A Few Quick Notes 421

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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



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



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

Christmas Games: 2010

A few years ago it seemed that Christmas couldn't pass without at least a few members of my family receiving as gifts some number of movies (either on VHS or DVD). More recently this trend seems to have been almost completely replaced by the exchange of board games. The result of the change is that instead of passing Christmas afternoon in front of a TV watching a newly acquired movie we are now somewhat more inclined to pass at least part of our gift opening days (another change has been to stretch the gift opening over a number of days) playing one or more of the newly acquired games.

Given that this seemed to be a banner year for new games I thought that I might try to give a quick rundown on some of the newly acquired games, most of which I had a chance to play at least once.

Fluxx v 4.0 - I started to play Fluxx in about 2007 and then introduced it to my family shortly thereafter. Almost immediately it became a particular favourite of Kirsten's, so it was not particularly surprising that she received Fluxx v. 4.0 this year. Fluxx v. 4.0 is really quite different than v. 3.1 (the version with which I am most familiar). At least as far as I can tell, one of the most significant differences are the 'Creepers,' which go with 'Keepers.' Typically, players with Creepers in front of them are unable to win (though some rule and goal cards alter this state of affairs). The general impression that I had of Creepers was that they tended to make the game more confusing and difficult to win (and I am not sure that they would work well with non-Creeper variants of the game). The up side of the new version were a few new rule and action cards that mixed things up a little and allowed those familiar with the game a chance to achieve a feeling of bewilderment that seems to accompany most people's introduction to the game.

Monty Python Fluxx - Like Fluxx v. 4.0, this version of the game had Creepers. Most of the Creepers and Keepers were based on various aspects of the Monty Python ouevre, as were some of the new Rule, Action, and Goal cards. The aspect of the game that I found less appealing than other Fluxx variants were the rules that rewarded those with Monty Python knowledge (i.e. more plays are associated with more ability to quote lines from Monty Python movies). The problem with such rules is that the same people tend to be advantaged or disadvantaged in various iterations of the game. The fix, just going to the internet to satisfy the requirements, doesn't really improve my enjoyment of the game and just devolves into a matter of regurgitation. The other problem, which is one that we encounter, relates to interpretation of players actions (something that doesn't come up in the traditional forms of the game). For instance, does talking in a fake Newfoundland accent satisfy the requirement that one conduct their term while speaking entirely in an "outrageous foreign accent"? (Neil thought not). While Monty Python fans will likely appreciate many of the names of the cards and rules, I am not sure if this is really the game for dedicated Fluxx traditionalists (if such a type of person exists).

Scrabble Slam - Though this games shares a name with the classic crossword game Scrabble it is really more like Upwords (also a crossword game) in card form. The basic idea is that players modify a communal four letter words with cards from their hand. There is no turn order and players play cards to form new words as quickly as they can think of them. While the basic idea is pretty simple (which I tend consider a good quality) the application of the rules can sometimes be a bit tricky. Not only can it sometimes be difficult to determine who actually played first, it can also be a bit of a challenge to ensure that everyone is playing valid words (or the letters they are suggesting they are playing). Aside from rules or gameplay characteristics, one of the problems I had with the game is that it caused my brain to freeze (at times it felt as though I just couldn't think). As a person with spelling/reading difficulties I just couldn't effectively operate at pace required for me to be even moderately competitive. I guess the bottom line is that this isn't likely the hot new game for dyslexics.

Monopoly Deal - This is a game that we first encountered a few months ago and have played on a pretty regular basis since then (it makes it onto the Christmas list because Neil and Rebecca gave a copy to Kirsten). While the game is a card game version of the classic board game, the goal is to be the first player to collect three monopolies rather than to bankrupt one’s opponents. Like Fluxx, there are a number of cards that add a degree change and excitement to the game. Also like Fluxx, the length of time that a game can take to complete can really vary and the winner may not be the person who appears to be the strongest. One of the things that we have noticed as we have continued playing this game is that our gameplay continues to become more cutthroat and complex (Neil’s favourite move appears to be to Forced Deal someone a Monopoly so that he can throw down a Deal Breaker). This means that while when played on a relatively basic level the game can seem quite random and prone to sudden shifts in momentum more experienced players (sometimes through working collectively to prevent the win) can slow things down and add a greater degree of stability to the outcome and gameplay.

Alhambra – This is a game that I gave to Neil for Christmas, but that he didn’t receive until we returned as I saw no reason to lug it to St. John’s just so that he would have to lug it back. This winner of the 2003 Spiel des Jahres award is my favourite of the games that we acquired this Christmas. A simplified version of the goal is that players are trying to build the best (not necessarily only largest) building complex. Points are awarded in relation to the nature of one’s opponents building complexes. Some of the aspects of the game that I really like are that it seems to progress smoothly and reach a relatively natural end. Unlike some games, it doesn’t feel as though it ends too early. Though we have only been playing this game for a few days I feel as though we already have started to improve (in particular we are now doing a much better job of paying attention to the wall structures of the various building components that one is able to buy). I am curious to try this with more than 3 players as I think such a condition will require more attention to certain details (some of which seem to be ignorable with three players).

Ticket to Ride – The Card Game – Not surprisingly, this game is a card game version of the 2004 Spiel des Jahres winning board game Ticket to Ride. Though I didn’t get a chance to play this game before I left, Neil and Kirsten both seemed to enjoy it. My sense of things is that it is somewhat similar to the board game in that you seem to collect train tickets to complete routes, though I am not sure that I can really say much more about it than that.

Carcassonne: Cult, Siege, & Creativity – As one might have guessed from the title, this is a set of Carcassonne game expansions rather than a completely new game. Each of these expansions is relatively small and can be added singly or together with other expansions to a regular game of Carcassonne. The Cult and the Heretic expansion provides an equivalent to cloisters that can either be used almost exactly like regular cloisters, or as a means of potentially rendering ineffective a competing player’s cloister (or them one of yours). The Siege expansion is a way of sabotaging an opponent’s cities (or unclaimed cities) so that they count for fewer points. The Creativity Expansion consists of two blank pieces that can be modified however the owners see fit (we did not play with these two tiles). Though not particularly creative, I can see that these two tiles would be useful as replacements for lost tiles. Two other mini-expansions for Carcassonne were also received: King and Scout and The Count of Carcassonne, though neither of these were played before I left.

Interestingly, in spite of all of these new games and game expansions, we still ended up playing quite a number of games of Settlers of Catan (several of which were non-standard variants). I wouldn’t be surprised if we actually played more games of Settlers than games of the others combined (if we included Alhambra in the total it is possible that this would no longer be the case, and even as it stands our Fluxx games may have pushed us past Settlers).

It only took us seven years

A few days ago I realized that we have been playing Settlers of Catan for almost seven years. For the most part, we have been playing relatively by the book games (though with a few minor variants). Finally, last night, we really mixed things up, at least in terms of board layout.

Last night Peter came over for dinner and to play a few games of Settlers. As all of us (including Rebecca) were here along with Peter it meant that we had 7 potential Settlers players. For the first game the problem was solved by my mother bowing out (she had something she needed to do).

By the time we were ready to play the second game she had returned. We decided to solve our problem by adding a few hexes and making a modified, larger board. The board we ended up with can be seen here.



As those of you who are familiar with Settlers can see, we added a few gold hexes to the middle, as well as a few ocean and desert hexes. The idea was to make something somewhat tempting, but that would require a relatively substantial commitment to reach.

Not surprisingly, the board wasn't a particular success. The main portion of the island, the area that ringed the gold, desert, and ocean hexes, was a little too thin to be fun.

For the third game of the night, a five player game, we decided to go with a triangle shaped board with a desert in the centre and gold at the corners. Peter, though he regretted it immediately, suggested that we place a desert in the middle (it turned into a mountain).




For the most part, I think that this shape was generally considered acceptable. It was certainly better than our first modified board of the night.

The other modification was that we played with last night was the "Super-Friendly Robber" rule, a modification of the "Friendly Robber" rule. In this instance the robber doubles production on hex on which it is located. Furthermore, when the robber is removed from a hex those with cities or settlements adjacent to the hex get a card of their choosing (as compensation for the loss of the robber). The goal of this rule modification is to up production, and the speed of the game. Though I am not sure that this was well received universally, I do think that it is a generally good rule modification that improves game play. For those of you that are curious, sevens still mean discarding half of your if you have more than seven. My recollection is that we decided that the person who rolled the seven would not get to steal from another player.

Now that we have broken a few of our own traditions I think we might be a little more inclined to mess with the board and rules during the rest of our visit home (and then a little more once we return to Halifax).

A exciting assortment of purchases

For the past few days Neil, Rebecca, and I have been planning on taking a trip on the ferry over to Dartmouth to take advantage of the last few days of our transit passes and also to hit up a Dollarama. I am pretty sure that our trip was a great success, as we were able to also make quick stops at a library used book sale as well as a local game shop.

Actually, our purchasing started with the chain coffee shop in the ferry terminal. As is my practice, I went for an extra large black coffee. I was a little surprised that Neil and Rebecca joined me in making purchases, though they stuck with cold beverages.

Once in the ferry terminal in Dartmouth we learned that he local public library was having a used book sale. The upside of the book sale was that it gave me an excuse to head into a Halifax Public Library. Aside from the Dewey, I was pretty pleased with what I saw. The Alderney Gate branch looked like quite a pleasant, well-stocked library. If I lived in the area I am sure that I would visit it with some regularity.

Anyway, the downside of the book sale is that we had about an hour to kill before it started (it will also be going on tomorrow and Sunday for those of you in the area). We decided to head up to the local game store, where Neil picked up a copy of the Settlers of Catan Card Game Expansion Set. I haven't had a chance to play it yet, but Neil and Rebecca seem to be enjoying at the moment. Hopefully I will get a chance to play it in the coming days.

We eventually made our way back to the library and saw that quite a line had developed for the book sale. Instead of standing in the line Neil decided to head to the lotto shack and trade in his winnings from his Easter scratch 'n' sniff for an Uno themed scratch 'n' sniff. Rebecca and I watched Neil as he scratched his way to victory. Unfortunately, his prize was only $3. Fortunately, he was next to a lotto shack so he was able to cash the card and re-invest the winnings in a new card. As he was completing this transaction Rebecca and I joined the book sale line. Soon after joining the line Neil started scratching his new card. Before we entered the sale it became apparent that Neil was also going to win on this card, and that it would be more than $3.

Once we eventually made our way into the book sale we each picked up a few books. In general our browsing and enjoyment was somewhat diminished by our general inability to make our way around the display tables. Somehow we ended up selecting a total of 10 books, which came to $8. I am particularly hopeful that my book on house plants will be of some use.



After the book sale we finally made our way to the Dollarama. Once we arrived we learned that Dollarma has change its pricing scheme and that some items are now more than $1. While this was a bit of a disappointment, it didn't stop us from shopping.

One of our goals was to pick up a few containers in which we could store beans. Neil and I selected three matching glass containers for the job. So far I am pretty pleased with our picks.



We also wanted a few containers for our couscous and cornmeal. I hope our purchases for this purpose be successful, I have every reason to believe that they will be.



Another shopping goal of mine was to pick up a few new pots for plants. In the end I ended up buy seven pots. The three smallest pots were 3/$1, which seemed like a good price to me.



All of us felt pretty satisfied after our rather exciting day of shopping. Hopefully, aside from groceries and toiletries, we won't need to do all that much shopping in the coming weeks, though such plans typically seem to fall apart.

A Few Quick Notes 264

-Though we had a pretty rough night last night and into the early hours of the morning, things seemed to have really cleared up by mid-morning. Unfortunately, much of the precipitation that fell as either rain or ice pellets turned into water and then re-froze as the day progressed. As things stand now, much of downtown Halifax, at least the sidewalks, seem to be covered in ice, or slush that hasn't yet turned into ice.

-One of the consequences of the less than pleasant weather was a delayed opening for Dalhousie. Shortly after I woke up this morning I learned that they wouldn't be opening until 11:00, which meant that I would be missing my first class of the day. Later in the morning I learned that my second class had been cancelled by the professor. In many ways, though I did appreciate the extra sleep, I would have liked to get these classes out of the way and not have had the week delay that is likely to occur. The other aspect of the closure that caused my excitement to be somewhat muted was that I had to head in to pick up a book from the library anyway.

-Though it is only increasing at the rate of a minute a day, I am really starting to enjoy the extra daylight we are getting as we head into spring. Within a few weeks I should be able to leave my evening class before the sun sets.

-I am making some chicken soup for dinner tonight. Because I happened to remember that I had a bag of barley I threw some in. Hopefully the barley will be a positive addition.

-Last night Neil, Rebecca, and I played a game of Settlers of Catan (along with the Fishermen of Catan addition). Somehow I managed to smoke them in about 30 minutes (or maybe even less). It seems that almost before we really started to play I had won (thanks to the hot 8s). Amazingly, I also managed to win the two games of Cribbage I played against Neil, making my gaming success rate abnormally high.

-Amazingly, the donated bus stop bench I mentioned a few days ago is still at the bus stop. I really thought that one of the many drunks that walk by each night would have either stolen it or broken it, but this seems not to have happened. Maybe it is because it is winter, but I still haven't seen anyone sitting on the bench.

A Few Quick Notes 255

-Today was an absolutely beautiful day. The sun was out constantly and the skies were clear. Aside from a little wind and sub-zero temperatures it was almost perfect. And on top of the beauty of the day, we managed to score an extra minute of sun at the end of the day.

-Yesterday I baked a few loaves of bread, the first bread that I have baked since returning to Halifax. This time around, unlike with past batches in this oven, I decided to put an empty pan on the rack beneath the bread. This trick seems to have allowed me to avoid having an overly thick bottom crust, which is a problem that I have had with previous batches in this oven.

The other frustrating problem that I am continuing to have is that occasionally some of the bread is sticking to the pan, even though the pans have been greased. The more I think about it the more I am starting to wonder if this is related to the length of time the bread has been rising in a given spot. I seem to recall that the latter batches are sticking more than the earlier batches, though this may just be me making things up.

-Though I have only been back in class for a day it feels as though I am already behind. Part of this may be related to the fact that in one course I have already printed 90 pages of readings for next week, the worst part being that is only half of what I have to read for next class. I am a little worried about what I might encounter in my remaining two classes.

-For Christmas I received a copy of Settlers of Catan: Traders and Barbarians, which is an expansion for Settlers of Catan. Unlike past expansions (Seafarers and Cities and Knights) this one includes multiple scenarios and variants, some of which are more complicated than others. So far we have focused on the Fishermen of Catan and Harbourmaster options, leaving some of the more complicated set-ups to a future date.

Though I have been generally pleased with this expansion, we have found that not all available options are equal in terms of enjoyment or quality of game play. I guess the best thing to do is try a few of the variants and gradually weed out those of a lesser quality (as if you couldn't have figured this out yourself). As a side note, it seems that the 5-6 player expansion of this expansion was just released in December, though I haven't yet seen it.

-Today, to take advantage of the 10% discount at Sobeys Neil and Rebecca prepared a grocery list, and eventually took a trip to the store. As I had class this afternoon I didn't manage to join them on the excursion. Amazingly, by this evening I managed to find enough items that I forgot to include on the list that I was forced to make a return trip. I am particularly glad that I returned this evening as it meant that I was able to take advantage of the 2 for 1 sale on English Ivy plants (because we needed more plants). I also picked a some beans and lentils to cook in the new pressure cooker.

-For those of you with access to TruTV (primarily those of you in the US) you might be interested in checking out tomorrow night's episode of Most Shocking (entitled "Party Pandemonium), it should be quite the show.

Recent Gaming Activities

A few years ago while in Bristol, England I ended up playing a few games of Jenga with two Irish circus performers. This games are particularly memorable because I was introduced to a new strategy, speed Jenga. These two Irish guys advocated removing the blocks as quickly as possible, and just pulling instead of testing to see which blocks are loose and ready for easy removal. Since these games I have almost consistently used this approach, typically to good effect. Below are a few clips of a few of the games we played earlier today. As you will see, the speed method is frequently employed.



[Embedded video]

(The preceding video was made using iMovie, as come standard on most Macs. And though I was a fan of previous incarnations of this program I can't say I am a fan of this version. Not only is it less user friendly, it seems to have fewer features or they are significantly more difficult to access. I can't imagine that I will end up using this version of the program as much as I used the old version unless I can figure out how to do some of the things that I was able to do in the past. This is really an unfortunate development.)

Later in the day Neil and I managed to play a few games of Scopa, which is an Italian card game played with a forty card deck. According to a half-Italian friend of mine this is a particularly popular game among old men, and is frequently played by these individuals while they are hanging out at coffee shops. Though I can't vouch for the veracity of these claims, I tell you that it is a pretty easy and fun two player game. I can certainly imagine sitting around and playing for hours on end.

Though we have only played one game so far, I would guess that we will be playing some Settlers in the near future. As we are quickly approaching Christmas I am not exactly sure when we are going to fit these games in (maybe tonight).

A Few Quick Notes 217

-Just like the past few days, today has been a mix of periods of overcast skies and periods of clear skies. Fortunately, the periods of overcast skies haven't brought too much rain with them today. Unfortunately, during the overcast and clear periods it seems to be quite humid.

-It has been so humid in Halifax these past few days I feel as though I haven't stopped sweating since I arrived. This is a particularly unpleasant feelings, and somewhat surprising as it really isn't all that hot outside.

-Last night a friend from St. John's stayed with us. While he was he played a game of Cities and Knights with Neil and I. As one might have expected, Neil ended up winning the game. Amazingly our guest gave Neil a very good run for his money and I might have had more of a chance had I not accidentally allowed myself to lose a city. Though I didn't do particularly well I am glad that I got a chance to play Cities and Knights for the first time in some number of years. Hopefully we will be able to manage to get time for a few more games in the near future.

-Since I have been in Halifax I have been sleeping on an assortment of pads and mats stacked on top of each other. Not surprisingly, this isn't really an ideal long-term bed situation, though it is surprisingly comfortable in the short term.

In an attempt to rectify this situation Neil and I went out to a nearby store that sells cheap mattresses. While the mattresses seemed to be pretty passable, I was a little disappointed to learn that they were charging $159. This price, while likely quite reasonable, seemed to be on the high side. In the end I decided not to buy one, though maybe a few more weeks on a makeshift bed will convince me to get my act together and cough up the $159 for a real mattress.

-Neil and I did a pretty ridiculous amount of grocery shopping today. First we made our way over to the Sobey's for a number of sale items, as well as a few general purchases.

After we returned to the apartment and dropped off our purchases we made our way back out, this time to head to the Atlantic Superstore, for more sale purchases and general shopping.

Hopefully this means that we will be able to go at least a day or two without heading to the grocery store, a streak that would be a Halifax record for me.

A Few Quick Notes 191

-Today has been another in the series of less than stellar days that we have had recently. Unlike recent days, thundershowers have been forecast for this afternoon (something of a meteorological rarity in St. John's).

-On Saturday night I went bowling with Greg and Nikita. We first played a game of ten pin before switching over to five pin. The five pin game we played was incredibly close. As we entered the tenth frame it was still anyone's game, though I quickly managed to knock myself out of contention by muffing up my first ball. Eventually Greg found his way to the top, and Nikita to second place, leaving me at the back of the pack.

-Yesterday, while looking through the pantry, I came across some bean soup mix. Not surprisingly, as I am fixated on cooking beans, I decided to try to prepare some of the soup. While I seem to have followed most of the instructions and used most of the called for ingredients it still seems as though the soup as that less than ideal smell that I so frequently get when I prepare beans.

While I have not yet had a chance to try the soup (it will be served for supper tonight) I am pretty sure that it won't be that good, and yet another piece of evidence to suggest that I am completely unable to prepare beans (including coffee).

-This morning, as I prepared myself for work, it appeared to be raining. Given this information, and a desire to have dry clothing at work, I decided to wear my rain suit to work. It seems that almost as soon as I started on my way to work the rain basically stopped, though I was still wearing my rain suit (and sandals). As I continued to walk I hoped that the rain would start, mainly to justify my wearing of a somewhat preposterous outfit (particularly if it is not really raining).

Anyway, the rain stayed away and I was able to arrive at work completely dry, though this had nothing to do with the fact that I was wearing a rain suit.

-We played a few games of Settlers yesterday. I managed to win a few of the games. By the end of the day I was considered enough of a threat to merit the pre-game burn call (an honour that had previously only been bestowed upon Neil). Even more impressive was that I will still able win the final game even though the "burn had been called."

-While looking through some LCC schedules today I learned that their is a class number for materials about the 'hardcore unemployed.' Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to find the class number that would be used for materials about 'hardcore folk music.'

-As it was a little cool this morning I decided that I would wear a sweater under my rain suit. As I was to be heading to a library it seemed most appropriate for me to wear a cardigan. Once I arrived at work I found my boss was also wearing a cardigan, and the other worker had a cardigan (though she wasn't wearing it). I presume my other co-workers would have been wearing cardigans had they not taken today off.

-Just as I was about to head to work my mother asked me if I had been planning on shaving before going to work.. Surprisingly, I actually had been planning on shaving, but seem to have let it slip my mind in the pre-work rush. I guess it will have to wait for another day (likely Wednesday).

A Few Quick Notes 185

-As predicted, today was another was a relatively low quality day. We started things off with overcast skies, low temperatures, and a little precipitation. This was followed my more of the same, but with a little less precipitation for much of the work day. Just as I was walking home from work the precipitation levels picked up a little, though not too much. It seems more of the same has been predicted for the coming days (only on Tuesday is any sun predicted).

-Some of the beans that I planted almost three weeks ago have started to sprout. In particular, it seems that one or two, maybe even three, of the scarlet runner beans have popped up. At least one of the yellow or green beans has also showed signs of life.

These recent developments are giving me some hope that I will be lucky enough to have a few more plants over the coming days. Maybe I will soon have a much better sense of how much re-planting will be needed.

-Soon after returning from work I decided to take a quick nap. Unfortunately I ended up sleeping for almost three hours. Now, later in the evening, I feel much more awake that I would like to be at this time of day.

-Almost as soon as I awoke from my nap I saw a recipe for bread on my floor and decided to try and make it. The deciding factor was that the recipe was for beer bread, a concept that I found particularly enticing.

As the recipe was from a British flour bag things were done a little differently. Instead of in cups ingredients were listed in grams and ounces and millilitres. This difference allowed me to use our kitchen scale for the first time, something that was a little easier than I would have predicted.

Another difference with regards to this batch of bread from others that I have made recently was that I made it in a mixer using a dough hook. While this cut out the hand stirring it did make things a little easier, particularly the kneading and initial mixing.

A third major difference was that the bread called for only one session of rising. I am typically used to letting my dough rise twice, the second time in the pans in which the bread will eventually be baked.

-As the bread was baking I realized that my friends Dave and Amanda were just about to move away. As it was likely that they would be driving I thought that they could possibly use a loaf of bread on their travels, and dropping such a loaf off would be an excuse to see them off.

As the bread was just about to come out of the oven my parents returned and agreed that the idea seemed reasonable, the only problem being that they were due to leave very early the next morning.

Eventually we just decided to head out and try to find them and drop off the bread and say good-bye. Fortunately, almost as soon as we pulled into the driveway at the house where we suspected they were staying Dave pulled up the drive. Soon after Amanda joined us in the driveway and we were able to talk for a while.

-To kill the day off I will be engaging in some Settlers. Hopefully we will have good boards, unlike some of the more recent games I have played.

A Few Quick Notes 147

-Today was a pretty nice day, though the weather was more of what one might expect in fall than the middle of winter. It was a nice surprise as yesterday turned out to be quite a messy day (as frequently occurs when snow and rain are mixed at near zero temperatures).

-Again last night we had a biggish party at Thomson House. This time the reason was the beginning of a new term.

Though slow to start, the party eventually picked up and proved to be quite successful. So successful that we ended up selling out of pizza well before the kitchen was scheduled to close. Another sign of success was that tips were quite good. One of the only problems was that as there were all kinds of people there at close we weren't able to complete many of the tasks involved with closing until everyone had left, delaying our departure.

-A few nights ago I played some Settlers and had a fairly good run. Unfortunately, in my second game I built a settlement for one point instead of a road for two, something that would have given me the win. After this mistake I wasn't able to turn things around and build a settlement or a city for my tenth point.

-While in the grocery store a few nights ago, I happened to stop by the discount DVD bin. As the prices seemed incredibly low, and as I didn't really want to rush home, I decided to look through the selection and see what they had in the under $5.00 category. After several minutes of searching I found a double feature that included "Shaft: Les Nuits Rouges de Harlem" and "Les Nouveaux Exploits de Shaft." The set did not include the third and final Shaft movie, "Shaft in Africa." Fortunately, while the packaging is in French, the movies are in English.

So far I have only managed to get through the first movie (just known as "Shaft" in English). While it was watchable, I did notice that I didn't really like the way the sound was mixed. It seems that the vocal levels are quite low while the soundtrack is quite high, meaning that one has to have the sound quite high to hear the dialogue and is then blasted by the Isaac Hayes for the rest of the time (a feature that may be intentional). Maybe in a few days I will get around to watching the second movie as it is sure to be more action packed than the first one.

-For dinner tonight I plan on having a pot roast. As the piece of meat is on the large size I hope to have enough for left overs for a few days. The only problem is that I may have have included enough potatoes and carrots.

A Few Quick Notes 117

-Today was another beautiful day in Montreal. It seems that we are having warm weather for a longer period of time than last year. Still, the leaves have started to turn and in some cases fall. There is one section of sidewalk not far from where I live that is covered in leaves.

-As of several days ago I started to put things on my walls. As has been the case for most of my life, I have typically chosen maps as wall coverings. The same trend has continued in this new apartment. As of right now I have two maps of Montreal, one a street map and one a public transit map, a map of Canada, a map of the US, a map of the world, and a map of the Island of Newfoundland.

-Collins was in town for a few days this past weekend. On Saturday night a few of us played Settlers and were amazed at how hot/due some numbers were. Unfortunately, my game didn’t come together and I was slaughtered in both games.

-While working a special function yesterday I was able to bartend of the first time. I was asked to hop on the bar once the line started to go outside. Because it was a drink ticket based event things were relatively straightforward and I didn’t have to make any fancy mixed drinks.

-It seems that my pocket dictionary has a list of two letter words in the back. Though they don’t come out and say it directly, I am pretty sure that they are meant for Scrabble players. The only problem, as noted by Nithum, is that not all of the two letter words they list are in the official Scrabble dictionary. On the other hand, if you can define a word and know its origin one might be less likely to challenge you (if you play that way).

-It has been a week and I am still somewhat under the weather. It seems that I am not as ill as I was about a week and a half ago, which is quite nice. Hopefully I will be back to normal health for the first time in months shortly.

-The Globe and Mail offers a drastically reduced subscription offer to current students. If you are interested in the paper this is definitely the way to subscribe (that is if you are a student). It seems that the discount is approaching 50% off of the advertised regular subscription rate.

A Few Quick Notes 105

-Today was another pretty nice day in St. John’s. While there were times today, such as now, when the sun was not shining as brightly as possible I still am willing to call it an acceptable summer day. One element that was particularly nice about today is that it wasn’t too hot, just around 20 degrees all day. This means that one doesn’t need a jacket but also won’t sweat buckets while walking. Hopefully we have a few more like this in the near future.

-Today, for the second time in about two months, I had a haircut. While not as much was chopped off this time as last, I still did managed to lose a few inches all over. The driving force behind this haircut is a dinner that I have to attend tomorrow evening. It seemed that having semi-orderly hair might be appropriate for a somewhat formal dinner.

-Since yesterday was a nice day I decided to risk exposure to the sun but instead to stay inside and play board games. At times up to eight of us were at my house playing Settlers. Eventually we branched out to Pictionary. And is usual at our house, we played Pictionary the way it was meant to be played – on easels. (Actually, on several occasions, typically before a wall needs to be painted, we have played on the walls).

-Since Friday was my birthday I played it low-key. I managed to get through most of the day with out much fuss and then make it back to have nice rare steaks for dinner. All of this was topped off by an early bedtime.

-I will be heading out for another night of Rose and Thistle trivia tonight. The regular host won’t be there (as he will be at sea) and the event will be hosted by the regular fill-in (whose name I can’t remember at the moment). For some strange reason we seem to do better when she hosts, even though Brian writes the questions for both of them.

Also, there has been some suggestion that we finally go in for the big name change. Since our night we have been “Team Steve,” but this hasn’t really been working all that well for us the past few weeks (meaning that we haven’t been winning as much). Maybe by switching up the name we will be able to get something going. It seems as though the most probable replacement name will be “Team Dynasty.”

-On Sunday I was able to return to Biscayan Cove, a location my friend Peter and I had visited earlier in the year (on an overcast day). It was pretty amazing to see the place on a sunny day. Even more amazing was that some number of people used to live there, in what must be a particularly harsh environment. It seems that the only buildings that are in use now are a few cabins in and surrounding the old town site.

-For the past few weeks the number of discussions I have had about numbers being ‘hot’ is incredible. It seems that a day can’t go by without someone suggesting that either the fives or elevens are hot, or damn hot. The only unfortunate part about this is that Neil isn’t hear to experience these comments, particularly as many are said in his honour, knowing that he would appreciate people noticing the hotness of certain numbers during supposedly random dice rolls. (Hint: Build on five, they’re hot)

A Few Quick Notes 100

-Today is another less than stellar Spring day in St. John’s. This morning started with flurries and temperatures in the range of zero. Gradually the day warmed up a little, though still stay well away from double digits. At one point the clouds actually left and we had something approaching sun. Maybe in a few weeks we will actually have leaves.

-While moving some boxes at work today I managed to do something that I have never done before, which is to catch my back pocket on a door handle. Somehow as I was backing through the door I managed to have to handle enter my back left pocket. As I continued to move backwards I managed to have the handle punch a hole in my pants and allow me to be hooked to the door. Classy moves.

-As the Frisbee season approaches the number of Frisbee related emails have started to once again increase. While I seem to be getting a few this year it comes no where near the record that was set in my first year.

The process of selecting the team name sparked a flurry of emails. An early suggestion of ‘Nth Team’ gain early support but failed to maintain several of its original supporters. After several non-starters Combustible Huckstables was agreed upon. Fortunately I did not enter this debate to the extent I was thinking about at one early stage.

-Trivia seems to be taking up a pretty large part of my social life. On Tuesdays I have been going to the Rose and Thistle while Thursdays are for Bitters. Unfortunately all of this practice has not been paying off in recent weeks. For two weeks in a row at Bitters my team has mis-trumped and at the Rose and Thistle we keep getting the fifty-fifties wrong. Clearly more practice is needed.

-It seems that we are just about out of that batch of bread I made a few days ago. Hopefully I will get a chance to make a replacement batch on either Saturday or Sunday. Maybe this time I will up the batch size with hopes of the resulting bread sticking around a little longer.

-Last night I played an almost wheat-less five player game of Settlers. This resource scarcity really slowed down game play. At one part in the game I felt as though I did not get any production for about 20-30 min. My game wasn’t helped by the fact that I doubled up on 4s and 5s, an ill-advised move at the best of time (unless the 4s are due).

-If memory serves me correctly, I think that I spent a few hours looking through press releases today. The goal of the exercise was to locate press releases indicating the release of the report of a judicial inquiry. Fortunately most of these reports are accompanied by such press releases. The unfortunate side of things is that the collection of press releases that I was manually browsing is not complete, and it must be browsed manually with the assistance of a comprehensive index. Hopefully I only have a few volumes at the most to look through tomorrow.

-While at the CLA conference a few days ago I noticed that one of my main roles was not the provision of information, but to direct people to other who could do a better job of providing accurate information. This status was somewhat confirmed by the presence of an “Ask Me” ribbon that was attached to my volunteer badge.

To me this seemed pretty much like the traditional ‘See’ reference from the library world. Maybe next year they might be able to introduce a little bit of library humour and convert the ‘Ask Me’ ribbon into a ‘See Reference’ ribbon.

A Few Quick Notes 95

-Today was wonderful. It was clear with blue skies from the time I awoke until now. On top of that, the temperature was quite reasonable. While not hot, it was warm enough for me to eat my dinner sitting on a patio. Unfortunately, I am not sure if the weather will hold all weekend, though I hope it will.

-Last Friday a few people came over to play Settlers. We managed a relatively quick 6 player, though at the moment I can’t remember who won (though I know that it was not me). Afterwards the remaining four of us decided to play a game of Seafarers (a modification of the base Settlers game). As I was somewhat out of practice with the set up it took a few minutes.

After this delay we were underway, though with a bit of a slow start. For some reason all four of us continued to fail to acquire valuable resources. For about three hours all of us were sitting there not really doing much. The only thing that was happening was that Peter was occasionally getting screwed by sevens (he was never able to do anything with his brick and sheep).

Somehow, after about three hours the end clearly began to approach, though I had managed to build only about one settlement and no cities. Peter finally put us out of our misery and won.

-Since my return it has been my plan to bake bread. I keep thinking that I have all kinds of time in the evenings and I am not doing all that much of consequence, so it seemed like baking bread would be the thing to do.

So, last weekend I thought that I would finally get down to the bread baking. I had the place to myself. It seemed a perfect time to go ahead with my plan. Unfortunately, only then did I realize that my plans for making a huge batch of bread were reliant on having freezer storage space, something that I did not have.

Back to store bought for me (though fortunately it has largely been purchased from Georgetown).

-On Monday night I saw my second Joel Hynes performance and my first Joel Hynes one man show. As some of you may know, Mr. Hynes seems to be from the Southern Shore, Calvert if I remember correctly. This one man show is presented from the point of view of an individual who killed a woman in his small home town on the Southern Shore.

I was generally pleased with the show, though I was surprised that Mr. Hynes did not take more advantage of the stage. At times it seemed as though he had been standing in the same place for 20 minutes, just speaking. Additionally, one or two of the relationships might have been fleshed out, because as they were they did not add all that much.

-Sorry for the infrequencies of my posts recently. Though I don’t have all that much on my plate it seems hard for me to find the few minutes to sit down and take care of my Montifax business. To a large extent I attribute this to my lack of proper working space in my room. As it is right now, my room is filled with children’s books and extra furniture. These unwanted additions make even finding or storing clothing more complicated that usual, they make working in my room almost impossible. The cause of this material backlog was supposed to be taken care of this week, though of course this did not happen. So for some indeterminate amount of time I will have to live with all kinds of extra crap clogging up my room and workspace.