wow, where does the time go? it seems like i just posted yesterday, but it's actually been a week! christmas has come and gone....i still can't believe it.


chris and i had a fairly low-key christmas. we spent christmas eve with my family....ham dinner followed by opening our presents. it was a little bit chaotic because my dog keah and my pads dog fraser would be in close proximity to each other. my mom created a makeshift barrier to keep them away from each other. we never socialized keah very well, so she's not familiar with her own kind, hence she's very territorial.


on christmas day, we headed over to chris' parents house for lunch with the family - 10 in total. we enjoyed a huge non-traditional christmas meal of teriyaki chicken wings (made by yours truly!), lamb shank curry on rice, spaghetti, baked potatoes (with tons of goodies inside!), chocolate covered pineapples and sugar cookies (made by yours truly!).



christmas dinner was at my aunt's house - turkey, ham, stuffing, the works! my mom was responsible for dessert, so she made a fruit salad, frozen lemon mousse with ladyfingers and a pavlova. 3 desserts for our family of 12....lucky us!


this year was a first for me and chris.....the first time in 9 years that we haven't gone boxing day shopping. he's been sick for the past week, and needed some rest after being out for 2 days. we did manage to go to brentwood mall because i had some stuff to buy at london drugs. pretty exciting! we dragged fraser along, and it seems as though he's suffering from post-holiday festivities, cuz he slept for a LONG time after our 1-hour trip to the mall.


the one day i look forward to every year is my birthday - december 28. the best day of the year :-) i decided to take a 1/2 day off work yesterday, so i could run some errands and try out my new ice cream maker (i'll blog my results later). then i had an afternoon nap with fraser. he always seems ready for a nap :P then i had one of my favourite meals for dinner....we went to cactus club and i enjoyed my 7 oz. blackened creole cajuned steak w/spicy creole butter with french fries and garlic mayo dip. yum! on saturday my parents are taking us out for my birthday dinner, and i chose saltlik so i could have another steak w/their skinny fries - double yum!

i love my birthday! next year is the big 3-0! bring it on, baby :-)

merry christmas!

thanks to the associates in my office, it was a very merry christmas for one family in vancouver. every year we "Adopt A Family" through the Salvation Army and help them out at christmas-time. our family this year was a single mom with 3 young children. employees bought and donated several toys for the girls, a basketball for the boy, and some books. mom also was given some gifts. and then with the cash we collected, renee and i hit superstore to get the most bang for our buck. they are now all hooked up for their turkey dinner, much-needed clothes for the kids, and some gift cards for future use. i like to think that we've helped brighten up their holiday season and it's very nice to see ppl appreciate the large delivery we make.

on that note, i ended my work day and headed home. i wish i could say it was my last work-day of 2006, but i'm going back for more on wednesday and friday. sucks :P

and now it's 2 days before christmas (our family opens presents on christmas eve), and i'm going out shopping now. just a few more things to buy, and then i'll be done. hopefully i can sit back and relax on saturday and sunday.....gotta rest up for all the christmas day eating we'll be doing. and then it'll be time for boxing day shopping. so much to do!

to all my friends out there reading my blog, i thank you for listening to my rants and raves over the past 10 months. i hope you all have a great christmas!

seasons greetings :-)

tracey, chris, and our holiday-puppy fraser

unexpected "vacation" day

last night i picked up fraser from his previous puppy-sitter, and we hit starbucks with leanne. fraser is such a good boy, it's almost ridiculous how good he is. he obeys on command without any reinforcements or without a reward every time. i love him :-)

we got home and he amused himself with the one rubber toy i have (chilka demolished the rope toy), and then played w/chris for a while. then we went to bed and i dreamt the night away.

6 a.m. - time to get up. usually the first thing i do is take out the puppy for its business. but since fraser wasn't fussing in the living room i decided to shower first.

6:30 - i leave the bedroom...hmmm, something doesn't smell very nice. it's coming from the kennel. oh for the love of pete! fraser had a big accident in his kennel overnight, and instead of fussing over it and whining (as most puppies would do), he just slept in it.

i spent the next 2 hours cleaning the kennel, the floor where fraser had walked, AND my nice blanket i had let him sleep on in his kennel (the blanket is now permanently a "doggie" blanket). unfortunately i hadn't managed to clean fraser, so the smell lingered. well, i thought going outside in the rain would help, but it wasn't raining, so we came back inside. i called into work and told them i wouldn't be coming in for a shile. petcetera grooming only opens at 9 a.m., and i wasn't going to last much longer with the smell. fortunately there's a doggie daycare down the street from us, and they do dog grooming as well. phew! at 8:30 we made a mad dash so fraser could get cleaned up. then i came back home and continued on the cleaning journey.

40 minutes later fraser was ready to be picked up. it took 3 baths to clean him all up, but he was shiny and new again. whoo-hoo! there was still a slight smell to him, which the groomer thought could be due to vommit. ugh! so his overnight mess came from both ends! what the hell happened to fraser? it certainly wasn't anything i did, because he got no food from me last night!

so i called PADS and gave them an update. they recommended that fraser not have any doggie food for the day, just to see how his stomach was. then if he was ok, he could have rice for dinner. well, poor puppy was obviously not quite right.....he slept for most of the day, i think he's been awake for all of 1 hour today. now he's had his rice dinner, and i he's settled back down to sleep. i'm a little worried what our 2nd night together is going to bring :(

instead of spending the day at the office, fraser slept, and i made my christmas day cookies. at least i managed to get something done today. hopefully tomorrow will be a good day....i'm supposed to deliver a food/gift hamper to our Adopt-A-Family through the Salvation Army. plus i still have some last minute christmas shopping to do. yup, i'm such a procrastinator!

what's a robot?

tonight we met up with anthony for dinner. he was visiting canada (from south africa) in the hopes of finding a job (on a working visa). who's anthony, you ask? well, i'm not sure if i've even got it straight but here goes.....

anthony is dating janine, and her mother is lynette, and lynette is my mom-in-law's first cousin. (this was the only connection we knew of, prior to actually meeting anthony.) then we found out that anthony just so happens to be the son of my dad-in-law's best friend from south africa in the '60s. anthony's dad has a brother, terrence, who happens to have immigrated to vancouver a long time ago, like chris' family. (terrence and my dad-in-law are good friends.) terrence's son, wayne, would obviously be anthony's first cousin, and it just so happens that wayne works at the same company as me :-) so i thought vancouver was small, but it turns out that every chinese south african knows each other or is in some way shape or form related to each other. weird!


i have to admit it, i'm a sucker for ppl with accents. i'm particularly fond of british accents (depending where they're from), south african accents and australian accents. i can't explain it. so tonight i was just hanging onto anthony's every word, loving the way it all sounded :-) whenever he said anything "south african" i would giggle like a schoolgirl! it was like hearing a foreign language, and i needed a translator. the funniest was when he talked about getting a ticket for a robot (or something to that effect). turns out a robot is a traffic light....i thought it was an automated traffic ticketing system :P

i also found out that basic cable in south africa consists of only 4 channels. hmmmm, i don't think i could survive on 4 channels of tv. sometimes i get bored with my 100+ channels :P i learned that crime in johannesburg is getting worse all the time. apparently criminals now hang out at the airport, and then follow the locals back home and then rob them either en route, or as soon as they get home. i had heard of other bad stories from chris' family, as they have experienced some of it first-hand. how terrible!

anthony came bearing a gift from south africa for chris. a biltong chunker. now what's biltong, you ask? well, it's basically the south african version of beef jerky. i like to eat it when it's fairly dry, but still has some moistness to it, and i like it sliced very thin (kind of like deli meat). chris prefers his biltong dry and in chunks. so now instead of using a butcher knife to cut his biltong into pieces, he can now use his biltong chunker (a.k.a. the guillotine) :-)

1 week till christmas!?!?

where does the time go?

i'm not sure how christmas is only a week away! i've managed to buy a few presents for family, but i still need to hit the mall again cuz i'm barely 1/2-way done :P it's pretty scary just trying to find parking anywhere! even harder still when you're dragging a 5 month old puppy-in-training! eeks! i've been puppy-sitting chilka, whose raiser had to go out-of-town for the weekend. it's been an experience w/this young one.....she's not very obedient, kind of like a teenager, and she really likes my nine west work shoes :P her raiser had forewarned me that chilka's a bit rebellious and has started jumping onto furniture.....sure enough, i found her on the couch at one point. argh!

i have a lot to get done this week. i need to make a double-batch of christmas sugar cookies....i'm planning on taking one batch to chris' family 'do on christmas afternoon, and then another batch to my family's christmas dinner. but amid all the baking and shopping i need to do, we have a family dinner on monday night with a relative from south africa, plus tuesday nights are dinner w/my family. then on wednesday night i'm picking up fraser for the holidays. 2 full weeks with puppy! good lord! i'm hoping fraser will still be the good boy he was when i last had him :-) otherwise, it's going to be a VERY long holiday.

{sigh} so much to do, so little time :P

p.s. bad news on the PADS end of things....friday's windstorm caused some damage at their training centre. a tree fell down onto a wire and has cut electricity to the area and hydro has said it would be another day or two before they could fix it - that means the electric heaters keeping the dogs warm at night won't be working! PADS is pretty much in a forested area, and there's been damage to the advanced dogs kennel, and the actual training environment. so now ALL the dogs have to be sent home with volunteers! crazy!

i saw dead people!

on sunday, chris & i hit the yaletown milestone's with sandra & mike and pris & dave for brunch/lunch. sandra & i shared the spin dip, and we were surprised to see new dishes. the spin dip came out in a "fancy" shaped bowl, as opposed to the regular "pot" dish it used to come on. also, the dip and the chips came out on a longer rectangular plate, as opposed do the large square dish it used to come on. perhaps the new dishes caught us off guard, so we thought everything was different, but the spin dip seemed to be creamier than usual. in hindsight, it might have been creamier because it was hot out of the oven, because by the time we got to the middle of it, i think it tasted like it's usual self.

for my entree, i chose the eggs benedict. again, in hindsight i probably should've ordered something different, since i make a yummy eggs benny w/prosciutto. but i can never resist runny eggs! plus, i figured it would be a bit lighter than having pasta for lunch. nevertheless, it was an enjoyable meal :-)

after lunch, we had a brisk walk over to science world to see body worlds 3. chris & i opted for the audio tour (an extra $5), and the other 4 did regular admission. more hindsight.....i should've by-passed the audio portion....the amount of information i retained amounted to a big fat nothing. it was a lot of medical terminology about how this connects to that, and impacts the next thing. blah, blah, blah. i was never a fan of biology, which is why i took earth science! go figure :P

anyways, back to science world....as soon as we entered the exhibit, i was moody....it was super crowded when we first started, and everyone kind of hovered around each display box. i was getting so frustrated because i had to line up to see stuff, and then i couldn't follow along with the audio commentary - i was so confused, and we had JUST started!

in the distance i could see some of the bodies....the highlight of the exhibit! after all the hype about this "show", and how controversial it was, i have to say that i didn't really think anything at all. perhaps it's because i married a butcher, and i used to see slabs of meat hanging in the cooler. perhaps it's because i kept forgetting these bodies were once real people. perhaps it's because Dr. Gunther von Hagens had the bodies and their parts positioned in weird angles. perhaps it's because i just never liked science, and deep down in my subconcience it didn't actually interest me at all. bottom line, i was neither impressed nor un-impressed.

however, there was one moment that freaked me out a bit.....there was a body with it's back to everyone, but a mirror had been placed underneath it, so when you looked at the mirror, it was looking back at you! at the end of the exhibit was the prenatal display. seeing the fetus' didn't really bother me....it was just like what you would see on tlc or similar shows. but seeing the embryo before it becomes a fetus (is that right?) was a little weird. it was just this small white blob (like an egg yolk)....with eyes! hmmm, great, now i might never look at an egg the same way again.

i was disappointed with the "hands-on" portion. the pamphlet they hand out as you wait to enter said get "hands-on" with some of the displays. but all you can touch is a small portion of an arm bone. i'm not sure what i expected....perhaps csi? it just felt like plastic. i thought it would at least feel life-like, but what's life-like at a cadaver exhibit? also, i guess i'll never know what a real arm bone actually feels like, so how can i judge?

after seeing the black lungs, i'm definitely glad i'm a non-smoker. but nothing else really impacted me. the 300-lb obese person display didn't impact me at all....you could see the layers of fat on it, and that the internal organs didn't look completely healthy either. perhaps i should care more about my weight? or perhaps i should just enjoy life as it is and take whatever comes my way? hmm, maybe i did get more out of body worlds 3 than i initially thought.....whatever.

life is short, i might as well enjoy every minute of it, whatever way, shape or form it comes in. after all, you never know what could happen tomorrow.

cookie monster!

last weekend sandra hosted a cookie exchange, and i came home with a LOT of very yummy cookies! last night while i was watching tv, i was craving something sweet, so i opened up the freezer and pulled out a couple cookies.

check'em out!


i made the lemon frost cookies in the middle (recipe from the joy of baking).

Cookies:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Zest of 1 large lemon
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Confectioners Frosting:
2 cups confectioners sugar (icing or powdered sugar), sifted
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk or light cream
Assorted food colors (if desired)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

For Cookies: Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the butter and egg mixture and beat until combined.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and, with a floured rolling pan, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/2 inch (1.25 cm). Using cookie cutters, cut the dough into shapes. Save the scraps and reroll. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them a few inches apart.
Bake for approximately 8-10 minutes (baking time will vary depending on the size and shape of cookies) or until the bottoms of the cookies are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cookies have completely cooled, frost with icing.

For Frosting: In an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth and well blended. Add the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the milk and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes). Add a little more milk or sugar, if needed. Tint the frosting with desired food color.

Makes about 18 - 2 1/2 inch (6 cm) cookies.

i'm back!

i know, it's been a full week since my last post! i've actually had a lot to blog about but no time to actually do it :P

last weekend, chris and i welcomed silky into our home. she's a 5 month old yellow lab puppy, and she was as cute as a button! but don't let her sad eyes and innocent nature fool you.....was she a pile of trouble! she cried when i put her to bed at 2 a.m. each night, she cried at 6 a.m. on saturday AND sunday mornings, and she really liked to sleep on my wet snow-drenched shoes :P when i was baking cookies on saturday, she was craving warmth, so she thought sleeping in front of the oven was a good idea, and went so far as to stick her nose inside when i opened the door! she also enjoyed sleeping between my feet while i was cutting cookie shapes. she's also a jumper, and decided that when either of us was on the couch, she belonged there too......on our laps! pure trouble, that one!

and then on monday at work, i was prepared for a monster. she didn't seem like the type of dog to chill-out and sleep at the office. but i was wrong. she was the first puppy i've had that actually seeked out shelter under my desk, curled up in a little ball, and fell asleep. i kept insisting that this was a high maintenance dog, but she had all my co-workers fooled!

spending the weekend.....baking?!

yikes! i'm baking up a storm! i'm attending sandra's cookie exchange on sunday afternoon, and we have to make 66 cookies. i've quadrupled my recipe, but i think due to the small size of my cookie cutters, i get a lot more cookies than the recipe calls for. i'll probably end up sharing more cookies, since i've already got 30+ "good" cookies, and about 40+ "bad" cookies. and that's only 1/2 the recipe! tomorrow i'll get up again and make the second batch of dough.

so far the cookies look the same as when i tried it the first time. my only problem is inconsistent shapes. i don't know what i'm doing wrong. i've been very good about rolling the dough to a consistent flatness, but each cookies comes out somewhat skewed....or lopsided :P perhaps the icing will cover up the bad shapes. but i'm trying an icing i've never done before, so i'm really hoping it turns out. i better frost my cookies tomorrow evening, so i can package them up nicely on sunday morning.

finally, getting a yellow lab!

PADS had a last minute switch-a-roo, and i'm getting a puppy this weekend! i wasn't actually supposed to get one until the x-mas holidays, so i'm looking forward to this! tomorrow night i'll be picking up silky, a 5-month old yellow lab puppy. she came in at the same time as fraser, leon and skeena. now i will have puppy-sat the entire bunch :-)

i'm very excited to have a yellow lab.....it'll be almost like having puppy keah again! except not keah. here's keah in her more youthful days....

meet......supertrain!

we have snow
we have ppl who can't drive in the snow
we have a public transit system that is busting at the seams
and now we have......SUPERTRAIN!

regular train = 4 cars
new accordian train = about 1/3 shorter than regular train
long accordian train = 2 of the above linked together, almost the length of the station
supertrain = regular train + 2 cars! covers the entire length of the station

good lordy! i nearly fell over when i saw SUPERTRAIN this a.m. i actually got stuck waiting 2 supertrains and 1 long accordian train before i could actually get on at broadway - i just wasn't standing in the right spots :P

all i can say is i'm glad i left work at 4 p.m. today. on the millenium line, gilmore and brentwood stations were having switch problems, so there were some delays. then at 5 p.m., the expo line shut down. still no explanation as to exactly why....something to do with some sort of power? during the 6 p.m. news, the situation seemed to get resolved and the trains were back online.

i tried to take a picture of the different trains tonight, but due to the darkness and the snowy conditions, they didn't really turn out.












i promise to incorporate something non-transit-related in my next post. well, i'll try. transit is such an easy subject right now.....everyone's on it, everyone's complaining about it, i might as well blog it :-)

it's winter, ppl!

ok, i've seen 2 things that have disturbed in just as many days.

last night when i was getting off the skytrain, there was a young girl, probably in her early 20's, walking ahead of me. i noticed that she was wearing low-rise jeans, had pink underwear on underneath, and her sweater jacket only covered her mid-back. so there was a lot of exposed skin. was she not cold? and seriously, i didn't need to see her butt-crack, but as i'm looking at the stairs down, i can't help but see it in my line of sight :P ugh.

today the weather ppl said it dropped to -5, but was more like -9 with the windchill. brrrr, that's cold! after work i was heading to richmond, so i changed into my jeans, top, long-sleeve jacket, and my taiga jacket. i also had my new good-traction shoes and my gloves. i was all set for the cold and snow-covered roads. then i stepped outside, and saw something that disturbed me. a young asian girl walking around d/t in a mini-skirt. no tights, no leggings, just her mini-skirt and her bare legs. she did have shoes on - i think proper shoes, not sandals. and she had a sweater of some sort. seriously, that's just asking for pneumonia! even if she were en route to work somewhere, you think she'd be able to carry a change of clothes or something!

meanwhile everyone else around vancouver is putting on as many layers as they can. east-coasters can laugh away at us now, cuz they're sitting at a balmy 16 degrees! is this global warming?! everything is ass-backwards!

and yes, skytrain is still a mess. i barely made it onto my trains this a.m. thankfully the richmond bus was fairly civilized and i got a good seat for napping :-)

lots of snow

ah yes, the snow! first, it was the torrential downpour, causing high levels of turbidity in our water. now, vancouver has been hit with an early winter, and it's virtually brought the city to a stand-still. we are ill-prepared for such weather, and particularly now since it's arrived so early. vancouverites are fortunate ppl....usually the snow stays on the mountains, but when it comes to town, good grief! i think everyone east of the rockies is laughing at us!

on this fine morning, i wasn't sure whether i should leave early for work, or just at my usual time. turns out i could've been early, except i couldn't find my gloves or my scarf. then i wasn't sure which shoes to wear - doesn't really matter cuz none of my shoes are winter-worthy. bottom line, i got to the skytrain station at my usual time. of course, i should've known better that the train would be PACKED! and since it travels slowly when there's snow on the tracks, it took even longer to get to commercial drive. and then i had to transfer.....argh! my god, there were a lot of ppl at the station! skytrain thinks they're pretty smart.....less frequent trains, but make them longer. they figured that since a lot of schools were closed, a lot of ppl would stay home and off the roads. but then there are other ppl who have to get to work but aren't comfortable driving in the snow, so they take transit. let's just say i was very glad to get on the next train that came through broadway!

since i wore my regular work shoes, and nearly pk'd about 10 times outside, i decided winter shoes were on my shopping list. so i left work a bit early, headed to sport mart and bought myself some winter hiker-type shoes. they've got good traction - i didn't slip at all!

and then came the dreaded commute home - turns out it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. i did have to wait 2 trains before i could get on at burrard, but then transferring at broadway/commercial was pretty painless. i even managed to get a seat :-)

and now, on a happier note, the boil water advisory has been lifted for the rest of the lower mainland! yah! except, our water at home is still a bit on the brown side, so i'm going to stick to bottled water a bit longer.

ahhhh, tired after a long day of shopping :-)

at the crack of 5 a.m. this morning, my alarm went off. this was the day we'd been waiting for.....priscilla, vanessa and i were heading down to the states for a day of shopping enjoyment (or shopping hell). i stopped at starbies for my dopio espresso, tossed it back, and then we were on our sleepy way. after a 15 minutes wait to cross the border, we found ourselves at tulalip promptly at 8 a.m. (just as i had predicted). within 2 minutes, priscilla bumped into a co-worker. within 5 minutes, we had recognized yvonne (geoff & sunny's co-MC at their wedding) but since we don't personally know her, didn't say hi, and then we all recognized another guy, danny, from ubc commerce (but again, didn't know him well enough to say hi). and then a little later at banana, pris and i ran into chris & sylvia, sandra's brother and sis-in-law! i guess the only ppl we didn't see were vic and rita. such a small little world we live in :-)

the 3 of us all managed to buy some items.....i was very jealous when vanessa found the kenneth cole sandals i had bought in september, for approx. $50 US, which were now on sale for $20 US! (regular price was $65 US - sweet deal!) banana had 40% off the entire store. i had dressed for the occasion.....long black skirt, slide on sandals, and a tank top with a long-sleeve top to cover up - this outfit eliminated my need for a change room.....smart, eh?! i therefore saved myself at least 20-30 minutes at banana, however, it was almost for nothing, because i always forget that fall/winter aren't my seasons, so i never buy much. i'm more spring/summer. oh well, i still managed to get 2 tops for $18 each :-) i was also looking for a deal for my hubby.....so i hit nike. i made it just in time for the additional 20% savings so i actually bought him a short-sleeve dri-fit top for $8.29 pre-tax! whoo-hoo! i think van and pris fared a bit better at tulalip than me....both of them walked out with great deals on purses/workbags.

anyhoo, the warnings we were provided with turned out to be false alarms.....the outlet wasn't as busy as we were told it would be, and we were actually done by 11 a.m. it's all about the team-work. before heading out we had all highlighted the stores we wanted to shop at, plotted our route by quandrants, assisted each other by lining up to pay while the other shopped, and split up as necessary. this clever tactic gave us lots of time to hit bellevue square for MORE shopping.

we discovered that the mall didn't have quite the thanksgiving sale we were expecting. in fact, pris and i didn't buy anything. van bought a few items, but they weren't exactly on sale. i think we spent about 1/2 hour at the lego store counting flower petals, stems and bushes for roger's lego collection. the development of this garden is now being dedicated to pris and me :-) macy's and nordstrom's did have some decent sales, but nothing we were in the market for. van tried really hard to find some work clothes, to no avail :(

by 4 p.m. we were leaving bellevue square, and en route to burlington to hit the coach outlet and nine west. i perked up at coach when i found a great deal on a suede handbag :-) then it got even better when i found a pair of sling-backs at nine west for only $30! they look exactly like the black shoes i bought in september at tulalip, except they have a sling-back heel, instead of just a regular heel. why mess around with something that works, right?

and of course, then we hit cascade mall, for bath & body works - their anti-bacterial collection was 3 for $10 (good deal!), instead of $5 for $25 (or whatever the deal is). and van checked out another toy store for roger's collection....such a good wife! then it was over to target for some other stuff - i'm not sure what - but van bought yet more lego for roger, it was a sweet deal again - regular price $99 US, on sale for $49 US, and at home it actually costs $150 CDN! so i think roger's the real winner of this trip!

after 11 hours, we were finally on our way home. yikes! we were just about at the last exit before the border, when all we saw were red tail-lights. i quickly changed the radio to the news and we heard that it was a 2.5 hour wait northbound at the peace arch! crazyness! we were fortunate enough to be able to get onto the exit, turned around, and headed to the truck crossing. ironically, when we got there, the wait was only 10 minutes. we were pretty honest about declaring our purchases, and i was more than a little shocked when the border guard waved us through, without even looking at our passports. i guess 3 asian girls look pretty honest :-) since we didn't have to pay tax on our purchases, it turned out to be a great day in the states. well done, girls!

next year, we're heading to portland for tax-free shopping! whoo-hoo!

and now, chris is home and he needs to eat dinner. so my sleep will have to wait a little bit longer, but that's ok, cuz tomorrow i plan on sleeping in!

going shopping!

a whole day of nothing but shopping!
bring on the sales!

Dine Out Vancouver - It's Coming!

keep your eyes peeled for the participating restaurants and their menus! yum yum :-)


Vancouver Announces Dine Out Vancouver™ 2007
Presented by Visa
January 19 - February 4, 2007

Tourism Vancouver invites you to experience the city's outstanding food and wine scene during Dine Out Vancouver 2007, presented by Visa. From January 19 to February 4, visitors can enjoy a special three-course dinner at one of Vancouver's hottest restaurants for $15, $25 or $35 per person, complemented by fabulous BC VQA wine pairing suggestions. The list of participating restaurants and menus will be posted online during the first week of January.

seared salmon on coconut spinach

recipe by donna hay - off the shelf, cooking from the pantry.
i highly recommend this recipe....not only was it super easy to make, but it's absolutely delicious!

4 x 180g (6 oz) salmon fillets

2 teaspoons grated ginger

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 small red chillies, seeded and chopped

2 tablespoons asian chilli paste

2 cups coconut cream

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 bunches spinach, stems removed

place the salmon in a shallow dish with the ginger, sesame oil and soy. allow to marinate for 10 minutes on each side. heat a frying pan over high heat and cook the salmon for 1 minute on each side. (personally, if i'm cooking fish for dinner, i like it to be cooked all the way through, so i did about 3-4 minutes per side.)

to make the coconut spinach, place the garlic, chillies and chilli paste in a saucepan over medium heat and cook for 2 minutes. add the cocnut cream and lemon juice and simmer for 4 minutes. add the spinach and toss until wilted.

to serve, place some spinach on each plate and top with a piece of salmon. serves 4.

puppies in the news

yesterday afternoon i rushed home to watch Global National w/Kevin Newman. two of my co-workers had told me that PADS would be in the news. the gist of the story was that some assistance dogs don't receive the same type of treatment that the blind guide dogs do. because assistance dogs take the form of many breeds, sizes and colours, a lot of people don't think that a small dog (like jingle, the papillon) can serve any purpose, and that they're just dogs who ppl try to pass off as assistance dogs. it's more obvious to see that a person in a wheelchair has a disability, and that the assistance dog accompanying them serves a meaningful purpose - like opening and closing doors and picking up items from the floor.

when you see a smaller dog walking with an able-bodied person, people tend to be dubious about them. however, these people might be hearing-impaired. these little dogs make great "ears" because they're small and able to jump up on their owner and get their attention to the noises around them. you certainly wouldn't want an 80-lb labrador retriever jumping up on you to tell you the phone is ringing!

in the news report, it also discussed animal groups coming together to find a way to have a national guideline for the treatment of service animals, rather than having different laws in each province. because these animals are in-training, or are fully trained, they should have the same rights and privileges that able-bodied people receive. restaurants, concert venues, shopping malls and hotels are prime examples where you and i would go to on a regular basis, and not think twice about "are we going to be accepted?" "will we be able to access everything?", but for people with service animals it's a different story. since leon and i were rejected from the korean restaurant, i've never taken a service animal to an asian restaurant. the fear of being rejected still haunts me to this day - the fact that people are so afraid, ignorant and intolerant towards these helping animals seriously disturbs me.

just this past weekend in my own condo building, i actually had people NOT get in the same elevator as me because they were afraid of fraser. or at the skytrain, when i got into the elevator with other people, they would actually squeal (in fear!) and move back and cower in the corner. or my frustrating experience going home last night.....i managed to get a seat (right by the door) on the skytrain, fraser curled up under the seat, and i protected his nose and paws with my feet. we have to get off at broadway, and the train was super packed. the doors opened, and i started to get up and wait for the other people around me to get off. then i got fraser up, and we started for the door. unfortunately people are so inconsiderate and no one moved for us! fraser was a little nervous because there was no clear path for him to exit, and i was starting to choke him because there was nowhere for us to go. people are actually getting ON the train, and i'm still trying to get OFF! so what did i do? well, i barrelled my way through with my big backpack and fraser in tow. i couldn't believe that people, who were blocking my exit, were getting exasperated with ME. i wasn't going to stay on this stinking train for another stop! besides, the sign on the trains say to let passengers get OFF first, before getting on. i thought i was fairly polite by waiting for others to pass us first, which is also what i do when we get on the train. but next time i'll know better!!

i've been on a puppy-post lately, so i've changed my slide show to my vacations :-) something happy! unlike my mood yesterday :P

busy, busy, busy

busy busy weekend! on saturday afternoon, fraser and i headed over to the The Bay at Richmond Centre where PADS was selling their 2007 calendars and holiday cards. the puppies had a great day together - fraser hung out with his brother leon and sister silky; caper, a 5 month old chocolate lab had TROUBLE written all over her face; jingle, a 1-year old papillon was bouncing around; and 7 month old yellow lab, robo, was the big boy of the bunch - i estimated him to be at least double the size of fraser! the afternoon was a great success, and almost all of the calendars were sold!

by the end of the afternoon all of the pups were fast asleep at our feet :-) so sweet! for dinner, we headed over to boston pizza. since i knew i'd be on my feet all afternoon, i was in no mood to cook :-) fraser was an absolute angel - he was so tired and just went right to sleep. this guy loves to cuddle. if you're sitting on the floor, he will just curl up right against you and rest his head on your lap.



sunday morning i had fraser all over the place :-) we headed over to costco cuz i had some shopping i needed to do. then we hit metrotown for some more errands. he was one tired little puppy by the time we got back home! worked well for me, cuz we took a 2 hour nap together :-) i was supposed to cook dinner on sunday, but i had a killer headache, so we went to earls. it was a busy day for sports fans....we caught the last 7 minutes of the grey cup game, and then in the car en route to v-ball, we were listening to the canucks game. also on this sunday, it was the release of nintendo wii and there was a huge lineup outside EB.

i think fraser has been my favourite puppy so far. regardless of the situation you put him in, he's totally comfortable and laid back. he doesn't pick up stray leaves that blow by, he doesn't pick up any garbage along the way, and he doesn't jump up on people. however, i did notice that he doesn't like puddles. he would go out of his way to avoid the smallest little puddles around. when we were walking through the grass and he hit a wet patch, he'd lift his legs high off the ground and walked gingerly back to safety. such a funny little guy! i hope to have him again soon :-)

pretty fancy, eh?

well, i saw a blog with a slideshow on it, so i thought i'd do the same thing, too :-) i'm going to change it every once in a while, as i take more photos or get inspired by something.

obviously, right now it's all about the PADS puppies! my 2 other ideas in the works are my cooking artwork and vacations i've taken. i think i'll rotate those 3 ideas every week. variety is the spice of life!

*******

anyhoo, burnaby is still under a boil water advisory, so this morning chris and i headed over the zellers and bought 90 (individual size) bottles of water. i thought 2 cases would be ok, but then we opted for a 3rd. after all, it's good to be prepared especially since the rain is going to start again tonight/tomorrow :P plus, i have fraser with us this weekend, and the puppies need to have safe water as well. the concern for them is higher since they just got over an infection and we don't want them to have a relapse!

WARNING! watch out for the cranky people!

so in case you've been hibernating for the past 24 hours, most people in the greater vancouver area already know about the boil water advisory. what most people don't think about is their local coffee shop or restaurant that they frequent. starbucks has stopped serving hot beverages, or anything with ice in it. they're warning customers that they don't have the proper filtering system to clean the water, and their water/milk doesn't reach the boiling point for long enough to meet the minimum requirements.

some tim horton's have also followed suit, and might not be serving their regular deli food, since the veggies now have to be washed with clean water. this also affects fountain beverages. depending on what newslink you follow, different warnings are being advised. i read somewhere this a.m., that now fruits and vegetables need to be washed with bottled water. brushing your teeth is also following this same "rule".

BE SAFE OUT THERE!

Coffee shops and restaurants affected by boil water advisory
November 17, 2006 - 7:15 am By: News1130 Staff

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - For most of us, it's just a hassle but for coffee drinkers this morning, it's almost like the end of the world. At the Broadway Tim Horton's, coffee, tea, fountain pop and sandwiches aren't being served because of the GVRD boil water advisory. There is a sign posted on the front door to warn people about the contaminated water problem but it's still catching people off guard. Many people didn't know there was an advisory and they're upset they can't get their morning cup of coffee.

Bottled and canned drinks are the only beverages being sold at many Tim Horton's locations. However, there are reports some locations are using bottled water for their brews.
Dr. Patricia Daly, Medical Health Officer with Vancouver Coastal Health says high levels of turbidity is the reason why people should only be drinking bottled water or water that has been boiled for a full minute. The torrential downpours have led to this unprecedented advisory. Contaminated water may cause stomach illnesses.

Collette O'Reilly, the Manager of Health and Safety with the Vancouver School Board, is asking parents to send their children to school today with bottled water and drinks. She says school drinking fountains have signs posted on them saying 'do not drink.'

Keep in mind water filters won't work and it's best to avoid all tap water if you can, even if it looks clear. The advisory does not pertain to those in the Fraser Valley communities like Abbotsford, Mission, and Chilliwack.

no water

first it was "no words", now it's "no water". i still have a brita-full of pre-rain water, but i think chris is gonna use it for v-ball tonight :P

because of the boil water advisory, and because boiling it doesn't get rid of the brown colour (i'm all about aesthetics), i've taken the expensive route and decided to buy bottled water. well, GOOD LUCK FINDING WATER!

i tried zellers first - nothing! i next i went to london drugs - nothing! but wait! as i'm about to leave the store, the employees are carting out a load of more water....whoo-hoo! unfortunately i have no buggy and i'm shopping solo, so i can only manage a small 12-pack of water. all of a sudden the hoards came crashing in, and in 2 minutes the water was gone!

then i had to grocery shop at superstore and i figured i could buy more water there, since i had a loonie for a buggy - but nothing! they actually ran out of water for their refillable jugs. haha! i thought about hitting costco, but i was getting hungry for dinner, and i was running low on gas, so i hit chevron, where i bought 2 1-litre bottles of water.

so now i'm going to savour every drop of my pristine water and hope that all the stores re-stock their shelves overnight!

i should be very thankful that i didn't lose power last night like my parents did in richmond. they were without electricity for 24 hours, poor family :( it got me to thinking last night.....what would i do without power? i'd have no computer, no internet, no cable, no lights, NO FUN! it doesn't help either that chris worked until 11 p.m. yesterday, so i wouldn't have even had anyone to talk to! at least i have my cell phone, but if my battery died, i'd be a little screwed.

hmmm, that reminds me. i wanted to buy another flashlight.....better do that tomorrow.....and batteries.....and something from london drugs that was on sale, but now i can't remember......oh yeah, and cookworks has a calphalon pan and cookbooks on sale......

no words

ah, so it's been almost a week since my last post. i've been busy posting comments on sandra & sharon's blogs, but nothing on my own. i actually started to blog on monday with a "weekend update", but i lost interest after a couple paragraphs. there hasn't been a lack of things to write about - i just wasn't in the mood. since i'm so good w/words, here we go.....

friday - girls night reunion.....after a brief hiatus, the 5 of us girls are back together. hmmm, the spice girls, n'sync, nkotb and the bsb could take a lesson from us :-)

saturday - chris and viv's wedding. weddings are always fun :-) went to joey's in-between the ceremony and reception - had a burger - very yummy.

sunday - borat! funny movie, but left a bad impression of people, in particular intolerant americans. can't we all just get along? family-style dinner at macaroni grill for ang's b-day. i was all calamari'd out by the end of it :-)

monday - stayed home, caught up on my chores. dinner at house of tofu soup. yes, after my anger at being kicked out with leon, chris and i actually ate there. it kind of contradicts my sunday comment on disliking intolerant ppl. oh well.....i can't have everything my way :-)

and the rest of the week thus far can be summed up with a BOIL WATER ADVISORY IN PLACE FOR THE LOWER MAINLAND for at least the next couple days! i don't think there's ever been such a wide-spread advisory before in bc. be careful, ppl!

a happier morning today

so after my frustration last night, i have been reassured by my workmates that my cookies are in fact pretty tasty. i'm pretty sure they're being sincere :-)

also, in addition to my lessons noted last night, i have one more to record.....more lemon zest. there's a very subtle hint of lemon, but not overly powerful. so next time i'll do 2 lemons for the actual cookie, and then add lemon juice to the icing instead of milk. also, i think the reason i was so disappointed and my workmates are happy, is because the cookies aren't as sweet as i usually like. i was considering adding more sugar next time, but everyone seems to be ok w/the sweet factor.

since i haven't decided what i'm making for the cookie exchange, i'm going to hold off on sharing the recipe for now. i have another dessert item i want to test out first - it involves chocolate :-)

oh, the frustration!

chocolate chip cookies - superstar!
butter tarts - rock on!
lemon frost cookies - total suckage.

argh. i started prepping my cookies at 8:45. it's now 11:30, and i just finished them. i don't think they should have taken this long to do :P

• first, next time i go shopping, i'm buying a 2nd cookie sheet - 1 just doesn't cut it.
• second, i'm also going to figure out how to replace the electrical cord on my kitchen-aid - the handmixer is great, but it's hard to mix and pour ingredients simultaneously.
• third, now i know how important it is to roll dough evenly - i think i might have some raw cookies.
• fourth, i need to clean up my counters - i keep prepping and baking on the same counter space.
• fifth, it's pretty important to follow the instructions. perhaps things didn't turn at AS well because i didn't have the butter at room temperate. oh well, live and learn.

i'm not even going to bother with a picture. they didn't turn out like the picture i saw. now that they're iced, you can't even tell they were once star-shaped :P

ok, it's officially christmas-time

i'm having my first starbucks eggnog latte! starbucks blinged out their stores overnight and everything is now red and green. 'tis the season!

another puppy-filled weekend :-)

this past weekend, we welcomed skeena back into our home. she was our first puppy-sit at 11 weeks of age. and now at 4 months old, she was a bundle of a bit more energy. i knew she would be trouble when i found her sitting on my drivers seat, and then at home when she decided my couch would be a good place to rest :P

on friday night, we went to montana's for dinner to celebrate melanie's 26th birthday. skeena was a bit excited by all the smells and people around her and just wouldn't settle down :P of course, when she finally decided it was time to lie down, she decided the middle of the pathway would be ideal...silly girl!

i've gotten used to the idea of being late. i'm usually a very punctual person, but having a puppy kind of throws it all out the window. we were supposed to be at the vancouver library at 10 a.m. on saturday for the "dog days at the library", but we were running 1/2 hour late :P when we finally got there, skeena and leon were VERY excited to see each other. leon was so excited in fact that he couldn't stop lunging for skeena and barking HELLO to her :-) we hung out for an hour, because i had other things to do in the afternoon.

after being up for many hours in the morning, i left skeena at home to sleep while i went shopping at the gourmet warehouse with sandra. i bought a bunch of baking stuff that i need for the cookie exchange in december. unfortunately i have to go back this weekend to return a strainer i bought....i forgot that i had previously bought one at the bay (or cookworks). oh well. i was disappointed to find that they don't sell very many appliances - i was hoping to buy an ice cream maker :-) i know cookworks and another store at metrotown have the exact same maker, for the same price. now i'm hoping chris will buy it for me for christmas......HINT, HINT, hon!

since i was down near clark, i stopped at fujiya to grab some yummy lunch.....gyoza, chicken karaage and a spicy tuna roll. unfortunately my meal was interrupted at home by the light fixture falling down. i definitely did panic when that happened, especially since skeena was so excited to be out of her kennel, and didn't want to be put back in :P i was so frazzled by the afternoon, that i thought i should stay home for the rest of the day, but we had miguel's 30th birthday party to attend. so off we went to hippo's for dinner. skeena was very well-behaved and went right to sleep.

on sunday chris was supposed to go to work, but after sleeping in he decided to stay home :-) so the 3 of us did absolutely nothing! i did drag skeena out in the pouring rain so we could watch the v-ball crew.

skeena accompanied me to work on monday. she might be going through an identity crisis now because everyone kept saying "hi, leon!", since he spent 3 days with me before. she was a big hit, and enjoyed lots of playtime with my co-workers.

i can definitely see the growth of these puppies, not just physically. they're awake for longer periods of time, and are more willing to get up on their own. in the past week they all learned to shake hands, so skeena was very excited to meet ppl. i think she shook renee's hand at least 20 times :P the only time i saw skeena hesitate was getting into the elevators at work. i'm not sure why they freaked her out, since we go up and down the elevators at home dozens of times a day.

when i took her back on monday night, she was very excited to see her siblings. the sad part was seeing fraser in a kennel by himself - he seems to have caught a bug, and his samples were sent to the vet for analyzing, so for now he's in solitary confinement :( poor guy, he kept whining as the other 3 played together. leon also seemed to be out of sorts, being stuck in a new kennel with 2 girls! he marked his territory at least 6 times inside, and then another 3 times outside.

and now i'm looking forward to a puppy-free weekend, and i hope to get lots of chores done, since i'm sure i'll have another rugrat the following weekend. pads is supposed to have a display booth at a bay location to sell their 2007 calendars.

too dark to cook :-)

hahahaha, as if i didn't have enough excuses to NOT cook, now i have another one to add to my list.....our kitchen light fixture came crashing down yesterday afternoon! well, not exactly CRASHING, but it was hanging precariously for awhile. unfortunately chris was at work while i panicked about the light fixture, so i called roger and asked him to help me out :-) luckily he was home, and he came over and managed to unwire the fixture and brought it safely down. thanks rog! turns out that the screws holding the light up had actually snapped off and fractured, so the lights were only hanging on by 3 wires :P in my panick, i also called my dad and he covered the loose wires with electrical tape :-) fortunately we're still covered under the warranty, so i'm going to call the developer tomorrow and tell them to get their butt in gear and fix my freaking lights!

after looking at the the ceiling, we think that they might have tried to install it once, but then it didn't work, so they drilled more holes. i'm sure that didn't cause it to fall down, but seriously, they should've patched up the first holes anyways (see the bottom picture - 4 holes).....there were only 2 screws holding up the fixture in the first place.

pain, pain - go away!

oh, the pain! oh, the agony! i would like to rip out my teeth. seriously, i would.

many many years ago, i stopped going to the dentist, mostly because i didn't like him. this was a bad, bad decision on my part. once i started working downtown, i sucked it up and made an appointment at a dentist who had been referred by a few co-workers. she was super nice, and walked me through everything she was doing. yes, there was some pain and discomfort, and of course, yes i had several cavities that needed to be filled. fine, i got them all done in one-shot, and everything was hunkydory. since that time 4 years ago, i have been going to the dentist regularly. yah!

whenever i have to go the dentist i get all worked up. i always fear the worst case scenario, whatever that may be. i guess a root canal would be pretty bad. luckily those words haven't been spoken yet. unfortunately, i do have a bunch of cavities - i hate to admit it but i hate flossing my teeth....it could actually be due to my wisdom teeth crowding the rest of my teeth. my dentist even said that was probably my problem.

so when i went on saturday, the hygienist was flossing my stubborn teeth, and one of my fillings came out :( ouch! just getting the temporary filling put in was a pain in the arse, so i really wasn't looking forward to getting the proper filling in yesterday. during the procedure i remembered exactly why i was so nervous.....first, they use needles to freeze your mouth - i have this ridiculous fear of needles (usually because when i go for blood tests, it takes them 15 minutes and 3 people to find a vein); second, my top teeth freeze fine but my bottom teeth don't freeze properly, so after 2 injections i still wasn't 100% frozen, so the dentist used something else and then i was fine; third, i produce a lot of saliva, even more when i'm actually at the dentist....sometimes i wonder if i'll drown in my own spit :P

anyways, after 2 hours, 3 injections, and a lot of suctioning later, my teeth were all fixed up. the horrible thing after fillings is how numb your face is. i thought sleeping would help, but when i woke up after only 5 minutes of napping, i thought i might actually choke on my own tongue :P so i gave up on the nap, and switched to tv-watching. and hoping. hoping that i would regain my feeling so i could eat dinner and that i wouldn't be in pain. well, by 8 p.m., i had regained most of the sensation in my mouth....only 1/2 my lower lip and 1/2 my tongue were still not fully there. luckily it didn't stop me from having dinner w/vanessa :-) i thought a salad would be fairly easy to eat, and i was right. in hindsight it was actually a good thing i was still somewhat frozen, because as of this a.m. my teeth are still hurting, and i can't chew w/my back teeth.

i thoroughly enjoyed my cajun chicken caesar salad at earls....yum yum! by 9:30 i had full function of my mouth and i dove in and ordered a chocolate sundae :-) the only thing was i couldn't eat the candy snap basket....oh well.

at least i have a supply of advil and tylenol close at hand. i think i'll be popping those for the rest of the day. i hate being in pain. just wait till i have to get my wisdom teeth taken out in the new year.....i'm SO not looking forward to that :(

fire!

in my 28 years of living, i don't think i've ever seen a fire up close. that is, until last night. technically, we weren't THAT close, since we were in the car driving, but still, i think it counts :-)

we were on our way home from dinner at my parents' house, and coming across the knight street bridge we could see several different parties with their fireworks - some of them were pretty impressive, some were not. as we drove along marine drive, a fire chief suv raced by us. hmmm, someone's fireworks have done some damage! we continued along, and an ambulance was speeding down marine drive in the opposite direction. wow! busy night. then we carried on and as we approached boundary the visibility changed to hazy and the smell hit us. as we rounded the corner to boundary, there was smoke in the air, and the smell was disgusting. there it was.....a warehouse fire!!

the flames were shooting out of the warehouse into the sky. the fire trucks were already on the scene trying to extinguish the flames. the paramedics were there as well. the fire seemed quite close to boundary.....i'd say about 25 feet, so we got a pretty good view of it, especially since they hadn't closed the east side of boundary. as we left the fire area, more fire trucks were zooming down the hill. chris, being the suspicious person he is, automatically decided it was a meth lab on fire :P what else could smell that bad? when i saw the location, i immediately thought of a wedding florist i had visited in that area, hopefully her business wasn't affected! (in hindsight, i think her building was further inside, not quite visible from boundary.)

anyways, we got home, and i was determined to stay awake for the 11 o'clock news. well, i waited in vain for some big breaking news story.....all they said was a warehouse fire in burnaby was keeping fire crews busy :P so i went to sleep. this morning, i checked out my local news online, and this is what i found on www.cknw.com....

Movie fire turns real - injures several
Nov, 01 2006 - 1:30 AM

BURNABY/CKNW(AM980) - 5 people including 2 fire fighters are injured as a result of a 2 alarm fire in a Burnaby warehouse. Fire officials say the blaze was caused by a movie effect gone wrong.

Fire fighters were already at First Light Studios near Boundary and Marine Drive in Burnaby before the fire started. According to Assistant Chief Kerry Dempsey, they were there to make sure a special effect for a film shoot didn't get out of hand, "They were doing some kind of pyrotechnics during the filming and it got away and just went from there."

Much of the roof has burned. 5 people have been take to hospital with minor injuries including 2 fire fighters with burns to their hands and smoke inhalation.

i called chris, who was still at home, and reported this update to him. as he was driving to work he called me and report that the fire crews were still on the scene dousing the warehouse. must've been some fire! i guess another concern would be all the trees in the area.....it's pretty forest-like along marine drive and boundary.

fires really scare me. i'm so scared in fact, that i've never lit a match or used a lighter. i've tried to use a lighter, but for whatever reason, it's never worked for me. and yes, i know about the child safety lock on them :P maybe this weekend when i go to gourmet warehouse i'll buy one of those lighters that are a foot-long and my fingers never go near the flame (do they sell lighters there?). it's probably a good idea to have a lighter or matches around.....after all, i do have emergency candles if i ever lose electricity for an extended period of time. what good are candles if i can't light them?

weekend in review - more leon

(sigh) where does the time go? it was just thursday night that i was attending the OCC fundraiser, and then rushing out to pick up my baby, leon. we had an exciting weekend ahead of us.....we were going to see the canucks vs. washington on friday night! i was a bit nervous before heading to gm place, because i really didn't know how leon would do in a big crowd of screaming fans. but i needn't have worried.....he was very well behaved. in fact, he slept through the entire game (that includes overtime AND the shoot-out!)! what a good boy :-)

on saturday i took him with me to the dentist. i wasn't sure how this was going to work, but i figured it was worth a shot. we tied him to a rolling table, but he was so good and just lay down and went to sleep. he was a bit concerned when the suction tube was used, but i assured him i was fine, and he went back to sleep. after having a filling pop out at the dentist, i was in a bit of pain and discomfort so we stayed home for the afternoon. in the evening we headed over to priscilla's house for a girls night in. leon was the perfect house-guest....he found a little carpet to lie on and went to sleep (after he played with dave and selena, of course!).

sunday was a bit more difficult - i was getting frustrated with leon because he discovered our shoes and decided they made a good chew toy. he also found that chris' bean bag chair made fun sounds, and proceeded to claim that as his new bed :P



for only my 3rd puppy-sitting weekend, i sure extended it....i had leon for 4 nights and 4 full days. we went to work together on friday and monday and as always he was a big hit. now that he's a bit older, he's actually awake for longer periods of time so i'm able to get more work done :-) i had a physio appointment after work today and leon accompanied me there as well. he wasn't quite as well behaved as at the dentist - my shoes were completely covered in doggy drool :P

(yes, this is how he slept at the office today :P)

when i returned him to pads, his playmate fraser was eager to see him again. the two of them romped around in their kennel and had a grand time :-) the girls were a lot calmer than the boys.....gee, go figure!

up next.....skeena's joining me this weekend! come see us at the vancouver public library on saturday - pads is going to have a booth set up there!

ovarian cancer canada - "benefits of caring"

since february 2006, i have been a member of the benefits of caring committee. we are a volunteer organizing group consisting of individuals from the benefits, pension and investment industry (insurance companies - sun life, manulife, pacific blue cross, etc.; consulting firms - hewitt, mercer, towers, etc.; and others - ph&n). since 2000, this committee has put on a bi-annual fundraiser that benefits ovarian cancer canada (OCC) - the silent killer. before i joined the group, i had no idea what ovarian cancer was, and how many people it affects. when i think of cancer, i think of more talked about cancers (or perhaps it's because i knew 2 people who suffered from these 2 diseases) - breast or lung, but now we need to bring attention to another cancer.

i was at the "Wake-up Canada!" breakfast for ovarian cancer about a month ago, and a woman affected by this disease spoke to the crowd. by the end of the story the whole room was filled with such emotion that many of us were brought to tears (me included). she also said one thing that i'll never forget....ovarian cancer is what breast cancer was 15 years ago. if that rings true, then a lot more women will be diagnosed and need desperate treatment to fight this battle. here's a little information from the Ovarian Cancer Canada website.

History of Ovarian Cancer Canada

Ovarian Cancer Canada was begun by a small group of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Initially, they worked to develop a national support network with informal links via the Internet. Many of the women have since died, but their legacy remains strong. Today, as a testament to their efforts, OCC is a registered charity with hundreds of members across the country.

The late Cheryl Brown and the late Debbe Gervin formally founded OCC in 1998 to overcome the frustrating lack of information available when they were diagnosed. They believed that knowledge was power and they were determined to raise awareness of the disease among women and physicians. In short, they co-founded OCC to wake up Canada to ovarian cancer.

OCC has come a long way in providing information to women diagnosed, their supporters, health care providers and healthy women. Still, each year, it is estimated that another 2,600 Canadian women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Sadly, each year, it is anticipated that some 1,500 women will die of the disease. There is much work to be done.

since it's inception in 2000, the benefits of caring fundraisers have raised $300,000+ and all of that money goes straight to ovarian cancer to assist with its awareness, research, and support for families suffering from this silent killer.

this year's event was on thursday night at the four seasons hotel. i was telling trish, our OCC representative on the committee, that this was my first time in this hotel...i couldn't recall attending any other function here before. i have to give the staff props...our committee of 18 dedicated people is 17 women strong with 1 male presence...and the staff at the hotel were really good. having so many strong, powerful women with their own ideas of what the event should look like, had us all going in different directions :P every request we made was met with a resounding "yes! we can do it!" attitude. fantabulous!

the event got underway at 5:30 p.m., and the 300+ attendees did not disappoint. our silent auction was a big hit.....our 100+ items were all donated from individuals across the lower mainland. items included: club seats at a canucks game, several ipods, gift baskets, spa gift cards, restaurant gift cards, usage of a smart car for a weekend, and so much more. the live auction was another success....i've never been at a live auction before and i might have gotten a bit carried away (but all the money goes to OCC!) when i started bidding on a stay at the grand hotel in victoria, complete with spa treatment and dinner voucher. eeks! but i had my parents in mind...i think that'll be their christmas present this year. other live items were a 32" lcd tv, a westjet flight to anywhere in canada with a 2 night stay at any delta hotel, a dinner for 6 prepared in your home by the bc chef's association. i'm not sure what the net worth of everyone in the room was, but it must've been high the way people were bidding!

we also had a raffle draw - a trip for 2 to palm springs! the airfare was donated by harmony, and also included accommodations, golf, brunch and dinner. impressive!

all-in-all, it was a great evening, and i'm sure we raised over $110,000 for OCC. we'll see you in 2008 for the next event!

anniversary dinner

when we got married at the terminal city club last year, one of the perks was a dinner at the club on our 1-year anniversary. well, my parents were away during our anniversary, and my dog was in need of some attention, so we ended up postponing our celebratory dinner until tonight.

terminal city club has their weekly buffet dinners on tuesday nights, and chris was looking forward to the seafood neptune. we loved our wedding day, but due to pre-speech nerves and all the excitement we didn't have much of an appetite, so we missed out on a bunch of food. the hotel is understanding and they pack away leftover foods for the room afterwards. after 3 hours of non-stop dancing, i was ready for my dinner :-)

anyways, chris' favourite dish was the seafood, and we were both hoping to see it at tonight's dinner. we were a little disappointed because it wasn't exactly as we had remembered it. the buffet was still really good, but i think they go that extra mile for weddings (or other special events). the weekly buffet doesn't quite get the whole shabang, but it's a pretty good display nonetheless. i loaded up on caesar salad, smoked salmon, indian candy, pasta salad, deep fried scallops and shrimp cocktail. i felt obligated to eat the steamed vegetables, but the rice dish was really good....it had raisins in it, and was even better w/the seafood sauce and the lamb curry sauce! (i skipped out on the fish and chicken dishes.) the roast beef was also really good tonight. on our wedding day, of course we were the first to eat so the meat was more on the well done side :P

i've decided that a meal is not complete until you have ice cream w/cherries jubilee :-) this was served at our pre-wedding dinner tasting, but for obvious reasons, it was not at our wedding. i was so excited to see it out today.....we served ourselves a big bowl of it, and it was already 1/2 melted by the time we sat down.....mmmm, yummy! again, since the wedding buffet is the "ultimate" meal, we didn't have any creme brulee or chocolate covered strawberries. i knew tonight's meal wouldn't be an exact replica from a year ago, but for some reason i was holding out hope. there's always that small little chance that my favourite dessert would be on display....

as we finished our desserts and sipped our teas, we sat back and reminisced back on our wedding day. it was a bit fresher in my mind, since i watched our dvd a couple nights ago :-) ok, ok, i only watched the footage w/me in it! like my blog says, "it's all about me!"

ah well, our first year of marriage is now officially over. what new and exciting adventures will year two bring us? well, it starts w/a little black labrador puppy named leon....he's coming back on thursday night!

since i didn't post pictures in my anniversary post in september, i thought i'd add these now :-)

yummy fish

tonight i cooked yet another dinner :-) straight from donny hay's "the instant cook", i made "crispy skin fish with lemon salsa".


6 oz. snapper, salmon, or ocean trout fillets
vegetable oil for brushing
sea salt and cracked pepper
lemon salsa
2 lemons, peeled and sliced
1.5 tablespoons caster (superfine) sugar
1/2 cup roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley (i don't like parsley)
2 tablespoons salted capers, rinsed
sea salt and cracked black pepper

to make the lemon salsa, combine the lemons, sugar, (parsley), capers, salt and pepper and set aside.

brush the skin of the fish with the oil and sprinkle both sides with a little salt and pepper. heat a non-stick frying pan over high heat. add the fish to the pan, skin side down, and cook for 4 minutes or until the skin is crisp. turn and cook for a further minute or until the fish is just cooked through. to serve, place the fish on plates and top with the lemon salsa. serve with a simple green salad. serves 4.

tonight, i served the salmon with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus. yum-yum!

a follow-up post to our rejection

so, in a previous post i mentioned that leon and i were unwelcome at a korean restaurant, house of tofu soup. i did get in touch with pads regarding this incident and i was optimistic that there was something they, or i, could do to advise the restaurant (and others like it) that these assistance dogs are allowed to be in their establishments. unfortunately, i was wrong. like it or not, these restaurants do have the right to ask service dogs in-training to leave the premises. pads also indicated to me that this is a growing problem, as more and more people are just plain ignorant and intolerant of people with disabilities and don't want to accommodate them.

i spent a day searching the internet this week trying to find the rules/bylaws regarding animals in restaurants, but after several unsuccessful hours, i gave up. i was trying to narrow it down to the city of burnaby, so i could take the bylaws to the restaurant and point it in their face :P i did find some information on the US department of justice website that was very informative, but it wouldn't exactly apply to me :(

in my year-long volunteer work at pads, i am very proud to say that i have educated many of my family members, friends and co-workers about the work pads does. two co-workers are actually trying to find ways to get their kids involved as well! this is just a small step towards helping people with disabilities gain their independence and mobility.

i must be tired

i don't know what's wrong w/me. on friday night, i fell asleep on the couch at 11:30 p.m. chris woke me up around 1:30 a.m., and i barely managed to brush my teeth before crawling into bed. saturday morning i didn't actually get up until 11:45 a.m. :P i had almost 12 hours of sleep! good grief! mind you, i did wake up a few times since chris had to go to work.

i thought for sure that i would be awake until the wee hours on saturday night since i had so much sleep the night before, but 11 p.m. came along, and i was down for the count! this time i went to bed at 12:10 a.m., and before i knew it, my clock said 11:20. wow!

i'm not sure what's wrong w/me these days that i required 24 hours of sleep in 2 days!

i think i'm going to start working out at the gym again - i'm pretty sure that might help boost my energy level. plus, i actually have some exercises that i need to do for my physio treatment....my shoulders have both been buggered up in the past 2 weeks. my right side was more of a neck issue, along with some bad knots in my shoulder. my left side, i actually tore some sort of ligament or something to that effect. i have all sorts of exercises to help my neck, shoulders and back.....lucky me :-)

all i do is complain

on sunday at fright night, it was absolutely pouring rain. i had a small backpack w/me containing all of my leon-essentials, including my wallet and cell phone. chris was carrying an umbrella, but after a certain point, it just wasn't doing any good, so we got a bit wet. probably not the smartest idea considering my cell phone was in my bag. well, of course it got a bit damp, but the good thing was that my phone still worked when we went to earl's. yah! later that night when i was setting my alarm for 5:45 on monday, 1/2 my screen was bright red. so i closed it, and re-opened it and then my entire screen was bright red. the next step, i turned my phone off. well, it never came back on again :( i tried removing the battery, hitting all the buttons, charging the battery, but nothing was working. my phone was dead.

now, i love my phone.....the motorola v710.....true, i've had issues w/it, but still, it was a good phone. i was mostly upset because i couldn't access my phone numbers to transfer them over. i'd also lost the few pictures i had on my phone as well :P

so on monday i went to cell1 and explained my situation, and they told me that even though my phone wasn't drenched, it just takes a bit of water to cause the damage, and yes, sometimes it appears to work at first and then dies later. so i asked what my options were. the guy advised me that i could have it sent in for repair, but i would get charged since water damage isn't covered under the warranty. or i could buy a new phone at regular price, since i'm already locked into my contract for 2 more years. well, i didn't have my wallet on me at that moment, so i went back to work for a bit.

i went back downstairs 1/2 hour later (i had leon with me, of course), but the guy was helping another customer, so i was assisted by a girl sitting at the counter. i explained my situation again, and i started asking her questions about the phones.....it went a little something like this.....

me: "so, here's my v710.....what phones do you have that are comparable to it?"
her: "oh your phone's been discontinued."
me: "yes, i already realize that. i want to know what i can get that is similar."
her: "um, those ones over there." (she points toward a glass case that contains about 15 phones)
me: "what? which phones, i don't understand!"
her: (she reluctantly gets off her seat, and walks to the glass case) "these ones right here."
me: "ah, i see. so i don't want to spend too much money on this phone, what cost am i looking at? i also want something w/a camera and bluetooth technology"
her: "they start at $149."
me: (exasperated) "well, which ONE is $149?"
her: "oh, this one."
me: "ok, what about the one beside it?"
her: "it's $x amount."
me: "hmmm..... ok, well, maybe i'll get the $x phone."
her: (she's sitting down again) "ok. well, it doesn't have bluetooth."
me: (WTF? did i NOT just say i want something w/bluetooth?) "well, ok, i'll get the OTHER phone then."

so that was the gist of our conversation, and by the end of it i was pretty pissed off at this girl. i was hoping for better customer service, like what the guy had provided me with 1/2 hour earlier. basically i wanted some information about the phones and what i was committing myself to for the next 2 years of my contract. i also tried to inquire about a loaner phone so i could at least think overnight....."yeah, we don't have those here." "uh, ok." end of conversation.

so i was pretty revved up after she programmed my phone, and i continued to be pissed by the time chris came home. i remembered receiving a letter from telus about their service standards....

"at TELUS, we're committing to providing you, our valued client, with exceptional value, a state-of-the-art network, cool new phones, and customer service that is second to none."

well, i agree w/the "none" part of the letter. if i hadn't just received the letter last month, i probably would have just let it go. but because i had this letter in my posession, i was going to give telus a piece of my mind about their customer service! so i called :-) i was ready to let the CSR just have it.....i was on fire! but then the guy came on the line, and he was so nice and friendly and he explained in kind words that cell1 isn't exactly telus.....they just sell the telus products, but they do give the feedback to each store location. i explained that i continue to stay w/telus because my dad is a retiree and he still does volunteer work at "the boot", and i expect better customer service when i go to the stores to spend my hard-earned money. he listened to me babble on for almost 10 minutes :-) the unfortunate thing was my timing.....their computer system was going down for the night, so he wasn't able to file my complaint, but he told me that at 8 a.m., someone would be glad to take my call. i felt a whole lot better after i talked to him. my jets had cooled, and i was smiling again. that girl at the store was going DOWN!

so i called telus back on tuesday, and relayed my message from the night before. since i was on a complaining roll, i also commented on the customer service i didn't receive a few months ago (at a different store) when i tried to explain to the guy that my phone didn't always ring, and sometimes i couldn't see my camera pix, to which he basically replied "and what do you want me to do about it?" WTF?!

now both of my complaints with two cell1 locations had been officially entered into the telus computer system for someone else to deal with. i was feeling pretty good about it all....i mean, do these ppl get annual reviews like we do at work? i think they benefit everyone involved....come on, i don't always come out smelling like roses after my review, but at least i know what i'm doing right and/or wrong!

so, that's the end of my rant. if you're going to be in customer service, then show some respect to your customers (or at least FAKE IT!)....it doesn't do you any good if i'm going to walk away and give my money to rogers or bell, or whoever else comes along! pretty soon our cell numbers are going to be portable, and believe me, i'm going to the provider who gives GREAT customer service and great prices.