New Home

Well, I successfully found an apartment in Vancouver. It took a couple of long days and maybe some lowering of expectations but everything was accomplished. I suppose it wasn't about lowering my expectations so much as reexamining my needs. Anyway, I feel a lot netter knowing I have a place and it's exactly in the neighborhood I wanted to be in. Plus it's only 4 blocks from the beach and beautiful views. The apartment itself isn't much to talk about; nothing charming or unique but I'll certainly do my best to make it a nice home for myself.
I still haven't decided on the exact date when I'll move. It depends on a number of other factors but it'll be sometime in the next six weeks. Although I have the apartment thing done, it just opens up a bunch of other things that I need to do. Figuring out packing/ furniture, getting water/cable/internet hooked up, filling out loan and visa form correctly. It gets a little overwhelming when I start thinking about it so I'll just focus on one thing at a time. Today that means laundry and catching up on emails. Then dealing with utilities.

And I'll leave you with a picture of my beach.

On TV

Here in Canada, I'm watching the Discovery Channel. They don't have the same programming as in the U.S. I mean, currently showing is "The Great Sperm Race".
Description provided by Discovery Channel Canada: For a human to be conceived, the nearly half-a-billion sperm a man ejaculates must embark on an extraordinary journey through a "giant" obstacle course; with the use of CGI and dramatic recreations we follow their harrowing journey towards the egg.
No joke, one of the expert scientists was just talking about how awesome it was for him to first see his own sperm in a microscope. Also, a re-creation of the 'great sperm race' using people as the sperm, the lady's inside area is now being described as an immense mountain range. This should be shown in sex-ed everywhere.

Great Sperm Race

Sighted

A lady pushing a duck in a stroller.

One of these:
In one of these:

A Movie About My Life

Someone has finally decided to immortalize my life on film. Having read the synopsis, I'd say it's fairly accurate. I'll let you know when the premiere is.

FINALSTORM

Back in Canada

Just got into Vancouver a few hours ago. This time I will sign a lease. Starting tomorrow morning, I will canvass the neighborhoods I want to live in and just view everything I can. Tonight I'm plotting out the exact areas; fortunately, they're using a grid pattern around here so that makes my planning purposes easy. I have one appointment on Wednesday and a few emails out about others. It's such a mental strain not knowing where I'm going to be in six weeks.
I think I'm staying in a shadier part of downtown this time. So I won't be going out late, not that I did before. Also, the entirety of Granville Street is ripped up and blocked off which screws up the bus routes. That made my trip from my airport a little squirrelly. This is a pretty boring post. Sorry, I don't much feel like writing now. Maybe the next few days will provide more interest.

Dinner Party

Last night I had a couple of the girls over for dinner, just a small get together mid-week. Jamie, Megan, and Emily all attended and I think it went over well. Jamie and I just made a quick dinner of Mediterranean couscous, spring mix salad, and a margherita pizza. Simple but good. I think we should probably do this kind of thing more often. It's a nice way to see people without the whole weekend going out thing. And we always just end up talking and gossiping anyway so why not do it over food? Plus we put the Phillies game on in the background so we could watch them lose to the Blue Jays. Therefore, I will invite everyone over again the week after next (I'm in Vancouver next week) and I will make something delicious and bit more difficult. I think this will be spectacular.

Crafty

I was cleaning out my room the other day and came across some crafting supplies from my youth. Bags of brightly colored loops and a metal peg loom. What? You don't know what I'm talking about. This is what I mean:

I think you can make lots of things with it. But I only make pot-holders. OK, so I don't think you can make lots of things. The pinnacle might be a bath mat but that's essentially a bunch of pot-holders tied together. I've made so many pot-holders with this thing. I know my mom has some (and she actually uses them sometimes, I know this because they have food stains on them) and maybe my sisters do too. I'm not sure about that though; I'll make some for them this week. I gave a couple to John because he has no pot-holders or oven mitts. He doesn't seem to use them though.
Anyway, the point is making these things is weirdly fun. Monotonous but a little bit creative. OK, not creative so much as constructive. I know it's not needlepoint or quilting or anything that requires skill but at least I'm making something. Perhaps one day I'll really learn how to sew or knit. That'll be in 50 years when I have absolutely nothing else to do.

In case you want to buy your own:

Panini Genius

Last night John and I made panini for dinner. The panino is a typical late night food here at the Grady house; even Galen and Nolan will go to the effort to make one for themselves as a quick snack. So there's always some kind of bread/cheese/meat combo around for panini. UNtil now I generally stuck with the typical mozzarella/tomato/basil/Italian meat version as seen below. This one has prosciutto.

But we decided to change it up a little last night so we made the usual kind, an apple/cheddar/grilled chicken version, and finally a raspberry/walnut/goat cheese/chicken version. This last one was highly successful. The apple & cheddar was good but I think I'd want to try a different kind of cheese with that. It veered a little too much to the low budget grilled cheese as it was. The raspberry/walnut/goat cheese was delicious though. I don't have a picture of it because we ate it too fast but next time I'll get one.
It's terribly easy to make though. A medium-thin layer of regular raspberry jam, crumbled goat cheese, crushed walnuts (pat them into the cheese so they stick, and then thin sliced grilled chicken. Throw it on the press and enjoy. The raspberry lends some sweetness and cuts the goat cheese flavor a bit. And the cheese is very smooth, contrasted with crunchy walnuts. John always needs protein in his meals so that's why the chicken was added and it worked. I meant to put some fresh spinach leaves on there too but the tasting audience was impatient so that will have to wait for next time.

Keeping House

Again, it's just me and McGriff here at the house. Colin and Nolan left today for California and Mom and Dad are in Virginia at one of Dad's conferences. It's just a short time I'll be in charge here; the parents will be back Wednesday. Still, I've already accomplished a number of things. I did a lot of laundry because I knew John wouldn't do his so I just took it and did it myself. His room will look much cleaner. Also, after he left for work this morning, I hung curtains in his bedroom; I used a power tool.

Besides that, I took on a different sort of project today. I have proclaimed before that I am good at growing flowers but that's all child's play. The real challenge is weeding large expanses of one's backyard. So I started doing that and it's tiresome. Mom had expressed a desire to have an area of the yard weeded before the party so I figured I should just do it because I have the time. I think I got about a quarter of the way through when I called it quits for the day. That means there's a lot left to do but that's ok. I just hope the weather permits outside work tomorrow. I must say, this work was satisfying in the 'rip things out and see an immediate difference' kind of way. Dad's favorite type of work. And it's kind of a variation on organization because I'm getting rid of junk and leaving orderly space.

Leave It Better Than You Found It

That old motto is surprisingly fulfilling. I'd heard it before from my Boy Scout brothers and elsewhere but never thought much about it. But lately I've been trying to organize, clean, and improve the places where I spend time. And it has been deeply satisfying. It's simple things really: hanging a mirror in the garage, framing a picture and hanging it, throwing out junk, organizing cabinets and drawers. But all of these things make life a little easier, neater, aesthetically appealing, and cater to my obsessive compulsive tendencies.

So the garage apartment will hopefully look a bit more home-y when I leave, various rooms in the house will be more organized and decorated, and some long neglected projects will be that much nearer to completion. I like it a lot. I've also found it's very nice "to nest" and create home-like spaces. I haven't ever done much in that way because I've always felt fairly transitory but it does make a big difference. So even if I'll only be somewhere for a year, I think I'll make the effort to create a home. It's weird to think about, though I'm glad I have this characteristic.