1 week!!

In one short week, I will be leaving for Kenya for trip #3!! Somehow, work even encouraged me to go! I'll be there for three weeks. This is a just a short blog to let those of you who are still listening...that more will come soon. The official trip blogs will be on the mikinduri website, so the ones I post here will be less restrained as last year, hehe. Check out the trip blog here:

http://mikinduri.com/tripblog

Pulled-Up - September 15, 2011

I didn't know it was possible. I really didn't. I vividly remember hanging from that metal pole, dangling while my arms slowly detach from the socket, gripping onto the slippery metal, a nearly impossible task as the sweat starts to bead on my hands, while a sadistic gym teacher rivaling Sue Sylvester (glee) shouts "encouragement" until my 5th grade little pipsqueak arms start shaking and I finally fall.

I don't remember trying to do a pull-up being so traumatic as much as confusing. The gym teacher really would say encouraging things, but she had such unrealistic expectations. She thought my arms had some sort of muscle between the skin and bone that could not only support the rest of my body up but raise it feet in the air, simply by bending at the elbow. She didn't realize that my arms only consisted of skin and bone, used to holding a pen or the 1st 2nd or 3rd positions used in ballet. They were only expected to perform such amazing feats once at year during the dreaded Presidential Fitness Test.

That was the day that I learned conspiracy theory exists. The idea that middle school children should be graded on their ability to do 4,000 sit-ups in 2 minutes, run a mile in a fraction of a second, or use only their hands to pull them off the floor and up higher than some arbitrary bar 60 feet high, was not only enforced by my gym teacher, but went all the way up to President Clinton himself.  My recollection of the requirements may be exaggerated over the years, but only to enforce how much of an impossibility the task of a pull up was to my wiry 5th grade self.

The only task that I remember fondly was the "sit and reach". I think they made this category for the kids like me, to make us feel like at least we could pass one thing. While sitting on the floor, they put a yard stick out, and measured how far you could reach. 7 years in ballet had given me enough flexibility to reach further than any kid in my class, but not to perform a single other task to the President's satisfaction.

Though Clinton is out of office, I am unable to allay your fears, as the reign of Presidential Fitness terror is not over. Contrary to its name, it is independant of the president's and has been around for 60+ years. So, why do I bring up conspiracy from the past? Well it is because I had a breakthrough. While playing with my 6 year old cousin and her two of their friends on a jungle gym the other day, as ya do, I was hanging upside down on the monkey bars with them, and started to pull myself up. Huh - 1/2 a pull up was surprising easy, so when the kids ran off and no one was looking, I felt my bravery start to brew. I reached up and grabbed the bar (a much shorter distance than 16 years ago), and simply pulled.....up.

Miracle of all miracles, my body followed. Then it even went so high as for me to see over the bar I was holding onto! What! Is something I considered an impossibility truly achievable after all these years? I held there for a second stunned, sure I must be dreaming and waiting to look down to see the ground disappear and a giant marshmallow emerge in its place. Nope, I was still holding myself there. I slowly lowered to the ground and tried it again, sure I couldn't do two. That must have been a fluke. But I did. Even though I was much taller and had much more weight than my 10 year-old self, my arm muscles have finally arrived at a ratio to compensate! At 28, I can finally achieve President Clinton's goal for a physically fit 10 year old!

Take that all the gym teachers of my past, or as I fondly remember them, my early archenemeses (yes I have later archenemies). I encourage all of you to go try that thing that just seemed too impossible, but remember not to push it. I did a few more pull ups and by the third one, felt that familiar feeling of really needing to pee while your arms start to fatigue and your chin reaches higher and higher. I should have stopped at 2.

My Own Surprise Party! That I Planned - Sept 3, 2011

Yup it's true. I planned my own surprise party, and the worst part is, I didn't even know I was doing it! We have this fantastic cottage here on PEI, that I've mentioned in past blogs. During the summer, we divide the team so each family gets to use it for two weeks. Starting in September, it's a free for all for whichever family wants to use it. Growing up, going the cottage typically meant work. Fixing the roof, reshingling, painting, always something. Once the cottage was fixed up (read details on this feat in a previous post), there was a weekend every year that was deemed 'no work weekend' to lull out as much family as possible to relax and have fun! This year the numbers were down a bit, so we had to have a second half to the first no work weekend. I set out to plan this, since I had a lot of time, and made sure everyone knew about it.

Sammy Cake!

We changed the date a few times, and finally landed on labor day weekend, and even days before the event, it was changed from Sunday to Saturday. I sent out emails, and was overwhelmed with the number of people that were going to come. Definitely higher numbers than normal! The weekend came and a few of us stayed the night before. I realized it was my dog Sammy's 15th birthday. (yes he's that old) and decided that since someone needed to bring a cake, I'd volunteer, be a bit goofy, and make it in the shape of Sammy. Well it turned out great! I made a red velvet cake at the request of one of my young cousins, and because I thought that was a bit dark and funny, since the cake was shaped a dog.



Cartwheels!

The day of the event we made a trip to the local town for supplies (alcohol and junk food), and I was quite unhappy that this was taking so long as I wanted to be back having fun with all the arriving family. We finally pulled back to the cottage and as I helped unload the items, I was the last one in and I could hear everyone saying 'where's Libby'. I still didn't get it. Then I walked onto the porch which had canada flags, red, and white streamers, balloons and everything! I was speechless, which doesn't happen often, mostly because I was so confused. My mind was racing for an event that my whole family might be staring at me and singing 'for she's a jolly good fellow' and I came up blank. Then every moment of cajoling came into my mind, of trying to ensure everyone came....to my party! Oh my. I think then I was so embarrassed I matched my new flag. Not only did I plan my own surprise party, but I insisted all the guests come, brought the cake, and was so gullible, I was actually surprised!

 

My uncles



 It was a great party and there were even gifts and a big goofy hat I was forced to wear. 43 family members came, and only 9 people who live on the island weren't there (all for very good reasons and sent their regrets). That's our best turn out yet! After finding out how long my family had been planning this (a few months), and realizing that many only came because it was a party for me, I was quite flattered. Plus I really needed that new electric blanket they all gave me. I'm not sure how I will survive the cold upcoming winter without it! Oh if you're wondering what the party was for, as I certainly was, it was a 'new job/new apartment/officially moving in to pei'. Phew. And people wondered why I moved here!

The whole crew minus 3 young fishermen

Below the Rink - Sept 13th 2011



Official Univ Portrait

 Have you ever wondered what's below the ice rink? Well I found out today while sitting in my office, reading the paper over lunch. Yes...I have an office now. I'm teaching at the university! This is the job I've always wanted - to mold young minds, steering them along their engineering path to going and doing something, while I continue to steer. (There was no sarcasm in that sentence whatsoever). The photo to the right is the official one they took. I included it only because for some reason, every time I look at it, I laugh.

Sorry for that side note...The second part of that sentence that may shock you is that yes...I read the paper now. I even subscribe. I'm trying my best to be a full grown adult and read the paper everyday. Since I am rarely full grown, I lapse and try to catch up on previous news articles during lunch.

This paper is a bit different than the one you may receive in your fancy big towns. There were 5 articles over the last two weeks about a missing life-sized paper mache Elvis. Yup. That's right, a home made elvis. The first article was that it was stolen, the next was a plea from the owner to return it, next was a continued plea to the community to return it, followed by an announcement of a fire where blue suede shoes and a wig were found next to the rubble, and finally a nice piece on an Elvis impersonator donating a number of items to the family who no long have a paper mache Elvis. Now to be fair, the Elvis belonged to a man who made it for his adult handicapped son who is a big fan of the King, so I have to believe that is why so much attention was brought to the saga.

Nonetheless, I was riveted over the last few days to try to keep up to date on the events. In each of those editions, there was also a paragraph or two on the fires in Texas and a whole article on Libya, so they do cover world events, but special attention is given to those sweet pieces and local charm that often get overlooked by those big city papers. They used to list all of the crimes that were committed within the city, including every burglary offence, but that recently stopped. I read an article the other day about a 'battered woman' who's man was given a suspended sentence because although he never hit her, he did pull her hair in one heated argument. I love this town where that mild offence (though still really really bad) is news!

Okay back to my original story - today, while eating lunch and reading the paper, one of the other prof's came in and said he was going to get a tour of the hockey rink and pool heat exchange system. He was planning on taking his students there later in the week and wanted a pre-tour. If you take out the engineering lingo, this means, tour the ice rink....down below! I quite literally skipped along to see what goes on down there. It was really neat. There were a lot of pipes and I was surprised to learn that they use ammonia, brine water, and heated city water to make the ice. At the same underground location, they heat the swimming pool. They use this neat exchange system to simultaneously heat one and cool the other. Okay, this is the reason I started to write the blog and clearly I had more to say about the newspaper, but nonetheless, I got an unexpected tour today, and some some dorky fun!

A Princess Party! – April 29th, 2011

After watching an entertaining episode of the Middle, about a random middle-class family in Ohio or somewhere in middle America, I was inspired to plan a princess party. While I have not been caught up in any of the details of the Royal wedding, I do like parties, especially when you get to dress up like a princess. On this episode of the Middle, the mom was so excited for the Royal wedding that she bought memorabilia and a new tv to watch the event. I wasn't alive for the Diana Charles royal wedding, but all my cousins are quite excited to tell me their memories of the event. Even when I lived in England, I never really got caught up with the royal bug. I think we lived there when Princess Diana died and I don't remember watching the funeral. Anyway, this lets you know how surprised I was to hear myself suggesting a princess party to my cousins to commemorate the event. Since I missed so many of the 'where were you when events' – moon landing, the day JFK was shot, etc, I didn't want the only one I do remember to be 9/11. Plus not that I'm Canadian and all, it's practically the law to watch it.

Me, Kennedy, Michelle, Rita, and Leanne toasting

We hashed out a plan to meet at my cousin Michelle's house at 1pm. She had dvr'd the event on two different stations so we had a choice. I spent a bit of time braiding my hair in cornrows in a starburst pattern and then curled the rest of my hair, and dressed in a regal gold dress with matching shoes. I was thrilled to see my family had also dressed for the occasion in glittery wedding attire.

Once our tiaras were secured and the crumpets and snacks were within reach, we started the wedding. I had more mocking, sarcastic comments while the other guests were more positive, but I think we all had fun. Right before Kate stepped out of the car, we ran to the kitchen and brewed tea to be ready to see her dress with teacup in hand. It reminded me quite a bit of my mother's dress, with a very Disney princess neckline. When it came time for the announcement that they were married, we had the champagne cork popped and flutes filled.

Tea and crumpets

The best part of watching it hours later (other than getting to sleep in) was we were able to skip all of the boring parts and pause for personal commentary and judging of the amazing hats. It turned out to be a lot of fun and I was thrilled that an event that would have otherwise gone unnoticed in my book became a fun memory!

30 Hours of Isolation – May 11, 2011

So I have been putting off this one project for Mikinduri since we came back in March. Last year, I worked on the patient records database immediately as I was in Phoenix and 'homesick' for the Mikinduri crew. This year, I was on the road for 3 weeks and try as I might, cannot find the motivation to focus long enough to work on this. With the next three weeks quite full with other Mikinduri tasks (and family fun), I neeeed to focus and get this done! So I'm going out to the family cottage.

We have this great asset in the family that my grandpa built, slowly expanding it from a one room summer dwelling to a four bedroom cottage complete with an outhouse. My uncles did a lot of work to keep up the cottage, but despite their efforts, it was turning into a rustic fishing cottage with great character, but not a lot of cleanliness. My immediate family helped maintain the cottage one day every year when we came to visit PEI in the summer, and learned great skills like shingling, tarring a roof, and leveling. We also had a lot of fun at the cottage as the whole Grant clan would join together with cousins all over the place, swimming in the river, climbing trees, and the adults gathered with drinks in hand. (At some point before my time the outhouse had been renamed the pump house, there was indoor plumbing, and one of the bedrooms was converted to a bathroom complete with shower). When my uncles' grandkids popped on the scene, they simultaneously came to the realization that we should fix up the cottage to be safe, clean, and especially rodent free so the next generation could come and have fun and their mothers wouldn't be scared to bring them. Two of my uncles then devoted nearly every weekend for months to bring the cottage up to grandkid code, and boy did they! You would never know this quaint, clean, finished, beautiful cottage was ever home to bats, mice, or a swarm of mosquitoes. (One year the mosquitoes were so bad, I slept in a pup tent in the living room to avoid the blood-suckers!) All of the work they put in is so appreciated as this building is now a treasure that we as a family of 16 cousins and 5 parents maintain through our board with rules, dues, and calendars for timesharing.

I went off the grid to try to accomplish my goal. It's not really off the grid, as there is electricity, but there's no internet, phones, cell service, and since the pump isn't hooked up there's no running water. The only heat is from a stove in the center of the room. I love how quaint that is, and it really does a great job of heating up the place using the wood I cut as a lumberman last fall. It turns out though, that if you break that little glass window on the front, it doesn't work nearly as well, and goes through wood very very quickly! It was a bit chilly when I got out here yesterday, and while I'm not scared to be out in the middle of nowhere alone with no cell reception, I did want to take precautions. After driving my car through the entrance, I put the chain back up to make it look like the house wasn't being used, and I parked around back. I realize that having the lights on and smoke coming from the chimney might have indicated someone was present, but hey, it was a first glance kind of precaution.

My first task was to start the fire, and I did so after only 2 attempts! I then added logs throughout the day to keep the fire going. This plan was going great until about 10pm at night when I realized I needed to put a nice big log on to keep me warm all night. I opened the heavy cast iron door and tossed the log in. It looked like everything was staying in place, so I shut the door. At that moment the giant log rolled off the top of the wood that was already on fire and tried to escape through the glass. It was nearly successful as though it had no pointy parts, it broke the glass. I then spent the next 10 minutes looking for something to cover the front of the stove to keep the glass as in place as possible to keep the heat in and limit the amount of air getting in. There was the perfect lasagna sized aluminum foil pan that I put up to the shattered glass and thanks to it being so cold outside, this was sucked in and sealed onto the broken glass. Success! The next morning the fire was still on, but I had to open the doors to throw a few more logs in as it was getting cold in the room. At this point all the glass fell out and for the rest of the day I stayed in my sleeping bag while working on my projects. It's a good thing my dog is a Pomeranian; if he was any other breed he would have frozen his tail off. (Note: while crossing the bridge to get replacement for the glass, a rock flew up and cracked my windshield. What is that – 14 years of bad luck??)

Having noise in the background was still a necessity, so I was able to get caught up on the last 2 months of podcasts. I then walked down memory lane with Evita, recalling an awesome trip to Cyprus where my sister bought this on cassette and we listened to it for hours. (CD's were quite popular at the time so the fact that we bought it on cassette shows it was both on sale and probably a bootleg copy). After I had enough of Madonna trying really hard to hit the high notes, I stumbed on an old lp recording of Jesus Christ Superstar my dad converted to mp3. We listened to this lp around Easter when I was younger (when cassettes were around but not overly present in my house). I had no idea Jesus was such a fan of hair bands. I mean I know He loves us all equally and especially likes music praising Him, but I wonder if He has a musical preference. If so, I'll bet it's polka. You can find that familiar Oom-pa-pa tune in just about every culture, right now it's heavy in Mexican music.

I got a bunch of work done and the solitude was the perfect place to focus. I didn't finish my task entirely, but another day or two at the cottage should accomplish that. It was kind of fun trying to eat with no water running water. To make my highly nutritious Mac and Cheese (aka KD in Canada) I had to get water from the deep freeze behind the pump house. Luckily, the entire lobster I enjoyed for lunch didn't require any water, as it was mere leftovers from Mothers Day. (Yup I did just say that in between my can of peas and mac and cheese I enjoyed a fresh lobster!) Dishes were a bit harder task to accomplish and I was beginning to have to use the bathroom really bad. We'll not go into that.

Overall I had a great time off the grid and discovered text messages could still go through if I had the cell in just the right spot. I need to pack up my laptop now so I can go back to being on the grid…as if I was ever really off it.

Only 1 Vote, eh? May 2, 2011

Okay, so there's an election on Monday (has anyone in the US heard about this??), and since I'm Canadian and am so very informed on the issues, I should vote. Well, that informed part isn't actually true (especially with how much the US learns about Canada), so I decided to change that with the help of the internet. I started at www.elections.ca to find out who the parties and candidates are. After scouring each of the four main parties' websites: Liberals, Conservatives, Green Party, and NDP (New Democratic Party), I have learned that they all plan on spending a lot of money and yet somehow fixing the deficit. Huh, this is starting to sound similar to US politics. I then searched for a comparison of the parties side by side on popular issues, and after a few sites, I ended up on Wikipedia. This is not unexpected as most research online now ends in a wiki. Similarly common, I ended up researching completely different topics than I intended. I took wiki's Canadian government 101 and decided to share the results with you, though I've restricted today's activities to the federal level and kept it to snippets:

• The crown still rules, though only as a figurehead. The queen appoints the Governor General (GG - my acronym, purely out of laziness) to act on her behalf, based on the recommendation of the Prime Minister (PM) about every 5 years though it's based on 'her majesty's pleasure' (ha).
  
• Legislative: Parliament is made up of the Crown (GG), Senate (105 appointed seats), and House of Commons (308 elected seats). The Senate is appointed by the GG based on the PM's recommendation and holds the position until they resign or are 75 years old. The House of Commons has 308 elected Members of Parliament (MP). Legislation starts in the House and once approved, the Senate and Crown review and rarely reject it, though with more committees and complicated processes.
  
• Judicial: Supreme Court with 9 justices appointed by GG.
  
• Executive: The GG also appoints the PM. This person is the leader of the party that holds the majority in the House of Commons.
  

There are a few things that I find interesting with this system.

1. An election occurs only when parliament is dissolved by the GG, or if 5 years go by. It is not regular and rarely makes it the full 5 years without a vote of no confidence and new election. What a waste of campaigning money!
   
2. The PM holds a lot of power by appointing the Senators only when a seat opens up, instead of at regular intervals.
   
3. You only get 1 vote. (well duh you say...but think of the implications of the PM being selected based on the party that holds the most seats in the House). It means that when you vote for your local MP, you are also voting for the Prime Minister, not separately, so you have to decide whether you want to vote for the local candidate, the overall party, or the party leader. Kind of makes me less inclined to vote.
   

Now truth be told, I haven't researched this much about any American politics or elections, so maybe I'm growing up. Ick! Today I am more Canadian than I was yesterday, but I really haven't come to much of a conclusion. If only there were uniforms so I could vote based on jersey color like how I choose my March Madness brackets. Guh! Saturday Night Live, how do I choose??