Quick Kitchen Tip

I don't know how I keep forgetting about this - but it is way better to fill up a pot of water, that you plan to boil, using water from the 'hot' tap.

I remember someone once telling me (I think it was Jerrica or maybe JennB) that I should always put the lid on the pot when wanting water to warm up to boiling as it will go faster. I am pretty good about remembering to do that, though sometimes finding the right lid is a challenge. I hate that pots then have a tendency to boil over, but not if it is just pure water in it. After the water is boiling, and whatever is being added to it, I either take the lid off or put it on askew. I also turn the stove down a bit and the pot will keep simmering.

Tricks that help water to boil faster and food to cook better not only improves on the experience (faster is better in my mind because I hate to cook) but also makes the process more efficient. A more efficient (aka faster) use of the stove uses less electricity and therefore is better for the environment.

One thing I almost always forget to do though, is use hot water when filling the pot. I have no idea why, but I reach for the cold tap every time. It makes no sense! That will make it take longer to boil, the water has to heat up from a lower temperature; if I used hot water it already has a head start. It also shares the energy consumption with the hot water heater, which I assume is better than using the stove element for the entire process from cold to boiling.

I am sure everyone already knows this and I am just slow on the uptake, but I need to really watch what tap I use from now on.

NYC Romance - III

One major tourist activity in NYC that I had never done was go to the top of the Empire State Building. (Jerrica and I did Top of the Rock.) So, seeing that it is such an iconic thing, Jason and I decided to add it to this trip. It was beautiful from the top, but to get there was intense. There was line up after line up, actually multiple rooms of them. It wasn't a stand still, which was nice, just a long slow shuffle that killed my back and feet. It was loud and crowded at the top. Nic and Drew got engaged up there, but they went much later at night and had the place almost to themselves.

Empire State Selfie!

Jason and I - Viewfinder and a view.

NYC - No You Can't

I got Jason a trip to New York City for his 30th birthday (November of 2013). Unfortunately we ended up needing to postpone it. So, we have credit with JetBlue to use and Jason is still really keen on going to NYC. I wanted to go in the Winter, since Teri and I went recently in the summer and I really love NYC around Christmas, which is when Jerrica and I went in 2008.

Jason decided he wanted to go in the Spring; he has been stressed at work and a little break sometime in the next couple month would be good. He got the okay from his boss and we started to look into flights and which weekend would work. Luckily, right before we booked I said that we should check hotels out to make sure that there isn't something going on that weekend that booked everything up. Well turns out that something is just the fact it is New York City. Hotels were insanely expensive.

We spent a long time, him on his computer and me on the tablet, looking for a hotel in Manhattan that was less than $200 a night. Even when we were looking at private rooms in hostels, in Brooklyn, the Bronx, or Queens that had a shared bathroom - it was still well over $150 a night. So, we decided not to book.

We are hoping to go in September and book early enough in advance to find a good deal.

Big Step

Jason and I are going on a ski trip this weekend with Teri, Greg, Mon, Matt, and a couple of other people. I asked him if we should share a suitcase, to conserve space in the car, hotel room, etc. He agreed. (Mind you I think I have shared a suitcase with Teri before on one trip or another, and Jerrica and I did for NYC, and I have all the time with my family.) Still though - relationship milestone!

And So It Is Named

I like to name my houses. It tends to happen naturally, when you listen to people talk about places they live they tend to have a name for the house, though it is often related to the address. I find that a tad boring and in Ottawa, stepped it up a notch. Especially moving into my second house, which was an epic mansion (may it rest in peace) that was falling apart but totally worthy of a great name. So far in my life, these have been my houses...

1984 - 1985 - Cambridge - I was born in Cambridge, Ontario. I lived with my parents in a small house until I was one and a half. I obviously don't remember it, though they have shown it to me a few times since.
1985 - 2003 - Paris - So, the first two are named for the towns. I only lived in one house in Paris so instead of calling it by the street, I always just say Paris. The house was sold this past summer.
2003 - 2004 - Rez - While I was living in residence, Glengarry House, at Carleton Steph, Em, and I called it Glen, to distinguish it from the other residences on campus. However, after moving out it just gets referred to as Rez.
2004 - 2006 - Glen - This house is named after the street and even though it could get confused with my residence house, especially as I was living with the same people, it never was.
2006 - 2008 - Le Manoir - It was this mansion that inspired the need for awesome house names. I wanted to make it sound ostentatious, so picked to name it in French. It means The Mansion, however we have always pronounced it so horribly that it would make anyone who speaks French cringe in pain. It seemed like an ever revolving door of roommates there (including Ami, Em, Anna, Wes, Jake, Jer, and a few others) but they all called it Le Manoir.
2008 - 2010 - Die Höhle - Following in the foreign languages vein, Jer, Em, and I decided to name the next apartment in German. This was because the outside of it was very ugly, a big grey 1960's box of a house in a beautiful Victorian neighbourhood. It look like a German war bunker. Translated it means The Cave and again we mispronounced it terribly, much to the dismay of the one friend I have who speaks German. During the second year Linds lived with us and later on JennB, they both called it Die Höhle.
2010 - 2010 - The Cottage - We got the cottage when I was 16, so sometime around 2000. About 4 or 5 years back my parents tore down the original building and set about building a house on the beach that they could eventually live in full time. Well, the time has come. They sold the other house and live at The Cottage, though the name remains. I have never really lived there, but I would consider it an important residence in my life.

"So what about the new Toronto apartment?" you ask. After about a week, Kristen and I set about coming up with a name. Our landlord is Jewish and we live in a fairly Jewish neighbourhood. (Though there is a Catholic Church right down the street from us that plays its bells all the time and I have seen actual nuns there. However, I don't know where our closest Synagogue is.) We are basing this assumption about our neighbourhood on the number of people we see in yarmulkes walking on the streets, that the local grocery store has a huge kosher section, and the ice cream parlor sells kosher brownies. It seemed fitting that the language we pick for naming this one be Hebrew. This was easier said than done!

Hebrew uses different letters, not just some fancy two dots above the 'o' like in Die Höhle but a totally different thing all together. Hebrew does not have an Alphabet it is instead considered an Abjad. (This means it is a segmental script containing symbols for consonants only, and the vowels are optionally written with diacritics or 'pointing'). We decided that we wanted to called it Grown-Up Apartment. We are working hard on this place to make it nice and to avoid that student feel. But, even with all the online translating sites out there, we couldn't find out how to say that in Hebrew. We had to settle for Adult House (which has some funny connotations on its own). I'm sure, like the other houses I have named in languages other than English, I am screwing this up horribly, but we have called our place...Which seems to be spelt in the Latin (or Roman) Alphabet, which English uses, as something close to Rrunuv Bayit. Obviously pronouncing it is also challenging. The 'Rr' is rolled but then the rest of Rrunuv sounds like it is spelt and Bayit is more like 'buy-it'. Though I'm sure this is wrong. When in a rush, we will sometimes refer to it as just Bayit, and that is currently our wifi name. Now, I need to go and finish painting, unpacking, cleaning, and in general settling in, so that Rrunuv Bayit can live up to its name and truly be a Grown-up Apartment.

And We Are Beautiful

I have photoshoots with Steph all the time. Sometimes she needs to do an assignment, so I model for her, and sometimes I want a certain shot (like my tattoo photos) so I ask her to do it. At my cottage birthday weekend we did a quick one of all the girls who were going out dancing. Since our make-up was done, and we were all dressed up, why not? Steph did an amazing job and I hope to get some printed to hang in Kristen and my Toronto apartment. Check it out on Flicker. There is a great shot of Kristen, Taylor, and I. Also the one of Jerrica and I laughing was during a moment when we were trying to be serious but just couldn't, it brings back great memories and really makes me miss Jer. However, my absolute favourite one is the colour shot of Teri where she looks just a little pissed off at something, she is so beautiful!! While there you should check out more of Steph's pictures on her Flicker account as they are all really well done. (There might be a set just of me...)

Wanting To Come Too - Kate & Friends

This is a big trip and I'm doing some pretty big chunks of it alone. Partly because they don't want me to feel lonely and partly because they wish they could come along, Kate arranged it so that I could 'bring my friends along with me.' She got photos of everyone (some are quite funny, great memories) and made them into pins. This was a perfect idea since the guidebooks on the Trans-Siberian say that bringing cards and pictures of friends and family are great ways to break the ice, especially with people who don't speak English. I have them packed in a pouch to travel with, though I break them out to show people and take pictures. Here they all are - chillin' on my cowboy hat on Anne's bed in Calgary:

Found It

Item Lost: Camera battery charger for my small Nikon Coolpics
Time Lost: Sometime in the last couple of months
Last Place I Remember: On my desk in Ottawa
Place Found: In Jerrica's room, so it got packed into a box, had to be found, unpacked, and mailed to me

Three Roommates

Even though I have moved away from Ottawa, we still have the apartment until the end of the month. So technically JennB, Jerrica, and I are roommates until June 30th. This is the three of us hanging out on Friday night. (Girls Night!) Yes, I am the phone, which doesn't have speaker so they had to sit like this on the chair to talk with me. I was sent this from one of their iPhones. Jenn once convinced me that to email her on her iPhone I was to send it to jenn.b@iPhone.ca which I totally believed, and tried. Obviously, iPhone just connects to the internet, so you email to their normal address. I'm cell phone challenged.

From The Future

As Jer noted in the comments of a couple posts back - The post had been published in "the future" since it said June 10, 2017. The publishing feature on Blogspot is pretty cool, and it is what will help me with keeping postings up while I'm away on my big trip. However, sometimes I mess it up. In that case I changed the year instead of the day. Fixed it - now it reads June 17, 2010.

Check It Off The List

First thing checked off my Ottawa Mini Bucket List last night. Jerrica and Erin got me the tattoo that I have been wanting forever! Thank you so much girls, love you!!

Questions I keep getting asked:
Where and what is it?
I have a black outline of a maple leaf, not totally perfect like the Canadian flag symbol but not super natural looking like a real leaf, in between the two - a stylized maple leaf. It is pretty small, larger than a toonie but smaller than my palm. Just above my waist and below my bra line on the right side of my back. Pictures will be coming...
Did it hurt?
Yes, but not really that badly. It wasn't pleasant but it wasn't super painful either. Felt like hot scratching/pressure/dragging. It didn't take long to do and I can imagine the pain would have gotten to me after a while if I was getting something big and needed a longer session. Afterwards and still today it is fine, a tiny tiny tiny bit sore, like a mild sunburn.

Lovely Ladies

Jeska, Jenn, Myself, & Jerrica
Heading Out To The Club

When I see this picture all I think of is - Well, that's the kitchen in Die Hohle not the greatest location for a photo - God, I love to dance! - I'm the only one not wearing a shirt of Jeska's, for a change - Wish my hair was straight all the time - Man, we are hot!!

Who Am I?

-Watching The Ugly Truth, rented it
-Playing World of Warcraft, so addicted again
-Chili simmering on the stove, which Jer and I made earlier
First off I never cook, and secondly who plays an MMORPG while watching a chick flick?

Oh, The Russians

Jer drew my attention to this story,
"A Russian MP has asked President Dmitry Medvedev to investigate claims by a regional president that he has met aliens on board a spaceship. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the leader of the southern region of Kalymkia, made his claim in a television interview. MP Andre Lebedev is not just asking whether Mr Ilyumzhinov is fit to govern. He is also concerned that, if he was abducted, he may have revealed details about his job and state secrets."
- Read the full story on BBC News

Small Words Are Still Hard

I called home from work today because I needed Jerrica to read something off a sheet of paper I had left behind. I needed everything spelt correctly, so when I didn't know how to spell a word I would check with her that I had it right. She was very encouraging...

Me: Policy? P-O-L-I-C-Y?
Jerrica: Yes! See, there you go! Good for you!
She is genuinely proud of me. I am not impressed, as it is a tiny word.
Me: Jer, it is a 5 letter word.
Pause.
Jerrica: Chris, it is a 6 letter word.

It Almost Happened

Today's XKCD is a fun coincidence with the trip that JennB and I just returned from. Spending 4 days in Newfoundland with Jer was incredible and I promise that stories and pictures will follow.

Quick story now, connected to the comic: The flight on Wednesday night from Ottawa to Toronto was delayed. Once we saw this on the board Jenn quickly went to the gate to ask about catching our connection in Toronto for our flight to Deer Lake. They told her, "Yes, there are 5 of you with that connection. Since it is the last flight to Deer Lake for the night, we will hold the plane for you." I thought this was very strange since my experience with connections before (see my trip posts from Spain) were so bad.

Sure enough, we land in Toronto and as soon as Jenn turns on her iPhone there is a text from Air Canada saying that we have been cancelled off our Deer Lake flight. There is a man at the gate asking for passengers with connections, we rush over to him and give our names. He informs us that he have been taken of our original flight because our bags won't have time to switch over, we frantically tell him that we have no checked luggage and he tells us to run to the next gate over, where the plane will be leaving from, and see what they can do. We book it over there, I believe Jenn's pants nearly fell down while we were running. Once there, one flight attendant said boarding was closed and there was no way, the other said that the plane was still at the gate and she would take us through all the doors, which needed pass codes at this point.

We get to the plane, whose first class is mostly full and economy class appears to be completely full. Hundreds of eyes stare back at us, predominately belonging to large burly Newfie men on their way home from what I can only assume was Fort McMurray, Alberta. The flight attendant on board asks rudely, "Where did you come from?" I point out the window to the plane beside us and tell her that we just got in from Ottawa on a flight that had been delayed. She looks at our boarding passes and while glaring at us, says, "Your seats have been given away." I look at the first class section, where there are a couple of pairs of unoccupied seats, point to one and ask, "Well, could we sit there?" She fires back a curt, "No!" and tells us that she will go find something, storming down the aisle to the back of the plane. The pilot laughs and says through the open door, "You girls can sit in here." Both of us excitedly jump at the chance and agree, they call us into the cockpit, and Jenn heads in to start chatting them up. Somewhere in the shuffle of it all, getting off the Ottawa plane, I am carrying all of our luggage, so can't follow her in. While I don't personally know this part of the story, except to say that I was still standing at the front of the plane while people glared and grumbled, trying to catch people's eye and smile, Jenn got to hang out for a few minutes with the pilots. They chatted her up, asking about our trip and as true Newfies do, asked who we were staying with, 'cause they might know 'em. She was given two 'pilot's wings' stickers, one of which they put on her jacket for her. The younger of the pilots, who was behind the door and not visible to me at the time, was exceptionally cute (this I can vouch for since we saw him later while getting off the plane.)

Finally the rude flight attendant returns and tells me that there are two seats at the back. I struggle to drag all the luggage to the back, hitting many of the burly men on my way, of course I said "Sorry" and "Excuse me" a lot. When I finally got to the back, the seats were not really together. A very nice lady beside one said that she would move so that Jenn and I could sit beside each other. I dumped all the luggage in the aisle and negotiated moving seat positions with the lady and flight attendants. Jenn came quickly trotting up the aisle and negotiated our luggage into the overhead compartments, a real challenge in a full plane when you're the last passengers to do so.

We got settled in what were definitely the worst seats in the aircraft. Right by the bathrooms, no foot room, unable to recline, behind people who could and did, beside a man who shut the window for the entire trip only to open it occasionally, peer out, then close it again, and I had to type up an article for work on my laptop. Which I did, Jenn helped edit it, and we got to Deer Lake as planned and on schedule. The End!!

I see now that it didn't end up being a very quick story. Which doesn't bode well seeing that there are many many many others, which are more exciting and super hilarious. I guess I will just have to post highlights from the trip and you will have to contact/ask me for the full details.

Newfoundland Facts - Politics

Going on a little trip to see Newfoundland from April 7th to 11th. It will be my final province, after this I have visited all 10 in Canada. JennB and I are going to be staying with Jerrica and her family. Looking forward to seeing the sites on the west side of The Rock!!

Newfoundland and Labrador have 7 House Seats in Canadian Parliament and 6 Senate Seats. They were the last province to join Canada, not becoming part of the nation until March of 1949. During its history Newfoundland and Labrador have had many forms of government, including a time as the Dominion of Newfoundland (1907–1949), equivalent in status to Canada, New Zealand and Australia. The current provincial Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador is Danny Williams. He is quite a character, has very high approval ratings, and always seems to be involved in some controversy or another - look him up.

Newfoundland Facts - Provincial Things

Going on a little trip to see Newfoundland from April 7th to 11th. It will be my final province, after this I have visited all 10 in Canada. JennB and I are going to be staying with Jerrica and her family. Looking forward to seeing the sites on the west side of The Rock!!

The provincial flower of Newfoundland and Labrador is the Purple Pitcher Plant. I think this is super cool as the Pitcher Plant is one of my favourite flowers, it is carnivorous!! Their official tree is the Black Spruce, official bird the Atlantic Puffin, and official animal the Caribou. What I find most interesting is that Newfoundland and Labrador have a Patron Saint, St. John the Baptist. I don't know who officially dictates saint's patronage but I don't think that all provinces have one. It is fitting when you look at their official provincial motto which is the the very religious, "Quaerite primum regnum Dei." (This is Matthew 6:33, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God".)

Newfoundland Facts - Population

Going on a little trip to see Newfoundland from April 7th to 11th. It will be my final province, after this I have visited all 10 in Canada. JennB and I are going to be staying with Jerrica and her family. Looking forward to seeing the sites on the west side of The Rock!!

Newfoundland and Labrador have a population of 373,872 (as of April 1, 2007) which is 1.5% of Canada's total population and gives the province a population density of 1.36 /km squared. In Canada, only P.E.I. and the territories have less people. More than half the population identify their ethnocultural ancestry as Canadian, while two-fifths identify English ancestry, and one fifth identify as having Irish ancestry. St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador's capital city, obviously has the most people, with a population of 181,113 in 2006. However, Corner Brook which is 30km away from Jerrica's hometown of Pasadena, is the second largest urban area in the province with 26,623 people. Pasidenia is really small, 3,180 people.

So Now It Is Friday

It is a bit of a sad day. Today is JennB's last day working with me. She is moving to another job in a different department starting on Monday. Luckily JennB is more then just an office friend or "work spouse" so we will still see each other often. We work out together at Curves, watch ANTM, travel together, hang out, and in May she is moving in with Jer and I for a couple of months. Still, work will be harder without her around. She is good fun. (And super cute in her Halloween costume!) I'm really sad that she is leaving. I wish her well at her new job though, change is good.
(Photo by Pat Walton)