A Few Quick Notes 599

-So for the past few days it's been pretty hot and humid in Regina.  I'm a little bit bummed about this as I have long been lead to believe that Regina is in the 'dry heat' zone.  Maybe this is just a bit of anomaly?

-Yup, we still have a cat and she's still at least a little bit cute.

Of course, from time to time she's also at least a little bit crazy.  Sometimes she seems to work herself up and then run around and jump off of furniture as quickly as possible.  She also likes running quickly and then sliding into turns on the hardwood floors (sometimes she misjudges the slide and bangs into things).

-I have today off so I walked over to get a nice summer haircut.  Already I feel as though I made the right call.  Maybe I'll have to be on a two or three week cycle for the rest of the summer?  

-If all goes well I be able to take care of some cement patching, aquaponics setting up, and a few other errands before my day-off comes to a close.

-Oh, and because I didn't mention it before or when it was happening, a few days ago I was in Ottawa. And is there a better way to commemorate the trip than to grab a quick time-lapse of the intersection outside of my hotel room?

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Right, I didn't think so.

More business

Despite the fact that today is supposedly my 'day off,' we've been 'on the go' since 8:00 AM this morning.

First we had early morning eye appointments at 8:20.  While we both had good eye exams, completing various tests, waiting for eye drops to kick in, and frame shopping all meant that we didn't leave until about three hours after we arrived.

We then had to go to the bank for an appointment.  Of course, because nothing is as simple as it should be, what I thought would take 10 minutes actually took 45 minutes.  On the upside, I think that I won't have to go back for another account switching appointment until March.  So at least that's good.

After that we had to head to the outskirts of town to have the car we purchased in August officially written off because of a relatively minor fender-bender.  Again, this took longer than we were expecting - but at least it's done.  Hopefully we're just about through with dealing with a super-low speed accident in which we were not at fault that took place over a month ago.

Next I dropped Jeannette off at home ran out to get a months-overdue haircut.  Fortunately, I was able to walk into the barbershop and sit down and have my haircut immediately.  By the time I was done at least two guys were waiting.

Now that I'm back I've been dealing with desk-based administrative errands.  Unfortunately, two of the people I've tried to contact have been unable to take my call so the situations remain unresolved.  Gross.

Anyway, we also have a few shopping errands to run later today.  So assuming all goes as planned we'll have spent close to a full work day fully on the go on my day off.  Yum.

Cameron - 4
Neil - 0

A Few Quick Notes 575

-We had another mostly nice day in Wolfville today.  At times, almost inexplicably, a few raindrops fell marring what would have been an almost perfect day.

-While visiting the grocery store I managed to snag a quick time-lapse vid of the clouds over the dykes.



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I still find the apparent cloud ceiling that exists in the valley an amazing phenomenon.

-Last night I made myself a nice batch of mashed potatoes as a late night snack and then I completely ran out of interest in my mashed potato snack.  Hopefully I will have a little more interest in a left-over/day old mashed potato snack this evening.

-While running errands this afternoon I impulsively decided to stop in at a local barbershop in a neighbouring town to get a haircut.  Much to my surprise, the place was absolutely packed.  Apparently  missing four good haircutting days leads to something of a backlog among members of the barbershop visiting community.  I guess I know now that Easter Tuesday isn't the time to try to drop in for a haircut at a barbershop.

-It seems that my post on Florida's population was more popular than I expected.  Who knew you were all waiting for my thoughts on the implications of Florida's population boom?

A Few Quick Notes 532

-As predicted, today was definitely a less than ideal day. While today was not rainy from beginning to end, it was overcast all day.

-It seems that both Jeannette and I had our headphones break on us recently. These developments necessitated a trip to a store where we each purchased replacement sets. The only upside seems to be that we both have slightly newer headphones (and in my case a set that seem to fit a little better).

-I made a satisfying, vegetable-heavy batch of chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight. Now that the leftover noodles have expanded it seems that we have more than we did after dinner.

-Though I haven't completely given up following online election coverage, I have had to dial back the time I spend following the up to the minute developments on Twitter. I just can't afford to spend 5 hours a day watching tweets flow in.

-Developments that I did manage to spend a few minutes following today related to the Auditor General. The first development of the day was a Canadian Press story releasing details in a leaked draft version of a report that makes it look as though the government may have broken the law when it came to spending related to the recent G8/G20 preparations. The second development, which hit a few hours later, had to do with Conservative MPs using an old quote from the Auditor General out of context to make it look as though she was saying something complementary about the Conservative government though she had actually been talking about the previous Liberal government. All in all, it doesn't sound as though it was a particularly good day for the Conservative party.

-Yesterday I should have mentioned that Jeannette helped out with our haircuts. Jeannette helped buff out noticeable lines that we had each given other.

A Few Quick Notes 531

-We had the pleasure of having another beautiful day today. It seems that the first part of this week isn't supposed to be quite as nice as this weekend was.

-I am now 5 for 33 for this year's RUTRTW contest. Maybe not surprisingly, all of the 5 prizes have been been free coffees.

-This weekend I was again able to take advantage of the fact that our building has not yet increased the laundry prices as promised. I am quite happy that the promised price increase has not yet been implemented, though this impending doom of the price change is a little nerve-wracking.

-A few days ago it became clear that one of the two local grocery stores has stopped carrying pate. This seems a strange development as they had been carrying a number of varieties until a few weeks ago and because the other store is continuing to carry a number of varieties. What I can't figure out is why this change would have happened at this particular moment in time.

-A few days ago I saw a CBC story about a local sexual assault that had a pretty distrubing line.

The woman told police she recognized him as the same stranger who had touched her three times previously in similar incidents.

How is it that similar attacks have happened to the same woman three times?

-Gilles Duceppe seems to have requested a time change for the French language debate from Thursday to Wednesday because of a scheduling conflict - with a NHL hockey game.

Though I get the sense that at least a few of the other parties aren't opposed to such a change, I haven't heard if the change will actually be approved.

Update: Neil just informed me that the debate has in fact been changed and will now be taking place on Wednesday.

-Neil and I traded haircuts this afternoon.

Late night appearance change

At about 11:00 PM last night I decided that it was time for a hair cut. I decided to lose a few inches.

It turns out that an inch is a fair bit shorter than I thought. Woops.

Getting ready

For the past few days I have been undertaking a variety of tasks with hopes of preparing for my upcoming trip to Phoenix. Not surprisingly, some of these undertakings have been mirrored by Neil and Rebecca.

The most notable instance of this mirroring effect has been in the haircutting realm. As many of you will know, several days ago I had my hair cut. Yesterday afternoon Rebecca went for a haircut and ended up losing a few more inches than she expected to (even though it was shorter than expected I think it was a fine haircut). Neil, last night, asked me if I would be willing to take care of his shaggy locks. So now all three of us have been shorn of our gorgeous locks.

Laundry has been another area that has received attention. Yesterday I did a final load of laundry so that everything I need will be clean. Neil and Rebecca were doing some similar loads today, though I think that due to their later departure date that they may have more to do before they go.

I have also been collecting school work to bring with me. Of course this is likely going to be a waste of time as I suspect that I really won't manage to do much while I am away.

Anyway, the bewitching hour is now very near. Hopefully I am not forgetting anything key.

Hair cut

I was recently reminded that I will shortly be heading to a wedding. One of the most important aspects of this reminder was that it finally allow me to accept that I would be well served by getting a haircut. At some point yesterday I decided that today should be the day that I get my haircut.

As I am not really into barbershop cuts these days I decided to get a kitchen haircut. Jeannette, somewhat to my surprise, wholeheartedly agreed to provide me with such a haircut. Originally, I also expected Neil's participation.

By the time that I finally got around to sitting down for my haircut I had to rely on Jeannette alone (though this isn't to suggest a lack of confidence in her abilities).

Actually, I am quite impressed with my new haircut. Even though I insisted that Jeannette use the clippers instead of scissors I don't have a haircut that looks as though my head was buzzed. I think that this haircut is one that, if regularly maintained, should last for a while.

Anyway, I now have one of my pre-trip preparations out of the way. Now I have just a few more things to take care of (like packing, the purchasing of a wedding gift, and trip planning) before heading.

A Few Quick Notes 389

-A few days ago I think I welcomed the onset of Winter. It seems that my wish has been granted. It has solidly below freezing for the past few days, and doesn't seem to be ready to let-up anytime soon. Fortunately, so far it is basically as pleasant as I would have expected, though maybe a little chillier than I would like (it is presently -15). Thus far we haven't had much additional snow, though it seems that that too may change in the very near future.

-We managed to pull off a rather impressive Ultimate victory on Saturday. While I believe I scored a point or two and managed to make complete passes for a few more I don't think I can really take much credit for our win. Our friends John and Rebecca were able to sub for us, which was fun (they then came over for dinner afterwards).

-On Friday night, prior to attending the Dal math grad students' once-a-term Martini party, I had Neil give me a quick buzz. This means that I am back to a nice, short, and respectable no. 3 length haircut. In retrospect I probably should have let it grow out and allowed myself to get a regular haircut, but the fact that I could take immediate action was appealing, and, in the end, too powerful and urge to ignore.

-Over the course of the past few weeks I begun to notice that Tom Flanagan is really wailed on by many other Canadian political scientists. It seems that his name acts as a stand-in for the Reform Party/right-wing populism (given his past association with the Reform/Alliance/Conservative Party this is not completely without reason).

Because I was thinking about this topic I did some googling and learned that Flanagan was born and educated in the US. Last year, as the result of a similar process, I learned that F.L (Ted) Morton was also born in the United States. This means that a rather significant chunk of the 'Calgary School' is American in origin, which may help explain why some of the ideas most associated with them give off an American vibe.

-Neil and I are continuing to work away on the chin-up bar. I was able to complete 15 or 16 (I lost count near the end) this evening. At this rate I should be able to claim my rightful place in the not too distant future. I just hope that I can keep this up long enough so that when I head back to St. John's for next Christmas that I will be able to remain the in-person family champion.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 3

A Few Quick Notes 374

-Today was another less than perfect day in Halifax. While there were periods of no rain, the day was marred by longer periods of rain.

-We had chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight. While I originally was hoping to make the noodles from scratch I eventually ran out of time and ended up using some from a box. I guess my noodle making attempt will have to wait for another day.

-Neil and I have our first Winter league ultimate game tomorrow. While we recognize the names of a few people playing in the league we don't know any of other members of our team.

-For the past few days I have been spending a fair bit of my time marking. The batch of essays I have before me need to be done by Monday. I guess this means that I should probably try to complete at least another two or three this evening.

-Neil and I gave each other haircuts today. While Neil's hair wasn't that long, mine was approaching 12 inches in places. I think that both haircuts were justified and will be good in the long-run.

-As much as I would like to keep on going, I think it is probably best if I try to make my way back to the aforementioned marking.

So this happened this afternoon

This afternoon, while eating my lunch and getting ready to return to some reading, Neil approached me and asked if I might consider giving him a haircut. I immediately said that I would, though I didn't expect thing to get underway for a little while. It soon became clear that Neil was hoping to get things moving pretty quickly.

Almost immediately after finishing my lunch I started to gather the equipment and help Neil set-up. In just a few minutes, after quickly examining the how-to guide I launched into what was my first full-fledged haircut.

Within just minutes I had removed most of Neil's hair and was starting to tidy things up.



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Amazingly, following the how-to guide seemed to work pretty well. I think that Neil ended up with a pretty reasonable haircut, or at least one that was pretty close to what he expected when we started the operation.

Anyway, now that we know I can do it, I guess I might be giving Neil haircuts on a more regular basis (and I hope that in the future he might let me to down to the no. 3 comb).

In related news, soon after getting his haircut, Neil removed his beard. The effect of both of these changes is quite extreme, Neil looks much different than he did just a few hours ago.

Adventures in Haircutting

For the past several months I have been having Neil cut my hair. Not only does this save me money, but it also allows me to have my hair cuts occur at times that suit me. The best part is that the haircuts have been working out pretty well (at least as far as I am concerned), even though Neil has no formal training in this area

Originally, Neil was using a haircutting set that he purchased for $10 at a discount store two years ago. As we should have guessed, this set wasn't particularly good. A few weeks ago, we noticed that a much better set was on sale for $20, a cost that could be recouped with only a few cuts. Unfortunately, due to our hectic schedules in mid-December Neil wasn't able to give me a trim with the new set prior to our departure. With the knowledge of the new set firmly in my memory, I spent most of the trip awaiting our return so that Neil could give me a trim using the new clippers.


Though it took me a day or so to talk him into it, this afternoon I finally managed to get him to agree to cut my hair this afternoon. After a brief strategy session in front of the bathroom mirror we moved to the cutting room (the kitchen). Neil really dove in quite quickly and removed quite a bit of my hair in just minutes.

With the rough work out of the way we moved on to the detailed refining of the cut. Eventually Neil started tidying up my neck with the bare trimmers. After a brief hiatus Neil decided that he would take a few more passes with the trimmer. As Neil was moving the trimmer towards my head I had a suspicion that he hadn't yet replaced the comb, and after a second or two Neil recoiled in horror, realizing that he had not replaced the comb and thus cleared a sizeable patch on the back of my head.

To attempt to rectify the situation Neil used one of the shortest combs and re-cut the previously cut areas in an attempt to even out the mistake. The result, not surprisingly, is a much shorter cut than I originally expected. Also, though I don't know how this happened, it seems that the haircut is a bit more like a bowl cut than I would originally imagined it would be. Presumably in a few weeks, once this has started to grow out, we can go back and re-touch things.

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 244

-Though cooler than yesterday, today has been a pretty nice day. For much of the day the sun was shining and the wind was relatively unnoticeable. Though cool, the temperatures have remained above freezing these past few days. I keep expecting the temperatures to drop but am then surprised to see temperatures in the teens forecast for later in the week, which is what happened to me today.

-On Sunday evening Neil asked me to give him a haircut. I declined the offer as I am pretty sure that I am not able to do what it was that he wanted. As he still wanted the haircut and I had declined to give it to him Rebecca stepped up and offered to give it a try.

After a few minutes with the clippers Rebecca switched over to the scissors, at which point I asked if I could give it a try. After a few snips Rebecca and I felt that we had likely gone as far as we could comfortably go with the haircut. Fortunately, Neil seemed pleased with the results, largely because all he had wanted, and all we did, was a trim in the back.

Almost before we were finished with Neil I decided that I too could use a haircut. Not surprisingly, Neil agreed to take the buzzers to me. He was able to buzz the sides and back without too much trouble. Though there may be a little unevenness, I was pretty impressed with the results considering it was a first attempt. I will have to get him to give me haircuts in the future.

-Yesterday Neil and I got up bright and early to register for a winter Ultimate league that will run from late November until some time in the Spring. This league, run by HURL, will take place at one of the gyms at the local Canadian Forces base. While I am looking forward to playing, I am a little worried that I will be a bit out of shape for the first few games. Hopefully I will be able to manage without too many problems.

-I have spent these past few days busting hump for a paper that is due on Thursday morning. Though I have spent many hours working on it already, it seems that I still will have several more to put in before I am done.

A Few Quick Notes 170

-Today, as well as yesterday have been particularly nice. Environment Canada is claiming that it is presently 23 degrees. It seems that similar weather has been forecast for the next few days.

-It seems that I must be somewhere near 14/85 on the year for Roll Up the Rim. It seems that my end of year drive has failed me. I am presently on a pretty long dry spell, which may be permanent as places are started to run out of contest cups.

-Nithum returned unexpectedly today. With him he brought a friend. Once my father arrives tomorrow we will have a pretty full apartment.

-On Wednesday I was able to hand in my final library school assignment. Assuming that I pass all of my courses I will soon be able to call myself a librarian. A few years ago not all that many people would have guessed that this is a path that I would have taken.

-In preparation for my summer employment, I obtained a haircut yesterday evening. The hair cutter was Nick, a co-worker. We did the deed on his balcony so that the wind was able to take care of most of the clippings.

The result is that my hair is very short on the sides and in the back, longer on the top. What I got was exactly what I was looking for.

-Last night, while playing around with my camera, I decided to take a picture of the street in front of my building. Upon stepping onto my balcony with my camera I heard someone muttering something. I soon realized that the muttering was coming from someone sitting on a planter across the street and that he was muttering about someone taking photos at that time of night (1:30 AM). I think he may have been suggesting that I not take a photo of him (which I wasn't planning on and did not do). I did take a photo of the street next to where he was sitting though.

Some period of time later, maybe a half an hour or so, someone (whom I believe to be the individual from the planter) was having a minor dispute about money with two other individuals. Eventually things were settled and all three faded back into the night.

My theory is that it was a drug deal and that the first guy wasn't particularly pleased to see someone taking photos (as he knew what was supposed to be happening in the very near future). Fortunately, this individual's displeasure with my photographic activities didn't lead to any further actions on his part (something I was mildly concerned about last night).

More shopping this past weekend

I make my post titles in honour of Games of No Chance (GONC) and More Games of No Chance (GONC2), books edited by my supervisor, R.J. Nowakowski. The third book in the series will be Games of No Chance 3, although another student, Paul Ottaway, and myself thought it should have been More Games of No Chance 2.

Back to my story, at 4:30 on Saturday I jaunted across the road and down the street to the second closest haircutter's, the first being where I had my last scarecut, I mean haircut. They are open until 5, but I they asked me if I would like to book an appointment for Monday. I did, and I'll get back to this later.

Saturday evening came around and I decided it was time to do some buying at Ikea.ca. My main purchases were a desk and dressers. I tried to buy the stuff online, but I was getting an error saying that my postal code didn't match my city on my billing address. I figured the computer didn't like St. John's as a city because of its punctuation, but I didn't want to submit the 'wrong' billing address and not have my payment processed. I called them up and made my order instead. My shipment is expected in 7-11 business days (from Sat).

On Sunday, Rebecca and I only hit up Lawtons and Sobeys. Lawtons had a good deal whereby a free movie ticket was earned with the purchase of 3 Dove products (excluding soap and travel sizes). Rebecca uses Dove products, but if someone wanted to they could buy 3 of the cheapest Dove deodorants (thrown them away) and 'save' money over buying a full-price admission at some theatres.

I had also planned to make an online order from Staples on Sunday. However, the products I had liked at Staples weren't on the website, and I didn't have the product numbers (I had falsely ass-u-me-d that it would be no trouble to find them online). Rebecca then remember that she had wanted to pick up a chalk holder at Staples and had forgotten. As her hands react to chalk and she is giving a chalk-n-talk (that's just a talk using a chalkboard) on Tuesday I decided I would make the run over this morning before my haircut. So this morning came and I went to Staples. I planned my bus trips out quite nicely, and I managed to go from the chair I'm in now, to Staples, and back in less than an hour. My trip was quite sucessful. I have a chair and cabinet coming on Friday, and chalk holders (normally a steep $7.99 per each) were available in 2-for-1 packs, so I got one as well (which I had wanted).

I then went to get my hair cut in the bottom of Doug Wyatt's building, at Splitt Ends (clever name). While I was getting my hair cut the phone rang and the woman cutting my hair, Melissa, went to answer it. When she came back she told another woman there than it was her husband on the phone and he was going to the doctor's to get an AIDS test, which was for some reason necessary to go to Cuba (Melissa's husband works for the Department of National Defence). Melissa said he'd better pass, to which the woman responded that Melissa's should have made sure he would pass such a test before she got married. Burn. Melissa said they mostly get student business. I figure this is why she looked so surprised when I gave her a tip. My beard got the boot when I got home. I would almost definitely get IDed buying alcohol right now if I were wearing shorts. As it is, I think it's a toss-up.