I used to think work was pretty decent. It had it's bad days, the coffee tastes like burning, the view outside consists of a lone tree and a slatted wall, and the usual day to day office shenanigans. Today, well today opened a whole other door of "having a bad day". I can usually deal with what work throws at me, but I draw the line when I'm asked to pee in a cup at the office. Yup, that's right. They're in the process of extending our health care plan, but when they want to weigh me, measure me, take my blood pressure three times and want a urine sample, that's pretty much the line that I'm not going to cross in my work environment. I asked if I can go to my doctor to have it done, but nope. She needs to do it. Well, can she at least answer one question: Is the information kept confidential? She was unable to answer that, but gave me the form that I would have to sign after going through said tests. It states: the US and Canadian Government have access to all of my information at any time, once I "sign below".
No thanks.
So, those of you who are sitting at their desk reading this, thinking how crappy the coffee at your office is, or how annoying Joe from accounting is, just be grateful that they haven't asked for your pee.
I spent last weekend in Seattle, our neighbor to the south. We loaded our bikes in the truck, and managed to evade rain the whole weekend. Biking around Seattle is amazing, but it does make one appreciate the condition of our roads up here in Van. I felt like I was on a slalom course on some streets, constantly weaving in and out of gargantuan potholes. The weekend was relaxing, pretty non-eventful. Batting cages, a couple of great restaurants, and a day at the street fair, which was overrun by Seattle hippies.
Our beloved Canucks have secured a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals. The streets of Vancouver went up in a roar with our victory last night, and everyone was all smiles on my way home. The horn honking and yelling didn't subside until the wee hours of the morning, and the stillness of this morning makes me believe that half the city is hungover. Yours truly, however, resisted all temptation and sent myself to bed after the game. I have a bout with my personal trainer today at 5, and I don't think I would be able to fight through that if I was feeling like many others in the city are no doubt feeling today.
That's it for now,
N
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Play Ball ! (and hockey)
These past three weeks have definitely been interesting ones. Softball season has officially started, I joined a pottery class, my bf's rugby team won the provincial championship, I finally got a night out with a friend whom I see very rarely, I took my new bike for a nice long ride, and I tried to get people to sign up to donate their organs.
When I think of softball, I think of sunny Saturdays hanging around Stanley Park's Brockton Oval, bbq's sizzling, boomboxes playing their tunes, and sipping a freshly cracked cold beer on a warm day. This season, though, has been quite the opposite. Sloppy fields, grey skies, rain outs and miserable people. Some were upset about the weather, and others were grumpy due to the fact that they were missing one of the Canucks games that our scheduled games collided with. We've had one really nice evening game since the start of the season (which happened to fall on one of the said Canuck's games). Our team won the game, and after hearing the entire city rise in a dull roar, we realized the Canucks had won theirs, too. It was bittersweet, being all the way out in the park. Many of us yearned to be in one of those noisy bars, beer in hand, doling out high-fives to our new found best friends. On another hand, hearing the city from afar was pretty exciting too. It's amazing how a few boys with sticks and a puck can bring an entire city together. Just ask any resident here, and they'll tell you that "this is the year".
For the next 8 Monday's, you'll find me sitting at a pottery wheel for my new found hobby. I've decided to try out other forms of art, and this is my first stop. After a quick catch up lesson, I was ready to try my hand at it. It's pretty fun stuff to work with, bringing back those carefree days of playing around in the mud as a kid. It's pretty soothing too. There's something hypnotizing about the spinning of the wheel, and the blob that sits perfectly in the center of it. After two hours of playing around, followed by 45 minutes of arduous clean up (that clay gets EVERYWHERE), I victoriously emerged with two bowls and a large mug. Not too bad for a first time potter or potterer or whatever it is that I think I am now. Tonight will allow me another opportunity to expand my knowledge of clay, and I'm pretty excited about that.
This pretty much brings me to yesterday, where my sis and I volunteered at the BC Transplant booth at the EPIC! sustainability conference. Wearing a bright red shirt with several assorted cartoon organs across the front is a pretty good conversation starter, that's for sure. We had the usual people who were eager to sign up, we had the hesitant people, and we had the down right refusals. It surprises me that they just walk off saying they "don't want their heart in someone else" ect. I find it interesting that its the young kids that say things like "well, I'll be dead, I won't need them anymore", and it's the parents who hesitate.
Following our stint at the organ booth, we headed out to further deteriorate our own livers and to watch hockey at a friend's fundraiser event. They raised lots of money, the Canucks won, and I left there with an awesome gift for my cousin - a Anaheim Ducks jersey, signed by the team. He's a die-hard Ducks fan (I know, I can't believe we're related either), so I know as soon as he sees it he's going to probably faint. I can't wait!
That's all the catch-up for today - time for me to take a break from all this hard work at the office.
-N
When I think of softball, I think of sunny Saturdays hanging around Stanley Park's Brockton Oval, bbq's sizzling, boomboxes playing their tunes, and sipping a freshly cracked cold beer on a warm day. This season, though, has been quite the opposite. Sloppy fields, grey skies, rain outs and miserable people. Some were upset about the weather, and others were grumpy due to the fact that they were missing one of the Canucks games that our scheduled games collided with. We've had one really nice evening game since the start of the season (which happened to fall on one of the said Canuck's games). Our team won the game, and after hearing the entire city rise in a dull roar, we realized the Canucks had won theirs, too. It was bittersweet, being all the way out in the park. Many of us yearned to be in one of those noisy bars, beer in hand, doling out high-fives to our new found best friends. On another hand, hearing the city from afar was pretty exciting too. It's amazing how a few boys with sticks and a puck can bring an entire city together. Just ask any resident here, and they'll tell you that "this is the year".
For the next 8 Monday's, you'll find me sitting at a pottery wheel for my new found hobby. I've decided to try out other forms of art, and this is my first stop. After a quick catch up lesson, I was ready to try my hand at it. It's pretty fun stuff to work with, bringing back those carefree days of playing around in the mud as a kid. It's pretty soothing too. There's something hypnotizing about the spinning of the wheel, and the blob that sits perfectly in the center of it. After two hours of playing around, followed by 45 minutes of arduous clean up (that clay gets EVERYWHERE), I victoriously emerged with two bowls and a large mug. Not too bad for a first time potter or potterer or whatever it is that I think I am now. Tonight will allow me another opportunity to expand my knowledge of clay, and I'm pretty excited about that.
This pretty much brings me to yesterday, where my sis and I volunteered at the BC Transplant booth at the EPIC! sustainability conference. Wearing a bright red shirt with several assorted cartoon organs across the front is a pretty good conversation starter, that's for sure. We had the usual people who were eager to sign up, we had the hesitant people, and we had the down right refusals. It surprises me that they just walk off saying they "don't want their heart in someone else" ect. I find it interesting that its the young kids that say things like "well, I'll be dead, I won't need them anymore", and it's the parents who hesitate.
Following our stint at the organ booth, we headed out to further deteriorate our own livers and to watch hockey at a friend's fundraiser event. They raised lots of money, the Canucks won, and I left there with an awesome gift for my cousin - a Anaheim Ducks jersey, signed by the team. He's a die-hard Ducks fan (I know, I can't believe we're related either), so I know as soon as he sees it he's going to probably faint. I can't wait!
That's all the catch-up for today - time for me to take a break from all this hard work at the office.
-N
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