Monday, January 30, 2006

Winter Blues

In the past few years, it has become more apparent to me that I go through significant mood swings during the winter where I would get irritated very easily, often over very insignificant things. Yes, I know I can be a drama queen and occasionally overreact to things, but this is different. Even as I got teary eyed over spilled coffee or lack of internet connection, I know how ridiculous my reaction was, but at the same time, I just could not help feeling that the world is coming to an end. And as quickly as I go down that spiral, I quickly snap out of it as well and wonder what the hell happened and what the big deal was!

Dan has mentioned in the past that I was most likely suffering from the ‘winter blues’, also known as Seasonal Affective Disorder. Last winter was very bad because I was not happy with my job at Banfield, so I found myself a new job and by the time I started at Companion, it was spring and my problem was solved. However, this year I am happy with my job and every other aspect of my life is going very well; there is no reason to be sad. But that did not stop me from going through moments when I felt like the world would come to an end, like when I could not locate that specific music file on the computer so that I could listen to that specific song… When I know that life is good but I still feel sad, sometimes very sad, I know I need to do something about it.

I decided to use light therapy with a 10,000 lux light box. I sit in front of it for 30 to 45 minutes a day soon after I get up in the morning. So far, I have noticed that I am more energetic during the day and I don’t feel as irritable as before. Granted, I have also started working out a bit more in the past couple weeks and the days are getting longer, but I still feel the benefit of the light therapy. By the time March or April come around, I will probably not need the light box anymore until next November. By then, I will be back to full swing with my rowing; I am sure that will help also.

I won’t say that light therapy saves my life, like so many testimonials on SAD or light manufacturer websites, but it does make living with me a bit more tolerable and more predictable and I am sure Dan will agree to that!

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

What's In Your Lotion?

OK, so it is a bit dead at work right now, so I have a bit of time on hand… My friend, Kiki, sent me this e-mail months ago about concerns regarding chemicals found in personal care products with various links to sites that discuss the topic. I didn’t check those out until the last couple of days and that was quite an eye-opening experience. I don’t want to be an alarmist or to be totally paranoid, but there is really a lot of crap in the soaps, creams, lotions etc. that we use day in day out. Brands that I think of as higher quality don’t necessarily produce safer products. Products that are unscented/fragrance free and claim to be natural may still contain large amount of potentially toxic chemicals. Of course one has to take into account that there are enough pollutants, toxins, carcinogens and allergens out there on the street; if you just stand there for long enough, I am sure the body will absorb quite a few things you don’t really want in your body. Not to mention the various petroleum-based chemicals we come into contact with day in day out… But the way I look at it is that if we know some things that we use can potentially be bad for us and it is not a big deal to use healthier alternatives, why not?

So here are a few links that may help you make some decision about what you use:

http://www.nottoopretty.org/
http://www.safecosmetics.org/index.cfm
http://www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep2/index.php
http://www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org/Pages/Resources.html

Canada Voted

For the first time in my life, I voted. Yes, I am turning 34 this year and it was the first time I voted. The voting age in Hong Kong was 21 and I left when I was 19. Since then, my residential status in the various countries I lived in did not allow me to vote. Within 2 months of becoming Canadian, I moved to the U.S. For the federal election in 2004, Dan and I were not aware that we could still register to vote in Canada even though we do not reside there anymore.

With the rising concern of the Tories forming a majority government, we did a bit more research and found out that we are indeed allowed to vote as long as we have been away for less than 5 years with the intention of returning one day. And every time we return on Vancouver for a weekend, we can start counting the next 5 years again.

Alas, there is still going to be a change in government. But at least it is a minority government…

Friday, January 13, 2006

Day 27

Everyone has been talking about how it has been raining nonstop and today is the twenty-seventh consecutive day. Apparently, the previous record for this area was 33 days and it looks like we will meet this record if not break it. Dan and I were talking about it and we came to the conclusion that despite how wet and unpleasant has been, there is really no need to get an ark ready. Sure, there has been flood warnings all over the place, but as long as we reach 40 days and we are not 100% submerged under water, that sort of debunk the whole Noah and the Ark story.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

A New Year, A New Start

The last 2 to 3 weeks have been so hectic that one day sort of merged into another. I guess the festivities really started around December 10 when the hospital had its annual Christmas party. It was held at one of the tech’s houses and there were lots to eat and drink. We had a gift exchange, you know, the kind where you take turn opening gifts and people after you can take your gift away if they like it. Wel, I had a couple of pretty nice gifts that eventually all got taken away and I ended up getting this mini calendar with kittens and puppies. Despite my bad luck in the gift exchange department, we all got a nice gift from the hospital: a water resistant jacket with fleece lining. In fact, I was thinking of getting a jacket like that; good thing I didn’t buy any!

The night of the work party was also the night one of Dan’s co-workers gave their party. So after the work do, we went to Paula and Rowen’s place. By then, I was quite tired and the 6th glass of wine of the evening (I think I also had 2 glasses of champagne as well… but not too sure) made me super sleepy. And since I had to work the next day, we didn’t stay there for too long. I drank a lot of water before going to bed and was pleasantly surprised the next morning when I did not wake up with a major hangover.

The week following these parties was spent either working or planning or cooking our own open-house winter party. This time we invited a few more people than in 2004 and I also decided to made a couple more things myself. It was a bit stressful, but it all paid off because we had such a good time having our friends over. This is the second year we have hosted a open-house and I am pretty sure that we will make it an annual affair. But we will try to have it on a Saturday next year so that people can stay for longer and help to finish more of the food. Most of the food we served was frozen stuff that just needed heating up; right now, we still have lots of left over that we will be working on for the next little while!

Originally, Nick, Vicki and Dimitri were planning to come to the party and stay for the weekend. Nick and I both had the Monday following the party off, so Vicki and Dan took the day off as well so that we could just hang out and go shopping. Unfortunately, they had to change their plans at the last minute, so Dan and I ended up having a lounging day to ourselves. We took Gander to Cougar Mountain for a walk in the trail and it was great because there was no body there at all on a Monday morning. After that, we just spent the rest of the day lounging. Can’t really beat that!

I had great expectations for the Christmas and New Years even though I was scheduled to work briefly on Christmas day: we were going to Bellingham to see Leonard and his family and to go sledding at Mount Baker; Mum and Grandma were coming down for the weekend so that we could spend Christmas day together and then attend Aunt Katherine’s annual Christmas bash; snowboarding trip to Big White for New Year… But almost everything went south on December 23.

My wallet was stolen while I was having lunch at the food court just down the road from work. I did not notice my wallet gone until I got home from work at almost 10 p.m. that night. We went back to the hospital to see if left it there and also to the mall to check lost and found… nothing. So when we eventually got home at almost 11 p.m., I called the police to report the loss and cancelled all my credit cards. At that time, there were no unusual activities on my accounts, so I still had hope. The worse part of it all was that my Green Card, Social Security Card and Social Insurance Card were all there…
We headed back to the hospital first thing on the morning of Christmas Eve just to check that no one else at work had found or seen it. By the time we got home, I checked my account online again and there it was: a purchase from Best Buy that I did not make. Within minutes of me finding that online, VISA Fraud Protection called twice to question unusual spending of about $3000 on my credit and debit cards. My bank was open for a few hours on Saturdays, so I managed to get that all sorted out that afternoon. I also put a fraud alert at the credit bureaus, got a new bank account number…

We still ended up going to Bellingham that afternoon, but it has been raining at Mount Baker, so sledding was out of the question. We just spent the afternoon in Leonard’s house and opening some of the children’s gifts.

Our main concern at that time was really my Green Card. Without it, I might have trouble getting back into the U.S. after a short stay in Canada. Our whole plan to go to Big White was in jeopardy. But because of a stamp in my passport, our immigration lawyer thought that I would be OK. So I sent in an application to get a new Green Card and we decided to chance it and go ahead with out ski trip.

By the time Mum and Grandma arrived on Christmas day (the cats came too, but they boarded at the hospital), my nerves had calmed and we had a very pleasant and relaxing afternoon and evening. We had a nice dinner where I successfully made my first Yorkshire pudding. The next day, when I was at work, Mum and Grandma spent the day at Aunt Katherine’s to help with preparations for the party that night. That party was a blast as usual and I even agreed to sing a verse of O Holy Night during the ‘performance’. Dan made our usual contribution to the party, Leche Asada, and it was a hit as usual.

A bit of good news we got that weekend was that there were many dogs in Big White and that we could bring Gander with us on our trip. Whoever wrote to me from Big White Ski Resort who said that none of the Big White accommodations were pet friendly obviously did not know what she was talking about.

The rest of the week leading up to our snowboarding trip was not too eventful. In order to break the trip up a bit, we drove up to Langley on Thursday night after work and then on to Big White on Friday morning. The drive was good overall except for about 10 minutes where the visibility was poor and the road was icy. We even stopped at the Canadian Tire in Kelowna to pick up a wooden sled that Dan said was just like the one he had when he was little.

We are staying at one of Hock Lai’s apartments at the resort and it is the most luxurious apartments I have been in! We got to see all the children and it was a wonderful reunion. We had a great time on the mountain – the visibility was poor pretty much the whole time but the snow has been great. My biggest achievement would be to have gone down a baby half pipe and managed a few decent turns. I also sledded for the first time and it was so much fun! I had Gander in the sled with me once and it lasted on a few seconds because he jumped out and I lost the balance. Gander had a great time playing in the snow, but we found out that going in and out of the gondola is a big challenge for him.

There were 2 firework displays on New Year’s Eve. We had a great view from one of the apartments before dinner and saw the midnight display partly from our room and partly just outside the building. The dinner we had that evening was excellent with great company.

I have been a Whistler junkie for the past 6 years, but I am happy to have become a Big White fan. Whistler will always be Whistler, but the snow condition, availability of night skiing and cost of vacation will always be a bit better in Big White. Even though there are not as many restaurants or bars, there is a lot more people can do in the evening here besides night skiing – outdoor skating, tubing and mini skidooing to name a few. Now that we no longer just make day trips to Whistler, I think I will be more than happy to take a longer drive for a weekend stay in Big White.

I am not one for new year resolution, but Dan and I have decided that we will eat healthier and work out more. Hopefully, if we help each other out, we will be able to stay on course!