Sigh, why is it that Marty Brodeur can always beat my beloved Canadiens, but can't win when it's Team Canada at the Olympics?
Okay, maybe can't win is a stretch since he was in nets in the 2002 Gold medal victory. But this is Canada and it's hockey, which means if you're not the current champs, nothing else counts...
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Accosted by Free Newspapers
Something has happened in Ottawa over the last year, and the result has been that suddenly, there are about a gazillion free, short little papers available for commuters to read on their ways to and from work. It started with Metro and Dose, last year sometime, then Dose disappeared to online form only, and for a few blissful months, Metro was the only one available.
I enjoyed my Metro greatly; it was a good, short read with sections on Sports, National News, international news, and the token celebrity gossip section that now seems to exist in every newspaper, serious or not. Then, last month, something crazy happened. Ottawa was invaded by free papers. There is now, along with the Metro, and English 24 Hours, a French 24 Heures, and an afternoon paper called "Rush Hour". Add to that the Epoch Times, which has been around for at least several months, but which I only really noticed a few weeks ago, and you have at least 4 free daily papers you can read. Then there's the weekly freebies: the Express, and some others I haven't bothered to remembers' names that are new.
All of this would not be much of a problem, if it wasn't for the fact that each of these papers has a paper distributor standing at the main bus stops downtown (where I work) waving the papers at you as you arrive at the bus stop (either getting off the bus in the morning, or waiting to get back on at night). It's a sign of how truly timid I am that I feel guilty NOT taking a paper from every one of these individuals as I try to thread my way through the crowd to work. I mean, am I applying favouritism when I smile and shake my head apologetically at the 24 Hours woman (in Orange), the 24 Heures guy (in yellow) and the Epoch Times gentleman (not wearing a discernable colour uniform each day) and reach for the Metro outstretched triumphantly in the hand of its Green-clad distributor? Is this unfair? I try to remind myself that this is their job, that it doesn't matter if I take the paper or not, but what if these people get paid based on the free-newspaper equivalent of commission? What if it DOES matter?
As it is, I only barely skim the Metro as it is; there is definitely NOT enough time to read all these papers. I get most of my info from theglobeandmail.com anyway, so I shouldn't give a second thought to this, right?
I enjoyed my Metro greatly; it was a good, short read with sections on Sports, National News, international news, and the token celebrity gossip section that now seems to exist in every newspaper, serious or not. Then, last month, something crazy happened. Ottawa was invaded by free papers. There is now, along with the Metro, and English 24 Hours, a French 24 Heures, and an afternoon paper called "Rush Hour". Add to that the Epoch Times, which has been around for at least several months, but which I only really noticed a few weeks ago, and you have at least 4 free daily papers you can read. Then there's the weekly freebies: the Express, and some others I haven't bothered to remembers' names that are new.
All of this would not be much of a problem, if it wasn't for the fact that each of these papers has a paper distributor standing at the main bus stops downtown (where I work) waving the papers at you as you arrive at the bus stop (either getting off the bus in the morning, or waiting to get back on at night). It's a sign of how truly timid I am that I feel guilty NOT taking a paper from every one of these individuals as I try to thread my way through the crowd to work. I mean, am I applying favouritism when I smile and shake my head apologetically at the 24 Hours woman (in Orange), the 24 Heures guy (in yellow) and the Epoch Times gentleman (not wearing a discernable colour uniform each day) and reach for the Metro outstretched triumphantly in the hand of its Green-clad distributor? Is this unfair? I try to remind myself that this is their job, that it doesn't matter if I take the paper or not, but what if these people get paid based on the free-newspaper equivalent of commission? What if it DOES matter?
As it is, I only barely skim the Metro as it is; there is definitely NOT enough time to read all these papers. I get most of my info from theglobeandmail.com anyway, so I shouldn't give a second thought to this, right?
A typical line of newspaper dispensers on an Ottawa Downtown Street
Bush... Dion...
Saw this post on Bush over at Not the Country Club, and I just had to share.
Also, this comment from Rick Mercer about Dion comes via M's email this morning:
"At the end of the day though, watching Dion on stage, I couldn't help but be amazed at his physical presence. The Liberals went into this convention with a host of choices. They could have gone with a battle-tested politician, a former athlete, a world famous academic or a food bank founder from the West; at the end of the day they choose the nerd.
That's pretty Canadian."
... So Canadian, So True. He may be a nerd, but I still think he's the best guy to get the Conservatives (notice 'progressive' is no longer part of the name?) out of office.
Also, this comment from Rick Mercer about Dion comes via M's email this morning:
"At the end of the day though, watching Dion on stage, I couldn't help but be amazed at his physical presence. The Liberals went into this convention with a host of choices. They could have gone with a battle-tested politician, a former athlete, a world famous academic or a food bank founder from the West; at the end of the day they choose the nerd.
That's pretty Canadian."
... So Canadian, So True. He may be a nerd, but I still think he's the best guy to get the Conservatives (notice 'progressive' is no longer part of the name?) out of office.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Footprints
This pic taken this summer on the mediterranean coast in Egypt, about 50 Km from Alexandria:
This pic taken two days ago across my driveway in Ottawa, Canada:
This pic taken two days ago across my driveway in Ottawa, Canada:
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Technical difficulties, politics, and more pics...
So I was having trouble with my links yesterday, but after reading some blogger help documentation, I should now be able to post pics and make links again... Kudos to Blogger for keeping the status page up to date. Now on to business:
I was following the Liberal leadership convention fairly closely, cynically figuring that the worst possible thing would happen and Ignatieff would win (Hello? Ppl, you're going to vote for a man who has justified the use of torture???), but still unable to tear my eyes away from the whole thing, the way you can't look away from a car crash. Then, something amazing happened: the Liberals elected a man who cares about the environment and sustainable development, who's a clear alternative to the Conservatives, who says what he believes is right even if it's not the most popular, and who managed not to attack other candidates during his campaign, as their new leader: Stephane Dion. If he sticks to the things he said during the campaign, I can easily and with a clear conscience vote for the Liberals in the next election. Major, major relief :D
And because I found this blog entry, that combined two of my favourite topics (hockey and politics) I thought I'd point you all there ;) Enjoy, my fellow Canadians (and Canadiens fans).
I was following the Liberal leadership convention fairly closely, cynically figuring that the worst possible thing would happen and Ignatieff would win (Hello? Ppl, you're going to vote for a man who has justified the use of torture???), but still unable to tear my eyes away from the whole thing, the way you can't look away from a car crash. Then, something amazing happened: the Liberals elected a man who cares about the environment and sustainable development, who's a clear alternative to the Conservatives, who says what he believes is right even if it's not the most popular, and who managed not to attack other candidates during his campaign, as their new leader: Stephane Dion. If he sticks to the things he said during the campaign, I can easily and with a clear conscience vote for the Liberals in the next election. Major, major relief :D
And because I found this blog entry, that combined two of my favourite topics (hockey and politics) I thought I'd point you all there ;) Enjoy, my fellow Canadians (and Canadiens fans).
Lastly, weather was nicer over the last two days in that the freezing rain disappeared and the snow gave a different look to everything ... As I was driving up Greenbank Rd. in toward the city (around this spot)
yesterday morning, I saw a gentleman pulled over, taking some pics of the cornfields dusted over with snow and ice in the sun... his camera looked fairly expensive too... that's gotta be some picture. Mine will probably be significantly less breathtaking.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Waffles Continued
Crazy busy today and now very sleepy. Tomorrow is packed as well, so this is an extremely short entry just to state that last night I tried the waffle iron, using this recipe (http://lonestar.texas.net/~fitch/recipies/waffles.html - link button is missing for some reason as I write this post??)(except I substituted the milk for soy milk, the wheat flour for Kamut flour, and the sugar for cane sugar to accomodate my allergies) and they were fantastic :D
Anyone with a wheat allergy, I'd totally recommend this... waffles aren't that fluffy to begin with, so they don't taste all that different with another grain then they do with wheat because the texture is the same regardless of the grain
Anyone with a wheat allergy, I'd totally recommend this... waffles aren't that fluffy to begin with, so they don't taste all that different with another grain then they do with wheat because the texture is the same regardless of the grain
Friday, December 01, 2006
Worst.Weather.Ever.
So the brief warm spell really was a brief warm spell. Today it turned just positively icky... Actually, truth is it started last night, with freezing rain, which turned into ice pellets, back into freezing rain, and then wet snow and freezing rain combined with a wonderful wind chill kicking in for extra effect...
The ground in Ottawa is now white, but it's not one of those pretty, pristine whites that only gets ruined when the cars drive through and turn it into slush. It's already slush, from the first second it comes down. This is officially our first snow of the season. It was overdue; we were really too lucky to get away with no snow this long. Welcome to winter... Of course, being re-inspired to take pics, I took off my mitts (which completely restrict my hand movements - I have to take them off just to show a driver my buss pass) and totally froze my poor little fingers taking these pics... I reminded me of a great prof we had at the U of O, Dr. Groza, for Electrical Engineering, who used to start off describing the week's assignment with the phrase "Now when you burn your little fingers in the lab..." I never actually burnt my fingers on any of the wiring I had to play around with there. I may have gotten a few callouses from being ridiculously bad with wire cutters, but that's a whole other story. Today, however, I BURNT my fingers. You know when something's so cold it burns? That was how my fingers felt after taking these pics. Alas, sometimes one must suffer for one's art (said totally tongue-in-cheek. Hope they're at least some good).
Note all the icicles hanging from the tree, bushes, sign...
(all of the above downtown near work)
The ground in Ottawa is now white, but it's not one of those pretty, pristine whites that only gets ruined when the cars drive through and turn it into slush. It's already slush, from the first second it comes down. This is officially our first snow of the season. It was overdue; we were really too lucky to get away with no snow this long. Welcome to winter... Of course, being re-inspired to take pics, I took off my mitts (which completely restrict my hand movements - I have to take them off just to show a driver my buss pass) and totally froze my poor little fingers taking these pics... I reminded me of a great prof we had at the U of O, Dr. Groza, for Electrical Engineering, who used to start off describing the week's assignment with the phrase "Now when you burn your little fingers in the lab..." I never actually burnt my fingers on any of the wiring I had to play around with there. I may have gotten a few callouses from being ridiculously bad with wire cutters, but that's a whole other story. Today, however, I BURNT my fingers. You know when something's so cold it burns? That was how my fingers felt after taking these pics. Alas, sometimes one must suffer for one's art (said totally tongue-in-cheek. Hope they're at least some good).
Note all the icicles hanging from the tree, bushes, sign...
(all of the above downtown near work)
Thursday, November 30, 2006
No excuse
After my last post of "it's too cold to take my camera out", the weather warmed up for two days as if to test the legitimacy of my statement... Then it proceeded to rain ALL DAY today, save for the 5 minutes I was waiting for the bus stop in the morning at 7 a.m., and I got soaked, head to toe, by a passing driver while waiting at a bus stop around noon... Oh, fun... but anyway, in the pre-rain period, here are some of pics from last night and this morning.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Because I'm getting silly...
This post is an indication of how few good pictures I've taken over the past little while. My excuse, though I admit it's only an excuse, is that the weather's getting cold and every time I'm outside, I'm just thinking about getting INSIDE again, and not about taking my camera out to snap something interesting that might be happening within my field of vison...
Alas, because this is primarily a photography blog (albeit a humble one) and because my last few postings have not included any photography, I offer this not-very-serious series of pics that I took a while back...
My nieces' toys all dressed up and nowhere to go...
Mmmm... Timmy's mint tea (with milk, just the way I like it)
Beach ball getting ready for a day in the sun (okay, so I was obviously just fooling around)
There was a hole in this tennis ball, but I love how it looks like it's actually laughing...
Alas, because this is primarily a photography blog (albeit a humble one) and because my last few postings have not included any photography, I offer this not-very-serious series of pics that I took a while back...
My nieces' toys all dressed up and nowhere to go...
Mmmm... Timmy's mint tea (with milk, just the way I like it)
Beach ball getting ready for a day in the sun (okay, so I was obviously just fooling around)
There was a hole in this tennis ball, but I love how it looks like it's actually laughing...
Wafflemaker!!!
My parents are the sweetest people. Ever.
If you know me, you know I love soft chewy things like bread, pastries, brownies, cake, crepes, pancakes, etc. You also know that when I found out I was allergic to wheat, I was quite devastated, because that pretty much makes it impossible to eat all the goodies listed above. Of course, that was a year ago. Since then, I've discovered a whole alternative world of grains that aren't wheat: Spelt, Kamut, Buckwheat, Oat, Amaranth, Barley… All of these can be used to make other types of bready-type things, but Spelt, Oat and Kamut are the best in that they're most similar to wheat. Of course, this discovery took time…
To find the good bread substitutes, you first go through the crumbly, non bready stuff in the "healthy" section of the supermarket, trying out one brand after another of "bread" that won't hold itself together, isn't chewable, won't stay a sandwich… stuff made of rice flour, or potato flour. Now, don't get me wrong, I love rice, and I love potatoes, but they're not meant to be ground into flour and turned into bread. They don't have the right texture or consistency. Trust me on this... A few weeks ago when we were in Montreal, M took us to a place called Cocktail Hawaii that makes juices, crepes and waffles and covers them with fruit, chocolate, whipped cream, the works… I was good in that I ordered the juice, but I still "cheated" - had a little bit of the waffle, and it was heavenly. I've been making my own spelt, buckwheat, and kamut crepes for a few months, but I'd never thought of making waffles, and now I offhandedly mentioned that I should get a wafflemaker and make my own "wheat free" waffles.
So now, last night, my parents surprise me with a wafflemaker!!!! They just walked in to my room with a huge gift bag and said "Mabrook" (which translates to "Congratulations" in Arabic, but is really what you say when someone is getting something new, or when you're congratulating them on a some sort of achievement…)
A wafflemaker!!! For someone who's constantly tempted to get a soft, chewy slice of cake or nice fluffy sandwich, and then suffer through the day of stomach aches that follows, this is the nicest gift ever…. Now excuse me, I must go search for modifiable waffle recipes ;)
My new wafflemaker
If you know me, you know I love soft chewy things like bread, pastries, brownies, cake, crepes, pancakes, etc. You also know that when I found out I was allergic to wheat, I was quite devastated, because that pretty much makes it impossible to eat all the goodies listed above. Of course, that was a year ago. Since then, I've discovered a whole alternative world of grains that aren't wheat: Spelt, Kamut, Buckwheat, Oat, Amaranth, Barley… All of these can be used to make other types of bready-type things, but Spelt, Oat and Kamut are the best in that they're most similar to wheat. Of course, this discovery took time…
To find the good bread substitutes, you first go through the crumbly, non bready stuff in the "healthy" section of the supermarket, trying out one brand after another of "bread" that won't hold itself together, isn't chewable, won't stay a sandwich… stuff made of rice flour, or potato flour. Now, don't get me wrong, I love rice, and I love potatoes, but they're not meant to be ground into flour and turned into bread. They don't have the right texture or consistency. Trust me on this... A few weeks ago when we were in Montreal, M took us to a place called Cocktail Hawaii that makes juices, crepes and waffles and covers them with fruit, chocolate, whipped cream, the works… I was good in that I ordered the juice, but I still "cheated" - had a little bit of the waffle, and it was heavenly. I've been making my own spelt, buckwheat, and kamut crepes for a few months, but I'd never thought of making waffles, and now I offhandedly mentioned that I should get a wafflemaker and make my own "wheat free" waffles.
So now, last night, my parents surprise me with a wafflemaker!!!! They just walked in to my room with a huge gift bag and said "Mabrook" (which translates to "Congratulations" in Arabic, but is really what you say when someone is getting something new, or when you're congratulating them on a some sort of achievement…)
A wafflemaker!!! For someone who's constantly tempted to get a soft, chewy slice of cake or nice fluffy sandwich, and then suffer through the day of stomach aches that follows, this is the nicest gift ever…. Now excuse me, I must go search for modifiable waffle recipes ;)
My new wafflemaker
Monday, November 27, 2006
I am the world's worst techie
Okay, so I have a degree in Software Engineering, which means I spent countless hours hovered over a computer, a piece of hardware, a pile of wires, a collection of some form of technical gadgets or another trying to make them work, and my student existence depended upon this for 4 1/2 years. Not only this, but since graduation nearly 2 years ago, I continue to work in IT related fields, and consider myself reasonably competent at my job... So why is it that when I went to Staples today to buy a booster for my wireless network (which works perfectly everywhere else in the house, but refuses to work in my room without an endless amount of finicking) I couldn't even remember what kind of router I had, and bought the wrong product????
Of course, I only discovered my faux pas upon trying to set up the booster and finding that there was no place in the back of the router (or the front, or anywhere else for that matter) to plug in said booster... Oh dear, I am exposing my techie weakness for all to see here, aren't I? Well it's the cold hard truth, and I'm willing to admit it. After all, technology is not my first love; literature is...
Of course, I only discovered my faux pas upon trying to set up the booster and finding that there was no place in the back of the router (or the front, or anywhere else for that matter) to plug in said booster... Oh dear, I am exposing my techie weakness for all to see here, aren't I? Well it's the cold hard truth, and I'm willing to admit it. After all, technology is not my first love; literature is...
Homesick at home
Is it possible to be at home and still feel homesick? I come from a big, close family, and right now, my sister's in Egypt for 3 weeks to visit extended family and has my niece with her, which is the natural thing for a mother to do, I know, but having gotten very very used to having this little angel next door to kiss and squeeze and love at least once a day is making me very antsy at the distance between us right now. It's almost enough (but not quite) to make me realise how much I miss my sister herself… To put it lightly, we're attached by the hip, and right now, despite the fact that I'm keeping myself good and busy to help the time pass, I can't help but notice that it's gonna be 3 weeks before I see them. That's right, they've been gone less than 3 days, and I'm already in withdrawal...
So what's happened as a result? I'm suddenly missing Montreal, where my next nearest sister lives, and had a good long conversation with her on the phone last night… I'll be going down to see her in 2 weeks (Yay!), which right now seems 2 weeks too far away (Boo!), and I might get a chance to see a close friend who's there right now too… Am I normal? Does everyone with a big family and lots of company get like this when they're surrounded by less people?
So what's happened as a result? I'm suddenly missing Montreal, where my next nearest sister lives, and had a good long conversation with her on the phone last night… I'll be going down to see her in 2 weeks (Yay!), which right now seems 2 weeks too far away (Boo!), and I might get a chance to see a close friend who's there right now too… Am I normal? Does everyone with a big family and lots of company get like this when they're surrounded by less people?
Sunday, November 26, 2006
2 year old pics (that I'm quite proud of) - and my poor blogging habits
Okay, so I'm not a good blogger. A good blogger blogs everyday (or at least on some consistent basis, you know, once a week, once a month, once every X amount of time, so as not to give false expectations to people who check the blog of how often it's going to be updated (this last statement -in and of itself - implies that I'm hoping someone actually CHECKS this blog every little while...)
But the way I update my blog is the way I make any other resolution (like going to the gym, or eating properly). I go nuts at the beginning, am very active, then don't touch the thing again for weeks until I build up another bout of enthusiasm, then I when I update I post 2, maybe 3 posts all at once. What do I do in the lengthy periods between updates? Well, aside from living my life (work, family, etc.) I check other blogs. Hadeel's blog, for one, is totally awesome. From it, I've discovered Aisha's blog. Also from Hadeel's blog, I've found someone named Payt's blog, and I have quite a bit of fun reading all of those. The guy who writes dilbert also has a very amusing blog that I'd recommend to everyone...
Anyway, the other thing good bloggers don't do is what I'm about to do: post really old stuff just because they really like it... like the pics I'm gonna put here. I took these over a year ago, and I only started this blog in September, but when I started this blog, I said I was going to use it as a place to post pictures I'd taken (okay, so it's recently expanded to include M's pics too, but can I help it if he takes better pics than I do?) and these are pics I took, and pics that I'm really proud of no less... These are pics of Calabogie in the summer, around sundown... It's gorgeous. Everyone should go at least once.
P.S. Blogger is being stupid, so I can't post a few other pics I want in this post for some reason completely unbeknownst to me, so I'm gonna try to post them in the next post...
But the way I update my blog is the way I make any other resolution (like going to the gym, or eating properly). I go nuts at the beginning, am very active, then don't touch the thing again for weeks until I build up another bout of enthusiasm, then I when I update I post 2, maybe 3 posts all at once. What do I do in the lengthy periods between updates? Well, aside from living my life (work, family, etc.) I check other blogs. Hadeel's blog, for one, is totally awesome. From it, I've discovered Aisha's blog. Also from Hadeel's blog, I've found someone named Payt's blog, and I have quite a bit of fun reading all of those. The guy who writes dilbert also has a very amusing blog that I'd recommend to everyone...
Anyway, the other thing good bloggers don't do is what I'm about to do: post really old stuff just because they really like it... like the pics I'm gonna put here. I took these over a year ago, and I only started this blog in September, but when I started this blog, I said I was going to use it as a place to post pictures I'd taken (okay, so it's recently expanded to include M's pics too, but can I help it if he takes better pics than I do?) and these are pics I took, and pics that I'm really proud of no less... These are pics of Calabogie in the summer, around sundown... It's gorgeous. Everyone should go at least once.
P.S. Blogger is being stupid, so I can't post a few other pics I want in this post for some reason completely unbeknownst to me, so I'm gonna try to post them in the next post...
New Neighbourhood
It takes me 20 minutes longer to get into work in the mornings from our new place, so suffice it to say that even with daylight's savings time, it's sometimes still darkish in the morning when I'm out waiting for the bus. This was 2 weeks ago at about 7 a.m.
M's Pics on a train
So my fiance has become quite the globetrotter in the past month, zooming back and forth from TO to Kingston to Ottawa to Montreal to Kingston to TO and back I'm not quite sure how many times, spending lots of hours on trains, and his eye for cool sights has become quite keen. Here's some of M's finest work (I keep asking him how he gets the pics NOT blurry when the train's moving...)
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
My Long Lost Twin (20 years removed)
My little sister forwarded me this pic today from the Qatar airlines website of a little girl in one of their ads who looks A LOT like I did about 20 years ago...
(link at: http://www.qatarairways.com/?arabic)
(link at: http://www.qatarairways.com/?arabic)
Friday, November 10, 2006
Montreal at Night
Am I obsessed enough with this city for you yet? I probably spend 90% of my time in Ottawa, and 10% of my time in Montreal, and yet, most of the pics that are good enough to post (at least until I whip out the book my wonderful fiance got me on photography and learn how to take pics on something other than one of the automatic settings) are from the 10% of time that I spend in this lovely city in La Belle Province. What can I say... the sites are just more interesting and the buildings look cooler... or maybe because I don't live there, I'm still impressed...
Look closely: someone's 'written' a bilingual message into the back of the truck that we're following: "Vous Suivez le meilleur" and in English: "I am the best"
Outsitde my sister's place at night. This is the Marriott, and I can't remember what the other building is.
There's a story about these sculptures, but I don't know it well enough to tell it.
The Chateau at the top of Mont Royal.
Look closely: someone's 'written' a bilingual message into the back of the truck that we're following: "Vous Suivez le meilleur" and in English: "I am the best"
Outsitde my sister's place at night. This is the Marriott, and I can't remember what the other building is.
There's a story about these sculptures, but I don't know it well enough to tell it.
The Chateau at the top of Mont Royal.
DONE! (the move that is)
So the last month and a half has involved packing everything from one house, putting a bunch of stuff aside for the 3 week pause between houses, putting everything else into storage, crashing at my sister's place (non-stop playing with my adorable niece ensued) packing the stuff I put aside, moving into the new house when ready, including bringing all the stuff that was hauled into storage back out of storage, and now we're UNPACKING!!!! In the middle of all of this came Eid, and we took a break and went to Montreal for a day and a half, which was quite nice (pics to follow in later posts)... Here for now are some pics of my old neighbourhood in the last few weeks we were there...
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