tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82963802009-11-24T11:38:21.286-05:00Thoughts from an American turned Canadian in Montreal.tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.comBlogger1346125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-75600605629157425662009-11-23T06:45:00.004-05:002009-11-23T06:58:15.214-05:00

Yesterday I was poking around for travel/medical insurance since I've been reading horror stories about people who have accidents while traveling to the states and end up with astronomical medical bills. Apparently, and this should be more widely known up here, we have very limited medical coverage while traveling outside our home province. We are "covered" but the provincial health plan only

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-84999850278579065922009-11-21T06:26:00.002-05:002009-11-21T06:53:48.244-05:00

What? I didn't do anything wrong, did I?So cute, how can you get upset at such a mug? He seems like a living doll sometimes he's so perfect looking. Then he chews something up and it's like, oh yeah, more like a living monster. I ordered him a tag with our contact information on it so in case he ever gets away from me again, people will know where he belongs. Yeah, some idiot at the doggy park

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-13803676161773228362009-11-19T07:28:00.008-05:002009-11-21T08:28:57.897-05:00

You have to wonder why. Out of all the things he could have chewed on while we left him alone in the house, why does he have to choose the irreplacable thing. This is the remote control for the dvd player. I suppose it's possible that it will still work but I'm not all that hopeful about it. Last time we left him alone, he chewed up a newspaper. Perfect, I was done with it anyway. Now we're going

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-12377269823359619002009-11-17T07:45:00.002-05:002009-11-17T07:52:00.548-05:00

Unbelievable. I could not roll my eyes any further back in my head when I read about the outrage over Obama's bow to Japan's president. You'd think the ridiculous screechers would have preferred Obama lifted his leg and peed on him instead. Apparently to some, Obama has disgraced the nation by respecting the other country's culture while on their soil. I honestly don't know what is wrong with

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-92158910120089943152009-11-15T06:42:00.003-05:002009-11-15T10:40:25.220-05:00

We went over to Serge's mom's house yesterday for dinner. More birthday boy festivities were held and just look at how excited he is over the Dressmaker II that he got. It's a portable sewing machine. I can't imagine what he thinks he's going to make with it but if I get a go, I'm going to fashion Georgie garments with it.It was the first time we have taken Georgie over to visit at another

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-13843723432813422612009-11-13T06:07:00.005-05:002009-11-13T06:19:10.804-05:00

First thing in the morning, Georgie likes to sit on my lap while I check my email on the computer. Such a little love muffin. Breakfast of champions - Cheeze whiz on Pumpernickel. The dog is never far when food consumption is happening, but he waits calmly without any annoying behaviour.Shower, shave and youknowwhat later and it's time to go to work. Serge had dog walking duty while I ran out to

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-38733361489541519652009-11-11T07:05:00.003-05:002009-11-11T07:10:24.794-05:00

There's really not much to talk about in my life right now except for Georgie. It has really been wonderful for me having a new friend. I find myself looking forward to hanging out with him, taking him on walks and especially going to the doggie park. I can't decide which one of us likes it there better. I feel like a proud parent as Georgie is just the most playful and gregarious one out there.

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-45919419586686640662009-11-09T06:59:00.002-05:002009-11-09T07:04:03.935-05:00

The other day Dan came over for dinner and as the boys were preparing a pasta extravaganza, I put on the disc I'm in love with right now. Seriously, I cannot stop playing it I am so addicted. It was nominated for a grammy so there must be others like me but it just seemed to perturb the boys. Change it they screamed. Okay fine, I'm not one of those who foists my music on others so I asked if they

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-77600551209454922832009-11-07T07:07:00.006-05:002009-11-07T09:49:31.795-05:00

* We picked up another octopus for Georgie. That has been his favorite toy so far even though he manages to remove all the stuffing mere hours after bringing it home. Serge keeps calling it a squid because it reminds him of Squiddly Diddly. Oh how I laughed and derided him when he said that. There's no such thing as Squiddly Diddly I howled. Nothing like derision to propel someone out of their

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-46918220235919797122009-11-05T07:02:00.002-05:002009-11-05T07:25:50.827-05:00

There is such panic around here about the flu pandemic. It's another case of the media whipping everyone into a frenzy for nothing. Someone dying of the flu should not be story number one on the national news. She was 83 for chrissakes. We all have a chance of dying when we get the flu, but we don't panic like this every year. This hysteria is causing people to behave irrationally, standing out

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-60274638951327504942009-11-03T08:12:00.003-05:002009-11-03T08:29:03.372-05:00

What a pleasant treat to sleep in until 8am. That's the upside of getting laid off. I could have slept even longer too but some contractor came to the door insisting he had a counter to install here. It took several times for him to understand that we own the building so he must have the wrong address. I figure he made the old East and West mixup. We live on a long street that stretches both East

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-81712450895509520752009-11-01T06:17:00.003-05:002009-11-01T06:34:02.363-05:00

It's been quite windy and many of the trees have been stripped of their foliage. This makes for better sunrise viewing out the back window. Come Christmas time the sun will be rising behind the building at the very right. It will slowly march in that direction. Since we live on a corner, we don't usually have any leaves to rake as they blow on by. Sometimes a pile will develop on the side of the

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-24000446439114661662009-10-30T06:46:00.003-04:002009-10-30T06:52:45.019-04:00

So there was an awkward moment yesterday at work. I arrived early as I always do to prep the room and maybe read the front page of the paper. One of my students was already there waiting when I arrived and he told me he always left home early to beat the traffic. I had poop pressing at the door as I unlocked the classroom and we entered to put our things down. Then I said, "I'll be back, I've got

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-82438440828804082712009-10-28T06:35:00.002-04:002009-10-28T06:47:19.258-04:00

I'm just popping in real quick to say hi. I'm in the middle of my second intensive immersion week I'm doing for the social workers. It's going quite well. Yesterday at the end of class we were doing an activity where I put some words on the board and one person sits at the front of the class with their back to the board. All the other students had to describe the words and get the person in the

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-78833530128962249502009-10-26T06:16:00.000-04:002009-10-26T06:17:07.020-04:00

Exiled to the patio for piddling. He knows he was bad and stares glumly from that corner. He had done great for four days with no accidents whatsoever and then when we had company over he let loose. We don't leave him out there for long but it still tugs at the heartstrings. Have I mentioned the fartbombs the little guy makes? Oh my oh my. How could such a small creature have so much gas? The

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-38014399577586060192009-10-24T05:57:00.003-04:002009-10-24T06:22:06.873-04:00

* Ain't he the cutest. I've got to take him into the vet this morning to get him a rabies shot. That way we can take him with us when we go down to Boston to visit friends for American Thanksgiving. Apparently the pound vaccinates for everything but rabies and the shot has to be done at least 30 days before crossing the border.* It has been a crazy week. I did 39 teaching hours (teachers know

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-91638661762360269082009-10-21T06:30:00.000-04:002009-10-21T06:34:10.190-04:00

I'm just popping in for a quick hello. Classes are going swimmingly but boy am I wiped at the end of the day. And the traffic, ugh, the hideous, hideous traffic of doom. Okay it's not as bad as the 405, but yesterday it seemed like an obstacle course to get to work where everyone else conspired to hinder my forward progression. I seethed numerous times but then calmed myself down by reminding

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-32754410663178699172009-10-18T06:36:00.004-04:002009-10-18T06:49:16.625-04:00

It's all Georgie all the time around here. I forgot how much figurative space a dog occupies in one's life. Unless I'm engaged at work, my thoughts are consistently centered on the little guy. And I'm learning more and more about him as we go. I'm certainly his master (this both pleases and displeases Serge) and he seems like he's becoming a lap beagle. He always wants to be parked in my lap when

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-53851083522507742262009-10-15T07:10:00.002-04:002009-10-15T07:29:59.619-04:00

It snowed yesterday. Little flurries all day long wafting about. You probably heard all of us groan, "Already?" I can remember 70 degree days at this time of year but not this time it seems. Ah well what are you gonna do. (I find it interesting that blogger accepts gonna as a correctly spelled word.) I was out teaching yesterday and it was one of those days. I got all the way out to my class when

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-59448491825059824842009-10-13T06:47:00.006-04:002009-10-13T07:06:28.530-04:00

On my morning walk with Georgie, we saw the colors of autumn. Mount Royal (Montreal's Central Park) is in the background.Because it was such a gorgeous day (they don't last long or appear frequently, it is indeed raining this morning again) I insisted that we go for a walk on the mountain. This is at the lookout on the downtown side. That muffin in the background at the far right is the mountain

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-54674442168299545012009-10-11T06:44:00.004-04:002009-10-11T07:03:20.440-04:00

Doesn't he blend in well with the autumn colors? He loves to go out on the leash and play in the dog park which we get to do on the weekends. Oh we walk him other days but it's hard to get over to the doggie park without driving and during the week there's no parking around there.Yesterday, Serge got a bee in his bonnet about getting a new dishwasher. Ours has been broken for the last month and

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-5764893105782958692009-10-09T07:03:00.004-04:002009-10-09T07:10:57.950-04:00

It's all love and sunshine around the house these days. Georgie has turned out to be an ideal pup. He piddled only once in the house the first day and he already knows the commands sit and come, albeit only in French. Clearly he had a family before us, but since they never went to the pound to claim him, we ended up with the little guy. (He was held for three weeks and then made available to the

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-39072720113116091842009-10-06T08:19:00.004-04:002009-10-06T08:29:49.764-04:00

Well I thought I was going to have a quiet couple of weeks but no, the college called me and asked if I could squeeze in 45 hours between now and next Friday. So today I start with a new student and I'm going to have to prep my intensives this weekend. I had hoped to spend a lot of time with Georgie but now it looks like Serge will be the caretaker. At least he's fallen head over heels with the

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-36307904989024854352009-10-05T05:56:00.002-04:002009-10-05T06:46:24.748-04:00

For those of you on Facebook, this is already old news, but look how cute our new addition to the family is. Georgie was amongst a great many dogs at the municipal pound yesterday. When we left the house, I said, "We're just looking, we're not going to get a dog today." This is like sticking your tongue out at the Universe and saying, "I dare ya." Thank god they give you a leash when you adopt

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8296380.post-20528594304455497002009-10-03T06:13:00.003-04:002009-10-03T06:31:53.099-04:00

I survived my first week long intensive. I think the students liked it too because they said they would protest if I didn't teach the second half of their class after Christmas. At lunch yesterday they asked if I had children ( in a big class, I talk very little about myself, it's their job to practice speaking English together and my job to facilitate that) and I said, "No, I'm gay and married

tornwordohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598tornwordo@yahoo.com13