An overview

All last week I’ve been home from work with a pinched nerve in my back.  Ugh. Also OW! I’m taking a prescription that will help alleviate the nerve pain, but it takes 2 weeks to work, so in the meantime I’m relying on my old standbys, extra-strength Advil and whining.

However I have been rising from my bed of pain and inconvenience to do the exercises my physiotherapist assigned me, and to pack some boxes of things we are putting into deep storage — the storage space we have rented to put things we won’t need for our temporary home during the build phase.  These things include three decorative teapots, some of the dozens of mugs we have managed to accumulate, “plain” martini glasses we bought for our yearly martini parties (from the dollar store, cheaper than renting!), a set of lager glasses (drink from the bottle!), and flower vases (no frou-frous at the temporary place!).

Then yesterday, DH picked up the van he had reserved from ZipCars and doing all the (literally) heavy lifting, managed to fill the entire thing and then regurgitate its contents into the storage space.  I stood by and gave him the benefit of my opinion.  We also made a stop at the bike repair shop where he is getting his old, classic bike reconditioned, and some side trips to the transfer station, then to some recycling depots when we found the transfer station would not take old tires or old paint (who knew?).

And now our condo storage space is empty and ready for more packed boxes.

We thought it would take two hours, it took four. Luckily, DH was able to extend the reservation on the van on the spot with his cell phone.  Also unlock and lock the van with his cell phone.

When DH was using his cell phone to unlock the van, he stood beside the van, the signal travelled up to a satellite, then back down to the van he was standing beside.  It’s funny to think of that.

But that made me think of this:

It’s a picture of Vancouver, taken from the ISS by our own Canadian satellite jockey, Chris Hadfield.  I joked to a friend that I could see my house — but you know, I can!  It’s easy to pick out which main streets are which, and work out approximately where our building is.