create your own personalized map of Canada
More fun with maps! :-)
They've got Canadian provinces and European countries up now. Here are mine.
Canada's first - I really have to get out to Newfoundland, and up north!
And here's Europe - I have *much* more to do here. :-)
Then, this is a map showing all the countries where people have visited my musical website! It's 101 countries, or 45% of the countries in the world. Pretty crazy!!
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Date: March 27, 2004
Time: 5:59 p.m.
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Okay, so Worlds are over! These were certainly some of the strangest Worlds ever. Some events were exceptionally well-skated, like the men, others were exceptionally poorly-judged, like the dance, and others were just weird, like the "streaker" during the women!
Overall, I only got 5 of my 12 predictions right, though I had 3 of the other medallists in my picks, just in different positions. Shen & Zhao's free skate was a highlight, as was Stefan Lindemann's - I was so happy for him! The dance I completely disagreed with - I love Denkova & Staviyski's free dance, and though Navka & Kostamorov are fine skaters, their program was just technically not up to the standard it should have been. I can't comment on Tanith & Ben's free dance yet, since CBC didn't show it! But their 5th-place finish is great - they've got lots of time to get to the podium yet.
After I posted about all the theatre coming to Toronto in my last entry, it was announced that We Will Rock You will be coming here next year as well, as part of the Mirvish season. That should be fun! And Frank Wildhorn's Dracula is coming to New York in the summer - I can't wait to see the cast for that one!
I really didn't do much this week other than watch the skating. Jenn and I are going tomorrow to see "Goodbye Lenin", since it didn't work out during the week. The party on Thursday was fun, but I didn't stay very late. The pool in my building was closed for renovations, so I didn't get to go swimming at all.
This weekend I am decorating for Easter, and doing some more work on my property course. The exam for that is in a week and a half, and I haven't even finished reading the book yet! Eek. My e-mail is back up past the 70 mark, so I'll try to get a bit done on that as well.
Susan and I bought our plane tickets to London! We ended up going with a different airline, which had a much better deal, but I'm sad not to be flying Air Canada - no Aeroplan points! Also, we went and got our passport pictures done, since we both need to get new passports before we go. Here's my picture - it's not great, but not terrible either. They wouldn't let me smile!
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Date: March 22, 2004
Time: 6:35 a.m.
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I thought I better put at least a quick entry in here before the World figure skating championships start tonight, and you don't hear from me for another week. :-) I'm a little sad I'm not there, since I had originally planned to be (they're in Dortmund, Germany), but the reason I decided not to go is that I'm going to go next year, when they're in Moscow! Yay, only one more year till Russia!!
Here are my predictions, we'll see how well I do this year:
Men
1. Evgeni Plushenko
2. Brian Joubert
3. Emanuel Sandhu
Women
1. Michelle Kwan
2. Sasha Cohen
3. Fumie Suguri
Pairs
1. Shen/Zhao
2. Totmianina/Marinin
3. Petrova/Tikhonov
Dance
1. Navka/Kostamorov
2. Denkova/Staviyski
3. Belbin/Agosto
If Emanuel doesn't medal, Canada won't have anyone on the podium, and it's been many a year since that happened, so I'm rooting for him even though I would much rather it be Jeff there instead!!
And I will be *so* happy if Tanith and Ben end up 3rd!! There's every indication from this season that it could happen, so I'm going to be very nervous watching them.
I spent my spare time this weekend finishing scanning the pictures from my 2001 trip to Europe. When I put up the photo album from my trip last year, someone commented that I didn't take many pictures of Berlin or Vienna. I told them that was because I had lots of pictures of those cities from the first time I went there, but then I realized that most of those photos weren't online! So, several weeks and over 300 photos later, I can present you with my Europe photo album from my first big road trip.
In terms of non-skating things, my plans for this week include a work party on Thursday that should be fun, and maybe going to see "Goodbye Lenin" (which is finally out in regular theatres) with Susan and Jen.
Some exciting news to conclude - Wicked is coming to Toronto!! It'll open next spring, so in the summer of 2005, we're going to have Mamma Mia!, The Producers, Hairspray and Wicked! Yay!! And, we also just got our first H&M store! Toronto's moving up in the world! :-)
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Date: March 16, 2004
Time: 7:08 p.m.
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Today I was officially unofficially given a promotion. :-) That is to say, I had been told some time ago that this was a distinct possibility, so today it was made official, but still in an unofficial capacity, until our HR department decides what they're going to call me and what they're going to pay me. :-)
Basically, what's going on is that they are creating a "team" out of all the people who do the same job that I do (there are six of us), and I am going to be the "team leader". Which means I get to be Susan and Karen's boss. ;-) I will still be doing a lot of the same stuff, but some extra things as well. And I have the power to call meetings! Which I have, for tomorrow morning. :-)
Anyway, it's not going to be a huge difference, I don't think, but it should hopefully make our day-to-day functioning a little smoother for all involved.
But, my real reason for updating is to share with you all pictures of "the Michael encounter" from Saturday afternoon. Pictures in order are: Susan and her mom on their way, two of Michael Smith "listening intently", Susan's mom with Michael, and then two of Susan's cat, Wilson, 'cause he's a cutie. :-) Enjoy!
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Date: March 13, 2004
Time: 3:54 p.m.
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That's weird, I was sure I had written another entry in here since the 5th. Guess I didn't though!
The past week has been full of two main things - finishing the unpacking (and buying my new TV), and making plans for the Scotland trip. We're very nearly done booking all our accommodation for that trip, and it's still more than 5 months away! Anyway, you can check out some updates at the Scotland trip site. Even if you don't visit that site, you should still check out Tulloch Castle, where we'll be spending the night - it looks so cool! (It better be for £150! Yikes!)
As for the unpacking, everything is pretty much finished now! I took some pictures earlier this week for my mom, but you can look at them too if you want. :-) (And take bets on how long it will be before Karen, Susan and Ian kill me for putting this picture of them up before showing it to them first!)
There's also a couple of new pictures of Tiger in the photo album! (Thanks to Jeremy for the first one, it's a great shot!)
I don't honestly have too much more to say - this week just flew by, and I didn't really do that much. I had supper at Susan's place on Thursday, and today she and her mother are displaying their devotion for Michael Smith at LifeFest downtown. I'll have updates on that later. :-)
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Date: March 5, 2004
Time: 7:08 p.m.
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I did a new survey as well, to really liven things up. :-)
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Date: March 5, 2004
Time: 6:27 p.m.
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I am writing this in my new apartment!! Sorry for the delay in updating, but I have been busy with unpacking and getting everything settled. But let's go back and recap.
On Saturday, Karen, Ian and Susan came over to my old apartment with a cargo van and some *fantastic* moving day hats for us all to wear. Here's a scan of them:
Looking the part, we packed up the van (took two trips) and drove across the city to the new place, where everything was piled into the apartment, leaving teeny tiny little spaces to get around. We then ate some great take-out from our favourite Thai restaurant, and then moved the furniture around a bit before Karen and Ian left. Susan stayed for a while longer and we went and bought a microwave for me, which turns out to be defective, and I need to return it. :-(
Anyway, the day went fairly well except for one major thing: I broke my TV. :-( Apparently TVs don't like to be dropped. It's still working, but the colour is all screwed, so I'll have to buy a new one.
But before that, I'm going shopping for clothes! Today I bought two new shirts and a new pair of shoes, and tomorrow I'm going downtown for the big shop! I can't wait! And then tomorrow night Susan and I are going to our favourite '80s night at a club downtown, so I'll be able to show off some of my purchases.
Last night Zorana and I went to see The Passion of the Christ. I must admit to being pretty confused about the whole anti-Semitism controversy. I didn't see that in the film at all. It *was* very violent, but I was prepared for it, so there were a couple of parts where I just didn't watch. Overall, I thought it was a fine movie, but nothing amazingly spectacular. I find King of Kings to be just as effective at telling the story of the Passion, and it includes all of the context of his life and teaching as well.
Speaking of Zorana, she and I are considering a different trip to replace our defunct Paris excursion. I won't say anything about it yet, I don't want to jinx it, but I hope it works out! It would be really fun.
I'm so disappointed - it turns out Pia Douwes *is* definitely doing Chicago on Broadway, but she's leaving on May 16, and I'm going May 21! I hate that I always seem to miss these things by just a few days!! Not fair! :-(
My mom has been having some health problems over the past week, so I was actually considering flying home this weekend, but I couldn't get any kind of deal on airfare, so I'm not. She'll be fine - they've diagnosed it now, she just has to have surgery in a few months, as soon as she can get it, but it's hard to be so far away.
Anyway, back to the apartment! Most things are put away now, and it's looking pretty good! It's still pretty small, but I'll get used to it. And I *love* my walk to work, it's fantastic! Not to mention it's just a great area to begin with - today was 12 degrees, so I went for a walk after work and stopped in all kinds of little shops and it was so nice. I can't wait for summer here!
I'm starting to get caught up on my email (I'm down to 102 messages in my inbox!), so if you've written me recently, hopefully I'll reply to you very soon. Hurrah for March!