earthquake

We experienced a nice little earthquake a little over two hours ago (here). Epicentred about 60km north of Ottawa, its estimated magnitude is 5.0.

Fittingly enough, I was sitting at my desk reviewing and tweaking some earthquake procedures when it happened. My home office being well above grade, the movement was considerable, so I scooped up the dog and headed for the basement. The shaking lasted at least 15 seconds.

I recall my only other earthquake experience (as far as I can remember). I was at work, sitting in the Langley BC office on the 2nd floor of a building of crappy construction. The place swayed like the dickens. To discourage us from running around or doing anything else untoward, our boss yelled at us to get underneath our desks. (I wonder how many people did that in Ottawa today?!)

The 2001 quake was 6.8 in magnitude, which on the logarithmic scale is 60 times greater than a 5.0. However, it was epicentred an hour south of Seattle WA, and at the distance from which we felt it, it was around a 5 for us. It felt worse than today's, but it definitely makes a difference what kind of building you're in and on what floor.

Ottawa is in the Western Quebec Seismic Zone, which actually has a quake every 5 days or so but they're not usually too big. Between 1980 and 2000, only 16 quakes were 4.0 or greater in magnitude. A 4.0 is 10 times less powerful than today's quake; it might be felt but is unlikely to cause any damage.

Still spring

Wow, two posts in one month! I should probably stop doing this.

Last week a law student friend finished all his studies and exams. To celebrate, a few of us had a guys' night out at a cigar lounge across the river in Gatineau. It may well be the only public place one can smoke indoors between Toronto and Montreal. Cigar lounges are the only establishments exempt from the indoor smoking policy.



It's a delightful little place with a nice view, complete with vintage leather chairs. A charming chamber to have a puff and a drink and to discuss the merits of the gold standard and such ballyhoo.

I read up on cigars to know what to buy, but I quickly realized it hardly mattered as the handful of cigars I've enjoyed hardly makes me an aficionado. Nonetheless, I decided upon a hand-rolled medium-flavoured Cuban.

I found a specialty cigar shop in Ottawa to check out my options. As it turned out, the options were plentiful but for the most part expensive. Buying one at a time (rather than a case of 25) doesn't help. Of course, neither does getting a parking ticket while you shop :(. Hopefully a cigar will never cost me that much again!

In the end I opted for a Montecristo No. 4. Apparently this is the world's most popular cigar, or at least close to it. I don't really see why; it smelled like cigar, not the "hints of chocolate and coffee and" bla bla bla. Perhaps the critics are just full of baloney. Or my palate has yet to be fine-tuned so a cigar won't just taste like any cigar to me... just like all red wines taste the same (gross). Unlike with wine, I'm willing to try to develop cigar-wise. I'll just have to get a humidor and a mustard-coloured tweed jacket to round out the hobby nicely.

Cheers and cheerio then!

Spring

So I came across this blog and wondered who on earth would keep a blog and not update it for over two months?! So now I'm updating it. I had thought that blogging once a month made for easy post titles, but it seems that blogging once per season is equally convenient!

I generally blog once we've gone somewhere, but we haven't left the city since our DC trip. What boring lives we lead. However, we have received some visitors in the meantime so things haven't been too lonely.

We had my sister and her family over in April. They took their two sick kids along, who sat around and puked for a couple of days. Those were the happiest sick kids I've seen in a while... Matter-of-fact remarks of "Mom, I pukeded again" were heard regularly that weekend.


Toward the end of May we hosted a young lady from Australia who was doing one of those crazy few-month trips that Aussies seem to enjoy doing. She stayed for a few days, just long enough to see Ottawa and Montreal, and she was off again.

In May we hosted a couple of old friends who were in town for an ARPA conference. It made for a couple of late nights and great conversation.

Last week Carrie's mom spent the week in Ottawa for a conference. She was quite busy but we got to see her most evenings and for a weekend. Her last day here ended a bit frantically, but she made her flight and that's all that matters...

A few days previously my eye started to feel scratchy, like some grit was stuck in it. This is nothing new; I'm always getting dust or eyelashes in one eye or another. It bothers me for a while and then it's over. But this time was different. It got rather red, and I noticed a whitish spot on my iris (the coloured part). After some urging and a sleep-deprived night or two, I made a doctor's appointment for the next Monday, but by only Saturday it was clear this was going to be an unpleasant weekend indeed.

Off I went to the walk-in clinic, wisely equipped with a nice difficult crossword puzzle. After 1.5hrs there I was told they could do nothing for me but I should certainly get myself to emergency. Sigh... So off I went to the hospital, fully prepared to spend all day there. I was fast-tracked (as was everyone else, it seems); they're very smart in moving you to different waiting rooms at various stages so it feels like progress of some sort. My stay was a mere 6hrs, but I must say that sitting there somewhat pain-free was much preferable to most people's situations there.

The doctor finally saw me and figured I had an ulcer on my cornea (transparent covering over the eye). It was serious enough that he tried to contact an eye specialist, from whom we then had to wait for a call-back; it was, after all, late Saturday.

Corneal ulcers aren't the result of stress. They're caused by an infection when a speck in your eye happens to damage the surface.

Here's the saddest picture I could find. It's after getting some orange dye put on my eye so they can see the extent of the ulcer damage using their magic machines. The ulcer is the little white half-circle to the left of the pupil.


The specialist called back and said to see him the following morning, which was Sunday. For all the apparent faults of our health care system, I can't complain about such service. I left the hospital and got some prescriptions filled, the tiniest eye drop bottles ever for $60.

In the meantime, the women had to get creative transportation-wise. I had taken the car to the hospital, and Carrie needed it to bring her mom to the airport that afternoon. So they took the bus (well, buses, which is what happens when you jump on the wrong one first) to the hospital and then drove back home to get the suitcase, and then finally made it to the airport. Everything worked out for them in the end.

So Sunday I saw the specialist at his office; he showed up for work just to see me, I'm that special. Then Monday and Tuesday he saw me again first thing, letting me jump the queue. Tomorrow I'll see him one last time, and that should be that. The ulcer is busy healing, and I'm down from 20 drops a day to 8.

And that was my fun eyeball story.

What's next? Carrie's brother and his wife are coming on the weekend for a few days. My (other) sister and her family willing be visiting in July. And we're going camping on the July long weekend. And we have to plan a road trip to Nova Scotia in August for a wedding there. So fear not, and expect at least four more posts before the year is out!

March

Blogging once a month is a fantastic way to go! That way I never have to think up a post title.

March was reasonably eventful. We didn't go anywhere February so it was high time we hit the road again. Off to BC we went for five days. Carrie's grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, an event we didn't want to miss. We spent our time as expected, visiting with family and friends and relaxing a wee bit.

Last week Carrie had a conference in Washington, DC. I couldn't decide whether to tag along or not, but she convinced me to go in the end. We'd kept an eye out for cheap flights, but with only a few days to go the options were severely limited, so we just got my flight using Airmiles.

We enjoyed five-star accommodations; it's always nice but I'm not convinced I'd ever want to pay for the extra you're getting: bigger room, comfier pillows, fancier bathroom... There wasn't even a coffee maker in the room! You'd think they'd at least do that to save us the trip downstairs where the free drinks are.



The hotel wasn't exactly close to the main tourist attractions, but a walk to the White House was under 15 minutes, so that was manageable.

Speaking of which, here it is... complete with a nice Suburban parked in front. Now that's a home!


The back yard is fairly big. What do you mean, I should be on the outside of the fence?!


The little angry men on the roof are ample reason not to scale the fence. I imagine they're itching for some action.


Just south of the White House is the National Mall. No, it's not a place to shop; it's a park that's two miles long, lined with memorials and museums and stuff... so rather central to tourism.

On the west end is the Lincoln Memorial. You might notice they borrowed architectural themes from ancient Greece and Rome.


Mr. Lincoln inside, forever lounging in his chair.


Looking east from the Lincoln Memorial. One of the only successful self-portraits of the trip.


Nearby is the Jefferson Memorial. (Yes, there are many memorials to many presidents in DC.)



The Washington Monument is near the centre of the Mall. By far the tallest structure in the city, it showed up in surprisingly many photos. There's an observation level at the top, but to go up you first need stand in line for a ticket, which -- if you manage you get one (they're in limited supply) -- indicates what time you get to go up. A whole lot of hassle and far too much time management for my liking.


Near the centre of the Mall strip, there's the main building of the Smithsonian, which is a whole slew of free museums and stuff for the touristy types. This main building is called the Castle. It looks purdy, but the city in general wasn't so colourful yet. The cherry blossom festival started that weekend, but we there wasn't much in bloom quite yet.


At the east end of the Mall is the Capitol building. Scads of student groups were taking tours there (well, pretty everywhere all the time) so that discouraged me from doing the same.


I went to the nearby Library of Congress instead, which has all sorts of exhibits to take in, including a large collection of Thomas Jefferson's personal library. I ventured to the National Archives, but the line-up there was too long, simply because of people waiting to see the Declaration of Independence that's on display there.

The concierge at the hotel had suggested that I check out the Old Post Office, which is currently a shopping/office complex that still has an old clock tower. The view from the tower is the second highest in the city, which was good enough for me. I got a shot of the Washington Monument, with the Pentagon in the background to its left (you'll see it if you click on the picture).


I had hoped to sneak into the FBI building, but the visitor centre was temporarily closed, so I had to settle for a walk-by. Perhaps my walking around the building twice got their attention, but that wasn't enough for an invitation inside.


One day I walked over to Arlington National Cemetery; just across the river in Virginia, it turned out to be quite a hike. Over 600 acres in size, this place is a maze of roads, paths, memorials and gravestones. There are an average of 27 funerals per day here. While I was there I heard at least two 21-gun salutes off in the distance.



A few key spots are major attractions such as JFK's tomb and memorial, the latter of which displays a number of his quotes.


Another day I went to the Pentagon, also in Virginia. I wanted to jump in a cab and say "The Pentagon!" because, well, how often does one get to do that? But taking the subway was cheaper, so I did that instead. Right at the Pentagon station there is a photography ban in effect. I walked around the perimeter a bit, even walked away a bit, but the "no photos" signs didn't go away. But then there was the 9/11 memorial site; photos are permitted there, so I took a shot of the memorial/building from there. Not that there's much to see anyway; so close up, all you get is a boring shot of one side of the building.


I saw more, and we went out for expensive dinners and whatnot, but if I don't wrap up this post now it'll never get done.