Starting from the end

Isn’t there any better way to start the New Year and a brand new blog? Please allow me share some 2005 highlights.

December
After all this medical drama, the year ended quite well with a trip to Cuba. Cuba is not a country I will return to. While the sun and the beach were great, the food was mediocre at best (and rest assured I was not expecting a culinary experience). Everything was so... blend. The staff has a habit of watering down condiments such as ketchup, sauces and lime juice (so much for avoiding tap water) making the drinks/food tasteless. The wine tasted like vinegar, but made for some pretty good sangria. The evening shows were not exactly top quality. On the plus side, TV had many channels including HBO which compensated for the poor live entertainment at night. Cuba has oil fields. There was a bad gas smell at night (just at night). The staff was polite, but hmm... blend, ya know? Swimming with the dolphins was the highlight of the trip. Our day tour in Havana was also interesting.

Cuba Pictures

November
I was in Victoria for work when I started having heartburns. "No problem" I thought, it must be heartburns due to the stress caused by my two upcoming presentations. Then I started throwing up. On the flight back, I was dying of pain. I finally made it home and went to bed. I woke up agonizing in the middle of the night. We went to the emergency. I fainted as soon as we arrived. They put some IV in me. I got some gravol and morphine (that stuff is good, I highly recommend it).The CT scan I had first thing in the morning revealed that my appendix was infected. They scheduled a surgery right away. Meanwhile, I am still agonizing and taking morphine every 3 hours. At 4pm, they operated. I was ‘lucky’ it hadn’t burst and infected other organs.

I had an extremely bad experience with the health care system, but that's for another entry on class analysis (stay tuned). Among other things, the mediocre quality of the broth, both beef and chicken, was appalling. And where's the 'care' in the health care system? Somebody needs to educate service providers about holistic health.

October
Lots of business travelling from Frederiction to Victoria en passant par Quebec City

September
Most wonderful trip of all time. We spent 2 weeks in South Africa, Swaziland, and Lesotho.Our adventure in South Africa was a blast. Highlights included a close encounter with the wild (i.e. safari, petting chittahs, face-to-face with wilderbeasts), horseback riding near the Gates of Paradise in Lesotho, the beautiful Garden Route, a swim in the India ocean, wine tasting, and amazing scenaries and dining in Cape Town. Needless to say, South Africa is definitely a country we want to visit again in a near future.

South Africa pictures

July
We had the brilliant idea of going to California from July 1 to 5. That’s right, Canada Day and Independence Day weekends. It could not have been busier! We spent our first day in Hollywood. Frankly, I was expecting more. Just another big city, but this one with stars on the sidewalk. We went to Koi (Jessica Simpson’s favourite sushi restaurant, oulala) for dinner where I am convinced with we saw Bruce Willis.

On to better things, we hit the Sideways Trail in Santa Barbara Country. The beauty of California never seizes to amaze me. For two days, we drove around, wine tasting at various vineyards. I tasted my favorite white wine of all time : 2003 sauvignon blanc Reserve - Santa Ynez Valley.

As usual, the food was delicious. Baguette, cheese, grapes, and wine. What else can a girl possibly need?We finished our trip with a day at Venice Beach. It was sunny, but windy. In the evening, we attended our first Independence Day fireworks like 'local's do.

California pictures

California June 2004

California November 2004

June
We're doing this home ownership thing again. We bought a condo downtown. Family Wonderland was just not for us. We don’t have kids, we don’t own a minivan, and will definitely not fulfill neither of these two elements in the next little while (minivan never). The fence episode did it for us. We do have a life beyond our backyard. We can’t talk about the fence everyday for 3 freakin’ months! Most importantly, we see no point in paying $60/foot for a fence with a LATTICE. Aren’t these things ever ugly or what!

March
Bronchitis followed by a quickie in Vancouver to visit the in-laws.

February
Ski trip to Mont-Tremblant

First wedding anniversary. It was a year ago, on February 11 2004, that we tied the knot in Jamaica (ya mon!)

Wedding Pictures

January
I started my dream job. In short, I am working on an exciting, groundbreaking research project aimed at defining, operationalizing, and measuring quality of life. Not a small task, but très fascinating!