-Today was a near-perfect Fall day. It was cool, but perfect for walking, and clear. The only aspect of today's weather that may mar its near-perfection is that it seems possible that we could have frost tonight.
-As some of you will have likely seen, earlier today we posted a survey. So far the response has been pretty good. If you haven't taken it already and are interested in checking it out just head here.
-My father is in town for the weekend to attend a meeting. While looking through some of the schedules that he forwarded to us I noticed that the conference planners had made plans assuming that the family members of the principle attendees would also be attending. With this knowledge in hand I suggested to my father that he might try to snag us an invite to the dinner and comedy show tonight. Not surprisingly, he was interested in seeing if this would be possible.
Almost immediately I realized that I likely wouldn't be able to attend even if my father was successful as I would have school work to do (which I am actively avoiding at the moment). It turned out that Neil and Rebecca were free and were able to take advantage of the invitation to the event.
-A few days ago I read that MUNSU lost close to $100 000 on its September Snoop Dogg show. In the following days CBC carried the story and confirmed the size of the loss. Sadly, I am not particularly surprised that this show wasn't a success for MUNSU. Hopefully this loss isn't too problematic for them.
-For a few days it seemed that Gadhafi would be making a quick visit to St. John's. Now it seems that he won't be pitching his tent in St. John's, which I think is rather unfortunate. I guess such a visit isn't particularly appealing when you know that the foreign minister will be there to give you a lecture.
-I guess I should try to get back to reading I keep referencing.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
So this happened this afternoon
This afternoon, while eating my lunch and getting ready to return to some reading, Neil approached me and asked if I might consider giving him a haircut. I immediately said that I would, though I didn't expect thing to get underway for a little while. It soon became clear that Neil was hoping to get things moving pretty quickly.
Almost immediately after finishing my lunch I started to gather the equipment and help Neil set-up. In just a few minutes, after quickly examining the how-to guide I launched into what was my first full-fledged haircut.
Within just minutes I had removed most of Neil's hair and was starting to tidy things up.
[Embedded video]
Amazingly, following the how-to guide seemed to work pretty well. I think that Neil ended up with a pretty reasonable haircut, or at least one that was pretty close to what he expected when we started the operation.
Anyway, now that we know I can do it, I guess I might be giving Neil haircuts on a more regular basis (and I hope that in the future he might let me to down to the no. 3 comb).
In related news, soon after getting his haircut, Neil removed his beard. The effect of both of these changes is quite extreme, Neil looks much different than he did just a few hours ago.
Almost immediately after finishing my lunch I started to gather the equipment and help Neil set-up. In just a few minutes, after quickly examining the how-to guide I launched into what was my first full-fledged haircut.
Within just minutes I had removed most of Neil's hair and was starting to tidy things up.
[Embedded video]
Amazingly, following the how-to guide seemed to work pretty well. I think that Neil ended up with a pretty reasonable haircut, or at least one that was pretty close to what he expected when we started the operation.
Anyway, now that we know I can do it, I guess I might be giving Neil haircuts on a more regular basis (and I hope that in the future he might let me to down to the no. 3 comb).
In related news, soon after getting his haircut, Neil removed his beard. The effect of both of these changes is quite extreme, Neil looks much different than he did just a few hours ago.
We need your help
A few weeks ago I started to hear rumblings about my mother, grandmother, and sister taking a trip to Halifax to coincide with my convocation. Soon after Neil and Rebecca's wedding these rumblings began to sound a little more like a tidal wave that was about to crash down all around me.
Anyway, I have been suggesting one reason for the visit, a position that both Neil and Rebecca disagree with. Given our stalemate it seemed the only way forward was to create a web-based survey to try to ascertain the true reason behind these trips.
So if you would all be willing to complete the survey, which can be found here, we can get to the bottom of this rather important issue.
I am really looking forward to having things cleared up.
Anyway, I have been suggesting one reason for the visit, a position that both Neil and Rebecca disagree with. Given our stalemate it seemed the only way forward was to create a web-based survey to try to ascertain the true reason behind these trips.
So if you would all be willing to complete the survey, which can be found here, we can get to the bottom of this rather important issue.
I am really looking forward to having things cleared up.
Friday, September 25, 2009
And it only took me 8 and 3/4 years to get here
In early January 2001, six months after finishing high school, I attended my first university class (a Thursday morning Spanish class). For the next number of years I, somewhat half-heatedly, plugged away at a BA, which I eventually completed in December 2005 (though I didn't convocate until May 2006). I then moved on to an MLIS at McGill which I completed in 2008 and then an MA at Dalhousie, the requirements of which were just completed about three weeks ago. During all of this time I held a variety of jobs to cover both living and tuition costs.
Now, almost nine years after my first university class, I have finally made the transition from the amateur, fee-paying ranks to the professional (or fellowship receiving) ranks. I find it both a odd and satisfying notion that I am now being paid to be a student, which is such a change in practice from these past few years. I feel a strange sense of accomplishment. It almost feels like a more definitive student-based accomplishment than finishing a degree.
To celebrate my change in status I decided to treat myself to a few new pairs of socks to replace a few other pairs that I have worn out over the past year. After a brief examination of the selection at MEC I ended up settling on two pairs of the same make and model (though in different colours) that I have purchased a number of times in the past. I was convinced to go with these largely because the pair of this variety that I purchased in July 2005 is still going strong and showing almost no signs of wear. And for those of you that are curious, these socks are 40% merino wool (a key sock component).
After completing my sock purchases I thought that I might consider looking into getting Neil a birthday gift, something I didn't manage to take care of on or around his birthday for a number of reasons. Based on some earlier thoughts about what I might like to purchase or him I decided to head to a local comic book and games store called Strange Adventures.
As I entered the store I saw something about them having a "Big Sale," though given store traffic I assume that this related exclusively to their comic book related stock. After checking out the board game section I made my way to the counter to take a look at a few of their card games. Only when I was standing at the counter did I start to grasp the breadth and depth of their "Big Sale." It eventually became clear to me that everything in the store was 50% off, and that the discount will be increasing to 90% over the coming days.
Not surprisingly, the comic book aficionados were going nuts and purchasing stacks and stacks of books. Once I understood what was going on I too modified my shopping strategy to take full effect of the sale. I ended up buying four items. The total, after tax price was less than the pre-tax cost of the two most expensive items, a detail I found to be both relaxing and satisfying. The other notable consequence of my taking advantage of this sale is that it allowed me to start my Christmas shopping, something that I normally wouldn't even begin to think about until about the second week of December.
Given that I have made the point of highlighting my student status is seems reasonable that I consider hitting the books (or printed articles) so that I am able to continue with my new student status for more than a single term. Unfortunately, it now seems quite likely that I will have to take at least a few minutes out of my planned reading time tonight to crack into a few of these games. I just hope that I am not completely sidetracked by these purchases.
Now, almost nine years after my first university class, I have finally made the transition from the amateur, fee-paying ranks to the professional (or fellowship receiving) ranks. I find it both a odd and satisfying notion that I am now being paid to be a student, which is such a change in practice from these past few years. I feel a strange sense of accomplishment. It almost feels like a more definitive student-based accomplishment than finishing a degree.
To celebrate my change in status I decided to treat myself to a few new pairs of socks to replace a few other pairs that I have worn out over the past year. After a brief examination of the selection at MEC I ended up settling on two pairs of the same make and model (though in different colours) that I have purchased a number of times in the past. I was convinced to go with these largely because the pair of this variety that I purchased in July 2005 is still going strong and showing almost no signs of wear. And for those of you that are curious, these socks are 40% merino wool (a key sock component).
After completing my sock purchases I thought that I might consider looking into getting Neil a birthday gift, something I didn't manage to take care of on or around his birthday for a number of reasons. Based on some earlier thoughts about what I might like to purchase or him I decided to head to a local comic book and games store called Strange Adventures.
As I entered the store I saw something about them having a "Big Sale," though given store traffic I assume that this related exclusively to their comic book related stock. After checking out the board game section I made my way to the counter to take a look at a few of their card games. Only when I was standing at the counter did I start to grasp the breadth and depth of their "Big Sale." It eventually became clear to me that everything in the store was 50% off, and that the discount will be increasing to 90% over the coming days.
Not surprisingly, the comic book aficionados were going nuts and purchasing stacks and stacks of books. Once I understood what was going on I too modified my shopping strategy to take full effect of the sale. I ended up buying four items. The total, after tax price was less than the pre-tax cost of the two most expensive items, a detail I found to be both relaxing and satisfying. The other notable consequence of my taking advantage of this sale is that it allowed me to start my Christmas shopping, something that I normally wouldn't even begin to think about until about the second week of December.
Given that I have made the point of highlighting my student status is seems reasonable that I consider hitting the books (or printed articles) so that I am able to continue with my new student status for more than a single term. Unfortunately, it now seems quite likely that I will have to take at least a few minutes out of my planned reading time tonight to crack into a few of these games. I just hope that I am not completely sidetracked by these purchases.
A Few Quick Notes 360
-We seem to be switching between periods of rain and periods when it is overcast, and about to rain. I guess such a situation is better than having a thunderstorm, which might still be in the works for later this afternoon or this evening.
-We had a beef stir-fry for dinner last night. As I am trying to cut back on red meat I didn't include all 2.5 pounds of meat that were available to me, instead I went with only about 1.25 pounds, which was still likely more than enough.
-On Tuesday I went in for my second round of lithotripsy. As far as I can tell things went well, though I seem not to have passed as many fragments as after the first time. The nice this is that I felt much less discomfort after the procedure that I did after the first round. Actually, discomfort level is so low it is almost hard to believe that I was actually even blasted.
-Last night Neil, Rebecca and I went to the weekly trivia night at the Grawood (though Neil and Rebecca left early). In retrospect this decision was a bit of a mistake. Not only were there other things I should have been doing, I was far to tired to really enjoy the experience or contribute in any meaningful way.
-My sense of things is that the comedian Louis CK is performing in Halifax at the Rebecca Cohn auditorium tonight. While I wouldn't mind seeing him perform at some point, I don't think that tonight will be the night (mainly because I don't have tickets, nor do I expect to have tickets). Furthermore, while being interviewed on Q this morning he seemed to suggest that he wasn't as big a fan of auditorium shows as of club shows, so this might not be a particularly good venue in which to see him anyway. Maybe when he comes back to town to play the local Yuk Yuk's I will get a chance to see him.
-On Wednesday we had another Ultimate game. Neil didn't attend because he was claiming his neck was hurting (given that he has kept his story consistent for a number of days now maybe I should consider accepting that his neck actually does hurt). Unfortunately, Neil wasn't the only male that couldn't attend so we were down to 5 males, which means that we had only one substitute. This wasn't so bad until we ended up playing a single point that took almost 30 minutes, really tiring the 7 of us on the field.
During this monster point I dove for the disc and made a relatively impressive (or so I have been told) catch. Of course soon after making the catch I made a relatively poorly thought out throw that resulted in a turnover. The most consequential aspect of the catch, that I didn't figure out until a little later, was that while diving I managed to give myself quite a turf/carpet burn on my right arm. I guess this means that I might have to be a little more careful about this things in future games.
-A number of the tomatoes are now, seemingly quite quickly, working their way towards ripe. I have been quite impressed at how quickly they have been turning red. I would guess that close to 8 or 9 have now started to make such a transition, though I still have to work about protecting them from frost between now and the time they will fully ripen, which may be another few weeks.
-I feel that there were a few more things that I wanted to comment upon, but it seems that that is not going to happen today, I just don't have the energy at the moment. Maybe if I get my act together I will make another post later this evening/afternoon.
-We had a beef stir-fry for dinner last night. As I am trying to cut back on red meat I didn't include all 2.5 pounds of meat that were available to me, instead I went with only about 1.25 pounds, which was still likely more than enough.
-On Tuesday I went in for my second round of lithotripsy. As far as I can tell things went well, though I seem not to have passed as many fragments as after the first time. The nice this is that I felt much less discomfort after the procedure that I did after the first round. Actually, discomfort level is so low it is almost hard to believe that I was actually even blasted.
-Last night Neil, Rebecca and I went to the weekly trivia night at the Grawood (though Neil and Rebecca left early). In retrospect this decision was a bit of a mistake. Not only were there other things I should have been doing, I was far to tired to really enjoy the experience or contribute in any meaningful way.
-My sense of things is that the comedian Louis CK is performing in Halifax at the Rebecca Cohn auditorium tonight. While I wouldn't mind seeing him perform at some point, I don't think that tonight will be the night (mainly because I don't have tickets, nor do I expect to have tickets). Furthermore, while being interviewed on Q this morning he seemed to suggest that he wasn't as big a fan of auditorium shows as of club shows, so this might not be a particularly good venue in which to see him anyway. Maybe when he comes back to town to play the local Yuk Yuk's I will get a chance to see him.
-On Wednesday we had another Ultimate game. Neil didn't attend because he was claiming his neck was hurting (given that he has kept his story consistent for a number of days now maybe I should consider accepting that his neck actually does hurt). Unfortunately, Neil wasn't the only male that couldn't attend so we were down to 5 males, which means that we had only one substitute. This wasn't so bad until we ended up playing a single point that took almost 30 minutes, really tiring the 7 of us on the field.
During this monster point I dove for the disc and made a relatively impressive (or so I have been told) catch. Of course soon after making the catch I made a relatively poorly thought out throw that resulted in a turnover. The most consequential aspect of the catch, that I didn't figure out until a little later, was that while diving I managed to give myself quite a turf/carpet burn on my right arm. I guess this means that I might have to be a little more careful about this things in future games.
-A number of the tomatoes are now, seemingly quite quickly, working their way towards ripe. I have been quite impressed at how quickly they have been turning red. I would guess that close to 8 or 9 have now started to make such a transition, though I still have to work about protecting them from frost between now and the time they will fully ripen, which may be another few weeks.
-I feel that there were a few more things that I wanted to comment upon, but it seems that that is not going to happen today, I just don't have the energy at the moment. Maybe if I get my act together I will make another post later this evening/afternoon.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
A Few Quick Notes 359
-Today (Sunday) was a pretty bland day as far as I can recall, though at moments the sun did shine rather intensely. Fortunately, unlike last night, we are not presently in the midst of a frost warning.
-Tonight for dinner we had black beans, couscous, and vegetables. I tapped into my new 5 kg bags of beans and couscous during the preparation process. Much to my surprise, the whole wheat couscous were pretty good, and didn't taste as 'healthy' as I imagined they might, which is good as we have almost 5 kg of them.
-I went for a very pleasant walk this evening. Instead of my normal distance, I went a few blocks further along Spring Garden, almost to Coburg. It was quite nice to get out of the apartment for a while and soak up some of crisp fall air.
-Last night while I was moving my plants in to protect them from the possibility of frost I managed to knock the ripest of the tomatoes off. Though it is not quite as ripe as I would have liked, I think that it is close enough to ripe that I might be able to convince Neil to give it a shot.
The other good tomato related news is that a few of the other tomatoes seem to be turning reddish, though I fear that they still won't be ripe before the real frost threat hits. Though at this point I guess there isn't much that I can do aside from wait and move the plants in at night.
-The peppers are also continuing to develop nicely. Though I don't have an exact count, I wouldn't be surprised if we had about a dozen at various stages by the end of the week.
-The Thermos I mentioned buying a few days ago has seen pretty steady use since its purchase. Actually, today I used it for both coffee and tea, though the latter beverage was a bit of a mistake as it ended up being very strongly influenced by the earlier beverage.
-My sense of things is that for the past few days I have been forgetting to eat lunch. I don't seem to notice that this has happened until I sit down for dinner, when it is a little to late to do anything about rectifying the problem.
-For some reason that I don't quite understand I decided to make myself a more elaborate breakfast than usual this morning. Along with my usual toast I also prepared some scrambled eggs and a half a pound of bacon. I think that my elaborate breakfast then inspired Neil and Rebecca to also do something a little fancier than normal, though aside from having a sense that they prepared a few sausages I don't know what else they had.
-While at the grocery store this afternoon I decided to swing by the seafood section to see if there were any deals I might be interested in taking advantage of. As it turns out, there was one such deal. I managed to pick up a marlin steak, or something approximating such a cut of meat, for about $2.25. Hopefully it is a good as the discount shark I purchased a few weeks ago.
-Tonight for dinner we had black beans, couscous, and vegetables. I tapped into my new 5 kg bags of beans and couscous during the preparation process. Much to my surprise, the whole wheat couscous were pretty good, and didn't taste as 'healthy' as I imagined they might, which is good as we have almost 5 kg of them.
-I went for a very pleasant walk this evening. Instead of my normal distance, I went a few blocks further along Spring Garden, almost to Coburg. It was quite nice to get out of the apartment for a while and soak up some of crisp fall air.
-Last night while I was moving my plants in to protect them from the possibility of frost I managed to knock the ripest of the tomatoes off. Though it is not quite as ripe as I would have liked, I think that it is close enough to ripe that I might be able to convince Neil to give it a shot.
The other good tomato related news is that a few of the other tomatoes seem to be turning reddish, though I fear that they still won't be ripe before the real frost threat hits. Though at this point I guess there isn't much that I can do aside from wait and move the plants in at night.
-The peppers are also continuing to develop nicely. Though I don't have an exact count, I wouldn't be surprised if we had about a dozen at various stages by the end of the week.
-The Thermos I mentioned buying a few days ago has seen pretty steady use since its purchase. Actually, today I used it for both coffee and tea, though the latter beverage was a bit of a mistake as it ended up being very strongly influenced by the earlier beverage.
-My sense of things is that for the past few days I have been forgetting to eat lunch. I don't seem to notice that this has happened until I sit down for dinner, when it is a little to late to do anything about rectifying the problem.
-For some reason that I don't quite understand I decided to make myself a more elaborate breakfast than usual this morning. Along with my usual toast I also prepared some scrambled eggs and a half a pound of bacon. I think that my elaborate breakfast then inspired Neil and Rebecca to also do something a little fancier than normal, though aside from having a sense that they prepared a few sausages I don't know what else they had.
-While at the grocery store this afternoon I decided to swing by the seafood section to see if there were any deals I might be interested in taking advantage of. As it turns out, there was one such deal. I managed to pick up a marlin steak, or something approximating such a cut of meat, for about $2.25. Hopefully it is a good as the discount shark I purchased a few weeks ago.
Because you have always wanted to know, or How to prepare turnip sticks
For the past few months I have been pretty aggressively spreading the word about the merits of turnip sticks as both a snack and a lifestyle choice. Not surprisingly, I have been meet with a little befuddlement, but typically once the delicacy has been sampled people are quite quick to understand and appreciate the value of a handful of turnip sticks as a snack or side.
While tasting a turnip stick is to know and understand its beauty and delicacy, some people, even after eating this delightful food, are a little confused about how it is prepared. To overcome this knowledge gap I have taken the time to prepare this somewhat poorly aimed time-lapse video of me preparing turnip sticks to help ease the general ignorance surrounding the preparation of turnip sticks. I hope that by making this information readily available I will be able to broaden both the appreciation of and use of turnip as a raw snacking vegetable. No longer should this noble root vegetable be seen as no better than horse food, as is presently the case in some otherwise progressive European countries. I hope that with this video and the associated campaign will mean turnip's renaissance is just around the corner.
[Embedded video]
While tasting a turnip stick is to know and understand its beauty and delicacy, some people, even after eating this delightful food, are a little confused about how it is prepared. To overcome this knowledge gap I have taken the time to prepare this somewhat poorly aimed time-lapse video of me preparing turnip sticks to help ease the general ignorance surrounding the preparation of turnip sticks. I hope that by making this information readily available I will be able to broaden both the appreciation of and use of turnip as a raw snacking vegetable. No longer should this noble root vegetable be seen as no better than horse food, as is presently the case in some otherwise progressive European countries. I hope that with this video and the associated campaign will mean turnip's renaissance is just around the corner.
[Embedded video]
A Few Quick Notes 358
-My recollection is that today (Saturday) was pretty nice, though I think that there may have been at least a few overcast periods. I am a little less certain of today's weather conditions than normal as I haven't really spent much time outside today and my desk window is now relatively obstructed by my plants.
-For dinner tonight we had a some chicken noodle soup that I made. The broth was based on some chicken breast bones that I boiled while I was making dinner yesterday. We also had some nice rolls that Neil and Rebecca purchased this afternoon. While I don't normally consume bread products with my meals, these really complemented the soup nicely.
-I have quite a bit of reading to do this week, and every week until the end of the term. Though I haven't done as much reading as I might have hoped today, I have managed to put at least some time in. Though not exactly reading, I also managed to put some time in to locate a few articles and then print these articles.
-This afternoon I spent about an hour, or maybe a little more, catching up on some filing that I had allowed to accumulate over the summer as I worked on my thesis. Not only are things organized again, but I have managed to eliminate a few stacks of paper that had been on my bedroom floor for a few months. Sadly, I am almost out of room in my two-drawer filing cabinet. I think that it is quite likely that I might have to buy another one in the not too distant future.
-For the past few months there have been a number of incidents in the South End of women waking up to find a man watching them while they sleep, not surprisingly this individual has been referred to as a 'night watcher.' Shortly after a police sketch was issued a few days ago an arrest was made and a general sigh of relief breathed by residents of the South End. It now seems that the suspect has been released, presumably putting us back to square one in terms of night watcher issues in the South End.
-For some reason, a recent announcement that in Nova Scotia schools will have to play the national anthem every day really upset me. Though I can't quite articulate why this frustrates me, I think part of it is that such a scheme just seems hokey and low-class (kind of like plastering images of a country's leader on street corners). Maybe part of the issue I have with this policy is that the whole thing seems to really skirt the real issue, which is encouraging some sense of national pride among Canadian/Nova Scotian students. If this is the goal it seems to me that it would be more appropriate to teach students why such pride is merited rather than just try to get them to learn the words to the national anthem. Furthermore, such a program, by associating the national anthem with the start of the school day, could have the opposite effect and actually cause students to associate the national anthem with something that is almost universally understood to be unpleasant, the start of the school day. Anyway, if I can figure out what I really find frustrating about this decision I will try to let you know.
-As I believe I mentioned recently, a number of the pepper plants are now bearing fruit. At the moment the peppers are purple, though they are supposed to turn red when they are ripe, which seems like a helpful indicator. The downside is that we are likely to end up with more hot peppers than we need in a few weeks instead of getting a more tapered ripening period.
-I think that I also mentioned that one of the tomatoes is showing signs of redness. I guess it will still be another few weeks before it ripens.
-The plants in my bedroom window are really starting to obstruct my view. Each day the tobacco leaves grow larger and more numerous, working their way towards completely obstructing my view. If things keep going like this I will no longer be able to see whether my neighbour is still taking her dog to defecate on the grass in front of my window.
(Edit: In the two days since this photo was taken some of the tobacco plants have grown a number of inches. The tallest of the plants is now just a little taller than the middle tier of the hanging plant shelf.)
-There is a rather noisy party that has been going on for some time on a property not to far from my apartment. While I normally don't mind a little light partying, this has been going on for some time and is definitely distracting me from my studies (hence the blogging). Though they are showing no signs of quieting down, I really do hope that it ends sooner rather than later.
-For dinner tonight we had a some chicken noodle soup that I made. The broth was based on some chicken breast bones that I boiled while I was making dinner yesterday. We also had some nice rolls that Neil and Rebecca purchased this afternoon. While I don't normally consume bread products with my meals, these really complemented the soup nicely.
-I have quite a bit of reading to do this week, and every week until the end of the term. Though I haven't done as much reading as I might have hoped today, I have managed to put at least some time in. Though not exactly reading, I also managed to put some time in to locate a few articles and then print these articles.
-This afternoon I spent about an hour, or maybe a little more, catching up on some filing that I had allowed to accumulate over the summer as I worked on my thesis. Not only are things organized again, but I have managed to eliminate a few stacks of paper that had been on my bedroom floor for a few months. Sadly, I am almost out of room in my two-drawer filing cabinet. I think that it is quite likely that I might have to buy another one in the not too distant future.
-For the past few months there have been a number of incidents in the South End of women waking up to find a man watching them while they sleep, not surprisingly this individual has been referred to as a 'night watcher.' Shortly after a police sketch was issued a few days ago an arrest was made and a general sigh of relief breathed by residents of the South End. It now seems that the suspect has been released, presumably putting us back to square one in terms of night watcher issues in the South End.
-For some reason, a recent announcement that in Nova Scotia schools will have to play the national anthem every day really upset me. Though I can't quite articulate why this frustrates me, I think part of it is that such a scheme just seems hokey and low-class (kind of like plastering images of a country's leader on street corners). Maybe part of the issue I have with this policy is that the whole thing seems to really skirt the real issue, which is encouraging some sense of national pride among Canadian/Nova Scotian students. If this is the goal it seems to me that it would be more appropriate to teach students why such pride is merited rather than just try to get them to learn the words to the national anthem. Furthermore, such a program, by associating the national anthem with the start of the school day, could have the opposite effect and actually cause students to associate the national anthem with something that is almost universally understood to be unpleasant, the start of the school day. Anyway, if I can figure out what I really find frustrating about this decision I will try to let you know.
-As I believe I mentioned recently, a number of the pepper plants are now bearing fruit. At the moment the peppers are purple, though they are supposed to turn red when they are ripe, which seems like a helpful indicator. The downside is that we are likely to end up with more hot peppers than we need in a few weeks instead of getting a more tapered ripening period.
-I think that I also mentioned that one of the tomatoes is showing signs of redness. I guess it will still be another few weeks before it ripens.
-The plants in my bedroom window are really starting to obstruct my view. Each day the tobacco leaves grow larger and more numerous, working their way towards completely obstructing my view. If things keep going like this I will no longer be able to see whether my neighbour is still taking her dog to defecate on the grass in front of my window.
(Edit: In the two days since this photo was taken some of the tobacco plants have grown a number of inches. The tallest of the plants is now just a little taller than the middle tier of the hanging plant shelf.)
-There is a rather noisy party that has been going on for some time on a property not to far from my apartment. While I normally don't mind a little light partying, this has been going on for some time and is definitely distracting me from my studies (hence the blogging). Though they are showing no signs of quieting down, I really do hope that it ends sooner rather than later.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
A Few Quick Notes 357
-We had another nice day in Halifax today, though at times it was a little on the cool side. Fortunately, it wasn't cold enough that a brisk walk wasn't enough to provide the needed heat to be comfortable.
-It seems that I have been away for a few days, which can largely be explained by the fact that I have had a number of engagements/commitments that have drawn me away from my computer or kept me relatively busy.
On Monday I started my regularly scheduled courses (though I had had a session on the previous Wednesday). The real time sink was the paper that was due on Tuesday afternoon, which I was able to submit with a about two hours to spare (actually, I think that the professor was a little surprised that I actually handed it in on time). On Wednesday I had the pleasure of having two several hour seminars, the first of which started at 8:30 AM. The second seminar, the one for which the paper was due, ended at 5:30 PM, a solid nine hours after the first one started. A little later in the evening Neil and I had our first Ultimate game of our Fall season (we tied). Then on Thursday I helped a friend with some things before heading into school for a SSHRC doctoral fellowship information session. Immediately after the SSHRC event I made my way across campus to meet with a professor (the one for whom I had to write the paper) and ended up talking with her for almost 2 hours. After dinner (tacos) all three of us went back to campus to attend the weekly trivia night at the student bar. After trivia we made our way to Bubble's Mansion, hoping that this would be the location of the new Trailer Park Boys movie's premier after party. As it turned out that Bubble's Mansion wasn't as active and happening decided not to stay. In the end, for a variety of somewhat complex reasons, we ended up heading to another establishment. Unfortunately, the beer we ordered wasn't so great so it took us quite a while to drink it. In the end the only thing that really got us moving was that they turned on the lights and were clearly sending us the message that they wanted us to go. Anyway, these events meant that Thursday night was much less productive than I hoped it would be. Then today, I had to head into school to check on a few things before heading out to the Kempt Road area with Peter to buy some bulk dried goods (mainly beans) at good prices. Then tonight, because of our earlier shopping adventure, Peter came over for a dinner that was at least in part based on this afternoon's purchases. Anyway, all of this is just to give some insight into my noticeable absence from the blog. I really wish that a number more of these reasons related to academic eagerness, but unfortunately such reason were only part of the reason for my absence.
-Earlier tonight I noticed that the watermelon plants seem to be infested with something (hopefully not spider mites). Soon after this discovery I destroyed the infested plants plants and sprayed the others than had stored in the vicinity with pesticide. Hopefully this somewhat prompt action had curtailed the spread of whatever it was on the plants, though I fear that I may have been too late, which would really frustrate me quite a bit. Anyway, I guess I may try to do a bit of cleaning tomorrow and then have to wait and see whether anything comes back.
-I feel that there were quite a number of other things that I wanted to comment upon but that I can't seem to remember at the moment. Maybe when I have a little more time tomorrow I will try to work on a slightly more complete re-cap of the past few days.
-It seems that I have been away for a few days, which can largely be explained by the fact that I have had a number of engagements/commitments that have drawn me away from my computer or kept me relatively busy.
On Monday I started my regularly scheduled courses (though I had had a session on the previous Wednesday). The real time sink was the paper that was due on Tuesday afternoon, which I was able to submit with a about two hours to spare (actually, I think that the professor was a little surprised that I actually handed it in on time). On Wednesday I had the pleasure of having two several hour seminars, the first of which started at 8:30 AM. The second seminar, the one for which the paper was due, ended at 5:30 PM, a solid nine hours after the first one started. A little later in the evening Neil and I had our first Ultimate game of our Fall season (we tied). Then on Thursday I helped a friend with some things before heading into school for a SSHRC doctoral fellowship information session. Immediately after the SSHRC event I made my way across campus to meet with a professor (the one for whom I had to write the paper) and ended up talking with her for almost 2 hours. After dinner (tacos) all three of us went back to campus to attend the weekly trivia night at the student bar. After trivia we made our way to Bubble's Mansion, hoping that this would be the location of the new Trailer Park Boys movie's premier after party. As it turned out that Bubble's Mansion wasn't as active and happening decided not to stay. In the end, for a variety of somewhat complex reasons, we ended up heading to another establishment. Unfortunately, the beer we ordered wasn't so great so it took us quite a while to drink it. In the end the only thing that really got us moving was that they turned on the lights and were clearly sending us the message that they wanted us to go. Anyway, these events meant that Thursday night was much less productive than I hoped it would be. Then today, I had to head into school to check on a few things before heading out to the Kempt Road area with Peter to buy some bulk dried goods (mainly beans) at good prices. Then tonight, because of our earlier shopping adventure, Peter came over for a dinner that was at least in part based on this afternoon's purchases. Anyway, all of this is just to give some insight into my noticeable absence from the blog. I really wish that a number more of these reasons related to academic eagerness, but unfortunately such reason were only part of the reason for my absence.
-Earlier tonight I noticed that the watermelon plants seem to be infested with something (hopefully not spider mites). Soon after this discovery I destroyed the infested plants plants and sprayed the others than had stored in the vicinity with pesticide. Hopefully this somewhat prompt action had curtailed the spread of whatever it was on the plants, though I fear that I may have been too late, which would really frustrate me quite a bit. Anyway, I guess I may try to do a bit of cleaning tomorrow and then have to wait and see whether anything comes back.
-I feel that there were quite a number of other things that I wanted to comment upon but that I can't seem to remember at the moment. Maybe when I have a little more time tomorrow I will try to work on a slightly more complete re-cap of the past few days.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
A Few Quick Notes 356
-It has been mostly overcast today. At time it was even quite rainy, though as I haven't really left the apartment yet this really hasn't caused me any problems. Actually, that I didn't get the late afternoon sun in my bedroom window afforded me fewer afternoon distractions that I might normally have. The other thing of note about today is that it is a little warmer than I might have expected. Now, after sunset, it is still almost 20 degrees (and humid), which is quite different than I would have expected.
-A few days ago I purchased a Thermos in which I planned on storing hot beverages. So far it has been quite useful. I am hoping that this purchase will encourage me to purchase less coffee, a plan that seems to be working so far (I only have to not buy about 9 cups of coffee for this purchase to have paid off).
-We had pinwheels for dinner tonight. It seems that this is becoming a bit of a go to dinner option for me.
-On Friday evening there was political science reception, which was followed by a few drinks with some of the new political science graduate students. Given that I attended a similar series of events there was a strange feeling of deja vu, particularly when I ended up getting my second research assistantship at such an event. The most notable difference between this year and last was that this year's reception didn't feel as well attended as last year's, though I don't know why this was the case (though a retirement and two sabbaticals might explain at least part of the difference).
-I have a short paper due on Tuesday afternoon. So far it has not been progressing as quickly as I might have hoped.
-A few days ago I purchased a Thermos in which I planned on storing hot beverages. So far it has been quite useful. I am hoping that this purchase will encourage me to purchase less coffee, a plan that seems to be working so far (I only have to not buy about 9 cups of coffee for this purchase to have paid off).
-We had pinwheels for dinner tonight. It seems that this is becoming a bit of a go to dinner option for me.
-On Friday evening there was political science reception, which was followed by a few drinks with some of the new political science graduate students. Given that I attended a similar series of events there was a strange feeling of deja vu, particularly when I ended up getting my second research assistantship at such an event. The most notable difference between this year and last was that this year's reception didn't feel as well attended as last year's, though I don't know why this was the case (though a retirement and two sabbaticals might explain at least part of the difference).
-I have a short paper due on Tuesday afternoon. So far it has not been progressing as quickly as I might have hoped.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
A Few Quick Notes 355
-Today (Thursday) was another pretty nice day, though definitely on the crisp side of things. The unfortunate weather news for the region is that we have our first frost warning of the season. I am hoping that this warning is really more for more inland areas than where I live, but I guess I might have to wait and see to learn whether this is really the case or not.
-I just baked a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies so that I will have something to snack on in the coming days. Tomorrow morning it seems likely that I will have to back a batch of bread so that I will have breakfast food for the coming days.
-I don't know what it is about me, but I can't seem to scale main dishes particularly accurately. For instance, the stir-fry that I made for dinner tonight was huge, I couldn't even fit it all in our largest serving bowl. As I was chopping vegetables, which is where the problem likely lies, I felt that I was only preparing reasonable portions of each vegetable. Two cups of celery seemed totally reasonable. I guess that the fact that in total I added over 10 cups of vegetables was probably most of the problem lay. I presume another part of the 'problem,' if we want to call it that, is that I really don't mind leftovers, so I probably allow myself a little more lee-way than I might if I absolutely despised leftovers.
-For the past few weeks we have been experiencing some strange traffic patterns on the blog. All of a sudden we have seemingly doubled our daily readership (from about 5 to about 10). Though I don't really know why this has happened, I do think that some of it can be attributed to the traffic that has been coming our way from the Google Voice Blog because I have linked to a few of their posts recently. Presumably the 30 or 40 people they have sent our way wouldn't mean much to most blogs, in our case it has been quite dramatic (though I am not sure that this really means anything in the long run).
-Earlier today I made my way to the grocery store. I imagine that I surprised the cashier with my purchases.
Carrots are hard to pass up when they are less than $4.00 for 10 pounds, so hard to pass up that I had to buy two bags.
-I just baked a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies so that I will have something to snack on in the coming days. Tomorrow morning it seems likely that I will have to back a batch of bread so that I will have breakfast food for the coming days.
-I don't know what it is about me, but I can't seem to scale main dishes particularly accurately. For instance, the stir-fry that I made for dinner tonight was huge, I couldn't even fit it all in our largest serving bowl. As I was chopping vegetables, which is where the problem likely lies, I felt that I was only preparing reasonable portions of each vegetable. Two cups of celery seemed totally reasonable. I guess that the fact that in total I added over 10 cups of vegetables was probably most of the problem lay. I presume another part of the 'problem,' if we want to call it that, is that I really don't mind leftovers, so I probably allow myself a little more lee-way than I might if I absolutely despised leftovers.
-For the past few weeks we have been experiencing some strange traffic patterns on the blog. All of a sudden we have seemingly doubled our daily readership (from about 5 to about 10). Though I don't really know why this has happened, I do think that some of it can be attributed to the traffic that has been coming our way from the Google Voice Blog because I have linked to a few of their posts recently. Presumably the 30 or 40 people they have sent our way wouldn't mean much to most blogs, in our case it has been quite dramatic (though I am not sure that this really means anything in the long run).
-Earlier today I made my way to the grocery store. I imagine that I surprised the cashier with my purchases.
Carrots are hard to pass up when they are less than $4.00 for 10 pounds, so hard to pass up that I had to buy two bags.
Balcony Garden Update 11
Moments ago I noticed that Environment Canada has issued a frost warning for Halifax this evening, so it now seems rather fortuitous that I took the time to take a few photos of some of the plants that still remain in my balcony garden. Of course, I hope that the frost doesn't hit tonight and that I am able to stretch things out a little longer, but I am obviously quite aware that any day now frost will be a reality that I will need to deal with.
The thunbergia have really been doing quite well recently. Earlier today I noticed that there are presently three flowers on the vines, and that there a number of additional buds. It is rather unfortunate that it took these plants about four months to really come into their own as it turns out that they are pretty nice looking, but that we won't really see much of them before the impending frost.
I quite like the flowers on this plant, though they don't seem to last for a particularly long time.
The morning glory plants have been growing at an incredible rate since they were first planted in July. When I was inspecting the plants today I spotted a few buds, though I don't know what will happen on this front as I don't know if I will have room to store this plant indoors all winter. Though it may be a little late to replicate this tremendous growth pattern, I am thinking that I may try to plant a few of these in my bedroom and have them grow up my new hanging plant shelving unit.
The banana plant has done quite well this summer. As you might be able to see, the pups and the main plant have put on some height and girth in the past few weeks. Moments after this photo was taken I removed the pups from the mother and re-potted them. As I was in the midst of the process I think that I may have discovered that they weren't quite big enough for the re-potting process, but I guess I will just have to wait and see. Presumably within a few days I will have a better sense of whether or not they have taken to their new environments, or whether I have killed them.
The peas have really taken a turn for the worse within the past few weeks. Not only have most of the plants started to look a little sickly, a good number of them have actually died, and pea production has dropped off to almost nothing. I am not even sure if I will go to the effort of trying to protect these from the threat of frost, they likely don't have much life left what ever I do.
The watermelon plants have been doing quite well these past few weeks, though seemed to have either picked something up are not taking well to the more limited sunlight that they are getting these days. I am really not sure that they are worth bringing in for the winter, but I do quite like the idea of having watermelon plants so they are likely to get special attention.
The tomato plants have finally stopped putting on so much new height and seem to be dedicating at least a slightly greater portion of their efforts to fruit development. Of course, it seems that these efforts are for nought as there is no way the fruit will be ready in the near future and it seems unlikely that I will be able to store these rather large and unwieldy plants inside for any length of time. As far as these plants are concerned, I think that I will just have to play things by ear.
For those of you who are interested, and if you have read this far I presume that you are, there are a few of the tomatoes that are a little larger, but most are these sizes or smaller. None of them are showing any signs of turning read.
On a more positive note, the tobacco plants, particularly those in my room, seem to be doing quite well. Actually, I am continually amazed at how large and quickly the plants are growing given the late start and small containers in which most of them have been planted.
The thunbergia have really been doing quite well recently. Earlier today I noticed that there are presently three flowers on the vines, and that there a number of additional buds. It is rather unfortunate that it took these plants about four months to really come into their own as it turns out that they are pretty nice looking, but that we won't really see much of them before the impending frost.
I quite like the flowers on this plant, though they don't seem to last for a particularly long time.
The morning glory plants have been growing at an incredible rate since they were first planted in July. When I was inspecting the plants today I spotted a few buds, though I don't know what will happen on this front as I don't know if I will have room to store this plant indoors all winter. Though it may be a little late to replicate this tremendous growth pattern, I am thinking that I may try to plant a few of these in my bedroom and have them grow up my new hanging plant shelving unit.
The banana plant has done quite well this summer. As you might be able to see, the pups and the main plant have put on some height and girth in the past few weeks. Moments after this photo was taken I removed the pups from the mother and re-potted them. As I was in the midst of the process I think that I may have discovered that they weren't quite big enough for the re-potting process, but I guess I will just have to wait and see. Presumably within a few days I will have a better sense of whether or not they have taken to their new environments, or whether I have killed them.
The peas have really taken a turn for the worse within the past few weeks. Not only have most of the plants started to look a little sickly, a good number of them have actually died, and pea production has dropped off to almost nothing. I am not even sure if I will go to the effort of trying to protect these from the threat of frost, they likely don't have much life left what ever I do.
The watermelon plants have been doing quite well these past few weeks, though seemed to have either picked something up are not taking well to the more limited sunlight that they are getting these days. I am really not sure that they are worth bringing in for the winter, but I do quite like the idea of having watermelon plants so they are likely to get special attention.
The tomato plants have finally stopped putting on so much new height and seem to be dedicating at least a slightly greater portion of their efforts to fruit development. Of course, it seems that these efforts are for nought as there is no way the fruit will be ready in the near future and it seems unlikely that I will be able to store these rather large and unwieldy plants inside for any length of time. As far as these plants are concerned, I think that I will just have to play things by ear.
For those of you who are interested, and if you have read this far I presume that you are, there are a few of the tomatoes that are a little larger, but most are these sizes or smaller. None of them are showing any signs of turning read.
On a more positive note, the tobacco plants, particularly those in my room, seem to be doing quite well. Actually, I am continually amazed at how large and quickly the plants are growing given the late start and small containers in which most of them have been planted.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
A Few Quick Notes 354
-Today, like the past few days, seems to be turning out quite nicely. Though it has cooled off a bit this evening, I would still go so far as to say it is pretty nice, though it definitely feels as though we are approaching, if not in the midst of, fall.
-Today I had to head to school to attend an orientation session for the new students in the Political Science Department. Though many of the new students were likely attending to learn about the department and what would be required of them in the coming year, I was primarily attending to meet the new students and get a sense of who I might be attending class alongside in the coming weeks. I didn't end up sticking around much past the introductions as I really didn't need to hear about what is involved in preparing an MA thesis, which was much of what was to be discussed during the rest of the session.
Later in the afternoon I made my way across campus for my first class of the semester, which technically occurred the day before the semester was officially to begin. The most notable outcome of the class was that I have assigned a paper/commentary for next week. Fortunately, I have been able to collect all of the readings, and have already, though only just, tried to start read them.
-A few weeks or days ago Neil and I were talking about the SMS text service provided by Google Voice and the strangeness of the fact that it was not possible to forward text messages to one's email account. It seems that other thought that this was a strange omission as well, as earlier today I noticed that the Google Voice Blog announced that they have now introduced a few new features relating to text messages, one of which is the ability to have them forwarded to email addresses.
-I wish all first year students were like this.
-Today I had to head to school to attend an orientation session for the new students in the Political Science Department. Though many of the new students were likely attending to learn about the department and what would be required of them in the coming year, I was primarily attending to meet the new students and get a sense of who I might be attending class alongside in the coming weeks. I didn't end up sticking around much past the introductions as I really didn't need to hear about what is involved in preparing an MA thesis, which was much of what was to be discussed during the rest of the session.
Later in the afternoon I made my way across campus for my first class of the semester, which technically occurred the day before the semester was officially to begin. The most notable outcome of the class was that I have assigned a paper/commentary for next week. Fortunately, I have been able to collect all of the readings, and have already, though only just, tried to start read them.
-A few weeks or days ago Neil and I were talking about the SMS text service provided by Google Voice and the strangeness of the fact that it was not possible to forward text messages to one's email account. It seems that other thought that this was a strange omission as well, as earlier today I noticed that the Google Voice Blog announced that they have now introduced a few new features relating to text messages, one of which is the ability to have them forwarded to email addresses.
-I wish all first year students were like this.
Finally, some news from Vegas
So, a little over a week after Neil and Rebecca returned from Vegas I am now finally in a position to give people a little bit of an update on how things went down on their trip, or at least a few of the key aspects.
I guess I will cut to the chase on the particularly key aspect of the trip. Within a few hours of arriving Neil and Rebecca purchased a ring and made their way to the marriage license office. Shortly after their visit to the office, on the evening of the day of their arrival, they made their way to another office where a marriage ceremony was performed by a county employee. The witness they used was a friend/acquaintance of the security guards (had had already done at least two other weddings that day). Apparently the ceremony wasn't so simple that they got to skip the 'I dos' and associated statements of commitment to one another.
From what I can tell, much of the rest of the trip was spent either riding the pool's lazy river, taking advantage of free drink service at casinos, hunting for casino's new player deals, attending shows, or window shopping. All in all, things took a turn towards the less exciting after the first 12 hours that they were there.
I guess I should also publicly forgive Neil for not posting more while in Vegas (though it is possible he could have squeaked a single post in) as it seems that internet connections are a little bit more difficult to come by in Vegas than anyone expected. Not only do most places charge for connection time, it seems to not be particularly cheap. As Neil explained it to me, the casinos would much rather have in the casinos gambling than up in your room checking your various social networking sites or watching crappy videos.
How this impacted Neil and Rebecca was that it drastically reduced their interneting time so much so that they only went online while at the airport, where it was free, and once in a fast food restaurant to send us emails letting us know that they had been married (almost a week before).
I guess I will cut to the chase on the particularly key aspect of the trip. Within a few hours of arriving Neil and Rebecca purchased a ring and made their way to the marriage license office. Shortly after their visit to the office, on the evening of the day of their arrival, they made their way to another office where a marriage ceremony was performed by a county employee. The witness they used was a friend/acquaintance of the security guards (had had already done at least two other weddings that day). Apparently the ceremony wasn't so simple that they got to skip the 'I dos' and associated statements of commitment to one another.
From what I can tell, much of the rest of the trip was spent either riding the pool's lazy river, taking advantage of free drink service at casinos, hunting for casino's new player deals, attending shows, or window shopping. All in all, things took a turn towards the less exciting after the first 12 hours that they were there.
I guess I should also publicly forgive Neil for not posting more while in Vegas (though it is possible he could have squeaked a single post in) as it seems that internet connections are a little bit more difficult to come by in Vegas than anyone expected. Not only do most places charge for connection time, it seems to not be particularly cheap. As Neil explained it to me, the casinos would much rather have in the casinos gambling than up in your room checking your various social networking sites or watching crappy videos.
How this impacted Neil and Rebecca was that it drastically reduced their interneting time so much so that they only went online while at the airport, where it was free, and once in a fast food restaurant to send us emails letting us know that they had been married (almost a week before).
Master Blaster
As I have previously mentioned on Montifax, for many years I have suffered from kidney stones and the associated ailments and discomforts. A few weeks ago I finally got around to thinking about actually getting them taken care of. Amazingly, within only a few days I was able to make remarkable progress on the issue, which was nice in the face of years of procrastination.
Yesterday morning I had to get up at 5:50 and then make my way over to the local hospital for 6:45. After a few preliminary interviews and name confirmations, I eventually made my way to the lithotripsy room. Almost as soon as I walked into the room the team of staff started prepping me for the experience. Before I knew it was I was in place on the table, covered in sensors, breathing with a thing in my nose, and moderately drugged.
I found it was over when they woke me up some period of time later. Within moments I was unhooked from everything and moved to a gurney to be taken to the recovery room, where I was served coffee and cookies with I waited for the drugs to wear off.
After maybe 45 minutes after the procedure ended I was in a cab with Neil heading home. Not too longer after that I had to head out again to run some errands for a few hours. Amazingly, I felt great within next to no time, though by the end of the day I was definitely starting to feel a little tired and rundown (though I think that this had more to do with the lack of sleep than anything else).
Of course, the most important part of all of this, rather than the coffee and cookies, is that I have already started passing stone debris. Some of the reading I have been doing suggests that this might continue to occur over the next several days, so the procedure has given me something to remember it by.
Yesterday morning I had to get up at 5:50 and then make my way over to the local hospital for 6:45. After a few preliminary interviews and name confirmations, I eventually made my way to the lithotripsy room. Almost as soon as I walked into the room the team of staff started prepping me for the experience. Before I knew it was I was in place on the table, covered in sensors, breathing with a thing in my nose, and moderately drugged.
I found it was over when they woke me up some period of time later. Within moments I was unhooked from everything and moved to a gurney to be taken to the recovery room, where I was served coffee and cookies with I waited for the drugs to wear off.
After maybe 45 minutes after the procedure ended I was in a cab with Neil heading home. Not too longer after that I had to head out again to run some errands for a few hours. Amazingly, I felt great within next to no time, though by the end of the day I was definitely starting to feel a little tired and rundown (though I think that this had more to do with the lack of sleep than anything else).
Of course, the most important part of all of this, rather than the coffee and cookies, is that I have already started passing stone debris. Some of the reading I have been doing suggests that this might continue to occur over the next several days, so the procedure has given me something to remember it by.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
How easy is it to light hand-sanitizer?
Shortly after making a comment in my last post about a CBC story about a school in Nova Scotia that banned hand-sanitizer because it was flammable I became curious about how flammable it actually is.
I decided to give it a try and see if I could light the stuff. As you will see, it goes up pretty quickly, but doesn't cause a particularly big flame (and it was easy to extinguish, if controlled).
[Embedded video]
The key, though, is that you still need a fire of some sort to start it, it doesn't seem to be too susceptible to self-combustion (or maybe I have just had good luck on this front). And, I would say that it isn't all that much easier to start than paper, which has been known to catch on occasion.
I decided to give it a try and see if I could light the stuff. As you will see, it goes up pretty quickly, but doesn't cause a particularly big flame (and it was easy to extinguish, if controlled).
[Embedded video]
The key, though, is that you still need a fire of some sort to start it, it doesn't seem to be too susceptible to self-combustion (or maybe I have just had good luck on this front). And, I would say that it isn't all that much easier to start than paper, which has been known to catch on occasion.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
A Few Quick Notes 353
-Today was a pretty nice day, as far as I recall. It seems that it was sunny and clear, and not too hot.
-As we enter September one of my academic programs is winding down and the other gearing up. In anticipation of the switch I have been asked to give up my library carrel as I will soon have access to an office (or access to an office). Hopefully I will get the keys and information about this office sometime tomorrow.
The other thing I was working on today was course selection for the fall semester. Unfortunately, it is turning out to be not quite as straight forward as I might have hoped. At the moment I think I have things pretty figured out, though there could be a few last minute changes depending scheduling issues. What is clear, even without a completely finalized schedule, is that it is going to be a rather busy fall, at least academically. Having to submit a SSHRC application isn't going to make things easier.
-The nice side benefit of heading into school today was that I got a chance to talk to a few people whom I hadn't seen in a while. I guess this might be a sign that I am not going in quite enough (I blame this on the fact that I don't have an office, so, presumably, my pattern will change in the very near future).
-I spent a little time cleaning in preparation for Neil and Rebecca's return. Fortunately, as I spent much of the time throwing myself a thesis party, I didn't really make that much of a mess in the rest of the apartment (my room with its stacks folders is another story). Though things were largely in order I did vacuum and apply some cleaner to the bathroom fixtures. Hopefully it meets Neil and Rebecca's exacting standards.
-A free t-shirt that I ordered from a cereal box a few weeks ago arrived today. We are expecting two more. I imagine that they will be arriving any day now.
-I made another batch of beans tonight. Fortunately, as Neil will be here, it isn't likely that they will last as long as the last batch.
-So it turns out that the discount corn chips that I mentioned yesterday are pretty stale. The good news is that they can be made edible by baking them for just a few minutes. Actually, once I did this they were some of the tastiest corn chips I have ever had.
-Oh yeah, and I came across this story from CBC. Apparently there is a school in Nova Scotia that has restricted hand sanitizer use because it might be flammable. No word yet on whether paper will be next, or maybe hair.
-As we enter September one of my academic programs is winding down and the other gearing up. In anticipation of the switch I have been asked to give up my library carrel as I will soon have access to an office (or access to an office). Hopefully I will get the keys and information about this office sometime tomorrow.
The other thing I was working on today was course selection for the fall semester. Unfortunately, it is turning out to be not quite as straight forward as I might have hoped. At the moment I think I have things pretty figured out, though there could be a few last minute changes depending scheduling issues. What is clear, even without a completely finalized schedule, is that it is going to be a rather busy fall, at least academically. Having to submit a SSHRC application isn't going to make things easier.
-The nice side benefit of heading into school today was that I got a chance to talk to a few people whom I hadn't seen in a while. I guess this might be a sign that I am not going in quite enough (I blame this on the fact that I don't have an office, so, presumably, my pattern will change in the very near future).
-I spent a little time cleaning in preparation for Neil and Rebecca's return. Fortunately, as I spent much of the time throwing myself a thesis party, I didn't really make that much of a mess in the rest of the apartment (my room with its stacks folders is another story). Though things were largely in order I did vacuum and apply some cleaner to the bathroom fixtures. Hopefully it meets Neil and Rebecca's exacting standards.
-A free t-shirt that I ordered from a cereal box a few weeks ago arrived today. We are expecting two more. I imagine that they will be arriving any day now.
-I made another batch of beans tonight. Fortunately, as Neil will be here, it isn't likely that they will last as long as the last batch.
-So it turns out that the discount corn chips that I mentioned yesterday are pretty stale. The good news is that they can be made edible by baking them for just a few minutes. Actually, once I did this they were some of the tastiest corn chips I have ever had.
-Oh yeah, and I came across this story from CBC. Apparently there is a school in Nova Scotia that has restricted hand sanitizer use because it might be flammable. No word yet on whether paper will be next, or maybe hair.
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