Do we get to start a countdown now?
Posted by Tom on June 25, 2009 at 8:24 pm
It’s 25 degrees out, beautiful and humid, yet I’m sitting in our apartment wrapped in a blanket and sweater. No, it’s not the flu. It’s our landlord going into overdrive with the air conditioning. I guess its great for the people upstairs, but down here in the basement without that much sunlight gets a little chilly after a while.
Toronto has been warm and sunny all week, which is a welcome change from the grey and not-as-warm it was for a little while. I’ve been standing inside Staples for a large part of it (or what seems like a large part of it), playing the “selling crap” game. Work has been going good, but sometimes it gets a little slow, so then you have to turn work into a “game” to pass the time (I don’t think my supervisors really approve of this way of looking at it, but I’m sure they don’t complain when I make them money). You get points for selling people things that they didn’t know that they needed. You get even more points when people initially turn something down but eventually change their mind.
What is getting me through work though are thoughts of getting back to Newfoundland soon. I’ve been annoying my co-workers with stories about the island that they don’t really understand. I can’t wait to get home and see everyone.
Subscribe to the comments for this postPlease clear your schedules and get your pencils out to schedule in some fun times with us.
Posted by Candice on June 22, 2009 at 1:44 pm
That’s right. As you may have already heard (because I screamed it so loud - well, actually I’m not loud enough to be a screamer, but I did do a happy dance), I am coming home in just under one month and Tom in just more than a month. I booked my flight last night for July 21st and Tom is coming on July 28th. The plan is to spend as much time as possible with friends and family, have some fires and barbeques, do some research, and maybe venture on a road trip to the east coast.
The summer here is very nice. The weather’s great and there are all kinds of festivals and events, but they’re not near as much fun if you can’t share them with special people. And plus, my guess is the city will be too smelly to bear by then.
So, now the final push is on. Finish my intense philosphy class and menial graduate assistant work while enjoying some summer in the city, then pack my suitcase. Oh, who am I kidding, suitcases.
I look forward to seeing all of our NL people soon. And, if you’re not there, why not plan a trip home between July 21 and August 11 (hint, hint Nicole and VK)?
Behind the Scenes: Video Blog 1
Posted by Tom on June 16, 2009 at 12:58 pm
While it appeared that Candice had gotten dressed up just for the viewers, this is what she was actually wearing:
Classy.
Thanks for the comments about the video blog. We’ll be sure to make another soon.
Video blog number 1!
Posted by Tom on June 15, 2009 at 12:04 am
Make sure you have a cup of tea ready!
Toronto - The City of Festivals
Posted by Candice on June 14, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Every city has a catch phrase. Toronto should be “The City of Festivals.” There is a festival every weekend here. I think sometimes its a bit silly - everything ends up getting called a festival just so it is taken seriously. But, anyway Tom and I have had quite a busy weekend taking in some festivals.
Yesterday, while Tom worked, I went with one of my classmates to a “Brazilian Guitar Marathon.” It was a beautiful sunny day and we sat and watched several Brazilian guitarists and singers. Some of it was really cool. The first performer I saw was making percussion sounds with her mouth while humming a melody and playing the guitar. I’ve been trying to mimic it since then but while she sounded like a tropical party, I sound like a dying animal. Sadly though my Portuguese is quite rusty (or, well, completely non-existant), so after a while everything just sounded like it should be background music at a Mexican/South American restaurant. I left my friend (a native Protuguese speaker) and decided to explore the area a little bit.
The concert was set up outside in the Yorkville neighbourhood. This is a swanky neighbourhood with fancy restaurants, high end designer boutiques, swanky hotels, and so on. I had heard there was a Whole Foods in the area and decided to wander around until I found it. Which I did, eventually. It was nice to walk though all the streets though. However, I don’t understand all the people there around my age with babies in designer strollers and dogs and BMWs and Dolce and Gabanna bags. How do they manage that? Really. And Whole Foods? Is grocery shopping heaven. If you can’t do your shopping at markets and indie natural food stores, then it is the next best thing. I wish I was trendy enough to shop there.
However, Tom and I got our groceries in creepy-suburbia land (ie. our neighbourhood) this morning so that we could have the afternoon to head downtown. It was another beautiful day - about 28 degrees and sunny. We went to Bloor and Spadina to check out a street festival that was going on there. They had the road closed for an entire block and it felt very odd to be walking down the middle of the street in Toronto. Basically we just walked up and down the block to see the different vendors that had set up, to listen to some groovin’ South American music and watch two strangers salsa to it, and watch some people playing a giant chess game. Tom attempted some kids math puzzles. Luckily he got them right, or he would never have heard the end of it!
From there we headed on a human sardine tin streetcar to Kenzington market to see if there was anything interesting happening. Surprisingly it was quite calm and we did a few errands without stress. From there we headed down to the waterfront to check out (and scope out potential wedding food choices) at the “1000 Tastes” event - part of the Luminato Festival. Check out our forthcoming VIDEO BLOG for details about it!
The post about cats.
Posted by Candice on June 11, 2009 at 10:40 pm
People keep asking us why we don’t have pets. I tell them it’s because I’m afraid they will kill me in my sleep. Seriously. Today, my suspicions were confirmed. Check out this link if you have a cat, or wonder why I like them but don’t have one. That being said, Tom and I saw someone on the bus the other day gingerly handeling a big box. I jokingly said that there was a cat in box. Then it meowed.
Living in the New Place
Posted by Tom on June 4, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Here are some pictures of the new apartment:
You enter and walk down some stairs. We don’t have our own seperate entrance, but you enter the main door and then we have our own (lockable) door that you open and then head down these stairs. Its kind of like a very small lobby.
Turning left at the bottom of the stairs you see this: our laundry room, the hallway to the right goes to the bathroom and the bedroom, and to the left is the kitchen and living room.
Kitchen and living room.
Looking back towards where the previous picture was taken. We’re short on cupboard space, so that shelf holds most of the food. And because of the lack of counter space our old TV stand is now a microwave and appliance stand.
Looking into the kitchen.
And then turning and looking into the living room. The door at the far side is an insulated closet… just in case we wanted to store large amounts of wine or something. It currently holds luggage, weights, and old dishes.
The furniture was here when we moved in. The black couch is actually a futon, so that folds down into a double bed. The green couch is also a bed, as it pulls out into a small single bed.
The door at the back of this picture is another closet, under-the-stairs style. Harry Potter lives there.
The door in this picture doesn’t lead anywhere. It opens to the electrical panel.
Can has some plants on the windowsill.
Back to the stairs, turning left. Laundry room on the right, bedroom at the end, bathroom on the left.
Laundry room.
Bathroom. Bath/shower to the left.
And the bedroom. It’s not usually this messy.
There’s also a backyard “area” which doesn’t actually have any “yard”, mostly a large concrete slab. There’s a barbeque there though, which we hope to take advantage of at some point.
So there you have it. Our new place. Certainly an upgrade from the old place, and we really like it!
And breathe.
Posted by Tom on June 3, 2009 at 7:22 pm
So I admit I haven’t been good at keeping up with the blog for the past while. Almost all I could think about for a month or two was school, which lead to little-to-nothing blog-worthy. However, I’m done! The longest (and most tumultuous) school year I’ve ever faced is finished. At times it seemed like it would never end. Actually, since about January it felt like it would never end. But we made it through, and now it’s summer time! The days are getting warmer, the wind isn’t so chilly, York is empty and the UV index is steadily rising.
As a student, thoughts of summer all lead to one thing: a summer job. I’ve always been pretty nervous about finding summer jobs for some reason… maybe because I’m not very good at it. Last summer I lucked out and had a grant to work all summer, and I found out about that sometime in March. This year it was the end of May and I still didn’t know if I would be able to find anything. Everyone keeps talking about the “hard economic times” and “how difficult it is for students to get jobs these days”, so I was once again nervous about how the summer would pan out. Turns out I didn’t have much to worry about. I dropped off a resume at a Staples store nearby about two weeks ago, had an interview a couple of days later, and started work on Monday! There were a rediculous number of interviews and full background, credit and reference checks involved, but everything turned out okay.
I got hired as a “We’ll train you in everything so that you know how to do everything” kind of guy. I started out in the Copy Center on Monday morning, moved to the service desk later that day, and started some basic computers training last night. I’m enjoying learning everything, even though everyone there keeps saying I must be crazy to be able to absorb everything in such a short period. I guess I’m still partly in school mode where I’m expected to absorb ridiculous amounts of information in a very short time. I’m hoping that by learning everything I’ll be able to get a couple extra shifts that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise, and maybe I’ll pick up some extra skills while I’m at it.
I’m enjoying the position so far, particularly because it’s a type of atmosphere I haven’t experienced before. The people are really interesting - like something out of a sitcom: the angsty and sometimes angry computer techs, the difficult to understand chinese cashier, the happy go lucky pale, red haired cashier, the kind-of Italian looking manager, the really tall (seriously, taller than me) lanky and balding manager, and the girl who works at the copy center who talks about her kids a lot. Those are the main characters, but there are a bunch of other associates who could serve as supporting characters when you needed them.
Oh, and this position is only part time at the moment, so I’m keeping my position with the York Federation of Students. That an extra ten hours a week, so hopefully I can eek out around thirty hours or so a week in total, which feels awesome.
In other news, the apartment is coming along nicely. I took some pictures yesterday which I will likely post here tomorrow. I had to rescue some plants today that Candice bought recently - they were slowly dying but after some water they seem to be coming around. Our landlord recently bought us some planters in the back “yard” that we can use to plant whatever we want, so these will likely make their way there soon.
Alright, I’m going out to take some pictures before the sun goes down and I lose the light.
Weights + Mattress + Turbo = Magic Bag (I should get a math degree too!)
Posted by Candice on June 1, 2009 at 8:03 pm
I am so sore today! And, at least this time, it’s for a reason and not just because I’m old. Actually it’s for a variety of reasons.
1) My mattress has no support. I tried to think of a funny analogy, but I can’t. It’s that bad. The couch also has no support and neither do my aging sneakers.
2) I’ve been doing a new weightlifting program. It’s a four month program. The first month wasn’t too bad, but I didn’t see many results. In the second month you lift really heavy weights. I’ve been lifting really heavy weights. It’s not that bad, but combined with the mattress . . .
3) Yesterday did a full day workshop and completed the Turbo Kick instructor training course! Turbo Kick is the live version of Turbo Jam - which is perhaps the most fun type of exercise I’ve ever done that combines kickboxing and dance. Anyway, I’m now an instructor! Yesterday was really fun (with the exception of a particularly annoying woman who had a comment about everything, complained incessantly and then tried to take over teaching the course even though she’d never done any type of Turbo workout before). However, as part of my practical exam I ended up doing about a half an hour of punching and the repetitive strain combined with the weights and the mattress has forced me to be tied to a Magic Bag for most of the day!
I’m really happy about becoming a Turbo Kick instructor. Hopefully I’ll be able to teach some classes soon. I really like teaching fittness classes, and I really miss teaching dance, so hopefully this will help fill some of that void. However, does anyone know someone who is looking to hire a fitness instructor? Even for just one or two guest classes?
On a seperate note, I made some great crackers/flatbread today using my dehydrator. I used flax, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, tomato, onion, and garlic. I think they are going to be really good with salsa and cream cheese on them. I also tried to make my own banana chips, but got impatient so Tom and I ate some warm, leathery bananas before our supper! On reflection I’ve become quite granola-y since moving here. Not only have I made my own crackers, but in the past week alone I’ve made my own apple butter, sunflower seed butter (YUM!), “lara bars,” and sprouted my own sprouts.
And finally, I wanted to congratulated all my DSW friends for having such a great show this past weekend. I’ve only heard good things, and can’t wait to see the video (though I know it won’t be the same at all). It was really hard for me not to be there. A lot harder than I expected. I spent the better part of Saturday unable to figure out why I would keep breaking into tears, but realised yesterday, when I cried over everyone’s show pictures, that I had just been upset about not being there for the show. I miss everyone so much. It’s pretty lonely here and I can’t wait to get home as soon as possible.
Oh, and Tom started work at Staples today. He says it could be a sitcom. I love social situations like that. Hopefully he’ll enjoy working there. (Tehe! he also now has one of those red polo shirts and a name tag. I’ll have to get a picture of it to post).
A new apartment
Posted by Candice on May 27, 2009 at 8:00 pm
About a week and a half after moving day we are finally beginning to settle in to our new apartment. Not surprisingly living underground feels a lot different than living 14 floors up. There is not a lot of light, but at least there are no elevators. I still feel pretty weird about living in someone else’s space (ie. renting) and the temporary nature of our time here, but I guess it’s something I’ll have to get used to if I want to be a student.
On our second night here some ants attacked us. It was awful. We had to use yucky chemicals to get rid of them, which I’m pretty sure is one of the reasons I caught a rather unpleasent head cold. The place also has some seriously weird vibrations that we are going to have to get rid of. I bet the last people who lived here were really stressed. Perhaps because they had an awful matress, or maybe that’s just me!
We are currently searching for a pantry and some extra counter space (like a kitchen cart or something) but other than that the set up is pretty good. I love having a washer and drier and a bathroom that is slightly removed from the living room with a fan and a tub that drains. I think Tom likes being able to study in the bedroom, away from my noisy workouts. I still refuse to study there though and have taken over the kitchen as my “office.”
Our kitchen is also home to a full sized stove, which I have been enjoying. Last week I made Tom some oatmeal cookies which only took 20 minutes because I could bake them on FULL SIZED COOKIE SHEETS! (And on a side note I made myself some really great macaroons using poha - rice flakes).
Oh no! I was about to finish this post and go for a walk, but it just started to pour. Walking in the rain is probably not a good idea when you have a cold. I guess I’ll have to stay here and do some cleaning. Surprisingly, small counters = more effort to clean than large ones!