sufficiencies of deficiencies

after we moved in, we thought the minor deficiencies in the house would get fixed fairly quickly. 3 months later, we still hadn't really had any major work done, other than the rectifying of our kitchen cabinets. the builder has until the middle of october to fix everything on our list; after that time, tarion new home warranty will take over and bill the builder (not to be confused with bob the builder) appropriately.

so early last week, we got a call saying the builder is sending someone over, and he's not going to leave until everything is fixed. needless to say, he's been here everyday since then. he arrives beween 7:30 and 8am and we are usually still getting ready by that point with the door to our 4th floor bedroom shut, so we don't hear the doorbell. he still rings it to be polite, but lets himself in with the master key, so by the time i make it downstairs, he's busy at work sanding or painting or spackling. i don't even bat an eye anymore; in fact, i'm stunned when he's NOT there. he calls me "madame" too, which i find a bit endearing, and definitely a step up from my "ma'am" pet peeve. his name is rohan, and when he's finished, i think i'll miss him a bit. although he's a bit like pig pen from charlie brown, in that he leaves a trail of drywall dust everywhere he goes, probably because he's forever sanding down the walls. and our cat feels the need to sit in drywall dust whenever she can. that's a whole other problem because she gets powder all over herself and tries to lick it off, which can't be good for her digestive system...

people who look like people: bay day!

jason bay, from the boston red sox:



robot, from i, robot:



keeping with the red sox theme, i also wanted to compare jacoby ellsbury to kris. which explains why jacoby is my latest crush. swoon! but kris won't let me post the picture, so boo on him.

on the fringe...

kris taped the the season/series premiere of fringe tonight. i had no idea what it was about, so i thought it was a fluff show filled with teenage angst and a lot of shameless plugs by louie vuitton and gucci. i was definitely wrong.

i'm not quite sure what to think...the concept is neat and scary. the acting is at times sub-par, although i'm very happy to have joshua jackson back in my life - he missed me, i know he did! i don't think it's much of a deviation from his role as pacey though...high school drop-out who just didn't apply himself...sarcasm galore...throws a mighty left when his temper is stoked...

the sarcasm is quite much, even for dawson's creek standards. everything he says is either a rhetorical question or some kind of wry quip. that bugs me, but i think i can overlook it. for pacey. i mean, joshua. whatever his name is, i'll forgive him. :)

the chase scene was filmed on lakeshore! and i'm pretty sure harvard = u of t!

the best part is, the next episode is tomorrow! glorious, wonderful tomorrow! less than 24 hours! so many exclamation marks!

it's always game time...

we got free tickets to the blue jays. these tickets are good for the best available 100 level seats that day. we redeemed these wonderful, magical tickets on friday. joe carter was signing autographs, so we left ridiculously early for the game (4:45pm - the game started at 7pm) and lined up at the gate that we were told to line up at for the autograph. it was really long with a lot of crazy people in it - i wondered if only mentally unstable people like the blue jays since there were many in abundance...then i wondered what that said about us...oops, digressing. anyway, i've never gone for the autographs at the jays' game before, but now i know that you can go through ANY gate, but 6A is the closest to where the autographs are signed. however, it is not the best option if there are already about a hundred people at said gate. so we waited in line, got in the building, and realized there was another, much LONGER line with HUNDREDS of people - those people entered another, less busy gate and just walked a bit further to get to the autograph place. hmph.

i insisted on waiting in line juuust in case, but of course, we didn't get to the front before joe had to leave. i did take some pictures (i'll post later - i've become very lazy about uploading photos to the computer), and managed to get a picture of me standing in front of joe...this was taken right after a lady shoved my head out of the way so she could take a picture. a simple "excuse me" would have been more appreciated and effective, but apparently those words aren't in the vocabulary of crazy people...

surrounded by kittens!

two of our friends recently got a kitten. this means i am surrounded by kittens, and i really really really want one. but kris says no. boo kris.

we went with melissa to pick up two kittens from a foster home today. i think the crazy cat lady we met today dissuaded kris from ever wanting more than one cat. her house was dirty and dusty with cat fur everywhere...dirty cat toys everywhere...we were there for less than an hour and my allergies were the worst they have been in a while. this lady's furniture was completely shredded too. colin and justin definitely need to heist her home.

the kittens, though? completely worth it! soooo cute and i plan on stealing them when i go to visit melissa on friday. shh, don't tell her...

bonjour, montreal!

kris had to go to montreal to do some presentations for work, so i piggy-backed on his business trip to indulge in some shopping, sleeping and overall relaxing.

we arrived late on tuesday evening - we both had to work that day, so we left around 4pm. we stopped for dinner and got to the hotel at around midnight. we stayed at a a beautiful boutique hotel called le germain in a great location downtown.

when we arrived, kris asked when and where he should hand in a pair of pants to be dry-cleaned to be ready for thursday morning. the concierge told him to wait until after 9am on wednesday, and that they would come to the room to pick them up. so the next morning, at around 9:30am, i called the front desk. they told me i was too late and that the pants wouldn't be ready until after 6pm on thursday - i relayed the original message we were told, and they said on the contrary, that the clothes needed to be dropped BEFORE 9am. they offered to put an express order in, but that would be $35 along with the cost of cleaning the pants (about $10). i asked whether there is another dry-cleaner they could recommend; the girl told me that i wouldn't be able to find any cleaner in montreal who would be able to clean the pants before thursday at 7am for anything under $45. i told them $45 to clean a pair of pants is ridiculous, especially since we were given false information and had several opportunities to drop them off but were told to wait. she had the head concierge person call me and voila, they cleaned the pants for free. miko: 1, montreal: 0

then we went shopping and bought several things, some of which i was pretty sure i was going to return - those of you who know me well know that i usually buy something with the intention of returning it...i've gotten better about this as of late, but old habits die hard. as i was signing for my purchases, the girl told me she would put the receipt in the bag, and i said that was fine. we got back to the hotel room and she in fact DIDN'T put it in the bag. i called the store; they couldn't find the receipt so they told me to come back with my purchases and they would refund everything and ring it all in again so i'd have my receipt. sigh. in the end, i got what i wanted, so...miko: 2, montreal: 0.

the rest of the trip went more smoothly, with less arguing and more fun. we dined at a polish restaurant that we go to everytime we come to montreal...here, we played another game of "jiggly," (this only works in the province of quebec), admired cute puppies, watched policemen hand out tickets to those riding bikes (it was a walking-only zone), wondered why they didn't hand out tickets to those driving cars since it was a walking-only zone and had gelato for dessert.

i was supposed to meet with amelie on thursday for lunch, but something came up at her work. instead, i got my nails done - i managed to find a cheap asian place in montreal, this is more difficult to do than one might think - there are lots of nail spas, but i don't want to pay $65 for a pedicure; i'd rather pay $30, and the asian places are the best for this. searching "cheap asian nails" in google doesn't really help, so i'm really quite proud of myself for finding this place. it was only a 5 minute walk from the hotel, too. then i hit the streets to do some shopping. probably not the best idea to get my nails done first, since rifling through clothes and picking up hangers is the best way to ruin a fresh manicure. also, since they put moisturizer on my legs, it was difficult to try on pants as my legs kept sticking to the material...mental note for next time...get spa treatment AFTER shopping, not before.

i met kris back at the hotel after he was done work. we took a nap (i love vacation), and then we went shopping again (i love vacation). i showed kris all the things i had scouted out for him during the day, i purchased some things i had my eye on but needed a second opinion, and said bonjour again to all the helpful salespeople who helped me that afternoon.

we had poutine for dinner, ice cream for dessert (did i mention i love vacation?) and finished the evening by watching some olympics.

on friday, kris didn't have to work, so we walked to old montreal. we took some pictures, did some sight-seeing, and of course shopping. we stumbled upon a boutique that shared its name with one of our friends - doesn't seem that much of a novelty, except our friend's name is delano, which is quite unique. we took pictures of the boutique sign, and as an homage to him, we HAD to go in...that's the only reason why we went in, and it WASN'T because of the cute dresses they had in the window. i swear. the dresses weren't available in my size, but everything was reasonably priced, considering it was an independent boutique. i found a nice and versatile cashmere sweater which i am DYING to wear but it's not cold enough yet. as i was paying for the sweater, i noticed a purse that was also cute, and turns out it was dirt cheap, so i bought that too. fun! this was the only day of the week that it wasn't supposed to rain, and it did, of course.

that evening, we were meeting up with amelie and her boyfriend. we asked the front desk of the hotel to call us a cab, and the guy offered to drive us there for free in the hotel car. it's a "gift" to the hotel from audi canada; an extended a8 quattro, i could have had a swimming pool put in in the back if i wanted to, it was that spacious. what a beautiful car. it was neat pulling up to the restaurant and having the hotel guy scurry to open the door for me. we found amelie and peter...we laughed, reminisced and caught up over dinner and drinks after. a perfect way to end our trip!

we drove back on saturday, witnessed some wicked-looking clouds - at one point, i felt i was entering mordor - and a crazy rain storm. luckily it only lasted a little bit, and the rest of the drive was smooth sailing. smooth sleeping for me.

and now it's back to reality. i really miss having a chauffeur. sometimes just sit in the back seat of my car, waiting for someone to come and drive me around. so far, no one has come, but i'm still optimistic...

roasting a piggy

we had a pig roast at my parent's farm...kind of a throw-back to the days where 100 japanese tourists would come to our house to feast on homemade pork (literally) and take off their shoes to walk on the grass...at least, that's what my brother says. i don't remember them doing that. other memorable occurences were the theft of card tables - you can never have too many? - and the much-anticipated arrival of mr. plaid pants.

thanks, mom and dad, for all your work! everyone had a blast (too bad about the obnoxious 5 year old and i am most certainly not referring to my precious niece), and the food was delicious. the weather was a bit soggy, but that didn't dampen spirits, which is most important.

until next time!

plumbing 101

the builder sent someone to investigate the cause of the leak in the master bathroom while we were at work. the guy cut a hole in the drywall in front the tub but realized he needed a flashlight to see in said hole. he left to get one; while he was gone, scout, being the curious creature she is, squeezed into the hole and made herself comfortable. the guy came back with his light, shone it in the dark hole, and she came streaking out. needless to say, she scared the living daylights out of the poor man. she snagged a bunch of fur in her hasty exit out of the hole and was hiding under the bed when we came home, so she didn't take too kindly to the man sneaking up on her with a flashlight.

it still doesn't explain why our hand towel was found outside in the flowerbed...kris thinks the guy had the towel in his hand when he shone the light, got so scared by the cat that he ran down three flights of stairs and outside with the towel by accident. the jury is still out on that one.

and it turns out the bathtub wasn't leaking, so the search continues.

twins?

over the past few months, i have been told by several different people that they saw someone who looks EXACTLY like me. i wonder if it's the same girl that people are seeing, or if i have multiple versions of myself running around the GTA. or maybe we're all just short asian girls with long hair.

le grand update

it has been a very long time since i've updated, thanks to the craziness of moving, getting settled whilst working full-time jobs. because of this, you'll only get tangenty, all-in-one-shot-blog:

we thought our house would be more finished when we moved in - as promised, we didn't sneak in to see it from the sunday until our inspection on tuesday so we thought things would be completed during that time. when tuesday rolled around, it didn't look like much had been done. the staircase was still missing carpet. the hardwood stairs and banisters had just freshly been stained, to the point where they were still tacky when we walked on them. the shower stall wasn't up yet either and the baseboards and trim still needed a second coat of paint. aside from the paint, all of these things were installed on moving day - good timing. there are several areas of drywall that needed to be patched, sanded and repainted...we're still waiting for that to happen. for the longest time, there was green painter's tape everywhere marking the spots they were supposed to fix before we moved in. we got tired of waiting, so we ended up taking pictures of the tape and removing it so we don't feel like we live in the land of green tape.

at first, the kitchen cabinet doors were a different colour than the rest of the cabinets. this was a problem. the other problem was that the cabinet guy found out that his contract was being terminated - well, they asked him to finish what he started, but never to come back after that, our botched cabinets being the last straw, i believe - he blew up when he received the bad news, and was screaming and swearing several blue streaks. i consider myself to be a pretty street-savvy person, but i was blushing with the words and phrases that were coming out of his mouth. then i felt like our house had a negative energy, thanks to mr. cabinet potty-mouth, but it's gone now. good riddance. and our cabinets are all the same colour now, but took 2.5 weeks for that to happen. at the beginning, it seemed we witnessed a different construction worker swearing into his phone or threatening to kill someone for the first few days. apparently construction workers aren't very civilized, who knew? things have settled down since.

living in a new development definitely comes with its growing pains. we couldn't park in our garage because the trades workers kept parking in the alley that leads to the garage. we gave up and started parking in front of the house. then the builder called us and politely asked us to stop parking in front of the house so they could do landscaping. we politely asked them to tell their workers to stop blocking the path to our garage and we would happily park in our own garage. it has gotten much better, but lately there's been a couple guys who missed the memo about not blocking us in.

there is no garbage/recycling pick-up yet. when we want to dispose of garbage, we have to go looking for dumpsters that are strategically located throughout the development. these dumpsters keep getting moved around, so everyday is like a treasure hunt, only the treasure isn't as exciting as old artifacts or gold coins. there also isn't any mail delivery. we asked the post office to have our old mail addressed to the condo held for us. we didn't think it made sense to change our address officially since there was no mail delivery yet. the post office only had 3 letters for us the first time we went to pick it up, then found the rest of the mail once we went on vacation. while away, the hold expired and the mail was delivered all at once. to the condo. the girl who bought our condo contacted us, so we have it now and thank you kenji and shelley, for the lovely birthday card!

we recently discovered water damage in one of the second bedrooms; we thought it was coming from the shower based on the location of the damage, but one of the guys came to check it out and said it's not leaking anymore...it's probably from the bathtub which was used just once. just in case, we aren't using the master ensuite and patiently waiting for someone to fix it. we were thinking we were unlucky, but then met the neighbours across from us. their move-in date was delayed twice, and their old house sold and closed long before they could move in, so they stayed at a campground in the interim. yuck. they have several leaks to deal with inside their house, including one in the master bedroom; whenever it rains a lot, water drips from the light switch! their roof has already been replaced. now we are thinking our house isn't so bad. it is strange since our builder is considered one of the premium builders in the area...but we also were told from the disgruntled cabinet-maker-potty-mouth-guy that this is the biggest development they have ever built and they have taken on more than they can handle. not unlike the cabinet maker. hello mr. pot, have you met mr. kettle? he is black, as are you.

scout adjusted pretty well to the move. she was a little scared at first, but now she's happy with her new home. she likes the stairs...more specifically, the banisters - she likes poking her head through the spindles to play peek-a-boo. on a completely different note, sometime on the weekend, she managed to pull out a wad of fur beside her eye. so she has a bald patch right under her eye - she looks like she is crying a single tear, how emo. she must be going through her adolescent phase.

we have been busy purchasing things for the house - the last thing on our list is window coverings - apparently we are exhibitionists as we never did get window coverings for our condo and we still haven't put anything up other than some temporary paper blinds in the bathroom. roller shades are next and last on our shopping list. once that's done we will be out of money. round 1 of spending a lot is coming to a close. i think round 2 will come around december...

in the meantime, we wait for the deficiencies to be fixed and enjoy having triple the space, pretty surroundings and that new-house smell. mmm!