Gum watch part 2

I had the dressings taken out on Thursday when I returned to my periodontist. He was very pleased with the progress of the graft, and reckoned it looked like two weeks of healing rather than just one. Unfortunately, removing the dressings revealed that the roof of my mouth (where the graft was taken from) was still very raw. It was bleeding a little on Thursday, and since then has been improving, but more slowly than I expected. Even today it is too tender to touch things that I eat, which means I am still limited with my meals - nothing hard or sharp. I can at least bite my teeth together now, so chewing is possible again. I'm very happy that the graft itself has gone well though. I've also had good news on the financial front, as my dental insurance should pick up most of the cost. Hurrah!

Micro Film Review: Day Watch

This is a Russian fantasy thriller, and the sequel to Night Watch. Night Watch was a pretty entertaining film with lots of inventive moments. Unfortunately, Day Watch was fairly awful. The plot is disjointed and mostly incomprehensible. The dialogue is mostly bizarre or just bad. What little action there is does not manage to thrill at all. There are still a few parts of the film that show some creativity, but they are not worth having to sit through the rest of the film for. I think there is going to be a third movie in the series, but I won't bother with it unless I see some good reviews first.

Gum graft

Today, I had my gum graft. I've postponed several times because of visitors and other things, though probably in the back of my mind I was dodging the inevitable - I was not looking forward to it. I have receding gums (I think it might run in the family) and the gums around my lower front teeth are particularly bad. My periodontist said that if I didn't have the graft the teeth would eventually fall out, so that motivated me into doing it.

I was awake for the whole thing this time (I had a general anaesthetic for my wisdom teeth). It lasted about 45 minutes and was a little uncomfortable throughout, but no pain. They removed a piece of tissue from the roof of my mouth, and then attached it over my lower front gum area.

The rest of the day has been spent ice-packing my face to reduce the swelling. I did get some useful stuff done too - I managed to create a DVD from a load of camcorder movies I have of my family. I like my new Mac - it's fast enough to do cool stuff :) Eating is quite difficult, because I have hard dressings over the donor site and the graft, so I can't actually close my teeth completely to bite. I am staring down the barrel of another exciting week of eating soup and feeling really hungry. Looking forward to it. Still no pain yet though, so it's not all bad. Oh yes, and it cost nearly C$1800 dollars! I hope my dental plan will cough up...

Sadhana visits

Last Monday we said goodbye to Sadhana (a schoolfriend of Steph's) who stayed with us for a week. She was a fab guest, and the week zoomed by very quickly. I think the holiday was pretty relaxing for her, and before leaving she was talking of maybe visiting again next year. It's the "Vancouver Effect" in action!

We have posted a couple of photos sets from the visit. The first set here are some general photos of time Steph and Sadhana spent together. The second set here are photos from a weekend away in Victoria. We had great weather for a change (it usually rains on us when we go to Vancouver Island.) Our opinion of Victoria has improved too since our last brief visit - it was a great place to spend some time.

It was lovely to see you Sadhana, and we hope the interview went well ;)

Rob & Kim's leaving do

Two weeks ago, we said goodbye to our friends Rob & Kim. We got to know Rob through work - in fact we met him when we first came over for our interviews in May '05. They decided to return to the UK to live, and Rob is now working at another Vivendi studio in Birmingham. We wish them all the best for the future, and hope to see them again. Here are a few photos from that afternoon.

Kayaking at Deep Cove

This was a little while ago now, but Steph organized for a whole bunch of us to rent kayaks at Deep Cove for an afternoon. We had a mixture of one and two-person kayaks which we rented for three hours. It was a little nerve-wracking for me, as I am not much of a swimmer. I'd prepared for it beforehand by spending some time in the pool in our apartment building. It wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated - the kayak seemed very stable, and the water at Deep Cove is super-calm so I felt safe most of the time (except when a wave came over the front of our kayak!)

We paddled out to a little island (it might have been called Raccoon Island - not sure.) The island was kind of interesting because it was only a single island with a beach at low tide. At high tide it was two small islands with water between. Anyway, we got out of our kayaks and stopped for cake, before paddling all the way back. It was tiring but great fun. Hopefully we will do it again soon, and perhaps next time we might do a whole day.

You can find a few photos here. They were taken by our friend Woody who was the only person with a real camera there. We took some photos on a disposable waterproof camera, but we'll have to wait until we use up the film before you can see the results.

Aqualung

Last weekend (Sunday) we went to see Aqualung at Richards on Richards. It was hard going out on a Sunday evening when we usually like to relax, but worth the effort. Gigs at Richards usually tend to be good because it is a very small venue and you can easily get really close to the stage.

The support was a girl called Sara Bareilles. She rocked! Her voice was strong and perfectly pitched, and her songs had catchy melodies and wry lyrics. The audience took a while to warm up to her, but I was really into it. This was one the best supports for me in a long time. I am looking forward now to when she releases her new album.

Aqualung came on around 10ish and played for about 75 minutes. Although their songs were of course slow paced in general, they came over more in your face and loud than I had expected, which was interesting. Lots of squealing, distorted guitar! They were workmanlike to begin with (as was the audience, which wasn't the biggest crowd we've seen), but after a few songs the lead singer started talking to the audience and things warmed up a bit. He was soft-voiced and well-spoken (quite posh actually), and with a very dry wit which made me smile a few times. Their set was a fairly even split of tracks from the new album "Memory Man", and old hits which of course went down well. A lot of the new tracks were pretty good, and probably persuaded me that I should buy the new record. All in all, it was a great evening of music - Richards came up trumps again :)

Three Micro Film Reviews

Catching up on the films we have seen recently.


Hot Fuzz

It was very funny, but not quite as good as Shaun of the Dead. I guess zombies are just better. Lots and lots of jokes, and only a few of them missed. Recommended, and with some supremely good moments (watch out for shotgun granny getting her just desserts).


The Namesake

You probably haven't heard of this film, because I hadn't. Steph had heard the book read on the radio and wanted to see it. It's mostly about an Indian family who move to the US in the 60s and settle, have kids and so on. I guess the film is a lot about contrasts in culture, and how different generations have different attitudes. It might sound a bit dull, but if like me you enjoy character-driven movies with good acting, this is a real treat. It also had some superb makeup work on some of the lead characters, who play themselves across a 30 year timespan but always managed to look convincing. Catch this on DVD if you can - it will be worth it!


28 Weeks Later

The first movie was better for sure. This sequel doesn't add much that is original, but it is certainly enjoyable in its own right. It's edge of the seat stuff from start to finish, and doesn't outstay its welcome. There are a couple of really excellent sequences too. Somewhat of a disappointment, but still a good movie. Let's hope they can do even better for 28 Months Later ;)

Tofino

It has taken me a very long time, but I am finally blogging about our weekend away (which was now two weeks ago). I'll keep it short, because I've got other stuff to do :)

Our friends Julian and Lisa came to stay for a week, and we went to Tofino on Vancouver Island for a long weekend. We rented a cabin in the forest to stay in, which was super-comfortable and cosy. This was a good thing, because for three of the four days we were away it rained literally non-stop. Sometimes it fooled you into thinking it had stopped raining, when actually it was just very light. It "dampened" our spirits a little (sorry), but we still managed to enjoy ourselves. The highlights for me were our barbecue in the rain, walking on the beach, and the soggy bear watching trip (soggy us, not soggy bears). I won't bore you with any more details - if you are interested then you can check out our photos here which will fill in the blanks.

Florida wedding

We got back from our Florida holiday on Wednesday. Vancouver greeted us with grey skies and rain - so good to be back :) Still, I mustn't grumble, as this weekend has been lovely and sunny!

We left last Wednesday after work. We caught the 6pm Amtrak train from just outside our office which took us to Seattle in four and a half hours. It was a very pleasant journey; the train is really comfortable and the scenery is interesting, especially when the train travels right along the edge of the coast. Even the customs formalities were a breeze - you can stay on the train while the immigration officers get on - awesome. We got to Seattle about 10pm and took a taxi straight to our little hotel on the airport, and promptly went to sleep - we had to get up early to fly at 8am the next morning.

Apart from a small hiccup (the airport shuttle left without us and had to come back), catching the flight went super-smooth. We stopped in Atlanta after about four and a half hours flying, and then had another two hours flight to Fort Myers in Florida. We arrived at our hotel (Casa Playa) around 9pm. It was more a block of apartments than a hotel - there were no real hotel services and no bar / restaurant etc. but the rooms were lovely and we were very happy. We popped out for food before sleep, and stumbled on a very rowdy bar full of arguing people. Quite a shock from the quiet reservation of Vancouverites!

Friday we woke to find we had an amazing view from our balcony which was pretty sweet. It was hot and sunny so we hit the beach in the morning for a while, and then went to a pre-wedding BBQ. Our Florida trip was mainly because Steph's friend Holly was getting married to a nice fellow called Pat and we'd been invited (and in fact Steph was a bridesmaid). We got to meet some of their friends and family, and there were lots of burgers and hot dogs so I was happy :)

In the afternoon, there was a rehearsal dinner for the wedding. Steph was involved but I had nothing specific to do so I propped up the hotel bar with some new friends I had made from the wedding party - Steve and Vic (you'll spot them in the photos). Later Steph and I went out for dinner to finish off the day.

On the Saturday, some cloud moved in. We spent a little while on the beach in the morning and both had a swim in the sea which was cool but pleasant (yes, I am swimming a little now - trying to improve my confidence). The wedding didn't start until 5.30pm, and by that time it was distinctly overcast and somewhat windy, and there had even been brief showers earlier. Luckily though the rain held off until after the ceremony, and everything went very smoothly. The wedding was really lovely actually - congratulations to Holly and Pat again! You can see our photos from the wedding here.

On Sunday we said our goodbyes and left Fort Myers. We had to get to the airport to pick up a hire car, but public transport isn't so great in the US and after an hour or so of getting largely nowhere we had to give up and pay for a taxi. The drive to Miami took around 3 hours, and was pleasant although not too exciting, at least until we reached Miami Beach where the traffic got really crazy. Stressful to say the least! Our hotel wasn't quite what we had hoped - it was a little bit faded in its grandeur and our "jacuzzi" turned out to be a jetted bath - we'd hoped for something more :) But it was perfectly good enough. Our favourite was "Grumpy Hour" between 7 and 8pm where a surly waitress served free drinks in the lobby, and yet expected huge tips :) We generally found that service in Florida was not as good as Vancouver - people just weren't as friendly. We'll try to appreciate service here a little more from now on!

On Monday we still had the car so we took a drive down to the Florida Keys. The Keys run for a round 120 miles and the road is not too fast, so we didn't make it all the way to Key West at the very end - we turned around at a place called Marathon. It was a great drive though, and we saw some cool places on our stops. Sadly it was on this trip that I lost my new sunglasses in a petrol station toilet :)

Tuesday was our last day in Miami. We did some walking around the beach, the art deco district and Ocean Drive in the morning and the weather was scorching. There are lots of cool looking hotels. After lunch we went on a combined city tour and boat tour to see some more of Miami. We had a completely mental coach driver who called himself "Manny Miami" and talked like a boxing announcer. He was truly a bizarre guy. The tour was good though, as otherwise we would have seen very little of the area in our short stay. We particularly enjoyed the boat ride as we got lots of fresh air. That night we had the best food of the holiday too (at least eating out) - some really simple cuban food that tasted wholesome and really good. A nice way to end!

The journey back on Wednesday was uneventful, and surprisingly long. We got up at 5am ET, and got home about 6pm PT, so that was 16 hours in total - eek. The bus trip back from Seattle wasn't so much fun as the train down either - not too comfortable and lots of waiting at the border. Train good, bus bad :/

In summary, we enjoyed the holiday for sure - especially Fort Myers and the wedding which was great. Miami was nice to visit but a bit too crazy for us. I think we'd go back to Florida because the weather is so nice, but maybe to somewhere a little more relaxing than Miami.

Our photos (not including the wedding - see link above) can be found here.