camping!

[jazzfish]

It's easy enough to say "don't post on topics that may inspire lots of comments on a day when you aren't going to be around to continue a fairly fascinating conversation." Only, who knows what those topics may turn out to be? Which is to say, lots of good stuff from last Friday, and thank you all.

I ran off that weekend to have my shoulder looked at. The one that's been bothering me for, um, around eighteen months now. The physical therapist has me doing stretches and things to generally improve my posture, which can only be to the good. Having actual instructions other than 'don't slouch' (those being 'drop your shoulders' and 'tighten your shoulderblades together') is likely to help matters.

Also visited the Canadian embassy in DC and got told that only the Buffalo office handles immigration matters. Waste of a perfectly good afternoon.

After that, uilos and I headed off to the wilds of Pennsylvania for a weekend of camping. Said weekend mostly consisted of things that didn't work out quite as anticipated but were really good anyway. Getting locked out of one campground ("oh, we don't actually open for camping for another two weeks. yeah, you're not the first people to try this after reading the website. sorry about that") and driving another 30 minutes to another. A BRIDGE OUT detour that took us through crazy back roads (and thank gord for the Device, as without it we'd never have realised that the detour kicked us out further north on 82 than we needed to be). Enough rain that the picnic table oozed water when we sat on it, but still a mostly-dry Satyrday for hiking and campfire. (Which was its own Experience, as the wood had really only had time to dry out on the outside. I don't think I've ever had that much trouble making a fire before.) Also, protip: do not refrigerate the two-year-old marshmallows, as this causes them to become like unto chewy sticky rocks. Even after toasting.

The rain dripped through much of Sunday morning while we were breaking camp, and then opened up on us as we loaded the last of the things into the car. Rather decent of it, I thought.

Once loaded we met up with tamnonlinear for a run through the Brandywine Museum (a gorgeous converted mill), featuring various Wyeths and most importantly a wonderful Edward Gorey exhibit. Plenty of illustrations from the books; also, decorated envelopes from letters to his mother, a handful of sketchbooks, and Gorey's fur coat. Then lunch (french toast, despite the name, should probably not be made from french bread; the pancakes, on the other hand, were nothing short of amazing), and an enjoyable ramble through the Book Barn. And then home, through more rain. (We waved to elvenyukiryu as we passed Avondale but were too exhausted and wet to stop and say hi.)

In all, an immensely pleasant weekend. The tent has been set up on the porch since Sunday evening. At this point I'm starting to wonder if it will ever have a chance to dry out.

Comments

[pictsy.livejournal.com]

you're not the first people to try this after reading the website. sorry about that

Oh FFS! Don't have a web site if you're not going to maintain it! Stab!

[jazzfish]

Seriously. "Permitted on weekends from May through October" does not in any way suggest "but not the first couple of weekends in May."

[platypusgirl.livejournal.com]

so the use of 4 keystrokes (mid-) would have solved this problem on their part? silly of them.

[jsciv.livejournal.com]

You're thinking of emigrating to Canada?

Glad you had a good weekend and hike despite the weather though!

[jazzfish]

Have been for years now. There's not been much I could do about it until fairly recently (needed job experience and savings). And it's looking more and more like there's not much I can do about it in any case, as they're not too likely to take me unless I can find a job before I apply.

Thanks! Incidentally, Stonehenge sounded like a lot of fun.

[tulip-tree.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a fun weekend, aside from the campground website ridiculousness.

One of my colleagues here applied for permanent residency while she was living in the US. She did it all by mall - she lived in Texas, and as you say, the Buffalo office handles immigration applications. The Citizenship and Immigration Canada website is not half bad, and there are a zillion private lawyer's websites that walk you through the process. (Of course, they'd be happy if you wanted to pay them to do it for you, but there's a lot of good info online for free, too.)

My colleague says she filled out all of her forms, mailed it off, and waited. Hers came back to be corrected, so she had to basically start over. Lesson learned - if something does not apply to you, DO NOT leave it blank. Write "not applicable" instead.

[jazzfish]

At this point it seems that the only way we'll be immigrating is if uilos or I can land a job beforehand (we're not among the Lucky Thirty-Eight), so I was hoping for some helpful resources on that front. Back to web searching, I suppose. It's not too relevant yet; neither of us hit five years' experience until next summer.

Thanks for the warning about the forms, though!

[vt-andros.livejournal.com]

Also visited the Canadian embassy in DC and got told that only the Buffalo office handles immigration matters.

That strikes me as kinda silly, given the amount of applications they likely receive. Then again, it might make perfect sense to raise the barrier to entry in that regard.

[jazzfish]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that the waitlist for immigration was at around six years before they all but eliminated the "skilled worker" category, so, yeah. They don't really have to be all that interested in actually getting people in. Frustrating, but understandable.

[uilos.livejournal.com]

I guess we could run an extension cord (or, well, a series of extension cords) out to the porch and use your hair dryer on the tent...

[jazzfish]

I think I prefer the possibility of mildew to the possibility of the tent melting to the porch.

[uilos.livejournal.com]

Another possible option would be to bring it inside and point the space heater at it (from a distance) for about an hour or so.

[selki.livejournal.com]

So glad you liked Gorey at the Brandywine!

[jazzfish]

:) It was good stuff. Did you ever make it out there yourself? I know you'd been talking about going.

[selki.livejournal.com]

I thought for sure I'd written it up, but I guess not. I went the last weekend in April with Philly friends of mine who are Gorey collectors. It was a lot of fun.

How are your shoulders now?