zoom zoom

We are now the proud owners of a new car! It is very exciting. It drives FAST. Ok, well we didn't drive it that fast from the dealership home, but damn it is fun to drive. The shifting is like, well, it's almost as smooth as our old car, which had so much wear and tear that you practically didn't need to use the clutch to shift at all. This car is a dream to drive.

zoom zoom. Only it's not a mazda. It's a passat. wagon. shadow blue.

going once, going twice, sold!

Negotiating is a funny business. Last night we went to make/accept an offer for our NEW car. My dad came along for several reasons. Ian and I sort of sat back and let him negotiate with the slick car dealer guy. And you could tell this man was intimidated by my father. He's not a big guy but he looks tough. Watching him sit there, staring this guy down, it was hard not to laugh. Because we know the real story. But looking from an outsider's perspective, it is easy to see how scary dad can be. Seriously. I almost thought that the car dealer was going to crack and give us the car for less than at-cost. He literally looked like he thought my dad would physically hurt him if he didn't give us a good deal.

Rosa Parks died. I hope there is a big memorial service with plenty of tears and laughter and remembering.

I now have a stack of new yorkers waiting for me to read at home. 6 or so of them. The dilemma now becomes do I read them in order (can be useful as some things carry over week to week, or reference previous articles). Or, do I read them in reverse chronological order, so I can catch up with the "new" news first and then peruse at my leisure the issues that may not be that "up-to-date" but interesting nonetheless? decisions decisions.

old man, look at my life

There are many things that you come to accept in life. I have come to accept Ian's love for music that I just cannot appreciate. Take, for example, RUSH. Yes, they are Canadian. But that's really about as much credit as I'll give them. Love Led Zep, can't stand RUSH. That is just the way it is. Ian, on the other hand, would listen to RUSH 24/7 if he had the chance.

Luckily, we play on an ultimate team called 80s allstars, which allows him to create whole CDs full of really bad hair metal bands every year. So, he has his outlet. In any event, I came across an interesting article talking about another musician Ian likes and I do not have any strong feelings about, Neil Young. This Slate article paints a portrait of him.

We don't listen to enough music in our house. Especially not classical. I used to listen to it all the time when I was studying (a habit I picked up from a good friend who is now a lecturer at Oxford-I guess he must have known what he was doing). I guess maybe now that I am no longer studying, I have weaned myself of the habit. Out of school & not listening to classical...getting dumber by the second.

moon roof

I have a penchant for starting my blogs with "so" but I am trying to break myself of the habit. I bought three books yesterday (bad fishy) but I feel as though I deserve them since I have been slogging through a very descriptive look at the Bush Administration's path to Iraq by Bob Woodward called Plan of Attack. Here's a quick summary by Slate, so you don't have to read it.

In any event, one of the books I bought was by the author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which I really enjoyed. Anyway, I thought it was a "new" book, but I should have paid closer attention, as it was pubbed in 1988. In any event, it is very Catcher-in-the-Rye, and I am quite enjoying it, even if the damn bookstore deceived me by putting it in the "new" section. Bastards.

I also purchased a book by the author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers, which I have blogged about before. We shall see how this one measures up. For one thing, it is much shorter.

And the third book I bought is by an NPR guy, who tried to read the encyclopedia from start to finish. I have no idea how it turns out, but hey, it's about words, and so I thought it'd be interesting. Plus, I think Ian will like it too, so that's how I justified purchasing three books instead of the more reasonable two or one.

How's a girl to build a library w/o buying hordes of books?

My old friend, aka Evil Twin, got married recently. I have not had the pleasure to meet his lovely wife yet, but he sent pics of their wedding and everything looked lovely. We grew up in the same "suburb" and spent many days and evenings together over the years, be it at school or swim team or playing football in the park. Ah, memories.

Congrats, KF. So happy for you!

whether weather

Slate has this column called "explainer" that I always find fascinating, similar to my interest in watching MythBusters on Discovery. In any event, today they have an article about how to become a weatherman. Or weatherperson.

I wonder if this field (if one can call it a field, as apparently you do not need any qualifications to read the news on-air) is going to grow and expand as the weather augments its assault on the world?

PS: I am hoping Alias does not suck tonight, or I might have to give up on it all together.

dim sum

We had dim sum on the weekend. Chinese food in the morning is not really something that seems to be easily accepted by Westerners, as witnessed by the number of asian versus non-asian people at the restaurant. But it is obviously very popular in Montreal. We got there at 10 am, and by the time we left, there was a massive crowd outside. And it was a huge place.

Anyway, so I wanted to know a little more about this tradition of having dim sum. Is it similar to the Western concept of "brunch"? Is "brunch" only North American? I don't remember ever having "brunch" while I was in Europe. They definitely do not seem to prize breakfast as a major meal like we do over here.

Anyway, I found these links:

dimsum.com

dim sum literary journal

dim sum a la wikipedia

bring back the frenchman

We don't watch a lot of television in our household. Well, we watch our share, but we are generally too busy with ultimate in the summer, and too busy with work and catching up on all our book and magazine reading in the winter. But, over the past few years, we were faithful fans of Alias. Why? Because the show is unpredictable. Unbelievable too, much of the time, but with a little suspension of disbelief, it is easy to enjoy it. And you have to pay attention. And know what went on 5 episodes earlier. And two years prior. So, this year, they decide to kill off Michael Vartan's character in the first episode. So now the plot is all about how new characters are getting integrated, and it sucks. I mean, the show tonight was actually boring. I didn't want to keep watching it. This depresses me because, well, there is so little good TV out there.

louis louis

So I finished Roddy Doyle's latest book two nights ago. I don't know why it took so long. I feel like I've been reading it for months. I think it is because it's in that non-portable not a paperback size (but it's a paperback) and not hardcover size. In any event, I get a strong sense of Joyce when I read his books. Something similar in the way he doesn't really write in straightforward sentences sometimes. It's a challenge to read if you are not completely focused, because you can miss things. Ah, like that scene in Ulysses. You know the one. Where he's watching the girl on the strand and masturbating. Only you don't really realise that's what Joyce is writing about the first time. Or until someone points it out to you.

In any event, it was good. I enjoyed the read. Other books I have enjoyed recently include: Alphabet, Blindness, Blink, The new jasper fforde (The Big OverEasy)*...hm. I know there are others. I managed to keep up the book a day pace while on vacation for a week in September. Haven't been able to do that in a long while.

Speaking of books, next on the list is a re-read of the Chronicles of Narnia. There's always the debate of whether to read them in the order they were published, or in chronological order. Ah well, as long as I get them done before the movie comes out in December.

*while The Big Over Easy was ok, it pales in comparison to the Thursday Next series.

new york, how i miss you

this is a cool site. I wish montreal were this cool.

this is pretty cool too. More funny than cool, maybe.

at long last

How long has it been? Too long. Long enough, apparently, that I had to create a new blog because my old one was taken down. Or, I just can't remember the password/site name. Yeah, that's probably it. In any event, it took me 4 months to update the Storm site. So one could say that while I may have "intended" to blog, or at the least update the team site, somehow I just can't seem to keep up with everyday things, nevermind finding time to write about how I don't have time to keep up with everyday things.

So, where do I start? Well, we're going to get a new car. At least, I hope we will. Ours has definitely given us all it's got and then some. And while she's still kicking around, one could say she is on her last legs, or tires, or whatever the appropriate car-cliche would be. In any event, we're thinking of a wagon of some sort. I never really thought of myself as a "wagon" person. But having a dog changes you. I know, deep.

In other news, I've lost track of what's going on in the world since I no longer read the new yorker on a weekly basis. I wish I did. Maybe I will ask for a subscription for Christmas. The problem is that since I don't take the metro/subway as often as I did when I lived in the big apple, I have to slot in reading the new yorker during other prime reading times (ie: before bed) so then books get put on hold and that is never a happy occasion. If only I didn't feel pressure to read. Not a bad kind of pressure, just the kind that makes you feel uncomfortable as though you have not satisfied a craving, or an itch.

Also, is it something in the water, or is there some sort of subliminal message being sent out that NOW is the time to be pregnant? Seems like all our friends either have kids, want to have kids, are trying to have kids, or are pregnant. Now, this is not a bad thing. Especially when I have the best name reserved if we one day have a boy. But even the few blogs I read, when I have time to read them, seem to be focused on getting/being pregnant.

Right then.

Back to the grind.