he likes it!

It's a little red Christmas tree! Merry Christmas from Halifax!

a surprise

I have something to show you guys, but I need to wait until Steve sees it first. So you'll have to wait until tomorrow! It's a festive surprise for him, but to be honest, I think his reaction will be one of polite disgust. Yeah - it's that good! (or bad... or ugly...) I like it though, and so does my mom (she got a sneak peak).

Steve has to work on Christmas Day (unless the head resident gives him a real nice Christmas present), so we're doing Christmas the Petrar way from Steve's childhood this year. Presents will be opened on Christmas Eve, with a dinner of spaghetti and meat sauce. The Maritime influence will be scallops with bacon for appetizers. The Stonehocker influence will be lots of coffee and booze.

And on Christmas Day, we're having a couple of Steve's friends over for dinner. The main course: not a turkey, but salmon! (Maybe if tuna is chicken of the sea, then salmon is turkey of the sea?) The menu is Steve's special teriyaki salmon with caramelized onions, mashed potatoes with goat cheese, and brussels sprouts with lemon and hazelnuts. Dessert will be cookies (of course) and truffles (you know the kind in the gold bag from Costco? I got an entire box from my boss for Christmas, and we definitely need to share those; it's much too dangerous to have 2.2 pounds of truffles between only 2 of us!).

And that is all for now!

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

our condo has windows!

winter wonderland!

It's snowing like crazy here! I guess the storm they were forecasting to hit Ontario and then us really is moving along. I was at Clark and Stephanie's this afternoon for about three hours, and at least 2 inches fell during that time, and it's only getting worse! It's very pretty (and blustery), but I hope it gets it out of its system tonight, so they can clean up the roads tomorrow, so Steve can drive home safely on Tuesday. (I think that was a run-on sentence, but whatever, this is the internet - you're lucky I even use punctuation.)

What else is new? We got an email from the condo developer, pushing our move-in date back again. We're now scheduled for the first half of May. It's kind of nice, because that leaves us with less overlap between the apartment lease and paying occupancy on the condo. But... We really want to be in the condo before our lease is up here at the end of July! I'm sure it'll work out.

And we're going to cook a yummy dinner one of these days during Christmas for Parvinder and her husband. Parvinder is one of Steve's first-year anesthesia co-workers, and they're staying here for Christmas without family too, so that'll be fun. (Plus Parvinder is also in Saint John right now - also on internal medicine with Steve - and she's fed him more than once!)

Everyone in my department at the city gets a half-day off for shopping or errands before Christmas, and I'm taking mine on Tuesday. My errand: I'm going to drop some of those cookies off at the law office where I worked this summer.

any opinions on these?

I was at a meeting at the West End office this afternoon, and got out an hour early! This was dangerous, because that office is basically in the mall, but it did give me a chance to check out the shoe stores for some winter-ish boots. I may have made a low-blood-sugar decision, so tell me:

What do you guys think of these? (Sorry the pictures are so blurry; they're the result of not having a full length mirror, and not being happy with the flash on the camera.)

The facts for your consideration: Price was $120 on sale (the other boots I liked were $140-200 which is definitely too much; also, there was nothing good at Payless). To complicate things further, I don't wear heels, so that cuts down the selection as well. Oh, and they're fleece-lined, so that does add some winter warmth...

Should they stay or should they go?

news flash: sewage can be treated

I phoned Steve last night to tell him about all the cookies I made, and said "oh kenz....." in a tone of voice that wasn't sure if I was going off the deep end so he should be careful, or if I should be in trouble for making that many cookies. He perked up a little knowing there were peanut butter cookies though.

Today was our annual 1/2 day inservice at work, where everyone from the whole Community Development business unit gets together for a catered lunch and some presentations about what's going on with all of the departments. It's a strange business unit because it covers Development (which is me, plus the engineering technicians and building inspectors), Planning (from community and social planning, to regional planning, and this big HRM by Design urban design project), plus other departments like Cultural Affairs, and Immigration, and everything to do with sports and community facilities.

But I did learn this: Halifax is on its way to primary sewage treatment. We're not quite there yet, but we're getting there. As of 2004, over 50% of the sewage in HRM went into the harbour with zero treatment. As it was put in the presentation today, that's worse than many third world cities. Since amalgamation in 1996, Halifax Regional Municipality has filled the entire harbour with raw sewage - and the harbour is very, very big. What's happening now - and is already turned on in Halifax, about 6 months away for Dartmouth, and about a year away for the western part - is primary treatment of the sewage, so clean water will be discharged into the harbour, and the sludge will be 'dewatered', then trucked to some place near the airport where it'll be mixed with kiln ash and lime (I think) to make a 'biosolid' which they figure can be sold as dirt or fertilizer. (They hope they can sell this stuff, but I would just be hoping that it was safe enough and you had enough space to put it all. They also made the point that Nova Scotia is a big rock, with very little soil, so....)

But seriously, this is big news? This is the 21st century - sewage treatment shouldn't be big news; it should be old news.

On a feel-good note, I got my watch fixed today by a great guy in a watch repair shop for $10 in about 5 minutes. What a deal! What's silly about that is that the watch has been dead since the spring, and instead of getting it fixed, I've just been wearing my ugly digital travel watch around, which makes me mad whenever I see it because it offends my fashion sense. So I should have got it fixed much earlier! But better late than never, and I am so happy to have my good watch on again! ;-)

anyone for cookies?

In a strange sense, I was quite productive today, yet have got nothing of importance done yet. I talked to Steve on the phone, I walked to the store and got some baking ingredients, I talked to my mom on the phone, I baked (and baked and baked and baked), I took pictures of the baking for you people, and I had some gnocchi and a glass of wine for dinner. And it's only 7 pm, so there's still time to get my resume ready for submission tomorrow, which was the goal for the weekend. Here's what came out of the oven:

.

About five dozen peanut butter cookies. (I love peanut butter.)

About four dozen sugar cookies. (This is a new recipe for me, and I don't think these are that awesome. If there's a potluck at work, they'll be the ones being volunteered for service...)

About four dozen oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies.

About four dozen hazelnut chocolate chip cookies.

Two loaves of pumpkin spice bread (made with wholewheat flour, so these are for lunches, not just for treats!).

One loaf of oatmeal raisin bread, also good for lunch.

And, last but not least, a big batch of Nova Scotia carrot sticks for lunches. I got these at the farmer's market, and they're really very, very good (especially with chili lime hummus, mmm!).

very good news!

Wow. I got a great surprise at work today. And, for that matter, I got a good surprise at work yesterday too.

Yesterday's surprise was that my job was posted, so I've gotta spruce up the resume and cover letter, apply, and should get an interview. They've let me know what the interview process is and given some tips, so hopefully that's a good sign that they plan to interview me. Since I currently DO the job they're posting for, I'm sure I'll get an interview. There's both a knowledge component (i.e. test of your knowledge of the bylaws and legislation) and a behavioural component (where you have to give examples of how you meet certain 'competencies', such as customer-service orientation or flexibility). The interview will probably be fairly formal (and therefore nervewracking), but it's got to be done.

The other good news, which bodes well for at least getting an interview, is that I got an extension on my contract until January 7th! I thought this was impossible (and so did my boss) because the union has a clear policy that people can only be hired without the proper process for 90 days maximum. But apparently my boss' boss talked to them and got a special exception for the next month for me. I guess it's okay with the union because the position is posted, so there'll be someone doing the job on a permanent basis soon enough (so they wouldn't have to keep making exceptions to the rule).

In any case, I get to work through Christmas, which is fine with me (I can definitely use the paychecks) with the added bonus of avoiding cleaning up my files until January at the earliest.

Of course, being a somewhat organized person (ha ha), my desk is already the laughingstock of the office because it's so clean, but clean doesn't mean all the projects are ready for someone else to take over. It just means they're well hidden. ;-)

forget diamonds

Gum boots are a girl's best friend!

Like everywhere else in Canada, we had some bad weather yesterday and this morning. Really windy, quite snowy, but warm-ish, so the snow was really wet. I got soaked on my way home from work last night, so this morning I put on my gumboots and just trudged through an inch or so of slush with no worries. It was awesome. Plus I felt just like a little kid - all bundled up, scarf around my ears, gumboots kicking slush around - so it was a fun walk to the ferry!

history lesson: the halifax explosion

It's coming up to the 90th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion, and I found this little article on the halifax.ca website. For your reading enjoyment and historical education:

Thursday, December 6, 1917, dawned bright and clear in Halifax. World War I raged in Europe, and the port city was busy with the movement of war ships carrying troops, relief supplies and munitions.

Around eight that morning, the Belgian relief ship Imo left its mooring in Bedford Basin and headed for open sea. At about the same time, the French ship Mont Blanc was heading up the harbour to moor, awaiting a convoy to accompany her across the Atlantic. A convoy was essential; this small, barely seaworthy vessel was carrying a full cargo of explosives. Stored in the holds, or simply stacked on deck, were 35 tons of benzol, 300 rounds of ammunition, 10 tons of gun cotton, 2,300 tons of picric acid (used in explosives), and 400,000 pounds of TNT.

The Imo, a much larger and faster ship than the Mont Blanc, passed into the Narrows. She was travelling fast, and too close to Dartmouth when the Mont Blanc first spotted her. The Mont Blanc, not flying the regulation red flag to indicate she was carrying explosives, signalled that she was in her correct channel; the Imo, however, signalled that she was intending to bear even further to port, closer to Dartmouth and further into the Mont Blanc's channel. The Mont Blanc signalled again that she was still intending to pass to starboard; she was by this time very close to the Dartmouth shore and travelling "dead slow."

The Imo, however, did not swing towards Halifax, as the Mont Blanc expected; she signalled instead that she was maintaining her course. The Mont Blanc, perhaps wrongly, saw only one course open -- to swing to port, towards Halifax, across the bows of the Imo, and thus pass starboard to starboard.

Perhaps the ships might have passed without incident, but the Imo signalled "full speed astern." So did the Mont Blanc, but it was too late. Reversing her engines caused the Imo's bow to swing right, and it struck the Mont Blanc -- missing the TNT, but striking the picric acid stored directly beneath the drums of benzol on deck. The impact cut a wedge in the Mont Blanc's side, and struck deadly sparks.

The crew of the Mont Blanc, aware of their cargo, immediately took to the lifeboats, screaming warnings that no one heeded. They rowed for Dartmouth, leaving the now furiously burning ship to drift towards Halifax, propelled in that direction by the Imo's impact.

The Mont Blanc drifted by a Halifax pier, brushing it and setting it ablaze. Members of the Halifax Fire Department responded quickly, and were positioning their engine up to the nearest hydrant when the Mont Blanc disintegrated in a blinding white flash, creating the biggest man-made explosion before the nuclear age. It was 9:05am.

Over 1,900 people were killed immediately; within a year the figure had climbed well over 2,000. Around 9,000 more were injured, many permanently; 325 acres, almost all of north-end Halifax, were destroyed.

Much of what was not immediately levelled burned to the ground, aided by winter stockpiles of coal in cellars. As for the Mont Blanc, all 3,000 tons of her were shattered into little pieces that were blasted far and wide. The barrel of one of her cannons landed three and a half miles away; part of her anchor shank, weighing over half a ton, flew two miles in the opposite direction. Windows shattered 50 miles away, and the shock wave was even felt in Sydney, Cape Breton, 270 miles to the north-east.

There were about 20 minutes between the collision and the explosion at 9:05. It was enough time for spectators, including many children, to run to the waterfront to watch the ship burning, thus coming into close range. It was enough time for others to gather at windows, and thus an exceptionally large number of people were injured by flying glass -- 1,000 unfortunate survivors sustained eye damage.

Not surprisingly, hospitals were unable to cope with so many wounded. There was also a desperate need for housing, and the misery was compounded by the blizzard that struck the city the following day, dumping 16 inches of snow over the ruins and their sooty, oily covering.

With astounding speed, relief efforts were set in motion. Money poured in from as far away as China and New Zealand. The Canadian government gave $18 million, the British government almost $5 million, but most Haligonians remember the generosity of the state of Massachusetts, which donated $750,000 in money and goods and gave unstintingly in volunteer assistance through the Massachusetts-Halifax Relief Committee. To this day, Halifax sends an annual Christmas tree to the city of Boston in gratitude.

Gradually, Halifax was put back together, though nothing could compensate for lost lives. Within two months over 1,500 victims had been buried, some unidentified; the remaining victims were discovered only in the spring as excavation was made easier. A relief committee was set up to provide clothing, money and furniture, and this committee existed for almost 59 years. There are still a few survivors of the blast receiving pensions from the Relief Committee's fund.

Three thousand houses were repaired in the first seven weeks; in January, temporary apartments were being constructed at the rate of one every hour. Rebuilding continued apace, and a few months later, construction started on 328 houses in the area bordered by Young, Agricola, Duffus and Gottingen Streets. The houses were built from cement blocks known as hydrostones, and (with a design unusually forward-thinking for the time) had gardens with trees in front, and modern plumbing and electricity. This area, still known as the Hydrostone, is considered one of the more attractive and desirable parts of Halifax in which to live.

On Dec. 6, 1992, the Halifax Fire Department erected a monument in front of Station 6 (corner of Lady Hammond Road and Robie Street), in honour of the nine members who died attempting to fight the fire on the Mont Blanc.

Over eighty years later, there are few survivors left to tell their stories. But Halifax has not forgotten, and every Dec. 6 at 9am there is a service by the Memorial Bells at Fort Needham, close to where the Mont Blanc exploded.

(Didja notice that little urban planning plug about the Hydrostones? I think they were one of the first public housing projects in Canada.)

the holiday season is here!

I saw some of these on the internet (albeit made with fancy glittery paper), and thought this was a craft with my style. Things I like in a project: quick to finish; easy to repeat; looks good in multiples. I'll likely never knit a sweater (or something complicated like that), but I can make 50 ornaments in an afternoon.

They even make our lovely, vintage 70s front closet doors look festive. Nothing like construction paper to class a joint up, that's what I've been saying for years.

And here is a pile of Christmas presents, waiting to be mailed back to the homeland. Funny, they also show my signature style: snowflake stencil + white paint + brown paper, over and over again. Some good news on the work front - it's not great news, so don't get too excited - I sit at P's desk, who was away at a one-year term in traffic management, and due to be back in February. However, P got the Planner I job I told you about a while ago, so that means she is definitely not coming back to her Development Tech job. That means they're going to post her job, which I can apply for. Not sure of the timeline, but hopefully it'll be posted before Christmas. Also not sure if I'll get it, but at least there's a position to aim for!