swizzerland

Haven't found enough time to properly write, but I'm in Zurich and it's beautiful. Spent a couple of days in St. Gallen as well, also beautiful. Land of cheese & chocolate, I've been eating well, walking lots, and now, working hard. More soon.

spring take two

Another snow fall, another big melt. But this time I think we're in the clear - temperatures for the week are calling for above 10C every day which means... actual SPRING. YES.

This long Easter weekend, some family came to see me! Mom arrived Friday and bro came for a bit on Saturday. Scrabble, wine, grilled-cheeses, and lots of yardwork. Old gardens remade, and other old gardens dismantled. A little effort to make the place look cared for. There's still a lot to do, but it's a good start. Also, Mom brought me a chocolate bunny and I've almost demolished the entire thing. Wheeeee!

We also did a little trip to Bobcaygeon. With Bigley's store being the big destination for many, we dropped in so mom could check it out. And we bought shoes. Boy, did I ever buy shoes:
Shiny!

In other news, Mo is really into the blanket mom crocheted me.
I guess she likes being able to hide but still see through the holes? She falls asleep like this, buried. It's adorable.

One more thing - work is sending me to San Francisco for a week! I leave Apr 25th and get to stay in a nice hotel and work on a cool project at Berkeley. Pinch me.

things we do

A small thermos of coffee, curious cat, sleeping dog, CBC classical, incense, warm sweater/socks, and a list of special and important things to do with my time between waking and starting work at 9am: music, reading, writing, exercise, planning. Things creative and enriching to feel purposeful and balanced and well. Alas, there's never enough time. Hoping the self-discipline to curb wanderings into time-wasters (day-dreaming, celebrity gossip websites, amazon book browsing, fetching snacks...) will develop as my frustration with lack of productivity grows.

Speaking of productivity, D took some pics at one of his job sites where they're building a post and beam "porch" (ah, rich folk) that I think is just so beautiful and incredible. He comes home completely exhausted from a day of carpentry but it must be so satisfying to have something like this be the fruit of your days' labours.
As a software developer, it's sometimes hard to appreciate the intangible outcome of my work. Tho the project I'm on should produce something totally cool and (hopefully) well-used, I find myself drawn more toward a life of things sensual: cooking, baking, gardening, sewing, herbalism, yoga, building things... and all there is to learn, experience, become skillful at within each.

representin'

sitting in rotman, the business building at u of t. d drops me off on campus around 7.45am on his way to work and my office doesn't open till a bit later so i've started coming here first. there is strong uni wifi and a comfy chair in the large foyer that smells like coffee. a large digital stock ticker zips numbers by to my right and the sound of high-heeled shoes echos. lots of suits, hair gel. biz people seem to be highly manicured folk. i'm the frump in jeans, black sneakers, and a cardigan sitting happily with a 3yr old laptop beside an old back-pack with a "rockets red glare" patch on the front.

tonight's our first show in a string of shows. should be fun. till then, time to work.

postpone

programming so much it tires me
tired so much it makes me stay
home with movies and tea
but muscles are aching to leave

a run, a walk, a bike ride
anything for a heart beat and sweat
soon, till then
the odd back porch visit

monday

thoughtlessly packed away the charger for my digital camera. will have to go digging in all the basement's boxes. small black cord... that should be easy to find. :|

this is the current view from my desk. :)

office space

before:


after:

caught up in

it is my last week at work, as in physically working at my desk, and i am glad. had a 1.5hr meeting with a coworker today about a new project - an online web service for captioning videos. it will be a lot of work and i will have to learn all sorts of new things about ajax, webkit, quicktime, flash, server platforms, etc. the man i'm programming for is very hard of hearing (two hearing aids and lip reading) so coming into the office once a week is more important now as phone calls won't do. i'm looking forward to the work. as well, i'll be continuing on with a project that makes signlanguage flash objects that mimic web pages so you can make say, ASL-only websites without having to resort to english. of course, a result of working with funded projects in a research-based environment is that there is a lot of theoretical stuff that may or may not work out as stated in the grant proposals... so fingers crossed and being creative. also, lots of reading - how are other people doing it? can we partner with them? are there other technologies we can use that no one's tried yet? etc.

d and i had a lazy easter weekend, including a fantastic dinner at our friends' house followed by lots of beer and euchre. we have been shaking our heads at the fact that he has found a carpentry job for may where he'll be working on a toronto project. so it's possible he'll have to be in the city during the week, shortly after i move up there. silly. but it's good pay and hopefully the work will move closer to the cottagey areas shortly after.

band practice tonight. off i go.

spring spaces

a warm and breezy day with a beam of sunlight on the forehead, small clicks of clothespins, bird song, swishing of grass and leaves. i yearn for such peacefulness spent in simple country. the smells and quiet sounds, the feeling of nature on my skin.... soon!!

here it is a gift to catch the modest scent of spring as it can dim in a city minute. earth and rain a reminder of... earth and rain. and family, childhood, essence of self. always with a smile.

--

my seeds arrived today but for now all i can really do is put a rubber band around them and pack the stash someplace safe. maybe i'll make a list of seeds to plant as soon as i land in at the new home, to satisfy the 'gotta do some gardening stuff' itch. and maybe d and i can design a light/seedling starter shelf thing to build this weekend when he comes to visit.

i took some photos of my office today, with the thought of posting before/after office space pics once the after part happens. won't miss the beige mess of cubicle walls and florescent lighting tho, to be honest, it doesn't completely phase me; the laughter of my coworkers and large neighbouring window are what make the place alive. i'll miss that but will gain a more comfortable office space of my own, fresh cut flowers, hardwood floors, singing aloud to music, and nearby canine friendship.

good timing

spent a long day staring. looking at the screen, looking out the window. just kept quiet like i was doing real things when really the time was doing me. but 8 hours later i was with my boys and great guitar tone. set my pedal knobs like angel wings: the far left just left of middle, the middle one straight centered, and the right knob just right of middle. got home and turned the lights on in only one room, one that leads to an early bed time. almost...

had gazales eats with shoe and he told me about a guy that does't use time; it's useless to him. no clocks, no display on his computer. if he needs to know the time he googles "time". that way things can get done in 3 hours or 30 minutes and neither one is no thang. you can operate how you feel you need to without the tick tock on yr back.

i remember spending more of my life outside than inside. that was a long time ago. when only the sun measured our days and even then it was just a signal to sleep and start again tomorrow.

office space

sitting on the 7th floor, looking out a huge window across the horizon. i see the ROM, a tall crane, students criss-crossing st. george, buildings and buildings, lots of snow, and sunshine.

it's late afternoon so i'm sipping the last of my coffee and listening to disc drive on cbc radio 2, squinting at some code i've finally hacked into agreeing with me. soon i will stumble out into the chill and make my way down bloor, heading west. anything i need from the beer store? noah's health food? shopper's? weiner's hardware? grocery store? i'll wonder while dodging around the slower patrons heading home too.