Resolutions Part 2

Wear my labcoat while in the lab. Actually wear it.

So that this doesn't happen anymore:


(Purple cotton shirt I just splashed with 40% bleach. Now it's a pink-spotted purple shirt)

Good news: I just discovered Google SketchUp.
Bad news: I picked the wrong pair of denims this morning and sitting in my chair with my pants done up is uncomfortable. Dear, indulgent Christmas holiday, how I hate thee!!

Smaller house, bigger heart

So one of the best Christmas gifts I got this year was this book Little House on a Small Planet by Shay Saloman.

I have literally been carrying it around with me everywhere I go (to the mall to read in the lineup, while waiting for sushi to arrive to my table, at my in-laws place to read while others take their turn at Settlers of Catan). I identify strongly with the authors message, and I find the method of delivery very useful. Great color pictures, good stories, great real-life advice and fantastic floorplans. This ties into my post about building a hobbit hole somewhere, and has progressed past the point of just wistful thinking. I am committed to simplifying my way of life, and one of the ways to do that is to avoid building another large house that I will immediately begin filling with stuff. I realize we built the current house we live in to sell specifically to a bigger family (so it had to be bigger than we needed as a couple), but already I find myself wondering where we are going to put all of the furniture, plastic bins and tools in a new house. It’s my fault really, as I am the one with design ideas and furniture magazines and a need to fill every corner, but I am definitely conflicted about it.

I feel we were given a gift by our families, who helped us so much during the building process, and we better not blow it. The goal is to cash in on the sweat equity in a meaningful and valuable way, so that we can secure some financial solvency and ensure our wealth grows too. (Aside: I’m proud that for Jan 1st 2009, my husband and I have paid down all of our consumer debt, and now have only my student loan and the mortgage to contend with). My idea is to live below our means, which is particularly poignant given the recent housing crash and credit crunch. We took out a 40-year mortgage to finance the building of this house, and thinking of that makes me want to vomit. I am drawn to the idea of owning a house (even a small one) outright, because of the security of always having someplace to go, even if the shit hits the fan and we loose out jobs or get sick or can’t make payments anymore or whatever. My mom doesn’t own a house, and I am too independent to immediately fall back to living with my husband’s parents in their house. We can use a small cabin in the future as a getaway cottage, maybe build onto it as finances allow, or rent it to vacationers, but for right now I don’t see why we can’t live in it. It’s just us, and we get along fabulously. In fact, I am writing this blog post sitting at the table about ten feet from my husband because although the computer is usually kept on the desk in the office, it is too expensive to heat that room all the time (so it’s as cold as a witch’s tit in there) and being secluded in the office was too far away from where he is at the moment.

SOOOOO, the plan is to move back to Hometown (when I’m done my degree), either buy a piece of land or build on family-owned property about 20 km from town and build a one-room, super energy efficient/sustainable home for $10,000. And then live in it for a year. If we can build a three bedroom house, we can sure as f&ck build a 20 foot by 12 foot home (although I haven’t started pricing out the specifics so I might be 50% underbudget – especially if we are law-abiding citizens and follow zoning laws regarding septic tanks and minimum square footage -but I’m obviously excited enough about the plan I’m going to look into the budget feasibility further). Of course, even idealistic me realizes we will likely grow out of such a space, and since the plan was always to renovate or (less likely) built new in Hometown while prices are still reasonable, we would do that too. We need to rollover any profit from this first house into something that will appreciate over time, and although the current economic climate is not looking good, our Hometown has realty that has been consistently undervalued for years. So I think buying now is a good idea, even if we do owe the bank some money via a (horrible horrible) mortgage. But with a place to stay in the interim (that isn’t a rental nor our parents’ basement) then we can be picky about the house we take onto renovate (in particular, where it is in relation to elementary and middle schools). And then that will be the “forever” house, where we raise kids. And while some people would consider this entire plan as a waste of $10,000, I see it as a way to 1) get a cottage earlier than we had planned 2) have a back-up plan just in case 3) an awesome way to trial-run some interesting ideas on passive solar heating, berming, ICF construction, solar voltaic energy and other environmentally aware techniques for becoming a self-sustainable household.

So with all this swirling around in my head for the past week, we drove past this plywood shack on an old gas station platform on our way back home from the holiday stay in Hometown. And I asked my husband to pull over so we could go out and inspect, in 3D, the physical space enclosed by walls 12 feet x 24 feet. Others might think it’s nuts, but with just the two of us (and the occasional guest) I think it’s plenty of room (to wit: when I was in undergrad and living in a single room on campus, my husband-to-be spent three entire weeks living with me in that room. He had started a job at a bakery in my tiny town, in anticipation of my ending school year. Since his start date was three weeks before my term ending/our apartment becoming available, he discreetly moved in to my room. He had a sleep schedule of 7 pm- 4 am, while I was studying for my end-of-term exams and it was STILL one of the happiest times of my life.) In fact we decided while surveying the dimensions of the shack that we could comfortably shave off four feet from the longer side and still get a bathroom w/bathtub, a galley kitchen with tiny counter and a living room with a loveseat and a chair in there, plus a ladder going up to an exposed loft sleeping area. I took a few pictures of the mini-adventure at dusk, and the VIA passenger train that passed by just as we were finishing up our conversation:


Approximate size of a bath tub:

Via train:

So that has been keeping me busy lately. I was supposed to be working on the materials and methods section of a paper I’m writing, but it is obvious to me that my preference is house planning over molecular biology. And oddly, this fact is reassuring in an economy where “biochemist” may become a dispensable employment option. (...Or I'm justifying.)

Mmmmm, mercury

We drove home today after spending five days in Hometown. Had to check up on the cat, we left him at home alone with enough raw food for four days and a clean litter box. I started to worry by the last 20 km that I hadn’t, in fact, checked very carefully before locking up the house that he was free and not accidentally locked in a closet or in the unfinished basement. He was fine, and very happy to see us.

The drive from Hometown, usually a three hour drive at our snails pace, took over five and a half hours today due to a long & rural detour. A friend was attending a weeklong Buddhist meditation getaway (actually he was going to join his wife, who had been there all week). In is in the middle of rural northern Nova Scotia, so we meandered on country backroads in thick fog (snow sublimation – it was 6C today). After dropping him off, we took the road to the nearest town, and while trying to find our way to the highway, we drove past two interesting things: one was a roof-less plywood shack on what was once a gas station site but now just housed the random grey wood structure and a bunch of Red Cross bins. I’ll put up a separate post about that interesting detour. After we were done playing in the shack, we drove past a fisherman selling his live lobster in a store parking lot with his two teenage daughters. In the last few years lobster has been selling for between 7-8$ per cooked pound at the grocery store. Small lobsters are around a pound, and to make a big meal you need two. Eating lobster dinner was a luxury meal, usually associated in my (Acadian) family with a holiday like Christmas or Mothers Day. But lately, the lobsters in store are selling for an unheard of price – around $5 a cooked pound. This means lobster fisherman are getting around $3 a pound for their catch – maybe half of what they used to bring in. Fishing was (and still is) a large part of my maternal family’s way of life, and I have close relatives who tried to make a living by fishing lobster. My uncle eventually gave it up because he couldn’t support his family, and that was half a dozen years ago. All this to say that I can’t imagine how anyone is doing it these days, and why I was compelled to pull over to give this man some of my Christmas cash for live lobster ($5.50 a pound) even though my broader convictions on overfishing might suggest otherwise. Turns out he was Acadian too, and got a hoot out of my man-handling of the lobster (I guess women usually don’t dive into the rubber buckets pulling out squirming lobsters to compare size, etc. When he found out my background, he laughed an understanding laugh). I got a medium sized one (pound and a quarter) while Hubby got a bigger one (2 and a quarter pounds). They were placed in a plastic bag, we paid out $18, chucked them in the trunk, and headed home.

The cat, having been food-scarce for the last week, was obviously envious. No surprise:


After setting the table for a dinner for two (cider, assorted hard smoked cheeses, fresh buns), I turned around to see the cat tucked into the best seat in the house:


The lobster was excellent, really a treat. I’m probably past my monthly quota of seafood though (being a woman of child bearing age.) as I had sushi for lunch today and some sushi a few days ago as well. Which works out well since I’ve blown all my money on meals and beer anyway. This holiday season was very indulgent.

The Stunner

There once was a girl whose eyes

Were as brown as cow pattie pies

Her smile was as grey

As a cold, sunless day

And her perfume attracted the flies

The above limerick, submitted by my husband, was the clear winner in a two-person limerick contest we held on a particularly long car ride.  He is a charmer, if you couldn't tell.

Resolutions Part 1

Wear more braids in my hair.  They're purty.

Exhibit A; Penelope Cruz rocking a braid swept into an updo (even though this is an awkward paparazzi photo):

Cephalopod!

Man.  I just read this xckd comic and it answered a question I was asking myself at 6:55 AM this morning:

Me: "Look! - husband - at the bulbous, inky dark clouds whipping around in the sky! It's like they were made by the great Octopus in the sky..."

Him: "Octopussy?"

Me: "Or, Godtopus. "

Me: "Or...Godtopussy!"

Eight seconds of silence.

"Hmm..what's the name for the biological group of animals in which Octopi are found?"

Think.  Think. 

Nothing from this morning-fried brain.

But xckd has my back!  Man.  Stupid Mondays.

Ten things I did the weekend before Christmas 2008

10. Baked an apple crisp & a huckleberry pie. 

9. Watched the 4-hour BBC adaptation of Anna Karenina.

8. Started a new novel: Mother of Pearl by Melinda Haynes.

7. Did all my chores, and then did my husbands chores as I watched him sleep.  He passed out after a physically exhausting six day work week.  Poor guy.

6. Woke up at 7 am Sunday morning and was out the door at 8 am buying groceries for dinner with the in-laws. Glorious morning.

5. Lost a game of Settlers of Catan.

4. Lost a game of Yatzee.

3. Became a fan of The Decemberists.

2. Got ass-loads of sleep.

1. Ate fall-off-the-bone BBQ ribs & asparagus with my husband and his parents, then opened some early Christmas gifts before his father leaves for Vancouver.

Blessedly relaxing weekend spent eating and hanging out with family.  An excellent way to usher in the new year.

Chicago ain't got nothing on us

Last night I dreamt of a storm surge that brought waves up to our back patio porch door. I remember thinking in the dream "that can't be good for the septic system".  We live on a lake not the ocean, so storm surges aren't going to drown our backyard (thankfully) as last night would definitely have been a problem.  But being the tallest, skinniest house on top of a hill, in front of a lake and behind an industrial park = not a goddamn tree in sight to stop the 110 km/hour gusts from shaking the whole house all.night.long.  Slept poorly, worried about the house and the electricity bill (the wind ripped off our roof covering to the bathroom ventilation system yesterday.  There is effectively a four inch hole in our roof now.  How do you like them apples , Dave Sukuzi?")  Hubby said he could feel the 72" picture window in the living room flex with the pressure of hurricane-strength winds pummeling it directly.  My mental image of cold grey waves lapping our back door was replaced with the image of our front window blown out, drapes flapping wildly around Christmas present strewn about the front lawn. 

So I guess my options were to stay home and wait for the power to go out (and then not be able to use the bathroom or cook a meal properly) or come to work.  So here I am, having braved the wind tunnel in front of my 15-story research tower, slipping on ice-covered (salt-free) roads and sidewalks.  Looked like this.  And in fact, the whole downtown area has no power either, but my building runs on a generator.  Us, and the hospital.  

Blogging (and cough cough research) is too important to be left to Nova Scotia Power Inc. 

Freon Battles

The humid summers around here are killer for our lab freezers- they get inundated with ice so quickly that halfway into the season we have to practically chip our way to our sample boxes.


Just like this, except without the diamond-incrusted ice pick and better hair.

Anyway, since our dutiful and conscientious post doc left, no one wants to touch the thing, especially not to defrost it. It's like the family secret no one mentions, we just keep muttering curse words under our breath as our fingers freeze shuffling through unlabelled boxes. I have become particularly impatient since my back corner space was being encroached on (again... it seems space wars are also being fought on a much smaller scale everyday here in my own lab), and was the impetus for finally pulling the plug.

I put up a sign on Friday to say everyone should move their stuff by Monday afternoon. It used the word "mofo" to refer to the freezer, and had a terrible clip-art hammer on it.  It also ended with the word "Cheers!" but that didn't seem to promote the actual moving of stuff. So after shlepping everything upstairs to the spare -20C, I attacked the frost with zeal. Pent-up frustration was channeled productively, and after mopping the floor this morning, our freezer is humming away again. Now we need to tackle the re-introduction of stuff back into the feezer, but I'm already starting on a floorplan of sorts. Everyone gets their own space, defended as violently as deemed necessary.

I will win the war.

Happyness in Stop-Action

I still can't believe CBC actually ran this brilliant program. It was cancelled after one season, but still.



Is it Friday yet?

Toque and all

I have a girl crush on Rose Cousins. I wish she played more around here.



Blooper-less:

Recession? What recession?

She did it, she caved.

Our prime minister just had his wish to prorogue Parlimant approved by the Governor General until the end of January, to avoid a confidence vote in which his minority government would have likely lost power. Two fucking months in a financial recession which our current goverment has handled poorly to date.

Excellent way to slow down the cogs of progress out of this economic mess. Lets just sit and wait until they get it right, shall we? Hopefully not too many people lose their jobs in the interim. Go ahead, take your time! You get three shots at preparing a budget around here (we're nice like that).

Gah!

(The discourse is interesting though. People are very divided. Good times.)

Cheap cheaper cheapest (I win)

I'm never going to rent a movie again if I can help it. In the town where I grew up, the library was an archaic place in an out-dated building (80s pastel everywhere). There was abundant natural light, sure, but it just highlighted the enormous amount of dust everywhere. We never went unless we had a school project on Cheetahs/Acadians/Clouds to do (pre-internet age, of course).

But not so here. The libraries (multiple - located all around the municipality) are used by lots of people (my coworkers with kids especially) AND they are an utter wealth of free, new DVDs! So excellent. I borrowed a bunch of Harry Potter DVDs, Volver, No Country For Old Men, as well Spanglish and Penelope. Penelope is the only one left to watch and I think it will be cute, based entirely on the adorable outfit Miss Ricci is wearing on the cover:



The bad news is that all the excessive parties I've been attending lately (many with booze and/or deliciously rich foods) + the lazy ass TV watching = tight clothing. Mucho tight. I haven't really decided whether I should address the issue directly or just let it slide under the pretense of "Holiday Cheer". I think the latter. At least until New Year, when I can get on the band wagon with everyone else, and goad myself into action. Or spend my Christmas money on new clothes. One or the other :)

WTF

The queasiness I'm feeling today may have something to do with the hangover, but is also being prodded uncomfortably into action by thoughts of a little note I found on our front door on Sunday evening.

It was a business card from the excavator who supplied some dirt way back during the heyday of construction and it said "Please call me to arrange payment for two loads of fill ($180 each). Thanks".

a) I don't remember owing him money. I generally don't like owing people money, so I try to square up as soon as possible.
b) He was notoriously difficult to contact (we actually didn't hire him again later because of this fact), never answering his cell phone nor returning my messages. It is possible that the fact I did owe him money slipped through the cracks of house construction because I got frustrated with his approach so I said "Eff that, if he wants his money bad enough he will contact me". Because THAT does sound familiar.
c) Still, even if that's the case, why would he wait until now to ask for payment? Why not ages ago? The work was done roughly eight months ago. Who runs a business like that? Does he need Christmas money to buy gifts for his kids?
d) He has legally forfeited all rights to liens on the mortgage, which is kept back by the bank for just this purpose. In case of a dispute (a "he said, she said" argument regarding non-payment, much like the one I see arising from this very situation), my understanding is that the bank is arbiter. But what now? Mortgage is officially closed, all liens are held back for 60 days following the issue of an occupancy permit (again, ages ago). He asks for money he says we owe him, I say "WTF? we don't owe you any money" and then...he vandalizes our house? I pay out becuse I'm a push-over and can't find any paperwork either for or against his claims? If he ran his business properly, with invoices and prompt payment requests it might seem just a tad less sketchy.

I don't know. Grumble grumble.

(That was my stomach)

Breath = Gone

Whoah.


(Thomas Kinkade eat your heart out.)