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.

A Few Quick Notes 212

-Today the people of St. John's have had the pleasure of experiencing period of sun and clear skies as well as longer periods of rain and wind. Fortunately, as the day heads towards evening things seem to be better and not giving too many signs of a return to the conditions that we experienced earlier in the day.

-I have an Ultimate game on Wednesday. This game will mark the beginning of the play-offs for our team. If we lose we will be sent to some kind of consolation pool while if we win we will have a chance to play for the tier championship. Assuming I am reading thing correctly, we will be playing Mike and Andrew's team, a team we have not yet played. Hopefully things will go well and we get passable weather and a good turnout.

-My parents went out for dinner this evening. This meant that I was able to have dinner along with Kirsten. This afternoon we decided that we would have bratwursts, cauliflower, boiled carrots, and perogies.

While I prepared the sausages and cauliflower on the grill and boiled the carrots Kirsten took care of the perogies.

Things turned out remarkably well. I enjoyed all of the dishes that we prepared. I was particularly impressed with the grilled cauliflower as it was both flavourful and crunchy. Unfortunately, I don't think Kirsten sampled the cauliflower before I put the leftovers in the fridge.

-This afternoon I started to pack up my belongings at my house-sitting house. I think that, for the most part, I have managed to round most things up, with the obvious exception being those things that I will still need to use between now and my departure.

What surprised me was how much I have managed to cart over to the house in the past two and a half weeks. Clearly I still need to work on reducing my reliance on things as they seem to still have my number and follow me where ever I go.

-My beans are still showing very few signs of progress, actually I might go so far as to say they are actually looking worse than they were a few weeks ago. The reason for this depreciation is some kind of plant eating organism that seems to be eating the blooms and leaves of the plants. Some of the plants have been turned into twig like structures in just a few days.

The only exceptions to this trend are the scarlet runner beans, several of which seem to be in passable condition. Some of these plants even have a few blooms, something that will hopefully lead to them bearing fruit in the coming days.

-On Friday night my friend Peter returned a Vinyl Cafe CD set that I had loaned him some number of months ago. In the time since he returned the discs my sister has started listening to them rather aggressively. I think that she actually managed to plough her way through the entire set in about a day and a half (which is pretty good considering she was doing other things during the day and night).

Just this evening I remembered that I had another such set. As we prepared dinner we listened to a few of the stories. As I type this she is listening to the remaining stories. The only problem with this aggressive listening style is that it means that in the very near future she will have no more new content to listen to, though this is presumably a consequence that she understands.

A Few Quick Notes 211

-When I awoke this morning I was shocked to find that the skies were
clear and the sun was shining. Apparently I missed the early morning
showers, which is just fine with me. Unfortunately, this great
weather is not expected to last, torrential downpours are predicted
for tomorrow (though Saturday is supposed to be nice).

-We played a very fun game of Ultimate last night. After a slow start
we managed to pull ahead and take a commanding lead. It was quite a
nice way to finish off the regular season.

Though we managed to win our last two games we are still solidly in
the middle of the pack in our tier. As I am not sure how final
rankings are to be determined I don't really know in which position
we will finish, though I am not sure that it really matters too much
as there are a few teams with similar records. I guess in the coming
days this will all be worked out.

-It seems that there is a most for Bitters trivia tonight. If I
manage to attend, as is my plan, I will have a two trivia night week.
This is something that hasn't happened for me since last summer.

-I am out of lunch food at my house-sitting house. I will need to
acquire some of this before I try to prepare my lunch for tomorrow.

-On Saturday I have a wedding to attend. Since I first received the
invitation in April I have been really looking forward to the event.
Hopefully all will go well.

A Few Quick Notes 205

-Today, just like yesterday, has been overcast and wet. It seems that
the trend may continue until tomorrow, which will likely cause the
postponement of the Royal St. John's regatta.

-Though I went to bed quite early last night I still feel quite tired.
Maybe I will need to get more than just one night of good sleep to
overcome the several weeks of poor sleeps that I have recently had.

-On Wednesday, Kirsten will be returning from her summer trip. I am
hoping that she can provide me with a few details about my apartment
and neighbourhood in Halifax.

-The cats at place where I am presently house-sitting don't seem as
vindictive as the last cat I took care of. Not only do they not wake
me up in the night, they haven't yet dropped loads on the bathroom
sink (though they have missed the litter box at least twice already).

-About two days ago I read that in the late 1970s the PLO, then under
the leadership of Yasir Arafat, had a pipe band. I wonder if the band
wore kilts when they performed?

-Though I should have done this several weeks ago, I have started to
more actively think about my upcoming studies. Unfortunately, at
least one of the people I need to contact is out of town. I guess I
will have to work around this problem and eventually contact someone
else.

A Few Quick Notes 204

-The weather has taken a turn for the worse today. Just as I was head to work it started to rain, though not all that heavily. As the day has progressed things have really not gotten any better. It seems we are in for more of the same for the next few days.

-On Monday evening I had to mow the lawn at house at which I had been house-sitting. I really should have done this a few days ago, but I didn't.

Unfortunately, I was unable to locate the mower owned by the owners of the house. It seems that just before I arrived they loaned it to some friends. Though they left a phone number I wasn't able to reach these individuals.

In the end I borrowed my parents mower and transported it in the back of their car. Almost as soon as I arrived I could see that the mower wasn't doing a particularly good job of cutting. Once I moved to the backyard with its taller grass this deficiency became quite apparent.

At first I assumed that the poor cutting was because I had let the grass grow too long. It seems that this may have only been part of the problem. My father later informed me that the blade was also on the dull side and likely contributed to knocking down rather than cutting effect I was achieving.

Anyway, as soon as the grass gets a chance to stand up again it will have to be cut, which is frustrating as I did try to do a good job.

-Soon after the mowing debacle I went over to my new house-sitting house for a tour. Everything went quite well and I think that the experience should be positive. What I think will be the most consequential difference is that at the new place I won't have to take walk a dog, nor will I have to let a dog out to pee in the middle of the night.

-On the same evening I kept missing Neil's phone calls. It seems that he found out about an Air Canada seat sale and was interested in booking our tickets to return to St. John's at Christmas.

Eventually we were able to talk for a few minutes and I gave him the go ahead to book my ticket. When I checked my email later in the evening I found that he had booked tickets for the three of us.

-I was thinking that it would probably seem a little odd if I opened up a can of non-alcoholic beer with my lunch at work.

-As I was walking home from work earlier this week I noticed that they were cutting the plants that were growing in the field across from the Confederation building. When I took the dog for a walk later in the day I was able get a better sense for the extent of the operation, which was quite substantial.

Even with my previous reconnaissance missions I was somewhat surprised the next afternoon to find that the cuttings had been bailed and that a number of bails were sitting throughout the field. Presumably these will be used as some kind of forage, though I am not sure who gets to sell the goods.

When I passed through the field today I noticed that the bails had been covered in plastic and stacked on a truck. I imagine that by tomorrow afternoon that there will be very little evidence of bails and wildflowers that were both there earlier in the week.

-Earlier this evening I baked a Texas sheet cake for a co-worker's retirement get-together. As I know that she likes all things chocolate I am hoping that the cake will be well received. It seems that the event will be taking place tomorrow morning, only hours before this person will be done for good.

A Few Quick Notes 203

-So far today has been pretty nice. I woke up to find clear skies and
tolerable temperatures. The only problem with the weather so far is
that the humidity is a little higher than one might want (but at least
the temperature isn't in the 30s).

-On the 30th one house-sitting job will come to an end and another
will start. I will go from caring for a dog, a cat, and several fish
to caring for two cats. I really hope that the new cats will be a
little more respectful of my desire to have uninterrupted sleep
sessions than the current cat is. As much as I am not a fan of
picking up dog droppings, I do think that I will miss having a reason
to go on a walk every evening (and I know that without a explicit need
it won't happen).

-Amicus was down for some period of time this morning. This is at
least the second time this summer that I have encountered such
problems. I have not found an explanation for the service outage in
either instance.

-My beans seem to be doing well, though they aren't as tall as I might
like (maybe they are 'Tuckamore beans'). A few days ago my mother
transplanted a few of the plants to fill in the bed and also to allow
a more appropriate amount of space for each plant.

Though things seem to be going well I fear that if the rate of growth
that we are presently experiencing continues I won't have a chance to
consume any of the beans before I leave. I guess this isn't the end
of the world.

-The blackcurrants in our backyard are almost ripe. The raspberries
on my walk home from work are also almost ripe.

A Few Quick Notes 202

-After a brief interlude comprised of rain and fog we seem to be back to more palatable weather. Actually, what is particularly nice about the weather presently is that it is sunny without being oppressively hot or humid. Unfortunately, this is not forecast to carry over to the weekend.

-While walking the house-sitting dog today I was again shocked. Somehow the dog managed to defecate three times during a half-hour walk. Fortunately I had enough bags to clean up each time, though at the end I was really started to run low.

-On a related note, it seems that the world food shortage is affecting the availability of dog food as well. The type of dog food that the dog normally consumes is out of stock and may not be available for another three months. I am really not sure how long the 5 pound bag of food that I purchased yesterday will last, or what I will do if it runs out before I have finished with my house-sitting duties.

-For the first time in at least a year I will be hosting trivia at Bitters. While I have been meaning to do this for some period of time only when I found a potential co-host and didn't have a Ultimate game on a Thursday was I able to actually make plans to do it. Hopefully our questions will be well received.

-It seems that the replacement nut and bolt that I purchased for my bike may not actually be doing as good a job as I had hoped they would. My seat seems to wiggle up and down while I ride. Each time I ride I hope that my seat doesn't fall off at some point during my trip.

Though I had hoped it wouldn't come to this, I am pretty sure that I will need to buy a new seat and seat post.

-Last night I attended my friend Darryl's bachelor party. While we didn't have any strippers and the drinking was kept to a responsible level we did manage to keep the discussions in the gutter. For the few hours that I was there I able to laugh at and recount stories on a range of blue topics.

The only downside of the party, at least from my perspective, was that I wasn't able to have any beer because I had to drive home.

What a waste

So after a very pleasant evening with a few friends I decided to pick up a six-pack on my way home. My plan was to have a pleasant bear or two while sending an email or two, or maybe browsing the internet.

After braving the rain and the slick roads I made it back to the house-sitting house with my six-pack of Dominion in hand. As soon as I entered the house I began thinking about how I would drop off my coat and the beer so that I could let the dog out to urinate. Soon after entering the kitchen I began to execute the plan I had only moments ago formulated.

The jacket went on the counter, as did the beer. Unfortunately the beer did stay on the counter like the jacket, instead the beer and the box ended up on the ground. Almost as soon as the beer hit the floor glass and beer began seeping across the floor. Somehow the animals sense the severity of the situation and stayed out of my way as I made my way to the back hall to find the cleaning products.

Fortunately, because of several other mishaps, I was able to put my hands on the cleaning products and mop quite quickly. I was also able to locate a bucket, though I don't imagine that it is the same one that they use for mopping, and get the clean-up operation underway quite quickly.

Once I removed the four intact bottles from the wreckage I was able to pick up much of the broken glass just by discarding the beer box. The remaining large chunks I was able to pick up and place in another box. The final pieces of glass, mostly of the splinter size, I was able to wipe up with toilet paper (I still haven't been able to find the paper towel).

Soon after I had cleaned up the glass shards I decided that I might as well just mop the rest of the kitchen floor, which I did. I also took the opportunity to do some mopping in the adjoining rooms, which I had been meaning to do but had not had the motivation.

Anyway, as must as this was a waste of beer and a pain, it turned out to be manageable and not quite as bad as it could have been. Most importantly the cat and dog somehow sense that I really would not appreciate their presence in the mess area and then proceeded to stay away for the duration of the clean-up.

A Few Quick Notes 201

-Though it was rainy an overcast much of yesterday, today thing seem to be back on track. The skies are clear and blue, and the temperatures seem to be acceptable, though maybe a little high.

-Michael Watson managed to hold on to his chip lead and win the Bellagio Cup IV for $1.67 million. There are a few pictures circulating of Watson posing with a large stack of bills (presumably $1.67 million) his WPT bracelet, and the winning hand.

-Yesterday I attended a 'pool party' in the CBS area. Because of the rain and overcast skies the pool component of the event was just rained out. Instead we stayed inside. Eventually the Wii performance games were brought out.

While it was somewhat impressive to see these games, I don't quite think that I have been made a Wii convert yet, or a karaoke game convert.

-It seems that the dog was a little under the weather yesterday. At one point mid-afternoon it puked on the living room rug, and was thinking about doing it a second time when I herded it outside. In the following hours it seemed to be a little under the weather. By about midnight I had the sense that it was back to normal. This has also been my feeling today, it seems that the puking, or what caused the puking, did not have a long term effect.

-My bike seat is a little lose. If I don't want to lose my newly acquired nut and bolt I will have to tighten things up in the very near future. Actually this is a simple project that I should really try to take care of this afternoon.

A Few Quick Notes 200

-Though the day started off with patches of gray skies things seemed to have cleared up nicely. Actually, I imagine that the temperature and humidity have really reason as the day has progressed. Hopefully by the time I am ready to leave work things will have returned to a more acceptable level.

-My brother, father, and I have been actively watching Michael Watson's progress at the Bellagio Cup in Las Vegas. As of last night all but six of the players have been eliminated (Watson was the chip leader). Today's play will determine the winner of the tournament. This event is to be filmed and may eventually end up being aired in some format.

As always, regular updates are available through World Poker Tour Live Updates.

As things stand right now Watson is still the chip leader with only 5 players left.

-This morning I decided to head to the bathroom to brush my hair after my shower. As I entered the room I sensed something was a little off. I was quickly able to determine what was wrong with the scene. It seems that there was a turd of some sort sitting on the edge of the bathroom sink.

Though I didn't see the placement of this turd, I am pretty sure that it came from the cat. My presumption, though this may be an over-reaction, is that this was intentional on the part of the cat. I assume that it was upset at me for something (such as not letting it come into the bedroom this morning) so it found a way to take out its anger on me.

Assuming this is the case, that the cat has some grudge against me, I am in a bit of a tight spot. I can't try to discipline the cat (as I don't know how to do that), nor I can I simply ignore the cat. It seems that my best approach is to actually try to endear myself to the cat so that it won't be tempted to do such things in the future (though how I am to go about doing this I have no idea). If this approach doesn't work I guess I will be cleaning up cat feces for the better part of the next two weeks.

-A few days ago I purchased a small stove-top espresso maker. I was thinking that a jolt from espresso in the morning would help wake me up more quickly and allow me to be more productive at work. Unfortunately, it seems that the espresso that comes from this machine doesn't have quite the same bite as the stuff I used to make at Thomson House.

-Yesterday while walking the greyhound through a field we both spotted a hare on the path about 30 feet ahead of us. Almost simultaneously we both decided to run for it. Amazingly, I don't think that I slowed the dog down by all that much, but I guess with a leash in play is hard to really know how much of an impact I had.

A Few Quick Notes 198

-Starting yesterday temperatures dropped by a few degrees, something that was a rather pleasant surprise. A more pleasant surprise today is that even though the sun is out and the skies are clear the temperature is still quite reasonable. Today is one of the nicest days that we have had this summer.

-The beans I planted last weekend are really starting to do quite well. Manny more plants are visible now than were visible yesterday morning. Actually, a surprisingly large number of plants first showed themselves between yesterday morning and yesterday afternoon.

Amazingly, the new plants, particularly the green and yellow beans, are almost as large as the few plants that actually sprouted from the first batch. The scarlet runner beans, while not particularly large, are a bit bigger than the new plants, though I am not sure that this lead will be maintained for a long time.

-Today I was able to harvest a second batch of rhubarb. Again I will use this to make rhubarb crumble, the only rhubarb dish that I eat, for desert.

In a few days I hope to be able to pick some of the black currants that are growing in the back yard. I think that two smaller bushes that my mother started a number of years ago will finally produce currants this year (though not as many as they will produce in years to come).

-As I have been riding my bike between my permanent residence and the house at which I am house-sitting I have already noticed an increase in my endurance and speed. Hopefully the trend will continue in this direction. Maybe if things go particularly well I will be able to transfer such gains with me when I move to Halifax (though this would mean that I would need to buy a bike once I arrive).

-While riding my bike this morning my left foot slipped off of the pedal. The pedal then scrapped along my shin. While this didn't draw much blood there are a number of rather remarkable bumps and I presume that in a few days I will have some colourful bruises. I have taken this slippage as a sign that I needed to change the pedals on my bike to slip-resistant studded pedals (a change I have already made). While I have been contemplating this change for a number of days it seems that only injury was enough motivation to actually get me to make the change.

A little later on the in the ride as I was riding on Elizabeth Avenue approaching Churchill Square I felt my seat go. Something snapped and the seat bucked up and hit me in the groin. Fortunately I was able to maintain control of the bike and catch the seat with my thighs.

Once I was able to stop I found that the bolt that had been holding the seat to the seat post snapped. While I was in a fair bit of discomfort for a few minutes I am glad that the equipment failure didn't cause a crash and that I was able to keep the seat. Hopefully I will be able to get a replacement bolt on Monday.

-While walking my house-sitting dog today I just about blew chunks. Reaching down with a bag on my hand to retrieve its droppings was just about more than I could handle. Fortunately I was able to hold it together and complete the necessary but unpleasant task.

-Despite my best intentions and greatest efforts I just wasn't able to sleep in this morning. Life seemed to be conspiring against my desire to sleep. I guess this was good as it allowed me to take care of a few errands that would otherwise have remained undone for the next several days.

A Few Quick Note 197

-It seems that the weather has finally taken a turn for the worse. I woke up this morning to find overcast skies and rain. While the rain finished up by about the time I made it to work, the skies have remained overcast all day. The particularly unpleasant part of the day is that it has been very muggy, so much so that I feel as though I haven't stopped sweating.

-My Frisbee was handed another loss at Frisbee last night. For the first time this season we had relatively high wind during the game. I didn't play particularly well in these conditions (though I can't blame everything on the wind). Hopefully we will turn things around at our two games next week.

-The cat, dog, and fish that I am taking care of while house-sitting seem to generally be doing well.

Actually, I think that I am starting to notice some behaviour patterns. It seems that the dog gets up early in the morning (between 4:30 and 5:30) to urinate. Aside from this trip outside it seems to sleep through the night. The cat seems to make noise at some point in the night, though with a lesser degree of regularity. After making noise, the purpose of which I haven't been able to figure out, the cat seems to go to bed (sometimes in the bathroom sink).

-I don't have work on Monday because of Orangeman's Day. A Catholic friend of mine was very disgusted to learn that many of the research facilities that he planned on visiting on Monday will be closed. I am sure the originators of the celebration would be pleased to know that even hundreds of years later they are still rubbing their victory in and inconveniencing Catholics.

-Neil has spent about a week in his new apartment and still not sent me any photos of the place even though several days before he moved in I requested that he do so. As this will eventually also be my place of residence I am very interested in seeing what it looks like.

-As I mentioned a few days ago, last weekend I planted a new set of bean seeds. Just this afternoon I noticed that about ten of these seeds have started to sprout. Hopefully in the coming days more will become visible.

Though I am not too optimistic that this will actually, I really would like to get at least a meal or two of these beans in before I leave for Halifax. I guess my only comfort is that even I don't get to eat them someone else will in my absence.

A Few Quick Notes 196

-It seems that today can be added to the nice weather streak. Some seem to even be hoping that such weather will make it all the way to the weekend.

Actually, I might go so far as to say that the weather is a little too warm. I know that I was really sweating by the time I made it to work this morning.

-The more I encounter them the more I realize that I am not a particularly big fan of the special Canadian subclasses that have been made to work like LCC subclasses. I can't say that my complaint is a fuller treatment of Canadian subjects, as this is something that is definitely needed in the LCC system. It must be my unrelenting attempt to stay within the lines (or rules) as they have been set out by some governing authority, in this case the Library of Congress. It may also because I haven't obtained copies of the Canadian subclasses so I don't ever know what is going on when I see them. I think it also may have to do with the concept of maintaining a pure LCC system, something that seems strangely attractive.

-Yesterday I was able to pick up my diploma from the post office. Fortunately McGill didn't make any spelling or capitalization mistakes in my name. I guess I now have to figure out what I want to do with it, which will probably be not much of anything.

-Last night at my house-sitting gig the cat and dog were antagonizing each other all night long, or, actually, only the portion of the night during which I was trying sleep. I would guess that their bickering cost me several hours of sleep, which was a bit of a blow and has certainly affected how I am feeling today.

On my walk with the dog today I learned that its stamina isn't quite what I would have expected for a greyhound. On really needs to take it slow otherwise the dog will overheat.

-It seems that my father and I may be taking our spraying show on the road. That friend that was helping us a few days ago is interested in having us spray his trees tonight. Hopefully we get going soon otherwise it will be dark before we finish.

A Few Quick Notes 195

-Just like the past few days, today's weather is quite passable. It seems that we have clear skies and low winds. The only complaint might be that it is on the hot side (but that may just be because I am sensitive to such things).

-On Saturday I purchased a new pair of sunglasses, so far I am quite please with my purchase. The last pair broke when I was trying to straighten one of the arms.

-After about a month and a half I finally got around to re-planting my bean patch. Due to cold weather and a lack of sun my first set of beans didn't really take off. Hopefully the better weather will allow this round of seeds to flourish (even if I won't be here to reap the benefits).

-It seems that construction season is now in full swing. Not only is Prince Philip Parkway somewhat obstructed because of construction projects, my own street (one that is not a main thoroughfare) is having some rather major patch work done. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon as the construction crews making walking to work a little more difficult than it should be.

-Today while doing some cataloging I came across a third LCC cataloging joke (the first being that the Bible is in subclass BS; the second that subclass VD is used for things relating to Naval Seamen). It seems that LCC puts French Canadian literature in the subclass PQ. Maybe it is just me that finds this funny.

-This morning I started started a house sitting gig. Almost as soon as I walked in the house I found that one of the fish was dead. Fortunately the net was conveniently located and I was able to scoop it out and flush it without too much trouble. Luckily the owners were aware of the problems with the tank (and doing their best to rectify them) before I arrived so I won't be overly criticized for the death of this goldfish. I just hope that remaining fish are able to hold on.

When I make it back to the house this evening I will have to feed the fish, cat, and dog, and take the dog for a walk. I am hoping that this last task won't be too trying as I am not particularly familiar with dog walking.

-It turns out that not a big fan of the P subclasses that are used for the classification of literature. I feel that there are far too many tables and not that in the end the whole system isn't all that much better than just arranging the books alphabetically by author (and then sub-arranging them by title or date), as this is basically what occurs in many sections any way (but only after works by authors from different countries have been segregated from one another).

A Few Quick Notes 193

-Aside from a few rain drops, today has been a rather nice day. Possibly even more important than the quality of the weather today is that fine weather has been predicted for the next few days (a prediction that I hope comes true).

-Today when searching by ISBN in Amicus I had 5 records returned for a single ISBN. While it is likely that this is not the record in this category, it is a much larger number than I would have expected. One would hope that only a single record would be returned for most ISBNs.

-It is possible that I have secured a house-sitting gig for the latter part of July. If this works out it would tie in nicely with my early August house-sitting obligation.

-I really dislike serials that under-go name changes. Not only have such changes caused me to have nightmares but they are also a bit of a pain to catalogue and I can't imagine that many people are able to follow the changes.

-We had a frisbee game. We all seemed to play much better this time around. In the end we managed to hang on to the lead long enough to secure the win.

-A few of us went to Bitters for trivia. Unfortunately, we didn't do all that well, but better than at least two teams. We were particularly hammered by a comic book category on which we scored zero.

-This year I have seen a number of very large ants. I don't recall seeing such creatures in past year. I wonder if Newfoundland has a new invasive species.