Dad's first visit to Montreal

I took a few days off to host Daddy-O who came to Montreal for the first time. He arrived Saturday evening and we drove home from the airport with the top down. The warm air arrived just in time. Perhaps he brought it with him from California. There are a lot of pictures like the one above as you will see. The next morning we took a little motor tour of town - first stop Mount Royal of course where he could get a sense of the lay of the land around here.

Spring was exploding everywhere and the electric green of new shoots and leaves was in evidence all over the place. Dad forgot his cap so he wore Serge's Madrid cap he got in Spain.

Sunday mornings are notoriously quiet in Montreal and we took advantage of the ghost townliness to run over to the St Joseph Oratory. Dad was really impressed with the scale of things here. The massive structures, the love affair with concrete this city has.

Now the plan was to go down to the old port area and take Montreal's E-ticket ride - jet boating the rapids. Imagine our disappoinment when we arrived and were told that only two departures were going that day and we had missed both of them. Being Mother's Day he explained, there were no reservations for the rest of the day. We called later that day, and the next day but there were never enough reservations to justify a departure. Bummer. We made lemonade anyway and strolled around the beautiful old port and took a tour of Pointe A Calliere, the birthplace of the city.

I wanted to turn dad on to all the yummy food things that are available up here. He got into the spirit too and bought some dragon beard candy. It was yummy, kind of like a hairy Abba Zabba. (Think hairy nougaty peanut butter crunch.) We went to a vietnamese place for lunch where dad had his first Pho, a traditional noodle soup with meat and/or veggies.

I haven't had a bite of a Beaver Tail since our friend Bob came to town in '08 and we had one in Quebec City. I just do not permit myself to have hot six dollar donuts slathered with nutella and bananas. God it was good though. If I had no self restraint, I'd have one every day. He liked it too. We were pretty tired from running around all day so we went back home and had naps and then ordered the most awesomest rotisserie chicken in town. Au Coq. Dad deemed the sauce sweet which puzzled me, I had never thought of it that way. I always think this chain would be a big hit in the states. They only serve a few things kind of like In n Out burger. The name of course would have to be changed hehe.

The next day we hiked up to Mont Ste Hilaire, a nice three mile hike with spectacular views from the top. Somewhere else on this blog you can see the views since we had forgotten to bring the camera with us. Then when we got back down to the parking area, I found my old camera in my backpack. DOH! There were actually a lot of Doh! moments mostly committed by yours truly.

When we got back to the house, Mother in law was there having a midday martini with Serge. We went over to Belles Soeurs, a nice diner place nearby where dad had crepes, Quebec style with apples and Emmenthal cheese. MIL and I had the lamb shank special with gazpacho. Yum.

Then we headed over to the botanical gardens where we learned that they are closed on Mondays. Doh! The exterior grounds were open though so we spent a good hour and a half checking things out. The tulips were pretty stunning.

Have to at least get a shot of Serge since he was with us most of the time. That evening we headed over to La Banquise, the famous place here for poutine. Serge and I had never been before so it was fun to see what all the hubbub was about. Dad had a "Mexican Poutine" which he really liked. The cheese curds are the thing that makes a poutine a poutine and these poutines were chock full. Again, yum. (Forgot the camera though, doh!)

On the last day, we tripped around town on public transit. Dad had never been on a subway in his life so he was pretty impressed. It's one thing to see it in the movies and another to ride them. We went over to the casino first and we split up agreeing to meet a half an hour later. I was happy to be thirteen bucks ahead but daddy blew me away - he had picked up a cool $140 in the same time. Winners! After that we went to the Jean Talon Market as you see in the picture. So many sights, sounds and colors, I was vicariously experiencing the city for the first time too.

One more mission, to head back downtown to pick up a couple souvenirs and to turn dad on to Montreal smoked meat. We poked our heads into Mary, Reine du Monde, the St Peter's basilica replica and oohed at its majesty.

The impressive Sun Life building is really really big.

Yay! Montreal smoked meat sandwich with poutine! (We shared it.) Eating bad is really fun. I probably wont eat this badly until I go on vacation to DC in a couple weeks hehe.

Finally, the experience we had been waiting for, a flight at skyventure Montreal, which simulates skydiving in a wind tunnel. The guys in the tunnel there are the instructors and they could dance suspended in air seemingly. We all had a blast and Serge put us all up on youtube. Me, dad and Serge. Serge and I bought the come-back-cheaper package which we need to do within four months.

Then for the final dinner, we went to my fave resto, Au Pied de Cochon and had another fabulous meal. Although we did many things, he didn't see the Biodome, Olympic stadium, Jet boating, Insectarium, Planetarium, Iles de Boucherville, Mt Tremblant, Quebec City and a dozen other things that escape me now. Plenty to do on his next visit - there will be a next wont there?

Then yesterday morning as he looked at his boarding pass for his 5:30pm flight, it said boarding at 7:10am. What? Apparently the airline had changed his reservation and now if we were supposed to make that flight we'd have to leave five minutes ago. So a bunch of stress to finish out the trip but it worked out well, he changed planes in Toronto and got home earlier than planned. All in all a ball. Thanks daddy, let's do it again sometime!

Better late than never

* Here we are. I was so going to post more than once a month this time, but as you can see that didn't happen. Georgie's been having a hard time this week. He hurt his back or hips or something and every time he jumps up, he lets out a little yelp, "Ouch." So he stopped jumping for a few days. He's back to jumping since yesterday though. I'm not taking him back to the dog park just yet though. That's where I think he hurt himself.

* We're having trouble renting our upstairs apartment for July. It doesn't help that the current renter moved in the girl she's going to move out with so the place is a total mess with boxes everywhere. Plus the chick painted the kitchen BROWN, like dark chocolate BROWN and didn't mask anything so it looks just horrible. We've shown it to at least 20 people. One person applied but when we called her to offer it to her, she never called back. Oy.

* I applied for a job managing an ESL textbook team. Had to have impeccable English skills and blah blah blah. The WHOLE interview was done in French. Lame. Plus at the interview, they had a nice glass of water on the table with a brown bathroom paper towel as a coaster. Classy. Oh and I didn't get the job.

* My dad arrives next weekend for a quick 4 night visit. Yay! First time he's been here, first time he's had a passport. We are going to do lots of fun things. Like this

* I've been having fun with DrawSomething, an app my brother turned me onto. If you want to play with me, my user name is apparently omgpop101400635 He's better than I am though. Drawing is not my strong suit.

*  Another addicting Facebook game we've been playing is Bubble Witch Saga. Try it, it's fun.

* In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I am currently drinking a margarita. Yum. Super easy, equal parts Tequila and Cointreau and the juice of one lime. Sweet and sour mix is for losers.

* The brand new Pharmaprix is finally going to open this week across the street. Remember how I was so bummed our video store closed across the street? Well they remodeled the building for an entire year and now I'm excited about them opening up.

* I got a new client, a couple of doctors who are really motivated. Unfortunately, the week after I started, one of them went four wheeling with his brother and they got into an accident and the brother died. So, no lessons for a while.

* Serge got mad at his new Samsung Galaxy iphone wannabe. So he threw it at the pavement. What a retard. Turns out, he can just reactivate his old iphone. Hmm, when he signed up with them a month ago, that wasn't an option. They lied to him because they wanted to rope him into a three year contract - which they did. Are there no honest salespeople? Is it just a given, you must lie to sell?

* I'll try to post before June. If not I'll be back with pics from our Washington DC vacay. Only four weeks to go!

Springtime rambling

I'm still here! This pic was taken when we had that freak heat wave a couple weeks ago and broke the all time record high for March (80 degrees). Serge and I took the top down and drove up our little mountain in the middle of the city to have a look around. This particular day was the beginning of the heat wave and it got up to about 66. It was also the St-Patrick's day parade day. I can remember freezing my (I want to say tukus but don't know how to spell it) nards off at that parade once when it was 16 degrees and windy. Of course everything has gone back to normal since then with highs in the 40's. At least the snow has all gone. We may have a few flurries before it's all said and done, but doubt we'll see any accumulations.

See this is why I rarely blog. Talking about the weather, yawn. As usual, I've been super busy working every day all day and then working on my homework and lesson prep on the weekend. It just feels like I never have a day off just for me. I started reading the Hunger Games and then every down moment I had, I was glued to my little ipod touch (Kindle application) reading the three books in succession. I hate reading novels written in the present tense, but the story was compelling nonetheless, and I finished them in about a week. Then I dragged Serge to go see the movie, which he liked a lot. I thought the movie was better than the book because we didn't have to hear Katniss' constant, "I don't know how I feel," ruminations throughout the story.

As I was reading, I couldn't help thinking it was a metaphor for the world in which we live. There are those who contribute nothing to society, manipulating large sums of money to get richer, while the rest of us are essentially slaves, working our whole lives to stay alive. Sure we agree to the slavery since there is compensation, but, oh you know, the whole 99% thing.

They called me for that cooking show again and I went in for an on-camera interview. Ugh, just that was stressful. I kind of hope they don't pick me because I don't want to be stressed out for a week. Still, the possibility of winning two grand would be nice. I'm practicing my meal for the in-laws for Easter today. Maybe I'll instagram/facebook a pic or two.

Serge has been smoke-free for almost five months now. Awesome! Here you see Georgie asking for his evening walk. He loves his routine and makes sure we don't deviate from it.

Planned a couple of upcoming trips. First Washington DC, where we will finally get to meet Steven! I'm so excited to get to share boozy good times with him. It's gonna be a blast. Plus I got a great deal again bidding for a hotel on Priceline. $70 a night for the Marriot Residence Inn. Free internet! Free breakfast! Two blocks from the metro! And they have the bike sharing system from Montreal. I haven't been since I was a teen, so I'm excited and Serge has never been.

Next will be New York in August with the family. Then I'm hoping for a Vegas junket and finally a weekend in Provincetown before school/work goes back into high gear. I'm working full time this summer so when that contract is up in August, I'm going to party hard.

There's more I'm sure, always more, but you've been kind enough to read this far, so I'll let you go. See you next month if not sooner! Mouah!

The state of things

Yo peeps. It's been another month already and it has gone by so fast because all I do is work. And take my turns in Words with Friends. In between there is homework and of course housework as well. But the days are getting longer and the sun is rising higher in the sky and my workload is going to lighten up here in a few weeks. What's up now?

* Woke up with a similar condition to what Serge had a few months ago. ie my arm isn't working right. I have pain when I pick things up and can't lift anything heavy. Have no clue how or why. It's been a week and it isn't going away yet. I'll give it another week at least.

* Words with Friends no longer accepts the word "fag". I have mixed feelings about this.

* I forgot how much work a University course is. Ugh. The classes are fun but the reading and projects to do are lengthy. A flaw in my personality is that I don't like to do anything that takes a long time. Sometimes to do something well takes a long time and so I have a tendency to do round corners.

* Don't know that expression? That's because it's French and means roughly to do something half-assed.

* Thanks to Rox, and her illuminating me about Project Free TV, I was able to catch up on Breaking Bad, Californication and Weeds. I'm thinking I broke the law there but not sure how. The links for Nurse Jackie won't work though so I may have to buy that DVD. Dangit.

* The dang car has cost me over a thousand dollars this month. The imbeciles at Midas didn't put the tires back on right when they did the brake job and I thought they were going to fall off while I was trying to make it back to the garage. They were loose, and you could wiggle them with your hands. At least they fixed it free of charge, but no, I won't be going back there. Don't get me started on the rapists at the VW dealer. In any case, the car lock works again.

* Toyed with the idea of a sneaky junket to Las Vegas. Unfortunately, my Vegas buddy and I couldn't make the schedules mesh. Perhaps in August.

* My dad is coming to visit though. This will be his first trip to see me, first trip to Canada and longest flight. I'm excited to be able to show him the town. May weather better cooperate.

*  Here I am last week at the mother in law's place. That's her dog Tigars with Georgie. You've probably already seen this on FB.

* I guess that's about it. I hope all of you are doing well in your slice of paradise. Until next time, ta ta for now.

Snippets

* Hey y'all, it looks like that once a month thing for the blog might be doable. I've really gotten out of the habit of not only writing the blog, but reading others too. There just isn't enough time in the day for everything I have to do and everything I want to do. So it keeps getting shoved down the list.

* I'm a student now! I started the master teacher program and now I have homework. Lots of homework. Luckily, the topic is interesting and useful. We're learning how to do our craft better. I made my first concept map. It's probably not very good since it's my first one, but it was fun to make.

* I've always used No Name plastic wrap because the Glad was so much more expensive. I noticed that Glad had a much bigger version so it would last much longer and I splurged and got it. It's CRAP! They call it the cling wrap and it doesn't cling at all! Not only that but it bursts every time I use it in the microwave. Totally inferior product compared to the No Name. Just because it costs more doesn't make it better. Case in point.

* Winter has been remarkably subdued this year. Yes it's cold, yes there's snow on the ground but it's just not been extreme. I keep waiting for our penance, but the long range shows the pattern continuing. Fine by me.

* Really love the ipad 2. I've stopped doing nearly everything I did on the ipod touch and do it on the ipad now. The only exception is music. I'm keeping the ipod for music since that fits nicely in my pocket.

* I finally got the car lock fixed and is it just me or are ALL mechanics hustlers? Here's two examples. Mechanic: Sir your brake plates are very rusted. Me: What you guys installed them 6 months ago. Mechanic: Oh you must have driven quite a bit. Me: No, I hardly used the car ar all, look 4000 kilometers. Mechanic: Oh well then that's why. Me (keeping it in my head) Fucking asshole. Here's another. Mechanic on phone: Sir we can't fix the parking brake unless we change the plates. Me: Well the plates are guaranteed somewhere else so just forget the parking brake for now. Mechanic: Okay. Then when I go to pick it up, lo and behold they found a way to do it anyway. 24 hours later though, my brakes started making a huge noise. Makes me think they put it back together loosely so I'd have to come right back.

* Even if it hasn't been all that cold, in the morning if it's below minus 10C, I put Georgie's mittens on. He doesn't mind. He even lifts his feet one at a time to let me put them on. So cute.

* My mom caught a 286 pound tuna last week! (Not sure if that's the one in the picture, she caught many and they all look the same to me lol)  It's her personal best for tuna. She's still aching for that 300 pounder and 3 people caught 300 pounders on the trip she was on, but not her. Next time maybe.

* Classroom funny. One of my students was doing a presentation about cleaning products and comparing them to recommend the best choice. One of the things she was comparing was how she said, Penis All. I of course stopped her and said, "What?" She repeated, "Penis All." Can you guess the product and the mother tongue? I cried laughing.

* I'm sure there's more, but I've got to go workout and finish my homework. Lots of reading homework. It's kind of dry so I frequently read a whole page but realize I've been daydreaming the whole time and then have to read the dang page again.

Have a great February peeps!

Travelogue

Hey there! I blinked and then two and a half months passed since my last post. I have been unfathomably busy working which makes time pass very quickly. We still got to go on our annual junket out west though. If for nothing else, I figure I should at least do a trip report here. Dad told me I should do a post a week and I said no immediately, and then he said how about once a month? We shall see. For now though, let's get on to the trip.

We booked a hotel at the airport the night before so we wouldn't have to stress getting to the airport at 6am. It turned out to be the most stressful airport experience I've ever had. It was HORRIBLE. Granted it was Christmas eve, but they were so short staffed in every section, bag drop, security, and customs/immigration, that we only arrived to our flight 7 minutes before scheduled departure. No coffee, no duty free shopping, no breakfast, no waters or bathroom, just interminable waits. We had to be shunted to the front of the line twice so we wouldn't miss our flight - which was at 8:05. If we had missed our flight, we would have probably missed our cruise, so we were stressed out as you can imagine. I wrote a complaint letter to the airport and received no reply. I think we'd rather drive the 90 minutes to Burlington from now on and fly out of there, stress-free.

But we made it to the boat and the weather was just beautiful in Long Beach that day. Once we boarded, we had our traditional fru-fru drink plus the free champagne they were passing out.

The ship (the Carnival Splendor - the same ship that had that fire and had to be towed back a few years ago) left right at sunset and we took a bunch of pretty shots like this. It was the biggest ship we've sailed on and right away we noticed how many kids there were. This ended up being the downside to sailing when the kids are out of school.

We spent a lot of time in our cabin this trip to stay away from the rugrats. Actually, the teenagers were probably the worst, constantly running and banging and horseplaying all over the place. In the pic, you see the bar we ordered in advance and us in our santa caps which we wore the first couple of days.

Our first stop was Cabo San Lucas. There were three ships in port that day which made it pretty crowded on shore. It was quite the gauntlet passing all the guys insisting that we purchase all manner of tours and wares. My favorite was "Hey guys, massage for $20 - includes a happy ending." No gracias.

We walked out to the end of the jetty to get away from all that and enjoyed the sun while watching the tenders go in and out of the harbor. This shirtless pic reminds me of the other terrible thing that happened. You know when you were young and you took those nudie pics like I did? Somehow, three of them ended up on the internet. There's nothing I can do about it now, and frankly, I wasn't half bad at that age. Oh alright, if you must, they're over here.

Hehehe, did I get you? Here's a shot from the tender back to the ship. After seeing the news this morning about the cruise ship sinking in Italy, it might be a while before we go again. They really are cities on the water. There were 5000 people on our ship.

We were treated to another lovely sunset that evening. It wasn't all that warm during this cruise. Cabo was about 72 during the day and when we were at sea, it was probably 10 degrees cooler than that.

The first formal night was that night. I think I wore the same outfit at the last cruise. I hate clothes shopping though, so it just might be the same on the next one too.

The next day we were in Puerto Vallarta. We decided that we had erred choosing to cruise instead of choosing to stay for a week in Puerto Vallarta. That would have been more fun, and warmer too. Oh well, live and learn. We went down to the beach for a while and then went to this place we love where they serve this awesome shrimp on a skewer with jalapeno, bacon and barbecue sauce. Yum! We took the bus back to the ship for 40 cents.

We had reservations at the fine dining restaurant aboard that night. Here's my New York steak with garlic. We ate at this place twice because we were underwhelmed by the dining room this trip. The food was just okay, and the service was very inconsistent - a first for us on a cruise. Disappointing.

The next port was Cabo San Lucas, again. This time we had an excursion booked called Salsa and Salsa. It turned out to be the highlight of our trip. There were free flowing margaritas the entire time. This was not mentioned in the description, so it was a nice bonus. We learned to make 7 different salsas, margaritas and guacamole. We ate all kinds of things with our creations and then once we were full and drunk, learned to dance the Salsa.

The final port was La Paz which is in the gulf of California on the sea of Cortez. It was a lovely little town that Serge and I explored on foot before haggling with a couple of guys and their boat for a trip out to see the whale sharks.

Basically we got the same excursion the cruiseship was selling at $129 for $25. It was only after we got way out there that I thought about what would happen if that little outboard motor died. Thankfully, it didn't.

And we got to see the biggest fish in the oceans, the whale shark. Neither a whale nor a shark, but a plankton eating fish. Poor guy had several boats and lots of skin divers pursuing him. We could have gone in but the water temp was in the 60's. No thanks.

The next two days were sea days heading home. We stayed in our room most of the time and watched movies. It was pretty relaxing actually. We celebrated Serge's two months of not smoking cigarettes (YAY SERGE!!! He's at 10 weeks today) and did the countdown for New Year's Eve. 

We were ready to get off the boat before we arrived in port which was also a first for us. It just didn't measure up to our previous cruising experiences. A fluke or a trend, that remains to be seen.

When we got off the boat, we had lunch with friends and then went to dad's house. Went out to dinner with Grandma and had Mexican food. I had a really good Pozole.

The next morning, dad and I went on a hike while Serge stayed behind working for his clients. The sales tax changed on Jan 1st up here so he had to adjust things on his client's websites. It was a fabulously beautiful day. In fact the first four days off the boat were incredibly warm. Much warmer than any temperature we had in Mexico. Go figure.

Then it was off to camp mommy where we had the annual gingerbread men decorating party. We really got our art on.

The next day was mom's birthday and we planned a secret getaway for her. We went down to San Diego and stayed a night at the Omni hotel (very nice place) so we could eat at Nobu! The pic is of the hotel bar where we had a little drinky poo before getting dressed up for dinner.

Nobu didn't disappoint either! We got the Omakase which is basically the chef's choice menu. Everything was fabulous as usual. One of our favorite dishes was sea urchin. I'm not sure if I've ever had that before, but it was scrumptious. It was nice to treat mom on her 65th.

The next night, mom whipped up some beans and duck with brussel sprouts. She should open a bistro with all her fab recipes. I'd invest. Serge put up most of our family recipes on-line which is nice when people want the recipe for something we made from the book. I suggest you start with her famous scalloped potatoes. To die for.

I put on about 6 pounds this trip (since all we seemed to do was eat) but after I saw this shot, I decided to stop beating up myself over it. I started the diet Monday but have exceeded my daily calorie limit every day. I'm down a pound nonetheless. I just want to drop ten before summer.

Our friends from LA came down and we went to Laguna Beach together. It was 82 at the beach! Unheard of even in summer for Laguna. We walked around the tidepools and had lunch overlooking the Pacific.

The last day I went off for another hike with dad and we went up to Chantry Flats and hiked to the waterfall. It had started to turn cooler by then though it's nothing like what we have here today in Montreal. It's 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Ugh.

Finally, the big night and the gift exchange. Mom floored us all when she gave us all ipad 2s. It's my favorite toy now as it is Serge's. I just can't put it down!

Thanks for coming along if you've made it this far. Love to all. Keep warm!

Stealth visit

I guess I'm not disappearing altogether. The proof? I'm sitting here getting ready to post something. That's because shit's happening, and when that is the case, I want to post. So. No I told you so's please. Thank you. First up Serge and Georgie sleeping on the sofa because the one day it was REALLY important for me to sleep, Serge mucked it all up dreaming about something and pawing me in the middle of the night. Then snoring like a mack truck. Ugh. Banished to the sofa the following day.

The thing that happened is that last week in the middle of the night, Serge woke up and his arm didn't work anymore. He tried to wake me, but apparently I was unwakeable, so he took a taxi to the emergency room and got some "care". I put that in quotes because the doctor told him he had "trucker's arm" and bound it with a cast and splint thing and told him to come back in ten days. Basically he was told that it would probably just go away on its own. Well, no. Since it was his right arm and he's right handed, everything became a chore. Not least of which was ass wiping. Writing, cooking, using a mouse, everything was difficult. So he went to see a physical therapist. But since he didn't have a doctor's referral, he had to pay. I don't think he should have to pay and hopefully he will not be spineless and complain to the doctor when he sees him again on Thursday. His problem is this: He can't tilt his hand upward, and he has difficulty raising his arm as well. The camera was brain farting when I took this shot, but he looks like a person with MS when he tries to pick up an ordinary glass of water.

That's it. He can't lift it any more and if he wants to drink it, he has to tilt his head down or use his other hand. I keep teasing him and telling him that I didn't sign up for life with a cripple. Mom told me to remember the "for better or for worse" part of the nuptials. I said, yeah, but we never promised to LIKE it. God I hope it gets better but it has only improved slightly in 9 days time. Fingers crossed for poor Sergie.

In other news, we've both succumbed to the reading glasses needing to be nearby all the time. I brought home a cord for me and Serge jumped on that so fast that I had to go buy another one for myself. Now we look like old men with our reading glasses hanging from our necks. This was one of the defining memories of the fabulous Europe trip. I finally gave in and had to use my glasses all the time. I kept declaring, "They've made all the maps smaller with finer print! How are we supposed to read this thing?" Then put on the glasses and all was miraculously well.

On the latest acquisition front, I got my sun box. I use it each morning as I'm going through the updates on the computer. 30 minutes a day and man that light is bright. The last two winters were really rough on me and I was sad and depressed for no reason on many days. Vitamin D supplements didn't do the trick so sun box it is. I'll let you know how that goes.

Finally, our Georgie boy who we have entered in the FIDO contest. FIDO is a cell phone company up here and they are doing a contest for doing a doggie commercial. If you want to help Georgie get into the top ten (He's gone from 8000th to 4500th already) then place your vote! You can vote once a day until the 17th. Ruff!  Click HERE and vote!!!!