what happened to march?

Where does thte time go?!?!

A few tidbits from my life, in list form...

Planned summer sports:
-ultimate
-touch football... I just gotta work on getting my shoulder back in shape after 3 years without use.

Weddings to attend this summer:
-3 in July
-1 in September
-1 on Halloween

Culinary accomplishments in the last week:
-homemade pizza: bbq sauce, chicken, carmelized onion, red pepper
-homemade pizza: tomato sauce, shrimp, olives, feta, red pepper, brocolli
-black bean and corn quesadillas with home-made guacamole
-quiche with shrimp, red pepper, brocolli, chedder and cream cheese
-red lentil soup

This weekend's planned activities:
-go see "The Gondoliers"
-volunteer at art show
-go trampolining for a 30th birthday party
-run 10 km
-attend fun event at Bushtukah for women

List to add:
-highlights of Costa Rica

Word of the week: misto

As many of you know, I like coffee. In fact, I like warm beverages in general. As many of you also know, I love a good deal. Perhaps not as much as Sara... whom I admire for a) her ability to find deals and b) her dedication in seeking them out... but I do love a good deal! I think my love of a good deal is twofold: 1. I love the satisfaction of knowing you got what you wanted at the best price possible, which leads directly to 2. I love that it means more money in the pocket to put towards something else. Where, you might ask, am I going with this train of thought that started with coffee and has somehow lead to bargain hunting? Lattes. In my limited reading of financial planning books, I often feel like I'm doing many things "right"... but I inevitably succomb to the "latte factor" (i.e. if one was to put the cost of their daily latte into a savings account instead of into the hands of some giant, non-socially-conscious coffee chain, one could amass some ridiculous sum of money over the years). I know that the term "latte factor" does not literally mean it must be a latte which you cut out... but quite honestly, I feel like warm beverages are one of the few, potentially daily, luxuries towards which I am tempted to 'splurge' (assuming you don't count things like healthy food... which I am typically willing to spend more on than junk... and which the Heart and Stroke foundation tells me is a costly endeavour... but I diverge). So yes, warm beverages... luxury... deal. Cutting to the chase. I have managed to find a loophole in the Starbucks system of overcharging. Here it is: rather than order one of their "new" London Fogs (a drink they're pushing in their new tea campaign that is an earl grey tea, steeped with milk, with a shot of vanilla syrup added), simply use your registered Starbucks card and order an Earl Grey "tea misto" with a shot of vanilla and you'll pay like half the price!! Proof: Large (aka Grande) London Fog, if ordered off the menu=$4.35 (at least at the Starbucks near where I work). Compared to: Large Earl Grey tea misto (which isn't actually on the menu, but I have yet to have a place NOT know what it is) = $2.31 + vanilla flavour shot (free because I use my registered Starbucks card... which I loaded using my PC MC, thereby getting points)= $2.31! It's SUPER!!! (NOTE: I would never actually pay $4.35 for a drink at Starbucks on a normal day. I set my limit at $2.50... except for special occasions). Now, the beauty of the tea misto, is that you can pick any number of flavours! Chai is pretty gosh darn good... and way more authentic than the syrup they use if you order a chai latte... but yes. Tea Misto.

Before y'all think that I am at Starbucks everyday, I should make it clear that I have been known to walk across the street to the little Italian store and buy a tea or coffee for $1.15... and take advantage of the free biscotti that it comes with... and/or go down to the coffee machine in our building just after 11 am when the woman comes to refill it and sometimes manage to scam a free coffee from her.

But yes... all good deals!! I still take solace in the fact that my warm beverage spending ventures (be they at Starbucks, the Italian place, or in the vending machine room at work) are more of a weekly (or perhaps twice weekly) occurence than a daily one... meaning that the majority of days I am saving my latte money.

How's that for a big long post about not much?!?

Quickly... in other news: I leave for Costa Rica in 2 weeks! Los monos, cerveza, mango... any thing else I need to know how to say?

Karen's trip to blood services...

So, I went to give blood yesterday... a little worried that I wouldn't pass the iron test because I've had little/no meat in the last few months. Little did I know, that would be the least of my worries!

So I get there and check in and the nurse pricks my finger. As usual, my cold fingers don't bleed easily so she's got to work really hard to get enough blood to drop in the blue stuff. Finally she gets enough, drops it in and lo and behold it begins to sink (something that RARELY happens, even when I do pass!). Unfortunately one blob rose to the top so she had to put it in the machine. I'm standing there all nervous as I wait for the machine. It finally finishes and she says, "It's actually really good: 14.4". I'm SUPER excited that I made it through!

so I fill out questions 1-13 and then wait to see the nurse for the "high risk" questions. She sits me down, checks my arms (all good) and then takes my blood pressure and temperature. The blood pressure finishes first and the nurse says "Uhhh... your pulse is only 44, are you really active?" I assure her that my pulse is always pretty low... 45-50 range. Then the thermometer finishes and she tells me that I'm too cold to donate (I was 35.6 and you need to be 36.7)!! TOO COLD!! She tells me to put my coat on and she'd check it again after she asked the questions. Low and behold, a few minutes of wearing my fleece and I squeak in at 36.7. SUPER! Now all that's left is the blood giving...

So I get to the chair and the nurse says "Well you certainly don't have bulging veins!" She looks around and finanlly finds a vein, puts the needle in but no blood comes out. POOP! The nurse had missed. She asked if I'd mind if another nurse tried the other arm. I say absolutely not! I'd made it this far and wasn't going home yet! So after the head nurse tells the junior nurse who missed on my left arm that all she can find in my right arm is a small vein on top of a tendon (whatever that means), I start to lose hope. But she tries and finds one! YAY! She's a little worried that the blood is flowing too slowly, but she's happy to let it keep going. 17 minutes later, I was headed for cookies! The girl next to me, who arrived in the chair about 2 minutes after me took 17 minutes too... which was kinda nice! The nurses kept coming over and saying things like "Wow! You girls certainly aren't speedy!". Anyways, the cookies were tasty... and there's now an extra pint of blood in Canada's blood supply... and I have 2 war wounds to show! Good times!

Karen's Spontaneous Adventure

So I'm writing this from Vancouver, where I've been since Saturday night, in order to attend a meeting and a conference Sunday-Tuesday. Why, you might ask, is attending a conference a spontaneous adventure? That's because I didn't know until 4 pm on Friday that I'd be coming. I'm here replacing one of the directors from my Centre at work. He had a family emergency and was adament that PHAC have a rep here... somehow I got the call! Perhaps because I'm young and unattached... but regardless, I got the call and after MUCH debate and anxiety, decided to cancel my Saturday and Sunday night plans (and/or just not attend them... despite the fact that one of them was a dinner party at my house)...

So far the conference has been good, and I've had a chance to see all the super cool people I know in Vancouver!! Simon was a super host... introducing me to Ramen noodles on Monday, and showing me his digs (and some of the super sushi in his 'hood) on Tuesday! Sunday night I did Japanese tapas... I never remember what it's called, but I had it last time I came. Who knew wrapping a hard boiled egg in pumpkin could be so tasty!

Anyways, I fly home today... the end of my adventure and a return to the craziness of the office! EEPS!!

p.s. YAY ALIWU!!!

GHOSTBUSTERS!!!

After much searching, Sean and I found out what the people our age do for fun! It's not go to Prince Edward County... or go to 'the Buzz' on Bank street... or go to Canada's Wonderland... or go to one of the many other places we've ended up, only to discover we were some of the only people in the 25-30 age bracket! Attendence at the screening of the original, 1984 Ghostbusters movie at the Bytowne last night was DEFINITELY the place to be! SUCH a good time too! The fact that the film broke (i.e. the physical piece of film snapped in 2 on the reel) and they had to piece it back together in the middle just made it that much better! ...as did all the people who showed up in costume! Who knew there was so much Ghostbusters parafenalia still floating around! (Sara, it kinda reminded me of that last Expos game...). Anyways, I'll be humming the theme song all day... good times!!

Adieu!

Today I parted with an old friend. After 36 years with the family, the old orange couch is no longer with us. Today, a lovely, young, student couple came to pick-up the much loved orange couch, to give it a new home. The couch, which was purchased in 1972 by my mother when she moved to her first apartment in Ottawa (just a few short blocks from where I now live) has had several homes, in Ottawa, Nepean and even a 2 year stay in a Westmount apartment. Re-apolstered only once, sometime in the early 1980s when orange was all the rage, the couch was of impecable quality.

Goodbye couch!

cereal overload

One month, two posts... could it be? Oh yah baby!

So Friday was another one of my days off (hooray for the Federal government and the variable work week!). I accompanied Sean to court to watch him do his lawyer 'thang'. He was doing a trial in a small town between Ottawa and Montreal. It was good times! If you're ever in court be sure you don't a) wear a hat or sunglasses, b) eat or drink, c) chew gum, d) use a cell phone, e) read the newspaper. Fortunately I a) left my sunglasses in the car, b) had not food to eat or water to drink, c) spat out my gum, d) turned off my cell phone early and e) had enough time to finish my newspaper in the waiting area before the court room opened! Verdict: court is kinda interesting to watch... lots of formality... lots of men in pinstripe suits (all 6 lawyers were wearing them... in fact, Sean and the guy on for the crown were pretty much wearing the identical outfit... kinda amusing for me!). In the end the fine for Sean's client was smack dab between the amount proposed by Sean and the amount proposed by the crown. I am told that nobody being happy/satisfied is the sign of a good decision. After court (around 11 am) we headed home, stopping in Vankleek hill for a tour of the Beau's brewery (http://www.beaus.ca/index.html). Sean's firm has Beau's on tap, so the samples weren't exactly a novelty! It's definitely good stuff though!

Alas, ultimate season is over! We went out with a bang in Saturday afternoon, winning our last 2 games with commanding leads! It was brutally hot, but good times! Our after game BBQ was equally as enjoyable...

Sara (and Dave): I made nanaimo bars to take to my end-of-season bbq, after racking my brain to think of what I could make that wouldn't necessitate me turning on the oven. I remembered you and Dave making them in France because you HAD no oven to make desserts with even if you wanted to!

Apparently there was a gay pride parade on my street today... apparently it wasn't sufficiently rowdy for me to be drawn away from my random chores!

Karen's appliance of the day: hand blender. So useful!

Pet peeve: when the closing ceremonies start like an hour AFTER they say they will!!

Cereal count: 13 boxes... Karen needs to stop stocking up and start eating!

And on that note... Snack time!