Canadian Shop-a-Go-Go

Return from Vancouver: I always have mixed reactions to this city. Of course, I really enjoy the break from USA-centrism, especially on the 4th of July. It's cleaner, has a nicer waterfront than Seattle does (at English Bay), and a different mix of international cuisine (on Friday we were trying to decide among Malaysian, Ukrainian and Greek--we settled on Ukrainian Village restaurant, a cozy family place we recommend).

For some reason, there is also a more image-conscious thing happening, especially on Robson Street, a main retail corridor, but palpable in other neighborhoods too. I'm still self-conscious enough to care, although I'm trying to get over that a bit more. Partly carry-over from post-partum feelings of frumpiness, I guess. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, so I dove into the retail celebration, within the bounds of reason.

As the first real vacation since Michael's birth, other than trips to see family, this trip to Vancouver was a success. David and I are still struggling with navigating with a baby, adjusting our expectations as to how much ground we can cover. Travelling time is always longer too, although Michael did fine except to cry out when he was tired. Next time we need to remember to bring Michael's birth certificate (we got an annoyingly condescending lecture by the US Customs Officer--the Canadian guy was very nice on the way in).

Got some reading in: We've Got Blog checked out from the library, an anthology of essays with link-heavy endnotes. I suppose one is positioning oneself within the context of the conversation, or the "tradition" of what's been done already. [Well, not really, it's not that, more like "catching up" a bit.] I just remembered that I lost a post from the other day, when I was talking about having discovered that "blogshare" is not a catalog of blogs, or a ring, but that there is this fantasy stock market thing with blogs going on--kind of goofy and not really recoverable as I had written it, but there it is.

Tomorrow: 4th visit to All Saints, with David this time, then getting ready for the workweek.