A Few Quick Notes 422

-Today has been pretty strange. We seem to be going back and forth between periods of showers and sunshine. Fortunately I left the apartment this morning during one of the grey periods so I brought my rain jacket with me. I do hope that we will soon turn the corner and head into at least a few hours of clearer weather.

-Hopefully I will get a chance to play some squash tonight.

-I visited by nearby grocery stores today, my primary objective being the acquisition of on sale meats. At the first grocery store I visited I picked up some boneless, skinless chicken breasts an pork chops. At the second grocery store I bought two packages of pork tenderloin (they were buy one get one free). Hopefully these purchases mean that I won't have to meat shopping for at least a few more days.

-It would seem that after my several week absence from Montifax that I have really rebounded with vigor. Maybe, even with my absence of almost 2 weeks, I will make it to over 20 posts this month. Hooray! What a meaningful accomplishment!

-This afternoon I was a little disgusted to learn that Neil (Rebecca will also be going) is now planning on heading to Winnipeg for a few days. While I am not generally opposed to the idea of Neil going to Winnipeg what I do find frustrating is that this means that Neil will be able to pick off both Saskatchewan and Manitoba in a single trip.

Since about 1995 Neil and I have been deadlocked at 8 provinces apiece (though both of us have been interested in completing the collection). Neil, by visiting Manitoba and Saskatchewan, will throw this equilibrium off. Of course the worst part is that I have no idea how I will go about eventually making my way to either Manitoba or Saskatchewan (particularly as people seem to suggest that they aren't particularly attractive vacation destinations). I guess I will just have to be happy that I have Delaware.

-A few days ago I noticed that one of my sweaters is starting to fray at the cuff.



It seems that in the past few weeks a few pieces of my clothing have started to fall apart. This just seems to confirm that this summer will likely be when I buy a number of items of clothing and engage in something of a wardrobe renewal. Given how much I love clothing shopping this should really be fun.

-Today I noticed the very early stages of another banana pup.



The banana plant has really been doing quite well these past few weeks. Instead of pumping out leaves that are only about two inches long, the leaves currently being produced keep getting larger and larger and are now close to a foot long. It is hard to believe how much the plant's growing patterns have changed in just a few weeks.

-It seems (and appears to be confirmed by a CBC) that one of the professors in the Political Science department, Brian Bow, has won the relatively prestigious and lucrative Donner Prize (a $35 000 prize for books on public policy).

-A few days ago I finally got around to doing my end of semester filing. Part way through the process I felt as though I may have gotten in over my head (or at least that my filing cabinet likely wouldn't be large enough to accommodate everything).



Fortunately my fears were unfounded.



Everything fit nicely (though my filing cabinet is definitely approaching full. I think that I may need to buy another one before September hits.

Spelling Fail

As I was walking home from the grocery store this afternoon I noticed this license plate.



And to think that they were so close to spelling everything correctly. I wonder if they just couldn't afford the extra vowels.

Is that what they really meant?

This morning I was checking my RSS feeds when I noticed that the Metro had a story about Darrell Dexter playing in an upcoming charity basketball game. The important sentence in the story is:

The Nova Scotia premier/longtime baller is playing in the Legends of Basketball game Saturday as part of the Premier Basketball League all-star weekend at the Halifax Metro Centre.

What is of note is their use of the word 'baller,' which also means something quite different than what they likely meant.

The Urban Dictionary definition, which is the first Google result for 'baller,' suggests that baller means

A thug that has "made it" to the big time. Originally refered ball players that made it out of the streets to make millions as a pro ball player, but now is used to describe any thug that is living large.

It seems to me that the Metro staff should consider being a little more careful the next time they think about dropping some slang in their articles (unless, of course, this was they effect they were going for).

Airport bound

In a few minutes I am going to head out and pick up a rental car for the day. The first thing that I am going to do with this rental car is take Neil and Rebecca to the airport. The second thing I am going to do with this car is pick a friend up from the airport. Nothing quite says fun and good times like multiple trips to the Halifax airport in a single day (don't read too much sauce into this, I am looking forward to assisting both sets of travelers).

Even though I will have this car for the better part of a day I don't think that I will be doing much else other than driving back and forth to the airport with it.

A Few Quick Notes 421

-Though I worried we might have some precipitation yesterday it seems that we seemed escaped unscathed. Unfortunately, we weren't quite so luck today. Not only has it been overcast all day, there have also been a number of periods of rain/precipitation.

-On Saturday Neil and Rebecca noticed that there were protestors walking around Cornwallis park. On Sunday I saw quite a number of protestors in the same location.

At the time we couldn't quite figure out why there were so many protestors. Eventually it became clear that much of this activity was likely related to G8 meetings that were scheduled to take place nearby.



Early this afternoon Neil and I tried to head to Pier 21 to see if we could see the protestors in person, but we wimped out once we saw how far we would have to walk through the rain to see them.

-Last night I had the misfortune of encountering a rather unpleasant bathroom fail.

As I was walking into the bathroom at the library I happened to pass an exiting janitor just as I encountered a rather overpowering stench. The janitor was trying to tell me something about someone "doing the South Park episode." Just as he said "it's not too bad now" I caught a glimpse of the middle urinal and noticed that someone had defecated in it. Classy (almost as classy as me telling the internet about it).

-Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking to one of my profs about arranging a meeting about my upcoming comprehensive exams. While we were talking we somehow ended up on the topic of political biography. She highly recommended a multi-volume biography of Lyndon Baines Johnson by Robert Caro. Anyway, I am hoping to have something of a dent in at least the first volume by the time of my meeting in about two weeks' time.

-Yesterday I noticed that my banana plant, which has been growing quite rapidly of late, has sprouted a new pup.



This time I am going to try to leave the pup alone until it is actually large enough to transplant (instead of just killing it by transplanting it too early).



-We are hoping to get some Settlers in tonight. Should be fun.

Pita Bread

A few days ago I made a trip to the Gourmet Cash and Carry on Kempt Road. At the store I picked up a 10 kg bag of couscous, a 10 kg bag of basmati rice, about 10 packages of pappadums, 2 apple flavoured malt beverages, and a 6-pack of large pitas. This last purchase set me on quite a pita kick.

Not only did I consume most of the 6-pack of 15 inch pitas, but I have subsequently consumed the better part of 2 5-packs of average sized whole wheat pitas and a good chunk of 3 5-packs of averaged sized regular pitas.

Given my high rate of consumption of these past few days I thought it might be worth looking into making pitas (the relatively short list of ingredients on the packages made the task seem feasible). Also, yesterday Neil and I were talking about how the whole pocket development process works. So the not-surprising-conclusion to these developments was that I decided to make a (double) batch of pitas today.

I checked two recipe sources which both seemed to suggest similar recipes and indicated that the process was not particularly complicated.

Once I finally got down to things I was quite impressed and surprised with how quickly and easily the dough came together. After about an hour the dough had risen sufficiently for me to divide the dough and then allow it to rise again.



As I decided to make a double batch I ended up with 16 dough balls.



After allowing the dough balls to sit for about 20 minutes I rolled them out.



What was most impressive about the process was that the pitas quickly puffed up and separated.



Amazingly, after a relatively short baking process I had a nice stack of freshly baked pitas.



Given the seeming success of this batch of pitas I think I am somewhat inclined to try this recipe again. Next time I suspect I will go for a single batch though.

Awareness Fail

While I was walking down Morris Street to campus today I encountered some construction and an associated sign requesting that I used the sidewalk on the other side of the street. Only after crossing the street did I learn that a construction project on newly crossed to side of the street had also closed a portion of the sidewalk on that side of the street.



The absolute laziness and lack of the larger construction crew really frustrated me. If the other side of the street is blocked don't just put up your standard sign and pretend that everything is fine. In such circumstances more imaginative solutions to the problems need to be found. Maybe, as I have seen implemented at other construction sites, a temporary pedestrian walk-way could be created with cones. While there may be no particularly good solution to this problem, simply telling people to cross the street without checking to see if that cross was functional is unacceptable. I am really quite surprised how upset this situation has made me, but I am really quite pissed off.

A Few Quick Notes 420

-After a beautiful day yesterday, we are again in the midst of a rather overcast day today. Hopefully the forecast rain does not actually make an appearance.

-Yesterday Peter and I went to MEC and then Point Pleasant Park. In Point Pleasant Park we went to my favourite beach area and threw rocks for what must have been at least an hour. Eventually things devolved from skipping and accuracy to the throwing of big rocks.



These things made quite impressive splashes.

-Last night I attended a retirement party for one of the professors in the political science department. About 45 minutes after we arrived the grad student who gave me a ride left meaning that I was the only student in attendance for most of the night. On the whole the event was quite pleasant. The house where the event was hosted was absolutely amazing (it was huge and perfect for parties). It was also fun to talk to a few of my professors and get a chance to talk to some of their spouses.

-Peter and I are hoping to attend a Picnicface sketch show at Joker's Comedy Club tonight. I am really looking forward to this as I have been hoping to see one of these for almost as long as I have been in Halifax.

-I should go get some breakfast and coffee.

Halifax with Visitors

A few days ago my friends Greg and Jeff came to visit for about four nights. Because Greg rented a car we were able to do some of the touristy things in the Halifax-region that I am normally unable to engage in.

One of our first major stops with the Dingle Tower on the Northwest Arm. Not surprisingly, the tower was closed to the public (though we didn't learn about this until we made it to the front door of the tower). After our failed attempt to visit the Dingle Tower we made our way to Peggy's Cove, which appeared to be a small fishing/sea-based village not to far from Halifax.

One of the things that seems to capture people's attention in Peggy's Cove is the light tower (I have been told that for such signalling devices to be 'light houses' they need to be attached to houses). While the light tower was OK, there were some pretty neat rocks surrounding the lighthouse that were fun climb (one visitor found them so tempting that she made her way out even though she was reliant on a walker-type contraption). One of the other things about the light tower that I enjoyed was a sign affixed to one of the light tower's walls.



After walking around the rocks and admiring the light tower at Peggy's Cove we made our way to the gift shop and restaurant. Perhaps not surprisingly, both Neil and I were quite amused by the Cackleberry Preserves. Sophomoric humour strikes again.



Eventually we made it to the Annapolis Valley and Wolfville. While in the Valley we picked up some cider, apples, and bananas (apparently the bananas were much cheaper in the Valley that they are in town). We had dinner/late lunch at the Library Pub, a Wolfville landmark. As we were making our way back to Halifax it started to snow heavily. At times it almost looked like a Winter snowstorm.

Later, once we were back in Halifax, Greg and I decided to spend some time just walking around downtown Halifax. One of the things I suggested we see/do was take the elevator in the Aliant Building (it is located at the corner of Spring Garden and Barrington). What is great about these elevators is that they have windows that allow the riders to watch the city as they elevate. I turns out that by going from the first to nineteenth floor the perspective really changes quite dramatically. If you are interested feel free to check out the relatively low quality video I posted of one of our trips down (we took two back-to-back round trips).



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Just before Greg and Jeff made their way back to the airport we stopped at Cousins' (or maybe Cousin's), the right Cousins'. It turns out that the Cousins' I have been visiting for the past 18 months was not the same Cousins' that I visited with Greg and Jeff when I came here in 2005. I was again really pleased with this experience. Hopefully I will get to take Neil and Rebecca there in the not too distant future.

Of course there were casino visits and socializing (and a trip to Granite Brewery's new location), but I can't really think of many other major destinations that we visited while Greg and Jeff were in town. If it wasn't apparent from this post, it was both great to see Greg and Jeff, but also some of the tourist sites adjacent to Halifax that are almost inaccessible without a car.

How is this possible?

I just looked at some of our visitor data and it seems that the fact that I hadn't posted in almost three weeks didn't really have much of an impact on our traffic, actually in some cases it was higher than it is when I post on a daily basis.

Wow, I really don't know how I feel about this.

Does that suggest that my content has a relatively long lifespan, or that basically any blog, whether it is updated or now, will pull in a few hits a day?

I am not sure that this new information will really change my habits all that much. It should be clear to most of our regular readers by now that I haven't exactly been doing this to reach a mass audience or have any kind of impact (though maybe it would be nice if I hooked Haligonians up with a good butter sale occasionally).

A Few Quick Notes 419

-For the second day in a row, after about five days of grey, we have blue skies. Though there is some suggestion that this may take a turn for the worse later today, I am hoping that we will be able to avoid precipitation until at least about midnight.

-I think that my Roll Up the Rim to Win record for this year 5/23, though it may have been 5/25 (at one point I was given an extra cup). Though this may not seem like much, I did much better that I should have and much better than I have done in past years. The major problem with my winnings this year were that they tended to be donuts instead of more useful prizes. In the end I think I gave away most of my winnings.

-Yesterday I was able to submit my exam marks, meaning that I have now (to the best of my knowledge) completed my grading for the semester. Though it hadn't really set in as of last night, I think I am now starting to feel a little more relaxed. One of the things that I seem to have learned from my recent grading experiences is that cursive is almost always more difficult to read than printing. Why school insist on teaching students cursive is beyond me. What might be gained in speed is certainly lost in legibility.

-I guess I should explain my noticeable internet silence of the past few weeks. It seems that I was engulfed in something a perfect storm of time commitments. First I had to kill of a number of school related tasks (mainly assignments and studying for an exam), while doing this I also had to deal with a variety of grading and RA responsibilities. Finally, social commitments, particularly that two friends stayed with us for 4 nights, managed to consume most of my remaining time. The time I had to devote to the internet was thus compromised (and because of this I am sure you were all saddened).

-Last night I had arranged to get together with Peter and just hang out for a while. After making these plans I learned that there was to be a conflicting poli sci grad student event that I felt obliged to attend. Peter agreed to take one for the team and accompany me to this event.

We finally arrived at the destination at about 8:30 (an hour and a half after the event was to have started) only to discover that the house appeared relatively dark. After a few minutes of hemming and hawing we finally decided to commit ringing the door-bell. Almost as soon as the host opened the door (maybe it was the look of surprise on her face) it became clear that the event was not tonight. Apparently the event was actually scheduled for tonight. I felt like a bit of an idiot, though also somewhat relieved as it meant that I didn't have to participate in a social engagement that I was entirely thrilled/sufficiently energized to attend. As Peter and I were walking away I suggested it was a 'party win.' (I should be clear that the reasons I didn't really want to attend relate to my level of exhaustion and not the host or other guests).

The best part, at least according me, was that when we got home I checked my email and found that the host had actually sent me emails indicating that it was on Friday (she even used the word 'Friday'). Of course, I don't know how to bring this up to her without sounding like a jerk, so I guess I will wear the shame of showing up on the wrong day for a while.

-Tonight, instead of attending the aforementioned potluck, I will be attending a retirement party for one of the professors in my department. The only problematic aspect of this event is that it is being hosted at a location somewhat far away from the centre of the city. So far I have been able to secure a ride to the event. I am hoping to arrange a ride back at while at the party, though if I fail on this front the back up plan is to walk the 4 km to the nearest bus stop. Can't wait.

-It seems that the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador accidentally expropriated an old paper mill. This just seems like something that should be so hard to do that it should never happen accidentally. This just seems to provide more evidence that this whole expropriation thing has been an ill-conceived mess since day one.

A Few Quick Notes 418

-After a few days of great weather we have moved into a period of somewhat cooler and grayer weather. Fortunately things haven't gotten quite so cold that we are in frost zone.

-Our Easter turkey is almost gone, which is good. I killed off our turkey soup for lunch and will try to finish off the remaining turkey leg (unless Rebecca wants to chow down on it).

-Earlier this afternoon I learned that Newfoundland performance legend Donnie Dumphy will be performing in Halifax at the Paragon on April 17, 2010. Though I really don't know what such a show would entail, I am definitely somewhat tempted.

If you are not familiar with the works of Mr. Dumphy one of the best ways to get up to speed is to check out his videos.

-I am in the midst of reading Th Unexpected War, a book by Janice Gross Stein and Eugene Lange about how Canada became entangled in the Afghanistan front. The book is largely based on interviews with government and military insiders, so I was a little surprised to see that Ross Reid, a Campbell era cabinet minister and Williams' government appointee, was included in this list. It seems that Reid was working in Afghanistan with an NGO and managed to provide the Canadian government with insightful advice (though I am getting the sense that this was largely ignored).

-For about the past year and half I/we have been buying the same store-brand frozen corn. It seems that with the most recent bag the type of corn they are using has switched and that we are now getting something that is much sweeter, almost too sweet. I hope this change isn't permanent as I think that such a change would cause me to switch to their competitor's store-brand frozen corn (and that would be much more inconvenient for us all).

A Few Quick Notes 417

-We have some really beautiful weather recently. While today wasn't as warm as it has been, it was certainly still a very beautiful day.

-I am now 4/20, which might be restated as 1/5, in this year's Roll Up the Rim to Win contest. So it seems that I am actually doing much better than expected. I would have to drop to 4/36 to be where one would expect to be, and then below that to be doing worse than average. So maybe this year hasn't been quite as much of a wash as I was thinking it would be.

-I am not sure quite what it is, but our post Underlining Fail seems to be quite frequently hit with spam comments. Though we have more of these in recent months than we have ever had before, this one post seems to attract the majority of them. I am always somewhat teased when I see that we new comment only to find out that we have once again been spammed.

-For the past two nights I have had my sleep disrupted by what I presume is a mouse in the wall between the two bedrooms in our apartment. The ruckus was so loud last night that both Rebecca and I were basically unable to sleep for more than an hour at around 4:00 AM. The worst part of all of this is that it almost sounded as though the little guys were chewing/tugging on some of the wiring in the wall.

Tonight I reported the problem to the superintendent's husband, who indicated that he would call an exterminator tomorrow (or throw down a few glue traps if he had them). Both Rebecca and I are really hoping that we end up with the exterminator rather than glue traps (which won't be anywhere close to the problem).

-We are down to our final few bottles of Club Soda. Apparently 56 liters of Club Soda doesn't last all that long.

-Today I had my last class for the term. I still have a few things to take care of before my 'summer' starts. Of course, it being summer means that instead of classes to attend each day I will have reading to attend to. Should be fun.

-One of my department's senior professors retired last Summer, though is only now being thrown out of his office. To prepare for the move he is getting rid of many of his books. I was able to pick up a few that should be relevant to my thesis research, as well as a few that relate to personal interests. The most noteworthy of my picks, at least from the standpoint of my place of birth, was Smallwood: The Unlikely Revolutionary by Richard Gwyn (I am presently part way through Gwyn's biography of Macdonald). Oh, I also picked up a copy of Creighton's biography of Macdonald (and to think that just yesterday I had a conversation with a friend in which I claimed to be better at reducing my acquisition tendencies than I had been in the past).

Easter Update 3

Now that we have moved on to the most relaxing day of Easter, the world famous Easter Monday, I have a few minutes with which I can provide a few more details about yesterdays festivities.

As previously mentioned, we started things off with our Easter baskets.



After some breakfast and Mille Bornes and Sorry Revenge, and then a little relaxing, we finally got down to dinner prep. The turkey, in particular was important to deal with a few hours before we expected our guests.

After about 3 to 3.5 hours of solid prep work we were basically ready for people to arrive. This gave us maybe 10 minutes of spare time before people were expected to arrive. Fortunately this was enough time, though not so much time to allow us to engage in some other activity (like playing a game or scratching lottery tickets).

Not too long after most of our guests arrived I broke out our package of Peeps. While most of us were somewhat hesitant to give them a shot at first, eventually a few were consumed and almost everyone had at least part of a Peep. At some point I briefly stepped out of the room only to come back and find that Neil had agreed to eat the remaining 8 Peeps at the same time for $15 (three guys each agreed to contribute $5). Though a completely ridiculous activity to engage in, it really was hilarious to watch. I know that at least two of us were brought to tears.



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The rest of the evening was quite enjoyable, and not quite as ridiculous as these three minutes. Aside from the fact that the rest of the evening went well I am not sure that there is really anything else to report.

Another Beautiful Night in the Neighbourhood

About a year ago a team of trained professionals came in removed the graffiti from the cement wall across from our balcony. At the time I thought that it was pretty neat that I had the chance to see this happen, particularly as there were able to remove the offending paint in just a matter of minutes.



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Then, last August, I happened to hear the application of the next coat of graffiti. Though my recollection is that I scared the offending vandal away by watching them, I obviously didn't figure out what was going on soon enough to really stop much of anything (and I certainly can't claim that I was trying to stop anything as my main interest was really just to figure out what was going on outside of my bedroom window). Anyway, the next morning I woke up to find this:



Today I looked out to see that we now have a new addition to the graffiti collection.



It seems that this most recent addition to the collection was placed directly on top of last Augusts addition. I guess I will be curious to see if this particular addition will encourage last August's artist to come back and reclaim their territory, or if this infraction will go unpunished. I guess I am also curious to see if the building owners will once again have the graffiti removed professionally. Of course what I find most amazing about this graffiti location is that we are basically the only people who ever get to see this section of wall so really don't know why it is so popular, and well known.

Easter Update 2

A little while ago we finished our Easter breakfast. As far as I could tell it was enjoyed by all.

After breakfast we played a few rounds of Sorry Revenge, a game that Rebecca received in her Easter basket. After a somewhat slow start I picked things up and managed to win the final two rounds.

I really need to get going on the turkey front, but I am feeling quite tired and lacking motivation. Given the size of the turkey, this laziness is really unacceptable.

After the turkey has been dealt with I will have to start on the vegetables and whatnot. In all I should have a few hours of food prep ahead of me.

I guess I should tear myself away from my computer and get down to work.

Easter Update 1

So it is now Easter morning.

We started things off with Easter baskets, though none of us really hit the candy particularly hard.

Almost immediately we noticed that my Easter basket had a copy of Milles Bornes. Not surprisingly we cracked it out and started to play a few rounds.

Right now we are in the midst of breakfast preparation (bacon, eggs, and bunny bread).

I guess I should go tend to the bacon.

A Few Quick Notes 416

-Though the sun has now set, today has been and continues to be a beautiful day. According to Environment Canada we reached a high of 21, which is believable.

-It seems that I am now up to 3/18 with my Roll Up the Rim to Rim Wins. I am starting to think that I should have quit when I was ahead this year.

-Today I took advantage of the nice weather and went on a bike ride with a friend/neighbour. We rode from our apartment building deep in the South End, around the rotary to Herring Cove. According to this friend, who has made the trip before, the total distance is close to 30 km. Assuming this is true, and I have to reason to think it isn't, this is likely the longest bike ride I have ever taken. I hope that we will be able to go on similar trips as the summer progresses and that by the end of the Summer/Fall I won't be quite as slow as I was today.

-On Thursday I handed in my final major paper of the season. Though I still have two more pieces of written work to submit, and a final exam, handing in the final paper on Thursday was quite a relief.

-We are planning on a having a few people over for Easter dinner tomorrow. To the best of our knowledge we have everything that we need from the grocery store, if not we are going to be somewhat out of luck as most of the stores will be closed tomorrow.

-In preparation for tomorrow's dinner I baked some bread so that I would have stuffing material. Shortly we are going to start working on the Easter bread for tomorrow. If we become particularly ambitious we may even try to do some vegetable peeling before we call it a night.

-I think I will try to call it a night early tonight. I am hoping that the the fact that I didn't take a nap and that I did take a 30 km bike ride will mean that I will be able to go to sleep before 4:00 AM.

-Happy Easter