Last night, while I was trying to study, I finally came with something that I could do with the flattened beer bottle caps that I have been collecting for the past number of months.
It seemed like a stop-motion film with the bottle caps was the obvious solution.
I grabbed my digital camera and tripod and started sticking the bottle caps to the wall and taking pictures between each new cap being attached to the wall.
While the final product isn’t much, it was fun to play around with. Even if for no other reason that for my own personal enjoyment, I think I may try to make more of these in the future.
Below is an embedded version of the clip.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Things I have come across in the past few days
The following are selections from texts that I have been reading in the past few days. Typically the reason that each section caught my eye should be fairly obvious.
From ‘Miami and the Siege of Chicago’ by Norman Mailer (New York: Signet: 1968):
Chicago is the great American city. New York is one of the capitals of the world and Los Angeles is a constellation of plastic, San Fransisco is a lady, Boston has become Urban Renewal, Philadelphia and Baltimore and Washington wink like dull diamonds in the smog of Eastern Megalopolis, and New Orleans is unremarkable past the French Quarter. Detroit is a one trade town, Pittsburgh has lost its golden triangle, St. Louis has become the golden arch of the corporation, and nights in Kansas City close early. The oil depletion allowance makes Houston and Dallas naught but checkerboards for this sort of game. But Chicago is a great American city. Perhaps it is the last of the great American cities (p. 85)
From the article “Broadening Concerns for Intellectual Freedom” by Everett T. Moore in ‘The Library Quarterly’ (1968: Vol. 38, No. 4: p. 309-314):
Why wave the red flag of intellectualism in the faces of some of our best friends? (p. 309)
From the article “Censorship of Books by the Library” by Margery Bedinger in Wilson Bulletin (1929: Vol. 3, No. 21: p. 621-626):
With writing whose only intent is frank salaciousness, I have nothing to say. There has never been doubt among librarians as to how it should be treated. (p. 621)
We all know what tremendous changes the automobile has made in our way of living, how it has affected home life, the relations of the sexes, economic and industrial conditions, bringing all parts of the country near together and revolutionizing farm life. In the light of this knowledge, who can day what greater changes, what more acute social problems, what differences in mental attitudes the airplane will bring about! (p. 622)
Librarians are a very homogeneous group; with negligible exceptions we come from the same sort of families, have had the same sort of (and here’s the pity) sheltered upbringing, moved in the same protected and genteel circles all our lives, and to crown all, our ranks consist overwhelmingly of one sex; very, very largely of unmarried members of that sex. (p. 623)
The sheltered, protected girl is more handicapped when she tries to cope with the world and form just, wise decisions than any other sort of normal person whatever. (p. 624)
O, my sisters, we have thought that upon us lay the heavy burden of guarding the morals of the youth, 90 per cent of whom could tell us many things, and the funniest of all, we really thought we had the wisdom and ability to do it! (p. 624)
And if, contrary to my contention, it were best to pick and choose what young people should know, I still maintain that it is presumptuous and indeed absurd for the ordinary librarian to do the picking and choosing; when we have especially trained people for the Intermediate rooms, then perhaps those people might. But if it must be done (and remember, I firmly believe it should not be done) I should far rather have a committee of child psychologists, juvenile court judges, probation officers, and trained psychiatrists pass upon the books, than leave it to the personal reaction of women, or men, not widely experienced in life and knowing little of the difficulties and attitude of youth in the changing world today. (p. 625)
From ‘Miami and the Siege of Chicago’ by Norman Mailer (New York: Signet: 1968):
Chicago is the great American city. New York is one of the capitals of the world and Los Angeles is a constellation of plastic, San Fransisco is a lady, Boston has become Urban Renewal, Philadelphia and Baltimore and Washington wink like dull diamonds in the smog of Eastern Megalopolis, and New Orleans is unremarkable past the French Quarter. Detroit is a one trade town, Pittsburgh has lost its golden triangle, St. Louis has become the golden arch of the corporation, and nights in Kansas City close early. The oil depletion allowance makes Houston and Dallas naught but checkerboards for this sort of game. But Chicago is a great American city. Perhaps it is the last of the great American cities (p. 85)
From the article “Broadening Concerns for Intellectual Freedom” by Everett T. Moore in ‘The Library Quarterly’ (1968: Vol. 38, No. 4: p. 309-314):
Why wave the red flag of intellectualism in the faces of some of our best friends? (p. 309)
From the article “Censorship of Books by the Library” by Margery Bedinger in Wilson Bulletin (1929: Vol. 3, No. 21: p. 621-626):
With writing whose only intent is frank salaciousness, I have nothing to say. There has never been doubt among librarians as to how it should be treated. (p. 621)
We all know what tremendous changes the automobile has made in our way of living, how it has affected home life, the relations of the sexes, economic and industrial conditions, bringing all parts of the country near together and revolutionizing farm life. In the light of this knowledge, who can day what greater changes, what more acute social problems, what differences in mental attitudes the airplane will bring about! (p. 622)
Librarians are a very homogeneous group; with negligible exceptions we come from the same sort of families, have had the same sort of (and here’s the pity) sheltered upbringing, moved in the same protected and genteel circles all our lives, and to crown all, our ranks consist overwhelmingly of one sex; very, very largely of unmarried members of that sex. (p. 623)
The sheltered, protected girl is more handicapped when she tries to cope with the world and form just, wise decisions than any other sort of normal person whatever. (p. 624)
O, my sisters, we have thought that upon us lay the heavy burden of guarding the morals of the youth, 90 per cent of whom could tell us many things, and the funniest of all, we really thought we had the wisdom and ability to do it! (p. 624)
And if, contrary to my contention, it were best to pick and choose what young people should know, I still maintain that it is presumptuous and indeed absurd for the ordinary librarian to do the picking and choosing; when we have especially trained people for the Intermediate rooms, then perhaps those people might. But if it must be done (and remember, I firmly believe it should not be done) I should far rather have a committee of child psychologists, juvenile court judges, probation officers, and trained psychiatrists pass upon the books, than leave it to the personal reaction of women, or men, not widely experienced in life and knowing little of the difficulties and attitude of youth in the changing world today. (p. 625)
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
A Few Quick Notes 149
-While we experienced a few centimeters of snow yesterday, today has been a pretty straight forward sub-zero day. Much of the snow that fell yesterday has been collected, meaning that if I had slept through all of yesterday I would only slightly wonder what I had missed during my exceptionally long sleep.
-For some reason, likely because I am not taking a course on science and technical information, I decided to look for math papers for a period of time this afternoon. As I don’t really know that much about math I decided to just try and find papers by people that I know.
After a few initial searches on Web of Science I switched over to MathSciNet. Though it doesn’t look like much, I was quite impressed with some of the features that are made available. Particularly impressive, and notably in contrast to Web of Science, was that different forms of authors names were kept together. Presumably this is possible as the body of literature is quite small and concentrated, unlike that covered by Web of Science. Another factor might be that this index is published by a math society rather than a commercial publisher. MathSciNet also included easy and accessible means of finding the institution attached to particular publication. Though I didn’t check it out, I presume it would also be quite easy to use this feature to locate all publications published by a particular institution. A final important component was that this specialized database seemed to include a much broader swath of math related journals (allowing me to find an article published by Neil).
-We did end up getting our promised power outage last night. Unfortunately, I didn’t stick around to find out if how cold it became or if we did lose water and promised.
In the end I ended up crashing on Sulin’s couch rather than sticking it out in the apartment. This presented me with an opportunity to have a functioning alarm clock so that I would have a much better chance of walking up in time for my 9:00 AM class.
-I was thinking about baking some bran muffins a few days ago only to realize that I don’t own a muffin tin. It seems that I may have to head over to the dollar store and pick one or two up so that I can use the bran I purchased a few days ago.
-The two pineapples I purchased a few days ago have already been consumed. Hopefully I will have a chance to pick up a few more before the sale ends on Sunday.
-On Saturday night while attending the Thompson House staff party at a bar/restaurant on Crescent Street I was surprised to see two cops, in full uniform (and presumably armed) come into the bar and have a drink (it looked like Gin and tonic but it could have been water). They sat next to each other at the bar for some time, seemingly enjoying themselves, before departing and heading back to the cold, harsh reality of Montreal streets on Saturday nights.
-For some reason, likely because I am not taking a course on science and technical information, I decided to look for math papers for a period of time this afternoon. As I don’t really know that much about math I decided to just try and find papers by people that I know.
After a few initial searches on Web of Science I switched over to MathSciNet. Though it doesn’t look like much, I was quite impressed with some of the features that are made available. Particularly impressive, and notably in contrast to Web of Science, was that different forms of authors names were kept together. Presumably this is possible as the body of literature is quite small and concentrated, unlike that covered by Web of Science. Another factor might be that this index is published by a math society rather than a commercial publisher. MathSciNet also included easy and accessible means of finding the institution attached to particular publication. Though I didn’t check it out, I presume it would also be quite easy to use this feature to locate all publications published by a particular institution. A final important component was that this specialized database seemed to include a much broader swath of math related journals (allowing me to find an article published by Neil).
-We did end up getting our promised power outage last night. Unfortunately, I didn’t stick around to find out if how cold it became or if we did lose water and promised.
In the end I ended up crashing on Sulin’s couch rather than sticking it out in the apartment. This presented me with an opportunity to have a functioning alarm clock so that I would have a much better chance of walking up in time for my 9:00 AM class.
-I was thinking about baking some bran muffins a few days ago only to realize that I don’t own a muffin tin. It seems that I may have to head over to the dollar store and pick one or two up so that I can use the bran I purchased a few days ago.
-The two pineapples I purchased a few days ago have already been consumed. Hopefully I will have a chance to pick up a few more before the sale ends on Sunday.
-On Saturday night while attending the Thompson House staff party at a bar/restaurant on Crescent Street I was surprised to see two cops, in full uniform (and presumably armed) come into the bar and have a drink (it looked like Gin and tonic but it could have been water). They sat next to each other at the bar for some time, seemingly enjoying themselves, before departing and heading back to the cold, harsh reality of Montreal streets on Saturday nights.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
OMG! WTF? No power, water, or heat?
A few minutes ago Nithum asked me if I knew anything about the power, heating, and water outages that are to take place in our building tonight. He indicated that he had seen a such to such effect on the building’s main doors.
This was a bit of a shock as I had not idea such an event was in the works. The last time that I had entered the doors this had not been posted.
Upon checking the sign I saw that Nithum’s assessment was quite accurate, we are supposedly in for a complete shutdown this evening, though does appear to be a slight lack of clarity as to whether this will actually go through. As much as possible, an answer one-way or the other would be nice. This maybe, maybe not scenario is less than pleasing.
What I find particularly shocking about this is that there may be a good number of people in the building that have no idea that such a shutdown is to occur as the sign was not posted until well after 5:00 PM. Many of us likely entered the building for the evening by that time and won’t find out that something is up until they find out that everything is out for eight hours.
I guess I will just wait and see. I particularly hope that I am able to finish my reference assignment before the bewitching hour.
This was a bit of a shock as I had not idea such an event was in the works. The last time that I had entered the doors this had not been posted.
Upon checking the sign I saw that Nithum’s assessment was quite accurate, we are supposedly in for a complete shutdown this evening, though does appear to be a slight lack of clarity as to whether this will actually go through. As much as possible, an answer one-way or the other would be nice. This maybe, maybe not scenario is less than pleasing.
What I find particularly shocking about this is that there may be a good number of people in the building that have no idea that such a shutdown is to occur as the sign was not posted until well after 5:00 PM. Many of us likely entered the building for the evening by that time and won’t find out that something is up until they find out that everything is out for eight hours.
I guess I will just wait and see. I particularly hope that I am able to finish my reference assignment before the bewitching hour.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
A Few Quick Notes 148
-Today has been the coldest day of the year, and possibly the winter, in Montreal. As night approaches, and then begins to fall, the temperature is expected to continue to drop, until it reaches a nice -22 c. Fortunately, we don’t have all that much wind accompanying the cold to make it as unpleasant as it surely could be. Nor do we really have that much snow to go along with these mid-winter temperatures.
-Friday night was a pretty busy night at Thomson House. Not only did we have a pretty good Friday crowd on the main floor and in the Restaurant, we also had a pretty big party in the ballroom. The up side was that tips were good. The downside was that we sold out of pizza dough, something that caused staff pizzas and meatzzas (my cheese and tomato free pizza) to be made with pitas (something quite inferior to the typical dough).
-Last night we had the Thomson House Staff Christmas party at a new restaurant/bar on Crescent Street. While the location caused me some concern at first, the reality of the situation proved quite different than I expected.
We started the evening off with a few drinks, primarily wine and water, before taking our seats for the meal, which started with a salad. As the salad was a tomato feta salad I decided to pass. We then moved on to the main course. Though I chose the beef on a carrot puree option, I think that in retrospect I should have gone for the duck with mushroom sauce on potatoes. That being said, I don’t really have any complaints about the meal that I did eventually get.
For desert we had a white chocolate mousse on a chocolate and cookie base, with strawberries and basis syrup. While the mousse and chocolate and cookie base tasted quite good, the base was a little firm and challenging to break apart with the provided spoons. Sadly, most of us used a two handed technique that was only partially successful as a fair number of chunks ended up leaving peoples’ plates. Furthermore, I wonder about the idea of basil syrup as a desert accoutrement. Personally, I would probably give this a pass in favour of either nothing or something that didn’t make my mouth taste like a main course.
The only other strange part of the evening was the red wine, which tasted just like the inside of a barrel. While I can understand why such a flavour may be desired as a undertone, I don’t quite see why one would want this as the predominate flavour. Also, along with there seemed to be a corresponding fuzziness in how the wine felt in one’s mouth (or at least I had this problem).
-After the dinner section of the staff event there was talking going dancing a place on Crescent Street, something that isn’t really my area of interest. Instead I went to Nicole’s place to play some games.
Shortly after arriving I learned of a mustache party that was taking place just a few blocks away. Unfortunately, due to my confusion regarding the party I didn’t head up immediately (which may sound as though I wasn’t enjoying the games, which wasn’t the case). When we finally did get to the bar the band was just finishing and the party starting to disperse. The only up side of this was that we didn’t have to pay cover and were then able to watch all kinds of mustachioed individuals dancing up a storm.
-I should be doing some school work and reading.
-Beef for roasting will be on sale as of tomorrow at Provigo. This likely means that I will be having pot roast within the next number of days.
-Friday night was a pretty busy night at Thomson House. Not only did we have a pretty good Friday crowd on the main floor and in the Restaurant, we also had a pretty big party in the ballroom. The up side was that tips were good. The downside was that we sold out of pizza dough, something that caused staff pizzas and meatzzas (my cheese and tomato free pizza) to be made with pitas (something quite inferior to the typical dough).
-Last night we had the Thomson House Staff Christmas party at a new restaurant/bar on Crescent Street. While the location caused me some concern at first, the reality of the situation proved quite different than I expected.
We started the evening off with a few drinks, primarily wine and water, before taking our seats for the meal, which started with a salad. As the salad was a tomato feta salad I decided to pass. We then moved on to the main course. Though I chose the beef on a carrot puree option, I think that in retrospect I should have gone for the duck with mushroom sauce on potatoes. That being said, I don’t really have any complaints about the meal that I did eventually get.
For desert we had a white chocolate mousse on a chocolate and cookie base, with strawberries and basis syrup. While the mousse and chocolate and cookie base tasted quite good, the base was a little firm and challenging to break apart with the provided spoons. Sadly, most of us used a two handed technique that was only partially successful as a fair number of chunks ended up leaving peoples’ plates. Furthermore, I wonder about the idea of basil syrup as a desert accoutrement. Personally, I would probably give this a pass in favour of either nothing or something that didn’t make my mouth taste like a main course.
The only other strange part of the evening was the red wine, which tasted just like the inside of a barrel. While I can understand why such a flavour may be desired as a undertone, I don’t quite see why one would want this as the predominate flavour. Also, along with there seemed to be a corresponding fuzziness in how the wine felt in one’s mouth (or at least I had this problem).
-After the dinner section of the staff event there was talking going dancing a place on Crescent Street, something that isn’t really my area of interest. Instead I went to Nicole’s place to play some games.
Shortly after arriving I learned of a mustache party that was taking place just a few blocks away. Unfortunately, due to my confusion regarding the party I didn’t head up immediately (which may sound as though I wasn’t enjoying the games, which wasn’t the case). When we finally did get to the bar the band was just finishing and the party starting to disperse. The only up side of this was that we didn’t have to pay cover and were then able to watch all kinds of mustachioed individuals dancing up a storm.
-I should be doing some school work and reading.
-Beef for roasting will be on sale as of tomorrow at Provigo. This likely means that I will be having pot roast within the next number of days.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Apartment Update 2
-Today, after taking a shower, I noticed that a section of our bathroom floor seemed to be covered in water. More surprising was that it was quite clear that this water did not come from the bathtub area, but from a seemingly non-existent source. After some investigation Nithum and I failed to locate the source. Fortunately, it seems that the water did not continue to accumulate and lead to a substantial problem.
-Various sections of our parquet floor seem to be no longer attached to the sub-floor. While this isn't typically much of a problem, it is somewhat annoying to find a section out of place.
-Our walls are still pretty bare. We haven't really put much of anything up to cover our plain white walls.
-Though I thought I had figured out a way around it, our oven still seems to bake unevenly. I now fear that I will have to put up with this inferior cooking apparatus for the duration of my residency in the apartment.
-A few nights ago, for the first time since I moved in in September, I changed a few light bulbs. As most of our fixtures seem to hold about three bulbs losing one or two isn't a bit problem, allowing me to one undertake the task every few months.
-Various sections of our parquet floor seem to be no longer attached to the sub-floor. While this isn't typically much of a problem, it is somewhat annoying to find a section out of place.
-Our walls are still pretty bare. We haven't really put much of anything up to cover our plain white walls.
-Though I thought I had figured out a way around it, our oven still seems to bake unevenly. I now fear that I will have to put up with this inferior cooking apparatus for the duration of my residency in the apartment.
-A few nights ago, for the first time since I moved in in September, I changed a few light bulbs. As most of our fixtures seem to hold about three bulbs losing one or two isn't a bit problem, allowing me to one undertake the task every few months.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
A Few Quick Notes 147
-Today was a pretty nice day, though the weather was more of what one might expect in fall than the middle of winter. It was a nice surprise as yesterday turned out to be quite a messy day (as frequently occurs when snow and rain are mixed at near zero temperatures).
-Again last night we had a biggish party at Thomson House. This time the reason was the beginning of a new term.
Though slow to start, the party eventually picked up and proved to be quite successful. So successful that we ended up selling out of pizza well before the kitchen was scheduled to close. Another sign of success was that tips were quite good. One of the only problems was that as there were all kinds of people there at close we weren't able to complete many of the tasks involved with closing until everyone had left, delaying our departure.
-A few nights ago I played some Settlers and had a fairly good run. Unfortunately, in my second game I built a settlement for one point instead of a road for two, something that would have given me the win. After this mistake I wasn't able to turn things around and build a settlement or a city for my tenth point.
-While in the grocery store a few nights ago, I happened to stop by the discount DVD bin. As the prices seemed incredibly low, and as I didn't really want to rush home, I decided to look through the selection and see what they had in the under $5.00 category. After several minutes of searching I found a double feature that included "Shaft: Les Nuits Rouges de Harlem" and "Les Nouveaux Exploits de Shaft." The set did not include the third and final Shaft movie, "Shaft in Africa." Fortunately, while the packaging is in French, the movies are in English.
So far I have only managed to get through the first movie (just known as "Shaft" in English). While it was watchable, I did notice that I didn't really like the way the sound was mixed. It seems that the vocal levels are quite low while the soundtrack is quite high, meaning that one has to have the sound quite high to hear the dialogue and is then blasted by the Isaac Hayes for the rest of the time (a feature that may be intentional). Maybe in a few days I will get around to watching the second movie as it is sure to be more action packed than the first one.
-For dinner tonight I plan on having a pot roast. As the piece of meat is on the large size I hope to have enough for left overs for a few days. The only problem is that I may have have included enough potatoes and carrots.
-Again last night we had a biggish party at Thomson House. This time the reason was the beginning of a new term.
Though slow to start, the party eventually picked up and proved to be quite successful. So successful that we ended up selling out of pizza well before the kitchen was scheduled to close. Another sign of success was that tips were quite good. One of the only problems was that as there were all kinds of people there at close we weren't able to complete many of the tasks involved with closing until everyone had left, delaying our departure.
-A few nights ago I played some Settlers and had a fairly good run. Unfortunately, in my second game I built a settlement for one point instead of a road for two, something that would have given me the win. After this mistake I wasn't able to turn things around and build a settlement or a city for my tenth point.
-While in the grocery store a few nights ago, I happened to stop by the discount DVD bin. As the prices seemed incredibly low, and as I didn't really want to rush home, I decided to look through the selection and see what they had in the under $5.00 category. After several minutes of searching I found a double feature that included "Shaft: Les Nuits Rouges de Harlem" and "Les Nouveaux Exploits de Shaft." The set did not include the third and final Shaft movie, "Shaft in Africa." Fortunately, while the packaging is in French, the movies are in English.
So far I have only managed to get through the first movie (just known as "Shaft" in English). While it was watchable, I did notice that I didn't really like the way the sound was mixed. It seems that the vocal levels are quite low while the soundtrack is quite high, meaning that one has to have the sound quite high to hear the dialogue and is then blasted by the Isaac Hayes for the rest of the time (a feature that may be intentional). Maybe in a few days I will get around to watching the second movie as it is sure to be more action packed than the first one.
-For dinner tonight I plan on having a pot roast. As the piece of meat is on the large size I hope to have enough for left overs for a few days. The only problem is that I may have have included enough potatoes and carrots.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
A Few Quick Notes 146
-Today was another unseasonably warm day in Montreal. On my way to school I would guess it that it was approaching 10 degrees, though it has since dropped a little. On top of the warmth we have also had a fair bit of moisture and win kicking around. Moments ago the wind was strong enough to blow my building’s large recycling bins into the street.
It should also be noted that the temperatures appear to be dropping and are forecasted to dip below zero in the coming days, though this is still relatively mild considering the location and that this is supposed to be a harsh winter.
-Last night I was invited to a classmate’s for lunch today. A few of us went over for vegetarian nachos. I was quite impressed with the lentil dish that served as a substitute for ground beef. This dish has inspired me to try lentils again, though I know that I am sure to screw them up, as I seem to be unable to cook beans and legumes properly.
-Upon leaving our host’s house after lunch three of us stopped at Segal’s, a Portuguese grocery store on St. Laurent. The advantage of this store is the range of products, many of which appear to have originated from Portuguese speaking lands, as well as its commitment to low prices.
I ended up purchasing some olive oil, bacon, crackers, and a raspberry pie. Unfortunately, the pie was a bit of a dud and didn’t end up tasting all that much like raspberry. If I had to describe the pie I might say that it tasted like red flavoured goo with a stale crust, fortunately it wasn’t all that expensive.
-Segal’s also sells various salt cod products, most notably full split fillets and split heads. A few months ago, and still kicking around in the back of my head, I was thinking that it might be neat to mount of the cod items on my wall as a decoration. The idea being that in some ways this might be somewhat reminiscent of something that Mary Pratt might do.
Anyway, soon after thinking about the idea the problem of smell came up. Having a salt cod fillet on one’s wall would be a little nauseating after a while, and may frighten any guests away.
As I am lazy and running out of time in Montreal I probably won’t get around to solving this problem (which will also be more difficult as I don’t have that much space), but it seems that I might be able to coat the cod in some kind of clear spray paint or sealer. Several applications of such a product might be enough to seal the smell in and assist in the preservation of the item, as well as making it somewhat more rigid that such things tend to be in their natural form.
-By tomorrow evening I will have completed my first week of my last semester of classes at McGill.
It should also be noted that the temperatures appear to be dropping and are forecasted to dip below zero in the coming days, though this is still relatively mild considering the location and that this is supposed to be a harsh winter.
-Last night I was invited to a classmate’s for lunch today. A few of us went over for vegetarian nachos. I was quite impressed with the lentil dish that served as a substitute for ground beef. This dish has inspired me to try lentils again, though I know that I am sure to screw them up, as I seem to be unable to cook beans and legumes properly.
-Upon leaving our host’s house after lunch three of us stopped at Segal’s, a Portuguese grocery store on St. Laurent. The advantage of this store is the range of products, many of which appear to have originated from Portuguese speaking lands, as well as its commitment to low prices.
I ended up purchasing some olive oil, bacon, crackers, and a raspberry pie. Unfortunately, the pie was a bit of a dud and didn’t end up tasting all that much like raspberry. If I had to describe the pie I might say that it tasted like red flavoured goo with a stale crust, fortunately it wasn’t all that expensive.
-Segal’s also sells various salt cod products, most notably full split fillets and split heads. A few months ago, and still kicking around in the back of my head, I was thinking that it might be neat to mount of the cod items on my wall as a decoration. The idea being that in some ways this might be somewhat reminiscent of something that Mary Pratt might do.
Anyway, soon after thinking about the idea the problem of smell came up. Having a salt cod fillet on one’s wall would be a little nauseating after a while, and may frighten any guests away.
As I am lazy and running out of time in Montreal I probably won’t get around to solving this problem (which will also be more difficult as I don’t have that much space), but it seems that I might be able to coat the cod in some kind of clear spray paint or sealer. Several applications of such a product might be enough to seal the smell in and assist in the preservation of the item, as well as making it somewhat more rigid that such things tend to be in their natural form.
-By tomorrow evening I will have completed my first week of my last semester of classes at McGill.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Back to the Ghetto
As my flight was scheduled to leave at about 5:30, meaning that I wanted to be at the airport by about 4:30, I was decided to set my alarm for 3:30.
Upon waking, I checked the flight status and learned that the flight was still listed as on time. I then proceeded to make the final preparations for my departure. Fortunately everything went very smoothly, actually well ahead of schedule.
About fifteen minutes before we had originally planned to leave, my father, brother, and I headed out. Our first stop was a local fast food restaurant so that I could pick up some food to help me through the trip. Just a few minutes later, after completing my meal, we arrived at the airport.
As I had checked-in online I was able to use the short baggage drop-off line and proceed almost directly to the security area. While going through the security area I noticed that the protocols had changed since my last trip through the St. John’s airport, and even since my trip to Halifax in October. Of course none of these new changes made me feel any safer as all they did was prove the fundamental weakness of the system.
Anyway, once through security I claimed a seat near the gate area and proceeded to wait for the upcoming boarding announcements. Unfortunately, the next announcement was about delays that our flight would be experiencing because of mechanical problems. After several more similar delays they finally told us that the flight was cancelled and that our baggage would be returned to us.
After notifying us of the cancellation, which they only did about 15 minutes after the same information was posted online, they requested that we wait around the gate area so that they could inform us of re-booking arrangements.
After some number of minutes they informed us that a replacement flight was scheduled for 4:00 PM that afternoon. We were requested to head down to the baggage area and reclaim our luggage and then return to the check-in counter to hand over our baggage for the next flight.
Strangely, when I arrived at the baggage area I noticed that much of the baggage had already been unloaded and placed next to the carousel, indicating that it had never even gotten near the plane. The rest of the baggage took a surprisingly long time to appear, particularly as a fair portion of the batch had never even been loaded. In the end I think it took me about an hour to receive my one bag.
With my bag in hand, I proceeded to the check-in counter to hand over my bags and receive my new boarding pass. After about a half an hour or so I was nearing the front of the line. With only about three parties in front of me the airline announced that they would not be checking anyone else in for the make-up flight, some kind of computer delay was the stated reason. What they would be doing was giving us all breakfast and lunch vouchers, though from a different line.
The problem then was whether I should leave my position and possibly lose the chance to ask the ticket agent about the flight or hit the back of the voucher line.
Within a few minutes I noticed that the people in the voucher line were taking advantage of being able to ask agents questions more complicated and pertinent than where they could use the vouchers. I decided that it might make more sense to join that line, which I did and quickly was able to talk to an agent.
The agent gave me my vouchers and informed me that I would be able to check-in online, once the flight became available. It also seemed that the flight had been bumped back from a 4:00 PM departure to a 6:00 PM departure.
With my vouchers in hand I hopped in a cab and headed up. By about 9:30 AM, six hours after waking, I was finally back home and ready to return to sleep. Once home much of the day was spent in and out of sleep, trying to deal with the previous night significantly abbreviated sleep.
At one point I was woken by my brother to take a phone call from Air Canada who was calling to inform me that the flight had been further delayed. The flight was now scheduled for an 8:30 departure. My plans of a day in Montreal before the resumption of classes were quickly falling apart.
Before dinner I checked-in online and then returned to the airport to drop off my bag (which I only had to check because of my pocket knife). Shortly after dinner I returned to the airport for the third time and proceeded to the security line. My brother, father, and sister instructed me to look for the observation area once I had completed the security process.
Upon entering the secure area I noticed that the café was about to close. Completely forgetting about my commitment to wave to my family, with voucher in hand, I went to the café and ordered a coffee. The cashier informed suggested that as I couldn’t get change I might want to buy a few more things. As the only items available were bottles of pop I ended up with three.
With my free goods in hand I realized that needed to go and fulfill my previous commitment. As I approached and my father and brother saw my coffee they started to laugh, thinking that I had some kind of coffee addiction, not realizing that it was just an example of me taking advantage of free goods.
Within a few minutes I was back to waiting for flight announcements. As I continued to wait and the time passed the normal boarding time I began to worry about the likelihood of the rescheduled flight making it out. Eventually we were informed that there would be a delay because of a mechanical issue.
After what seemed likely a exceedingly long period of time we were allowed to board, only to find that they had still not fixed the mechanical problem and that the delay was likely to continue. The fortunate aspect, as the captain informed us, was that the problem did not relate to safety and would not cause us to remain in St. John’s. I did see a guy with a toolbox going back and forth from the back to the front of the plane.
Eventually we took off, without ever being informed whether or not the problem had ever been solved. At that point I don’t think anyone on the plane cared, we just wanted to be on our way to Montreal.
Early in the flight a relatively long announcement was made, presumably about the delay and how they would be making it up to us. Unfortunately, as I was sitting next to an engine I didn’t really hear much of it. When the started handing out $100 travel vouchers and free drinks I started to get the gist of what must have been said.
Amidst heavy fog we landed in Montreal just before 11:00. Unfortunately, I then had to wait over an hour for my bags to come from the plane. The waiting was made less pleasant by the fact that the baggage area was over-filled with people from a range of flights and hundreds of unclaimed bags. The other downside of this was that my bag was one of the last to be unloaded. By the time I left I recognized no one from the flight, many of the people having left many minutes before.
I quickly then found a taxi and started the final leg of my trip. The taxi ride was relatively uneventful, except at the very end when there seemed to be some confusion about which way certain streets ran.
The only remaining obstacle was gaining access to my apartment. Contrary to what had been promised me earlier in the day by the superintendent, my apartment had not been unlocked for me when I returned. I had to wake up the concierge at about 12:30 and get him to let me in, an experience that I am sure he would have quite pleased to skip.
By the time I made it to sleep last night it was well over 24 hours after I originally awoke for my early morning flight. Hopefully I won’t have too many such experiences in the future, particularly with relatively short direct flights.
Upon waking, I checked the flight status and learned that the flight was still listed as on time. I then proceeded to make the final preparations for my departure. Fortunately everything went very smoothly, actually well ahead of schedule.
About fifteen minutes before we had originally planned to leave, my father, brother, and I headed out. Our first stop was a local fast food restaurant so that I could pick up some food to help me through the trip. Just a few minutes later, after completing my meal, we arrived at the airport.
As I had checked-in online I was able to use the short baggage drop-off line and proceed almost directly to the security area. While going through the security area I noticed that the protocols had changed since my last trip through the St. John’s airport, and even since my trip to Halifax in October. Of course none of these new changes made me feel any safer as all they did was prove the fundamental weakness of the system.
Anyway, once through security I claimed a seat near the gate area and proceeded to wait for the upcoming boarding announcements. Unfortunately, the next announcement was about delays that our flight would be experiencing because of mechanical problems. After several more similar delays they finally told us that the flight was cancelled and that our baggage would be returned to us.
After notifying us of the cancellation, which they only did about 15 minutes after the same information was posted online, they requested that we wait around the gate area so that they could inform us of re-booking arrangements.
After some number of minutes they informed us that a replacement flight was scheduled for 4:00 PM that afternoon. We were requested to head down to the baggage area and reclaim our luggage and then return to the check-in counter to hand over our baggage for the next flight.
Strangely, when I arrived at the baggage area I noticed that much of the baggage had already been unloaded and placed next to the carousel, indicating that it had never even gotten near the plane. The rest of the baggage took a surprisingly long time to appear, particularly as a fair portion of the batch had never even been loaded. In the end I think it took me about an hour to receive my one bag.
With my bag in hand, I proceeded to the check-in counter to hand over my bags and receive my new boarding pass. After about a half an hour or so I was nearing the front of the line. With only about three parties in front of me the airline announced that they would not be checking anyone else in for the make-up flight, some kind of computer delay was the stated reason. What they would be doing was giving us all breakfast and lunch vouchers, though from a different line.
The problem then was whether I should leave my position and possibly lose the chance to ask the ticket agent about the flight or hit the back of the voucher line.
Within a few minutes I noticed that the people in the voucher line were taking advantage of being able to ask agents questions more complicated and pertinent than where they could use the vouchers. I decided that it might make more sense to join that line, which I did and quickly was able to talk to an agent.
The agent gave me my vouchers and informed me that I would be able to check-in online, once the flight became available. It also seemed that the flight had been bumped back from a 4:00 PM departure to a 6:00 PM departure.
With my vouchers in hand I hopped in a cab and headed up. By about 9:30 AM, six hours after waking, I was finally back home and ready to return to sleep. Once home much of the day was spent in and out of sleep, trying to deal with the previous night significantly abbreviated sleep.
At one point I was woken by my brother to take a phone call from Air Canada who was calling to inform me that the flight had been further delayed. The flight was now scheduled for an 8:30 departure. My plans of a day in Montreal before the resumption of classes were quickly falling apart.
Before dinner I checked-in online and then returned to the airport to drop off my bag (which I only had to check because of my pocket knife). Shortly after dinner I returned to the airport for the third time and proceeded to the security line. My brother, father, and sister instructed me to look for the observation area once I had completed the security process.
Upon entering the secure area I noticed that the café was about to close. Completely forgetting about my commitment to wave to my family, with voucher in hand, I went to the café and ordered a coffee. The cashier informed suggested that as I couldn’t get change I might want to buy a few more things. As the only items available were bottles of pop I ended up with three.
With my free goods in hand I realized that needed to go and fulfill my previous commitment. As I approached and my father and brother saw my coffee they started to laugh, thinking that I had some kind of coffee addiction, not realizing that it was just an example of me taking advantage of free goods.
Within a few minutes I was back to waiting for flight announcements. As I continued to wait and the time passed the normal boarding time I began to worry about the likelihood of the rescheduled flight making it out. Eventually we were informed that there would be a delay because of a mechanical issue.
After what seemed likely a exceedingly long period of time we were allowed to board, only to find that they had still not fixed the mechanical problem and that the delay was likely to continue. The fortunate aspect, as the captain informed us, was that the problem did not relate to safety and would not cause us to remain in St. John’s. I did see a guy with a toolbox going back and forth from the back to the front of the plane.
Eventually we took off, without ever being informed whether or not the problem had ever been solved. At that point I don’t think anyone on the plane cared, we just wanted to be on our way to Montreal.
Early in the flight a relatively long announcement was made, presumably about the delay and how they would be making it up to us. Unfortunately, as I was sitting next to an engine I didn’t really hear much of it. When the started handing out $100 travel vouchers and free drinks I started to get the gist of what must have been said.
Amidst heavy fog we landed in Montreal just before 11:00. Unfortunately, I then had to wait over an hour for my bags to come from the plane. The waiting was made less pleasant by the fact that the baggage area was over-filled with people from a range of flights and hundreds of unclaimed bags. The other downside of this was that my bag was one of the last to be unloaded. By the time I left I recognized no one from the flight, many of the people having left many minutes before.
I quickly then found a taxi and started the final leg of my trip. The taxi ride was relatively uneventful, except at the very end when there seemed to be some confusion about which way certain streets ran.
The only remaining obstacle was gaining access to my apartment. Contrary to what had been promised me earlier in the day by the superintendent, my apartment had not been unlocked for me when I returned. I had to wake up the concierge at about 12:30 and get him to let me in, an experience that I am sure he would have quite pleased to skip.
By the time I made it to sleep last night it was well over 24 hours after I originally awoke for my early morning flight. Hopefully I won’t have too many such experiences in the future, particularly with relatively short direct flights.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
A Few Quick Notes 145
-Today, like the past few days, is a pretty beautiful Newfoundland winter day. Snow, with the assistance of wind, seems to be falling horizontally in multiple directions. According the Environment Canada this mess will become even messier in the afternoon as the freezing rain replaces the snow. I guess there is nothing quite like a good blackout to help a family bond.
-A few weeks ago, for some reason still unknown to me, I decided to read a few Douglas Coupland books. As I had never read anything by him or even really knew what to expect I decided that the best route to take would be to borrow books from the library. As I was using an academic library only hours before my flight home for the holidays I didn't have time to be picky or research my choices. In the end I decided to borrow "The Gum Thief" and "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture."
After quickly reading "The Gum Thief" I started "Generation X," and then largely ignored during the Christmas onslaught. Though in my continued reading today I have noticed that his description/content seems not all that different than what might be written about the same age group today.
-For no particular reason I decided to bake a few loaves of bread on New Year's eve. I eventually ended up with nine regular sized loaves and three mini-loaves. Within about an hour of the commencement of the baking process the three mini-loaves had been devoured and a fair-sized dent made in one of the full sized loaves. Shortly there after one of the loaves was given to a neighbour who came to borrow a Foosball ball (and eventually ended up borrowing a book also).
Later that night I brought two loaves as a belated Christmas gift to a friend hosting a New Year's eve party (one of which was eaten as three of us spent the first hours of the new year talking). Last night a fourth loaf was given to a family by my sister. Between these giftings of loaves my family continued to chow down on the available loaves.
I guess all of this is to say that though it is less than 48 hours after I baked over eight loaves of bread we now only have one full loaf left. Maybe I will have to make another batch before I depart.
-A few weeks ago, for some reason still unknown to me, I decided to read a few Douglas Coupland books. As I had never read anything by him or even really knew what to expect I decided that the best route to take would be to borrow books from the library. As I was using an academic library only hours before my flight home for the holidays I didn't have time to be picky or research my choices. In the end I decided to borrow "The Gum Thief" and "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture."
After quickly reading "The Gum Thief" I started "Generation X," and then largely ignored during the Christmas onslaught. Though in my continued reading today I have noticed that his description/content seems not all that different than what might be written about the same age group today.
-For no particular reason I decided to bake a few loaves of bread on New Year's eve. I eventually ended up with nine regular sized loaves and three mini-loaves. Within about an hour of the commencement of the baking process the three mini-loaves had been devoured and a fair-sized dent made in one of the full sized loaves. Shortly there after one of the loaves was given to a neighbour who came to borrow a Foosball ball (and eventually ended up borrowing a book also).
Later that night I brought two loaves as a belated Christmas gift to a friend hosting a New Year's eve party (one of which was eaten as three of us spent the first hours of the new year talking). Last night a fourth loaf was given to a family by my sister. Between these giftings of loaves my family continued to chow down on the available loaves.
I guess all of this is to say that though it is less than 48 hours after I baked over eight loaves of bread we now only have one full loaf left. Maybe I will have to make another batch before I depart.
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