It seems that we are in the Royal neigbourhood, meaning that the Queen is staying at a location just a few blocks away from our apartment. That this is the case is a little funny as in yesterday's Globe and Mail the Lieutenant Governor, when asked if the Royals would be staying at Government House, is quoted as saying that "Will the royal couple be staying at Government House, newly refurbished for $6.2-million? We have no confirmation of that. We are preparing for every contingency." Nice.
I feel pretty bad for the Lieutenant Governor, just having the Queen and Prince Philip dropped on her like that with absolutely no notice.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
The Queen in Halifax
As planned, Neil and I made it the Queen's address on Garrison Grounds today. While it was raining for the early part of the ceremony, things eventually cleared up a little.
Neil managed to catch the Queen's address, which I then included in this video.
[Embedded Video]
While the ceremony was not particularly exciting (the Acadian music component was particularly tiring), it was largely made palatable by the fact that the classic Newfoundland celtic rock band Rawlins Cross performed a song. As an early investor in the band it was nice to see that they finally were able to perform for the Queen (and Prince Philip and Harper).
If I get a chance I may try to post a few more photos tomorrow.
Neil managed to catch the Queen's address, which I then included in this video.
[Embedded Video]
While the ceremony was not particularly exciting (the Acadian music component was particularly tiring), it was largely made palatable by the fact that the classic Newfoundland celtic rock band Rawlins Cross performed a song. As an early investor in the band it was nice to see that they finally were able to perform for the Queen (and Prince Philip and Harper).
If I get a chance I may try to post a few more photos tomorrow.
A Few Quick Notes 439
-As mentioned in the last post, today has been quite rainy and overcast thus far. To make matters worse, there has even been some suggestion that we may be in for thunder and lightening later today. Sounds like fun.
-We had our third Ultimate game of the season last night. Like our game last week, we were beaten pretty easily. Actually, we were really trounced in last night's game. I still don't know what happened, or how we lost so badly, but it almost seemed as though we barely even got a chance to touch the disc.
-On Thursday we went to a stand-up show at our local Yuk Yuk's comedy club. While the headliner wasn't my favourite, the show was generally quite enjoyable.
-Apparently the Canadian navy is in the midst of celebrating its 100th anniversary. Because of these celebrations quite a number of foreign naval vessels (and their sailors) are in port. This has meant that for the past number of days the place has been infested with foreign sailors, many of whom appear to be in their early twenties. One of the strange upside of this seems to be that some of the bars showing World Cup soccer matches seem to have more nationals for many of the matches than they might otherwise have had. Yesterday while walking down Spring Garden as the England-Germany match was about to start I heard what must have been a few dozen British sailors singing in one of the local sports bars (though I presume this rather jubilant mood was brought to a rather sudden halt due to both the English team's goal deficit and because of bad officiating).
-I should get going, I have to head to school to drop a few things (including library books) off.
-We had our third Ultimate game of the season last night. Like our game last week, we were beaten pretty easily. Actually, we were really trounced in last night's game. I still don't know what happened, or how we lost so badly, but it almost seemed as though we barely even got a chance to touch the disc.
-On Thursday we went to a stand-up show at our local Yuk Yuk's comedy club. While the headliner wasn't my favourite, the show was generally quite enjoyable.
-Apparently the Canadian navy is in the midst of celebrating its 100th anniversary. Because of these celebrations quite a number of foreign naval vessels (and their sailors) are in port. This has meant that for the past number of days the place has been infested with foreign sailors, many of whom appear to be in their early twenties. One of the strange upside of this seems to be that some of the bars showing World Cup soccer matches seem to have more nationals for many of the matches than they might otherwise have had. Yesterday while walking down Spring Garden as the England-Germany match was about to start I heard what must have been a few dozen British sailors singing in one of the local sports bars (though I presume this rather jubilant mood was brought to a rather sudden halt due to both the English team's goal deficit and because of bad officiating).
-I should get going, I have to head to school to drop a few things (including library books) off.
A Royal Visit or A Rainfall of Majestic Proportions
A few weeks ago it was announced that the Queen and Prince Philip, her royal sidekick and companion, would be making a trip to Canada that would commence with a visit to Halifax. After some initial hesitation, I decided that I might actually try to check out one or two of the events, this was largely because I don't have any firm commitments that would prevent me from doing so.
Now that the first day of the visit is upon us conditions have changed somewhat. Instead of today being a nice summer's day, as many of us in Halifax hoped, it is instead overcast and rainy (and has been this way for quite a number of hours). While we still have a few hours before the public spectacle at Garrison Grounds, I presume that much of the damage has been done and that conditions will be unpleasant for spectators no matter what condition the skies are in at the time of talk. I guess the upside of all of this is that if I do decide to go I have to think that I will have the opportunity for a relatively better view because of the impact that the rain is likely to have on prospective attendees. Anyway, I guess I will just wait and see and make a final decision closer to the time of the event (which is presently scheduled to start at 3:00).
Now that the first day of the visit is upon us conditions have changed somewhat. Instead of today being a nice summer's day, as many of us in Halifax hoped, it is instead overcast and rainy (and has been this way for quite a number of hours). While we still have a few hours before the public spectacle at Garrison Grounds, I presume that much of the damage has been done and that conditions will be unpleasant for spectators no matter what condition the skies are in at the time of talk. I guess the upside of all of this is that if I do decide to go I have to think that I will have the opportunity for a relatively better view because of the impact that the rain is likely to have on prospective attendees. Anyway, I guess I will just wait and see and make a final decision closer to the time of the event (which is presently scheduled to start at 3:00).
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Just what was needed before the G8 summit
According to CBC there has been an earthquake in Ontario. It seems that this has coincided with the final preparations for the upcoming G8/G20 summit that is to take place in Ontario. I am curious to know if this earthquake will have much of an impact on these final preparations or if other regions in Ontario are short on emergency service workers who have been shifted to Toronto to deal with the massive summit security operation.
A Few Quick Notes 438
-It has been another overcast day in Halifax. Fortunately, the overcast skies have not come with much precipitation or wind.
-Moments ago I read a story about a proposed law in Newfoundland that would seem to give police the ability to stop any and all drivers in Newfoundland and have them submit to impaired driving tests ( but don't worry, these stops aren't supposed to include unwarranted searches). I have a hard time believe that providing police with the power to pull over and investigate any driver, even if they are showing no signs of impairment, is a good idea. Not only could such legislation be used by police to harass people, it seems that it might be used to circumvent other practices that prevent unjustified intrusions in a citizen's life. While I hope that because the law has not yet been passed the government will come to its senses and restrain itself and not pass this law in its present form, I doubt that this will happen.
-While on the subject of overly aggressive legislation, I just read about a recently implemented law in Nova Scotia that makes it illegal to drive past stopped emergency vehicles that have their lights flashing at more than 60 kilometers per hour. Apparently it is also illegal not to move into a further lane if one is available. Apparently the goal of this legislation is to make conditions safer for emergency services workers, though I wonder if a side effect might be to make things more dangerous for drivers, particularly on the highway, as other drivers may now be inclined to suddenly slow down or unexpectedly change lanes. In many ways this rule seems to run contrary to the principles embodied in the 'no stopping' rules that exist for safety reasons on many divided highways.
-We played our second Ultimate game of the season on Sunday. Unfortunately we managed to lose the game. Unlike the first game we played, in this game we weren't quite as organized as we could have been and we didn't play particularly well as a team.
-A few minutes ago I was interested in finding out if any news had come out of the Obama/McChrystal meeting. My Google New search results seemed to suggest that nothing had yet been made public. Just moments later I received an news alert suggesting that McChrystal was to be relieved of his post. Now, less than an hour later, there seem to be all kinds of stories about McChrystal being removed from his post.
-I am hoping to play some squash this evening.
-Moments ago I read a story about a proposed law in Newfoundland that would seem to give police the ability to stop any and all drivers in Newfoundland and have them submit to impaired driving tests ( but don't worry, these stops aren't supposed to include unwarranted searches). I have a hard time believe that providing police with the power to pull over and investigate any driver, even if they are showing no signs of impairment, is a good idea. Not only could such legislation be used by police to harass people, it seems that it might be used to circumvent other practices that prevent unjustified intrusions in a citizen's life. While I hope that because the law has not yet been passed the government will come to its senses and restrain itself and not pass this law in its present form, I doubt that this will happen.
-While on the subject of overly aggressive legislation, I just read about a recently implemented law in Nova Scotia that makes it illegal to drive past stopped emergency vehicles that have their lights flashing at more than 60 kilometers per hour. Apparently it is also illegal not to move into a further lane if one is available. Apparently the goal of this legislation is to make conditions safer for emergency services workers, though I wonder if a side effect might be to make things more dangerous for drivers, particularly on the highway, as other drivers may now be inclined to suddenly slow down or unexpectedly change lanes. In many ways this rule seems to run contrary to the principles embodied in the 'no stopping' rules that exist for safety reasons on many divided highways.
-We played our second Ultimate game of the season on Sunday. Unfortunately we managed to lose the game. Unlike the first game we played, in this game we weren't quite as organized as we could have been and we didn't play particularly well as a team.
-A few minutes ago I was interested in finding out if any news had come out of the Obama/McChrystal meeting. My Google New search results seemed to suggest that nothing had yet been made public. Just moments later I received an news alert suggesting that McChrystal was to be relieved of his post. Now, less than an hour later, there seem to be all kinds of stories about McChrystal being removed from his post.
-I am hoping to play some squash this evening.
Friday, June 18, 2010
A New Shelving Unit: As Good as Being Present
A few days ago Neil and Rebecca realized that they needed more storage space. After a brief search and period of contemplation, they settled on a shelving unit that is on sale this week at Canadian Tire.
This morning Neil and I made our way over to the local Canadian Tire to pick one up. Amazingly the shopping experience was relatively quick and painless (I wasn't paying).
Not to long ago we brought the shelving unit back to our apartment. After a few minutes of dilly-dallying (meaning until the end of the Germany-Serbia World Cup game) we started to unpack the the shelving unit. At this point I thought that our readers would really probably like to follow along with the assembly process through a session of live-blogging, so here we are. Check back to follow our progress.
10:35 - Neil and Rebecca's bedroom has been rearranged so that he assembly of the shelving unit can take place on site. We have also pulled all of the parts of the shelving unit out of the box and placed them at various points around the perimeter of the room or in the adjacent hallway. My sense is that right now Neil is counting the hinges and screws to make sure that we have everything before we start.
10:37 - I am now busy live blogging while Neil continues his preparations. If he doesn't hurry up I may end up just taking a nap.
10:40 - I am now back in the room. We just discussed how best to cover this momentous event - we agreed live-blogging would be better than a time-lapse as we missed the key unboxing phase of the process.
10:52 - The assembly process has now started in earnest. We have attached two pieces to one another and are about to attach the third.
11:01 - We now have 5 pieces completely or partially attached to one another. We also have started streaming the US-Slovenia World Cup game via CBC.ca.
11:20 - Things are starting to take shape now, both sides have been added. That being said, we are still a ways away from being done. In other news, it seems that the US are now down 0-1 to Slovenia.
11:28 - We just popped the top on. I think we will soon need to flip the unit over to add the structural cardboard to the back.
11:40 - Neil is now putting the nails into the structural cardboard on the back of the unit. We will need to pound in about 40 nails in total. I guess once we are done with this step we will have to flip it over again and then add the front doors and a few more shelves. I guess if I am hopeful and optimistic I might suggest that the end is in sight.
11:44 - Slovenia just scored a second goal, really putting the US in a tough spot. Oh, and Neil is still pounding away at the structural cardboard nails.
12:13 - The doors have been attached and the unit is now upright, though not quite in position. Hopefully the door hinges won't require much adjustment as I think that it won't be particularly straightforward to adjust these doors.
12:18 - Neil is now in the midst of attaching the unit to the wall to take advantage of the included fall arrest system.
12:20 - Neil is emitting some strange grunting sounds during the fall arrest construction process. Pretty graphic if you ask me.
12:22 - The handles are now on the doors.
12:29 - We just adjusted the doors, which was a little uncomfortable and unpleasant but not too bad.
12:33 - I think that we are basically done, though eventually a few more shelves will be inserted. I think that this likely won't be done until Rebecca returns and can be consulted on shelf arrangement and what exactly will be placed on the shelves. So I guess that is the end of this live-blogging experience.
Here is the unit in its almost final form.
This morning Neil and I made our way over to the local Canadian Tire to pick one up. Amazingly the shopping experience was relatively quick and painless (I wasn't paying).
Not to long ago we brought the shelving unit back to our apartment. After a few minutes of dilly-dallying (meaning until the end of the Germany-Serbia World Cup game) we started to unpack the the shelving unit. At this point I thought that our readers would really probably like to follow along with the assembly process through a session of live-blogging, so here we are. Check back to follow our progress.
10:35 - Neil and Rebecca's bedroom has been rearranged so that he assembly of the shelving unit can take place on site. We have also pulled all of the parts of the shelving unit out of the box and placed them at various points around the perimeter of the room or in the adjacent hallway. My sense is that right now Neil is counting the hinges and screws to make sure that we have everything before we start.
10:37 - I am now busy live blogging while Neil continues his preparations. If he doesn't hurry up I may end up just taking a nap.
10:40 - I am now back in the room. We just discussed how best to cover this momentous event - we agreed live-blogging would be better than a time-lapse as we missed the key unboxing phase of the process.
10:52 - The assembly process has now started in earnest. We have attached two pieces to one another and are about to attach the third.
11:01 - We now have 5 pieces completely or partially attached to one another. We also have started streaming the US-Slovenia World Cup game via CBC.ca.
11:20 - Things are starting to take shape now, both sides have been added. That being said, we are still a ways away from being done. In other news, it seems that the US are now down 0-1 to Slovenia.
11:28 - We just popped the top on. I think we will soon need to flip the unit over to add the structural cardboard to the back.
11:40 - Neil is now putting the nails into the structural cardboard on the back of the unit. We will need to pound in about 40 nails in total. I guess once we are done with this step we will have to flip it over again and then add the front doors and a few more shelves. I guess if I am hopeful and optimistic I might suggest that the end is in sight.
11:44 - Slovenia just scored a second goal, really putting the US in a tough spot. Oh, and Neil is still pounding away at the structural cardboard nails.
12:13 - The doors have been attached and the unit is now upright, though not quite in position. Hopefully the door hinges won't require much adjustment as I think that it won't be particularly straightforward to adjust these doors.
12:18 - Neil is now in the midst of attaching the unit to the wall to take advantage of the included fall arrest system.
12:20 - Neil is emitting some strange grunting sounds during the fall arrest construction process. Pretty graphic if you ask me.
12:22 - The handles are now on the doors.
12:29 - We just adjusted the doors, which was a little uncomfortable and unpleasant but not too bad.
12:33 - I think that we are basically done, though eventually a few more shelves will be inserted. I think that this likely won't be done until Rebecca returns and can be consulted on shelf arrangement and what exactly will be placed on the shelves. So I guess that is the end of this live-blogging experience.
Here is the unit in its almost final form.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
A Few Quick Notes 437
-Today, like yesterday, is beautiful. The only blemish on these otherwise perfect days has been somewhat higher than average wind.
-On Saturday night I was walking in our neighbourhood when I happened across a wallet lying on the sidewalk. Thinking that someone in the area may have dropped it, I picked the wallet up to see if I could find an address for the owner. While I was able to find an address and several pieces of ID, I also noticed that the wallet did not contain any cash or credit cards (basically just a variety of pieces of ID). While I presume that this means that the owner of the wallet lost things like credit cards and cash, that I returned the wallet to the police likely means that he didn't lose his birth certificate and SIN card. I can't imagine how much more unpleasant this guy's life would have been had he also lost all of his ID.
-We had our first Ultimate game of the season. While we were in the lead for much of the game, the final result was a tie. For the most part the game went well, though there were a few rules related issues that the other team wasn't particularly helpful when it came to solving.
-Just a few minutes ago, because I watched a CBC news clip, I learned that there are fire ants in Halifax and the surrounding areas. Until seeing this clip I assumed that these little guys hadn't yet made their way out of the US south, though I was clearly about 20 years (if not more) behind the times with this assumption.
-Starting tomorrow I (with Neil and Rebecca's help) will be taking on my first Halifax cat-sitting gig. Some friends are heading out of town for a long weekend and we offered to watch their cats provided that they would allow us to use their car. Given these obligations this weekend should be a more interesting weekend than most.
-It seems that the Queen Elizabeth II will be coming to town on June 28th for a visit.
We are hoping to get a chance to catch her famous wave (as demonstrated below):
-Hopefully I should be able to get some squash in tonight.
-A library school friend of mine, Mary, was in Halifax yesterday and spent last night with us. It was really great to see her again. I am hoping that in the not too distant future I might get a chance to see a few other friends from library school.
-On Saturday night I was walking in our neighbourhood when I happened across a wallet lying on the sidewalk. Thinking that someone in the area may have dropped it, I picked the wallet up to see if I could find an address for the owner. While I was able to find an address and several pieces of ID, I also noticed that the wallet did not contain any cash or credit cards (basically just a variety of pieces of ID). While I presume that this means that the owner of the wallet lost things like credit cards and cash, that I returned the wallet to the police likely means that he didn't lose his birth certificate and SIN card. I can't imagine how much more unpleasant this guy's life would have been had he also lost all of his ID.
-We had our first Ultimate game of the season. While we were in the lead for much of the game, the final result was a tie. For the most part the game went well, though there were a few rules related issues that the other team wasn't particularly helpful when it came to solving.
-Just a few minutes ago, because I watched a CBC news clip, I learned that there are fire ants in Halifax and the surrounding areas. Until seeing this clip I assumed that these little guys hadn't yet made their way out of the US south, though I was clearly about 20 years (if not more) behind the times with this assumption.
-Starting tomorrow I (with Neil and Rebecca's help) will be taking on my first Halifax cat-sitting gig. Some friends are heading out of town for a long weekend and we offered to watch their cats provided that they would allow us to use their car. Given these obligations this weekend should be a more interesting weekend than most.
-It seems that the Queen Elizabeth II will be coming to town on June 28th for a visit.
We are hoping to get a chance to catch her famous wave (as demonstrated below):
-Hopefully I should be able to get some squash in tonight.
-A library school friend of mine, Mary, was in Halifax yesterday and spent last night with us. It was really great to see her again. I am hoping that in the not too distant future I might get a chance to see a few other friends from library school.
Monday, June 14, 2010
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence
Mark that one down as proved.
Folk wisdom once again demonstrates its worth.
Round Two
A few days ago I posted about my failed attempt to make Afghans, a type of cookie popular in New Zealand. It seems that not only did I draw attention to my failure by writing a relatively long post about it, but my friend Nicole has also linked to the post from the blog that first introduced me to the concept of Afghans.
The day after my failed Afghan attempt my mother pointed out that one of the recipes I consulted had the ingredient quantities available not only in metric, but also in imperial. To prove to myself and others that I am not as bad a baker as the first batch of Afghans would suggest I decided to try again, this time with the imperial version of the recipe in hand.
Fortunately, this time things worked out and the cookies didn't melt into 2-dimensional disks that were too brittle to pick up.
Actually, the cookies turned out quite nicely (even if I didn't have full walnut halves at my disposal). That being said, for any of you interested in trying the recipe I would suggest adding a little extra icing sugar to the icing, without this extra sugar the icing will likely be too runny.
The day after my failed Afghan attempt my mother pointed out that one of the recipes I consulted had the ingredient quantities available not only in metric, but also in imperial. To prove to myself and others that I am not as bad a baker as the first batch of Afghans would suggest I decided to try again, this time with the imperial version of the recipe in hand.
Fortunately, this time things worked out and the cookies didn't melt into 2-dimensional disks that were too brittle to pick up.
Actually, the cookies turned out quite nicely (even if I didn't have full walnut halves at my disposal). That being said, for any of you interested in trying the recipe I would suggest adding a little extra icing sugar to the icing, without this extra sugar the icing will likely be too runny.
Friday, June 11, 2010
A Few Quick Notes 436
-Though there were a few overcast periods, my sense of things (now that I reflect upon them) is that today was generally a pretty nice day. For the past few days the niceness of the days has been something of a surprise as the forecasts have frequently suggested either rain or overcast skies. The continuing inaccuracy of the forecasts frustrates me.
-It seems that I have not completely resolved my spider mite problem. This afternoon I noticed that a few of my pea plants seem to be enduring something of an infestation. Shortly after first observing the presence of these unwelcome guests I sprayed the plants with some pesticide. Tomorrow I may try to rinse them with water and move them outdoors (where the mites will also have to put up with harsh Halifax summers). What a bummer.
-When Rebecca returned from Montreal a few weeks ago she brought with her a copy of the game Power Grid. Though in the immediate aftermath of her return we weren't able to play the game we have finally be able to find the time to sneak a few games in. Not surprisingly, Neil has won most of the games we have played. What has been frustrating is not that I have been losing (something I am used), but that I can't seem to figure out a better strategy. That I have been unable to make progress with my gameplay has been frustrating.
-I have been doing quite a lot of reading this week. Assuming that things go as planned tomorrow I will continue along this trajectory tomorrow as well (and also throughout the weekend).
-The Association of Canadian Archivists are holding their annual conference in a hotel just about a block away from our apartment. At least two of my library school friends will be in attendance. I am hoping that I will get a chance to see both of them before they head out of town once the conference is over.
-It seems that I have not completely resolved my spider mite problem. This afternoon I noticed that a few of my pea plants seem to be enduring something of an infestation. Shortly after first observing the presence of these unwelcome guests I sprayed the plants with some pesticide. Tomorrow I may try to rinse them with water and move them outdoors (where the mites will also have to put up with harsh Halifax summers). What a bummer.
-When Rebecca returned from Montreal a few weeks ago she brought with her a copy of the game Power Grid. Though in the immediate aftermath of her return we weren't able to play the game we have finally be able to find the time to sneak a few games in. Not surprisingly, Neil has won most of the games we have played. What has been frustrating is not that I have been losing (something I am used), but that I can't seem to figure out a better strategy. That I have been unable to make progress with my gameplay has been frustrating.
-I have been doing quite a lot of reading this week. Assuming that things go as planned tomorrow I will continue along this trajectory tomorrow as well (and also throughout the weekend).
-The Association of Canadian Archivists are holding their annual conference in a hotel just about a block away from our apartment. At least two of my library school friends will be in attendance. I am hoping that I will get a chance to see both of them before they head out of town once the conference is over.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
What were they supposed to look like?
This morning, while working my way through the posts that accumulated in my RSS reader overnight, I came across a post on my friend Nicole's house's food blog. The post dealt with the making of Afghans, a type of cookie that is popular in New Zealand. Immediately upon reading the post (and the linked recipe) I decided that given the limited number of ingredients required I would give them a shot.
The first problem that I encountered was that the recipe that I had called for ingredients to be measured by weight and I did not have access to a functional kitchen scale. After a little searching I found a few recipes online that seemed similar in ingredient proportions to the one that I first examined. Eventually I settled on something of a hybrid of a few of the recipes (strangely I didn't choose the one that was entirely in units that I could actually measure).
After a few minutes in the mixer it was clear that the dough that I was in the midst of creating was not turning out like other cookie doughs that I have made. The dough seemed particularly heavy on sugar and butter and light on things like flour (or other ingredients that would diminish the 'melting' effect). Of course this effect was likely compounded by the fact that I, almost consciously, confused ounces as a measure of volume with ounces as a measure of weight (a problem that contributed to to the imbalance between the butter and the flour).
Given my unfamiliarity with the recipe I decided to just trudge along and bake the dough that I had in front of me, even though over-melting seemed like a very real possibility. I guess at this point I could have added a little more flour to stiffen things up, but I decided not to as it seemed likely that this batch of cookies was already beyond repair (it is rather unfortunate when you have written off a baking project before anything has even been put in the oven).
Not surprisingly, my greatest fears about the outcome of my cookies were confirmed when the first tray was removed from the oven. The cookies, which were supposed to be ball-shaped, melted into thin disks that were unmovable while hot. Given my lack of access to magic and my unwillingness to resort to additional flour, when the second tray came out of the oven it exhibited similar problems. Fortunately, once cooled, I was able to get most of each cookie from the trays to a cooling rack (though all cookies showed at least some signs of damage).
Sadly, or maybe happily, the icing I made to accompany these cookies turned out quite nicely. Of course because of the brittleness and poor quality of the cookies I didn't ice all of them, or even most of them.
So now I have most of a batch of good(ish) chocolate icing and similar portion of a batch of poor chocolate cookies. I guess the final upside is that our contribution to this week's compost collection will be larger than it otherwise might have been (though as I am sure that we are the apartment that contributes the most already this additional contribution won't be much appreciated by our neighbours).
Amazingly, though I am not sure if it is because of or in spite of today's failure, I am quite tempted to try Afghans again. The original blog post (and that the recipe calls for corn flakes) is still tempting me as much now as it did this morning. Hopefully in round two, if there is a round two, I will be wise enough to at least use a recipe that provides quantities of ingredients in units that I can create rather than units at which I have to guess. I guess the other thing that I could do is try to convert this motivation to bake into a desire to bake bread (as we all know that stuff is almost impossible to screw up, or at least be in a position where a fix isn't possible).
The first problem that I encountered was that the recipe that I had called for ingredients to be measured by weight and I did not have access to a functional kitchen scale. After a little searching I found a few recipes online that seemed similar in ingredient proportions to the one that I first examined. Eventually I settled on something of a hybrid of a few of the recipes (strangely I didn't choose the one that was entirely in units that I could actually measure).
After a few minutes in the mixer it was clear that the dough that I was in the midst of creating was not turning out like other cookie doughs that I have made. The dough seemed particularly heavy on sugar and butter and light on things like flour (or other ingredients that would diminish the 'melting' effect). Of course this effect was likely compounded by the fact that I, almost consciously, confused ounces as a measure of volume with ounces as a measure of weight (a problem that contributed to to the imbalance between the butter and the flour).
Given my unfamiliarity with the recipe I decided to just trudge along and bake the dough that I had in front of me, even though over-melting seemed like a very real possibility. I guess at this point I could have added a little more flour to stiffen things up, but I decided not to as it seemed likely that this batch of cookies was already beyond repair (it is rather unfortunate when you have written off a baking project before anything has even been put in the oven).
Not surprisingly, my greatest fears about the outcome of my cookies were confirmed when the first tray was removed from the oven. The cookies, which were supposed to be ball-shaped, melted into thin disks that were unmovable while hot. Given my lack of access to magic and my unwillingness to resort to additional flour, when the second tray came out of the oven it exhibited similar problems. Fortunately, once cooled, I was able to get most of each cookie from the trays to a cooling rack (though all cookies showed at least some signs of damage).
Sadly, or maybe happily, the icing I made to accompany these cookies turned out quite nicely. Of course because of the brittleness and poor quality of the cookies I didn't ice all of them, or even most of them.
So now I have most of a batch of good(ish) chocolate icing and similar portion of a batch of poor chocolate cookies. I guess the final upside is that our contribution to this week's compost collection will be larger than it otherwise might have been (though as I am sure that we are the apartment that contributes the most already this additional contribution won't be much appreciated by our neighbours).
Amazingly, though I am not sure if it is because of or in spite of today's failure, I am quite tempted to try Afghans again. The original blog post (and that the recipe calls for corn flakes) is still tempting me as much now as it did this morning. Hopefully in round two, if there is a round two, I will be wise enough to at least use a recipe that provides quantities of ingredients in units that I can create rather than units at which I have to guess. I guess the other thing that I could do is try to convert this motivation to bake into a desire to bake bread (as we all know that stuff is almost impossible to screw up, or at least be in a position where a fix isn't possible).
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Balcony Garden Update 13
When I last posted photos of my balcony garden I had just recently placed many of the plants outside.
Now most of these plants have had a few the chance to get used to grow in their new environment. Thus far it seems that the new location has not been particularly beneficial. As you can see, not many of the plants are displaying particularly impressive growth.
From the time they were moved outdoors the scarlet runner beans have actually been doing quite well.
Over the past two weeks these plants have continued to do quite well. I am hoping that now that this rate of growth will continue or increase over the next few months.
I have been quite surprised that the mint, which was planted last summer, has continued to grow.
Now that some of the plants have started to sprout new branches I may have to start thinking of something that I might do with the leaves. I also think that I may need to repot these plants in the near future.
A few weeks ago I planted a few morning glory seeds that I purchased last year. After a few weeks of no signs of growth I was thinking that the seeds would come to nothing and that I would need to acquire new seeds. Amazingly, just after I purchased a new package of seeds I noticed that the old ones had finally started to grow. I guess I may need to plant another pot of morning glory seeds to take advantage of the newly acquired seeds.
After a few months of growth indoors in small peat pellets my neighbour and I re-potted our tomato plants. I suspect that we left the plants a little too long and allowed them to get a little too spindly before we re-potted them.
As you can see, since the re-potting these plants haven't really grown all that much. More troubling than the lack of growth is the discolouration that seems to be taking place on some of the leaves. I hope that with the application of some fertilizer this discolouration will disappear.
The scarlet runner beans planted in the planter, just like those in pots on the balcony rail, seem to be doing well.
Over the past few weeks these plants have really taken off.
The tobacco plants that I planted last summer have now been outside for quite a while. Not surprisingly, these plants really haven't done much of anything since they were moved outside, though they haven't deteriorated either. I think that I may have to get rid of a few of these plants in the not too distant future so that I can free up some room for a few other plants.
Not surprisingly, the plants in my bedroom seem to growing more quickly than those outdoors.
Over the past few weeks some of these plants have really shot up quite dramatically. The corn and the peas have made particularly impressive strides upward. I guess I should also draw attention to the banana plant, which has really be pumping out new and big leaves quite consistently.
The peas have really amazed me. Over the past few days quite a number of flowers began to bloom. More recently these blooms have turned into pea pods. I would guess that at the moment I have close to a dozen pea pods at various stages of development (though none are particularly large yet).
Hopefully the sun that has been forecast for the end of the week will help spur some growth in the plants on the balcony which have thus far been somewhat sluggish.
Now most of these plants have had a few the chance to get used to grow in their new environment. Thus far it seems that the new location has not been particularly beneficial. As you can see, not many of the plants are displaying particularly impressive growth.
From the time they were moved outdoors the scarlet runner beans have actually been doing quite well.
Over the past two weeks these plants have continued to do quite well. I am hoping that now that this rate of growth will continue or increase over the next few months.
I have been quite surprised that the mint, which was planted last summer, has continued to grow.
Now that some of the plants have started to sprout new branches I may have to start thinking of something that I might do with the leaves. I also think that I may need to repot these plants in the near future.
A few weeks ago I planted a few morning glory seeds that I purchased last year. After a few weeks of no signs of growth I was thinking that the seeds would come to nothing and that I would need to acquire new seeds. Amazingly, just after I purchased a new package of seeds I noticed that the old ones had finally started to grow. I guess I may need to plant another pot of morning glory seeds to take advantage of the newly acquired seeds.
After a few months of growth indoors in small peat pellets my neighbour and I re-potted our tomato plants. I suspect that we left the plants a little too long and allowed them to get a little too spindly before we re-potted them.
As you can see, since the re-potting these plants haven't really grown all that much. More troubling than the lack of growth is the discolouration that seems to be taking place on some of the leaves. I hope that with the application of some fertilizer this discolouration will disappear.
The scarlet runner beans planted in the planter, just like those in pots on the balcony rail, seem to be doing well.
Over the past few weeks these plants have really taken off.
The tobacco plants that I planted last summer have now been outside for quite a while. Not surprisingly, these plants really haven't done much of anything since they were moved outside, though they haven't deteriorated either. I think that I may have to get rid of a few of these plants in the not too distant future so that I can free up some room for a few other plants.
Not surprisingly, the plants in my bedroom seem to growing more quickly than those outdoors.
Over the past few weeks some of these plants have really shot up quite dramatically. The corn and the peas have made particularly impressive strides upward. I guess I should also draw attention to the banana plant, which has really be pumping out new and big leaves quite consistently.
The peas have really amazed me. Over the past few days quite a number of flowers began to bloom. More recently these blooms have turned into pea pods. I would guess that at the moment I have close to a dozen pea pods at various stages of development (though none are particularly large yet).
Hopefully the sun that has been forecast for the end of the week will help spur some growth in the plants on the balcony which have thus far been somewhat sluggish.
Not as bad as I thought
For years nutritional information has been noticeably absent from beer and alcohol packaging in Canada. For the most part I was in favour of this informational absence as I could then blissfully ignore the nutritional deficiencies of such beverages. Of course, that this was the case always seemed to be a condition that was likely to change, likely sooner rather than later (even though I am sure that brewers and consumers both wanted such information to remain absent from such packaging).
Anyway, last night, for the first time in my life, I encountered a case of beer with nutritional information (does this signify a sea change in beer packaging?). While the white box containing the nutritional information highlighted some of the nutritional deficiencies of beer, it also provided a few pleasant surprises about the more positive nutritional attributes of beer (such as the presence of both fibre and protein).
I decided to compare the nutritional provided on the beer packaging with a few other beverages and some cookies. As far as I am concerned, it seems that the beer compared favourably to these other products (particularly the ginger ale).
So it seems that my deepest fears about nutritional information appearing on beer packaging were unfounded. Amazingly, beer does surprisingly well in comparison with other forms of junk food.
Anyway, last night, for the first time in my life, I encountered a case of beer with nutritional information (does this signify a sea change in beer packaging?). While the white box containing the nutritional information highlighted some of the nutritional deficiencies of beer, it also provided a few pleasant surprises about the more positive nutritional attributes of beer (such as the presence of both fibre and protein).
I decided to compare the nutritional provided on the beer packaging with a few other beverages and some cookies. As far as I am concerned, it seems that the beer compared favourably to these other products (particularly the ginger ale).
So it seems that my deepest fears about nutritional information appearing on beer packaging were unfounded. Amazingly, beer does surprisingly well in comparison with other forms of junk food.
Friday, June 04, 2010
A Few Quick Notes 435
-After something of a slow and rainy start today turned into a rather nice day. By about 6:30 PM the sun was out and the temperature was quite pleasant. Fortunately I was able to take advantage of some of this nice weather.
-Though it is somewhat late on a Friday night, just a few minutes ago I put a batch of brownies in the oven. This is a little bit strange for me as I am not really a brownie person. I decided upon this recipe as it seemed pretty straightforward and I had all of the ingredients in the apartment. I am curious about how these will turn out as the recipe seems to rely on whipped eggs rather than any sort of leavening agent to reduce the density of the resulting brownies.
-It seems that over the course of the past few weeks I have been doing chin-ups less frequently. I think that my success with clapping chin-ups provided me with a sense of accomplishment that I then allowed myself to use an excuse not to do them regularly. Hopefully in the coming days and weeks I can get back into the routine of cranking out a few chin-ups a few times a day.
-Our Ultimate season is scheduled to start on Sunday. While there is still some confusion about who will be on our team, I am looking forward to again regularly playing Ultimate. Hopefully the confusion regarding team membership won't overshadow the rest of the experience.
-Though they haven't been receiving much sun lately, my balcony garden does seem to be showing some signs of growth. Hopefully within a day or two I will be able to provide a more detailed report.
-Tonight while at the local fancy-food grocery store I noticed that they were selling coffee plant starter kits. Not surprisingly, I broke down and purchased one. As some of you may know, my search for coffee plant seeds is how I found out about tobacco seeds, a type of plant I have now been growing for almost a year. As it seems that coffee seed germination is slow, I don't expect to have much progress to report on this front until late summer or early fall.
-Though it is somewhat late on a Friday night, just a few minutes ago I put a batch of brownies in the oven. This is a little bit strange for me as I am not really a brownie person. I decided upon this recipe as it seemed pretty straightforward and I had all of the ingredients in the apartment. I am curious about how these will turn out as the recipe seems to rely on whipped eggs rather than any sort of leavening agent to reduce the density of the resulting brownies.
-It seems that over the course of the past few weeks I have been doing chin-ups less frequently. I think that my success with clapping chin-ups provided me with a sense of accomplishment that I then allowed myself to use an excuse not to do them regularly. Hopefully in the coming days and weeks I can get back into the routine of cranking out a few chin-ups a few times a day.
-Our Ultimate season is scheduled to start on Sunday. While there is still some confusion about who will be on our team, I am looking forward to again regularly playing Ultimate. Hopefully the confusion regarding team membership won't overshadow the rest of the experience.
-Though they haven't been receiving much sun lately, my balcony garden does seem to be showing some signs of growth. Hopefully within a day or two I will be able to provide a more detailed report.
-Tonight while at the local fancy-food grocery store I noticed that they were selling coffee plant starter kits. Not surprisingly, I broke down and purchased one. As some of you may know, my search for coffee plant seeds is how I found out about tobacco seeds, a type of plant I have now been growing for almost a year. As it seems that coffee seed germination is slow, I don't expect to have much progress to report on this front until late summer or early fall.
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Another former MLA is implicated?
As many of you may recall, several months ago Nova Scotia's Auditor General uncovered a series of "inappropriate" expenditures made by the province's MLAs. At the time of this first announcement it was suggested that while some of the expenses did break some of the rules the abuses were not of a criminal nature. A February 3, 2010 CBC web story points out the that the Auditor General "said he found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing." For the next couple of weeks this was the line on the story: excessive, but legal expenditures.
Shortly after the story broke it was announced that the Auditor General would be conducting a 'forensic audit' on MLA expenditures. On February 12, 2010 CBC reported that the Auditor General was "doing this because he has received new information from the public, the media and from his own fact finding over the past number of days." This means that within less than two weeks of the publication of his initial report the Auditor General began to question the quality of his own findings. Strangely (or not surprisingly), even in light of this acknowledgement of the insufficiency of the findings, Dexter continued to insist that a more in-depth investigation was not required.
In March, after the sudden resignations of Richard Hurlburt and Dave Wilson, the NDP suspended Trevor Zinck from its caucus. Interestingly, at the time CBC quoted Zinck as saying "This has got nothing to do - and I want to be clear on this - with the auditor general's report. I did fall behind in paying some bills … but everything has been put back in check. I've reassured the Speaker's Office as of this week I have a full-time assistant in place as of Jan. 25 and it's business as usual for this community." If Zinck is correct, and this has nothing to do with the Auditor General's report does it not suggest that there may be significant problems that have not even been investigated by the Auditor General? Does this development not also further call into question the utility and comprehensiveness of the original report?
In mid-May the Auditor General referred the cases of 1 current and 4 former MLAs to the RCMP for further investigation, suggesting that he things that there may have been criminal wrong-doing in these cases. These developments lead me to a number of questions about the original report. Firstly, how comprehensive was the original report if within a few months the findings of the original report are called into question by subsequent investigations? Secondly, to what extent have these developments undermined public trust in the Office of the Auditor General? If in February we are told that there do not appear to be signs of criminal wrong-doing only to find out in May that 5 cases have been referred to the police how do we know that we can trust any of the other findings that come from this office.
Of course, any confidence the public still has in the office might be further shaken by the fact that yet another former MLA has been referred to the RCMP for investigation, though this time because the Speaker's office uncovered problems with expense claims. Because they are a former MLA it seems likely that the problems were found with old rather than new expense claims, claims that I would have assumed had been examined by the Auditor General. How is it possible that after two audits new problems are being uncovered? How can the government maintain, with a straight face, that the investigations that have taken place thus far are sufficient even when further problems have been uncovered after each investigation?
Shortly after the story broke it was announced that the Auditor General would be conducting a 'forensic audit' on MLA expenditures. On February 12, 2010 CBC reported that the Auditor General was "doing this because he has received new information from the public, the media and from his own fact finding over the past number of days." This means that within less than two weeks of the publication of his initial report the Auditor General began to question the quality of his own findings. Strangely (or not surprisingly), even in light of this acknowledgement of the insufficiency of the findings, Dexter continued to insist that a more in-depth investigation was not required.
In March, after the sudden resignations of Richard Hurlburt and Dave Wilson, the NDP suspended Trevor Zinck from its caucus. Interestingly, at the time CBC quoted Zinck as saying "This has got nothing to do - and I want to be clear on this - with the auditor general's report. I did fall behind in paying some bills … but everything has been put back in check. I've reassured the Speaker's Office as of this week I have a full-time assistant in place as of Jan. 25 and it's business as usual for this community." If Zinck is correct, and this has nothing to do with the Auditor General's report does it not suggest that there may be significant problems that have not even been investigated by the Auditor General? Does this development not also further call into question the utility and comprehensiveness of the original report?
In mid-May the Auditor General referred the cases of 1 current and 4 former MLAs to the RCMP for further investigation, suggesting that he things that there may have been criminal wrong-doing in these cases. These developments lead me to a number of questions about the original report. Firstly, how comprehensive was the original report if within a few months the findings of the original report are called into question by subsequent investigations? Secondly, to what extent have these developments undermined public trust in the Office of the Auditor General? If in February we are told that there do not appear to be signs of criminal wrong-doing only to find out in May that 5 cases have been referred to the police how do we know that we can trust any of the other findings that come from this office.
Of course, any confidence the public still has in the office might be further shaken by the fact that yet another former MLA has been referred to the RCMP for investigation, though this time because the Speaker's office uncovered problems with expense claims. Because they are a former MLA it seems likely that the problems were found with old rather than new expense claims, claims that I would have assumed had been examined by the Auditor General. How is it possible that after two audits new problems are being uncovered? How can the government maintain, with a straight face, that the investigations that have taken place thus far are sufficient even when further problems have been uncovered after each investigation?
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
A Few Quick Notes 434
-After a morning and early afternoon of overcast and ominous-looking skies it has finally started to rain heavily. At the moment, though this wasn't the case a few minutes ago, Environment Canada is forecasting thundershowers along with the rain. Given the intensity of the rain and the grayness of the skies I guess I am willing to accept thundershowers as a possibility, even if they haven't been in earlier iterations of today's forecast.
-Late yesterday afternoon, after yesterday's post, I figured out why there was so much noise coming from the upstairs apartment. It seems that the carpets were being professionally cleaned. The cleaning was preceded and followed by furniture moving. This would also explain why we didn't hear much vacuuming yesterday.
-This morning, for breakfast, I made some bran muffins.
I was pretty pleased with the result, they were much moister and tastier than many that I have made in the past. I was pretty sure that this would be the outcome when I first examined the recipe (how can one go wrong when you use brown sugar, molasses and butter in the same recipe?).
-I think that I may make another batch of pasta this afternoon. This time, for the first time in my life, I will try to use a pasta press. My hope is that this will speed up the operation dramatically.
-Last night a poli sci friend called to see if I would be attending a poli sci grad student get-together. After a little bit of internal and external hemming and hawing I decided to attend (largely because of the promised attendance of the aforementioned friend). As it turned out, when I arrived I was able to find none of the other students expect this one friend and his wife. Instead of staying in a bar (three of the four of us were non-drinkers) we headed to a neighbouring coffee shop and had a very enjoyable get-together.
-While at the grocery store this afternoon I was able to pick up quite a number of sweet deals. In addition to the sales I expected to find (such as the buy one get one free pork tenderloin deal) I also came across a somewhat impromptu bargain section in which all items were priced at 50 cents (less the 10% student discount). I think I picked up 5 packages of wafers, 6 or 7 packages of tea, and a few other odds and ends. Hopefully I will be able to restrain myself from making a return trip later this afternoon just for the hot deals.
-Late yesterday afternoon, after yesterday's post, I figured out why there was so much noise coming from the upstairs apartment. It seems that the carpets were being professionally cleaned. The cleaning was preceded and followed by furniture moving. This would also explain why we didn't hear much vacuuming yesterday.
-This morning, for breakfast, I made some bran muffins.
I was pretty pleased with the result, they were much moister and tastier than many that I have made in the past. I was pretty sure that this would be the outcome when I first examined the recipe (how can one go wrong when you use brown sugar, molasses and butter in the same recipe?).
-I think that I may make another batch of pasta this afternoon. This time, for the first time in my life, I will try to use a pasta press. My hope is that this will speed up the operation dramatically.
-Last night a poli sci friend called to see if I would be attending a poli sci grad student get-together. After a little bit of internal and external hemming and hawing I decided to attend (largely because of the promised attendance of the aforementioned friend). As it turned out, when I arrived I was able to find none of the other students expect this one friend and his wife. Instead of staying in a bar (three of the four of us were non-drinkers) we headed to a neighbouring coffee shop and had a very enjoyable get-together.
-While at the grocery store this afternoon I was able to pick up quite a number of sweet deals. In addition to the sales I expected to find (such as the buy one get one free pork tenderloin deal) I also came across a somewhat impromptu bargain section in which all items were priced at 50 cents (less the 10% student discount). I think I picked up 5 packages of wafers, 6 or 7 packages of tea, and a few other odds and ends. Hopefully I will be able to restrain myself from making a return trip later this afternoon just for the hot deals.
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