Norapinephrine

Illegal Seek error

2011-05-06T09:43:00.000-04:00

I couldn't find this on the 'net so here's what "illegal seek" error could mean on an ofstream write : no write permission! That's too simple !!! So just change the path to some place where the application has write permission. Doh!

Weekend updates..

2009-12-14T05:55:00.009-05:00

Greg went snowshoeing for the very first time!!!

We went to Mer Bleue while Kiki was at a birthday party at Cosmic Adventures.

The snow was coming down quite hard so the car slipped around turns and slid to stops but everyone was driving slowly anyway, so it was just a little nervewracking..

We met a lady from France who took our picture on the trail. She had these little booties on in

the deep snow and was heading back to "Le parking" because they weren't working

out too well. As you can see, I

dressed very warmly and Greg dressed very lightly since he gets warm much more quickly than I do.

There was face painting at Kiki's party.

After supper, I did her hair while we watched Madagascar.

She was soooo good, that we got 4 corn rows in! They are my first corn rows on Kiki, so they are crooked in some spots. When we finished I said, Kiki we can do this!! And she responded, " Felicitations , Maman!"

Menu Plan Monday

2009-12-14T05:40:00.006-05:00

Last week was eventful : big snowstorm, no internet, and no oil!! But we came through okay and have oil now. I had a plan last week, but no connection to get to my blog, so I missed posting it.

Here is this week's plan for the orgjunkie.com MPM..

Monday - Roasted pork, macaroni with cheese, salad

Tuesday - Turkey enchiladas, white rice with corn, cheesy spinach

Wednesday - Ham in OJ, broccoli'n'cheese, boiled potatoes

Thursday - pasta and meat sauce, salad

Friday - roasted chicken legs, spanish brown rice, leek

Saturday - quiche or omelette , salad, potato salad

Sunday - lemon tilapia, rice with tomatoes, salad

Menu Plan Monday

2009-12-02T19:54:00.005-05:00

I messed up... it's WEDNESDAY!!! It actually really does relieve stress so here's the orgjunkie.com menu plan...

Monday : Steak in Anchovy sauce, sticky rice, carrot salad with lemon-gahlic vinaigrette

Tuesday : Roasted curried chicken, mashed taters'n'turnips, asperge

Wednesday : Spaghetti with tomatoes, spicy Italian sausage, salad with balsamic vinaigrette

Thursday : Salmon steaks with cress, couscous, cheeeeesee brocolli

Friday : Stewy beef, roasted taters, plantain, salad

Saturday : Brrrrrgrrrrs, tomatoes'n'chard, fried roasted taters

Sunday : Beef tacos, quesadillas, corn, salad, ritas

Menu Plan Monday

2009-11-22T19:03:00.016-05:00

I did my groceries with my assistant today. We visited 2 new shops in the neighbourhood : Produce Depot and Njieme ( a mediterranean grocery ).

The Produce Depot was exciting.. I got CRESS and they had 3 different types of eggplants, 4 types of zucchini and at least 10 different types of apples! The Texan flag on the box of Kohlrabi made me spin around and grab some.

I got some chicken and beef for great prices from the grocery next door and we had no line ups plus friendly service at both. What a great find!

Here's the Menu Plan Monday menu (cooked in replacement baking dish plus new roasting pot ... I been shopping.. )

Monday -roast chicken with turnips, chard with garlic

Tuesday - roast porc, brown rice pilaf, salad
OR ... (it's my B-DAY : we'll go out for supper :) )
Wednesday - porc and tomatoes, roasted stuffed potatoes, steamed zucchini with gahlic

Thursday -Either mediterranean baked fish, or salmon steaks and cress (if I can get to Farm Boy for salmon!!) , fufu, salad

Friday - mac and cheese (per special request), kohlrabi

Saturday - mac and beef, cauliflower gratin

Sunday - steak and anchovy sauce, rice, carrot salad with lemon vinaigrette

Weekend Madness

2009-11-15T19:13:00.014-05:00

Kiki was very very busy this weekend. I am a bit worn out but I feel like I completed some sort of adventure race or a mothering marathon, so it's all good...

Friday afternoon : Emerise's 5th Birthday party after school

- A mishap caused Greg's car to leave Kiki's school with Emerise's birthday gift! So I made an emergency pitstop at Zeller's on my way home and dropped off another one soon after Emerise's party had started.

The kids played with all the balls, ate chocolate cake and opened gifts. A similar mishap caused Greg's car to come home, sans Kiki! So I zoomed off and was able to fetch her just 9min later. Kiki was so worn out that she was happy to go to bed.

Saturday : Gymnastics , violin lesson, group violin recital practice, birthday party in Gatineau

- How did I survive this day? I had to pick up more gifts for the 2nd party and hadn't planned for the group violin lesson. I picked up snacks from the grocery store but (another mishap?) I forgot my 60$ cashback . Kiki ate well but I ended up dining on 2 bananas plus 1/2 choco chip cookie for lunch.

In the meantime, Greg tidied up the place so that we could actually get some peace in the salon.

He fed her and played with her while I ran around doing errands. Then I drove Kiki to the party across downtown traffic and 2 rivers at a place called Tubes et Jujubes . When I picked her up 3 hours later, she had turned into a butterfly.

I felt guilty about being such a crab so we all snuggled together after supper , and watched Up (excellent!!) while polishing off an extra large bowl of salty popcorn..mmmm

Sunday : Playdate with Kylie and Madison at Mc Donald's in the morning, Violin recital plus potluck banquet afterwards

At McDo, Kiki inhaled her pancakes and offered to eat Madison's leftovers ,too. I denied her that pleasure , of course. They played for about 90min or more on the play structures there. She was sweating when we left!

The concert went exactly as I expected it to : she played sweetly for a few bars, then froze. Then restarted, then froze, then shrugged her shoulders and then caught the last few bars. Then she jumped on top of us and giggled and squirmed until it was time to go up for the group piece. She was pretty distracted there but she enjoys it in spite of all her fear.

After the concert, she joined the celebrations and ate cake, chips, crackers, cheese, pizza, and timbits. Then she helped clean up and took a photo of Yvrose and me.

She had a great weekend and so did we. But thankfully not all weekends are this busy!

Menu Plan Monday

2009-11-15T18:52:00.008-05:00

This is posted late, but was saved and ready to go since Sunday night...

Monday: roast chicken, red cabbage , brown rice with gahlic

-- This was yummy!! I used Bittman's recipe for chicken.

Tuesday: salmon , sweet potatoes , veggie sticks

-- Today I tried out Bittman's 10min salmon recipe. It was simple,but I will get back to adding gahlic to it next time. I skipped the parsley because we didn't have any
-- CATASTROPHE!! One of my 2 pyrex dishes EXPLODED when I pulled it out to flip the fillets over!!!
It blew all over the veggie stix that I had just finished chopping , so I had to throw out 1) a nice pyrex dish, 2) half of the salmon fillets, 3) all of my veggie stix!!!

I was feeling quite negative about the whole thing when I forced myself to admit the good things :
1) only 1 pyrex broke ( I had made 4 fillets, 2 in each pyrex)
2) it didn't break in the oven
3) it was the smaller pyrex
4) I had extra veggies for the veggie stix
5) I'm lucky that I can even buy such fine food

Then a miracle happened : Greg came home from Arnprior and ,even though he was tired and hungry, he did that wonderful vacuuming thing he does. Ain't I lucky ?

Wednesday : pate chinois and salad
-- G and D like this. I am looking forward to the salad.

Thursday : jambalaya with kale
-- There's nothing like homemade salsa to revive leftovers ;)

Friday : white fish with tomatoes , spaghetti squash, salade

Saturday : porc with tomato, leek , polenta
--If I can find some camembert for the porc, this will be super yummy

Sunday : Chicken enchiladas , rice with corn, salad

Bailey

2009-11-13T11:40:00.002-05:00

Bailey is the dog of the week at the Ottawa Dog Blog!!!

She used to live across the street when we were in Barrhaven and we had been promised a week of babysitting while her family visited Disneyworld in Florida. But she had to get an expensive operation , so they cancelled the trip.

That surgery was a success : Bailey runs all over the place, jumps on and off the couch and keeps everyone on their toes. She gives these quick little kisses and wiggles her entire body with joy when she gets the smallest bit of attention. She's tooo cute!! And she makes a great hot dog too!

Hello Elmvale!

2009-11-12T09:26:00.011-05:00

Left : Our first morning at the new home, before breakfast.

Below: Making supper, last night.

The Souls of Black Folk

2009-11-11T10:47:00.014-05:00

I'm still reading this but it's been so interesting that I want to post about it now.

In my opinion, it started off good, but not great. If I were less ignorant of American history, I might like the beginning better.

In the first 2 chapters , DuBois soulfully recounts the history of emancipation. The flames, famine, hardship and suffering of this story left me with a heavy heart. There are a lot of details about the Freedmen's Bureau and the bills and the struggles that were only partly overcome. It's good, but it would have helped to have a mini-encylopedia on hand to make the dry details a little more lively.

The book picks up quite a bit after pulling us out of the trying sad history.

It pulsates with scathing anger at Booker T Washington, so of course, that chapter flew by. I read it with a look of shock and finished it with a gasp. How did we miss all this in history class?

DuBois continues by writing warmly and lovingly of his first students and their families when he teaches in the South. There's nothing quite like a first hand account of life in Jim Crow days.

Now I'm reading his chapter on Atlanta... wow.. He compares Atlanta to Atalanta who loses the race because of her love of gold. He then explains how this impacted the development of school and life for all of the South, not just blacks. He says something about how the pursuit of Bread overtook the pursuit of Life. It seems like much hasn't changed. Those who have the most bread end up with the power to run our schools.

Goodbye Barrhaven

2009-11-10T07:10:00.003-05:00

Bye old home...

Menu planning ?

2009-11-09T07:26:00.002-05:00

We have no internet and no phone at home until FRIDAY (if we're lucky...)

I love the new home. It's so cozy!! And close to parks. The neighbours are great but we'll miss our pals in Barrhaven.

I whipped up a menu plan while heading back from Barrhaven with the car full of pots, pans, fridge leftovers and plates. Then I got to test out the new grocery store (The Independent at Alta Vista/Bank ) . It's not anywhere near as nice as the one in Barrhaven but we got enough groceries to get us partway through the week. I'll still have to get bread, milk, salad from Farm Boy on Wednesday.

Monday - chicken nachos, broccoli and cheese

Tuesday - roast beef, roast potatoes, salad

Wednesday - fajitas, rice and corn, purple cabbage

Thursday - spicy salmon, fried rice, salad

Friday - ham, mashed potatoes, spinach

Saturday - breaded baja, egg noodles in rose sauce, chard

Sunday - spaghetti and meat sauce, carrot salad

Spiderman grabs a Hot Dog

2009-11-03T07:56:00.001-05:00

Menu Plan Monday

2009-11-02T11:06:00.002-05:00

If I can commit to this puppy, I'll be a monkey's uncle!

My pal Jen of allthingsedible.ca has a cool habit of posting up her cooking adventures. It rubbed off on me a bit and so I'm going to try to do this Monday Menu Plan thing.

I've been doing menu planning for the past 2 months and I like it , so this might stick...

Monday : Jumbalaya , Sweet Potatoes, Swiss Chard

Tuesday : Roast Chicken , Broccoli, Rice

Wednesday : Trout, Mashed Potatoes, Salad

Thursday : Fish and Bean Tacos, Corn, Rice, Salad

Friday : Lamb chops, Boiled Potatoes , Green beans

Saturday : Quiche, Vegetable soup, Crusty Bread, Salad

Sunday : Spaghetti + meat sauce, salad

We're moving on Friday, so Sat and Sunday will depend on the condition of the range at the new locale..

How to clean off the crap from your non-bio food!

2009-05-05T10:10:00.003-04:00

I got pretty huffed up last night when Greg came home with bags of food, where only 2 or 3 of the items were organic. I've not really been militant about eating organic, but I've changed my ways since a very close and dear friend was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer. I know that cancer is mostly genetic, but I'm sure that pesticides, toxic home cleaners, pollution etc all increase our chances of getting nailed by cancer.

Greg insisted that Farm Boy just didn't have much organice produce to sell. I was sure he was wrong, so I headed right back out and came home with organic apples, but not much else.

Then we discussed whether or not it would be worthy to wash them.

Voila ! I found a site that says how to wash them. It's a funny read too.

Enjoy :
http://www.doctoryourself.com/pesticides.html

Samba how-to that actually makes sense!

2009-05-05T09:32:00.001-04:00

After fighting with Samba for too bloody long, I finally found a decent site that got it up and running for me!

http://www.centos.org/docs/5/html/Deployment_Guide-en-US/s1-samba-configuring.html

SSH Logins without Password

2009-05-04T10:52:00.002-04:00

I just found this link and it makes my life just that bit better..

http://www.linuxproblem.org/art_9.html

The only thing I had to change was to use "ssh b@B" instead of "ssh b@B hostname" .

Goodbye Brian

2009-02-20T11:09:00.004-05:00

My dear friend Brian Gordon passed away a few days ago. I only found out today.

I met him at Concordia University while I was getting my B.Sc in Computer Science. He was studying English Lit, but made it quite clear that he was at least as computer literate and mathematically capable as me. He and I both worked part-time at Student Services, helping adult students with introductory classes. We also were part of the Eat Your Peel Food Co-Op initiative at QPIRG, where we met Gabrielle , with whom he fell in love soon after meeting.

Gabrielle is one of the most artistically talented, intelligent, loving and patient women I know. Brian was quite the contrast : impatient , eager for debate, and brimming with humourous critiques of just about anything. They have a beautiful daughter who looks a lot like each of them but carries the quiet steady temperament of Gabrielle.

He loved music, film, the arts , Canada, history , science , science fiction, travel, rollerblading, and cycling.

I couldn't find any links to the Eat Your Peel Food Co-Op group that Gabrielle co-founded and on which we worked, but I did find a link to an article about him at Ryerson.

He never told me about what he did, but it sure sounds like him !

http://www.theeyeopener.com/articles/446-Cheating-scandal-haunts-prof

Cloaca

2009-02-17T21:17:00.004-05:00

We all went to see this at UQAM on Berri for Valentine's day. http://www.cloaca.be/

Aside from the long drive from Ottawa and the odour on arrival the outing was romantic.

The best part of the trip was spending time with my beloved friends Pierre and Isa who took us to UQAM on the metro.

The metro made my heartache... especially after having spent about 3h a day in traffic in the interminable OC transpo strike

Kiki was pretty impressed with the metro and with the poop the machine had freshly popped out. Isa gave her a good play-by-play of all the processes involved in making it. I sat with her , about 1 m away from the freshly baked loaf, until she decided to look at other things.

Montreal was at its most charming, when there is still enough snow to cover the debris and yet enough sun to lure us out on the streets. I love it and am not-so-secretly plotting to move us back.

Cours Sagueneen 101

2009-02-17T09:22:00.002-05:00

I heard this on the radio on my way to the Lycee today.

It ressembles the francais I learned in la belle ville.

http://www.lebonheurdepierre.com/SAG/index.html

Politics and Religion

2008-05-03T07:49:00.002-04:00

"Never talk about politics, religion or money." - Dad

Ignoring Dad's advice, have a listen to Rev Wright, that scandalous minister. This man rocks! He is affirming and inspiring. Thanks Cheryl for the links!

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lV8x_-Uk2c
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am50KvOWaaw
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BWWx4Q1VFg
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0fGH86DPag
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YJW0nevW38
Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWejjxWQWfE

2008-05-02T08:40:00.002-04:00

I have been very very very busy and I really can't write much right now, but here's what's been on my mind :

1) Am I white ? or brown ? Or ethnic ? I listened to Malcolm X the other day and I suddenly realized that I don't think I'm white, but I have been labelled as such by my friends and daughter. The thing is, my father and sister are clearly not white, so I grew up with their images in my eyes (not the mirror's ) and I don't think I'm white at all! However, when people tell me that my father and I are Egyptian, I think that they seem to have overlooked the fact that my dad has lived here in Canada for more than 40 years and that I am a Canadian. I think I'm brown. But Kiki insists that I'm white.

2) Everyone is dying. This is depressing the hell out of me. I don't even know what to say anymore. My friend's wife died while giving birth to her 4th son. Another friend's dad died of cancer just recently. Another friend is very very sick. And when I'm confronted with the reality of it, I can't say a word. Life is merciless.

3) I am working too flipping much. But it's good work , and I'm so engrossed in it that the day slips by before I know it. I love being this creative.

4) It's spring and crocuses have bloomed in our shady yard!

5) Kiki is flying high with swimming and gymnastics! She loves the waterslide that Greg takes her on and she loves jumping into the pool and being dragged around on her back by me.

6) We are babysitting this black lab/sheepdog mix. Well, I think it's more of a lab/shepherd or husky mix because it sheds fur whenever you look at it. Her name is Sheba and she is sweet. She has the mannerisms of Makana is about as old as he was when he left us. The fact that she is so similar to Makana makes me wonder how much of our personalities are genetic. That's a little saddening. But on the up side, if dogs can be trained to change their behaviour, so can we!

7) I'm not reading any books right now : I spend all my spare time on work . Spare means, after family, exercise and minimal-house-cleaning.

8) I'm really tired of church lately.

That's not as uplifting as it could be but that's how it is. And here's a lovely poem. It is one of my favourites.

The Hippopotamus
T. S. Eliot

Similiter et omnes revereantur Diaconos, ut
mandatum Jesu Christi; et Episcopum, ut Jesum
Christum, existentem filium Patris; Presbyteros
autem, ut concilium Dei et conjunctionem
Apostolorum. Sine his Ecclesia non vocatur; de
quibus suadeo vos sic habeo.
S. Ignatii Ad Trallianos.

And when this epistle is read among you, cause that
it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans.

The broad-backed hippopotamus
Rests on his belly in the mud;
Although he seems so firm to us
He is merely flesh and blood.

Flesh and blood is weak and frail,
Susceptible to nervous shock;
While the True Church can never fail
For it is based upon a rock.

The hippo’s feeble steps may err
In compassing material ends,
While the True Church need never stir
To gather in its dividends.

The ‘potamus can never reach
The mango on the mango-tree;
But fruits of pomegranate and peach
Refresh the Church from over sea.

At mating time the hippo’s voice
Betrays inflexions hoarse and odd,
But every week we hear rejoice
The Church, at being one with God.

The hippopotamus’s day
Is passed in sleep; at night he hunts;
God works in a mysterious way—
The Church can sleep and feed at once.

I saw the ‘potamus take wing

Ascending from the damp savannas,
And quiring angels round him sing
The praise of God, in loud hosannas.

Blood of the Lamb shall wash him clean

And him shall heavenly arms enfold,
Among the saints he shall be seen
Performing on a harp of gold.

He shall be washed as white as snow,

By all the martyr’d virgins kist,
While the True Church remains below
Wrapt in the old miasmal mist.

GEESE!!

2008-03-19T06:33:00.004-04:00

Mark the day ....

I saw
TWO GEESE
yesterday
in the fields by Fallowfield and Greenbank.

Spring is coming.

THANK YOU!

2008-03-17T19:50:00.008-04:00

I need a Thank You card from Lisa's collection for the ducks I saw in the fields at Fallowfield and Greenbank on my home from work today.

It would say ..

THANK YOU
FOR
THE VERY FIRST
SIGN
OF
SPRING

And it would accompany lots of warm wet mud and all the things those beloved ducks like.

There were hundreds of those lovely ducks swooping up to the bright blue sky. It was too pretty : a wave of small brown ducks,rising and sinking , wings spread, out of deep horizon of golden yellow corn stalks against a huge bright blue sky.

I had all sorts of emotions then. Of course, I felt like I had just witnessed a miracle or one of the great mysteries of the world, but I also felt like I was finally hitting the last run on a long brick workout, or like I had just finished scrubbing the last of the sticky vegetable skins from the vegetable crisper or maybe even the end of a horrible a novel that I couldn't stop reading because there was still some small part of it that was interesting or because it wasn't nearly as bad some other novel that I had thrown out. It was definitely a sense of relief.

So... spread the good news : Spring is on its way!!!

Waiting for Spring

2008-03-16T19:18:00.016-04:00

I'm afraid to admit it : I'm tired of winter.

The outdoor rinks are closed because the weather is too warm during the day, yet there is too much snow on the ground to be able to wear regular shoes. I'm tired of wearing my heavy boots, my big jacket, warm hat and snug scarf. Worse, I'm sick of clearing snow off the car.

Winter was great just a few weeks ago when I went skiing with my pal Paula from Toronto.

Then it got icy...

And then one winter storm came ..

And then another one ..

Then the time changed.

Now, The sun is up before I am and that makes me expect to see crocuses and buds on the trees. Whenever I hear the crows caw , I search the clouds for the smallest of V-formations and imagine that I hear that familiar honking that means spring is on its way. I'm still waiting..

In the meantime, Easter is coming to distract us from the delay.

We went to a fundraiser breakfast for Renee Stocks, a little girl with a unfortunate disease. Her experimental medicine costs $200 a day , so some of the local businesses have been hosting various events to collect some money for the cost.

Breakfast was great : pancakes, ham, hashbrowns, egg sandwiches, juice and coffee all free! And you could meet the Easter bunny, who was giving out some pretty chocolate Easter eggs or get your face painted. One butterfly did just that!

Another nice thing about Ottawa this time of year is Cabane a Sucre. Today, we went to a local historic farm with D's playmates. The farm offers a big brunch followed by a horse drawn sleigh ride and maple taffy , but we got there late so we just walked around the farm, toured a historic house, and saw a big dirty pig and some horses.

We have at least 2 more weeks of snow. Perhaps if I get my skis out one more time, I might not begrudge its bountiful presence everywhere.

Canada Disappoints

2008-03-05T14:42:00.001-05:00

Please remind me not to listen to Canada Reads next year. I remember now why I stopped following it years ago. The conversation is lame and the selection is disappointing. Thankfully, the popular choice redeemed our nations readers : Icefields (Wharton) won!

Canada Reads-2008

2008-02-26T20:49:00.010-05:00

I was quite excited about Canada Reads this year. I read all of the books and have been eagerly awaiting the start.

Finally, the panel discussions have started airing every night at 19h30 on CBC. I have been playing them from the podcast on the webpage on my laptop , after Kiki goes to bed.

Well... it's been disappointing...

Is it just me , or are they all gettiing all of the books wrong ?
Except for maybe Steve McLean...

I adored Mavis Gallant's The Fifteenth District, but I wonder why Lisa(defender) couldn't understand Not Wanted on the Voyage. I think she named herself the authority on feminism and decided to brand Zaib (NWOTV defender) a misogynist. I bet she's worried Jian so much that he's treating her with kid gloves. I can almost hear her complaining that no one lets her finish. But then again, he is rather patronizing sometimes.

There's too much interpersonal stuff going on.

Zaib seems too pompous and to suffer from a severely limited imagination. I got the impression that he expected no one to dare question him after he spoke with such dramatic flair.

Although I very much loved Brown Girl in the Ring, Jemeni (defender) couldn't appreciate the beauty in Icefields (Steve) or The 15th District (Lisa). She thinks novels have to be high-drama. Does she watch too much TV ? She surely lacks any appreciation of the subtle. And that's why she can't defend this wonderful novel.

And finally, I made it through King Leary (defended by Dave) but only with great discipline. Unlike NWOTV , there was little reward for reading it. Yet the panel seems to really like it.

Sometimes, the panel discourse sounds like a bunch of teenagers who go to Alternative High School are dissing their English reports after too many iced lattes.

Maybe these people are not the sort with whom I would spend my evenings?

I'm very glad that I read all 5 books, but I'm not sure I'll do the same next year. I might just do the French edition.

Fat to Fit?

2008-02-25T21:11:00.019-05:00

First , my confession :
I put on 20lbs between American Thanksgiving and Christmas!!!

So of course, I wasn't too happy and promptly went for a run and did sit-ups. I lost 5 lbs almost right away. Even my belly started to pull up a bit!

But that was the end of it. For one month, no weight loss, no muscle gain despite
1) changing my diet,
2) swimming 3 times a week and
3) doing some weights at the gym!!!

So... I hired a trainer.

My husband immediately offered alternatives, because after all, I've done this before and simply wasted hundreds of dollars. I could eat more protein, cut out the sugar, go to bed a tiny bit hungry... But I was tired of stabbing in the dark. I was willing to work hard, but I wanted to see results.

I did some research first(online mostly) and decided that the plan was to meet the trainer every week and get a workout plus nutritional guidelines every week.

Well, I found a trainer with experience and certification who worked out of my gym. It's been about a month since I started and I have lost about 5 more pounds, but more importantly : I actually fit in some of my old clothes again!!! CRAZY but true! I'm not starving either. In fact, I eat quite a bit!

Here's what I've been doing :
Swim :
1h 2x a week, and 1.5h on Sat morns
Weights :
2x a week : brutal, high rep, low weight.
It's all about form though. I have no injuries in spite of the workout!!

squats till my legs burn
more squats,
lunges with my legs on fire.
stagger to do chest press,
flop to the bench for lats,
glue myself to the mirror for shoulders,
stick myself to the wall for biceps ,
yank on a cord until my triceps lockup,
yank on the rope for more triceps
core, core, core for about 5min.-- I'm completely whipped and lifeless now

I am just adding cardio now, in tiny bits of 15-50 min cruises with nothing in zone 5. I won't venture there until next week, I think..

The Kite Runner

2008-02-25T20:50:00.005-05:00

I listened to a tiny bit of a clip of Dion's opinion on the extension of our stay in Afghanistan and it reminded me of The Kite Runner, which I finished last week.

I couldn't put the book down soon after starting it, which was wonderful relief from The Secret River. It left me with vivid images of beautiful Iran and Afghanistan, of deep family love, of hardships and challenges overcome. It's not a poetic novel, but the writing flows between colourful scenes and one gets to love the characters. As an added bonus, one gets a brief overview of modern Afghani history. It is told in a tone that I would call "typically arabic" because all elders and family are deeply retvered. Few words judge or condemn them. Instead, the author seeks to understand the wisdom of his father. Initially, rit is palatable because it is after all being narrated from the eyes of a young boy. As the novel progresses, the narrator shows how he doubts his father at times, feels pressured by him and so on, but in the end "Father knows best" or at least most of the time. But this tone is just in the background. The boy grows up and faces his demons. Of course, the novel hints at a happy ending. It is a bit too Walt Disney, but I do recommend it. The best parts that remain with me now are : the escape from Afghanistan, the flea market, the general, the secret he bears, the kite races, Sohrab and especially the way he describes hearing about the war in the news. It could be inspiring enough to make it to Oprah's book club.

The Secret River

2008-02-17T12:07:00.004-05:00

I just finished The Secret River. It was a horrible novel. Well, perhaps not horrible, because it was well written, but I didn't enjoy reading it. Initially, I was drawn in by the prose while the plot wavered but when it finally mounted a track and found a destination, it steadfastly and predictably stuck to the plot with no surpri ses or character development on the way. The author had a message and relayed it, sparing no details and frequently dwelling on the obvious and macabre. There is no redemption. The character persistently lets his selfish ego direct his actions and his "sweet" wife either follows or encourages him along the way. He is repeatedly and predictably surprised by his wifes "talents", by how she has her own thoughts and dreams. He consistently suppresses any questions on his ill character and never tries to better himself morally. He ends a rich and powerful man which Grenville juxtaposes to his doomed and helpless start in England. So , in the end, the reader hates the man and has an ugly view of Australia. It's not a bad novel, but I had to skim through the last 50 or so pages because I just couldn't bear to be dragged through all the details of the last aboriginal slaughter to claim his land.

Kiki Skis!

2008-02-10T19:31:00.000-05:00

Kiki and I grabbed some bagels from Tim Horton's and then headed out to Moonie's Bay after church today. We donned our skis and did a nice loop. It was sunny but the wind by the bay is always strong and cold. Dominique didn't mind though : as soon as I snapped her into her skis, she took off down the tracks smiling into the bright sun. I literally ran after her so that I could video tape her scooting off before I even had a chance to get my own skis on! I offered her a chance to turn back on the smaller loop, but she said that she'd rather do the bigger loop. She and I started singing some of our favourites with a few modifications ( eg , J'aime les galettes became Ugh-ugh ugh-ugh ugh-ugh.. due to our Backyardigan influences) . I sang to Ainsi font font font les petites marionettes.. with some jumping that caused me to nearly fall. That got a lot of giggles out of the munchkin. She ended up carrying on the singing herself making up tunes and lyrics as she went along. I took a few more videos and someone was kind enough to photograph us too.

Beautiful Music

2008-02-10T08:04:00.000-05:00

How about Bach ?

Yo-Yo Ma plays Cello Symphony No. 1 by the Great One

Prokofiev Symphony No. 1

Swimming Drills

2008-02-09T12:30:00.001-05:00

I am posting up these YouTube videos because it's got some good and fun drills : Mallorca Swim Drills and Kicking Drills

Ubuntu : 64-bit Adobe Flashplayer

2008-02-08T18:06:00.000-05:00

I finally found a good installation package to get Adobe to install without any checksum error :

http://launchpadlibrarian.net/10804892/flashplugin-nonfree_9.0.115.0ubuntu2_amd64.deb

vets

2008-02-07T15:31:00.000-05:00

I just kissed away $180 at the vet. Why ? Because vets are crooks. Here I was at the vet, verifying that my cat had either a bladder infection or stones , when I discovered that he was setting me on my way to a $600 vet bill. I thankfully stepped away from $400 of it, but unfortunately, I paid $80-$100 too much!! After finding out that the big plan was for me to do first a urine analysis, then some x-rays and additionally some bloodwork, I would then be prescribed either medication, surgery or a simple diet change. From what he had said so far, it sounded like the diet change would be the place to start, so I proposed that we start with the new diet and if that didn't work, I'd come back for the next step. If he had agreed, I would have felt that he was trustworthy, but he refused to give me the "prescription" diet unless I had at the very least a urinanalysis. He then confessed that he could find out everything he needed to know from the simply urinanalysis. Well, I am kicking myself now for giving in to that crap. He didn't even need the flipping urinanalysis after all! But I agreed to it, so after sitting in the waiting for half an hour, he called me back in to the office to recommend the prescription diet. By then, my brain started to wake up and I started to ask questions about the diet formula. Apparently, it would cost $30/month to feed her and it had special ingredients in it that would encourage her to drink more water (ie, salt) and to do other things which he couldn't explain to me because in his words, he is not a nutritionist. He might not be nutritionist and he might be a vet, but one things certain : he's a crook.

Post Script : If I had read this link, I might be even more than $100 the richer :
http://home.howstuffworks.com/how-to-treat-common-cat-diseases5.htm

A snowy morning in February

2008-02-07T10:21:00.000-05:00

I wake up anxious that I will be late for my morning swim with the Nepean Masters Swim Club. Since I'm practically blind without my contacts on, I press the light switch on my HRM and read 3h39. Phewph, I relax and let myself go back to sleep knowing that from now on I will sleep lightly and wake up frequently to check the time. 4h41 and then 5h11 marks the time to turn off the alarm clock. It goes off a minute later anyway, but Greg doesn't wake up. I lay in bed thinking that it's best not to get to the pool too early, because that means sitting around the pool, shivering and grumpy until the lifeguards are ready. At 5h21, I get up, sinking the mattress beneath me, causing Greg to stir, and then I promptly stumble into everything on the way to the bathroom : corner of bed, laundry hamper, bathroom door. Greg sighs. In the bathroom, the pep talk starts : As soon as you have your swimsuit on, you'll start to wake up! Just a few sips of Gatorade and you'll be in great shape! I strip and look at the scale for good news : yes, I haven't gained anything since yesterday. The rest of the morning's activities : warming up the car, getting water bottles, mixing in gatorade, finding clothes and sweatshirts somehow seems to involve many noisy trips into the dark bedroom, when Greg finally gives up and turns on the light to help me find my things. I tell him the pretty news : Snowstorm ! So we need to trade cars! He stares ahead for a few seconds, squints at me, pale and heavy with sleep. Then he agrees with a slight nod of his head as he stiffly gets out of bed. I leap down the stairs, stuff everything in my big black Adidas bag, wrap my pretty scarf on tight to keep the chilly flakes from tickling my neck, pick up my soft knit hat from the wet entryway , doubtfully push it over my hair, don my ski mitts, and slip my feet into the my big warm Kamiks. By now, the car is toasty warm and buried beneath several inches of airy light snow. The neighbourhood is so pretty in thick layers of white at this pitch black hour of the morning. I feel like a kid as I clear the car with the big red snowbrush. The snow flies into the air with every stroke, lingers for a second and then reluctantly floats down to the ground. This is a good omen : I am never grumpy at swim practice when I start my morning playing in the snow. The drive to the pool is not unlike riding a toboggan down a long shallow slope through mounds of fluffy snow. At every stop , I hold my breath in anticipation : will the tires slide or will they stick ? The snowplowers rush down Greenbank ,but it hardly shows since the snow is piling up so fast behind them. Finally, I slide my way into the parking lot. Snowflakes kiss my cheeks as I walk to the building. Today's swim is bound to be fantastic!

Ubuntu : Getting the keyboard to work!

2008-02-05T20:23:00.000-05:00

The keyboard solution was far from obvious and I had to dig around the ubuntu forums to find a solution.

Here it is (uses System->Preferences->Keyboard)
1) Set the keyboard model to Macintosh(not Macintosh old, just Macintosh)
2) Set the layout to US English

ubuntu on acer aspire 5920

2008-02-05T20:01:00.000-05:00

I just bought a new laptop less than 2 weeks ago and I installed Ubuntu right away.. well, as soon as I could anyway (I´ll share the story about all my adventures some other time!)

My latest problem was: How do I get the sound to work??

After much ubuntu forum searching, I found the solution...

Open volume control (double click on the speaker icon in the upper right corner of the screen)
In volume control make sure that in File -> Change device the "HDA Intel (alsa mixer)" is selected.
Go to Edit -> Preferences and select all tracks in the list.
Unmute and increase volume on "PCM", "Surround", "Center", "Side" and "LFE". Sound should work nicely now. Optionally mute the micophone sliders.

Thanks ¨DrunkDelirium¨... now if only I could get the keyboard fixed...

.NET and Multiple Inheritance

2007-10-29T13:40:00.001-04:00

Thanks to LinkedIn, I hooked up with an old colleague from SR Telecom last week. We had only worked together for a few months, so I asked him if he still remembered me. He replied with the affirmative and asked me if I still hated multiple inheritance.

"Of course I do and thankfully I'm working in VC#.NET which has interfaces that you can use in addition to abstract or base classes!" . My friend replied that he is still using (abusing!) multiple inheritance and C++ at his new job. I got the impression that he still likes it, in spite of his many years of work experience. That begs the question : has he ever had to maintain any of his code ?

Luckily, I got my first taste of multiple inheritance early in my career when I inherited someone else's code. At first, I was impressed with the complex structure. I felt that my predecessor had left me a clever puzzle to decode! Tracking down the final implementation of virtual classes that had been specialized in a child class of two incestually related parents was a good challenge for a junior programmer. However, I quickly tired of this task and joined the growing ranks of weary developers who wanted better rules so that they could get on with building features instead of tracking down bugs.

Since then, I have not been called in to clean up any other multiple inheritance code. Now, that I've been doing VC#.NET for a year, I am hoping that I won't ever have to go back to it again.

Interfaces are a clean solution for allowing designers to present a "tailored" view of their objects for various clients while still allowing for sharing of common code through specialization.

I'm still using .NET 2.0 so I'm looking forward to using mixins on 3.0. That reminds me, I better get searching for a free trial version of it to play with.

swim effects

2007-08-30T11:10:00.000-04:00

I tried out a morning swim today, at 6h00, in the Walter Baker Sports Centre just down a few roads from my home. It was dark and spitting large warm drops so I drove the car instead of commuting. I was a bit tired and stiff from yesterday's early morning weight training , so was pretty hopeful when I walked into a quiet , empty changeroom. "Maybe it's cancelled for the last week of August before the new fall schedule starts... " but when I walked into the pool area, I saw at least a dozen swimmers chatting around the deck. So I compromised with myself and agreed to just take it easy today. It's a good thing too, since every muscle in my body ached as I reached and pulled and kicked and turned in the water. Finally things got better, but at just that moment, my coach asked me to do some breast stroke. Like a rusty machine, all the muscles that had escaped from the freestyle stroke, complained and held back. But I got over that hump and ended my swim feeling triumphant over the mornings stiffness. I was deluded though : just a few hours later, I get up from my desk for a tea and ... eeek... I'm a creaky tin woman again!

nora-drop tuesday ride on sasaparilla

2007-08-29T09:50:00.000-04:00

Last night's ride on the Sassaparilla trail was a lot of fun. My bike was not exactly co-operative though. I had TWO flats on the way back from Lime Kiln over to Emeka's house (for BBQ!) . Worse, I LOST my husband's yellow lensed glasses when I left them in the parking lot where we changed the flat.

Enough of the bad stuff, here's the good stuff : I got to trail run with my sweet HID light , carrying my injured bike on my arm for awhile and then running alongside it through the jeeptrack and paved trails. It was very pretty.

Thank god Richard and Christian waited for me , otherwise I would surely have got lost. There were tons of Tees in the singletrack from Lime Kiln to the parking lot where Richard was waiting, so I was very grateful when I saw Christian riding back to get me.

Richard knows his way through that maze of trails and he guided us back on a short path. Nonetheless, it felt long since I was running with 2L of water , plus repair kit and HID battery bouncing around on my back. Yeah, my appetite was well worked up for the burgers at Emeka's.

Much later..

2007-08-22T23:16:00.000-04:00

I had a moment of inspiration today. So I thought I try to blog again.

I went for a dip in the river this morning, around 7h30. It was very cold. I went with my hypnotist to get over the fear of the deep dark water. I wore my wetsuit and we stood in the shallow water, up to my shoulders looking out at the beautiful river. A curled little white feather floated lazily nearby. I was drawn into the tips of these weeds just peeking out of the water so I grabbed the canister and headed out there, humming a few bars of Bach to keep any possible anxiety in check. When I reached the weeds, my legs and feet got tangled up but it was so enchanting to be right there looking at them. It was quite thrilling to be in the deep water without being immobilized with fear, even though I was holding on to the bright red canister hat Susan had affectionately named "Athena". I kicked about around the river and we eventually headed back to shore. It was so beautiful though. The cool river had a rhythm of its own which stayed with me throughout the day. Having drunk such a beautiful calm morning at the river made me feel connected to the world.

Day 0

2006-12-01T10:37:00.000-05:00

This is the first day of the blog. I just created this blog page. It is snowing outside. This is the first real snowfall in our neighbourhood this year. By "real snowfall", I mean that it is actually accumulating on the ground instead of just melting right away.

Makana -I caught Makana sleeping on the couch this morning. He was all curled up and his head was planted in the middle of the burgundy pillow. The quilted blankets were at his feet. Too cute! But I called him off of the couch anyway.

Kiki - Kiki was a cutie today but she put up a fuss (as usual) about going to daycare. She cried when the snowflakes landed on her cheek as I carried her into class as well. I'm betting she has a good nap after lunchtime.

Greg - Greg was the typical morning clown again. Kiki loves that. We all fooled around in the kitchen until I finally remembered that we had to get started on the day.

Kitties - I moved the catbox upstairs. For months now, it has been ruining the basement with kitty litter all over the place , so I finally gave in and took it up to the kitchen.