A Few Quick Notes 134

-The snow has continued to fall in Montreal, so much so that we now have a layer of a few centimeters, or just enough slush to get your feet nice and wet. As far as I know this is supposed to continue tomorrow. I have no idea what type of weather we are to receive on the weekend.

-A few days ago, while looking at the This American Life website, I came across the podcast The Sound of Young America. Ira suggested that it was one of his favourite podcasts and as I like Ira’s show I thought that I would give it a chance. So far I have not been all that impressed with the several episodes that I have downloaded. I guess the straight interview format is not really working for me, though it is possible that I need to give another chance. Though it isn’t really all that surprising that prepared content is of a higher quality that that is recorded off the cuff.

-Thomson House will be having its first Mustache and Cleavage Party next Thursday. Though I will be attending an Oliver Sacks reading at about 7:30 I do hope to stop by afterwards. While it is unlikely that I will be bearing cleavage there is a very good chance that I will be mustachioed, at least for that night.

-Several moments ago I returned from a walk. The walk was pretty short, just up St. Laurent a few blocks. While out, I was able to stop at La Veille Europe and pick up a few new boxes of herbal tea and one box of Russian tea. The three herbal teas that I purchased were rosehip, hibiscus and rosehip, and mountain berry (whatever that is – seemingly rosehip and hibiscus with some other stuff).

On the way back I stopped at a kitchen store and purchased a knife sharpener, hopefully ending my hunt for a quality knife sharpener that I can use to sharpen our knives.

-For the past number of weeks I have been eating a fair number of saltines, though I have tried to stick to the classy multi-grain variety. This type was chosen mainly because it has a little more flavour and texture. A few days ago, while motivated by cost, I purchased an eight-sleeve pack of the traditional type of saltine. Aside from lacking a variety of grains, the most noticeable difference is the amount of salt. The new guys are coated in the stuff whereas the other variety had just a light dusting. It seems that I may have to revert to the multi-grain type, even if they are a little more expensive.

-I have been doing a very good job and ensuring that I always prepare leftovers these past few weeks. My new trick is to buy bone-in chicken breasts and cut off the easy part of the breast and use it as I would a boneless piece of chicken meat. The remaining section, with the bone-in, is then boiled and seasoned to form a broth from which chicken soup can be made. Or more accurately, rice is made with the broth, vegetables, and meat.

A Few Quick Notes 75

-Another beautiful day in Montreal. It seems that this weather is very quickly eating away at the snow reserves. If this keeps up we won’t have all that much snow left in a few days. Some rain would really speed the process up, though also make it much more unpleasant.

-As I didn’t manage to go out for a walk last night I hope to be able take one tonight.

-I am really looking forward to being able to get back on my unicycle. Hopefully I will be able to find a good patch of pavement around my apartment. Unfortunately, I didn’t really come up with a good spot this fall. Maybe I can try and find one tonight on my walk.

-My “Roll Up The Rim” losing streak continues. As I am now beating the odds I am thinking that I should try to start setting goals for myself. My first goal will be to get to 18 straight losses.

Three to go.

-During a discussion after class a classmate reminded me that I make cornbread. It was nice to have this pointed out to me as I had forgotten to make it in a good number of weeks.

Shortly after returning home from class and consuming dinner I went to work on a quick batch of cornbread. It is now cooling in the kitchen. Hopefully I will have a few pieces as I work tonight.

-Apparently McGill will not be having classes on March 26, 2007 because it is election day. Unless this is law it seems like a bit of an overreaction on the part of the university. I can’t believe that they actually need to cancel an entire day of classes because of an election. My experience with voting in Canada would suggest that it is not all that involved a process, one needs to operate a pencil for about 2 seconds.

-This morning as I was preparing for class I was listening to CBC as normal. At one point Bartleman, the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, was being interviewed by Ms. Rogers on Sounds Like Canada. One of the first things I recall hearing Bartleman say was about how all Canadians think about Muskoka as summer hangout for movie stars.

This immediately struck me as an overstatement. While I have heard of Muskoka, I certainly would not have associated Muskoka with summer recreation and movie stars. This seems to be another assumption that is based on the belief that “Canada” = “Ontario.” Sadly, this is an assumption that exists all to frequently among people from Ontario (though I should be clear that this is not common among all people from Ontario).