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News Archives: 2007
9 December | September
29 | 14 July | 13 May |
8 April
9 December 2007
 In
renovation news (because what could be more exciting :-), our couches
finally arrived, along with a new lamp that also has a built-in side table.
The way things are arranged now, as Jean said, it finally looks as though
the room is furnished. What's left? Well, we still haven't hung the paintings
back up -- mostly a matter of deciding on arrangements, and considering
those that need space but aren't framed yet. I'd also like to get an area
rug for under the coffee table.
We also got the roof done--new shingles, plus some insulation.
That's a much less exciting thing to spend money on, but needed doing.
Mom and Dad visited back in October.
The main motivation was actually a reunion of Timmins friends with Kitchener
friends, so the first couple days, we didn't see much of Mom and Dad.
But then they stayed on through Thanksgiving weekend. On the Friday night
we had dinner at Peel Street Bistro in New Hamburg, on Robin's recommendation
and because we'd liked it at Taste Local, Taste Fresh. Everyone enjoyed
their dinner. Then we went to Stratford to see My One and Only.
It was definitely well done, but I'm not sure the tap-dance musical is
our favourite genre.
Michelle, Hugh, and kids visited here on Saturday (despite
us not having living room couches yet at that point). Thanksgiving
Sunday, we all gathered for dinner at Macphie's. It was nice,
as this group hadn't gathered for Thanksgiving in some time (or maybe
ever?).
On the 21st, we had a dinner party
with Kristi, Tim, and Karen/Herb. Still couch-less (you see why that was
my top news), we had to haul the family room couches up so people didn't
have to stand the whole time. I actually have details on my blog (http://cultureguru.wordpress.com),
but the everything went well. We did a multi-course Italian dinner kind
of thing, with matching wines.
The next weekend was a friends' dinner at Verses--almost
as good as my cooking (kidding!). That was originally going to be a pre-Symphony
event, but it proved too difficult to get good seats. See, still adjusting
to that new popularity. But feels like we haven't seen a Symphony show
in quite a while now, so maybe we'll try again soon...
The next day we went to Toronto to babysit and Jackson
and John. They were little terrors! I'm kidding. They were good, and everything
went well, despite a near-crisis when we couldn't get the DVD sound to
work. Thank goodness for Treehouse Television...
 Oh,
and then we saw Rocky Horror Show live, which I've also
blogged about! That was a hugely funnight out, and I just wish I'd recommended
it to more people before it closed.
The following weekend (November was busy), we went to
Bayfield for a wine dinner at the Little Inn there. Only
we got there to find out the dinner had been cancelled for insufficient
attendance. Apparently they hadn't taken our phone number with our reservation,
so couldn't warn us about that. What could they do for us? When we weren't
forthcoming with suggestions, they weren't either; we weren't too impressed
by that. We had dinner there anyway, and it was pretty good, but... Not
quite Verses, you know? Still, we had a nice day in Bayfield on Sunday.
It's a really nice little place, with interesting shops, and I got some
Christmas shopping done.
Work sponsors a half-day of volunteering, by having
those who want to help pack shoe boxes for delivery to children in poorer
areas of the world. Our task was to sort through boxes, separate out cash
donations, and remove anything that won't travel well. It was kind of
fun.
 The
second Theatre Athena performance this year was Wingfield on Ice.
I had been worried I'd find it too "hokey" for my taste, but
it was pretty engaging and not that corny. The lead actor, Rod
Beattie, is quite amazing in how he switches between the 20 or so characters
he plays during the two hours. Afterward we went out with Larry and Kelly,
and enjoyed some offerings from Solé's new tapas-like menu.
The next day we were off to Grand Bend for the ProResp
Christmas party. Jean's new office of largely maternity replacements
is young, man! I felt like a chaperone at the prom. But anyway, it was
a fun night of dancing and such. It's quite nice that they do pay for
everyone to stay over and all that.
David Gilmour came to town to promote
his new book, the Film Club, and I went to hear that. We spoke at the
Princess Theatre, and used some film clips as part of the discussion.
He's quite engaging, after being on TV all those years, and it does sound
like I'll have to add the book to my reading list. And a few movies. His
earlier novels also sound promising... He calls them his "dirty books".
Coming up--Agfa Christmas Party, book club (on Lionel
Shriver's The Post-Birthday World), and heading to Timmins for
Christmas.
Top
September 29, 2007
 OK,
now it's been so long since I last updated I kind of forget notable happenings.
I do know we went on vacation in the middle of August. We went back to
les Iles-de-la-Madeleine (sunset photo at left), but this time also with
Jean's Mom, sister, brother, and sister-in-law. We rented a house, which
was nice, and quite an economical option option. We did learn, however,
that it's much harder to organize six people to do something than just
two. By the time we'd be all ready, it would be lunch time! Nevertheless,
we did some stuff -- even a few things we hadn't done before, such a tour
of the Hydro plant. That was very interesting -- Hydro Québec's
whole sustainable philosophy, the extreme cleanliness of the place (quite
amazing), and why they can't quite get wind power to work there, even
though it's very windy. (In short, the population isn't big enough to
sustain it, given the current cost of the technology + the fact they aren't
connected to the larger Hydro Québec grid.)
We have some other photos
of the trip at Picassa.
The other big thing has been the living room renovations,
which we weren't smart enough to take before and after pictures of. We're
happy with how things have turned out, though. Kristi was kind enough
to join us for painting, which took just one day, albeit a long one. The
living room now is a richer beige tone, with one wall in brick red; the
hallway is a light brown colour. It all seems warmer, though it's also
darker. (We may have to bump up lighting eventually.)
Then Jean and I removed the living room carpet, and
Tim came over to help lay down hardwood flooring, in a medium beige maple.
That was two days of pretty hard work, but they did a good job. I, meanwhile,
was working on painting the bits and pieces, such as doors and trim, in
lighter beige. Jean and I continued that for a few weeks after, and also
shopped for new blinds and couches. The blinds are now installed (a bit
of drama there too, as the store didn't cut them for us properly, but
we managed), but we're still awaiting the couches.
The couch purchase was a bit funny. We went to the furniture
where we'd bought our last couches (really, love seats), and tested out
a bunch. But the ones we quite liked were just too expensive. A bit discouraged,
we went to another store and started testing those. At one point, we finally
hit upon a loveseat we both really like. Looked good, quite comfortable.
I looked at the price with trepidation, but it was reasonable. So we talked
the salesguy about them, as we kept looking at them, it finally dawned
on us. These were exactly the same as the loveseats we already had, only
in brown leather. So we're just getting two more of the same in a new
colour.
At least we're consistent, I guess.
People have been asking me how the KW Symphony
has been doing. Judging by their season opener concert, it looks pretty
good so far. We again did the "Pick and Choose" subscription
option, and had chosen that concert because it featured a performance
of Beethoven's Fifth. But it was part of the Signature series which, in
years past, wasn't well attended at all. So we didn't leave any too early
for the theatre.
Only, then we couldn't find parking anywhere. Even the
Centre in the Square parking was full, which I don't remember seeing before!
After some driving around under fears of not getting to our seats in time,
I remembered that some people park at the Kitchener Library, and that
worked well. It was only $1.25, and really close to the Centre. And we
got to our seats in time.
So yeah, big audience for this one, and the
new conductor definitely made it an entertaining evening. He's young and
dynamic and quite clever in programming; for example, doing a short, sparse
modern piece as intro the famous da-da-DAH! of Beethoven's Fifth.
Sylvie and Paul came to visit us last week, which was
nice. We met up at the house, then went out to Hannah's Bistro for tapas,
and to Whole-Lot-a-Gelata for dessert. Enjoyable dining all around, and
good to catch uip.
On the weekend, we went to the Taste
Local, Taste Fresh Food Fair at Victoria Park. About 20 restaurants
each teamed with a local food producer to present a tasting item. Tickets
were $55. They got a beautiful sunny day for it, which was great, but
it wasn't quite as fun as the Waterloo restaurant tour we'd deliberately
passed up this year. Still, we did get some tasty items, the highlight
of which was the smoked arctic chair from Peel Street Bistro, Solé's
truffle-topped Herrle's popcorn, and the calvados chocolate truffle from
Silver Spoon Chocolates.
Yesterday we went to our first play at Theatre
Athena. It was Master Class, which portrays Maria Callas
teaching students at Julliard. The Callas "character" is at
first really annoying, to the point where you're not sure you're
going to be able to stand the whole play. But then we get more insight
into her psyche—though the form of darkened asides while her recordings
play—plus deals with two students are more formidable in talent
and personality than her first. The second half was most rivetting, and
left both Jean and I both feeling that we should really see an opera!
If Opera Ontario doesn't go under, maybe we'll actually
do that in October. (They're scheduled to present Mozart's The Magic
Flute at the Centre.)
14 July
We took a little trip back at the end of May—though
it was close. Shortly before our planned departure, one of Jean's employees
became ill. It looked as though she might have to go on short-term disability.
Jean felt that, with her away, he could no longer afford to take a week
off. We were going to head up to Timmins for the wedding, then head back.
But he was overruled on that. His manager assured him
that they could send in staff from Toronto, if necessary, and that he
needed the time off now. (He has four maternity leaves in the coming years.)
So, we went back to the original plan, just with Jean checking on work
more often.
In Timmins, there were a lot of family gatherings. It
was the first time in 20 years that the whole Carbonneau clan (all 8 children)
got together, so everyone wanted to make the most of it. There were also
a lot of cousins I hadn't seen in a really long time. Friday night was
the rehearsal dinner, if you will, at a local restaurant. We arrived and
went straight to that, where it became a bit of a game to try to identify
cousins not seen in a long time. Also saw
Michelle, Neal, and both their crews—Michelle getting there despite
having had emergency appendectomy surgery earlier in the week.
The wedding itself was on Saturday. That proved to be
a freezing cold day, even with snow falling periodically. Of course, I
(like many) was in a pretty light dress; good thing everything took place
inside. Gilles and Terrie went with a New Orleans theme for their ceremony,
in the decorations, food—even in having us wear mardi gras masks
during the ceremony, and them "jumping the broom" at the end.
It was kind of neat. Food was enjoyable, and we had fun dancing afterward
as well.
Sunday was another gathering. (Jean was starting to
find it a bit much. Fortunately, I think, we stayed with his Mom this
time, so we didn't also have Carbonneau relatives dropping by there).
And Monday Frankie hosted everyone at her cottage, with the usual fantastic
food. Somewhere in there we also managed a quiet meal with Mom and Dad—maybe
it was breakfast on Tuesday.
At any rate, we then took off for Ottawa. We had ideas
of visiting the National Gallery, but somehow we didn't quite there. We
did do some shopping (I bought some cool shoes and purse) and had a fantastic
meal at the four-star Signatures restaurant. Jean's brother Peter (who
lives there, though not much longer) and sister France (who happened to
be in town for work) joined us. We all chose one or the other of their
multi-course meals with matching wine (Pete had the biggest option; Jean
and I shared the wines) and had a lot of lively conversation.
Then it was off to Montreal, where we stayed with Joanne
and Jon. This was work days, so we mostly saw them in the evening. As
a total contrast to Timmins, it was very hot and humid in Montreal; Jean
had to buy shorts. We still did a fair amount of walking around, and did
manage to get to a gallery here: Musées des Beaux Arts, where they
had a special Disney exhibit that was pretty interesting.
Our final stop on Saturday was the city of Cobourg,
where we stayed at an inn. It's a nice little town, and we enjoyed our
dinner at the inn. Sunday afternoon we were back in town and attending
our final Symphony concert of the year, on the theme of Women in Music.
With some of the maternity leaves ending and us adjusting
to the new content management system, things are a little less crazy for
me at work. Jean seems to be managing as well, despite a couple maternity
leaves now started and training three new contract employees (or is it
four?).
We've actually started in on the living/dining room
renovations—the yucchy prep stuff of removing wall paper, patching,
and so on. The plan is to paint next weekend (with the help of Kristi)
and put down hardwood the week after (with the help of Tim).
Last weekend we took a little break from that to celebrate
our anniversary, early, with a little trip to Port Stanley. (The first
idea had been Goderich area, but we couldn't get accommodations there.)
We took a scenic, circuitous route there on Saturday, stopping at a little
restaurant for lunch laughably labelled "Fine Swiss cuisine"
(chicken fingers?), and a beach at one of the Provincial Parks. Nice to
do a little swimming; it was a nice day.
At Port Stanley itself, we stayed at the Inn on the
Harbour, in one of their small rooms—which really was small, and
had a somewhat noisy air conditioner. Oh well. Our dinner at ME and Suzy's,
a restaurant specilializing in local cuisine, was very nice. The next
day we visited the town a bit more, then headed out to a neat craft store
out in the country, and to Rush Creek Wineries, where we broke our vow
not to buy any more sweet wines. But they were so good...
This week Jean had a frightening episode of extreme
pain on one side. He called me to join him at home; by the time I got
there, he'd already called for an ambulance. It arrived shortly afterward
and I followed it to the hospital. They were able to take him in pretty
much right away, and give him something for the pain. The doctor examined
him not too long afterward and said it appeared to be classic symptoms
of kidney stones, but they'd need a CT to be sure. He had that test, and
more morphine, and we waited.
The drug definitely seemed to work, but to our surprise,
the CT showed nothing. The doctor said possibly he had already passed
the kidney stone, or that it had actually been a back spasm. She expected
he would keep getting better, but if not, to come back. But anyway, so
far he has been getting better.
Top
13 May
Saw some excellent Symphony concerts in the past month.
On April 10 was the "Season launch", a special concert meant
to introduce the new conductor. I bought tickets just a few days before
and ended up with a seat front row centre, so I didn't think it would
be that busy. Wrong! It was pretty much a sold-out show, and I got to
my seat just in time (wasn't expecting so much traffic), which is a bit
embarassing when you are front row center. Still don't know how I got
that seat—someone important must have cancelled at the last minute.
At any rate, it was a very enjoyable performance. The
different types of subscription packages were introduced with a sample
from each. There were guest performances by singers, sax players, CBC
radio hosts... And the new conductor is very young, handsome, personable,
and extremely enthusiastic about the music. Hopefully the shot in the
arm the symphony needs to boost numbers.
The next day we went to see what turned out to be the
best Jeans'n'Classics concert of the season so far: the music of the Beatles,
including the entire Abbey Road album. They had four impressive singers
trading off on the various songs: Rik Emmett (from Triumph), Alan Frewe
(Glass Tiger), Jean Meilleur (long-time Jean's'Classics performer), and
the guy you had done the Billy Joel show. They were also backed up by
two of the women of the Ladies of the 80s show. At any rate, it was all
just stunningly good.
Finally, at the very last minute, we decided to go see
the Montreal Symphony Orchestra when they played here. Boy, are we glad
we did. They played Beethoven's seventh symphony, a number of Rossini
pieces (including William Tell Overture), and an original Canadian composition
that attempted to tie both composers together. Some songs also featured
an excellent Tenor. The crowd was wildly appreciative, and the Symphony
even did encores—which I'd never seen before. Not to be missed if
they come to your town.
We've done a little visiting—a nice dinner at
Karen and Herb's, and Easter dinner at the Macphie's. Mom and Dad also
visited recently, which was nice. They saw two plays at Stratford, finding
both excellent (Oklahoma and To Kill a Mockingbird). We had dinner here,
and at Macphie's, and also introduced them to Hannah's Tapas bar, which
they enjoyed. Next weekend we're up to Timmins for Gilles and Terrie's
wedding, then we'll continue on for a little vacation to Ottawa and Montreal.
In terms of our living room, we're leaning toward doing
the work ourselves (more Jean's idea), but we need to figure out when.
I think we have lighting issues to work out as well (hallway lighting
would need changing). We've done a little yardwork, but just maintenance
stuff—nothing that would really change the look of the yard. We
do want to put in another garden at some point.
8 April
January was relatively uneventful. We did see a somewhat
fun KW Symphony concert built around music for Shakespearean plays. We
also went to Toronto to celebrate John's birthday, travelling up with
the senior Macphie's. We also finally decided what to do on our February
vacation, which ended up being a guided bus tour of Costa Rica. That required
some preparation in the form of hepatitis and flu vaccines, but of course,
we didn't have to bother with hotel bookings or those sort of details.
Overall, the tour was a good experience; I have a
page about it here (another to come) and Jean's
side also has a less wordy version. We met some interesting people
and it's definitely saw some unusual sights and wildlife.
The one down side to the tour was that it implied a
whole lot of buffet "dining", which isn't our preference—particularly
at one hotel, where the food was just bad all around. We somewhat made
up for that on our return by a lot of dining out. The day after we got
back, we went to an Electric Thursdays/Wednesday edition concert with
Tim and Kristi (no, we weren't trying to set them up), which we preceded
with dinner at Art Bar. Food was just fine, though again the service was
strangely slow for a restaurant that ought to be geared to getting diners
to their seats on time (as the restaurant is in Centre in the Square).
The concert itself was Ladies of the 80s,
and we all had a lot of fun with it.
The following week our neighbourhood association had
a Vintner's night at Solé that was just excellent.
Solé's forte is the special dinner with matching wines, and the
association kicked in part of the cost, so it was definitely a good deal.
Also worthwhile to meet a few neighbours! A few days later was another
wine-matching dinner, this time at Lucy's Seafood. We were a little leery
of this one, as Lucy's isn't as well known for fine dining, and they were
attempting dishes such as risotto and duck. But we were pleasantly surprised
at just good a job they did with the food. The wine matching wasn't quite
as successful. No huge mismatches, but definitely a sense that it wasn't
always the ideal association of tastes.
We finally met with the decorator who
helped us with our kitchen back when we redid that, this time to talk
about our living room. She helped us select color for the hardwood floor
and paint colours for the walls. They are beige now, which is just seeming
dull; she's suggesting more of a taupe on most walls, with a kind of pale
rust on the one wall for punch. So, now it's a matter of getting quotes,
materials, and deciding whether to do the work ourselves or pay someone
to do it. Jean is actually tempted to try to do it ourselves. I can see
the cost benefits, but I'm somewhat concerned about how long it will drag
out then, since (realistically) we'll only make progress on weekends.
So we'll see.
For my birthday this year, on the Friday we went to
see a very talented violinist perform with the KW Symphony, then Saturday
we went out for dinner, trying Kristoria's in Guelph for the first time.
It was pretty good food, but some almost comical service glitches, such
as pouring regular water into our bottled water and setting the wine bottle
out of reach but not remembering to refill it. Oh well. I also did a little
clothes shopping, getting a couple new pairs of pants, a shirt, and a
gold leather jacket.
Jean's birthday had a similar approach, though we had
to celebrate it early, because otherwise it conflicted with our trip to
Boston. He choose to Verses for dinner, no surprise, and bought himself
a little something at the Wood show. (I can't even tell you what it is.
Some kind of tool.) Near there we also went to another Electric Thursdays/Wednesday
show, this time with Cathy and Graham, and including dinner at Del Dente's.
This show was the Music of Billy Joel, and it was also
quite enjoyable. The singer kept apologizing for doing more obscure, but
I was thrilled to see my personal picks of "Goodnight Saigon",
"Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", and "Where's the Orchestra?"
covered. The singer had a good voice, especially rich in the low register.
And we're recently back from Boston,
where I had to go to attend and speak at a Content Management Strategies
seminar. Jean decided to come with me so we could both visit the city.
We stayed at Michelle and Hugh's the night before and flew there Saturday
morning. That was a nice day, and all the travelling went well, so we
had a good amount of time to walk around the city. We followed the Freedom
Trail route—basically a path to various historical sites—stopping
in at some, like an old grave site and Paul Revere's former house.
We also visited the shopping area, gawking at the Picasso's
for sale (really!) and taking advantage of shopping at Victoria's Secret
without the shipping and duty costs (that would be mostly me, though Jean
didn't really mind the scenery—of both merchandise and patrons).
The Sunday was a bit rainier, so we attempted to use
the Boston subway system to visit the John F Kennedy Library and Museum
and the Museum of Fine Arts. We did manage to get to both, but that was
despite the challenges of the subway system, enhanced by some lines being
down for security checks. And we learned that you can't necessarily just
turn around and go back the other way for free. So the journey wasn't
so great, but both destinations were worthwhile. The JFK Center exhibits
are very well done, and the Museum of Fine Art has some nice collections,
and also features an unusual amount of fine furniture on display—kind
of different.
We had some good meals while we were there: fine Chinese
dim sum, some quite good Japanese sushi (especially the California rolls),
nice French bistro cooking, and we tried the local Legal Seafoods. Some
very good items there, but also a few disappointments, such as crab cakes
with way too much mayo.
My presentation at the conference went well, I think.
It was mostly to demo our hosted content management system—I was
joined by someone from the company. And I also learned a lot by attending
other people's presentations. Jean flew back Tuesday morning and I returned
Wednesday afternoon.
The weekend after that, we trained into Toronto to attend
a performance of We Will Rock You. Tickets to that were
a birthday gift from the family. We Will Rock You is a musical built around
the music of Queen (so, not the Queen story or a Queen tribute, exactly).
The show was a lot of fun. It was a large enough extravaganza to fill
the beautiful Canon (formerly Pantages) theatre, and featured singers
talented enough to tackle the Queen songs—including Suzy McNeil
from Rock Star: INXS. The script captured the Queen in not taking
itself too seriously—quite a bit of humour in it—and in inviting
audience participation. Heck, I'd see it again.
The cats have continued to develop
nicely, becoming less nervous and being quite affectionate. We did take
McSteamy into the vet to check on some scabbing near his ear. The vet
didn't have too much concern about that, as it seemed to be clearing up
on his eyes, but he did remark that the cat had quite bad gingivitis for
one so young. So we made an appointment for a teeth cleaning, and asked
that they also check his right ear while he was there, since he seemed
to scratching at them a fair amount.
To everyone's surprise, really, he had to get five teeth
pulled as part of the cleaning, and he also had a severe ear infection
in both ears. He's recovering from all that well, but now he's on antibiotics
and ear drops for a couple weeks, and it's a bit of a battle to give him
his medicine. Then he'll need a recheck.
Jean once again has four employees expecting, all leaving
within about four months, and he doesn't really know what he'll do to
cover things (though he will have permission to hire contractors). At
my work, we're still muddling through despite our three maternity leaves,
the several new contractors, and our new tools.
See also: News from 2006
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