Learning To Swim

I have always wanted to learn how to swim but I never have. I took swimming lessons at the age of 15 and they started me off in level three. Although I've never learned to swim, I've never been afraid of the water and can move around in it. I get tired, however, very easily, probably due to not being very active and using all those muscles in new ways is quite exhausting, especially without any real technique.
I've been reading some information online about efficient techniques for swimming to be able to move faster through the water without getting as tired. We have an outdoor and indoor pool in the building we live in and I've decided to practice to become a better swimmer. It's a great workout for the whole body. My goal is to hopefully go swimming 5 - 6 times a week.

Tuesday Morning

The rain falls outside and the noise of the morning traffic interrupts the silence around me. But that's okay as it brings me back from my contemplative holiday and forces me to realize the time - almost time to leave for work...

What was I thinking about....well, in order to expedite the sale of our home we are having it professionally staged. It's been on the market now since April 01st with a ton of showings and positive feedback but no offers. In speaking with several people, staging does help to sell, because people buy "homes" not "spaces". Our real estate agent agreed. So, we got a quote and decided that it was worth the investment. Staging takes place this Friday, at which time when the agent sends me some pictures I will be sure to post them here. I'm anxious to see it.

I just hope it works, because otherwise it's quite a bit of money down the tubes. But, I am sure it will work.

A Perfect Sunday

On Sunday, myself and Stephen went to our friends place in Quebec for a hike, picnic, a bbq and hot tubbing, and it was a perfect day!


We woke up to a beautiful weather day, about 23 and SUNNY! It had rained for most of the week so it was great to see the nice weather. We hopped in the car and left the city around 9:15 am and arrived to our destination at about 10:30 am. Our friends, the Alains (whom we, and everyone else refer to as "The Alains" because they are a couple but both are named Alain) have a great dog named Mickey. They've had him for almost a year now and this is his fifth home, so a

first it took some work with training but he is just wonderful. Anyways, we have our dog, Atlas, who is for the most part great with most dogs, but every once in a while there is a dog he doesn't like (just like people I guess). Anyways, we were introducing them for the first time and were hoping that they would get along and...they do. Amazingly!!!! Which makes us really happy because we are already planning our next hike!


Anyways, the above photo is a picture of the Alains and my Stephen (far right) at the beginning of our hike in the Laurentian Mountains. The trails through the forest were great...it was very quiet, not a lot of people. We stopped about half way and had a picnic of breads, crackers, cheeses, and wine.


The next picture is the view from one of the high points on the mountain. The next photo after that is a picture taken from the car of the sun starting to set, and the last picture is a very tired Atlas. Altogether we hiked for 12Km. The hot tub certainly felt good after the hike, and the cold beer went down very nicely.

It really was just a great day!

Frustrated

frus⋅trat⋅ed 
–adjective
1.
disappointed; thwarted: "an announcer who was a frustrated actor".
2.
having a feeling of or filled with frustration; dissatisfied: "His unresolved difficulty left him absolutely frustrated".
3.
Having to take a whiny dog out every day and pick up his shit.
4.
Wondering why one of the cats won't eat his own soft food, which he is on because he apparantly can't eat hard food but eat's the dogs hard food all the time, making a fucking mess all over the god damn place, and having to clean it up.
5.
Not being able to leave any food product out at all, cooked or raw, or said cat tears into in, i.e. loaves of bread, muffins, any food product at all, really.
6.
People who are disrespectful with unrealisitic expectations.
7.
Having a completely renovated, walk in ready home that's already $15,000 underpriced in a great neighbourhood, that WON'T sell because our neighbours across the border elected, not once, but TWICE, the biggest mistake that has ever been born who put his own country and the rest of the world into a financial fucking distaster. Congrats Bush. Job well done. Maybe I should make YOU buy my house.
8.
Feeling this way and not being able to shake it.

But now that it's Friday with the weekend only 8 hours away, hopefully some rest and relaxation will make the poop picking, food cleaning, cat scavenging, people yelling, house not selling reality that is my world not seem so bad, as the one thing I do have which I am very thankful for are good friends, family and a great partner, so really life ain't so bad.
It just get's frustrating every once in a while.

Canada Day 2009

On July 01, 2009, Canada was 142, and I, being much younger at the age of 35, and my partner who is 38, decided to take in the festivities happening downtown.

The night before we did what any proud Canadian does - we went out and purchased symbols of our patriotism. T-shirts and hats displaying red maple leafs and Canada were ticked off the list and we were ready to go!

This was our first Canada Day in Ottawa, and being the Nations Capital, we've been told they celebrate in fine style, and they do. Tens of thousands of people were lining the streets of Sussex Drive and MacKenzie King Bridge, making their way up to Parliament Hill to listen to live music. It was a sea of red and white almost everywhere you looked.

We hooked up with a co-worker of mine, her husband and their two daughters and had a beer or two, and then myself and my partner, Stephen, headed to another patio and shared a pitcher of beer. We made our way back home for a relaxing evening and watched the fireworks from our balcony, as it faces northwest, directly towards Parliament where they were setting them off. I have to admit I was a little disappointed with the fireworks display...they've actually had better in St. John's, NL. But the overall day was a great day off. The photos here were taken on my phone so not the best quality.