“Bears don’t poo at all when hibernating. Their bodies create an internal plug made from feces and hair that prevents them from pooping during their five-month slumber.”
I have the “What’s Your Poo Telling You?” 2009 daily calendar on my desk at work. The above quote is from today’s entry. I wonder if I will have coworkers coming in to read each day’s entry, like they would come in to see the Kinder Surprise Egg toys leading up to my return to Canada.
Before things ramp-up here at the office I thought I’d take a few minutes to say hello.
I am back in Germany. The flight was alright, though delayed, and I am missing one bag (but I consider myself lucky, as many, many, many bags were left behind). I couldn’t sleep on the plane but I did doze a couple of times. I also made it home from the airport in about 1 hour of driving, which I think is pretty great.
A few awesome people saw me off at the airport. It was nice.
The holidays were quite excellent. A lot happened, so I’m not sure where I would begin. I drank a lot of Starbucks. I visited the Chaplick farm. Montreal for New Year’s. Puzzles. Hooley’s. Thousands of kilometres driven (I drove more kilometres in 18 days in Canada than I did in over 2.5 months in Germany).
There was car shopping, TV shopping, and boot shopping. There were hellos, good-byes, and good-bye agains. Sleeping on couches, sleeping in hotel beds, and sleeping with Matt Kirkey.
Four different cities, two different churches, and three different pizza places. Pumpkin pie, the LCBO, a hair cut, and a beard removal. And even more often than going to Starbucks I would eat out.
Thank you to absolutely everyone I saw over the break for making it extremely special.
Hey, yo: it is 2009.
Update: Someone suggested that I should mention that Sytsma and I had a ridiculous night in Montreal on New Year’s Eve. I cannot even imagine selecting only a few highlights so we will have to see if I am inspired to write about it later.
At 10 minutes past 10 EST I will begin the 2008 Eggnog Challenge. The challenge is to drink 2L of eggnog as quickly as possible. Only I don’t like eggnog, so I am drinking chocolate milk instead.
This year the participants are myself and Erick Muis. Wish me luck.
Update: After about 15 minutes and about 1.0-1.5 litres I decided to informally bail on the competition. I am not conceding defeat, as I want Muis to still have to finish the eggnog to win, but I am no longer going for the gold.
I have spent some time drinking some water and partaking in some breathing exercises to keep the milk down.
I am currently finishing up my first half-day at work here in Ottawa. I started my workday by visiting Tiffany at Starbucks Westboro. I arrived as she was going on her break so I got to enjoy her company, rather than enjoy her high quality beverages. (For those keeping track, I went with a for-here, half-sweet, no whip, extra hot, white chocolate mocha.)
The excitement will soon begin: shopping and dinner this evening with the boys, a Christmas Eve Starbucks run tomorrow morning, a little work, a drive to Kingston, Christmas Eve service, Nana’s, then home-home for the night. There are so many things to look forward to. Even on Christmas Day, and beyond that there are lots of exciting activities planned.
One of the greatest things about Christmas–at least in my line of work–is the abundance of Starbucks gift cards. So far I’ve not had to pay for any Starbucks drink since I’ve returned, and I’ve been four times. It is possible that my drink tomorrow will not be 100% covered so I will have to hope that someone else will give me another Starbucks card with a nominal gift amount on it.
I should also add that Church was great this weekend. Initially it was blizzard-like weather here in Ottawa so I was concerned that attendance might be light, but my fellow Canadians lived up to my expectations and the parking lot was full. It turns out that it was also the Church family Christmas dinner after the service, though I regrettably could not stay due to other commitments (I met with Mr. Orovan and Mr. Scott for lunch at the Newport). It was most excellent to see the many familiar people and, even more-so, to worship the Good Lord in English. I even picked up my offering envelopes for 2009, despite the fact that I will be out of the country for the majority of it.
Oh, and this morning in Ottawa: -20°C; in Waldbronn: +7°C.
Hello my fellow Canadians.
It is with absolute joy that I write to share with you all that I am currently eating Kraft Dinner. Along with my Kraft Dinner is a tall glass of milk. Earlier I enjoyed an amazing white mocha at Starbucks, with even better company. This was followed by a visit and then some shopping, which included the purchase of some new clothing and a new pair of running shoes (a pair of Saucony ProGrid Hurricane 10s).
Canada seems pretty usual to me. As I was walking into the building at work I specifically noted that it didn’t seem unusual; it feels the same as it did, which is the same as it feels for me to walk into the office in Germany. Likewise, seeing the people that are here is pretty usual to me as well.
I am very excited about going to Church tomorrow–the first of two visits to Parkdale that are scheduled during my time here. The Church sent me a birthday card this month, which was great. I am really looking forward to listening to a sermon live rather than a recording. (And even the ones I have listened to in Germany are from Bethel; Parkdale doesn’t have the sermons online.)
I am still undecided on what to do with my hair and beard on Tuesday. On Wednesday I’ll be making the trip to Kingston, which should be a little more relaxing and a little less hectic than Ottawa. Perhaps I will bring my new running shoes to try out in Kingston’s warmer weather.
I can honestly say that I have no desire to be burried with my cell phone, or any other technological device for that matter.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have reached the end of a spectacular series of Kinder Surprise toys.
This past 24 days have started with joy as each day I unwrap a chocolate Kinder Surprise Egg (I have amassed a surplus of five-or-so eggs). I hope this is a feeling that we are all familiar with. The anxiety when you see that yellow toy container followed by excitement as you construct the inner toy. To have this set of feelings repeated each morning for three and a half weeks is truly amazing.
But perhaps more amazing than the toys is what they count down to. In this particular case these Kinder Surprise Eggs have counted down to my return to Canada. More importantly, they are a countdown to when I get to see you–my loyal readers.
Thank you all for counting down with me. I’ll see you soon.
A bonus photo for today. Some of the Kinder Surprise eggs have featured a small barcode on them. This is likely used to assure that certain specific toys are included in every collection. The Christmas series was guaranteed to be complete, so this is certainly how this was achieved, though some of the barcoded eggs have revealed toys from different series.
The Abominable Present Kicker
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