I talk about weird things these days. I talk about label claims, chilsonators, mouth feel, and my favorite: Pea Protein. I didn’t know peas had protein.
I know I am 38 now and should be over it after a month, but I giggle a little when someone says, “Hey, come to so-and-so’s office, we’re going to talk about pea” Or “We need to review the pea plan”, or “Let’s look at pea in the boardroom.”
October 29th, 2012 Extra-ordinary: Pea. Hee Hee. Pea. Pea.
The retirement residence that my grandpa lives at serves 2 meals a day – lunch and dinner. A early morning continental breakfast is served in the breakfast room but many of the residents break the fast in their suites. Like airplanes and hospitals, the thought of food in a retirement residence pulls up thoughts of industrial, lacking food. But at the Mulberry, the food is pretty good.
Each day there is a menu, but if you don’t care for the feature, you can opt to have one of the three or so back up meals. These back up meals change each month as well, so there is ample variety. And if you want a fried egg or the like, the kitchen will try to get it for you.
Residences can have guests join for meals as well – for an extra fee – so I have eaten a number of meals at Mulberry.
On Sundays, the hot lunch often is breakfast fare recalling leisurely Sunday brunches from years before.
I awoke on Sunday morning with a hankering for scrambled eggs, bacon and toast – a real breakfast. And when I considered my options, I realized Mulberry was the best bet. There is always breakfast available and the company is pretty good.
October 28th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary: Double portions for the guests – Mulberry is the best deal in town.
For those of you who know my husband well – you already know that he is cheap in some things, and spendy in others. For all the dollars he saves on no-name peanut butter another dollar is spent on audio visual, technical or photography needs.
The path from identification of need to the actual purchase is long and filled with hours of research, tedious conversations (depending on your perspective, I guess) and endless nerd reviews.
We start off with “I’m thinking of buying X” which leads me to know that he has been thinking about it for a couple of months. For example, he has talked about replacing our server about 3 or 4 times, meaning it has been processing in his brain for probably 6 months. Now that we’re both employed again, I am certain I will pick-up his laptop soon and find 16 open Internet Explorer tabs with consumer reviews and technical specifications on servers. One day he’ll mention a budget, soon we’ll discuss income that could be generated from the server we already have. And then, once all the specifications are decided, the comparison shopping will start.
It’s long. And it is almost completely opposite to me. I want. I see. I buy. Or sometimes: I see. I want. I buy.
Emile painfully sold his TV when we left Ontario. He suffered from what all of us do when selling your used items – you remember how much you paid for it, how you got it, the good times and it always feels like they should be paying more. He stroked it goodbye and sadly turned and walked away.
So, here we are in Vancouver with no ability to watch TV on a big screen. This was much more of a concern to Emile than it was to me – I’m happy watching on a laptop, seeing a movie or even going outside. Emile recognised the need to expedite his process and had already moved into the research phase of TV pruchase. He let me know about a large budget. I cringed – sure spend that next year, but this year when all of our funds seem to be going to into IKEA shares? Hmmm.
I must have approached him in a weak moment, because when I suggested buying a cheaper TV for now, he sounded almost interested. When I mentioned searching for a used TV, he didn’t sneer.
To demonstrate the potential market I typed “Sony 50 TV” into Craig’s List only to find a local guy selling a mint condition Sony 55″ TV for less than 40% of a new one.
Emile was silent.
He was still.
Then he firmed his shoulders, gritted his teeth.
And then he said “Send an email to see if it is still available.”
October 27th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary: A “new” TV sits in our apartment and $1500 remains in our bank account. No research or process. Just buying – and that I can relate to.
I will not – could not – buy more tea.
I should not – can not – buy tea for me.
I cannot drag it to and fro.
From place to place – this I know.
I cannot buy it from a store, I cannot buy it anymore.
The tea cupboard is flowing out the door.
Get the kettle from the drawer!
On the tea leaves, pour pour pour!
Do not buy it, Susan, I say.
Do not buy it, I so pray.
Stay on home and drink it up.
Use the tea you’ve got in your cup.
I will not, cannot, buy more tea
Not for you, or he or she.
Drink Drink Drink, you must must must.
No more tea! Until just dust!
October 26th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary: What the heck is assam tea anyways?! Doesn’t matter, I’m drinking it and anything else I find in the cupboard.
Random Pictures from my phone.
October 25th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary: Imagine being able to take pictures on a phone. Very few could fathom that just 10 years ago.
I wore a red rain coat and high heels today.
As I toured a plant with the operations peer group, I realized I was the only one not wearing black or grey and I towered above most of the attendees. To boot, I was one of the two women in the whole group. Manufacturing generally doesn’t have a lot of us types – you know, girls.
October 24th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary: I like not quite fitting in. I think I will wear my red coat more often.
I’ve made the mistake of using Bell Tower as my iPhone alarm. It isn’t jarring enough – it seems to lull me slowly out of sleep instead of jerking me awake. But like the gentle tones.
This resulted in me not going to the gym since Saturday morning. I set my alarm with good intentions, but then I lie in bed and think about England so peacefully while listening to the sounds of the seabus and bells. Why England? I don’t know, but church bells make me think of the UK.
So, there I lay, and by the time I get out of bed, I only have 20 minutes remaining for a workout and I think, well, I don’t really have time.
October 23rd, 2012 Extra-Ordinary: Better to not do it all than half assed. Time for a shower then. And a spot of tea.
7:00 am: Five pounds lighter than previous from eating fewer Jelly Bellys and using my building’s gym. Weight loss hindered thanks to the close-by New Town Bakery and those damn Steam Buns.
7:45 am: I didn’t see a pedestrian and I started to go – if he hadn’t jumped out of the way and slapped my hood, I would have hit him. Don’t wear grey and jump out from behind flowerpot pedestrian – you may have the right of way, but I don’t want my life so negatively impacted that I need therapy for years after killing you. Seriously, guy, if you are reading this – I am still so so sorry.
8:30 am: Standing in front of a production board on the floor wearing a hairnet, bags over my shoes and a lab coat. Thinking that surely I couldn’t have finished my entire tea already and I wonder if anyone will notice my pretty shiny nails.
9:44 am: Inside voice: What are these people all talking about?
10:22 am: Text to my husband “How are you bearing up?” (he’s recovering from the flu)
11:00 am: Quality/Production meeting where fiery Russian Quality Manager tells me how It Will Be. By the end, we agreed to have vodka shots together soon to celebrate our new bond.
12:15 pm: Received text response from my brother: “Bearing up Under What?” (phew, that could have been much worse)
12:25 pm: Eating my delightfully delicious lunch – that I had the forethought to make the night before – at my desk and trying to catch up on e-mails. Notice that I have 43 emails on the same topic – boxes. Surely something else happened today.
1:16 pm: Work cell phone rings for the first time and it turns out to be an automated message – complete with strange cadence – to remind me of an appointment.
2:15 pm: Consider reasons why I only seem to sweat from one armpit.
2:43 pm: Participate in bizarre conversation from a parallel universe:
Person Who will Remain Unnamed: “I need a favour. I am moving and I need to get new furniture but my place won’t be ready until November and the store is going out of business. Do you think I could store perhaps a couch, table or chairs or something I buy from the store in the warehouse?”
Me: (gaping): “Um.. . in our company warehouse? You want to store your personal furniture? Here?”
3:37 pm: Finally finish reading all box emails (which by now have increased in number), wondering how I am to get anything done if a box issue takes this level of communication to resolve.
4:45 pm: Dash through the spitting rain to my car to return home. Ponder the thought of how I never remember a jacket now that I live in a highrise. What is weather when you live inside?
5:15 pm: Receive email from Fiery Russian Quality Manager. Appears the bond we have is broken and Vodka shots are not in my future.
5:17 pm: Husband makes mistake of coming home and receives suitable verbal punishment.
5:50 pm: Where I belong, a life of leisure, sitting in the stylist’s chair at the Aveda Institute in Gastown.
7:15 pm: After head and neck massage, people touching my hair for an hour, I believe I may be able to do this again tomorrow.
7:50 pm: Exchange emails with Production Manager to confirm that my worries that I have lost my mind are unjustified.
October 22nd, 2012 Extra-Ordinary: Visit to Bizarro land.
I attended one of those antique shows where each person rents a table and sells their wares. It was not a particularly interesting one, and I had to pay $5 admission. There were hundreds – and I mean hundreds – of teacups and saucers, and many things that I remember from growing up. Things we don’t have any more because, well, they are old and crappy and we donated them.
But yet in our new society – founded on renew and reuse – these things are rescued from thrift stores across Canada and dragged out to “Retro Decor and Antique” shows. Records, jewelry, dishes, books, needlearts, etc, all on display to fill my house up with my parent’s and grandparent’s junk.
As I wandered the aisles with my aunts and grandmother – with my aching back due to walking at cane speed – I pondered the lifestyle of one of these vendors. Every weekend, filling up the car with your wares, driving to the Croatian Community Centre (or the like), hauling boxes in, unpacking, listening to people haggle, and then packing up most of you stuff again at the end of the day. Probably 20 of your weekends a year.
That sounds like moving 20 times a year to me. What a nightmare. That and running a B&B – no thanks.
We discussed this with one vendor – a lady as antique as her jewelry items. She agreed, it was a lot of work, and could be difficult sometimes.
October 21st, 2012 Extra-Ordinary: Afterall – she had to take the Handy Dart to these show. Yes, the Handy Dart that takes seniors or handicapped to doctor’s appointments. I guess they’ve expanded their services.
When I was a little girl, my aunts and uncles would visit us in Cranbrook often. “Auntie Judi” came once a year and would take over my bedroom and I was happy to give it to her. Judi was my favorite aunt – no, that’s not quite correct – she was the one who seemed to get me and she lead the life that I thought I wanted to lead. She was single, laughed alot, had no children, travelled, and gave me attention.
What I remember most about those visits is hovering at the closed bedroom door wishing she didn’t always sleep in sooooo late and the painting of my fingernails. Mom didn’t paint her nails when I was a kid – well, at least that I remember. So when Judi came flying into town with her brightly coloured nail pots, I knew that I could be pretty and fashionable just like her. And she just seemed to ignore my pudgy fat fingers. Invariably, almost immediately upon completing my nails, I would smudge or chip them because I wasn’t a gentle or patient child.
Not much has changed in that regard – I still am restless and active. Mom passed on to me working hands and working habits. I can count the number of manicures I have ever had on one hand – pun intended – because it is pretty costly for something that last about 24 hours for me. The wish be pretty and fashionable may have been created by society views girls and women – but it is still there.
When I was a teenager, Mom started getting gel nails which had its drawbacks. First off, I did not have the income to support the maintenance cost. Well. .. I guess that is the reason because as a teenager I didn’t really care about long-term consequences like nail bed health. (and really does anyone stay up worrying about that?). But the filling requirements, the worry of infection, the damage to natural nails. . . it wasn’t something that seemed like a good idea even when I got income to pay for it.
But a brilliant person – who probably could have worked on the cure for cancer – invested gel polish. This being a cross between regular polish and fake nails. Essentially, it is nail polish that is strong and durable. It is painted on your regular nails but set with a UV light. ( I wonder how that ages your hands. . . Hmmmm)
As I explored downtown Vancouver Saturday morning, I ended up in Yaletown. That is where all the beauty bars are kept I think. And I found exactly what I was looking for – a small salon tucked into a Galleria with fading aging pictures in the window (I don’t want to pay for fancy storefronts). They could take me right now.
October 20th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary: Pretty and Fashionable. That’s me.
The Daily EO 