10 Things I Learned This Week

Sorry to have withheld your Sunday staple from you all yesterday, but there is no way to hammer out a post while driving from Ottawa to London. Well, there is, but there was no way that I was going to try to attempt it. Besides, it was the first week of the football season, so I'm sure you had much better things to do...

1. Cranbrook is now 85%
Sarah has a phone interview sometime in the next two days and the recruiter she has been dealing with is all about ensuring she's still interested, as if her desires had waned in the last three days or something. With that being said, our trip out to Cranbrook once we land on Wednesday - another 10 hour journey - could be about finding a place to live and where I can sling some suds as much as it will be about seeing the hospital.

2. Piling Up the Kilometers
For my American readers, kilometers are just like miles, only shorter and we've been racking them up with no end in sight as of right now. We figured this out yesterday during our drive home - from Friday to Friday we'll have put 1,700 on our car this weekend, flown from London to Vancouver and then driven another 2,000 or so to and from Cranbrook. I wish there was such a thing as Road Miles because we'd be collecting them like mad.

3. Pug-less
I never thought I would miss being wrestled from my sleep at 7:30 AM by barking or having half of my bed taken over by a possessive pooch, but since we dropped off Luke at Mable and Dennis' on Thursday, all I've done is miss the little yappy bastard. He's better off out in Damascus on the farm where he can roam around freely and hang out with the other dogs instead of shipping back and forth and staying solo here in his pen, but that means more than two weeks sans Cool Hand and while I enjoy not having my socks chewed to shreds, I still miss my little man.

4. Politicians Don't Like Me
Mostly because I tell them things they don't like to hear. The wedding we were at this weekend was of two politically involved individuals with lots of politician friends. We shared a couple drinks with two of them prior to heading to the reception. During their discussing of Barack Obama and John McCain, I sipped my Guinness and calmly stated that a lot of people don't really care about these two candidates policies and plans and would rather look to a rockstar candidate like Obama to get them to the polls. That effectively ended the conversation. Truth hurts I guess.

5. Speaking of Canadian Politics...
We're heading to the polls again in only 6 short weeks! So many things wrong with this that I don't want to spend too much time on it, but it's always great when everyone acknowledges that we're sure to have another Minority Government and we're given only 42 days to decide who the best people are to represent our country. This again is why Canadian Politics is a joke...

6. Weird Wedding
Everything about Saturday was a little weird. From the MC welcoming the Member of Parliament who was in attendance before acknowledging anyone else in the room to the family of the newly wedded couple joining forces as a jazz trio to entertain the masses, this wedding was left of centre in my books. Instead of wedding favours for all those who came to share in the day, the couple kindly donated to the Ottawa Humaine Society on our behalf. And apparently "buffett dinner" in Ottawa means "serve yourself but you only get one trip to the line before the staff remove all the food." No wedding cake either - just cupcakes. Strange...

7. Speaking of Weddings...
My brother very well could be getting married this coming November. In Vegas. By Elvis. Of course, plans and timelines with my brother change as often as the weather, so this could turn into a Spring Backyard Wedding in the next couple of days too.

8. What Are You Going To Do?
That was everyone's immediate question this weekend when we informed them that Cranbrook was most likely going to be out final destination. Uh, the same things I do here maybe? Wait - they do have restaurants in BC right? And people drink beer? It's not like I'm a Nuclear Physicist and need a high tech lab to operate in; I'm a freelance writer who does the restaurant thing on the side. I can literally work anywhere in the world without much worry. Apparently no one else understands that.

9. Try, Try Again
Since I won't be able to smoke in BC - not because I'm not allowed, but because it will be far too much of a hassle to enjoy a smoke - I'm hanging up the habit for the next two weeks plus and seeing where things go from there. I know I've done this before and whatever whatever, but hey, at least I'm trying again right?

10. Operation: 185 Update
The powers that be have put Operation: 185 on hold until further notice. They acknowledge that there is little time presently to put my body through the work required to drop the 17 extra pounds I am currently carrying and will make an announcement prior to the relaunch of the program.