Sands Sensation

I am off tomorrow to the tar sands of Calgary. Be interesting. These are the stuffs that is making Canada the Saudi Arabia of North America.

Meandering

Things are looking up a bit on the work front. Don't quite feel so lost now. Making some small inroads and getting people's attention. Slowly foisting myself into teams and meetings so people know to engage me. That's always been my forte - worming myself into events and projects and things going on so I can leverage what others are doing and avoid reinventing. But am having some difficulties connecting with my managers to discuss plans. This job is really not what I envisioned at all. I hope it is my last lateral move.

Week before last, the Half Man (although more like three-quarter man now) and I remembered to go to the first outdoor summer concert at Central Park. I like the atmosphere at these events. But we were not dressed for the evening cold and the wind was strong, eventually driving us home way before the concert ended. Then last week, we were too busy house hunting and I forgot about the concert till it was over. Must remember to go this Sunday. Last week's theme was California Dreaming. Pity. It would have been enjoyable. A year ago, the mom, aunt and sis were here and sis, I and the kids went. I miss having them with us.

Summer is the best for fruits. Cherry season is drawing to an end and I have not had my fill yet. Love them.

Weather's kind of freaky. Some days are actually chilly and others are hot. Today is stifling. The kids are out so it is quiet and kind of relaxing. They need to get out and socialize more. Especially the Half Man. His routine, if you leave it entirely to him, is an unvarying one - hours of immobility in front of the com with hardly any human interaction or muscle movement except for the fingers. Pretty sad way to spend time in America.

I have very negligent in downloading the videos we took to the com or drive and posting them. Don't understand the lethargy. Must be the long lazy days of summer. Next week I will be going to Calgary. Should be interesting.

Sad

Have not blogged for a while. Seem to be losing steam. The fire is smouldering, dying down a little. Unlike the 1000 or so fires raging all across California. Partly due to a spurt of self doubt and lingering resentment. Partly due to laptop being perenially hijacked by very addicted offsprings who seem to live in cyberspace to the detriment of their muscular health.

We have been searching the rental market - get a sense of what's out there. Not very fruitful and rather disappointed with the results so far. Opportunities to cut down some to fund the college kid are not looking so bright. Maybe we'll just stay put or maybe look for something in the same range. Seems there is a wide gulf between condos and homes for just a little more - you get so much more space and amenities per $ of rent. Weird. Probably because of the upsurge in apartment rentals due to sub-prime. I can only guess.

So smitten by uncertainties and even fears. Don't know where to head and how to handle. What lies ahead? Where is the right direction? What paths to take? So many questions, with no answers in sight.

We are big fans of the various home and reno shows on TV here. It makes us envious to see beautiful homes going for a fraction of what it would cost in the Bay Area. Pity.

Have been very lethargic lately about posting and putting on the pics. Will try and do so soon.

Sweltering

It's hot, hot, hot and going to get hotter, hotter and hottest. Whew!

Moaning

Got to get out of the house and do something useful. This is insane, to be holed up in the house while the sun shines outside and daylight hours are long and inviting. How inane can we get to waste the hours of summer doing what is best left for the short cold days of winter? My car needs a wash and with the restriction on home washing because of the drought, I got to get to a car wash. But I can't get the one out of bed where she languishes playing with that silly gadget and the other up from the floor where he languishes with my laptop watching some silly cartoons and occasionally playing twirl on facebook. Oh, for some energetic outdoorsy type of kid...

Stifling Summer?

I have not blogged for ages. Mostly due to apathy and the all-consuming absorption with job transition, home and heath. Much has happened and nothing has happened. Summer hols are here for the kids and so it is daily gripe over computer games and boredom and the usual litany of "i am not going out..." for one and "curfew, yeah right..." for the other. Where is the happy medium?

We have no plans for the summer since we scratched the trip to Palm Springs that was supposed to happen next week. It was a bad idea to plan it for July - temperatures are well into the triple digit zone and we would have sweltered and withered under the relentless sun. Golfing would be suicidal. That is now going to happen in the cooler month of November.

Yesterday was Fourth of July and we did the mandatory visit to Central Park to spend some hours with the crowd celebrating America's birthday. The highlight of course was the firework display which was much better this year than last. To our delight, the Man came with us and we sat on the two portable chairs I bought cheap at Lucky supermart just a couple of weeks earlier and the two stools from last summer in Vancouver. Those are proving to be good value for money too. I can't wait for the summer concerts to begin so we can lounge out on the slopes of Central Park and enjoy summer while it lasts. Too soon, the days will start to get real short and cold.

This is definitely a year of change for the ol' US of A. The high gas prices are likely to result in some fundamental shift in the American way of life, at least, in the penchant for gas guzzling trucks and SUVs and the suburban lifestyle. You can see more condo's springing up - maybe this is a precusor of a long term trend for people living closer to where they work. The presidential election will be an interesting event to watch - it will be history in the making. People are staying home more and you can tell car prices are already taking a hit. Home prices are softer but not soft enough in this area to make it feasible for us to consider anything but renting. I cannot see myself living from paycheck to paycheck like we used to simply because of a dream to own a piece of real estate. The employment situation too is not looking so good. Let's hope America does not slide into a recession. For selfish reasons too. I am not ready to go back...

The weather is gonna get hot this coming week. I can just feel the lethargy setting in already. Today is just so lazy, a day of lying around, too inert to do anything with the heat just on the edge of beginning to get stifling. Everyone is just doing his/her own thing, ignoring each other because the slightest interaction would potentially explode into irritation - it is just a tad too hot to be cool to each other. Ahh, the long lazy irritable days of summer...