Easter Update 3

Now that we have moved on to the most relaxing day of Easter, the world famous Easter Monday, I have a few minutes with which I can provide a few more details about yesterdays festivities.

As previously mentioned, we started things off with our Easter baskets.



After some breakfast and Mille Bornes and Sorry Revenge, and then a little relaxing, we finally got down to dinner prep. The turkey, in particular was important to deal with a few hours before we expected our guests.

After about 3 to 3.5 hours of solid prep work we were basically ready for people to arrive. This gave us maybe 10 minutes of spare time before people were expected to arrive. Fortunately this was enough time, though not so much time to allow us to engage in some other activity (like playing a game or scratching lottery tickets).

Not too long after most of our guests arrived I broke out our package of Peeps. While most of us were somewhat hesitant to give them a shot at first, eventually a few were consumed and almost everyone had at least part of a Peep. At some point I briefly stepped out of the room only to come back and find that Neil had agreed to eat the remaining 8 Peeps at the same time for $15 (three guys each agreed to contribute $5). Though a completely ridiculous activity to engage in, it really was hilarious to watch. I know that at least two of us were brought to tears.



[Embedded video]

The rest of the evening was quite enjoyable, and not quite as ridiculous as these three minutes. Aside from the fact that the rest of the evening went well I am not sure that there is really anything else to report.

Easter Update 2

A little while ago we finished our Easter breakfast. As far as I could tell it was enjoyed by all.

After breakfast we played a few rounds of Sorry Revenge, a game that Rebecca received in her Easter basket. After a somewhat slow start I picked things up and managed to win the final two rounds.

I really need to get going on the turkey front, but I am feeling quite tired and lacking motivation. Given the size of the turkey, this laziness is really unacceptable.

After the turkey has been dealt with I will have to start on the vegetables and whatnot. In all I should have a few hours of food prep ahead of me.

I guess I should tear myself away from my computer and get down to work.

Attack of the fine print

About a week ago we decided to have a few friends over for dinner on Saturday. Given our weekly Ultimate commitments I suggested that we have turkey as it would allow me to begin the cooking process before we left the apartment. Then, when we returned, there wouldn’t be that much left to do before dinner.

So on Tuesday, a day strategically chosen to take advantage of a 10% student discount at one of the local grocery stores, I purchased a turkey. It turns out that as we are not near a major turkey holiday the selection is some what limited, and appeared to be rather picked over. After a few minutes, and some confusion about what I was looking at, I eventually settled on a 5.5 kg bird. Once I returned home I placed it in the fridge to thaw for Saturday.

On Wednesday I baked a batch of bread to use in the stuffing. A various points throughout the week I made sure that we had the other ingredients that I would require for stuffing.

Early on Saturday afternoon I pulled the carcass out of the fridge to examine it and try to figure out how long the cooking process would take.

While I was looking at the packaging and cooking instructions something seemed amiss. The suggested times were much longer than I expected, and they were seeming to suggest that the bird should be cooked from frozen.

After a few minutes of pondering and examination I finally accepted that I had mistakenly purchased a stuffed turkey. Not only was my well planned thawing unnecessary (and possibly dangerous), my stuffing preparations were also superfluous. It was as though I had given myself a punch in the gut (as there was no one to blame but myself).

Though I guess I am willing to assign a little blame to the designers of the turkey packaging. Instead of including the fact that the turkey was stuffed with the description of the turkey (grain fed, butter-basted, etc.) they included in a small, differently coloured box below the large main box. Only very close inspection of the packaging would have allowed one to see this key piece of information.

What I found rather surprising about this whole thing is that the fact that turkey was stuffed wasn’t more prominent. I would think that the marketers would want to make people aware of one of the key features of the turkey, namely that it was pre-stuffed. If I missed when looking for an empty turkey it seems quite likely that there may be others who missed that it was a stuffed turkey.

As much as I wasn’t a fan of the pre-stuffed turkey (which was likely drier than it should have been because of a mangled cooking process) I am glad to know that I am not fan of pre-stuffed turkey stuffing and that I need to be on the lookout for pre-stuffed turkeys posing as the unstuffed variety.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 2

A Few Quick Notes 305

-Today has been pretty great. I get the sense that the temperature must have been pushing 10 for a few hours. Now that evening is setting in things are beginning to cool down, though it is still quite pleasant.

-A few days ago I listened to the This American Life episode "Double Lives," which is mostly about gay men hiding their sexual orientation and living as married straight men. What I found interesting about this episode is how much things seem to have changed in the 13 years since it was first produced. My sense of things is that things like gay marriage weren't really seen as likely at the time. I am curious if some of the people were interviewed again today if they would give the same answers as they gave in the mid-nineties.

-We had turkey pot-pie for dinner last night. I thought it was pretty decent, though I could be a little biased.

-I had a final exam today. It was a pretty exhilarating experience, as they tend to be.

-Yesterday Mike Watson (SirWatts) mentioned that he would be providing live updates via Twitter from the upcoming event at the Bellagio. After a few minutes of investigation I got the sense that it would be easiest to follow these updates if I signed up for a Twitter account. So I did, it took about a minute. Shortly after signing up I managed to start following Watson as well as the host from a few of my favourite podcasts.

So far I am not quite sure what I think about the whole micro-blogging concept. I get the sense that it mainly serves as a venue for one-liners, PR, and as a popularity contest. I guess I should give it more than 24 hours to reach a definitive conclusion on the topic.

A Few Quick Notes 304

-The weather today was quite variable in terms of quality. At times this afternoon we had precipitation approaching hale, while later in the afternoon things cleared up and the sun came out. One of the few consistent elements of the day was the temperature, which was continually within a few degrees of zero.

-I have my only exam on Tuesday. I spent a number of hours studying today, and plan on doing more of the same tomrrow.

-Yesterday, as predicted, we ended up having a visit from the Easter bunny. I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that the Easter bunny brought me, among other things, a ticket for a Halifax Comedy Festival show. Somehow the Easter bunny knew that this was the very show that I wanted to attend, as it will be featuring Stop Podcasting Yourself's Dave Shumka (as well as John Wing and Reggie Watts, to name just a few of the comedians scheduled to appear). It seems that Neil also received a ticket for the same show.



Before we could get on to the candy component of our respective hauls, all three of us took a crack at our scratch'n'sniff tickets. Not surprisingly, only Neil managed to get a winner. I am still baffled that people would be inclined to play these on more than an annual basis. Once or twice a year more than satisfies any gambling or lottery urges I might have.



I also scored a bottle of multivitamins and a toothbrush. I guess there was a little bit of candy too.



For breakfast we decorated a few of the bunnies (and also had bacon and eggs).



-Later in the day we had a few friends over for turkey and a few associated dishes. For no particularly good reason I decided to add some bacon to the stuffing. While the resulting stuffing was definitely edible, and not in anyway ruined by the bacon, I am not sure if it really was worth the extra calories.



I didn't time things particularly well, so the turkey was done a little while before the rest of the food. Though in many ways I think this actually worked out better than trying to have it come out at exactly the same time as the potatoes, as this second option is a little harder to time and may lead to significantly over-cooked or cold vegetables.



-Some how I managed to go for three days without taking a nap. These mistakes really caught up with me today, and resulted in today being a two-nap day.

-As usual, the plants keep on growing. Unfortunately, it seems that the seeds I planted most recently still haven't shown any signs of germination. As it has only been a few days so far this isn't particularly surprising, I will only begin to worry if in a few more days I still haven't seen anything.

A Few Quick Notes 268

-While a major storm was predicted to hit Halifax yesterday it seems that that isn't quite how things played out. While we did have some snow, and eventually a few ice pellets, things didn't ever really it up to what I would call a storm (though at times it certainly was unpleasant). After a few periods of flurries this morning things seem to have really become quite nice today, which is good.

-I had my second lecture of the term this morning. While I felt it went pretty well I am having a hard time sensing what the students thought about the experience.

-It seems that Neil is now claiming that his continued failure to post in the blog-off is to let me "build up a false sense of security," the suggestion that he will swoop in with a few last minute posts in the dying days or hours or February. I can say that I believe him, but it should also be known that I have expected such behaviour from the beginning, thus the daily posts since the beginning of the blog-off. Though his track record would suggest that he can typically out-strategerize me in competitive settings, I don't think that it will be possible in this instance (not to say that I don't think that it is possible for him to win given that the competition is stacked in his favour).

-Sunday's turkey has left us rather left-over turkey rich. Yesterday we had turkey noodle soup. Today we are having turkey pot-pie. Tomorrow I will probably have a turkey sandwich or two for lunch. I presume that by the time we finish off the turkey I will be ready for at least a week or so off from turkey.

-Much to my surprise, the corn that I planted in my bedroom in September is still alive and kicking. Not only has it managed to live through the winter thus far, it has seemingly thrived.

The thyme and banana plant also seem to be doing relatively well given the growing conditions. The beans, while they have managed to hang on through the winter, really don't look that good. I imagine that in a few days I will have to chop them down and start again (this time with Scarlett Runner beans).



-I realize now that in my last post I should not have used the term 'jurisdiction' as metropolitan areas are not jurisdictions in the traditional sense of the word. Actually, that they are not 'jurisdictions' kind of puts them in the situation they find themselves in, which is not a single municipal or regional government can speak for the region. This division of authority seems to undercut their demands for increased authority as it would likely mean more disparate policies in a small geographic region, potentially reducing efficiency rather than enhancing it (though surely there are arguments against such a position).

Anyway, terminology aside, the issue of the role of municipalities/metropolitan areas in Canada is still on my mind, the creation of the previously posted list didn't really do much to ease the tension.

Blog-off
Cameron: 5
Neil: 0

A Few Quick Notes 266

-Though I didn't expect it, we managed to get a few centimeters of snow last night. At time the snow was actually quite heavy. While we didn't have much snow today we did manage to stay below zero so we didn't see much melting. Unfortunately it seems that we aren't to be so lucky tomorrow. At the moment the forecast is suggesting that we should be above zero for at least two days. I can't say that I am really looking forward to the slush.

-As is our Saturday evening routine, Neil and I had an Ultimate game last night. Again, as seems to be our habit, we were slaughtered. Fortunately the opposing team was quite pleasant, making the experience about less painful than it could have been.

On our bus ride home we heard the dispatcher send out a warning to bus drivers to watch out for the snow. While they were likely doing this for insurance reasons, one would imagine that the drivers, as the ones in the middle of it, would be aware of the need to take it easy (especially given the number of routes that had already been re-routed due to weather).

-We had another turkey for dinner tonight. This means another week of turkey based left-overs, a great break from our sub-par pork chops.

-I am scheduled to start giving my second round of lectures this week (which are part of my TAing duties). Should be fun. Hopefully they go well.

Blog-off Scores

Cameron: 2
Neil: 0

A Few Quick Notes 257

-It seems that today was a pretty passible winter's day, though I can't say that I spent all that much time outdoors. More importantly, it seems thaw Environment Canada has issued a Winter Storm Watch for Tuesday evening.

-Since my return I have seen very little (or no) activity in the apartment across from my bedroom window. This stands out because prior to our departure the inhabitants of this apartment were on the loud side and frequently were kind enough to make me aware of their presence. I am curious if they have left the apartment, or are taking some kind of extended holiday, or some unfathomable third option.

-This evening, with hopes that it would keep me awake, I decided to make a batch of Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies. While I am pretty pleased with results of the baking, I can't say that the experience woke me up as much as I had hoped (though I do think that the physical activity was better than nothing).

-As we had a turkey yesterday we are now firmly in the midst of a rush to consume our turkey leftovers. This evening I prepared turkey potpie, and later in the week it is likely that I will prepare some kind of turkey soup. With a few sandwiches thrown in it is likely that we should be able to get through everything before we get any spoilage.

-Not surprisingly, now that I have been back in class for a week I am back in the midst of assigned readings. As much as I approve of the concept of assigned readings (what a great statement to make), I was somewhat disheartened to learn that the stack of papers shown below would be the readings I would be responsible for (along with about 14 articles) in the next 6 weeks of one of my courses. Though I am one week in I still don't feel as though I have made much of a dent.





-It seems that my complaining about podcast withdrawal was a little premature, or at least a little unnecessary as at least three of the previously mentioned podcasts (Stop Podcasting Yourself, Jordan, Jesse, Go!, and This American Life) released new episodes last night or today. I should also mention that The Moth (a podcast I forgot to include among my favourites yesterday) released a new episode today. It seems that the only hold outs are The 40 Year Old Boy and Radiolab.

A Few Quick Notes 256

-We are presently in the midst of a rather satisfying snowfall. As of yesterday there was some concern that this could turn into a storm, but this seems to have been averted and thus the spat of cancellations we all hoped for have been called off. I am a little curious to see if we will end up getting the predicted 15 cm, though things seem to be on track for such an accumulation at the moment.

-Neil and I played squash on Thursday. This was the first time I had ever played. Much to my surprise, I found I quite enjoyed the game. Aside from being unable to consistently hit the ball my main problem was my superb ability to knock my legs out from underneath me, a skill that was previously unknown to me. Our plan is to try and play on a semi-regular basis, though we will see how effective academic commitments are in interfering in such a plan.

-Neil and I had another Ultimate game last night. Again we were slaughtered, though the team we were playing was quite pleasant and sportsmanlike about the whole affair. Hopefully next week's game is a little better.

-It that this weekend is shaping up to be rather meatful. We had roast beef last night and will be having turkey this evening. This should mean that we will have plenty of leftovers for the next few days.

-We have really been going through carrots since we returned a week ago. Yesterday Neil had to buy a second 10 pound bag.

-For those of you in the Halifax area, it seems that Sobeys has a few pretty good deals this week. Most noteworthy are the buy one get two free selections, which include hams, potatoes, and pork chops. The three of us are already assuming that at least two trips will be needed to fully take advantage of all of the deals.

A Few Quick Notes 248

-Though I didn't spend much time outside today, the weather, if I recall correctly, was on the passable side of things. When I did go outside, while cool, it was nothing problematic. Most importantly, I didn't have to deal with any rain, as I did yesterday.

-This weekend Neil gave me a haircut. This is the second haircut that he has given me. Aside a slight resemblance to a bowl cut, it is pretty good. Hopefully he will be able to tidy things up a little once things grow out a little more.

-Based on a suggestion from my mother, I made Turkey Potpie for dinner yesterday. Considering I had never made it before and kind of winged the recipe, I think it went pretty well. Tonight, with more of the left-over turkey I made turkey noodle soup.

-It took me a while to figure out why we were getting all kinds of hits on the images of the 'tanned' turkey, but a few days ago I realized it was because American Thanksgiving was approaching. It seems people must have been looking for turkey preparation ideas as the holiday was approaching. Not surprisingly, in the days since Thanksgiving the number of people coming to Montifax for pictures of turkeys has fallen off rather significantly.

-All three of us are closely following the discussions surrounding the possible Liberal-NDP coalition that is hoping to replace Harper. Who cares about Obama appointing Hilary when we have such exciting politics in our own backyard?

A Few Quick Notes 247

-Given last weekend's 'storm' I am very pleasantly surprised to see that today is snow free and sunny. Also, it seems that almost all of the snow from the storm has since melted, which makes walking around a little easier than it was for a few days.

-For the third time this fall we will be having a turkey for dinner. Amazingly, it wasn't until several days after purchasing this turkey that I realized that we would be having it on American Thanksgiving weekend. Unlike the previous turkey, and like the first turkey, this one will be stuffed. Hopefully things go as smoothly as the previous two attempts, and are somewhat unlike my most recent roast chicken attempt (the chicken wasn't quite done when I thought it would be).

Possibly the best part of this meal is that I can use it as an excuse to prepare another sticky toffee pudding. I think I have been looking forward to another since before we finished the last one.

-Neil and I played our first game of winter Ultimate last night. Both of us were quite pleased with our team, which was a bit of an unknown as we didn't recognize any of the names of the team roster. The facility, which is part of the Stadacona military base, was also pretty good. The only problem is that the gym floor didn't allow for quite as much traction as any of us would have liked.

After an hour and twelve minutes of play we managed to pull out a 38-34 victory. Neil and I, and presumably the rest of the team, started to drag a little in the second half. Neil and I were hampered by colds, which were really slowing us down in the second half.

-Many of the plants I have been growing from seed have really taken turns for the worse in the past few days. My suspicion is that the reduced access to the sun is really starting to hamper growth and development. In the case of the corn and peppers I really hope that they can hold on until they develop fruit, which seems to be only days away (under normal growing conditions). Fortunately, though they have not gone unfazed, the plants in my bedroom seem to be faring a little better. It seems that the additional light they are getting in the bedroom is of a great degree of consequence.

Turkey tan lines

A few years ago I was shown a picture of a turkey that had been tampered with during the roasting process in such a way that it appeared that the turkey had tan lines. While I didn't attempt this trick on the turkey I prepared for Thanksgiving a few weeks ago (mainly because of the mild embarrassment that such a stunt might cause) I decided to give it a try on the turkey I prepared today.









To start, I arranged the turkey in the pan and then coated it with olive oil. I then cut out some tin foil pieces to lay on the turkey. Unfortunately, I didn't plan the attempt all that well and thus had a difficult time visualizing the shape of the bikini top cut-out. Once I had the cut-outs they were laid on the turkey and the turkey was placed in the oven to roast.





After the several hours of roasting time that were required the turkey was removed from the oven for consumption and examination. At first I was quite impressed to see that the tin foil seemed to be quite intact and hadn't managed to move or become damaged during the roasting process. I also learned that, unfortunately, it didn't really do all that much on the tan line front either. It seems that the tin foil had at best a minimal effect. Maybe on the next go around I need to find some way to plan a little more and think about a way to get crisper tan lines.

A Few Quick Notes 239

-Today has been slightly overcast, but nothing particularly bad. I just hope that any rain holds off long enough for me to make it to the library tonight without too much hassle.

-Because our last turkey was so successful we decided to try another, which is cooking right now. While the last turkey was stuffed and accompanied by a rather full spread, this one will be a little more bare bones with just a few vegetables and some mashed potatoes. Hopefully things turn out well, otherwise we will have about 12 pounds of sub-par turkey to get through in the next week.

-A few days ago I was looking around the apartment for something easy to read and I happened to come upon Advanced Calculus of Murder by Erik Rosenthal. After a quick examination I learned that the book was a murder mystery written by a math professor about a crime solving sessional lecturer (and part-time private investigator). What was particularly fun about the book was the way in which the university life was treated. Based on my experiences, many elements included in the book rang true (though as it was written in a time before email and the internet there are a few aspects of university life that don't work quite the same way today). Anyway, if you are interested in books about crime-solving mathematicians written by mathematicians I would recommend that you check this one out.

-I managed to spend a few hours on both Friday and Saturday evening at the library. Amazingly, the place wasn't deserted. I guess Dalhousie student like to study. It is still a bit of a toss up whether or not I will try to head in tonight. Instead of heading in I may just try to stay at home and work on a few things, though I tend to be more focused while in my carrel. The prison like conditions don't give me much to focus on other than school work.

-I have to give my first lectures tomorrow. Hopefully I have spent my time preparing the right content. I guess I will find out how things go tomorrow morning.

Amazingly, much the time I have spent preparing has been focused on content, not the creation of topical jokes. I think I have spent more time thinking about creation of jokes for the lectures than actually working on any such material. If nothing comes effortlessly tonight the students may just have to go without such content for the next few days.

A Few Quick Notes 234

-Today was pretty beautiful. The sun was out in full force and the temperature quite nice for walking.

While I feel as though I keep indicating that it is superb weather we actually have had a little sub-par weather recently. Notably, on Thanksgiving we had some rain, and we might get some later in the week (meaning as early as tomorrow), not that I am looking for this to end or meaning to complain.

-On Monday evening we had three people over for Thanksgiving dinner. While I was somewhat apprehensive about this decision, mainly because I had a paper due on Tuesday, it turned out quite well. Actually, that I had something to take a break from may have made the evening more enjoyable.

We had what I consider a pretty standard Thanksgiving meal, meaning turkey, vegetables, potatoes, gravy, and stuffing. For my first turkey I was quite pleased with the results, especially considering that I did it without the ideal roasting equipment.

-As some of you may know, there was an election in Canada yesterday. After about four hours of library work and a notification that the building would soon be closing I decided to call it a night and head over to the Grad House and watch the election coverage with Neil and a few of his friends. By the time I arrived, which was at about midnight, most people had cleared out and the results of the election were largely known, though CBC held off on officially calling it a minority government win for the Conservatives for some time.

Unfortunately, the CBC coverage was pretty bad. Not only did they not provide us with the information we wanted (like how people were doing outside of Atlantic Canada) the broadcast was simply not well put together. At one point we watched in disbelief as one of the presenters stood in front of a screen and gave a very hastily prepared presentation on election related Twitter activity. This stood out because they didn't even use the normal technology that would have allowed them to directly broadcast the images, or green-screen technology that would have allowed the woman to stand in front of the image. Instead she stood in front of a TV screen and manually flipped through the pages of a presentation, all the while the guts of the program were available to views. I won't continue any further complaints as I don't think my complaints about the coverage will be particularly useful to anyone, nor will they be pleasant to read.

-Yesterday my American ballot finally arrived. While I was quite pleased to see that it had finally arrived, I was quite disappointed to learn that like in the Canadian case I have to provide my own stamp to return my completed ballot (though to be fair I didn't expect that this would work from Canada). I guess what I found particularly shocking about the return envelope is that there appear to be several spelling mistakes, though it is possible that I am just not reading things correctly. Anyway, if you can figure out why the spelling in the adjacent picture is I would be quite interested in hearing about it.


Anyway, I guess I will have to figure out how I am going to vote and then find an appropriate stamp and send it back before it is to late.

A Few Quick Notes 231

-We had another nice day today in Halifax. Unfortunately, as the sun has started to set the temperatures have really begun to drop. Hopefully we will stay above freezing.

-Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a talk in the anthropology department at Dalhousie given by an acquaintance from New York (though I met him in St. John's). The talk covered a fair bit of ground, giving me lots to think about, and included several well-placed swipes at sociology (which were well received).

After the talk I ended up joining the speaker and a number of the anthropology graduate students for coffee. While I wasn't able to contribute too much to the conversation it was informative to see how things are done in different, but related, departments.

-Last night we went over to Sobey's and purchased a turkey. Soon after we returned to our apartment Neil rammed it into the freezer. Each time the freezer is open one gets to examine the precariously balanced turkey, with its feet almost protruding from the freezer.

-I had to cram in a fair bit of reading to prepare for class today. It is likely that I will have to go through a similar experience tonight, though I can't imagine that I will be able to get as much in tonight as I did last night.

-My reading will likely be somewhat hampered because of my plans to play Ultimate with Neil's team tonight. It seems that they need an additional male player. This should be good because I have been a bit short on physical activity since I arrived, and it is nice to have a one or two social encounters a week that extend beyond my school of home lives.

-Since arriving in Halifax I have been hitting the non-alcoholic beer hard. Neil is worried that I might be turning into a non-alcoholic, and he might be right.