Fantastic weekend!

Although every day feels a little bit like the weekend right now, I can still enjoy a festive weekend with everyone else. Since Brendan was working Monday (he gets American holidays off, not Canadian), it wasn't a long weekend, but Saturday and Sunday were spent away from the computer, the job listings, the research and reading that typically fill my sabbatical days. This week, I will not invest much on the job-search front as I am leaving Friday for ten days in London and Paris. I won't be available for interviews during that time, nor will I be answering my phone. Not calling back a potential employer is a sure way of sending a resume at the very bottom of the pile.

So, weekend update. Brendan's mom and her boyfriend Glen were visiting from Toronto and arrived Friday night, fairly late. This wasn't the first meeting with the family, as we had visiting them in Ontario in the Spring.

On Saturday, much to our surprise, we woke up to a sunny morning and decided it would be unfair to spend the day inside. Our first little outside trip after lunch was a walk to Westmount, where we needed to make a pit stop at Bureau en gros. We walked a bit further to check out the Westmount Library Greenhouse. Now, I recently purchased a new camera, a Nikon D3000. This Nikon model is not a high-end camera, but a good basic camera for someone who wants to get serious about the pictures they take. That would be me. So obviously, I brought the camera along and took lots of macro shots of flowers. You can see a few shots here. Note that some of the pictures are from a previous trip (back when wearing a t-shirt outside was still an option, remember the good old days?).

Later in the afternoon, we took the car and drove to Mount Royal to admire the changing of colours currently happening across the city. There were very little clouds in the sky and we were hoping to catch a breathtaking view of the city from the belvedere Kondiaronk, the large terrace viewpoint from which you can see most of the city.

We were not disappointed. I took a few shots and posted them here. The belvedere was invaded by tourists, but also by many montrealers who were clearly enjoying their mountain. I hadn't been on the mountain for such a long time, it was very pleasant to reconnect with this place where I spent many weekends of my childhood crosscountry skiing.

We returned home to prepare dinner: tandori chicken from Akhavan, rice and peas. It was warm enough to fire up the BBQ, something I think we will dearly miss during the winter. I don't think we plan to use the BBQ during the cold season, it would require shoveling a path all the way to the end of the deck, where it sits now. We thought of bringing it close to the house, but it would probably not be as safe.

We then took the metro to the Notre-Dame Basilica, where we caught a show called "And then there was light" that narrated the history of the famous church. The show was very entertaining and well designed, with an ending that reveals the true beauty of the interior using coloured lights and majestic music. I really enjoyed it. At the end of the show, visitors are encouraged to spend 15 minutes walking around the church to admire the workmanship and detail in the decoration of the inside structure.

We all slept like babies after a day spent in the fresh air.

Sunday, well, as expected, was all about the turkey. However, we did manage a quick trip in the morning to visit Brendan's cousin Benoît on the south shore (Iberville). Benoît and his wife prepared a kick-ass breakfast and we spent most of our time there talking about their new baby, an eight-month old Chesapeake Bay Retriever called Virgule. Boy the energy on that dog!!

The turkey dinner was prepared by Brendan, with a bit of my help. It was all together delicious, even if the turkey had to make a return trip to the oven. It was probably not all thawed when we started cooking it and the meat thermometre we were using, equipped with a wire that connects to a digital reader outside of the over, probably left a small crack in the oven door's seal which meant that one side was not as cooked as the other. Live and learn. Now we have lots of leftovers for sandwiches and I made a turkey soup with the carcass last night. Yum!

Lists

Sorry if I disappeared, but I have been busy reflecting, networking and researching, a time during which I did not feel too inspired to write.

Today, however, I am sharing two lists I prepared based on a little exercise given to me by Brendan. I have to admit, my discovery and job-hunting processes have not been very organized and this exercise will hopefully help me focus my activities and energy over the next few months.

10 things I want (in no particular order)

1. A job where I can make a difference, where my contribution matters.
2. To spend more time with my friends.
3. A better camera so I can develop my photography skills.
4. To feel energized and in shape.
5. To write a book (or many!).
6. To influence others on changing their habits and protecting the environment.
7. To learn how to meditate and calm my mind.
8. To feel more positive.
9. A dog.
10. To travel.

20 things I am grateful for (again, in no particular order)

1. My healthy and supportive family.
2. My boyfriend who makes me laugh and tries to understand me.
3. My beautiful home that feels inviting and warm.
4. The clean water I can drink from the tap.
5. The delicious food I can prepare or that is prepared for me.
6. Books that open my mind.
7. My close friends.
8. Affordable education (especially in Quebec).
9. My health.
10. The chalet and being able to be close to nature.
11. The Internet and being able to stay in touch with my friends from Vancouver.
12. My neighborhood.
13. Being able to afford taking a break from work to think.
14. Great co-workers in many of my past jobs.
15. Feeling safe in the city where I live.
16. Public transit taking me pretty much everywhere I need to go.
17. Being able to speak two languages.
18. Not being punished or diminished for being a woman.
19. Having learned how to manage money early in life.
20. Being Canadian.
21. Nutella! (LOL, Brendan said this one didn't count)

What is interesting about these lists is what I can do to address my wants, while always keeping in mind the things that I already have.

He was such a good boy

Finnigan died this morning. It was indeed the parvovirus.

Hang in there, Fin!

A short post as I am expecting my friend Sarah who is visiting from Vancouver, but I had to give you good and bad news. The good news (great news!!) is that Brendan and I have adopted a puppy from the SPCA. Finnigan is a one-year old Otterhound mix (possibly with an Airedale) who was a stray and was brought to the SPCA in late August. We saw him for the first time on Saturday and returned on Sunday to complete the paperwork. You can see a couple of pictures we took while on a walk with him here and here.

The bad news is that he is sick. Fin might have parvovirus, an infectious disease that affects puppies, causes vomiting and bloody diarrhea, and can be deadly. Fin was neutered on Monday (standard procedure when you adopt at the SPCA) and this morning, I got a call from the clinic to let me know that they were going to keep him under observation because he wasn't well. I was supposed to pick him up today, so this was a terribly sad news, but I was happy to hear that he was being monitored closely by a veterinarian.

Tonight, the clinic called me again to tell me that they suspected he might have parvo, and have started an aggressive treatment. They couldn't start it earlier because he was recovering from the surgery. If the test for the virus comes back positive, he will be fed intravenously and be treated with proper medication.

He is probably staying at the clinic until the weekend, possibly longer. I guess we'll know a bit more tomorrow.

Hang in there puppy.

I'm gonna make it to the Y-M-C-A!

My bum is sore. (Isn't that the best first sentence to a blog post?)

Yesterday, I reactivated my membership to the Y (it was on hold for the summer months) and had a session with a personal trainer who prepared me a program for the gym. The program is short, six exercises in all, but each one works out multiple muscles at once, making this workout very efficient. For example, instead of lying down on a bench and using dumbells to work out chest muscles, I am hovering above the ground, shoulders and neck resting on an exercise ball, legs and abs balancing my body and keeping my butt off the ground, while I use the dumbells to work out chest muscles. The exercises have incredibly long names that reflect their complexity like "one arm dumbell row box position isolated hip extension".

Today, I feel the impact of my new workout. Oy.

What I really like about having a membership at the Y is that I can visit any Y in Montreal for classes, gym access, pool access, etc. Actually, I believe my card gives me access to any Y in North America. The Y closest to home is the NDG Y, but I could also visit the Westmount Y that has a great pool, or visit the Parc Avenue Y to train with Lara. I like the downtown Y because it has a huge gym.

Sabbatical

What is the one question that people who first meet you are likely to ask? "What do you do?" would be my guess and starting today, well... I'm not "doing" anything. I was chatting with a friend on Friday and was telling her that I was now unemployed and she thought that didn't sound very good. "Call it a sabbatical" she recommended. Sure. A sabbatical sounds good.

Except that I am not taking a year off, and do not have the objective of traveling the world or writing a book (although one day, I might write a book, I just haven't found the topic yet). I'm taking some time off to figure out what I'm going to do next. Maybe I should call it an extended spa day for my career, after which I hope to feel rejuvenated and ready to embark on a great adventure.

This week is however a bit different. I'm on vacation this week. I'm not thinking career plans, not spending lots of time researching and networking, I'm resting. I needed a vacation, haven't taken any time off since April and that includes Victoria Day, Saint-Jean-Baptiste and Canada Day. I think I took a day in replacement of one of the three holidays to move. Or pack. Not really to rest. The move has also been really exhausting, mentally and physically. Thank goodness I had some help, because I came pretty close to suffering from boxeritis, where the sight of an unpacked box is giving you nausea.

I have a few modest plans for the week. I reactivated my membership at the Y and have an appointment with a trainer on Thursday to get a program. I have a 5 à 7 with colleagues to celebrate (?) my departure. Everyone was on vacation last week. I am meeting with a lady from FEM International where I will be volunteering a few hours of my time in the next few months. On Wednesday, I will help mom and dad prepare Annie's apartment, so she at least has a bed to sleep in when she arrives Friday. And I have meals to cook. I promised Brendan that I would cook dinner more often, because he gets home so late from work and if nothing is ready, we end up eating dinner really late.

Nothing ambitious, just enough stuff to keep me busy, but also give me enough time to read, go for walks (maybe to the library to get a card so I can start borrowing more reading material), and prepare for week 1 of my sabbatical.

Gutsy move? Only time will tell...

This week is my last at work. On August 13, I told my boss that I was leaving, and I told him why. It wasn't that I didn't like the team, or the challenges, or the company. It's the type of work we do that I don't like and unfortunately, that's really hard to change unless you move on to another position in another company. I don't have another position in mind yet, even less another company, but I knew it was time to leave. So I did.

Don't get me wrong. I work with good people. But I also work with workaholics. Nothing wrong with being a dedicated worker if you are passionate about what you are doing. I wasn't. There is no half measure in my line of work, you either love it, or you don't. I didn't. I didn't like that we did all this research, thinking, analyzing, interviewing, and reporting only to leave at what I consider the most critical time: execution. I realized that I am an action-oriented woman. Give me a task, and I'll get it done. When my task is to make recommendations that I will never see being implemented (because we leave the client with this part of the task), I feel very detached from my work. It's too abstract, too theoretical.

I also didn't like the short-term relationships we developed with clients. Part of helping a team or a company realize something is to understand their culture and the rich web of relationships that exist between people. When you work with a clients for a few months, and most of the time from a distance, you cannot understand culture. Or maybe others can, but not me. I'd like to have a more personal relationship with the people I work with, be it clients or coworkers. But that wasn't possible in my line of work.

There were other reasons for deciding to leave, but these were the main ones. And one week before my last day, I feel that more than ever, I've made the right decision. I also took the time to sit down with each of my colleagues to explain to them why I was leaving. I work with smart, exceptional folks and I don't want to leave in bad terms, with lots of questions hanging about my motives.

Today, I updated my status in Facebook to let friends and family know what I had decided to do. I was really surprised by the show of support and the well-wishing tone of the comments overall. Not that I doubt the support of my friends, but at the same time I was wondering if anyone would ask why, wonder about my sanity for doing this. Nobody did.

Last week. Doesn't feel different. It will next Monday...