Bookworms

Because it came up again with another group of friends, and because it's fun to blog, I've created a new blog for books we like to read. You can check it out at: http://www.bibliophilists.blogspot.com/

On that blog there will be multiple authors, so we can all hopefully get our 2 cents in on what books are worth picking up, whether at the library or the bookstore. Even if you aren't authoring it, feel free to add in comments to posts if you've read, or want to read the books that are discussed.

Going Squirrely

This week is a bit too busy. I'm tired and I've been binging out on chocolate a lot. I saw the best quote today: "I want it all and I want it covered in chocolate". Oh yeah. Can that be my mantra?

And a chocolate joke that could describe my week: "Do not disturb... chocolate fantasy in progress".

And this one could describe my life: "Chocolate: it isn't just for breakfast anymore". Ha!

Tomorrow is Friday, and TGIF is a bit of an understatement at this point. I need to reboot. I was doing so well. I hope Jessica doesn't want to weigh me in on Saturday.

OK. I have to go now - I'm working an event tonight.

The Ultimate Day

I promised this one to Mimi. A nick-name I never call her, but is hers for the purpose of the blog. She told me on Friday that the following day I was to have "the ultimate day". I laughed and said I'd have to blog that one. My day: up early, pack up my stuff and layer up... off to my "novice" xc ski lessons. It was cold: -25 windchill, but that didn't matter with the layers and the effort, I was sweating. It was a good lesson, other than the fact that I had a crap sleep the night before so by the end of the 2 hours I was starting to get a bit too tired and couldn't get the new turning thing we were learning and got pretty frustrated (hello - can we say perfectionist??). Anyway, then I got home, quickly ate, showered and headed out to K-town to meet up with Mimi for our little birthday treat to each other. We were born 2 days apart and typically celebrate together. I think it's been that way since we were in our mid-teens. This year we decided to go to the spa and get manicures together. I don't even know when I last did that - years ago. It was fun. After that we shopped for a couple of hours. Then we met up with 3 other friends for dinner, which was fabulous. And then we went to see a movie: The Pursuit of Happyness. It was a really good movie, btw. I'd recommend it. After the movie I was way too tired to do anything else so I came home to crash, as I also had to get up again today for my last lesson. So there you have it: skiing, spa-ing, shopping, dinner, movie. The Ultimate Day.

I'm skiing all weekend...

Last weekend my ski lessons got cancelled - we had no snow. Now we have just enough and the lessons I have this weekend (tonight, tomorrow morning, Sunday morning) are going ahead as planned! I was so excited before, but today I'm kinda tired and I sort of forgot what I was excited about. Hopefully I have enough layers and don't freeze my butt off and then I'll remember why I was excited again.

Edit

How illegal is it to completely change your blog post? Joking. It's my blog, and that picture was annoying. So I had taken my bike off the trainer yesterday after I rode and tonight I decided to take a new pic of it before I put it back on for my ride tomorrow and get too lazy to take it off yet again. And I'm really counting on all of the creative people in my life to help me out with this. Things like that are not in my toolbox of strengths, people. I'm analytical by nature, not overly creative. I remember dreaming solutions to calculus problems before my exams in university (or maybe I should say I had nightmares). Yes, that's about as creative (and perhaps an insite into my nerdy side) as it gets.

The Name Game

I can't believe how much time I just spent formatting a picture for this, but I couldn't let you see my messy apartment. It's a disgrace. I had intended on being in bed reading at this point. Maybe even sleeping since I have to go to the trainer at 8 am tomorrow. Anyway... I got this idea tonight when I read another blog I like. Last summer I mentioned to a few who will go unnamed that I wanted to name my bike. They just laughed. I never put any effort into thinking of something, and nothing has struck me as of yet, so I thought I'd put it out to you guys...

Here is my baby. What should I name it? I don't even know if I consider it to have a gender, so maybe a unisex name? Ideas?

Almost...

The conference schedule is being finalized... I sat down with my manager yesterday to discuss budgets and what-not and we went over the plans for travel. He had forgotten about my upcoming trip and had me slated for a large conference in New Orleans. My personal plans are still in place, so I will not attend the conference in the The Big Easy (weird nickname). I'm not totally bummed about that. All of the docs I have talked to don't want to attend that conference this year because of the location. Most of them don't care for that city. I think it would have been cool to be able to say I'd been there - particularly if it does sink away and disappear one day, but where I plan to go is way better anyway. I know some of you are anxious to know where that is, but I plan to keep it to myself a bit longer. Here are a few quick facts about where I'm going to give you something... Area: 78,200 sq km; Population 3,200,000.

Vanity

I have this space in between my two front, bottom teeth. I think this space just keeps growing. And it's really starting to get on my nerves. When those teeth first started to separate I thought it looked kind of cool. You know, I had braces, and you don't need to have absolutely perfect teeth. That's just unnatural. I remember this guy in high school whose teeth really struck me - they freaked me out. Way too straight. But you know you had a crap orthodontist when your bottom teeth just keep moving. This, even though I've agreed to leave that barbaric wire in behind them for what I think is meant to be the rest of my life. And then you also know that you had a crap orthodontist when on the surface of one of those front, bottom teeth you keep getting stains (due to the enamel that decided to leave that tooth and go into the garbage with the bracket they ripped off of it). So, this past week I started to think of what I might do to correct this. Maybe I could get those porcelain veneer things put on my front, bottom teeth? Then I could probably get rid of that annoying wire too. But would my insurance cover that? Uh, yeah, I don't think so. And am I willing to pay for it? Um, no, not really. Frankly I'd rather buy a new bike or something. So you know what that lead me to thinking about? Gratitude. Yep. I don't think my folks have been reading this lately, but maybe one day they will and they'll see this: thanks Mom and Dad for paying for my braces when I was a kid. Now that I'm an adult I can put some of these things into perspective and I realize the kind of stuff that parents give up. Not that my parents would have bought a bike worth several thousand dollars instead of braces for their kid, but I'm sure they had other stuff that they'd have rather spent the money on.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Huh? Yeah, well, that's what it feels like anyway. Ok, so I did not get outside on my bike today, although when I drove home from shopping (which is always exercise in itself) I saw other people who had. Lots of them in fact. And I contemplated whether or not I'd have enough time to do all of the things I would need to do to get my bike ready to go outside before it gets dark (and a bit colder) and well - no, not really. One of the reasons for the shopping trip was to get a few things that my little bike needed to keep running smoothly. So I will stay inside on the bike today, but the thought remains, and if it warms up again I still just might. So this blog is now going to change from Wanderlust to Weatherlust - an irresistible impulse to analyze the freaky weather. I will endeavour to bring you top of the hour, extremely interesting analyses of the weather outside of my own front door. As well as which sport it might actually be likely to participate in as a result. It may snow tonight, so everyone should cross their fingers and stop hoping that it doesn't. And you should also hope that we have a big storm this week (which is really unlikely) so that my lessons don't get cancelled next weekend. :( Because that's really bumming me out.

In other news: I completed the Cardiology exam, so I've finally rejoined the non-hermit-like people who tend to like to socialize with me from time to time. And I started showering again.

Now, on to my list and actual pile of books to read. Last week at the 'Bucks we were discussing books and someone asked me to post on what I'm reading. That's an interesting twist. I usually read a lot when I travel, so it is slightly related and suitable for the blog. Sometimes I go long periods without doing so while attending to regular life. So I suppose we can try it out - so long as what I'm reading isn't embarrassing trash, because you know I only read ancient Greek philosophy and Nobel prize-winning novels. No - there are no Sex and the City or Shopaholic books sitting on my bookshelf. Feel free to post comments on what you like to read or suggestions, as I'm thinking this is what my friends were getting at - they want ideas of what to read and they don't want to waste their time reading crap. They like others to test drive the crap first. How lucky we are. In any case, there are 2 books that I didn't finish before I started studying, or rather procrastinating and cramming for that exam: For One More Day, by Mitch Albom (in French, mind you - but I can give you the review in English if you are nice to me), and The Girls, by Lori Lansens (lent to me by Mimi).

Thought for the Year

How about starting the year off with an inspiring quote? I don't believe in "resolutions". I make goals for myself all the time. So instead, I heard this today, really liked it, looked it up, and thought I'd share it. :)

Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.
-William Faulkner