My posts have become very few. Even though my job is close by, and my commute is nearly non-existent, I seem to have little time to devote to the computer. But I am getting out and doing more. I was fortunate enough to be able to join Rochelle, her boyfriend Serge, Sara, Josie, and Shirley for Rochelle's surprise birthday picnic at Stanley Park yesterday. What started out as a fairly dreary, rainy day actually perked up quite a bit by the time of the picnic. The clouds parted. The cruise ships set off on their journeys to Alaska. And the commercial ships sat just outside English Bay waiting to come in. We enjoyed snacks from Choices (via Sara), delicious tofu lettuce wraps by Shirley, and then pigged out on Josie's home-made tira misu. It was v. good for a first try. I didn't get a photo of the food or of the suicidal seagull with food issues, but I did get some nice photos of the scenery before my battery died.

Tyrants and temptations

Well, this is my first post after starting the new job. There are good and bad things to share.

First, the tyrants want something like 8 or 8.5 hours out of my day. I'm not accustomed to that kind of demand on my time, and it's taking some getting adjustments. Luckily, the office is just over 10 kilometres away from home, which means that I have the best commute ever. So I can't complain at all. This is especially true because the people there are really nice, and for the past two days, I've been paid for sitting in a chair and reading. Mind you, the reading wasn't all too thrilling. I read the style guide and the Framemaker book. It was all I could do to stay awake, especially when the sun shone through my window this afternoon. Yes, my desk is on a window, but the view isn't all that great...the truck route to the border. They can't ever see me if I do the horn honk signal.

And the temptations are too many, in the form of lunch choices. In the next block there is a strip-mall kind of thingy that has a Starbucks, Tim Horton's, Subway, Taco del Mar, and Boston Pizza. There's also a Price Smart (boo Jimmy Pattison), in case I get tired of the others. And the best part is that my favourite coffee place, The Wired Monk, is just a few blocks up the hill. It's a short, easy drive to get my favourite frozen blended coffee beverages and sandwiches.

The highlight today was the Caroline, the woman who hired me, was back from her long weekend. She had gone fishing in Salmon Arm with her family. From the conversations I've overheard all over the office, it sounds like everyone has been away recently. I like that kind of trend. And Caroline has started her countdown...9 days...until she jets off to Italy, where she's touring around for a week before she catches a 10-day Mediterranean cruise. Someone else just came back from Hong Kong; another just came back from New York. It sounds like they encourage travel. I don't mind that at all.

So the short version of the last two days is: so far, so good. But the holiday is over. I got my login and password today for the computer, so now I have to do some real work. Stay tuned for more

The difference a day can make

Today, finally, after many, many cancellations, Sunny the dog got to go to the groomers. The poor little guy has suffered so many injuries that we've had to cancel his appointments a few times. He had gotten really hairy, which wasn't too comfortable in this hot-ish weather (where the hell is summer?).

Anyhow, here are before and after photos. Just because he's cute.