Toys!

Rem and I returned this afternoon from my least favourite store in Utrecht: the Media Markt. A gigantic electronics and appliances store, it's where we've obtained our computer, oven, printer, electric mixer and toaster. As useful a place as it is, I find it unpleasantly crowded and difficult to get good service.

Today, however, our expedition resulted in a very diverting toy, so I am pacified. And quite pleased.

We have a new digital camera! Hurrah! Our old one started acting up the Christmas before we came here and eventually quit taking pictures altogether by mid-summer. Hence, no pictures since before the wedding. My mom kindly sent me back here with her old advantix and I used it for a couple shots at Christmas and in Oslo: two rolls of 25 shots cost me 25 euros to develop! Good heavens! After that, it became pretty obvious that we needed a new digital since we do want a photographic record of our travels.

Our new toy is partly my birthday present and I've even been reading the manual this afternoon (gasp!) to figure out all the great things it does. We got one with 3x optical zoom and it even does macros - close-ups. I've been wanting to do close-ups ever since I saw a dewy spiderweb one sunny morning on my way up a Taiwanese mountain. Hurrah! Now I can!

Trials and tribulations of the two-wheeled type

That clinches it. My bicycle is jinxed. In the roughly one year that I've owned it, my poor fiets has had a seat, a quick-release and a water-bottle bag stolen, the front brakes disconnected, a series of bolts removed, and today I discovered the back wheel has been mashed. We're talking curb-stomped kind of mashed, despite it still being locked up. This, added to three or four flat tires, Rem dropping my bike lock and keys into the canal and my riding it into a post. I don't know what I or my bicycle did in a previous life, but it can't have been good.

We've been discussing replacing it anyways as it has also developed squeaky, only-semifunctional brakes and grinding, slipping gears which the bike mechanic could only improve but not fix. It still worked, just not very well - not quite up to standard for the longer trips we want to do when it warms up. So, I guess it's now settled and we shall go bicycle shopping this week.

But I'd still like to throttle whoever's reponsible for this. At least I didn't get yelled at, too.

Sickness and lights and trips, oh my!

It's been a fairly boring week, I'm sorry to say. I got really, really, sick last Sunday - we're talking delusion-inducing fever - which didn't really go away until Friday. As a result, I spent the better part of 5 days asleep or reading on the couch. Friday I was fortunately much much better and went in to Amsterdam to start my first day as a black market, illegal alien cleaning lady. Yes, I have moved to Europe to fulfill my dream of becoming an illegal migrant worker. Wowzers. After scrubbing out my friend Keith's place, I met with another former Genzyme colleague to discuss the details of cleaning her place. A second client already! Business is booming.

Yesterday, we tried to improve the lighting conditions in our apartment by replacing the ceiling bulbs with 100-watters. This was not our most brillant idea and we proceeded to blow the breakers. Ooops. We tried flipping the switches in the fuse box downstairs (by candlelight as my flashlight cut out about 2 minutes into our self-induced blackout) but to no avail. Unfortunately, we didn't think to unplug things before doing the breaker flipping, so of course they flipped right back. In the end, we were forced to call our landlord and throw ourselves upon his mercy. And now we're downgrading to 60 watters. I still think it's ridiculous to even put 40 watt bulbs in ceiling lights.

And finally, the only exciting news in this post is that my sister Kirsten and her fiance are coming to visit! They discovered Tom has some extra vacation days to use up quick and have decided to make use of the free accomodation, fine dining and tour guides at chez Stephanie & Rem's. So, for 11 days, we've got them at our mercy. Not only are we going to show them the sights here in the Netherlands, but we're going to take a quick jaunt down to Paris for three days and then spend a day in Antwerp on the way back. I've never been to Paris and now I'll be there on my birthday! How excellent is that?

Were a little chagrined to find out that buying international train tickets is rather complicated. There are about 6 different fee scales with varying degrees of ticket changeability and corresponding costs but there are only a certain number of the cheap seats on each train. We thought we had to book at least 3 weeks in advance to get the cheap seats. And that is, in fact, the rule. But saavy travellers have learned to book THREE MONTHS in advance in order to make certain they get cheap seats. All in all, we did okay, and the train tickets probably still cost us less than flying, but it was a lesson learned.

Books!

With all this time to read, you're probably expecting that i've plowed through a great many books in the last two weeks. I'm sad to say it ain't so. My textbook reading does take up a fair amount of time, though it's a pretty easy read for a text book. The class is on using theory in general (I still haven't really figured out what they mean by that), but our first text is about medieval European history. It's called The Civilization of the Middle Ages and is by Norman Cantor. It's a popularly published book and I actually quite recommend it if you've got an interest in this area. My only knowledge of medieval history prior to reading it was due to my father-in-law's encouragement to read Eco's The Name of the Rose and Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael books. (The latter I recommend without hestitation - the former - it helps to have the background FIRST.) At any rate, Cantor has an easy narrative style that uses larger-than-life personages from various periods to carry the story along. While I still stumble around some on what Papal doctrine said what, he's given me a much better understanding of European history than I had before.

The other volumes on which I've spent my time have been much less edifying, I must admit. I devoted most of a day and a box of kleenexes to some excellent trashy drivel, Nora Roberts' Chesapeake Blue; followed by another day on Diana Gabaldon's escapist romp Dragonfly in Amber (skipping some of the most unpleasant parts - ah the joys of selective rereading!). Today was given over to Elizabeth Peters' latest (?) Amelia Peabody book, Guardian of the Horizon. I was quite delighted to find that in the library yesterday. Now if they would only hurry up and get the latest Stephanie Plum book, Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich in, I'd be most pleased. I reserved it yesterday though, for the princely fee of 1 euro. So maybe soon.

Noticing some decidely low-brow trends in my reading list? I must admit to being a disciple of the read for pleasure school. Someday I should give Foucault's Pendulum or somesuch another go, but it's just so satisfying to zip through a fun, easy read. Aside from my trashy fiction, I just got a book from the library on tips for travelling the world. It's from 1997 which doesn't seem so long ago until you get to the section where he says that email is not a very useful way to communicate with people back home. It may yet have something useful to say. We shall see.

And now to start a new book. I did actually get something a little more intelligent out yesterday - a book by Annie Proulx, the author of the Shipping News. here's hoping it's worthwhile.

Day in the life of a sybarite

I appear to be living a life of leisure. Every day, I rise at the luxurious hour of 10 ... or maybe 11. I eat breakfast, check my internet stuff and read for a couple hours. At some point I might do laundry or get a cleaning urge. Occasionally I remember to make myself go outside and wander around. Then I read some more. And a little more. If I've been reading my textbook, chances are good that I will have a nap on the couch for half an hour or so. I might bake something or sew chair cushions (they're done now). Eventually it's time for MASH and supper. After dishes, I usually spend a couple hours on the computer getting frustrated with my professor and group members from my course (although the group's been a bit better this week) and trying to learn something in this very very nebulous course. I finally go to bed about midnight or maybe 1. Lather, rinse, repeat.

It's a dream life, really - doing nothing but reading and learning while living in Europe. But I must admit to being a little restless. The weather is improving weekly - we've just started on spring, I think, and soon it should be nice enough to encourage long bike rides. I am anticipating this. I'm also the new bi-weekly cleaning lady for a Genzyme friend who lives in Amsterdam, starting Monday. And I do have Dutch class that I should be studying for (but as you might guess, haven't really been). And we are trying to maintain a modicum of social life, too.

But this is me. And I am rather missing having seventeen things to do everyday. I am NOT missing Genzyme or the commute, however. But when we get back to Canada, I'd like to start volunteering again. I could do that here, it's true, but the last place I spoke to needed people who could be reliable and frankly, I want to travel as much as possible while we're here and entertain as many visitors as we can get - this is not so much reliable. So what am I complaining about? Nothing really. I'm just being silly.

9 Chickweed Lane

I mentioned in December that I am an avid reader of 9 Chickweed Lane. I just stumbled across someone's personal webpage featuring a LOT of chickweed strips, doubtlessly published without permission. Go see: here.

entropy

entropy: The tendency for all matter and energy in the universe to evolve toward a state of inert uniformity. (dictionary.com, definition #4)

Why do I have the feeling this describes me?