Caught in the act

Since my flurry of squirrel related posts a few days ago I've intermittently been trying to memorialize our pesky squirrel in a time-lapse film.  Until this morning I've been entirely unsuccessful and was evening starting to think that my recently installed ultrasonic rodent annoyer may have been working.

Of course today I've caught the squirrel out in various plants a few times.  Bummer.

On the upside, I was finally able to get some footage of it doing its thing in a few of the plants.

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I really have no idea why it keeps digging deep into these pots.  I don't think that there's anything at the bottom of these pots that the squirrel could possibly find useful.  Maybe at this point it's just trying to annoy me?

Third time's a charm?

So when I just went back to refill up my coffee mug I again noticed that a squirrel was digging around in a few of the plants.

This time instead of grabbing my water squirter I reverted to loud noise making.  Though the squirrel didn't immediately leave the balcony it didn't take too long before it was at the furthest point away from me and then looking an escape route.

Amazingly, this time, instead of just jumping off of the side of the balcony, the squirrel climbed up one of the support beams and then into a tree.

I'm not if I should be tricked into thinking that this is a different, smarter, squirrel or if the first squirrel has finally realized that just jumping from a third storey balcony onto a garage roof below is not the best idea.

Just to be clear, until today I'd only actually seen the squirrels in the plants one time (though they frequently leave evidence of their visits).  I have no idea why they keep visiting today, but hopefully I've seen the last of them for the day (but I guess I thought the same thing the first time I saw a squirrel make a hail Mary blind jump from the balcony to a roof below).

Damn thing just came back

So I just went out to refill my coffee cup and look at our plants again and again found a damn squirrel messing things up.

This time I was a little bit more careful about my closing the door thing and the squirrel was definitely less responsive to the squirting water thing.  Instead of leaving the balcony it just climbed around and tried to hide.  Of course because there aren't many hiding places on our small balcony this wasn't an entirely effective tactic.

Of course eventually the squirrel decided not to share the balcony with me anymore and again jumped from the side rail balcony across our car and onto the garage roof.  Again my stomach was in my throat as I worried that I may have to deal with a seriously injured squirrel.  Fortunately, like the last time, the squirrel again scurried across the garage roof to safety.

On the up side, I'm learning a little more about the jumps squirrels can safely land.  On the downside, I'm now pretty sure that making the jump the first time didn't scare the squirrel away from our balcony garden.

Maybe we'll have to hire an old guy with an air rifle to sit back there and mind the farm while we're away?

My heart is still pounding

I just went out to the kitchen to refill my coffee mug and take a look at the balcony garden.  While looking at our plants I noticed that one of our local squirrels was digging around in a few of the pots.

I opened the door and stepped onto the balcony to scare the squirrel away.  While reaching for my water squirter (a tool that I use because the squirrels don't seem to respond to me shouting at them) I noticed that there were actually two squirrels on the balcony and that the second squirrel was behind me.  Just as I was getting an accurate sense of the lay of the land squirrel-wise the second squirrel ran under the open balcony door and into our apartment.  At the same time the squirrel I first saw made an unseen departure from the balcony (but by this point I didn't really care where it went or what it was doing as long as it didn't involve the inside of our apartment).

The squirrel then ran around the kitchen at speeds that were unnecessarily fast.  Of course, in addition to running around it was also insistent on taking a convoluted path that seemed to involve jumping on just about everything around.

Almost before I knew what was happening it ran from the kitchen to the living room and continued jumping on things (including Jeannette's knitting box).  

At this point I was pretty worried.  Because I was standing between the animal and the door I was fearful that the squirrel would make its way further into the apartment and maybe even try to stake out a hiding place rather than run through me towards the exit.  And because I couldn't see how to get the squirrel between my body and the door I was worried that any step towards the living room might exacerbate the situation.

Fortunately once the squirrel entered the living room it cut left into the main part of the room and I was able to slip into the room and put the squirrel between my body and the door.  Of course, even though the squirrel was where I wanted it, it's not as though my body was an impenetrable shield that protected the rest of the apartment (all the squirrel needed to do to get past me was run around me).

Fortunately, I think the squirrel was less interested in being in our apartment than I was in having it there.  Once I was in position it ran out of the living room, through the kitchen, and right off the side of the balcony.

All of a sudden the squirrel was flying through the air, seemingly heading towards the pavement two storeys below.  Amazingly, despite the apparent lack of planning on the squirrel's part, the squirrel managed to leap off the balcony, make it all the way over our parked car, and land on a section of garage roof on the other side.  From there the animal, seeming uninjured, scurried away across the roof to safety.

Do you think it's too much to expect that this near death experience will be enough to scare the squirrels away from their now daily destructive visits to our balcony garden?  I really hope so because the visits are becoming more regular and more destructive.  At this point we're hardly harvesting anything because the squirrels keep destroying the fruits of our labour just as they start to ripen (and sometimes even before they start to ripen).

With (a) great car comes (a) great responsibility (to go on road trips)

A few weeks ago, long before we'd even thought about acquiring a car, my friend Nicole mentioned that at the end of August she would be in Montreal for a few days.  At the time the distance, though it is only 200 km, seemed almost unimaginably far.  And while I hadn't completely written off the idea of somehow making it to Montreal for a visit, it certainly seemed a little unlikely.

Of course once we had our car in hand travelling the 200 km to Montreal didn't seem so challenging (and what better way spend time with a new car than by taking it out for an extended test drive?).

So with the transportation issue out of the way I now just had to play catch up and get the dates of Nicole's visit.  Amazingly, after what seemed like just a few minutes I got a response back from Nicole indicating that she'd just arrived that day.  Within a few emails we'd arranged to meet for lunch the following day.

Though we had to deal with a few construction related delays while making our way out of Ottawa, the trip went relatively smoothly (though had our air conditioning been working it would have been even more pleasant).  The only noteworthy aspect of the trip, which was remarkably straight forward, was the traffic.  Though I haven't made the drive before it seemed that there was a fair bit of traffic for a Saturday morning in August (though this feeling may just be because I'm still unfamiliar with the traffic patterns).

In just about two hours from our time of departure we were in the Mile End neighbourhood of Montreal.  Despite the fact that I hadn't spent much time in the area there were a few names and locations that were familiar.

After a short stroll around the surrounding area we made our way meet Nicole (it being a hot and sunny day we were looking forward to not only our rendezvous but also the restaurant's shade and water).

It was really great to catch up on post-library school goings on a hear a little about life in New Zealand.

After a very pleasant lunch and chat we made our way over to my old stomping grounds.  I was able to show Jeannette where I used to live, work, and shop.  Unfortunately because of one-way streets and an unfamiliarity with streets from the perspective of a driver the trip to this part of town took a fair bit longer than it should have.

Despite the fact that I tend to think that I don't really miss Montreal all that much it was really nice to see the place again after about four years.  Despite the fact that there have been quite a number of changes in my absence, there are a remarkable number of similarities.  Maybe now that we're only a two hour drive away I'll have the chance to head back a little more frequently now.

Due to popular demand

Jeannette was a bit surprised that I didn't include a photo of our fancy new table in the last post.  To make up for my omission here's a photo of the table.

For better or worse (but probably worse) the table's base is a fair bit smaller than the table's surface.  Thus if one leans on the table they may end up toppling the items on the table into their lap.  Good thing we don't have too much stemmed glassware.

Isn't life exciting?

On Wednesday afternoon I received a call informing me that my recently ordered table was ready to be picked up on Thursday.  Much to my surprise, despite the fact that the store is closing and the table was suspiciously cheap, the call about the table's availability came right on time.

At about the same time I also received a call informing me the used 2000 Toyota Echo that Jeannette arranged to buy would also be available on Thursday.

Talk about synergy.

Now we could use the car to pick up the table, or at least that was the plan that was rapidly forming in my head.

On Thursday we bussed out to the car pick-up site and were back on the road within minutes.  Not surprisingly, our destination was the table pick-up site.  Of course, because it's construction season and because the loading dock is tucked away beneath a bridge getting to the pick-up point (even though it's only about 3 blocks from our apartment) took the better part of a half an hour.  Then, once we were finally on site, we found that the table was too wide to fit in either the back seat or the trunk.

So before we were back to the original table pick up plan - my hand-truck.

Of course the loading dock guys were amused to see that after the failed car-based load I came back with an even smaller means of conveyance.  Anyway, even if it looked a little funny, I made it back to the apartment with the table on the hand-truck in much less time than I spent driving around in circles trying to find the right one-way access point to the loading dock.

(I guess I somehow managed to spend more time and effort on the table pick up than I did on the new car details.  It's nice to know that even with the acquisition of a new vehicle I'm still not car (R)obsessed.)

Pretty good variety for a balcony

Today I harvested all four different varieties of beans we have growing on our balcony.  For maybe the first time in my balcony gardening career I have a harvest that is actually larger than a single meagre serving.  Exciting.

How are these not the subject of a major controversy?

While waiting for the bus on Rideau this afternoon Jeannette and I noticed a few symbols on a building across the street from us.  I was surprised that the symbols were still on public display.

Or maybe I'm just reading too much into this?

It finally happened

For quite a while I've been wondering when I would first get to experience a bus-other vehicle accident.

Well, last night the answer was revealed to me with a thump as the bus I was riding in clipped the mirror of a car it was passing with a loud thump.

Of course because this was my first such accident I wasn't up on the protocol.  And despite the fact that most of the passengers soon exited the bus I wasn't sure if this is what I should be doing, or if another bus would be sent to pick us up.

After speaking to the bus driver I learned that they wouldn't be sending another bus for us, but that we were supposed to walk to the next stop and pick the bus up there.  And because of my slight delay in getting off of the bus I almost missed the bus at the next stop - and that would have really been a bummer.

Anyway, I'm just hoping that yesterday's lite accident will be the one and only bus-other vehicle accident I'll have the opportunity to participate in.

A table in three prices

Today, while on our way back from lunch, Jeannette and I decided to visit a local department store so that we could peruse the store's going out of business bargains (which were recently bumped up to up to 40% off).

After taking a quick look at the clothing and kitchen departments Jeannette reminded me that we should head to the furniture department we've been thinking about looking for a new dining table.  And wouldn't it be nice if we could get such a table at a deep discount?

Almost as soon as we arrived in the furniture department we realized that the store only had about four tables to chose from, and most were too large for our apartment.  So it didn't take us to long to focus our attention on a round 48 inch diameter solid-wood table that should actually fit in our apartment.

According to a price sheet on the table the table was $349, though we were expecting that there would be at least a 30% discount.

When we finally tracked down a non-furniture department employee (the only employee handy) he suggested that he would try to make sure to order us a table rather than sell us the floor model.  While we were both excited to buy a non-floor model table, the idea of ordering something in seemed a little strange considering that the store is in the midst of closing and they are very actively trying to sell their remaining stock.  So despite the absurdity of the proposition we decided to just go with the employee's suggestion.

Things became even stranger when we saw that instead of being applied to the price indicated ($349), the 30% discount was being applied to $189 (we still don't know where this price came from).

So instead of paying $349 - 30% for a floor model, the store (despite the fact that they're closing) is ordering us a brand new table at more then 60% off of the original price.  Maybe this kind of special math is why they're closing?

And to make things even more bizarre, when I came home I went online to find a listing for the table on the store's website and learned that online it's going for $319.

It's moments like these when I am quite happy to accept the mysterious ways in which the world works.

Neighbourhood sights

Despite the fact that most of the time our neighbourhood is kind of quite, there are occasionally a few funny or noteworthy goings on (such as the car accident two blocks from us that made the news this morning or the flipped semi from a few days ago at a different nearby intersection).

Maybe these are a few of the less noteworthy features of our neighbourhood?

So I think I've figured out where the local pizza fanatic lives.

And then yesterday I saw this cool bike as I was walking home.

Isn't Ottawa life exciting life?

Which is the greater journalistic sin?

Is it worse to make up a quote to complement your argument, a la Jonah Lehrer, or to plagiarize another author's work, a la Fareed Zakaria?  Or maybe they're both offences equally egregious sins?

The more I think about the issue the more I'm inclined to think that fabrication of content is a greater sin, and is generally more likely to cause more harm, than plagiarism, though that doesn't mean that plagiarism isn't problematic in its own right.

Is this really the best route?

I know that in Ottawa there designated routes trucks are supposed to take to cross the bridges into Gatineau/Quebec, but does it really make sense that trucks carrying unmilled lumber end up in the downtown core?

I would think that for the trip from the forest to the sawmill most truckers would do just about anything possible to avoid being anywhere near downtown Ottawa.

Maybe truckers like to show off to each other by citing their number of successful trips through truck unfriendly locales?

A Few Quick Notes 588

-Though today started off hot and humid, a few periods of rain and thunder showers have done a good job at bringing the temperature down by a few degrees.  Of course, it's still incredibly humid and sticky here.

-Because I couldn't talk Jeannette into going with me I had to go to the local busker event solo yesterday.  Despite the fact that it would have been nice to have someone to share the experience with, it was also nice to be able to not have to worry about causing someone to stay through a show they weren't enjoying.

After a somewhat lacklustre first performance (I think the heat likely had something to do with it) I happened to walk by another show just as it was about to start.  Like most of these shows the ramp-up was a little long-winded, but once they eventually got down to business they did a pretty good job.  Though they are likely not the only group with their own portable aerial gymnastics equipment on the busking circuit, they were certainly the first group I've seen with such a rig.

Oh, and it turned out that this group is based in Michigan.

-It was nice to have a little rain today so that I won't have to deal with the afternoon and evening watering sessions.  In addition to this natural watering session, the main development of the past few days is the ripening of our sweet peppers.

Maybe in a few days these three peppers will be ready for consumption?  I certainly hope so.

The rest of our plants seem to be fine, though nothing particularly exciting has been happening.  I'm starting to wonder if we might have enough time for a second planting of a few of them?

-Jeannette's tricked me into watching too much of the Olympic coverage.  I'm starting to look forward to upcoming events.  Ugh.

A Few Quick Notes 587

-We're in the midst of another hot and humid day in Ottawa.  I made the mistake of going for a short walk at about noon and was really feeling the consequences of my mistake by the time I returned home a little while later.

-Despite the fact that Jeannette isn't a fan of buskers and their ilk, she was kind enough to let me know about a busking festival currently taking place a few blocks from where we live.  Though I didn't go to any full shows today, I did walk buy just in time to see a grown woman stuff herself in a  small plexiglass box.

Though Jeannette definitely won't be joining me, I may try to head back at some point this weekend to see one or two of the shows.

-Despite a relatively good harvest a few days ago, things have taken something a turn for the worse in our balcony garden.

We woke up this morning to find that something, presumably a squirrel-like animal, did some substantial digging in a few of our pots.

So not only are we losing consumables, but finally we've started to lose plants because of this infestation (at least one of the two bean plants in this pot seems to have died).  I really hope this soon comes to an end otherwise we aren't going to have many plants left.

This turn of events is definitely something of a bummer.

-I've definitely fallen out of the habit of blogging regularly haven't I?

A Few Quick Notes 586

-After a few days of lower humidity levels we seem to be back in the sweat zone.  Maybe even more than my trip to Arizona the past few days have made it clear to me how much humidity makes a difference.  30 with lowish humidity is entirely tolerable if you have a fan.  22 and high humidity is a recipe for sweat and aggravation.  Hopefully we can slide back down the humidity scale in the coming days.

-It seems that our balcony garden is a favourite site for at least one of the neighbourhood squirrels.  Frustratingly the squirrel seems to be picking tomatoes and peppers and burying these finds in the other pots.  This is frustrating because we keep losing almost ripe food, and because I know that the squirrel isn't even eating or coming back for its treasures.

Though the tactic was borne of laziness, by leaving the porch light on last night I think I have found a way to discourage this visitor.  Hopefully the squirrel won't clue into the fact that the light being on doesn't mean that there are humans watching.

-Despite my best efforts, Jeannette's interest in following the Olympics has spilled over a little.  While I seem to be able to keep myself away from the live television coverage, I must say that I find some of the newspaper and social media coverage particularly consumable.  The very positive aspect of consuming sports content in this way is that I don't have to listen to the inane commentary that typically accompanies live sporting.  I have no idea why broadcasters are so afraid of letting viewers watch the sports uncommented upon.  Is this a weird hold over from the visual-free radio era?

-I guess today was Regatta Day in St. John's.  Apparently we are due for a Civic Holiday in Ottawa this Monday.  Exciting!

Update: Apparently the upcoming holiday is called Colonel By Day, which I can't help wanting to read as the first part of the following sentence: "Colonel by day, X by night."

Some thoughts on writing and related topics

A few weeks ago I remember reading a story about the so-called self-plaigarism of regular RadioLab contributor and New Yorker staff writer Jonah Lehrer.  Aside from the general topic of the story, a topic find inherently interesting, I was curious about the story as a regular listener to Radiolab.

At the time I presumed that this self-plaigarism angle would the last I would be hearing about the journalistic practices, if that is the appropriate term, of Lehrer.

Thanks to an article published on Monday that outlines a number of fabricated or misattributed Bob Dylan quotes in his most recent book, Lehrer's journalistic practices have once again come up for discussion.  Of course, unlike with the self-plaigarism issue, in this case Lehrer didn't walk away from the dust up with his job (he has now resigned from his post at The New Yorker).

While it's clear that for a reader or publication an author fabricating sources, quotes, or data is unacceptable and is a firing offence, how one should handle of 'self-plaigarism' is likely not quite as clear cut, and readers and employers may approach the matter differently.

From the perspective of a reader that an author revisits a topic (sometimes with passages take directly from earlier iterations of a work), but each time refining his or her approach, may not be problematic.  Despite the fact that such an iterative approach to writing may not be a particularly common practice in popular literature, there are areas of publishing - like some scholarly domains - where this approach is quite common (Lukes' multiple editions of Power: A Radical View is one such example that comes to mind).   Of course, as a reader I do like knowing when I'm encountering something that I may have read a version of before (While reading Carol Shield's Unless a few years ago I was haunted by a sense of deja vu while reading a scene about gifting a scarf only to realize some number of years later that I'd first encountered a similar passage in one of Shield's short stories.).

Of course it is also important to take into consideration the extent to which author continues to re-engage and refine the ideas and arguments are being examined.  If the 'self-plaigarism' is nothing more than a re-jiggering of paragraphs and paraphrasing of past publications without any new substance then this practice becomes almost valueless to most readers.  In such cases I am inclined to feel duped by the author - and that is almost never a pleasant feeling.

'Self-plaigarism' when viewed from the perspective of the publisher raises an entirely different set of concerns.  Firstly, at least as far as I can see, is the matter of copyright.  If the publisher of second version of the text doesn't provide proper attribution and attain appropriate permissions from the publisher of the first version of the text (maybe because they don't know that the writing isn't all original) might they not have copyright infringement issues on their hands?  And I can't see prominent publications appreciating 'their' content turning up in another publication.

Secondly, I would have to guess that most major publications don't like paying full price for 'recycled' content.  Assuming the ideas discussed in these pieces haven't really been overly refined from iteration to iteration, which I think is a relatively fair assumption in this case given the short/informal nature of many of the posts in question, I can imagine that this breaks the spirit and letter of agreements that authors have with their publishers about submissions.  (I also have to assume that readers don't appreciate paying full price for a publication that has supposedly 'new' content that they may have already read.)

Unfortunately, I think that this confluence of conditions (from both the perspective of the reader and the publisher) and stories like this that that vilify 'self-plaigarism' (and that don't differentiate its various forms) may mean that professional authors may be less likely to re-visit and revise work as time and their understanding of the topic progresses despite the fact that technologies currently available may facilitate such regular revisions of a work and allow the reader to see how this work has been changed with each new iteration.  Though I certainly hope it's not the case, I fear that the appearance of an ever-changing, always-a-work-in-progress text like Whitman's Leaves of Grass may be less likely now than ever before (I can only imagine that what an author was paid to revise a text in the manual type-setting days was relatively little compared to the overall cost of a new printing/edition and would require only marginally more work on the part of the publisher, whereas in the current context a new printing that also entails a re-formatted and re-written document substantially increases printing and re-publication costs relative to just re-printing the same text you already had on file).

I'm not sure that I've really brought this to a satisfying conclusion, but I guess I can always come back to a few of these ideas in the future and see if I can add anything new to the conversation.  If I do take such an approach I'll try to remember to send you back here so you can see what I wrote the first time around.