Not Missing Meat

One of my co-workers is a strict vegetarian, which means I've ended up with the occasional shared vegetarian meal. A lot of the time his food actually tastes better than mine. Just recently I realised that: I don't actually enjoy the taste of meat very much

I mean, I love some Chicken Teriyaki or Curry Beef, but you could switch it with Tofu Teriyaki or Curry Vegetables and I would not notice. The meat adds nothing for me. Sauces and flavours are much more important.

Now during our recent vacation, Emily found us a free all-day buffet deal. The meat offerings at buffets always feel like a brick in your stomach, so I trialled a new diet:

• Vegetables, fruit, dairy, eggs, etc
• Seafood, excluding crab, lobster, oyster, etc
• Coffee and chocolate :)

This has been going quite well and I think I'll stick with this diet for a few weeks at least. The only exception is when Emily can't finish something, because I don't want to waste food. I'm not against eating meat, but it's just wasted if I order any for my meal.

Oh, and the exception to the exception is melons. I hate melons and won't eat them. :)

Las Vegas Trip

Emily and I just finished a quick trip down to Vegas. This is our last vacation before the baby arrives, so we went to see a bunch of shows that you probably don't want to take an infant to. Here's what we saw:

• The Lion King by Disney - Quite good, but the story is (naturally) the same as the movie so there's no surprises. The costumes are amazing, but some are mere skeletons which makes them a little freaky. Overall pretty good, but I wouldn't see it again.
• O by Cirque du Soleil - A water-based Cirque du Soleil show. We got front-row balcony seats so could look straight down in to the pool most of the time. Some of the show was very cool, but a lot was just synchronised swimming. Fewer circus acts than I expected, and our angle meant I spent a lot of time watching the "hidden" scuba divers at the bottom of the pool.
• Penn and Teller - A last-minute decision, and a very good one. Half the show is talking and comedy, but it's a lot more entertaining than the classic "magic" show. No magic capes or levitating girls, just very smooth magic tricks and a lot of humour. Well worth it.
• Zumanity by Cirque du Soleil - By far the most risque show that we saw (or will admit to!). This is an adults-only "sensual" Cirque in a small theatre. If the F-word, a cross-dressing presenter, partial nudity and the (brief) mention of various fetishes is too much for you, do NOT go to this show. But if you are awed by Cirque-level physique and skill, then this is very worth seeing. I think I saw more skill in Zumanity than I did in the more expensive O!
  Just to be clear, the vast majority of the audience were couples. And the grand climax was a slow dance and kiss by a 48-year-married couple, to absolutely massive applause. That should give some idea of how broad the show is.

Anyway, it was a good 5 nights in Vegas. No gambling, no drinking, just a lot of walking around taking it all in. :)

Family Life

Emily's family (brother, mother, and grandmother) will head back to Edmonton tomorrow. I'm not sure Emily and I will know how to live on our own after they've left! I consider it a very good test of how our family will operate once we move to Edmonton.

For the record, our apartment has 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, and is a little over 500 square feet or 47 square metres. So the five of us have been living together for almost a month in very close quarters. Our "regular" routine has been quite thoroughly destroyed. But overall, life together has been quite good.

Probably the biggest challenge has been sharing a living space with Timothy for a month. For example, he picks up on emotions from the TV so anything remotely exciting or scary can make him agitated. For the last month we've only used the lounge area sleeping or really safe media like Wii games and Chinese opera.

But we've had no major personality clashes, and no-one has been really upset or emotional after spending a month together. That's really quite surprising, all things considered. I actually think this is going to work. :)

Project Edmonton Committed

Well, we're (virtually) committed now. We're placing a hold on a lot in Griesbach, and then organising our down payment. You could try and look us up in Google Maps but you won't even find our street because it hasn't been built yet. :)

We've been working on the design a fair bit, and the builder says it looks pretty good. It has been tricky to balance our needs while taking advantage of the lot shape, but we think we've succeeded. Our new home will look something like this video.