erp

Have you ever stopped to think what is your emergency response plan in different scenarios? 

This morning, the fire alarm in our house went off at 5:21am.  Now, just the fact that I know exactly what time the alarm went off probably means that my head was not in "erp" mode.  I mean, my first instinct was to look at the clock.  Worse yet, Brian's first instinct was to go back to sleep!  I actually had to wake him up and say, "Brian!  That's our fire alarm going off!".

So, at that point, Brian bolted out of bed and headed for the door.  At some point the realization that he was in his underwear kicked in and he came back into the room and grabbed his shorts!  If there were a 5-alarm fire in your house, would you care if you were standing outside in your underwear?!  Actually, you're right.  I probably would!  I mean, we didn't smell or see smoke and it wasn't unusually hot in the house, so I guess we weren't REALLY in panic mode.

In the meantime, I was searching through the closet for my dressing gown (I was also in my underwear) and at the same time, my biggest worry was Nikita and what the sound of that piercing alarm was doing to her ears!  So as soon as I was dressed, I ushered the dog out the back door.  I don't know why I went out the back, considering our front door is 5 steps from our bedroom!  But I sat down one one of our chairs on the deck while Brian investigated.  No, I did not proceed to the yard, our of harms way - I sat on a deck chair - with the dog - on the deck - which is attached to our house - which could have been going up in flames!

Brian's first instinct was to go downstairs and wake up our tenant.  This was probably a good thing.  After he got the tenant up and saw that he was ok and the basement suite was ok, he went back into the house and found that nothing was on fire.  He then turned off the alarms.

Brian was able to fall right back asleep after that, but I, of course, wasn't.  I was doing a post-mortem in my head of all the things we did wrong and how we could have met a grizzly death had there really been a fire.  It has made me think that maybe it was time to sit down and work out details of an emergency response plan for several scenarios - fire, earthquake, etc.  It should be brainless, right?  The way you react in an emergency should be a reaction that doesn't require thought (because who knows whether you have time to think when you are panicked?!).  I would think that you need a plan in order to do that.

Which brings me back to my original question - Have you ever stopped to think what is your emergency response plan in different scenarios?

smelly cat

I need to add a disclaimer to this post to say that I swear I'm not trying to be mean! I'm just posting this so you can sympathize with my experiences...

I had the absolute WORST experience on the Skytrain today. I got on the train to go to work and it was still in rush hour. When I looked down the train, I was thinking, "how fortunate to find a seat!" There was only one seat left and no one seemed to go for it, so I headed for it. I noticed an overweight, dishevelled-looking man sitting in the seat perpendicular and in front of the open seat, but nothing really clicked...

I sat in the seat and was immediately overwhelmed by the smell. The man smelled HORRIBLE. I cannot even describe the smell it was SO bad. But I couldn't get up and leave the seat because I didn't want to insult him - isn't that the worst kind of guilt?! So, instead, I got out my magazine and held it in front of my face to try to shield myself from the smell, hoping desperately that he would get off the train soon and that I wouldn't puke in the meantime.

I sat there hoping that I would "get used" to the smell. You know how that happens, right? But it didn't on this occasion. When the man sat still, it seemed that the odour did not waft around my magazine, so I had several moments of reprieve. But, to add salt to a wound (I think for both the man and the people around him), he had Turret's syndrome - so, he wasn't sitting still very often. And everytime he had episode, the smell would waft and I would gag.

You know, I really felt sorry for this man. It was a sad state to see a person. But, seriously, I have never smelled something SO bad and just when I was starting to take the Skytrain more and more, I think I may have to take a break for awhile...

baby moon

We went for a "fun" ultrasound this past weekend at 24 weeks along. Our friend, Aileen, is an ultrasound technician and volunteered to do an ultrasound for us "just for fun". Thanks again, Aileen, for doing that for us! It was amazing - such a different perspective when a friend is talking to you and telling you what she sees. Aileen talked us through some of the diagnostic things she does and she spent alot of time just showing us the different baby parts! We saw Dop's mouth and arms moving and even though I couldn't feel it, Dop was kicking me over and over again! Man, the abuse!

So, of course, we went for this ultrasound to find out that one gender-defining part and we found out that little Dop is a boy! It is so exciting to know and it makes it so real for me! Yes, we have a name picked out for Dop, but no, we are not divulging the name until he is born. We'll continue to call him Dop because if I start to use his name, I'm sure I'll just blurt it out all the time!

I'll upload the rest of the ultrasound photos to Flickr, but here is a photo first for Dop - it's his first baby moon! Hehehe...


On another note, this morning, I felt Dop externally for the first time. I think it's a kick, but I'm not sure. All I know is if I put my hand on my stomach, I can see my hand move when he kicks! It makes me laugh everytime because I imagine this wee little baby in my stomach kicking me as if to go somewhere!

culinary disappointment

One of the things I miss most about living in Vancouver is knowing where to go to eat.  The restaurants in Vancouver change as quickly as the shoes in my shoe closet!  While we were living in Vancouver, it was so nice knowing where to go to eat from the plethora of restaurants of every different cuisine in every neighbourhood.

Last Friday, Brian and I found ourselves in the unusual circumstance of going out for dinner in Vancouver.  We were in the Broadway & Oak/Granville area and we just did not know where to go!  A friend told us that there was a new restaurant closeby on Broadway, so we headed there.

We knew from the cheesy valet parking and the patrons that were dressed-to-impress at 6:00 pm (!!) that this was NOT the place for us, but without other options, we found ourselves looking for parking.  It turns out that the place is a chain called Joey's Mediterranean Grill.  It is an updated version of Joey Tomato's in Coquitlam (which, were were told by the waitstaff, has also had a facelift and is no longer a pasta joint).

It reminded me of Cactus Club - the waitstaff is HOT, the menu offers a nice variety and it's all OK, but it is definitely not worth the prices!  And I'm still wondering why they call themselves a "Mediterranean Grill" when their dishes seem hardly Mediterranean, except for the dishes with the word "Med" or "Mediterranean" in them!

Anyway, I think I'm mostly disappointed because in the past, we definitely would have found something better.  Instead, in our once-in-a-blue-moon dining experience in Vancouver, we ended up in a mainstream restaurant that did little to satisfy my palette but at the same time cleansed my pocketbook.

my birthday in july

My birthday is in October, so I was completely shocked when I came home one day last week to a potted mini-rose plant and a birthday card!  I thought Brian was having some sympathy mum-dum episodes (hehehe...).  As it turned out, the card had Varekai tickets inside and that was why he was giving me a birthday in July.

We went to Varekai last Friday and, in short, it was amazing.  As with every Cirque du Soleil performance, you can't help but to "Oooo..." and "Ahhhh...".  In Varekai, the costumes were magical, the child performers were unbelieveable and, of course, the acrobatics leave you breathless.

In addition to Varekai, I have also seen Mystere and Alegria.  I can't tell you which one is best because they were all amazing in their own right.  All I can say is that a Cirque du Soleil show is a MUST for everybody.  You need to see at least one show.  And, it is a MUCH different experience watching it live than watching it on tv.

chivalry is NOT dead!

I'm 23 weeks pregnant now and I'm hoping that I look pregnant and not just fat.  But I realize that people don't want to assume that someone is pregnant because heaven forbid if they are wrong!  So, I guess I've been giving people the benefit of the doubt on the Skytrain (Vancouver's public train system) when they don't give up their seat, seeing a pregnant lady standing.  Brian, on the other hand is just appalled!  He believes that there is absolutely no reason at this point in my pregnancy that people do not give up their seat for me.  I've been pretty lucky on the Skytrain, though.  I guess my work hours are shifted enough that I'm not directly in rush hour and most times I've been able to get a seat. 

Today, however, I left for work a bit earlier and found myself in the middle of the morning rush.  By the time I got on the Skytrain, there was standing room only and it was pretty packed standing room at that!  So, I took a look around me and noticed that there were some young, able-bodied individuals (men and women) that were sitting down.  I looked down at my stomach and glanced at my reflection in the window.  I'm PRETTY sure I look pregnant.  I was feeling a bit let down that there was not one person on that crowded Skytrain that thought that I might need a seat!

A couple of stops went by and more people got on the train, so I was forced to keep moving down the aisle.  Just when I had given up the notion that people actually give up their seat anymore, the lady in front of me stood up and offered me her seat.  I thanked her and I was very happy to see that chivalry was not dead.  It truly made my day.

A couple of stops later, an elderly man got on the train.  I noticed that there was a girl in her late teens/early 20's that was sitting in one of the elderly and disabled seats by the door.  She looked right at the man and I guess it never clicked because she made no move to vacate her seat!  Eventually, a man got up and offered the elderly man a seat.  (I noticed that the man and the woman that gave up their seats actually knew each other.)  I'm sure that the kind gesture made that man's day as well.

I'm so happy to see that people still get up to offer their seat to others that might need it more.  It is a show of respect for others that my parents and Brian's parents taught us growing up and we will definitely be passing this lesson on to our kids...

posting photos...finally!

I finally bit the bullet and subscribed to a full Flickr account.  Take a look at the photos of the twins that mom Van Dop sent!

I can't believe how easy Flickr is to use!  I can drag and drop photos into my Flickr account or I can forward email sent to me with photo attachments directly into my account (check the Uploading Tools in Flickr).  You can set it up to automatically resize your photos too, so that you're not uploading photos are 1 to 2 MB each.

I highly recommend using Flickr to store your photos.  The only drawback is that Flickr does not support my blogger.  Some blog tools (e.g. Blogger) can be used in conjunction with Flickr.  I'm not sure what the benefit is, but it probably has something to do with the fact that I don't have to add links like the one above in order to see my Flickr photos!