Thursday, January 31, 2013

Look! Mira!

Look who spent a few hours in a pine tree!

Mira que passava una parella d'hores en un pi!




Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Chuck

The man and Chuck were walking in the mtns today when they came across part of a leg from a wild boar that someone had shot....raw, obviously.

I should say really that Chuck came across this, but being the darling fuzzy metros*xual dog that he is, he wasn't too terribly sure what to do with it...or even if he liked it, though he seemed to think that he should.

The man solved the problem for him.

*click*

On goes the leash

*tug*

Off we go

*sigh*

of relief from Chuck


There, that's all cleared up anyway.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Since the computer is healthier, que l'ordinador funciona una mica millor

I thought I'd put up a couple of photos from the last walk:

but,

I can't.

You see, when the good people in the computer place fixed my computer, they had to replace the hard drive and they also wiped it clean and reloaded all the software.  That is, the factory installed software, not third party software, like the photo managing software, nor the Garmin software.  In order to do this, they had to make themselves the new administrators, no problem, they tell you the password, you go in and change it all up again.

Except, that isn't the password they used.  I tried the password they gave me, I tried it with a capital, all in capitals, with letters near the ones they need, with anything I could think of, and I am still locked out.

It works and all, but no photo management, and the system that's installed with the software package, apple...it SUCKS.

Ho hum

So, photos to follow.

What have I been up to other than battling computer woes?  Lots of work, lots of cycling, some running, planning a crazy long walk for the near future...not enough sleep, though I had a two and a half hour nap today, though here I am at 10pm knackered as the Brits would put it.

I have got my halo glowing after today though, all caught up on my marking, all caught up on work for Toronto, a lot of work to do with the boat here done, a whack of Catalan homework done, got a run in along with the nap and generally kicked a bunch of stuff in the butt!  Yeah!

Of course a new list flourishes alongside that one...like a place to stay this summer,  gotta work that out still.  Drag.

Time for bed again.

Hope you had a good one.


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

My computer went into a coma last week, about the same time as Eldest's leapt off her bed and committed suicide.  Bad week for computers in this family.

I finally got the chance to take my computer in to the store to get fixed, it is a Mac, so we went to the Apple store.  Initially a little weird, the greeter guy was bizarrely and aggressively repetitive, and INSISTED, somewhat angrily, on telling us the same thing, I kid you not, 6 times, and as I was getting pretty testy after the third repetition, that was pretty impressive.

That said, the service from there on in was excellent!  Turns out that the problems were both in her body and mind....she had both a damaged hard drive and a software crash.

Surprisingly little money later - though still an ouch - she's up and running beautifully, all within about 4 hours!

The only problem?  They had to blank the computer, though we saved the vital stuff and I never leave ANYTHING only on the computer.....but they had to change my password to get in and do admin stuff.  The password they put in is not the one the computer thinks it has.  As in, I cannot get in to change anything.

Ho hum

Phone calls tomorrow!!!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Walk and computer, camina i ordinador

Went walking on Sunday, a friend and I did 57K, and more or less 2000 meters of climbing (and descending).  Good fun, have to admit I am a little stiff, not quite as trained up as I should have been, but lovely.  Started and ended in the dark, welcome to January!

On another note, my computer is on the blitz!  Fun WOW!  May have to take it in to the professionals to try and get it saved....sigh

Vaig anar a caminar diumenge, amb un amic vam fer 57 quilòmetres i més o menys 2000 metres de desnivell.  Molt divertit, haig d'admetre que tinc unes agueletes avui, no estic tan entrenada com calia ser, però un dia molt maco.  Vam començar i acabar en el fosc, benvinguts a gener!

A un altre banda,la meva ordinador està fotuda!  YEAH!!! Em sembla que hauré de portar-la als professionals per salvar-la.  Que puc fer.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Work today, walk tomorrow. Treballa avui, camina demà

Did a lot of hours of work today, good for the wallet, and tomorrow even more hours of walking.  Looking forward to it despite the rain in the forecast.  Though I went and looked again, and actually, there isn't rain in the forecast so that is all so very good!

He treballat per moltes hores avui, bé per les finances, i demà passaré molt més hores caminant. Ho estic anticipant molt, encara que diu que plourà.  Espera!  He anat a mirar els temps un altre cop, i ara diu que no plourà!  Que bé!!!!

Friday, January 18, 2013

I believe jo crec

that studying Catalan subjunctives at midnight on a Friday night, that has also been a very long day, is not productive.

Just sayin'.

que estudiant subjuntius catalans al mitja nit de divendres, d'un divendres molt llarg, no és gaire productiu.

Ho vull dir.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

New shoes! Sabates noves

New, snazzy and a little hard.....






Now to get them out on a trail, just got to find a moment to do so!

Monday, January 14, 2013

Cold Fred

Cold cold cold cold cold.....

I have been cold almost all day.

Seems silly living here, but many places, indoors, are either unheated - one of the places I work - or grossly underheated, and combine that with tiled ground floors with no basement, and you have some seriously chilly tootsies!

At least in Canada once you get inside, it's actually warm.  Though that said, it's been quite a bit warmer there than here lately, so what the heck.

Fred fred fred fred fred fred fred.......

He tingut fred per quasi tot el dia.

Sembla una tonteria, vivint aquí amb tant de fred, però molts llocs no té calefacció - un dels meus llocs de treball per exemple - o són increïblement insuficientment escalfats.  Si combinés això amb terres de rajola sense subterrani i els peus queden com blocs de gel.

Al menys a Canadà quan entris una casa o edifici, per fi, està escalfada.  Però haig de dir que Toronto ha tingut temperatures més altes que les nostres aquí...mira, que podem fer.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Slow and snow....lent i neu

There is a basic equation in winter between the temperature, activity level and amount of clothing you wear.  Today, Youngest and I didn't quite get it right.

We went a little minimalist today, partially as the route was not exactly exposed, it was supposed to be short, I was bizarrely and incredibly disorganised and the group we were going with usually moves at a medium slow, but steady pace.

Not so much today, we had one guy along, not normally part of the group who moved at a positively glacial pace.  I kid you not, there was a three year old girl and a five year old girl along on the walk.  The consistently passed him, and had to wait for him

Youngest and I nearly froze to death.  On top of that, he was in our car ride there, three in the back, and he was a big man.  A big man, one of those big guys who takes up a lot of room, cause he doesn't want to sit with his legs together and his arms crossed over his chest so you just have to squeeze your skinny self into whatever corners are available.

Big guys out there?  Put your d*mn knees together and tuck in your d*mn elbows, just cause you can't say no to a third helping of ice cream doesn't mean you can have half my seat too.

Despite all that, it was an utterly lovely day, with a great group of people and we even got snow, which was lovely, cause it didn't stay and was only at altitude!

Hi ha una relació, una equació en l'hivern entre la temperatura, el nivell d'activitat i la roba que portis.  Avui, la Petita i jo, no ho hem solucionat bé.

Hem anat a caminar avui en tema minimalista, en part perquè la ruta era força protegida i curta, i a sobre aquest matí he estat, atípicament, increïblement despistada.  A sobre, el grup normalment tira amb un bon ritme, no vull dir ràpid, però anim tirant.

Avui?  No tant.  Hi era un home, que mai he vist abans, que camina amb un ritme absolutament glacial.  En serio, hi era dues nenes, un de tres anys i l'altre té cinc, l'han passat consistentment, i fins i tot havia d'esperar-lo.

La Petita i jo?  Hem quedat glaçades.  A sobre, aquest mateix home estava amb nosaltres en la cotxe que ens ha portat a la muntanya.  Un home gras, un d'aquests homes qui seu amb les cames ben separades, un d'aquests que ocupa moooooolt d'espai, qui no creu els braços, perquè més o menys, no pot, llavors hem de prémer-nos en al raconet deixat sí o sí.

Oi, homes grans, si us plau, tireu les cames al mig, creueu els braços, que no podeu parar de menjar no vol dir que pugueu tenir la meitat de la meva espai també.

Malgrat això, hem tingut un dia preciós, amb un grup de gent molt amable, i fins i tot hi era neu, molt bonic i que no quedava i només cap a dalt amb l'altitud!

Fantàstic!

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Snuff

Reading Snuff by Terry Pratchett, no time for anything else that doesn't have to be done!

Hope you're all well!

O

Estic llegint Snuff, de Terry Pratchett i no tinc ni un moment per cap altra cosa que no haig de fer!

Espero que vagi molt bé!

O

Monday, January 7, 2013

Eldest has returned to Canada, La Gran ha tornat a Canadà

Youngest and I consoled ourselves with a Big Bang Theory marathon.

Started back to work today at one of my two jobs, real life tomorrow.

My back is doing better.

That's about all I have to say, except that Eldest left me a Terry Pratchett I haven't read yet, Snuff.  I have to put it into the suitcase when I finish so I remember to bring it back to Canada.

La Petita i jo ens hem consolat amb una marató de Big Bang Theory.

He tornat a treballar avui a un dels meus dos llocs de treball.  La vida real començarà demà.

La meva esquena ha millorat força.

No tinc molt més a dir, excepte que la Gran m'ha deixat un llibre de Terry Pratchett, Snuff.  Vaig haver de prometre-la que el posaré en una maleta quan acabí, que recordi de portar-lo a Canadà.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Bumf or bumph and a bit about today...Bumph i una mica sobre avui

Avui, més o menys, ha estat un dia de fer exercici i parlar català!  He anat a córrer/caminar amb tres altres persones, molt més forts que jo, afortunadament, estàvem marcant una ruta a la muntanya i hem parat molt sovint.  He tornat a casa, i un mitja hora desprès, hem sortit, les nenes, jo i un amic per anar a caminar per tres hores.  Les cames estan ben cansats, i tot hauria hagut ser més agradable si no hagués fet malbé l'escena aquest mati.  Un mal gest estupidíssim, he agafat una samarreta, i PAF, l'escena fotuda. Que bé.

Today was spent exercising and speaking Catalan.  I went to run/walk with three other people, much stronger than me who fortunately were working on marking a trail for an upcoming race so we stopped and started.  Thankfully.  On returning home, I showered, attempted to stretch, but found myself jamming up while lying on the floor, and stuffed some food into my mouth, then out again with the girls and a friend, the one I do language with and today was CATALAN!  My legs are pretty darned tired, and it all would have been much more fun if I hadn't thrown out my back this morning.  I had the temerity to pick up a t-shirt, of all the ridiculous ways to hurt yourself.  So far, not too bad, but not comfy at all.

On another topic, this is one of the coolest videos I've ever seen, a tour of the space station!  It's long, but worth EVERY minute!

Canvi de tema, aquest està un dels vídeos més interessants que he trobat mai en la vida.  Una visita guiada de la estació espacial!  Llastima, està en anglès, però si pogués entendre una mica, val la pena, però molt.

Un altre curiositat que he descobert, hi ha una paraula en anglès que es diu 'bumph o bumf' i vol dir tota la propaganda i publicitat que surt a fires i llocs toristics.  Ve des de les paraules 'bum fodder'  que vol dir coses que alimentar el coll, i va des de 1889!  Deixe'm clarificar.  Són coses que pots utilitzar per netejar el coll a lavabo.  Paper higiènic abans de quan ho van fabricar expressament.  

Something weird.  The word bumph, of bumf, originates in 1889 and means bum fodder!  As in stuff to wipe your b*tt with! TP!!!!  From Mirriam Webster.

Sorry about the asterix,  we have net nanny here that we CANNOT make go away.

Friday, January 4, 2013

The other day, in BCN, we went scouting a new route. L'altre dia a BCN vam anar a buscar una ruta nova

M'encanta BCN, i fa uns dia, mentre estàvem buscant una ruta nova, vam trobar aquest barco al Port Vell, és un replica d'un Galió tradicional d'Espanya, (el tipus que en Nelson va guanyar la guerra)

I love BCN, and the other day, while wandering around new areas, we found this boat in the old port, a replica of a Spanish Galleon, from Cadiz.  I believe that would be the kind of boat that Nelson bested, if I am not mistaken.

Mira,  See?



Haig de dir que haurien de tenir vergonya per la manera que van deixar les veles.  Seriosament, molt mal fetes.  Com sí fossin roba bruta deixat per netejar.  Quan pleguis les veles per anar a un port, han de ser així!  Veus com les veles estan rectes, netes i a SOBRE els pals?  Mira la barca aquí en BCN.  No està igual.

I do have to say though that the way they furled their sails is simply embarrassing.  Seriously badly done, as if they were the dirty laundry hung out to air.  A harbour furl leaves the sails tight neat and bundled ON TOP of the yards, like this link!  See how neat and tidy those are?  And the boat here in BCN, not quite the same:





De vergonya, això.  Bloody embarrassing.




Thursday, January 3, 2013

I am so far behind in posting! Estic molt enrerre amb penjant no

Today....I still have posts from before, lots of them, but today....today.....Youngest, bless her deprived and desperate Pho missing soul...she begged us to find a pho place in BCN, and with the wonders of modern technology, we DID! (they've even got perfect English in the menu!)

Avui....encara tinc moltes coses per penjar de fa dies, però avui....avui.....la Petita, que tenia tantes ganes desesperades per menjar pho que va plegar i plegar que trobem un restaurant en BCN....i amb els miracles del tecnologia...ho vam trobar!




And today, we went.  Avui, hi hem anat.
Verdict?  El Veredicte?

So good I forgot to take a picture.  Tan bona que he oblidat de fer una foto.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm A little slice of heaven.  Going to be going there R.E.G.U.L.A.R.L.Y.
Sincerament....anirem allà regularment....que bé.

I did manage a picture of dessert, tapioca pearls (green) and melon in coconut milk.  MMmmmmmmm He agafat una foto del postre....perles de tapioca i melo en llet de coco.  Mmmmmmmmm


I will be taking Catalans there and trying to convince them of the greatness of this food.  Different from the pho stores in TO (miss the tea, both during the meal and bubble tea afterwards) but Mmmmmmmmmm.  Portaré els meus amics catalans allà, intentant de convertir-los de aquest menjar. No el mateix com els restaurants de pho a Toronto, trobo a faltar el te, tant a començament del àpat com al final, amb 'bubble tea'!

Oh, and some random and surprisingly gentle graffiti below.  I love the graffiti here in BCN, most is crap, but some is EXCELLENT.  Maybe I'll make it a resolution to bring a camera with me more and take more photos of graffiti!  I, com un bonus, uns grafits, sorprenament dolc...m'encanta els grafits aquí BCN, la majoria està fatal, però ni han alguns que son excel·lent!  Potser per aquest any, intentaré portar la càmera més sovint i faré més fotos del grafit.




Also went and worked on a boat this morning, pretty darned good day, if I do say so myself!

També he anat a treballar a un barco aquest matí...quin dia més estupend.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Latest works completed. Les ultimes obres acabades

Am I utterly in love with each and every one of these?  No.  But are they complete in and of themselves.  Yes, I think so.  Will I ever revisit some of them?  Maybe.

Sé que no sóc enamorada amb cada un d'aquests quadres, però son complerts.  Els revisaré un dia?  Podria ser.













Hi ha una més, però encara no he agafat una foto.

There's one more, but I haven't taken the photo yet.