-Regular readers will know that we had some rather poor weather today. The worst part of the mess was the slush that resulted from the combination of the snow and rain. Fortunately, the precipitation seems to have stopped, at least for the time being.
-Earlier this evening I cut up a few vegetables. Of course it seemed like a good idea to make a time-lapse video of the ordeal.
[Embedded video]
-I attended the second half of a one day conference this afternoon. The conference was in honour of the 100th anniversary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. I arrived just after the lunch break as the Assistant Deputy Minister was speaking. By coming in part way through his talk I kind of missed the gist of the whole thing.
-We might play a few games this evening.
-The tofu kick continues. We had a tofu stir-fry for dinner and we have another pound in the fridge, ready to go.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Well this was a bit of a surprise
At some point yesterday I think I heard a few rumours about snow, but I don't recall if they were about Halifax or St. John's. Anyway, as the forecast didn't seem to mention snow I put such thoughts out of my mind.
This morning I woke up to find this.
It seems that not only did we have snow, we actually had a few centimeters of snow. The worst part was that by the time I awoke much of the snow had started to turn to slush and was also be accompanied by rain.
Not surprisingly, I got soaked on my walk to school. Fortunately by the time I started to make my way back home things generally calmed down and I didn't get re-soaked.
This morning I woke up to find this.
It seems that not only did we have snow, we actually had a few centimeters of snow. The worst part was that by the time I awoke much of the snow had started to turn to slush and was also be accompanied by rain.
Not surprisingly, I got soaked on my walk to school. Fortunately by the time I started to make my way back home things generally calmed down and I didn't get re-soaked.
A Few Quick Notes 370
-It was a pretty nice day until just a few hours ago, when it started raining. Unfortunately, it seems that the forecast is suggesting that this is the type of weather that we will be getting tomorrow.
-For dinner tonight I prepared a pork roast, mashed potatoes, carrots, and beans and corn. I also quickly made a raspberry pie for desert. For those of you who are curious, the lard-based crust was light and flaky.
-The pork roast was part of a relatively large piece of pork loin that I purchased a few days ago. I turned the portion of meat not included in the roast into pork chops. I was quite surprised to see that I ended up with 12, I really would have expected about 7 had I been asked to guess in advance (but fortunately I wasn't asked to make such a guess).
-I have started testing out the free samples of male-targeted toiletries I received a few days ago. As expected, I have noticed that I have that traditional from-a-bottle/stereotypical man smell. As nice is give myself the pretense of being particularly manly, I am not sure that I will be able to deal with these scented products for much longer.
-My big news from school is that yesterday a fellow Ph.D. student and I rearranged the Ph.D. office so that all six desks are accessible. Prior to our changes only three of the six desks were accessible. Hopefully the other students who use the room, who weren't directly consulted, will find the changes as positive as I do.
-Oh man, I have so much work that I have been avoiding today. I guess I should try to get a little done before I turn in.
-I guess since I mentioned that I was watching the World Series yesterday I might as well mention that the Yankees were victorious. Unfortunately, the portion of the game that I watched wasn't particularly exciting (though once I started watching I couldn't stop until it was over).
-For dinner tonight I prepared a pork roast, mashed potatoes, carrots, and beans and corn. I also quickly made a raspberry pie for desert. For those of you who are curious, the lard-based crust was light and flaky.
-The pork roast was part of a relatively large piece of pork loin that I purchased a few days ago. I turned the portion of meat not included in the roast into pork chops. I was quite surprised to see that I ended up with 12, I really would have expected about 7 had I been asked to guess in advance (but fortunately I wasn't asked to make such a guess).
-I have started testing out the free samples of male-targeted toiletries I received a few days ago. As expected, I have noticed that I have that traditional from-a-bottle/stereotypical man smell. As nice is give myself the pretense of being particularly manly, I am not sure that I will be able to deal with these scented products for much longer.
-My big news from school is that yesterday a fellow Ph.D. student and I rearranged the Ph.D. office so that all six desks are accessible. Prior to our changes only three of the six desks were accessible. Hopefully the other students who use the room, who weren't directly consulted, will find the changes as positive as I do.
-Oh man, I have so much work that I have been avoiding today. I guess I should try to get a little done before I turn in.
-I guess since I mentioned that I was watching the World Series yesterday I might as well mention that the Yankees were victorious. Unfortunately, the portion of the game that I watched wasn't particularly exciting (though once I started watching I couldn't stop until it was over).
It's all gone to pots
A few days ago I mentioned that I had emptied most of my container garden and was, as a result of these actions, left with quite a number of dirty plant pots on our balcony.
I allowed these pots to sit on the balcony for a few days. The most significant reason why I didn't do anything with them was because of the time commitment that would have been required. Anyway, every day they were there they were eating away at me (even more because I knew how I was going to clean them when it came time).
This afternoon while dinner was in the oven I finally got around to cleaning the pots. I filled two buckets with hot water and added detergent to one of the buckets. As you might have guessed, one of the buckets was for washing and the other for rinsing. Amazingly, this system seemed to work pretty well and in not too long (and only one water change later) I was done with the washing part of the process.
After allowing the freshly washed pots to dry outside for a few hours I moved them inside to my bedroom to finish the final stages of drying.
A little while ago I was able to stack them up. My hope is that this is where they will stay for the winter and that I will be ready to go as soon as spring rolls around and I start my early planting.
For our more observant readers, I did have to store a few of the lids/trays and the planter in my closet. For a while I was hoping that I would be able to get everything in this stack.
I allowed these pots to sit on the balcony for a few days. The most significant reason why I didn't do anything with them was because of the time commitment that would have been required. Anyway, every day they were there they were eating away at me (even more because I knew how I was going to clean them when it came time).
This afternoon while dinner was in the oven I finally got around to cleaning the pots. I filled two buckets with hot water and added detergent to one of the buckets. As you might have guessed, one of the buckets was for washing and the other for rinsing. Amazingly, this system seemed to work pretty well and in not too long (and only one water change later) I was done with the washing part of the process.
After allowing the freshly washed pots to dry outside for a few hours I moved them inside to my bedroom to finish the final stages of drying.
A little while ago I was able to stack them up. My hope is that this is where they will stay for the winter and that I will be ready to go as soon as spring rolls around and I start my early planting.
For our more observant readers, I did have to store a few of the lids/trays and the planter in my closet. For a while I was hoping that I would be able to get everything in this stack.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
A Few Quick Notes 369
-I guess today was a little nicer than I expected it would be, meaning that I don't recall it raining.
-This change in the daylight allocation is really doing me in. It is now bright in them mornings when I get up on the early side of things and dark early in the afternoon. I think if it was up to me I would have kept things as they were before, but I guess the 9-5ers are a slightly more populous group that grad students without many morning commitments.
-All three of us are watching game 6 of the World Series. The funny thing is that while we are doing this we are using at least three computers (Neil and Rebecca are in the living from while I am in my room with my computer).
-A few minutes ago I looked at the grocery store fliers for the upcoming week and was pleased to see that a few of my favourite products will be on sale, notably cheap beef, pineapple, and potatoes.
-My baked fries should be ready momentarily. Much to my chagrin, I ended up throwing the entire bag on the tray.
-The Yankees just brought Rivera in.
-This change in the daylight allocation is really doing me in. It is now bright in them mornings when I get up on the early side of things and dark early in the afternoon. I think if it was up to me I would have kept things as they were before, but I guess the 9-5ers are a slightly more populous group that grad students without many morning commitments.
-All three of us are watching game 6 of the World Series. The funny thing is that while we are doing this we are using at least three computers (Neil and Rebecca are in the living from while I am in my room with my computer).
-A few minutes ago I looked at the grocery store fliers for the upcoming week and was pleased to see that a few of my favourite products will be on sale, notably cheap beef, pineapple, and potatoes.
-My baked fries should be ready momentarily. Much to my chagrin, I ended up throwing the entire bag on the tray.
-The Yankees just brought Rivera in.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
A Few Quick Notes 368
-Today was definitely not as nice as yesterday. For the better part of the morning and early afternoon it was raining. Eventually things cleared up, though the earlier rain and low temperatures and lack of sun meant that everything was still wet at sunset.
-For the past few weeks I have been more frequently using the nice fountain pen that Neil gave me a few years ago. While I have been using this pen intermittently for the past few years, this is the first time that I have really given it sustained use. Now that I am using it on a regular basis I keep wondering why I haven't been using it on a daily basis since Neil gave it to me.
The only downside about my present rate of use is that I basically need to top-up the refillable reservoir once a day, and sometimes more frequently. Amazingly, the bottle of ink that I acquired a few months ago still appears to be quite full (so I guess each pen refilling session really doesn't use that much ink).
-I received a nice batch of four free samples this afternoon. I had been expecting that they would take much longer to arrive than they did. As the samples are all mens toiletries I will likely have a more stereotypical man smell for the next few weeks while I work my way through the body wash, shampoo, and anti-perspireant that I acquired today. Fortunately, the free disposable razor (the sample I am most looking forward to using) shouldn't impart much of a scent (unless you count blood from the nicks and cuts that are sure to result from my moderately inept shaving).
-This afternoon I learned that John Hodgman has a podcast. As far as I can tell there are only about 8 episodes so far, each of which is less than a minute, so it should be easy to catch up (though I still have a few episodes to go before I am fully up to speed with things).
-My lithotripsy session seemed to go well this morning, though things were a little delayed so I had a little more sitting around than I expected. The other thing that I keep finding weird about the experience is that during the history taking part of the process (which happens shortly after I arrive) they keep asking me different questions. The result is that it looks as though I am giving them different information each time I come even though I keep telling them the truth. I find this not only unpleasant, but very upsetting. I keep thinking that by the second or third time I should know how the process works and not be continually thrown for a loop during the history taking part of the process. Oh, and if you were curious, I received 3000 shocks at power level 3 (not that that means all that much to me).
-For the past few weeks I have been more frequently using the nice fountain pen that Neil gave me a few years ago. While I have been using this pen intermittently for the past few years, this is the first time that I have really given it sustained use. Now that I am using it on a regular basis I keep wondering why I haven't been using it on a daily basis since Neil gave it to me.
The only downside about my present rate of use is that I basically need to top-up the refillable reservoir once a day, and sometimes more frequently. Amazingly, the bottle of ink that I acquired a few months ago still appears to be quite full (so I guess each pen refilling session really doesn't use that much ink).
-I received a nice batch of four free samples this afternoon. I had been expecting that they would take much longer to arrive than they did. As the samples are all mens toiletries I will likely have a more stereotypical man smell for the next few weeks while I work my way through the body wash, shampoo, and anti-perspireant that I acquired today. Fortunately, the free disposable razor (the sample I am most looking forward to using) shouldn't impart much of a scent (unless you count blood from the nicks and cuts that are sure to result from my moderately inept shaving).
-This afternoon I learned that John Hodgman has a podcast. As far as I can tell there are only about 8 episodes so far, each of which is less than a minute, so it should be easy to catch up (though I still have a few episodes to go before I am fully up to speed with things).
-My lithotripsy session seemed to go well this morning, though things were a little delayed so I had a little more sitting around than I expected. The other thing that I keep finding weird about the experience is that during the history taking part of the process (which happens shortly after I arrive) they keep asking me different questions. The result is that it looks as though I am giving them different information each time I come even though I keep telling them the truth. I find this not only unpleasant, but very upsetting. I keep thinking that by the second or third time I should know how the process works and not be continually thrown for a loop during the history taking part of the process. Oh, and if you were curious, I received 3000 shocks at power level 3 (not that that means all that much to me).
Monday, November 02, 2009
A Few Quick Notes 367
-As far as I recall, today was a pretty nice day. As I now seem to have many fewer hours of sunlight exposure, the weather is making less and less of an impression on me (that is until it rains or is remarkably unpleasant in some other way).
-We have been having a slow internet problem for some number of weeks now. The incredible slowness of our connection was driven home today when I was at school with my computer and using a regular speed connection for the first time in weeks. Amazingly, things like my email inbox didn't take seconds to load and podcasts zipped from the internet to my hard drive. Of course the irony is that all of this happened at about the same time I received an automated call informing me that our internet service had been improved and that our connection speed had increased by 40%. (Rebecca and I are both waiting for Neil to call and either lodge a complaint or figure out what is going on, until then we will likely have to muddle through).
-I harvested some of my thyme today and have bundled it to dry. What I find amazing about this process is how little of the herb I get at the end of such a process. The last time I did this I ended up getting less than a quarter of a spice bottle of dried thyme from what seemed like a handful of sprigs. Given our slow rate of production I guess it is a good thing that I am not prone to using very much thyme in my cooking.
-On Friday I attended a seminar in the political science department. Amazingly, even after several emails from faculty and staff, I was the only student in attendance. Actually, when things started I was about 20% of the audience (and I knew three of other four audience members). I was a little surprised that so few of my fellow students attended.
-A few of my tobacco plants are now close to two feet tall. The other development is that the rate at which I am harvesting leaves is also increasing. I am starting to have a little (and I should make very clear that I really mean little) supply/stash of dried leaves. As of yet I have no idea what I might do with these leaves as I don't smoke and I am not sure that anyone that I do know that smokes would possibly want them. I guess I will just go on collecting them for now and figure something out later.
-A few days ago I made what was to be my last tomato harvest of the season.
Shortly after harvesting these tomatoes I ploughed in my plants, or, more accurately, I ditched the root heavy soil and plants. I now have a rather large collection of empty pots and garden things that I need to clean and then bring in for the winter.
Hopefully I will get a chance to do some of this cleaning either on Wednesday or Thursday, though Friday is another possibility.
-My Halloween evening didn't go exactly as planned.
Firstly, as Peter, Neil, and I were walking over to the local shopping complex to pick up some beer and last minute supplies we noticed a number of police cars with flashing lights. As we approached the scene we could see that they were talking to someone, but we couldn't really figure out what necessitated 5 police vehicles. When we entered the liquor store the security guard wasn't able to provide us with any further information.
Eventually, Peter and I made it to the political science event, which was much better attended than I expected. I think that there were about 8 people (including us) for a while, then another two arrived. Eventually, another guy and his wife (and her brothers) showed up (though they may have arrived independent of our event). All things considered I think it was a success. There has been some discussion of further events in the near future.
We ended up not making the history party because of the relatively poor bus service to the part of town where the party was being held. We basically would have had an hour from the time the bus dropped us off to the time we had to catch the last bus back to town. That this would have left us with at most 30 minutes at the party we decided that the couldn't be reasonably justified. In the end we came back and played two games of Settlers (in the second game we used the new anti-robber rule that Neil and I have been working on).
-I am due up for another round of lithotripsy tomorrow. The good news is that I appear to actually have an appointment this time, unlike the last two times I was scheduled to go in. The downside is that this will probably hamper my work schedule a little, though I guess it is worth it if it means that I don't have to pass a full-fledged kidney stone.
-Oh man have I ever been on a bit of a tofu tear these past few days. I think that in the past four days I have purchased about 5 pounds of the stuff. Originally I had been buying the high end organic stuff for $2.39 a pound, but today I discovered the bargain basement stuff that goes for 99 cents a pound (a pound of which I bought). Anyway, whether I am buying the classy organic stuff or the discount swill, I don't see how my pocketbook and general health won't be the overall winners.
-I hate it when I am tired but then can't get to sleep for hours. The worst part is that as the time passes I get more nervous about the amount of sleep that I am not getting, making it even less likely that I will be able to get to sleep anytime soon. I really wish I understood why this happens to me occasionally as it doesn't seem to correspond to how tired I feel (though it must).
-We have been having a slow internet problem for some number of weeks now. The incredible slowness of our connection was driven home today when I was at school with my computer and using a regular speed connection for the first time in weeks. Amazingly, things like my email inbox didn't take seconds to load and podcasts zipped from the internet to my hard drive. Of course the irony is that all of this happened at about the same time I received an automated call informing me that our internet service had been improved and that our connection speed had increased by 40%. (Rebecca and I are both waiting for Neil to call and either lodge a complaint or figure out what is going on, until then we will likely have to muddle through).
-I harvested some of my thyme today and have bundled it to dry. What I find amazing about this process is how little of the herb I get at the end of such a process. The last time I did this I ended up getting less than a quarter of a spice bottle of dried thyme from what seemed like a handful of sprigs. Given our slow rate of production I guess it is a good thing that I am not prone to using very much thyme in my cooking.
-On Friday I attended a seminar in the political science department. Amazingly, even after several emails from faculty and staff, I was the only student in attendance. Actually, when things started I was about 20% of the audience (and I knew three of other four audience members). I was a little surprised that so few of my fellow students attended.
-A few of my tobacco plants are now close to two feet tall. The other development is that the rate at which I am harvesting leaves is also increasing. I am starting to have a little (and I should make very clear that I really mean little) supply/stash of dried leaves. As of yet I have no idea what I might do with these leaves as I don't smoke and I am not sure that anyone that I do know that smokes would possibly want them. I guess I will just go on collecting them for now and figure something out later.
-A few days ago I made what was to be my last tomato harvest of the season.
Shortly after harvesting these tomatoes I ploughed in my plants, or, more accurately, I ditched the root heavy soil and plants. I now have a rather large collection of empty pots and garden things that I need to clean and then bring in for the winter.
Hopefully I will get a chance to do some of this cleaning either on Wednesday or Thursday, though Friday is another possibility.
-My Halloween evening didn't go exactly as planned.
Firstly, as Peter, Neil, and I were walking over to the local shopping complex to pick up some beer and last minute supplies we noticed a number of police cars with flashing lights. As we approached the scene we could see that they were talking to someone, but we couldn't really figure out what necessitated 5 police vehicles. When we entered the liquor store the security guard wasn't able to provide us with any further information.
Eventually, Peter and I made it to the political science event, which was much better attended than I expected. I think that there were about 8 people (including us) for a while, then another two arrived. Eventually, another guy and his wife (and her brothers) showed up (though they may have arrived independent of our event). All things considered I think it was a success. There has been some discussion of further events in the near future.
We ended up not making the history party because of the relatively poor bus service to the part of town where the party was being held. We basically would have had an hour from the time the bus dropped us off to the time we had to catch the last bus back to town. That this would have left us with at most 30 minutes at the party we decided that the couldn't be reasonably justified. In the end we came back and played two games of Settlers (in the second game we used the new anti-robber rule that Neil and I have been working on).
-I am due up for another round of lithotripsy tomorrow. The good news is that I appear to actually have an appointment this time, unlike the last two times I was scheduled to go in. The downside is that this will probably hamper my work schedule a little, though I guess it is worth it if it means that I don't have to pass a full-fledged kidney stone.
-Oh man have I ever been on a bit of a tofu tear these past few days. I think that in the past four days I have purchased about 5 pounds of the stuff. Originally I had been buying the high end organic stuff for $2.39 a pound, but today I discovered the bargain basement stuff that goes for 99 cents a pound (a pound of which I bought). Anyway, whether I am buying the classy organic stuff or the discount swill, I don't see how my pocketbook and general health won't be the overall winners.
-I hate it when I am tired but then can't get to sleep for hours. The worst part is that as the time passes I get more nervous about the amount of sleep that I am not getting, making it even less likely that I will be able to get to sleep anytime soon. I really wish I understood why this happens to me occasionally as it doesn't seem to correspond to how tired I feel (though it must).
Saturday, October 31, 2009
A Few Quick Notes 366
-We have had some rather nice weather these past few days. It seems that it hits about 10 degrees by mid afternoon, which is just about right for walking, and then drops to near zero in the evening, which is just about right for studying, reading, and sleeping.
-It seems that I will have a few Halloween parties to attend tomorrow evening. The first I will try to visit is a poli sci grad student event at a local bar/restaurant. The idea is that they will order some appetizers and a few pitchers and then people can get other things.
The second party I plan on attending is the history grad student event. I have been invited to this event because I am taking a graduate level history course this year (and the professor hosting the party is teaching the course). Anyway, aside from the bus ride out, I am looking forward to meeting a few of the history students/types.
Oh, my plan for a costume (all creative credit must go to my friend Jess) is that I will wear a black shirt and pants and then a white collar and go as a priest. The great thing about this is if I decide the costume is too much for me to handle I can take the collar off and then just be a regular looking guy. As I am not really particularly into Halloween costumes I think that this strikes a nice balance between close to nothing and an actual costume.
-On Wednesday we had our final Ultimate game of the fall season. In contrast to past game, we really came out swinging and dominated the entire game. We ended up winning 15 to 0.
I should mention that although the score is clearly quite lopsided, the other team really didn't seem to be playing that poorly (just not scoring). Furthermore, they are one of the most fun teams to play against. There were no rule disputes or poor calls, it was really great.
After the game we invited the other team to join us for a drink at the local country bar. We chose this bar because the last time we went the place was absolutely empty and we were able to take advantage of a few of their amenities (mainly the Wii and the full-size basketball net). This time it seemed that we weren't so lucky, instead of the place being empty we walked in on a multi-week karaoke contest.
Not surprisingly, our group wasn't really into the karaoke contest. Surprisingly, the bar's workers were really quite insistent that we move some of the furniture so that everyone could see the stage. In basically every other matter the staff were great, they frequently came back to make sure we had everything we needed and at one point brought out four large baskets of party mix (a snack food).
I guess I would have to say that after a little bit of initial hesitation, I had a really good time with the other team, and just generally at this particular bar (even if it was a country bar).
-It seems that I am up for another round of lithotripsy on Tuesday. I am a little curious to see if this is actually going to happen or if they will somehow manage to screw up my booking between now and then, as they have done twice already.
-It seems that I am on a bit of a humus tear recently. For the better part of the past few weeks I have almost always had a batch of humus in the fridge that I can tap into at any time. I guess this is likely an indication of my busyness and the fact that this is a food that I can just start eating with little prep work.
-I have been rather busy with grading for the past few days. My plan is to kill off the remnants tomorrow, which should then allow me some time to prepare for my upcoming classes.
-I should probably stop wasting time and get back to at least one of the many school-related things that I really should be doing.
-It seems that I will have a few Halloween parties to attend tomorrow evening. The first I will try to visit is a poli sci grad student event at a local bar/restaurant. The idea is that they will order some appetizers and a few pitchers and then people can get other things.
The second party I plan on attending is the history grad student event. I have been invited to this event because I am taking a graduate level history course this year (and the professor hosting the party is teaching the course). Anyway, aside from the bus ride out, I am looking forward to meeting a few of the history students/types.
Oh, my plan for a costume (all creative credit must go to my friend Jess) is that I will wear a black shirt and pants and then a white collar and go as a priest. The great thing about this is if I decide the costume is too much for me to handle I can take the collar off and then just be a regular looking guy. As I am not really particularly into Halloween costumes I think that this strikes a nice balance between close to nothing and an actual costume.
-On Wednesday we had our final Ultimate game of the fall season. In contrast to past game, we really came out swinging and dominated the entire game. We ended up winning 15 to 0.
I should mention that although the score is clearly quite lopsided, the other team really didn't seem to be playing that poorly (just not scoring). Furthermore, they are one of the most fun teams to play against. There were no rule disputes or poor calls, it was really great.
After the game we invited the other team to join us for a drink at the local country bar. We chose this bar because the last time we went the place was absolutely empty and we were able to take advantage of a few of their amenities (mainly the Wii and the full-size basketball net). This time it seemed that we weren't so lucky, instead of the place being empty we walked in on a multi-week karaoke contest.
Not surprisingly, our group wasn't really into the karaoke contest. Surprisingly, the bar's workers were really quite insistent that we move some of the furniture so that everyone could see the stage. In basically every other matter the staff were great, they frequently came back to make sure we had everything we needed and at one point brought out four large baskets of party mix (a snack food).
I guess I would have to say that after a little bit of initial hesitation, I had a really good time with the other team, and just generally at this particular bar (even if it was a country bar).
-It seems that I am up for another round of lithotripsy on Tuesday. I am a little curious to see if this is actually going to happen or if they will somehow manage to screw up my booking between now and then, as they have done twice already.
-It seems that I am on a bit of a humus tear recently. For the better part of the past few weeks I have almost always had a batch of humus in the fridge that I can tap into at any time. I guess this is likely an indication of my busyness and the fact that this is a food that I can just start eating with little prep work.
-I have been rather busy with grading for the past few days. My plan is to kill off the remnants tomorrow, which should then allow me some time to prepare for my upcoming classes.
-I should probably stop wasting time and get back to at least one of the many school-related things that I really should be doing.
Friday, October 23, 2009
A Few Quick Notes 365
-Though it seemed to be raining pretty heavily last night, and there were a few rain drops at various points today, overall today wasn't too bad a day. That being said, it is definitely fall now and the lower temperatures will mean that I will soon have to make the switch from my sports coats to a more substantive jacket in the coming days.
-Last night, though I don't know why I was move to do it last night, I removed most of my bean plants (as they were approaching death if they weren't already dead). This, at least as far as I am concerned, makes the balcony look a fair bit better. In the coming days I may try and deal with a few more of the plant pots as the end of the growing season is definitely upon us.
-That being said, just a few days ago we started to get our first blooms on the morning glory plants. Unfortunately, due to inattention, I missed the first bloom (but did manage to see the remnants). Luckily, when they started really hitting hard I did manage to see them, and even to snap a photograph of the whole affair.
It seems that in the days since this was taken thins have taken a turn for the worse with the plants. Actually, I imagine that they are all basically dead now as they have been outside in sub-zero temperatures.
-This afternoon I decided to make a batch of bread (four loaves). The first project gave me the necessary motivation to take on a second project, doing my laundry, as these two projects work nicely with one another because of their natural gaps and periods of inactivity. Now that I have sampled the bread and the clean duvet cover I think I can safely say that they both were completed successfully.
-The other major project of the day is some marking that I have to do for my TAship. I may also try to track down a few readings for my upcoming week's classes, though that might be a little more than I can handle in a single night.
-Yesterday, because Neil and Rebecca were attending a math conference dinner, I took the opportunity to prepare myself some marlin that I had in the freezer. It turns out that I think I really don't like marlin. The relatively small piece that I had prepared myself was about twice as much as I could stomach, which is rather unfortunate (though the good news is that I had only paid 50% of the original price for the fish). Anyway, I am just lucky that I had prepared myself 4 potatoes so that I had a satisfying meal even though I didn't eat much of the main dish.
-Last night as I was plugging away at a paper that was due this morning I turned around from my desk and got a look at my floor.
It seems that my filing system really is a little more floor based that I would like (as is my bed). I imagine that some people, upon seeing this, might have a hard time believing that I not only attended library school, but also passed.
-My bedroom plants seemed to have slowed down a little bit, but are definitely still growing. In particular, the tobacco taking up an ever increasing proportion of the window. I keep imagining that I won't even be able to see out, my view will be completely blocked by homegrown tobacco.
I guess the only thing I will be blocked from seeing is a relatively grey cement wall, so it might not be much of a loss.
-Surely there are more import topics on which I should be expounding, but I think I may have to call it for now so that I can get back to my grading and dinner prep (proper meals seem to have gone out of my schedule these past few days and I am hoping to bring them back).
-Last night, though I don't know why I was move to do it last night, I removed most of my bean plants (as they were approaching death if they weren't already dead). This, at least as far as I am concerned, makes the balcony look a fair bit better. In the coming days I may try and deal with a few more of the plant pots as the end of the growing season is definitely upon us.
-That being said, just a few days ago we started to get our first blooms on the morning glory plants. Unfortunately, due to inattention, I missed the first bloom (but did manage to see the remnants). Luckily, when they started really hitting hard I did manage to see them, and even to snap a photograph of the whole affair.
It seems that in the days since this was taken thins have taken a turn for the worse with the plants. Actually, I imagine that they are all basically dead now as they have been outside in sub-zero temperatures.
-This afternoon I decided to make a batch of bread (four loaves). The first project gave me the necessary motivation to take on a second project, doing my laundry, as these two projects work nicely with one another because of their natural gaps and periods of inactivity. Now that I have sampled the bread and the clean duvet cover I think I can safely say that they both were completed successfully.
-The other major project of the day is some marking that I have to do for my TAship. I may also try to track down a few readings for my upcoming week's classes, though that might be a little more than I can handle in a single night.
-Yesterday, because Neil and Rebecca were attending a math conference dinner, I took the opportunity to prepare myself some marlin that I had in the freezer. It turns out that I think I really don't like marlin. The relatively small piece that I had prepared myself was about twice as much as I could stomach, which is rather unfortunate (though the good news is that I had only paid 50% of the original price for the fish). Anyway, I am just lucky that I had prepared myself 4 potatoes so that I had a satisfying meal even though I didn't eat much of the main dish.
-Last night as I was plugging away at a paper that was due this morning I turned around from my desk and got a look at my floor.
It seems that my filing system really is a little more floor based that I would like (as is my bed). I imagine that some people, upon seeing this, might have a hard time believing that I not only attended library school, but also passed.
-My bedroom plants seemed to have slowed down a little bit, but are definitely still growing. In particular, the tobacco taking up an ever increasing proportion of the window. I keep imagining that I won't even be able to see out, my view will be completely blocked by homegrown tobacco.
I guess the only thing I will be blocked from seeing is a relatively grey cement wall, so it might not be much of a loss.
-Surely there are more import topics on which I should be expounding, but I think I may have to call it for now so that I can get back to my grading and dinner prep (proper meals seem to have gone out of my schedule these past few days and I am hoping to bring them back).
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Super busy
As some of you might have guessed based on my limited blogging of the past few days, I am still quite busy with school related work. Though now in addition to the regular reading and writing that has been filling my days for the past few weeks I can add marking. My first batch of the year has to be partly ready to go by tomorrow, which should be fine as I have already taken a quick read through the exam answers I need to mark. Though the completion of the job will require I go through them again in a little more detail.
Of course, on top of this I have a paper due tomorrow (though it is quite short). My plan is to shortly finish the first draft of the paper and then head over to the exams. Once I am done with the exams I hope to kill off the paper. We will see how well this seemingly simple plan works out in the end.
In other exciting news, I did find time to make some marlin for myself for dinner. Unfortunately, it turns out that either I don't know how to prepare marlin or I think marlin is pretty gross. While I am willing to acknowledge the former as a possibility, I am somewhat inclined to lean towards the latter as more likely of the two options. Anyway, it is a good think that we only had one piece in the freezer.
Back to work, at least until I start slacking off again.
Of course, on top of this I have a paper due tomorrow (though it is quite short). My plan is to shortly finish the first draft of the paper and then head over to the exams. Once I am done with the exams I hope to kill off the paper. We will see how well this seemingly simple plan works out in the end.
In other exciting news, I did find time to make some marlin for myself for dinner. Unfortunately, it turns out that either I don't know how to prepare marlin or I think marlin is pretty gross. While I am willing to acknowledge the former as a possibility, I am somewhat inclined to lean towards the latter as more likely of the two options. Anyway, it is a good think that we only had one piece in the freezer.
Back to work, at least until I start slacking off again.
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