Today I spent a pleasant afternoon with my friend Jana at the Jays game. The sun was out, the heat was pleasant, and the company was fun. After the Jays were shellacked 10-3 (at least that was the score when we left-I heard it got up to 11-3 after that), we headed out to a patio for a few drinks. That was fun, but it was starting to cloud up overhead, and after a long afternoon in the glorious sunshine, it was feeling downright chilly. So we headed back to the subway.

We saw some film trucks and pilons on one block and walked the sidewalk on that side so we could see what was filming. Something called The Bridge. Anyways, we walked on, and saw all the little trailers for the various characters, Uniform Cop #1, Ruth, and so on. Until the last one, which was a whole trailer for one character. We figured he was the main dude. As we passed the door, it opened, and a man walked out. Jana didn’t recognize him so she kept going, but I stopped, because my geek radar had been activated. The man who walked out of the trailer was none other than Aaron Douglas, Chief Galen Tyrol from Battlestar Galactica! I was so excited that I completely forgot his real name, and so I stood there looking at him for a second. He saw me, and I’m sure he was wondering “who is this crazy woman and why is she standing there looking at me?” I finally managed to blurt out, “Hey, it’s the Chief!” To which he replied, “Yep, I’m Aaron, what’s your name?” I sputtered out, “I’m Julia, and I’m a big Battlestar fan.” He shook my hand and I felt like a total dork. I wished him a good night and we carried on walking.

I met the Chief! How exciting!

Of course now I’m thinking, dammit, why didn’t I pull out my cell phone and take a picture? But I always hate doing that because these people are still people who happen to have very visible jobs, so I don’t like bothering them with that. But Jana says Canadian actors don’t mind because they don’t usually get stopped as much as American ones, but whatever. I’m happy nonetheless. I met Chief Tyrol. Very cool.

After a lot of thought and reflection, I’ve decided to move this blog, yet again. I know, you’re wondering “what the hell are you doing Jb?”, but stay with me now, I’m moving it to a better domain…check it out.

UltraJulia.net

Yeah, that’s right, UltraJulia.net. Much better domain name, but the same old stuff from me. So change your bookmarks now, change your feed subscriptions now, because as of July 4th, 2009, this site will be gone. I’ll be mirroring my posts between the two for the month of June, which will be a pain, but is definitely worth it.

So click on over to UltraJulia.net and continue to follow the adventures!

The mini McCain Deep n’ Delicious cakes were on sale at the grocery store today for $1.99. I couldn’t resist. I bought two.

When I typically crave chocolate, it’s these cakes. And this mini ones are just perfect, because they last long enough so that the last piece isn’t half-stale. By “long enough” I mean a few days, although I know of some friends who have devoured the whole thing in one sitting. I just can’t do that though, so I enjoy a piece every night while watching the tube. Tonight’s tv accompaniment was Season 3 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Got through 4 more episodes tonight.  We had:

• Amends
• Gingerbread
• Helpless, and
• The Zeppo

I laughed out loud while finishing off Gingerbread (the episode, not the food), as there were just some funny lines in that one…funnier ones than normal, of course. I’d forgotten that this is the episode where Amy turns herself into rat, which is a source of some more fun in later episodes. But I think the capper is simply the way Buffy kills the evil demon. I won’t ruin it all for you if you haven’t seen it, but it’s hilarious because she can’t quite see what happened, and keeps asking “Did I get it? Well, did I get it?”, just as Oz and Xander fall through the ceiling vent in a cloud of dust. “We’re here to save you,” Oz gasps.

Hi-larious.

Joss Whedon is a genius.

Like my sister before me,  I went in for my colonoscopy this morning, and got a clean bill of health from the doctor. I was incredibly nervous before going in, as my mother died of colon cancer, so I get a little sensitive about anything below my navel. But the actual exam was better than some pelvic exams I’ve had, so I was happy with that.

The prep was acutally worse than the exam itself, as that involved taking some seriously potent laxatives, and drinking nothing but clear liquids for 24 hours prior to the exam. That was rather hard, since I like to watch cooking shows, and there was no point yesterday in doing that. The most enjoyable thing I could eat was some jello, yellow coloured jello (no red or purple before the exam).

I was very impressed by the people at the Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga. They’ve spent the last few years renovating it, and it looks great. There’s good signage in the hospital, and all the staff is very friendly. I’ve been in a number of hospitals over the years, and this one was great. I don’t like hospitals at all, so that just added to my anxiety.

I showed up at the prescribed time, and they took me right back. My friend Melanie was kind enough to drive me to and from the hospital today (thanks Mel!), as I was going to be doped up enough to be legally impaired, so driving home was out. Although I must say that the drugs weren’t that bad, but the fact that I hadn’t eaten in over 24 was more annoying. I was weak and jumpy because of it.

Any hoo, I was checked in and brought back to the Endoscopy Clinic. I changed into the wonderful hospital gowns, which thankfully have gotten thicker than they used to be, so it wasn’t as cold. I dumped my stuff into my personally labelled drawer and went to lie down. The nurse took my temperature and all the other various pre-surgery things, and then gave me an IV. She said my doctor would be in shortly to speak to me and then they’d give me a sedative.

After 40 minutes, the saline drip was almost done, I still hadn’t seen my doctor and hadn’t had the sedative yet it was “my turn” and I was wheeled into the operating room. My doctor was there and we chatted for a bit. The nurse gave me the sedative and we were off! The whole thing took about 20 minutes, and I was able to watch what the doctor was seeing on the tv screen beside me. Of course I didn’t have my glasses on so the small details were fuzzy, but I could still see quite a bit. We went all the way through the large intestine to the appendix, which was a little scary to think about, but luckily I had drugs so I didn’t have to think about it. It was interesting to watch though, I must say.

I was wheeled back into the Endoscopy Clinic to sleep off the drugs, and also to make sure there was nothing else wrong. This is the part of the exam that gets “musical”, as the doctor often has to put air inside the intestine to see better, so the air has to come out somehow. After about 20 minutes I felt much better, was given a glass of juice and my clothes, and I was outta there!

They even called Melanie up to say I was ready, and she went to get the car and waited for me at the discharge door. A nice volunteer came to get me with a wheel chair and wheeled me down there. That was very cool, as I was still a bit shaky after not having eaten for so long.

So all in all, I’m glad I went through my colonoscopy, as I know that I’m clean, there’s no polyps and I’ve got another 10 years before I have to get another one. Yee haw!

These days my life has been pretty tennis filled. When I’m not playing I’m thinking about playing, replying to an email about playing, or watching the French Open. After so many years of not doing anything tennis related, it’s a little strange to be so involved again. I actually took most of the week “off” from tennis, as I was feeling a little burned out, if that makes sense. Had a great 2-hour session on Friday night though, which put me back in the  mood. I’m almost glad that my ankles won’t let me play on consecutive days, because I think I appreciate the times I do play a little more. We played a doubles match for the first hour and a bit, and then I batted the ball around with one of my opponents for the rest of the time. It was fun. AND, I think I figured out what’s going on with my serve, so that makes me happy.

Today the French Open ended, with Roger Federer winning his first title, and that was fun to see. I never used to be a Roger fan, but I find as both of us get older, I’m appreciating him more. I think it’s because he’s showing that he’s human, by occasionally losing, you know? Although I did feel bad for him losing the last 4 years in the French Open final to the same dude (Rafael Nadal). That’s gotta be tough. Only a few weeks till Wimbledon now. Yeah.