The Daily EO

The Daily EO: February 3rd, 2013

My grandpa has been confined for 2 weeks. No leaving his suite, no visitors, no internet, no reading, no excursions. I dare you to spend 14 days in your apartment with nothing to do but watch TV (just basic cable). You don’t know how to use a smart phone, computers are for young people, and you can’t see well enough to read. You can call people – but really, what have you got to say? You haven’t left your room in days.

Laundry? No, that’s off limits too.

So Grandpa slept. And made soup out of his delivered meals. And slept some more. Then called us to tell us things he had already told us.

Why did this terrible thing happen to him?

While the retirement residence he lives in had an outbreak of the Norwalk virus and they needed to keep their vulnerable population away from each other and well meaning but potentially infected visitors.

When he finally was allowed out, he treated me and Emile to a lovely meal at The Boathouse in New Westminster Quay to celebrate.

February 3rd, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: If Quarantine and cabin fever ends with a perfectly done steak, I think I’ll sign him up again.

The Daily EO: February 2nd, 2013

More than 30 years ago, my mom signed me up for figure skating. Little did she know that was going to result in being the head costumer for the little birds number for the skating carnival. I wasn’t a particularly good skater – weak ankles they said – so I didn’t pursue it much further. Last time I skated was about 15 years ago on the Rideau Canal. That lead to about 4 days that I couldn’t walk very well after using muscles that hadn’t seen the light of days in quite some time. Emile hasn’t skated since grade school. So, when Emile and I were invited to skate at Robson Square we both said sure, but with a bit of wariness.We had a wonderful time spending probably 1 1/2 hours on the ice with kids and beginners; show offs and hand-in-hand couples.

February 2nd, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: Learning to skate again – and we both did really well.

(forgive my pictures, moving on a cell phone in low neon-back light was pretty tough).

My weak ankles managing to keep my blades straight.

The Daily EO: February 1st, 2013

I toured staff of the Coquitlam Food Bank through our warehouse and facility today. I kept their coats and purses and other items securely in my office – I closed my office door so they felt comfortable.

So secure, in fact, that when we came back to get their belongings, the office door was locked.

With my keys on the other side.

February 1st, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: It’s funny how many extra keys are lying around when you are looking for just the one you need.

The Daily EO: January 31st, 2013

So, the end of January is upon us and that means I have to give you an update on Cliche January – or my journey with the other masses of people trying to remove the Christmas chocolates from my ass.

I’ll tell you now – the numbers are not too impressive. My weight is generally the same, but I can live with that, maybe down a couple of pounds. I am sleeping better, and feeling better also.

For the first 2 weeks of January, I was sick, so getting in exercise proved to be difficult when all you really wanted to do was lie on the couch and moan. Work also got quite overwhelming for a while, so I really just wanted to lie and the couch and be left alone.

So instead of beating myself up about that, I will celebrate the times I got off the couch. This month I:

Got outside to run 2 X 5+K. This is difficult to do because when I leave for and return from work, it is dark. I don’t feel comfortable running in the dark alone, so it ends up being Saturday and Sunday. Also, I don’t really have proper rain gear, so it has to be a Saturday or Sunday when it is not raining. All in all, that is 25% success rate of the 8 available days.
I did 130 squats according to the Squats Pro App I have.
I hit the gym in our building about 6 times this month and while that number is not very high, it is 6 more times than I actually did in December. Besides the hordes of Cliche January-ers are there, and it bugs me to be part of their movement, so okay.
Went for a 17 km walk with Emile around the sea wall and Stanley Park. That was a long walk.
I went to a spin class at a GoodLife gym which was pretty hard but I did the whole thing. Classes are included in a gym membership there, which I do not really want (see noted gym in my building), but they charge $15/class for drop in fees. Which then makes the gym membership thing cheaper than taking classes. So, waiting to understand how Emile’s contract renewal is going to look – don’t want to sign up for a long term commitment right now.
I took a healthy lunch to work every day. And packed one for Emile too.
I stopped caffeine again (and so much better for it).
Use Mind Jogger to remind me to “Drink some Water” and “Count to 10 and breathe” twice a day each.
Watched 5 episodes of the Biggest Loser. (doesn’t that count?)

There is lots of room for improvement in Fit February, and I am committed to continuing my efforts.

January 31st, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: Cliche January’s mixed success rate inspires me to keep on moving into Fit February.

The Daily EO: January 30th, 2013

Dine Out Vancouver is on. For Ontarians, this is similar to Winterlicious with many restaurants featuring prix fixe menus. There are 3 different levels of $18, $28, and $38. And each features an appetizer, dessert and entrée. We went last week to Blarney Stone’s $18 dinner and it was pretty good volume and food for $18.

Tonight we went to Wild Rice – also at the $18 level – and found that the food was excellent, the service was friendly, but a little mistake prone. But they fixed their mistakes and were quick about it. Probably because the place was sold out for due to Dine Out Vancouver!

In general, Emile and I are pretty cheap and watch calories, so we don’t eat out much. But somehow, we got ourselves this schedule:

Jan 30th: Wild Rice (just the two of us)

Feb 1st: Crepe Cafe (7 of us for post activity refueling)

Feb 2nd: The Boathouse (Grandpa taking us for dinner)

Feb 3rd: Salt Tasting Room AND The Pourhouse (friends in from Ontario)

I also received a coupon from Incendio – great pizza place now doing brunch – to offer us 2 for 1 brunch.

I miss Huntsville sometimes, but man do I love the restaurant scene here – especially those places within walking distance to our house!

January 30th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: Somehow I think all of this is going to derail Cliche January.

The Daily EO: January 29th, 2013

I get riled up over certain types of injustices. And I recognize while writing this, that the “injustices” in my world that I get riled up over are minor and not worth considering when compared to the injustices suffered by much of the world. I do get that, but when something is in my face, impacting my family, friends or team members, I get nuts about it. And if it affects my husband – watch out! I become absolutely insane.

When I returned to BC – after being born and raised here – I had to get car insurance. Unlike other provinces, car insurance is only offered by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC). Privatization versus government agency? I don’t know which is better really – but the drawback to ICBC is that you cannot “take your business elsewhere” if you don’t like the costs, options or service.

In purchasing my car insurance here, I was able to provide 7 years and 8 months of claims free history from my insurance companies in Ontario. As well, I had 7 years of claims free history prior to my move. This claim free history – which I have EARNED – resulted in getting the maximum discount of 43% (and 53% of the “optional portions” like comprehensive, etc). That is good, because I live downtown Vancouver – the highest insurance zone in the province.

My car was broken into at the end of December:

This cost me = $300 (window deductible for ICBC) + $500 (tenant insurance deductible) + ~$150 (increase in tenant insurance due to losing my 10 year claim free status) = $950

This cost the insurance companies: $170 (balance of window deductible for ICBC, much of which is HST that is going to the government anyways) + $500? (because Intact insurance STILL has not settled my claim) – ~$150 (that Intact is going to be getting from me through higher premiums) = $520

To recap: Criminal Activity that WAS NOT MY FAULT resulted in me “sharing” the cost with the insurance company 67%/33% – that doesn’t even factor in the premium I paid in the first place. And 1 month later, the Intact Insurance still can seem to figure out how much an LG Optimus cell phone is worth. (um, google it, people, they have the internet on computers nowadays).

During this whole thing, ICBC sent me a letter saying that my premium was miscalculated and I now owe them $370 more dollars because I am a “new resident”. No, I was born and raised here, but happened to live in Ontario for 10 years. But no, now my insurance discount can only be 40% both mandatory and optional regardless of my risk as a driver.

Turns out that ICBC says if you leave for more than 8 years, your BC heritage is erased.

Does that make me upset? No, it makes me CRAZY!

I called them. I escalated my complaint. I told them that I was being geographically discriminated against! I am a Canadian citizen that has lived in Canada my whole life! Apparently “in a couple of days” they will send me the link to send a letter to the “Fairness Commissioner”. That was 2 weeks ago. Thanks so much, ICBC.

And what can I do about it? Nothing – because it is fiscally irresponsible to not have insurance and there is only one company for car insurance. It just takes one distracted moment to severely injure someone and one random event to lose my entire home. So, I will fight this “I’m not a returning resident” classification with ICBC, but continue to pay premiums.

Insurance companies are in it to make profit. And it is in their best interest to delay claims, build loopholes, and increase premiums. It doesn’t matter if it is private personal firm in Ontario, a governmental agency, WSIB, WorkSafe BC, pet insurance, health insurance (when was the lat time that your glasses only cost $200?) etc – if you are paying a premium, there is some sort of loophole to maximize the premium.

January 29th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: I’m fighting this – I am not paying ICBC extra. They don’t get to make arbitrary rules not based on actuarial data.

See G.? – I didn’t write about it.

The Daily EO: January 28th, 2013

I received a text saying my husband invited someone for dinner the next night. This threw me into a little bit of a panic – plan these things ahead, thinking out menus, grocery shopping, pre-prepping food, cleaning. Everything is planned. So, this was hard on me. But then he said “Don’t worry about it, I’ve got it.”

Ok?

Hmmm.

Fine, I’m busy at work anyways. Carry on.

So when I got home, Emile announced that he was going to make either Butter Chicken or Pad Thai. I immediately tried to talk him out of butter chicken – afterall, neither of us have ever made it before and our guest was coming in less than 24 hours. We are out of control – there isn’t a plan for this!

But do you know what? – other than rice and curry powder (easily purchased downstairs) – I already had everything on hand to make butter chicken and a readily accessible cook book with an excellent recipe.

January 28th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: It’s my planning and foresight and Emile’s spontaneity and willingness to try something new that works for us. And his butter chicken was really good too.

The Daily EO: January 26 & 27th, 2013

I went to see The Hobbit for the second time this weekend – this time in 2D with my grandma. Nobody else wanted to go with her, so Emile and I said we would go even though we’d seen it before.

The Hobbit does not seem to be getting the sincere love that the Lord of the Rings series got. Reviews call out the 48 frames per second and the lack of action and hodge podge presentation of the stories. I enjoyed the movie the second time.

And there you go “I enjoyed the movie”. Why is it that I hesitate to tell you the truth – I loved the movie. I love the Lord of the Rings and I love this movie. Perhaps Peter Jackson is drawing perhaps more than he should on the appendices and and unused material from the Lord of the Rings. Perhaps the Hobbit is supposed to be lighter. Perhaps it doesn’t need 3 films to tell. But there are few movies that I actually pay to rewatch. I love the “moments”, the score, the scenery. (the rock giant fight I could have lived without really).

January 26 & 27, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: Admit I love something – who cares if someone else doesn’t agree.

And thank goodness, that it wasn’t my storage unit that burned down – it was just right beside the vacant warehouse that did. Talk about a clutch in the heart driving up that day.

The Daily EO: January 25th, 2013

I left work as soon as I could on both Wednesday and Thursday. Both days it seemed to be one more problem, one more email, one more political maneuver than I had the capacity to deal with. Full up here, people.

And the weather seemed to suit this – dark when I got in, dark when I left, pattering rain on my skylight, and foggy, overcast for days on end.

So, Friday, when work began at 6:30 am for the first of my departments three team meetings, I expected more of the same. Dreary days with a burdened heart. Here I was telling my team members that “good enough is not good enough” and that I needed a shift in thinking from “what can someone else fix?” to “What can I do differently?” and here I was struggling to get through my days. “Working too hard to be only mediocre.”

January 25th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: I heard what I was telling my team members and my outlook changed too.

The Daily EO: January 24th, 2013

I went to a new massage therapist.

I often feel like I have something to prove with RMTs because I never want to complain about the pain. I feel like I should just take it – the pain is good, it is releasing something bad right? So, I usually suck it up during the rough patches, because I don’t want to be wussy. (my mother would say “Get some self-esteem, Susan”)

But this new RMT started using elbows on my gluts? Oh, my god that hurt. And strong fingers along my scapula? Wow. How did theose thin little fingers exert so much pressure? It felt bizarrely terrible and good at the same time. I didn’t cry out, I just told her later than that was “sure something”.

January 24th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: It’s funny what we’ll take if it is presented in the right framework.