A shot from the back door of the place where we stayed in Bonita Springs, Florida last week. It had been raining all day and the sky cleared just before sunset to produce these results. If anyone is interested in information about staying at this place, let me know and I'll forward it to you. I hope to write about some of my observations and impressions of Florida soon.
A bit belated, but just as sincere. I hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2007.
2002 was the start of a small family. 2003 was the year of getting adjusted to a new city. 2004 was the year of many visitors (10 from out of town). 2005 was the year of homeownership. And 2006 was the year of an expanded family. 2007 will be about achieving balance between work, family, and pleasure with two working parents and two kids at daycare.
One thing I thought about during our 20 hour-3 day return to Montreal is that 2006 is only the second year in the last 15 that I did not board a plane. On the flip side, I logged over 7000 miles of car travel between trips to Boston, Chicago, and Naples. I LOVE driving, but I can hold off from taking any long trips in the next few months.
As far as resolutions, I don't have many. Searching for balance and working harder at being a better parent are a couple. I do have a weight resolution. Ever since I was in high school, I had a nasty habit of gaining ten pounds between October and January, then losing five of those pounds over the rest of the year. When my wife gained weight during her first pregnancy, I gained alongside her. She lost the weight, but I did not. Granted, I have kept my weight steady since moving to Montreal, but it would be nice to get back down to the weight I was when we got married over five years ago (185lbs). To be blunt, I'm tired of being this heavy. I'm more subconscience of my looks and I'd like for that to end.
I made the same resolution to lose weight last year, but this year I have a goal, a set time limit, and a diet plan. The goal is to be able to fit into my wedding suit for my father's upcoming wedding this summer. He also is dieting and showed me the "Wet's Do Munch" diet and I really like and agree with the principles of the diet. It is based on fruits, vegetables, and good quality meats. I had much success with the Atkins diet which helped me shed pounds for my wedding, but I'm a bit leary of the long term effects. I don't have an exercise plan laid out, but I do hope to get some in along with many stretching exercises. I've been getting alarmed at how inflexible I have become. So I'll break out my weight loss spreadsheet (to keep track) and give it a try.
My blogging endeavors will become much more random and less frequent. I'll probably blog in between the cracks instead of forcing it into a schedule. Life looks to become much more busy both at work and at home. The vacation was a real vacation and I had no time to write. And our internet access was a limited 26kbps. So I was only able to do some cursory checking up on goings on. That said, I hope to keep actively blogging and keeping up with all of you.
Best Regards, Frank.
After her... I like my results. Makes me wonder if subconsciencely I have a huge ego. I'm just happy I wasn't deemed Superwoman.
Your results:
You are Superman
| You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.  |
... we're back.
Almost the equivalent of driving from Chicago to San Francisco and back. Or Montreal to Salt Lake City. That was the five day travel portion of our vacation down to Bonita Springs, Fla.
As much as we had a good time with good family and friends, it is nice to get away from the transient lifestyle. And what a nice surprise to come home to sunny above freezing temps. For months I was wondering if we would be battling a snowstorm coming home.
Our trip down was two legs with a day stopover in the countryside near Raleigh to see Mom. The return trip was three legs with another day stopover in Raleigh and a stopover in New York City to see archidose and his wonderful wife. I have now been in NYC four times and only set foot on the island of Manhattan once. And that was for work, so we hope to return for a real visit soon. This may sound weird, but I really have enjoyed driving in NYC. The bustle and jockeying make me feel alive and remind me of Chicago. Your senses and your brain are working hard to work with the traffic, determining your route and the most efficient means to get there.
Oddly enough the most traffic we encountered was in Orlando and not in the corridor between NYC and Washington. Those areas went relatively smoothly. Though DC to Richmond was also difficult.
Our rented Kia Sportage was concurrently an automobile, a dining area, a sleeping area, a playroom, a restroom (in a diaper kind of way), and an office. It was a nice car that lacked power at times but the very low reliability rating in Consumer Reports will prevent us from getting one.
Lastly, we came across many interesting names of towns, but this one stuck in our minds. Someone from Montreal is called a Montrealer. But what do you call someone from this place...
I've got some interesting observations of Florida that I hope to share soon.
Over the past few months I've noticed three differences. A couple of progress and one of quality of life.
The first was back last summer. We went to Parc Orford and spent a day at the beach. We had done the same thing soon after moving here. The thing I noticed was how at ease I was compared to the previous time. That first time, I was nervous. My French was quite shaky and I was worried someone would talk to me and would be totally lost. Or worse judge me for being an anglophone not fluent in French deep in what I thought was a largely francophone part of the province. I have to say that I was spooked for quite a while that there was an anti-anglo sentiment below the surface that one day would explode on me. Not that I had any indication that it was the case, but with the referendums and with some negative experiences with some of our French aquaintences in Versailles, I worried it was there. Maybe I'm also a bit of a perfectionist and felt I was not showing respect unless I spoke fluently and correctly. But three years has made a difference. I was completely at ease after getting to know so many people from here and to see that anti-anglo sentiment is rare as long as you show respect. To boot, my ear for the language has advanced considerably so I was able to follow most everything that was said around me.
The second was more recent and related to the first. Nowadays when I order at a restaurant, I don't have that nervousness and have that confidence to be OK with making minor mistakes. But it is also that it all comes so easily now. Before I could spend minutes formulating what the correct words should be. Now it's old hat and flows off the tongue. It's definitely not perfect and I still make long pauses searching for words. It's a nice knowledge level to be at and will make advancing much easier. I bit more incentive to study and fill in the gaps. I hope to do that over the vacation with a study book I purchased.
Lastly, one of my favorite topics: traffic. When I first arrived here, I was so surprised with how courteous all the drivers were. Driving relatively slower, not cutting each other off, and taking turns when two lanes merged. Well over the last year or so, the drivers here have started getting on my nerves. I've been seeing less respect shown between drivers. Or have I? I thought back to some of the driving I experienced in Chicago and the people here returned to being angels. It also becomes a question of whether you bring your level of tolerence down so that you get stressed out driving, or do you keep the same level and live a life of less stress. I will be choosing the latter. The bad drivers are not worth it.
There have been a few posts added to the European Memoirs blog since I last mentioned it here. The posts include: a trip to the French Alps; a trip to visit someone in Holland; a class trip to Chartres, France; a tour of the Pantheon in Paris; a description of the EuraRail Pass; and some words about homesickness.
After the holidaze I hope to post about time spent in Rome, Florence, and Paris.
Nope, I haven't switched... yet. But if I did, it would look like this (without the flowers). I got curious the other night and created the blog and that header. But Blogger beta won't let me export to it. The ability to add a personalized header along with Dante's level of security would be my main reasons for switching. But I don't have the time to play around with it, so I need a "press this button" export feature for a relatively easy switch. Until then, I'll stay put. Don't update your RSS feeds and links.
I was planning on unveiling this after Xmas, but I like the look of it so much I had to open the present before.
It's seeping in. Mainly through images. I've always been a visual person. If you tell me a location, my mind puts me there. Driving down that street, recreating the environment.
The images have always been there, but for some reason there is an increasing emotional element attached to them. I remember that place and all the memories attached to it. It's nostalgia and always has been, but there's an increasing yearning for that place.
Homesickness is sneaking in.
Part of it is due to seeing great "slice of life" shots of the city in images on Flickr. Excellent photos taken by Patrick , April, and Devyn. Along with photos from my old neighborhood by Shannon. Everyday images and angles you see when you live in a city.
Last night was another instance. We saw the movie The Lake House. It was a good movie with a common sense flaw that left me asking why she didn't pick up a phone book. But it was the images of the city and how the story was firmly planted in the city. Keanu's character is an architect passionate about the city and it's buildings. It entered into my world even filming in an architectural bookstore I frequented. And one of the characters had the same last name as my mother. It was kinda surreal and definitely left me homesick.
All this and I was just noticing this past couple weeks how far I've come adjusting to living most of my day in another language.
In some ways, there is no going back. Just as I can't go back to Europe as a naive student or go back to life as a kid. Moving back would be a different experience. My life has changed.
We won't be going back until next summer, but part of me will always be there.
