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Testing out the car seat…

We got an email from our friend Wentworth (who we know through Lisa, who has since fled to the warmer climes of Vancouver) that there was a public lecture by none other than Dr. Marvin Minksky Thursday. I have prenatal yoga classes on Thursday but finally decided it was better to skip and attend this once-in-a-lifetime lecture. After we met up in the metro we went to the building only to find that the lecture hall had just filled up. But no problem, there was a second room where there would be a video broadcast of the lecture. Even that room filled up very quickly. The first 5 minutes of the lecture went well and then we started having video problems. After 15 minutes, the organizers gave up and everyone left (including, eventually, us). The ironic thing about this was that this lecture was organized and hosted by the computing science and engineering department. Worse, they were running the video off an external web server on a Windows machine. Once the video started to cut out, they were incabable of fixing it. Maybe it’s just me, but I think something like this shouldn’t be happening in this department. Needless to say, we were all disappointed and it was too late to go to my yoga class.

Last weekend I succeeded in buying two nursing bras after much difficulty. I went to the maternity clothing store and tried every type of bra they had. Unfortunately I have always been on the lower edge of available bra sizes (except when I went to France, as I discovered an entire size smaller that is not available in North America!) and aparently, despite the tremendous growth involved in the process of having a child, bra makers have assumed that nobody who is nursing has breasts smaller than a 36C. I tried on the bras there and immediately noticed two major problems. First, at this stage there should be some extra space in the bra since there will be quite a bit of growth during the first few weeks. This itself is fine, but the bra makers decided most of this growth would occur around the nipples. Needless to say, I don’t think this is where the milk will be stored nor do I think an extra couple of inch of textile in that particular spot is useful or becoming. The second problem was that the cups were so huge that they could be seen on my chest sticking out of the top of my shirt. The worst part about this was how frustrating the sales lady was since she insisted this was normal and her attempt to solve the problem was to try and find a shirt with a higher neckline (they were all insufficient in the end, I did try them). Even if they tripled in size it wouldn’t have been enough to pull the cups down to where they should be. Not only was this incredibly ugly, but it was also very uncomfortable. I have never felt like I was being choked by a bra before. Despite the pressure I received, I decided these bras would not be sufficient and decided I would try my luck elsewhere. Next I tried the Bay. The Bay on St. Catherine has 8 floors of merchandise, including an entire floor for women’s pyjamas and underclothing. Eventually I did find what I was looking for and I have to say the ones I bought there were much nicer than the ones at the maternity clothing store too.

We watched Stranger than Fiction last week. It was very good.

Finally this past weekend I didn’t have to go out anywhere and was able to take care of a few important things at home. I even started donig the taxes.

Well Montreal has announced that some houses in our neighbourhood may have lead pipes. Apparently because we live in abuilding that has more than 8 units in it, it probably does not have a lead pipe. Oh, but just to be sure, pregnant women should be drinking filtered water. Thanks for telling me now, you *****rds. How about 8 months ago, or a year ago, or maybe 20 years ago? Actually come to think of it, how the heck did this ever become an issue anyway? Surely the dangers of lead poisoning were known when these building were built. We do have a filter jug at home, but what about water we use for cooking and making juice? I guess I will put everything through the filter from now on. What about eating out at restaurants? Is the water there safe? I will call our landlord next week to see if she has checked out pipe yet. This is so typical of Montreal. The building standards here are so lax it’s amazing some buildings are still holding together. I am sure if inspections were conducted across the city most apartment buildings would fail to meet today’s basic building codes.

Today we have to get on the list of electors to be eligible to vote. I don’t know who I am voting for yet.

In: Montreal, baby, films & books, rant, that sucks | | #