That time of the year

As American Thanksgiving has come and gone it is now officially holiday decorating season. Like last year I decided to go with hand-made paper snowflakes and a single string of Christmas lights. Hopefully this will be visible but not overstated (one never wants to make such decorations too obvious). Also, if I keep things to a minimum I am less likely to annoy either Rebecca or Neil with my decorating scheme.

Yes, this second picture is of our corn. It has done shockingly well considering that it was planted in Halifax in late August. Though it may be hard to see this in the photo, it seems that he corn is sporting the tussles that are common to mature corn. As of yet we still don't have any evidence of ears of corn, though I expect that these will show up in the very near future.

A Few Quick Notes 247

-Given last weekend's 'storm' I am very pleasantly surprised to see that today is snow free and sunny. Also, it seems that almost all of the snow from the storm has since melted, which makes walking around a little easier than it was for a few days.

-For the third time this fall we will be having a turkey for dinner. Amazingly, it wasn't until several days after purchasing this turkey that I realized that we would be having it on American Thanksgiving weekend. Unlike the previous turkey, and like the first turkey, this one will be stuffed. Hopefully things go as smoothly as the previous two attempts, and are somewhat unlike my most recent roast chicken attempt (the chicken wasn't quite done when I thought it would be).

Possibly the best part of this meal is that I can use it as an excuse to prepare another sticky toffee pudding. I think I have been looking forward to another since before we finished the last one.

-Neil and I played our first game of winter Ultimate last night. Both of us were quite pleased with our team, which was a bit of an unknown as we didn't recognize any of the names of the team roster. The facility, which is part of the Stadacona military base, was also pretty good. The only problem is that the gym floor didn't allow for quite as much traction as any of us would have liked.

After an hour and twelve minutes of play we managed to pull out a 38-34 victory. Neil and I, and presumably the rest of the team, started to drag a little in the second half. Neil and I were hampered by colds, which were really slowing us down in the second half.

-Many of the plants I have been growing from seed have really taken turns for the worse in the past few days. My suspicion is that the reduced access to the sun is really starting to hamper growth and development. In the case of the corn and peppers I really hope that they can hold on until they develop fruit, which seems to be only days away (under normal growing conditions). Fortunately, though they have not gone unfazed, the plants in my bedroom seem to be faring a little better. It seems that the additional light they are getting in the bedroom is of a great degree of consequence.

Trendy New Snack: Turnip Sticks

In the last few weeks, thanks to a sale on turnip, Neil and I rediscovered raw turnip sticks. Not only do these make a great, low-calorie snack food, but they are also relatively easy to prepare and cheap.

It seems that Neil prefers his chilled in water while I opt to chill mine without water, providing the edges with a slightly drier feel.

Anyway, I highly recommend turnip sticks if you are looking for an alternative to carrot sticks, or any other snacking vegetable.

(I am pretty sure that Neil and I consuming turnip sticks makes it a trend).

Trip to the store

This evening Neil and I decided to head out to the store to pick up a few items.  The justification for the trip was to buy a frozen turkey, as they are on sale this week.  As we needed to buy $25 worth of goods to get the Tuesday 10% discount we also ended up buying a stick of butter and a green pepper.

As we were checking out the cashier asked us if we wanted our turkey in a bag.  This question shocked Neil and I as we weren't quite sure how else we would have carried it home, particularly as neither of us relished the idea of carrying a frozen turkey in our hands on the walk home.  Fortunately we were eventually given a bag (Neil eventually double bagged it) so we weren't forced to deal with this problem.

After finishing up at the grocery store we moved on to the convenience store to buy a few lighters.  I thought that these would be appropriate given the degree to which our lights have been flickering tonight (and how are we to light all of our recently purchased candles if we don't have lighters and only 20 matches).  The only hitch with the purchase was that the only lighters available had all kinds of fancy designs, making the lighter the fanciest looking thing in my pocket (my keys will surely be jealous).

Storm Check 12

The snow has stopped falling and the skies have cleared. So while
there definitely was some snow it wasn't as bad as predicted, nor did
it last as long. What is impressive is how little drifting their is (
though of course I am generalizing from my observances from a single
location).

Upon examining the shoveling being conducted by someone below my
balcony I would say that we had about 17 centimeters of snow.

I think that that about wraps it up for the live-blogging of the storm.

Storm Check 11

It seems that the wind has finally picked up, making it a less than
situation. Iwoukd guess that we now have between five and ten
centimeters of snow.

I will probably call it a night now and pick up the live-blogging
experience in the morning.

Storm Check 10

Shortly after making the last post I took a seat on the futon. Almost
as soon as I sat down I noticed something in my periferal vision. As
I turned my head I noticed that it was a mouse. This development
meant that I had to find the mouse traps and set a trapline, all while
perfectly good storm was going unreported upon in the background.

Anyway, it is still snow with just a little bit of wind for texture.
So far we seem to have a few centimeters, though nothing too
remarkable.

Storm Check 9

The snow is still falling, though at about the same rate as before.
If anything, the wind seems to have died down.

Strangely, the neighbours seem to have selected this time to have
their dog run around in their backyard. Presumably it wasn't part of
the plan that the dog disrupt the neighbours's live-blogging attempt
with its barking.

Man, it is cold out here.

Storm Check 8

The snow has continued to fall since the last post, actually the rate
at which it is falling seems to have increased. So far it seems that
several centimeters have fallen. As far as I can tell there is no
sign that it will be stopping any time soon.

Also, it seems that the wind is picking up a bit. Some of the snow is
starting to blow around.

For those of you that are curious, all of these updates have been sent
from the balcony. Hopefully the intensity of the experience is coming
across in well crafted prose.

Storm Check 7

Now that Neil and Rebecca have turned in I fear that I won't have a
particularly large following for the rest of this live-blogging event.

It seems that the snowflakes I saw earlier were not just anomalies,
the snow has definitely started to fall. Actually it is coming down
quite heavily and starting to accumulate, though the wind is still
low.

Storm Check 6

I have started to see a few snowflakes, but nothing approaching a storm.

Storm Check 5

Still no snow, though I have started to hear the weekly procession of
drunks heading home from parties and bars.

I really want this to start soon so I can at least log a few real
storm updates before I call it a night.

Storm Check 4

It seems that we are still without snow, or even wind of any strength.

At this rate I will have been live-blogging for hours before anything
happens, if anything happens.

Storm Check 3

Still no snow, though it does seem that the sky is a little more
obstruced than earlier this evening.

We have yet had to light any tea lights or batten down the hatches,
though we are physically and psychologically prepared for such an
eventuality.

Storm Check 2

it seems that it still has not started snowing.

Storm Check 1

Earlier this evening I decided that I should live-blog the storm from
the balcony. Neil agreed, so here we go.

As the night/storm progresses I will try to provide live upates from
the centre of the action (at least what I see as the centre).

So far the sky is still clear, though it is definietly on the cool
side of things. If it starts snowing I will hop on the iPod provide
our dedicated readers with an additional Storm Check update.

Is this snowstorm really on its way?

It seems that Environment Canada is predicting that we will get a winter storm, starting some time tonight. In the description of the storm that was provided this morning, Environment suggested that we would be subject to 'snowsqualls,' though I don't quite know what these are (unless they are 'white-outs'). In the most recent version of the storm warning the snowsqualls seem to have been eliminated and replaced by "dangerous winter weather." Unfortunately, I don't know if this means the forecast has gotten better or worse.

It seems that in the lead up to the storm the locals, including us, are getting a little antsy. The local military base preemptively closed its base, thus postponing our first ultimate game of the season, before a cloud or snow flake even appeared (and they still haven't yet appeared). On the home front, Neil and I went to the grocery store to stock up in case we had to stay in for the weekend. While we remembered to buy 100 tea lights (small candles) we somehow forgot to buy any emergency beer or steaks. Maybe we will have to take a quick trip over to correct our previous oversights.

While I was willing to buy some candles and food (mainly as we didn't have these things and are likely to use them anyway) I am still a little skeptical about this storm hitting in the predicted timeframe, and certainly skeptical that it will be bad enough for the military to need to preemptively close its gym (which I take as very a bad sign of Canadian military strength). I guess by tomorrow we will know if I was correct, or if the crack team at Environment Canada once again hit it out of the park.

On the other hand, it could be a matter of scale. The more time I spend outside of Newfoundland the more I am starting to think that the weather there is just more intense. For instance, what is considered a storm in Montreal would hardly be seen as bad weather in St. John's. What passes for a windy day in Vancouver would hardly be noticed in St. John's (aside from the lack of wind, of course). So maybe we will have a 'storm' tomorrow, but not quite what I am used to in terms of storms.

Non-Winter garbage disposal option

Soon after I moved into our apartment it became clear that we are positioned above the garbage and recycling dumpsters. Somehow, and it may have originated with our superintendent, the idea of tossing our garbage in the dumpsters from above was suggested. Though we were initially somewhat hesitant to try, it really did seem much easer.

As you can see, it really isn't that hard to hit the dumpster from the area just beyond are balcony. Going to the dumpster is for chumps.


Unfortunately, now that we are into Winter this isn't as nice an option. It seems that, at least for the next several months, we may have to actually walk our refuse down to the appropriate bin to dispose of it.




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A Few Quick Notes 246

-We have had several hours of a combination of rain and snow today. Unfortunately, this precipitation was mixed with a little wind, making for a less than pleasant day.

-On Sunday evening I cooked a 7-pound picnic for dinner. While 7 pounds may not seem like all that much in the universe of picnics and hams, it was a fair bit of meat for three individuals. Not surprisingly, we didn’t even come close to finishing the hunk of meat at dinner. I have since chopped the remaining meat and will use some of it in soup while it is likely that the rest will be consumed in a haphazard manner in the coming days, though so far our consumption of this meat has been slower than expected.

-I am presently in the midst of making chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight. It is likely that I have add more carrots than necessary, but I am looking forward to it nonetheless.

-It seems the class that I expected to have tomorrow has been delayed by a week. While this will mess things up a bit at the end of the term, it should clear my schedule in the interim.

-In less than a week the class for which I am TAing will be submitting their third assignment of the term. It will be my responsibility to grade the papers once they are submitted. I must say that I am a little worried about the process and how much time it might take. Hopefully everything will be smoother than I imagine it will be.

-The classes that I did have this week were quite rousing, at least from my point of view. In both instances I was quite involved in the discussions that took place. Furthermore, I may have managed to get people agitated in today’s class by taking an anti-CanCon position (but while not being opposed to Canadian content).

-Several days ago I pruned/removed some of the bean plants that had recently died. This basically means all of the beans that aren’t in my room. Now that the planters are devoid of living plants I may try to re-arrange things so that the plants that are still alive have access what is left of the daylight that enters our apartment.

While the bean plants didn’t provide as many beans as I had hoped they would, I really did enjoy seeing them grow. I think that I may try to start again in the spring, once we start getting a little more sunlight.

It's Snowing (well, it was for a minute or so)

Just moments ago the rain turned to snow, or maybe I should say that some of the rain turned to snow. As far as I know this is the first snow that I have seen in Halifax (what a momentous occasion).

Oh, I think that the snow has reverted to rain. That didn't last long.

Either way, the upcoming walk to school is going to be less than pleasan

Rebecca said she only wanted one potato

Since I have been living in Halifax Rebecca has made it quite clear to me that she typically eats about one potato when potatoes are served. As much as I try to suggest that 3-4 potatoes is an appropriate serving size she continues to resist. Thanks to a potato in our last bag of potatoes I have found a way around Rebecca's unwillingness to eat an appropriate number of potatoes. The solution, as demonstrated below, is to serve larger potatoes, thus allowing her to keep to her one potato rule and me to be satisfied by my emphasis on an appropriate volume. It is nice when people are able to reach mutually agreeable arrangements, as was the case in this instance.

A Few Quick Notes 245

-Today, like yesterday, has been overcast and rainy. Fortunately, thanks to the internet, I haven't had to head out into the rain all that much. Hopefully things will clear up in the very near future, though I am not sure that that is likely.

-For some reason, at about 4:00 PM yesterday afternoon I decided that I would make a sticky toffee sponge pudding. As I had never made one of these before, nor had I even ever seen a recipe I had to do a little research before I got started.

At first I was a little thrown off when I found that several of the recipes that I found called for dates, something I am hesitant to use when cooking. Anyway, after seeing enough recipes with dates I got the sense that they were likely a key component of the recipe (I was convinced when I saw that the BBC recipe had dates).

The recipe that I settled on was quite straight forward, and required both dates a self-rising flour, two things that I neither own nor typically use when baking. This meant that I had to take a trip over to the local grocery store. Once there, and while in the British mood, I noticed that they had Marmite, which I ended up purchasing rather impulsively.

Soon after returning to the apartment I started chopping the dates. It is likely that I haven't quite figured out the optimal method yet as it took me about 20 minutes to chop a cup of dates. It seems that this took much longer than it should have.

Fortunately the second unfamiliar ingredient worked out well and didn't cause any further delays.

The final result was quite passable. Surprisingly, I think that it might even taste better today, presumably because the sauce has had an extra twenty-four hours to soak into the pudding. On the other hand, it wasn't quite like Heinz (canned) Sticky Toffee Sponge Pudding.

-Last night I started watching Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Something that I found rather funny, given the context of the story, is that Mr. Smith was appointed to Senate rather than elected. Rather ironic that the saviour of democracy is an unelected appointee.



-Yesterday I got a call from the Dal library about a request for an article that I had placed online. During the course of the phone call I ended up asking a question about a related service. While looking at the Dal Library website the employee had a very hard time finding the appropriate link, and she knew what she was looking for. Imagine what those less familiar with the site think when encounter it for the first time?

-The beans and radishes in the living room are looking quite bad. I imagine that this is likely related to both age and a reduced access to light. It is likely that in the next few days I will have to compost them.

Shockingly, the beans in my room seem to be in slightly better condition. Just as of a day or so ago I noticed that a few of them now have a few beans, which is nice. Hopefully they end up developing to full size.

The laughs never stop

Earlier tonight Neil and I were talking and I mentioned that 'Cameron' is as close as I am likely to get to 'romance.' Neil responded by suggesting that 'dyslexia' is as close as I am likely get to 'daily sex.'

A Few Quick Notes 244

-Though cooler than yesterday, today has been a pretty nice day. For much of the day the sun was shining and the wind was relatively unnoticeable. Though cool, the temperatures have remained above freezing these past few days. I keep expecting the temperatures to drop but am then surprised to see temperatures in the teens forecast for later in the week, which is what happened to me today.

-On Sunday evening Neil asked me to give him a haircut. I declined the offer as I am pretty sure that I am not able to do what it was that he wanted. As he still wanted the haircut and I had declined to give it to him Rebecca stepped up and offered to give it a try.

After a few minutes with the clippers Rebecca switched over to the scissors, at which point I asked if I could give it a try. After a few snips Rebecca and I felt that we had likely gone as far as we could comfortably go with the haircut. Fortunately, Neil seemed pleased with the results, largely because all he had wanted, and all we did, was a trim in the back.

Almost before we were finished with Neil I decided that I too could use a haircut. Not surprisingly, Neil agreed to take the buzzers to me. He was able to buzz the sides and back without too much trouble. Though there may be a little unevenness, I was pretty impressed with the results considering it was a first attempt. I will have to get him to give me haircuts in the future.

-Yesterday Neil and I got up bright and early to register for a winter Ultimate league that will run from late November until some time in the Spring. This league, run by HURL, will take place at one of the gyms at the local Canadian Forces base. While I am looking forward to playing, I am a little worried that I will be a bit out of shape for the first few games. Hopefully I will be able to manage without too many problems.

-I have spent these past few days busting hump for a paper that is due on Thursday morning. Though I have spent many hours working on it already, it seems that I still will have several more to put in before I am done.

I can now get down to work

Today, after all most two and a half months, I finally put acquired a key piece of furniture: a filing cabinet. This new acquisition should allow me to both organize my documents and get down to work. Within minutes I had my files in place and was beginning to feel better about life.

The wait has been far too long and led to too many sleepless nights.

A Few Quick Notes 243

-Most of today has been rather overcast, though this is a significant improvement on yesterday's weather, which saw us get quite a down pour. Amazingly, temperatures have stayed rather high, certainly much higher than I expected at this time of year. In recent days only a light coat or sweater is required if one decides to venture out-of-doors (something I avoid most of the time). The only definite signs of Autumn are the falling leaves and the progressive shortening of the days.

-Neil, Rebecca, and I made it over to the Grad House on Tuesday evening to watch the election coverage. As I made it to the venue a few hours after Neil and Rebecca I found the place blocked when I arrived. Fortunately, they Neil and Rebecca and associates had staked out an area so there was room for me to lay my coat and sit.

What is more impressive than the fact that the place was packed, was that it was such a contrast to the same location when they were showing the Canadian election results a few weeks ago. Not only was almost no one in attendance, the crowd was also much more sedate than they were on Tuesday. There was even a bit of cheering when CNN finally made the call (though every know the results before the evening even kicked off).

With regards to the CNN coverage, I wasn't particularly impressed with their use of technology. It seemed that they had all kinds of flashy effects but they were not put to great use. People popping up and digital buildings didn't really enhance my understanding of the situation, but rather served to cloud my understanding of things because I was trying to figure out what any of this had to do with the election. Furthermore, there was far too much focus on the in-studio team and very little emphasis on what was going on around the country, of course, aside from a few shots of the crowds in Chicago. It seems that they surely must have been able to come up with a few more locations and senate races to follow in some detail.

-Last Friday, I ended up speaking to a few students after my third and final lecture. As this took a few minutes I was somewhat anxious to get out of the classroom so that I wouldn't prevent the next class from starting on time. One result of my desire to vacate the classroom was that I ended up finishing one conversation with a student in the hall outside the classroom.

About ten minutes after finishing up with all of my related obligations I realized that I had forgotten to erase the blackboard. While under normal circumstances this would be bad enough, in this case it was particularly embarrassing as I had written my name on the board several times while giving examples of citation styles. Realizing it was too late to do anything I just hoped that the person following me wasn't too upset about my lack of attention to classroom courtesies.

That evening Neil asked me if I had been teaching in a particular room, the very room in which I had been giving my lectures. It turns out that his tutorial session was the next group to use the room and that he had recognized the writing (as well as my name). I guess I am glad that he was the one that found it, though I hope that in the future I will remember to erase the board.

-It is definitely crunch time for me. I somehow need to find a way to motivate myself to put in more and more effective hours in the coming weeks. I can't imagine that the coming weeks are going to be anything approaching pleasant.

-We will be having ham, oven roasted potatoes, and vegetables for dinner tonight. And though we won't be eating them, we will also be having guests for dinner tonight. Hopefully the potatoes will be done by the time everything else is, otherwise we may end up with some overcooked vegetables and a dried out ham.

A Few Quick Notes 242

-Today, though cool, was quite nice. Actually, as far as Fall days ago it was about as nice as one might hope for.

-Several weeks ago Neil requested tickets to attend a taping of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, a news satire show that is filmed in Halifax. Not too long after the request was placed we were notified that we had tickets for the November 3 taping of the show.

Soon after hearing about the tickets I managed to forget about them. At some point this weekend it dawned on me that would be be going on Monday and that I had best mentally prepare myself.

Anyway, tonight was the night, and, all things considered, I think it went pretty well. Actually, it was a much more pleasant experience than the taping of Letterman that I attended a few years ago. The topical news satire as well as the pre-recorded sketches were both funny. As one might expect, this weeks show was somewhat heavy on US election content. Surprisingly, some of this content wasn't as funny as I might have expected, especially considering there are so many possibilities for humour.

As usual, the view of the performance is somewhat impeded by the cameras and various pieces of equipment needed to tape the show. Also, the crowd is relatively far away from the performers so that this equipment can be used to its fullest effect. This was only a real problem at the end of the show when they were filming a sketch and I was basically unable to see two of the three performers.

-Several days ago I discovered a bottle of port that Neil and Rebecca had been hiding in the booze cupboard. While the port is of the cheap variety I have been quite impressed with the flavour and overall port-consumption experience.


-After several days of threats and ineffective planning, I eventually got around to shaving my beard. I was motivated by a desire not look like too much of a slob, though I am sure that such motivation won't be long lasting and that before long I will have a beard of some sort again.




Fortunately, I wasn't too hasty with the clippers and I was able to save a 'stache from the mess that was my beard. While the 'stache is in fine shape at the moment, it isn't like to last all that long. Who knows, it may even be gone by the time I head to class tomorrow (though that would require more motivation that I think I might have).

-Tuesday is election day in the US. I was able to cast my absentee ballot a few weeks ago. Hopefully it made it safely, but as I didn't send it registered mail I really have no idea if this is the case.

A Few Quick Notes 241

-Today was a beautiful day. The sky was clear and the temperatures were pleasant all day.

-For dinner this evening we had roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, and vegetables. The beef was particularly beefy, which is how I like my beef.

-After dinner I started to make pea soup. The primary goal was to use some ham that I cooked a few days ago, it also was a good place to use some celery that is just a few days from kicking the bucket.

-A few days ago while looking at a flier I noticed that the store was selling a few things that I was interested in purchasing. Most importantly, the store was selling a card table for less than $40, which seemed like a good price.

This afternoon Neil and I took the bus to the store and scooped up the last of the tables. While in the store we also managed to pick up a few additional items that were on sale for at least 50% off of the regular price.

-In a break with recent tradition, last night I actually managed to socialize with some people other than Neil and Rebecca (not that there is anything wrong with them). I first went over to a classmate's house for a few beers before heading to a party at his friend's place. Though I didn't know all that many people I had a good time. It was particularly nice to get out and relax for a few hours.

As it was Halloween and a costume party I ended up dressing up. As I didn't have much time or money with which to pull together an elaborate costume I went as a pirate (vest, bandanna, and nautically themed 'tattoos'). Brian, my classmate, made a rather elaborate Dale Earnhardt, Jr. outfit. Amazingly, while everyone was in costume very few, if any, of the attendees were in gore based costumes. As I am not a fan of such costumes I was quite pleased with the choice of costumes worn by the other guests.

Don't scream if you have this bag on your head

Earlier today Rebecca received a new laptop computer. Once it had been unpacked and turned on Neil showed me the bag in which the computer was packed. The symbol on the bag was not quite what I expected. Instead of warning people against putting the bag on their head, they seem to be discouraging screaming once the bag is on the head (because, where else would you place a plastic bag). Not that any of us plan on putting the bag over our heads, but we will be sure to try not to scream (as the directed by the bag).