Ucluelet trip January 2007

Not a bad place to be doing field work, eh?

starfish

where we stayed

right by where we stayed

sand

I couldn't resist...

1. FIRST NAME? Thalia
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? My grandma
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Can’t remember
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? You mean printing? - Yes
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? cheese
6. KIDS? No
7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Absolutely :)
8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? No
9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? No
10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? I’d rather hang glide
12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Raisin bran
13. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Just my hiking boots
14. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Yes
15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Coconut or fruit sorbet
16. SHOE SIZE? 8
17. RED OR PINK? Pink
18. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? I can be lazy
19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My cats
20. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Sure
21. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES YOU ARE WEARING? Blue pants, no shoes
22. LAST THING YOU ATE? Eggplant Parmigiana and Greek potatoes
23. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Todd watching the hockey game
24. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Burnt Orange
25. FAVORITE SMELL? Baking
26. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Todd
27. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Face
28. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes
29. FAVORITE DRINK? Milk
30. FAVORITE SPORT? I like watching any sport a Greek team is participating in :) Soccer, summer Olympics.
31. HAIR COLOR ? Brown
32. EYE COLOR? Brown
33. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No
34. FAVORITE FOOD? Pasta
35. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? Action/drama
36. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Mission Impossible 3
37. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Blue
38. SUMMER OR winter? Summer
39. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs
40. FAVORITE DESSERT? Pie

MORE ABOUT ME...
AGE: 28
COUNTRY: Canada

FAVOURITES...
COLOUR: Dark blue
FLOWER: Lillies
TIME OF DAY: morning
SEASON: Summer
PLACE: Greece
PERSON: Todd

THIS OR THAT...
SUNSHINE OR MOONLIGHT: Both
BEACH OR FOREST: Forest, or a rocky beach with lots of marine life
DOG OR CAT: Both but I want a dog
NIGHT IN OR NIGHT OUT: Night in
EAT IN OR TAKE AWAY: Eat in

DEEPER...
DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD?: No
DO YOU FEEL SOMETHING MISSING IN YOUR LIFE?: No
IS LOVE YOUR DREAM?: uh no
DOES LOVE EVEN EXIST?: yes
DO YOU BELIEVE IN SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE?: yes
WOULD YOU WAIT UNTIL MARRIAGE FOR SOMEONE SPECIAL?: No
DESCRIBE YOUR IDEAL PARTNER: Intelligent, compassionate, caring
WHICH SONG HAS YOUR FAVOURITE LYRICS?: not sure have to think about it
IF YOU HAD ONLY ONE DAY LEFT ON EARTH, WHAT'S ONE THING YOU'D DO?: spend it with Todd, the list is too long
WHAT WOULD YOUR IDEAL FIRST DATE BE?: Something outdoors or a concert
WHEN WAS YOUR FIRST KISS?: 18
IN THE LAST WEEK HAVE YOU...MET SOMEBODY NEW?: Yes
PRAYED?: No
HUGGED SOMEONE OTHER THAN A RELATIVE?: Yes
KISSED SOMEONE OTHER THAN A RELATIVE?: Yes
GOT DRUNK?: NoTRAVELLED ON A TRAIN?: No
HELD SOMEONE'S HAND?: Yes
HAD A NIGHTMARE?: No
STAYED UP PAST 3AM?: No
LOST ANYTHING?: No
FINALLY...WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO MEET?: I’d like to spend a day in Gombe with Jane Goodall
WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO VISIT?: India and Egypt, the Arctic. Every country really.
WHAT JOB WOULD YOU LOVE FOR A DAY?: Helicopter pilot or photo-journalist
WHAT LANGUAGE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN?: Dutch
DO YOU PREFER TO WATCH THE CLOUDS OR STARE AT THE STARS?: Clouds
ARE WE ALONE?: No

I have had time to write in my blog, but haven't in ages, and now, that I am very busy, I am writing in it. Sometimes I wonder...
We are in the middle of packing - or rather purging, since we are moving very soon. I have a tendency to never throw things away, and so over the years I have collected a lot of things I never even used. The Salvation Army will be getting a lot of stuff from me this week.
I saw Siobhan's kittens on Friday and they were so cute! I can't wait until we get a pet. Maybe next year. I'd really like to foster a raccoon or squirrel until they are better to go back outdoors but can't find out where. I have checked out rescue associations online but none of the ones I looked at let people foster wild animals in their homes. So, we have been debating what to get first - 2 cats, then a dog later? Or a dog first? Or maybe on dog and a cat at the same time? I saw my cats last night (at my parents house) and they are cutie pies.
We celebrated my dad's bday yesterday, and I got to meet my sister's boyfriend for the second time. He seems super nice, and she is happy so it's all good - I think this one will last :) They are going to teach English in Europe for a year - how fun! As part of my dad's gift we got him a cell phone. Holy smokes - he was so into it it was weird. When I got mine (about 6 years ago now I think) he was lecturing me about brain tumours etc. and technology etc.
Last week my work had a commuter challenge - those of us who drive were encouraged to either bus, carpool, bike or walk to work. I was going to bus or carpool, but then I decided I would actually challenge myself and ride my bike. It was easy getting to work - 80% downhill. I didn't think I would make it home (80% uphill) but I did, and I must say I was pretty impressed with myself. I think I might try and ride my bike once a week. Although busy roads are kinda sketchy. Most drivers stay far, far away from you, but there are a few, that either don't notice you, or just don't care. When I am basically in the gutter on the side of the road (tire 6 inches from the sidewalk), a car should NOT be 6 inches from my handlebars. It is freaky! Especially when they have plenty of room to move over at least a foot or two.
Todd and I went for a hike on Saturday which was great - the weather was so nice. So much dog poop on the trails. We saw friends for dinner and a movie. Our friend is so pregnant! It is neat to watch a friend go through their pregnancy. I am looking forward to it, although it scares me - it won't happen for a few more years though. We saw Matchpoint. I enjoyed it - it was never dull. I would recommend it. The music was great too.
Ok I should get back to packing.

Been a while...

Well it has been a while since I last wrote, and it has been a busy last few of weeks. I started a new job as an environmental consultant/biologist 3 weeks ago. I was looking for work for about 3 months, so I was pretty happy when I got an offer. Out of all the job postings I responded to, this one definitely sounded the most appealing, and actually would make use of both of my degrees. The company even does research at Britannia Beach, where I did a research project during my undergrad at UBC (one of the few things I got out of UBC - don't get me started). The interview was, well, interesting. I had a panel interview with 3 people, and then I had to do a "writing assignment". I assumed that this "test" was going to be rather easy, the purpose being to see if I could actually write and spell. Well I was very wrong. I was set up at a laptop, with no handheld 'mouse'. I CANNOT for the life of me operate a laptop without a handheld mouse. Hence I was forced to use the touchpad mouse. I was given an excel spreadsheet of soil chemistry data, and told to analyze it any way I wanted to, compare it to the CSR numerical and matrix standards, and then write a letter to a client, all in 30-40 minutes!!! There was no real direction on how to do the data analysis, as the purpose of this "test" I then realized that the purpose was to test my thought process as well as my writing skills, as well as how I perform under pressure. Needless to say, I started to panic, especially when I was wasting time doing the same calculation for each row of data in excel, because I could not figure out how to drag and apply the calculation to the cells below using the stupid touchpad mouse. I managed to finish, but left feeling worried about how I did. It is strange when you have no real instructions on a test as to how to analyze and interpret data. Anyhow, I was not expecting a call back, but I got one, and I was very excited. I was offered the job eight days after my interview, and started 3 days later. So far it has been alright. There is obviously a learning curve, so my first 2 weeks were a bit stressful, but this week was pretty good. I even got to do some field work!
Last Wednesday night I headed to Vancouver for sushi dinner at the Eatery with Renee, who I haven't seen since June. It was nice to catch up. It took me 50 minutes to get to 16th and Arbutus from Marine and Pemberton in North Van, which was ridiculous. I am glad I live close to work - the commute would be a pain in the ass.
Last Saturday Todd and I went to Dallas (Todd's cousin) and Scott's wedding at the Swan-E-Set golf course in Maple Ridge. It was really nice. They gave candysticks as wedding favors which I thought was a great idea! Who doesn't like candysticks?!! Apparently they got ripped off on their liquor bill though - $6000 for 150 people?! That is insane! It apparently averages out to 7 drinks per person AFTER dinner (before dinner it was pay-bar). So it definitely does not make sense, especially since almost half of the people there drove (it was really far away). So beware...
Last Sunday I hung out with Andrea at Granville Island, which was great since I haven't seen her in 4 months, so it was nice to catch up, and we both love wandering around the shops and market there. There are lots of good Christmas gifts to be found at Granville Island. Then I headed over to my parents for dinner.
On Wednesday night Todd rented the movie Sahara, which I was fun (it is an adventure movie).
This week was pretty good. On thursday I spend my day doing field work. We drove up some logging roads close to Squamish and did some creek water sampling. It was raining all day and it even hailed for a while. At one point I slipped in the creek and my rubber boot filled with cold creek water, but I didn't seem to mind. I was just so incredibly happy to be working outside :)
Todd had bought me some heat packs for my hands and feet which made a huge difference. It is no fun to be working in the cold all day - you just end up being miserable. Being warm and prepared for foul weather makes a huge difference.
Later that night we headed out for Shannon's birthday. We went to Subeez Cafe for dinner (surprisingly good food) and then to the Atlantic Trap and Gill which was I really enjoyed! There was an Irish band playing and it reminded me of the Blarney Stone (my favorite bar). It was nice to catch up with Jessica and Charlie too.
Friday I hung out with my sister Fanie all day. We went shopping at Richmond Centre since the weather was pretty lousy. I bought myself a new sweater and some undies, and part of Todd's birthday present (he turns 32 on Thursday!!! I still don't know what else to buy for him!!!). Friday night I hung out with Reyna and Marina. First we went on a 7-11 run for snacks. I bought gobstoppers which I haven't had in years! It reminded me of when Siobhan and I were little, and her mum used to give us some money and we would walk up to the circle K store and buy candy. Anyhow so we just hung out at Reyna's and chatted and played 2 board games I have never played before - Yahtzee and Boggle. They were both fun.
Saturday night Todd and I rented a movie called Crash, which I enjoyed. Several characters of different racial backgrounds interconnect in a couple of days. It is interesting to see how the different stereotypes society has created for those backgrounds affects their judgment, beliefs and actions. I would recommend it.
Today Todd and I sealed and primered the walls of his office space. We put up a new wall to create 3 spaces instead of 2 a few weeks ago. We are going to paint it this week. I have never painted before so it is fun!
Tonight, I am just vegging out. I am waiting for Todd to finish watching the hockey game so that I can watch Desperate Housewives which was recording in the meantime with the media centre (I am slightly addicted), so I will write more another time.....

Weekend Update

Friday I went into Vancouver to have lunch with my dad, and then had to pick up my mom’s laptop so I got to see my cats for 1 minute (I miss them!!!!! We are not allowed to have pets here, which is very disappointing. That is the only disadvantage of living here. I cannot wait until we can get a dog or cat – I even have names picked out!!!) After dropping off my mom’s laptop I then headed to Siobhan’s place. Siobhan brought me back some yummy smelling hand cream and a very cute wooden chopping/serving board from Hawaii, and she gave me a framed photo of me and her at her wedding which was really nice. Lisa met up with us a few minutes later, and after seeing Siobhan’s honeymoon photos we headed into Richmond. We went to Michaels so I could get some parts for my Halloween costume, and then we went to Value Village where Lisa found a costume for Andrew and Siobhan found a skirt for her costume.
We had Sushi and then picked up a movie on the way back. We rented Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which was cute.
Tina joined us midway through the movie and then we all chatted for a bit before we all headed home at 10:30pm! We were all pooped. The older I get the earlier I need to go to bed!!!
Saturday night was Clay’s birthday, and Clay and Lisa love hockey so we headed to Seymour’s Pub in North Van to have dinner, some beer and watch the game. The food was actually quite good for pub food; I would go there again. Cougar central though!!! After we left a bunch of hoochies came in – it sort of turns into a ‘nightclub’ later on in the evening.
Hmmm… I think I am going to make some more double chocolate chip cookies – I will post the recipe later…

Migraines

Last Friday, Todd and I were invited to dinner with a friend from BCIT and her husband. We went to their place in Vancouver, where they had cooked a fantastic homemade meal - Chinese dishes that I had never had before.
Before going, we stopped at the local beer and wine store to pick up a bottle of wine. I don't know much about wine so I asked an employee to recoommend a bottle of white wine.
I had a slight headache that day but was trying to ignore it rather than take any ibuprofen.
So we had dinner and I had a glass of wine, which was total crap by the way - I don't think I have ever tasted worse white wine in my life! The girl in the wine store had no idea what she was talking about. We then played an awesome board game called Bohnanza, where you are basically trading different types of beans (cards) e.g. "stink bean" and "red bean" with people with the objective of collecting as many coins as possible. It was so much fun!
But during the game my headache got worse. The sound of Todd shuffling the cards was like someone using a chainsaw 2 inches from my ear. Smells in the room that I normally don't even notice or mind e.g. dog smell, food smell etc. started to make me feel ill, I felt super warm, I started to shake and I felt like throwing up. I had made a cheesecake that I brought over, and I could barely eat two bites! By the end of the night I felt so sick I ended up throwing up. Then we went home. I had to hold my mouth shut the whole way home, and once I got home I was sick again. The next morning I still had a pounding headache which thankfully went away by the afternon. I get migraines once in a while, but ones this bad where I throw up don't happen too often. They are usually triggered by crappy wine or champagne. I felt horrible and embarrassed on top of it all.
The next night was a lot better. We went to Jay and Madeleine's engagement party at Relish Restaurant and Lounge downtown. Their wedding date is next September Labour weekend. My cousin's wedding in Greece is the same weekend. So I will go to the wedding in Greece, and Todd will stay here for Jay and Madeleine's wedding, but will come and join me in Greece right after. We will probably go to Kerkira (Corfu) and possibly Santorini again, or another Greek Island in the Aegean. Then we will go to the Netherlands for a few days before we head home. I am looking forward to it! I love to travel...

Collective Soul

Well I went to see Collective Soul for the first time on Friday night. I have enjoyed their music for several years, and when I found out they were coming to Vancouver in May, I was highly disappointed I was going to miss it! It is one of the bands that I have said I want to see before I die :) (I know that sounds strange but there are tons of things I want to do before I die - hopefully that will be a long time from now, but before I am senile, but I will leave that for another blog posting...). Another band I want to see is Great Big Sea. I believe I saw them at Arts County Fair one year, but I can't quite remember... oh and of course Queen would have been great to see live (but that is obviously not a possibility).
So when I found out Collective Soul was coming back, this time to Abbotsford, I was pretty excited.
Now it took a while to get to Abbotsford, and the venue was not that great (it was at a rec centre), and the Abbotsford crowd was..... well lets just leave it at that... but the band was great to see and they are really good live (I have seen lots of bands that suck live, which is VERY disappointing), plus Ed Rollins is kinda cute :) The opening bands were Kazaa and Boy the Band. One of the bouncers gave me his earplugs (unused, don't worry) which was super nice, except he didn't have any left for himself, and when I found that out I tried to give them back but he wouldn't take them! He told me he had hearing damage anyways??!! Personally I would want to keep what I had left of mine! Yes, I wear earplugs to rock concerts. I have done with and without, and honestly, the music sounds totally fine with earplugs in - you don't get any of the buzzing noise during the concert, and no ringing in the ears the next day.
I will tell a couple of stories about the crowd at the concert. A lot of people were really drunk - we had to wait about 3 hours for the bands to even start playing! I got elbowed in the head a few times, ended up with a burn mark on my shoulder??!! And this crazy drunk cougar in front of me (I was behind her because she was short and therefore easy to see over) kept getting out of control every time Ed (the lead singer) would look in our direction. She would start flailing her arms and body out of control to get his attention, and ended up wacking me a few times while in the process. Very irritating. Her husband/boyfriend or whatever he was kept leaving and coming back with more beer.
Todd and I went to two Thanksgiving dinners - no turkey for me of course. I had a vegetarian meal Sunday night and fish on Monday night. Yep that's about all I have to say about that.
I'm out for now.

They finally came over…

I have been living in North Van now since Todd and I got back from Greece, in early June. My parents came to visit and see where I live for the first time today, 3 months later. What took them so long? Well apparently, “North Vancouver is so far away from Vancouver”, and “Oh God, the only time we cross the Lions Gate Bridge is to go to the ferry”. After some persuading, however, my parents finally made the trek over here.
So what did they think? Well they really liked it. The house had just been built when Todd moved into the suite two years ago, and it was finished well e.g. crown moldings, so it is a pretty nice place.
Of course, they fact that Todd and I stayed up until 2:30am last night cleaning, or rather mostly reorganizing, probably made a difference too. Our place was quite disorganized, and we needed an excuse to do something about it. This was it. It looks a million times better.
My parents showed up and were surprised at how little time it took to get here and how easy the directions were.
My mom brought over my favorite cookies that she had made, and we all sat around, ate a snack-style lunch, and we showed my parents our wedding gifts (they still had not seen them).
My parents wanted coffee to drink. Todd made it – but, you see, Todd likes his coffee very, very strong. My parents on the other hand drink very watered down coffee. I warned Todd, but he made it in the French Press, and the coffee we have was ground for a cone filter….
Todd poured the coffee, it was dark and thick…
Pretty soon, my dad was running back and forth to the bathroom, and both my parents looked very wired, and were talking super fast. It was quite entertaining!
After they left and I was cleaning up, I looked in the bottoms of their coffee mugs – it was a dark thick paste…
Oops…
It was pretty funny though.
I am glad it all went well though and they finally came for a visit.