A Few Quick Notes 610

-We're just cluing up another slightly overcast, not particularly cold winter's day in Regina. I think there may have been a few flurries at various points throughout the day, or it may have just been blowing snow.  It was a little hard to tell and not important enough for me to engage in a serious investigation of the matter.

-I sampled my ginger beer last night.  It definitely had a bite, and it was definitely gingery.  But I'm not sure it had the bite or ginger flavour I was looking for.  My gut is that it basically tastes like carbonated ginger juice.

Fortunately, I've purchased some more ginger and am planning on working on batch two tonight.  Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have the process sorted out or have admitted defeat.

-Yesterday Jeannette and I picked up discounted copies of the first two seasons of The Wire.  Apparently Jeannette's incredibly Olympics viewing capabilities don't extend to 10 year old HBO shows - she crashed during the first episode.  I, on the other hand, couldn't believe how excited I was to be re-watching the show.  Hopefully we'll try again tonight and this time it will stick.

Cameron - 16
Neil - 0

Beverage update

You're curious, the ginger beer I made the other day looks like this:

I'm hoping to sample it a little later today.  I'm a little worried that it might be a little strong, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Also, the sparkling apple juice drink that I've been making looks like this:

Cameron - 14
Neil - 0

Ginger Beer

(not an allusion to Cockney rhyming slang)

At some point this summer I decided to try making homemade ginger ale.

Eventually I started to build from this recipe to make raspberry beverages and, once, a juniper (i.e. gin) based drink that was surprisingly palatable.

A few days ago after buying Jeannette some ginger beer I decided to try making ginger beer (the ginger ale just didn't have a satisfying kick).

After pursuing a few recipes and developing a plan of attack I finally sprang into action tonight and purchased a few pieces of ginger at the grocery store.

After dinner I grated the ginger and then used coffee filters and funnels to extract the juice.

If all goes well we'll have something approximating ginger beer in a few days.  Unfortunately, I'm relatively certain that my recipe won't be perfect the first time around - perfection may take a few batches.

Cameron - 13
Neil - 0

A Few Quick Notes 556

-I woke up this morning to find a fresh dusting of snow.  Though the snow has since melted, the temperature didn't really rise much above 0.  Of course tonight it is supposed to drop to -10.  And we are to have a little more snow.

-For the past few weeks, basically since we first started getting temperatures close to 0, we have huge humidity problems in our apartment.  Strangely, the humidity seems to be most problematic when it is coldest (in that the water is most prone to condense on our windows during in such conditions).  Fortunately the dehumidifier we bought a few weeks ago has made a substantial improvement.  Though, much to my surprise, even with this piece of equipment running almost constantly we still have so much humidity and condensation that we can't see through some of the windows in our apartment.

This definitely isn't a problem I had in Halifax or Montreal.

-When we moved from Halifax one of the things I had to part with was Neil's Sodastream water carbonating unit.  All of a sudden I was back into the habit of buying 2 litre bottles of carbonated water.

Fortunately, for Christmas Jeannette was thoughtful enough to give me one of these devices.  Since I have had this thing I feel as though I haven't stopped carbonating water.  Though it seem unlikely that I am actually drinking three to four litres of carbonated water a day, I don't think that there are any other reasonable explanations for all of my carbonating.

-Apparently today is the day of the Iowa caucuses. Do you think Obama win?

More details required

A story that I just read on CBC's website really left me wanting more details and a little clarification and again reminded me that much media content should be consumed with a critical eye.

First of all, while the story is primarily dealing with the appearance of caffeine in non-cola carbonated beverages it does not mention the precise dates on which changes were made to allow caffeine in non-cola beverages (according to Health Canada it was March 2010), nor does it even address all relevant changes to policies relating to caffeine in non-cola beverages. All that the article mentioned is that "Health Canada extended the use of caffeine to non-cola soft drinks last year." Part of the problem I have with this lack of information is that this date doesn't jive with my memory of their availability. In particular, they make reference to IRN-BRU being unavailable until this change, though I am sure that I purchased I purchased IRN-BRU in Canada before March 2010. If I had to guess I would have said that my impression was that it has been regularly available in specialty food shops/sections for the past five or six years.

Additionally, in their discussion of this change they completely neglected to mention the regulatory changes a few years ago that allowed for the sale of energy drinks, a type of product that for some time had been unavailable in Canada even while they were widely available in Europe and the US. When did this change happen and isn't it relevant in a discussion of the increased availability of caffeinated carbonated beverages? Why would they later mention the sale of energy drinks and their availability to children if the changes are unrelated to those relating to the sale of non-cola carbonated beverages?

The CBC story also does not mention the fact that while caffeine may not be added to non-cola soft drinks these drinks have a lower maximum level of caffeine.

It should also be noted that even though the CBC story suggests that only colas could have caffeine before this change I am pretty sure that the rule was a little less precise (at times Health Canada uses the term 'cola-type' while in other instances they use the term 'cola'). My understanding of the rule was that it had to do with the brownness of the beverage, which is why your Dr. Pepper's and Barq's of the world were allowed to be sold as caffeinated beverages in Canada before this rule change. The more I think about it, this confusion is likely due to the unclear terminology used by Health Canada in their discussion of caffeinated carbonated beverages.

Maybe what surprised me the most about this story was that the general angle that they took was to confront the potential negative health impacts increased availability of caffeinated carbonated beverages might have on children. What these impacts might be weren't discussed. And of course figures suggesting increases in caffeine consumption among children as a result of the rule change were not provided, nor was the discussion separated from the energy drink issue, which actually seems to be the core of the issue.

I also thought that it was funny that non-cola beverages were being presented as some now kind of non-caffeinated safe haven, now long gone, for parents who don't want their kids to over-consume caffeine. I couldn't help but wondering if a relatively easy way to avoid accidentally providing a kid with a caffeinated beverage would be to either provide a non-pop drink or read the ingredients.

Oh, and maybe the most egregious aspect of the whole story was that it was suggested that the regulatory change came about "because it was good for trade." Of course no evidence other than the fact that some foreign soft-drink manufacturers wanted such a change was provided to support this claim. How this position made its way from the international trade types to the Food and Drug Regulations people is not explained. More importantly, they even note that the official Health Canada position is that "Health Canada's decision to permit the addition of caffeine to non-cola soft drinks was based solely on health and safety considerations."

While it is possible that the change occurred for the reasons they suggested, a little more evidence should have been provided for the story to have real credibility. As the story currently stands it is nothing more than an incoherent mish-mash of decontextualized comments about caffeine in beverages in Canada.

A Few Quick Notes 538

-We seem to be experiencing another overcast and cool, but dry, day in Wolfville. Though I am not a fan of particularly high temperatures, I really wouldn't mind it being a bit warmer than the low teens on most June afternoons.

-Maybe it was because I frequently vacationed in Michigan as a child, but Jack Kevorkian is definitely an individual I associate with my childhood (though not in as morbid a way as you might imagine). Anyway, I was somewhat surprised to hear that he recently died. I wonder if someone will try to fill his shoes?

-As some of you may know, as of this morning many Canada Post employees are striking. Much to my surprise, this development did not mean delays for packages that I was expecting from Newfoundland.

-I have been having a hard time motivating myself to get back to work in this post-comps period. Hopefully I can find a way to turn a corner in the very near future.

-For the few weeks leading up to my comps I was consuming far too much coffee. I suspect that I was frequently consuming upwards of 3 litres of coffee a day. My consumption was so high not because I wanted the caffeine, but mainly because I just like drinking warm beverages and I do my best to avoid tea during the day. Anyway, I am pretty sure that this rate of coffee consumption wasn't doing anything good for my mood, sleep quality, or rate of productivity. Fortunately, in the past few days I have seen a precipitous drop in my rate of coffee consumption. I just hope that I can keep it up and that I don't slip back in to this 3 litres a day trend (of course, I did just buy a few kilos of coffee beans).

A Few Quick Notes 498

-Today was strangely warm, though as I write this we seem to be heading back towards temperatures below freezing. Assuming the forecast is correct, this cool weather should be with us for the rest of the week.

-For the past two nights we have had vegetable heavy chicken stir-frys. These have been consumed with relatively little rice. This is all just part of our continued effort to maintain healthy diets.

-Episode 2 of the second season of The Republic of Doyle will be airing tonight in Canada. I am particularly looking forward to this episode as a few of my good friends will be appearing as extras. One of them can be seen is this still from the episode promo (he is the guy standing with his arms crossed to the left of the guy with the tattoos).



-I have recently been on something of a blood orange consumption spree. Yesterday I likely consumed about 6 of them (and five in a single sitting).

-A few days ago I realized that I haven't been to a liquor/beer store since mid-December. This also means that I haven't purchased beer or other alcohol from such a store in the same period of time. All things considered, this is likely a good thing.

-It seems that the two dogs that have been using the green space across from my window have recently been accompanied by a new chaperon. This new guy seems to be a military guy, or at least someone wearing a uniform that is militaristic. Weird.

A Few Quick Notes 497

-Though today started off in the -14 range, as time has passed the temperature has steadily risen. Though it is now -2 the temperature is predicated to reach a few degrees above freezing by later tonight. I have to agree with Environment Canada that this is "an abnormal temperature trend."

-Today I bought a few blood oranages (also known as moro oranges). I opted for the regular priced bulk oranges at $1.95 a pound instead of the on sale 2 pound bags at $4.49. I am not sure if I feel about about spotting the chance to save or bad for all the people who will be suckered into paying the higher price.

-I am currently studying and drinking some yerba mate with my new bombilla. The big problem with this set up seems to be that the ability of the metal bombilla to conduct heat makes drinking the beverage when warm a little unpleasant. Of course, if you like really hot metal tubes that squirt equally hot water into your mouth than this may be the set up for you.

-The Dalhousie libraries website is really unpleasant to use. It is so frustrating when it is clear that so much effort has been put into a project that takes one further away from the goal than they were when the started.

A Few Quick Notes 485

-As of about an hour ago it has been snowing. So far their isn't even a centimeter but the grass across from my window is definitely tinged with white.

-Irony of ironies, after going on and on about my search for an unscented antiperspirant my newly acquired unscented antiperspirant's odor is making me feel ill. I almost feel as though I should take a shower to get this stuff off of me.

-The female owner of the two puppies that had been using the grass across from my window as a toilet now seems to be taking her dogs a little further afield to expel their waste. Over the past few days I have seen the small dogs and their owner walking up and down our street. Whenever I see the owner I wonder if she recognizes me as the guy watching her dogs play and use the toilet from his bedroom window.

-For a while Montifax routinely took positions for or against things (being opposed to the re-naming of Parc Avenue in Montreal being one of our prominent stands). For better or worse, this tradition seems to have fallen out of practice over the past several years.

It seems fitting that we re-introduce this feature to the blog with a position that Neil and I both whole-heartedly support.

The position we are taking is against Earl Grey tea, likely the grossest of the teas. This stuff is just foul. Neither of us know why people drink it.

-I attended my department's Christmas party on Thursday evening. Unlike the version of the party I attended 2 years ago, in this instance students sat at tables with professors and vice-versa. All in all, it was a very pleasant event (a fact that was aided by the respect that was paid to my dietary limitations by the organizer).

-I believe it was yesterday when I purchased a 10 kilogram bag of flour for $5.35. What a price.

Newfoundland Bread

So, I guess it was only a matter of time, but last night I decided that I would have to give Newfoundland Bread (AKA Pepsi bread) a try this morning.

As my brief search of the internet didn't turn up any recipes I had to design something myself. Given that this is my first try, I thought that I would stick to a relatively simple recipe/approach - basically my normal approach to white bread but with Pepsi (meaning that no sugar would be needed).

For those of you who are interested, the recipe I settled on eventually was as follows:

1 tin of Pepsi (room temperature)
maybe 2 teaspoons of yeast
maybe 2 tablespoons of butter
about 4 cups of flour

The Pepsi was poured into a large mixing bowl. The yeast and butter were then added to the Pepsi. The flour, basically enough to make a sturdy dough, was added and then kneaded until the dough was relatively firm. The dough was then set aside to rise. I put the dough in a warm oven to help speed things up. Once rise, the dough should be again kneaded and then formed and placed in the desired baking vessel. Bake at 350 F until done.

It should be noted that this does not appear to be a fast rising bread, I am starting to think that the Pepsi may have reacted badly with the yeast. I guess this outcome isn't too surprising. For a while I was thinking that I should consider using flat Pepsi - but then I decided to just go for it and see what happened.

Another thing that I feel that I should note is that throughout the entire process the dough has had something of a distinct smell. Basically, as far as I can tell, this is a Pepsi in dough smell and nothing particularly odd. That being said, I did expect that this smell might have dissipated during the baking process.

Fortunately, strange smells aside, the bread seems to have turned out quite nicely. The resulting loaf is very well formed and pleasant looking. Did I not know that the bread had Pepsi at its core I wouldn't be able to sense that their was anything unusual about this loaf of bread.

Of course, the entire process was also documented on film (or the inexpensive digital version of film) and then turned into a "how to" video so that the entire world will have the inside dope on how to make this recipe.



[Embedded video]

While this dough was rising Neil, Rebecca and I were sitting around thinking about other variations on this theme. Both of them seemed to like the idea of energy drink bread. So, if they are lucky, we may have another ridiculous batch of bread coming our way shortly.

A Few Quick Notes 447

-We are in the midst of another nice day in Halifax. Actually, it is pretty warm right now, almost a little too warm.

-This evening we have our second last Ultimate game of the regular season. As it stands now, my main worry is that it will be too hot to comfortably play. I guess things are likely to cool down by this evening, particularly by the latter portion of the game.

-Last night Neil, Jeannette, and I went candlestick bowling with our friends Darryl and Heather. While none of us were particularly great at this form of bowling I definitely had a fair bit of fun. I particularly liked that the pins did not have strings, and thus no string action. Also, the scoring and pin re-setting was done manually, which was actually more fun than I would have imagined.

As you can see, we all took somewhat different approaches to playing the game.



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-Yesterday was a really busy traffic day for Montifax, though I still can't exactly figure out why. I do suspect my mention of Empire Avenue had something to do with it (now it sounds as though I am trying to sell this group as much as I have been trying to sell SodaStream).

A Few Quick Notes 446

-We are presently in the midst of another great day in Halifax. The sun is out and there is a slight, cooling breeze. Unfortunately, I have, as of yet, been largely unable to take advantage of the great weather.

-Our over use of Neil's newly acquired SodaStream machine continues. I have to imagine that we have now consumed more than 20 litres of carbonated water since it was purchased a few days ago.

The more I think about it the more I have come to realize that these comments seem like some kind of advertisement for this product. They are not, or at least they are not paid advertising. These are coming about because I am just quite taken with the contraption and the output.

-This afternoon, while sitting at my desk with my window open, I happened to hear someone giving a tour of the adjacent building's property. While they were directly across from my window they stopped to explain the existence of a lone appearance of graffiti.



According to the gentleman giving the tour, the location on which this graffiti is found is visible at a nearby intersection. Actually, he suggested that it was more than just visible, that vehicles at the intersection would illuminate the graffiti when they stopped. While they removed the graffiti on occassion they have since decided that they might as well just leave it in place given the popularity of the spot and the likelihood that it will be re-tagged if cleaned.

I was glad to catch this snippet of conversation as it provided me with an explanation about the absence of removal attempts since the one that I witnessed a few months after arriving.



[Embedded video]

-A few days ago I became aware of a new method for tracking our site visits and usage to complement our use of Google Analytics. While this new method gives us real-time updates, because our blog is relatively unread this hasn't really meant much, at least until today. It seems that my recent post about signing up for an Empire Avenue account has been quite popular, at least for Montifax. The post in question, in just a matter of minutes, received more views than any other posts from the past two months. What was strangest about this is that most of the traffic occurred within just an hour of two of the post first going live.

-Last night, as a follow up to our recent viewing of The Terminator, we sat down to watch Terminator 2 (on Blu-Ray - a completely unnecessary fact). Contrary to opinion of the Video Difference clerk who sold us The Terminator, I think that I preferred the latter to the former, though I guess it is a matter of opinion on both of our parts. Though neither is necessarily a great movie, both continue to stand up amazingly well as action movies. I have to imagine that these two movies are much more watchable than most of their contemporaries.

A Few Quick Notes 445

-It seems that yesterday's rain was short-lived. We are already back to full sun and relatively cloudless skies. I guess I probably shouldn't complain. Actually, that one day of rain was enough for me for a while.

-As some of you might have guessed, we have really been hitting the new SodaStream machine hard. Not only did we acquire two new flavours and two new 1 liter bottles yesterday, but we have prepared several more liters of club soda. If we manage to keep up this pace we will be at 60 liters and in need of a new CO2 canister in no time.

-We watched The Terminator last night. As far as I know, none of us had really seen it before this. Aside from some really bad dialogue, it seems to hold up as an action movie. Amazingly, even the special effects aren't as bad as one might expect them to be for a movie from 1984. Actually, I would go so far as to say that they, at least for the most part, look much better than do the effects in Titanic, a James Cameron movie. While I haven't yet seen Avatar, I have to imagine that they even compare favourably to this movie.

-I am hoping to play some squash for the first time in a few months this afternoon. Presumably I will have lost all of the skills that I gained earlier in the summer.

A Few Quick Notes 444

-After what seemed like several weeks, though could at most have been two, of rain-less days we finally managed to get some daytime rain today. Strangely, I actually found the experience to be rather pleasant and refreshing. It is strange to go without seeing rain for such a long period, at least that is the case if you are used to living in places where it tends to rain every few days.

-You can feel the excitement building in Halifax. All you need to do is just walk down the street and you can sense that something big is about to happen.

I presume I have whetted your palate? You want to know what I am talking about?

Well, of course, it is the upcoming big week at Casino Nova Scotia. The big week is happening in late September and will commence with a show by Pauly Shore on September 24th and then transition into a Mickey Rooney show on September 26th. Amazingly, tickets for each show are more than $40, and, much to my surprise, the tickets to Shore's show are over $50. As much as I might like to see one or both of these shows, I really don't know how I will be able to justify such exorbitant ticket prices.

-Neil was kind enough to film an early use of the new SodaStream machine (the acquisition of which was mentioned in the previous post).



[Embedded video]

As you can see, it is pretty straightforward and easy to use.

-Somehow we managed to win all three of our last Ultimate games by somewhat substantial margins. While I am not sure if we will be able to maintain such a streak through the play-offs, it has certainly been nice to have some success as a team.

Let the over-indulgence in club soda begin

Earlier this summer, while Neil and I were busy shopping at the Birch Run, Michigan outlet mall, we ran across some energy drink concentrate. While the product was clearly intended to be sold as part of a carbonated water beverage system we decided that we could just buy the concentrated syrup and try mixing it with store-bought club soda. Nonetheless, we were both somewhat taken with the idea of homemade carbonated water based drinks, something that was a relatively large part of our childhood.

Last night, almost a month after our trip to the outlet mall, I came home to find that a SodaStream home carbonating machine had been purchased for our apartment. As you might expect, I was quite excited by this turn of events. When I looked in the fridge I discovered two new bottles. It looked like one was filled with home-made energy drink. It looked like the other was about a half liter of club soda. As I didn't know exactly what was going on at the time I left both of these bottles un-sampled.

This morning I finally got a chance to get the run-down on the new acquisition. Apparently, this was purchased as a gift for Neil for his birthday (which, in retrospect, makes a great deal of sense). I was also given a quick run-down on the operation of the machine, which is pretty straight forward. The only bad news was that the energy drink concentrate that we purchased in the US, even though it is from the same company, is not available in Canada yet (we are wondering if we can order it from the US site?).

Anyway, since the acquisition of the machine last night we have really be going through quite a bit of carbonated water, though no more than we would if we had 60 liters of club soda on the kitchen floor. For those of you who are curious, we have consumed at least one (though maybe two) liter of energy drink, one liter of grapefruit pop, and at least three liters of club soda. While I don't imagine that we will be able to keep this pace up forever, I do suspect that as big consumers of fluids that we will be able to maintain a relatively steady pace over the coming days, weeks, and months.

For those of you who are interested, Wikipedia has a neat article outlining SodaStream's somewhat surprising history.

Michigan +8

This morning I realized that I forgot to mention one of the more exciting activities we engaged in while we were on the West side of the state. My Aunt arranged for us to all participate in a vineyard tour of the Fenn Valley vineyards. The tour, which invovled about 22 people being pulled around in an open trailer, gave us the opportunity to taste close to 20 wines (I don't remember the precise number). Most importantly, many of the wines were juxtaposed in such a way that really highlighted the differences that resulted because of particular types of processing. I was particularly glad to learn that I likely don't like white wine aged in oak barrels (apparently a French technique). Another great thing about this vineyard is that the tour seems to vary from season to season so going once doesn't mean that another trip wouldn't be worthwhile.

Instead of heading back to Birch Run this morning, Neil and I decided to hang around the house in Vassar. So this morning, unlike the aforementioned vineyard tour, saw Neil and I engage in much more pedestrian activities.

For breakfast we made our way to the local McDonald's. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, about 10:40, they had switched from their breakfast menu to their lunch menu. Consequently, Neil and I both had to order non-breakfast foods for breakfast. One of the positive results of this forced decision was that I ended up with a beverage cup that provided us with a coupon for a free smoothie (something that we wouldn't have had if we had ordered from the breakfast menu). The thing about the coupon that differentiated it from many other free beverage coupons that I received was that it indicated that it could not be redeemed until at least two hours after the initial receipt of the coupon.

Not surprisingly, Neil and I went back to McDonald's early this afternoon to take advantage of the smoothie coupon. While there I also picked up some lunch. Amazingly, we ended up paying only about $3.20 for a smoothie, a double burger, a small fries, and a large iced tea. I was even able to take advantage of the free-refill policy before we left.

Shortly after returning from our second fast-food run of the day my father and uncle returned from Birch Run. Though I don't know all of what was purchased, my father did tell me that he purchased a new three-piece suit for about $95 (it would have been only $80 if he opted to forego the vest). My sense is that this isn't the only deal that was taken advantage of.

Fortunately, between our fast-food runs I was able to get down to work. I think I managed to put in about 2.5 hours of solid work. Maybe, if I am lucky, I will be able to get a little reading in later this afternoon.

Unfortunately, I don't really know what the plans are for this afternoon and evening. Actually, I don't really know what the plans are for the rest of the trip. In many ways it doesn't really matter, I will just go where I need to go.

A Few Quick Notes 417

-We have some really beautiful weather recently. While today wasn't as warm as it has been, it was certainly still a very beautiful day.

-I am now 4/20, which might be restated as 1/5, in this year's Roll Up the Rim to Win contest. So it seems that I am actually doing much better than expected. I would have to drop to 4/36 to be where one would expect to be, and then below that to be doing worse than average. So maybe this year hasn't been quite as much of a wash as I was thinking it would be.

-I am not sure quite what it is, but our post Underlining Fail seems to be quite frequently hit with spam comments. Though we have more of these in recent months than we have ever had before, this one post seems to attract the majority of them. I am always somewhat teased when I see that we new comment only to find out that we have once again been spammed.

-For the past two nights I have had my sleep disrupted by what I presume is a mouse in the wall between the two bedrooms in our apartment. The ruckus was so loud last night that both Rebecca and I were basically unable to sleep for more than an hour at around 4:00 AM. The worst part of all of this is that it almost sounded as though the little guys were chewing/tugging on some of the wiring in the wall.

Tonight I reported the problem to the superintendent's husband, who indicated that he would call an exterminator tomorrow (or throw down a few glue traps if he had them). Both Rebecca and I are really hoping that we end up with the exterminator rather than glue traps (which won't be anywhere close to the problem).

-We are down to our final few bottles of Club Soda. Apparently 56 liters of Club Soda doesn't last all that long.

-Today I had my last class for the term. I still have a few things to take care of before my 'summer' starts. Of course, it being summer means that instead of classes to attend each day I will have reading to attend to. Should be fun.

-One of my department's senior professors retired last Summer, though is only now being thrown out of his office. To prepare for the move he is getting rid of many of his books. I was able to pick up a few that should be relevant to my thesis research, as well as a few that relate to personal interests. The most noteworthy of my picks, at least from the standpoint of my place of birth, was Smallwood: The Unlikely Revolutionary by Richard Gwyn (I am presently part way through Gwyn's biography of Macdonald). Oh, I also picked up a copy of Creighton's biography of Macdonald (and to think that just yesterday I had a conversation with a friend in which I claimed to be better at reducing my acquisition tendencies than I had been in the past).

A Few Quick Notes 414

-Though today wasn't particularly warm, it was an otherwise nice day. It was a particularly good day for walking.

-I am now 2/11 with my Roll Up the Rim to Win Cups. My performance has been so poor recently that I have almost given up hope.

-As you can see, my banana plant, after a few months of producing relatively small leaves, has finally started its Spring growth-spurt.



-As expected, I made another trip to the grocery store for the final day of the club soda sale. Unlike the last few trips, this time I wasn't able to find the product still packaged by the case. For no particularly good reason other than a desire to be macho I decided to purchase eight bottles and then carry them home in my arms. This was particularly stupid because I could have had the bottle placed in shopping bags to make the whole operation much less risky.



We now have a stash that should be large enough to last us at least a week and a half.

-Just to get back to plants quickly, it seems that all of the 72 peet pellets that my neighbour and I planted about two weeks ago have sprouted. Apparently the peas are doing particularly well. I am hoping to head up to Andrew's apartment to visit them in the coming days.

Not a good week for Bubbles

Yesterday it was reported that Bubbles Mansion, a bar that was party owned by Trailer Park Boys's Bubbles (Mike Smith), closed because of a drop off in business.

Today it was reported that the Toothy Moose, another bar owned by the same set of owners, has also had problems, this time with the licensing authorities. It seems that they have had a tendency to let too many people in and serve some of them too much alcohol. It seems that as a consequence of these violations the bar will be forced to close for 5 days in the near future.

As much as it is going to hurt to have to be closed for some number of days, in the long run I don't imagine that have a reputation for having too many people having too good a time will really hurt the bar. I know that I am much more interested in going there now that I was 5 minutes ago.

A Few Quick Notes 411

-Today, while not as nice as the past few days, was pretty OK until some time this evening. Unfortunately, things are expected to get even worse tomorrow (meaning rainier), though I am still holding out a little hope that the forecast is as inaccurate as usual.

-I am now 2/9 with my Roll Up the Rim to Win cup. I am starting to feel a little like Chuck Knoblauch, in that that I am just not doing what doing what needs to be done. I keep missing my mark.

-I have recently been so busy tipping back diet passionfruit pop that I completely forgot how refreshing a nice glass of ice water can be. In case you too have forgotten how nice a glass of ice water can be and are curious the answer is great and refreshing. Glasses ice water are so good it is no wonder that they are my favourite drink and the one drink I would take with me to a desert island (assuming I am ever given such a choice).

-In class today we were talking about international development NGOs and their relationship to missionary work when the professor asked the class "Have NGOs assumed a missionary position?" After I broke the silence and laughed a few of my classmates joined in before the professor caught on and shamefacedly rephrased the question. Though I know my father might spend years crafting such a line, I am pretty sure that this one was spur of the moment and considered a misstep by the professor.

-I harvested some of my tobacco seeds today. I still have to separate some of the seed pods from the seed, but it is already clear that I have thousands and thousands of seeds. I have no idea what I might do with thousands and thousands of tobacco seeds.

-There is an awesome butter sale at the grocery store this week. I am hoping to head by tomorrow and pick up a few pounds.

-A few weeks ago I decided to "soften my image" by growing a beard. I was hoping that a beard would draw attention away from my super-short haircut and allow me not to look so intense. Generally I think that this worked, though it is kind of hard to say. Anyway, my beard was getting kind of long and my hair had grown out enough that I decided that I could go back to being beardless and would likely not look to intense so I got rid of my beard this morning. I generally think it was a good move.