Condo/No Condo

I went from the nose, to a bike, to a condo. Back on the condo searching kick. The market is finally 'softening' and I could actually afford something in Vancouver! When I previously looked I could afford an old one bedroom in a 4 storey in east van or a new concrete condo in new west. But that was it. Over the last 7 months the new condos across the street have dropped by 30k! Exciting times for me. Maybe not as exciting if you are already in the market.

I really want a loft. Not a two level loft but something open, but not a studio, with high ceilings, lots of windows, in a concrete building. I want the impossible of a storage locker, parking spot (for my friends with cars to visit), my own balcony so I can bbq and over 650 sq ft. And I don't want to be on the first floor. Or even the 2nd for that matter. I really want to be on the third or higher.

Have to get back to watching the season opener of Grey's Anatomy.

cruiser/no cruiser

Now I know Chach just bought a bike but I am not copying with my post here. My friend Renee and I have been talking about buying cruiser bikes for a while now.

I am in a debate with myself over my transportation needs. I currently have a 30 minute walk to work. Not bad, adds an extra hour of walking into my exercise routine, costs me nothing and is usually a refreshing start and end to the day.

But lately, lately I am not enjoying it as much. I am busy, want to get into work fast, and hate that I leave for work at 7:15am and by the time I walk in, change when I get there, redo hair, it is 8:15am and I am at my desk. I want some ease. I want to speed things up. And the fact is, that no matter how enjoyable the walk is, when it starts pouring out it is 30 minutes of annoyance.

So I want to buy a commuter bike and turn that 30 minutes into ten. And have panniers to carry all my stuff. But I have to find the exact bike. I can't lean forward due to my neck and shoulder. But all the cruiser bikes that are a great position generally don't have enough gears, or they have coaster breaks, or they are made of steel and weigh a ton. I want to spend less than $500 all in. Right now I spend $40 a month on transportation. That is mainly in the form of transit. Occasionally I indulge in a cab. The bike would add an extra cost of $40 a month for a year. I can live with that. All in I am still paying less than JUST to insure a car each month, never mind gas, maintenance and car payments.

The bike attached is the Santiago by Norco. MSRP $375. It has 7 speeds, V brakes (coaster just ain't safe in my opinion), and is made of steel. I think it will do the job. I just need a rat trap on the back to hang panniers. It is getting to the end of the season and I think I could get it for a deal. But I am also saving up for my nose. So which to get first. It is about to turn into our rainy season. I am not looking forward to suiting up in Goretex and getting soaked over 30 minutes. I would much rather get rained on for 10 minutes.

Might have to call around and see if any stores have them in stock...

i'll have to wear it for the rest of my life

Earlier this month I went to see a facial surgeon about my nose. I had been referred by the ENT doctor. I went to the ENT doctor because one side of my nose is slowly closing and I am at the point where it is making it tough to breathe. I have nightmares where someone tapes my mouth shut and I slowly suffocate because I get so little air. As Richard can tell you, I sound like Darth Vader when I workout; even when I am training 20 times a week and in the best shape of my life. My dentist can also tell you about how my gums are dry due to my mouth breathing all night and they bleed easily because of it. Apparently this is not a good thing.

My nose needs to be 'functionally corrected' due to one of the Miyoshi kids. I think it might have been Jimmy but I'm not sure. When we were in elementary school there was a random snow day or two. One of these days all of us children were sledding on the banks leading to the grass fields. I can't even recall who I was sledding with but we were taking turns sledding down together and then would alternate pulling each other up the bank. On one of my turns to recline in comfort while someone dragged me up the hill I got taken out by a sled coming down the bank. I clearly remember it literally running me over and seeing the underside of the sled. The rest of the details are fuzzy but I remember having a nose bleed and my nose having a scrape on it and being swollen and sore. There were other accidents to my nose, a basketball or two to the face, but the sledding accident was the one that kicked it off.

My septum was shoved over to the left side of my nose and a bump on my bridge formed from scar tissue. This is the one difference between my nose and Rachel's. While I have found out from the plastic surgeons that the bump keeps the end of my nose from looking extremely bulbous it also means I hate my profile.

I've had the septum checked into before. Was told to try nose spray. But over the last 5 or 6 years it has collapsed in even more to the point that the inside walls of my nose are actually touching on my left side.

The ENT took one look in August and told me it needed to be fixed. That the turbines needed to be cauterized too. I asked about taking out the bump at the same time and he referred me to a plastic surgeon for the whole deal. The first surgeon was good and told me all the right things. Then his assistant told me how much it would cost. I figured at these prices I should shop around and make sure I am getting my money's worth. If I have to wear it for the rest of my life I want to make sure I picked the best person to perform the surgery.

Today I went for another consult at a plastic surgery clinic. There were two surgeons; one is retiring and is mentoring the other one for a year. They studied my face intently. They both looked up my nose. They drew diagrams of my nose. They explained in detail how my nose was working functionally and cosmetically. They enjoyed the term bulbous to describe the end of my nose. They normally use the word 'blunt' but it doesn't accurately describe my nose. They agreed the septum needed to be fixed and gave me a detailed explanation of how to fix it. They were great. I looked into their faces and felt confident they would give me something I could wear for the rest of my life.

Of course their quote was higher that the other surgeons. But to quote Pape when I talked about getting a deal on laser eye surgery 'Is surgery really something you want to be saving money on?"

I still need to mull it over. It would mean no travel for the next year and some staycations. The scooter I am daydreaming of buying would have to remain a dream. Might not be able to move out of the current apartment into my own. This means everyone coming for the Games would have to find other accommodations or sleep in my room on the floor.

No answer tonight on this one. To be continued....

procrastination

I am still wearing my workout clothes and it is 10 to 11. Trouble. I need to be up early. This has been a theme of my weekend. Leave work late, get to the gym late, eat dinner late and go to bed late. I need to commit to starting off next week with a 9:30pm bed time. Rising early, a quick workout and then out the door.

After 10 years away from school I read brother Dave's blog and think 'Yeah. I remember the first week of school.' In the corporate world that seasonal shift doesn't happen. The big change is arriving at the office when it is dark and leaving the office when it is dark. Right now I have a window seat that turns my desk into a sauna after 3pm. Today I actually went next door and got us gelato to combat the heat. I would complain but I know the sun will be gone soon and I will be looking out over overcast skies through rain splattered windows.

For now, I need to enjoy the last weeks of summer weather and be happy I am not trying to remember my locker combination.

old skills fall hard

Remember when you were a kid and you could wipe out, have a quick cry and get back to playing? The next day your only memory of the fall would be a nice scab starting on your elbow or knee. Same thing with barfing. You barf and you go back to playing.

As an adult the event (falling or barfing) seems to linger with you. Maybe it is that we have farther to fall or it takes more force for that food to come up but either incident now leaves me a wreck. If I throw up I practically put my back out, break some ribs and burst all the blood vessels around my eyes. My whole body resists it. For days I'll have acid reflux. It just isn't natural.

Same with falling. As my friend Renee says 'Adults falling is awkward looking. It is not supposed to happen'. I admit; I was overly confident after my LA rollerblading experience. I neglected to notice that the area I was rollerblading in in LA was completely flat. So I took off yesterday thinking I could handle almost anything. The first thing that literally tripped me up was a large lip of concrete on a downhill slope. I was startled by it and bailed. Two or three people kindly asked if I was okay and I shook it off fairly quickly. $10 wrist guards had officially paid for themselves. I took a little break and started up again. A little more hesitant I pondered each decline before skating on.

What caught me up was the corners. One area looked like it was very gentle slope. But it ended in a corner I couldn't see beyond. I figured I needed to go for it, that there would be more corners ahead and I needed to believe I could make it. Mistake. As I rounded the corner it turned into a steep downhill. My rollerblades were vibrating with speed and I knew there was no stopping...because I really didn't know how. Something else was going to stop me. And it did. I hit a small amount of gravel and completely upended myself. Landing flat on my back. Wind knocked out of me. Again, more people stopping to see if I was okay. I took a few moments to collect myself, then took off my blades and switched to running shoes. I was done for the day.

This morning I could barely roll out of bed. No major road rash (just one elbow) but my ass is literally bruised and I have to sit down like I have killer hemorrhoids. Not good Mav. This is going to take a week to recover from.

And I probably need to buy elbow and knee pads before I try again next weekend. I will be scoping out only flat sections on the seawall and walking any downhills on the grass. This is one sport where pushing myself just might end badly.

screw chronological order: LA last weekend

A little sunshine never hurt anyone. I mean my skin will look like leather in a few years but what the hell.
A rare shot of me not squinting/with sunglasses on.

Public transit was great. Interesting, efficient and cheap. I also got to see more of LA because I wasn't having to navigate a map while driving.

My artsy shot of me on the cruiser. It was an awesome 4 days of sunshine and relaxation. Exactly what I needed after the hectic week in Beijing. I read 3 books, worked on my tan, and taught myself to Rollerblade (I didn't fall once!).

I didn't do any really touristy activities except Balboa Island. Christy, Bobby and I had lunch their and then they left for San Diego. I hung out there working on my tan then I navigated public transit back to their loft in Long Beach. Props to myself on saving what would have been a $70 cab ride and instead was $3.50 spread over 3 buses.

The rest of the time I hung out at the beach or the roof top deck. It was perfect! I can't wait to go back.

i took a tumble texting

So I have been rather frantic since yesterday when I woke up at 4:40am at the Hilton LAX and sprinted off to catch my flight back to Vancouver at 6:30am. Was so worried about making it and getting sleep that I brought my straightening iron in my carry-on and did my hair in the airport bathroom. I arrived from the airport to work and was greeted with a busy day of meetings and feeling rather toasty from my sunburn. Went directly from work to a friends birthday dinner and took transit home and collapsed in my bed at 11pm. Another spring today that ended poorly.

Went to acupuncture appointment prior to tall club pub night. It ran a little late and again, feeling a bit tired from yesterday. As I am leaving the appointment I try texting someone to let them know that I am sorry about not being at pub night (since I am the one that was actually organising it) and I trip off the last step out of the acupuncture place. Land awkwardly on the sidewalk skinning my knees and hands. Not only did it sting but there was a ton of people around. I limped off to skytrain and ditched pub night.

Photos of my Cali trip will be posted later.

I am no longer texting and walking at the same time.