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.

Jessica Alba?! I wish...

There's a website called myheritage.com that has a nifty little face recognition feature. One of the perks of this feature is being able to compare yourself to your celebrity look-alikes. All you have to do is upload a photo of yourself, click a button and it will show you pictures of the celebrities you most look like (or so it claims, because frankly, I don't think I'll ever look like Jessica Alba.) Here is my completely unrealistic collage.

Time After Time

I was listening to Z95 on my way to work this morning and they had an interview with Cyndi Lauper. She talked about her appearance on Canadian Idol a few weeks ago and her new acoustic album, The Body Acoustic. Then they played the new, stripped down version of Time After Time (which is a song I've always loved) featuring Sarah McLachlan and I was blown away. I'll admit that Sarah has a beautiful voice but I've never been a huge fan. However, the more I listen to her stuff, especially covers like this one and the Beatles' Blackbird, the more I start to like her.

Download: Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time (featuring Sarah McLachlan)

The art of getting things done

I've been incredibly bad about posting anything lately so instead of boring you with long "we did this and then we did that" paragraphs, I give you my favourite time saver - the bulleted list.

• During the long weekend, A. and I rented a car so that we could GTD (get things done). We ended up with a shiny Mazda 6 that we both fell in love with.
  
• Went to IKEA, spent way too much money but ended up with a great half-round gateleg table, two wooden chairs, two folding chairs, and a shoe rack that I have wanted since it came out.
  
• That same night we went to Steveston and had a delicious dinner at Sockeye City Grill.
  
• Woke up early Sunday morning so we could head down to Washington. Spend 1.5hrs in the line at the border.
  
• Stopped at Anacortes because we wanted to head over to the San Juan Islands but the next ferry wasn't for another two hours and it would have taken up the rest of our day so we decided to nix that idea and head down to Seattle. (Pictures here.)
  
• Drove around downtown Seattle looking for a hotel and ended up at the Hotel Monaco.
  
• Did some shopping and then went up the Space Needle.
  
• Had another amazing dinner, this time at The Brooklyn.
  
• Monday morning, went to Pike Place Market for wandering and breakfast. Also saw the first Starbucks.
  
• On the way home we stopped at Alderwood Mall and Seattle Prime Outlets and spent waaaay too much money. Got dinged at the border.
  
• Emma and Laurel hosted a kick-ass "Hobo Reunion" on the 12th at which everyone had a hobo name. Mine was Gnarles Boxcar and A. was Spits McGrifter. People also brough hobosnacks, ours being worms and dirt.
  
• This Saturday A. and I went to Sears and checked out new washer and dryer teams (I love that they call them teams.) We are probably going to wait for Scratch and Save next weekend and go back for the Kenmore front-loaders. Is it sad that I can't wait to do the first load of laundry in the new washer and dryer?
  
• We also lusted over a pair of Movado watches. I love the Rondiro watch.
  

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Books I've read recently

Despite the warnings that other book bloggers have written about, I have waited way too long to write about what I've read recently. I don't really remember characters or what my initial reactions were so here again, is another list.

15. Saturday by Ian McEwan. I'd never read any of his other books but had heard excellent things about this one so I picked it up at Chapters one day. I really enjoyed the story and love the way McEwan can bring a scene so vividly to mind.

16. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. I've had The Poisonwood Bible on my shelf of to-be-reads for years but hadn't heard anything about any of her other books. I read this one on the recommendation of A. who said he had really enjoyed it when he was in school. This was a heartwarming tale about the power of family and friendship and I sped through it. An excellent story.

17. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith is another book I have heard a lot of people talking about over the past few years. I discovered that they had it at work so I started reading it on my lunch breaks. The story and the main character of Precious Ramotswe captured my imagination and, like the Outlander books made me want to go to Scotland, this book made me want to visit Botswana. Maybe one day...

18. Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith is the third book in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series but I read this one second because they also had it at work. Again, an excellent read with intriguing characters and subplots. I'm looking forward to reading the rest in this series.