The Land of Eh

Robert & I zipped up to Victoria for the weekend and had a great time up there. I had never been to Canada, so it was definitely a wonderful initiation to the land of "Eh".

We took the ferry from Port Angeles over Friday night. We were a little worried that we weren't going to make the ferry because, on the way up, there was a guy hauling a boat that had broken down in the middle of the road. Being that it's only two-lane for most of the trip, it backed up traffic for about four miles. That was a little scary since we had a ferry reservation for 5:15 and neither of us had any idea about what exactly we needed to do when we got there.

We got there on time, although a little later than what we were hoping for, and everything went pretty smoothly from there. It takes about an hour to cross, in good weather, and we had good weather. =)

We got off the boat in a foreign country ! The harbor at Victoria is bee-you-tee-ful. There are flowers everywhere -- it looks like the harbor is a big water cupcake with these multicolored sprinkles all over the edges.

First stop was the Penny Lane Sweet Shop which is like an old-fashioned British candy shoppe. It's pretty tiny, but extremely well-stocked. They have chocolate bars, toffees, and hard candies in glass apothecary jars. The staff was very friendly and very knowledgeable about their stocks -- gave us a couple of recommendations on chocolate bars. They also have dark chocolate Toblerone, which is fairly difficult to find in the states. What can I say ? It's no more than 25 yards from the debarkation point. Really !

We left Penny Lane and dragged our luggage up the hill to the hotel -- approximately 6-7 blocks. We stayed at the Chateau Victoria, which is not completely "downtown", but certainly close enough to everything we were interested in. After stashing our stuff, we went out poking around. We did a lot of walking, found all kinds of little shops and then stumbled on the mall. Bay Centre is a four-story mall, very nice, lots of shops. We were pretty tired by then, so we just wandered up to the food court and ate a little supper before hitting the sack.

Next morning, we (okay, I) slept in a little bit. (It's a VACATION !) When I got up around nine, we went back out poking around. We hit Miniature World, which is very interesting. It's a huge collection of different types of miniatures -- from dollhouses to Civil War and Revolutionary War figures painted and arranged on "battlefields". There's also an enormous diorama which shows the history of the Canadian Pacific Railway. They also have the world's smallest working sawmill. (Fire regulations prevent it from operating in the display, but they have a video which shows what everything does). The sawmill was probably my very favorite part. Miniature World also has some Wild West dioramas as well as some of the cheesiest "fantasy" scenes evah. Snow White's dwarves did not have a "diamond mine" made entirely of glitter and cheap drugstore costume jewelry. They didn't and you can't make me believe they did ! Nonetheless, I give the entire venue a 93 -- because you sure can dance to it. =P

We wandered around the "downtown tourist trap area" for a while longer and grabbed a little brunch at Sam's Deli (they have "Samwiches" !) before I couldn't bear it any longer and we popped into Munro's. Munro's is a wonderful old bookstore with what appears to be the original wooden floors -- think the Sparenberg building. Since this was my "birthday" trip, Robert had called ahead and reserved a copy of the new Harry Potter book. Since I got it in Canada, the cover and the size of the book is different from the one published down here. The bookstore was also having a little promotion where you could go over to the "Headmistress's Office" and have a certificate with your name on it signed by the Headmistress of Hogwarts. It was designed for the kiddos, so of course I went !

We also poked around the Royal BC Museum right quick. We didn't think we had time to give the museum the attention it deserved, so we hit the gift shop to see the highlights.

With Harry Potter burning a hole in my pocket, we hiked back to the hotel for a little light reading and a nap. I did the reading and Robert took a little nap. After I read for a while, I finally fell asleep as well, and didn't get up until about 6. By that time, we were fairly hungry again, so we set off to find food. I wasn't starving, so it was hard to decide. We had our choice of The Keg -- a steak house, an Indian food place, Chinese, Thai, a place called the Noodle Box, Smitty's (looks like an IHOP), pizza, and a few other places -- and that's all within about six blocks ! After meandering a while, we finally agreed on pizza so we grabbed it to go. I read all through supper and read on till about 2:00am, when I finished the book. Poor Robert ! He had to listen to me gasp and exclaim over the plot twists (although I did try very hard to be as quiet as possible.) We finally both hit the sack for good around 2:30.

Sunday morning, we went ahead and got up about 9-10 and took a quick shower before going back out. We managed to score a table at Smitty's (a Canadian institution !) and verified that it is like a Denny's. Yum ! Smoked salmon Eggs Benedict ! We then went out and visited the Victoria Bug Zoo. I thought it might be a little creepy (and it is, but just a little bit). They have LOTS of bugs and most of them are not scary. =P Robert and I were the only grownups there without kids and we did just fine (until Robert scared me and I, in turn, accidentally scared a little girl there). No. There are no details. Just. . . yeah, no. Just know that the ant farm is SO worth a look along with all the other stuff. Leaf bugs, stick bugs, beetles, leetle spiders, BIG spiders, scorpions (and a vinegarone ! They call it a "whip scorpion".), praying mantises (manti ?), and. . . cockroaches (eeeeeee).

It was about 11-11:15 when we got out of the "zoo", so I realized I had to get some shopping done. =) Robert got dragged around to a whole bunch of little stores and I did some Christmas shopping. No hints, y'all ! =P When we were done there, it was almost time to head to the ferry terminal, so we hiked back to the hotel and packed up again. The shuttle driver was so wonderful !

The boat took longer going back because there was a huge fog bank, but we got home and were immediately set upon by the Whiny Twins (tm). Jinx is pretty used to us taking weekend trips, but I guess S'prise didn't understand that we were coming back. We have been nearly overwhelmed by the "attention".

Stuff that didn't make it in this missive:

: Nightmares -- "interesting" horror shop
: The fire juggler -- there were two that we saw, one is hilarious
: The mermaid with the accordion
: Darth Vader with his violin
: The drum and xylophone quintet on the street
: Roger's Chocolates -- Victoria creams
: The mime. No, I'm not kidding. Weeeeird.


All for now.

Thoughts ?

Gosh, I don't feel forty

But I guess that's just the nature of the beast. Most of us will experience this moment. . . when we stop for a second and realize that we actually are four decades ol. . . um. . . experi. . . err. . . seasoned.

I remember being much younger and interested in the year I would turn 33 -- because that was the year 2000 and the turning of the millenium. I don't guess I ever thought much further than that -- that I would someday turn 40. It doesn't really "feel" like 40, though. I wonder if most people "feel" forty or if it's just another birthday.

Forty does seem like it should be a milestone, however. It seems like it's a fairly "weighty" birthday because you're not just 30-something anymore. You're "forty" -- with all the gravitas and responsibility that seems to go with those numbers and that label. You're old enough to call kids "kids", although not old enough to go with "whippersnappers". =P You're old enough to remember the actual moon landing and the shuttle flights, Nixon and both Bushes, sex, drugs & rock -n- roll and Mrs. Reagan with her Just Say No campaign. I was just old enough to know that Viet Nam was some country "over there" but now I can understand a lot of the political implications that it had and can see a lot of the effects that shook out. Same with Colombia.

Forty is when you are old enough to raise kids, but don't have enough energy to do so properly. Forty is when you lie in bed at night and think. Forty is when you know stuff. You don't know everything, but you can sure do a lot of things.

Forty is when you see The Hill. You aren't on it yet, but you sure know what it looks like. You begin to find people and teach them the things that you know because you don't want anyone else to have to start from scratch like you did. You have stuff to teach and you don't mind because you are confident that the ones you are teaching to can't catch you anyhow. =P You can teach them all they know, but not all you know. You begin to say things like "when I was little, we counted change back to our customers !" And "I remember when gas was 93 cents a gallon !"

Forty is when fiction begins to get boring -- because you can figure it out before the book ends. You begin to read non-fiction for the history and because you can't make some of that stuff up ! You know who to call for whatever you need and you know how to set up a local network of people when you have to move somewhere else.

Forty is when you look back at all the things you've done and wonder how you ever made it this far.

I guess everyone deals with being forty in their own way -- they bring their own experiences, their own prejudices, their own memories. I'm just glad that I got here because it's been a heck of a ride so far.

Thoughts ?

Why Are Kittens Cute ?

Kitties are cute for a reason.

They are cute as a means of self-preservation. I say this because we have a new kitty in our house. He's been here three weeks. Robert & I both look like we have been drug through a knothole backwards -- with the knothole packed full of blackberry vines. He is a busy kitty -- busy biting toes in the middle of the night, busy pulling U-turns in front of the "other" cat before she can swat him, busy trying to climb up our curtains. . .you get the idea.

Don't get me wrong -- when he is cute, he is adorable. The problem has been when he is "cute", he is "asleep". This would be way better if we were not ALSO asleep (read: exhausted). When we first brought him home, he was very nervous and apprehensive -- because he was very small and our house was bigger than the place he had been living before. Well, he's over that. Totally.

He now knows all the rooms in the house and pounds up and down the stairs with no fear. Of course, we have to watch him constantly because he has developed a habit of "playing" with our legs & feet (because they move constantly). I give us probably another two-three days before one of us steps on him accidentally. *sigh*

Anyhow, I will close this post with an explanation of his name -- S'prise. He was a surprise to us after losing another well-loved cat in our house. I am seriously thinking of changing his name, however, to one that fits him a little better during this time of his life.

I'm thinking about calling him "OW ! OW !"

Thoughts ?

Bandwagon anyone ?

Yep -- looks like I'm finally jumping on it. It's only been what ? 6-7 years since it was fashionable to start your own blog and clog up those darn Internet tubes with the ramblings of Shakespeare's monkeys, right ?

Anyhow -- I don't promise to write often, nor to write anything that will change the course of mankind, but. . . it has been my recent experience that some of the musings in my head seem to be [a]musings. . . and I think I may be ready on some level to subject them to (gentle, please) criticism. =P

Having said that. . . my first dead horse to beat would be. . . why are so many people in the IT industry these days so incredibly dense ? Is it because there are so many openings that they are just not filled fast enough ? Is it because l33t sk33lz coming out of high school substitute in equal measure for lack of common sense and good judgment ? Is it a simple failure of business in general to demand good communication skills, both written and verbal, that let these slack-jawed yokels in ?

Don't get me wrong -- I don't mean to say that ALL IT folks are drooling eedjits. . . but dang -- I've sure met a bunch. (Maybe that just says something about me, dunno -- or maybe it says a great deal about folks coming into the "industry" with certs and no seasoning.

All righty -- having led with the ol' one-two -- I'll just sit back and wait to be flamed for this. . . although I don't think I'm a) wrong or b) alone in this.

Thoughts ?