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so I was all excited about the upcoming weekend, friends coming to visit from thunder bay, last minute halloween costume wrangling, but then the following happened: ( honestly, this is kind of gross, don't say I didn't warn you ) |
dude... just found these shoes on amazon.com, selling for $99:
I bought the exact same pair a few months ago at winners for $25. Um, that's all. |
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In Winnipeg now! the apartment is great. I'm not super excited about the colour of the walls, but it's really spacious, great location. I haven't bought my car yet, but I spent all of yesterday taking the bus around doing errands - what a pain. |
Just found out earlier today - my paper was accepted for publication in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology!!! Sort of shocked, as I thought they were going to turn it down, but so happy!
Plus, I had a fun day hanging out with my mom and grandma. We went to the valley. The apple blossoms were in full view and GORGEOUS. We also went to Tangled garden", which I had read about a few years ago in Canadian house and home, or a similar magazine. Gorgeous garden, and such a lovely house. We ended up getting some ginger lime thyme jelly. yummy. I love my grandma, she is such a sweetie! I don't get to see her often enough, it's been about 3 years, I think.
And... graduating on friday! |
| » family is here = not as crazy as I thought it was going to be |
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So my mom and grandma both flew in from taiwan to see me graduate (on friday). got in last night. so happy they could make it. we haven't really done much - it was raining and cold today, and they were both jetlagged. my mom bought 5 lbs of mussels, which I think is a bit excessive. we boiled them up and ate half of them today, and I realize now that I don't really like mussels. ugh.
tomorrow I think we might drive down to the beach, or peggy's cove or something.
May. 23rd, 2006 @ 03:09 am
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| » link |
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a really interesting blog post about the use of counterpoint in pop music.
red black window
May. 19th, 2006 @ 10:03 pm
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| » Photos from vancouver! |
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Photobucket is not very user friendly... was getting annoyed with this.
Vancouver pics
May. 19th, 2006 @ 08:51 pm
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| » oh! what I did in vancouver :) |
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Vancouver was lots of fun. We mostly ate a lot, slept a lot (for some reason, I was tired all week, and took multiple naps per day most days), and did lots of shopping.
Arrived Tuesday mid day. J picked me up from the airport - yay! Got to the house we were subletting - very cute house with a great kitchen facing south into the backyard - so much sun, what a great room.
Sort of in the south main street area, not sure what that area is called. Very close to QE park, very cute residential neighbourhood. I was tired, so I took a nap while E and J chatted in the kitchen. Then we went to Granville Island and T&T, this asian supermarket, to pick up some things for dinner. Had clam linguine - love e's linguine, seared ahi tuna, sugar snap peas, string beans and peppers, and these huge shrimp fried in garlic.
Wednesday - took it easy. Played frisbee at kitsilano beach. J taught me how to properly throw forehand, and I was sort of getting the hang of it by the end. This guy had lost his cell phone near where we were playing - had apparently left it there a few min before we arrived, and kept walking around near us. He prob thought we had stolen it. bleh. We of course did not. We helped him look for it for a bit. Went home and made butternut squash soup (ok, E made it). Got some bubble tea at Dragon bubble tea with D - I think that's what it's called. I think it's on King Edward drive, and it's really popular - it was packed. I got this brewed fruit tea, which I remembered having in Taiwan and loving (herbal fruit tea with some berries floating around in the bottom), but this fruit tea was terrible - they pretty much brewed orange juice and had random fruit chunks floating around. Not good. E said it tasted sort of like vomit - and yeah, he was right. Just because it was so warm and acidic. Gross. That really turned me off that drink. Then we drove downtown and walked around Coal Harbour down to english bay and back. On the walk back, the moon had this dark halo all around it, I don't remember seeing anything like that before. It was so weird, we were just walking and gawking with our heads bent up looking towards the sky for most of the walk back.
Thursday - left for Seattle in the morning with E and J. They're both guys, but they really like shopping... it's kind of weird, but I can't complain. They're power shoppers, I can't believe how fast they do it. I guess I'm kind of slow - prob average for a girl. bleh. Went to the outlet mall on the way, and got some things at L'Occitane, including this great linen covered box meant to hold candles, some shea butter, and almond hand cream (lots of great deals, unfortunately, none of their fab hand cream in the silver tubes). Got a pair of nine west shoes for work that I've been wanting for awhile. Then we hit up two nordstrom racks before dinner at Brasa, which has half priced bar food from 5 - 7. Got about 9 dishes between the 3 of us, including paella, a curry fish stew, these fantastic really tender squid. And Spanish donuts! holy crap they're good! So bad for you but oh, oh so good. Stayed at the crowne plaza downtown, thanks to a cheap rate from priceline.
Friday - more shopping. Went to a couple places downtown - the diesel store, anthropologie, where I got this pretty bottle of perfume, and TBC, which gets last season's things from Sway and cake, a boutique in town. TBC was great. Got a splendid wrap top for $12 and a gorgeous gold hawk cami, which normally sell here in halifax for $170 I think, for $20. Went to the remaining area nordstrom racks on the way home. Nordstrom rack is pretty good, wish we had them here. They have great designer jeans. Their shoe section, though, is SUCH a disaster - shoes everywhere, all over the floor. Got the best pair of purple pumas for $40 though - so cute. Also, a cute cotton tie halter tank and a teal short sleeved sweater for work from the ann taylor outlet. Went to target - got a cute silver necklace with a thin silver circle. We drove home that evening, but I hadn't realized that since we were there for less than 48 hours, we only had like, a $50 exemption each. I was sort of sweating, but thank goodness we had no problems crossing the border.
Saturday - dim sum at Kirin with E, J and their friend W. Excellent dim sum. Had this dark, inky black sesame seed soup for dessert. Then in the evening, we went for dinner with J's parents, aunt, uncle and cousin at a neighbourhood cantonese place - they had tvs mounted on the walls with period Qing dynasty melodramas, it was odd. The food was good, though. I had pigeon for the first time! I was a bit apprehensive because, after all, pigeons are basically flying rats, but they were apparently farm raised. Afterwards, we went to visit J's aunts's dog Lok-lok, who is a ginormous sheep dog that acts like he's a puppy, the way he runs around and jumps like a crazy person. He is hilarious and cute.
Walked around Coal Harbour again, and I climbed this sculpture thing. Then we found out you can rent motorboats there for pretty cheap! So we were all excited about that. That night, we went to freaking Atlantis, which is supposedly the asian club in town, because we were curious. And indeed, it was pretty much all asians in there, and it seemed that it was mostly recent immigrants and international students and the like, and everyone seemed really young. There was also a preponderence of extremely short skirts and teeny halter tops. Felt out of place in my jeans and long sleeved top. Was wearing heels, though, and for the first time was the same height as some of the guys in the club - I was even taller than a couple, and I really am short, so it was sort of awesome. Bumped into J's friend - who is from Halifax and inherited E's paper route - SG who was dancing like an insane person on the stage.
Sunday - rented a motorboat! went with e, j, t, and d, and went all around the bay. packed a picnic lunch (made sandwiches on baguettes, san pellegrinos, and these annoyingly difficult to make smoked salmon appetizers), and ate it on an island. Sooo much fun. It wasn't bad, actually - $40 an hour for 3 hours. And it was such a gorgeous, warm, sunny day. We all took turns driving the boat - I've never done it before, and it was pretty fun. I'm thinking it would be fun to take a canoe out along the same route, they're so much easier to manouever and dock.
all of my photos from boating kind of suck
Then we went to Stanley park and played frisbee for awhile, then E tried to teach me not to throw a baseball like a girl. Actually haven't used a glove since grade 9, the last time I took gym class... but yeah, it's easier than I remember. That evening, we went back to Stanley park, to Sequoia grill. Really tasty.
And... this is getting really long and I'm getting tired of typing. More later. I'm also going to upload my photos in a little bit.
May. 19th, 2006 @ 02:27 pm
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| » Why the pearson airport sucks - really long story, sorry, feel free to ignore my venting |
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Back home!
I flew back from Vancouver on Wednesday through Toronto... my Vancouver --> toronto flight was stuck on the tarmac for 3 hours after landing in Toronto because of some lightning - the ground crew wasn't allowed on the runway, which makes sense, but I didn't see any lightning, so I'm sort of confused about the whole thing. The whole time, they kept reassuring us that our connecting flights were probably delayed, too, so I didn't worry about it. Then I got into the terminal and found out my connecting flight to halifax had already left (crap!), so they directed me to go to customer support.
So off I went... only to stand in the longest line ever. Other air canada people were walking up to people in the line telling us to go book a hotel and rebook our tickets later. I was like, fuck, I don't want to pay for a hotel, esp after I found out from the people standing behind me that the cheapest, supposedly discounted room they could get was $99. And because it was due to the weather, air canada said they weren't responsible for accomodations for us stranded travellers. I still thought I might be able to get onto a later flight to halifax, as there were about 3 more flights that evening, but after spending half an hour on hold on the reservations line while standing in the customer service line, the earliest flight I could get was the next morning. I was getting sort of stressed out at this point, because I really did not like the idea of spending the night at the airport - no seats to lie across, as they all had armrests.
Then I decided to spend the night in the maple leaf lounge (I had executive class tickets thanks to my dad and his airmiles... business class really makes the long flight better, but unfortunately, no hotel room related perks). I figured I could just sleep on one of the comfy couches. Unfortunately, they closed at midnight, so that was that. I called a friend in town, but didn't realize he lived over an hour away from the airport. I called the hotel reservation line that air canada provided, and they told me that everything was booked up (there must have been hundreds of other stranded travellers), and the cheapest I could get was $180 a night at the Wyndham. gah. Then I called my boyfriend who suggested I stay with his sister in downtown toronto - yay! great idea.
So I went downstairs to baggage claim - it was midnight by now, almost 6 hours after landing in Toronto - and tried to find my bag, but it wasn't there. So I stood in another line for half an hour only to learn that my bag probably wouldn't be on the belt for several hours as they only had the skeleton crew running. The guy was not very helpful. He said it would probably get onto my flight the next day, but he couldn't make any promises. I waited around for another half hour before I decided to leave. Then I went outside, and took the airport shuttle downtown to stay with e's sister, who lives in this little bachelor apt in a great location downtown. sooo happy I could do this.
Got there shortly after 1 AM, and changed my toronto --> halifax flight to 2 pm the next day so we could do some shopping (hey, if I'm going to be in downtown toronto, I might as well make use of it, right?). We went to H&M the next morning, then I zipped off to the airport again.
When I got there, I checked in and got my boarding pass. Then the agent told me I should go down to baggage claim, find my bag, and bring it back up to check because otherwise, it probably wouldn't go to halifax with me, and I'd have to fill out a missing baggage claim. crap! By this time, I only had half an hour to do this, plus get through security and get to my gate. So I ran downstairs, had a hard time figuring out where the baggage claim was because I'm not particularly familliar with the airport, and it's freaking big, and talked to the guy there, who told me that all of the bags which had come in overnight and were bound for Halifax had already left on the first flight that morning. great, but why couldn't the agent upstairs have told me that? It took me 20 min to find the baggage claim and find that guy, and now I only had 10 min to get through security. Luckily, it only took me 5 min to get through security - I was surprised there was virtually no line, despite being 1:30 in the afternoon.
Soo happy to land in Halifax. Got home, and the baggage claim person was very friendly and helpful (and - no line). It's good to be home. I love halifax, and I'm going to miss it so freaking much.
So yeah, that was my annoying trip story.
Er, and now I have a billion things to do, mostly moving related, plus my mom and grandma are coming into town on Sunday, so I have to clean this place up.
May. 19th, 2006 @ 12:04 pm
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| » so sleepy |
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it's 6:45 AM... I've been up for almost 3 hours. I'm in the executive class lounge at the halifax airport, woohoo! This place is verra nice. I had a little breakfast and watched some TV for awhile. And they have all these plush couches everywhere. Just about to leave for Vancouver - can't wait!
May. 9th, 2006 @ 06:43 am
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| » Random photo post! |
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Went out to Hamachi house for sushi with friends last week. Love dragon rolls!
It looks a bit frightening up close. I wanted to eat the head, but F got to it first. =/
And... the top hinge of my bedroom door had come off about a week ago, but I hadn't had time to fix it. Then, one night last week (at 1 AM), BAM, the other hinge came off. Is this shoddy construction? I mean, that door was installed only 2 years ago. It's not like I put the door under undue stress. I knew my roommate... or flatmate or whatever, would be coming home at 4 AM or so, so I wanted to have the door fixed by then so he wouldn't wake me up. So I tried fixing the crappy door at 1 in the morning, even though I had to work the next day. I had to put those plastic reinforcing things in, so I was using the power drill at 1 in the morning... hope my neighbours didn't hear. In the end, I couldn't put the door back together... I think it's sort of impossible to do by yourself.
Now I'm just rambling because it's three in the morning. gahh. goodnight.
... oh yes... before I forget. Walk x 5 min/Run x 10/2/10/3 today, then abs. Yesterday, I tried going for a short run outside because it was gorgeous out, but for some reason, I got all dizzy within a few minutes, so I didn't make it far. Why can I not run outside? wtf is wrong with me.
May. 7th, 2006 @ 02:32 am
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| » the stew-soup continuum |
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I was cleaning up my room a bit yesterday, and came across this:
did that about 5 years ago... my ex-bf and I were sitting around eating lunch, and started having this discussion about what exactly differentiates a stew from a soup. Discussion points included the "soup that eats like a meal," and "mm, I could go for a bowl of soup." err, so we decided that the distinction between 'soup' and 'stew' was too arbitrary, hence, the stew-soup continuum theory. I'm looking at the equation now, and it really doesn't make sense. It still makes me giggle, though.
May. 6th, 2006 @ 08:59 pm
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| » woohoo! |
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Today - ran 20 minutes in a row! I can't even remember the last time I did that (now that's sad). (walked on incline x 5, ran x 20, walked x 3 = 2.9 K - yes, I run slowly)
Also - biceps/triceps/shoulders/abs.
May. 2nd, 2006 @ 02:21 pm
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| » for WPW, you do not give AV nodal blocking agents (adenosine, b-blockers, CCBs, dig) |
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Currently studying for my ACLS test tomorrow (http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3011972)... bleh. Sort of confusing because they've changed some things around compared with the last time I took the course 2 years ago. And remembering the doses for drugs is tricky.
Last tuesday - just ran for 10/walked x 3/ran x 10
Today - chest/back weights, abs, ran for only 10 minutes, then my ankle dorsiflexors were getting _really_ sore... not sure why, as I stretched for some time before running, so I resorted to walking quickly up an incline for 15 min. =/
Apr. 30th, 2006 @ 10:22 pm
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| » sunday update |
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I think I've been averaging twice a week with the running. That's not very good. Trying to do three, at least.
Wednesday - did week 6 - run x 5, walk x3, run x 5, walk x 3, run x 5.
Saturday - run x 10, walk x 3, run x 10.
Today
- walked around point pleasant park for 1 1/2 hours or so with friends D and M, then walked to get grocerires (I got frozen dumplings! and bok choy. Can't wait to make noodles)... prob 2 hours walking today. Then we went to Dairy deli to get this frozen yogurt - they just have plain vanilla frozen yogurt, and they add frozen fruits. mmm.
- did this '15 min a day to a great body' or something workout from Glamour... it was basically Pilates lite. I'm not sure how it's supposed to do anything. I'm tossing it.
Apr. 23rd, 2006 @ 07:18 pm
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| » soo full... |
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Today: biceps/triceps with free weights. I did bicep curls with an incline for the first time - it really makes it harder! dude.
Started week 6 of 9 of the couch to 5 K. Run 5 min/walk 3 min - repeat x 3.
Then I went to a friend's place for dinner - she's Indian, and she and her mom made us this huge meal, I ate soo much. but it was so yummy.
Apr. 18th, 2006 @ 01:14 am
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| » bleh... not so good at this |
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So.. last week at one point, I had done lower body - squats and lunges, and I think I sort of pulled my right hip adductor or something - anyway, it was too painful to run, so I just did the eliptical for 25 min instead.
Took two long walks last week.
Yesterday - chest/back/shoulders, and walked for 5 min incline 9/ran 3 min no incline/walked 90 sec incline 9/ran 5 min/walked 2.5 min/ran 3 min/walked 90 sec/ran 5 min/walked 5 min incline 9 (3 K).
Tomorrow, I'll start with week 5 of 9 :)
Apr. 15th, 2006 @ 12:36 pm
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| » ok... |
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since my LJ sort of sucks these days, I'm just going to use it to keep track of my fitness goals, ie:
- to run 10 K (how sad is it that I cannot currently run 10 K)
- to lose the pooch and have abs of steel, which I'm sure I do have, under the pooch
- to be able to do those freaking teasers in pilates
So, I'm doing the 'couch to 5 K' program - on week 4. I think I walked/ran 3 miles, but it's hard to tell from the treadmill, I don't know whether it's in miles or K.
Tomorrow: lower body weights + pilates.
Apr. 5th, 2006 @ 12:11 am
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