Falling behind

I tend to like blogging more when there are pictures to build monologues around. Unfortunately the camera doesn't get used much, even on the odd occasion when we do take it to some worthy event. As a result, boring text posts will have to suffice once in a while.

We visited some friends in Trenton a couple of weekends ago. Trenton is about a 3-hour drive southwest of Ottawa, on the north shore of Lake Ontario. A guy we knew from our Halifax years is based at the Canadian Forces base there, as is his wife. They have a nice big house with lots of space for guests (I'd forgotten how much more real estate you can get for your money when you don't live near a real city). That was a good thing because they were also hosting his parents and sisters and their dog and had just finished hosting her parents.

We had a great time, despite going to the beach one sunny afternoon. Daisy had an equally great time, entertaining herself with her fellow hound dog and being spoiled by doting girls. The other guest dog, some big lazy beagle or something, didn't quite see things her way and was not in the mood for playing; he just put up with her scampering and/or tried to ignore her. Daisy also had her first cat encounter; they were thoroughly unimpressed and made that quite clear with their hissing. If they hadn't been sequestered for the duration of the visit, some fighting would certainly have taken place.

Then this past Sunday we went to some friends for dinner. They have a young cat, and we were interested to see how he and Daisy would get along. Well, Daisy the dog and Caramel the cat playfought for a few hours, and they seemed equally matched and equally entertained. No claws or hissing or growling or barking, just lots of wrestling and jumping and running tackles. Great fun to watch. Of course Daisy will now assume all cats (a) are fun and (b) won't slice her nose to shreds at the first possible opportunity. Wonder when that will happen.

Yesterday we got her some new toys. Her year-old stuffed turkey is no longer stuffed and hardly resembles a turkey. She now has a stuffed deer to kill; may Bambi put up as good a fight as the turkey did.

And we got her dried pig's ears for treats. We don't give treats often, so she goes wild when she gets a good one. The pig's ear seems to be her favourite yet. We gave her one yesterday, and as I always do I tried to take it away from her in an attempt to make sure she still has manners. Well, I was a little surprised when she growled at me for the first time ever! Not cool. So I gave her something to think about. Flying across the room may not seem to take long, but dogs no doubt find it sufficiently long to contemplate the error of their ways. Just kidding, just a well-weighted swat. I tried the same routine 10 minutes later and got a much-diminished growl. She received another (undiminished) swat. And that was that; I'm betting she won't ever growl over her treats again. As the old adage goes, I guess training a dog is like riding a bike: if a dog growls at you along the way, a swift kick should send it packing!

Macy's

So maybe you've heard of the American department store Macy's. Kind of like the Bay but a tad more upscale. So we were in Seattle last month checking out the downtown are, and we came across a Macy's.

Carrie had been looking to buy a watch for some time since her previous one gave up the ghost, but there are very few styles she likes. She'd sourced a few in Canada but they were a little expensive. So when we saw the right style at Macy's, and since such things are cheaper across the border, we decided to buy it. There was a 10% off sale that day, which was nice. Then as a greater incentive, one could get another 15% off if one got a Macy's department store credit card. I didn't like the sound of that but 15% off is 15% off so we did it anyway. Fine, great watch, great deal.

A couple of weeks later I decided to see how I might pay the Macy's bill that should be arriving soon. I didn't like what my research dug up:
- to pay online, it must be from a US chequing account;
- paying by mail must be done with a money order in US funds;
- one can always pay in-store... if one can get to a store;
- last resort: get a friend who lives in the States doing the paying for you.

These were not great options. Even worse was reading about Canadians who didn't get their bill in the mail soon enough to send out a payment before the due date. And there are late fees. On top of the robbery that is the 24% annual fee (for those who for some reason carry a balance), there's a finance charge of $2 if you're late. I guess that's a processing fee of sorts. The real late fees are from $15 to $39 (depending on the balance outstanding) and are charged up to twice per monthly billing cycle! Who even gets away with that?!

Oh, and the finance charge apparently appears on bills regardless of whether you've failed to pay on time or not; officially you don't have to pay the charge unless you're paying after the due date. Of course that's not made clear, and people will likely opt to pay it first and ask questions later. This gimmick probably adds a couple million dollars to the company's cash flow. Not cool.

Anyway, after learning all this I jumped on it. We took the only feasible route and paid $6 for a money order and mailed it out, while also phoning them to let them know it was on the way. A bit of a hassle, but in the end we paid on time and now have a nice watch at a considerable discount. Plus $6.

And we cancelled the evil card.

Niece

A big congrats to Carrie's "little" brother and his wife who just had their first baby. Carrie's finally an auntie... from her side of the family. May there be dozens more...

That also makes Mom and Dad D new grandparents. Congratulations Opa & Oma! Or is it Grampy and Grammy? They can't just be called Grandpa & Grandma... that's so commonplace. Decisions, decisions.

Lately

Ahhh... August. The time of year when I really look forward to winter. Even more so, that is, than during the preceding three months. This would be because I would much rather go out and enjoy the great outdoors in the winter than during summer. Not that it's been much of a summer. Ottawa finally just had its first heat warning this week, so that comes a little later than most years.

Most people tend to think of water and swimming when things heat up. I'm not one of those people. On a hot summer day, water is good for drinking and that's about it. They say I'd think differently if I knew how to swim, but I'm not convinced. First, I can stay afloat for a solid two minutes before succumbing to gravity; does keeping one's head above water not constitute swimming? Second, knowing how to swim does not make the temperature of water any higher. Hot tubs are nice to relax in, but preferably when the ambient air temperature is below freezing. And I can handle warm indoor pool water since it's 'nice' and warm, but I wouldn't say the idea excites me. But outdoor bodies such as lakes? No thanks! I don't require the "refreshing" feel of cold water on a hot day; if I must be outside I'll just sit back and acclimatize (usually with jeans on). You don't need to understand, just know that I'd much rather step into my snowboard boots than my Speedo.

So a couple of weekends ago, we went with some friends to a beach. The beach is in Gatineau Park and costs money if you're driving. And it's almost hour away... considerably more if you count the ridiculous wait to get in that day. Everyone and their dog seemed intent on hitting the beach, no matter the inconvenience. Maybe it's the Houstonite in me, but if you have to wait in line for something, it better be really worthwhile. And beaches are very near the bottom of my 'worthwhile' list. To make matters worse, there was only one drive-through pay booth and no walk-in one. But I wasn't alone, so for the sake of all those present, I didn't complain too loudly. Upon asking a park attendant about the busy-ness, he assured us he'd never attempt a beach visit on a nice day like that day; he also stated that parking was a problem and if it got much busier they might have to close the gates for the day. Ughhh. But once we were in, it was surprisingly easy to find a parking spot and a picnic spot; it probably helped that it was near or after 4pm by that point and people were starting to leave.

The whole ordeal reminded me of Cultus Lake in the Fraser Valley. People enjoy the experience of long car line-ups to get in, crazy packed beach areas once there, and ridiculous traffic to get out. I can honestly say that I much prefer relaxing at home to all of that. But that's just me.

What else did we do? We visited people's campsites a couple of times. That's a nice way to get out for an evening and not have to do all the packing for camping. We'll probably go camping sometime yet ourselves at the end of the summer.

A couple of weeks ago was the Ottawa Busker Festival. I'd never been to a proper busker festival before, but I expected a whole lot of random street performers vying for crowd attention. That was not the case; the festival was held on one street downtown, with scheduled performances at five intersections. After 18 years, the festival has become quite the event, but I was more entertained than impressed. Perhaps in the interest of maximum income, they had a system and stuck to it. Each act had an hour time slot, and in general each would do progressively better stuff over the course of the hour with the promise of a grand finale. But too often the grand finale, while perhaps technically most difficult, was not near as astounding as much of the rest of the act. All this, along with numerous pleas for cash (including a "we aren't beggars, and by the way we think we're worth this much from you" speech right before the finale), failed to impress me. But in all, acts were entertaining enough (and free!).

Fire was a very common theme for performers. This act from Australia was particularly nice. A little late in the evening for the photos though.


Some local acrobats.


A talented artist, one of the few side shows.


Another weekend we attended an outdoor orchestra performance. Ottawa had its third annual Orchestras in the Park, which is a few evenings of free outdoor concerts. This is a nice way for people to enjoy the orchestra when they otherwise can't afford -- or can't be bothered -- to attend orchestra performances. It was quite well attended the night we were there, despite the threat of rain. We enjoyed two Beethoven's 'fifths' (symphony and piano concerto). Although the sound is obviously not of indoor quality and visibility depends whom you're stuck behind and whether that person brought a higher camping chair than you did, it was a decent experience; adding to the fun was some friends' one-year-old who kept us entertained with her antics.

Incidentally, we just bought a pass (five shows) for the NACO, Ottawa's own orchestra. We topped it up with a Messiah performance as it's been a few years (Halifax '04 or so) since we enjoyed one of those.

Last week we hosted (and made) some new friends from Guelph who wanted to check out Ottawa. They stayed a couple of nights and saw some of the key tourist sights. Perhaps we'll have to visit them soon and see the sights of Guelph (are there any?).

I'm so low on pictures (as I'm sure you've noticed above) I'm going to borrow one they sent me; with luck they won't hunt me down for posting this :).


This past Wednesday we went to a Thai restaurant for dinner with eight friends. The food was delicious, and the Thai beer was very drinkable. With rice and sautéed dishes galore, it was the kind of meal you'd expect to eat with chopsticks, but no such luck: apparently in Southeast Asia the only chopstick users are the Vietnamese. I guess now we know for next time.

That's all I've got.

Vanderveen out.