Saturday, September 30, 2006

Karna

Will called this morning. He went to Karna today. He didn't see any relatives except dead ones in the churchyard, but he says it is a really nice place, about the size of Caroline or maybe a bit bigger. They told him in Bratislava that it would be full old people but he said there were lots of kids playing around and people his age too.
He sounded really good, things are going well. They improved when he got to the homeland and he is looking forward to the next leg of the trip. Tim leaves in a couple of weeks and they plan to meet somewhere in Italy.
Mom, are you ready for your trip? Anne is pretty excited.

Friday, September 29, 2006

Awards

Tonight was the awards ceremony at school and I got honours and honours with distinction. That was pretty exciting, although I didn't crack the top three stundents list.

Before the ceremony I also got to do a couple chem experiments for the crowds of people there. That was pretty fun, although one of them didn't really work. I got five bonus marks for math out of it, too.

I have a hockey practice tommorrow, so I guess I should go to bed. Bye.

Sad days at The Mountaineer

Lawrence Mazza died Wednesday night. He was the publisher of The Mountaineer for a long time before his kids took it over. One of his sons is the editor, one is the publisher and one was production manager before she went on maternity leave. It's pretty sad around there. Today is the last day that Bonnie (who I'm replacing) will be working there, and there was a good-bye party planned for her for tonight out at Mazzas' cabin at Crimson Lake. They said they still wanted it to go on, so I guess it will probably be a somewhat subdued evening.
Tonight is also awards night at the high school. Grace and Sam are both receiving awards so I guess we'll skip out on the party to go to awards, then back out to the lake. Sam says he doesn't want to go to awards night, but Grace does.
Where is everybody? We haven't heard from some of you for a while.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Blue Jay Way

This morning, when I lay in bed drinking my coffee and wishing it wasn't 7:55am, I saw a blue jay outside! Usually, I just see magpies and pigeons. Perhaps roaming cats have scared away other less hardy birds. Still, it was nice to see.

But when I finally make it out of the apt., what makes my walk to work good every day this past week is the changing of the leaves. Bright yellow against a very Alberta-blue sky. And very crisp air but sunshine. It is a perfect fall here.

Slovak Food

I went out to a Slovak pub for supper tonight. I looked and looked for cabbage rolls on the menu. I had been led to believe that everyone in Slovakia ate these all the time. I was looking forward to real Slovakian cabbage rolls. No luck, so I had dumplings with sheep's cheese and sausage. It was interesting. Definitly not cabbage rolls, but I guess I'm a more culturally diverse person now...

Question

If you could only choose 1 song to listen to for the rest of your life what would it be?

I pick Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash

Wednesday morning you sure look fine

The title is for all those Fleetwood Mac fans out there. I'm listening to Rhiannon right now.

I went jogging this am for the first time in 6 weeks. Now I feel virtuous. Plus finished an article critique yesterday. I still have the essay on relationships to do, and so thought I'd postpone it and post this instead.

Had 2 meetings for our project yesterday. One very positive, where people said fanatastic! Right on! Yes, the community needs info about harm reduction! right on nursing students! You can make a difference! Sure, we all have different ideas, but there can be common ground with different groups in society!

The other, not so much. we heard: why would you take this on? You can't make a difference. If other important people can't make a difference why would you think 4 naive nursing students could? there's no way certain groups would ever listen to you.

Not that I think we're going to enact new legislation, but possibly we could show someone a different perspective. Is that so bad? It is interesting to see how people react to the thought that others would like to become involoved in an issue. There are lots of other agendas.

We're also hopingto make a road trip to Vancouver to see the safe injection site. Sure hope it works out.

Plus I LOVE roadtrips. But what if someone wants to listen to Glass Tiger in the car? Or Yanni? It is not beyond the realm of possibility.

Richard had his hated exam. He felt the one part went well, but thinks he didn't do well on the other. He'll find out next week. despite all this he is enjoying school and I commented that he seemed happier doing this than working, which he agreed with. Yay Richard! He'll be annoyed with this too. Still I am proud of him. By the way, remember my post about how he would be annoyed with my comment about 100%? he was reading it, got to the 100% part, started to say"I wish you wouldn't say stuff like this", then got to the part where I said he'll be annoyed and laughed. After 13 years, though someone can still surprise you, there are an awful lot of things that you know about them.

In other news, we went to see The Black Dahlia. Scarlett Johanssen cannot act. Plot was difficult to figure out, but I still liked it. Some interesting gory'ish parts and was fine for escapism.

It is a beautiful day. Sunny, clear, high of 25, trees starting to change colour.

OK, I should a) wash dishes b) start essay. There are lots of other housework type tasks I could do, but they will have to wait until later.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

europe

Well for my first post, i decided to wait until some big news came along. As luck would have it, two news events have cropped up in the same week! The first is that the mortgage on Grandma's house came through, so pretty much all that's left is sighning papers. The second big event is that I have booked tickets to Europe. I leave for Frankfurt on the eighteenth of October, and return on the First of November. Not nearly long enough too see everything that I want to, but hopefully long enough to see some of Germany, France, Italy, possibly Switzerland, and Will.
Well, I think that pretty much concluse my first Blog post ever. yay.

Czech Food

So, I had real Czech food last night. We went out to a tiny local restaurant down the street from the hostel for supper. I had garlic dumplings with chicken inside. Jesse ordered off the Czech menu, just picked out a food that he did not recognize any of the words in the name. It turned out to be some sort of fried pita thing with vegatables in. Our friend who we went with tried to order a side of potatoes, but they wouldn't let her unless she ordered a main dish. No one spoke English at all, and the next table was a bunch of big Czech workers, who were obviously regulars. It was awesome!

Halfway

Well, I've made it halfway through the trip. Notable achievements include getting hustled in Morroco, and not killing Jesse despite having only him for company for weeks on end. I'd say things are going well.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

My first post

Mom said I have to post something, so here it is.
I had my first hockey practice today. It went well and was lots of fun. My coach seemed good. She is only a few years older than me, and she has played hockey for 13 years, 11 with boys and 2 with girls, so she knows lots of drills.

School is going well, except that I have a student teacher for math and chem. They also split up my english class because there were 38 kids in it, and all of my friends ended up in the other class with the better teacher. And also physics is hard. Besides that school is good.

I'm still working at the theatre. The heater in the lobby must not work though, because it is freezing in there. Today we opened the front door to let in heat because it was soo much warmer outside. I had to go back to work after practice, so I grabbed a touque and that kept me warm.
That is about it from my life, so mom, I hope you are happy.

Family Ramblings

Famly Ramblings
I don't have a title in my new job. I don't even have a new uniform and a name tag. I will be doing the billing for the ads each week. No business trips or anything fancy unless you count an occasional trip out to the Co-op to show them their new ads.
Geoff and Betty Anne worked hard yesterday cleaning out Tim's house and are quite proud of themselves for taking a lot of stuff to the dump. Betty Anne took a truckload of stuff away too but some of that was for Kate and Anne.
Tim's mortgage has been approved so there is a bit of paperwork to get out of the way and the house is his. He has found two roommates, who are necessary for the mortgage payments. He said he was going to post about his trip, so I won't say anything. Come on, Tim, let everyone in on your plans.

More

Friday, September 22, 2006

At Last


Betty Anne is in Rocky this weekend and we are attempting to do the final junk remval at Mom's house (soon to be Tim's house).
We went over for a few hours Thurs evening and spent the whole day there today- lots of trips to the museum(they are having a garage sale tomorrow) and to the dump and recycle.
Bit easier to make tough decisions on what to keep and what to toss when we have
to have it all done this weekend. I am hoping we can finish early tomorrow as I have a
big stained glass project to solder. I have had it ready since before we went to Orlando, but it
is so big I have to build it in the garage, and it has been too cold. We had 1 1/2 feet of snow at the plant while we were away- the power was out there for about 36 hours- lots of lost production, but we were blissfully unaware basking in the hot,humid Orlando sun ( I have heard that there was 5 feet in the mountains) The trees around the plant are all bent over and broken-I saw one that was still upright, but all the branches were stripped off-like someone too a saw and cut the branches off !
I think that I have added a couple of photos of my big St.Glass project. Maybe/Maybe not

Thursday, September 21, 2006

jobs, jobs

I am now full-time at my job. I am training the new girl, and I mean girl. She is 18, Sam's age. I don't know, it feels weird. I should not want to mother my co-worker. Anyway, after next week I will be in the new job. I still wonder if I did the right thing.

Finally

Geoff finally got a username/passwd after Anne sent multiple invitations that never seemed to
work. Good way to keep in touch with everyone.
YEA Anne.

Super Duper

Well done new assessment librarian. We should get together as a primary nursing skill/task/job is assessment. Do you think we could form a business?

I wish I would be in town for the tea, but unfortunately these things called School, Responsibility, and Money will force me to send my regrets.

Richard got 100% on his Anatomy and Physiology quiz! He'll be irritated that I put this in as he'll think, 'Now everyone thinks that I'll get good marks all the time, and I won't be able to' Trust me, I've lived with him 13.5 years, I know him. Still, I needed to put it up as I think it's great. He is rolling along with school and getting into the swing of things. For instance, coming home and doing homework all evening. He has a test next week in the course he dislikes-Musculoskeloetal Anatomy and Physiology. Ug, the name just wears me out. he is worried about this test as it is all full of awful names that need to be memorized, like greater trochanter and amphiarthrosis.

I worked last night. With my favorite co-workers, so it was good. I ahve to do an overnight Friday and have class that day, why did I say yes? Oh right, because they are *extremely* short staffed. I am recommending someone in my nursing class for a job. Which the ED jumped at due to aforementioned short staffing issue. I always feel a bit nervous about this, what if it doesn't work out? It's like setting up people on a blind date.

Our harm reduction political action project is moving along. It involoves alot of phone calls and networking. Which I am able to do, but I'd prefer if I had an expense account and could do this over 3 martini lunches. Maybe we could work this into our new business Allison.

I should be working on looking at an essay on looking at a relationship I had with someone and how I managed to engage with them, looking at all the aspects of relational capacity, ethical narrative etc. etc. Sounds terrible dull doesn't it? Actually, I like this kind of stuff, though Mom calls it navel gazing. I'm going to do it on a patient I had this semester. does this make you feel worried about having a student when you're in the hospital?

time for tea

I would like to point out that not only do I like the way "Family Ramblings" sounds, I like the double meaning. A place to ramble on about all the places we've rambled to in our travels! Perfect.

My wee business trip to Calgary went really well, despite managing to nearly miss the plane. Too bad the meeting was at 7.30 am after a very fun weekend...

Also, I am having a housewarming tea party on Sunday Sept. 24. I've sent Evites to those who actually live in the city, but if by some chance you will be in town, stop by! Oooh, and if you have any good recipes please post or send them. So far the menu is:

tea sandwiches (cucumber, maybe smoked salmon or brie and cranberry)
scones with fake clotted cream
trifle, probably
some kind of cookie or cake to round things off. Open to suggestion.

Yes, it is in fact mostly just an excuse to eat a lot.

Got it!

Hey everyone -- I got the internal secondment: I am the new Assessment Librarian til next August.

What do Assessment Librarians do all day? They assess services, etc. Are we really providing what we think we are? Could it be more convenient? Is it really want users want? I work with Director of Libraries in administration...I see what's going on throughout the system. It will be lots of data. Interesting! Really!

It's Hire a Mental Health Patient month!

Family Ramblings

Laura - got blog #3 but the others must have disappeared into cuyberspace!Still wet and cool here but they are promising sun and +20 for the weekend. Grapes and all are still on the vine but by Sat it should be dry enough to go into them. You're right about the name - everyone seems to be on the move. Family Ramblings

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

My third blog

This is my third blog, not sure that I did it correctly. Any way I think that we are family of ramblers therefor this is the perfect site for us. Hi to all.

Family Ramblings

Fla. sounds like it was fun, if fake - no one does fake better than the USA. Does it feel like a let down coming back to reality? No snow here yet but hints of frost, most of which have been false but I'm out to pick tomatoes and grapes (big crop) just in case Suppose3d to start raining at noon. Family Ramblings

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

home to the real world

We got back from Orlando on Sunday. It was good. But the whole place is a big fraud. Everything is manufactured. Our hotel was supposed to look like a real Italian harbour village, Portofino. It did, from far away, but you knew it was fake. I mean, I doubt if there are any Italians in the real Portofino powerwashing the cobblestone streets.
But the weather was nice and warm and felt even warmer when Geoff checked his voicemail to hear that there was 6 inches of snow at the plant and the power was out and the plant was down all weekend.
We went to Universal Studios (fake stuff again, like fake New York and San Francisco, did you know they were just down the street from each other?). We also went to Epcot at Disneyworld. We had to watch what rides we went on because Geoff gets carsick and I had a sore neck. So I would try the ride and if I thought he would be OK we go together. It was fun, though. We ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, the whole restaurant had a Forrest Gump theme and very good food.

And, a Clan MacQuarrie website

Clan MacQuarrie

Shouldn't I be working?

What do Tom Selleck, Andy Warhol, and Sandra Dee have in common?

They are all Slovaks. As are Paul Newman and Jon Voight. Weird! Thanks, Wikipedia!

Currency Conversions

I never realized how convienent it is to have one money system for several countries. Now that we are in Prague, and are desperatly trying to figure out how to do the conversions quickly, I realize the great sense of the Euro. Last time that we were in a different money zone, it was Morocco, where our inability to convert cost us aproxametly ten times what we thought it would be. Here's hoping that doesn't happen again.

Family Ramblings

I am not sure what I am doing here - sent (I thought a thing but I think I made a mistake so am redoing it. The new furniture sounds great Jude altho' the screen is a bit confusing - guess you have to see it.
Will think about family stories as per Al's suggestion, but it will probably be winter before I produce anything.
Fall is really here - the kids back in school! and a load of yard work waiting - it rained during the night so is wet and muddy and the alternative is housework. Since neither tall wet grass and muddy beds nor dirty floors appeal am using the time to practice on the machine.
Am waiting to hear something from the
Ssr Ferreys on the Fla trip and see theresa's just entered something.
Only two weeks til Anne and my junket cross country and am getting excited about it, Jude I will arrive in Edm on the third and our train leaves on the 4th evening.
i do hope I get to see you or will you be off where ever?
Back to the laundry
MomFamily Ramblings

Monday, September 18, 2006

Spending Spree

While Grace and Jovita were out at Phantom of the Opera, Anne, Theresa and I went out shopping, and while we were in Huckleberry and Chin, I fell in love with an armchair (plaid with wood arms), that I had to have, as well a screen (it is a bit hard to describe, it looks kind of like wool which is all tangled up, except that it is not soft) . They are being delivered this week, Thursday to be exact, and I can't wait. Then, I noticed that a side table and sofa table that match my stuff, were on sale. I went home and thought about it and then went back on Sunday and ordered them. They will be delivered on the 13 of Oct. No new couch so far, still looking. So with my next wave of visitors it will look like a brand new place.

Saw Hollywoodland on the weekend, kind of a film noir, and really enjoyed it. Seemed like a bit of a different part for Ben Affleck. And I think Adrien Body's eyes are to die for!!

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Christian folk music and nursing narrative

I would have to say that people must have things to write. Your life can't be that dull. 13 people-get on with it those who have not contributed.
we went to 2 birthday events this weekend. One for a guy from Richard's work- I ate chicken quesadilla(Make yourself a dang quesadilla then) though I often hesitate to order this as it seems very Earl's circa 1995. Then another one tonight, this other guy from Richard's work- his wife's. It was much fun. we sat across from a Christian folk musician originally from Oregon, who has a very good sense of humour. Richard said that he had been stressed from starting school and the musician said 'I've discovered this new thing-it's called marijuana' very deadpan. I was laughing a lot. I ate gyros for supper-Greek restuarant.
I read this great article for school on how nurses should be communicating (or should I say...engaging) with their patients. I felt inspired, despite my dislike of the word engage. here's a quote:
'The knowledge that science generates about health and illness is useful as a map to show established routes: it is useless as maps in foretelling what the land will feel like, and as dangerous as maps because of the risk that a traveller will not look up to see the landscape. Knowledge can become a substitute for experience' (Gadow, 1995)
Aren't I just the ivory tower academic?
A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing in the hands of the wrong person.
And we went to a hockey game, Saturday night. Exhibition, and the Rockets lost miserably. I am always intrigued by what people wear to hockey games. Hockey jerseys and some face painting you'd expect. High heels I would not, yet there are a lot who wear them. And they look totally done up..hair and make up perfect. What's the point? It's an arena and a violent sport. Yet, here are people barely able to wobble their way up and down the stairs to their seats.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Family Ramblings

Al - glad the interview went ok and am eagerly waiting for results. That cat is climbing all over me when I sit down at this thing. Am sure that your mental health is under control and those folks need not think you're delicate but its nice they are concerned.The rain and cold has passed thru' so it's sunshine and heat again. Note: no snow.Family Ramblings

Family Ramblings

Al - glad the interview went ok and am eagerly waiting for results. That cat is climbing all over me when I sit down at this thing. Am sure that your mental health is under control and those folks need not think you're delicate but its nice they are concerned.The rain and cold has passed thru' so it's sunshine and heat again. Note: no snow.Family Ramblings

Moving on up...

So I had a job interview Thursday, for an internal secondment position. It would be one year, doing mostly service evaluation stuff. I think it went okay. I'd had a talk w/ my supervisor, where she'd said she hoped I would apply but wanted to make sure that I felt I could do it-- it's a bit funny having your supervisor acutely aware of your mental health state, but I thought it was nice that she wanted to check in to make sure...when I wasn't second-guessing myself & wondering if everyone at work secretly thinks I'm "delicate."

As I was typing this, I was just wondering if our blog can be found through Google? It may impact my future discussions of my mental health....

Anyway, I find out next week if I get it -- so wish me luck!

Mirage 54

Family Ramblings
We have the Mirage 54 houseboat.

Houseboat

Family Ramblings

By the way, I forgot to let everyone know that I booked the houseboat! July 3-6th. I have no idea how to send a link through this. Wait let me try.
It may have worked.
So, we need to plan for this thing, like meals etc. If we split them up so that each person/group does x many. I think there are 12 meals to cover altogether. We need to be at the houseboat place by 830 on the 3rd, so do we want to stay the night of the 2nd in Sicamous camping? We also need a dinghy for Jim.
It has a hottub on the top deck. And fireplace. So weird to think about *very rich*people having these things and only using them for 3 weeks a year.
I have a friend in school whose husband is a yacht captain and is in the Mediterranean right now. this boat is only used like maybe a month out of the year, and yet there is a crew on it all the time. Plus she says it is done in poor taste. The owner lives in New York.
See in a 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon way, I know someone who is a billionaire in New York.

Friday, September 15, 2006

it woirked

Family Ramblings

Family Ramblings

Here we are at Mom's and I am making her post!

Here goes...

This is the matriarch speaking - this is great idea especially for us neophytes who keep losing their emails. Anne and I are all sorted out for our cross country junket - only 2 weeks off - how exciting!

Huh

I like this idea. I was thinking just the other day that the family doesn't hear enough of my opinions, and now I have an outlet!

In happier news, Oktoberfest starts tommorow, and I will be there. How great is a trip where you get to run with the bulls AND go to Oktoberfest?

Questions

OK, so for us non student types what would A&P be? And I have to say, 12 hours a week, makes my 40 of working look like a lot!! Or is there other stuff involved? An hour or two of homework?

Sam, do you have to wear a manager Uniform? or do you get to wear regular clothes, and therefore may need a shopping trip to beef up your wardrobe? Don't forget if your feet are comfortable you will be too.

The weather here today is cold and dreary, and I so wanted to stay home, turn on the switch for the fireplace, drink coffee and read my book. but I managed to drag myself in to work, sure hope the day goes quickly.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Boring Admin Stuff (story of my life)

This is a brilliant idea! No one can now get annoyed at me for not posting - they can just go post themselves if they are bored!

Anyway, just wanted to say that if I missed inviting anyone, send me their email address. People who share an email address got one invitation - sorry, didn't know how to get around that. If you want your own login, I can try sending two to the same address or you can get yourself a hotmail account or something.

Also, if you have things you'd like added to the template or can think of other links you'd like along the sidebar, email me and I'll play around with the HTML.

I am off to Calgary tomorrow for a business trip. One three-hour meeting Monday morning, and they're flying me down free for the weekend! This is the first hint of any sort of perk and I am grabbing onto it with both hands.

Hey/test

Interesting idea. How unfortunate that my life is quite monotonous. The most exciting thing that has happened to me lately is that I got a promotion to shift manager from supervisor at work (A&W). This means I get a raise and a new nametag. They are training me to be assistant manager, so after 2+ years of working in the kitchen, I am learning how to work up front and do some back-office work. And I'm boring myself just writing about it.

oops

Apparently it's also 6 FREAKING HOURS of regular A&P too.

Massage therapists I bow down before thee

who knew

Fantastique! I was actually thinking the other day that i wanted to start a blog, but instead it has been started for me. Moral of the story, if you wait long enough, someone will do it for you.

Richard is studying away on his new massage therapy course and came in to tell me that he has hope that he will remember what he has been learning in his 6 FREAKING HOURS A WEEK of musculoskeletal anatomy course. In additoion he has 3 hours a week of just regular old A&P.

And I though nursing was intense.

I am reliving all my fears from my first year of nursing school. Though thanks to the wonder of Effexor, I have not been having the same anxiety.

Starting school when you're in your 30's is an overwhelming experience. I may need to up my dose to deal with his schooling.

By the way, i love this semester so far in my own nursing course. I'm all about community action. We're going to do political awareness of harm reduction for our big project.

Hmmm. Perhaps this stream of consciousness thing is not good for me.

Ok, will post now and go eat some eggs on toast for supper. i worked night shift last night and am also getting another cold. I just had laryngitis 2 weeks ago. ridiculous. And I call myself a 4th year nursing student. Physician heal thyself.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Test pattern

This is ultra easy! I am testing this while at work on reference desk. The students can find things on their OWN.
So we were sitting around the dinner table at Judith's last week, eating a pot of her world-renowned spaghetti and talking about keeping in touch. Specifically, about how cool it is that my grandmother has joined the intimidating world of technology and is now sending us all emails. And how great it is that we can keep abreast of my brother Will's travels in Europe in almost real time just by checking his weblog. And how much fun the family round-robin emails about our planned houseboating trip next summer are.

It was Allison who thought of it first - "This family should have a blog. Everyone could post stories and comments and check it whenever they wanted. Anne - want to set one up?"

So here it is. I'll be interested to see how this thing will evolve, but feel free to post and comment and we'll see where it takes us. It'll be great to hear from you!