The beaver is a proud and noble animal

*yawn*

I enjoyed this weekend. Drove down with my sister on friday afternoon and spent a quiet night with the parents. Saturday was more of the same. I took a walk with my dad to see the cabin he'd built in the woods. It's amusing and weird to see a cat run to follow my dad in deep snow :)

I discovered that our dog can climb up the stairs that lead up to the sleeping loft in the cabin. It's funny to see her jump up those stairs one rung at a time. It's even funnier to see her tumble down them – something like a controlled fall :)

Later that evening, my mother and I drove to Ottawa airport to pick up Katy. Poor thing, apparently she was grilled a bit by customs, moreso than usual. I think it's because been in and out of the country in a brief interval. She's now officially “in the system” and there's an official looking sheet of paper stapled in her passport :) Got her home safe and sound. She was well prepared to the -40 with about a dozen layers of clothing.

It was my mom's birthday on sunday, so we had a big brunch and all of us trekked out to the cabin again. It was a gloriously sunny day, and the snow was crunchy under our feet.

We left on sunday afternoon and mooched a lift with my sister back to Montreal. Nat and I were our usual weird self with songs on the radio – translating as we were singing, car dancing and generally grooving to the oldies. Finally got home 'round 6:30 on sunday, with everybody being generally traveled out. I'm indirectly feeling Katy's jetlag. I can only imagine what it is for her (well, not really, cause I lived it only a few weeks ago, but it's still a pain in the ass). We had a slow night, having some pasta goodness and falling asleep (well, she did) on a movie.

It took me a bit longer than usual to get to the office this morning, as it was hard to get out of bed and leave the warm body that inhabits it. She's here for a month *happy sigh*.

I went to see the cabin in the woods my parents built last summer. It has been a long time since I've walked in the woods with snow crunching under my feet.

I understand what my dad says about his pets. The dog was bouncing along ahead of us while we were walking to the cabin, which is normal for a dog. The weirdness comes in when I realize that the cat is also running along behind us, following us across the snow. So friggin' cute! I've never seen a cat roll around in the snow and apparently enjoying it.

Took a bunch of pictures, but sadly, I don't have my camera cable with me so you'll have to wait a bit before you can see them (MJ, you've been a bad influence with your random picture posts, bad, bad artist!)

For those of you who don't know it yet, Katy's flight arrives in Ottawa in about 3 and a half hours. I can't wait. Yay!

I was reading on somebody else's blog that said person had a goal of reading 50 books in 2004. I wondered if I could have achieved that. I went through my bookshelves and noted all the books I was sure I'd bought last year. This list therefore much shorter than the books I read in 2004, cause there are tons of books I've re-read and I can't really be sure if it was last year or the year before, so I just didn't count them in.

Books I've read in 2004

• Andre Norton, Beast Master's Circus
• Carl Hiaasen, Lucky You
• Carl Hiaasen, Skin Tight
• Carl Hiaasen, Skinny Dip
• Carl Hiaasen, Strip Tease
• Chris Moriarty, Spin State
• Christopher Moore – Coyote Blue
• Christopher Moore – The stupidest angel
• Ian Pears, An instance of the fingerpost
• Laurell K. Hamilton, Incubus Dreams
• Laurell K. Hamilton, Seduced by Moonlight
• Peter Hamilton, The Naked God : Part 2 – Faith
• Peter Hamilton, The Naked God : Part I – Flight
• Peter Hamilton, The Neutronium Alchemist : Part 2 – Conflict
• Peter Hamilton, The Neutronium Alchemist : Part I – Consolidation
• Richard Morgan, Altered Carbon
• Richard Morgan, Broken Angels
• Richard Morgan, Market Forces
• Roger Zelazny, Changelling
• Roger Zelazny, Madwand
• Terry Pratchett, Going Postal
• Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment
• Tom Clancy – Teeth of the tiger

Books I've read in 2005

• Dan Brown – Angels and Demons
• Dan Brown – Digital Fortress
• Dan Brown – The Da Vinci code

Books I want to read in 2005

• Brown, Eric – The Extraordinary Voyage of Jules Verne
• Card, Orson Scott – Magic Street
• Card, Orson Scott – Shadow of the Giant
• Hamilton, Laurell K. – A Stroke of Midnight
• Hendrix, Howard V. – The Labyrinth Key
• Morgan, Richard – Woken Furies

Networking is love! My friggin' switch finally came in, so I now don't need to go to the cafeteria to have a network connection. JOY!

http://english.montrealplus.ca/portal/profile.do?sectionID=80&categoryID=15&contentType=1&profileID=1017782
http://www.fetedesneiges.com/en/
http://www.montrealenlumiere.com/english/light/index.php
http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/B2C/13/events_details.asp/SKU/5995%5FEvents/selCategory/Attraction%2FMuseum
http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/B2C/13/events_details.asp/SKU/6020%5FEvents/selCategory/Attraction%2FMuseum
http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/B2C/13/events_details.asp?SKU=5543%5FEvents&SectionName=B2C

Old men who wear full-length fur coats scare me.

I can't describe it any better than this:

Got into the store where I proceeded to bounce like Tigger for a bit, scaring the man next to R at the veggie counter. Then we played football with a cauliflower, which gained us a fan. Though R's skills as a quarterback were questioned when I told the guy he had actually been aiming for my head. Chased a girl with mukluks, met a captain and his first mate, I smacked R with some butt slice, licked another magazine, and made the cashier laugh when I made the Valentine's Day mascot do a jig. On the way home for some reason we found the need to discuss various genitals along with scary hand motions. […] Then I was off to bounce through the kitchen while yummy dinner was prepared. We sat down to eat and watch Iron Chef Asshat compete in the Buffalo Brawl. Then there was the commercial for goo-covered veggies that made me gag. After that was an attempt at beheading with a ceiling fan, a.k.a. the Fan O' Death. And the rocket man.

Fell asleep watching TV with Sara and I woke up with my shoulder completely f'ed up. I was sore and *really* burpy for most of the night. Not good. Feeling better now, but I'm still a bit achey. Blergh. On the plus side, it seems that IBM is finally getting its collecitve thumb out, woot!

Nominate the best ever LJ icon you've ever seen. Tell me why. The winner gets a prize. Don't know what yet. Probably bragging rights, but who knows. This is a puely biased competition. I am the sole judge. Bow down before my omnipotence.