Well my stage is coming along nicely. Lise, my supervisor, gives me the necessary instructions and then pretty much leaves me on my own to do what I have to do. Today I got to do the glutathione assay with the other stagiere and tomorrow I'll get to do it on my own so we'll see how that goes. It's not complicated but just involves a lot of mixing and timing things properly and the protocol is not written out too clearly.
A couple of Fridays ago, the bakers treated us to pizza and cinnamon buns for lunch and I brought home some olive & onion foccacia too, that was yummy. For some reason even if I really don't like olives, I like olive bread. Go figure!
I think I mentioned that my food processor died. Well, we shopped around to see the cost of a replacement but it turns out that no one makes an equivalent machine to the one we have. Ours is a mixer/blender/food processor all in one but they don't seem to exist anymore. I guess companies got wise to the fact that they can make more money if you have to buy 3 separate appliances. So the $125 to get the motor replaced in the old one seems like a bargain. The loser at Centre du Rasoir says it might take til January to fix it though. Good thing I don't plan on doing any major cooking for Christmas this year.
I finished re-reading the 4th Harry Potter & we went to see the movie for Ysabel's birthday and I even managed to stay awake the whole time! Now if France can only finish the 5th book, I need some reading material for the metro...I've been reading Popular Science magazine instead to pass the time. Zubbles are cool!
Go to ZUBBLES
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
New post as per Eric's request :)
Well it's been a while and we could all use a little something to ease our minds from the recent events so here goes...
How did I spend the few days I had off before starting my stage? Think back, think waaaaaay back...
I made my 43rd blood donation, did some cleaning up of the front & back garden (I am always thankful at this time of year that we live in a row house with a small backyard, only 10 bags of leaves and garden clippings so far!), bought my first bus pass in over 11 years, celebrated Paul's birthday with a bbq and chocolate cake (and the famous macaroni salad of which Eric was very reasonable with his portion size), pureed 2 pumpkins which ended up killing our food processor and experimented with making onion rings, among other things.
Then Monday, it began, THE REAL WORLD!
It's not bad, it takes me about 45 minutes total to get to work. A longish metro ride to L'Assomption which allows me to do some reading (re-reading The Goblet of Fire before the movie comes out this week) and then a 5-10 minute bus ride to the corner of Notre-Dame and Dickson. Lise, my supervisor is quite nice. Luiza is the part-timer who was a stagière this summer and is the person who is showing me the ropes. She is quite excellent as a teacher. She explains really well and makes sure I understand even the basics without doing it in a condescending way. She really knows the theory behind the tests we do too and so I'm not just going through the motions without knowing why I am doing the steps that are required. I just wish there was more work to do. I think I had already pretty much covered all the methods used there by Wednesday. But the added bonus is the other part of the lab is the baking division and they test the yeast by baking bread so we always have a fresh loaf available in the lunch room. The atmosphere is pretty laid back and Lise gives me things to do without constantly checking up on me and lets me be so it's all good. And there's no way I clocked 35 hours last week but that doesn't seem to be an issue. The only half-unpleasant thing is having to taste the yeast. Yup, that's part of quality control, making sure the yeast has a fermented taste or a nutty roasted flavour or is slightly bitter. Yeah, I like taste-testing the bread much better.
On Saturday we got tired of the tv acting up so we took it into the shop for repairs. Turns out the water that leaked from the toilet and dripped down on it wasn't too good for it. No, really?! So it's all fixed and we even have basic cable now so no more having to deal with the intermitent snow on channels like Global and CBS. That evening I got to stuff my face on homemade sushi at France & Dave's while Tim went to his MAW softball banquet and then curled in Valleyfield at 11 pm. Crazy curlers, I say!
Sunday saw me helping Ysabel trim her tree. On one hand it got me out on my bike on a beautiful day. On the other hand it saw me climbimg up a ladder at a somewhat precarious angle. But it's been done before, only on my roof which is just as unenjoyable!
We decided we hadn't seen Eric enough in the last few days (sorry, I have to pick on someone and this time it seems to be you!) so we invited him & Cathy & Christina, Cathy's sister, over for supper to celebrate Cathy's birthday (which reminds me, there's still pumpkin cake left to be eaten, better go take care of that right now!)
Yummy! But the keyboard is a little sticky now, oops.
And all was well until early Monday morning...
How did I spend the few days I had off before starting my stage? Think back, think waaaaaay back...
I made my 43rd blood donation, did some cleaning up of the front & back garden (I am always thankful at this time of year that we live in a row house with a small backyard, only 10 bags of leaves and garden clippings so far!), bought my first bus pass in over 11 years, celebrated Paul's birthday with a bbq and chocolate cake (and the famous macaroni salad of which Eric was very reasonable with his portion size), pureed 2 pumpkins which ended up killing our food processor and experimented with making onion rings, among other things.
Then Monday, it began, THE REAL WORLD!
It's not bad, it takes me about 45 minutes total to get to work. A longish metro ride to L'Assomption which allows me to do some reading (re-reading The Goblet of Fire before the movie comes out this week) and then a 5-10 minute bus ride to the corner of Notre-Dame and Dickson. Lise, my supervisor is quite nice. Luiza is the part-timer who was a stagière this summer and is the person who is showing me the ropes. She is quite excellent as a teacher. She explains really well and makes sure I understand even the basics without doing it in a condescending way. She really knows the theory behind the tests we do too and so I'm not just going through the motions without knowing why I am doing the steps that are required. I just wish there was more work to do. I think I had already pretty much covered all the methods used there by Wednesday. But the added bonus is the other part of the lab is the baking division and they test the yeast by baking bread so we always have a fresh loaf available in the lunch room. The atmosphere is pretty laid back and Lise gives me things to do without constantly checking up on me and lets me be so it's all good. And there's no way I clocked 35 hours last week but that doesn't seem to be an issue. The only half-unpleasant thing is having to taste the yeast. Yup, that's part of quality control, making sure the yeast has a fermented taste or a nutty roasted flavour or is slightly bitter. Yeah, I like taste-testing the bread much better.
On Saturday we got tired of the tv acting up so we took it into the shop for repairs. Turns out the water that leaked from the toilet and dripped down on it wasn't too good for it. No, really?! So it's all fixed and we even have basic cable now so no more having to deal with the intermitent snow on channels like Global and CBS. That evening I got to stuff my face on homemade sushi at France & Dave's while Tim went to his MAW softball banquet and then curled in Valleyfield at 11 pm. Crazy curlers, I say!
Sunday saw me helping Ysabel trim her tree. On one hand it got me out on my bike on a beautiful day. On the other hand it saw me climbimg up a ladder at a somewhat precarious angle. But it's been done before, only on my roof which is just as unenjoyable!
We decided we hadn't seen Eric enough in the last few days (sorry, I have to pick on someone and this time it seems to be you!) so we invited him & Cathy & Christina, Cathy's sister, over for supper to celebrate Cathy's birthday (which reminds me, there's still pumpkin cake left to be eaten, better go take care of that right now!)
Yummy! But the keyboard is a little sticky now, oops.
And all was well until early Monday morning...
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Merely hours left
I've been trying not to goof off too much in the last few days, making one last effort at studying before my classes are FINALLY over! I did manage to see Jacquie & Matt (& also Penny) a couple of times while they were in town.
They found a condo on St-Urbain and hopefully everything will be in order with the inspection and they will be back to sign off on November 24th!
Lena moved out on Monday, it's as if she was never here, her room is back to how it was before she moved in and our fridge is bare! Here she is (in the middle) with Anka and Lilly, two of the other assistants before the Halloween party at their friend Sebastian's.
And I had two tests yesterday and one more to go this afternoon. I did play hookie from my lab this morning. I figured I should take advantage of this beautiful weather while I still can before heading back to the old grind next week. I took a long walk around Upper Westmount.
Here's a squirrel with a mohawk!
They found a condo on St-Urbain and hopefully everything will be in order with the inspection and they will be back to sign off on November 24th!
Lena moved out on Monday, it's as if she was never here, her room is back to how it was before she moved in and our fridge is bare! Here she is (in the middle) with Anka and Lilly, two of the other assistants before the Halloween party at their friend Sebastian's.
And I had two tests yesterday and one more to go this afternoon. I did play hookie from my lab this morning. I figured I should take advantage of this beautiful weather while I still can before heading back to the old grind next week. I took a long walk around Upper Westmount.
Here's a squirrel with a mohawk!
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Is the week over yet?!
So I have accepted the stage at Lallemand, the yeast company. The work at the Neuro sounded very interesting, involving PET scans and brain tumours but it wouldn't give me enough experience in my field.
Yesterday was a looooooong day. We started off in the lab at 8 and went pretty much all day until about 7. We did have an hour presentation from CTBR (Steph's company where I went last week) and a few breaks there in between but we were all pretty tired and hungry by the end of the day. Now I'm debating whether to skip that stupid Excel class tomorrow. I think I'll go in for 9:30 and then leave during our break!
I do have to fit in some time somewhere to decorate the house for Halloween!
And hopefully I will hear from Jacquie & Matt as they are in town again to try and find a condo so Julie can get her ass back here from Toronto. You see the plan is that J&M are going to buy a place and have Julie & David & Arianne live there. So then J&M have a place to crash at with Penny, their dog, when they come to town and Julie will have a home in Montreal with cheap rent!
Okay, neighbour's child is having a hissy fit in the backyard. I can hear her, this with the windows closed!
Yesterday was a looooooong day. We started off in the lab at 8 and went pretty much all day until about 7. We did have an hour presentation from CTBR (Steph's company where I went last week) and a few breaks there in between but we were all pretty tired and hungry by the end of the day. Now I'm debating whether to skip that stupid Excel class tomorrow. I think I'll go in for 9:30 and then leave during our break!
I do have to fit in some time somewhere to decorate the house for Halloween!
And hopefully I will hear from Jacquie & Matt as they are in town again to try and find a condo so Julie can get her ass back here from Toronto. You see the plan is that J&M are going to buy a place and have Julie & David & Arianne live there. So then J&M have a place to crash at with Penny, their dog, when they come to town and Julie will have a home in Montreal with cheap rent!
Okay, neighbour's child is having a hissy fit in the backyard. I can hear her, this with the windows closed!
Monday, October 24, 2005
1000 km!
I decided to brave the cold today and headed out for what will probably end up being my final jaunt out on my bike for this year. So I've cycled over 1000 km since the spring, not bad.
Last Wednesday was my interview at CTBR. It went well and I really liked the lab manager and the work in the pharmacy lab would really suit me but unfortunately getting out to Senneville is not easily feasible. And even if they are looking to hire people too, they don't pay very well (to put it kindly!) So I'm still looking...but things look good. Today I had an interview at the company where Olaf's mom used to work and they offered me a PAID stage! And tomorrow I'm meeting with a doctor at one of the labs at the Neuro Institute. So basically now I just have to decide which would be the best opportunity for me. Yay! An added bonus to having my interview this afternoon was missing my 4 1/4 hour Excel class. Maybe I can line up another interview for Friday morning when the next class is scheduled!
So now I just have to keep myself motivated to get through these last 2 weeks of classes and assignments and exams.
I've really come to realize the power of networking while trying to find this stage...luckily I've had a few contacts that have helped me. Most people in my class aren't so lucky. I'm just thanking the stars above for the opportunities that have come my way. Let's hope the job search goes as well. That is starting to worry me. The program finishes on December 16th, not the best time to be looking for a job. And not the best time of year to not have any income coming in! But I won't worry about all that just yet. I'm going to focus on the task at hand and hope I gain some good experience from the stage and then the sky's the limit, right?!
Last Wednesday was my interview at CTBR. It went well and I really liked the lab manager and the work in the pharmacy lab would really suit me but unfortunately getting out to Senneville is not easily feasible. And even if they are looking to hire people too, they don't pay very well (to put it kindly!) So I'm still looking...but things look good. Today I had an interview at the company where Olaf's mom used to work and they offered me a PAID stage! And tomorrow I'm meeting with a doctor at one of the labs at the Neuro Institute. So basically now I just have to decide which would be the best opportunity for me. Yay! An added bonus to having my interview this afternoon was missing my 4 1/4 hour Excel class. Maybe I can line up another interview for Friday morning when the next class is scheduled!
So now I just have to keep myself motivated to get through these last 2 weeks of classes and assignments and exams.
I've really come to realize the power of networking while trying to find this stage...luckily I've had a few contacts that have helped me. Most people in my class aren't so lucky. I'm just thanking the stars above for the opportunities that have come my way. Let's hope the job search goes as well. That is starting to worry me. The program finishes on December 16th, not the best time to be looking for a job. And not the best time of year to not have any income coming in! But I won't worry about all that just yet. I'm going to focus on the task at hand and hope I gain some good experience from the stage and then the sky's the limit, right?!
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Roadkill is dead
I've been told that people are tired of seeing "Potential Roadkill" so I am taking time out from studying (yes, such a very big sacrifice!) to post an entry even if I don't really have anything to write about!
Life is busy as usual, where has the weekend gone? Only 3 more weeks of classes left and no, I don't have my stage lined up yet...but nobody else in the class does either. There is a job fair at McGIll on Tuesday but from the companies listed on the website, it doesn't look like there are really any opportunities. But it can't hurt to try.
I also have an interview at CTBR on Wednesday (the company where Steph works) and I know that I could most probably get it but I can't say I am really interested in working there. Too many factors that add up to it not being a good fit for me.
I should be getting a letter of introduction from the college tomorrow and then I will start sending out CVs like mad!
Keep your fingers croseed for me!
Life is busy as usual, where has the weekend gone? Only 3 more weeks of classes left and no, I don't have my stage lined up yet...but nobody else in the class does either. There is a job fair at McGIll on Tuesday but from the companies listed on the website, it doesn't look like there are really any opportunities. But it can't hurt to try.
I also have an interview at CTBR on Wednesday (the company where Steph works) and I know that I could most probably get it but I can't say I am really interested in working there. Too many factors that add up to it not being a good fit for me.
I should be getting a letter of introduction from the college tomorrow and then I will start sending out CVs like mad!
Keep your fingers croseed for me!
Monday, October 03, 2005
Potential roadkill
The widlife I avoided on the bike path yesterday:
2 big brown fuzzy caterpillars
1 teeny snake, grayish colour
Saw lots of Canada geese too, honk, honk! (They were of the usual Canada goose plumage colour.)
2 big brown fuzzy caterpillars
1 teeny snake, grayish colour
Saw lots of Canada geese too, honk, honk! (They were of the usual Canada goose plumage colour.)
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Time flies!
Another week has gone by and what have I done?!
I have to learn better time management cos having labs on Wednesday and Thursday evenings is a total right off.
But I just have to keep thinking "only 5 more weeks, 5 more weeks..."
(then what???)
The couple of contacts that I tried hitting up this week for stagière positions didn't pan out but I'll keep trying.
(ANYONE OUT THERE NEED A LAB TECHNICIAN TRAINED IN BIOTECHNOLOGY?!!?)
I also sent my CV to my teacher for her to review it but she has't given me any feedback yet. (Is it that bad?!)
On Thursday, the one day that I start late and can sleep in, I still ended up getting out of bed at 6:15, mind racing a mile a minute. And do you think I accomplished anything from that time til the time I had to leave for school? Of course not! Oh, sure, I did a million things but accomplish anything, I don't think so!
Supper that evening consisted of tuna fish salad and popcorn.
Friday had me crossing off almost everything on my "to do" list, everything, that is, but schoolwork. Didn't do any of it yesterday either! So guess what I'm doing today...schoolwork!
But I will go tire myself out with a bike ride first. Maybe it will help me clear my mind. I think it helped yesterday. Certainly can't hurt to go enjoy this beautiful weather before plunking myself in front of my books...
I have to learn better time management cos having labs on Wednesday and Thursday evenings is a total right off.
But I just have to keep thinking "only 5 more weeks, 5 more weeks..."
(then what???)
The couple of contacts that I tried hitting up this week for stagière positions didn't pan out but I'll keep trying.
(ANYONE OUT THERE NEED A LAB TECHNICIAN TRAINED IN BIOTECHNOLOGY?!!?)
I also sent my CV to my teacher for her to review it but she has't given me any feedback yet. (Is it that bad?!)
On Thursday, the one day that I start late and can sleep in, I still ended up getting out of bed at 6:15, mind racing a mile a minute. And do you think I accomplished anything from that time til the time I had to leave for school? Of course not! Oh, sure, I did a million things but accomplish anything, I don't think so!
Supper that evening consisted of tuna fish salad and popcorn.
Friday had me crossing off almost everything on my "to do" list, everything, that is, but schoolwork. Didn't do any of it yesterday either! So guess what I'm doing today...schoolwork!
But I will go tire myself out with a bike ride first. Maybe it will help me clear my mind. I think it helped yesterday. Certainly can't hurt to go enjoy this beautiful weather before plunking myself in front of my books...
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Job search
Well the true hunt began on Monday as our class took a field trip to the InVivo Job Fair that was being given at the Hyatt Regency.
Nothing much came out of it but it was a good experience nonetheless.
I got to meet with a few companies and added my CV to their growing piles.
It doesn't look like anyone that was present there is interested in having interns nor had any of them any clue that our program existed. But it gave me some experience meeting with these people and trying to find intelligent questions to ask them and pretending to know what I'm talking about!
Nothing much came out of it but it was a good experience nonetheless.
I got to meet with a few companies and added my CV to their growing piles.
It doesn't look like anyone that was present there is interested in having interns nor had any of them any clue that our program existed. But it gave me some experience meeting with these people and trying to find intelligent questions to ask them and pretending to know what I'm talking about!
Sunday September 25th
Tim treated us to waffles for breakfast as we could not make any fresh bread because the bread maker was in pieces. It is now back together again and somewhat working but we still need a new timing belt. Atleast it's not making that ka-klunk sound anymore but there is still a loud whirring happening...
Tim was gracious enough to let Susanna borrow his bicycle so she & I headed over to the Olympic Basin to watch Ysabel dragon boating.
Here is Ysabel with the Alliance Genesis team
And the weekend was capped off by some curling spectating at Long-Point.
Tim was gracious enough to let Susanna borrow his bicycle so she & I headed over to the Olympic Basin to watch Ysabel dragon boating.
Here is Ysabel with the Alliance Genesis team
And the weekend was capped off by some curling spectating at Long-Point.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Saturday September 24th
Our skills as heavy labourers were called upon as we cleared out Dave's apartment, and yes, we actually moved some of his stuff to France's apartment! (Her place was already jam-packed with her stuff.) We were done in time to pick Susanna up from the airport as she was coming in for a visit/business trip (she is an old friend from Vancouver.)
Susanna & I headed to Old Montreal & strolled around there and then met up with Tim, France, Dave & Geoff at Les 3 Brasseurs. Good beer, ok food, loud music & baaaaaaad waiter!
Here's Dave & his peanut!
Susanna & I headed to Old Montreal & strolled around there and then met up with Tim, France, Dave & Geoff at Les 3 Brasseurs. Good beer, ok food, loud music & baaaaaaad waiter!
Here's Dave & his peanut!
Friday September 23rd
Happy Birthday Maman!
Had the family over sans Tim as he went to the Glenmore open house. P-J did the cooking and we were treated to yummy pork chops. I did make the cake though - apple served with applesauce.
Had the family over sans Tim as he went to the Glenmore open house. P-J did the cooking and we were treated to yummy pork chops. I did make the cake though - apple served with applesauce.
Wednesday September 21st
The excitement of the day was a fire alarm in the morning. Everyone had to evacuate off school property so needless to say DeMaisonneuve Boulevard between Atwater and Wood was not the place to be driving that morning. Five fire trucks and three other emergency vehicles showed up and then left after about 10 minutes. We got to stand around outside for another 40 minutes. Turns out it was a flood on the 4th floor. Oh well, it gave us a break from the boring computer lab we were doing.
I also bumped in to my ex-brother-in law and found out that if I were still married, I would be an aunt come this February (congratulations Marc, I think!)
I also bumped in to my ex-brother-in law and found out that if I were still married, I would be an aunt come this February (congratulations Marc, I think!)
Sunday September 18th
In retrospect, I guess I should have studied a little bit harder than I did last weekend but my test results were decent enough...Sunday afternoon Steph & Olaf popped over (well, I guess you don't really "pop over" from Rigaud, but you know what I mean!) and we then strolled over to the CCA where we saw an exhibit by Douglas Coupland on kit toys (Lego, Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, etc.) It was a little disappointing as it consisted of basically one sculpture made from various types of toys. Anyhow, it brought back memories of our youth (oh so long ago!)
We also had the pleasure of watching the Eddie Murphy movie Metro which was quoted as "Murphy funnier than Ever!" which definitely was a misquote. I then tried to convince Olaf that there must be a comedian out there by the last name of Ever but he wouldn't buy it!
We also had the pleasure of watching the Eddie Murphy movie Metro which was quoted as "Murphy funnier than Ever!" which definitely was a misquote. I then tried to convince Olaf that there must be a comedian out there by the last name of Ever but he wouldn't buy it!
Saturday, September 17, 2005
This week in my nutshell
This week consisted of lots of bike riding, lots of time spent at school and lots of dealing with Tim being absorbed by redesigning the Glenmore website and also being sniffly & sore-throaty!
Lena (previously mentioned German border-girl) has decided to stay with us, at least for now. If she decides the commute to school is too long or if she finds something better (ha!) and closer to Lilly, the other assistant, she will move out.
And I could not have asked for a more exciting Saturday evening...it's amazing how much useless information you can search through when you do a Google search...Anyone out there know the limits of detection for the Biuret and Bradford Protein assays???
I GIVE UP!!!
Lena (previously mentioned German border-girl) has decided to stay with us, at least for now. If she decides the commute to school is too long or if she finds something better (ha!) and closer to Lilly, the other assistant, she will move out.
And I could not have asked for a more exciting Saturday evening...it's amazing how much useless information you can search through when you do a Google search...Anyone out there know the limits of detection for the Biuret and Bradford Protein assays???
I GIVE UP!!!
Monday, September 12, 2005
September 2nd and beyond
Friday the 2nd consisted of fixing the toilet which we had left in a state of disrepair the night before leaving
and then in the afternoon, we greeted our new border. We are again letting out our spare back bedroom to a German teaching assistant from College Ahuntsic. Her name is Lena Rüther and, needless to say, she is tall, blond and gorgeous! And I must say, very nice. We really hope she will stay with us for the year and it seems likely she will.
Saturday was car wash day! Our poor baby was quite dirty after her long trek so we headed to Brossard and gave her a good cleaning inside and out. France & Dave joined us for supper & we had burgers and sausages on the bbq and got acquainted with Lena as she also joined us for the meal.
Sunday I spent most of the afternoon in the backyard with Harry Potter as Tim went down to St-Paul-de-l´Ile-aux-Noix to pick up Eric, Cathy & her folks after their jaunt on Voilà!
Eric´s blog
Cathy´s blog
France and Dave came over again that evening, they had bison burgers while we had salmon done on a cedar plank, yummy as always. We also plowed through a 1.5 L of wine!
Labour day was more or less labour-free. Got woken up by Lena´s mother who did not know it was a holiday over here. Had fun framing some of our pictures but ran out of frames so we only got about half of them up on the wall. Our bedroom re-decoration is now almost complete!
And Tuesday was the dreaded return to school & work...luckily I only had half a day and Wednesday was even better, no classes at all! We did have to go in for a meeting with an Emploi Québec agent and giver her an assessment of our program so far. Unfortunately any remarks we make at this point won´t bring on any improvements for our group but hopefully will benefit next year´s students. We were all bitching about how we will have to find our own stage and how we needed help and information which turns out we got the following day in our Job Search Skills class. Thursday was a long day. I´m so thankful I live so close to school ´cos finishing at 7:30 really sucks!
But I have Fridays off this term, yay! Enjoy it while I can! So I biked over to my folks place and brought home lots of yummy tomatoes from my mom´s garden and some green beans too.
Friday evening we initiated Lena to Pub night at McKibbin´s in the Waste Island. I think she enjoyed herself save for being hit on by some guy who Heidi tried to rescue her from until he started on her too!
Saturday I was awarded the ¨Most Valuable Rover¨ trophy for our team at our softball league banquet, woohoo!
And on Sunday, believe it or not, Tim went curling! I made my way to Boucherville by bike to join him which was not as easily done as expected because of all the closures due to the Festival de la Santé/Marathon. But I eventually made my way across the Jacques-Cartier Bridge and got to Boucherville in about an hour and forty minutes. Shall I mention that they lost both their games?! Oh well, the first games of the season, can´t expect too much! I wasn´t brave enough to face the journey home by bike (too tired & too windy) so I stuck around for the second game at 5 which only ended up starting at 5:40.
Okay that´s enough of the boring play by play as I am now all caught up, except for today...
Had to get up to make it to school for 8 this morning, ugh...then spent about 2 1/2 hours learning about pipettes, ugh...then came home and did housework, ugh...but I also made some rye beer bread and some oatmeal cookies, yum! And then we had creamy garlic shrimp for supper, yum again! I didn´t manage to recreate the shrimp entrée we had last fall in Baltimore but it was damn tasty nonetheless.
Creamy Shrimp in Baltimore
and then in the afternoon, we greeted our new border. We are again letting out our spare back bedroom to a German teaching assistant from College Ahuntsic. Her name is Lena Rüther and, needless to say, she is tall, blond and gorgeous! And I must say, very nice. We really hope she will stay with us for the year and it seems likely she will.
Saturday was car wash day! Our poor baby was quite dirty after her long trek so we headed to Brossard and gave her a good cleaning inside and out. France & Dave joined us for supper & we had burgers and sausages on the bbq and got acquainted with Lena as she also joined us for the meal.
Sunday I spent most of the afternoon in the backyard with Harry Potter as Tim went down to St-Paul-de-l´Ile-aux-Noix to pick up Eric, Cathy & her folks after their jaunt on Voilà!
Eric´s blog
Cathy´s blog
France and Dave came over again that evening, they had bison burgers while we had salmon done on a cedar plank, yummy as always. We also plowed through a 1.5 L of wine!
Labour day was more or less labour-free. Got woken up by Lena´s mother who did not know it was a holiday over here. Had fun framing some of our pictures but ran out of frames so we only got about half of them up on the wall. Our bedroom re-decoration is now almost complete!
And Tuesday was the dreaded return to school & work...luckily I only had half a day and Wednesday was even better, no classes at all! We did have to go in for a meeting with an Emploi Québec agent and giver her an assessment of our program so far. Unfortunately any remarks we make at this point won´t bring on any improvements for our group but hopefully will benefit next year´s students. We were all bitching about how we will have to find our own stage and how we needed help and information which turns out we got the following day in our Job Search Skills class. Thursday was a long day. I´m so thankful I live so close to school ´cos finishing at 7:30 really sucks!
But I have Fridays off this term, yay! Enjoy it while I can! So I biked over to my folks place and brought home lots of yummy tomatoes from my mom´s garden and some green beans too.
Friday evening we initiated Lena to Pub night at McKibbin´s in the Waste Island. I think she enjoyed herself save for being hit on by some guy who Heidi tried to rescue her from until he started on her too!
Saturday I was awarded the ¨Most Valuable Rover¨ trophy for our team at our softball league banquet, woohoo!
And on Sunday, believe it or not, Tim went curling! I made my way to Boucherville by bike to join him which was not as easily done as expected because of all the closures due to the Festival de la Santé/Marathon. But I eventually made my way across the Jacques-Cartier Bridge and got to Boucherville in about an hour and forty minutes. Shall I mention that they lost both their games?! Oh well, the first games of the season, can´t expect too much! I wasn´t brave enough to face the journey home by bike (too tired & too windy) so I stuck around for the second game at 5 which only ended up starting at 5:40.
Okay that´s enough of the boring play by play as I am now all caught up, except for today...
Had to get up to make it to school for 8 this morning, ugh...then spent about 2 1/2 hours learning about pipettes, ugh...then came home and did housework, ugh...but I also made some rye beer bread and some oatmeal cookies, yum! And then we had creamy garlic shrimp for supper, yum again! I didn´t manage to recreate the shrimp entrée we had last fall in Baltimore but it was damn tasty nonetheless.
Creamy Shrimp in Baltimore
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Newfoundland Recap
I'm going to attempt a quick rundown of our journey to the Rock...
We left Saturday August 20th, pretty much on schedule, just sometime after 7 am. The weather was overcast/drizzly/misty. At least we managed to pack the car without it downpouring on us. Our first stop for gas was in Ste-Hyacinthe and that was actually our first fill-up at over $1 (those were the days!) By the time we got to Moncton, the sun peeked out and we continued driving and then stopped for the night at the Victorian Motel in Amherst, Nova Scotia. 11 hours later! Twelve if you count the hour time difference!
Discovered Alexander Keith's Red ale, very tasty.
Sunday we were again on the road just after 7 and made it to Sydney by 12. Drove around the area and visited the Fort Petrie Miltary Museum, a bunker that was used most recently in the two World Wars but dates back to way long ago.
We then headed for the ferry terminal and boarded around 3:30. The boat ride was pretty uneventful. It was pouring rain most of the time so we didn't spend anytime out on deck. We got in to Port-aux-Basques about 11:30 and actually managed to find our B&B quite easily despite having no directions to the place.
The next morning we took off in the fog and just outside of P-aux-B, we veered off the Trans-Canada and took a side road towards Cape Ray and saw the first (of many) lighthouses on our trip. We stopped in Cornerbrook where we had a pretty nasty lunch at
Mary Brown's
and then got some supplies and hit the road again to reach Gros Morne National Park
We set up at the Trout River campsite.
The next morning we headed out for a 14 km hike along the pond, which is more like a really big lake. It was overcast again with a few periods of drizzle but with the major gusting wind, you could hardly tell it was raining! Very strange landscape on the 2nd part of the trail, almost lunar-like.
That evening we went to a campfire ghost story session (it was actually in a shelter around a wood stove!) The wind was howling in the eaves and the hot chocolate was very yummy and warm (it had the mini-mini marshmallows in it!)
The next day we headed a little further North in the Park to Lobster Cove Head (lighthouse) and came across ¨The Heap of Junk¨, some kind of makeshift friendship monument between Canada and the U.S. and we left a note to mark our visit. In Rocky Harbour we picked up some steaks for supper which Tim cooked over the fire. And we´d come prepared with our Montreal Steak Spices so they were very tasty. We also stopped at South East Brook Falls on our way back to the campground where we got a few good shots of the waterfall and then got swarmed by mosquitoes when we turned back on the trail. The great thing about hiking around there is you hardly encounter a soul. Maybe Gros Morne Mountain would have been busier but there is no way we were going to attempt ¨the longest and most grueling¨ hike in the park (16 km rated as very strenuous and takes 7-8 hours to do!) Although the view is supposed to be spectacular (on a clear day...) and I think its the second highest peak in the province.
Thursday morning we packed up camp and headed to Twillingate. We went on a tour of the Notre Dame Winery and stocked up on some blueberry, blackcurrant, damson plum and rhubarb wines, our favourites from the tastings we got. When I was in NL back in ´94 I had tried the Markland Cottage Winery´s blueberry wine and had rated it as pretty awful. Apparently it has gotten better, maybe the competition has helped!
Friday consisted of Cape Bonavista and Trinity which are best described by our photos and that night we stayed at a B&B in Clarenville. The first two places we stopped at were full and the third place didn´t look promising either as they had a driveway full of cars...turns out they had a wedding party going on but we were more than welcome to stay the night & join in the celebrations! After a brief discussion and a more than enthusiastic convincing by Sonya, the owner, we decided to stay. Although I did not witness it (as I was slumbering at the time), they screeched Tim in, not by making him kiss the cod but by having him eat a capelin and down some kind of nasty rum.
Gosh this description makes our trip sound like it went by much faster than it did...
Saturday we made our way to St-John´s and after checking into the B&B (which was more like a boarding house really), we did the all-important tour of the only microbrewery on the Island, Quidi Vidi. We then walked all around Signal Hill & that area.
Sunday was Cape Spear, just a short distance outside the city and we also visited the Johnson Geo Centre. That evening I got the scare of the trip...we had gone to get take-out pizza for supper and about 5 minutes after leaving the restaurant I realized I didn´t have my wallet...so we raced back and lo and behold, it had slipped out of my pocket on the seats where we were sitting and someone had actually given it to the waitress all contents intact. PHEWF! BIG SIGH OF RELIEF!
Monday we made our way back across the island and camped ina provincial park past Corner Brook at a place called Barachois Pond. We saw our first and only moose! Didn´t have time to get a picture though. Had some heavy rain during the night so we had to pack up the tent wet the next morning, yuck.
Tuesday we got to Port-aux-Basques pretty early so we kept going to Rose Blanche (another lighthouse!) which was very picturesque. Then we caught the ferry back to Nova Scotia that afternoon. We had booked another B&B that evening in Sydney as we were getting in late & it was also raining the whole boat ride. At least it was on time.
The next morning it was again pretty grey and we visited the Alexander Graham Bell museum in Baddeck and another stop was at the Glenora whiskey distillery in Glenville (pretty bad road signs to show you the way but we found it).
That night we stayed at the youth hostel in Wentworth. Pretty quiet place. There were only three other people there, a couple from B.C. & a guy from Toronto. Turns out that the guy running the hostel was from the Shore. He even went to the same high school as Tim. Small world...
Thursday was the last leg home. Pretty uneventful save for the spotting of a Florida RV probably worth $400,000 pulling a motorcycle trailer with a Honda Shadow behind which they were pulling...a Hummer H2. Man, now that´s the way to retire!!!
Okay, that´s enough babbling for now, this last week´s events will have to wait...
We left Saturday August 20th, pretty much on schedule, just sometime after 7 am. The weather was overcast/drizzly/misty. At least we managed to pack the car without it downpouring on us. Our first stop for gas was in Ste-Hyacinthe and that was actually our first fill-up at over $1 (those were the days!) By the time we got to Moncton, the sun peeked out and we continued driving and then stopped for the night at the Victorian Motel in Amherst, Nova Scotia. 11 hours later! Twelve if you count the hour time difference!
Discovered Alexander Keith's Red ale, very tasty.
Sunday we were again on the road just after 7 and made it to Sydney by 12. Drove around the area and visited the Fort Petrie Miltary Museum, a bunker that was used most recently in the two World Wars but dates back to way long ago.
We then headed for the ferry terminal and boarded around 3:30. The boat ride was pretty uneventful. It was pouring rain most of the time so we didn't spend anytime out on deck. We got in to Port-aux-Basques about 11:30 and actually managed to find our B&B quite easily despite having no directions to the place.
The next morning we took off in the fog and just outside of P-aux-B, we veered off the Trans-Canada and took a side road towards Cape Ray and saw the first (of many) lighthouses on our trip. We stopped in Cornerbrook where we had a pretty nasty lunch at
Mary Brown's
and then got some supplies and hit the road again to reach Gros Morne National Park
We set up at the Trout River campsite.
The next morning we headed out for a 14 km hike along the pond, which is more like a really big lake. It was overcast again with a few periods of drizzle but with the major gusting wind, you could hardly tell it was raining! Very strange landscape on the 2nd part of the trail, almost lunar-like.
That evening we went to a campfire ghost story session (it was actually in a shelter around a wood stove!) The wind was howling in the eaves and the hot chocolate was very yummy and warm (it had the mini-mini marshmallows in it!)
The next day we headed a little further North in the Park to Lobster Cove Head (lighthouse) and came across ¨The Heap of Junk¨, some kind of makeshift friendship monument between Canada and the U.S. and we left a note to mark our visit. In Rocky Harbour we picked up some steaks for supper which Tim cooked over the fire. And we´d come prepared with our Montreal Steak Spices so they were very tasty. We also stopped at South East Brook Falls on our way back to the campground where we got a few good shots of the waterfall and then got swarmed by mosquitoes when we turned back on the trail. The great thing about hiking around there is you hardly encounter a soul. Maybe Gros Morne Mountain would have been busier but there is no way we were going to attempt ¨the longest and most grueling¨ hike in the park (16 km rated as very strenuous and takes 7-8 hours to do!) Although the view is supposed to be spectacular (on a clear day...) and I think its the second highest peak in the province.
Thursday morning we packed up camp and headed to Twillingate. We went on a tour of the Notre Dame Winery and stocked up on some blueberry, blackcurrant, damson plum and rhubarb wines, our favourites from the tastings we got. When I was in NL back in ´94 I had tried the Markland Cottage Winery´s blueberry wine and had rated it as pretty awful. Apparently it has gotten better, maybe the competition has helped!
Friday consisted of Cape Bonavista and Trinity which are best described by our photos and that night we stayed at a B&B in Clarenville. The first two places we stopped at were full and the third place didn´t look promising either as they had a driveway full of cars...turns out they had a wedding party going on but we were more than welcome to stay the night & join in the celebrations! After a brief discussion and a more than enthusiastic convincing by Sonya, the owner, we decided to stay. Although I did not witness it (as I was slumbering at the time), they screeched Tim in, not by making him kiss the cod but by having him eat a capelin and down some kind of nasty rum.
Gosh this description makes our trip sound like it went by much faster than it did...
Saturday we made our way to St-John´s and after checking into the B&B (which was more like a boarding house really), we did the all-important tour of the only microbrewery on the Island, Quidi Vidi. We then walked all around Signal Hill & that area.
Sunday was Cape Spear, just a short distance outside the city and we also visited the Johnson Geo Centre. That evening I got the scare of the trip...we had gone to get take-out pizza for supper and about 5 minutes after leaving the restaurant I realized I didn´t have my wallet...so we raced back and lo and behold, it had slipped out of my pocket on the seats where we were sitting and someone had actually given it to the waitress all contents intact. PHEWF! BIG SIGH OF RELIEF!
Monday we made our way back across the island and camped ina provincial park past Corner Brook at a place called Barachois Pond. We saw our first and only moose! Didn´t have time to get a picture though. Had some heavy rain during the night so we had to pack up the tent wet the next morning, yuck.
Tuesday we got to Port-aux-Basques pretty early so we kept going to Rose Blanche (another lighthouse!) which was very picturesque. Then we caught the ferry back to Nova Scotia that afternoon. We had booked another B&B that evening in Sydney as we were getting in late & it was also raining the whole boat ride. At least it was on time.
The next morning it was again pretty grey and we visited the Alexander Graham Bell museum in Baddeck and another stop was at the Glenora whiskey distillery in Glenville (pretty bad road signs to show you the way but we found it).
That night we stayed at the youth hostel in Wentworth. Pretty quiet place. There were only three other people there, a couple from B.C. & a guy from Toronto. Turns out that the guy running the hostel was from the Shore. He even went to the same high school as Tim. Small world...
Thursday was the last leg home. Pretty uneventful save for the spotting of a Florida RV probably worth $400,000 pulling a motorcycle trailer with a Honda Shadow behind which they were pulling...a Hummer H2. Man, now that´s the way to retire!!!
Okay, that´s enough babbling for now, this last week´s events will have to wait...
Thursday, September 08, 2005
A good start to the day...
Orange juice, banana, bike ride.
Now it's off to 5 hours of Job Search Skills and 2 1/2 hours of Applied Protein Chemistry lab.
Have a day, eh!
Now it's off to 5 hours of Job Search Skills and 2 1/2 hours of Applied Protein Chemistry lab.
Have a day, eh!
Monday, September 05, 2005
Playing catch up
Well, we're back home now and Newfoundland was most excellent...here's my first try at a panorama using the stitch feature on my camera
The rest of our (numerous) photos can be seen at
Newfoundland photos
The rest of our (numerous) photos can be seen at
Newfoundland photos
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