Okay, it’s not in French and it’s not Quebec-specific. And yet, scenes from the new show Portlandia do remind me of Montreal. –You can go to clown school. Check. –Where young people go to retire. Check. –Obsession with where food came from. Check. –High hipster quotient. Check. We spent just over 24 hours in Portland …
Category Archives: Class
1111: we live in an era where dates have interesting numeric sequences
For the first time probably since childhood, I didn’t stay up to see the years turn over. There’s nothing spectacular about that decision — just a mix of jet lag, just getting back from Minnesota and that our main social event around the new year happens to be today instead of last night. Though I …
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Medical Progress + More Medicine and Money
Today was a big medical day. I stayed home from the Center so that Ya-Ya could get his eye pressure checked (glaucoma) and I could talk with a local endocrinologist about my fatigue. We went over my blood results and determined that my TSH could be further suppressed (which means increasing my dose of synthroid) …
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Stuff
One of my goals for this year was some serious introspection so as to return to my Montreal life with a clearer head. I am not sure if I have simply not done enough of it, or if it’s simply a matter of being outside of my normal “zone” and having epiphanies now and then. …
Blood!
It wasn’t my first encounter with the US healthcare system since moving to Canada but it was instructive. It’s time for my various thyroid-related blood tests. I have my orders from my doctor in Montreal. I need to pay out of pocket, at least at first (I can petition Quebec to cover the costs but …
Strategic Default — The Personal and the Social
A couple doors down from the condo we rent, there’s another condo that’s probably exactly like ours. Except that there’s a lockbox on the door. We don’t know who put it there. There is no “for sale” sign and no sign of anyone coming in and out. A couple weeks ago, there was a letter …
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Reading the Financial Facelift (Online)
Every morning, I sit down to breakfast, say “what’s going on in Canada?” either to myself out loud to Carrie, open the iPad and read the news online. Reading newspapers online is not entirely satisfying but enough so. We are trying not to subscribe to a paper while here. But reading online leads to another …