| Thursday March 7th 2002 Took the day off today so I could get our first bout with the lawyer over with, and it actually went off rather painlessly. My wife and I are pretty much agreed how we want to divvy things up, and there's no hard feelings as long as the numbers add up. Even if they don't, I'm pretty confident at this point that we'll work something out. I felt kinda guilty taking the whole day, when it was really only the morning I needed. I'm a bit of a workaholic that way; I must have at least a month's worth of vacation time built up now that I haven't used. Generally I carry it over and get paid for what I can't. The only significant vacation I took this year was a one week driving trip out to New Brunswick. Really nice province, and a really worthwhile trip; I'll probably go back sometime. I'm not really big on travelling. I don't dream of going to Europe or Australia or whatever, like most people seem to. I guess I don't mind it once in a while. The time I'm most in the mood for travelling is just after I've read a cool book about someplace and I get the urge to go see it for myself. I've been reading a lot of Pierre Berton lately, about the CPR and the Klondike. I wouldn't mind visiting the Rocky Mountain passes where they fought to put the railway through, or Dawson City where the big gold rush was. I don't like the idea of going on vacation just to sit on a beach and get a tan somewhere - I want to go learn something! I went to the Dominican Republic once, for two weeks. It was ... nice, but ... I wouldn't be eager to go back. It's pretty much a third world country, and you end up feeling a bit guilty kicking back in your luxurious resort after you've taken a tour of the town and seen what the streets look like - garbage all over, naked kids playing in mud puddles, that sort of thing. Blank stares, people trying to sell you junk - the same junk, everywhere. Some people like that sort of thing - 'immersing in another culture' I think they call it. I'm not really crazy about it, myself. But I have a weird interest to see Japan - go figure. Just a little one, not something I'd regret really if I never went, but I'm curious. I have a Japanese pen pal I write back and forth with (the old fashion way mostly, although I do have her e-mail address). I think it would be like visiting an industrialized nation on another planet. After just two letters, my pen pal told me I have a 'very Japanese personality', whatever that means. Might be fun to find out. |