The Jeff R Project

Well, the weekend is over again, and as usual, it went by way to fast. Saturday was a bit of a blur. I awoke to the noise of a parade. Or at least pre-parade as they were staging the floats for the Grey Cup parade in our neighborhood. It was fun. I ran downstairs (an hour later) and took some photos of the goings on nearby. It was pretty cool. There was a Spirit Bear float right near by with 2 new bears on it, so I got early pix of them. My Spirit Bear tribute site now has several pictures online CLICK HERE to see the site..

My brother proposed to his girlfriend last week, which is not surprising. They have a beautiful baby (my niece Caden) together and his divorce from his previous wife is final. They plan to get married before Christmas, and come back to Canada sometime in the spring. I can’t wait to see them.

Chris and I went to see RENT yesterday in the theatre. We were both a little sceptical of the movie version of such a fantastic Broadway show, but it turned out great! The music is incredible (I’m trying to find the soundtrack, nobody has it), the filming was incredible and the story is so moving. I admit it, I did end up crying at one point. You really should go see this movie. It’s exciting, entertaining, human, funny, touching, dramatic… I could go on, but trust me, go see this movie.

I often wonder about holidays. I mean, to most people, they’ve lost any semblance of their former selves. They’ve all become commercialized. Most people think Thanksgiving is to celebrate a day off work, the death of a turkey, and great deals at Best Buy.

In Canada it’s the same. Our Thanksgiving was last month, and people keep asking me “Why is it in October?” and I don’t have a good answer. Maybe I should find out. Check back later for an answer.

Last night our TOPS chapter had our semi-annual mystery auction. We were raising funds for a new scale since our old Healthometer broke. We meet in a school, so I wouldn’t be surprised if some kids had beat up on it at some point. We raised $255 toward the scale, which we’re getting for the AMAZING price of $265. I was so happy!

I wasn’t happy about gaining 1/4 of a pound. But that’s like – a can of soda or something. Not even, so I’m sure it’s just water. Gotta be careful though. And get to the gym.

As usual, my boyfriend Chris reminded me that I haven’t posted anything recently. Mainly I’ve been busy, but also havent’ had a lot to say. But now I have something.

Tom Cruise is a freak. He just paid about $200,000 for a sonogram machine for his home, so that he can watch his baby developing. For those who don’t know, Tom knocked up Katie Holmes a while back and they are getting married “in the summer or maybe fall”. Tom’s 43 and Katie’s a scant 26. But now they have a sonogram machine of their very own to watch the baby. Freak. Nobody needs to see it growing every second.

On the plus side, they plan to donate it to a hospital when they’re finished. “Oh my god! I just got scanned by Tom Cruise’s sonogram machine… but it wasn’t covered by my HMO.” Good Times.

Tonight I weigh in at TOPS. Compared to a year ago, I’m down 17 pounds as of last week. I also won $10 in a contest last week for having a loss. Very inspirational. I’m just hoping that tonight goes about as well.

Vancouver has been blanketed in fog since Saturday afternoon. We saw sun today for the first time. The fog was so thick, we couldn’t see more than a block away. And it lasted 4 days.

Hasta Luego…

Today was Remembrance Day here in Canada. In the US it’s Veterans Day, so overall things were pretty slow. B.C. counts it as a statutory holiday, so I didn’t have to work. Chris did. But not until 7am instead of 5am. Small comfort.

Photos from The Turtle Hospital are up. They got hit pretty hard and it made a mess. Check them out here.

Spoke to my dad and Claudia tonight. They’re safely in Florida now having put down a deposit on a house in Ontario. No clue where it is. They and Rufus made the trip fine. Apparently the dog likes to travel.

So I’ve been growing a beard for the last few weeks. 3 I think? I don’t recall. Chris loves it, and reaction from everyone else is 50/50 really. How do I feel? Vaguely itchy sometimes. I’m not sure. Sometimes I catch a glimpse in the mirror and think it’s alright, others I wonder who the freak is. Oh well, we’ll hold out a few more weeks.

Just thought I’d post something. Nothing major or new going on. Work is work, family is good.

Got an email from Corinne with pictures of the damage from Hurricane Wilma at The Turtle Hospital. Wow! What a mess. Once I manage them, I’ll post a couple here for comparison. They’ve had a lot of damage and will not be re-opening for quite a while.

I’m sure the Dolphin Research Center is still cleaning up, but they weren’t has badly hit since they had more solid structures and not as many free standing/floating items.

Hasta luego