On Sunday we went to an info session on adoption. It seemed like time to find out more about it. Six or seven couples crammed into a tiny room with the smell of Hazelnut coffee masking the sweat. All faces trying to look composed, interested and calm. Just the hint of desperation showing through.

I always thought adoption would be an option. We’re not bad people. We have lots of offer, we live in a nice area in a great part of the world, have jobs, a decent size house and could be good for a child. We’re fun. I think. Two big kids really…. hey punch buggy….

Turns out it’s not going to be about what you can give, more about how much you want it. The interviews, the waiting, the costs, the tantalising semi -offers, the almosts. And then even the reality. As one couple who had adopted told us about having a baby for 5 whole days before decisions were changed and they had to hand it back. Or another told of months of waiting for an adoption to be legally finalized and then another 5 months of waiting on immigration Canada to get the finger out and approve a visa before they could meet their child.

We decided not to. Fair play to those who do though.

Lots of this weekend was given over to watching Season 1 of Game of Thrones and hitting the local cinema for the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The Best Exotic is one of the best films I’ve seen this year, so stop reading this and go see it now if you haven’t.

Game of Thrones is annoying, simply because I know the series of books isn’t finished yet, this could hang on and on for years and the tv series may never finish properly. Still though, it’s HBO (Huge amounts of Boobies Onscreen) and the story is excellent. Come on GRRM, finish the series. Or at least try not to die before finishing it.

There’s 2 things I saw this week that could be signs of impending doom.

1. People are now spending money on more and more ridiculous things. At the Farmers Market (yes, I know) there was a stand for dog and cat massages. In a time when personal debt is reaching an all time high, the best thing to spend money on is a feckin’ dog massage. Of course later we can blame the banks, the vets and farmers. I seem to remember stupid businesses like these popping up in Cork and Dublin before it all went arseways.

2. Vancouver has long been on the way to be the first city with 1 Starbucks per head of population. Today I saw… gasp… the local one is closing. Yes, a starbucks is closing. After an expensive dog massage one just can’t afford the mocha latte ‘spresso. If Starbucks is closing it must be a recession.

OK, time to panic.

We decided to not use the internet this weekend. Well apart from two quick changes for work that is, we did manage to stay off it. What I found out was;

• 1 engagement and about a million birthdays happened on Facebook. Possibly in real life too.
• It doesn’t matter if I missed George Takei’s updates because they’ll be reposted fifteen times this week.
• Arguments are left unsettled. Without Google we’re both too lazy to go check the encyclopedia. It turns out one or both of us doesn’t know everything afterall, they were just cheating using Google. I don’t think the answer is in the encyclopedia but it is here.
• I can’t spell encyclopedia without using a spell checker.
• The weather happened without been checked 15 times a day on my phone. Phew, that was a close one.
• Zombies are real bitches. News story here.

This is my fifth post and already have had 7 or 8 comments. Wow I’m popular. Ok, most of them were spam but still, even if it’s assholes that love the blog it’s still love, right?

We hit on Case Que Pasa in Bellingham yesterday and the sign outside said “Bellingham’s Best Burritos” so of course we had to test this claim out. Their claim to fame is the potato burrito, about 7kg of potatos, beans and who knows what shoved into a tortilla that must be half a mile in diameter. It’s frickin’ huge.
And it was tasty. They may be the best burrito in Bellingham but I’ll have to go back again just to be sure. Also, for 2 burritos, 2 pints of beer, chips and salsa was only $24. Ridiculously cheap for dinner. And for leftovers for lunch today.

No, I didn’t take this photo, I stole it from NASA.
Last night I went to see the Super Moon, the brightest and closest moon of 2012. I packed up my camera, and with great foresight even packed the longer lens to get a good shot of the moon. Down to East Beach in White Rock where there’s a little less light pollution and I found the perfect shot.
Looking out over the ocean, the moon just above the lights of the border, a long glowing path on the bay up to the few lights in the trees along the beach. Perfect.
Took out the camera, lined it all up, perfect zoom.
Battery dead.
Completely dead.
OK, well I have my phone as a backup.
Nope, the camera application from the latest ROM I’d downloaded crashed.
So here’s a photo from NASA for you to enjoy.

So this is Gainford Dot Org. I still have to decide what to do with it other than playing around with WordPress.

If you want to contact me the address is gerry at gainford dot org.