Information they don't post in Newfoundland

A few days ago I noticed a CBC story about Newfoundland and Labrador not posting restaurant inspection results for the public to see, and not having any plans to do so in the near future.

At the time my thought was that the implementation of such a scheme would likely be relatively straightforward, particularly because the data already exists (and probably in a relatively accessible way).  Basically all the province would need to do is release it to the public.

Moments ago I happened to be browsing through New Brunswick related web-content and found their restaurant inspection depository.  From what I can tell from this site, it looks as though this process is just about as easy as thought it would be.  I imagine that they have a database that then feeds the site so that the most current reports are displayed and restaurant profiles automatically updated.  Presumably they would have such a database even if they weren't actively providing the information to the public, the internal management of the data would require such a structure.

Perhaps not surprisingly, most of the location being inspected seem to pass quite easily.  Though I was surprised to see some of the infractions.  In particular I was surprised to see infractions that I just wouldn't have really thought likely.

For instance, in at least one case a location was cited or not having refrigerators with thermometers.  Such an infraction immediately raises at least two questions.  Firstly, if fridge thermometers are required wouldn't you expect them to come with fridges?  Secondly, given that these inspections seem to be somewhat regular, how could such an infraction arise in a place that is not new to the food service industry?  Shouldn't such an infraction have been caught almost immediately?

If you examine the inspection report I just linked to you might also see that there seems to sometimes be inconsistency between the broad information provided about the report and the details contained within.  Notably, the report itself suggests that the last inspection was on November 22, 2011 and that the follow-up should be on December 6, 2011.  The higher level information suggests that the last inspection was on November 22, 2011 but that the follow-up inspection should be on January 16, 2012.

One final thing that I found interesting about these New Brunswick restaurant inspection reports is that they seem to either be done in English or French, not in both languages.  Furthermore, one has to open the report to see in which language the report was prepared.

It's gone on long enough

For some reason when one moves up from fast food coffee chains to more expensive coffee houses certain differences are immediately apparent. At least as far as the coffee is concerned I see most of these changes as positive. For instance, I do like having some choice when it comes to roast or whether I would like an espresso-based beverage (not that this is a choice I often make). But, unfortunately, there is one coffee-based difference that seems common to many of these operations that I really dislike. For some reason, these places do not add milk or cream to the coffee before it is handed to the patron.

Maybe the most obvious reason for my dislike of this practice is that the pourers routinely leave room in the cup for milk or cream. As someone who takes my coffee black this means that I am being shorted coffee and not making up for it by taking advantage of the available (relatively more expensive) condiments. This is all the more galling as I’m paying more for the pleasure of being shorted coffee than I would pay for coffee at the cheaper fast food coffee places where I’ve never been shorted on coffee just because I like it black.

My second problem with this practice is more of a safety/spillage concern. So instead of handing me a to-go cup of coffee that is ready to consume, this places will hand me unlidded cups of hot coffee. I know that I am unlikely to spill this coffee on myself, but when I am handling multiple flimsy paper cups at the same time I do enjoy the comfort of a lid.

Of course getting a lid for the coffee is usually another issue. Instead of having the lids near the cash register they are usually near the milk, so that those adding milk can grab them when they have done. Of course, if you won’t want milk this means a trek to the milk stand. If a group ahead of you is at the milk stand you may have to wait or contend with other customers ineptly milking and lidding their coffee. Oh, and this area is usually a mess as people have been spilling milk and sugar since opening time. And as a black coffee drinker spilled milk and sugar are exactly what I want to deal with after I have just ordered a beverage without those ingredients.

And if I have ordered a beverage with those ingredients, which only happens when I am ordering for others, I don’t want to have to figure out how much milk or sugar are typically served with coffee. And even if I knew how much were desired, that I have to add the ingredients myself makes life more difficult when placing an order for a group, a process which is relatively straightforward at most fast food coffee shops. And if nothing else, isn’t service what we’re paying for at a place like this?

A final consideration, and though it doesn’t really impact me directly would seem to be of some significance to the milk in coffee segment of the population, is that when cold milk is added to hot coffee (rather than the other way around) more damage is done to the protein in the milk. Put another way, adding coffee to milk means that more of the nutritional benefits of the milk are be passed along to the consumer than if milk is added to coffee. Ironically, the fast food coffee chains typically do it the healthy way.

So given these concerns, and more that I haven’t dealt with, I don’t understand why this trend seems to be spreading. How has there not been a major outcry from the coffee consuming public to end these unsafe and unhealthy practices? This inferior service model must be stopped.

A Few Quick Notes 534

-I think today might have been overcast with a few sunny periods, but the more I think about it the more that I really don't remember much of today's weather. I guess I was paying attention to other things.

-Last night Neil, Rebecca, Jeannette, and I tried to go to a local restaurant to take advantage of a Groupon that I purchased a few weeks ago. Much to our surprise, the place was absolutely packed. I guess the fact that it was about 6:00 PM on a beautiful Friday evening may have had something to do with it. (Somehow all of us forgot to piece together that it was Friday evening and that Friday evening might be a particularly busy time.) We eventually decided that we weren't wiling to wait such a long time for a table in a restaurant that would likely still be overfilled when we got the table.

-For breakfast/brunch this morning I made a loaf of bread. It seems that I am getting a fair bit better at judging the volumes required for a single loaf of bread. This is good, as sometimes it is a good move to make a single loaf instead of a half-dozen loaves.

-As expected, Dal's tuition will be going up for next year. I am still of the opinion that the province may be shooting itself in the foot by allowing this to happen, but obviously they feel differently. I guess time will tell - but I think that they really can't risk driving away too many more young people given their already lopsided demographic balance.

-Just moments ago I finished some grading that I have been working on for the past two days. On both days I really put in a few good hours. Though these days were not particularly pleasant, that I have finished means that I should be able to promptly get back to studying.

-The Lounge Lizards are great. I really don't listen to them quite enough.

A Few Quick Notes 524

-Contrary to what is being reported by Environment Canada, we are actually working our way through another beautiful day in Halifax. Sadly, things are expected to take a turn towards the rain tomorrow.

-I am now down to 4 for 29 on this year's RUTRTW. So even if I pick up a win on my next cup I will average at best (or something like that).

-I went for my first post talk meal today. I am really pleased to have finally been invited to tag along with faculty members and the guest speaker for a post-talk meal. This seems like a strange rite of passage in the world of graduate studies, and I am glad to have finally achieved it. This invitation was particularly good as the speaker in question studies some things that interest me, so it was good to be introduced to her as I will likely be checking out more of her work in the future.

-The election is ongoing but I still haven't heard of any big public rallies that I might be able to attend to hear party leaders or candidates speak. It is almost as though this form of campaigning is a thing of the past. I would have imagined that making speeches to the public might be something that at least a few of the party leaders would be interested in.

-I should get back to transcribing. It would be nice to put in a few hours before getting down to studying, and if I want this to happen I have to get back to transcribing.

On the Road: Sackville to Charlottetown

This morning we awoke on the early side of things and soon found ourselves on the road to Dorchester. Before long we were in front of the town hall looking at the World's Largest Sand Piper, a local landmark. Our next stop in Dorchester was their famous penitentiary.

Almost as soon as we pulled into the institution's parking lot we were greeted by a guard in a van who informed us that if we did not have an appointment we were not welcome on the premises. Apparently this jail, unlike some of the others in the Canadian federal jail system, does not have a craft shop selling goods made by the inmates.

After heading back through Dorchester we made our way to Memramcook to look for the Monument Lefebvre. After some hunting around and a little confusion we figure out that the monument was actually a building that it was closed on Sundays in the off season.

Our next goal was to find a local covered bridge. Unfortunately the tourist map we had wasn't very precise so we didn't know exactly where the bridge was or how to get there. After about 30 minutes of searching we eventually encountered a jogger who was able to point us in the right direction.



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As you have seen, it was something of a dud as far as covered bridges are concerned.

After a return trip to Sackville and a visit to the Mount Allison art gallery we continued along to PEI and Charlottetown. Of course we crossed at the bridge instead of taking the ferry (which we later learned isn't even operating at this time of year).



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Shortly after arriving in Charlottetown my father and I visited some friend's of his who lived in St. John's in the early 1980s. As they have now lived here for 25 years I though that this couple might be able to recommend a few things for Jeannette and I to do tomorrow while my father is in his meeting. Much to my surprise they couldn't really come up with anything other than visiting some of the local beaches and the comparing them other beaches. Of course, as it is pretty cold outside this sounds a little less fun than it might be in the summer.

For dinner we went out for fish and chips at a local restaurant. What was particularly notable about this restaurant was that they served a variety of fish, including cod, haddock, halibut, and sole.

We are now back in the hotel room and trying to dink around with bluetooth so that all three of us can use our room's single wired internet connection. So far we have two computers up and running but have been unable to link up the third machine.

Friday Night Pig Roast

Last night, instead of going to the free Hawksley Workman at the Grand Parade, Jeannette and I attended a pig roast held in honour of a friend's birthday.

Actually, the set-up was pretty neat. A local barbecue restaurant will prepare a pig (or hunk of meat of your choosing) and side-dishes (food for about 16) for a fixed price.

My primary disappointment with the event had to do with the size of the pig in relation to its cost. For $375 (for about 18 people) this seemed to be a rather small pig. I got the sense that everyone present expected there to be a fair bit more meat. At the end of the evening I observed that we could have had three turkeys and side-dishes for 30 for $15 less (as the turkey meal was only $120).

Anyway, I really like this idea and think that I would be willing to try it again, I just might wouldn't go with the pig option - it was definitely the worst value on the menu.

Score
Cameron 45
Neil 0

All day and Everyday FAIL

This morning I went to a local restaurant for dim sum. As we were entering the restaurant we noticed the following sign:

It seems to me that there is something a little off with the wording of this sign, or at least their definitions of 'all day' and 'everyday.'

Signage issues aside, the meal was quite enjoyable and I will likely go back for more the next time I am looking for a dim sum restaurant in Halifax.

Score
Cameron 14
Neil 0

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.

Convocation weekend

As some of you may recall, a few weeks ago I successfully defended and submitted my MA thesis. This meant that I had satisfied the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in Political Science at Dalhousie. I didn't think that this was particularly big news, but it seems that a few people in my family did.

On Thursday evening, a few hours later than originally expected, my grandmother arrived in Halifax with the intention of attending my convocation ceremony. My sister and mother were to, and did, arrive on Friday afternoon for the same reason.

Prior to my mother and sister's arrival I met my grandmother at her hotel (we didn't have room for three) where we had a very pleasant lunch together. Shortly after we parted ways so that I could go to the university and pick up my academic gown, as well as submit a paper.

Not too long after I eventually made it back to the apartment I was able to contact my mother and sister, who had arrived in the intervening period, and suggest that instead of driving through the Valley in the rain they come to our apartment for dinner. Though there was a little bit of confusion about communication and when people would arrive, they eventually did show up and I cooked us all dinner.

That evening, after a few games of Fluxx, Kirsten talked my mother and I into joining her for a dip in her hotel's pool. I think that we were all rather surprised by how big and deep the pool was for a hotel pool on the second floor of a hotel. The other nice aspect of the set-up was that they had a hot tub. As I hadn't been in a hot tub in quite a number of years I was quite keen to see if I still liked them as much as I remembered liking them. It turns out that they were as good as I remember, though I think I may have stayed in a little long as I definitely felt a little faint by the time we got out.

After a group breakfast on Saturday morning we all went back to our respective sleeping locations to either prepare for the afternoon's convocation ceremony, sleep, or engage in some combination of both activities. I know that I managed to sleep for a few minutes before throwing on my convocation garb.

We all made our way to 'The Cohn' about an hour before the event was to start. I arrived at this time because that was when the graduands were instructed to arrive. The other arrived at this time because an additional ticked was needed and this was when they were planning on distributing the extra tickets. Fortunately, within moments of arriving Kirsten was able to secure the needed ticket, allowing me to go upstairs to the staging area with a relative degree of comfort that things weren't going to be screwed.

Almost as soon as I entered the area where all of the graduands I came across a, now former, classmate. We spoke for a few minutes when a third classmate joined us. As it turns out, of the 11 of us who started as MA candidates last September, we were the only three political science MA students to show up for the convocation ceremony. Actually, I got the sense that quite a number of the graduands were no shows. It was so sparsely attended that I was fifth last in the alphabetical line-up even though my last name normally puts me in the middle of most lines.

At the appropriate time the graduands were assembled two-by-two in lines. After what seemed like about 5 order checks we eventually made our way to the auditorium. As it turns out, as MA students, we were relatively near the end of the batch of graduands, though there were a few computer science types and Ph.D. students after us.

Once we made it into the auditorium and were seated things began to move quite quickly. Before I knew it they had started getting the Bachelors students up on stage. Eventually we were moved from our seats to the staging aisle. They had planned things so that once standing no one would have to stand that long.

After just a few minutes my name was called and I was making my way across the stage. Of course I am sure that I slouched and screwed up the timing, but I guess there isn't much I can do about it now. That being said, I think part of the problem is that I had no idea what to expect when I reached the Chancellor in the middle of the stage, this part of the ceremony wasn't explained to us at all. As it turns out he basically just says good luck and you move on (no hand shaking because of the swine flu). It was generally rather awkward, particularly as nothing really happens (they don't hood you like they do at MUN convocations).

After all of the graduates had been on stage they started the honourary doctorate part of the ceremony. The recipient of the ceremony's honourary degree was the Music Director (and sometimes conductor?) of Symphony Nova Scotia, Bernhard Gueller.

After Gueller's talk things wrapped up quickly and we made our way our to the lobby. Once in the lobby I again ran into one of my former classmates, and then my history professor (who happens to also, be the Associate Dean of Arts and Social Sciences). Eventually, my mother located me, and after a little chatting and photo taking we make our way across the lobby to find Rebecca, Kirsten, and my mother.

After a little bit of indecisiveness and dilly-dallying (along with a few cookies and some juice) we made our way through the building to find a place where we could take some pictures. Eventually, after a few photos, we were ready to leave.

Shortly after leaving we decided to head directly to dinner. After some more indecisiveness and a little bit of snarkiness we settled on the Mongolie Grill (so that everyone could get the ingredients and quantity they wanted). All things considered, I think that the meal went well (though I was definitely tired and not in a celebratory mood).

After dinner we returned to the apartment to kill time (and my chances to study) while my mother waited for Neil's plane to arrive so that she could head out to pick him up from the airport (he was attending a conference for matheletes in Atlanta for the better part of the week).

This morning we again went out for a group breakfast, mainly so that Neil could get a chance to see grandma (and because we all needed to eat). After breakfast Rebecca and I returned to the apartment while The Ladies + Neil made their way to the Valley for some apple picking and touring.

Eventually, the group went to the airport to drop my grandmother off for her flight only to find that one leg of her trip had been cancelled. The eventual result was that she was re-booked for a new set of flights tonight and will be crashing with us tonight (I imagine it has been a few years since she has spent the night on a futon in a student apartment).

Anyway, I am now trying to catch up on some school work and reading while the rest of them are playing euchre in the living room. If the pots get to big I may have to go in and say something, but until then I think I can probably trust them by themselves for a while.

So tomorrow brings us back to another week of school, the main difference being that will have visitors (my grandmother for the morning and my mother the next few days). I imagine that I will feel my slack work weekend in the very near future, maybe as soon as tomorrow morning's class.

The results you have all been waiting for

A few days ago I posted a survey that I requested our readers complete to help me learn about the motivations for an upcoming trip that my grandmother, mother, and sister will be taking. The second half of the survey dealt with where and how we should celebrate my upcoming convocation.

I have given people a few days to answer and response numbers seem to have stabilized so I am not ready to release the results. Also, it took me a little while for me to arrange with Rebecca to have her create appropriate visual representations of the survey responses.

Question 1

1. My mother, grandmother, and sister will be arriving in Halifax in a few weeks for a period of time that coincides with my MA convocation ceremony, and also happens to be less than two months after Neil and Rebecca eloped in Las Vegas. Given these details, what seems to be the most likely reason for this travel?

Responses:

These three people are wedding crazy and want to see the bride and groom to celebrate the recent wedding (the convocation story is just a cover for their real intentions).
6.5%

The convocation and wedding are both motivating factors for the trip, though the wedding will be the cause of more celebrating and gifts than the convocation.
41.9%

The convocation is the sole reason for the trips as it symbolizes a real accomplishment, whereas the wedding was just a relatively sterile legal ceremony that doesn't merit celebration.
25.8%

The real reason was that all three women really just wanted to come to Canada's party capital, Halifax, for a crazy weekend on the town.
25.8%

Visualization:



Analysis:

I was very satisfied with these results as they basically confirm my position. Clearly the wedding, along with the convocation, were motivating factors for the trip. To suggest that the wedding did not play a part in the decision-making process would seem to be unfounded, certainly if we trust these results.

Question 2

It is likely that at least one celebratory meal can be expected during the aforementioned visit. Where should we go for such a meal?

Responses:

Saege - Not only is it where we went for Neil's convocation, but is also, arguably, nice.
32.3%

Cousins - The menu includes most of the classic North American meat dishes and most meals also include a serving of Jello and a roll.
12.9%

McDonald's - Inexpensive, quick service, and unlikely to be overrun with other celebrants.
35.5%

An apartment cooked meal - Would allow for more meat per person than any of the restaurants (and the meal could include carrot sticks if we wanted it to).
19.4%

Visualization:



Analysis:

The responses to this question definitely surprised me. I certainly didn't expect that McDonald's would receive as much support as it did (given that this was a convocation meal). I was pleasantly surprised to see how much support the home cooked meal had, though it turned out to be insufficient. Anyway, the good news is that I am not bound by these responses as that would mean that I couldn't go to the restaurant that I subsequently decided upon.

A Few Quick Notes 317

-Today was a beautiful day. The cloudy periods that were forecast were kind enough not to materialize this afternoon. Instead we had a relatively sunny and pleasant afternoon and evening. Now that the sun has set the temperature has started to drop, but it is still rather pleasant.

-A few of the lettuce seeds that I planted recently have started to show signs of growth, though at the moment they are only a few millimeters tall. The other recently planted seeds haven't yet started to show any signs of growth. I am hoping that with another few days of good sun I should see some rather significant progress.

-As today was quite nice I was able to move some of the plants to the balcony for a few hours. Though I have no real evidence that this will be particularly effective, it does seem that they are likely to receive at least a little more light in this location than they are to get in either my bedroom or the living room.

-We had homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner. I thought it was pretty passable.

-Tomorrow we will be heading out for a free Thai meal provided by the Dal math grad students.

-Aside from the freeness of the meal, I am looking forward to the meal as it should be during the meal that we are met by my friend Greg who will be coming into town for a few days. Hopefully Greg and I will get a chance to hit a few of the locations we visited when we came here on vacation in July 2005. Shockingly, we managed to visit all kinds of Halifax attractions, including the Dartmouth ferry and Bayer's Lake in just a few days. I imagine that this time our sightseeing will be a little more circumscribed, largely as the visit is shorter and also because there are a few places we have already thought about visiting.

-This evening Neil and I attended at talk by Tony Burman of Al Jazeera English hosted by the CIC at King's. While we both expected the talk to be about reporting in the context of Al Jazeera and the global south, as the lecture title suggested, it was really almost exclusively about Al Jazeera English's attempt to be carried by Canadian cable carriers and their CRTC application and why we should support such an application. While I likely would have attended such a sales pitch had I been given the opportunity, it was just not what we expected.

On the other hand, it was kind of cool to attend a talk by the head of a major international news channel. Though what this talked suggested to me was how much emphasis the channel was putting on having their application approved by the CRTC.

One thing that I did learn at this talk that I found to be of some interest is that one can view Al Jazeera English online for free (here, or here), if one is so inclined.

-Yesterday I subscribed to three new podcasts, as I have all kinds of free time that I need to eliminate. Instead of comedy podcasts, as has been my habit recently, I went for a slightly more eclectic mix. As I seem to be having a hard time segueing into the names of the three podcasts, I will just drop them now: Philosophy Bites, Planet Money, and Selected Shorts. So far all three of them seem pretty good, though I can't say that I have given either Philosophy Bites or Selected Shorts a thorough listening to yet. (Several moments ago, while editing this post, I subscribed to two more: Ethics Bites and Philosophy: The Classics.)

-For the past few days I have been meaning to mention that we are presently in the midst of a provincial election in Nova Scotia. For the most part if I didn't know this already I wouldn't be likely to pick it up by walking around downtown Halifax. It seems that it is a relatively low key election so far. And as I don't get to listen to the morning show on CBC I am really not all that in touch with how the campaign is going. I am hoping a few more canvassers swing by our apartment so I get a chance to talk with them and push my election issue (more accessible bottle return options).

A Few Quick Notes 292

-Well today was a bit of a bust as far as the predicted snowfall was concerned. By the time 5:00 PM rolled around we did manage to get a little snow, though things seem to have largely wrapped up before 7:30. I guess we will wait and see, but I don't imagine that we will get too much more snow this evening, though who knows, maybe I will be way off.

-Given that we did get a little snow, I thought that I would try to make a time-lapse video of it accumulating. What I found interesting in the resulting video is that it seems that the snow is starting to melt near the end of the clip, though this could just be the result of changing light conditions.



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-A few years ago I broke my collar bone in a rather ill-advised, planned sledding collision. Since then, on occasion, my shoulder has made some strange grinding noises when moved. I was reminded of this phenomenon again today when I heard some noise coming from my shoulder as I was lifting my left arm. Fortunately these noises don't yet seem to be connected to a reduction of mobility, though I can only imagine what time and age my do to my shoulder.

-Yesterday, Neil, Rebecca, and I went to the apartment of their friends' to play a few board games. I was introduced to a game called Power Grid, which was pretty good. I also managed to get a game of Condotierre in, and somehow managed to win.

-For dinner we ended up going to a local Chinese restaurant called Mr. Chang's. All three of us were quite impressed with the food and the prices. Though I don't imagine that we will make weekly trips, I do imagine that we will return at some point in the future. It is nice to know that there is an inexpensive, quality food option nearby.

-The more I have been listening to the The Moth podcast the more I have been sensing its connection to This American Life. This week's episode of the The Moth podcast was the re-telling of a story that appeared on This American Life several years ago. A story by Mike Birbiglia was also recently on both shows. I guess this connection shouldn't surprise me as I learned about the The Moth podcast because one of its stories was featured on a This American Life episode.

-A few days ago my sister was kind enough to send Neil and I a link to Highlights' online joke repository. Boy do they ever have some gold material. Neil and I have been laughing about a number of these jokes since getting the email. Definitely check this link out if you are interested in quality internet content.

-I was shocked to learn today that the Harlem Globetrotters and the Washington Generals do not have the same owners. I wonder how they share the revenues? I also wonder how it feels to be on the Washington Generals, and how long people tend to stay on the team?

-Though I had to do in my living room scarlet runner bean population my bedroom plants seem to be doing quite well. Shortly after taking this picture I installed the preliminary string set-up to allow them to climb to my bedroom window. Eventually I hope to get these plants to climb across my bedroom window, and then back (though this latter trek may be wishful thinking on my behalf).



The other plants in my bedroom seem to be doing relatively well, though aside from the new corn and the thyme none have put on too much additional height in the past few days (though most have shown some form of growth)

So there is an explanation

Earlier tonight I went for a walk on Spring Garden and Barrington in downtown Halifax. Given the somewhat sub-par weather I wasn't particularly surprised that it wasn't a very busy evening as far as pedestrians were concerned.

I was a little more surprised that Ginger's Tavern/Granite Brewery appeared to be closed. As there weren't any signs and it was dark I wasn't immediately able to determine with the closure was permanent or whether it was a matter of the facility undergoing renovations.

Just a while ago I happened to find an article from The Coast that gave a definitive answer, which is that the bar has closed for good. It seems that the owner has decided to get out of the bar business in Halifax and instead focus on the microbrewery side of the business. While I can't say I was a regular customer, I am a little surprised with this closure given the prominence of the bar as a live music venue.

A Few Quick Notes 284

-Though it has been above zero all day we managed to sneak in a few hours of relatively heavy snowfall this morning. As temperatures have remained above zero some of the snow seems to have already started to melt. Hopefully this doesn't mean that if we get the forecast below zero temperatures we will have ice-covered sidewalks for this next few days.

-After making it to bed at 3:30 AM (remember the daylight savings time effect) I was a little surprised to find myself awake at 5:00. Almost immediately I realized the reason I awoke was because the fire alarm was ringing. As I was starting to figure things out and head towards my door the alarm finished sounding, much to my surprise. After a quick trip to the bathroom and exchanging a few pleasantries with Neil I made my way back to bed. Some time later, though it may only have been 5 minutes, I heard fire trucks pull up to the building. As you might have guessed, I didn't get up to see what had happened.

-For a few days I have been meaning to report on this season's Roll Up The Rim To Rim stats. So far I have been doing surprisingly well, I am presently standing at 1/3, which is about as successful as I might reasonably hope to be at this stage. Though a number of my family members seem to think that I consume this coffee every day, this is clearly not the case. I think what they have failed to take into consideration is that now that I have a coffee grinder the coffee I can make at home is drinkable, which means I purchase coffee only for consumption in class.

-My cold seems to be relapsing a little. I blame Neil.

-I recently mentioned that I attended a meal at a fancy hotel on Friday. I forgot to mention the salad that was served. If I recall correctly, the salad was primarily composed of spinach leaves, topped with some cheese and nuts, and garnished with a few cherry tomatoes. The only component that I might have considered eating was a single piece of some kind of red lettuce or cabbage. I am almost surprised that they didn't top off whole affair with a honey coated shrimp.

Friday night fun

On Friday evening at about 5:40 I decided that it was finally time for my beard to go. I found the beard trimmer, banged it a few times to get the batteries to make contact, and went to work on the beard removal process. About half-way through the process the power went out. Fortunately it was a battery powered trimmer and was thus able to continue the process with the assistance of a flashlight. The downside was that I wasn't really able to tidy things up at all, so I had to call it quits at a rather rough stage in the beard removal process. One result of the early finish was that I was left with a 'stache, which might otherwise have been removed.

Once the beard removal was finished and a few flashlights and candles had been gathered Neil and I settled into a nice debate about how one should go about taping the fridge shut (to prevent the release of cold air) in such a circumstance. After our rather exhaustive debate we moved over to the card table to play some candlelight cribbage. All this time we could see that even across the street a number of buildings did have power.



After not too long all three of us thought that it might be best if we tried to make our way to a restaurant for dinner, as it wasn't likely that we would be able to cook all that much on the tea lights. As we made our way out discovered that the outage was quite spotty. In some instances certain side of a street would have power, or long building on a block might have power. The downside of this inconsistency was that we had no idea whether the restaurant we hoped to patronize would be open until we reached its front door. As it turned out, the restaurant was closed, so we made our way across town to a restaurant we were pretty sure would be open.

We eventually made it to a restaurant on Quinpool and settled in for a very pleasant dinner. Actually, I think the dinner had the positive benefit of teaching me a lesson about Halifax fish and chips, which is that it does not tend to agree with my system. As we were hanging around after the meal killing time I managed to drop my cup of coffee on the table. Fortunately the napkin I had on my lap managed to soak up most of the liquid. This incident reminded me how important proper napkin placement is.

After a quick stop at a great video rental store near the restaurant we made our way back to our part of town. As we were walking down Spring Garden it became clear that power had still not been fully restored. It was suggested that we might try to a movie to kill some time (the movie theatre was on the side of the street with power). Unfortunately, once we made it to the ticketing area it became apparent that we weren't the only ones with this idea. Even at about 9:30 the place was completely packed and there was no way we would have made it into a movie on time.

Once back at the apartment Neil and I re-lit the candles and played some more cribbage while Rebecca read by candlelight. Eventually, at about 10:45, the power came back on and we were able to get on with our evening as planned, though by this time I really didn't have as much time to devote to reading and school work as I had planned on.

Throughout much of the power outage we were somewhat worried about the status of a can of pop that Rebecca had placed in the freezer just minutes before the outage. As we didn't know how long we would be without power we didn't want to open the freezer to take the can out. Fortunately, even though it had been in the freezer for four hours, the can did not rupture, which would have been quite a mess.

Blog-off
Cameron: 10
Neil: 0

A Few Quick Notes 189

-I awoke this morning to find that I was in the midst of another fine day. Just like the recent past, things have been sunny and warm (but not hot). Hopefully this means that things have finally turned around and that the overcast skies of late May and early June are done with.

-Yesterday I received a notice from the IRS that my economic stimulus cheque is on the way. Today when I arrived home from work I found that it had arrived. Unfortunately, I may have to use the money to pay my tuition fees rather than stimulate the US economy. Maybe if they keep giving these out I will eventually be able to spend on in the US.

-Just before sunset I realized that it would be a great time to ride my unicycle. All that I needed to do to get the machine road-ready was to add air to the tires. Amazingly, I don't seem to have lost much riding ability in the off season. Unfortunately, I still don't seem to be able to idle or ride backwards (skills that I will try to work on later this summer). In total I probably rode a kilometer or two (which is a nice distance when one is just getting back in the saddle).

Later in the evening, once I realized that my mother would have the car for a good chunk of time, I decided to get my bike out and ride to the grocery store. Just like with the unicycle, the only maintenance that was required was the addition of air to the tires (something that was quickly dealt with). Soon enough I was making my way on the largely up-hill trip to the grocery store.

Hopefully my riding of both wheeled-machines will continue. Eventually I would like to be able to ride out to Cowan Heights without too much effort (but this might be a ways off as I don't know when I will have the time to practice).

-We had an ultimate game tonight. The final score was 15-2. We were slaughtered, and in no way aided by my consistently poor play.

-Frequently on my way to work I stop for a coffee, which I then drink as I continue my walk. While it is common for me to find a number of people in line ahead of me, the lines tend to be of manageable lengths and move quickly. Even lines extending past the entrance and out into the lobby can be dealt with in only a few minutes.

Though I hadn't seen a particularly long line at this coffee shop for the past number of weeks I was looking forward to witnessing one again, if only so I could watch the skill with which members of the line were processed. It seems that I got my wish the morning. The line extended well into the lobby (but not as far as I have seen it on occasion).

Something that I noticed almost as soon as I entered the line was that it seemed to be comprised of one-off customers as opposed to regulars. The result of such a line composition is that the staff can't pre-pour/prepare a regular order as they normally can.

-Today while cataloging I read that Snow Crab should really be called Queen crab. The report went on to suggest that the name Snow crab was only used in the marketing of the product.

A related report stated that both Iceland and Giant scallops are harvested off the coast of Newfoundland.

-Yesterday, while at work I noticed that there seemed to be a fair amount of dried grass under and around my desk and chair. At first this really baffled me because there didn't seem to be too much dried grass in the other parts of the library. Eventually I reached the conclusion that I must be picking up the grass on my walk to work as cross a dew soaked field and then depositing the grass as my shoes dry while I sit at my desk. As I find the presence of this grass somewhat embarrassing I may have to make an effort to dislodge the grass from my shoes before I enter the building.

-Because of my sister's successful completion of grade 7 we went out for dinner tonight. The restaurant that was selected for the occasion was Tangled Up in Blue. The restaurant serves dishes based on Australian cuisine and happens to be owned by a woman that was in my elementary school class. The experience and food were quite pleasant. As other reviews have suggested, the coffee and deserts seemed to be particular strengths.

'Round the Bay and back

On the weekend I took a day trip with Greg and Nikita to visit a number of communities in the Northwest Avalon region, that is after we made a quick trip South to visit Witless Bay.

Unfortunately, or visit to Witless Bay was less successful than desired. The friend we were hoping to visit hadn't yet returned from a trip to town. After a exploration of the property we ended up leaving, actually just as the owner was heading out from St. John's.

The next destination was 'Trinity,' though this was somewhat confused because we didn't have map in the car. Two of us thought that going to 'Trinity' meant leaving the Avalon and heading out past Clarenville, while the third person thought that it meant turning off towards Harbour Grace.

Once we had basically sorted out that we weren't going to the town of Trinity, but a town on Trinity bay our navigational confusion was lessened. At about the time were managed to clarify the supposed destination we happened to be approaching the picturesque town of Dildo.

Not surprisingly, there was unanimous agreement that we take a side trip down to Dildo. As we approached the town we stopped to take pictures of all kinds of signs with the name of the town on them. The highway sign that simply read 'Dildo' with an arrow below was one of the more amusing of these signs. Another particularly good sign was one for a local gift shop. Aside from the name of the business, the sign also had an image of a wooden statue of a man dressed in fishing garb with a sign that had the words 'Captain Dildo.'

Though it might be a sign of our collective sophomoric sense of humour, each of these instances of the name 'Dildo' caused us to laugh and generally behave as though we were 10 and hearing about matters sexual for the first time.

After a quick trip through town, with a stop at the Captain Dildo statue, we returned to the main road and continued on our trip. Within a few minutes we reached the metropolis of Islington.

Almost as soon as we arrived in town Nikita pointed out her grandmother's house (which was the day's destination). We pulled into the driveway and went up to meet her uncle, who was working in the garage.

Soon afterwards we made our way into the house and were introduced to Nikita's grandparents. After a few minutes of pleasantries Greg and I headed out to explore the region. Fortunately, before we left Nikita's grandmother was kind enough to warn us about the perils of driving around in the town. This was great. Most people wouldn't have been so concerned about our ability to get lost, something that is inherently difficult when there is only one road.

Anyway, we were soon back on the road and heading North. We eventually made it through all three of the 'Heart's' towns (Delight, Desire, and Content) before driving back through town and then out the other side.

Soon after we again departed town we noticed a warehouse like building on the edge of town. As we didn't really have any particular plans we decided to get out and see if we could figure out what it was. My initial thought was that cages outside suggested that it might be a mink cage factory, but that was just because there were a bunch of cages outside.

Anyway, aside from the cages and metal mesh, there weren't really that many clues as to what the building was used for. At one point Greg decided to go around the building in one direction while I decided to go in the other direction. As I was heading back to the front of the building I heard a scream and some barking. Immediately I ran to the front of the building, which is where the noise was coming from. It soon became clear that the building wasn't abandoned, as we had suspected, but that it was occupied by a guard dog.

Fortunately the large yellowish dog, though loud and aggressive, was contained in a cage, thus preventing it from attacking Greg. Nonetheless, this gave us enough of a fright that we decided that the rest of the exploration could wait for another day.

Once back in town we stopped at the two stores and asked the workers what the building was used for. The employees in the second store were able to confirm that it was a mink cage factory, and that there was a mink farm just a little further up the street.

We then returned to pick up Nikita and started to make our way back to the Trans Canada Highway. As we were leaving town we rolled down our windows to help us find the mink farm. As inferred, it really did give off quite a smell, and that smell wasn't opulence and beauty.

Anyway, soon enough we were back on the highway and heading back towards town. It shouldn't have been so surprising, but traveling by highway was really much faster than the back roads route that we took to Islington.

Soon enough we were in Goobies, Newfoundland's most famous re-fueling station. As was expected of us, we stopped at the Irving restaurant for dinner. As usual, this was a pleasure, though the service was a little slower than we might have desired. A little bit more surprising was that the coffee, unlike the coffee served in many Newfoundland diners, was good.

Once we finished dinner we made our way across the parking lot to the the world famous Goobies moose. This moose is a life size statue of a moose made from some kind of metal frame and covered in an unidentifiable non-metallic material. Of course, as it is obligatory when it Goobies, we tried to climb the moose. It seems that age has not really changed my Goobies related activities.

Soon enough we were back on the road and heading down the final stretch of road before St. John's. As we entered town we remembered that earlier in the day we had discussed a possible trip to Fort Amherst. As none of us had any other plans we decided to just head straight over to the abandoned WWII site.

Like all of the other similar WWII ruins in the area, this one causes me to feel something that I haven't quite figured out. Seeing them now, with no ceilings and rusting hulks that used to be guns, makes it hard for me to imagine them as they must have been in when they were operation encampments.

From the former WWII site we made our way to the local chain bookstore. After an extended period of browsing and and several impulse-buy close calls we check out. I was then dropped off back at home, where I had started the journey about 10 hours earlier.

Sint Maarten: Day 17

At about 5:15 AM I woke to find that my father had already risen and showered. Almost immediately I went in to clean up. Once I was done in the bathroom I packed our dirty clothes and my belongings. We then went down to the main floor to check on the continental breakfast and the shuttle.

As it happened, they were loading a shuttle as we exited the lobby. We thought that we would head over just to check things out, and maybe to find the schedule. It also became clear that again there was a bit of a backlog and that things may take longer than one would want. As we approached the shuttle it was clear that many people weren’t going to make this particular journey. Somehow, just as this was becoming clear to us, one of the individuals who wasn’t going to make the trip because of space constraints pointed out to the driver that we didn’t have luggage and that we would fit. So at the last moment we made our way onto the shuttle for the three-minute journey to the AirTrain station.

Unlike like our first trip on the AirTrain, our second journey required us to visit all of the terminals, even those we had no interest in seeing. Fortunately, the train wasn’t too busy and seemed to move quickly from one stop to the next.

Once in the airport we were able to go directly to security as we had already checked our bags to Montreal. This was a relatively quick process, and certainly more painless than in smaller North American centers, but nowhere near as painless as Sint Maarten.

Soon enough we were through security and on our way to our gate, which we thought we would check out before getting some breakfast. As we continued walking we realized that our gate was quite a ways out, and that we likely wouldn’t be able to make it back to the restaurants at the beginning of the journey as they were just too far away.

Fortunately, just as our gate came into view so did a final food service establishment. After a quick examination of the menu we learned that they sold basic breakfast sandwiches for reasonable prices, and even dropped 30 cents if you didn’t have cheese. Even more pleasant than the low price was that the fact that the sandwiches were actually relatively large, and very satisfying. I was also very satisfied with the coffee that I purchased, it was much better than I expected.

Soon enough we were able to board our plane. For the first time on our trip my father and I were actually assigned seats next to one another, which was a pleasant change.

Both of us fell asleep very quickly, before the plane even left the ground. I ended up waking up and reading while my father continued to sleep. Eventually both of us were up and served drinks by the very competent and pleasant flight attendant. Unlike most Canadian flights, the flight attendant actually came back and offered us a second round of drinks (and this is on a flight that is only about an hour long).

Once in Montreal we raced off the plane and to the immigration screening area. We were the first people, possibly of the day, but certainly of the flight, to make it through. Though we were asked a few questions there were no problems.

We then moved down to the baggage claim area where I went to the bathroom. By the time I returned our bags were making their way along the conveyor system. Our only real delay then was that my father also wanted to use the bathroom, causing us to wait a minute or two during the entire process.

Customs was even less problematic than immigration and we were able to exit the secure area and enter the arrivals area.

While at the airport we went to the ticketing counter to try to change my flight itinerary so that I could spend some time in Halifax on my way to St. John’s. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t let me change the schedule without paying a change fee and the cost of the new fare. This made the trip impractical, as one of the main reasons was to reduce shipping costs, which would be less than the change to the itinerary.

We then made our way to the shuttle bus. While at the ticket counter we were told that there would be another shuttle at the main bus station that would transport us to our final destination, which we thought would be McGill. Soon after taking our seats we were on our way, reaching the bus station in a very respectable time. Soon after arriving at the bus station we noticed a particular individual who seemed to be associated with the bus company. My father was convinced that this particular man was the shuttle driver. Eventually my father approached this man and learned that he was in fact the shuttle driver.

Much to our surprise, instead of ending up a Sherbrooke Street hotel, the driver dropped us off at my door. This was particularly nice as by the time we boarded this second bus it had started to rain, and was raining quite heavily by the time we reached my apartment.

Soon after arriving and dropping off our bags we went out to Place Milton for lunch. As it happened to be a holiday they were only serving breakfast, meaning that I wasn’t able to purchase the hamburger that I had hoped to order.

Once we had finished lunch we started on the packing. Basically we needed to back my belongings in both suitcases and boxes by the following afternoon, at which point we needed to head out to the airport to catch a flight to St. John’s.

Amazingly, we were able to pack about 6 boxes and the better part of four suitcases in a number of hours. By time we finished packing for the evening it was dinnertime, meaning that we had done what we needed to in about 4 or 5 hours. This was a much more efficient operation than I had originally expected, but that is fine with me. Our productivity meant that we had a much more relaxing and productive day the following day.

After dinner, which we ate a restaurant on St. Catherine, my father and I hand-trucked a load of beer bottles over to the local grocery store. I was able to get about $14 from the load, which was nice. The only downside was that it wasn’t quite enough to cover the dozen beer and bag of pretzels that we were purchasing.

Shortly after returning to the apartment Liam arrived for a poker game that Nithum was arranging. Eventually Dougal and Nithum also arrived, allowing us to start the game. Eventually one additional player arrived. As it turned out, the latecomer was the big winner.

Soon after finishing playing poker we hit the sack. Both of us were able to get to sleep relatively quickly as we were going on about 4 hours of sleep.

Sint Maarten: Day 15

My father and I, due to the impending arrival of another visiting faculty member who is to occupy our apartment for the next couple of weeks, had to share bedroom facilities last night. Fortunately, the room and bed are both quite large.

At about 4:00 AM we were both awoken by a loud noise. At first neither of us could figure out what was going on and where the noise was coming from. Eventually I realized that it was coming from the window next to my side of the bed.

I lifted up the blinds to see a young guy (presumably a student) pounding on our window. Once he noticed that we were aware of his presence he demanded that we open our door. Not surprisingly neither of us were all that inclined to do this. Somehow he motioned that we should meet him at the door. Once there my father was still disinclined to let him in, even though he continued to insist that we should.

Presumably this was just an incredibly drunk student who ended up at the wrong apartment and assumed it was his own. Hopefully this escapade didn’t play out again at the correct apartment. I can’t imagine that such an event would please a roommate greatly.

We eventually woke for the day at about 8:30. Our first order of the day was breakfast. We then made our way over to Mullet Beach for some morning snorkeling. The hope was that by going in the morning the water would be clearer than it had been during our recent afternoon visits.

Almost as soon as we arrived at Mullet Beach I had the sense that the water was likely on the cloudy side (though we could see some rocks). My father suggested that I go in and head all the way out to the headland to see if things were better out there. I would then give him the signal as to whether it would be worth his while to come in.

Two things that weren’t all that surprising then occurred. Firstly, I immediately noticed that the water lacked the desired clarity. It may have actually been cloudier (or more filled with sand and particulate matter) than during any of our earlier visits. Secondly, my father did not wait for me to give him the clear sign. Instead, basically as I was floating to put on my flippers he came in. Fortunately, I was able to get him to turn back before he made it all the way out to the headland area. As we were both heading in we realized that it was actually quite a dangerous location for snorkeling and swimming because one could be dashed on rocks that were previously unseen.

Once we were nicely de-sanitized and full salinized we made our way over to the grocery store to pick up a few last minute items. I was finally able to buy a few bars of Lifebuoy soap for a friend in St. John’s, and we also were able to buy a new box of garbage bags for the apartment. We then continued our journey to try and find a car wash and car vacuum cleaner. The latter of these to items was relatively easy to find, the former was quite challenging. We eventually gave up on the search and decided to just head to a place on the French side of the island that we knew had such a service

We returned to the apartment, where we both showered and cleaned up before heading back on the road. Soon enough we were back on the road and heading towards Marigot.

As we were near Baie Rouge my father spotted and iguana like lizard and asked if I had seen it. As I hadn’t seen it he suggested that we could go back to see it. This seemed as though this likely wouldn’t be worth our while, as lizards don’t have a tendency to hang around. He then informed me that the lizard was dead, so he was pretty sure that it would be there when we went back.

Two vehicles ran over the lizard just as we were approaching it. One squished the guts out while the other crushed the animal’s head. This meant that by the time I good a good look the carcass was a fair bit flatter and less lizard like than when my father had spotted it just a minute or so before.

Once we made it to the outskirts of Marigot we immediately found the car wash. We then observed that they also had vacuum cleaners. Soon enough our car was being cleaned by the Karcher brand automatic car wash. The most amazing thing about the process, aside from the lack of a building to house the machine, was how little water was used. The entire process likely only took a few litres of water. The air drying apparatus at the end of the wash was also quite neat. Sensors allowed the blower to follow the profile of the car instead of just blowing in the direction of the car.

We next moved over to the vacuum cleaner. I removed the mats while my father went in to get a token. I then stationed myself on one side of the car while he stationed himself on the other. We then proceeded to hand the wand back and forth to maximize the use of our limited sucking time. Though we didn’t have quite as much time as we could have used, we did make pretty good progress, certainly enough that the car won’t be an embarrassment when we transfer it to the next user.

Though unplanned, I ended up driving the car back to the Dutch side of the island and then all the way over to Simpson Bay. Once in Simpson Bay we made a few more last minute grocery store purchases. I was also able to get a coffee. While ordering my coffee in the McDonald’s (one of the few places that I have seen that offers take-out coffee) I noticed that they also sold beer (Heineken and Presidente). This is almost enough to make me want to go back and get a meal and a beer. The motivation is even greater because I wasn’t able to do so while in Paris thirteen years ago.

Once back in the apartment we had lunch, which killed off a fair bit of our remaining food. After lunch my father went back to work on his test questions while I proceeded to start dealing myself games of solitaire. All in all, it wasn’t a particularly successful series of solitaire games. Much to my surprise, my hours of recent playing time don’t really seem to have improved my skill level.

At about 3:30 we left the apartment to pick up the incoming visiting professor. We hoped to be able to get a video clip of the plane as it landed. Unfortunately, just about a block away from the university we saw a plane approaching the runway. By the time we reached the runway it was pretty clear that that was the plane we were hoping to see.

Though we arrived at the airport after the plane landed we were in the arrivals area long before the person we were picking up emerged. As soon as she did emerge we were able to head out to the car and head home.

After we spent a few minutes catching up (with particular emphasis on what my father had already taught the class) we, along with another visiting professor, made our way over to a restaurant for dinner. We had been invited to dinner by the chair of the physiology department.

The restaurant was built or floating on the lagoon. We were seated in a section of the restaurant that was quite far out into the lagoon.

Though the restaurant seemed to try to push the lobster, 60% of us went for the mahi-mahi. The newly arrived professor went for shrimp and the department chair went for filet mignon. In retrospect if I had known how large the filet mignon would be I would have chosen that instead of the fish (not to suggest that I wasn’t pleased with my selection).

Soon after we stopped eating we noticed that some fish were swimming around in water just behind where we were seated. Very quickly a very large (about four feet long) fish was spotted. This encouraged a little more attention to be paid to the section of water that was illuminated by the restaurant’s lighting system. For the most part we saw only minnow sized fish.

In the next few minutes a few more sightings of the same fish, or others of comparable size were made. Eventually, just as we were about to leave, my father spotted a large fish. He is quite sure that it was a shark, and though I didn’t get as clear a view, I do think that this is conceivable.

On our way back to the university we stopped at the grocery store so that the two visiting professors with whom we were traveling could pick up some groceries. While in the store I broke down and purchased a pouch of Red Man. For years, maybe since my first viewing of The Sandlot, I have wanted to try this stuff, though have never been inclined to pay full Newfoundland prices ($13.00) as I can’t imagine that it will do any thing for me except make me sick (and maybe a little light headed).

Once the shopping had been paid for and bagged my father retrieved the car from the underground parking lot behind the store. We then folded down the back seat of the car and loaded the groceries into the trunk. Unfortunately, about two bags didn’t quite fit, so they were then left in the back seat with our two passengers.

After we returned to the apartment my father and I started to pack while the new inhabitant started to put away her groceries and arrange the kitchen to her liking. Soon enough my father and I finished packing. Not surprisingly, he went back to question writing while I did some reading.

Eventually all three of us (meaning those staying in the apartment) headed off to bed. I know that I was asleep before my father, but I have no idea by what margin.

Sint Maarten: Day 13

Again I woke up much earlier than I would have expected considering that I did not set an alarm or have any particularly important plans. Soon after I awoke, and just after I had managed to log a little time online my father returned from work. We were then able to have breakfast together before he went back to work to quickly refresh his thoughts on his upcoming lecture.

As my father was preparing to leave, and for some time thereafter, I continued with the various computer based tasks I had been working on before his arrival. Not surprisingly, yesterday’s post was one of these activities.

Soon after I finished eating lunch (and logging a few more solitaire games) my father called to try and figure out what we were going to do in the afternoon. It seemed that the two best options would be to either rent vespas and drive around the island or to take advantage of the big waves at Mullet Beach and go body surfing (or dinking around in the surf).

Though I was willing to go either way, my moderate preference was the wave action. Eventually we settled in trying to rent the scooters first and then possibly hit the beach (as we would have 24 hours on the scooters). As it turned out, the rental location didn’t have what we wanted and didn’t seem all that interested in reserving machines for us for the next day.

My father, for reasons unbeknownst to me, then decided to head to Philipsburg. Why he wanted to do this is beyond me. Not only do we know that there is next to no parking there, we had previously decided to go there by bus to avoid this problem. Not surprisingly, once we arrived we were unable to find a suitable parking spot so we turned around and made our way back to our apartment. In some ways it is unfortunate that we weren’t successful because it now means that we will have to head back by bus.

After a little bit of time in the apartment we finally gather our things and headed to be the beach. By the time we got to Mullet Beach it was clear that there had been some very substantial wave action earlier in the day. The entirety of the sand in some areas had clearly been covered in water. This is 20 or 30 feet further than the waves normally reach.

Though we clearly weren’t there for the peak wave activity, there were still some substantial waves. In some cases the waves were about as tall as I am, though most were a little shorter. In some cases, though not all, some of these were pretty powerful.

On seeing the size of the waves my father thought that he was a little tired to go in so he decided to just stay on the beach. In some ways this was good for me as he could scout locations and direct me towards bigger waves.

After were had been there a short while an older couple approached the same section of the beach. Once they had conducted a thorough examination they settled on a location for their items and settled in. Much to my surprise I saw the old guy just a few feet down from me soon after they had arranged their things. At first I thought that he might swim past the waves and just go for a swim. It turned out that he was going to do the same thing that I was.

After the first wave or two I think he realized that it was a bit more trying that he expected. After a short break he came back to continue to be pounded by waves. According to my father, who had a better view, the guy was having a great time.

Once the salt started to burn my eyes I decided to get out of the water. My father and I then headed down the beach towards the two beach bars. As we were heading down we saw that at the very end of the beach there were a few surfers catching waves. As this was a slight change of scenery, we decided to take a seat at an empty picnic table and watch some of the action. The only problem with this was that unlike on TV and in the movies, these guys were not able to catch each wave. Instead, they were only able to catch the largest of the waves (which were very infrequent).

Shortly after we returned home we decided to go out for dinner rather than cook the pork chops that we had previously purchased. Not surprisingly the only place we even discussed going was Cheri’s Café.

Before heading to the restaurant we decided to film me driving on a roundabout. We had previously scouted a relatively sparsely visited roundabout near our apartment that would be good for our purposes. Of course as I prepared to enter the roundabout all kinds of traffic appeared from all conceivable directions. The situation was further worsened by the presence of a dog that seemed to be right in my way but not hampering the progress of other drivers.

Eventually things cleared out and we were able to get a good shot of my entering the intersection and then getting ‘stuck’ and doing a few circles of the center before finally managing to exit the intersection (of course in the same direction from which I entered the intersection). As I was in the driver’s seat I ended up driving all the way to Maho and then over to the parking area by the Sunset Beach Bar.

Upon approaching the restaurant it became clear that the bartender was working quite aggressively to get people to eat and drink at the bar. For some reason that we were unable to understand, the bartender was also really pushing the shrimp and steak and lobster and steak options. Instead of sitting at the bar, where conversation would be more difficult, we opted for a two person table near the bar.

Once we were seated we quickly noticed that only a fraction of the number of waiters were working as had been working the last two times we dined there. Amazingly, it seemed that this reduced staffing level fit the number of customers. We still aren’t quite sure how they were able to determine, in advance, that it was to be a slow night.

As consistently as basmati rice is white so is my father’s order ‘Stir-fry shrimp’ with rice at Cheri’s Cafe. I on the other hand mixed things up a little by going with a rack of baby back ribs with no sauce and fries. Again both of us were pleased with the quality and size of our meals.

We paid and prepared to leave just as the house band was preparing for its evening show. Just as we were walking down the steps of the restaurant the first notes of the show could be heard. Clearly our timing was much better than normal.

As my father didn’t have to go back to work we were able to just hang out in the apartment for the evening. At one point we finished a game of rummy that we started a few days earlier. We also booked an airport hotel for the night that we have to spend in the vicinity of JFK. Our understanding is that our hotel is actually on the premises of the airport, which should be quite convenient (assuming it is in the same terminal from which we will be departing).

Eventually, after a few beers, we were able to head to bed. Though this wasn’t quite as early a turn in time as some of the previous nights, it was still well before midnight.