X marks the spot

I found out today that the Polish alphabet does not contain the letter X (4 different types of Z, but no X, or V for that matter).

E wondered what letter in the Polish alphabet makes the X sound. Perhaps none? (I am hoping my readers of Polish origin will come through for me on this one).

For obvious reasons, I am attached to X.

Hex

How maudlin can I be?

I was just getting my lunch from the cafeteria at work, when I realized it might be the last time I get a sandwich there for a few years.

And I felt a little teary.

Where would I rather be?

It's 10 degrees today in Krakow.

Beats -6 and snow in Toronto. More of the same Saturday and Sunday.

The cult of the Subaru

I sold my car last Friday. I was a little sad to say goodbye to my Subaru, which I've had for 8 years, and which has been in my family since 1992 (it's a family heirloom), but mostly I was relieved.

I had been dreading the selling process. What do I know about cars? Plus, I had no idea how much a 15 year old Subaru Legacy was worth, particularly one that seemed to be leaking various fluids, had a small hole over the wheel, and had been making a disturbing sound.

My first idea was to get someone else to sell it for me, but when that failed (no one else seemed to want to sell a 15 year old Subaru either), I phoned a few dealers to figure out how much I should ask for it. Answers varied widely from the one dealer who suggested I donate it to charity, to the helpful guy who kept referring to it as "vintage" (I told you it was an heirloom). The helpful guy suggested a price which I thought was reasonable, so I just went with that.

Next I tried to post an ad online. My first attempt was less than successful, since the place I posted it took over a week to get it online! (I can post this blog instaneously!!!!). When I found out how long it was going to take (after I had paid money for the ad), I decided to post it on one of the free sites. That took less then a minute, and three hours later I had 4 inquiries about the car.

Still nervous, I asked my friend S to come over and keep me company when the the prospective buyers came to look at the car.

I needn't have worried.

The first prospective buyer was under the back end of the car before I even had my coat on. Turns out he's a professional rally car driver with a penchant for vintage Subaurus. Apparently he has 6 of the same model, and he showed up in one of them.

Even better, he was from Alberta, so we had a short western bonding session. While he took the car for a test drive, S and I learned all about the world of professional rally driving from his girlfriend, who is also a professional driver. Some of my questions: What is rally driving? (It's off track road racing, sometimes in the winter on ice and snow) Where do you practice off track road racing? (You can rent roads - who knew?) Would you use my car for this? (No - it would be a "street car").

We also learned about drift racing (Which E tells me is the subject of a Fast and the Furious movie), and a whole sub-culture of driving-related television shows, which the driver and girlfriend host.

The next guy who came to look at the car also participated in Subaru events: he races them on the track.

He was very interested in the car, and is now the new owner, much to the disappointment of the first race car driver (he kept contacting me to see if the sale had fallen through), and to the list of prospective buyers who saw the ad a week later when it was finally posted on the other site, after I had sold the car.

Since I kept the car for 10 days after I had promised it to the 2nd guy, I ended up keeping a list of people who wanted the car in case the sale fell through. One guy was so persistent that he offered to be at my house in an hour with the cash.

Apparently I should have asked for more money.

Keeping the streak alive

I just finished playing my last basketball game of the season, and quite possibly my last game for the next two years.

As we have for the last eight years, we made it to the final playoff game.

And, for the eighth year in a row, we lost.

This year's team wasn't expected to make it to the final, but with a great effort last week in the semi's, particularly by Mary our star center who was matched up against the tallest player in the league (6'4 at least!), we managed to make it through.

Alas, even though we played hard, we just couldn't get the ball in the basket in the first half, and ended up trailing 20 - 5 at the half.

But the moral victory was ours, as we outscored and outplayed the other team in the 2nd half, coming within 6 points in the final minute of the game, only to lose 25 - 17.

But I have to admit after 7 consecutive losses in the final, I knew as I headed out the door for the game that it probably wasn't going to be our night.

I guess if the team wins in 2008, we'll all know who was really holding the team back all these years . . .

Team - thanks for all the great games over the years. I am going to miss the games, but I'll miss the friendship even more.

The letter Y

My brother told me he's still looking for uniquely Canadian images that represent the letter Y. If you think of anything, let me know.

I am Canadian

When I was working in Krakow in February, I noticed several distinctively Texan references hung prominently throughout the office. It took me a few moments to realize that the business unit responsible for the Krakow office is headquartered in Texas, and that the director had obviously given the Texan mementos to the Krakow team.

It made me realize I wanted to bring something with me that identified me as Canadian, and reminded me of home - something that I could hang up in my office (and I admit, distinquish me from my American counterparts - the grown up version of the maple leaf on my backpack.)

I sent a note to my two friends who are a painter and printmaker respectively, and to my little brother who's a graphic designer, asking them to make me something identifiably Canadian.

My brother sent me back this response:

"Last year I wanted to design an icon set based on distinctly Canadian images. The plan was to create a set of icons or simple illustrations that would correspond with every letter of the alphabet and then I would make a font out of it and give it away for free on our website starting on Canada Day."



I loved it, and immediately showed it to the nearest Pole.

That's when I realized that what is Canadian to me is not necessarily Canadian to the outside world. I had to explain the signficance of each icon (with the exception of beer) to my Polish colleagues.

When I asked them what symbolized Canada for them the answers were fairly typical: maple syrup, mountains, wide open spaces, elk (who knew?), the flag, and ice hockey. I was surprised no one mentioned the beaver, but it turned out they didn't really know what a beaver was. I had to show them a nickel.

Of course what does the average Canadian know about Poland other than vodka, pierogies, and cabbage rolls?

I've been thinking about what is Canadian to me. Since I grew up in western Canada, it's grain elevators, rocking horse oil wells, the Oilers, wearing my snow suit under my Halloween costume to go trick or treating, French on the back of cereal boxes, the northern lights, sunsets at midnight in the summer, and Old Dutch potato chips.

But Canada is also the red, red streetcars in Toronto, calling the May long weekend the May 2-4 weekend regardless of the actual date, traffic jams no matter what time of day it is, and working with people of 35 different ethnic backgrounds in a 50 person office, who are all proudly Canadian.

It's the Montreal Canadians and the Toronto Maple leafs on a Saturday night (no matter how much you hate the Leafs) and a football league that used to have two teams with the same nickname, and it's a Leonard Cohen song, or anyone singing a Leonard Cohen song. And it's Michael Ondaatje writing about the Bloor St viaduct, and Margaret Laurence and The Diviners, and the numerous other Canadian authors whose books I am taking with me.

And it's a million other things, which no one but another Canadian will understand.

What says Canada to you?