2006-02-20

Reading Week is over

In Canada, there is no specific Spring Break. Instead, there is Reading Week. I assume they expect us to read books we want to read based on a poster from the library suggesting books to read. Yeah, right; read during vacation.

Couple highlights during the week. One is I worked out with my friend Paul for the first time. I have not gone to the gym since I pulled a muscle at Google over the summer. Paul does Olympic power lifting, which meant I was put through the paces.

For Valentine's Day, Paul, Disha, Alex, Meesh, and I all went rock climbing. Meesh planned the whole event (she used to teach rock climbing) and did a smashing job. The other four of us took a beginner lesson, ate, and subsequently climbed for three hours. It was quite the workout. And being tall is rather helpful. =) But if I continue with the sport I will definitely need to get my own climbing shoes as the rentals do not fit well.

Wednesday Meesh and I went and saw my dad and Richard. Stayed the night and the next day left to go see Meeh's friends Paul and Susan. Friday we went skiing in Snoqualmie. It was groomed snow and -11 C (about 11 F) outside which led to buying plenty of cold weather equipment at the pro shop there. Still managed to have a good time. My 123 cm Atomics, it turns out, ride more like short skis than skiboards, which is fine with me since they are still easier to maneuver than full length skis.

Coming back across the border on Saturday was an event. I had started the export process of my car from the US on Wednesday knowing that it took 72 hours. I figured I would come in Wednesday and have it done by Saturday. Well, it's a government thing, so that turned out to be wrong. Not only is it three business days instead of 72 hours, but they didn't count Wednesday towards the three days. This means that it wont be finished until Tuesday.

Unfortunately Tuesday is before Saturday. That meant I had to cross the border with my car. That meant I was hassled by Canadian customs for being a Canadian with a non-Canadian registered car while living in Canada. Turns out that the Mounties, if they pull me over, will seize my car and it will cost 25% of the value of the car to get it back. I have managed to find the one drawback to being a dual citizen. I have also learned not to try to postpone governmental stuff like this.

Anyway, I go back to the border Tuesday to cross to the State side, finish the export, and then immediately cross back over and import my car into Canada. What a wonderful way to blow about three hours of my Tuesday afternoon.

Anyway, rest of this week is busy since I have to get stuff done before I leave for PyCon on Thursday.

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