Back to School

Well it had to happen, the two week holiday break from working at the medical school came to an end this morning.

Somewhere around December 24th or 25th the alarm clock actually got unplugged and just got energized and calibrated a few days ago. It wasn’t just the sleeping in but not chasing the clock that made for a break.

I did some wishy-washing back and forth, I’ll take the bus… no I’ll walk… bus… walk. I opted to walk, the exercise of a forty minute walk to work is welcome after 2 weeks mostly spent indoors. It wasn’t terribly cold, not as cold as it will be a month from now. It may even rain in Halifax this afternoon. As nice as it was to take in some fresh air, I left behind 2 cats, a dog who got used to 24/7 attention and Alex who had one more day of vacation before going back to school herself.

I had temporarily forgotten the pleasure I take in getting up at 5am and having some quiet time to read and think. The cats and dog fuss, are fed and settle back down to near silence by 5:30.

This morning I had time to contemplate the activity in the Gaza Strip, The War in Context, The American International School in Gaza destroyed by Israel and speculation on a mailing list I follow over what direction Obama will take with the Middle East when he comes into office.

The early morning is my time to contemplate the world, not react that way I might watching television news falling into habitual disgust at death and tragedy. Morning is a time to reflect on the world around in a more compassionate way.

So the return to work brings with it my appreciation for the quiet time I take and for the two cats Scallop & Zucca, Dolce the dog and Alex that I’ll miss today and I’ll look forward to going home to, because they make my house a home.

Birthday Five-0

Tuesday is birthday  5-0h so I might just as well muse on it today and spend Tuesday enjoying it. Having a birthday on December 30th has always seemed lost on me. Stuck between Christmas and New Years its usually a good time for a relaxed breather rather than another celebration and I’m inclined to look at #50 as just another. They do keep getting better though. #20 seemed the biggest freakout, I was surprised to see it hit, #30 was almost releaving to have all the 20 something change behind me. #40 was the first that I really appreciated being alive and I guess I’d have to say 5-oh is an amplification of that feeling having never felt more happy to be alive than I do right now.
Alex and I have thrown around ideas for marking the date on and off for months and I considered and unconsidered the idea of have friends over for a blast. Perhaps it comes back to so totally enjoying the peace between the holidays. We’ve been mulling over the idea of going out to Bish to celebrate but truthfully I can’t imagine enjoying going out being greater than the two of us cooking at home together. I’d better dig out the glossy cookbooks, oggle some food porn and get a plan.

Of Breaks and Bulbs

I love this break from Christmas to New Years. I usually end up taking vacation time as long weekends here and there throughout the year but there’s really something to be said for a good two week break from work, and I really benefit from Dalhousie University shutting down for the stretch this time of the year.  I’ve always appreciated trips away from home with the idea that if I’m away for less than ten days I’ve not really been away. After that point and beyond two weeks I really feel like I’ve been away from home. Vacation from work is pretty much the same, and two weeks off is a nice break.

Dolce (Dog 1.0) and I enjoyed a good walk on Fort Needham Hill today and we came across a Christmas light. It seems every year a few bad kids unscrew the old style bulbs and make off with them in the neighbourhood and just biff them around. Most people in our hood seem to use some kind of diode light so the old style bulbs attract kids to make off with them, and I guess eventually all the old style lights will disappear.

Slumdog Millionaire

It’s boxing day in Halifax which means just about everything is closed. No returns, no refunds, no exchanges. Movies we have on tap, so we spun through the listings on the handy dandy iPhone movie listings app and determined we’ll go see Slumdog Millionaire for the 6:30 showing at the Oxford Theatre. Not up for Tom Cruise & Nazis, Jim Carey and formulaic comedy. Probably could have gone for The Reader with Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes and will end up seeing Milk for sure. Tonight we’ll avoid the 18 theatre monsterplexs and settle into the comfy seating of the Oxford. I’ll make a move toward the popcorn concession and Alex will remind me we’re dieting. If I get away with it I’ll ask them for butter which will make Alex say “Brian, No!”.  I’ll draw the line at sugar water though, no need to be courting diabetes.

Happy Blog-Warming

Hey, waaaait a minute didn’t we start a blog just like this about six weeks ago at http://bgrantpaul.wordpress.com/ ???

Well, yes indeed we did. After finding a cozy new home for our web data including this domain nsexplore.ca and enoying the hosted wordpress, I decided to download wordpress 2.7 and a few themes to test out in this domain. I think its safe to say I’m enjoying having my own copy of Wordpress so we’ll call this place, blog.nsexplore.ca, our blog home for now.