We are now part way through our second day in Michigan.
We crossed into Michigan in Marine City, a community across the river from Sombra, Ontario. We traversed the river in a ferry that was about to hold about 9 cars. All things considered, it was a pretty pleasant border crossing.
After visiting my Grandmother we made our way to a Big Boy for dinner. I think that we were all quite pleased with our meals (and I think that there is more that I wanted to say, but I don't have the time to outline these details right now).
I hope to have a little bit more time to detail a few things, but at the moment I am a little bit short on time and coherency.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Michigan -1
I am presently in the Halifax Airport waiting to board my flight to Toronto. So far the wait has been pretty good, but I guess I still have about 45 minutes go before boarding. Fortunately I was able to pick up a free paper while checking in (I left my copy at home this morning).
One of the neat things about my flight is that I should be meeting my parents on board. This morning my father was able to arrange the seat assignments such that I will get to sit next to my mother from Halifax to Toronto.
Of course this change in seating assignment meant that my seat assignment changed between the time I checked-in online yesterday and the time I checked in at the airport today. At first the staff person at the counter here was somewhat confused as she didn't understand why my seat would have changed. Only once I explained the "meeting my parents on the plane" thing did she understand what was going on. Anyway, hopefully all of this seat shuffling will work out and I will get to sit next to my mother.
It seems that once we are in Toronto we will be driving to somewhere in Toronto to meet Kirsten and then spending the night there. From this location, I don't know exactly where, we will be heading down to beautiful Michigan. I still don't know exactly where we will be heading once we cross the border. The more I hear about it the more I get the sense that no one knows exactly where we will be heading.
For better or worse I have brought some work for me to do while I am on this trip. I wonder if I should reasonably expect to do any of it? While I think that it is unlikely that I will have much time to spend on studying and work, I would like to find at least a few hours on a few occasions to tackle a few of these tasks.
I guess I might consider heading towards my gate. Getting this far (to the airport and through security) only to miss my boarding call would be rather frustrating.
One of the neat things about my flight is that I should be meeting my parents on board. This morning my father was able to arrange the seat assignments such that I will get to sit next to my mother from Halifax to Toronto.
Of course this change in seating assignment meant that my seat assignment changed between the time I checked-in online yesterday and the time I checked in at the airport today. At first the staff person at the counter here was somewhat confused as she didn't understand why my seat would have changed. Only once I explained the "meeting my parents on the plane" thing did she understand what was going on. Anyway, hopefully all of this seat shuffling will work out and I will get to sit next to my mother.
It seems that once we are in Toronto we will be driving to somewhere in Toronto to meet Kirsten and then spending the night there. From this location, I don't know exactly where, we will be heading down to beautiful Michigan. I still don't know exactly where we will be heading once we cross the border. The more I hear about it the more I get the sense that no one knows exactly where we will be heading.
For better or worse I have brought some work for me to do while I am on this trip. I wonder if I should reasonably expect to do any of it? While I think that it is unlikely that I will have much time to spend on studying and work, I would like to find at least a few hours on a few occasions to tackle a few of these tasks.
I guess I might consider heading towards my gate. Getting this far (to the airport and through security) only to miss my boarding call would be rather frustrating.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Big Day in Halifax Continued
Shortly after completing a post earlier today Jeannette and I made our way out to do some shopping. As we approach Spring Garden (not our shopping destination) it became clear that something was afoot.
As it turned out, we happened upon the Halifax Pride parade in full swing.
We saw some cross-dressers, something Jeannette was hoping for.
We also managed to catch a glimpse of a few hot firefighters.
Of course, most importantly, we were able to see Mr. Macpass, the Macpass mascot.
Then, after the parade and when we were on our way to our to the shopping centre, we happened to see an ambulance unloading a gurney and back board. After a few seconds we managed to figure out that the emergency service workers were dealing with an injury in the Halifax Commons skate park.
Quite a number of people were standing around and watching the proceedings. As you might have guessed, we did not veer from our course to get a look at the damage. Just seeing them load the back board into the impression in the skate park was enough.
Once we finished the first leg of our shopping trip we made a quick trip to one of the local grocery stores. As soon as we approached the store we could see that it was a good day to buy discount plants based on the displays on the sidewalk surrounding the store. Inside we managed to find a $3 coffee plant, a type of plant I have been looking for for about two years.
The above photo shows the plant after it had been re-potted.
I really can't wait to see this thing grow and develop coffee beans (though this will likely take some number of years).
This evening, though I really didn't expect to, Jeannette, Neil, Rebecca, and I all made our way to the Commons to watch Weezer and the Black Eyed Peas. We viewed the show from the area just beyond the event's fences. Though none of us are big fans of either of these groups, I think that it is safe to say that we enjoyed the show.
Not only was I pleased to see Fergie on the jumbotrons,
I was also quite pleased to hear the Black Eyed Peas perform the accompanying track of one of my favourite YouTube videos.
[Embedded video]
Eventually they broke out the lasers and the good times really kicked off.
If you are interested, here is something of a video retrospective of our evening.
[Embedded video]
Wow, so much more happened today than I originally expected would happen.
As it turned out, we happened upon the Halifax Pride parade in full swing.
We saw some cross-dressers, something Jeannette was hoping for.
We also managed to catch a glimpse of a few hot firefighters.
Of course, most importantly, we were able to see Mr. Macpass, the Macpass mascot.
Then, after the parade and when we were on our way to our to the shopping centre, we happened to see an ambulance unloading a gurney and back board. After a few seconds we managed to figure out that the emergency service workers were dealing with an injury in the Halifax Commons skate park.
Quite a number of people were standing around and watching the proceedings. As you might have guessed, we did not veer from our course to get a look at the damage. Just seeing them load the back board into the impression in the skate park was enough.
Once we finished the first leg of our shopping trip we made a quick trip to one of the local grocery stores. As soon as we approached the store we could see that it was a good day to buy discount plants based on the displays on the sidewalk surrounding the store. Inside we managed to find a $3 coffee plant, a type of plant I have been looking for for about two years.
The above photo shows the plant after it had been re-potted.
I really can't wait to see this thing grow and develop coffee beans (though this will likely take some number of years).
This evening, though I really didn't expect to, Jeannette, Neil, Rebecca, and I all made our way to the Commons to watch Weezer and the Black Eyed Peas. We viewed the show from the area just beyond the event's fences. Though none of us are big fans of either of these groups, I think that it is safe to say that we enjoyed the show.
Not only was I pleased to see Fergie on the jumbotrons,
I was also quite pleased to hear the Black Eyed Peas perform the accompanying track of one of my favourite YouTube videos.
[Embedded video]
Eventually they broke out the lasers and the good times really kicked off.
If you are interested, here is something of a video retrospective of our evening.
[Embedded video]
Wow, so much more happened today than I originally expected would happen.
Exciting changes at Montifax
As you of our most observant readers have likely already noticed, or those observant readers who read these posts in their original location, there have been a few changes here at Montifax as of yesterday evening.
The first exciting change is that we now have exciting buttons that allow our content to be more easily disseminated. No longer will you have any problems posting our content directly to Google Buzz or Facebook. Copying and pasting our links will be a thing of the past. I can already feel the waves of gratitude washing in around me.
The second exciting change is that our readers can now see that people haven't linked to our posts by heading to the "Links to this post" section of each post (a link that is conveniently located next to our other new addition).
B'ys, it's a new era here at Montifax.
The first exciting change is that we now have exciting buttons that allow our content to be more easily disseminated. No longer will you have any problems posting our content directly to Google Buzz or Facebook. Copying and pasting our links will be a thing of the past. I can already feel the waves of gratitude washing in around me.
The second exciting change is that our readers can now see that people haven't linked to our posts by heading to the "Links to this post" section of each post (a link that is conveniently located next to our other new addition).
B'ys, it's a new era here at Montifax.
Big Day in Halifax
While we didn't get our taste of Kid Rock and somebody else last night, it seems that Halifax will be in for some Black Eyed Peas and Weezer tonight as part of Halifax Rocks 2010. Not surprisingly, I don't have tickets for tonight's big event. Actually, I am not even sure that I would attend if I had free tickets. I think that the most I might consider doing in these circumstances is doing a walk-by on the event to get a sense of the scale of the spectacle.
Unlike last year's Paul McCartney show, this one seems to be generating much less buzz. Presumably this is at least in part because these acts don't have the same inter-generational appeal that McCartney did and the corresponding mid or late career types who could afford the more than $100 tickets.
Unlike last year's Paul McCartney show, this one seems to be generating much less buzz. Presumably this is at least in part because these acts don't have the same inter-generational appeal that McCartney did and the corresponding mid or late career types who could afford the more than $100 tickets.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Is this not backwards?
I presume that if there is a 30% chance of rain it means that there is a 70% chance that it won't rain. Some might even say that in such circumstances rain is less likely than no rain. This approach seems reasonable, or at least pretty close to reasonable, to me.
Apparently this isn't the approach that Environment Canada takes. Even though there is only a 30% chance of precipitation, and presumably a 70% chance of no precipitation, they have opted to go with the rain icon in their 7-day forecast.
Apparently bad forecasts aren't enough for Environment Canada, these guys also want to confuse the Canadian public by using forecast icons that don't really reflect the forecast.
Thanks guys, your off-beat, mischievous sense of humour never fails to warm my heart and bring a smile to my face.
Apparently this isn't the approach that Environment Canada takes. Even though there is only a 30% chance of precipitation, and presumably a 70% chance of no precipitation, they have opted to go with the rain icon in their 7-day forecast.
Apparently bad forecasts aren't enough for Environment Canada, these guys also want to confuse the Canadian public by using forecast icons that don't really reflect the forecast.
Thanks guys, your off-beat, mischievous sense of humour never fails to warm my heart and bring a smile to my face.
Monday, July 19, 2010
I don't know what to think about this
My former library school classmate (and Thursday games night regular) Ahniwa today posted a link to this story about the McMaster University library system getting rid of their reference desks. While I am sure that the University Librarian's stats are correct and that the library is experiencing fewer references requests each year, I wonder what the long-term impact of such a move will be. Will library users know that the library offers the range of services that they do? Is the library system inadvertently creating a generation of users (future graduate students and faculty members) unfamiliar with the types of services that might be provided by a academic reference librarian? Will library users be familiar enough with libraries so that they might initiate contact? Will it matter that "librarians will have their time freed up for interactions with faculty in their labs, offices and classrooms," as the University Librarian suggests will be the case?
As impressive as expected
As I mentioned earlier today, I harvested a handful of Purple Queen beans from my balcony garden. While these beans are purple when harvested I was lead to believe that they would turn green when cooked. It seems that I was not lead astray, they do turn green when boiled. I even have an enjoyable and informative video to demonstrate the transition.
[Embedded video]
In case you are curious, the beans were pretty tasty. Hopefully I will be able to harvest a few more in the not too distant future (though this doesn't look particularly likely).
Oh, and as I am being hassled to mention it, that the above video's director of photography was Jeannette. As usual, I performed all editing, directorial, and creative duties.
[Embedded video]
In case you are curious, the beans were pretty tasty. Hopefully I will be able to harvest a few more in the not too distant future (though this doesn't look particularly likely).
Oh, and as I am being hassled to mention it, that the above video's director of photography was Jeannette. As usual, I performed all editing, directorial, and creative duties.
First real harvest
Until today, aside from a few peas and some herbs, I hadn't really harvested much from my balcony garden. This failure to harvest didn't mean that plants weren't growing or producing lush foliage, but just that they weren't doing much more than that. Actually, many of the plants, particularly the tomato plants, are quite large and have been continuing to grow at somewhat astonishing rates. When the point of the whole operation is largely the creation of edible content this over-abundance of inedible content is a little less than completely satisfying.
Fortunately, all hope has not been lost. One of the brightest signs of potential have been a few of my Purple Queen bean plants, which for the past few days have been growing nice purple beans (I expect them to turn green when cooked). A handful of the beans finally grew large enough that I was able to harvest a handful of them today.
I am hoping that I may be able to prepare these (supplemented with a few purchased vegetables) for dinner tonight.
Hopefully at least a few of the scarlet runner bean and tomato flowers will also result in consumable fruits.
Fortunately, all hope has not been lost. One of the brightest signs of potential have been a few of my Purple Queen bean plants, which for the past few days have been growing nice purple beans (I expect them to turn green when cooked). A handful of the beans finally grew large enough that I was able to harvest a handful of them today.
I am hoping that I may be able to prepare these (supplemented with a few purchased vegetables) for dinner tonight.
Hopefully at least a few of the scarlet runner bean and tomato flowers will also result in consumable fruits.
All of this just so that a judge can have a few days off
A few minutes ago I decided that I should probably browse a few recent Canadian Orders-in-Council just to be up on the kinds of things that Cabinet is dealing with these days. Not surprisingly, many of these deal with things like appointments or amending previously passed Orders-in-Council. When everything was considered, the content of most of the Orders-in-Council that I examined was not particularly surprising or shocking (though in one case it did look as though Cabinet mistakenly referred to the NSERC Act instead of the SSHRC Act).
One Order-in-Council that did catch my eye had to do with the transfer of the position of Administrator (i.e the stand-in for the Lieutenant Governor) from the Chief Justice of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal J. Michael McDonald to a series of other individuals.
At first this seemed a little strange. Why would the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court lose this post only to have it filled by two other individuals in quick succession? Of course once I read the entire Order-in-Council, instead of just skimming it, things started to make a little more sense. It seems that McDonald will be unable to perform the duties of the Administrator for a few days (I am guessing that this need might related to a vacation or trip) and needed a fill-in. For whatever reason, instead of appointing just one fill-in to act as Administrator during McDonald's absence (July 12 to July 21), two Court of Appeal judges were appointed (one to take the first few days and the second to take that final few days).
Of course, to achieve this juggling of responsibilities six distinct directions had to be given. Firstly, McDonald had to be relieved of his duties as Administrator. Secondly, a first replacement had to be appointed. Thirdly, the first replacement's duties were to be terminated on a given date. Fourthly, a second replacement had to be appointed. Fifthly, the second replacement's duties were to be terminated on a particular date. Sixthly, McDonald had to have his duties reinstated. These orders were then repeated in French.
So now you have a little bit more information regarding the types of business Cabinet deals with.
One Order-in-Council that did catch my eye had to do with the transfer of the position of Administrator (i.e the stand-in for the Lieutenant Governor) from the Chief Justice of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal J. Michael McDonald to a series of other individuals.
At first this seemed a little strange. Why would the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court lose this post only to have it filled by two other individuals in quick succession? Of course once I read the entire Order-in-Council, instead of just skimming it, things started to make a little more sense. It seems that McDonald will be unable to perform the duties of the Administrator for a few days (I am guessing that this need might related to a vacation or trip) and needed a fill-in. For whatever reason, instead of appointing just one fill-in to act as Administrator during McDonald's absence (July 12 to July 21), two Court of Appeal judges were appointed (one to take the first few days and the second to take that final few days).
Of course, to achieve this juggling of responsibilities six distinct directions had to be given. Firstly, McDonald had to be relieved of his duties as Administrator. Secondly, a first replacement had to be appointed. Thirdly, the first replacement's duties were to be terminated on a given date. Fourthly, a second replacement had to be appointed. Fifthly, the second replacement's duties were to be terminated on a particular date. Sixthly, McDonald had to have his duties reinstated. These orders were then repeated in French.
So now you have a little bit more information regarding the types of business Cabinet deals with.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
A Few Quick Notes 442
-It was another bright and hot day in Halifax today (though Environment Canada suggested that there was a good chance that we would be in for showers and thunder and lightening).
-For the past few days it has been too hot for me to do much of anything. I really don't understand how people live and work in even hotter climates and locales.
-We finally managed our first win of this year's Ultimate season. Unfortunately we had to acquire the win through a default rather than skillful play. It was, nonetheless, nice to win.
-Yesterday I made some pesto pasta, by which I mean pasta that was coloured and seasoned with a number of herbs. The three herbs that I used were thyme, basil, and parsley, all of which were grown in my balcony garden.
-Things are looking up in the balcony garden. Not only are a few beans almost ready to be harvested, but most of the tomato plants now have flowers and are likely to soon have little tomatoes. A few of the other plants, including most of the herbs and the morning glories, are also growing quite nicely. I am not sure how much food I will get from this year's plantings, but I do think that things have been growing well enough for me to consider most of the plants a success.
-I need to get back to my reading.
-For the past few days it has been too hot for me to do much of anything. I really don't understand how people live and work in even hotter climates and locales.
-We finally managed our first win of this year's Ultimate season. Unfortunately we had to acquire the win through a default rather than skillful play. It was, nonetheless, nice to win.
-Yesterday I made some pesto pasta, by which I mean pasta that was coloured and seasoned with a number of herbs. The three herbs that I used were thyme, basil, and parsley, all of which were grown in my balcony garden.
-Things are looking up in the balcony garden. Not only are a few beans almost ready to be harvested, but most of the tomato plants now have flowers and are likely to soon have little tomatoes. A few of the other plants, including most of the herbs and the morning glories, are also growing quite nicely. I am not sure how much food I will get from this year's plantings, but I do think that things have been growing well enough for me to consider most of the plants a success.
-I need to get back to my reading.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Not much point in running
Last night Jeannette and I were walking along Purdy's Wharf in the the Halifax harbour, a location that happens to be adjacent to a naval base, when we heard a loud announcement stating that the HMCS Fredricton was on fire. Troops were requested to muster immediately.
Given that both of us were familiar with the concept of Halifax explosion and aware that the explosion was caused by a the combination of fire and military vessels our first reaction should have been to vacate the area. Clearly standing around and watching a naval ship catch fire is not a particularly good idea.
Of course, instead of immediately making our way back to a location that wasn't completely open and from which the HMCS Fredricton wasn't visible we decided to take a seat on one the benches on Purdy's Wharf and see if we could figure out what was going on. At first the only thing that happened was that we were treated to another instance of the original announcement, confirming that something was up.
Amazingly, though I guess we were a little ways away, it wasn't immediately obvious that emergency crews were springing into action or that any mustering was taking place. Fortunately there was also no smoke to indicate that the fire was particularly large or spreading.
After a few minutes of what appeared to be complete inaction (as far as we could tell we were the only ones even remotely concerned about the whole thing) another announcement was made which suggested that everything was under control and the the situation had been caused by something or other shorting.
Though in the end nothing much happened, this brief flash of excitement did provide me with an opportunity to learn three things:
1) This blog, and my desire to fill space on a regular basis, has encouraged me to look for content in the worst circumstances. For instance, instead of trying to leave the site of a possible naval disaster I took a seat facing the source of a possible explosion hoping to see any excitement so that I could relay the details to our large, loyal, and discerning readership.
2 The Canadian Forces provide high-quality, information rich announcements. Even though I was on Purdy's Wharf I knew exactly where the problem was almost immediately and shortly thereafter I knew how the situation had been resolved. I was able to leave the site comforted with the understanding that had neither missed anything or that I would possibly have to run from a giant explosion.
3) From the outside it is damn difficult to see that anyone is engaged in responding to an emergency announcement at this naval base. As far as I could tell there was just as much action on the base before the announcement as there was immediately after. It was strange to hear such a shocking announcement and then see absolutely nothing happen in response. It almost felt like base was already empty and that there was no one there to respond to such an announcement (though I am sure that this is not the case). Actually, where the hell was the fire boat that I know they have? Wouldn't you expect such a piece of equipment to be deployed in such a situation?
Given that both of us were familiar with the concept of Halifax explosion and aware that the explosion was caused by a the combination of fire and military vessels our first reaction should have been to vacate the area. Clearly standing around and watching a naval ship catch fire is not a particularly good idea.
Of course, instead of immediately making our way back to a location that wasn't completely open and from which the HMCS Fredricton wasn't visible we decided to take a seat on one the benches on Purdy's Wharf and see if we could figure out what was going on. At first the only thing that happened was that we were treated to another instance of the original announcement, confirming that something was up.
Amazingly, though I guess we were a little ways away, it wasn't immediately obvious that emergency crews were springing into action or that any mustering was taking place. Fortunately there was also no smoke to indicate that the fire was particularly large or spreading.
After a few minutes of what appeared to be complete inaction (as far as we could tell we were the only ones even remotely concerned about the whole thing) another announcement was made which suggested that everything was under control and the the situation had been caused by something or other shorting.
Though in the end nothing much happened, this brief flash of excitement did provide me with an opportunity to learn three things:
1) This blog, and my desire to fill space on a regular basis, has encouraged me to look for content in the worst circumstances. For instance, instead of trying to leave the site of a possible naval disaster I took a seat facing the source of a possible explosion hoping to see any excitement so that I could relay the details to our large, loyal, and discerning readership.
2 The Canadian Forces provide high-quality, information rich announcements. Even though I was on Purdy's Wharf I knew exactly where the problem was almost immediately and shortly thereafter I knew how the situation had been resolved. I was able to leave the site comforted with the understanding that had neither missed anything or that I would possibly have to run from a giant explosion.
3) From the outside it is damn difficult to see that anyone is engaged in responding to an emergency announcement at this naval base. As far as I could tell there was just as much action on the base before the announcement as there was immediately after. It was strange to hear such a shocking announcement and then see absolutely nothing happen in response. It almost felt like base was already empty and that there was no one there to respond to such an announcement (though I am sure that this is not the case). Actually, where the hell was the fire boat that I know they have? Wouldn't you expect such a piece of equipment to be deployed in such a situation?
Thursday, July 15, 2010
A Few Quick Notes 441
-Today was another nice and sunny day in Halifax. Actually, if anything, today may have actually been a little to nice and sunny to be pleasant. While I can't speak for others, I know that the weather conditions were causing me to sweat uncontrollably from shortly after 9:00 AM this morning.
-We didn't play our last scheduled Ultimate game because of inclement weather. Hopefully we will get a chance to play our upcoming game.
-I have been doing a fair bit of RA work and studying this week. This has been quite emotionally fulfilling and should also be rather financially satisfying.
-I have been on quite a tomato-less chili kick for the past few weeks. Yesterday, for the third time in about two weeks, I made a batch of tomato-less chili. I suspect that in another few days I will likely make another batch.
-I finally got around to taking care of a few garden related tasks this morning. Not only did I plant a few more beans but I also took care of a few pots of dead pea plants. Hopefully within a few weeks these new seeds will be producing beans for me to consume.
-We didn't play our last scheduled Ultimate game because of inclement weather. Hopefully we will get a chance to play our upcoming game.
-I have been doing a fair bit of RA work and studying this week. This has been quite emotionally fulfilling and should also be rather financially satisfying.
-I have been on quite a tomato-less chili kick for the past few weeks. Yesterday, for the third time in about two weeks, I made a batch of tomato-less chili. I suspect that in another few days I will likely make another batch.
-I finally got around to taking care of a few garden related tasks this morning. Not only did I plant a few more beans but I also took care of a few pots of dead pea plants. Hopefully within a few weeks these new seeds will be producing beans for me to consume.
A happening 24 hours in Halifax
Yesterday afternoon Neil and Rebecca returned to St. John's for a week of high-level math and family fun. Almost as soon as they left the peninsula I put myself in extrovert mode and started attending a series of public performances.
I started things off with a nice comedy show.
Several weeks ago I noticed that our neighbourhood blues bar, Bearly's, plays host to a weekly Wednesday night comedy show called Laughter Burner. What made me really want to give this show a shot was that it is hosted former Stop Podcasting Yourself guests, Dylan Rhymer and Ben Mills.
After several weeks of conflicting squash sessions, I was finally able find myself free on a Wednesday evening last night. Not only was I free, but I was also able to talk Jeannette into attending the show with me. At about 8:00 we made our way over (as that was the advertised starting time), though it turns out that we were there quite a while before things started. Actually, I am pretty sure that we were the first people there for the show (though there were a few others in the bar for standard bar related activities). Fortunately we were able to pass the time with a friendly discussion about the qualities of the actors who have portrayed James Bond and the relative merits of their portrayals of James Bond.
The show, which consisted of a number of short acts puntucated by draws for crappy prizes, was great. Aside from the hosts, we were also both particularly taken with the final act of the night, Peter White, a fellow sufferer of kidney stones. Though neither Jeannette nor I was lucky enough to win one of the sets of sub-par prizes (which always include a sample of cheese), we were both convinced that the show was worth our time and worth visiting again. Hopefully we will be able to make it again next week (or at least to another show in the near future).
Much to my surprise, the live performance theme was continued today when I met Jeannette (who provided the following photos) for lunch and we happened upon a jazz band performing next to the ferry terminal. After a few minutes we started to get the sense that the band we were seeing, 6:20 Jazz Lab from Mobile Alabama, was something of a religious group. The emphasis on spirituals was quite striking, as was the fact that the band had a "drama department." It seems that the drama side of the group was used to provide either dancers or costumed characters to match the theme of the song.
Based on some Googling, I got the sense that this band is in town for a number of Christianity-themed performances. Unfortunately I couldn't find a proper website for them, or a real explanation about what they were doing on the waterfront today.
Alongside this group, and seemingly somehow related to them, was former major leaguer Bernie Carbo. At the time I had no idea who Bernie Carbo was, or why he might be manning a personal appearance stand next to the Halifax harbour.
After I returned to the apartment I was able to learn that Carbo, most famous for his pinch hit home-run for the Boston Red Sox in game 6 of the 1975 World Series tied the game and preceded Carlton Fisk's game-winning 12th inning home run, suffered from a number of addictions before finding solace in Christianity. It seems that Carbo, after becoming a hairdresser, now spends much of his time with church related activities.
While hunting down information about Carbo and the 6:20 Jazz Lab I happened to swing by the TD Halifax Jazz Festival website and see that there was a free Klezmer performance at 2:30 this afternoon by the Halifax group Der Heisser. Because I didn't have anything scheduled for this afternoon I decided that I would try to swing by the jazz festival main tent and take in some of this show. Though I didn't stay for the entire show (it was a little hot for me), I did really enjoy the part of the show that I saw.
These three performances were really quite useful as I was once again able to confirm that I am really only interested in seeing performances that are indoors and that have proper seating. Having to brave anything less than ideal conditions really impedes my ability to enjoy a performance. That being said, I am considering attending another free jazz festival performance tomorrow afternoon.
I started things off with a nice comedy show.
Several weeks ago I noticed that our neighbourhood blues bar, Bearly's, plays host to a weekly Wednesday night comedy show called Laughter Burner. What made me really want to give this show a shot was that it is hosted former Stop Podcasting Yourself guests, Dylan Rhymer and Ben Mills.
After several weeks of conflicting squash sessions, I was finally able find myself free on a Wednesday evening last night. Not only was I free, but I was also able to talk Jeannette into attending the show with me. At about 8:00 we made our way over (as that was the advertised starting time), though it turns out that we were there quite a while before things started. Actually, I am pretty sure that we were the first people there for the show (though there were a few others in the bar for standard bar related activities). Fortunately we were able to pass the time with a friendly discussion about the qualities of the actors who have portrayed James Bond and the relative merits of their portrayals of James Bond.
The show, which consisted of a number of short acts puntucated by draws for crappy prizes, was great. Aside from the hosts, we were also both particularly taken with the final act of the night, Peter White, a fellow sufferer of kidney stones. Though neither Jeannette nor I was lucky enough to win one of the sets of sub-par prizes (which always include a sample of cheese), we were both convinced that the show was worth our time and worth visiting again. Hopefully we will be able to make it again next week (or at least to another show in the near future).
Much to my surprise, the live performance theme was continued today when I met Jeannette (who provided the following photos) for lunch and we happened upon a jazz band performing next to the ferry terminal. After a few minutes we started to get the sense that the band we were seeing, 6:20 Jazz Lab from Mobile Alabama, was something of a religious group. The emphasis on spirituals was quite striking, as was the fact that the band had a "drama department." It seems that the drama side of the group was used to provide either dancers or costumed characters to match the theme of the song.
Based on some Googling, I got the sense that this band is in town for a number of Christianity-themed performances. Unfortunately I couldn't find a proper website for them, or a real explanation about what they were doing on the waterfront today.
Alongside this group, and seemingly somehow related to them, was former major leaguer Bernie Carbo. At the time I had no idea who Bernie Carbo was, or why he might be manning a personal appearance stand next to the Halifax harbour.
After I returned to the apartment I was able to learn that Carbo, most famous for his pinch hit home-run for the Boston Red Sox in game 6 of the 1975 World Series tied the game and preceded Carlton Fisk's game-winning 12th inning home run, suffered from a number of addictions before finding solace in Christianity. It seems that Carbo, after becoming a hairdresser, now spends much of his time with church related activities.
While hunting down information about Carbo and the 6:20 Jazz Lab I happened to swing by the TD Halifax Jazz Festival website and see that there was a free Klezmer performance at 2:30 this afternoon by the Halifax group Der Heisser. Because I didn't have anything scheduled for this afternoon I decided that I would try to swing by the jazz festival main tent and take in some of this show. Though I didn't stay for the entire show (it was a little hot for me), I did really enjoy the part of the show that I saw.
These three performances were really quite useful as I was once again able to confirm that I am really only interested in seeing performances that are indoors and that have proper seating. Having to brave anything less than ideal conditions really impedes my ability to enjoy a performance. That being said, I am considering attending another free jazz festival performance tomorrow afternoon.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Are you kidding?
A few minutes ago I received a Weather Alert from Environment Canada stating in Halifax there were "No watches or warnings in effect." This seemed a little strange to me as the forecast for the past few days has called for thundershowers for yesterday and today (though we didn't get them yesterday). I decided to check the weather warnings page (I was directed there by the aforementioned alert) on the Weather Office site and I found the following image:
What is it Weather Office? Are we subject to a weather warning or not? And in either case why is there so much conflicting information? Also, why do you issue alerts every few hours even when you have nothing to report?
I don't know why I even bother checking Weather Office forecasts anymore, they seem to be wrong more often than they are right.
Update: Apparently a Weather Alert has now been formally issued for the Halifax region, though it took almost two hours for the news to make its way from Environment Canada to my computer.
What is it Weather Office? Are we subject to a weather warning or not? And in either case why is there so much conflicting information? Also, why do you issue alerts every few hours even when you have nothing to report?
I don't know why I even bother checking Weather Office forecasts anymore, they seem to be wrong more often than they are right.
Update: Apparently a Weather Alert has now been formally issued for the Halifax region, though it took almost two hours for the news to make its way from Environment Canada to my computer.
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Why is Canada called Canada?
I have recently been wondering why Canada is called Canada and why it doesn’t have a name more indicative of its federal nature.
If Canada began as the coming together of three colonies (the United Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia) to form a federation of four provinces why was the name of the resulting country Canada? That this became the name of the country seems particularly striking as in the years before confederation ‘Canada’ clearly referred to the area that is presently Ontario and Quebec.
If Canada began as the coming together of three colonies (the United Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia) to form a federation of four provinces why was the name of the resulting country Canada? That this became the name of the country seems particularly striking as in the years before confederation ‘Canada’ clearly referred to the area that is presently Ontario and Quebec.
All Tatted Up
I feel as though I now have had my fill of the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo for the year. I was able to go from someone feeling somewhat teased and wanting more on Tuesday afternoon to someone feeling completely satisfied today by seeing the full Tattoo show on Tuesday night.
Fortunately, I was able to acquire tickets for half-price by waiting until an hour and a half before the show to buy tickets. It seems that quite a number of senior citizens were taking advantage of the same deal. Actually, once we (Jeannette and I) got into the stadium it became clear that the Tattoo is particularly popular among the grey-haired set. As far as I could tell, almost everyone in attendance seemed to be a member of the grey-haired set. To be fair, there were a few current military types as well as a few families in attendance. Mid-twenties to early-thirties types were particularly rare.
For the most part the show consisted of military themed acts, though there were a few wild card performances scattered throughout the show. These non-military acts really made the experience feel more like some kind of pseudo-circus or variety show rather than a tattoo.
Military or military-style bands from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium performing individually and together made for a fair chunk of the show. Not that I should necessarily venture into the realm of criticism, I will go as far as to say that I thought that the band that performed the least appropriate music and in the least appropriate way was the Royal Band of the Belgian Navy (their use of an electric bass guitar was particularly off-putting, as was the fact that much of their performance took place while they stood in the shape of a heart). The massed band components of the show were pretty neat, particularly the finale when several hundred musicians were playing together.
The wild-card performances were really all over the place. There was a gymnastics/dance group from Estonia that performed a few weird pieces throughout the show. In one instance they performed a number in which 'pirates' were unable to capture treasure because of spirits protecting the treasure (at least that is what I took from the performance). There was also a bicycle team from the Netherlands who rode unicycles. There was a French gymnastics team composed of Parisian firefighters. There was a (excellent) humorous tumbling/trampoline routine performed by policemen from Hamburg. While these acts were pretty entertaining, they tended to feel a little less tattoo-like than some of the drill teams and bands did.
An aspect of the experience that is not explicitly related to show proper but that was particularly amusing was the audience survey that was placed on a limited number of seats in the stadium. Not only did this survey provide us with a sense of the order of acts in the show (which was nice because we didn't have a program), but it also provided us with snappy descriptions of each of the acts. For instance, the RCMP Ceremonial Troop's act was described as "RCMP, bands in red and white uniforms and girls playing spoons." Of course, the best part is that I don't remember girls playing spoons. They describe a performance by a groups from Newfoundland called Ashelin as "Five young girls sing on stools with video of Haiti on screen." And just for kicks, the description of the Juliana Bicycle team's second appearance in the show: "Gymnasts on world's smallest and tallest unicycles."
While I generally found the experience to be overwhelmingly positive, I was a little disappointed that a big deal was made about the fact that cameras were not going permitted in the Metro Centre. Almost as soon as the show started we were informed that many of the performers would be available for photo opportunities after the show, and it was implied that photography of the show was allowed as long as flashes were not used. While it is unlikely that any photos that I might have taken from the upper bowl of the stadium would have turned out well, I am a little disappointed that I didn't at least have the chance to try taking them.
One last thing, if there are 2000 performers (a number suggested on the Tattoo website) and I paid $20 for my ticket then I paid 1 cent per performer, a per performer rate that I don't imagine I will ever get the chance to match again (unless I attend the Tattoo again).
Fortunately, I was able to acquire tickets for half-price by waiting until an hour and a half before the show to buy tickets. It seems that quite a number of senior citizens were taking advantage of the same deal. Actually, once we (Jeannette and I) got into the stadium it became clear that the Tattoo is particularly popular among the grey-haired set. As far as I could tell, almost everyone in attendance seemed to be a member of the grey-haired set. To be fair, there were a few current military types as well as a few families in attendance. Mid-twenties to early-thirties types were particularly rare.
For the most part the show consisted of military themed acts, though there were a few wild card performances scattered throughout the show. These non-military acts really made the experience feel more like some kind of pseudo-circus or variety show rather than a tattoo.
Military or military-style bands from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium performing individually and together made for a fair chunk of the show. Not that I should necessarily venture into the realm of criticism, I will go as far as to say that I thought that the band that performed the least appropriate music and in the least appropriate way was the Royal Band of the Belgian Navy (their use of an electric bass guitar was particularly off-putting, as was the fact that much of their performance took place while they stood in the shape of a heart). The massed band components of the show were pretty neat, particularly the finale when several hundred musicians were playing together.
The wild-card performances were really all over the place. There was a gymnastics/dance group from Estonia that performed a few weird pieces throughout the show. In one instance they performed a number in which 'pirates' were unable to capture treasure because of spirits protecting the treasure (at least that is what I took from the performance). There was also a bicycle team from the Netherlands who rode unicycles. There was a French gymnastics team composed of Parisian firefighters. There was a (excellent) humorous tumbling/trampoline routine performed by policemen from Hamburg. While these acts were pretty entertaining, they tended to feel a little less tattoo-like than some of the drill teams and bands did.
An aspect of the experience that is not explicitly related to show proper but that was particularly amusing was the audience survey that was placed on a limited number of seats in the stadium. Not only did this survey provide us with a sense of the order of acts in the show (which was nice because we didn't have a program), but it also provided us with snappy descriptions of each of the acts. For instance, the RCMP Ceremonial Troop's act was described as "RCMP, bands in red and white uniforms and girls playing spoons." Of course, the best part is that I don't remember girls playing spoons. They describe a performance by a groups from Newfoundland called Ashelin as "Five young girls sing on stools with video of Haiti on screen." And just for kicks, the description of the Juliana Bicycle team's second appearance in the show: "Gymnasts on world's smallest and tallest unicycles."
While I generally found the experience to be overwhelmingly positive, I was a little disappointed that a big deal was made about the fact that cameras were not going permitted in the Metro Centre. Almost as soon as the show started we were informed that many of the performers would be available for photo opportunities after the show, and it was implied that photography of the show was allowed as long as flashes were not used. While it is unlikely that any photos that I might have taken from the upper bowl of the stadium would have turned out well, I am a little disappointed that I didn't at least have the chance to try taking them.
One last thing, if there are 2000 performers (a number suggested on the Tattoo website) and I paid $20 for my ticket then I paid 1 cent per performer, a per performer rate that I don't imagine I will ever get the chance to match again (unless I attend the Tattoo again).
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Time to get tatted up
It's once again that time of year in Nova Scotia, the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo is in town.
I attended my first tattoo related performance on June 30 in a nearby grocery store parking lot. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the prominence of the location, I was one of the few people who showed up to see the performance of the pipe band scheduled to play. After a few minutes, once it became clear that they were just going to play Scotland the Brave again and again, I made my way back home. This was a less than overwhelming and endearing concert experience.
Today, I decided to take in another performance. This time the performance was scheduled to take place on the Grand Parade and it was to included appearances by the National Band of the Naval Reserve (Canada) and the Paris Fire Brigade. Soon after Jeannette and I arrived on the scene things began to look amiss. The only performers we saw congregating near the performance area were members of the Naval Reserve band, the firefighters were nowhere to be seen. After about 40 minutes of band content it was clear that the firefighters wouldn't be showing up and that performance would consist entirely of the Naval Reserve band. While the band wasn't bad, they really weren't the reason I made my way downtown in the middle of the day.
I was really hoping to see something like this, or at least this kind of strength turned into a performance:
[Embedded video]
I am thinking about attending another lunchtime show on Thursday, though now that I have seen two somewhat disappointing performances I am a little worried that the Thursday trip may not be worth my while. In case you are curious, the act drawing me to Thursday's show is the Juliana Bicycle Team, a group from the Netherlands.
Apparently this is the kind of stuff they do at the main tattoo performances:
[Embedded video]
Tonight Jeannette and I are hoping to score some last minute 50% off tickets to the main tattoo performance. The only problem with our plan is that we won't know until just before the show is to start if we have tickets or not. If we don't get tickets tonight we will probably try again tomorrow night. I know it is a little sad, but the firefighters and the bicycle team are really two of the main draws to the full-fledged tattoo performance. I hope they are worth it (or at least worth 50% of regular admission).
I attended my first tattoo related performance on June 30 in a nearby grocery store parking lot. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the prominence of the location, I was one of the few people who showed up to see the performance of the pipe band scheduled to play. After a few minutes, once it became clear that they were just going to play Scotland the Brave again and again, I made my way back home. This was a less than overwhelming and endearing concert experience.
Today, I decided to take in another performance. This time the performance was scheduled to take place on the Grand Parade and it was to included appearances by the National Band of the Naval Reserve (Canada) and the Paris Fire Brigade. Soon after Jeannette and I arrived on the scene things began to look amiss. The only performers we saw congregating near the performance area were members of the Naval Reserve band, the firefighters were nowhere to be seen. After about 40 minutes of band content it was clear that the firefighters wouldn't be showing up and that performance would consist entirely of the Naval Reserve band. While the band wasn't bad, they really weren't the reason I made my way downtown in the middle of the day.
I was really hoping to see something like this, or at least this kind of strength turned into a performance:
[Embedded video]
I am thinking about attending another lunchtime show on Thursday, though now that I have seen two somewhat disappointing performances I am a little worried that the Thursday trip may not be worth my while. In case you are curious, the act drawing me to Thursday's show is the Juliana Bicycle Team, a group from the Netherlands.
Apparently this is the kind of stuff they do at the main tattoo performances:
[Embedded video]
Tonight Jeannette and I are hoping to score some last minute 50% off tickets to the main tattoo performance. The only problem with our plan is that we won't know until just before the show is to start if we have tickets or not. If we don't get tickets tonight we will probably try again tomorrow night. I know it is a little sad, but the firefighters and the bicycle team are really two of the main draws to the full-fledged tattoo performance. I hope they are worth it (or at least worth 50% of regular admission).
Monday, July 05, 2010
I-Day +1
Last week a number of us noticed that one of the local grocery stores was selling cake mix and icing on a buy one get one free basis. Though I normally am inclined to prepare my cakes from scratch, for some reason I was tempted by this offer, the only thing that was missing was a justification to make the cake.
Seemingly out of nowhere Neil suggested that we might try celebrating Independence Day (a holiday I am not always inclined to celebrate), though particulars of the celebration were not immediately forthcoming. Almost as soon as this was suggested I thought of the aforementioned cake deal and suggested that I might make such a cake.
While we didn't quite manage to find time to engage in our celebratory activities yesterday, this afternoon I was able to bake the cake.
As you can see, the cake has been appropriately decorated to reflect that we missed the holiday proper by a day.
Hopefully the cake tastes better than it looks.
Seemingly out of nowhere Neil suggested that we might try celebrating Independence Day (a holiday I am not always inclined to celebrate), though particulars of the celebration were not immediately forthcoming. Almost as soon as this was suggested I thought of the aforementioned cake deal and suggested that I might make such a cake.
While we didn't quite manage to find time to engage in our celebratory activities yesterday, this afternoon I was able to bake the cake.
As you can see, the cake has been appropriately decorated to reflect that we missed the holiday proper by a day.
Hopefully the cake tastes better than it looks.
Saturday, July 03, 2010
The Badness
This afternoon Jeannette and I were walking along the Halifax waterfront boardwalk when we heard two women ask their friend to take their picture in front of The Badness. At first, like the woman who had been asked to take the photo, we had no idea what The Badness was or why these women would want their picture taken with it. Fortunately, within a few seconds the two women made their way to The Badness for their photo.
It turns out that The Badness was a Corvette with the vanity license plate "BADNESS." This car, with its amazing license plate, drew our attention to the fact that we were surrounded by Corvettes, many of which had rather amazing license plates. As it happened, unbeknownst to us, we managed to walk into some kind of Maritimes Corvette show. I would guess that there were about 50 Corvettes of various vintages.
Of course, there is The Badness, the original and still the best.
But we shouldn't forget the ever impressive "COBRA 1,"
or the car that is always ready to rock, "RDY2RCK,"
or the car that is always ready, "4ACTION,"
and last but not least, the car that brings to mind the manliest of the plants, "HERBS."
What a car show.
It turns out that The Badness was a Corvette with the vanity license plate "BADNESS." This car, with its amazing license plate, drew our attention to the fact that we were surrounded by Corvettes, many of which had rather amazing license plates. As it happened, unbeknownst to us, we managed to walk into some kind of Maritimes Corvette show. I would guess that there were about 50 Corvettes of various vintages.
Of course, there is The Badness, the original and still the best.
But we shouldn't forget the ever impressive "COBRA 1,"
or the car that is always ready to rock, "RDY2RCK,"
or the car that is always ready, "4ACTION,"
and last but not least, the car that brings to mind the manliest of the plants, "HERBS."
What a car show.
A Few Quick Notes 440
-Today, like yesterday and the day before yesterday, has been quite nice. Actually, in all three cases I might almost say that at some points during the day it has been a little too warm and the sun a little too intense. I guess I shouldn't complain as the sun being too intense is certainly more pleasant than most other options.
-The Queen has finished her visit to Halifax, though as far as I know she is still in Canada. For the most part things seem to have gone well, though her presence did muddle traffic throughout Halifax for a few days.
-A week ago during an Ultimate game I dove and then landed on my fist. Since then the area of my chest on which I landed has been hurting. The whole feeling is sadly quite reminiscent of the time I broke my rib a few years ago. Thus, after almost two weeks of continued pain, I am becoming more and more certain that I did in fact break one of my ribs by landing on my fist. I guess the good news is that now that I am two weeks in it is less painful than it was in the days after the experience. Hopefully within a few weeks I will be back to normal.
-We have another Ultimate game tomorrow. Hopefully we won't be trounced quite as badly as we were last weekend.
-A few days ago I mentioned that I might try to post a few photos of the Queen. Obviously that didn't happen. Here is one that also includes many of the other bigwigs attending the Garrison Grounds event.
It was basically as exciting as this photos would suggest.
-The Queen has finished her visit to Halifax, though as far as I know she is still in Canada. For the most part things seem to have gone well, though her presence did muddle traffic throughout Halifax for a few days.
-A week ago during an Ultimate game I dove and then landed on my fist. Since then the area of my chest on which I landed has been hurting. The whole feeling is sadly quite reminiscent of the time I broke my rib a few years ago. Thus, after almost two weeks of continued pain, I am becoming more and more certain that I did in fact break one of my ribs by landing on my fist. I guess the good news is that now that I am two weeks in it is less painful than it was in the days after the experience. Hopefully within a few weeks I will be back to normal.
-We have another Ultimate game tomorrow. Hopefully we won't be trounced quite as badly as we were last weekend.
-A few days ago I mentioned that I might try to post a few photos of the Queen. Obviously that didn't happen. Here is one that also includes many of the other bigwigs attending the Garrison Grounds event.
It was basically as exciting as this photos would suggest.
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