RIP Nyac

Nyac was made famous by being rescued from the Exon Valdez oil spill in 1989, giving birth at the aquarium and of course for the YouTube video of her and Milo rafting.

When Brent and I got memberships to the Vancouver Aquarium for a year we immediately fell in love with the otters. They are so adorable and I think what I like about them the most is that they do things that are so "human-like" in their little furry cute way! Sometimes for fun (go ahead and laugh), we pretend to 'raft'!

Unfortunately, Nyac was already sick and was being monitored behind the scenes so we never got to see her. Brent surprised me one day with an "Animal Encounter" with the otters where we went behind the scenes and learned more about them, prepared the gucky seafood gut meal, and fed Milo. I just loved how he held his food in his little hands and ate off his chest! Brent's favourite are the Sea Lions. Their barks sound "burpy".

Brent's concerned rant over Milo:

"Poor Milo! What is he going to do? He is going to be so lonely now with no one to raft with. He can't go in with the other two otters because he doesn't get along well with other males. They need to find another Nyac for Milo! He is still young... so that would be a lot of time alone without her."

This part was kind of poignant as there is a little parallel between Milo and I. Nyac was sick and away from Milo for most of the summer and on September 23, she passed away. Tonight, (because it is a weekend night) some girlfriends and I are doing our annual (and goofy) 'tribute' in an undisclosed body of water at an undisclosed time doing one thing by which every man (and otter) wishes he were remembered. This one is for you two!

Happy Birthday, David!

I still miss you.

My Acceptance Speech

First, and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to Tim. After weeks of pleading for a chance to win, he finally saw it fit to grant me my wish. At first, I joked about winning a chance to try again, but the humour wore off quite quickly. It took a lot of coffees, and a lot of trips to the bathroom, but after 3 weeks of buying a coffee almost every single day, I rolled up the rim and saw not "PLEASE TRY AGAIN/SVP ESSAYER ENCORE", but "WIN/GAGNE UN BEIGNE/DONUT"! Mr. Horton: you may have been an alright hockey player, but you are a champion in my books.

On another note, I wonder how he would feel about having donut holes names after him? Bits of Tim? I am not sure how I would like to be remembered: pieces of Karen? I might be uncomfortable with that. I would just like to say that the "widow dip" was a tremendous commemorative gesture wasn't it, Krista? Next September we should eat Timbits afterwards with our hot chocolate/tea. It sounds almost sacramental....

Goofy Smiles

This morning on the bus, I noticed a woman with an incredibly goofy smile on her face while and in between checking her phone for text messages. It was the kind of smile that can only be brought on by a "boy". It made me smile right back (it is really contagious) and think of all of the times I find myself curling the corners of my mouth in a rather goofy smile.

1. When I get a flirty text message (preferably from a boy-- sorry, Krista.)

2. When I smell fresh baking, a BBQ, or just about anything foodish.

3. When I see a toddler trying to run, swaggering and stomping their feet.

4. When I catch myself having done something rather clumsy and foolish and I figure that no one caught me.

5. Just about any song on my ipod, especially a Jimmy Buffet song about a smart woman in real short skirt.

6. Bubbles and balloons.

7. Cookies. Duh.

8. When I remember something funny or sweet. Usually something said to me (my love language), or done for me (my secondary love language).

9. When I finally get the punch line to a joke.


Oh, there are probably a gazillion reasons why I would smile goofy and slightly mischievious... I am always thinking of something.

Things that I Have Learned This Week

1. The act of potting plants takes about 10-20 minutes. THINKING about potting the plants, can take much longer.

2. Sometimes the transplant is not successful and the new pot rejects the plant. This made me very sad.

3. Sometimes being a designated driver means that one can end up with jiffy marker "henna" on their right hand while driving said drunk home.

4. Permanent marker means it is hard to completely wash off one's hand, but it can still transfer to the face while sleeping.

5. Designated drivers can look like they are recovering from a rowdy drinking binge, even after staying quite sober all evening.

6. Craigslist is AWESOME.

Cat and Rats and Coffee-- OH MY!

When I let the cats in last night, they brought with them a mouse. ACK! Not in either of their mouths, though. He just scooted in! Aries got right on it and started chasing him. Cyan just sat in the middle of the floor and started cleaning himself. It all happened so fast, I couldn't be sure if the mouse ran into one of the shoes on the shoe rack, or if it ran back outside. I grabbed the mop and started poking and Aries got in there and sniffed and searched. Really. I was amazed that this cat who runs away from me, was actively seeking out this vermin! I cheered him on from my perch on the couch to KILL HIM DEAD! Cyan looked up once or twice to see what all the fuss was about and went back to cleaning himself.

I never did find out if the mouse had escaped out the door again, or if it is still hiding somewhere. I nearly took all of A's shoes and threw them outside. Nearly. The thought of the mouse jumping out of one of the shoes and crawling down my shirt held me back. Not that I don't think A would mind having his shoes thrown outside.... Besides... I wasn't feeling too well yesterday.

I was trying to figure out why my head felt so fuzzy and I felt so off in the morning, and then it occurred to me that I drank a bottle of wine the night before. I may have been hungover. BUT. I started feeling worse as the day wore on and I began to fear that I have contracted the flu bug that my office has been incubating. I seem to feel OK this morning, and I am hoping that it stays that way until Saturday and I am all moved into my place.

On another note: on my way to work today I counted 1 Tim Horton's, 2 Artigiano's, 3 Blenz, and 7 Starbucks. There may have been 8, but I wasn't sure if I should count the one in Pacific Center because I couldn't actually see it.

Over the last week...

I know... MORE about cats. I am a little fascinated by these four legged fur balls. Like why do they crap on the floor next to the litter box? (OK, maybe it needs to be cleaned) AND why do they cover it up with a receipt?

Why are they OK with me waking up at 6 am every other day of the week, but on SATURDAYS they wake me up at 4:30 or 5:00??

For someone who isn't a cat person I am loving these guys anyways. When I get home, Aries runs to the bedroom, hops on the bed, and meows until I come to cuddle with him.
At night, both of them curl up by my feet.

Krista and I had our RTE (Retail Therapy Expedition) to Bellingham on Saturday night. SO FUN. We had burgers at Bob's and absconded with a few jam packages from the table cuz they looked cool. We karaoked, found some new candies, took pictures, and made each other gag. GOOD TIMES. Made it through the border with over $300 worth of Hershey's kisses, jeans, tops, bottle of wine, and gifts for her nephews. AND we actually CLAIMED it all ('cept maybe the wine, but they didn't ask)and they let us through without paying duty!!!

Monday, I had my Marketing class and our group got together after class to do some "research" for our project at the pub. Our project is on the marketing strategy of Granville Island Brewery. Since the BCIT pub doesn't serve Granville Island, we had to do a comparison analysis. My group ROCKS.

Yesterday, I set off the smoke detector doing my hair. I felt so bad, that I called upstairs to apologize and tell them that everything was OK. But, I woke them up a second time by calling them. YAY ME.

Got some help packing last night and that made me happy. There just seems to be too much too much to do and so little time to do it. So I bought J some pizza and he showed me his new dance moves while he packed. I scraped my magnetic poetry off my fridge-- SO weird that it STUCK to the fridge the way it did. I have to figure out how to get the black marks off.

I think that about wraps it up.