Chris and I have (sadly) joked about the seeming number of items you hear about that start with "Of all the developed countries in the world, the U.S. is the only one that..."

Well, if this sad little sidebar doesn't speak volumes, I'm not sure what does (thanks aidenraine).

We've had a couple serious talks about where to make our "permanent" home (permanent in quotes because, well, nothing's ever really permanent). Back in Canada has been the plan from the start, and still is, but we still like to revisit the issue and consider alternatives, both mundane and wacky. I know in my heart that I want to be in Canada. I'm sure there are many European countries I'd enjoy, but I do have roots in Canada and there's a big difference between living down here in the (English-speaking, cheap-flights-home-offering, conveniences-I'm-used-to-available) United States for a while. I guess I never wanted to feel like I was dragging him back to "my" city, but the clincher lately is that he's made it very clear that Toronto is the city of all places he's been to (and that's a lot) that he could see making a real home base.

So.. yay :)

Definitely itching to stay put for a while... both in terms of ideally staying in our current place for the rest of the time that we're here, and buying a place in Toronto in a few years that's our long-term home. I love moving, doing something new, renovating... but it's just not very efficient, darnit.

We have visions of buying an old Victorian in the city (maybe a little west, but definitely east of High Park). Something with three apartments, which they all seem to be anyway. Renting out two of them for income and then gradually renovating and taking the whole place over ourselves, muhahaha!

EDIT: I realized it's not every day that an article gives me goosebumps, so I did something I hadn't actually done before and submitted it to digg. If you have an account, digg it?

Hot on the heels of reading this article, we had our first Planet Organics food delivery for the first time since the fall, which had been indefinitely on hold due to lack of funds.  So I'm sitting here having an afternoon mini-meal of a very yummy pre-made whole grain, pecan, and mango salad, instead of something like a bagel or nuked pasta.

Sad but true that salty, fatty carbs are going to fill up your stomach cheaper and more tastily than something healthier that took the same amount of time to prepare.  I like to cook, but not three times a day.  I don't mind taking some time to make a nice, healthy dinner or lunch, but I don't love it enough to take away from time I could be doing other things for every meal.

So a reality of living in the US seems to be health insurance.  Now that we actually have income, we spent a good chunk of time researching options while we were away. 

Turns out that officially making us a partnership is a good thing, since we can apply as an employer which can mean lower rates and no need to worry about exams, pre-existing conditions, etc.

Keep in mind that our main goal is to insure us against major disasters and just pay for minor things out of pocket, and that we're healthy folks at this point.  So we have assessed our best option to be with Kaiser, at $330/mo for both of us.  That gets us a $1500 yearly deductible/out of pocket maximum (each) but doesn't cover much until the deductible is passed.  The only things it covers right away are yearly checkups and an eye exam.  Everything else is covered (with no co-pays or co-insurance) but subject to the deductible. 

That also includes a basic dental and vision plan, costing only $5 for a yearly dental exam/xrays (plus covering part of any major work), and a good portion of lenses/frames/contacts covered every two years.

Sound good?  This whole world of insurance is strange to me... 

Urgh, still feeling crappy but more exhausted than nauseous. Something amidst the 7up, chicken soup, ginger, and meds seems to have worked, but good lord I never want to feel that nauseous again.

Someone tell me how to make blinding nausea go away. Please. It woke me up around 3am and I haven't really slept since. Gravol and Pepto Bismol aren't touching it. I just want to crawl into a hole and cry.

Trying my first Instead SoftCup this afternoon.  Comfortable and easy to use, as promised, although I read the instructions about ten times to make sure I was aiming it right.  It was definitely bigger and firmer than I expected, and I sincerely doubt that one would not feel and/or dislodge it during sex, but I like that you can wear it longer and I imagine it will be less drying.  However, as a usual user of O.B. tampons (minimal wrapper, no applicator), the environmental factor of switching to a piece of plastic in a plastic wrapper is kind of annoying.  We'll see!  

On a slightly more technical note, while playing with my new Flickr Pro account and lamenting the need to re-tag/caption all my photos, I wondered if there was a better way... and there very well may be.  The IPTC standard.  It's kind of like EXIF data, that stays with the photo, except for things like keywords, copyright, and location.  And it seems that Flickr, Gallery 2, and ACDSee (my desktop photo organization app of choice) all play nicely with it.  So, this may involve an overhaul/re-tagging/re-uploading of all my photos, but at least it will be more future-proof than simply tagging at Flickr.

Anyone else experienced with this stuff?

Also, are there any bookkeepers or QuickBooks whizzes out there?  *bats eyelashes*  I get to do corporate taxes for the first time this year (just shoot me), and I feel like I'm totally getting off on the wrong foot trying to set up and understand QuickBooks.

Damn this country and its lack of socialized medicine :P I run out of my paid-for-by-the-government-of-Canada cold sore prescription and immediately the cold sore viruses are having a party. Grumble grumble.

Got the new site ready to go and off to Verotel for approval. Should just be a matter of days before that's up.  As this may be of interest to others reading, Verotel just launched a new program that's sort of between their (crappy, IMHO) Ticketsclub service and (expensive) Pro service called Verotel Classic.  Here's a comparison of the services.  "Classic" looks almost identical to CCBill's offering, but Verotel is more kink-friendly and available nearly worldwide.  I almost wish I'd known that before I went through this ordeal to get set up with the Pro service, but at least I get the perks of the Pro account now.

And the US government officially has my fingerprints.  Did the biometrics thing the other day for immigration.  Now it's just the wait until the interview.  According to their processing dates, they're now approving applications received at the end of October, and mine went in at the end of December, so it should still be on track for March.  Then I can actually, ya know, work and leave the country and stuff  :)

I think I watched eight hours of TV yesterday. What the hell is wrong with me? *pokes brain with something pointy*  I wonder if it might be a lack of daylight that's affecting me... shortest days of the year, and we've been slowly shifting back into vampire hours which means I only see something like 5-6 hours of daylight a day.  I don't pay much attention to it now, but at various points in my adolescence I was diagnosed with different things, including ADD, dyslexia, bipolar disorder, and yes, SAD.  I'm sure there's some truth to one or two of them, and the daylight thing dawned (*snerk*) on me yesterday as a possibility.  I should really try to get to sleep earlier.

But in happier news... I felt my first earthquake! Three, actually, in the past three days.  It certainly is reality-altering when you feel the ground move under you.  It's also making me a little paranoid and wanting to attach a few things to the walls a little better...

Ok, ok, this re-hurting of my back has scared enough sense into me. People keep talking about this taking months to heal, resting, needing to take really good care of it... and I'm finally listening. The back itself is feeling somewhat better but now I have this wonderful stabbing pain in my left butt cheek and down my entire leg (yes, sciatica of some sort). Yes, "taking it easy" for another month or two is seriously going to suck, but not nearly as much as it would to drag this out any longer.

Good thing I have a built-in massage therapist (ok, he's not technically one, but he gives really damn good massages) whenever I need it :)

Painkillers keep me from tensing up too much, and I'm going to do my absolute best to still take a rest and go lay down off and on. And I'll start sitting on my ball chair a little bit as I feel up to it. And gentle stretching.

~~~

After finishing the second coat of paint at least in the bedroom part of the loft, we got the clothes rods up behind the bed and were able to unpack the last boxes, move back the furniture, clean up the plastic, etc etc. It feels so wonderful to have a big, open bedroom space again! This truly is the best living space ever.

Mmmm I've been really enjoying cooking lately, but we're going out for a nice dinner tonight :) We got some sushi-making supplies today to finally try our hand at it sometime soon. Anyone else made sushi before?

Welllll, that's one coat done on the big wall. It took three tries with the colour, but this shade is perfect! It looks fantastic with the deep purple, and makes the textures of the ceiling really pop. But not at no cost -- I've been back to flat on my back in bed all evening :\ Twisty and reachy on ladder no good. Doing the first part the other day was fine... it was the rotating while on the ladder that killed me today. Le sigh.