It's his party, and he'll cry if he wants to

Today is my dad's 62nd birthday.*

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!

While I admire my Dad for many things, not least of which is his penchant for Star Trek and a myriad of other stellar (pun intended) and not-so-watchable sci-fi shows, the most noteworthy aspect of his personality is his ability to stay calm as a cucumber and happy as a clam in the face of clear and present danger**:




* But who's counting, right? Hey, only 38 more years till your centennial! heehee :)

** With thanks to my mom (Photoshop is her best friend, but I won't tell you which part has been 'Shopped in), from whom I stole this photo without her consent. What's she going to do? Sue me? Her daughter is a lawyer, true, so I guess it's always possible.

Le weekend (et la vie) roundup

My mom came to visit this weekend. And true to form, just to prove to her, once and for all, that she was glad she no longer lives in Ottawa[1], she arrived in the middle of a snowstorm. Luckily, she was taking the train, and so was able to make her trip without worry or bother.

Friday night, she stayed over at my aunt's place, and then she and my aunt came over to our house on Saturday morning. Randal and I made a big brunch of mixed-berry muffins, orange and cranberry scones, turkey bacon, hash browns, and my world-famous scrambled eggs[2], and we sat and ate and talked and opened some very, very late Christmas presents. My aunt gave me some lovely flannel pyjamas, and the most incredible pop-up book featuring the seven books in Chronicles of Narnia - if I wasn't worried about copyright issues, I'd take some pictures of the pop-ups - amazing!

Eventually, my aunt left, and Randal went to the gym. Mom and I stayed home with Rion, and watched one of my favourite movies, Gross Pointe Blank. When Randal got home, he made dinner - salmon with garlic and white wine sauce, rice, broccoli, butternut squash, and spinach salad with cucumbers, walnuts, and pear-guava dressing.[3] Soooo good. Then we watched another movie, Hot Fuzz, which, if you've never seen, go see![4]

Sunday morning, we started over again, with more food. My aunt and uncle picked us all up, and we went to a nearby pub called Tartan's, which has a Sunday all-you-can-eat brunch. It was tasty-tasty. Then we headed back to our place for about an hour before my mom had to leave for her train back to T.O.

Other than that, not much interesting has happened. We finally painted our living room and dining room a few weeks ago. Despite it looking in the can like a yellowy-green somewhere between baby poo and baby puke, the colour is AWESOME. Golden-yellow during the day, darkening to an orangey-yellow like the inside of a pumpkin by afternoon, and a soft camel brown at night (but almost limey green in direct light). I love it, and will post pictures soon. Just waiting to put some pictures up on the wall, then I'm going to take a whole slew of photos of the place.

Work is good. The first two weeks were tough, as I was training, and not doing a heck of a lot each day. But I've been in my actual section for over a week now. The work is interesting, and I'm just busy enough to not be bored during the day. Soon, apparently, I will be quite busy - it's a busy section. As I explained before, basically I am working in a research division with a bunch of lawyer-analysts. Whenever an M.P. (sometimes other people, but the M.P.s are our main client group) has a question, about anything whatsoever, they contact the library. Those questions related to law or government mechanics are sent to my division. Some of the questions go to the analysts (if they want a short research paper written on a topic, for example), but the majority go to the four of us librarians. It can be as simple as "What laws deal with adolescents who've committed crimes?" or "Can you find me such-and-such a case?", to much more complicated issues, like "What is history of food regulation in the European Union?" or "What did Trudeau and/or Pearson have in mind when they implemented the bilingual policy in the federal government?" Anyway, the work is interesting, and it will be good to sharpen my legal research skills. But I miss the daily interaction with people (most of our questions come via email, and I only rarely have to talk to someone on the phone, let alone in person!), not to mention my students.

Living in Orléans is great. We love our place. It's so nice to have so much space, and the dog is really happy. It takes about a half hour to get in to work in the morning, plus about 10-15 minutes walking time (10 to the bus station, 5 to my office). If I leave at 7:50 (which I've never managed yet, but there's always hope), I can get to work by about 8:30.[5] I usually read and/or listen to music. In just over 3 weeks, I have already finished two books![6]

Anyway, that's it for now. See you again in about 3 weeks.[7]


[1] She grew up in Ottawa.

[2] They really are the best scrambled eggs you'll likely ever have, if I do say so myself. I add a bit of milk and lots of cheese (cheddar and gruyère, this time), and make sure not to cook them too long. Anyone who comes to visit us (on a weekend) is welcome to a helping. Now come visit!

[3] Yes, we like food. And yes, if you come visit us (on a weekend), you can have some good food too!

[4] My friend Mark has a short, but pithy, review of it here.

[5] Those of you who know me well, know that I am not a morning person. However, I actually chose that start time. Right now I work till 4:30, and it's great leaving so early in the afternoon. After April 1, it will be 5:00, but it's really not so bad.

[6] Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland, and I'm almost done The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler.

[7] Just kidding.

I'm no longer an unemployed bum!

Yes, the rumours are true. I have a job. And not only do I have a job, but I have a job that starts on Monday. (I was given a tentative job offer just before Christmas, but didn't get the actual paperwork with the offer in writing until earlier this week. So it's not a complete surprise. To me, at least.)

I am going to be a reference librarian with the Library of Parliament, Law & Government Division. This is actually the second time I have applied for this job (and, incidentally, the second time I've been offered it, but I had to turn it down the last time around). It's only an 8-month contract (filling in for a librarian who's been seconded to another government department), but I've been advised that, due to various reasons, there is a good chance of another position being available for me, either in the Law & Government Division, or elsewhere in the LOP.

Don't know exactly what the job will entail yet. The Law & Government Division has about 25 or so people in it, four of whom are librarians. (Although there's only three of us right now - long story.) It's a research division providing support to Members of Parliament on questions specifically related to law and government. Some of the other members of the division are lawyers, but not all of them.

I've only ever worked as a librarian in an academic setting, so this will be quite different for me, I think. I suspect I'm going to miss the one-on-one reference sessions with students (not to mention teaching, which I miss already!), but there will surely be many challenges for me to tackle and new things for me to learn, and I doubt it will be nothing less than quite interesting.

But please, hold back your congrats on my going to work at the most beautiful library in all of Canada. Those of you not interested in libraries may not know that the Library of Parliament underwent a massive renovation a few years ago. It's the only part of the original Parliament buildings left standing, built between 1860 and 1876. In 1916, a devastating fire burned the Parliament buildings down to the ground, with the exception of the library, which was saved, at least in part, by the heavy, closed iron doors that stood between it and the fire-gutted Centre Block. Anyway, the library is gorgeous, like something out of a movie set:



However. I won't be working there. (I wish!) No, my division of LOP is off-site (as much of its divisions are), in a nondescript building near O'Connor and Queen, a good five or six blocks away. My workplace will likely look more like this:



Do you suppose I could negotiate to have Ron Livingston visit me once in a while? He can even have my stapler.

Someday, I will show this to his girlfriend and embarrass him

Rion, in his shiny new raincoat, over top of his winter coat, complete with booties, ready for a walk on a rainy, but snow-covered January day:


Once I got the jacket on, however, I realized it was no longer raining, so off it came:


We've had weird weather here. I fear the Rideau Canal is not going to be able to open anytime soon. It was icy-cold and blustery and wintery through the last week of November and most of December - we had a number of really good winter storms - but the last few days in particular have been quite warm. It was 10 above yesterday, and today it's probably about 5 above. So everything is melting. Which might make some people happy, but it makes my dog sad because he really does like his little booties.*

If anyone is interested, I put up a few more pictures of the snow around our place over the past few weeks.


* OK, maybe "like" is a strong word. But he seems to appreciate what they are for. Before we got them, a few years back, walks outside lasted no longer than 5 minutes, because his paws would get too cold and he'd want to be carried. Now we can be outside for 15 minutes or even longer (on a semi-nice day). He loves to plow through deep, fluffy snow, his head down like a snowplough pushing through the layers. That doesn't work so well on days like today, when it is all slushy and half-ice and wet.

A resolution or two...

So seeing as how it's the New Year, a good time to take stock of one's life, I thought about whether or not it was worth my while to make any resolutions. Is there any point in trying to improve perfection, I ask you?

But what could I possibly resolve? I couldn't resolve with a straight face that I'd start going to the gym, since I already am going to the gym, having taken out a membership at my local Goodlife back in early November. And I've been pretty good about going since then, with the exception of the past few weeks which were largely spent traveling here, there, and everywhere.[1] I in fact like going to the gym and I will go again. Tomorrow.[2]

Other ideas that crossed my mind were: travel to an exotic land, learn a new language, search out old friends now lost. But you know what? 2007 was a good year. I traveled to Japan and a myriad of other exotic Asian countries, I at least pretended that I was learning Japanese (that one could perhaps use a new resolution), and I reconnected with a bunch of folk from high school and elsewhere thanks to the wonders of Crack -er, Facebook. On a related note, I might take a trip to Quebec City later this year - that's pretty exotic.[3]

Some people resolve to get a better job. Well, seeing as how I've been unemployed for over 5 months now, I figure almost any job is a better job, if of course you subscribe to the silly notion that sitting around at home playing with the dog all day is not a job.[4] At any rate, I already belong to the best profession in the world, and couldn't ask for a whole lot more.[5]

I entertained the idea that I might give up, once and for all, procrastination. But, you see, I've worked it to somewhat the level of an art, and would feel bad giving it up now. Maybe next year.[6]

What else? I already cut my hair short (what? I didn't mention that?), learned to knit, take the dog for daily walks, read as many books and watch as many old(er) movies and play as many boardgames as I possibly can, and am in the process of memorizing all the words to all the ABBA songs ever recorded[7].

I decided, then, to make two simple resolutions:

1. I will drink lots of water, somewhere near the recommended 8 glasses if possible.
A weird resolution, I know, but something that is recommended time and time again by doctors and nutritionists and healthy people. I did it for a while a few years back and I felt great. But all too often, I spend my days nearly dehydrated. So look out toilet! I'm going to visit more often.[8]

2. I will learn to cook.
Of course, I know how to cook. I even enjoy cooking once I get down to it. However, my repertoire is rather, shall we say, limited. I have 7 different variations of pan-fried chicken[9], I can make mashed potatoes and rice[10], I am locally acknowledged as the maker of delicious hot dogs, and I did fry up two hamburgers the other night, but really, there's a wider world of food and cooking out there that I want to discover. I've had some really good cookbooks on my bookshelf the last few years, and I plan on using them. But I'm slow as molasses about getting anything ready, and I don't try new things. Maybe I will occasionally share some of the cooking successes (and/or disasters, since it's possible there may be more of those) on this site.

And on that note, since Randal had his first day back at work today, I'm going to look into making some dinner. I think I might try a soy-simmered chicken, though I note I have neither star anise or cinnamon sticks- Do people really keep those kinds of things in their kitchen on a regular basis? *sigh* I have so much to learn.



[1] Also known as Toronto three times and Winnipeg once.

[2] Or maybe the day after. I mean, today's almost over, which means tomorrow is almost here, which means I need tomorrow to do the things I was supposed to do today.

[3] There's been rumblings of a 15-year high school reunion back at QHS. 15 years? Yikes. I'm sure I'm not old enough to be attending that.

[4] 'Course, I don't get paid for it. I should really try to negotiate that.

[5] Someone actually pays me to sit around with books all day long, research interesting topics, help people find what they are looking for, and even teach. Well, when I'm actually employed, that is.

[6] It also occurred to me that such a resolution might entail the inclusion of timely updates of my blog and my photos on Flickr. I just can't espouse the adoption of a resolution that I am inevitably going to break, and in record time, too! But you know what? I'll try to be better.

[7] OK, that's not true. I in fact am fiercely proud of being, perhaps, the worst person in the world for singing along to songs for which I have absolutely no idea what any of the words are: "It had to be you, it had to be you, dee dee blah blah blah, something something blah blah, no matter whooooo..."

[8] On that note, don't ask me how much water I've had today.

[9] With soy sauce, with mustard (preferably dijon), with honey and cayenne pepper (my favourite), with Thai chili sauce, with beer (I love cooking anything in beer, actually, since you then have the "excuse" to drink the rest of the bottle), with hoisin sauce, and with apple slices and white wine (OK, I've never done that one - I needed to come up with a seventh - but it sounds kinda good, no?).

[10] Not together! Those are two separate entities. I haven't mastered the art of noodles yet; they scare me.

To my adoring fans...*

I'm working on it. Yeesh.

* Namely Mark. Even my mother has stopped harassing me about when I'm going to next update this blog.**

** Speaking of which, I did write some new book reviews on pixxiefish in the stacks, so you could go read those in the meantime. In particular, Mark, you will undoubtedly enjoy my oh-so-critical review of Anil's Ghost, a book of which I know you hold nothing but fondness in your heart.

bloggus operandi

We're leaving for Winnipeg tomorrow for 9 days. That's all I have to say for now. Just didn't want anyone to accuse the blog of having once again kicked the bucket or anything like that.

In other news, we are snowed in. Almost literally. It's been snowing hard all day. Randal went out to the store in the late afternoon, and the snow had drifted up across our front walk so that it was almost halfway up his thighs. I haven't seen waist-high snowdrifts like this since we lived in Quebec City. I tried to take some pictures but they didn't really show the scale very well. I may try again tomorrow on our way out. It's really neat - I like it!