diets are too much work

My friend L came to visit me today, and brought a book with her that she’s been reading lately called The G.I. Diet. It’s based around the glycemic index (hence the “G.I.”) and goes on about how our bodies react to the different amounts of sugars in the foods we eat. It may sound complicated, but it’s basically common sense. The G.I. Diet doesn’t tell you anything new, just the whole don’t eat too much fat, avoid refined carbs and most sugary things. Pretty straight-forward, and it seemed simple enough to follow – no weird foods to make or anything – so I offered to try it with her just to see what it was like.

Andhis is what I’ve had to eat today so far, trying to stick within the G.I. guidlines:

• Breakfast: a bowl of oatmeal mixed with some fat free, sugar-free yogurt and a handful of blueberries. Off to a good start, I think. 
• Snack: glass of skim milk
• For some reason, I neglected to have lunch. Oh right, I was out looking for a birthday present for The Mother (it’s tomorrow, oops).
• My next snack was some cherries, celery sticks and hummus, then a small slice of poundcake. Okay, so maybe that should count as my lunch…
• Dinner: TBE (To Be Eaten).

If it wasn’t for that slice of cake (which wasn’t even all that good… damn pound cake, you looked so yummy just sitting there on the counter), I’ve been doing well. Yet for some reason I’m finding it extremely difficult to not think about food all the time now that I know I’m on a “diet”. It’s crazy! Even now as I’m typing away that pound cake is calling to me… that same, mediocre pound cake. And the crackers and cheese (both on the “red-light”, aka banned foods list) my brother is eating in front of my very eyes. Never have I wanted to eat those plain, cardboard-flavoured crackers as much as I do now that I know I can’t. Or technically, shouldn’t. 

So I say, screw the salads and the stupid diets. Sorry L, Im gonna get me some crackers!

i love greek salad

I  really do. If there was only one kind of salad I could ever eat for the rest of my life, it would be greek. I might go so far as to say if there was only one meal I could eat for the rest of my life… but then I would be missing out on some really good baked goods. Like cupcakes, for example.

Last night I ended up going out with a friend of mine to this Greek place (in Burlington) called Sotiris. Never been there before, but said friend has always raved about it. It’s a small, relatively casual restaurant with all the traditional Greek fare: souvlaki, gyros, moussaka and the like. We shared a platter of every kind of meat available, shrimp, potatoes, salad, rice, bread… and there was more. It was HUGE. Everything was monster-sized, although nicely presented. And priced, now that I think about it.  For the two of us it ended up costing less than $40, if you don’t count the wine we drank, and we brought most of it home because we were so stuffed. If you’re ever in the area you should check it out.

Now I’m off to watch The Kill Point finale with The Sis… the show hasn’t been particularly great persay, and I have yet to figure out just what has kept me watching since the pilot episode until now, but I’m off nonetheless.

chez cora

Rejoice! A Cora’s has finally opened up in my hometown, and it’s basically right down the road. The only other times I’ve been were when I visited The Sis at university in Kingston, or my friend J in Missisauga where we went often enough to get to know the menu (incredibly healthy choices, unless you opt for the things smothered in chocolate sauce like I do), and the people who worked there by name. It’s a good way to get smoothies on the house, but only if our server was the teenage boy that I’m pretty sure had a crush on us. The last time we went, we found out he didn’t work there anymore and we received no complimentary breakfast drinks… boo to that, we said.

The House is planning on going there for brunch in the next couple days. Mmm, I can almost taste those banana-chocolate crepes now…

fixing glasses

It’s been a week since I’ve started this job as a medical secretary, and so far so good. I’m working in an office for two optometrists (two GPs and a psychotherapist as well, but most of the work I do is for the eye doctors), and I am learning things like how to read prescriptions for glasses and contact lenses, and how to measure the width of people’s pupils using a ‘pupilometer’. That thing is fun to use, but I’m still not quite sure what for. I’ve never had to wear even reading glasses before, so I’m also a little lost when people tell me they are “a -2.00 and 1.25 and what am I going to do about it”, but I think I will get it eventually.

I’ve had a lot of hands on experience too, which is good… in a way. Even though I’m not planning on becoming an optometrist in the near or distant future I guess it’s always good to know how glasses work. However there were times when I would literally be left alone (there are two other secretaries that work with me who take frequent coffee/bathroom breaks) for hours. My first day on the job I had a million people asking me if their frames were ready for pickup. No one told me they were hiding in a back room around the corner, but I found it. My third day on the job I had to repair a man’s glasses whose lens had popped out of his frame. Somehow I managed to do it without aid – I found the tools for it and everything – and the man left looking very pleased, and I did too. Yay. But apparently I was supposed to charge him for that. Thankfully I didn’t get in trouble, ’cause you know, “I’m still learning” and all. They were more surprised that I was able to figure out how to fix the guy’s glasses.

I’m sure there will be more stories next week. Can’t wait.

the rock’s birthday

Today my Dad turns 53. As a gift, my sister and I decided to get him an iPod Nano and a smart looking traveling case to go with it. He’s been starting to get a little more techno-savvy – using Limewire to download Deep Purple and the like - and as he takes the train everyday to work, we figured why not get him something that might make the commute more bearable? Well, we hope it will anyway.

Somehow my Dad has been able to make this commute for over twenty years, and for that I applaud him. I’ve had issues with taking the GO to work just for four months in the summer! Man, on those days I forgot my Nintendo DS at home (or in the car, dang it) I just couldn’t drown out the noise of other passengers talking obnoxiously loud on their cellphones, or typing away on laptops, or the dreaded crying babies and otherwise whiney children. I remember how I would come home and complain to him when I was done with school about how I never wanted to work in Toronto unless I lived there. He would just smile at me with a weird sort of “father knows best” look. Now that I think about it, I believe the man is just impervious to any sort of annoyance. He did put up with my siblings and I for almost as long as he’s been commuting after all. I can only assume that the man is an impenetrable rock of patience and general contentment with life (among many, many other things). Now he can be a rock with music.

So now I’m making a cake for him. The Sister has mysteriously vanished from the house… probably to hide at a friend’s and avoid her share of the work, but that was to be expected. I thought about taking pictures, but the kitchen is a mess. Perhaps when I start work on the icing, maybe after the fact, I’ll pull out the camera. And no, I am not making rock cakes.

welcoming change

As of tomorrow morning, I will be employed once again! Oh right, did I mention before that I was unemployed? Well, I am no longer. Hooray.

I will be working in a doctor’s office nearby, starting off part-time, and I am looking forward to it. Spending weeks and weeks at the computer and on the phone canvasing companies for jobs was stressful and disappointing to say the least. It may not be the ideal job for me, but I am planning on going back to school next year anyway, so this will do for now. And I will be able to make back the money I have spent while shopping. Bonus.