A while ago I found Kyle Brandt’s blog. So for those of you not in the know, he was on Days as Philip, then he left and now they have this baby faced Philip who isn’t nearly as hot. Anyhow that’s not why I read his blog, I read it because the man is witty! With good grammar! And he knows good beer! There you have it folks all of the makings of a great website.
I digress.
His recent submission is an addition to his Hate List, which made me wonder if he’s been subjected to a bad date recently, since we all know he’s single.
So to Mr. Brandt I say, date a geek.
Whenever someone comments to me about the troubles they are having being single, as they longingly look at my diamond, or wonder aloud how I was married before them, I tell them: “date a geek.”
Really people, geeks are like an undiscovered gold mine. They try harder, they know when they have something good and they work hard to keep it.
Adam is, by far, the geekiest guy I’ve ever been with, and yet he was the best boyfriend ever, so much so I married him, and am carrying his child! I am fully convinced that I’m on to something here with my geek talk, I’ll expand…. Before Adam I had dated a plethora of guys. A smattering of types, if you will. And while the big burly football guy was all hunka hunka, the guy was an ass, and that really makes the appeal of the hunka hunka diminish. Then I met Adam, and realized that he embodied everything that I value in a significant other, and he’s cute, and I became a geek convert. So to all of my single friends and such I say date a geek, you won’t be sorry!
Archive for the ‘Adam and me’ Category
Date a Geek.
Tuesday, November 13th, 2007UGH
Wednesday, November 7th, 2007Today is an ugh kinda day. Adam and I had to get up at the horrible ungodly hour of 8am. Which I know will have some people rolling their eyes, I roll them too, when I read that. But I wake every hour to pee, and don’t go back to sleep quickly, so 8am is hell! Oi. How did I ever hold down a normal job?
I have no clue.
So anyhow today was an early day because we were interviewing a slew of midwives. Up until today we’d interviewed one, and she was nice, eccentric and I would have been fine with her, but I really want someone I just click with. Today I found that clicky person, and so did Adam, but it’s not the same person. However Adam’s person is my second choice.
Adam and I do agree though, that we do not want a midwife who will wave incense around me and chant hippy stuff. I’d be liable to drown her in the birthing tub, then labour around her floating corpse. (that’s a horrible image….) Okay I promise I won’t drown my midwife, but we don’t want any crystals being brought into the whole birth experience. I want someone like me, who’s a lot of no nonsense and will tell me, straight up, what I need to know. (I’m not saying that I’m no nonsense…. I’m sure I have lots of nonsense….) So it’s a hard choice. We’ll see what happens.
There was lots of talk of doulas, and we’re on the fence. Adam’s convinced that he can do it without one, but I worry that it will be a lot of work for him to support me all by himself. Having family step in isn’t an option at all for me since our family is in Canada and I wouldn’t feel comfortable with any family flitting around me during my birth (or really for the first week after she’s born). We might consider a student doula since we don’t need an advocate in a hospital since we’re not going to one, and if we do have to be transferred the midwife would step into the position as doula at the hospital. In any case it’s another decision.
I do wish this was all cut and dry. It’s unfortunate that pregnancy and birth is so medicalized now and that we don’t have access to more natural births in our lives. What I’m trying to say is that if both Adam and I had seen several births in our lives this would be a cut and dry decision for us, we would have a lot more of an idea of what we want. However we’re not privy to that in our culture and I’m going on my gut instincts that this is what I need and Adam has to rely on that too, even though his gut isn’t quite there yet. (although he’s making strides and is still the only person who’s allowed to have doubts)
In any case we’re going ahead with it. And in 12-17 weeks I should have a lovely birth story for you, ending with me birthing at home or being transferred to a hospital, but still happy that I tried it my way. I guess really all that matters is that I’m comfortable (with my birth choice), which is totally selfish, but I feel that my comfort level directly impacts my baby, and I truly believe that this is the best choice for her.
Golly I can’t wait to show everyone pictures of her.
I bet she’s going to be 6ish pounds and a cue ball! I can’t wait to see what colour her eyes will be (when the pigment comes in) or if she will have my nail beds or Adam’s.
We shall soon see.
3 Years ago.
Saturday, November 3rd, 20073 years ago today I went into the Second Cup in Westhills in Calgary and saw the boy. He was sitting at the low counter playing with is palm pilot phone, sipping some frou frou drink that he seemed uncomfortable with. I approached him and made some sarcastic comment about his watch having a calculator on it, and he rewarded me with a smile. We struck up a conversation, only to be interrupted by me getting myself a cup of the best tea* in the world. After we’d both finished our drinks after what seemed to be 2 minutes we decide to go and see a movie. After the movie we sat in my car and talked for another 4 hours, taking us into the wee hours of the night. Realizing that I had to work in a couple hours we said our good nights and went on our merry way.
He was a perfect gentleman. He didn’t try to kiss me, grope me or suggest anything inappropriate. Which was a treat in comparison to other dates I had been on recently, with the most recent leaving me literally laughing in some guy’s face as he forced a kiss on me, complete with excessive drool and floppy fish tongue. It was so ridiculous, that I was laughing into his mouth as I was trying to pull away from his Vulcan death grip of (his perceived) passion. I never saw Vulcan bad kisser boy again.
Our second date (with Adam) was 2 days later, we saw a movie and went for pho. He dropped me off at home, then in the shyest and cutest manner he leaned in and landed a perfect first kiss. Gentle and sweet, with no drool, tongue or bruising. A week and a half later I had to move 4 hours out of the city for work, and the first weekend I was gone he came to visit me. Then I realized that he was truly special. By Christmas 2004 I knew I was in love, but didn’t mention the L-word until Valentines Day. He reciprocated the L-word 3 months after that, although I did find out later that he fell in love with me about the same time I did with him. We were both just being overly cautious.
And now here we are, married nearly 2 years with a baby on the way.
It’s story book…. Just the way I’d always imagined it.
* I love their Christmas tea, but it looks like it’s been discontinued. This looks similar.
On Being Canadian while not in Canada
Thursday, October 25th, 2007Last night Adam and I had our weekly date night and we encountered a whole group of Canadians. They were identifiable by their ostentatious wearing of red clothing adorned with a Canadian flag and a big bag of poppies on the table that made me want to weep for joy.
As we were about to leave Adam approached them, explaining that we were Canadians also and we were invited to join them. As it turns out they are a group called the Digital Moose. They were mostly men, with a couple women in the mix also. And with the exception of me and one other woman they were all engineers, all having graduated from Canadian universities. (made obvious by their iron pinky rings)
Anyhow it was an interesting evening. Much talk about where we all came from and what we miss and the differences here. Eventually talk did turn to housing costs. Everyone that owned a house bought it before 1999, with the exception of us. Many eyes widened and mouths made Os when we mentioned that we just bought a house. Clearly they felt sorry for us, since they have all made loads of money off of their houses.
It was also interesting to realize that many of them have lived here, moved home and came back, because you just can’t make the same money anywhere else. One guy was a particularly downtrodden Canadian, singing all of the praises of the US and hating on Canada. I deemed that he should have been stripped of his poppy*. However as it turns out he moved home to Newfoundland and was screwed by the government and the economy in general, so I understand some of his bitterness a little.
All in all it was an interesting night. Some good hockey talk, football talk and reminiscing about home.
(*much like Jason of his man card when he got his pink girly drink)
This post coming to you from behind finger smudged glasses.
Sunday, August 26th, 2007Hello, I am in fact, not dead. Hurray.
I would like to say I’ve been busy, and I have been kinda. But the longer I waited to post, the more pressure there was, and then I knew I had to have the perfect post and ahhhhrg. Here it is, I’m sure it won’t be perfect. I’ve already dealt with it, now it’s your turn.
So my dad and Gay were here for 10 days. We went wine tasting, went to SF and did all of the touristy things and tooled around here commenting on the heat. Fun was had by all, most days. I’ve discovered my dad is a picky eater, and authentic cuisine isn’t to his taste. Which I’ve noticed in other people who are from a very Caucasian areas such as the Okanagan Valley. Chinese food there is greasy, and to my palate, nasty. Here it’s much more authentic and tastes different that Smith’s Chinese Restaurant, found down town Small Town British Columbia. My dad didn’t like it so much. Oh well, it was amusing for me to watch him eat a cheese burger at a Mexican place because he’s adamant that he doesn’t like roll-ups (burritos in Dad speak). All in all it was fun.
My little brother turned 28 2 weeks ago. Frightening.
The Murp is all Murpy. I don’t have much to report. I have been having interesting bouts of wicked motion sickness in the car. I’ve resorted to having a puke bag nearby at all times while in the car. This development is strange and it sucks! Let me tell you though, this baby had better be really cute!
Adam and I have been looking at some townhouses. They are painfully expensive, but so pretty. After dealing with the possessed shower (which oscillates between hot and cold all of the time) and all of the bloody ants, a new place is so welcoming. The draw back? Our favorite place, which is a 3 bedroom 1600 square foot place is nearly 800K! Sigh. I don’t think I can sell a kidney for that much, even if I gold plated it! Also in the past couple weeks the jumbo mortgages around here have tanked, which makes getting a mortgage hard. A lot of lenders are being extra cautious, so lending to non-permanent residents isn’t their top priorities. So it looks like we’re going to have to wait a little and see what the market does and how the rates react. Hopefully the market will drop a little, rates will stabilize and we can buy. Then the market will skyrocket and we will rejoice.
Bonsai turned 10 this month. In people years he’s like 50, him and my dad seem to have a lot in common. Okay I am totally kidding. Bonsai, has much more hair!
Chachi is the same, goofy as ever.
Hmm well there is the post that people have been begging for. I actually have another post planned all full of insight, but I’m tired and my head hurts.
cheers.
Happy Canada Day
Sunday, July 1st, 2007No really it’s still Canada Day. I haven’t gone to bed yet. (work with me here, ‘kay people?)
Anyhow blogger and me have broken up, Nicole and Paris style, and it appears that we have rekindled, perhaps we’ll be able to squeak out another bad television show. Or not.
Today Adam and I mourned not living in Canada and not being in Ottawa, we vowed that sometime on this day in the future we will be in Ottawa. It’s so strange to be somewhere that doesn’t even recognize the importance of today. Even when I was in Korea I was able to celebrate Canada Day. Oh and celebrate my friends and I did. We went to a party being hosted by the Canadian consulate. They shipped in Big Rock beer, Alberta beef and BC shrimp (I think there was some BC salmon too, but I was all about the beef). If I hadn’t been as hung over as I was then perhaps I would have been able to enjoy more good ol’ Canadian beer. In any case the party was fantastic, many drunken patriotic Canadians and just as many drunken American army boys, who were very polite and tolerated me drill them about Canada. (My favourite question was “What is the Canadian capitol?” They always got it wrong, but I was determined to educate them all, one drunken conversation at a time.) A good time was had by all, and I promise that I didn’t irritate too many of the boys with my questions, mostly they played along, laughed and answered my questions, asked me some of their own and stared at my boobs.
Back to today, no fireworks, no hearty “Happy Canada Day!”s and no Canada birthday cake. Sigh. It’s a little sad for me. It’s all good though, I did get a promise out of Adam that someday I will get to be in Ottawa for Canada Day.
Ohhh, I love you long time!
Sunday, June 24th, 2007Hey how was that for a hiatus?
It was a good one!
Adam and I went on vacation. We spent a week on a houseboat in the middle of the Shushawp lakes. It was rainy, and a little chilly; but a vacation nonetheless. We had great fun with our friends and there was some drama; but it was with some of the other people on the boat.
The drive up to BC from California was long and the drive home seemed longer. I borrowed a couple books on tape from the library thereby increasing my geek quotient ten fold at least. We listened to a Jean Auel book and on the way home the Da Vinci Code, which I was most disappointed with. I found the information it gave to be highly interesting, but the plot was dumb, the whole looking all over for the grail was lame. Why would the grandfather send his granddaughter all over? Why wouldn’t he just direct her to her grandmother in the first place? There was no need for the granddaughter to find the grail, as the grandmother explains the new keepers are already getting in place. Surly the grandfather would have known this since he was the leader of the bloody group. I think that if the author would have just tweaked the plot a little more, or had a little more back story as to why he wanted his granddaughter to have the grail it would have made more sense.
Sigh. Perhaps I am far to analytical. Also I’m sorry if I’ve ruined the plot for anyone. (The ending of the book ruined it for me, so I’m just sharin‘ the love.)
Anyhow now we’re home, and we’re getting ready for an onslaught of visitors starting in August. Adam and I need to sort out the spare room and buy some furniture. We’re going to get a new couch and a dresser for the spare room. I think we’re going to get an old one from some second hand store and refinish it. I loathe having a house that reeks too much of Ikea that I need some more original pieces. As it is already our bedroom dressers are all Ikea, the shelves in the house are all Ikea and the couch will be Ikea. I need some me!
Well that should sum it all up.
ciao!
T minus 12 minutes.
Tuesday, June 5th, 2007So technically I should be on my treadmill sweating away getting all warmed up for my trainer. I should. However my blog calls to me.
I have all of these posts planned to write, one about fraud, one about credit counselling, one about Kyle Brandt and also the usual drivel. But I only have 10 minutes, so I will talk about my house.
My house is a disaster. How can 2 adults and 22 pounds of pet make so much of a mess? Why do I hate cleaning so much? I am a wife, shouldn’t I love it? Did I forget to take the housecleaning pill? Damn I knew I was forgetting something the day I said “I take you Adam…”.
We’re getting ready to go on vacation to BC. We leave Thursday after Adam gets off work and we’re going to drive until we’re bleary eyed, then we will sleep and drive until we get there on Friday. I’m not looking forward to the driving. Although I am a Berkan in name now, I have not yet assimilated the love of the open road. The Harker in me pukes and gets grumpy. It’s going to be a fun ride!
So today I must pack! I am packing for the dog, who requires a crazy amount of stuff. I also am packing various gifts for various children I need to see while I’m there. Also I need to pack clothes for me and Mr. Berkan. If left to his own resources he would be really stinky after 2 days on the boat. I don’t like sleeping with the stinky man, I like the Kenneth Cole* version of that man. I’m also a cleaning maniac today. I want to take everything off of our counters and give them an extra good scrub to ensure no little ants come and infest our house. They’ve been the bain of my existence for the past while and I don’t want to come home to find them everywhere. I am hesitant to get ant bait because of the small beastie we have who eats everything. I think one very expensive vet bill a year is good, and we’re one past our limit already this year.
So that’s me lately.
Oh yes I must remember to pack vats of sunscreen. I’ve declared that I won’t get burnt on this trip, but now I’m worried. Adam and I went to a festival on Sunday and I was in the sun for 3 hours and managed to get burnt, and I was wearing properly applied 70 SFP. So I guess I should reapply every 2 hours. I wonder what the long term affects of sunscreen is?
Well I have one minute.
* it’s his cologne
Adam’s a mini-geezer!
Monday, May 28th, 2007Today Adam turned 29. We celebrated with a early morning trip to the fertility clinic, lunch at our favourtie Korean restaurant, and a cake from Cold Stone. Here’s photographic evidence!
Soap Optional
Sunday, April 29th, 2007We have the old school kind of dishwasher that rolls up to the sink and you hook it up to the faucet. But we actully have an extra hose connected to the water connection under the sink so our faucet doesn’t get used, making it a little less old school. When Adam went to hook it up today he deduced that the nozzle on the hose needed to be fixed. So he scattered his tools all over the office and fixed the nozzle. Then we had the conversation. (Keep in mind the nozzle has nothing to do with the detergent.)
Dea: Did you put soap in the dishwasher?
Adam: But I fixed the nozzle.
Dea: Yes, but did you put the soap in?
Adam: The nozzle’s fixed.
Dea: But no soap to clean the dishes?
Adam: I fixed the nozzle.
Dea: Clearly soap isn’t needed then.