A matter of perspective...

Lately you might say Tim and I have been experiencing some bad luck. We’ve run into a number of frustrating and sometimes exacerbating situations. Here’s a brief list of what has happened to us the past 2 months:

- our rental car was broken into while in Aruba and our laptop, camera, all camera accessories, Tim’s wallet, his ipod and a specialized camera bag he got for Christmas was stolen
- our fridge freezer died, we lost a lot of food and the fridge was on its last legs
- someone showed up looking for $$ in unpaid cable bills which our landlord was supposed to be paying since it’s included in our rent
- the internet died, we called the cable company, they said there was nothing wrong with it, they set up an appointment for us to get it fixed A WEEK LATER; we called two more times to make sure that the cable hadn’t been turned off, they said no; called them the day before the scheduled appointment to find out when they were coming, they told us that the appointment had been canceled and that our cable had been turned off the previous week….
- Tim got Norwalk at work and had to take 2 days off
- I found our car dead in the garage the day Tim got Norwalk, when I went out to get him some chicken noodle soup
- my application to the Canadian Alliance of Physiotherapists for the written portion of my licensing exam was suspended after our VISA was declined; had to get a money order and pay a 50$ charge for the declined card to the Alliance
- our landlord hadn’t received the rent from January and wanted us to send it again, although our bank clearly said that the money had gone through
- my desktop crashed
- my gramma had a heart attack and spent almost a month in hospital

It has been a frustrating experience, but we have been learning a lot through it all. I’ve learned that you can dwell on the crappy things that have happened, or you can try to make the best of them. Because really, when it all comes down to it, God is looking after thngs and it will work out in some way or another in the end…..For instance:

- We had the opportunity to be in Aruba in the first place, and thankfully our insurance company will replace everything that was stolen
- We got a new fridge from the deal that actually keeps ice cream frozen!!! :)
- The internet eventually got fixed, it had all been a misunderstanding due to the incompetence of a new trainee at the cable company (stupid Cogeco); the downside is that since this incident our router has not been working well at all; keeps kicking off our computers and re-setting itself randomly
- Tim has a job!
- I was able to call CAA and get the car jumped, and got a new battery with a 6 year warranty in the process
- I got to spend 2 whole days hanging out with Tim, while he was home sick with Norwalk
- I got the application in to the CAP on time, and that’s really all that matters
- The lost rent money was found! It had been put in a different account than our landlord normally puts the $$ into
- My computer is ancient, so maybe now I’ll get a cool new computer!
- Gramma is feeling much better and was sent home! She’s so pleased to be home, and we’re praying for a swift and full recovery

So when it all comes down to it, everything is a matter of perspective. It hasn’t been an easy month, but I’ve been learning to try and see what good might come out of a situation and then trust that things will work out in the long run. It’s a hard lesson to learn, and believe me, I’m still learning. But thankfully, things usually work out ok. :)

boardin'

Tim and I were lucky enough to escape to Blue Mountain yesterday evening.....we had hoped to make a weekend of it, but alas, other things interfered. But it was still a super fun evening! :)


Me about to get in line for the lift, you can't tell, but the line is actually REALLY long.

Zippin' along at top speed...........well actually......Tim just got a good shot :P

Standing in front of the beaver tails and hot chocolate shack

Tim's artistry :)

Excellent Birthday!

Yesterday I turned 25! And it was a great day.

Despite having my final exam yesterday morning, which was WAY too long and had some confusing questions and was in general pretty tough, it was a nice day. Tim woke me up just after midnight to sing me Happy Birthday, which was really cute and sweet and made me laugh. :P

I got up at 6 am to do some last minute studying, but once Tim got up around 7:15 I couldn't study anymore, because I was too excited! He sang me happy birthday (AGAIN! so fun) and then gave me a card. He had me completely fooled, because I didn't think he'd had the chance to get me anything yet. So you can imagine my surprise when I discovered tickets to Phantom of the Opera taped inside the card!!! They were for 2pm, so basically as soon as I finished my exam, we were headed to Toronto to enjoy the show. Needless to say, after he gave me the card, there was NO WAY I could study anymore, I was bursting. :P

So we ate breakfast and planned for the day until it was time to leave for my exam, and then off we went. Tim dropped me off at school, and I made my best attempt at concentrating while I wrote the exam....like I said before, it was WAY too long! My hand was hurting by the end of it!

We got to Toronto in good time and made our way to the Princess of Wales theatre for the show. Our seats were in the "dress circle" - so not orchestra seats, but still really good ones! The show was amazing....I had a hard time controlling myself from singing along with all the songs. I had seen the movie, and listened to the soundtrack many times, but nothing beats seeing a play in the theatre. It evokes such emotion, such joy, being in the theatre is beautiful. I really had a wonderful time! We even had some haagen dazs ice cream during the intermission (very yummy).

Then Tim and I went to dinner at a place called "Fred's not here". I don't think Fred was present, and it was a neat little restaurant serving mostly smokehouse/steakhouse meals. Lots of meat, not as many other options. I think if I'd known beforehand, I might have chosen another restaurant, just because I like to have lots of options, and I felt somewhat limited in what I could order. I mean, I like meat, but it's nice to have some veggies or other yummy tidbits to accompany your meal.

Nonetheless, dinner was great, I had mushroom ravioli and salad and Tim had duck prepared 2 different ways. We also had some coconut shrimp as an appetiser. Everything was very good, and we had a great time chatting about the play and enjoying the evening. I think the only thing that was missing was a big group of waiters coming over to sing happy birthday, but what can I say, not all restaurants do that kind of thing. :P Overall, it was really fun!

We came back to Hamilton, and much to my excitement there was a notice in the mail for a package!! So we went and picked it up from the post office, and sure enough, it was a present FOR ME!!! :D Tim's parents had sent me a gift in the mail, which I was super excited to open, and Tim made me wait until we got back to the apartment before I could open it! The anticipation was HUGE.

They got me a digital camera!!! A really cool one, one I've been wanting for a while, that Tim and I had been talking about getting because his little camera is on its last legs and so I needed a little camera to use. The camera they got me is the Canon Digital Elph SD 600 - a fun little camera that I am enjoying learning how to use. I got to take it out with me, because later that evening I went over to Anna and Leana's place for a post-final party with classmates. :)

The gang at the party (I'm using my new camera to take this!!!) :)

And they had cake for me! And sang me happy birthday! It was so fun. I think it made the day just about perfect. We had a fabulous time laughing, playing goofy games and some of us even stuck around till 2 am talking about everything and anything.

Leana with the super-chocolatey-uber-yummy cake that they got for me!

It was a wonderful day. :) Probably the only thing missing was my loved ones who live far away; it would have been nice to see all of my family, but I know your thoughts and prayers were with me. It was a fun day. A good day. And now I'm a year older.

Charity Ball

Here are some pictures from the Charity Ball. Although I took like 45 pictures, alot of them ended up being of the same people and the same stuff. Ha

So here's some of the more interesting pics, I'm going to try and figure out how to post the entire folder. Enjoy! :)

Yasmin, myself & Helen

Me and Alexis :)

Fun Times

Scott and the little Missus :)

Me and Ray

Cute shoes!

Beautiful people

So pretty! So dashing! The newly engaged couple, don't they look great? :)

Steph, Myself, Catherine, Sarah, Alexis, Nicola

Noah and Anna Banana :D

Somehow I survived not having the internet all weekend and finishing my paper on time. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that my friend Helen was gracious enough to share her apartment and internet with me for the weekend. Thanks Helen! I don’t know how I would have gotten it done otherwise. I just can’t imagine having spent all day Saturday and Sunday in the library….boo

So what’s up for me this week? I’m excited to say that this is the second last week of the term, so despite the impending tests and OSCE, it will all be over soon. J This week will be filled with finishing up our last pbt problem, which I have to say is very interesting. We’re learning about HIV – what it is, the pathophysiology, the natural Hx, the complications, the stigma, all of the psychosocial aspects that surround the disease and what kind of role of physiotherapist takes in it all. I have to admit, although I’d heard the term “HIV/AIDS” many times and I knew it was a terrible disease, and how it was transmitted, I didn’t really know a lot else about it. Did you know that there are two types of HIV? HIV type 1 and type 2 – eventually they both become AIDS, but they have different pathogenicities, disease progressions, and even different responses to retroviral therapy. One is most common in West Africa (type 2) and relatively rare in other parts of the world, and type 1 is the strain that most of us know about and hear about on the news. But isn’t that interesting? There are a lot of things about this disease that I never knew. And I wasn’t really sure where a PT could fit in helping a patient with HIV, but as I learn about it I realize there are areas that PTs could help. I like my profession, there is so much to learn!

Anyway, besides finishing up PBT, I have an educational group assignment to do, we’re making up an education package to address low back pain in pregnant women. It should be pretty neat. We’re even going to make a DVD of exercises to include in the package, and my friend Alexis is going to wear a pregnant belly and act out the exercises for the DVD. Should be pretty great. I just hope we can make it look professional. :P Other than that, I’m just keeping up with schoolwork – this week should actually be probably the most interesting one of the term; we’re also looking at breast cancer, and what a PT’s role would be for patients with breast cancer. We’ll be seeing HIV and breast cancer patients, and I’m really looking forward to all I’m going to learn. I’m such a geek. :)

I’m counting down the days, in less than 2 weeks this unit is done, and I get to have a week off. We’re definitely going snowboarding! I can’t wait. :)

Well it's been another interesting and challenging weeks. I think I'm starting a pattern here of posting on Fridays. I was actually planning on posting earlier this week, but alas, our internet has been broken since Wednesday with no hope of repair until next Wednesday. BOO

So I'm at the library, working on our laptop, trying to recuperate from all the time I've lost not doing work because we were trying to figure out the internet problem. Such fun :(

ha ha and instead of working, I'm blogging. Where are my priorities? :P

Just to answer a few of your questions, the charity ball was tons of fun, I will post some pictures very soon, just depends on who I can steal internet off of. :)

My gramma is doing ok, she's now off the oxygen, which is a good thing, and now she just has to work on improving her breathing (taking deep breaths) and getting up and around more. It's definitely still a long road to go, but she's on the way to recovery I think.

Currently in the library the fire alarm is going off....weird....no one is leaving either. I wonder if we're supposed to leave? It's actually quite loud and obnoxious. Oh! it just stopped. I guess we didn't have to leave after all. Weird. i'm really not used to working in the library, I've always been a working/studying at home kind of girl, it's what I did all through undergrad and what I prefer VERY much now too. I just find I can't get comfortable. AND have you ever tried to bring a laptop with you to the bathroom? VERY difficult.....it's just not as nice working on campus. argh

Anyway, I think I should stop now, need to get back to the work. But I hope everyone out there is doing well.....anything new and exciting happening to you? I'd love to hear about it. Oh, and check out Tim's blog, it's pretty cool. The link is under my "fun links" section. :)

Another Friday already?

Wow!

The days seem to be just flying by, I can't believe it's Friday again, I feel like I just posted that it was a Friday and I was thankful for the weekend. Well here I am, a Friday again, and I am again very thankful. Ha ha

I can't wait for reading week, only 3 more weeks, then I have a WHOLE week off! I can't wait. :P Plans are still up in the air as to what I'll do for reading week, some friends from class have asked me to come with them on a trip to Florida, which would be SO FUN and I'd really like to go. But then Tim and I haven't gotten to do much boarding this winter, and we'd really like to get some in before all the snow melts, so we were thinking of going somewhere to board for my birthday.....it may just end up being Blue, but it would still be fun! So I'm torn....not sure what to do.

My parents are in town again this weekend to visit with my grams - she's still in hospital. She's doing ok, she's recovering slowly but she's still pretty sore from the incisions of the surgery (heart bypass), so she's having some trouble breathing and has had some issues with fluid around her lungs. In fact today they had to perform a procedure on each lung to remove the fluid. And her feet are pretty swollen. So I'm worried. I know in the long run it will be ok and likely these are just after-effects of the surgery, but it still causes concern you know? However, on the bright side she seemed really good, she's chipper and alert and has even been up around on her feet a little the last few days. Hopefully now that she can breathe easier, the nurses will have to be chasing her around. :P That would be good.

Tomorrow is the Charity Ball for the OT/PT classes, I'm really excited. This year for a second year in a row we're raising money for Cancer Rehab, a not-for-profit organisation in Hamilton that provides rehab services to cancer patients and survivors. It's a pretty cool cause and I'm so happy we get to help them out. :) It is going to be an awesome event, and I bought new cute shoes to wear - although I'm a little nervous because they're much taller shoes than I would normally wear. Hopefully I won't fall. Ha

Here's to 3 inch heels