Archive for the ‘California’ Category

Negative Tide

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

This weekend we took the kids to the Negative Tide event at Half Moon Bay.

A normal low tide would be 0 feet, whereas a this negative tide was 1.6ish feet below that, hence a negative tide.  So we were walking on rocks which are normally covered in 8 feet of water, so there were all sorts of interesting creatures to see.

We saw:

anemones, sea stars, crabs, sea snails, hermit crabs, all sorts of sea weeds and lots and lots of people.

The drive into Half Moon Bay took a couple hours because of the traffic to see the tide and because it was the first weekend to buy Christmas trees.   The drive home was equally as long, but it was okay.

 

Hockey Night in… San Jose?

Sunday, November 14th, 2010

It’s so wrong that there is a hockey team here.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  After all, there are palm trees just outside of the stadium!  Wrong!  I think that if a city can grow palm trees then that team should automatically start the game with a one point deficit if they’re playing a team who’s city needs a snow plow for part of the year.  That sounds fair, right?

Anyhow tonight Adam and I went to the Sharks vs Flames game, and sadly the Flames lost.  People were pretty good natured about having some Flames fans in the arena, but there were some snide comments when we were leaving from Sharks fans.  Kinda sad really, especially since I bet that they’ve never had a pair of skates on their feet, or built a snowman. 

Also during the national anthems, I pondered my loyalties to Canada (will never fade!) and to the US.  I sang the Canadian national anthem loud and proud (and slightly flat, as always), and I stood politelyduring the Star Spangled Banner, listening to the men standing next to me, belting out the anthem, slightly flat.  I wondered when I should start singing.  My children are American, after all.  We own a house in America, we pay taxes here…. It’s a little mind boggling to me.  I never ever expected that I would ever live in the States, let alone have children with American passports.  I’m not saying I am, or have ever been anti American, but I am CANADIAN! (caps intended)  It’s been on my mind a lot lately how I am becoming more Americanized.  Even so much so that I’m starting to feel cold in the ‘winter’ here.  It’s taken over 4 years, but I’m finally getting acclimatized to the Californian winters.  I guess it’s time that I go up to Canada in the winter, to feel some real cold.  Next thing you’ll know I’ll be wearing a wool coat with a toque, scarf and mitts!  In California!    And I’ll call a toque a woolen hat!  (Hmm, no that will never happen.)  I find that I’m getting used to having singles and not loonies, I can talk about the weather in fahrenheit and not be totally confused, I know what 60mph feels like, and it’s totally normal to think about buying gas in gallons and not litres.  I’m still not used to calling it preschool and not playschool, calling it 6th grade and not grade 6 and not having the Queen on my money.  I suspect that if we stay here longer, this will change too.  (And as of right now, we’re not moving home anytime soon, Adam just got a massive raise.)

Finally, when singing the Canadian national anthem, please do not take liberties with it, like so many do with the Star Spangled Banner.  It sounds horrible with the Canadian anthem. 

Go Flames Go!

Camping!

Saturday, November 6th, 2010

Today we are off camping at Big Bason in the Santa Cruz mountains.  We’re all excited.  Trixie wants to get dirty, Adam want to be rusticly manly, Hudson is just happy to be where we are, and I want the quiet of the red woods. 

ahhhh .

Culture Shock.

Monday, March 9th, 2009

I’ve been in California for over 3 years and I still find myself totally exasperated by culture shock. It’s the silly little things that just make me want to pull my hair out.
For example, when I ask where the bathroom is, I am often met with a look of total confusion. I get frustrated because if you used common sense one might be able to deduce that bathroom is a synonym of washroom or restroom! It’s not often that people can make that deduction, and it’s so ingrained in me to say “bathroom”. Another one is “toque”, no one has a clue what a toque is, this totally drives me crazy! And to be totally belligerent I say toque whenever I am talking about a toque.
Even after 3 years my feathers still get ruffled when I thank someone for something and they respond with “uh huh”. AHHHH! The correct response, the POLITE response is, “you’re welcome”! Now I am sure that some people are going to tell me that I should adapt to the American way, but sorry (pronounced sO-rey, not sari) these are the little things that are totally in me, and I think aren’t outrageous (okay I’ll give you the toque thing) so it’s unlikey that I’ll change them.
Oh and finally, go check the mailbox, there should be a cheque in it!

I only have time for bullets.

Monday, October 20th, 2008

I have a bunch of posts floating around my head, but I can rarely find the time to sit and compose a post so I don’t, and then most of it leaves my head.
Here’s what’s left.

1. My friend ran a marathon yesterday. She rocks. It was really interesting to watch the marathon, oddly. The vibe was really supportive and upbeat. There were a lot of people cheering the runners on, many of whom were excited themselves, even when we saw them the first time at mile 16. A lot of the runners were running for Team In Training, and I think that they come with a large cheering section of their own. But still it was amazing the amount of support that was there. I may have been moved to tears a couple of times. (shh don’t tell anyone that I’m a total wuss)
Watching the marathon made me feel bad about the time when I tried to train for one and quit. (my shin splints, ohhhhh the PAIN) anyhow I wondered why some people run and put themselves through the pain. Running isn’t good for the body really, it’s horribly jarring and mangles you, and yet there were 20000 runners yesterday. Perhaps they do it for bragging rights, perhaps just for self satisfaction, perhaps to raise money for charities like TNT. It’s interesting, I think the last 2 reasons are totally admirable, the first isn’t. Boo on braggars.

2. Trixie is always on my mind, I am always composing posts to talk about how amazing she is and how much I love her. I would write one everyday, but then I wouldn’t have much to write in her monthly newsletter. But golly I love that baby, I knew I would, but I didn’t know that it would be this amazing. A few weeks ago I was trying to figure out the amount of time I’ve spent with her since she was born. I would guess between 95-97% of her life she’s been within arms reach of me. How amazing is that? My percent is so high because I wear her all of the time, I take her everywhere with me, I sleep next to her and I really love being with her. We’re working on potty training with her, and I’ll tell you more later in her newsletter, but she rocks! She had a watery tummy a couple of days ago, and even then she had only 2 poo misses, she made it to her potty every time. Yay for less poopy diaper laundry!

3. Politics. Oh this is a big one. I really hate that I can’t vote. It’s not fair, my husband pays taxes here, we own property here and I have an American baby, I should be able to vote! I actually care to vote as well! Anyhow I’m sure you would have figured that I would vote for Obama, (duh) but what’s really frosting me right now is Proposition 8. It kills me to see ads on TV prompting people to vote yes on prop 8. Seriously, vote yes? As in deny a human basic rights? And this is supposed to be the best country on earth?
I’m so glad I’m Canadian.

So to summarize, Regan is a running goddess, Trixie is adorable and all people deserve basic civil rights, because what will be next? Taking the vote from women? Ugh!

The Ants Go Marching.

Sunday, July 20th, 2008

When we lived in the crappy assed house that we were renting before we moved here I envisioned homeownership to be Super Duper Amazing. Super Duper as in no stupid back door ladies to scratch my car with the garbage cans, a bathroom large enough for more than one person to be in it, reliable hot water, sweet, sweet air conditioning and no bugs. But alas apparently mother nature hates me, and although we have this amazing new house we have an ant problem. We learned in the other house to make sure that your counters are really clean and that you have no food out on the counters, and I’ve kept up these good habits. However I do have pets and they do have food and the evil little ants love dog and cat food apparently.
Today in the span of a couple hours there was a trail of ants across the floor coming from a little divot between the floorboards and where two hardwood boards meet to the container of dog food. The trail was about 3 feet long and 6 inches wide of solid ants. Nasty. Adam and I were able to wrangle them and we sealed the little divot with clear sealant, but there are still a couple rouge little buggers roaming around, just to further piss me off.
A couple days ago they managed to get into the cat food which we keep on top of the drier to keep the dog out of it. There was a line coming from the window (which was closed) down the wall, behind the shelving unit, behind the drier and up the back of it and they swarmed all over the top of my white drier, so they were really obvious. (I didn’t sleep well that night) Rather than kill them all, which gives me such glee, I bought some ant poison bait stations and scattered them all over the area in hopes that it would kill the whole colony, or family reunion of the little buggers as it may be. But alas that was $7.99 or so well waisted. Chachi had a great time finding the ant traps and running away from us as we chided him for playing with them.
So here we are at a loss. I hate ants, I hate how they swarm and give me the creeps. I have these horrible dreams that I will wake up and find the baby covered in them.
I’ve taken to feeding the pets several times a day rather than just in the morning so I can leave them smaller amounts so there is less left out. But I don’t see much of a difference in the number of the ants.
The one thing that amuses me about all of this is squirting them with our ant killer which is an organic all purpose cleaner, grapefruit scented. It’s probably a good thing that I’m not Buddhist!

This post coming to you from behind finger smudged glasses.

Sunday, August 26th, 2007

Hello, 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.

Dog Park.

Monday, July 30th, 2007

Yesterday Adam and I were invited to my friend Carolyn’s daughter N’s first birthday which was held at The Gym. Watching the kids play was interesting and really made me want to play in the ball pit too, but instead I behaved like an adult and chatted with some of the other moms.

When I first got there I had a quick conversation with Carolyn who was consoling an unhappy N.
me: So this is where you come for your classes with N? And she gets to play with all of this fun stuff?
Carolyn: Yeah, the kids play and all of the moms chat and stuff. A lot of the kids here we met in the class.
me: Oh so it’s like a dog park for babies?
C: Exactly.

Patience

Saturday, July 7th, 2007

Dear The Impatient Jackass behind me at a light.

Sir, I understand that the light turned green a millisecond ago, and I apologize that I haven’t peeled out of the intersection fast enough for you. However I must implore you not to honk your horn at me exactly half a second after the light changes. (Yes it was half a second, and I’m being generous.) I will explain why I don’t jump on my accelerator when the light changes. First there are still cars in the intersection, I don’t want to hit them, call me crazy, but I don’t want to be in an accident. Second squealing out of an intersection is lame, I try not to do it. Third, it’s surprisingly easy for me to squeal on out, you see I drive a hemi, and if I jump on the accelerator from a dead stop there will be squealing. Finally I care about my car, if I floor it out of every intersection I will need new tired ever 20,000 miles. (The last guy that owned the car owned it for 20, 000 miles and the back tires were bald, he was the original owner.) So Mr. Late-Model-Civic just wait. You will have noticed that once I get my tires rolling I quickly make my way down the street. (After all I do enjoy the hemi). In any case if you care to debate this further, meet me at the next light and I will demonstrate just how small your penis is, ’cause a Dodge Magnum with a hemi will always beat a 4 banger. Every. Time. Just like rock beats scissors.
So in order to save your masculinity, let the girl in the really hot car drive responsibly, and you, be patient.

Thank you,
The girl in the smokin’ hot Magnum.

Happy Canada Day

Sunday, July 1st, 2007

No 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.