Month: March 2009

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Geeky Tourism

It’s no secret that I am a complete geek, at least it shouldn’t be! So, the following should not come as a surprise. 🙂 I went on a field trip for work today, to Canada Place. The colleague who took me there picked a route that took us through historic, and very quaint!, Gastown. There, I saw a clock that anyone who watched tv in the late 80’s, early 90’s will recognize. I forgot my camera sort of on purpose since I didn’t think it would be appropriate to take pictures on work time. I wouldn’t have been able to post them anyway. So, check out this page about MacGyver shooting locations to see some of what I saw today (first six pairs of pics)!

(Just be grateful that you weren’t privy to the entry I posted on another blog after I spent a full day at Las Vegas’ Star Trek the experience. 😀 )

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Of Taxes and Mail

The irony of socialism is that the less money you make, the better off you are financially. I have this thought every year at about this time, upon filing my taxes. At least this year, it’s in my favour. 🙂 I’m a little behind this year in getting them done seeing as the HR idiot who couldn’t care less about his job person not working in a field compatible with his personality neglected to change my address (after asking me four times for it). Kudos to my post office in Gatineau for sending the envelope on to my PO box, even though my redirect expired a month ago!

If you:

a) are Canadian
b) haven’t filed your taxes yet
c) plan to file them with QuickTax, then I would appreciate it if you bought your software through this link.

Now, let’s see how long and convoluted a process it will be to get the cheques into my grubby little hands. Hopefully, it will happen before May 1st while I am still stationary.

One thing I am learning in this first year on the road is just how important it is to have someone you can trust managing your mail. It has happened several times now that I have asked the UPS store clerk to check my box for a particular letter, with a note that I would try again in a week if it hadn’t, and to have him write me a few days later to let me know that letter was on its way. Getting my mail forwarded isn’t cheap (it has cost me anywhere from 2$ for  my T4s to 30$ when I lived in Oliver because I had to use UPS rather than Canada Post since I couldn’t trust the post office), but I much prefer to pay for a PO box than have family or a friend manage my mail for me. I still don’t know what I’ll be doing next fall, but so far the UPS store is working out just fine.

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Making an RV a Home

There’s more to making a home out of an RV than just putting up pictures or changing the curtains. You need to engage your other senses. I think that the way a home smells is very important. It has taken a long time to rid Miranda of her generic and still slightly mothbally RV smell, but today I finally succeeded.

I stayed in and did hand laundry, baking (muffins and a loaf of bread), and general cleaning of the rig. When I came in from swimming a few moments ago, I was greeted with the scent of lavender and yeast and was flooded with a sense of peace and well-being.

Peace and rest at length have come. All the days long toil is past, and each heart is whispering, home, home at last.

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Museum Weather

I finally made it to the Surrey Museum! It’s not a large museum, but it’s highly focused and is therefore one of the better museums I’ve visited in my cross-country journey. Its sole purpose is to explain the history of the city of Surrey and it does so with interesting exhibits that highlight the people, events, and businesses which have built this community.

Irony of all ironies, their special exhibit this spring is about Iroquois beading (tied in to the history of Surrey by comparing the artwork with that of local First Nations artists). Why is this ironical? The Iroquois are based in the Saint-Lawrence Lowlands… where I grew up!

I took lots of pictures, so you’ll find them on the Surrey Museum page. PLEASE NOTE that after a too brief period of workingness, the internet here has gone back to its usual suckiness and it has taken me three hours to upload the full size pictures and that after an average of six attempts per thumbnail, I have given up on them for the time being. You should be able to click on the incomplete thumbnails or placeholders to access the full sized picture. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I’ve really had it up to the proverbial here with the internet at Pacific Border and don’t feel like wasting another three hours on this. An update of this page will be made once I move to a park with 21st-century grade internet. 🙁

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Miscellany

1) I brought the toad in for an oil change tonight. As the service tech was handing me back my keys, he said: “Are you aware that you have damage to the front wing on the driver’s side?”

I grinned and replied proudly that I was the evil culprit who had done wrong to Pommette!

My cheerfulness about the matter confused him.

2) While waiting for the car to be done, I had a wonderful dinner of a tender grilled chicken sandwich on a ciabbata roll with fresh veggies; a crisp salad of romaine lettuce and thick slices of juicy beefeater tomatoes, all of which tasted like they’d been picked at the height of summer; and a fantastic iced coffee. I had this meal at a restaurant I haven’t eaten at much in the past twenty years and which sure has grown up since the last time I was acquainted with its menu. Had I been presented this food without any wrappings, I would never in a million years guessed that I was eating a McDonald’s meal!!!

3) I have decided that spring has sprung because I say so and have stopped heating, other than turning the electric heater on super low at night to cut the dampness!!!

4) Last fall, I spent three months mostly working with ingrates who constantly belittled me (mostly because there was one kind soul). This spring, I’ve spent three months working with lovely ladies who made sure I had flowers, a gift, and cake on my 30th birthday. The way this universe always balances itself out never ceases to fill me with wonder.