Things that should be banned

While I'm not normally in favour of legal heavy handedness, over the past few days a number things necessitating bans have come to my attention

1) Kitchens with single sinks

Is there anything more infuriating than trying to wash dishes in a single-sink?  And there's no way that using a single sink dishwashing is less efficient in the long run.  Simply put, a requirement for at least a double sink should be in all building codes (and retrofits required for those kitchens not in compliance).

2) The wearing of three piece suits in the summer

I get it that all kinds of guys with three piece suits don't have that many opportunities to wear them, but that doesn't mean it's OK to wear them when it's 30 degrees outside (just think about all of the AC costs).  A further benefit is that this ban will prevent those who might be inclined to wear a three-piece suit in the summer from looking like doofuses.  Everybody wins with this one.

3) Tomatoes

Just because they're the grossest. Yuck.

100% cotton?

For maybe the past four months or so I have been thinking about the composition of the material used in the construction of my clothing.  For the most part, though I don't have any particularly good reason for this decision, I have generally been trying to veer away from synthetics.  The result is that sometimes in the morning when I am selecting my clothing I happen to either examine a label or run through my mental list of natural fibre shirts.

Today was one of those mornings when I thought about such issues.  After some vacillation I ended going with a cotton/synthetic blend shirt, mainly because I hadn't worn the shirt since I started thinking about synthetic fibres and that seemed a little unfair to a shirt that I had purchased before I started caring about such things.  What had this shirt ever done to cause me to question my trust in it?  Had it not always met my expectations in terms of shirtiness?

So all day I quite self-conscious about the fact that I wasn't wearing a 100% cotton shirt.  It was weighing on my mind more than it should have been.

Late this afternoon, just as I was becoming comfortable with this morning's clothing choice I saw someone looking at my shirt.  He then asked "Is that 100% cotton?"

Really?

Who asks that question of anyone, let alone someone to whom they are not particularly close?  And why?  Does anyone really need to know that they are perfect at detecting 100% cotton shirts?

Anyway, now that I know people are thinking about the composition of my shirts I am sure that I will be a little more self-conscious about it (whether I should be or not).  Do I really want to be exposed more than once as someone who doesn't wear 100% cotton shirts?  What kind of animal would they think I am?

Another new tie or Congressional paraphernalia

A few weeks ago Jeannette had the good fortune to be able to quickly visit Annapolis Royal on her way back from a conference. Since then she has been keen on returning and engaging in a more in-depth exploration of some of the sights in the region.

Yesterday, though it was a little overcast and at times rainy, happened to be the day when we finally got around to making a return trip to Annapolis Royal (and it also happened on one of the days of the Gathering of the Clans event - though we couldn't actually find much evidence of this event).

After a very pleasant stroll through downtown Annapolis Royal and through the grounds of Fort Anne and a quick stop at a local bakery for lunch we started to make our way back to Wolfville.

Instead of taking the highway back we decided to take the slow road that would take us through a number of communities in the region.

One of the communities we ended up driving through was Coldbrook, a community that just happened to have another Guy's Frenchy's. While Jeannette looked at lady clothes I decided to check out the tie selection (among other things). Almost immediately I found a tie that I found intriguing.

Almost immediately Americanness of this tie was apparent. When I flipped the tie over and looked at the keeper that it was American in origin became even more apparent.

Of course after seeing that this tie was "Made exclusively for US Congress" I couldn't not spend the $1.95 to buy it.

Shortly after I returned home I tried to figure out if this tie was made specifically for members of Congress or if it had some other role. Unfortunately, the few searches that I did conduct on ties and neckties turned up nothing. At least I haven't confirmed that this tie was nothing more than an item made just to be sold in a Congressional gift shop - it might still have been created for use exclusively by Congressmen (and that is my hope).

Exciting Day

Yesterday, given that I am now post-comps (at least the most recent phase) and post-surgery, Jeannette and I decided to do some touring in the Annapolis Valley. While we had been planning on doing this for some time we ended up putting it off because of my two aforementioned commitments (and because of the relatively bad weather we have been experiencing here).

Our first stop yesterday morning was the recently opened Wolfville Farmers' Market. Unfortunately, the bad weather that seems to have been limiting our touring seems also to be limiting plant growth and development so there seems to be less local produce available than I might have expected. Of course, that is not to say that there aren't a number of other local producers at the farmers' market whose ability to sell hasn't been so negatively impacted by the bad weather. In particular the local meat producers and wineries were there in full force. Eventually I would like to get around to more extensive sampling of the wares of both of these types of vendors.

After a quick stop at the local public library for Jeannette to pick up a book we continued on our trip.

Our next stop was the Oaklawn Farm Zoo. We scheduled our visit so early in the day with hopes of avoiding rain that was forecast to arrive by the afternoon.

As expected, we had a great time at the zoo.

Almost as soon as we entered we were greeted by a rather impressive display of intimacy. And who knew tortoises had even the slightest ability to climb?

Though, at least yesterday, the other animals weren't as keen on exhibitionism as the tortoises pictured above they were ,nonetheless, fun to watch. In particular, a family of gibbons with a new addition were particularly amusing.

If you want to to see some of the animals we had the pleasure of observing, with a particular emphasis on the gibbons, check out the video I have included below.



[Embedded video]

When the rain eventually did start to fall Jeannette and I left the zoo (as was our plan) and started to make our way towards Berwick, which is where we decided to have lunch.

After a very pleasant lunch in Berwick, which included the best fish and chips I have had in Nova Scotia, we decided to make our way through some of downtown Berwick. This was my first visit to Berwick and I was quite impressed with the place.

While in Berwick we also visited a Guy's Frenchys, a used clothing chain that I have heard is legendary in the Annapolis Valley. Because my confidence has been buoyed by my recent decision to read and follow the pro-thrifting men's fashion blog Put This On I decided to scope out the menswear section for some hot finds. After a few minutes I found a silk tie that I decided to pick up. Jeannette found a jacket and a book that she wanted. We ended up spending less than $10 for the three items.

After our success at the Guy's Frenchys in Berwick we decided to head in to New Minas and visit the Frenchys there (I still can't figure out exactly what the name 'Frenchys' means or how the various stores are connected to one another). At this second store I became even more ambitious (though this was at least partly due to availability) and I picked up three more (silk) ties and two (wool) suits. Jeannette also picked up a nice dress on the cheap. I should note that all of our acquisitions at these stores were shockingly cheap.

After some shopping in New Minas (and at attempt to find an open dry cleaner) we eventually made our home where I immediately tried on a few of my new acquisitions.

While the photological conditions (and my sense of what matches) were less than ideal, I hope that the above photo does my new acquisitions (at least those pictured) justice.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable and action packed day. Hopefully it won't take us another month and a half before we head out to see more of what the Annapolis Valley has to offer.

On the Road: Halifax to Sackville

Our weekend road trip started early this morning. Of course, it has been much colder and snowier than any of us would have wanted, oh, and it has been pretty windy as well.

After a quick to the airport to add me as a driver to the rental car agreement we made our way towards Truro. Before reaching Truro we stopped in Stewiacke, the former homeland of giant mastodons. What drew us to the site was the large mastodon statue that was visible for the road. Not surprisingly, we took the opportunity to take a few photos with the mastodon and some of the other touristy items (including a cement Flinstones car).

From Stewiacke we made our way to Truro to watch the 12:20 tidal bore. Much to all of our surprise, the tidal bore turned out to be something of a local attraction (there were 15 cars worth of people there) and of a fair size. If you are in the area it is definitely worth checking out.



[Embedded video]

After the tidal bore we made our way to Margolians, a locally owned department store. While at first I wasn't particularly impressed with the store I soon found that the prices for many of their items were half of what I thought they were. In the end I walked out with a handful of brandname shirts and sweaters for about $10 a piece. Everyone else found great things as well. Actually, we were all so impressed by the experience that we are hoping to head back on our way back from PEI.

We were all pretty impressed with Truro, it was definitely a nice little down.

From Truro we made our way to Parrsboro and the Fundy Geological Museum . After quickly passing through Parrsboro we made our way to the aforementioned museum and checked out a few of the exhibits. The museum employee then gave us a few suggestions about things to see in the region, we were particularly taken by her suggestion that we go gem hunting on a local beach.

Almost as soon as we arrived at the beach we noticed that a car a little further along the beach appeared to have gotten stuck in some loosely packed beach stones. Obviously we decided that it would probably be best if we didn't drive any further and that we should offer to help the guy get unstuck.

After a few unsuccessful attempts at lifting the front of the car with the guy while his ladyfriend gave it some gas we left them to do some digging out while we made our way down the beach to do some gem hunting (it really wasn't as bad as this likely sounds). After limited success gem hunting (none of us knew what we were looking for) we made our way back to the stranded car and helped them put some boards under their front tires. With the boards in place we were finally able get the front tires enough traction that our pushing actually mattered.

After freeing the car from the beach we made our way to Joggins Cove, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home of some very old fossils. Of course, because it is off season, we weren't actually able to see anything or visit the interpretation centre.

After our failed visit to Joggins Cove we were finally on the final leg of our trip to Sackville. Shortly after checking in at the Marshlands Inn (an inn that once hosted the Queen) we made our way out to find a restaurant for dinner. After dinner we took a brief tour of the town, though managed to see basically everything there was to see (at least those things that you could see by driving by).

The plan for tomorrow is to head to Dorchester to see the world's largest Sand Piper as well as the infamous penitentiary (there should be a museum-type aspect of the prison). We are also hoping to see the Mount Allison Owens Art Gallery, though we will have to check this out on our way back from Dorchester. I guess we will also eventually have to make our way to Charlottetown, which is where we will be spending the night.

A Few Quick Notes 422

-Today has been pretty strange. We seem to be going back and forth between periods of showers and sunshine. Fortunately I left the apartment this morning during one of the grey periods so I brought my rain jacket with me. I do hope that we will soon turn the corner and head into at least a few hours of clearer weather.

-Hopefully I will get a chance to play some squash tonight.

-I visited by nearby grocery stores today, my primary objective being the acquisition of on sale meats. At the first grocery store I visited I picked up some boneless, skinless chicken breasts an pork chops. At the second grocery store I bought two packages of pork tenderloin (they were buy one get one free). Hopefully these purchases mean that I won't have to meat shopping for at least a few more days.

-It would seem that after my several week absence from Montifax that I have really rebounded with vigor. Maybe, even with my absence of almost 2 weeks, I will make it to over 20 posts this month. Hooray! What a meaningful accomplishment!

-This afternoon I was a little disgusted to learn that Neil (Rebecca will also be going) is now planning on heading to Winnipeg for a few days. While I am not generally opposed to the idea of Neil going to Winnipeg what I do find frustrating is that this means that Neil will be able to pick off both Saskatchewan and Manitoba in a single trip.

Since about 1995 Neil and I have been deadlocked at 8 provinces apiece (though both of us have been interested in completing the collection). Neil, by visiting Manitoba and Saskatchewan, will throw this equilibrium off. Of course the worst part is that I have no idea how I will go about eventually making my way to either Manitoba or Saskatchewan (particularly as people seem to suggest that they aren't particularly attractive vacation destinations). I guess I will just have to be happy that I have Delaware.

-A few days ago I noticed that one of my sweaters is starting to fray at the cuff.



It seems that in the past few weeks a few pieces of my clothing have started to fall apart. This just seems to confirm that this summer will likely be when I buy a number of items of clothing and engage in something of a wardrobe renewal. Given how much I love clothing shopping this should really be fun.

-Today I noticed the very early stages of another banana pup.



The banana plant has really been doing quite well these past few weeks. Instead of pumping out leaves that are only about two inches long, the leaves currently being produced keep getting larger and larger and are now close to a foot long. It is hard to believe how much the plant's growing patterns have changed in just a few weeks.

-It seems (and appears to be confirmed by a CBC) that one of the professors in the Political Science department, Brian Bow, has won the relatively prestigious and lucrative Donner Prize (a $35 000 prize for books on public policy).

-A few days ago I finally got around to doing my end of semester filing. Part way through the process I felt as though I may have gotten in over my head (or at least that my filing cabinet likely wouldn't be large enough to accommodate everything).



Fortunately my fears were unfounded.



Everything fit nicely (though my filing cabinet is definitely approaching full. I think that I may need to buy another one before September hits.

Brier Attire

Since my last post I have been wondering what I should wear to an event like the Brier.

As it is artificially chilled and I will be sitting for period of time I imagine pants, rather than shorts, will be what I want to wear from the waist down.

More complicated is the torso/upper body. While the sun will set as I am out I will probably need to bring a somewhat warm jacket. Though I wonder if it will be cold enough for me to wear this the entire time? Or will I want to take it off and wear a sweater with a shirt? Will this make me to warm on the walk there?

The other thing that I have been thinking about is whether I should wear something that might indicate my association with Newfoundland. Unfortunately, most of the items of clothing that I have that would demonstrate such an association are tee shirts (which might be a little hard to publicly display in a chilled stadium). A further problem is that most of the tee shirts that I have that might indicate 'Newfoundland' to some people would likely only have such connotations for people very familiar with Newfoundland. Presumably most people wouldn't really know that my Dominion Ale or 'I [club] baby seals' shirts would be intended to be statements of support for a particular team.

My thought at the moment is that I might try to wear one of these shirts, but in association with a cardigan and my winter jacket. If it is warm enough I would then be able to open my sweater and display my obscure reference to Newfoundland to those in attendance.

I can't believe that I have spent so much time thinking about this, and then that I took the time to outline my thoughts in writing. One might get the impression that I don't have hundreds of pages of reading to do in the coming weeks.

Not a good semester for clothing

Just a few minutes ago I was putting on one of my cardigans when one of my fingers got stuck. Upon closer inspection I learned that what happened was that my finger slipped through a recently developed hole at the elbow on the left arm of the sweater. Though it hasn't developed a hole yet, I can now see that the right elbow is also starting to give way. I wonder if it is possible to patch such a hole?



This development is of course after a few similar clothing tragedies that have already occurred this semester.

The first problem occurred when I attempted to wash my wool sweater vest. Even though I used only cold water and air dried it, the vest managed to shrink. Now it is definitely tighter in the chest and doesn't quite come down to my waist. A definite bummer as it was otherwise a pretty nice sweater vest, and the only one that I owned.

More recently I was hanging up my 10+ year old Hawaiian shirt when I noticed that the shirt had worn out in the back. I guess this isn't surprising as I have been wearing this shirt pretty regularly for over ten years (I purchased it at a going out of business sale when I was in high school). Though I should have expected such a development it is still disappointing.

The problem is that if I keep going at this rate I won't have any clothing by the time spring rolls around. I guess when one does their best to avoid buying new clothing this is the type of problem they are eventually likely to encounter.

A Few Quick Notes 353

-Today was a pretty nice day, as far as I recall. It seems that it was sunny and clear, and not too hot.

-As we enter September one of my academic programs is winding down and the other gearing up. In anticipation of the switch I have been asked to give up my library carrel as I will soon have access to an office (or access to an office). Hopefully I will get the keys and information about this office sometime tomorrow.

The other thing I was working on today was course selection for the fall semester. Unfortunately, it is turning out to be not quite as straight forward as I might have hoped. At the moment I think I have things pretty figured out, though there could be a few last minute changes depending scheduling issues. What is clear, even without a completely finalized schedule, is that it is going to be a rather busy fall, at least academically. Having to submit a SSHRC application isn't going to make things easier.

-The nice side benefit of heading into school today was that I got a chance to talk to a few people whom I hadn't seen in a while. I guess this might be a sign that I am not going in quite enough (I blame this on the fact that I don't have an office, so, presumably, my pattern will change in the very near future).

-I spent a little time cleaning in preparation for Neil and Rebecca's return. Fortunately, as I spent much of the time throwing myself a thesis party, I didn't really make that much of a mess in the rest of the apartment (my room with its stacks folders is another story). Though things were largely in order I did vacuum and apply some cleaner to the bathroom fixtures. Hopefully it meets Neil and Rebecca's exacting standards.

-A free t-shirt that I ordered from a cereal box a few weeks ago arrived today. We are expecting two more. I imagine that they will be arriving any day now.

-I made another batch of beans tonight. Fortunately, as Neil will be here, it isn't likely that they will last as long as the last batch.

-So it turns out that the discount corn chips that I mentioned yesterday are pretty stale. The good news is that they can be made edible by baking them for just a few minutes. Actually, once I did this they were some of the tastiest corn chips I have ever had.

-Oh yeah, and I came across this story from CBC. Apparently there is a school in Nova Scotia that has restricted hand sanitizer use because it might be flammable. No word yet on whether paper will be next, or maybe hair.

A Few Quick Notes 348 (Addenda)

-Shortly after my last post I realized that there were a few more pressing items that I meant to include.

-For the past few weeks I have been thinking that I don't wear ties frequently enough. Yesterday I decided that to day would be the day I would try to slip back into the habit. By evening I finally got around to putting on my shirt, tie, pants, and jacket.

Basically as soon as I was dressed I decided to start preparing dinner. Of course boiling water and then eating food made me uncomfortably warm and I had to remove the jacket and tie. Later in the evening, when everything had been returned to its proper place on my body, I went for a walk. By the time I got back was incredibly hot and uncomfortable. I had forgotten that my neck would get sweaty while wearing a tie. I may try this again in the near future, but the neck sweat issue may be the deal breaker.

-A few weeks ago I mentioned I acquired a Twitter account. For the most part I don't really post much or have any inclination to post. Occasionally I am struck with ideas for a post and am unable to focus until they have been tweeted. Anyway, I had such an idea today.

While in retrospect it may not be as funny as I originally thought, I still think it merits a RT here. Anyway the post was: S brk h cn't ffrd vwls.

Do people get it? I feel that I should give people a chance to try to get it before I explain it.

-For the past few days I have been trying to reduce my beef consumption. Unfortunately this has been rather difficult as there are all kinds of beef-based left-overs in the fridge.

-A few days ago I learned about a CBC application for iPhones/iPod Touches that allows users to listen to streaming versions of Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3, and television audio. The problem with this service, rather than the idea, is that the available streams are incredibly limited. St. John's, Halifax, and Montreal are all unavailable. Amazingly, Goose Bay, Inuvik, Iqaluit, Whitehorse, and Yellowknife are all available (though I imagine that their combined population may not be as large as even St. John's). More great attention to listener's interests by the CBC. Isn't it great that they provide the signals that are of the most interest to people with the least access to wireless/iPhone service?

A Few Quick Notes 312

-Today was a pretty nice day. My sense of things is that it was about 20 degrees and sunny in the downtown area for most of the day. It seems that things are forecast to be a little cooler and less pleasant for the rest of the week.

-A few days ago I removed the scarlet runner beans from my bedroom because they were showing signs of spider mite infestation. Though I didn't see any signs of mites, I also removed the two bean plants that were in my window.

Today I saw some specks on the corn plants that may be spider mites so I took most of the plants in my window outside for a quick wash with insecticidal soap. I will probably repeat this process again in a few days, whether I see signs of growth or not.

Unfortunately, while doing a little more reading I learned a little more about how unfortunate and difficult a spider mite infestation is to deal with. It seems that they are a particularly difficult pest to eradicate. One of the problems is that they have not natural predators inside human dwellings (aside from humans), and are apparently shockingly resistant to pesticides. Hopefully my dousing with soap and trips outside will work as I really am somewhat fond of these plants. It would be great if it was just a little warmer so that I could leave them outside around the clock.

-The up side of this all is that I was encouraged to harvest some of the thyme I have been growing since the fall. The idea of the harvest was that with a smaller plant the spider mites would be unable to use it to move from to plant.

The thyme is now hanging and drying in my bedroom. Presumably in some number of weeks I will be able to collect the dried thyme and add it to our previously existing stash. Given this abundance of thyme I really should start trying to find ways to use it a little more.

-It seems that I will be attending a Memorial University of Newfoundland alumni dinner in a few day. I really don't know what to expect, aside a talk from Gwynne Dyer and a meal. Apparently the post-talk question and answer session is to be moderated by the Chancellor of the university, Rick Hillier. I guess the idea is to allow Memorial graduates to get to know other graduates in the region, so I presumably should ready myself for networking and polite conversation related activities.

Another thing is need to work on is business attire, which is what I am supposed to wear to the event. Hopefully I own something that can pass as business attire. I am starting to think that maybe I should have brought my suit and dress shoes with me to Halifax.

-Moments ago when I was trying to type 'shoes' I accidently typed 'shews.' I guess some of my childhood spelling problems are still present. Though now that I think about it I don't know if switching to phonetic spellings was my common approach to spelling errors, I will have to check with my parents.

Such mistakes confirm my feelings towards spell-checking programs. I really don't know how I would have managed to make it through university without such programs. Presumably my functional vocabulary would have been much smaller, and my syntax more convoluted so that the same opinions could be expressed with a smaller number of words.

Not so hot, apparently

A regular feature of Dalhousie's student newspaper, The Gazette, is something called Hot or Not. Something is labelled as 'hot' and a related idea or thing is labelled 'not' (meaning not hot).

Shortly after starting classes in the fall I learned that one of my fellow grad students was responsible for writing these. So while I don't follow them on a regular basis, whenever I do pick up a copy of The Gazette I make sure to take a look at the Hot or Nots.

While Neil, Rebecca, and I were having dinner on Friday night we noticed that there was a comment about shorts wearing in the Hot or Nots, a comment I take to be directed at me, or at least having originated because of my tendency to wear shorts in the winter. While I don't think I should consider this an honour, it is rather funny recognized in such a context.



Blog-off
Cameron: 12
Neil: 0

A Few Quick Notes 260

-When I woke up yesterday morning Environment Canada was reporting that it was -23, today it was -22 While I think that the location of the weather station may have skewed the reports slightly, they were still pretty cold mornings. Unfortunately, yesterday it wasn't quite cold enough for spit to freeze before it hit the ground, a temperature target that I think I would like to experience about one time in my life. Aside from cool temperatures things are really quite nice. The sun has been out and the wind continues to be low or non-existent.

-This Christmas I was fortunate enough to receive a range of winter hats as gifts. Two of the hats are of the balaclava style, which surprised me as I wasn't aware that I had made my fondness for these hats widely known. Anyway, one of the hats is a hunter's fluorescent orange, and quite warm. Not surprisingly, I used yesterday's temperatures as an excuse to break it out for the first time (aside from in apartment use) since arriving in Halifax. The hat was great, it really kept the cold away from the part of my head that it covered, which was most of my head. If you have the opportunity to get one of these I recommend them, even if they do stand out.



-Yesterday I was able to test the coffee/mug warmer that I pulled from the free crap pile on Thursday. While it seems to do its job I am not sure how much I will actually use it. I think I am a little more comfortable with my mug resting directly on the desk, rather than on some piece of electrical equipment.



-Yesterday Neil and I took advantage of some coupons that a international fast food chain recently distributed. Unlike most coupons, these are returned to the customer once used, meaning that they can be used repeatedly. The best of the two coupons is for a free, no-purchase-necessary coffee. Based on people in line ahead of us, I am getting the sense that this in particular has been a popular coupon, as it basically means free coffee for a month. I am pretty sure that I will make an effort to head back a few more times for free coffee before the coupons expire.

-Yesterday there was a story in the Chronicle Herald about university enrollment in the Halifax area. It seems that the Halifax Chamber of Commerce would like to see it slightly higher, and has even gone as far as to set enrollment goals. Strangely, it seems that these goals were set without the support of the university and without any offers of support from the Chamber of Commerce (at least that is the impression that the article gave me).

Not surprisingly, the enrollment targets have not been met. Thus the Chamber of Commerce is a little disappointed in the situation. Amazingly, the Chamber of Commerce seems to have failed to grasp a number of the challenges faced by the local universities when it comes to increasing enrollment. A huge impediment would seem to be tuition, which is much higher than one would pay in other Canadian provinces. Not surprisingly, as noted by the president of St. Mary's University, a relatively large number of students have decided to go to Memorial (where tuition is much lower). So not only are these universities going to lose local students to cheaper tuition, they are also going to have a hard time attracting out of province students.

While many of the problems faced by the universities in this context are relatively obvious it seems strange that the Chamber of Commerce would set a goal and then seemingly do nothing about fixing some of the problems so that their goal could be met. Additionally, it seems a rather strange that the Chamber of Commerce would try to involve themselves in such an area without the support of the universities.

I guess there is no pay-off for having read the above rant, I just found the situation rather amusing and absurd on a number of levels.

-It seems that we should be having a guest for a few hours this afternoon. In preparation for the guest's arrival I decided to make some humus and a sticky toffee sponge pudding (really, I was just looking for any excuse to make these things). While I think the humus should be fine, I am a little worried about the pudding. It seems that I accidentally doubled the amount of butter in the pudding. This has obviously changed the nature of the dough, hopefully not too negatively. I guess I will find out shortly whether my error has made the dish inedible, or whether it is a great improvement.

A Few Quick Notes 213

-Though we started the day with heavy rain we have now settled into a
pattern of overcast skies and moderate temperatures. While I have
heard that things are to clear up I am not going to hold out too much
hope.

-This evening I have an Ultimate game, the first in our play-off run.
I will be playing Mike and Andrew's team, a team that we did not face
during the regular season.

My understanding is that win or lose we will have at least a game or
two on Saturday, though I don't know where the Saturday games are to
take place.

-Last night Gina and I attended Rose and Thistle trivia. Though we
only had a two person team we managed to do relatively well (2.5
points out of first). As usual the place was packed. It seemed that
every available seat was taken, some people were even forced to stand.

-I might have to bake some bread on Friday. On the other hand, I
could just decide to make due with what I have as I will be heading
out of town on Tuesday.

-My move is approaching quickly. I still haven't quite figured out
what I am going to pack. Maybe I will have to try to dedicate some
time to this matter tonight (though what are the chances that this is
actually going to happen?).

-On Saturday night I spent a few hours at Eastern Edge's annual 24
Hour Art Marathon. As I was entering the facility and waiting to pay
the admission cost I was noticed by one of the participants. He was
quite taken with the suspenders that I was wearing. He couldn't stop
feeling them, though he was kind enough to ask if his touching my
suspenders bothered me. He went on to inquire about whether I would
be performing any music as he seemed to think that anyone with such a
set of suspenders should be making music (clearly musical
qualifications are based on clothing choices).

While I didn't perform any music I did elicit a number of comments
because of the suspenders. It seems that as the only person at such
an event in a suit and suspenders I kind of stood out. Presumably
there are even photos of me in my suspenders floating about the
internet, though I don't know in which direction they might be
floating.

Suspender comments aside, I had a good time walking around talking to
people and checking out the variety of projects that were being
undertaken or that had previously been completed. In one case I went
so far as to place a silent auction bid on one of the items (I know,
crazy me).

Anyway, not that I will be in town next year (at least I don't think I
will be in town next August), I would consider attending the event
again. Maybe next time I would try to show up early enough to
actually partake in some of the organized events and activities rather
than just wandering around the building aimlessly for a few hours

A Few Quick Notes 194

-Today has been another nice day. The skies are clear and the temperature is above 5.

-Something I didn't mention in the last post is that our team received our jerseys just before our ultimate game yesterday. While one might think that this should be good, I am not really so sure.

Unlike in past years when I had solid colour jerseys, this year my team has camouflage jerseys. Not only are our jerseys the only multi-colour jerseys, they are also the only ones that are tank-tops (which doesn't happen to my favourite shirt style). Even more frustrating is that the cut is a little strange, possibly just the regular t-shirt cut, but without the arms, instead of a specially designed tank-top design.

My impression of the jerseys so far is that they look and feel as though we are running around with garbage bags instead of shirts. Hopefully as I become more familiar with the item it will become more comfortable, and that I be so self-conscious about wearing a camouflage tank-top.

-A few years ago I started to use the comment function available in some OPACs whenever I see cataloging decisions I don't agree with. While I occasionally remember to go back and check and see that some of my suggestions are taken I always wonder who it is that gets the pleasure of going through these comments, and how many such comments come up in the run of a day.

-It looks as though I will be having steak and potatoes for dinner tonight. I am pretty sure that I could handle such a meal several times a week.

-Today I started working on some trivia questions. The plan is that I will try to host trivia at Bitters on a night I don't also have ultimate, which seem to be few and far between. Hopefully my rounds will come together in the next few days

A Few Quick Notes 141

-Today brought with it a somewhat sizable snow storm. As of yet, the high winds and blowing snow have not been as bad as I expected, but as weather seems to be a bit tamer here than in St. John's, maybe this is all we were supposed to get. More interesting was that at about 1:00 PM we had lightning, followed by thunder. This is the first time that I have every experienced either of these phenomena in the snow.

-As of last night I and finished with my busing responsibilities. Unfortunately, a shift I had hoped would provide me with a little extra cash failed to do so. It seems that one sure way to have bad, or almost non-existent tips is to work a externally catered family friendly event. For eight hours of work we each made just a little more than we made in an hour the previous day. Of course, this didn't mean that we had to do any less work.

-My packing is going relatively smoothly. For the most part I am just packing clothing and items that I don't or won't need in Montreal in the coming months. Not surprisingly, my two extra pair of hiking boots, and the extra pair of winter boots that I have should be able to be sent back without too many problems.

The best part about this is that the packing has been very quick. As soon as some socks that I plan on packing air-dry I will be just about done.

-On Friday, after punching out at about 2:00 AM, I went over to a co-worker's apartment for a party. After a few hours I then had the pleasure of walking home at 6:00 AM. The only down side was that the sidewalks were particularly icy, which at one point caused me to slip and wipe-out just north of the Hotel Dieu hospital.

-As I will be flying out tomorrow I thought it might be good to get a sense of how much the storm is messing up today's flights. It seems that a huge number of other people are also interested in seeing how messed up today's flights are, so many that the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport web page is inaccessible because the "server is too busy." Hopefully I will eventually be able to get a sense of the delay situation. Though I don't expect this to be the case, I do hope that my flight isn't too screwed up.

-Neil did make it back safely to St. John's, though he clearly has not found the five minutes or so needed to make a post indicating such.

A Few Quick Notes 126

-Today is slightly overcast, but generally pleasant. The temperature is that of a nice fall day, which is rather appropriate as we are in the heart of fall.

-It seems that Thomson House did not attach my prize from the Halloween party staff costume contest to my most recent paycheque. I had really been hoping that I would find a nice additional component with this cheque.

-Work went relatively smoothly last night, though we weren’t as timely in our departure because of a banquet that was taking place in the ballroom. Amazingly, though many kegs were on the low side none blew all night.

-Tonight I will be working my first formal function, a high school reunion dinner and dance for 100 people. As of right now I am not really sure what to expect, aside from a huge number of dishes. I had been hoping that it wouldn’t be a late night, but it being a high school reunion may mean that this is not the case.

-In preparation for today’s formal shift I had to purchase a black shirt, which we are required to wear for such events. As I have not had to purchase all that much clothing in Montreal I really had no idea where to go for such a thing. A co-worker suggested a thrift store on St. Laurent, near Mont Royal.

As I rode north on St. Laurent I was shocked to see a store with a line up of about 45 people outside it doors. After a brief inspection of the area I determined that this was in fact the store that I had been hoping to visit. Though not particularly keen on the idea of waiting in line to enter a thrift store, I eventually joined the line. As I entered the line I noticed that there was a cameraman filming the line for CBC (or the French equivalent). After a few minutes and only a slight amount of progress I decided that I could not spend 45 minutes in line without a guarantee that I would find what I needed.

My next step was to ride from my current location to Place Alexis Nihon and try to find a black shirt in one of the many stores there. It seemed that either Zellers or Winners could be stores that would have such an item, and if they didn’t there would surely be something.

As it turned out, not only did Zellers have black shirts but also they were on sale for 40% off. This means that I was able to purchase a new shirt for less than $9. Unfortunately, I then decided to check out a display in the back of the store and ended up making a $24 impulse buy (though I think it can be defended as an amazing deal).

A Few Quick Notes 109

-Though today was supposed to be rainy and overcast this was not the case. Just like the preceeding two days, Monday turned out to be a pretty clear and pleasant day. Arguably, the only problem with any of the past three days has been heat. On Sunday we even managed to make it all the way to 30 C (86 F). Fortunately, the humidity has been relatively low, making the temperatures much more tolerable than they would have otherwise been.

-A few days ago, while poking around the PEI government website I came across a body that I had never heard of before, the Anne Authority. This is the body that officially licenses Anne of Green Gables products. A list of companies so licensed can be found here. I guess when one character is such a substantial part of the economy it pays to kept track of the products that represent that image. Another question that may soon arise is what happens when Anne enters the public domain or if that is even possible?

-These past few weeks have been pretty disappointing when it comes to trivia results. Consistent with our current Rose and Thistle slump, we finished several points away from first. Pop culture keeps killing us. Though on the plus side, one of our wrong answers did cause me to learn that Casanova became a librarian in his retirement.

Unfortunately, my old trivia stand-by, Bitters, has also been less successful in these past few weeks. Again I would say that my scores are being impacted negatively because I don't watch TV, many movies, or listen to popular music.

-On a related topic, in a week from tomorrow Rose and Thistle Trivia will be adding a fancy/crazy tee-shirt component to the mix (for one week only). As I know that the host is a touch anti-American I was thinking that decking the team out in US army shirts might do the trick, but I am not sure. Another idea was that we buy a few white tee-shirts and then cover them with some of the host's favourite topics, particularly collective nouns and animal habitats, though maybe this would be a bit to much. Any ideas would be appreciated because I think just tossing on a few Hawaiian shirts won't be enough for the win.

-On Friday the Gorch Fock came into port. Since her arrival I have been informed by two independent sources that this German naval training vessel is a very famous ship in Germany. While many people were taking photos of the ship (as I was also) it seemed that many of the photos didn't really capture the entire ship. It seemed that to accomplish one would have to be a bit higher. Fortunately the ship was docked right across from the parking garage. Upon ascending to the top level I learned that not only was I the only one there, but also that I had a pretty good view of the ship and the harbour as a whole.



-For some reason I have not been posting very much. In many ways this is hard to explain because it is not as though I have been occupying my time with important time-consuming activities. It actually seems as though I have been accomplishing less in these past few days, particularly as I have been reading less than usual. More striking is that I actually managed to post today, particularly considering that I have spent several hours on work related matters already this evening. Maybe that is the trick on both fronts, work at home in the peace and quiet of an isolated room without the common distractions of an office environment.

A Few Quick Notes 106

-Today started off on the cool side of things, as so many days do, and eventually turned out to be quite respectable. The temperature seems to be near 20 with a clear sky and slight breeze, a significant improvement over some of the rain filled days that we have experienced recently.

-This winter and early Spring I took a (mandatory) management course at library school. At the time it seemed as though I wasn't really learning anything all that useful. One main focus was on the uses of different types of analytical and strategic planning tools.

One technique that came up time and time again was “SWOT analysis ” (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). For various projects we had to use this technique, though I am not sure if I every really saw the utility.

Earlier this summer I finally saw a situation in which I thought that I might be able to use this analytical tool. I decided to conduct a SWOT analysis on my life. Unfortunately, at least based on my mis-use of this analytical tool, it seems that my weaknesses and threats outweigh or overpower my strengths and opportunities.

I really worry that some of this may have been tainted by my not having properly identified either my primary problem or desired objective (which would place this analysis in context). Maybe if I become motivated I could try and conduct a full-fledged strategic planning exercise on my life (though we all know I will never be motivated for this to happen).

-Today, the day after my phone was installed, I noticed that the phone was ringing. Actually, as the phone is so new, it took me a while to recognize what was happening when it was ringing, though I eventually did figure out that the mysterious sound was the sound of a ringing phone. As I was somewhat confused I forgot to answer with my typical intro and instead just said "hello."

The person on the other end asked if she had reached motor registration. Obviously I replied that she had not reached her intended number. She then indicated that she had somehow been transferred, seemingly by an automatic transfer system. I really hope this call is not indicative of things to come, if so these calls could become tiresome very quickly.

-So far this summer I have had very bad luck when it comes to catching cloths on relatively blunt doorknobs and handles.

In June, while moving some boxes from one location to another, I was walking backwards while pulling a cart when I somehow managed to catch my left rear pocket on the door handle, the result being that the handle popped through the fabric and I was hooked on the door.

A few weeks later I was walking by an old card catalogue when the right sleeve of the long sleeve shirt I was wearing caught on a drawer handle and tore a small hole in my shirt. I wonder if this may be the first piece of clothing damaged on such an innocuous piece of furniture?

Shortly after my run-in in with the tricky card catalogue I was walking next to a cupboard and managed to catch the left front pocked of my pajama pants on the rounded cupboard doorknob. Within about a second I managed to have a tear that was several inches long.

As I have been wearing pants every day (a workplace concession) I have noticed that just about every pair of pants I own has small holes near the inside seem at about the height of my knee. While these wholes surprised me at first because of their unusual location and frequency, I think that I have figured out a possible cause.

It seems that they are all in about the same area that tends to get caught between two kegs of beer when one engages in the exciting activity of keg stacking (as one might do if one changed kegs on a semi-regular basis). I guess from now on I will have to be more careful about which pants I wear to work unless I want to live by the maxim “tighter jeans means less caught fabric.”

A Few Quick Notes 103

-Another sunny, yet cool, day in St. John’s. While we definitely had a little bit of wind it definitely wasn’t oppressive.

-While looking through judicial inquiries at work today I came across two suicides and a vehicle pedestrian accident that all occurred in the last week of October 1979. Deadly week b'ys.

-This evening, immediately after work I went to Signal Hill with my mother and sister. From this iconic location we were able to see three icebergs very clearly and some number of them in the distance. While my mother and sister were counting about eight in total I think that 4 or 5 would have been a more appropriate number.

-I wore my new Value Village wool sweater vest to work. It turned out that this was a very appropriate choice as the library was pretty cool today. Only late in the afternoon, with the help of the midday sun, did things start to warm up.

-Our first Ultimate game was tonight. While I was not able to play for medical reasons, I was able to stand on the sidelines and watch my team defeat our opponents in a nail-biter. The final score was 11-10. The game ended with the opposing team just outside our endzone.

-Last week’s episode of This American Life was one of their best in years (at least as far as I am concerned). While it is not quite up to the standard set by Running After Antelope, it was pretty good. Particularly from a library and information studies perspective it was of interest. The prologue seemed like a pretty good example of a (one of the few maybe?) knowledge management program. For those of you that are interested, This American Life now has a podcast which is updated every Monday.