Month: April 2012

Bike plans

Posted on by boj Posted in Bike1 Comment

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This week was the last of the winter spinning session at the Point. I was going to two classes per week since I got back from birth break. It was nice though I am glad to take the summer break and I will only be taking one class per week next year. I am hoping to bike outside through the fall.

I don’t know how much riding I will get to do this summer, but I went bike shopping with Luisa who plans to get back into it. She is looking for an entry level hybrid so we went to a couple Ottawa bike stores, three on Bank street and two in Kanata. I am not sure what she’ll end up getting, but bike shopping for someone other than me was tons of fun. The highlight was a bike very much like the one a few posts ago with standard dynamo hub and full set of grind guards at Foster’s. I hope to see more of these in the upcoming years.

The cleaning lady

Posted on by boj Posted in Baby, General

One of my whiny complaints about mat leave is that, because you spend so much time at home, the household chores take over your life. Sometimes it feels like a mom’s life is an endless cycle of cooking and cleaning. Supposedly I am home to spend time with my kids, but I end up not spending time with them because I am trying to feed them and keep them clean. It does not help that while I am cooking and cleaning the kids get their toys (and things they consider their toys) all over the place because I am too busy cooking and cleaning to stop them. Then I get mad at them because I have to clean some more. Then they refuse to eat the delicious healthy meals I lovingly prepared and scream for cookies.

By the time I am done enough to sit down and relax a bit, the kids are already in bed. To cheer myself up I made a new rule: Whoever cleans up the Lego gets to play with it.

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It took me almost a week to put all the models together. I had been hiding the finished ones from Trevor because I wanted to complete all sets before he took them apart. He actually noticed one of the pieces in a box (I did not try very hard to hide them…) and concluded that the cleaning lady had made it. I suppose he is right, but he guessed the wrong cleaning lady.

I am no longer cool

Posted on by boj Posted in Bike2 Comments

Now every mom can get her very own two kids on a bike setup at Toys’R’Us.

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This is what Kurt Cobaim must have felt like when the record company handed him the copy of Nevermind they were going to press.

Then and now

Posted on by boj Posted in General

I usually roll my eyes whenever someone tells me that life “before” was easier, “before” usually meaning when they were growing up. I don’t remember life being easier. It certainly was not easy in the Balkan in the 80’s. Mind you, it was not terribly hard, but it was not easier than what my kids have.

One thing that was “easier” was social interaction. If someone punches you, you punch him back. Yet, it did not work out for the Balkans and somehow it does not sound like a mantra I should be teaching to a five year old.

Film – Les Neiges du Kilimandjaro

Posted on by boj Posted in Film

Wow! I’ve actually seen three enjoyable films in a row! I can’t remember when was the last time this happened. Les Neiges du Kilimandjaro was a lot like “Cache”. Not as creepy but equally soul searching.

I finally finished one of the colour work projects that has been dragging through the winter.

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Yes, I run out of yarn. As this was stash-busting project, buying more yarn of the same colour was out of the question so I finished up with single colour thumbs. Once I run out of the yarn, I stopped caring so the thumbs are pretty ugly. I don’t care, so that’s ok!

I started my most ambitious project to date. A sweater! Crazy eh?

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It is a very simple sweater, I hope it works out well.

Jian’s army

Posted on by boj Posted in General, Music

Jen asked me if I am interested in going to the live taping of Q. Well, of course I would love to! I’ve had fun at the live taping of the Debaters a few years ago and I really enjoyed taping of the geography quiz show I went to to cheer on a friend way back in middle school, so why not? I re-read Jen’s message and realized that the tickets were $30 bucks. I though it was a bit high for taping of a mid day radio show but I had already told Jen I would go and I was a bit excited about it so I decided to stick with it. On the way there Jen was a little bit worried about not getting good seats so she dropped me off at the door and went to find parking. It was a good thing she did this because even though we were almost an hour early, there was a line going all the way around the building. I wondered at the crowds and Jen told me that Blue Rodeo was one of the guests. I shrugged and attributed the popularity of the event to this important Canadian band. It was only after the show started that I realized that people were not there to see Blue Rodeo, they were there to see Jian Ghomeshi. I was there to see Jian as well but it had never occurred to me that he is so beloved and that he has reached the status of a Canadian icon. Go Jian!

I had a blast at the show, I even bought the album of one of the artists (Austra) that played. I am hoping to give it a good listen over the next couple of weeks and write a review (though saying that I will pretty much guarantees that I will not).

Now if I could only go to a live taping of Tempo or Shift…