Bits and Bytes

Am going to be travelling over the next few months. This morning when I woke up, I thought of something I could do to make things a little bit easier while I was away:

Hi Mum, I know you are leaving for Switzerland on Tuesday, and I’m pretty pleased with myself that I remembered to get you a card for Mother’s Day. But there is no time to send it, so–I’m posting it for you. Does this really exist??? I know Dad would make one for you if you …

I have been occupied lately. Trying to make big life changes. Can’t really write about them yet, but I will. In the meantime, I’ll tell you a joke my mother told me the other day. I think my dad called me up to see how I was doing and then put Mum on the line …

I spent three days last week with my Mum and my sister Nat in Vancouver. We rented a car. My mum originally counseled me not to rent a car: “There’s a lot of traffic Jennifer. A lot of traffic. And there will be all of these one-way streets. You don’t want the bother. We’ll use …

My dad phones me up later in the week. He’s disappointed. “Those sheets are defective.” “Defective, Dad?” I ask. “How can sheets be defective?” “There’s no Ken more in the bedroom.”

My dad pops up on video Skype. Whenever he logs onto the computer, he checks email, then he checks to see if I’m online. If I’m online, he clicks and dials. “Onscreen!” I mimick every time I answer the call. “Onscreen!” Click. And my dad’s video appears. “Jennie.” He’s laughing. He’s usually laughing. “Jennie. Your …

What do Bridget Jones and I have in common? We’re both single, 30-somethings. Singletons I believe she calls it. I don’t live in London. But I do live in Healdsburg, California. Not quite the same thing, I know.  She chronicles her love life, her obsessions with alcohol and cigarettes, and just general life commentary. I …

I ran my first marathon last Sunday: The Napa Valley Marathon. I started trail running last October with my friend Mitch from ClimbingAndRunning.com. I started with just a few miles a week. Five miles maybe. By December, I ran my first race (17K). At the end of that race, I though, “Hmmm. I think I …

My sister sent this bear warning to me today. She’s somewhere in South America right now. I’m sure she found it somewhere on the internet. You can’t make these things up!

Last week, I published my list of 25 random things about me. And did all the appropriate tagging in Facebook. I couldn’t tag my friend in Yellowknife though, she’s not in Facebook. I tagged her through my blog and yesterday, she sent me her list. When this post feeds into Facebook, I’m going to tag …

I don’t know. Really. I don’t. But I do know that I think I got eight blog hits from the search phrase:   “what do you do when your pants are stuck to your knees because of frost bite” You found my category: All about my butt.  I just want to say that I don’t …

No really. As much of a havoc the weather is wreaking in the rest of the country (and Canada), not having rain here is a catastrophe. A disaster. Some people aren’t complaining, but they’re not growing our food–and–errr-wine. Maybe if we play a song:

And what you do give them, hold them accountable. ’nuff said.

My dad pops up on Skype video now. My computer rings and every time I click the red telephone to answer, I say: “On screen.” And the video starts. The other day, my Dad appears on screen and he’s pissing himself laughing.  “Jennie.” He snorts through his snickers. “Jennie. I’ve decided to adopt a dog’s outlook …

[EDIT] I revoke my poem. I knew the opening four lines, but NEVER studied the text–until now! GOOD GOD…Why didn’t somebody say something???? Horrors! My intentions were honourable though. Completely. AND I had that scene from Dead Poet’s Society in my head, where the student stands on his desk as the teacher is leaving…and starts …

Well. Sometime in January, I usually look at what I did last year,  and I make a game plan for the next year. I have a few friends who do this on their birthdays. I have another friend who does this at New Year. I like to take the entire month of January and reflect. …

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 …

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 …

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. Being single…tonight I can’t decide if it’s good – you know, open to new excitement or just thinking that being single sucks – why don’t some people just smarten up …

Rabbit of Seville, featuring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd (1950) @ Yahoo! Video

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 …