I must learn to take the party camera with me when I go out for my runs. I ran along the water in Kits this morning and it was awesome. It was really windy out and the waves crashing into shore and the breakwall were spectacular. I was tempted to run really close to the edge so that I could get sprayed but it was coldn (well cool,not cold) and it just didn't seem the smartest thing to do when out running alone.

Off to meet Ryan Pogue tonight. We've been trying to hook up since I arrived. Ryan owns Pogue Sports and runs Pogue Canoe Club. Hopefully it will lead to some opportunities for me.

It's Shrove Tuesday today. That means pancakes for dinner (actually crepes like my mum used to make) and no more DC, sweets or chips starting tomorrow until April 16th. Let the fasting begin!

Nothing too exciting to report today. Corporate Security is working on the break in. I'm getting quite good a providing just the facts, nothing but the facts. Apparently the description of the ponytailed man is quite interesting to them.

AM and SB came with NB and I to yoga on Friday night. It was a good class, we did a few group exercises which were fun. Eoin hugged me as I expected. It went better than I expected, I had harboured some concerns that he might make the entire class hug me. NB and I met JB after yoga for some eats at The Distillery. The food was great but the service, not soo much. Here's a thought, if you hate your job so much, get a new one! I almost wrote on the bill Thanks for the great service but held off as they did make a mean burger.

Met TS for brunch on Saturday. It was nice to see a familiar face and catch up as we didn't get to talk much at the wedding.

Sunday I had brunch with Scooper. It was quite entertaining as he had the window seat and kept losing track of our conversation...too much eye candy in my neighbourhood. Later I rode over to Granville Market. It takes less than 10 minutes, and that includes locking up my bike! Sweet!

Ended up buying the Baha couch on Sunday afternoon...a little retail therapy if you will.

Constable Brown will not be coming to the crime scene so I've shut it down. The silver lining of this whole episode is that a desk just opened up on the floor so I don't have to go back to the stupid room.

Have quite a bit of work ahead of me recovering my lost data. This calls for an Oh Henry and a DC.

Have a good weekend.

Ok, I'm 99% sure that my ipod is at home.

It appears that I have lost data from the last two days...what a pain. Luckily it appears to have saved all of my email messages so I'm not totally lost. It's just going to be a lot of work figuring out what is missing.

Waiting for the police to call. As we have the description of a potential suspect who was seen wandering the hallway around 5:30 PM yesterday and surveillance cameras from the lobby, they may be able to catch the crook. The stupid room has been sealed until the crime scene can be processed. It's all so CSI!

Shitty! My office, the stupid room, was broken into last night and my laptop stolen. I have a sneaking suspician that I may also have left my ipod in my desk last night too. Double shitty.

A little inspirational story to start the day.

I came in this morning to find an email from a BMO employee I spoke to last week about volunteering for the marathon. She had told me she was unable to run the marathon as she was wheelchair bound but that she would love to volunteer. She also mentioned that her sister is a marathoner and she is planning on going to Boston to watch her sister run. When I responded to her note about volunteering I mentioned how moved I was by seeing the wheelchair athletes when I was in Boston watching #4 run a few years ago. I let her know that the Van Marathon has a wheelchair full marathon, just in case she was interested. I got an email back this morning that said she had taken the weekend to think about it and that she is going to try and wheel the marathon! I never expected her to agree to do it so this comes as a great surprise. I plan to be the one out on the course cheering the loudest for her when she crosses the line!
(That is if I can finish the half before she finishes the full.)

Wow, its been a busy day. I spent the morning in a meeting planning for a branch manager conference we will be having in April. In discussing potential activities for the conference I threw out the idea of having Eoin Finn come and lead a yoga class, he's the Blissologist I have made reference to here before. Low and behold they thought it was a great idea. So I hurried back to my desk and fired him off an email. As luck would have it he's available and totally up for it. Sweet! I'm really enjoying this event planning type work. It's Fun!

I really need to shop for a couch but I just have no desire to do the leg work. I guess if I ever plan to have company over I will need to get on that.

I have just started reading Vengeance by George Jonas. Its about the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics and how they were avenged. I feel a little uncomfortable reading it during the Olympics, it just kind of feels like bad luck. I'm not far into it yet but will let you know how it goes.

It was a short and sweet trip to TO this past weekend for me. I arrived Wed night just before midnight. Met my Dad for lunch on Thursday then headed into work. Met up with T-Bone and DD for tea and some catching up. After a couple of hours of work it was then off to Wish for dinner with the Corp. Sponsorship & VIM folks. Met up with CH for a quick drink at the Dora Keogh afterwards then it was home to bed.

Friday morning DD and I met for a little New Yorker Deli breakfast then it was back to the office for 4 straight hours of meetings on the marathon. After a quick doctors appt, it was back to CH’s to meet AN. We went to grab some lunch and a few drinks on the Danforth before meeting up with CH, JB and TC, plus CH’s new man for some dinner and then off to the Body Worlds 2 show at the Science Centre.

Saturday, after a less than stellar breakfast at Edward Levesque’s Kitchen (my fault for trying something new) AN and I stopped in to visit #’s 3&4 before heading to the Old Mill for PB & SM’s wedding. With less than 45 minutes for us to both shower and get ready for the wedding we arrived just in time to snag a standing only space along the side wall of the chapel to see a beautiful SM walk down the isle beaming. The reception set the bar for all celebrations to follow in 2006. After touching speeches from both sets of parents and the best man & maid of honour; PB & SM took to the podium. The highlight of PB’s speech was a brief reference to their starting a family and SM interjecting with a "Surprise! I’m pregnant". It was a joke but certainly set off many cheers, loudest of all those from Mrs. Buday. AN showed his prowess on the dance floor and was a wonderful date for the evening, like I ever doubted. We had to do a lot of explaining that no he didn’t live in BC or plan to relocate out there anytime soon. We closed the reception down and somehow made our way back to our room. I actually think we may have left with PB & SB (no longer SM), its a bit of a blurr to be honest.

Finally AN and I got some time to ourselves on Sunday. We had a delicious brunch at Mitzy’s then spent the afternoon hanging out and trying to post-pone the eventual trip to the airport. After many tears on my side (not to suggest he is cold hearted, but I was a sobbing mess) he finally left for his Kung Fu class. I tried to keep myself busy drowning my sorrows in donuts and chocolate as I waited for my delayed flight. I got home around 9:45 PT to find Sarah & Sparkle swimming happily around their tank. I’m so glad to have them here with me as they seemed happy to see me Ok…I know they just wanted to be fed, cut me some slack.

Wedding pictures to follow..you can find some on LA's VOC Blog

I've just come from a delicious lunch of Dim Sum with the BMO gang. The boys are in town for a ski weekend so the old crew all met up for lunch.

Now its off to the airport as I head back to TO for PB & SM's wedding on Saturday.

SB has kindly agreed to feed the girls while I am gone. I feel better about leaving them knowing that they are in good hands.

Gotta run!

There's an article in The Province today about BMO and the Vancouver Marathon. What Richard describes in the article is what I was hired to do...employee engagement. Team BMO recruiting is going really well. In just over 48 hours I have 17 signed up for the full marathon, 26 for the half and over 40 volunteers. I've got some great ideas to raise awareness and get employees excited which so far, everyone seems to be buying into. Let the games begin!

My training is coming along. The majority of the people in my little running group are doing the full marathon. As a result I have just been running what they are. It's not working for me. I don't have the base and the runs are just too long (3X10+KM week). I'm now using the program from John Stanton's Running Start to Finish. I think its going to work a lot better for me.

Happy Valentine's Day one & all...esp. AN!

KMS...just sent an email to the Sales Manager at Capital Movers. Here's a snippet of what it said:

"My delivery came on Thursday. I was just wondering, did all of my belongings fall off the truck at some point? Every single box that was marked fragile was dented or punctured. Luckily I have only two broken dishes, a testament to how well I tried to pack everything."

Went to America as AM likes to call in on Sat with the BMO girls. I was practicing some real constraint until I broke open the wallet for some shoes mid-afternoon. 4 pairs later I was in as deep as the other ladies. I even managed to buy a great tv stand/shelf at Target. Just need a couch now, I'm think about this one in a tiny black/white check that almost gives it a grey appearance.

Movers...I just don't get them.

I was given a 2 hour window, from 1-3 PM, for when Capital Movers would deliver my furniture yesterday. I left work at noon to make sure I was home just in case they were early. Ahh, how naive of me. At 3:50 PM when they still had not arrived I call the company for the second time. After all, I am #1 (Anal according to #4). I was assured they are on their way and moments later they did turn up, just after 4PM. Ok..I live on a fairly busy street with parking on one side and many pedestrians on the side walks. Sure enough they park the truck right in from and cause traffic chaos for the next hour. My building also only has one elevator which they insisted on hijacking. None of this would have been a problem if they had come between 1-3, not the start of evening rush hour.

As I'm watching my stuff come off the truck I begin to notice a trend. Any box that was marked FRAGILE appears to have rolled off the truck and quite possibly been run over at some point. The boxes that weren't marked fragile were in perfect shape. I haven't managed to go through them all yet but so far I've got two broken Corningware dishes, plus major scratches on my muskoka chair and some small scratches and dents on my bed. None of those are too major, the most annoying thing I discovered, only after the movers had left, was that the screws for my kitchen table were missing. I had taped them to a chair leg to ensure they didn't get lost. So much for that. Ohh and the cover for my ironing board, it looks like someone was practicing their knife work with it, there are slashes marks all over it. I'm making the move experience sound terrible, it definitely could have been much worse. I just don't understand how they make you sign away all rights to your stuff then it looks like they just throw your stuff around.

On a bright note. As I hung out for those three hours waiting for the movers to arrive, I had time to do some exploring of the building. I figured out where I could store my bike, found ping pong racquets for the pingpong table in the rec room and to my great excitement I discovered that the rooftop patio is just steps from my door. What a view, its going to be great to hang out there on those nice days I don't feel like hiking my lazy ass down to the beach.

As some of you may know, I'm a great lover of public transportation. It probably takes me less time to take the bus to work than it does to drive when you factor in the parking etc. Well this morning I figured I would return a movie I rented (The Constant Gardener...love it by the way) and just catch the bus there. The Rogers Video is just a few blocks West of me and a street North. Wow... let me tell you that I have found the best bus stop around. It's right on Cornwall across from a park right on the water. Even for a dark wet morning it really was quite beautiful. Definitely worth the walk in the wrong direction.

Not the best shot I'm afraid, it certainly doesn't do justice to how beautiful it was.

Starting to go a little stir crazy here in the "Stupid Room". Must be the lack of fresh air and contact with the real world. As I was writing that I realized I had my camera with me so I took some shots to show you what I am dealing with here.






Updated...here are the shots. Please notice the spare furniture and stacks of boxes.


You will notice that I have updated a few of the links. I've added Victims of Circumstance a new blog courtesy of LA (Ottawa LA but LA of Port Credit...confusing for some of you who know both). I've also added a link for the BMO Bank of Montreal Vancouver Marathon. It's what's keeping me busy both personally and professionally these days. This morning we ran the Causeway in Stanley Park...it's really long and up hill going out but fast and fun coming back. Well, not really fun, but downhill and that's all good in my books.

Hurray! My furniture comes Thursday afternoon. Ahh sweet bed, how I look forward to being reunited with you. Its been a long 3 months.

I'm beginning to get settled in at the new apartment. Took a few shots on the weekend just to show you all what I am working with here. Still waiting for my furniture to arrive. I can't imagine it is going to be much longer seeing as its closing in on 2 weeks to get get here when I managed to drive across the country in 7 days, which included 2 days of snowboarding.

I had fun exploring the neighbourhood on Saturday. I got myself all bundled up to face the elements (read strong wind & rain) and off I went. Found a great kitchenwares + store just up the street. I probably spent well over an hour in their rooting around for this and that. I had great fun. Sat night I nestled down on a blanket with pillows to watch one of the movies Arshia was kind enough to send me off with. Its surprising how comfortable a few pillows and blanket can be when positioned correctly in an empty apartment.

Sunday I went back to Eoin Finn's power yoga class. I really liked it, so much in fact that I am going back tonight. On Sunday morning a neighbourhood cat wandered into the hall and spend the entire class wandering around visiting people. At one point he even plopped himself down on Eoin's lap and allowed himself to be put into various yoga positions, it really was quite funny.

This story on The Morning News made me laugh and then cringe as I am sure that were some things in the crack house fridge that would have given given a good challenge to Jonathan Ames findings. By the way, crack house is how I am now going to refer to the temporary sublet. Credit for the name is shared jointly between T-Bone and JB who each independently came up with the name after setting their eyes on my humble TEMPORARY abode.

I think I might swing by and take a couple of shots of the crack house...it really deserves to be recorded in my ongoing history. If only there was scratch and sniff blogging.

I didn't realize how much was involved in whole relocating thing. Last night while out for drinks with NB & JB at Tatlows the topic of registering for MSP came up. What's MSP you ask? Basically OHIP for BC. I think I have to pay a monthly premium of $54, but then it might come off my pay...I don't really know. Apparently I have 90 days to get my BC drivers license and registering my car but I have to get BC car insurance within 30 days. How are you supposed to figure it all out? Everything has a different date for when you can apply or have to apply by...its all rather mind boggling.

Having lunch with MH today, I think the plan is to find some good Indian. Ohh I guess I should stop referring to MH as MH, its really ML now.

No major plans for the weekend
Tonight - hoping for a little nap after work and then might go to yoga at 7PM if I can muster up the energy
Sat - 14KM run with RR...NB may come but the 8AM start time may be a problem for her :) Then, all good runs (heck, even bad runs) need to be followed by brunch. Perhpas a little more napping then some shopping for housewares in the hood. Also want to check out a couch or two.
Sun - Going to try and make the 10 AM yoga class then its off to a SuperBowl party

Just a quick update as I am running a little late this morning.


Sarah seems to have bounced back, no more marineland acts. Both Sarah and Sparkle seem happy with their new living arrangement on the side of the kitchen counter. From this spot they can check out the action in both the kitchen and the living/dining room.

I had the best shower this morning. I felt like a princess basking in the bright clean yellow of my new bathroom.

Ughhh I had a terrible night. I think Sarah is sick and I spent most of the night worrying that she was going to die. She kept swimming on her side and close to the surface, like some kind of mini-marineland act. I didn't like it. She seemed ok this morning when I left but I'm a little scared that when I go home she might be belly up.

On another sour note...haven't heard from Grant the Property Manager yet about picking up my keys. He'd set the expectation that I might be in last weekend so these extra three days have felt like an eternity. I'm also at my breaking point with the grim. Who lives like that?