Brrrrrrr...

The room I am currently living out of happens to be particularly cold in the winter. The cause: my room faces north, my walls are VERY thin and it is above the front hallway which is VERY poorly insulated as well. In fact, a scientific experiment performed last month found my room to be 15 degrees celcius over night while my floor measured in at a low of 11 degrees. And this test was performed BEFORE we hit our cold spell with highs of -25 overnight!

I have learned to adjust though! In addition to adding an extra blanket to my bed, I have started wearing to bed...

• Socks (which I NEVER do)
• Down-filled slippers
• Flannel bottomed pjs
• Long sleeved shirts
• and often times, a fleece hoodie

Oh yeah... and usually I wrap myself in my fleece blanket as a final method of trapping in the warmth.

The craziest part? I'm still not warm enough! For someone who normally falls asleep within 3 minutes of hitting the pillow and sleeping right through until my alarm wakes me in the morning, I've been waking up in the middle of the night still cold. Go figure?!

Ohhhh... the joys of living in a townhouse! I'm not complaining though... I still love my winters :)

Gay guy friend

I think I need a gay male friend in Waterloo. I would desperately love to take Salsa dance lessons that are offered at both UW and at the Flying Dog, but it appears that I have no one to do them with. I have tried recruiting some female friends, but it just isn't quite the same when Salsa dancing very much has "male" and "female" roles. As a result, it means someone has to play "male" or else we rotate amongst the crowd with the potential for meeting some extremely creepy men.

Maybe I could put an ad in the Imprint or the Penny saver? Think I'd find any takers? :)

I love my sunshine...

I can't believe how rapidly I am noticing the sun changes lately... Last Friday when I was driving home at 5:40pm, I noticed that the sky was actually glowing from a tiny portion of remaining daylight. This definitely caught my attention since I have come to expect the usual pitch black on my way home from work. Three days later, when I was driving home on Monday, I noticed that the glow was even brighter!

And it's not just changing on the afternoon/evening side of the clock... (yes... I know... what a novel concept!) This morning was the first that I noticed a change in my morning routine. Usually when I arrive at work around 8am, I enter the building (with most of the lights off) in nearly complete darkness. Today I couldn't help but notice my desk being illuminated by the sun making its way up and peeking through my window.

I'm so excited! While I love my winters with the cold and snow, I also love my sunshine and extra daylight. Woo hoo! Things are looking "brighter" from here on in... (well, at least until the cycle begins again).

Congratulations Andrew

Congrats to Andrew on the latest change and new direction in his life. I think this could be a very good thing... I say "screw McGill!" They don't know what they are missing out on...

What!? Winzip is charging now?

I can't believe it... I went to download Winzip last night cause my sister didn't have it on her computer, and when I went to download the program at www.winzip.com, I learned that you can now only get it as an "eval" copy that expires in a month...

Go figure!?... I thought that we would never have to pay for programs like that and all this wonderful software would stay free forever! Boo hisss!

Fatherly advice

I woke up this morning to the following email in my inbox that came from my father. I thought it was too cute not to share.

Hi Heather

I just came in from scraping the car (lots of ice) and I thought of a few things that you should keep in mind for winter driving:

1. Try to keep your gas tank filled especially in temperatures that are up and down like we have had the past day or so. The more air space that you have in a almost empty gas tank, the more chance for condensation to take place and that (the condensed water drops) can cause your gas line to freeze up. No gas to the motor - it will not start. This happened to me in Windsor once (long ago). If it happens, put a small bottle of gas line de-icer in the gas tank and let it sit for a while (hour or so). Actually some people add a small bottle of de-icer with each fill-up as a preventative measure in times of fluctuating temperatures.
2. Always make sure that your wiper blades are not frozen to the windshield. If they are frozen to the windshield and you turn the wipers on, it can damage the wiper motor and that can be expensive.
3. Same thing with power windows. If they will not go down because they are frozen, do not keep pushing the button, because that could damage the window motor and that is really expensive.
4. Power locks are great because if the key/lock mechanism freezes up so that you cannot get the key in you can always just use the remote. Sometimes I have to hit the remote unlock button a few times if it is really cold and the lock mechanism is stiff. Hope that this helps.

Love,Dad

Although I already knew about every single item he described, I think it's cute that he thinks he is offering some really important advice to his daughter with her first car. Thanks dad :)

The "list"

I have prepared the "final draft" of my New Year's resolutions. I realize I'm a few weeks overdue, but heck... I figure I've got a few more left to complete them.

1. Get more sleep (an extra 30-60 minutes per night)
2. Eat healthy and learn to cook better meals (ie. learn from Laura and Mike)
3. Try to develop a "6-pack" (like my big sis!)
4. Work more efficiently
5. Explore spirituality further

Pleasant Surprise

This past Friday night I was pleasantly awoken at 11pm to a knock on my bedroom door. Pleasantly, because after coming to and waking from my groggy state, I discoved Andrew standing in my doorway, roses in hand, on a surprise visit from Montreal. My sweetie had decided to come for the weekend in honour of our 4-year anniversary on Wednesday (January 12th). What a very nice surprise indeed. I can't believe it's been 4 years already…

On Sunday, we were both able to attend Andrea and Graham's wedding reception upon their return from taking their vows down in Antigua. The afternoon reception was really nice and flavoured with Andrea and Graham's own personal touches. We experienced their favourite Greek dishes from their favourite restaurant, Colussus. We also got to see a slide show of their beautiful pictures and received a special picture (hot off the press) and frame of us with the bride and groom. Congratulations to Andrea and Graham. I am so happy for the both of you!!! I wish you all the happiness (and more!) that marriage can bring…

Braless Again

Man... I did it again. You'd think I would learn my lesson... Thank goodness I happened to wear a clean sports bra this morning to the gym, so I at least had an alternative choice. It's amazing the "flattening" properties of a good sports bra. Oh well... at least it managed to do the trick for the day...

Christmas Reflections

This Christmas was one of many new traditions. Although change inevitably requires some adjustment, I'd say that all my new holiday experiences have been good. To start, this was my first Christmas in 5 years without the stress of finishing up exams or the worry of moving to a new city to prepare for another school or work term. VERY NICE! Although I still managed to leave my Christmas shopping to the last minute (I'll blame that on the stress of car shopping the month prior), I still found I was more relaxed and could better enjoy the holidays. I managed to spend every evening from the 20th to the 24th with friends from all facets of my life. It was great!

This year my family decided to do Christmas in Waterloo at Mark's new house since all 4 of the "kids" live in this city and my parents (being retired) have the freedom of a flexible schedule. And given the outcome of the weather, it was good that they were able to arrive a few days early. Our Christmas eve and morning routines were new and creative this year. After arriving at the St. Jerome's Christmas Eve church service at 4:30pm (scheduled to start at 5pm) to find standing room only (and even a spot to stand was hard to come across), some of us opted to go home and relax. Mom, dad, Rob, and Anita found some chairs, while Mark, Sandra, Mike, Laura and I went home and finished some last minute wrapping and relaxing. The rest of the evening was spent enjoying a yummy "pot-luck" dinner and watching Die Hard on Mark's new 55 inch television.

Christmas morning was also interesting as I was woken at 3:30am to Rob getting a bottle for Andrew, 6:00am to Sandra feeding Marly, and 7:30am to the commencement of breakfast preparations (the price I pay for not having a bed to sleep in and having to opt for the couch). Our morning activities were slow and enjoyable and somehow extended late in the afternoon. We finished it off with a swim in Mark's pool and then I headed off to London to spend some time with Andrew and his family. From London, I drove to Owen Sound for one evening to visit with some friends, and then back to Waterloo the next morning to work for a couple of days. I even managed to meet up with Ming, Nat and Kristy in Guelph for a delicious dinner and some intriguing conversation. From Waterloo it was back to London for New Years celebrations and then back to Waterloo to prepare for the upcoming week. Phew... what a schedule! But well worth it.

One thing I particularly realized this Christmas is how presents are meaning less and less to me each year. Although I very much appreciate all that I received, I recognize the fact that I actually felt guilty and overwhelmed by the amount of generosity. I think that the devastation of the Tsunami amplifies this reality. I also recognize that the news of one of my friends losing her mother to Leukemia over the holidays reinforces the fact that friends and family are what really matter the most. In honour of these two events I have decided to split my Christmas money towards two causes: the Tsunami relief fund and the Princess Margaret Hospital research fund. The gift of giving just feels good.

I hope all have had and enjoyed a safe and happy holiday too. Can't wait to hear about everyone elses stories...

Hello Nat and Kev :)

I have recently added Natalie and Kevin to my blogger "quick links". Welcome :)
Now I have more reason to stay on top of more of my friends "life happenings"....