I made my first video phone call today! Well..actually, it was my first bi-directional video call. The other day my friend from Yellowknife was visiting her sister in BC and they Skyped me as they were figuring out how to make things work but it was only one-way. They didn’t have a webcam.

My Mum and Dad have been using Skype since last Christmas when I visited them and installed it on their computer. It’s a nice, direct way to talk sometimes. In the Skype. I’ve been using it for almost two years talking to my friends in Europe and using it for work. And since, I’ve had so many interesting conversations in the Skype. It is certainly a different level of communication–that’s another blog entry for sure. BUT RIGHT NOW..it’s all about video.

This Christmas, my sister Redd is in the Yukon and even though I called four or five times on Thursday, I still missed being home. I asked her yesterday if she could buy a webcam for my parents and help them install it. And that she did. THANK YOU REDD.

THANK YOU.

The first thing I did is stick out my tongue. PPPPPBBBTTTTT. Of course. Good job there wasn’t a spare box lying around, I probably would have put it on my head.

When the video arrived on my computer, I could see my sister sitting in front of her computer. We futzed around a bit trying to make it better, but I was too excited: “Get Mum and Dad!” I was so excited, I repeated myself like Jacob Two Two: “Get Mum and Dad. Get Mum and Dad!”

She called them and they came tramping upstairs. And we tried to figure out the level of detail I could see in their house. NOBODY was in front of the webcam, they were all standing around the computer. But I could see my Mum’s quilted wall hangings on the opposite wall (about 10 feet away). So I said so. “I can see your wall hangings Mum.”

She literally scurried over to the other wall and took them down and brought them back back to the webcam. “Can you see what they are Jennie? Can you see what they are?”

My video reception was grainy–I’m calling it pixelated. But I could make out they looked distinctly like the California Coast line. I loved it. I loved that I could see my parents and talk to them. I loved that I could see my Mum scurry over to the wall and bring back her wall hangings to show me. I LOVED that it was a quilted version of the California Coast from when they visited in 2005. (OH…I really have to do an entry on my Mum’s passion — quilting. She’s an artist herself in the material medium–and pretty damn good if I do say so myself). DAMN GOOD if I could recognize her hanging picture through the pixelated video.

Now, in the middle of all this, as my Mum was retrieving her wall hangings, I talked to my sister and told her other things I could see in the room. And she panned the camera. I laughed out loud because I COULD SEE the door to the upstairs toilet. “Don’t leave the webcam on Mum–and go to the loo–and leave the door open.” Because I know it’s just her upstairs sometimes working away on her quilting projects.

So, after my Mum stepped away from the webcam to answer the phone…I COULD SEE MY DAD standing in the bathroom WITH THE DOOR OPEN! Cheeky bugger. We all laughed.

We had few stops and starts as we figured out how to use the video and make it work, but all-in-all THUMBS UP. Thumbs up. Toes up. Shoulders. UP. For Skype video. And my parents in the Yukon. And my sister for helping them install it. And to Deborah and Paula for calling me the other day to get the ball rolling.

Mum, we are going to have that virtual tea and chat yet! (Explanation of virtual tea: circa 1997. Nortel Networks. Greg Skaret, Komei, Mudjat, and a few of my Nortel crowd were brainstorming the next electric spoon. I said that I wanted to be able to have tea in the kitchen with my mum –like the Holodeck on the Enterprise. I wanted to be able to appear in her kitchen and have a cup of tea and chat — from wherever I was in the world. With video chat…well-it’s a start.)

PS: I bought a dress yesterday for my New Year’s party. It says: sassy, classy, and single. It is also a conscious effort to address the nookey deficit (below). Well. It’s a start anyway.

This year is my first year since 1993 without my family. WHAT WAS I THINKING? WHAT was I thinking? I hope I’ll never do that again. I guess I thought I had too much going on and I wasn’t working for eight months and I couldn’t  book tickets home in time and by the time I could afford them, they were really, really expensive.

Excuses. Excuses.

I guess I’m finding the economy is hitting hard all-around this year. I think that I’ll just put off Christmas until March some time.  Maybe June.

No excuses.

My friend sent me this email last week. I am in a totally different email on most days, so I ‘m just catching up now.

I called her Saturday.  She’d had an interesting evening–celebrating her singleness. She tells me: “I can’t move. I feel awful.”

And I know the feeling. And I know she must have had fun at the party.

No nookey-fun though. She laughs and tells me: “At one point, there was a hand on my leg, wandering up my thigh. I looked down, quizzically, and removed that hand and put it back in the owner’s lap.” She leaned over and giggled. “Not tonight. I’ve had too much to drink.” Then she stood up. Found the toilet. And tossed her cookies.

At least she tossed her cookies into the toilet. I can remember a time when I was sitting ON THE TOILET and I tossed my cookies into my pants which were in the vicinity of my ankles. Or the time in Mexico when the toilet wasn’t a wide enough receptacle and  I just needed to aim at a larger opening and tossed my cookies, my dinner, my too-many margaritas into the bathtub.

Ugh. Drunk stories. I don’t really need to go there.

Boys. Hmmm…I don’t really need to go there either. But, I will agree with my friend. Sometimes, being single sucks. And at this moment for me, the suckiest thing about being single is the lack of regular, enjoyable, safe nookey.

Regular. Another friend in Ottawa told me once…”They just don’t know how lucky they are. They can just have it when then want it.” (She was–of course–referring to couples.)
Enjoyable. Enjoying yourself. Enjoying the other person.
Safe. Emotionally safe. Physically safe.
Repeat.

Lately, I’ve been sort of wondering what my status is. But, I decided I am definitely single. That is. I don’t have one boyfriend that I specifically hang out with and HERE IS THE KEY THING ABOUT THE SINGLE STATUS…I don’t wake up with another person in my bed. And I’m not waking up in another person’s bed.  So, logically, due to the obvious lack of another person…I am single.

However, I think I am dating. DATING. Isn’t that a weird word. What is dating? I don’t even like that word.  Dating. What does it mean? I used to pshaw dating because in my small world, dating meant more than one person. AND in my relatively sheltered life, I thought if I were dating someone–I would be sleeping with that person. AND THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL that I would be sleeping with more than one person. So…I never dated. Or thought I dated.

Recently though, I refined my definition of dating. Specifically, dating is spending quality time with other people and NOT GETTING ANY NOOKEY. So dating DOES mean more than one person–BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF NOOKEY part.

And I realize I spend my quality time with different people and those different people fill different areas of my life. But in the end, I wake up alone in my bed. And, as I type this, I realize that I’ll have to make different decisions about who I spend time with if I want to address the nookey deficit.

And in the meantime, I’ll join my friend and enjoy the “sight-seeing”.

Pacific Coast Trail Run – 30 km, originally uploaded by Mitch Lewis.

I’ve been running with Mitch every few weeks since September. We do Saturday morning runs in Anadel State Park or Spring Lake or somewhere. Having somebody to run with makes a difference to me. To me, it’s about having (or being) somebody who shows up and pushes your limits.

One Friday I’d gone out drinking and dancing (The English Beat) with a few other friends in Santa Rosa. THAT was a three-hour cardio blast. I had a few drinks, but also–water. So I did OK that evening. But I knew I was supposed to be running with Mitch the next day. He’d planned we were going to run 15 miles (25 kms) that day and I just wanted to be able to run that distance. That was enough for me.

With Mitch–it’s great. All I have to do is show up and run. And that’s all I do–for the most part. The first few times we went running, I didn’t even know what to bring. But, I’m better at it now. The night after The English Beat, I think I was dehydrated from the dancing and drinking because I seriously felt like throwing up when we finished that first (my first–not Mitch’s) long distance run.

Regardless. That day was the longest distance I’d run (ever)–until today. Today, Mitch signed us up for a 30 km Pacific Coast Trail run. We’d done a 17 km last week and at the end of it, I thought that I could have done 20. But when he went to sign us up for a 20 km this week, it was full. So he signed us up for the 30 km run.

I said No. Absolutely not. I need new shoes. I didn’t even know how I could do another run with these. But somehow, I did.

We were only going to do the 20 km run (even though we were signed up for the 30 km run). Once we got to the first break station though (the turn around point for 20 km), I said…Let’s go for it. Let’s do the 30 km.

So we did.

We walked up the hills (elevation gain: 3,740 feet according to the website). And before the second break station, I didn’t think I could run any more (and we weren’t even half way finished).

I walked (and subsequently, Mitch walked–although I’m sure he didn’t need to) into that break station. I filled up on water and other hydrating liquids (they provide something with electrolytes in it–a CLIF drink I think). We walked up the huge hill after the rest stop and alternated walking and running more of the trail.

At some point, we came around a corner…and there was a final break station. I’m not sure anybody was expecting it. And there, I felt sick again. I couldn’t munch on anything (even boiled, salted potatoes….mmmm). BUT–I did re-hydrate again. Sprite. Electrolyte stuff. Water.

3.7 miles to the end they told us and we started out again. I put on my iPod to get me going. My favourite Dire Straights song started: Walk of Life.

AND THAT SONG is my running song. My pacing song.

I started going. And Mitch started going. We just started going. And going. And going. It was all down hill. We ran all the way to the finish line. We ran entire rest of the 3.7 miles to the pace of that song.

I felt I found my groove.

So, thank you Mitch. Thank you for helping me push my limits and be better than I thought I could be. Running further and faster than ever. Here’s to being on the trails in 2009.

For my Canadian readers…check out Mitch’s flickr stream. Today is one of those incredible days when it’s just great to be alive … and running on the Pacific Coast Trail just north of San Francisco.  It’s the 20th of December.

I’m spoiled. I know. But it really was an incredible day.

PS: I’m definitely going to get some real running gear next year. Definitely.

Madhatter, this is one of my favourite audio stories of all time. I had a casette tape (back in the day). But I just found it at Amazon.com and am tempted to spend the $5 to hear it again.

I am a Beethoven fan. Thanks for reminding me.

Oh. And on the Vivaldi note, I thought even mentioning the Four Seasons would send you into a musak tail-spin. I’m glad it’s on your list of approved, non-Wonderbread, under-processed mediocrity.

Do you remember the Palm Dairy Ice Cream commercial? I can’t find it online–yet.

I’m guessing you’re also not a fan of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor?

Right then Madhatter, introduce me to something that’s NOT the classical version of muzak. I am all ears.

I’ll still hold out for a VH1 episode of Songs from the 1790s.

I like this version of Pachelbel’s Canon. Actually, I like most versions of Pachelbel’s Canon, but this might be the only rap song I like. When you take a completely classical song–and make it your own–I think that’s a sign you’ve mastered your art.

There’s actually a number of rap versions of this song. Kudos to the artists. Like Picasso–who was a seriously talented artist before he started into cubism. He mastered an art form before he made it his own.

I hope I can do that with blogging.

It could end up in the toilet.

I just had an almost experience. And a lesson almost learned the hard way.

That’s all I’m sayin’.

The other evening, I had dinner with two guys who were into running races (marathon, adventure) and climbing mountains and in general, challenging themselves outside of a regular work day. I was impressed with their enthusiasm and I found their excitement infectious. It prompted me to start looking at the registration and guidelines for the Yukon Paddle Quest in June of 2009.

In Ottawa, I did a lot of paddling. In fact, one summer, I even built my own kayak. It took almost the entire summer to put together and finish but I finally got on the water at the end of August.

My kayak was a Roy Folland Sea Wolf touring kayak. We spent a week in Roy’s workshop putting together the kit and another month and a half finishing it in the garage.

Over the next few years, all I did–and wanted to do–was paddle in every bit of water I could find. We paddled on every lake and river and in every provincial and federal park. Up and down the Ottawa River. Algonquin. Frontenac. L’Esprit. Thousand Islands. Lake Superior. Lake Ontario. We took paddling courses. We took rolling courses. We took survival courses. We even went out to New Brunswick to take a course from Coastal Adventures. We paddled in the Bay of Fundy. We paddled in Nova Scotia. We paddled with our friends Glenn and Donna.

The best trip: The Saguenay paddling with bio luminescence and whales.

The coldest trip: One December morning. We started out from the Alymer Marina BREAKING ICE as we left.

The longest trip: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia

I sold  my kayak a few years ago. Thought I would buy myself another. Lighter. Faster. Better. Not so many strings. But I haven’t got around to a new one yet. Maybe I should put it on my plan for 2009?