JBR in hospital

Spent the morning at Toronto Western Hospital with my dad-in-law. He's going to be okay, but is feeling very ill. As we sat with JBR, it was difficult to ignore what was going on in the rest of the emergency ward...the moans of pain from a woman a few beds away, nurses talking quietly about a patient who was "deteriorating rapidly", the drops of blood on the floor near my feet from a previous occupant of the bed.

I hate hospitals, but I've always admired those who could work in them. I don't think I could ever do it.

Back home now (Jeff's still at the hospital), but am dead tired. More later.

JBR hospital, part 2

Update/continuation from yesterday: JBR was sent home from the hospital yesterday...turns out he had a viral ear infection. He's been given medication and told to rest, so hopefully everything will clear up in a few days.

As I mentioned yesterday, I hate hospitals. I suspect this is because of the weeks my family spent in them when my mom was ill. They let us move a cot into her room so we could be with her around the clock. I still have vivid memories of waking up in the middle of the night, listening to the sound of the nurses walking in the hallway, the hiss of the humidifier, my mother's laboured breathing. It was around Christmastime, I remember, and we had set up a tiny artificial Christmas tree on a bedside table, decorated with tinsel and a string of coloured lights that flashed on and off. The hospital was a different world at night, and sometimes I could almost pretend that we weren't in a hospital at all, that we were at home and things would be normal in the morning. But then morning would come and my mother would keep sleeping, and it was no use trying to pretend anymore.

I came to appreciate the efforts of hospital staff (especially the nurses) much more during that time, and am more patient when it comes to waiting for things in hospitals. :-) Yesterday, it seems as if we spent most of the time waiting...waiting for a doctor, waiting for medication, waiting for a particular treatment room, etc. I started a new book during all that waiting...INTO THIN AIR, by Jon Krakauer, about a Mount Everest expedition that turned sour (and costing lives). Fascinating reading; I'm going to hunt down other books from this author. Just finished ALIAS GRACE by Margaret Atwood, which I also enjoyed.

Forgot to mention that I went to the Carpet Factory to show our friend Scott the new office space, and also to pick up copies of the lease. Inkspot's name is going on the tenant board in the lobby on October 1st!

Sadly, it looks like the Mars Orbiter I was excited about a few days ago is no more. :-( Theory is that it got too close to the planet and disintegrated. (More...)

My friend Andy, by the way, has pointed out that Jeff and I probably saw four, not five, of Jupiter's moons...you apparently need a VERY powerful telescope to see the fifth.

Opted out of UT practice last night to get extra work done...I generally have to leave work at 4 pm, but this time I asked Jodi and Allison if they minded if I used that time to work instead. With the extra few hours, I got my flyers done for Word on the Street as well as getting more caught up with business e-mail. Hey, and my Inkspot pens came! I am taking a whole bunch on Sunday.

Later in the evening, we went to visit with Helen, Amanda, and Cory. Amanda gave me my autographed Great Big Sea photo (woohoo!) and I had fun snooping through her house, which is one of the coolest-looking I've ever seen. I could have spent hours wandering around, just looking at things. Lots of vintage toys, posters, fascinating miscellany (they even had a battered-looking copy of The Partridge Family game!!!). Jeff and I crashed pretty early (we had been up at 5 am).

Some interesting sites:

QWho: goes way beyond "whois"
BabyPressConference: I'm both delighted and horrified all at the same time. :) What do you all think?

toronto snowed in

Well, Toronto is mostly shut down today. Mayor Mel has encouraged Torontonians to stay home from work. Looking outside, it doesn't look so bad. The roads are plowed, and it's not snowing as hard as it was yesterday BUT we're supposed to get more snow over the next couple days. Apparently people have been lining up at grocery stores stocking up for the next few days.

Both Jeff and I are working today. For me, nothing's really changed since I work at home. And Jeff's going to work, which is only a couple blocks away. We are so pitiful, aren't we? :-)

ruth birthday

Hey, just found out that Scott Snyder has been chosen to be Interfilk Guest at FilKONtario next year, and Puzzlebox are Interfilk Guests at GAfilk (Jan.7-9). Congratulations, Scott and Puzzlebox!

Today is my sister's birthday. I'm going over this afternoon to babysit Sara and Annie so she and Kaarel can go see a movie.

I've revamped my Blatherings page...I got tired of all the links cluttering up the top part of the page and forcing some people to scroll down. I've also nixed the UT Discussion Board since no one seemed to be using it. :-)

Went out last night with friends last night to see American Beauty at the Paramount. I had zero expectations, and was only going because everyone else wanted to see it. Really enjoyed this movie! Kevin Spacey was amazing. Craig said this movie won the People's Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival.

Bought Great Big Sea tickets yesterday morning at the Roy Thompson Hall office (they're performing at Massey Hall in late November). Got there a half hour before the box office opened, and there was a line-up of a dozen people already.

Sites to see:

Open Diary:
Interactive online diary community.
My Dear Diary:
Similar to the above, but uncensored. (!)

word on the street

I've been paranoid about no one visiting the Inkspot booth at today's Word On The Street festival so I've decided to draw a couple of writing-oriented cartoons to hang up in the booth. I don't have a particular strategy in mind except a feeble hope that people walking by will notice the signs, perk up, and think to themselves, "OOoo, look, badly-coloured cartoon pictures. I must have a look."

I've printed 4000 flyers, and have also got a stock of Inkspot pens to give to people I like (I've been advised against leaving piles out for the general public to grab). I suspect I'll have lots of flyers left, but figure I can always send them off to various writers' conventions later this year. Allison, Jodi, and Rand have promised to come by and visit (I'll be joining them for dinner after WOTS).

Had fun at my sister's last night. Jeff and I babysat the girls all afternoon. We bought popsicles at the shop around the corner and walked to Yonge Street; I pushed Annie in a stroller as her chocolate popsicle melted all over the front of her dress. I hope it's washable. When we got to Yonge Street, we got some freezies and ice popsicles (yes, more popsicles). Sara suggested we get more popsicles because it was hot outside and Jeff and I couldn't help but agree.

After a leisurely walk/stroller ride home, and then Sara and Annie helped me ice Ruth's birthday cake. Annie accidentally gouged the centre out of the top (I'm sure it was an accident), but I think I managed to disguise the hole by filling it with icing. I also bought tubes of different types of sprinkles and told Sara and Annie they could put these sprinkles on the cake any way they wished. Sara asked me if she could eat the tube of red sprinkles and I said no (by that time, she and Annie had already consumed a fair amount of icing). Both Sara and Annie took a tube and poured the contents very carefully into a heaped-up little pile on the top of the cake. I quite liked the results...very creative. Though I don't think I'd want to take the cake out into a strong wind.

After putting the cake aside for later festivities, we made some popcorn and watched Bug's Life on video. Both Sara and Annie are VERY keen on this movie. Annie likes to pretend she's Flick.

My sister and her husband got back partway through our movie. We ordered in pizza for dinner, but neither Annie nor Sara were very hungry, oddly enough.

Ruth liked the cake.

I heard back from Hero Joy Nightingale, and she says she's willing to be interviewed for Inkspot. :-)