Sea World

Bless his heart, at least the travel I do for work presents an opportunity for learning.

I was parked in the hallway outside our bathroom, taking advantage of the bathtime playtime to upgrade a computer program for work and listening to Kai play with his new Target brand Toob-style tube of wee sea creature toys, when I heard the following:

"So, here are the fish. These fish and these crabs live at Christmas Island..."

So now we're discussing who lives at Christmas Island. And the difference between scorpions and crustaceans. And that lobsters live in cooler waters than crabs. And did I see any seahorses when I was at Christmas Island? And what about eels? Or hammerhead sharks? Or stingrays?

Oh, and he thinks that we should all go there for a family vacation to go scuba diving.

Good idea, bub. We'll look into it. In the meantime, maybe I'll get you a goldfish for your birthday.

If I were in a band

... it would apparently be a bluegrass band from somewhere in the deep south. I would likely be the person playing the jug (you know, the person who blows across the mouth of a jug and makes deep hooty noises?) and perhaps adds some other percussion sounds here or there. I've never claimed to be very musical, despite eight+ years of parental investment into piano lessons.

Anyhow, this fun little meme that I found over at Halushki (quite likely one of the funniest blogs out there) is how I spent my lunch hour while working on a day that everyone else seems to be not working. It's technically a holiday, but I'm expecting a guest next week from Ontario, and I thought I'd pay it forward, if you will, with my work attendance.

I'm so happy I have a flexible-hours job.

So the meme basically goes like this:

1. Click on this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. Click on this link: http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3

The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. Finally, click on this link: http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/

The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

You then take the pic and add your band name and the album title to it, then post your pic.

Okay, I admit it. I cheated a little with the picture, because the first one I had just didn't cut it, but the band name and album title are both legit.

Incidentally, our imaginary band would later release a second album titled "Walk in the Sun", which would prove to be significantly less popular than the first, and thus the band would quickly dissolve and we would all go back to our day jobs.

Speaking of which, I need to get back to work. Be sure to leave a comment if you give it a try.

Whereas my life slowly dissolves into...

the monotony of working as much as possible.

It seems to happen each year. Not that I'm an expert on this whole "working" thing: I managed to avoid properly entering the workforce for a good 5 years by returning to grad school and slogging my way through another degree. But, for the third straight year since the ol' defence thingy, I find myself on the cusp of yet another field study. Don't get me wrong - I love what I do, but wow... I can always tell things are gearing up for a long couple of months when I wake up at 5:30 AM and all I can do is lie in bed and think about all the things I need to do until I finally relent at 6:15 AM, get up and return to my computer.

Which is perhaps why I laced tonight's evening work session with a glass of wine.

It just makes the whole working late thing that much more civilized.

I am still "getting out" mind you - I went swimming earlier this evening for the first time in... what year is it? Not important. What is important is that I swam, I soaked in the hot tub, I lounged in the steam room, I went outside and my hair promptly froze...

Have I mentioned it is absurdly cold outside?

Probably not important.

So you've probably noticed by now that I really have nothing to say...

...

...

{birds chirping}

...


So I'll just post a couple pictures of my dog and call it even.

Sleep well, all.

The first conversation of my day

Becky: (groggy, just waking up) Good morning, Kai.

Kai: (not as groggy, climbing across the bed, apparently on a mission) Good morning, mama. I have a question.

B: What is it, Bub?

K: When people go up mountains, how do they get down?

B: Well, when they walk up a mountain they generally walk back down. Sometimes it is almost as hard to walk down as it is to walk up.

K: I think it would be funner (sic) if, instead of walking, they could just slide down.

...

Ain't that the truth.

Of course, I would add that rather than walking up the mountain, it would be even more funner if they could ride up on a chair lift. But that's just me.

Kai's Perfect Saturday

Having a friend over.

Painting some rocks.

Baking some cookies.

Taking Puddles for a ride in anything that he can pull or drag around.

It was an absolutely lovely day today. It wasn't particularly warm, but it was warm enough for me to be inspired to take down the outdoor Christmas lights and to attach our new (to us) trailer bike to my bike to take Kai for a little ride. (I suppose it is the opposite of the bike trailer, shown above.) We've had the trailer bike for a few weeks, but it has been too snowy and icy to bother giving it a try.

Unfortunately, it wasn't until we were all helmetted-up and hopping up on our respective seats that I realized my bike has a seriously flat tire. Very tragic.

Pleasantly unphased, Kai jumped back on his own new bike and we went for a walk/ride around the neighbourhood. All in all, a good Saturday.

What on earth have we done?

It was necessary to treat a skin rash he has had for a while. But really: Oh.My.Goodness.

There can be no doubt

Watch and listen to this. I am sure that you will be convinced that Radiohead is one of the best bands on the planet. I watched the video this morning and it is good stuff. The songs are from their new album (or alblum - for Tyler) In Rainbows. The album was originally released on the band's website for a pay what you want fee. It was released in North American stores on January 1. Check it.

I hope they tour North America.

Listy bliss

Oh my, I do love me a good relaxing Saturday, and today was just that. Lots of little things checked off the list:

• mail that stuff to mom and dad
• remove the very unnecessary and actually bulky pockets from my new fleece skiing pants
• do a couple loads of laundry
• vacuum the upstairs
  
• bake a couple loaves of pumpkin bread
  
• finally unpack all those wonderful pieces of China from my mom-in-law
• take the wreath off the front door
  

Do you keep a list of things-to-do? I admit, I regularly toy with list-making. I come by list-making honestly: my dad is an avid list maker. Often the list is a mental list, but I have been learning the virtues of the tangible list. Not only am I less likely to forget some fleeting idea, but I can take tremendous pride in crossing the items off one by one.

Of course, being a self-proclaimed anti-perfectionist, I am perfectly content to not cross off every thing that goes on the list. For example, "take Jake to the dog park" is not going to get crossed off today. I has been about 15°C all day, with strong chinook-like winds all morning long, and what snow there was a few days ago at the aforementioned park is inevitably all mud gook. Mud gook caked dog is something we can live without today. Sorry buddy.

But overall, crossing items off a list one by one is a fine way to spend a lazy Saturday.

... and as I type, chaos and tempers are erupting downstairs. (Last night Kai went to a friend's house for a sleepover, so he's a teensy weensy bit tired today.) Bliss bliss... where is the bliss?

Oh, here's some bliss. These photos are from earlier today, when the sun was actually still mostly visible through the foggy sublimating-ice and -snow haze:

Look! I can help things grow!
The first photo is the jade plant that I purchased not long after we moved to Colorado. (I had to leave all my plants in Canada when we moved - something about not bringing soil across the border.) I think the jade is the only houseplant we have that I bought from a store - most of my plants are either from garage sales, gifts (i.e.: my holy-cow-it-has-tripled-in-size! aloe) or inherited. My friend Meg gave me the African violet before she moved to New Hampshire last summer. I replanted it in a larger pot and watered it diligently for a few months (when I was here, at least) with nary a bud in sight. When we returned from Canada at the end of November, out of the blue there were two open blooms and a host of buds ready to burst!

And finally - what could be more exciting than having a window open and a breeze blowing through the house to encourage the freshly-hung January laundry to dry? I'm so easy to please, eh?

Happy New Year!

I hope your New Year's was wonderful. Mine was lovely, thank you very much. Our family celebrated with some of the folks from our church at our pastor's house. Does that sound lame? Let me tell you, it was not. We are a very cool bunch. And the terribly exciting Cranium match proved it.

I've never been one for those big huge ring-in-the-New-Year in a skimpy sparkly thing holding a glass of bubbly amid a host of people singing and dancing and looking all svelte. Sure, that sounds like fun, but I've just never been invited. Anyhow, I like my evenings low key. "4... 3... 2... 1... Happy New Year, everyone! OK thanks for the fun, see you next week." Suits me just fine.

To celebrate the new year, I'm going to do what I've seen some other excellent bloggers do (original I am not) and remember the past year with Becky's 2007 first sentence of the month.

It's fun, I promise. It's also a sneaky way to entice you into my archives.

• January, from Soapbox Revisited: I know I don't live in Ontario, but an innate need to know what's happening at home combined with the pathetic lack of reporting in the US on the World Junior Hockey Championships prompted me to check out the online version of The Toronto Star yesterday.

• February, from The truth north strong and free... and warmer: Get ready, kids!

• March, from Back from the mountains: We just spent Friday afternoon and Saturday at a friend's parents' condo in Silverthorne - four families: 7 adults and 11 kids.

• April, from Anatomie of a bike ride: I developed this idea for a post (or at least for a collection of photos) a week ago today.

• May, from Four: Four is carrying your own pack.

• June, from An ideal Sunday: This afternoon an ideal Sunday afternoon.

• July, from Happy Birthday, Canada!: I'm exhausted, but before I head off to bed, I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Canada Day!

• August, from Not quite there, and back again: Greetings from San Jose...

• September, from Umm... yeah.: Right.

• October, from Yellowstone Revisited: I know.

• November, from Puttering around: A very wise man once recommended that puttering is good for the soul.

• December, from Bears, Wheels and Secrets with Santa: Kai is starting to read!

So overall, what I've learned from this little exercise: I'm obsessed with Canada, the environment, ellipses and exclamation points. Sometimes I'm wordy, and sometimes (I.e.: September, in which I only posted ONCE) I'm not. And perhaps it's rather surprising that so many of you actually bother to visit. At least my kid is cute, right?

Happy New Year, everyone! OK, thanks for the fun. See you next week.