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2 September 2005 | Link this

It's been a busy couple of weeks, what with a big project being released for the Friendly Financial Institution, my mom being moved to acute care for a week while they tried to stabilize her clotting time, my step Dad in town from Calgary, and a visit from my friends Stan and Chuey up from Seattle. That's Janet and Chuey up top, exchange long meaningful glances over the chicken teriyaki, and that's Stan down there. Minor coup catching Stan off guard for a picture. In the 18 or so years I've known him, I think I managed it once or twice before.

Mom is doing better, though hardly great. She's been more out of it these last few weeks, mostly, we though, because of an infection, but it looks like the dementia is progressing instead. She's taken to staring into space a lot, rather than trying to communicate. Perhaps she's just gotten frustrating with trying to make herself understood and has decided to let go and relax. It's hard on my sisters, my Dad and I, but at least she's comfortable and in no pain.

1 September 2005 | Link this

Wow, thank you Foreign Affairs of Canada. Just when I thought it was impossible to make a passport picture look any worse, you come along with this "new" printing technology that turns a not-too-awful picture into a photocopied and blotchy mess.

It may be much more secure, but now I REALLY don't look well enough to travel! By the way, that's a flawless scan of my passport. It actually looks that bad.

Of course, the fact that I look like a mugger doesn't help.

22 August 2005 | Link this

Now, it's either a sign that my memory is finally starting to slip and I'd better go back on my Ginko, or else my online shopping habit is becoming a problem

Today a CD arrived that I have no recollection of ordering. I recall ordering Esquivel's Cabaret Manana, but I didn't think I ordered the Best Of collection.

Oh well, now I have more than my share of 50s and 60s bachelor music - all I need is my cocktail shaker, a smoking jacket and a murphy bed that pops down at the flick of a toggle switch. "Baby, why don't we ditch these Daiquiris and slip into something more comfortable, like silk sheets." Oooo, baby, you really bloooow my mind!

21 August 2005 | Link this

Ok, I'm not going so far as to call this a "blog" - if it gets updated monthly that will be an amazing feat. I'm one of those idea people who's great at the start, but sometimes lacks a little in the follow through. Just ask my ex. Let's just call this my online notebook, or if you want to be snooty, my digital moleskine.

Anyway, what's new? Well, after keeping both feet firmly in town for over a year, Mr. Former Frequent Flyer is finally taking a vacation. But not one, mind you, two! D and I planned our usual trip to Las Vegas over Thanksgiving (that's Canadian thanksgiving), a trip we usually take annually but cancelled last year due to my mom's stroke. So we're booking tickets and getting prepared when suddenly, I stumble across a huge sale on the coastal repositioning cruises.

You see, during the winter, all the Alaska bound cruise ships head south and ply warmer waters. Twice a year, these ships move up and down the west coast and offer three and four day repositioning cruises.

It seems the season is pretty slow this year - they were selling off balcony cabins for CAD$161 per person. Never one to turn down a great deal, I'm now taking two vacations - a cruise with Jan in September, then Vegas in October with D. For the cruise, we leave Monday, are on the ship for three days, disembark in San Francisco, spend a day in Napa, then two more days in the City, before flying home Saturday afternoon.

 


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