Caffinara Wake Up To Life

Developing Owl Eyes And Superwomen Strength

2012-01-04T16:13:00.011-08:00

I upgraded the memory, or ram, in my MacBook, from 2 gigabytes to 4 gigabytes. It was an easy procedure accomplished by following the instructions in the, How To Book, that came with the computer. The last time I did this I was upgrading my old MacBook from 512 megabytes of ram to 2 gigabytes of ram. I bought the ram from Memory Depot because they had the best price, $91.78. This time around

Impatient To Get Going

2011-11-17T14:09:00.012-08:00

The other day, while shopping, I got a craving for licorice allsorts, actually I’d been craving them for days, and decided to satisfy it right then. However, the only licorice allsorts I could find, came in a giant box, like the sort of box one might find under the Christmas tree. I briefly considered going to another store, hoping they would have something smaller because I don’t need a whole

The Unfairness Of It All

2011-03-17T20:20:00.019-07:00

Why bother working on something if someone else is just going to rip it off ?Two weekends ago I opened an email from a fellow garden blogger. She said she noticed my post, about Araucaria araucana, from my other blog, Northern Gardeners Almanac, had been copied and was now being plagiarized, over on this other blog.There are no comments on that other blog, no email address, or any way to

Ready Set Go

2011-02-16T20:28:00.005-08:00

It’s a bust. Training for a spring marathon, while living in snowy, sub zero Prince George, is one of the stupidest ideas I’ve ever had. I've decided to downgrade to the the half and go for a Personal Best or PR, Personal Race, as they say in the States. The last (my first) half marathon I ran in 2 hours. Even if I manage to shave only a minute off that time I’ll be happy.

Like Chocolate Covered Caramilk

2011-02-10T21:48:00.002-08:00

This morning I’m in the car driving to see the doctor about a female problem which may just be the end of my marathon hopes this spring but anyhow I’m in the car driving along the snow cleared, black, non slippery roads, nice for a change, and I’m feeling incredibly, insanely happy. I run up the four flights of stairs to the doctor’s office, light footed and bouncy. Afterwards I go to Starbucks

The Long Run

2011-02-04T12:42:00.002-08:00

Today I was considering jamming out on my marathon. Winters like these where its minus 20 one day and plus 4 the next day are not common. All this freezing and thawing and snowing, 10, 000 pounds worth, means the differentiation between roads and sidewalk becomes imperceptible. Lumpy ice gets covered in slushy snow and 4 inch deep puddles, or, if its colder and after a snowstorm a foot of

A million miles from stress, but only 500 yards from the highway

2010-12-29T19:23:00.004-08:00

On boxing day we struggled out of bed and drove for 2 ½ hours up the highway to Powder King. The trip usually takes 2 hours but bad road conditions and continual lovely snowfall forced us to drive slower. We arrived ½ hour after the lifts had opened and at the same time the buses arrived. Linups for lift tickets were insane. The lineup to pay for a room at the Hotel, (acto trailers) was non

The Meaning of Ideas

2010-12-11T10:12:00.002-08:00

I’m in The Body Shop looking for stocking stuffers. Another customer, a women, holds up a bottle of orange body wash and asks me what it smells like. Sweet, I say. She holds up another one. Mangoes. She says she is looking for presents for her daughter. The same age as my daughter it turns out. Do all girls that age like this stuff? I ask her. I’m also looking for something for my sons girlfriend

Mentally preparing myself for what lies ahead.

2010-11-25T09:13:00.001-08:00

So, I’m back. I’m starting to feel the need for somewhere to write about other stuff other than gardening.I started the gardening blog as an experiment about a year ago. It’s the one subject I know a lot about and I enjoy it. I put google ads on it and to date have made around $46, it's not enough for google to send me an actual cheque. A couple months ago I got an email from some dude wanting to

The Time Has Come

2010-03-04T07:11:00.000-08:00

I've decided to delete this blog. I've been thinking about this for over a year and now with Bloggers decision not to support FTP anymore I've been forced to stop thinking about it and actually do it. If you still feel the need to keep up with me you can always come over to my gardening blog, follow my twitter feed, under the same name as this blog, or, look at my flickr photos.

Will It Ever End?

2010-02-18T11:12:00.000-08:00

Even now, in late February while spring is bursting out on other peoples blogs and on the news in other places, and despite the fact it’s been the warmest winter on record and I find myself running through mushy puddles when I'm outside training, and other people are enjoying lunch, sitting outside at cafe tables on the south side of concrete buildings, despite all that I don’t have any desire,

Woe Is Me

2010-02-06T17:37:00.000-08:00

My right arm hurts or more specifically my shoulder and part of my neck. Lifting my arm above my head is painful. Everyone’s been telling me the pain is from scrolling and clicking on the trackpad of my Macbook. I’ve tried limiting the amount of scrolling and clicking I do but even with keyboard shortcuts there are still things one needs a mouse for. Someone suggested I get a special mouse,

A Dream Come True part two

2010-02-04T17:29:00.000-08:00

Today I signed a contract with Caitlin Press, to write a book of approximately 65000 words, to be finished and delivered by June of 2011.I've already written about half of it, the words I wrote were what got me to this point. Caitlin Press sent the original manuscript to an editor, who extracted and distilled my thoughts, giving me a direction and focus, for my book, that I never could have come

January 29 2010

2010-01-30T10:59:00.000-08:00

It was getting dark, piles of dirty snow lined the roads and there were puddles in the gutters. I noticed an empty parking spot in a strip mall, so I drove in. There were people standing on the sidewalk. Down the road I saw the blue flash of a cop car. I waited for the traffic light to change, crossed the street and stood next to a tall guy, with a little girl sitting on his shoulder. A group of

"The Times They are a Changing" Book Review: The help by Kathryn Stockett

2010-01-17T10:26:00.000-08:00

The best book I have read lately is called, The Help, written by Kathryn Stockett. I put it on my hold list at the library back in November. Five days ago I bought it home and stayed up way past my bedtime to finish reading it.All the action in this story takes place in Jackson Mississippi from 1960-1964. The story unfolds from the eyes of two black domestic workers, Aibileen and Minny, they

It’s Not Complicated

2010-01-10T15:02:00.000-08:00

I've been making croissants for years. I’m not daunted, anymore, by all the folding and rolling required for that wonderful flaky texture and refrigeration of the dough, necessary so the butter doesn’t melt. In Meryl Streeps latest movie she works in a bakery coffee shop. Given her recent movies I wonder if she, really, knows how to cook? Anyhow In one scene, with Steve Martin, she makes

New Years Day at Red Mountain Cabin

2010-01-05T20:48:00.000-08:00

On the first day of 2010 I drove with a friend to a tiny place north of the Fraser river and East of Prince George called Penny. We left the truck at Clarence and Olga’s house, skinned up and began the mammoth climb to the cabin. It actually only took us five and half hours. We arrived just as it was getting dark and the others were getting back from a days skiing. The cabin was a bit crowded

Christmas Holidays

2009-12-30T16:18:00.000-08:00

I'm getting to do a ton of skiing and visiting. I even got to visit friends in Dawson Creek although the reason for going there is sad. It was my first non family funeral. My friends husband had this very aggressive cancer that exploded into his life and left him, as my friends said, in five months less a day. It was not my favourite thing to do. But you know the more I think about it, I

Toffee

2009-12-23T15:41:00.000-08:00

Nuts were a part of my childhood, every Christmas we had a large bowl of walnuts, brazil nuts, hazelnuts, almonds and a nutcracker to open them. Walnuts were a standard in cookie recipes and coconut was a close second. Peanut butter sandwiches were our favourite substitute for meat.My innocent nutty life came to an abrupt end when I met Robert. I offered him a cookie from my latest baking frenzy.

Garmin Forerunner 305: Review

2009-12-16T20:04:00.000-08:00

Anxious to get going with this wristwatch like GPS, designed for running, I took a hasty look at the quick-start-guide, strapped the Garmin too my wrist, put on my running gear and went outside. The device took a couple of minutes, or less, to find a satellite. I pressed the start button and I was off. What it keeps track offYou can keep track of useful things like how far you run, the time it

If George Elliot can do it so can I

2009-12-14T15:55:00.000-08:00

I find this story amazing and disturbing, in fact it makes me angry. Given my own experience as a freelance writer I'm beginning to think I should change my name. I'm thinking maybe I should adopt the pseudonym, Thomas Hall. That's my Dads name. He died twelve years ago with prostate cancer. I'm sure he would be pleased and proud if signed his name to my writing instead of using my own.

Windchill

2009-12-10T07:15:00.000-08:00

Running shoes just don't cut it when the temperature is minus eighteen and the windchill makes it feel like minus twenty eight. I was thinking of getting a balaclava but nixed the idea when I realized how stupid it was too run in temperatures like this anyway. Even skiing is a bit dicey at these temperatures despite the fact ski boots are warmer than running shoes. By midday it has warmed up to

Real books versus ebooks,

2009-12-03T20:35:00.000-08:00

I want something that is portable, durable, scanable, searchable ….The Amazon Kindle is now available for sale in Canada. For the non technies among you the Kindle is an electronic device you can use to read digital books, you buy the digital books from Amazon. I have no idea if you can get them anywhere else in fact I know very little about it since I’m not interested in it. I prefer my books

Black Friday Dilemma, Shopping deals for runners

2009-11-27T06:55:00.000-08:00

Today is Black Friday but it is also Buy Nothing Day however, one should be prepared for the other 364 days when you can spend, without worrying about your conscience, therefore I present to you the, The Ars Technica Holiday Gift Guide. This year they’ve conveniently divided it up into sections. Under the kitchen section for example, the first item is an Impressa E Espresso Machine, made by

Get a Yaktrax, How to Run Safely on Icy Roads

2009-11-19T18:18:00.000-08:00

I got these Yaktrax gizmos to put on the bottom of my running shoes, to help me get some grip on the icy roads and sidewalks that have suddenly become de rigueur around here. I don't want to have to give up running just because it's winter. I've never liked going to the gym. I don't like all those stinky, sweaty bodies working out right next to me, not to mention all the intimidating machines.