from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mon, Nov 3, 2014 at 11:12 PM
subject Menace d’Ebola: Ottawa dépense 30,5 millions supplémentaires; French President François Hollande warns about terrorism – and global warming (with video)
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived another Monday. It was also the first day Marcello and his crew were onsite and started the demo phase of the renovations. I apologize for not writing this past weekend, it was a bit hectic what with all the packing and moving. We decided to move into the temporary apartment on Saturday night, as we had most of the afternoon to finish packing and make runs. It’s a cute little place but big enough for all of us; my parents are on an inflatable mattress in the living room, the kids each have a bed in a room and Clo and I have a room, but of course with our kids it is musical beds throughout the night. Sunday morning was swim classes, I went with my mom as Clo had to work on a grant application at Oboro for the day. We ate at Sfouf, that great little café we like. And today our kitchen disappeared. By the end of the day when I stopped by with the kids the raised floor was almost all gone, the cabinets are gone, the centre island gone. The yard is full, but that will be emptied eventually. All that material, it just goes away. The environment will re-absorb it.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Tue, Nov 4, 2014 at 10:53 PM
subject Pont Champlain: Stéphane Dion ne veut pas un «ratatinage» de l’histoire; Taxpayers cough up hundreds of millions in subsidies to federal political parties
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived another day at work and the second day of demo at our apartment. Work was busy as the regular Tuesday Special was moved to tomorrow so our programming meeting was moved from tomorrow to today, which meant I had to bust a move to get the plans finalized and printed. Now new plans need to be made before a preparatory meeting next week. I need to meet Marcello tomorrow morning early to confirm some dimensions before they continue to work; I think they are knocking out the hole for the window. I also need to bring him a cheque for $4000 – yikes! That is for the first week of work and a deposit. Holy moly. I’ve never written a cheque for that much. I better find my line of credit cheques. We’ll be tapping into our National Bank line pretty soon. My mom ordered us an extractor fan from Costco tonight, it was $420 after taxes, here in 10-15 business days. I paid her back, now I’m officially broke. Better not forget to bring my lunch to work tomorrow… again!
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Thu, Nov 6, 2014 at 12:27 AM
subject Surveillance du SCRS: Mulcair s’est opposé à plusieurs nominations, A short history of the Maple Leaf flag
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived Day Three of kitchen renovations, and a mild day at work. The guys had their plumber come in the afternoon who disconnected the natural gas lines to the old oven so they could remove that final corner of the kitchen, and changed the plumbing to the new spot. I managed to print some plans with measurements, despite the fact that my plans are on a new version of Sketchup that is incompatible with my old Pro version so I had less than 2 hours trial use of Layout and on top of that the program crashes every five minutes. I’ll have to manually make a more construction-friendly version from scratch in my pro version so I can print better plans, but they guys can work with what I have for now. Heck, the subfloor is half done already. Tomorrow they cut a hole for the window. Tonight after getting the kids, hitting the bakery and the park and then swinging by the apartment to pay the plumber (an unknown amount at the moment; his office was closed so he couldn’t calculate), having supper (my parents made a hearty chicken noodle soup, which the kids loved), Clo and I had a date night. I picked her up outside La Centrale where she was having a VIVA meeting and we went to Cinema du Park to see Birdman. Great film, fantastic soundtrack and overall sound treatment, great acting, marvelous cinematography. Makes me want to make movies, or at least pretend to live in one. I could never act though; I’m terrible for remembering lines, and I have no capacity to improvise or inhabit characters. Take my own CPC character for example: completely undeveloped.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Thu, Nov 6, 2014 at 10:00 PM
subject Les libéraux ont causé du tort aux présumées victimes de harcèlement, estime Mulcair; Sex workers say new prostitution law endangers lives
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived a mediocre, lacklustre day at work that began with a neighbour yelling at me for parking in front of their garage. I had honestly believed that the doors were no longer used to house vehicles as the former mechanical garage was renovated last year into residential condos, and there were no signs to indicate no parking. Anyway, the guy yelled at me and said his wife had to take a cab to work and what was worse was that Clo was mad at me too as she never did believe that it was safe to park there. I’ll leave $20 for the guy in his mailbox on my way to work tomorrow. I am surviving the renos, day 4 is done and the hole for the window cut, the first layer of subfloor down. I picked the kids up from daycare and met my dad there before visiting the apartment. My mom made supper, I ate chicken again. Flexitarian, remember. This evening I felt tired and depressed and decided to skip the fundraising event at Diagonale. My photo already sold, according to their website.
Oh, and I finally spoke with Jerry on the phone about CIMS but he still couldn’t get on even with my user name and password, so I requested an account for him but it won’t be approved until tomorrow at the earliest. My computer battery is about to die so I’m going to bed.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sun, Nov 9, 2014 at 10:36 PM
subject La revendication du pôle Nord a même surpris les fonctionnaires; Expect a Remembrance Day ceremony of comforting sameness
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived the weekend, which involved: a surprise birthday party for Clark (he is now 40), where the boys dressed up as girls in the back alley. It turned into a long night, meeting random UQAM fine art students tripping on MDMA at a classic Quebecois tavern called Cou Cou (bienvenue aux dames), which we learned is slated to close soon (after being open what appears to be a gazillion years), and then having breakfast at 4:30am at the Roi de smoked meat. Saturday I was a bit zonked for the afternoon, but still headed out to Oboro for Nadia Myre’s opening (leaving kids at home with my folks), and then there was a supper, which was nice as I could catch up with Nadia, then a B-day party for Alexis at his studio. Didn’t stay too late and wasn’t even really drinking; I was a bit annoyed to be smelling like cigarette smoke.
Today was swimming lessons, then a playdate with Femke, which was awesome. The girls really had fun, and so did Sol. I’m always impressed by how many little changes and design improvements Etienne makes to their house. Tonight I made a vegetarian paté chinois for supper that everyone enjoyed, even Rose, who ate her whole serving! It is Nanna and Big Poppa’s last night here and Rose gave us all a couple renditions of Let it Go while watching bits and pieces of Frozen.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Tue, Nov 11, 2014 at 11:46 PM
subject Forces et démocratie vise 17 élus au prochain scrutin; Blatchford: Psychiatrist’s testimony sees Magnotta try to pin blame on his victim
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived another Monday yesterday but was too occupied to write last night. My folks left early in the morning and I was somewhat occupied at work, revising and revising plans. Last night Clo and I debated lighting fixtures for the kitchen (we’re leaning towards simple globes), amongst other things. We’ve decided that Marcello will install the window but not the patio doors, and today I tried to pay the balance on the order but my credit card was almost full, and I’ve not enough gas in the tank to fill it up, so I paid half, with the remaining half to come on Thursday, payday! And I see from Marcello’s spreadsheet that the 4-grand from last week was not quite enough, they spent over 5, so we began this week already in the hole. And the electricians are back tomorrow, yikes.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Thu, Nov 13, 2014 at 12:33 AM
subject Stephen Harper est arrivé en Nouvelle-Zélande; Phoney soldier at Remembrance Day? Questions raised about man interviewed at Ottawa ceremony
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived another day at work, where not too much happened, though I spent some time revising the 3D kitchen plan and made some new suggestions for how to deal with the chimney and stack. Designing with an IKEA kitchen is a bit like playing with Lego. Finished early and had a quick drink with James at Bily Kun before meeting the wife and kids at daycare. Quick n easy supper (pasta, the kids’ favourite), then baths, then bed (both Clo and I fell asleep with Sol and Rose, respectively), then awake and computer stuff and now it’s late and time for bed again. Made more changes to the kitchen. Will find out tomorrow exactly how much the electrical work will cost us. Oh, and Jerry is into CIMS, and even sent me a copy of the current members. We’re up to 25!
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Thu, Nov 13, 2014 at 11:09 PM
subject Nouvelle-Zélande: Harper abordera le cas laitier; Outaouais man accused of being phoney soldier dodges media amid reports of death threats
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived a personal day, which I took from work so I could identify and return the IKea cabinets and choose and order new ones, to fit the new slight re-design of the kitchen. I wasn’t able to take the one large box containing the tall cabinet – it weighs as much as I do, and there was no way I was getting that into our Mazda Protogé. My trip to IKEA took much of the day, mostly because I ran into François on the street and we chatted for half an hour (rare, as Clo and Caro had that falling out a couple years back) and the return it was Micheline, our 85-year old neighbour that stopped to chat. Then I had a marathon SKOL board meeting, which often leaves me feeling torn between diving in and getting more involved or leaving the ARC wrt-world behind forever.
That will probably never happen.
We’re trying to find a plasterer to come do an initial coat and tape the joints in the new drywall in our kitchen, in an attempt to speed up the process. We’re a bit worried about running out of money. Borrowed money at that!
I had a dream about that comet-landing last night. I haven’t really read or heard much about it, just some Facebook posts. Seems pretty remarkable to land a machine on a comet!
Jenny Holzer Truism for tonight: Religion causes as many problems as it solves
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sat, Nov 15, 2014 at 12:17 AM
subject La courte échelle: le NPD veut changer la loi fédérale sur la faillite; Update: Police expect to interview phoney ‘soldier’ at headquarters
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived another day of kitchen renos, including the delivery of the fridge and stove. I bottled the batch of beer my dad made during their visit. Got some countertop quotes from a fancy design studio on St. Laurent and also from Home Despot. We’ll probably go with the corian from HD as we need to cut some costs, without necessarily cutting corners. Then I met with Alexis and Jonathan at their studio to discuss a potential SKOL move into a new complex of studios they plan to rent in the same industrial area. I had the kids tonight as Clo had to work late for an HTMLLES event. I fell asleep and didn’t hear her buzz in; luckily the neighbours are having guests over and she was able to come in with someone. We discussed our day and went over some kitchen items and maybe found the globe lamps, through West Elm. Sorry, but I won’t be able to make the information session tomorrow on best practices for the upcoming election. I’ll be moving our stuff from the current temporary apartment to the second temporary apartment, and juggling the kids. Family first, above art and above politics, or in my case, both.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sun, Nov 16, 2014 at 7:22 PM
subject G20: la main froide de Harper à Poutine fait jaser; Update: Police charge Cantley man with impersonating a soldier
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived the move to Parc Ex. We still have a few things left at the old apartment and we need to clean but we can do that tomorrow. Clo had a brunch with Kent and Elie so I took the kids to the new place for naps (which didn’t happen) and then we went to check out one of the playgrounds nearby. Threw together a random meal for supper then Clo went out for dancing with Pip. The kids watched Frozen but Rose fell asleep and then threw a fit when I tried to put her to bed afterwards and she was only consoled when I put Frozen back on. She stayed up this time around until the credits finished, and then we both saw for the first time the bit with the giant snowman who finds Elsa’s crown. Then she fell asleep watching Mud, and after I put her to bed I finished it. A movie essentially about how confused we all are aound love. I trimmed my beard and cut my hair tonight. Also, I’m wearing my splint again as my wrist has been acting up lately. And Rose is up again and already falling asleep in our bed. Goodnight!
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Wed, Nov 19, 2014 at 11:46 PM
subject Harcèlement: les députées pas prêtes à participer à une enquête; Glavin: Junk law in aid of junk science is not what aboriginal rights are about
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. Sorry I haven’t written in awhile. Busy with the new apartment, the aller-retour to daycare, work, the apartment (job site) etc. Things are going well: the floor tile is down and even grouted. Clo and I took the afternoon and assembled the bulk of the high cabinets (and we didn’t even fight or get divorced, haha, isn’t that supposed to happen to couples that undertake big IKEA assembly projects together?). Did you hear that Nadia Myre won the Sobey Art Award tonight? Still not a winner from the Atlantic…
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Fri, Nov 21, 2014 at 12:22 AM
subject Climat: le Canada aide les pays en voie de développement; Assaulted Manitoba teen meets rescuer
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived another day at work: more plans, new works, new arrangements, another potential tech problem with the sub in The Enclave, but uncertain as to what it is: the preposées turned the sub off after telling us it was making a loud noise (louder than it should be), so we couldn’t tell. Whatever. Work is kinda boring me, but maybe it is because the renos are stressing us. Not so much stressing us – we always knew it would cost a lot of money, but now that we are spending, and kinda racing against the clock.. Our window and patio door will now (unexpectedly) be installed tomorrow morning. And the floor sanding will start tomorrow. MIke and Niko installed most of the high cabinets today and assembled others. And we now have a new 150am 40-breaker electrical panel in the basement. Tonight after Clo came home from Charles’ talk at DHC (and tacos in the mile end) I went to The Ritz to see Luc’s band but arrived too late and missed it completely. Then I felt odd and awkward because everyone there was a white 25 year-old Anglo hipster. L-A gave me an IPA on the house but I couldn’t stay and finish: the band was 4 white boys playing passable top-40 indie pop. Damn, now the kids are up again. Just Sol. If you didn’t see on Facebook already, Rose heard Jolene by Dolly Parton a few days ago so I downloaded to my phone and while listening yesterday she said “How is it possible that she has such a pretty voice?” Ah the cute things kids say.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Fri, Nov 21, 2014 at 11:21 PM
subject Les fonctionnaires invités à tweeter un engagement de Harper; Kathleen Wynne says putting a value on carbon is important
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived another week, our third full week of kitchen renos. I survived the window and patio door installation – my credit card also survive the $750 installation fee. Not bad for 2 hours work. Does that window ever change our place! The light coming in is nothing short of spectacular. Specialized work, for sure. I also survived a last-minute, early-afternoon surprise trip to IKEA and back, as I returned, yet again, another cabinet (swapping the recently-purchased 18″ uppers for 15″), this after even getting the 18×18″ delivered to our house as a special order. Returned! Made it there and back, left the returned items in line as I ordered the replacements, paid for the replacements and then returned my items before picking up the replacements. Came home, assembled cabinet and ran errands for Rose’s birthday party tomorrow. We’re expecting 10 guests so I collected items for the grab bag and ordered some helium balloons. The kids enjoyed supper and we watched a film together afterwards, the delightful Ernest and Celestine, before they were off to bed.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sun, Nov 23, 2014 at 10:07 PM
subject Anciens combattants: les fonds inutilisés «ne sont pas perdus»; Anti-corruption rules on suppliers a threat to Canadian economy: study
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived another weekend, a Skollege tonight, our floors being sanded (the parquette), swimming lessons this morning, and starting to watch Mary Poppins last night with the kids. I visited a potential new location for Skol on Saturday with Alexis; he and Jonathan are planning to rent a 4000sq-foot space in the same industrial building as their studio, and hope to rent 1600sq-feet to Skol. I think it is a good move, and the conclusion from the Skollege tonight seems to echo that. On the personal side the renovations command so much of our free time I have done nothing at all towards my other projects including the campaign in Papineau, which is a bit of a waste since here we are living in Parc Ex until Friday and I could be getting some of the existing 25 CPC members to sign my nomination forms, but I am too lazy. Tonight for example I will have a shower before bed, I think it is my first in a week. When did we move here? I cut my hair and shaved my beard last week. Oh, I also survived the birthday party we threw for Rose at le Patro yesterday. After an hour of activities in the gym we had lunch and cake and some more games and dancing and opening gifts in a room in the second basement – no natural light, low ceilings, but painted up in bright colours and cheery enough for kids, who make their own fun, really they do. Tonight our kids are already asleep in our bed, Clo put them down by 8. I guess we’ll take the air mattress with the slow leak. A slow leak could also describe my Twitter account, which dropped 6 followers over the past couple weeks, though added a couple more tonight to bring me back up to 390. Will I ever crack 400? Why would anyone willingly follow me to receive inane updates that I am still alive from Tim Hortons?
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Tue, Nov 25, 2014 at 6:43 AM
subject Ottawa injectera 5,8 milliards dans les infrastructures; Public divided on Zehaf-Bibeau’s motives: poll
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived a second night of sleeping on the couch. No, I am not in trouble nor in the doghouse, the children seem to have boycotted the inflatable mattress so we have been putting them to bed directly in ours, which leaves little room for 2 adults. I awoke with fairly harsh chest pains however; I think I will attempt the air mattress tonight. I think the couch is too soft. The chest pains woke me early. Maybe this morning everyone will get to work and daycare on time. My alarm goes off at 6:45 but I usually hit snooze 2-3 times. Yesterday we both turned our alarms off and the whole family slept in until almost 8! What a luxury, if it hadn’t been for those chest pains. Finished watching Mary Poppins last night and couldn’t stop analyzing it as a failed critique on class structure. After all, Mr. Banks not only gets his job back at the bank but becomes a partner!
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Wed, Nov 26, 2014 at 11:18 PM
subject Harcèlement sexuel: un député retire des propos «inappropriés»; Tory MP Goldring sorry for suggesting MPs should wear body cameras
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived another day of work and another evening with the kids (clo had an event at work). And I got a surprise in the mail yesterday, $750 from the CALQ in travel funding for the MST project. Yay! Money on the Visa. It’s a good confidence-booster as well, so I started working on my CAC grant today (deadline is Monday). Called a foundry to inquire about costs to make a life-size bronze of Everyday Goalie. Sounds like it is out of my price range, even if I was to get the full amount of a grant it would cover maybe half the costs. Yikes! Tonight I took the kids to see the progress on the kitchen – almost done! Denis came and primed and painted the ceilings and primed the walls. Mike finished with the doors, drawers and handles and most of the finishing panels. The plumbing is s scheduled for Friday, when we are planning our big return cleanup blitz. Took the kids to the Provigo to get fish for supper, they both ate well, played well, had a bath and played and splashed about in the bath, watched a few short Little Princess videos before bedtime, we read stories and they both fell asleep quickly. Not like last night, when they were wired and still awake when I came home from meeting Victoria at Nouveau Palais for a belated birthday celebration. Like us, they are probably just anxious to move back home.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sat, Nov 29, 2014 at 11:22 PM
subject Excédent budgétaire de 400 millions pour Ottawa; Alberta Energy Regulator says pipeline spilled 60,000 litres of crude into muskeg
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived the move back into our apartment as well as the big cleaning blitz Friday and today. Clo’s parents came for a couple days to help and her sister Jo came today for the afternoon. The heated floors are great! And the window makes a world of difference. Installed an outlet and a lighting fixture and patched some holes the plasterer missed, but otherwise all my little home reno projects are on hold until after Denis paints the walls, starting Monday. Mr. Topping is coming tomorrow to (hopefully) install the plumbing for our kitchen sink and dishwasher. Gas still scheduled for Tuesday. Did I even tell you what happened? The regular plumber who was to do both water and gas on Friday hurt himself on another job on Thursday. Meantime another problem has arisen: The shower drain is leaking. Damn! This could be a big, costly repair as it could entail re-doing the entire floor of the shower. Damn damn damn. So amongst things getting overlooked as the home renovations consume our lives: the CCA grant deadline for Monday, any work on the CPC campaign, general cleanliness, proper sleeping patterns, participation in marches or protests, etc.
-chris
DEAR PM 