Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenide

I just finished reading Middlesex
by Jeffrey Eugenide, who also wrote The Virgin Suicides. I know he story of The Virgin Suicides, but only because I have seen the movie. I have heard that it's a good book, and I liked Middlesex enough that I'm going to add it to my list of things to read. When I say 'just finished' - I mean JUST finished - 10 minutes ago. You'd think I would remember more to say about it ;) I'll start with simplicity - I really enjoyed it, and I'd recommend that you give it a read. No, you can't borrow it, sorry. I got it from the library. But they can lend it to you, and pretty close to every other book on the planet, for just $12 a year. (assuming you have a Calgary address. Or maybe live in another city that has a library. I love to wander around Chapters. Sometimes I buy books (so not knocking that - I love buying books!), but other times I just get ideas of books that I want to read, and then I request them from the library.

The random aside continues: would you agree that public libraries exist, because as a society, we value learning, reading, books, information etc, enough that the effort is made to make it accessible to everyone? Among other reasons, of course, but still. The cost to be able to use the system is very very minor. You can even return books to any library in the city, and they will be sent back to where they need to go. Blockbuster doesn't do that, and you have to pay SO much more. Anyway, my whole point is this: wouldn't it be great if we had the gym equivalent of a library? Should we not value exercise, and health as an extension, like we do reading? It might save a lot of money on health care in the long run. Then again, maybe only the people who already aren't financially deterred, who use the user-pay system of private gyms would keep going. But maybe not! This is fresh in my mind because I don't have a gym right now: they are so bloody expensive. I have been running outside a lot, but with this blasted sore hammy/IT PLUS a sore knee today (BALLS!), I may need to seek alternative exercise. Actually, I'm planning to buy a trainer (the kind that you can ride your bike on inside, not the kind that tells you, "run harder, you lazy bitch!". Those I can only rent.)

Ahem, back to the book. Middlesex is a story about a hermaphrodite, her/his life, and how she goes from Callie to him being Cal. I was really impressed at how the author makes Callie/Cal stuck a likable protagonist. At first I will admit that I thought, "yikes, a hermaphrodite. weird. is this going to be a likable character?" - or something along those lines. Callie/Cal is complex, interesting, a great narrator, a like-able.

Cal somewhat omnipotently narrates the history of his family, and how he came to be. I each section of the story: the present, his (well, I suppose then her) childhood, parents, grandparents. It goes into quite a lot of detail along the way, and I was still captivated at each generation's story.

There are a few random things that I liked in the book. The geographical and historical backgrounds are interesting: there's a few, but my favorite was Berlin. I enjoyed the Berlin geography because now, having been there, it makes sense. It was a cool feeling.
Also, the books brings up some interesting points gender identity. I'm topic-jumping, but hey, I warned you it would be random.
Middlesex is one of those books that makes you think and is just plain entertaining all in one.

Don't take my word for it: go read it. Better yet, go get from the library, and read it while you ride a bike at the gym that only costs $12 a year.

ps. How SWEET is it to have enough time at Christmas to get to polish off a 500 page book? I love that about time off.

pps. props to Rookie for the recommendation.

5 Days = 3 Weeks

Well, at least mentally, for me. Don't get me wrong - the five days that I just had off were fairly priceless. And I so don't care about taking time off right now (not that I have any days left, but in theory) because I am heading to Waterloo on Jan. 8 (!). Yet, somehow, mentally, I morphed the five days that I really got off until a mental expectation of at least 3 weeks off. Alas, today I was back at the office. I didn't really miss 9-5ing over the break, and the stark reality this morning was unpleasant. Actually, that puts it in perspective: I called it nine-to-fiving (I know I use this term a lot, as well as "the day job", or "fucking day job"). Here's the thing with nine-to-fiving - it makes SO MUCH time. Nine-to-five is bullshit. At best it's actually EIGHT until 5, and that's without the commute. I have the best commute on the planet, but that still makes it 7:30-5:30. Maybe I should put some work into finding that personal sponsor? Okay, I will stop whining now..and go to bed so that I can be rested for work tomorrow.

Xmas Project / Boo Urns

I had another project that I had my 'computer time' focued on for the last couple of days. I'm sure it's a pretty good time to have sparse posts. Just got have another chocolate, open another present, or have some more coffee and Baileys!

I have to go back to work tomorrow morning. They don't have font big enough for my BOO URNS.

Merry Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you had a great day, in whatever form that might be for you.

I was at my folks place, drinking, eating, playing board games etc. I picked up my aunt and uncle at the airport last night late (it was officially Christmas when we about Memorial and Edmonton Trail), and we headed to my folks house. This morning was pretty chill. We had french toast for breakfast around 10, and had a nice leisurely Christmas morning. We started a puzzle that proved advanced (but fun), and later moved to Trivial Pursuit. I took advantage of my parent's treadmill in the afternoon for my workout. My IT/hammy whatever was still sore, but it liked running in the warmth better. Heck, it wasn't that warm. My parent's basement is freezing, I wore a long-sleeve to run. In the afternoon, my sister and her husband, and my other uncle (who lives in Calgary) all came over, and we hung out / opened our presents. We pretty much moved into dinner from there, which was fancy and delicious - family, wine, paper hats and the works.

I'm back at home now, hanging out with my favorite fur ball. Hope you had a great Christmas too!

Merry Christmas Eve

Why the heck are you online? Go back to the boardgames and drinking.

ps. Happy birthday Lindsay!!

IT Band?

I've gone an tightened the snot out of my IT band. At least I think it's my IT band. Initially I had a sore hamstring, after slipping on a patch of ice running outside. Hard to imagine where I would find ice, hey? It was nothing major at all, and this was several weeks ago. It's just one of the those little things, but between the IT thing, a cracked heal and a stiff trap, I took today as my rest day. I'm trying to give extra care to stretching my hamstring, and it actually feels really good. I think it's my IT because I am getting pain kind of at the back and outside of my knee. It's less painful when my muscles are warm. Also, I have been using my roller, and that hurt like a little bitch. Does that sounds like IT band to you? Do you have any suggestions for stretches, etc?

ps. I didn't think that my IT band had snot in it, but just try running outside with a cold. EVERYWHERE has snot in it, just waiting to be released. Ew. I've gone and grossed myself out.

Snow Days

I watched a news clip this morning on winter travel chaos as I ate my cereal. Then, trudging to work, I had an genius (self-proclaimed of course ;) ) idea. Wait for it....wait for it: cars should not be allowed on snow days. Now don't get all uppity with me, let me explain. I'm not saying that cars wouldn't be allowed on the road if it snows. I just mean the snow days - the giant dumps of snow that usually come with extreme cold. Calgary has what, four a year? There was one two weeks ago, and I heard there was something stupid like 273 collisions. AMA put a little clip on the news warning people that it would take eight and a half hours to get a tow. So nice to know you can rely on those folks - sheesh. Lots of people who commute downtown of crazy snow days end up taking hours to get into the office, because the roads are backed up. So I am proposing that one those giant snow days (you know, a big dump in Calgary or 3 inches in Vancouver), that only public transportation run. Think of how much easier it would be to plow the roads, and get them back to usable condition, if all those cars were parked. Just buses, trains, and feet. It would have to become very acceptable for anyone capable (i.e. with an office job, a phone, and an Internet connection) to work from home. Some places (areas surrounding town for example) just don't have public transportation. I'm sure there would be people who couldn't possibly work from home, and couldn't make it in the public transport. In this case, the company should have to pay them anyway. Don't be cheap now, it's maybe 1 day a year. And compare that cost to 273 collisions. And I'm just thinking vehicular damages, let alone (the far worse) potential for injury or loss of life. And while secondary, both of those are expensive as well. On that note, ambulances and police cars would be exceptions. I know there are a few obvious 'hic-ups' with it: for example, there is no bloody way that Calgary Transit (and a lot of other City's transit systems) could handle it. I still think it would be great though. When the roads are that bad, CEO or garbage man, you take the bus to work, or you don't go.

Pre-Christmas Weekend

This weekend went really fast. I feel like I am on holidays already, but really I have to go to work for two more days before I get a nice stretch of 5 DAYS OFF! On Saturday, Terri and I pooled our resources, got together, and make our gingerbread contributions to the Cyca's annual gingerbread party. This year, the theme was the Nightmare Before Christmas, which I though was fairly genius. Not only is this one of my favorite Christmas movies, it's only one of my favorite Halloween movies! Terri's piece was a gate (to the graveyard, I think), and mine was the major's car. Another highlight from Saturday was the arrival of my favorite kitty. He is fast asleep on my lap right now, which means that my typing is anything but fast. Sunday was an early start (okay, not that early - out the door at 8:30, but early for a Sunday). I headed up to Blackfalds with my family to see our friends. Actually, they seem a lot more like family than friends (my parents went to high school with Leigh and Neil). After getting back to town, I needed some exercise, so I went to indoor. Unfortunately, I got back into town later than I thought, and well....the mayor is going to have to walk. The car remains in my kitchen in bits, and I need to send the Cyca's an apology email tomorrow. There was even a celebrity sighting at the party - Beaty in town from Nordegg. So if anyone would like to eat a piece of car made from construction grade gingerbread, please let me know. I hope you had a fun weekend too, and that you safely get to wherever you are off to for the holidays.

ps. weekend lowlight - Kristin lost her phone in a snowbank.

Caution: Deck Angels May Cause Nasty Head Colds

I have nothing interesting to say, because I have gone any caught myself a nasty head cold. Offside, you say? But weren't you just sick a month ago, you say? Yes! I am starting to nearly pre-doubt my immune system of steel. I think I might blame the Deck Angel. If the Tooth Fairy brings money, I think a Deck Angel could bring a cold. Fault that logic. Let's see it. In case you need the other half of the equation to work with, the Tooth fair takes teeth, and a Deck Angel takes creative genius.

Fresh Tracks!

This weekend I scored some wicked fresh powder. Unfortunately, it was slogging past a neighbouring condo's unshovelled sidewalk on the way downtown. Calgary is in a major deep freeze right now, and we got pounded with snow, starting Friday. I stuck pretty close to home with weekend, partially motivated by my little Civic, which handles about as well as a bathtub with feet on a Slip-N-Slide in this weather. I have attached a picture of my Deck Angel, which should give you an idea of the amount of snow we got.

I had to get some Christmas shopping down, so I walked downtown Saturday morning (hence the fresh tracks). Other than my lack of long underwear (seriously, what was I thinking?), it was a very successful trip. The stores were completely dead, which is exactly how I like it. I was in one store where it was just me and three salespeople. We had an awkward moment sometime into my stay, where I admitted that I had actually finished shopping and was just warming up. I know they understood, but I think they were a little disappointed (i.e. I think they were bored).

Saturday night I walked to Terri's and had drinks and games with Terri and Patrick. The games ranged from a memory game (it's really called Vanished, but my sister and I have always called it Elevator), Trouble (now there is a game of skill) and several card games. I know I had a good time, because I meant to leave at 10 and really left at 11:30. Fun.

Today was pretty low key as well. I did force Smoky (my Civic) to take me to the grocery store (just the close one) so that I had something to eat this week. He protested, but made the trips safely. Then I got a serious chunk of work done of my Christmas cards. If you want one, and you think I don't have your address, please email it too me and I will send you one. I had hockey tonight, which was fun/frustrating. The other team was ridiculously good (compared to us), although I thought that we played really well against them. I had a couple of good chances (no goals though), but also did a couple of stupid things that I wanted back. Okay, maybe not stupid things, maybe just things I wanted back. Stupid things implies that I SO no better, and really I am just trying to learn better.

All in all, a good weekend. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't compare to last weekend when Rookie was here. So I won't compare, I'll just enjoy it. Hope yours was fun too.

Travelocity Should Shove the Roaming Gnome Up It's Ass

Okay, so I'm not really sure that that means. Moving on. In case you are very short on time, here is the very short version:

I think Travelocity are run by morons, and I hope to warn you away from ever using them.

The longer version:
I have a flight credit with Travelocity that I was hoping to use to head out east in January. The credit is for $476, and it will cost me an $80. Kitchener would work, Tdot would work, and my timing was pretty flexible. 2.5 very frustrating hours later, I hung up the phone and booked a flight on Westjet's website. That's how useless they were.

I've had success (read: cheaper flights) with various travel websites before: Orbitz, Airline Consolidators, even Expedia. I've heard that it's hit and miss, and not awesome if you have to change anything. So far so good with those ones. Travelocity is blacklisted. They are like the Brick of travel websites (I think this will really put it in perspective for a few of you!).

To actually talk to someone at Travelocity, I had to wait for a little less than an hour and a half. Email/website was not an option, because of the change. I looked up a few solid options via Westjet (goes to Kitchener) or Air Canada (I don't need all of my luggage). Since the initial flight I booked was with Air Canada, Westjet was out. I looked on Air Canada's website while the Travelocity dude was looking up info for me, and there was roughly 12 flights a day, maybe more. They for serious could not find me a flight. The best that he could come up with was a flight that was on Air Canada's website for $400 (there were lots), that landed back in Calgary at 1:14 am for the special Travelocity price of slightly over $1000.

I tried asking for a manager (no dice), and eventually got out of the guy that I could speak to Air Canada directly. You know it's bad when THAT sounds good. They gave me a confirmation number to tell Air Canada, and connected me. Air Canada told me Travelocity is on glue, and that I needed a different number in order to look up any information. In order to look up the info using, oh, say, my name, would only be possible if I had called within 24 hours of making the reservation.

I'll just have to try again at some point, for future travel, after getting very drunk first.

Who Are You Calling Lazy (Loaf and Kettle)?

I had a bit of a stressful day at work today, so I decided my night's exercise would be in the form of a run. I was meeting my folks for coffee at the Lazy Loaf and Kettle at 7, because my mom's yoga class is in the building right beside, and finished up at, ahem (obvious) 7. In the summer, I usually bike to meet there. I didn't have enough time after dinner before coffee to run, and after would have been kind of late. I decided to run there. I was feeling energetic, plus Rookie and I just walked to Nellie's in Kensington for the breakfast the other day. It didn't seem all that far, and the Lazy Loaf isn't that much further. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little knackered now. It took me about an hour each direction. I figured out on the way home that I actually took the long way there. It took me the same time to get back, but I was more tired (therefore walking more), and back has the big uphill. I'm not into the winter riding, studded tie craziness, so I'd definitely do that again. Although if I tried to do it three days in a row, I might want to barf on the third one.

Canmore Religon "Debate"

If you are wondering why I had a big gap in posting, Kristin was in town this weekend. One of the many fun things that we did was run into a crazy man, working in a sunglasses store in Canmore. If you are in the area, by all means stop in, you won't be disappointed. I can't remember the name of the store, but Canmore isn't that big. It's just east of main street on a side street (but visible from main).

We were just wandering around, so when the salesman started chatting, he just seemed friendly. Oh, and just do you make sure you get the right guy to chat with, he's maybe 50 years old, with grey/white hair and beard, about 6 feet tall, and thin. I can't recall enough details of what he said to blog about it properly, but the gist was his take on religion, meta-physics, movies, acupuncture and much more, all rolled into one hilarious rant. I do recall he mentioned doing a LOT of drugs in the 70's. Shocking. I said "debate" in the title because it was a little (okay, a lot) one-sided for a debate. Anyway, Canmore has a lot of great things to do - here is one more for your list. Maybe you can buy sunglasses at the same time.

Why I Thought I Might Barf in the Helicopter

I was using a new GPS during the helicopter site visit trip. I wasn't super familiar with it, so I was using just it's very basic functions. Well, last week my friend at work finally got the programs installed to download the data from our trip.

I thought that I had been shutting the GPS off between sites, but as it turns out, I had forgot once or twice. Who knew that it would record data the whole time. When we plugged the GPS in to the computer back at the office, we could see speed and elevation, recorded every few seconds. These were drastically different went I was in the helicopter versus limping around on site (with my rolled ankle). Here are a couple of photos of what was recorded. You will probably have to click on them to get enough detail to actually see anything. In the photo on the left, you can see blue flags were I was recording way points on site. You can also see the path that the helicopter took when I left the GPS on in my pocket. (It records a point every few seconds and then connects them with a line). Note the couple of places that we fly around in tight little circles. There were willow trees on some sites had grown high enough to prevent us from landing. Instead, we circled, we took pictures, we drew diagrams, and I tried really hard not to barf. The photo on the right should give you a pretty good idea the type of flying we were doing (and it was windy!). Fun times for sure, and a great experience, but wow...el barfo.

Prizes at the Grocery Store

I was at the Superstore buying food this morning. There was lady with a little boy, and her cart was taking up more of the aisle. An old man was coming the other way, hoping to get past her with his cart, so I smiled at him and waited. Once he was passed her, and as I started off to squeeze through the hole myself, he said to me, "thanks, you get three gold stars!". I was cute, it was something only a friendly old man could pull off and not sounds like a lunatic. So I said back, "sweet, thanks, do I get to trade them at the checkout for prizes of something?", to which he laughed, and off I went. As I was about the leave the aisle, I overheard the little boy say with an in take or breath, "Mommy, there's prizes!"