Pretty as a horse? No thanks.

...but the prize goes to Ripley, meaning "shouting man's meadow". Hee hee hee... "AUGH!! AUGH!!! I'm in a meadow!!! AUGH!!!" Yes, I'm finding that way too funny.

7. Stella Barbarella: Thinning the list by removing less desirable same-end-letter options

I noticed on our girls' names list that a stunning number all ended with the same letters. Granted, girls' names ending with "a" and "y"-sounds are both very common, but it pointed out to me that we could not indeed give a first and middle name that both ended in the same letter/sound without it sounding weird.

Hence, when grouping together eligible names by last letter (=LAST() function, for all you Excel junkies), I realized these groups were all in direct competition with one another. As such, it would be wise to thin each end-letter group to three or so entries, according to which we're showing a stronger preference for.

Casualties: Augustine, Sawyer, Isadora, Melody

... So what's step 8? Your guess is as good as mine! Our lists still need thinning, but at least they're prioritized. Will update you with further steps as they arise, but in the meantime, I hope this has minimally entertained you. ;-)

HelgaHume Wine Tasting Party VI

2011-06-26T12:35:00.005-04:00

A while back, the HelgaHumes had our sixth wine tasting party. Much has happened since, and in the tumult, I had forgotten to post the results. However, here they are in all their glory:

Pinot Noir has a patchy performance at our tastings, tending to get either first or last place. Here it was last again...
For the first time, the sparkler was NOT last place! Maybe I'm finally succeeding in my pro-sparkling propaganda... (or maybe people just REEEALLY didn't like the other two!) ;-)
Oz took first place (no surprise, the Victoria crowd seems to like full-bodied wines), but second place went to the not-often-considered Argentina! I must make a point of including them more in future wine tastings.

I also noted that the ordering effect is more pronounced here than usual, and as a result, I will be planning something diabolical to counter it in the next party. Enjoy!

HelgaHume Wine Tasting Party V

2011-02-28T14:48:00.004-05:00

Two weeks ago, we held our FIFTH HelgaHume wine tasting party! There were some shocking results, so here be the highlights!

The cheapest wine (Paul Mas, $15) won! Not a first time, but still a rare occurrence.
The most expensive wine (Cremant de Bourgogne, $25) was LAST place! This has never happened before.
France had the first-place wine (Paul Mas) AND the last-place wine (Cremant de Bourgogne)!
HelgaHume wine tasting FIRST: A French wine won! Usually they don't do so well at our parties.
Sparkling Winner: Seaview from Australia, $17
CabSav Winner: J. Lohr from California, $23
Malbec Winner: Paul Mas from France $15
Wine sequence attrition was higher than usual (as in, more people rating A than G), and definitely skewed the results. If anyone has any ideas on how to curb this, I'm all ears. :-)

And now, for the detailed results:

What should a BC government data catalogue do?

2010-12-09T13:31:00.001-05:00

In my day job, I’m part of a team of people who are working to bring the BC Government into the global open data movement. It is very fun, exciting work.

In Citizens @ the Centre: BC Government 2.0, our public service has committed that people from British Columbia and around the world can access our provincial government data to improve research and decision making, and foster innovation in information services through things like web and mobile apps.

A key element of this shift will be to create a data catalogue that allows people to access BC’s data. And so the question of ‘what should a data catalogue do?’ becomes pretty relevant.

Let’s pause there and say that what follows is a set of ruminations and thinking, and not an official representation of the BC government’s position, and that it could be subject to radical change. If anything, it’s an official representation of me trying to do my job (my official title is Executive Director, Citizen Engagement in BC's Ministry of Citizens' Services) by engaging people who are smarter and more experienced in a discussion about what would be ideal for BC to be doing, and where we might have blind spots as our team goes about our work. Really, this is risk management—I don’t want to miss some great opportunities and I don’t want to do anything dumb either. That said, I hope you’re keen to dig in alongside us. Many thanks in advance.

Looking around at what’s been done with data catalogues to date, you see most of them working with a basic concept of data provision. Toronto, Vancouver, Australia and New Zealand fall pretty squarely into this category, with Edmonton’s catalogue being among the most sophisticated. Other sites like http://www.data.gov also encourage data conversations by not only providing data, but also seeking some dialogue around the data through blogs and discussion forums. More interesting to me are data catalogues like http://data.gov.uk that put an emphasis on data action by trying to connect ideas about using datasets to a development or analysis project. Equally interesting are sites like http://data.worldbank.org that seem to focus on data understanding by focusing a lot on visualizations of data sets, making them more understandable to researchers, policy types and other people who aren’t necessarily skilled in data manipulation.

We can sum these up as a series of intents or purposes for data catalogues: provision, conversation, action, and understanding. In my mind, while these overlap and build on one another, what you choose as your most important intent will have a big impact on the function and design of your catalogue.

So here’a good time to stop and check—is this typology right? Is there another intent that’s missing that could extend what data catalogues can accomplish?

One thought that occurs is what I’ll label data relevance. Data relevance would try and personalize how data sets are presented, especially using locations. So you could imagine searching for an issue, seeing a location of an office that deals with that issue (so, search for health, see a hospital or a clinic or a local nursing school), and then present data that is relevant to that issue (see performance data or research data or enrolment data). Ideally, these data sets might even link to the specific place itself, so you could see the data produced at that location. This, I think, is what Tim Berners-Lee is talking about when he’s going on about ‘linked data’ or ‘web 3.0’—where data can find other data. We see this on the UK data catalogue, but the explanation about what it’s supposed to do is pretty fuzzy. I might be wildly off base in making this connection, but the feel of where I’m going seems to be following Sir Tim’s line of thinking.

Looking at these opportunities, then, where should BC’s emphasis lie?

While understanding that provision is fundamental—if our data is no good or impossible to find, everything else is a non-starter—I don’t think that it should be BC’s emphasis. What I think I’d like is to prioritize our intents this way:

1. Action—BC’s catalogue’s success will be primarily measured by how many projects it sparks that make use of provincial data sets. As such, the site should be designed with focused calls to action that move people from exploring data into using the data in productive ways. It will use the social networking capacity of the internet to help ideas connect with skills and other necessary resources to make things happen.

2. Conversation—BC is in its infancy in providing data to the public in this manner. Having rich feedback loops that allow the province to sense demand for data, how it can be improved, and how it is being used will help BC get better at providing data. Luke Closs’s rough-in work for a new data catalogue for our Apps 4 Climate Action contest is a big inspiration—especially his ideas about how to triage a data set: http://demo.socialtext.net/a4cadata/index.cgi?how_to_triage_a_dataset

3. Understanding –those skilled at manipulating data—software and web developers, economists, statisticians and researchers—are not the only people we want to learn about the data. Telling stories that place the data in context can help all kinds of people understand issues that are important to them, and help build understanding of the issues facing BC, and maybe what we can do about them. A great inspiration for this kind of approach would the Guardian newspaper’s http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog.

4. Relevance—that we build on GeoBC’s geospatial strengths to start connecting data sets to places as early as possible. The resulting map interfaces could be incredibly powerful.

5. Provision—that we get the basics right, meaning: a) anything we call open data is in a format that is machine readable; b) that there is robust metadata that explains the data's provenance etc; c) that the data is structured through standards in such a way that it is usable; c) that it is findable through a strong search function; and d) that data, over time, becomes automated in terms of updates and publishing, using xml feeds and APIs. In my experience these basics aren't necessarily that easy, and really getting these right will be an ongoing process rather than something that gets done right off the bat.

What do you think? Is this the right order? Something missing? Am I off my rocker?

Depending on the answer, the next step will be to start to imagine some functionality that could support these intents, in this (or whatever) order. I’ll take that up in a subsequent post.

Posted via email from CoCreative

Inaugural Victoria Wine-Tasting Party!

2010-11-30T14:41:00.004-05:00

Last weekend, Dave and I hosted our first ever wine-tasting party at our new home in Victoria. The night was a wild success, thanks to our amazingly fun guests. Thanks also to the experts at the Foul Bay BC Liquor Mart, as well as to the wine-matching cheese connoisseurs at Chiarellis, who did all the wine and cheese selections.

And now, with no further delay, here are the results!

The next wine party will likely be in January... so stay tuned for more results! ^_^

A New Direction

2010-10-27T02:18:00.005-04:00

As I was unpacking the contents of our new home, I came across a familiar, red tube that contains my more cherished drawings. Bracing myself for nostalgia, I opened it up to look inside.

...But instead of nostalgia, I found inspiration.

This nude, one of my favourites, was one I did back in New Zealand. Dave had pushed me to take a weekly class, if only to meet new people and to flex my long-atrophied art muscles. I was shy and nervous, but I went, and in pushing my own boundaries of comfort I produced some of my best work.

Sitting on the floor of my new home, beholding this near-forgotten beauty, I remembered how happy I'd been when I was drawing.

And here I am, once again in a new city, once again having gone too long without incorporating art into my life.

As such, I resolve to get involved in the Victoria art community. I resolve to unshackle myself from my comfort zone.

I resolve to get drawing again.

Backtracking: Movie Reviews part 5

2010-09-18T00:00:00.000-04:00

Next 5 movies:

July 3, 2009: I love the movie, "Blue Velvet"! Tonight was my third watching, and I've seen more new layers to it... so cool! (B+)

July 25, 2009: I watched "Top Gun" for the first time tonight... man, what a BAD movie! Stalking as a form of courtship? "Enemies" only mattering insofar as their ability to supply blow-up-able planes to the "plot"? Dialogue that makes little sense at all? That undermining women on the job is acceptable, but undermining men warrants a (manly) hissyfit? No thank you. (F)

August 2, 2009: I am, apparently, the only person alive who does not find Judd Apatow movies funny. There's more to life than penis jokes, and I've seen better writing for female characters in pornography! Funny People is the biggest movie misnomer I've ever come across. (F)

August 6, 2009: I LOVED "Tropic Thunder"! Clever premise, fun writing, good acting and delivery... and an almost-unrecognizable Tom Cruise damn near steals the show in his best role ever! (A)

August 24, 2009: I really enjoyed the movie, "Day Watch"! It's a neat plot, where Light and Dark forces navigate our present, urban reality, and a war between them is about to break out. A little like "Constantine", only MUCH better, and... Russian! For a fun, dreamlike movie, check it out! (A-)

Winner of the Set: "Tropic Thunder"!

Winner so far: Unchanged! It's still "Blade Runner", with runners-up of "Be Kind Rewind" and "Tropic Thunder", in that order.

6 things I've learned the hard way

2010-08-18T23:12:00.001-04:00

So for the last year and a half or so, I've been busily trying bring some new ideas into the organization where I work. My colleagues and I have helped to create some really interesting projects that have moved the dial in terms of how public engagement tools get used in our provincial government. We've taken lots of risks and gotten some tangible, positive results. I'm really proud of what we've accomplished.

A big part of what I see as our success has to do with how we've come at our work. Inspired by folks who design products and systems for a living like the UK's Design Council , we made the assumption that in the launch of new ideas, highly detailed planning and extensive business cases can be unhelpful. Instead, ideas stand or fall based on how they perform when tested. So, if you have an idea, create a 'prototype', test it, get feedback and improve. Eventually you'll figure out it won't get you where you need to go, or it will show you you are downright visionary (or somewhere in between). Bonus: you won't have wasted piles of time and bucks in coming up with something that may or may not work, or is simply too big to fail.

As a theory, this seemed wildly practical. Then I had the amazing opportunity to actually do it.

Practice is Painful

Some lessons I've learned along the way:

1) Prototypes aren't as easy as they sound

A designer colleague has this saying that I love: "quick and dirty is okay, but sometimes the dirty tends to hang around." We've had to get stuff up very cheaply and very fast. On the one hand, this wasn't so much prototyping as it was having to execute really quickly. On the other hand, it also meant that our first cuts were live, and we could try and improve on the fly.

The challenge here was that sometimes our users thought we were offering our final draft, not our first or second. Moreover, incentives within our organization to keep projects relatively secret meant that trying out early iterations was a no go.

As a result we endured some reasonable criticism. Happily, from an organizational change perspective, getting criticized can often be just the thing to break down resistance and catalyze the details of innovative projects (read: some of the 'dirty' gets cleaned up).

2) Ego is the enemy

Taking ownership of projects can be a real plus. It helps motivate you to put in the hard work, extra hours and push the envelope. It catalyzes creativity and a team. So ownership can be a boon for productivity.

But when ego starts getting in the way, there's a problem. Signs your ego is a problem? You're more interested in speaking opportunities than in getting your projects done. At night you imagine yourself as the great savior of your organization, a historical visionary that will lead the way to innovation grace and wind up in a documentary somewhere. You are totally frustrated by the organization's inability to listen to you. You are completely overwhelmed by work because you believe you are the only one who can do the work well. If you're not doing it all, you hoard all the really juicy and interesting tasks for yourself.

This is will cause trouble because: 1) It means nobody else is learning except you; 2) You will burn out when your self-inflated expectations aren't met, and your project and change agenda will fall over; 3)When projects become closely associated with an individual rather than the organization, they are easily dismissed by decision makers, which will also hurt your change agenda.

I've been guilty of some or all of the ego behaviors above, and probably will be again. But what I've found out is that while having a vision of where to go with a project makes you strong, having an ego just makes you brittle. Fight ego off as much as you can.

3) Something bosses need to hear: "Good, fast or cheap--now pick two."

Real enthusiasm for an idea from the executive ranks can be an amazing thing for a project. But said buy-in can lead to unrealistic expectations from execs. The discussion can turn into: "Great, we'll get a super duper project launched by the end of the week for free!" And depending on the project, you may be able to pull that off.

But if you find yourself in the realm of doing something complex that can't be done by the end of the week, I've found that using a trick taught to me by a systems guy I worked with in New Zealand works wonders. Ask the enthusiastic exec whether they have ever done any renovations to their house (the answer tends to be yes). Then introduce the renovation triangle, which has good, fast and cheap at the three points (this principle often applies to building stuff generally). You then elaborate on how you can pick two of the three--good and fast, but not cheap; cheap and fast, but not good; cheap and good but not fast. This tends to bring some discipline to the conversation.

3) Ideas are 10% or less. Everything else is fast talk and hard work.

I've found that when it comes to innovation, most folks want to be ideas people. And I understand why: it's fun to be brilliant and to be seen as brilliant (see point two).

But innovation isn't anything without action. This is the strength of the design led, prototyping approach, I think. But to keep organizations moving means taking on work people don't want to do, and keeping teams motivated through the inevitable rise and decline of enthusiasm around a project.

So reminding people of purpose and of already achieved awesomeness will help them stay motivated. Simultaneously being unafraid of grunt work helps send the signal that you are serious about making things happen, no matter what.

4) Taking on innovative projects means being regularly terrified and/or depressed. This is normal.

One thing I've learned about in spades is the emotional life of projects. The ramp up stage is full of excitement. Approval elicits elation. Launch is exhausting. Maintenance is full of uncertainty and/or boredom. And conclusions are full of nightmares of the whole thing falling over, ruined careers and general shaming by the higher ups. Sleepless nights can happen the whole way through.

If you don't anticipate or recognize this volatility it can really do a number on you. I've known lots of innovators who hamstring themselves because they are emotionally drained by trying to get things done. But this innovation stuff requires a thick skin and lots of patience. Otherwise, you'll be done before you even get started. Recognize what's happening, and pace yourself.

5) Getting a project out the door means choosing the imperfect. Sometimes the wildly imperfect.

The projects I've been involved with have not be as beautiful as I imagined them to be at the outset. Strange as it sounds, I'd like to make art with the work that I do. But being mature about constraints means understanding that isn't always feasible. It's more important that the project exists than be perfect. Because the next time, maybe you can be gorgeous.

6) Fire. Ready. Aim. It actually does create change.

The last thing I've learned is that this design inspired approach works. It really does. It's laid the foundations for a bunch of change that's helped benefit other parts of our organization. It's also help spark and draw together a community of people that want to do more work on similar themes. And it's starting to get our organization recognition as a leader in a rapidly advancing field.

The next phase will be about consolidating what's been created and building it out so that more people can do more work. We've learned a lot, and we can't lose that. Hopefully it will help make small innovations scale up to make a big difference.

Posted via email from CoCreative

The Conservative Party's War on Informed Decision-Making

2010-07-08T15:29:00.012-04:00

As the Canadian readers may know, the Conservative government has inexplicably introduced a measure to sabotage its own information, and thus measurability, and thus accountability.

The move to make the Census long form voluntary undermines the reliability of the results by overrepresenting certain kinds of Canadians and underrepresenting others. Who is being underrepresented, you ask? Anyone less likely to respond to a voluntary survey -- First Nations and Inuit people, recent immigrants, youth, and the working poor, to name a few.

Having information on groups such as these is essential for decision-making bodies to advocate for, and target, the needs of a specific community. And without information, they are left guessing at a community's situation and needs, rather than knowing. To compromise the quality of Census data is to extinguish our ability to implement useful programs or policies to assist underrepresented communities, who are oft the communities most in need of said programs.

If this decision stands, Canada's government, agencies, NGO's, businesses large and small will all be unable to make evidence-based decisions, as our formerly-prized evidence will have been irreparably sabotaged.

This is a crisis, and I urge fellow Canadians to write your MP about this. I have done so just now, and the letter reads as follows:

Dear ****,

As a Canadian taxpayer, a patriot, and a member of your riding, I implore you to speak out about the Tories' abominable move to sabotage Canada's Census. The detailed information on the long form is necessary for NGOs, academia, businesses, and even government itself in making informed decisions. To make the long form voluntary introduces response bias, which means that some people (white, middle class 30+ year olds) are far more likely to respond than others, and in turn we leave behind anyone NOT fitting that mold. This is unacceptable.

Worse still, all other social surveys at StatCan (and possibly most other surveys in Canada) adjust for nonresponse USING CENSUS DATA. To compromise Census data is to compromise ALL these other surveys as well.

Moreover, this move was made by Clement with NO consultation, and will actually end up costing taxpayers MORE money. Plus, Clement is either tragically misinformed or outright lying to the Canadian public by claiming that the results will be just as good. (http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/canada/2010/07/07/14638106.html) As a professional statistician, I can assure you that this is simply not true.

Too much is at stake to sit quietly; all quantifiable knowledge of Canada is about to be transmuted into useless, expensive and inaccurate supposition. We are in the information age -- therefore, to sabotage one's own information is an unfathomably stupid move. I beg you to act on this.

Thank you,
Karla ***

Useful information : http://eaves.ca/
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/keep-the-canadian-census-long-form.html

If you are short on time, or uncertain in how you want to word your letter, please feel free to borrow some or all of my letter above. Regardless, WRITE YOUR MP to let them know we're not silent, nor complacent.

How many of us complain that the only time we see our MPs in action is around election time? Well, write them and give them a chance to do something for you!

Backtracking: Movie Reviews part 4

2010-06-26T14:07:00.008-04:00

Next 5 movies:

June 14, 2009: I thought the new Indiana Jones flick was fun and cheesy, but I was irked by Shia Laboeuf's lack of chin. :-P (C)

June 16, 2009: I just finished watching a bizarre black-comedy art-flick "Johnny Suede" (C+), featuring a VERY young Brad Pitt!

June 18, 2009: I just finished watching "Caterina in the Big City" (A-), which is like an Italian version of "Mean Girls"... but with more spontaneity, more involvement of famiglia, and even the meanest girls are still kind of sweet. And then everyone ends up being friends. Recommend! :-)

June 23, 2009: I was totally charmed by the Israeli movie, "The Band's Visit". Egyptian police band ends up in backwoods Israel, amusing & good-hearted hijinx ensue, and the world reveals itself as being full of kind, wonderful people just trying to get through life. (B+)

June 29, 2009: I saw "Blindsight", a documentary about a group of blind Tibetan teenagers doing a climbing expedition of Mount Everest... it actually happened!! Whoa. (Fact that it happened: A+, the movie itself, B)

Winner of the set: "Caterina and the Big City"

Winner so far: Unchanged! It's still "Blade Runner", with runners-up of "Be Kind Rewind" and "Into the Wild", in that order.

Backtracking: Movie Reviews part 3

2010-06-17T12:52:00.009-04:00

Next five movies:

May 24, 2009: I was utterly wow-ed by "Into the Wild". Great performances, EVEN by otherwise-weak Twilight-damsel. Fantastic music augments mood -- Eddie Vedder on lone acoustic guitar really hammers home the solitude the main character seeks. (A)

June 4, 2009: I recently enjoyed two obscure movies -- Blame it on Fidel (A), and Boy A (B+). Check them out when you are in the mood for two great end-of-childhood films!

June 10, 2009: I've confirmed, through rewatching, that "Blade Runner" is among the best films of all time, and is as visionary, textured, and brilliant now as it was back in the 1980s. (A+)

June 12, 2009: I had liked the movie, "Bug", up until the point where everyone went TOTALLY batshit nuts. (*Somewhat* nuts is fine, but there's a point when things stop making sense, and somewhere after that things stop being interesting...) I give it a D.

Winner of the set: ... come on, it's not fair to pit any movie up against "Blade Runner"! ;-)

Winner so far: "Blade Runner". Clearly.

Runners-up: "Be Kind Rewind" and "Into the Wild", in that order.

Backtracking: Movie Reviews part 2

2010-06-15T22:39:00.000-04:00

And now for the next five movies!

April 28, 2009: I really enjoyed "Be Kind Rewind" -- it's a sweet and funny movie, with gentle turns and loving homage to classic films.

May 1, 2009: I was blogging and watching the movie, "Troy". I'll let you guess which one is occupying the majority of my brain cells... ;-)

May 10, 2009: I enjoyed "Star Trek", but I'm not sure if it wasn't largely because of the very cute Zach Quinto...

May 11, 2009: I wanted to like"I'm Not There" (the Bob Dylan movie), but didn't. :-P I get the feeling that, to truly understand why Dylan was so important/controversial/whatever, ya had to be there...

May 16, 2009: I finished "Zwartboek", which is thus far surprisingly entertaining. Bad, but entertaining. Think "Showgirls" done a la Third Reich resistance.

Winner of the set: "Be Kind Rewind"

Winner so far: "Be Kind Rewind"! I adored this movie!

Backtracking: Movie Reviews

2010-06-14T14:18:00.003-04:00

For those of you who know me on Facebook, you already know that I like doing mini-reviews of films. It's been awhile since I started that, and I often find myself tracking back in my statuses to see what I'd said about a specific film. So, for your enjoyment (and my records), here are my (brief) movie reviews!

Since I've seen a lot of movies since January 2009, I'll put them up five at a time to avoid information overload. Enjoy! ^_^

January 24, 2009: I really enjoyed the movie "Frost/Nixon". I wish airline travel was that posh nowadays!

April 15, 2009: I watched "La Vie en Rose", enjoyed it enough, but found it a little too moody and indulgent for my liking.

April 20, 2009: I just watched a really neat movie called "Joyeux Noel"... it's about the 1914 Christmas where the front lines of WWI unofficially called a truce and partied together! Amazing idea, eh?

April 21, 2009: I think that "Bridge to Terabithia" should be renamed to "My Girl: another sequel". Boo urns.

April 26, 2009: I just watched "The Man who Wasn't There", and think Scarlett Johanssen did a very good job of playing a young, awkward high school girl. :-)

Winner among these: "Joyeux Noel"!

Stay tuned for my next five flicks....

Ottawa Fringe Lineup!

2010-06-04T03:03:00.005-04:00

It's that time of year again, where the wonderful world of the Fringe Festival descends on eastern Canada and makes its way westward. I can barely contain my excitement!!!

Indeed, one of my least favourite parts of living in the western-most city in Canada is that it is the *final* destination of the fair Fringe. I have to wait until September to partake! How sad...

And in my envy of Ottawa experiencing the Fringe in a mere two weeks from now, allow me to use my finely-tuned Fringe radar to scan the program and plug a few shows.

Burlesque Unzipped: I've actually seen this one, and it's an excellent performance piece, impeccably acted one-woman burlesque/history/comedy/dance show. I liked it a great deal, and highly recommend it. Suitable for Fringe virgins (=never been to a Fringe show).
The Sputniks is another one I've seen, and found it to be good. Not great, but solidly good. One-woman show talking about life in a Soviet refugee camp, and coming to Canada. Interesting, compelling, and worth seeing. Drama, not comedy. Not for Fringe virgins, though.
I know (or know of) people in these plays, so I'd be going to Unequal Harvest, Wild Abandon, Cactus: the Seduction.
I've found this theatre company to be fairly reliable: The Last Goddamned Performance Piece (Black Sheep Theatre).
These were showing last year in Winnipeg (and/or Victoria), and despite hearing good things about them, I wasn't able to get to them: The Last Straight Man in Theatre, Archy and Mehitabel, The Peter and Chris Show, Underneath It All
This is a show that I'll see just to support my Winnipeg peeps who've travelled so far: Misadventures of a Massage Therapist
And lastly, plays whose descriptions were noticed by my Fringe antennae, as they sound reasonably entertaining: 7x1 Samurai, Every Job I've Ever Had, Aomega, TransCanada 69, Actionable, Men Telling Stories

Anyhow, these are my picks, listed in descending order of priority. If any of these make it to the Victoria Fringe (in September! sob!!), I will see them then; if you see them first, I would love to know what you thought!

Happy Fringing to you! ^_^

Things I Learned about Breastfeeding, Part 2: The Experience

2010-05-27T02:39:00.000-04:00

Wow, what a fantastic reaction from the last post! I was touched. :-) (And yes, even by you, Mr. Deepseated-Issues on comment #3... you're a valuable example of the attitudes a breastfeeding mum has to deal with.) :-) My thanks to all the commenters, and the readers as well.

My lovely boy, modelling his breastfeeding pillow. Tyra would be proud!

Anyhoo, as promised, it's time to move on to the more personal level of my breastfeeding experience. Here is what I have learned so far:

Considering that it is a natural process/skill, breastfeeding sure didn't come to me very naturally! While I think myself to be a reasonably intelligent person, it took me a long while to figure out what I needed to do, and what did and did not work well. Patience with myself was invaluable during this time.

Having a list of available breastfeeding resources on-hand was a real lifesaver. As such, I advise expecting mothers to make a list of supports they can call upon, should they need help at some point. Excellent resources include doulas, La Leche groups, mother babe groups, and public health nurses. I continue to rely on nurses or doulas whenever I run into trouble, and it's made breastfeeding infinitely easier and more enjoyable.

Even with the aforementioned supports, the first two weeks of breastfeeding are AWFUL. For the first few days, baby has to suck miniscule amounts of colostrum from the breasts with the force of a vaccuum cleaner, and it took awhile for both Will and I to learn proper latching technique. During this time, I was frustrated, overwhelmed, and in a lot of pain. However, by week 3, everything clicked and has since gone amazingly well. So, to all you moms-to-be, it *really does* get better! :-)

While I was having nursing difficulties, Medela silicon nipple shield was the best $8 I've ever spent, since it disperses the suction over more of the breast and thereby makes nursing easier on one's tender nipples.

The first few days go smoother when you can liberally apply pure lanolin cream; having to ration out minuscule amounts of the hospital-issue sample packs was an extra inconvenience I did not need. Were I to do this all over again, I would pack a tube in my hospital bag.

Also, bring a (sports-style) nursing bra to the hospital. Those hospital gowns are scratchy. 'Nuff said.

It's never too soon to start building a nursing wardrobe. I recommend the Ripe brand crossover top, which has been a fashion staple of mine throughout pregnancy and breastfeeding. The Bravado nursing tank is also an excellent choice, if you don't mind showing off cleavage.

Breastfeeding pillows are good for more than just breastfeeding; we use ours for tummy time, dad doing bottle feeding, and general cuddling or chilling out. Don't buy one, though, since they're really expensive to buy but easy to make.

Breastfeeding cape patterns can also be found online, which saved me some money. (Plus, it was a fun project!)

Breastfeeding in public isn't as big a deal as I thought it would be. Granted, I've only done it a few dozen times, and I do pick my locations carefully, and I do keep a cape on-hand for emergencies. All told, though, I've not encountered any tut-tutting grannies or leering dudes, which I'd been bracing myself to face on all sides.

Then again, during breastfeeding, I don't really notice much, other than my lovely son. It's way more of a bonding experience than I'd anticipated, and I know I'll miss it when he's weaned. The fact that I enjoy that time is a huge surprise to me.

Lastly, and most importantly, the breastfeeding situation between a mother and her child is different for everyone. It is important to try to breastfeed, and to seek help and support when needed; however, if significant issues persist after all help and support has been exhausted, it's even more important to dismiss any guilt you may have and carry on with other options (like formula). What matters most is that you are feeding your baby, and if anyone has a problem with the way you're doing it, it's their own hangups manifesting. So regardless of what your feeding relationship is, keep your head held high, believe in your decision, and when necessary, feel free to tell tut-tutters to sod off. ;-)

Anyhow, I hope some of these observations are useful to some of you out there! Feel free to leave comments about your own experiences, should you wish to share.

Things I Learned about Breastfeeding, Part 1: The Context

2010-05-10T18:23:00.003-04:00

Get ready for a long post; as it turns out, there's a lot to learn about breastfeeding! In fact, there is so much to say, I've split the topic into two posts. My next post will address my specific experience; but first, I will help frame this experience by elaborating on breastfeeding as a context.

I've discovered that the topic is highly political, so broach it with caution! As it happens, many people -- mothers, hospital staff, random people -- can suddenly become defensive, guilt-ridden, smug, or downright angry at the mere mention of breastfeeding. Worse still, these unprovoked blowups are not limited to one camp; the "formula's fine" crew and the "lactivists" can be equally volatile.

Paradoxically, though, breastfeeding NEEDS to be talked about! The fact is, there is a minority of women who are milky goddesses, able to easily feed their baby with no problems or help. There is also a minority of women who simply cannot (or should not*) make milk, regardless of how much help they get. The rest of us, and I'm guessing we're the vast majority, fall in the middle -- we're physically able to make milk, but we need help in figuring out this new and seemingly strange process. (It's not easy!)

Current (American) statistics indicate that the majority of mothers leave the hospital having initiated breastfeeding, but by 6 months, not even 14% are still exclusively breastfeeding. Such a dramatic decline is surely due to many factors, but it cannot be addressed, let alone solved, without first resolving the vitriol-fraught nature of the breastfeeding dialogue. Both sides need to let go of their baggage and resolve the following:

to agree that, thanks to modern scientific advances, formula is perfectly acceptable food for babies;
to acknowledge the numerous scientific findings proving the quantifiable nutritional superiority of breast milk;
to ensure that breastfeeding information and assistance exists for all new mothers;
to ensure that said assistance is ample, accessible, and that it is adequately promoted and supported by the medical and health communities;
to condemn public attitudes of breastfeeding being "gross" or obscene;
to support mothers, especially those experiencing difficulty with breastfeeding, in whatever solution is appropriate for their individual situation. This includes formula use.
to reinforce that while breastmilk is superior to formula, a breastfeeding mom is NOT superior to a formula-feeding mom!

If everyone were to shed their attitudes and find common ground, we could foster a culture that could give the support that moms need. We must trade in our judgement for compassion, our blame for solutions, our righteousness for humility, our silence for meaningful dialogue.

In sum, we must say "enough!" to the current "damned if you do, damned if you don't" paradox of breastfeeding; the job of raising a child is hard enough as it is.

And thus concludes Breastfeeding Politics 101! ;-) Now that you have a better idea of the current context, my personal/specific observations to come Part 2 may have more resonance. Until then!

(* due to taking medication, for example)

Motherhood Month 1: Stuff I've Learned

2010-04-02T16:02:00.003-04:00

Our lovely little boy, Will, was born on Feb 17th after a mere 6 hours of labour. He arrived into the world healthy, hollering, and as long and skinny as a salami. In the month and a half since, he's become more adorable, more alert and interactive... though still not mastering the art of smiling. (He gently meows, though, so that's tiding us over for cute-factor.) ;-) We love him so, and are eager to get to know him more as the months and years pass.

So, what have I learned in the last month? Here goes:

There's a certain circle of Heaven reserved for people who, when visiting a family with a new baby, bring food. Bonus points if they do a bit of housework while there, or leave after half an hour.

Making and freezing food (lasagne, chili, pasta sauce, quiche) during the last few months of pregnancy has been a lifesaver on nights when I'm too tired to cook anything.

Second-hand and consignment are stores are AWESOME, since anything "baby" is WAY overpriced (and there's no guarantee baby will like that vibrating seat, or whatever).

A yoga ball is a good investment. It's useful for pregnancy exercise, labour positions, and for bouncing a fussy baby to sleep. (The $29 Zellers kind is fine, but make sure it's big enough to sit on comfortably.)

When browsing through adorable baby clothes, seasons matter. As in, DO NOT buy that sweet little summer outfit, sized 0-3 months, for a baby born in February.

In fact, resist purchasing 0-3 month clothes altogether. You don't need many outfits in this size (6-10?), since the kid is neither mobile enough nor spewing enough to dirty his clothes that quickly.

Baby clothes that do not snap at the legs/crotch for easy diaper access may be cute, but are of highly limited functionality. Avoid purchasing these.

Make sure you have 2-3 zip hoodies for the kid, to throw on before going outside. (This is MUCH easier than changing a whole outfit!)

While pregnant, make a list of baby-friendly stuff to do (such as mother-baby groups) that will get you out of the house. This will be a godsend when you crave adult human interaction during the daytime.

Best books: "The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth" on getting literate about common labour intervention practises; "Happiest Baby on the Block" for tips on how to settle a fussy newborn, and my favourite, "If Your Kid Eats this Book, Everything Will Still be Okay", which tells you what kind of baby ooze from which orifices have what level of urgency. Most of it assures you that everything is fine, which I love.

Anyhow, I hope this list is helpful for those of you who are expecting (or know someone who is), or was at least amusing for those of you who aren't. And if any of you have things you've learned and like to share, I'd love to hear your comments! :-)

Next up will be "Stuff I Learned about Breastfeeding"... stay tuned!

Is 'public policy' an out of date discipline?

2010-03-21T00:07:00.001-04:00

Sometimes I wonder whether my chosen field, public policy, is actually running out of steam as a discipline.

Here's my line of thought:

1. Public policy can be understood as the process by which decisions by public institutions (mainly government) are made for the benefit of the public. Policy is enacted through government programs and services implemented by public administrations.

2. Increasingly, though, government is not in charge of the issues that it wants to address. Homelessness, climate change, spiraling health care costs--all of these are critical issues of our political conversation, but government cannot 'fix' them, despite pretensions otherwise. Progress in these areas demands the efforts and resources of many different players. No one organization is going to save the world by itself.

3. This means public policies are a lot less important than they used to be. To be clear: it's not that they're unimportant. But they are only really powerful if they can be well coordinated with the action of other organizations, communities and individuals.

4. So the value of public policy isn't the policy. It's the ability to build relationships, trust and manage interests in such a way that leads networks of individuals, communities, businesses and NGOs towards a shared goal.

There are lots of examples of areas where 'policy' as it's classically understood still has tons of sway. Tax policy and economic forecasting come to mind. But even those are simply tools in a toolbox that government has to achieve goals and influence change. Good tax policy is useful when it aligns with (or funds) programs and services that make a difference.

If I'm right about this, I think the most interesting implication is the shift it will demand from the public servants formerly known as 'policy wonks'.

Policy wonks are the privileged experts of the government world. They are impartial advisors to elected decision makers, and handle some of the most sensitive and secret of materials for their political masters. They know issues deeply, and through analysis and research, come up with the options that land on Cabinet tables. It's heady, influential and addictive stuff.

The argument I'm making is that in the future, wonkish expertise is going to be of lower value than the ability to leverage networks, cut deals, and align ideas, people and action behind the goals Ministers want to achieve. Policy analysts won't be doing much analysis. Instead, they'll be using collaborative tools like the web in tandem with well honed powers of communication, facilitation and imagination to do the work the public needs.

I'm curious what you think. I'm I saying something obvious? Or is there a real shift occurring that means 'policy' isn't that relevant any more?

Posted via email from David's posterous

RIght on Canada, but what about Norway?

2010-03-07T04:11:00.001-05:00

With all the marvelous and deserved flag waving and back patting that's happened after the Olympics, it occurred to me (after a conversation with my Dad, actually) that there is a story that deserves to be told that hasn't.

Norway.

In the final medal count, they were fourth with 23, just behind our fair country's 26. But wait, compare some simple demographics:

According to Wikipedia, Norway has a population of 4.8 milliion. Whereas Canada's population comes in at roughly 33 million.

In fact, Norway was a top five Olympic finisher with a population roughly the same size as we have here in British Columbia.

This is remarkable, is it not? That a country that small could achieve so much?

Dear world press: please celebrate the achievement of the Norwegians. They might not win at hockey, but boy did they clean up everywhere else.

Yahoo! Canada Toolbar : Search from anywhere on the web and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now!

Posted via email from David's posterous

A Promise to the Impending HelgaHume

2010-02-08T13:10:00.000-05:00

So with a mere few weeks before our mini-HelgaHume is due to arrive, I've been mulling over various theories of parenting, etc. The conclusion so far is this: I have no idea what I'm doing, nor can I (really) know anything before actually arriving there.

But I do know this: I am smart, full of love, and firmly believe in the value of holding onto one's sense of humour through adversity and struggle. While these qualities will not ensure flawless parenting, I'm reasonably confident they'll be useful as I try to figure this whole thing out.

In this interim, instead of anticipating details, I prefer to establish a philosophy and overarching modus operandi for how I'd like this parenting thing to go. So, here is the pledge I make to you, my unborn child:

I may not always be a "good mum", whatever that means. Instead, I will strive to be "good enough". As a good-enough mum, I will do my non-omniscient, non-omnipotent best to keep you safe, warm, fed, and emotionally and intellectually nourished.

I won't always be right, but I will try hard to always be fair. Unfortunately, fairness doesn't always mean a happy resolution for all, but at least consistency and fairness will teach you about compromise and justice.

I will avoid judgement of other parenting practises. Parenting is just too damned hard, and involves too many variables, to be able to hold others to a standardized set of rules.

While I will always be mindful of you, I will retain my own interests, dreams, and goals in life. By nurturing my separate self, I can be a better mother to you. I hope it also shows you the importance of independence, and that of recognizing and working to fulfill your own needs. In the end, only you are responsible for your own happiness.

I will try to really listen to you. It is important that you feel heard, and that you develop confidence that what you think or feel does, in fact, matter. This will take time, energy, and effort, and may sometimes translate to other things getting overlooked. Sometimes, feeling heard is more important than going to school with brushed hair or a clean shirt. ;-)

Also, since marriages have a much higher mortality rate than kids do, I warn you that there will be times that I put Dave and my marriage before you. This will not be a pleasant lesson, but it will demonstrate a strong and loving partnership of equals, which I deeply hope you will one day achieve.

As you reveal to me who you are, I will try my best to not let my personal biases and prejudices interfere with supporting you. No doubt you will challenge me to expand the horizons of what I currently appreciate, and for that, I thank you in advance (because I likely won't be feeling so thankful at the time). ;-)

All that being said, my bottom line is this: You must have A dream (which is up to you to develop, and can change and grow as you do), and you must vote. Everything else, we'll work out when the time comes.

I love you, little squid, and am very much looking forward to getting to know you.

Conan and Generational Change

2010-01-24T20:19:00.009-05:00

So I'm on #teamconan.

I've watched him, on and off, since university (UVic Grad 2001). And he's been great. Pimpbot; Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the Masturbating Bear are all hilarious. More interesting still was how he came from being a behind the scenes writer-guy to getting out in front of the camera, growing into the role as he got experience. And now, as we know, he's been pushed out of his 'dream job' so that Jay Leno can return to the Tonight Show.

I don't have a real beef with Leno--he's funny for an audience that likes its humor safe, and is apparently a ratings winner in his traditional time slot.

But I'm squarely with Team Conan because of the important subtext of this story: generational change.

Conan is youngish (47), has played by the rules, and done everything he can to position himself to inherit Johnny Carson's chair on the Tonight Show, just like Jay did almost two decades ago.

But the old guy won't budge. And the old guys at NBC, looking desperately at their wallets, won't budge either.

My worry is that this is a portent of things to come.

In every sector of our society, from commerce to public service, teaching to trades, it's anticipated that retirements are going to hugely impact available skills. Young people have been told this for years, and many are ready or are getting ready to lead.

As these shortages begin to really make themselves felt, will organizations follow NBC's lead and bet on the old war horse? Or will new blood get a chance to take the reins of the big show?

Working out a way to avoid a constant, internecine, society wide clash between a tried and tested Baby Boom generation and the group of young people who make up Generation X and onwards, who think their vision of the world is best positioned to lead humanity out of the trouble it finds itself in, is going to be a major challenge. And to be frank, I'm not sure what to do.

In an ideal world, organizations allow young leadership to step in, but evolve a more knowledge focused mentoring role for its vital but older leadership--something like an Emeritus position. It'd be great to know who, if anyone, is trying new inter-generational organizational models on, hopefully with some real benefits to performance.

Posted via email from David's posterous

Movie Review: Avatar

2009-12-22T11:25:00.006-05:00

Last night I saw Avatar in 3D, and it made enough of an impression to merit a blog post. There was so much to say, that I needed to reach beyond my usual Facebook-status-review. :-)

-- The Downsides --
For all the astounding visual innovation Avatar nimbly delivers, the story was simply lazy. It's a plot we've all seen many, many times before, even for those of us who have not seen "Dances with Wolves". If Avatar had been a drinking game where we had to take a shot every time a cliché occurs, no one would make it through the 2.5 hour movie.

Moreover, the old cliché used aren't even good ones. Here are some examples:

Overall message of Avatar: "It shore is a good thing that them there white boy came along to SAVE all them noble savages!"
Military is BAD BAD BAD EVIL, all the time, and that's that.
The indigenous race is presented with staggering romanticism, with no mention or indication of any social problems, warfare, or other issues whatsoever. Given that all races HAVE internal issues of some sort, introducing something offhand would have made the Na'avi much more interesting and believable.
When the heroine is introduced, she kicks much ass. However, she becomes relatively submissive and useless the moment that our hero steps into the fore. Forget that she's had a lifetime of training, hunting and fighting; apparently in a mere three months, which includes him LEARNING TO WALK, he's better at everything! Blech.
Also, while said heroine is kicking ass, she has dreadlocks, which are generally found on black women. HOWEVER, when the inevitable scene arrives in which she needs to be "made purdy" enough to justify culminating the romantic subplot, her hair is straight and relaxed, like a white girl's. What, Cameron, are dreadlocked girls too far from our white-centred beauty ideal to merit love, too?

Unsurprisingly, the movie joins its action-movie brethren in failing the Bechdel test.

-- The Upsides --
Now, with the downers aside, allow me to elaborate on the positively incredible visuals of Avatar. Despite its obvious stylization, the CGI work blends seamlessly with the real-world portions of the film. I often forgot entirely that anything was animated at all. The CGI characters were beautifully expressive and well-designed; their world consists of a fantastical, fleshed-out ecosystem which actually borders on believability. The overall effect is dazzling.

Moreover, with the exception of SCTV's "Dr. Tongue and the House of ..." sketches, I've never before witnessed anything done in 3D. My gimmick-radars had made me skeptical, but Avatar succeeds in delivering a fantastic 3D experience. Several times, I found myself curbing my reflex to swat at the small mosquito-like bugs inhabiting the rainforest, which seemed to hovering right in front of me. It's those small details which show Cameron's undeniable technological adeptness with 3D; he knows that successful use of 3D is more about adding a subtle new layer, rather than having random things flying at the audience.

-- The Verdict --
Watching this movie occupied 40% of my brain, but commanded a full and deserved 100% of my visual and audio attention. Overall, Avatar is typical Cameron fare -- a richly-textured spectacle strung together with only *just* enough hackneyed plot to make the many, many action sequences make sense. Grade: B

A fun story about indoor composting

2009-11-05T13:35:00.004-05:00

After reading this article (the comments section warrants a giggle or two), I began to reflect on how I have not seen a house centipede since leaving Ottawa.

Then, I recalled something that happened last summer, in our old house in Wellington Village.

Dave and I are big believers in composting. By disposing of the rotting garbage separately from the rest, your garbage can remains sanitary, odourless, and generally inoffensive. Moreover, when given time (and worms), the garbage that rots eventually undergoes a fabulous alchemy into black, nutrient-rich soil. In turn, this soil translates into healthier houseplants, beautiful flowers, and succulent tomatoes. In short, everyone wins.

The only drawback is the persistence with which one needs to ensure all compost is BURIED. Exposed rot is a perfect place for fruit flies to populate, and once established, these pests require Herculanean efforts to get rid of.

This issue was one we'd had last summer, and were dealing with it in a gradual and pesticide-free manner. What this meant was, that for one maddening week, we had fruit flies EVERYWHERE. But after that, the population noticeably declined. We must have been doing something right.

Now, decline is not the same as erased, and we were expecting houseguests in the near future. Dave's sister and her husband were due to visit, and we wanted our place to be gorgeous (read, fruit-fly-free) for their stay. So, a week before they arrived, I moved the compost out to the garage, and put up fly tape. Soon, there were no more fruit flies. Life was good.

One week later, I was sweeping the house, and came across some oddly-shaped dustbunnies hiding in corners. Only, they were NOT dustbunnies -- they were dead spiders! There were likely a half dozen of them in that sweep alone, and it got me thinking... had they starved from the lack of fruit flies??

Naw, that couldn't be it.

Fast forward to two weeks after THAT, where I found something else very strange -- several shrivelled, dead house centipedes! Now, recall that house centipedes eat spiders, and now that there were fewer spiders to eat... could they have starved, too??

I didn't know whether to be mournful or revolted. Frankly, I still don't.

But what I do know is that the circle of life can happen anywhere, even in one's humble abode. ;-) Take it away, Disney...

Halloween in Victoria

2009-11-04T19:29:00.011-05:00

Halloween has come and gone, and it's made me realize just how long a year can be.

Precisely one year before, Dave and I had only just moved into our new house in Ottawa. We were still surrounded by boxes, which we had to frantically dig through to find the components of our impromptu costumes. Having no idea on what kind of Trick or Treater turnout to expect, we'd bought way too much candy.

Unfortunately, we learned that night about how Trick or Treaters tend to avoid busy streets (like the one we live on) in favour of quieter roads nearby. Not one kid came to our house, and it still kinda bums me out to recall.

On the upside, the costumes turned out fabulously, and the party we went to later was an absolute blast. The StatsGang was partying en force that night, and the evening proceeded in my favourite set of phases: the crowded, giddy stage, then the silly, comfortable phase, then the dancing phase, and lastly, retreating to the basement to play guitars and sing until the wee hours. Amanda had a songbook of Weezer hits, and we went through nearly all of them in varying states of inebriation.

That was also the last time I saw Begona, a dear friend who was to return to her life overseas the very next day. I miss her.

All of that feels like it happened many years ago. Since then, Dave and I have done yet another cross-country move, this time ending up in Victoria, BC. We have finally settled into our new house, and so, this Halloween, we were able to host the party!

This arrangement worked out best for all involved; most of our Victoria friends live in condos, which are generally nonconducive to late night parties, or to Trick or Treaters. We had about two dozen kids come by, all in fantastic costumes such as Optimus Prime, Lady Gaga, and some young boys in hilarious drag. (I even got props for spotting a kid dressed up as Naruto, a popular anime character.) ;-)

The party itself was a success, as well. The potluck-style dinner assured an overabundance of delicious food, from which we would have been stuffed even if we hadn't filled our faces with candy beforehand. ;-) We watched some amusing and retro Disney Halloween specials, and then played two games of Cranium in which the girls triumphed handily over the boys.

We also carved a number of fantastic jack-o-lanterns, which still stand proudly on our stoop.

Be sure to check out our Flickr space for more pictures from the evening. But, to close off, enjoy this set of photos of "Wolverine" carving a pumpkin!

...And in Other News...

2009-10-02T00:34:00.003-04:00

... a new HelgaHume adventure is taking place as we speak. Specifically, this adventure takes the shape of a new little human brewing in my nethers. I am very much looking forward to meeting this person, and will apparently be doing so sometime around February 20th. It will be an Olympic child!

When we first saw the little human, it was in a position so peculiar, the ultrasound tech laughed. The legs and arms were straight up over the head in full-on yoga pose -- clearly, this west-coast lifestyle has gotten to it already. ;-)

Anyhow, this is big news, and with us now being in the 20th week, it was time to share. Next adventure: The HelgaHumes do Parenting! Ack, Heaven help us all... lol

(And for those of you counting backwards, I was NOT actually drinking at the last wine-tasting party, or the goodbye party, or anytime since mid June... it was cranberry juice! Honest.) ^_^

Pictures of the New Place

2009-09-23T13:56:00.003-04:00

Since our arrival, I've been busily working towards making our new place as home-like as possible. The massive task was finally completed as of Saturday, which was a result of my discovering that hosting is a massive incentive towards getting everything done by a fixed date. ;-) (I'll have to make note of that!)

Anyhow, here are some pictures of the new place. It's a Heritage building, built in 1916, and has been refinished in a way that enhances its utility but fully retains its charm. :-)

This is the dining room,

And the living room,
Best spot EVER for reading:

The master bedroom...

...and the bathroom, complete with CAST-IRON, CLAWFOOT TUB!
This is the office / second bedroom,
And the GORGEOUS kitchen, featuring more cupboard space than we know what to do with! Wanda fits in nicely here...

The kitchen then leads out onto a sunny deck, ensconced in trees...
Not pictured is the beautiful garden, whose technical gardening needs exceed my expertise by a large measure. Wish me luck in figuring that one out! :-P

And then, for any more room we need, there's another bedroom / entertainment area in the basement, as well as a massive storage room.

Yes, we did quite well in finding this place... we love it! Not as much room as our house in Ottawa, and since we're only renting, we live in constant terror of damaging the house, but it serves our needs for now. :-)

So what's next for me? Now that the house is set up, it's time to turn my eye to the finer details -- in particular, paperwork. Filing for damages incurred through the move, officially changing our address, figuring out the finances, applying for BC identification, etc. While it's not nearly as exciting a task as unpacking mystery boxes and revealing all the neat stuff one owns, it's about as necessary. :-P

Mingled in there is also a search for work, but given the dire economic forecast for BC's near future, we'll see how that goes. (In the meantime, I get to pretend I'm Donna Reed.) LOL

Until next time! ;-)

Arrival

2009-08-25T18:09:00.002-04:00

We've arrived safely in Victoria, BC, which has greeted me with two things.

The first was Victoria Fringe Festival fanfare, plastered all about the city in efforts to notify the public of impending Fringe awesomeness. (Indeed, the lineup I've spotted, including a repeat performance of the legendary "Power of
Ignorance" seminar, has gotten me excited to check it out!)

The second greeting was a THREE INCH WOLF SPIDER lurking a foot away from the airmattress I was supposed to sleep in. Gyaaaaaaaaahhh! Luckily, he has since been dispatched, and our real furniture has arrived, so the danger seems over... for now. Still, in what way is it beneficial for house-dwelling spiders to grow so big?? It just seems so unnecessary, UNLIKE those efficiently-sized (but still adequately creepy) 1.5" mainland wolf spiders.

Tropical climes seem to be all fun and games, until the giant mutant arachnids start arriving...! ;-)

Mixed greeting circumstances aside, Dave and I are doing very well with settling in to our lovely little place in Victoria. Will post pictures, once it no longer resembles boxworld. ;-)

Fantastic Time-Wasters

2009-08-16T12:41:00.004-04:00

Since Dave and I have been occupied with the move, there has not been much time to blog. That being said, allow me to leave you with an amusing placeholder consisting of my YouTube favourites. Enjoy!

...and an oldie but a goodie, Charlie the Unicorn!

Final Wine Tasting Party Chez Helgahume

2009-07-27T11:39:00.007-04:00

Phew! After a month of total craziness (househunting, out-of-province wedding, and a family health emergency), I finally have enough time to update the blog.

The final HelgaHume wine tasting party took place earlier this month, with the theme of EL CHEAPO. Specifically, all bottles (regular-sized) had to be under $15. I took many recommendations, and broke out a few of Dave and my favourites as well.

The results broke all previous records -- the winner was a few percent points higher than previous winners, and the loser saw a massive 20% chasm between it and previous losers. Either the wines really are that different, or my wine gang is getting opinionated! ;-)

Congratulations goes to Australia's Jacob's Creek, who won the title of Tastiest El Cheapo of the evening. Chateau des Charmes is, meanwhile, sporting the badge of shame.

Well, that is it (for now) for our Ottawa wine-tasting events... Hopefully Dave and I can do the same thing when we move to Victoria. Luckily, the (gorgeous!) house we found is quite amenable to hosting, and so we look forward to doing a lot of it. :-)

In the meantime, stay tuned for more news on the move!

Wine Tasting Party Chez Helgahume, Part 2

2009-06-15T10:05:00.011-04:00

On June 6, we hosted another wine-tasting party Chez Helgahume.

This time, some white wines were incorporated -- partly due to demand, partly due to the heat. We compared three different Sauvignon Blancs, and four Cabernet Sauvignons, all coming from different countries. As before, the cheeses were selected by experts at the House of Cheese, whose great customer service (and products!) I cannot recommend enough.

While Chilean wine is usually very nice, these two finished on the bottom. The CabSav had some suspected corkage, which is an unfortunate risk in buying so many bottles. My favourite SauvBlanc, Oyster Bay, surprisingly finished with a lower score than the half-priced (but also tasty) Two Oceans. Then again, Two Oceans beat out all the competition despite being the only cheap wine on the table. Good job! :-)

So, in honour of the cheapo wine winning the competition, the final HelgaHume wine-tasting party shall feature ONLY cheapo wines! Nothing on the table will be over $15. Well, except the cheeses.

Got any recommendations? I'd love to hear them!

We have a cat.

2009-06-11T10:57:00.003-04:00

So Dave and I were walking home from having midweek beers on a patio, and came across a sweet little cat wandering around Holland ave. Now, for those of you unfamiliar with Ottawa, Holland avenue is a very busy road, with buses and SUV's cruising by at top speed. Not a good place for a cat to be meandering.

Seeing she had a collar and tag, we took her home to call her owner. (No worries, we locked the basement door to avoid cat/bunny "acquaintance" from occurring.) BUT, when we tried to call the number, it was unassigned!!! Uh oh!

It's late, it's a weeknight, the Humane Society is not open, we can't go knocking on doors, and we have a little cat mewing expectantly at us. We can't just set her outside again to let her get hit by a car... so we put her in the kitchen for the night, with a dish of water and a bit of canned salmon. However, our house being old means that no doors in it really, actually close properly (besides the basement door), so it took no time at all for her to find her way into our bedroom. She snuzzled up to Dave, who by this time had become her buddy.

Anyhow, this morning we put a call in to the Humane Society, who matched us up with Gracie's owner (who had reported having lost her). The owner is due to arrive today to pick the cat up.

So the lesson? Please ensure your pets are tagged with current contact information! It would have saved Dave and I fretting about what to do last night. Though that being said, our 12 hours of being cat owners was kind of fun. And it was a pleasure to meet Gracie; in my experience, cats don't get much cuter or sweet-tempered than her.

I guess all of this just goes to show that we're in serious pet withdrawal. ;-)

It's official.

2009-06-07T16:10:00.002-04:00

This blog began in order to chronicle our adventure in New Zealand.

It continued on by chronicling the move back to Canada, and our re-integration into Ottawa life.

And now, Dave and I are officially announcing our third phase of adventuring, soon to be underway... in August, we are moving to Victoria, British Columbia.

Why the move? Well, Dave got offered an excellent job with the BC public service, doing important and cutting-edge work with citizen engagement. As for me, I'm not sure what I will do when I get there... but there seems to be a load of promising options, so I'm not at all worried. :-)

The plan is to stay for 2-3 years, then return to Ottawa.

There are most certainly some aspects of this opportunity that make me sad... we have so many wonderful friends here, and a fantastic house in an exciting part of town, and I simply love my job. I will miss them all terribly.

On the other hand, what an amazing adventure to be embarking on! Dave and I are very blessed to have this opportunity, and fully intend to make the most of it. Dave's job is very cool, and I now have a chance to step back from my day-to-day work and evaluate what direction I want for my career. I get to choose my path based on the knowledge gaps I want to fill in the next few years. Exciting!!

(Or maybe I can just spend my days ogling the cute bunnies on the UVic campus.)

Plus, Dave has a fantastic friend-base in Victoria who I am eager to get to know better. From what I've seen, they are lovely people.

More details will come as the date nears. But in the meantime, rest assured that Ottawa most certainly hasn't seen the last of us. We'll be back like a bad smell. ;-)

An interesting aside...

2009-06-05T15:29:00.002-04:00

So I have promised to reread The Omnivore's Dilemma and share some of its highlights.

This plan, however, has suffered from a highly unexpected crimp -- all of a sudden, this book has gone from NO demand to HIGH demand! When I first checked the book out from the Ottawa library, many of the copies were checked in, and there was no waiting list. I was able to renew my checkout for weeks upon weeks due to no one wanting the book afterwards.

Now it is the opposite. I now have to queue for even receiving the book at all, and then once I have it, I cannot even renew it due to the waiting list after me.

So what's going on? How did this dramatic change of demand happen? Has the zeitgeist taken a sudden and collective interest in this years-old book? Has there been a renewed publicity for the author, Pollan?

...or, is it possible that this blog has something to do with it...?!? That's a scary thought! Hmm...

Wine Tasting Party Chez Helgahume

2009-05-12T17:48:00.011-04:00

Last Saturday, I hosted a mystery wine-tasting party, where twenty friends and I tasted seven different types of wine. Each label of wine was totally hidden, so that we needed to determine our preferences based on taste alone.

The evening was a ton of fun, and had some surprising results. So, for your amusement (and reference), here is what everyone said!

The big surprise of the evening was how well the Ontario Pinot Noir did... but hey, you can't argue with tasty! ;-)

So these are the results for the wine tasting party. The next such party is scheduled for June 6, so if you want in, email me!

Just Finished

2009-05-10T11:04:00.002-04:00

This morning, while avoiding cleaning up after last nights' wine-tasting party, I finished "The Omnivore's Dilemma".

For me, it is a very good sign when I am compelled to restart something immediately after having finished it. The last time that happened was while watching Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises", a film so indescribably brave, visceral, and cunning, it demanded an immediate rewatching, lest my feeble human mind had missed, or failed to fully appreciate, something meaningful.

(Who am I to argue with living, breathing art?)

Nonetheless, a similar occurrence has happened with "The Omnivore's Dilemma" -- the book is so dense with information and insights, I hope a second reading will help me digest it (oh no! return of the puns!!! I'll stop now.)

So here, I will leave you with an example of a story in the book, one that made me laugh aloud this morning. Pollan describes his abalone hunting adventure, which sounds both dangerous and comical. For those of you unfamiliar with the absurd activity of abalone hunting (as I was), it involves wading deep into freezing water, upturning submerged boulders and quickly jamming one's hand into the crevice to catch the abalone shell... but often ending up instead with a mittfull of slimy anemone, or sea urchin spines. Sea lions will watch, mockingly, but are better company than the alternative -- man-eating sharks.

Is it just me, or does this sound like a Bugs Bunny cartoon waiting to happen?

Anyhow, there will be more posts about the cool tidbits I find. Also, count on a report on the wine party... results are being compiled now! :-)

Things I Miss about New Zealand, part 14

2009-05-01T21:30:00.004-04:00

I miss how totally blasé New Zealanders are about the fact that they've had two elected female Prime Ministers.

Not only were they, as a nation, sufficiently progressive to elect a capable and qualified female Prime Minister (twice!)... they've even gotten over thinking there's anything unusual about it. Moreover, Kiwi news reports would focus on what Helen Clark would SAY, not what she was WEARING. Imagine!

Aside from the political sphere, New Zealand has a culture that rewards assertive women. This is likely a functional byproduct of many different aspects of NZ culture, including population, isolation, founding cultures (Maori, Pacific Islanders, British, Dutch), and interestingly, the relative lack of men.

For instance, if a (hetero) Kiwi gal is at a bar, and thinks that guy over there is cute, she can't just play with her hair and hope he comes by to say hi. Since women outnumber men, chances are other girls have spotted him too -- so if she's hoping to talk to him, she'd better hop to it before someone else beats her to the punch.

Also, I suspect the lack of men also compromised the (old/white) boys-on-top corporate model that we Canadians know so well, creating a vacuum for a few assertive, qualified women. Once those pioneers are settled, a few more women join in. Soon, a woman in charge is no more surprising than a man in charge, with *merit* being the overwhelmingly dominant evaluating factor in either case.

The equality then begins to perpetuate itself; when you're running an OECD-class country with only 4 million people, there's simply too much work needing to be done to play favourites about who does it. Man? Woman? Gay? Straight? Maori? Pakeha? Ach, who cares, just get the job done. Or, as the Kiwis say, "Give it a go!"

(Note, I am NOT perscribing having fewer men around -- I happen to be a very big fan of men. Do consider, though, that in a world with fewer princes, Rapunzel might well have figured out have save her damn self!) ;-)

In my experience, I found Kiwi culture to be, on the whole, much further along in the path to equality between the sexes. Not to say that New Zealand has everything figured out -- there are other social issues, such as racism, that Dave and I encountered much more acutely there than here -- but seeing a society in which women were that much more respected and active, I was inspired.

Men and women are different, but equal, and both have valuable contributions to any aspect of life. A profession dominated by one sex, either one, is poorer for its monoculture.

Compare that to Canada, who is comparatively backwards. Our national stance on women's rights has been crumbling in an alarming silence. I'm not sure which sickens me more -- that Bill C-10 got passed, or that I didn't hear about the (farcical) "Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act" portion until now, completely by accident. For those of you unfamiliar with this act, it revokes federal public service employees' rights to complain to the Canadian Human Rights Commission when pay equity is not honoured, and FINES unions that assist the employee. Let's think -- who is at risk for pay inequity? Working women. This is clearly a blow to closing the pay gap between men and women. Moreover, the fact that Ignatieff helped C-10 along deeply sours my hopes for him as a prospective leader.

(And furthermore, why wasn't this all front page news? Where is the outrage?)

Yep, sexual equality in Canada is a ways away yet. But I'm grateful for New Zealand, who shows us that not only can men and women work together as partners, but perhaps eventually we may not see anything unusual about it.

Food Fascination

2009-04-20T20:15:00.005-04:00

Lately, I have been getting increasingly interested in the origins of our food. I'm not overly sure why this fascination has taken hold now.

Maybe it's all these years of glossy city-living finally coming into collision with my country bumpkin roots, where eggs come from pet chickens and kids bring pig hearts to school for show-and-tell.

Maybe it's the recent listeria and mad cow scares, those visible, festering sores brewing on the skin of our diseased meat industries.

Maybe it's that now, in the twilight of my twenties, I'm old enough to really vote with my dollars, but still young enough to have the fire and vitriol about right and wrong.

Or maybe all of this is a bizarre form of nostalgia for New Zealand, where the following conversation actually happened:

Karla: "Hi there, is this beef organic?"
Supermarket butcher: "What? What do you mean?"
Karla: "Oh, uhm..." (realizing she didn't know what organic beef is, exactly) "...is it grass-fed?"
Butcher, with look of perplexed disdain: "Of course -- what ELSE do cows eat?"

Good question. I didn't know what normal Canadian cows ate, but given the rarity of grass-fed beef, it certainly wasn't grass. Which seems weird since, of course, cows eat grass. So what are they eating? I realized I needed to find out.

Navigating the food information is tricky, since much of this information is "hogged" by animal rights propagandists. According to the multi-billion-dollar studies of the US Department of Homeland Security, the most active and dangerous terrorist organization on this continent's soil are animal rights activists... so naturally, I would prefer to "steer" clear of their input.

(I know, these puns aren't all that cow-mical... ok, I'll stop.) ;-)

Nonetheless, I needed to find an even-handed, non-shockumentary look at the sources of our food. And I found it, via an excellent book called "The Omnivore's Dilemma".

This interesting, balanced, non-judgemental narrative follows four meals, from seed to birth to plate. The first meal described is the fast food meal made by industrial agriculture, the second by industrial organic agriculture, the third by holistic organic, and the last as wholly hunted, gathered, and grown by the author himself. He reflects on and compares everything, from philosophy to final taste, weighing the pros and cons of each.

This book is full of deliciously interesting tidbits and food for thought... and since I'm thinking about it as much as I am, you will certainly be hearing more at a later date.

But don't worry, I'm not at all interested in becoming a nutso hippie living off grubs and poison ivy, either. So, my future posts will not be intended to disgust or veganize you, but to share what I've learned. Maybe we can even discuss it sometime, over a delicious, grass-fed steak.

Until then, bon appetit! :-)

Fringe Prep

2009-04-16T10:20:00.007-04:00

While the Ottawa Fringe Festival does not start until June, I'm already getting my preparations underway. My plans are thus:

Do research, pinpoint interesting shows given the companies behind them (as in, be on the lookout for shows by Winnipeg Fringe faves like Randy Rutherford, TJ Dawe, and Keir Cutler).
Amass an army, with the aim of sending out cells to investigate different shows (naturally, with myself among them). Doing this would accomplish two goals: Maximize the number of shows to see and recommend (or warn against), and dramatically increase Fringe awareness and participation in Ottawa.
Uncover the Ottawa Fringe culture, which is a sadly inconspicuous and unsupported group of people (compared to Winnipeg), and expand my network of co-conspirators.

So, in honour of these plans coming to fruition, allow me to share a clip from one of my favourite shows from last year.

This is a music video from Die Roten Punkte, a show about a (fictional) German brother and sister rock band who play a faux-rock-concert (but with real music!). There is a plot about their childhood, etc, that is revealed during their interactions onstage and with the audience. It was hysterically funny, especially when Dave got drawn into the show.

Astrid: "Hey you! You with the stubble! Ya, you're pretty cute! Let me sing you a song..."

...which basically was a rock version of a drum solo to an orgasm, while the brother glares daggers at my husband. I laughed so much, I hurt afterwards.

Anyhow, enjoy their biggest single, "Ich bin nicht die roboten (I am not a robot), I am a lion!"

Easter Special: Bunny Tales!

2009-04-08T18:55:00.012-04:00

As mentioned in a previous post, I've been fostering bunnies for the New Moon Rabbit Rescue.

In short, the organization rescues abandoned (pet) bunnies, then fosters them out to homes that will train and resocialize the bunny. Once the bunny is ready, it is then put up for adoption... and then adopted.

The first foster was a bun named Nala, a 7 lb. lionhead with a sweet personality and a mischievous love of people-food. Like a dog, she would get an immediate interest in anything she saw you eating, and would not rest until she got to try some. One time she even upturned a plate on my lap when I "cruelly" refused to share some cake.

Because of a previous illness, her head was permanently tilted to one side, thus giving her the look of an attentive listener. We got to know each other for a few months, and then a lovely young lady adopted her.

Immediately after Nala, I fostered a very young dwarf rabbit named Sinatra -- so named for his blue eyes. His personality is totally different than Nala's; he's a cute little bundle of nervous energy, always darting around and adventuring into places he shouldn't be.

Partly due to his brief stay chez Helgahume, and partly to his general lack of interest in affection or food, we haven't bonded quite as much... but he's an adorable little feller all the same.

Anyhow, last weekend a very nice young man came to meet Sinatra, and has decided to adopt. This will be our last week with Sinatra, and I'm both happy that he's found a good home, and sad to see him go.

What will foster bunny #3 be like...? Stay tuned to find out! But in the meantime, always remember this: Bunnies should never be gifts for Easter... unless they're delicious, delicious chocolate! :-)

Forwarded Joke

2009-04-01T00:41:00.013-04:00

This is a forwarded joke email that gave me a chuckle... it was too good not to share. :-) Enjoy!

Why parents should always check their children's homework before they hand it in

A first grade girl handed in the drawing below for a homework assingment.

After it was graded and the child brought it home, she returned to school the next day with the following note:

Dear Ms. Davis,

I want to be very clear on my child's illustration. It is NOT of me on a dance pole on a stage in a strip joint. I work at Home Depot and had commented to my daughter how much money we made in the recent snowstorm. This photo is of me selling a shovel.

Conspiracy Unveiled!

2009-03-21T15:45:00.012-04:00

An ultra-secret conspiracy has been in the making since mid-January. The topic? The 30th birthday of my dear friend, Beatrice.

I forget exactly how the idea of a surprise birthday party came up, but the idea caught on like wildfire among our peers.

We debated various options, worked out details, and planned the event itself, all in complete secrecy. Only a handful of people knew entirely what was going on, but there were also cells of operatives sent out to accomplish small tasks... tasks which, in some cases, left the operatives no more certain of how their mission fit into the whole. (And I got to be puppet master! Mua ha!)

We even planned a red-herring birthday bash for the following Saturday (which happens to be tonight) so that a lack of plans would not make the extraordinarily clever birthday girl suspicious.

And somewhere along the line, we got the idea of having everyone at the celebration wearing matching t-shirts. I researched custom tee printing places (sidenote: Pierre at Daquin Sales is amazing!) and worked up the design myself... a logo of a fantastic statistics pun. We were the "Standard Deviants" who were "95% Confident"! How awesome was that??

All the planning came to fruition on Tuesday, Bea's actual birthday. The tees turned out marvellously, and a horde of 30+ multicoloured tee-wearers descended upon The Standard on Elgin to await the birthday girl and her husband. Brian was in cahoots with the plot, and so he ensured they arrived after giving us lot sufficient time to decorate. I had brought streamers and balloons (I love you, Dollar Store!), and we all got to work in setting up our tables.

With a successfully decorated section of the restaurant, I grabbed a much-needed champagne-mojito (mmm!) and waited. The couple was perfectly on time. We made a ruckus, all jumping up and yelling "SURPRISE!", and Bea was exactly that.

After laughs and hugs, she and Brian changed into their own custom tees (including a cool math-joke on Bea's... B=d/dx(30x)... B is 30! Aaaah, calculus...) and the party was underway. We had dinner and cocktails, punctuated by a hugely successful Bea-themed limerick competition. Mine was unspectacular, but got the ball rolling sufficiently well:

There once was a girl named Bea,
Whose cat climbed up a tree
Since she had her druthers
She bought another
And now, of cats, she has three.

Of course, the limericks needed to be read aloud to a large group, in a restaurant filled with other tables, so that (unfortuntely) prevented the naughtier ones from airing. Nonetheless, the competition was a huge success.

After dinner was drinking and talking, and then more drinking. For better or for worse, Jagerbombs were on special for $4 per, so the waitress was soon bringing tray after tray of those. Things got kind of nutty, as you will see from the Flickr photos, but incredibly fun. The restaurant brought in a DJ at 10:00, and we danced until about 1:00AM. Not bad for a Tuesday! ;-)

Wednesday was a little rough for most of us, though more for lack of sleep than drinking. However, all that planning and secrecy was more than worth it, as Bea herself told us that it was her best birthday yet.

I'm still beaming. :-)

Air Canada, I despise you.

2009-03-19T18:45:00.002-04:00

The utter ineptitude of this airline is staggering. For those of you reading from the rest of the world, you should feel grateful that you do not have to deal with Air Canada's shabby planes, rude service and diabolically useless website.

I was minding my own business, booking a (somewhat) reasonable fare for my trip to Victoria next week. I selected the flights, went through menu after menu of mandatory Air Canada options, etc, then input my credit card info. After I'd put in all the info, including the extra-special-Visa-password, I click the "Confirm Purchase" button. As in, CONFIRM the PURCHASE I'm obviously in the process of making.

Then, instead of being brought to an Itinerary page, the page reloads with an error message: In the four minutes that have elapsed since selecting the flights, the price has jumped THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS.

As it happens, while I was purchasing the seat, that seat had been bought by someone else. Meaning, Air Canadas' website does not temporarily hold a seat being purchased, even for the standard 5 minutes (which are required to fill out all those damnable fields of information). Those Air Canada cretins built a website in which seats you are purchasing are not guaranteed until the precise moment the credit card is accepted.

(And even then, recalling AC's fondness for randomly cancelling flights and changing itineraries, I suppose the flights aren't all that guaranteed even after purchase.)

Even Ticketmaster holds the seats for you for 3 minutes. And when Ticketmaster is a less barbaric option, you know things are bad.

Air Canada, you have utterly screwed me over. Your useless, needlessly unfair website and unapologetic customer service agents have teamed up to thoroughly sour my mood on my one night off this week.

In sum: You suck, and everyone should be reminded of your suckage. (Not that Canadians ever forget, but we often find ourselves underestimating the sheer scale of the sucking...)

Pleasant Surprise

2009-03-15T17:25:00.025-04:00

Despite extreme skepticism, I was very much impressed by the movie, Watchmen.

Watchmen, the original graphic novel, is one of the most influential graphic novels of all time, and began the trend of deconstructing the superhero. It is a long, meandering story of people who once were masked vigilantes, but did so for reasons having more to do with their own neuroses than actually saving people. These people are flawed, lost, and extremely human, trying to cope within a context of oppressive normalcy.

The city is, as always, New York, but the USA is not one that we would recognize... it is 1985, the Vietnam war had been won, and a very popular President Nixon is serving his fifth term after having abolished term limits. The Cold War's seething presence permeates every frame, tangibly escalating over the course of the novel.

Within this rich backdrop, the plot begins with the murder of an old man. We soon learn that this man was once a masked vigilante, and has since become an operative for government black ops. His former colleagues, fellow retired masks, work together to solve the mystery, and end up uncovering something much bigger. I will say no more, but suffice to say, the end result is simply brilliant.

Now, the main criticism of the book is that there is a lot, and I do mean A LOT, of extra, "useless" sideplots and information. While I agree that much of what transpires in the book is not totally plot-relevant, I defend the presence of extra material for many reasons. First, it fleshes out the universe in which the plot happens, which is key to understanding the plot itself. Second, many of the subplots serve as fascinating parallels to the actual events transpiring in the story. Thirdly, and most importantly, IT'S A FRIKKIN' CONSPIRACY STORY! If a plot is A to B, B to C, it's NOT a conspiracy, it's a Dan Brown novel. Conspiracies need obfuscation to breathe properly, to mature and strengthen.

Nonetheless, all of these factors combine to make a completely unfilmable movie. Taking a meandering, complex, and morally ambiguous story with utterly pathetic protagonists within a rich alternate universe, and conveying it to audiences hungering for 90-minute vinyl-clad punch-ups simply cannot be done. No way.

Or so I had thought.

The movie definitely trimmed out a lot from the novel, but instead managed to achieve much of the same effect via film-specific methods: music, montages, cameos of era-appropriate celebrities, re-enactments of crucial historic events. For three hours, 1985 was vividly alive to me.

Moreover, the news that the ending had been changed (gasp!) sent off alarm bells to fans everywhere; in fact, the change made sense, and it worked. While I personally prefer the original, the alternative presented by the movie is no less valid.

Also, the actors did an excellent job -- in some cases, they actually gave new depth to the characters. Crudup brought a fascinating melancholy and detached tenderness to the deity-like Dr. Manhattan, and super-genius Ozymandias worked well as a reinvented dandy, rather than an aryan Ken doll. Rorschach, the most cult-favoured character of all, offered the least leeway of interpretation and required the most accurate portrayal, and Haley delivered.

In sum, the movie blew me away. However, I am NOT going to recommend it. Of the 10 people I saw it with, only 3 liked it -- the rest, I'm guessing, had expected glib dialogue, relentless action, and well-defined good-vs-evil plotlines. Watchmen is absolutely not that. Instead, it asks you to involve your imagination in knowing and breathing the context alongside the characters. It shows you flawed, painfully normal humans puttering through their ambiguous, fear-drenched lives. And in the end, it requires you to consider that good and evil are unnervingly relative.

I don't know why this is funny, but it is.

2009-02-17T18:21:00.001-05:00

Enjoy!

("I'm a rabbit!!!") hehehe

Things I Miss About New Zealand part 13: The Sevens

2009-02-09T20:53:00.004-05:00

I know I've blogged about New Zealand's Rugby Sevens before, but since it happened last weekend, it warrants re-mentioning.

The New Zealand Rugby Sevens are the best event of all time. Rugby teams come from all over the world to compete in 14-minute games over the course of a weekend. But more importantly, thousands upon thousands of Wellington fans stream into the stadium IN COSTUME. Themed costumes, naughty costumes, crazy costumes, and costumes en masse... they're all there! Merriness abounds.

A better time has naught to be had.

Anyhow, this is a slideshow of the nuttiness. Enjoy!

Wellington, I miss you.

Review: Dark Days

2009-02-04T19:08:00.001-05:00

It's rare that a sequel outperforms the original.

30 Days of Night was an interesting vampire fiction with a fairly simple story -- evil vampire lord and his posse descend on small town in Alaska to capitalize on the month without sunlight, sheriff saves the town by sacrificing himself. Not complex, but entertaining all the same. Plus, the artwork is simply amazing.

So, given the straightforward story, surely there would not be sufficient loose ends to fuel a sequel? Not so.

Dark Days deals with the women who were left behind; the wife of the sheriff, the mother of a victim, and the lover of the vampire lord. Each is, in her own way, looking for some mix of vengeance and closure, all looking to pick up the pieces and move on. Their paths cross, and the resolution is somewhat unexpected, particularly given the simplistic "Good vs. Evil" gorefest that ended the first novel.

Unlike a simple monster story, this approach provides an emotionally rich backdrop for all characters, and it dares to be morally murky. This book is by no means a tired rehashing the original plot formula**.

And yes, the artwork is still breathtaking. I was impressed.

Check it out at your local library!

** (Though, that being said, do keep in mind that it is still a comic book genre resembling action movies… a deep plot here is still no King Lear.)

I'm a little in love with Ashlee Simpson

2009-02-01T13:53:00.003-05:00

So, apparently Jessica Simpson has gained some weight, to the point of looking like a normal person. (The horror!!!) And apparently the press has not only noticed, but has unleashed a deluge of catty commentary and headlines.

Jessica's sister, Ashlee, stepped in with the following reply:

"Is this something you would say to your wife, daughter, mother, grandmother, or even a friend? I seriously doubt it. How can we expect teenage girls to love and respect themselves in an environment where we criticize a size 2 figure?"

THANK YOU, Ashlee! It's about bloody time someone took on these smarmy conformists and hypocrites.

Because, Girl Power comes in ALL shapes and sizes. :-)

A Shameful Admission

2009-01-30T19:17:00.017-05:00

There's something about myself that I rarely admit to anyone. The only reason I will admit it here is because the idea that others read this blog is highly abstract to me. So what is this shameful secret of mine? Well, it's that I sometimes read trashy magazines and novels, such as Cosmo, tabloids, and the occasional harlequin romance. And in a deliciously disdainful way, I even like them.

Which is why, when all this "Twilight" furor swept up, I needed to check it out. Secretly, of course. Santa, having detected this interest, left me a copy in my stocking, which I devoured in a matter of days.

Sadly, though, like all holiday overeating, the experience left me feeling bloated and dissatisfied.

Now, let me preface this opinion of Twilight by explaining that vampire mythology and I have a long history. It began in 1992 with Bram Stoker's Dracula, then moved onto the gloomy, sultry Anne Rice chronicles. I jumped on the Buffy bandwagon (and was on Team Spike, pre-season-5), and loved the lesser-known "Vampire Diaries" by LJ Smith. Vampire mythology gave me hope throughout puberty that somewhere, somewhere, there might be men of higher quality than the awkward, ungroomed, phallocentric teenage fare filling high schools with their noise and stink.

And even though I've now met and married my own sophisticated and intelligent knight of pale complexion, vampires still occupy a fond place in my heart. Which is why I positively LOVED the first half of Twilight, where Bella and Edward were still enigmas to one another. However, the second half, in which the two become boyfriend and girlfriend, left a bad taste in my mouth.

Edward is just plain MEAN. Despite "loving" Bella, he rarely says anything nice to her at all. He perpetually scolds her whenever she shows evidence of thinking for herself, making him shockingly controlling. He threatens her, stalks her, watches her sleep, and follows her every move, and yet somehow all that is supposed to be romantic. How on earth can this character be considered a heart-throb?

Bella is not much better. Despite being well-read, she does not show much signs of actual intelligence, confidence, or any interesting traits whatsoever. After reading 500 pages, all I know about her is that she's brunette, clumsy, and easily manipulated. Worse still, it seems that that's all she knows (or cares to know) about herself. Granted, a nondescript character has the advantages of becoming a chameleon to match any reader… but there simply has to come a point where Bella stops being a manifestation of everyone -- thereby making her no-one -- and starts being herself. If that ever happens, it doesn't happen in 500 pages. :-P

Their "love" is also disappointing. The only basis explained for his affection for her is her smell, and his inability to read her mind. If it had been any other girl who smelled so "deliciously", or whose mind he could not read, he would have not cared a bit for Bella. That kind of replaceability is not the basis of love, I'm afraid. In turn, the basis for Bella's love towards Edward is betrayed by the adjectives she chooses throughout the whole book -- synonyms for beauty, exclusively.

Now, I have actually met, in real life, men who are so obscenely beautiful, you can't help but think that they're visiting from some Gattaca dimension. Two come to mind; in both cases, their beauty becomes only a backdrop to the far more fascinating stories of who they are -- whether they paradoxically shy and deeply uninteresting, or whether they are surprisingly sweet and shockingly balanced. See? They just became more interesting already.

But Bella, despite "loving" Edward, never looks further to see what makes him interesting -- all she ever articulates is his beauty, his likeness to statues, models, etc. (And frankly, I've seen statues with more depth of personality.) But that's probably better, in some ways, because Edward's moodiness and borderline emotional abuse spell out that, beneath the sparkly surface, he's a bonafide jerk.

More than the characters or story, I am most disturbed by the vast popularity of this book. Now don't get me wrong -- I am the last person on Earth who will denounce saucy fiction about infatuation -- but I am seriously bothered by the prospect of young women absorbing the message that love is supposed to be co-dependent, shallow and abusive. :-P

Anyhoo, for the three of you who may still be reading, I'll plug a Twilight-esque book I'm enjoying, a manga called Fruits Basket. Same formula: young girl with no present parental figures falls in with mysterious not-quite-human family harbouring a big secret, scintillating love triangle follows shortly thereafter. Fruits Basket features kinship based on kindness, on reaching out to those who are isolated. And plus, there's no Mormon propaganda in it. ;-) Check out your local library and give it a read!

New Arrival

2009-01-20T21:02:00.001-05:00

Hello, Nala! Isn't she a cutie?

Some months ago, while I was researching animal rescue shelters, I came across New Moon Rabbit Rescue. It's an Ottawa-based organization specializing in domesticated bunnies, and it operates through a network of foster homes... of which more are always needed.

Sometimes, ill-informed rabbit owners will release the bunny into the wild once they tire of the pet, thus condemning the poor animal to any number of horrible fates. Domesticated bunnies are not equipped to live outdoors like their wild cousins; they have no knowledge of how to find food or shelter, and they are more susceptible to parasites and disease. New Moon rescues these bunnies, nurtures them back to health, and resocializes the poor, scared creatures until the rabbit is ready for adoption.

Nala was found wandering around Vanier with another bunny, probably her son. Some weeks after being brought in, Nala's health took a sudden turn for the worse, and it looked like she could likely die. Luckily, swift medical intervention prevailed, and she is now happily hopping about. I am fostering her and keeping an eye on her health, eventually with the aim of getting her completely healthy and ready for a forever-home adoption.

Until then, we are spending time together, and she is slowly getting used to the new surroundings. I look forward to getting to know her better. :-)

Welcome, Nala!

hung over blog

2009-01-18T13:12:00.002-05:00

ooooough.

My head feels like it's been run over by a train, I've been spending most of the morning in the foetal position, and even water is not staying down. This is definitely the worst hangover I've had in years.

But why, given my state of unwellness, would I blog about this? Simple -- blogging is an excellent way to avoid cleaning up downstairs, which is riddled with half-full cups of alcohol, whose scent is most unwelcome to me right now.

So, instead, let me tell you about last night.

Last night was our official housewarming party, where we had an open-house-style soiree and invited basically everyone we know. There were not a ton of RSVPs, so I had no idea what to expect.

The day had had a dubious start. Being procrastinators, Dave and I had left ALL the cleaning until that day. (And of course, knowing the party would force us to clean, we'd been letting the house slide into filth-ridden chaos for the last week or two.) Aside from the fact that cleaning is an extremely nonfun activity, it is all the more exacerbated by the fact that cleaning is the one task at which Dave and I do not work well together AT ALL. It was a tense afternoon.

But, the house was gleaming with a full hour to spare, so the ensuing step of prepping party nibbles went much more smoothly. The glass of wine in my hand probably helped too. ;-)

The first guests to arrive were my former colleague, his wife, and their 7-month-old baby. It was great to see them, and their being at the party turned out to be excellent strategy -- as more people arrived, there were more people to pass the baby to, thereby giving mum and dad some time to enjoy the party. It didn't hurt that the kid was the smiliest, flirtiest baby I've ever come across, either.

The house filled up quite quickly, and then the party began in earnest. The music was excellent (thank you, "it's the rub"!), the turnout was fantastic (40 people?), and the booze was a-flowin'. Interspersed throughout the night were nickel-tours of the house, which everyone seemed to really like. The library (2nd bedroom) was a favourite, as it houses a wide array of books, graphic novels, comics, pictures, and action figures. There's even a Commodore64 monitor hooked up to a fully-funtional Super Nintendo, for those who love going old-school. ;-) Yay, vintage Mario Kart!

Anyhow, the evening was a success beyond even my hopes. We had a house full of fantastic people, many of whom had come significant distances to join the party. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, the food was highly complimented (especially the Grandpa Hume cookies), and the only beverage we ran out of was ginger ale. A jam session began in the basement around midnight, which then added a whole new dimension to the party.

Everything wound up at 5:30, after which Dave and I stayed up a bit longer to revel in how marvellously it all went.

It was about then, and on my seventh+ glass of wine, that I realized I'd forgotten to eat dinner. Hence the hangover. And the cigar probably didn't help either.

Well, the post is over... time to get cleaning. :-P Yay for fun parties! :-D

Las Vegas Adventure

2008-12-10T18:13:00.009-05:00

Vegas was insanity, as Vegas always is. Though I daresay this one was the most fun of my four Vegas vacations thus far.

It was a larger group of about 12, comprising equal teams of kids vs. grown-ups. Note that the average age of the kids' team was about 30, so maybe "kids" was a misnomer… but if there is one place that inspires childish wonderment, Las Vegas is it. Especially so because three of the five "kids" had never been to Vegas before.

Anyhoo, both teams partied hard, had late nights, and worked together to take over The Mai Tai Bar at Imperial Palace. Some of us saw Kà, the latest Cirque show, and we were in the front row! It was fantastic, since all of the action happened not an arm's length away from us. Though the highlight has got to be when the performers had to stop Faye from climbing onto the edge of the flaming fireball pit to take a picture of us. Andy and Pete opted for seats further back, which was a shame, because one of the performers had confided her preference for bald men. You missed out, Pete!!

The weekend was full of sightseeing, gambling, clubbing, and even fence-hopping in eveningwear… there was even a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon! The latter was Dave's birthday present from both sets of parents, who joined us in the helicopter. We flew over Hoover Dam, into the Canyon, landed for a champagne lunch, and then watched the sun set over the desert. The setting sun scorched the land to brilliant reds and deep browns, as the sky became deeper and deeper blue. And to top it all off, we flew back to Vegas over The Strip as all the lights came on. The experience was positively fantastic, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. Thanks, Ben, Chris, Margaret and Wayne!!!

Since returning, Dave and I have been catching up on all the domestic stuff we'd neglected in anticipation of Vegas. Namely, Christmas shopping, cleaning, and all the blissfully mundane stuff you find yourself missing during periods of prolonged adventure. Luckily, we've now finished most of our Christmas shopping… now the question is, will we stay sufficiently organized to ensure that all those cards and presents get into the mail on time? (Karla and Dave organized…?! Uh oh…) Stay tuned to find out!

And in case Ottawa life was not exciting enough with the parliamentary chaos we returned to, now the streets have degenerated to outright pandemonium. The Ottawa bus system -- which, for you non-Ottawans reading this, is the main way anyone gets anywhere in this city -- has gone on strike, thus rendering all traffic to standstill status. This is moreso exacerbated by the 30+ cm of snow we've had thus far, much of which has not yet been ploughed. It's bedlam out there.

But if anything, it's an absolute reinforcement of our choice to buy within walking distance of work. All of a sudden, those many extra thousands we paid for location seem a lot smaller. And better still, for the duration of the strike we've bargained out our extra parking to our suburban friends, on the grounds that they help us shovel our long-assed driveway! Everyone wins!! :-D

So what's next for Helga and Hume? Well, a Hume-less Helga will be hitting her hometown, The Peg, for the weekend to celebrate her grandparents' anniversary. It'll be a short trip, but hopefully I can still see a few friends along the way… wish me luck! :-)

MUSIC QUIZ!

2008-11-22T19:06:00.003-05:00

So I normally have no love for Facebook-chain-type personalized-quiz things, but a friend had this posted, and I found it to be a brilliant idea.

Everyone, have a go at this! The song list below is pretty eclectic, so there's likely a few that you'll know...

Directions:
Step 1: Put your music player on shuffle.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 50 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing.
Step 3: Bold out the songs when someone guesses both artist and title correctly.
Step 4: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!
Step 5: If you like the game post your own!

Karla's Lyric List:
1. Jackie Cane was everybody’s sugar / she gave it all, wherever it took her
2. Stand up, sit down baby / It’s gonna be a formal dress-down heyday
3. Don’t tell your man what he don’t do right / nor tell him all the things that make you cry
4. Something has to change / un-deniable dilemma / boredom’s not a burden anyone should bear
5. What do I do to get your attention / what do I do to get this through/ Not the cool kid’s clique / Not the cool fake hits
6. To pretend no one can find / the fallacies of morning rose
7. Can’t explain all the feelings that you’re making me feel / my heart’s in overdrive and you’re behind the steering wheel
8. Black fingernails, red wine / I wanna make you all mine
9. (Check 1 1 2) I came into this world as a reject / Look into these eyes, and you’ll see the size of the fact
10. Consider this a sign / This is a train in the night / And now it’s time for you to go / you know you’ve had a healthy life, boy
11. Must have been mid-afternoon / I could tell by how far the child’s shadow stretched out and…
12. I found me a reason, so check me tomorrow / we’ll see if I’m leaking
13. In pitch dark, I go walking in your landscape / Broken branches trip me as I speak
14. Load up on guns, bring your friends / It’s fun to lose and to pretend
15. And you know you’re gonna lie to you, in your own way / And you know you’re gonna lie to you, in your own way
16. I am sitting in the morning / At a diner on the corner
17. See that boy just standing over there? Stopped me today and said he liked my hair
18. Ahhh… Living without you / I know all about you / I have run you down into the ground / Spread disease about you over town
19. So I’m all surrounded by the things I thought I’d put away / And I’m all surrounded by the things I thought I’d put away
20. I am falling, drifting, trapped inside the story / Am I chained to the moon, or will the sun take over in the morning?
21. I’m taking back the knowledge / I’m taking back the gentleness / I’m taking back the ritual / I’m giving in to sweetness
22. Bones, sinking like stones, all that we fought for / Homes, places we’ve grown, all of us are done for
23. I wanna know where my confidence went / One day it all disappeared
24. Looking out a dirty old window / Down below the cars in this city go rushing by
25. Here’s my new century, I’m erasing history / You need to make corrections! You need to pay attention!
26. Lights go out and I can’t be saved / Tides that I try to swim against
27. And the sky was made of amethyst / and all the stars, just like little fish
28. Over and over I keep wondering why / Then I give up and see that look in your eyes
29. Sometimes I feel like I can’t move on / Nothing in life is turning me on / But I still see clearly when I see you smiling
30. And so ya wanna be with me, I’ve nothing to give / Won’t lie and say this loving’s best
31. They’ve got you where they want you / Nothing’s ever gonna satisfy you / You think they’ll never buy you / They’re doling out affection, just like a confection
32. Anytime I need to see your face I just close my eyes / And I am taken to a place where your crystal mind and magenta feelings take up shelter in the base of my spine
33. She’ll only come out at night, the lean and hungry type/ Nothing is new, I’ve seen her here before
34. Did you happen to catch or did it happen so fast / what you thought would always last / has passed you by
35. A long time ago we used to be friends / but I haven’t thought of you lately at all
36. Red rain is coming down / Red rain is pouring down all over me
37. The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down / Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
38. (Hi, my name is Stereo Mike) … I woke up again this morning with the sun in my eyes / when Mike came over with a script surprise
39. Fuck you, you’re drunk and acting tough / I know you’re scared, you’re not the only one who feels like that now
40. Maybe the time is not for the taking / it comes like a dream when your spirit is aching
41. (HEY!) Some are gonna make it look easy - say moderation is the key
42. Watch the band through a bunch of dancers / Quickly, follow the unknown
43. Break the skin / ‘Cause I can’t tell where your body ends and mine begins
44. How I don’t know how to sing, I can barely play this thing / But you never seem to mind / And you tell me to fuck off when I need somebody to
45. Colour me once, colour me twice / Everything’s gonna turn out nice
46. There’s always the diamond friendly / Sitting in the laugh motel
47. I hold you in my hands, a little animal / and only some dumb idiot would let you go
48. Mine, immaculate dream made breath and skin / I've been waiting for you
49. On your third broken window / your hair full of glass / throw your clothes in the hallway / just a sheet on your back
50. Talking to myself all the way to the station / Pictures in my head of the final destination

Any ring a bell? Post a comment and see if you're right! ;-)

The Week of Concerts

2008-11-16T12:40:00.005-05:00

This past week, Dave's parents came to visit. It was their first time seeing the new house, so naturally, getting their thumbs-up was fairly important.

Not only did they like it, they even helped out with some work around the house! What great guests! ;-) Thanks to them we now have a dryer vent to connect to our dryer. Thanks, guys!

Another big event of the previous week is the Nine Inch Nails concert we attended on Tuesday. Three words: IT WAS FANTASTIC. It started out as a simple, stripped-down rock show, and then evolved into an ultra-psychadelic spectacle involving layered LCD screens. All the best songs were played, even going back as far as 1989's hit, "Wish". Better still, because of Ottawa isn't exactly a hub for angry, artsy music, Scotiabank place was merely a third full... meaning, with minimal pushing and shoving, I was a mere 30 feet from Trent Reznor!!!

One day I will probably write an entire blog post about how wonderful Trent is -- musician, showman, promoter, artist, collaborator, businessman, etc -- but that will have to wait for another time. In the meantime, suffice to say that the concert more than met my expectations, and thus I needed to buy a shirt.

There were a number of cute shirts to choose from, some with the basic NIN logo, some with stylized silhouettes of flying birds... and then I saw the one that was meant for me.

"Art is Resistance"

Brilliant! And absolutely true, too. This shirt and I were clearly made for each other. You'll likely be seeing it on this blog sometime soon.

So, as if that wasn't enough excitement for the week, we also saw Grand Analog and Herbalizer in concert the following Friday.

Grand Analog was a great show, and as it turned out, from Winnipeg! We were chatting after the show, and he was reminiscing about his days at Kelvin High School, trying to sneak over to talk to the St. Mary's girls. We even knew some of the same people! What a small world.

Herbalizer was also a lot of fun, but I must add that they were much older and whiter than I had pictured them. Great music, and it translated well to the tiny club where we saw them. Dave bought his own cool tee there, which is an awesome watercolour/ink design.

Both Herbalizer and Grand Analog are currently touring westward, and I would highly recommend anyone seeing them. Keep an eye out for them!

That concert wrapped up around 2:00AM, so Dave and I decided to drop in on another party we'd been invited to. We had it on good authority that it would be going until sunlight, and indeed it did. We arrived at 2:30, we jammed, danced, and partied with a crew of rowdy statisticians until just after 5AM.

Then, on the way home, we saw a funny sight down Gladstone ave in the wee hours. On this busy, ultra-urban street, moseying down the sidewalk at 5am was... a skunk!!! Who knew there were skunks in the deep downtown of Ottawa? ...and more than that, that they casually stroll down sidewalks like the rest of us? If it had been holding a Starbucks cup, I might not have even looked twice.

If having too much fun is possible, that may very well have happened throughout last week.

This week is looking action-packed as well... tomorrow I fly solo in an hour-long, division-wide presentation (gulp!!). My parents are also flying in for the weekend, and for better or for worse, I can always count on adventure not being far behind them. Plus, tomorrow is the finale of my guilty pleasure, Americas' Next Top Model, so Bea is hosting a party to watch it. Once that show is over, I can finally find out who will take all my money in the ANTM pool I had entered. AND we are spending time with a friend of Daves' who has flown in from Victoria.

But surely after this, it is time to rest...? Nay, I say! After my parents leave on Sunday, we breathe on Monday, and then Dave leaves for Toronto... and then it's the Vegas adventure!

Fun times!! :-)

Wedding and Spamalot

2008-11-10T11:29:00.006-05:00

This was a very big weekend. On Saturday, a former room-mate of Dave's (also named Dave) got married. Congratulations, Dave and Jodi! :-D

Dave (mine) was the Master of Ceremonies, whereas I was the random-task-coordinator -- assisting the MC, ensuring the bride and her party had all the various things they needed, herding people from point A to B, helping coordinate the entrances, etc. (and doing all this in three-inch stiletto heels, too!) Anyhow, I was very grateful to have this role, as I didn't actually know anyone at the wedding aside from the bride and groom. Luckily, it didn't take long to hit it off with the awesome, wacky sister of the groom, and we both made sure our table was the rowdiest. (I love being at the "rowdy table"!)

;-)

And then yesterday was the closing night of Spamalot, for which Dave and I had second-row tickets. Spamalot is Monty Python's touring broadway musical, and was more or less an extended, song-and-dance-added version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Some songs were longer versions of the old and familiar ("We're Knights of the Round Table" and "Brave Sir Robin (Bravely Ran Away)"), and others were wholly new ("This Is The Song That Goes Like This"). The ending was altered to make more sense than the film version, and even included some audience participation. It was also the only musical I've ever attended which ends with an audience singalong. Overall, it was a lot of fun.

Personally, I was not as keen about Spamalot as I was for Wicked, which was another touring Broadway musical we saw back in August. Wicked is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, back when the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda, the Good Witch were boarding school room-mates. It starts out like a musical version of Mean Girls and ends up as a slowly unravelling conspiracy, spearheaded by the Wizard himself. While Spamalot was good, Wicked was spectacular.

In fact, Wicked was so good that it inspired me to name my new bass guitar Elphie, after Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. (But more on her later -- suffice to say, we'll be seeing more of her at parties.) ;-)

Nonetheless, it's an action-packed kickoff to a very busy November! Next to report will be Tuesday's Nine Inch Nails concert, and a visit from the in-laws… which event will involve more rowdiness? We shall see.

Hallowe'en in the New House

2008-11-03T19:10:00.009-05:00

As some of you know, Dave and I recently bought our first house. We just love it. But more on that later.

We had been looking forward to our first Halloween in the house. Besides the fact that Halloween marked our first official holiday in the house, we were also looking forward to giving candy to trick-or-treat-ers. We even bought extra, so that we wouldn't have to turn anyone away.

...

And nobody came.

Not one kid.

It's so sad.

On the upside, though, we had a Halloween party to go to later that eve. My friend, Amanda, was hosting a costumed house party complete with a bonafide smoke machine and themed treats (which included cheesecake eyeballs). There was a dance party in the living room, an acoustic singalong later, and then an AC/DC rock-out after that. It was an absolute riot. For more photos, see my Flickr account.

The costumes were incredible, and here are a few highlights:

One guy was dressed up as Facebook (the old version, not the new one, for those who are curious)

One girl was a shower-gel pouff
A couple was a perfect, 100% homemade Fred and Wilma Flinstone

Another couple as Hal Johnson and Joann McLeod (anyone remember Body Break??)

Another guy was dressed up as a Toronto Stock Exchange broker, in an expensive suit and dynamite strapped to himself.

Other great costumes include a post-Weight-Watchers skeleton, an injured hockey player, an emo fairy, a sunburned tourist, a coked-out musician (complete with upper-lip baby powder), a metal rocker, Mia Wallace, Legolas the elf, Mr. Clean, and a few toga-wearers. As for us, Dave and I were lucky to find anything to use as costumes at all, as most of our posessions are still in boxes! We were still able to throw together some decent costumes, making him into an All Blacks rugby player, and me as Princess Leia. There were even prizes for sexiest costume, most original, and best couple, and the winners had to dance to show off their duds.

At that point, my friend from Spain turned to me and said, "This party is just like the ones you see in American movies!!!"

How awesome is that? ;-)

...

So now, the only thing left is to decide what to do with all this candy… :-P

Coldplay Concert: Why being commercial darlings isn't necessarily a bad thing

2008-10-23T01:51:00.003-04:00

This week we say the Coldplay concert in Ottawa, and it was incredible.

The band has always been a little special to me, since I initially discovered them during a trip to Italy in 1999. It was a full year before they hit Canadian shores, so I got to look cool by being "the first to know" about them. ;-)

Nonetheless, I was immediately struck by their semblance to another famous British band, Radiohead, who at the time was going off on a fascinating but... err... artistic tangent. Compare "Yellow" (Coldplay, 1999) to "Fake Plastic Trees" (Radiohead, 1995), featuring underfed, sensitive blonde Brit boys falsettoing to mellow music with periodic swells of guitars. Listen for the similar sound between the two.

But from there, Coldplay went more commercial, and Radiohead went more artsy. Radiohead artistically evolved past their old sound, but Coldplay copied that sound and made it more audience/radio-friendly. Coldplay is the Phil Collins to Radiohead's Peter Gabriel.

Now, being the artistic snob that I am, I would normally consider this to be a point entirely in favour of Radiohead. I fully expected Radiohead's concert back in August to thusly be a superior show to Coldplay's. Because, surely, artistic merit of the music is the only important factor to consider in evaluating a concert, right?

Wrong.

Yes, Coldplay has a musical formula, and yes, it's literock pablum, but those boys put on one hell of a show. They told stories, interacted with each other and the audience, and seemed wholly grateful to be there. Basically, their stage presence was a perfect balance between star power and regular-guy-dom. The song choices were ideal, and encouraged audience singalongs. Their encores were ingenious. The lights were spectacular, and even included a song where millions of multicoloured paper butterflies were rained down over the entire audience. My only regret regarding that concert was not going stoned.

The moral of the story is, therefore, that artistic merit of music and enjoyability of a concert are not necessarily linked. While I should have understood this from when I saw Nickelback live (great show, but lukewarm about the music), Coldplay made the point fully sink in. And while I am in no hurry to purchase their next album, you can bet I'll be first in line to get tickets when Coldplay hits Ottawa again.

Who knew? :-)

The All-New, Perfectly Pedestrian Adventures of Helga & Hume

2008-10-17T15:37:00.003-04:00

So, after some deliberation, I realized that the title of this blog is a misnomer.

Helga and Hume are no longer having NZ adventures.

We are still having adventures, but more of the run-of-the-mill, life-in-general variety. And while these new adventures are certainly influenced by our fond memories of the Land of the Long White Cloud, our quests are different now. We just moved into our first house, our careers are taking fascinating turns, and we still do lots of fun stuff...

...but the question is, if this is no longer the blog of Helga and Hume's New Zealand adventures, then should there be a blog at all? Can material gained from the familiar, the everyday, and the downright pedestrian truly constitute sufficiently interesting content for a blog?

To be honest, I think the answer is yes -- life can be fascinating in any postal code. So I will keep blogging.

But be warned, if you are looking for current NZ adventures, you are reading the wrong blog. If you want amusing updates and insights, punctuated with the occasional rant, then you are in the right place.
:-)

Public Service Announcement

2008-10-05T10:53:00.003-04:00

Ok, I'm currently working on a blog post detailing the big updates that have happened in the Helga Hume lives lately. But first, before any more time is lost, I need to make a public announcement for the good of mankind.

Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT go to see the movie, "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist".

Yes, the trailers looked goofy and cute. But I assure you, the movie was far from it. Allow me to elaborate, for those of you not yet convinced:

The humour was gross and sad, as most comic releif was relegated to a drunk friend of Norahs' who does foolish things. Exceptionally foolish things. A "comic highlight" of the movie was when this friend threw up into a Manhattan bus station toilet (of uncertain flush-status before the vomit), fished around in the filth for her gum, then resumed chewing it.
The dialogue was stilted, and had no resemblance to the teenage interactions I recall. The artificial insertion of unrelated topics being discussed by unlikely conversants in utterly inappropriate places was the standard. In other words, two teenage girls who dislike each other are NOT going to suddenly bicker about orgasms at a convenience store cash. Trust me, this does not happen.
The plot made no sense. For example, two girls are apparently best friends, but when one gets sloppy drunk, the other one trusts a van full of guys she'd never met before to take her drunk, helpless, passed-out friend home. Is that supposed to be an acceptable decision, somehow?!? Moreover, high school aged kids were breezily going into bars at all hours of the night. Having been a high-school aged kid trying to get into bars, I know for a fact that it isn't terribly easy 100% of the time... and that was in Canada, where the legal drinking age is far younger! And why the hell did the gay (male) characters have a ready supply of bras onhand, anyways?
A key character was completely miscast. Given the content of the dialogue and details of the plot, Norah was clearly supposed to be fat, and/or not overly attractive. But given that they cast a lovely girl who might be all of a size 10 (the horror!), her character made very little sense. And why not cast a homelier or huskier girl? All you have to do is look at the obesity rates in the US to see that there is no shortage of overweight people... surely one of them was a prettyish young lady with acting ability! Plus, physically, Michael Cera is no prize, yet he obtained the other title role. Surely it would not herald the apocalypse to have a not-so-attractive female lead in a movie, especially when the movie is written for exactly that kind of character...? ugh.

Basically, this is a movie that was trying to be the next "Juno", and failed miserably. Steer clear, you will thank me later.

If you really, really need to watch a romantic comedy about an unattractive young lady dealing with self-esteem, rent "Penelope" instead. In contrast, Penelope is a warm, whimsical movie with a gentle pace, a sweet tone, sparkling characters, and several good belly laughs. Give it a watch!

One Year

2008-08-12T20:32:00.005-04:00

One year ago today, Dave and I boarded a plane from Auckland, New Zealand to finally come home to Canada.

I had finished work a week or so earlier, and we took our remaining time to explore the northernmost part of New Zealand, the Bay of Islands. It was positively stunning, especially Ninety-mile Beach, which still haunts me to this day.

On the drive to the airport I caught my final glimpse of NZ-specific fauna when I spotted some weird, cartoony pukeko birds. And then we checked in to the airport, managed to get our overheavy bags checked, and prepared for a very, very long day of travel.

Due to passing the Date Line, last year we got two August 12ths. And the travel took so long, it ate up all of both days. To spend some time with our respective families, Dave and I parted ways in Vancouver so that I could proceed to Winnipeg. I never realized how much I missed that shabby, friendly airport. My family, on the other hand, I had missed terribly, so it was wonderful to see them. Then we went home, and after a glass of much-needed wine, I proceeded to sleep the sleep of the dead.

That was my August 12, 2007.

Hard to believe that was a whole year ago, today. Whoa.

Daves' 30th Birthday... in VEGAS!

2008-08-11T21:48:00.004-04:00

We interrupt this blog for an important announcement regarding Dave's 30th birthday -- the plane tickets are now booked!

Las Vegas, here we come!!!

The more the merrier, so all friends, family, and whoever are invited. So, if you read this blog, want to join us for a fun weekend in Vegas, (and actually know us, of course) send me a facebook/email/phonecall/etc to find out more details.

Naturally, everyone is responsible for their own arrangements. To help in your deal-hunting, try the following sites:

We used Sears Travel (it had the best deal at the time) but the best price often fluctuates between these sites. Happy hunting, and hope to see you there!

Amusing Poster in Gimli

2008-08-07T20:12:00.001-04:00

So we saw this poster on a telephone pole in Gimli, Manitoba, and it gave us a laugh. Enjoy!

Fringe-ing in Winnipeg!

2008-07-28T15:41:00.004-04:00

Dave and I arrived in Winnipeg last Thursday, and have been living at its famed Fringe Festival ever since. For those of you unfamiliar with this event, the Fringe Festival is a celebration of independent theatre and street performers. Over 10-12 days, plays are performed in improvised venues that are clustered in near proximity to one another, and audiences choose the play they will attend and pay a small fee to be admitted. These festivals happen all over the country, moving from east to west.

Personally, I like The Fringe much better than regular theatre -- not only is it more experimental, interesting, and affordable, but the smaller venue sizes (and thus smaller audiences) makes the performances both intimate and unique. The audience, in a sense, is a whole other character within the play. Performers often interact with their audiences in some direct fashion, such as to stop to say "God bless you!" to someone sneezing, or to flirt, or to encourage a singalong. Dave was included in two shows, once as a dancing man-ho, and another time as the object of affection of a lovelorn German rock queen. (So you know, this can be avoided if you sit farther back than the first few rows... but that takes the fun out of it!) ;-)

As I mentioned before, the Fringe Festival will be hitting other cities. Saskatoon is next, I think, followed by Edmonton and Vancouver. If you live in a city expecting a Fringe this year, do consider going to see a play. I cannot emphasize strongly enough what a great time Fringing is. However, it can be a bit intimidating, to decide from all the available plays... so, to help you out, I will list a few shows that Dave and I enjoyed.

"Teaching the Fringe" by Keir Cutler: Based on a letter of scathing criticism Keir received for a former play. He breaks it down in a hysterically funny manner.
"Die Roten Punkte: Supermusicante": Musical comedy duo parody German rock stars. Fantastic show, catchy tunes, and I laughed until I hurt!
"Totem Figures" by TJ Dawe: Vancouver playwright and established Fringe deity, TJ does a 1.5-hour autobiography about his personal mythology, and its role in his life.
"The B-List": Trio of drag starlets performing a hysterically funny post-rehab musical.
"Singing at the Edge of the World": Gifted storyteller Randy Rutherford tells his autobiographical story of coping with congenital hearing loss while living the bohemian dream in Alaska. Touching, funny, and utterly spellbinding.
"The Further Adventures of Antoine Feval": Chris Gibbs spins an amusing yarn from the perspective of a clueless assistant to a detective.

Other neat shows include Hot Pink's Busty Rhymes, Jem Rolls: How I learned to stop worrying and love the mall, and Killing Kevin Spacey.

Anyhow, for those of you in or near Saskatoon, Edmonton, Vancouver, or Victoria, go and see some of these shows! Enjoy!

Something Neat

2008-07-20T10:58:00.005-04:00

Whenever Dave is away, I find myself watching a lot of movies. Specifically, I watch the kind of movies Dave doesn't care for much, such as arty flicks or horror movies.

Last nights' choice -- Fast Food Nation -- was a meandering dud with too many characters, no narrative or focus, pointless cameos, and a miasma of smug, self-righteous indignance at the mass-processing meat industry. The movie weilded shock value with all the finesse of installing a light switch with a sledgehammer. While wearing oven mitts.

As for the highlight of the movie, it's a toss-up between Avril Lavignes' cameo as a dippy protester, or the final scenes' brutally honest footage of a packing plant kill floor. Seriously, those are the highlights.

Being so dissatisfied with the movie, I am not certain why I investigated the DVDs' Special Features afterwards. But I'm glad I did. It introduced me to a fascinating web animation called "The Meatrix", in which Leo, a pig, is approached by the enigmatic, black-clad cow "Moopheus", who invites Leo to see past the fiction we perceive the meat industry to be.

While the Matrix parody in itself is amusing, it also hits home how little we really know -- or want to know -- about where most of our meat really comes from. If you want to check it out, then Enter The Meatrix and give it a look.

(Note that while it is an animation, The Meatrix is actually quite explicit, and shouldn't be watched by small children, imho.)

Summer So Far

2008-07-11T16:12:00.007-04:00

Summer so far has been a lot of fun. Dave and I just got back from some weeks in Vancouver, where we saw his sister get married. It was a beautiful wedding with a truly inspired theme -- summer camp wedding! Katie and Charlie rented a YMCA summer camp outside of Vancouver, and had a weekend-long extravaganza of campfires, camp activities, and a gorgeous wedding right in the middle. There was even an icebreaker/talent show the first night, in which I handily made an ass of myself singing a blues song I co-wrote. Ah well, it's all for family, right? ;-) Other acts included a recitation of all prime numbers between 1-100, several other original song performances, Highland dancing, and a comedic clarinet/oboe duo. The show finale was two friends of Katies' singing "Business Time," inserting Katie and Charlies' names in various places in the song. It was positively hysterical.

During the weekend there was canoeing, archery, and even a high-ropes course (which my mum mastered! Go mum!!). A highlight for me was actually getting a chance to spend time with Dave's extended family, especially his cousins. The last time we all met, it was my own wedding, and so I was a tad preoccupied and barely got a chance to talk to anyone. It's great to finally get to know them a bit. Another highlight was dad's arrival -- he had been chairing meetings in Ottawa that morning, and flew Ottawa-Toronto, Toronto-Vancouver, Vancouver-seaplane to Seschelt, and despite this long journey, still partied hard until 2am Vancouver time! That's dedication, man.

Also, while in Vancouver, I decided to take the plunge and get laser eye surgery. It's a big change from before; I used to not be able to see anything outside of an arm's-length, but now I see… well, everything. The first time I really noticed the difference was on Canada Day, where I saw the tens of thousands of red-and-white-clad people packed throughout downtown, as far as the eye can see in every direction. It occurred to me I wasn't wearing contacts… and it was both weird and wonderful.

I'd worn glasses and contacts since age 9, so no longer needing these things is a huge adjustment for me. It's even been hard to get rid of my glasses. I went to a local glasses shop, asked if they took donations of old glasses. The clerk pointed to a box for the Lions Club. I looked at my purse, which contained my old glasses… then looked at the box… then smiled, thanked the clerk, and left with my glasses still in my purse. I just couldn't do it yet.

Other than that, Ottawa has been buzzing with activity lately. Canada Day was a blast; we started at a friends' BBQ, then moved on to the concert and fireworks. The main headliner was Blue Rodeo, but as luck would have it, the alternate headliner was Hawksley Workman, who I adore. Being not so crowded, we were able to get some good spots, and Hawksley entertained us with his whimsical stories and unexpected medleys (veering into Destinys' Child hits, for example).

More recently, this past week has been the Ottawa Bluesfest (note, not actually entirely dedicated to blues music). I've been going almost every night, and have seen gems such as The Tragically Hip, The Black Crowes, James Taylor, Les Breastfeeders, Matt Good, and many more. Here are the highlights thus far:

Best Show: Michael Franti and Spearhead with their super-positive political reggae. The crowd was jumping and singing along, and this was by far the most compelling draw of the night… despite this fairly obscure band playing at the exact same timeslot as THREE huge headliners.

Biggest Surprise: Snoop Dogg. Yes, I saw Snoop Dogg, and he was great. Not a lot of songs, but he must have written the textbook on crowd involvement. It was a fantastic time. Even the crowd itself was entertaining -- I was standing next to a youngish mum and her 11-year-old son, the latter of whom was mortified with the former, especially as she enthusiastically sang along with Snoops' vulgar lyrics. (Hee hee, people watching is fun!).

Weirdest Moment: Boz Scaggs. I approach the stage, and see this red-faced, jowl-y man in a collared white shirt and dark pants. His hair is silver in an almost-mullet, whiter on the top, and his moustache is grey. My first thought -- "What the hell is my dad doing there?!?!" The resemblance is truly uncanny, especially at a distance..

Biggest Disappointment: CBC darlings, Winnipeg rock band The Weakerthans. The show itself was great, except for (I think) a poor choice in songs. In their encore, they picked their most controversial song, and had the Ottawan crowd gleefully screaming along, "I HATE WINNIPEG!!" City choice aside, why end a show on a hating note like that?

Biggest Schadenfreude Moment: Fergie's show was late, and her vocals were nearly inaudible over the pre-recorded backing vocals. Even the peripheral stuff (the dancing, the outfits, the stage itself) were not great. Then she even ended early. So generally, the show was terrible, but at least it made me feel better about my own un-stellar talent show performance weeks earlier. ;-)

The Bluesfest will continue until the end of this weekend, and tonight Dave and I will be seeing Metric. This edgy Montreal rock band is known to put on a great show, and I already know a lot of their music, which I love. I can hardly wait!

(Also, note that all of these photos come courtesy of friends, facebook, or flickr... thanks, all!)

The Weirdest Wedding Gift

2008-04-20T14:49:00.010-04:00

Today, we were able to use our strangest wedding present for the first time.
Now, perhaps you may be looking at the photo thinking, "That's clearly a centrepiece. What's so strange about it?" You would be right; assembled, and in function, the purpose of the piece is clear.

However, when opening a box containing a bizarrely-configured bowl, a cylindrical thing with holes, and then a fish, I was puzzled. The givers didn't help -- my wacky godfather, Keith, and his ultra-fun wife, Colleen told me it was a flower pot… or that they could be lying, and they'd "lost the ladle". ;-)

So the mystery is dispelled, and this gorgeous (though still odd) piece is now in use. Lovely, isn't it? Thanks, Keith & Col!

Response Re: Censoring Canadian Filmmakers

2008-04-18T17:21:00.000-04:00

So, in follow-up to a previous post, I did indeed receive a prompt response to my letter to my MP. While it is clearly a form letter, I am heartened that concern for this subject is wide enough to merit the creation of a form letter. :-) Hooray, democracy!

Here is the response, for those interested. Thanks, Mr. Dewar!

Dear Karla,
Thank you for sharing your concerns with me about Bill C-10 (An Act to amend the Income Tax Act, including amendments in relation to foreign investment entities and non-resident trusts). Be assured my NDP colleagues I agree with you that the bill creates serious issues for the freedom of Canadian artistic expression and should be opposed.
My colleagues and I are very concerned about reports that a section of Bill C-10 may be used by the government to censor film and video production in Canada that it finds offensive. This section would enable the Minister of Canadian Heritage to establish guidelines for the issuance of a Canadian film or video production certificate. These certificates make the producers of the film eligible for important tax credits.
The provision was buried in Bill C-10 which is legislation primarily aimed at closing tax loopholes and limiting tax havens. Bill C-10 was approved by all parties in the House of Commons in October and is currently before a committee of the Senate.
New Democrats and I believe that it is not the role of the Minister of Canadian Heritage or the government to make subjective judgments about what is appropriate film or video content. In a country as diverse as Canada, we must rigorously protect artistic freedom. Enshrining guidelines that seek to define what is “offensive”, "odious” or “objectionable” are inappropriate. Controversy is often crucial to the creative process. Conservatives may yet again be trying to address a problem that just does not exist, or that is already appropriately addressed by established program parameters and criminal law.
I also do not support statements such as those made at the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage by Conservative members this past January. One Conservative MP suggested that Telefilm Canada should be making “films for mainstream society”. Another Conservative suggested that a Telefilm-supported film that “focused more on recreational sexual activity than loving relationships…was not redeeming.” Such personal and subjective reflections should never become part of public policy. However, this appears to be where the provision in Bill C-10 lead.
My NDP colleagues and I are concerned that such guidelines may have a chilling effect on film and television production in Canada and may significantly hinder the telling of Canadian stories and Canadian artistic expression. At its meeting of February 28th, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage decided to pursue this issue. It has requested that the “updated eligibility requirements” and the “standardized and updated list of illegal and other ineligible content” developed by Heritage Canada be tabled by the Government. The Parliamentary Secretary for Canadian Heritage has agreed to provide this information to the Standing Committee.
Thank you again for sharing your concerns with me about this important issue. I trust this information will help alleviate some of your concerns regarding Bill C-10.
As I said above, be assured my NDP colleagues and I will continue to fight for the free artistic expression of our Canadian artists and will continue to oppose unfair and unnecessary censorship. I look forward to hearing from you again soon.
Sincerely,
Paul Dewar, MP Ottawa Centre

Hooray!

2008-04-02T04:58:00.000-04:00

Today was a very good day.

It began this morning, where I happened upon some free tickets to a performance of a band I really like. Stars is a great Canadian band; Dave bought a CD of theirs some weeks ago, and it has not left our player since. I'm listening to them now, in fact. Anyhow, a colleague of mine was unable to make it to their concert tomorrow, so she offered up her tickets to whoever could use them. Luckily I was able to snag them!

So now, aside from being very excited for the concert tomorrow, I get to contemplate something sweet to do for my lovely friend. Perhaps something involving booze, flowers, or chocolate, or even some combination thereof. Hmm...

After that, I returned my attention to work. The good luck kept on happening -- I finally was able to make progress into some work that had been very hard to grasp. Then, a scary statistical problem came up that, when I solved it, turned out to be all bark and no bite. Phew!

Today was also the day of my skip-level meeting. Basically, that means an annual sit-down with your boss to discuss your career aspirations, etc. I had been a bit nervous about it, since a meeting like this requires me to be articulate... which, lately, has not been too reliable. I often stop midsentence and totally forget the word I need. And it's sometime been words like "spoon". (Karla: "I need... thing... to dig... food.") Or I say "oven" when I mean "fridge". Bad news, man. The last thing I need is to accidentally say "boogers" when I mean "median".

So with all this in mind, I sat down with my chief. Luckily, she's a cool, fun lady, and so our rapport put me at ease quite quickly. In sum, the meeting was a glowing success! Despite the difficulty of not really knowing my way around my survey yet, apparently I'm getting good reviews. Plus, the meeting generated some information that has helped me make a very important career decision. And lastly, we talked over a few issues I've encountered since coming back; her insight and experience brought what had been bothering me into sharp focus. What a valuable talk! I feel I've gained a lot of clarity because of it.

(And I think I went the whole meeting NOT saying "boogers" when I meant "median". Bonus!) ;-)

And, to top it all off, I came home to my beloved Dave cooking me steak for dinner.

Life is good.

No Longer on the Fence

2008-03-27T20:15:00.008-04:00

Until this point, I had reserved judgement on the Harper government.

Sure, I frowned when he kicked to the curb marginalized Canadians in need of legal aid. Sure, I was unimpressed with Conservative rhetoric replacing leadership in the environment. And you can bet I'm a tad wary about this young buck, an external appointee (who may yet be a Conservative-agenda-enforcing Harper-henchman) who is to run the rabidly non-partisan Statistics Canada.

But for me, all those instances evoked was an eye-roll; while these actions are certainly not good, in my eye, I've not yet been provoked into a visceral reaction of utmost disgust.

Until today.

Courtesy of The Globe & Mail:

"Canadian Heritage officials confirmed yesterday they will be 'expanding slightly' the criteria used for denying tax credits to include grounds such as gratuitous violence, significant sexual content that lacks an educational purpose, or denigration of an identifiable group. More details are promised next week."

What infuriating nonsense. Harper is extending the scope of his muzzling to now include Canadian filmmakers evermore, should they continue with their gritty, fantastic filmmaking. Canadian film is world-renowned for the very aspects that Conservatives are trying to snuff; We do not shy away from realism, from brutal honesty, from challenging subject matter. It is a proud piece of our national identity.

In sum, Canadian film is about to be castrated in favour of Conservative milquetoast.

Mess with my people, my environment, my livelihood, fine. But don't you dare touch my films.

So, I took the liberty of writing my MP. Should any of you even remotely agree, I urge you to do the same. Below is my letter:

To the Honourable Mr. Dewar,
I am an Ottawa Centre constituent who is utterly alarmed by the Government's move to deny tax credits to Canadian filmmakers. Canadian film is praised worldwide as being gritty and honest, and providing no-holds-barred views of complex and difficult subject matter. This is an identity to be proud of, and it is one that is put at great risk by the Conservatives' agenda.
The world would be a lesser place without films like Exotica, The Saddest Music in the World, The Sweet Hereafter, and Naked Lunch. These fantastic films would be at risk under the Conservative proposal, as they are low-budget, and contain considerable degrees of nudity, sexuality, violence, and other disturbing imagery. Given that many low-budget films simply cannot be made without federal tax credit assistance, films such as these would be terminated "in utero," as it were.
This bill promotes censorship of a true Canadian art form; It is misguided at best, fascist at worst. Please do not let this pass.
Lastly, could you please advise me on other groups or activites related to this issue that you know of? I would like to lend my support to them.
Thank you for your time.

No response as of yet, but that's no surprise as I sent it not an hour ago. ;-) Will keep you posted if I hear anything back. In the meantime, feel free to peruse the following links for more information.

Article 1 - Article 2 - Article 3 - Article 4 - Article 5

Don't be fooled by the myopic "rebuttals" stating that only films against current public policy (i.e. containing illegal activities) will be affected by this bill. Technically, this could mean termination of funding for a film in which someone breaks copyright laws, or even jaywalks.

And how many classic movies involve murder, exactly? Think about it, and reflect on what these ominously vague regulations may do to our Egoyans, our Maddins, and our Canadian Hitchcocks to come.

Triumph!

2008-03-19T11:52:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I ran my first ever 5k.

The closest thing I had ever done previously were the duathlons, which had 5k of running broken into two parts by a 10k bike ride. So, Saturday's event was the first time I had ever attempted running 5 consecutive kilometres. Granted, "running" is probably a generous stretch of terminology -- slow jogging would be a far more apt description. Nonetheless, I finished in less than 40 minutes (a good target for beginners) and only had to walk for about three quarters of a K. At about 3.5K, I started seeing spots, so I had to slow down… until I saw the "1 K left!" sign. I ran from there, but allowed myself 200 paces of walking when the spots and dizziness returned. My finish was strong, though, and even left me with ample energy to do errands in the afternoon.

The rest of the afternoon was great. I dropped off my coat for a dry-cleaning, tried out a fantastic new teahouse, picked up some art supplies for my newest project, then topped it all off with ordering a pizza and watching horror movies. I don't generally like horror movies, but since Dave openly detests them, my ideal opportunity to watch them is when he's out of town. Unfortunately, both were duds -- 28 Weeks Later was a perfect example of everything that's wrong with Hollywood-ized movies, and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer destroyed its riveting first half with a positively awful second half. The evening was subsequently redeemed with a friends' housewarming party, which ended around 2AM with my friends and I pushing each other into snowbanks. Good times!

All told, I enjoyed the run so much that I'm already looking into upcoming 5k events. It seems there is about one per month from now until October. Frankly, I'm happy as long as it involves less snow; running in the snow seems entirely too hardcore for my taste. Thank goodness this race had closed down the (cleared) road, as running on snowed-in bike trails would have been a nightmare.

And maybe, next time, Dave can join me! ;-) (No pressure, hon…hehehe)

Is it just me...

2008-03-02T00:10:00.005-05:00

...or is there an almost uncanny resemblance between these two pictures?

Ah, my cousin is way cuter than any heiress. Just stay away from that eyeliner, RaeLynn! ;-)

Settled In / Lents' Revenge

2008-02-20T19:36:00.004-05:00

In the time since Christmas, life has evened out nicely. The general lack of excitement has been blissful, and Dave and I have managed to work out something resembling a routine. The bookkeeping is almost done, we now know where (almost) everything is, and I'm regularly engaging in my soul-restorative activity, baking.

The baking has been especially handy lately, as I have given up refined sugars for Lent. As some of you may recall, that was what Dave gave up last year; in turn, he is giving up alcohol (which was my choice last year). I expect this Lent to be quite difficult, as David likes booze more than I do, and I like sweets more than he does. But hey, this whole thing is supposed to be an exercise in discipline/self-knowledge, right? In the meantime, we're learning the virtues of molasses and nonalcoholic beer.

Socializing is made tougher by Lent, though, since it's hard not to fall into old habits. Dave's had trouble resisting ordering the "automatic beer," and I've already had a major sugar slip-up. Today a colleague brought in home-baked cookies and I automatically ate two before remembering. :-P It's amazing how sneaky sugar (and booze) can be... it's everywhere!

We even made a point of postponing Lent a bit, so as to avoid being miserable company to our parents. Dave's parents were visiting a few weekends ago, and as usual, their partying skills put ours to shame. Not to be outdone, my dad then shows up, and all of us (foolishly) start trying to out-party each other. On a "school night", no less. Needless to say, the next morning at work was positively brutal. But worth it. ;-)

Besides Easter (the official end of Lent), there are many events I'm looking forward to. I was able to nab floor tickets to the Foo Fighters!! It'll be a great show, and we only have to wait 'til March. That same month, I've also enrolled into a 5K run. And, I've booked us orchestra seats for the travelling Broadway musical, Wicked, which tours in August.

I gotta say, it's so nice to make plans so far in advance. ^_^

Happy New Year!

2008-01-03T19:35:00.000-05:00

For Dave and I, 2008 is starting out as a much-anticipated period of relaxation. 2007 was a fantastic year full of adventure, special events, and an incredible amount of travel… it's years like that that make us realize how blessed we are. Thank you to absolutely every person who was a part of that miraculous time.

Since we haven't been updating the blog regularly, here is a point-form update of the latest events:

After returning to Canada (Ottawa) from the honeymoon, we saw the lovely Beatrice (the tall, redhead bridesmaid) get married! The ceremony was beautiful, and included a song written by the bride herself. The reception afterwards was a lot of fun, and it was the first time I'd seen many of my StatCan buddies in almost two years. Needless to say, we partied to make up for lost time. ;-)
We then flew from Ottawa to Winnipeg, where my belongings were being stored during our time in NZ. In addition to taking that stuff back to Ottawa, my family also volunteered some of their furniture to help set us up. We ended up with a great dining set, a huge TV, and two nice couches. Thanks mom, dad, Aunt Jo and Uncle Rae! :-)
A surprise Wedding Social was thrown during our stay in Winnipeg. Dave had no idea it was happening, and we both had no idea his parents were secretly flying in for the event. The Hume family got a complete immersion in Prairie culture. By the end of the evening, Dave was reading out the draw numbers like a pro. ;-) And a big thanks to everyone who came, and those who supported us by buying tickets! The funds were deeply appreciated, and helped us pay for the move.
We drove a packed U-Haul to Ottawa. The weather was drizzly all the way, and the drive itself uneventful but for moose and eagle sightings. I always find the sight of Lake Superior staggering, though -- how is that not an ocean? The highlight of the trip was stopping at Keith and Colleen's house and getting a chance to catch up with them.
I began work shortly thereafter, where I was welcomed back with a loving prank. My friends had secured a copy of a newspaper article run about me, then made an enormous number of copies and plastered them all over my cubicle. However, something was different -- where my face was supposed to be, they had pasted their own faces onto mine. But with my hair and neck. I nearly fell over laughing.
Work itself is good. After taking the two weeks to shop around among available positions, I decided on Balance of Payments and Environmental Surveys section. I had assumed I'd join the team immediately, but my old section (Unified Enterprise Survey) needed a hand with some data quality indicators. Now that that's finished, the move will be as of Monday coming. The project looks interesting, and the team seems very nice… I can hardly wait! :-)
Katie (sister of Dave; tall, brunette bridesmaid) and Charlie are getting married! On Halloween, Katie was proposed to by a roses-and-diamond-weilding Zorro, and she accepted. (Personally, I wondered how Charlie felt about having Zorro move in on his girl!) ;-) The wedding is schedueled for June, and may or may not feature another Zorro appearance.
Patrick (one of the groomsmen) and his wife Sarah had their baby -- a beautiful little boy named Benjamin. He was born late November, and he was a wee thing at about 5 lbs. I'm told he's growing like a weed nowadays… as kids do.
Liz (of gardening-blog fame) and her husband Don are expecting! I am so happy for them, though I wonder how they'll stop little Billy/Hermione/Trogdor from playing with their action figures... ;-)
Went to Vancouver for Christmas, and surprised Chris (Dave's mum) on her doorstep. She was absolutely speechless, but then even more so when her English sister and brother-in-law surprised her the next day. We celebrated Chris's 60th 29th on Christmas day, which was simply splendid. (The general adventures of Christmastime in Vancouver is sufficient for its own post, though, so eyes on this space!) ^_^
All in all last year, Dave and I boarded 24 planes, 7 ferries, 8 trains, and explored 5 countries. What a year!!

But all the same, an action-packed year like that leaves one with a renewed appreciation for ugly sweatpants, lazy Saturdays, and empty schedueles. ;-)

As of now, though, we're not quite there -- there's still a lot of apartment-setting-up to do. We do not yet have any rhyme or reason to our cupboards and shelves, and we are still learning where everything is. Also, now that I've finally unearthed all the paperwork I'd packed away, I can finally catch up on the last of the wedding tasks. Following that will be tackling the scary drawer bursting with receipts that date back to July. Then, freedom! Freedom to slouch about, do as little as possible, and rot our minds with television. How blissful.

In the meantime, I have my "To Do" lists to keep me company. And, of course, my sweatpants. ;-)