Direct from Whoville...

On Saturday evening A. and I attended the Best of the Fest show which capped off the Canwest Comedy Festival. The show was awesome (how could it not be with comedians such as Janeane Garofolo, David Cross and Scott Thompson?) and before the show we were treated to a sight we had not been expecting. There, in the lobby of the Centre for Performing Arts was Cindy Lou Who herself. I managed to take a few pictures as evidence but since they were taken with my camera phone, from one floor up, off a mirror, and on max zoom, they aren't incredibly clear. Still, I present to you... a Who!

Pandora

I realize that I'm probably behind the curve on this one but I recently discovered Pandora.com and I'm loving it! I like listening to music at work and most of the time my station of choice is CKUA, a listener supported radio station out of Edmonton, but occasionally I like to listen to music that I know and this is where Pandora comes in. I've created stations based on some of my favourite artists from different genres such as Hawksley Workman, Belle & Sebastian, Edith Piaf and Loudon Wainwright III and Pandora then creates a custom station of other artists based on similar musical characteristics. You can also create stations based on a song you like rather than just an artist. If you haven't already tried it I suggest you do.

Listen: Hawksley Workman radio

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As for our condo issues, things are moving slowly and when we stopped by the condo on Sunday the carpet was still half torn up, there were still giant gaps in the drywall and nothing else had been done.

Our temporary accomodations are working fine for now but we'd both rather be home. Hopefully things will start moving along and we won't be out for too much longer.

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On the reading front, I've completed several books that I need to write about and after I'm done my current one I'm going to move on to some International Relations non-fiction. I'm contemplating possibly doing a correspondence degree in International Relations from the University of London so I thought I'd do some reading first to see if it's something I'm actually interested in it.

Any advice on taking courses by correspondence or on the usefulness of an IR degree would be appreciated.

Flood '06

This has been an interesting week to say the least. A. and I had purchased a new washer and dryer team that was supposed to be delivered this past Friday. In order to have time to clean the closet and get ready for the new appliances we hired an appliance company to come in on Tuesday and take away the old ones. Our old washer and dryer isn't a standard apartment stacker but two separate pieces with the dryer mounted on the wall. In the process of removing the dryer they knocked the sprinkler on the ceiling and set off the alarm and the fire suppression system in our unit. There was water everywhere and the guys stood there useless while I ran around in a panic. Our unit wasn't damaged that bad (the flooring will be replaced and they've cut out several sections of drywall) but the unit below us has to be entirely gutted. Thank god for insurance!





We've spent the past couple of days living in hotels, dealing with our insurance company and packing all of our stuff so we could store it in our rented storage locker. It's been busy and emotionally trying but we've gotten through it together and now we have a new place to live. I spent most of Friday morning looking on the 'net for rented short-term accomodations but everything was booked. I finally found a real estate company that did short-term rentals so we got a place close to Granville Street that will do nicely for the next month. It's not home but it's better than living in a hotel and eating out everyday.