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January, 2005

  1. Big Day in the Big Apple

    January 31, 2005 by Gail

    high in the sky over Manhattan

    WHERE’S GAIL?

    After a rough and tumble week of packing and moving, I finally got my sorry carcass on Air Canada Flight 548 to JFK on Thursday and vegged all the way to New York…

    … literally: on a lark, I ordered a vegetarian meal so I could get served before the rest of coach class and go to sleep. (They always serve the special meals first. That’s also why I always take the window — so I’m undisturbed. If you take the aisle or middle seat, you’ve always got people reaching over you or trying to shimmy past.)

    It was the quickest Vancouver-New York flight I can remember. I was asleep at take-off, half-asleep through the three rounds of drink requests, just awake enough to feed myself the aforementioned veggie meal, and nodded off watching Being Julia (Annette Bening vehicle). Next thing I knew, we were in descent. Those five hours just disappeared into thin, high-altitude air!

    I haven’t written in here for a week, so I’ll have to work my way backwards. I’ve uploaded some photos to Flickr of Friday in New York. David and I stayed at the Wolcott Hotel, which came highly recommended (our only post-stay endorsement is the lobby). On Friday we checked out as late as we possibly could so I could have a proper sleep, something I’d been missing for days. My plan was to visit the newly-renovated MoMa, but the Empire State Building was only a couple of blocks away, and the gorgeously sunny day beckoned us upwards.

    (more…)

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    Posted in David's Writing, Out + About, Photography, Unabashed Geekiness, USA | 6 Comments

  2. Winter at the House of Fielding

    January 31, 2005 by Gail

    icy sky icicles threatening to take over the house

    Winter. I’d postponed it for as long as I could. David wrote about it in his Multiply journal, so I knew what I was getting into:

    Winter, finally

    Here’s an entry Jan 7th about the ice storm in the Poconos:

    The Perfect (Ice) Storm

    Yesterday we went shopping for some warm clothes for me, since I don’t have much in the way of insulated materials — besides body fat, that is, haha…

    Ugh. Speaking of which, it’s time to join the gym. This body hasn’t seen the inside of the gym for a long, long time, and it shows. There’s a place at the bottom of the hill (I suppose it’s really a mountain we’re on, though, by PA standards), but it’s a ladies’ gym (Curves, they’re in BC, too). Oh well. The other option is the Jewish Community Centre (er, Center), which David prefers over the local Y, but it’s not walking distance. Seems counterintuitive to have to drive to the gym.

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    Posted in David's Writing, House of Fielding | 1 Comment

  3. All Together Now – CHEESE!

    January 22, 2005 by Gail


    [photo by Allan & Cheryl]

    The five MJE’s as of Thursday. They’re moving Feb 1, hence the boxes in the background.

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    Posted in The Ms | 2 Comments

  4. Heather and HyperKitty

    January 22, 2005 by Gail

    Chumbawumba

    Heather and HyperKitty, aka Chumbawumba Hung out with Heather for the evening, which included:

    • some pre-dinner errand-running for me (post office and Staples)
    • Gyoza King
    • a pitstop at the revolving Cloud 9 restaurant atop the Landmark Hotel on Robson Street
    • Mondo Gelato
    • finishing off with a tour of her new house — which I’ll never see again since she’s going to Korea next month to set up an ESL school!

    Heather was amazed by my restraint in the matter of the Dessertworks chocolate bar that Karl gave to me on New Year’s Day in Seattle to pass on to her. It managed to last three whole weeks in my possession with nary a nibble. Which is more than can be said for the other two bars, only one of which was gifted to me. The other was for Socar, whose indulgences run more along the lines of candied ginger rather than chocolate. I… um… ate it on Socar’s behalf, but have yet to procure the substituted candied ginger, and the clock is ticking! Less than 6 days left!

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    Posted in Critters + Creatures, Friends | No Comments

  5. Phone Secks*

    January 22, 2005 by Gail


    [photo by dotpolka]

    Click it for Flickr comments.

    * Didn’t want to draw the pervs to this blog, ya know?

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    Posted in Other Photogs | No Comments

  6. False Creek

    January 21, 2005 by Gail


    Vancouver
    Originally uploaded by thelastminute

    On Flickr, I noticed a photo of False Creek at an angle I hadn’t seen before. If you click on it, you’ll see I’ve added a note marking my highrise.

    I like the lighting on this shot, too. Go check out Duncan’s other photos.

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    Posted in Other Photogs, Vancouver | No Comments

  7. Of Pleasures Gustatory

    January 21, 2005 by Gail

    Mamy's Bar, Lake Lugano
    Mamy’s Bar, Lake Lugano

    I had dinner with my friend Vicky at Banana Leaf on Denman Street last night. Malaysian cuisine: all I can say is m-m-m-m-m-m….. we had roti, calamari with chili sauce, and I had a curry chicken. It brought me back to my time in Malaysia and eating at street vendors, waiting until after 4pm to eat murtabak. (I don’t know why they made us wait until then, but it was worth it.)

    I’d travelled with two Germans, a guy from Richmond, and a Dutch girl to Malaka from Mersing to celebrate Chinese New Year’s, and afterwards the Dutch girl and I hitch hiked to Kuala Lumpur. What an interesting experience… but another post, I think. Marjke was the one who put me onto murtabak, but how to describe it? I’ve not had it since, but the roti I’d had at Banana Leaf was pretty close. This was a long time ago, but I recall roti pastry, with a (tumeric? tamarind?)-based curry sauce and potatoes. Not overbearingly spicy, but a sauce that begs to be eaten with great gusto, leaving warm tingles in your belly.

    Speaking of things gustatorial, I uploaded a few of my favourite Swiss photos from a trip in 2002, one of which was the blue-lit bar at Mamy’s in Lake Lugano. My friend Berit had taken the train from Munich, where she’d been at a business meeting, and I drove north to Zurich so she could join me on my road trip. We’d just driven all day through the mountains from Saas Fee (Alps) and were ready for some liquid comfort. We decided to stay at Lake Lugano, and Mamy’s Bar was across the street from our hotel. I loved the blue lighting under the bar and took out my camera to shoot it, eliciting a hissed “put that away!!” from Berit (who has never quite understood my compulsive desire to photograph).

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    Posted in Food + Drink, Friends, Raconteurism | 1 Comment

  8. Dine Out Vancouver 2005

    January 21, 2005 by Gail


    Dine Out Vancouver 2005

    It’s that time of year again, and I’ll be here for part of it. Yay! In the seasonal lull that is January-February, restaurants can participate in a fixed-price menu program that is promoted by Tourism Vancouver: 3 courses for either $15, $25, or $35. It’s the third year Vancouver has put it on (I think in Manhattan they called it 25-for-25 or something like that), and its popularity encourages more restaurants to participate each year. Currently there are 125 on the roster, which is a great deal more than the original number back in 2003. Nevertheless, even back then I had to strategise to get into the restaurants I wanted to try (I also vaguely recall it ran for only one week). Most of them don’t take reservations during this time, and are extremely busy. I remember having to phone around to nearly every participating restaurant in the city centre to get eight of us a table, and we lucked out at Brix in Yaletown. I also tried out the Renaissance Hotel Harbourside’s revolving restaurant, Vistas, and Wild Rice for $15. Back then $35 wasn’t an option — even the high-end restaurants offered their dinners for $25 — but it appears people less stingy than yours truly consider $35 for a three-course dinner a bargain. (Actually so do I, grudgingly. Most entrees alone average $25 at the poshier spots. At Il Giardino I paid nearly $20 for a small salad.) For Dine Out Vancouver, I like to try hotel restaurants. These are the ones I frequent the least, and would most like to try.

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    Posted in Food + Drink, Vancouver | 1 Comment

  9. The Projects are Killing Me

    January 20, 2005 by Gail

    So as you may or may not know, I’m moving residence in a week to Pennsylvania. What this entails, besides the standard-issue moving malarkey, is that in preparation for this 4,000km transfer I’ve created all these little projects that — in aggregate — amount to a full-time flippin’ job!

    The most excruciating one I did detail last week, but there have been more.

    I had this idea to create a postcard that served multiple purposes:

    - wish our friends and families a Happy New Year
    - inform people that I’m moving and my new address
    - show photos of ourselves, the plane, Hugh the cat, venues, the rings, etc.
    - give preliminary information about the wedding (dates, venues)

    That’s a LOT of information to cram into a postcard, let me tell you!! David and I collaborated on the design, as we did with the rings.

    (more…)

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    Posted in Blah Blah Blah, Chez Gail (Vancouver), Engagement/Wedding | 3 Comments

  10. Damn! Now *that’s* Progress!

    January 19, 2005 by Gail

    Too funny…

    Fancy’s commentary on the Spanish Catholic Church endorsing condom usage.

    Wanna see why I should never go into Marketing?

    Go bookmark Fancy’s blog. She’s underappreciated up there in Edmonton.

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    Posted in Linkage, Religion | No Comments

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