Get your dough hooks off of me! - 5

So the first loaf is out of the oven and on the cooling rack.

All things considered, I'm quite hopeful that the outcome will be what I was hoping it would be.

Let's hope the second loaf, which is currently in the oven, turns as well or better.

Cameron - 13

Neil - 0

Get your dough hooks off of me! - 4

So to misquote the Spiderman universe - "with great time comes great rising."

All of the ridges and imperfections that I created through the wet dough process have been removed through the power of rising.  Of course, now I need to 'scar' the bread (I can't remember the technical term).

One term I do remember is 'crumb,' and I think that there's a chance that this bread may have been allowed to rise long enough that it will have a crumb of the sort that I've been looking for for some time.

In case you're curious, the oven has been cranked and the racks re-arranged to allow for the steam tray. And generally the excitement level in the apartment is building.

Cameron - 12
Neil - 0

Get your dough hooks off of me! - 3

Well, it looks as though a few of the rough edges have buffed out thanks to the rising process.

Hopefully everything will be fine when we get back from our trip to the store.

Cameron - 11
Neil - 0

Get your dough hooks off of me! - 2

Much to my surprise, the rising process has been going quite quickly.  While I probably could have let the dough rise for a little more time, I just recently decided that I would move on to the next phase of the process.

So the thing I remembered as I moved on to the next process is that working with wetter dough is much more challenging than working with dough that kind of holds a shape and isn't incredibly sticky.  Maybe at some point I'll need to talk to Peter to get a few tips on how to work with this stuff, but until then I am probably going to basically stick to my 'grab a handful of dough and slap it onto the baking surface' approach that I've been using.

But they'll kind of buff out as they rise, right?

So now I'm back to waiting for dough to rise.  Hooray!

And we now have at least a post-a-day!

Cameron - 10
Neil - 0

Get your dough hooks off of me! - 1

There's no better way to up your number of blog posts than live-blogging a DIY domestic project (at least that's been my experience).

So down to the project at hand - a few years ago my mother gave me her old mixer.  With the mixer came a set of dough hooks.  And because I'm kind of lazy and set in my ways when it comes to bread making I'm never quite motivated enough to try making dough with dough hooks.

For the past few days I've been thinking that giving the dough hooks their shot might be worthwhile.  What if all of the extra kneading that I can provide through dough hooks actually makes a difference?

So this morning I finally got around to putting the dough hooks in the mixer and adding bread ingredients to make a very basic bread (and one that some people have suggested requires plenty of kneading but that I've never knead more than a few minutes).

Immediately it became clear that unlike when a spoon is used, the ingredients were quickly and evenly mixed.  With just a few more minutes the dough really started to take shape and look like dough.  And because the dough I was making is relatively wet this process was much cleaner than had I tried to do it with my hands or a wooden spoon.  Oh, and it was also much less wasteful.

So after the 'kneading' I was left with a dough about which I am quite hopeful: it's quite wet, it's evenly mixed, and it's been well kneaded.

Now I'll just have to see if the rising, baking, and consumption processes go as smoothly.  And, as you've likely already guessed, I'll be trying to keep you updated as I work my way through the remaining stages of the production of this bread.  Hopefully you fascination with the progress of this project won't cause you to spend you entire day in front of the computer hitting re-fresh again and again until you see the next update.

Back in a few.

Cameron - 9
Neil - 0

Not even a post a day yet

I just noticed that even though we're in the midst of what could be a hard-fought blog-off, we're not even up to a post a day - I'm sure our devoted reader/s (are there even any left?) expect more of us this late in the game.

I guess I will have to really try to ramp things up over the next few days as by the time the middle of the month rolls around I'll have a long weekend road trip and a move/painting to contend with.  And as much as Jeannette completely understands my strange dedication to regularly updating this blog, I'm not sure if she'd be OK with me putting down a box or a paint brush to advance my position in this blog-off.

Cameron - 8
Neil - 0

Why didn't anyone tell me paint is so expensive?

We just returned from our paint selecting excursion.

Not only was colour selection process much harder than I anticipated (mainly because Jeannette vetoed my plan for plain white walls and then also my plan for painting all four walls and the ceiling different colours), but the paint itself was also much more expensive than I anticipated.  Of course, it didn't help that I talked myself out of going for the cheapest of the paint lines that the company offered.

Anyway, we're back now and we have two different whites (ceiling and mouldings), a moldy green, a grey, and a light orange.  Oh, and also all kinds of painting related equipment like brushes and rollers.  At some point in the near future we will have to buy a step ladder.

The worst part of this is that I'm sure that once we're about half way through the job we'll realize that there's something important that we've forgotten (like maybe to buy enough paint) that will cause us to be stalled for some number of hours.

But when I'm not moping about the amount of work this will be and the risk of failure, I'm really quite excited that we'll finally have a place that we can paint and that within about two weeks we'll actually be able to start painting it.  The prospect is a little overwhelming.

Cameron - 7
Neil - 0

Paint shopping

It seems that in anticipation of the acquisition of our new house Jeannette and I will be at least spending some portion of the day doing some paint shopping.  The hope is that if we can have the paint on hand before we move in we will be able to shorten the downtime in a few rooms associated with re-painting.

Of course, one of the problems with this paint shopping excursion is that it's been a few years since either of us have done any serious painting - so we're a little out of touch with what's hot in paint application techniques and/or high-tech latex paints.  And though it doesn't worry me, Jeannette's a little worried about how the whole 'accent wall' thing works.

Anyway, if all goes well by the end of the day we'll have paint and appropriate applicators for three rooms (and we'll have also finalized colour choice for the three rooms we're planning on painting).

Cameron - 6
Neil - 0

They must be losing money

About ten years ago, back when I used to live in New York, I occasionally ordered items from a catalogue company. These guys sold quite a variety of goods, but probably would be understood to specialize in hunting and military surplus materials (not items that I tend to buy frequently).

Anyway, what is impressive about this company is not that they sell comically large magazines or cases of thousands of bullets, but after than ten years since my last purchase they are still sending me print catalogues. Maybe even more impressive is that they somehow managed to wangle my Newfoundland address even though I only would have had any of my purchases sent to my New York address. Because it's not worth following up this may just have to remain a mystery for the ages.

Cameron - 5
Neil - 0

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

We've been busy

So part of the reason posts have been so infrequent over the past few weeks is that I've been incredibly busy (the rest of the reason has to do with me not really knowing what I should post about these days).

Much of the reason for the business has to do with two major purchases that Jeannette and I are just in the midst of finalizing.

The first major purchase Jeannette and I are in the midst of finalizing is that of a new house.  Not surprisingly, the purchase decision was preceded by a number of visits to prospective houses as well as trips around potential neighbourhoods.  Once we settled on a house there were back and forth communications with our realtor as well as various inspections that had to be arranged (one of which lead to some extra plumbing work) before the deal could be finalized.  Since the deal has been finalized (though we still do have to transfer the deed and all of that finicky legal stuff) we've had to continue to make house arrangement, plan for the move, consider paint and furniture, and deal with utility and insurance considerations.  All in all, it's been a fair bit of work and generally quite tiring (though may not quite as tiring as a mid-winter possession date).

While we were working our way through the aforementioned house purchase we had the pleasure of being backed into while driving slowing (I'm guessing we were only going about 5 kph) through a mall parking lot.  The accident has lead to us making several trips and calls to insurance company representatives and auto body shops.  It's definitely been much more of an ordeal than I initially expected.

Of course, one thing that soon became clear in the midst of this process is that we weren't interested in having anyone spend several hundred dollars more than the price we paid for the car just to fix one of the car's doors. Fortunately we think that we've finally managed to have the vehicle declared a write-off, though the final confirmation of this fact has been slow to come.  Maybe tomorrow? Please?

And in the midst this entire process we realized that we really couldn't avoid buying a new vehicle.  At first we considered not junker used cars but then soon realized that for only a little more we could have a new car.  So we then suddenly entered the new car market and soon settled on a model (it had the upside of being on the lot and available for a quick pick-up).  And then a few days after that we had a brand new car.  I can't tell you how much we've both appreciated having heated seats and a seat that effectively accommodates our disparate heights.

So somehow in the middle of our house buying process we managed to start and complete a car buying process (and two complete registration and insurance acquisition process - but that's a story I really don't have the energy to tell on what has already been a three-post day).  So we're now both completely exhausted and quite aware that this likely won't let up at any point between now and dementia.

Cameron - 3
Neil - 0

A Few Quick Notes 596

-After a few days in the -35 zone we've moved back into slightly more reasonable temperatures.  Though I don't think we actually made it above zero today, with the help of the sun it was warm enough that we actually had a little slush to contend with as we were making our way home from work.    Hopefully this will be frozen by the time I have to head back to work tomorrow morning.

-You know what's great about this time of year?  It's great that when I drive to work it's not pitch black.  It's strangely comforting to know that you're not arriving at work an hour before sunrise.  And it's not bad that the sun doesn't set until about an hour after the workday ends either.

-After work on Friday (at least I think it was Friday) I received a very strange robocall that seemed to be about electoral redistricting in Saskatchewan.  Just about the only thing that I could make out was that the call supposedly came from 'Chase Research.'

Turns out I wasn't the only one in Saskatchewan to get such a call and that these calls have now been the subject of a number of media reports, including this one.

-Somehow, after years of trying, I've finally managed to get Jeannette to listen to a few of my regular podcasts.  The new This American Life has now become a shared Sunday ritual (instead of one I shamefully engaged in alone whenever I could sneak a listen).  And over the past few weeks I've managed to sneak in RadioLab, 99% Invisible, and the always informative Inside Jobs Podcast.  For whatever reason I haven't quite managed to draw Jeannette into my Jordan, Jesse GO!/Stop Podcasting Yourself web.

-I made eight small raspberry tarts tonight.  Now that they're out of the oven I have no interest in eating them.  Maybe by tomorrow morning I'll rustle up some kind of willingness to sacrifice my health so that these guys don't end up sitting on the counter and spoiling.  

What a tough life I lead.

Cameron - 2

Neil - 0

You probably thought we forgot

Nope, we didn't forget about the annual Montifax blog-off, we just got off to a late start.

Anyway, to fill everyone in on the rules - this year (hopefully to encourage Neil to post) I've decided to give myself a 7 to 1 handicap.  So for each post Neil makes he'll have seven points and for each post I make I'll only get one.  And we keep going until the end of February.

And considering how busy I expect to be this month overcoming even one or two of Neil's post could be challenging.

No matter the handicap - we're now officially off and running.

Cameron - 1
Neil - 0

The yarn farm yarn

And while I was failing to make functional slippers Jeannette learned how to crochet and then made me a hat.

I definitely feel untalented right now.

Update: I forgot to mention that the hat matches a scarf that Jeannette made me last year.

Bummer of a trip to the felt ranch

So Jeannette thought that if baby booties were so easy that I should try to make her a pair felt slippers. Unfortunately I agreed to give this project a shot.

Now several hours later I have a few pieces of felt and one of the gnarliest 'slippers' I've ever seen. Ugh.

Back down on the felt ranch

After last Saturday's trip to the felt ranch I thought that there wasn't much more to do once the booties and owl had been finished.

Turns out that on Sunday I realized that I could make another trip back to the ranch to turn a handful of the scraps into something or other.  Of course, when I started the recycling project I was really just interested in getting a bunch of the scraps to stick together in something that resembled a ball.

Once I had a ball I decided to use a bit of the black wool that I had purchased (which, until then, had been unused).  From there the remaining bits and bobs just 'spoke to me' and revealed themselves as cat head components.

Now we have a poorly made felted cat head made from scraps and because I put a little bit of effort into it I'm not entirely inclined to throw it away.  Great.  This is the kind of thing we definitely need.

My dream car?

I'm not exactly sure why, but I love that I've seen a few Chevette's since we've been in Regina.  The presence of these cars have lead me on a real nostalgia kick because I don't think I'd seen such a car for close to 20 years (as they've been out of production in North America since 1987).

Anyway, I'm quite pleased to be living in a place with at least a handful of Chevette's kicking about for my viewing pleasure.

Oh, and I'm definitely starting to think that if I ever try to get some kind of 'vintage' car that it would have to be a Chevette.  Who knows, maybe I can pick one up on the cheap before they really become popular as collectors' items?

Big day on the felt ranch

The birth and anticipated births of a few friends' babies had Jeannette and I felting up a storm this afternoon/evening.

While I took care of most of the wool-into-felt part of the operation, Jeannette did an excellent job turning my raw 'fabric' into three dimensional structures that look like baby booties.

Oh, and in case you're curious - I did the owl all by myself.  And maybe for the first time in my life I've shaped something that isn't a piece of furniture or bread so that it looks like I hoped it would look.

Maybe if I'd been given some wool and a felting needle instead of crayons and paper kindergarten wouldn't have been such a struggle?

A tale of two storms

It seems that yesterday two of Canada's most important cities, Regina and St. John's, were hit with crippling snow storms.  Of course, these storms were quite different.

In St. John's/much of Newfoundland a very substantial snowfall was accompanied by strong winds and sizeable drifts.  Not surprisingly, many people throughout the province lost power - and there are apparently many who are still without power.

Of course, maybe the worst aspect of the St. John's storm (aside from the mass power outage and crippling snowfall) is the fact that for the past 24 hours the temperature hasn't been below freezing.  So all of this freshly fallen snow is in the process of melting or at least turning into slush.  Yum (especially if the forecast about lower temperatures later in the week comes to pass).

Not surprisingly, the way things played out in Regina has been a little different.

First of all, we had less snow and less wind (so our drifting wasn't nearly as bad).  On the other hand, I suspect we've had a touch less ploughing of side streets and we had side streets that already had inches of ice build-up so many side streets are almost impassable and will likely remain in a similar condition for at least the next few days.  Oh, and instead of the temperatures dropping to something that might allow melting of the snow the temperatures have dropped substantially.  It seems that a windchill of -29 is as high as it has been in the past 24 hours (when I was walking around in this weather it seemed cold but in retrospect I timed my walk during the warmest part of the day).

Anyway, while if I had to choose one of these two storms I'd likely choose the Regina storm it will, nonetheless, likely be with us a little longer than the already melting snowfall that recently befell St. John's.

A Few Quick Notes 595

-Though it was -10 tonight both Jeannette and I were commenting the day's warmth.  Sure, we both still wore jackets when we went to the grocery store, but I'm not sure either of us zipped them up.

-So, it seems that maybe at least a little residential snow clearing occurs in Regina.

When I came home from work I noticed that a few inches of packed snow had been removed from the roads near our apartment. Of course, these streets still have a few inches of packed down snow on them, and in at least one case the dreaded ruts are already beginning to re-appear.

-As I returned home from work I reminded Jeannette that this morning she expressed an interest in a return visit to a local grocery store this evening.  Of course, we could both remember that Jeannette asked to go to the store but neither of us could remember why she wanted to go.  Throughout our visit, though to no avail, we both kept trying to recall the original reason for our trip.

Not surprisingly, just a little while after we returned home Jeannette remembered that she wanted a new pillow.  Woops.

I guess we'll be heading back tomorrow.

-Today Neil sent me a link about oxalate content in certain foods that lead me to additional material on the same topic.  The real bummer of the whole excursion out onto the fast lane of the information super highway was that I learned that just about everything seems to have kidney stone causing oxalates.

Well, at least I still have water with lemon, right?

Kidney stones are the worst.

-But at least the days are getting longer?

A Few Quick Notes 594

-At -3 it's as warm as it's been for quite a while in Regina.  Amazingly, the current forecast suggests that the temperatures will remain above -10 for much of the week.  Weird.  I wonder if this means that if it's sunny we might even start to see some melting?

-One of the aspects of this Regina Winter that I've really enjoyed so far is that many of the trees seem to be completely enrobed in snow/frost.  Consequently, most trees have turned white - so they look like those white fake Christmas trees (an effect I didn't know was real until I saw it with my own eyes).

Of course, the photos I've tried to take of the effect don't really do it justice.  It is incredibly striking.

-I'm not sure how it came about, but last night Jeannette and I decided to head to a movie.  I guess because New Year's Eve is such a popular party/bar night I assumed that the movie theatres, if they were even going to be open, would be empty.

Turns out I was way off.  I don't think I've ever seen a busier movie theatre.  Not only were there few parking spaces available, but once we got in we found that the movie we hoped to attend had a long line-up outside the theatre.  By the time they finally started letting people in and we were able to grab seats the theatre was close to two thirds full (though we managed to snag satisfactory seats).  Maybe even weirder is that almost everyone in attendance seemed to be between the ages of 50 and 60.

I guess this last fact about the audience composition is a little weirder when you consider that the movie we were there to see was Django Unchained, a Quentin Tarantino movie about a bounty hunting slave violently securing the freedom of his wife.  Though as far as I could tell the audience seemed to like the film, though I'm not sure exactly how much they like it.

In case you're curious, Jeannette and I were both quite underwhelmed by the movie.  We both had the impression that the script needed a few more trips through the editing cycle, if not a few major story adjustments.  And Jeannette might disagree, but I thought the cartoonish violence didn't really do the story/historical reality justice (but I guess cartoonishly gruesome violence is kind of Tarantino's trademark).

-Oh, and for no particularly good reason I decided to make a batch of English muffins this morning.

Aside from the size (they were much too small) they turned out quite nicely and were easy to make.

Eightish years tomorrow

Sure, one doesn't normally count partial years but when it comes to a blog with a questionable premise and minuscule readership I'm willing to play with the counting a little bit.

Back in 2006 did anyone think that Montifax would still be a going concern all these years later?

Could anyone have guessed Montifax's writers would end up living in six of Canada's ten provinces? And that one of these provinces would be Saskatchewan?

Anyway, thanks for reading - and if all goes well we'll return to something approximating semi-regular updates in the not too distant future (though I have to still work a few things out in my head before that happens).

Thanks for reading (even if we're not really doing much writing).

Things I've learned since I moved to Saskatchewan

1. There are people in Canada that actually follow the CFL

For most of my life I assumed that the CFL was mostly just a punchline or a trivia answer.  Turns out it is actually a going sports concern in parts of Canada.  Of course, at least as far as I can tell, those parts of the country that care about the CFL are likely found somewhere west of Winnipeg and east of Calgary (I'm pretty sure Vancouver is way too cool to be into anything in a big way).

2. Municipal snow plows are only for primary arteries

Yup, they basically don't plough residential streets in many communities in Saskatchewan.  Instead of ploughing residents just pack the snow into inches high sheets of ice that they are then expected to drive on.  Of course, over time deep ruts develop and those lower clearance vehicles may have a few problems - but that seems to be accepted as a consequence of owning anything less than a pick-up truck.

3. Saskatchewan is one of the world's primary sources for lentils

This cool fact seems to be under appreciated by most of the Saskatchewanians I've spoken to so far.  Of course, I'm still hopeful that eventually this informational nugget may form the basis of some kind of 'healthy protein' campaign, or at least as a protein heavy response to Alberta beef.

4. Saskatchewan mistakenly thinks that Shannon Tweed is a native daughter

Everybody knows that Shannon Tweed is really from Newfoundland.  Case closed.

5. 'Dry cold,' like 'dry heat,' makes all the difference

Though it's been at least -15 for the past few weeks it's not nearly as bad as -5 and the sideways-falling sleet-like precipitation that one often encounters in Newfoundland.  Of course, when you start getting really low temperatures your car may not start or you may get frostbite - but aren't these just small prices to pay for no slush?

It's been too long

So I'm sure that in my absence most of our regular readers haven't been getting their RDA of time-lapse content.

So here's a hot vid from our October trip to Indiana.

Turns out we had the pleasure of being able to watch the harvesting process as applied to a field of popcorn (a bigish crop in Indiana).

Enjoy!




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No need to thank me for helping to ward off your case of time-lapse scurvy.

Big changes

Sorry for the unusually long radio silence - the past few months (really since July) have been much more intense than usual.

Not only have I been travelling more than usual (two trips to the Maritimes, two trips to the Prairies, and a trip to Chicago/Indianapolis), but I also had the pleasure of getting married to Jeannette (in October) and somewhat suddenly accepting a new job in Regina (which started in early November).

Anyway, all of these things kind of piled up and lead to circumstances in which regular updates to Montifax were not feasible.

Now that you're all sort of caught up maybe I'll try to post a few items about a few of the months that we've all had the pleasure of just living through.

Two hot vids you won't want to miss

Of course taking photos from my window seat wasn't quite enough to occupy me on my flight from Winnipeg to Ottawa.  I also had the time to take a few quick time-lapse clips.

In the first clip, if you are careful, you can see a few hundred/thousand of the fields that I flew above.

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In the second clip you might be able to sense that as we head East it is quickly becoming darker as we head into the night.

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I don't know how this won't end up being North America's response to the overwhelming virality of Gangnam Style.

I wonder what's going on down there

As someone who had never been to or seen the Canadian prairies until two days ago I'd always wondered if the presence of agriculture was as prevalent as it often appears to be in media coverage of the region.  It turns out that flying into and out of prairie cities on a clear day is a great way to observe that, yes, huge seemingly unending swaths of these provinces are, in fact, devoted to agricultural production.  Moreover, on the flight from Winnipeg to Regina I saw few signs of economic development other than those associated with the agricultural sector.

Before I go any further I should probably make three points clear.  Firstly, I know that the economies of the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba are not exclusively agricultural.  Secondly, I also know that these provinces are huge and that the terrain differs from region to region (i.e. that there are at least a few hills in each of these provinces).  And, thirdly, that I know I saw only a relatively small portion of either of these provinces (though on my various flights I did probably see hundreds or thousands of square kilometres of each province).

That said, to reiterate, what I did see was overwhelmingly flat land devoted to agricultural production.  There were literally farms as far as the eye could see.

I couldn't help but wonder if there is more land devoted to agriculture in this photo than in all of Newfoundland and Labrador?

And if I focused more closely on a specific area it was pretty easy to see what was going on on the ground.

At times, particularly in Saskatchewan, some of the fields/regions were a little more pock marked.  I still don't know exactly what was going on in these situations.

And maybe it's just me and my unfamiliarity with prairie farming, but I kind of thought that the farms just outside of Winnipeg looked a little different than the farms near Regina.  But again, maybe that's just my unfamiliarity with prairie farming.

I was particularly pleased with myself when I found the line in the land a little east of Winnipeg where the farming, or at least the overwhelming predominance of farming, basically comes to an end and forested areas pick up.  Until yesterday I had no idea that such a line even existed - I had always assumed the farming gradually lessened.

And isn't it also nice to see a little of the earth's curvature?

Mission accomplished

As of yesterday morning at about 11:44 I have now visited all ten Canadian provinces. Of course, I still haven't made it to Edmonton so I'm still short on the provincial capital front.

I'm getting close!

Just a few minutes ago I arrived in Winnipeg. I have now been in 9 of the 10 Canadian provinces. When I land in Regina in a few hours I'll have the full set.

And we wonder why people are confused

I love that by reading multiple headlines/news stories one may be more confused about the nature of a situation than if they had just read a single story.  I think a great example of that is in the midst of happening in Halifax presently.

It seems that Halifax's mayor, Peter Kelly, is on his way out as the executor of a long-contested estate.  The CBC's headline for their story conveying the details is:

Halifax Mayor to step down as estate executor

On the other hand, the Coast - the independent weekly that first pushed the story of the mayor's challenges as executor, has the following headline:

BREAKING NEWS: Peter Kelly removed as executor of the Mary Thibeault estate

The CBC's headline gives me the impression that Kelly had some choice in the matter while the Coast's headline seems to suggest that Kelly had no choice in the matter.  These differences seem significant to me, or am I reading more into the headline differences than I should?

For Rebecca and Jeannette

For quite a while Jeannette and Rebecca have suggested that vids of cute kitties might help me drive up my YouTube views.  Well, now that we have a local feralish kitty I thought that I might give their suggestion a shot.

So, here's my first vid of our local kitty.



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Pretty exciting, right?  Maybe my first million view vid?

A Few Quick Notes 593

-Despite the fact that we've had nice weather during the day recently, our nights and mornings have definitely been getting cooler.  I'm constantly surprised in the afternoon that I need to take the sweater off that I'd been wearing all morning.

-This weekend, thanks to a reminder from my mother, I purchased some millet.  Since we fed this stuff to our pet budgie in the early 1990s I've been curious about the stuff.  Maybe I'll manage to get around to cooking some of it tonight.  I'm imagining that it will be comparable to quinoa, but I guess I'll have to wait to find out.

-I realize that I'm likely of a dying breed, but I really love waking up to a freshly delivered newspaper.  While I also check online news sources, there's nothing quite like being able to flip through the newspaper every morning.

-Today, while running an unrelated errand I happened to walk by the parliament buildings and was able to see the remnants of some protest activities.  I guess these protests were timed to coincide with the first day of the House's fall sitting.  I also witnessed a corresponding increase in the number of police officers.

-While out on my aforementioned errand I had the pleasure of walking along Sparks Street.  Despite the fact that the pedestrian-only nature of Sparks Street is one of the things I like most about it, I keep getting the sense that it's perceived as some kind of failure.  Though I don't necessarily head there all that frequently, it always seems like a resounding success to me.

-I suspect that the cooler evening and nighttime temperatures are slowing down the growth rates of our plants.  Presumably in the relatively near future I'll have to start wrapping everything up for the season. It will be strange to see our bare balcony after so many months of relatively rampant plant growth.

-On a related note, I think I spotted someone in an adjoining backyard engaging in some anti-squirrel sling-shotting.  I would guess that this means that I'm not the only one frustrated by their presence.

A Few Quick Notes 592

-After a few cooler days we've had a few return to summeresque temperatures.  Today, for the first time in what must be weeks, I actually had to turn on my AC unit for a little while.  Of course, by tomorrow overcast skies and rain should help drive temperatures down below 20.

-After weeks or months of delaying, this afternoon I finally got around to re-potting a few of herbs I originally planted a few months ago.  The seeds were originally planted in pots that were far to small.  I'm hoping that the new, larger pots will be more conducive to growth.  Of course because many of these plants were also in less than ideal growing mediums it's entirely possible that even with the transplanting that they will continue to under-perform as plants.

-The morning glories that I was busy bragging about a few days ago have stopped blooming quite as prolifically.  For instance, today there were only two smallish blooms.  As much as it was nice to have about 7 of full blooming, it would have been nice if months and months of watering had lead to at least a solid week of flowers.

-For some reason I got lazy and neglected to mention that last weekend Jeannette and I took a quick Sunday afternoon drive up to Wakefield, Quebec.  Had we done even a little planning we could gone up for a pleasant lunch, instead we went after we'd already eaten and ended up just walking around for a while.  It was definitely a nice looking town and I'm sure we'll head back at some point in the not-to-distant future.

Other exciting plant-related developments that I keep forgetting to mention

After months of waiting and watering our mo(u)rning glories have finally started to bloom.  For the past few days we've been getting between about 6 and 10 blooms each morning.  It's been pretty nice to have a few hours of flowers each day.

One of our avocado seeds has finally started looking like more than just a seed, though it still hasn't produced any leaf growth.  Maybe even more exciting is that despite the fact that they're still not doing much of anything we still have two other avocado seeds that are still alive and may eventually turn into something.

One of the squirrel caused plant casualties that I neglected to mention a few days ago was our banana plant.  For some reason the squirrel decided to rip up one of the incoming leaves.  It's this kind of squirrel behaviour that I just don't understand - what could it possibly be hoping to find in a leaf?

A few weeks ago I purchased a nice piece of ginger with intentions of sprouting my own ginger.  Of course I didn't put the ginger in a big enough pot, but it has started to do its thing and I'm hopeful that every few days we'll keep seeing new signs of growth.  Unfortunately, I'm not particularly hopeful that this ginger plant will ever lead to much edible ginger.

Those were some pretty exciting plant updates weren't they?

A Few Quick Notes 591

-We're in the midst of another hot and humid day in Ottawa.  As we keep creeping further into September I keep tricking myself into thinking that we'll soon be past such days - but they keep on coming.

-Our squirrel keeps coming back, though it's damage from this morning's visit wasn't as bad as a few visits.  I guess I really need to consider ramping up my cayenne use if I want to got a few days without these guys visiting and tearing everything up.

-So it turns out that the Quebec election was pretty eventful.  Not only did the PQ do a little worse than expected (along with the CAQ), the Liberal outperformed expectations.  At the end of the day the PQ managed only four more seats than the Liberals (and they were about nine seats short of majority territory).  Maybe most impressively, the PQ, the Liberals, and the CAQ all received less than 1/3 of the total vote - though the Liberals and PQ were close with 31% each.

And the least expected development of the night was likely the shooting that occurred at the PQ election night party.  Fortunately I had called it a night by the time this happened so I didn't trick myself into thinking that I should watch the coverage as the details of the shooting emerged.

-Aside from the sinkhole coverage, the big news from Ottawa today is that by 2014 there should be a AA team based here.  While I'm a little bummed out that we'll have to wait another season, I'm definitely looking forward to attending some minor league baseball.

-So if you're looking for some ongoing courtroom drama consider following the case regarding Toronto's mayor, Rob Ford.  It seems that if this conflict of interest based case goes against Ford he could find himself out of a job in the near future, or at least that is one interpretation of the possible outcomes.

A Few Quick Notes 590

-After a few relatively pleasant low-humidity days we seem to have transitioned back into that muggy weather that Ottawa does so well.  It's been so muggy and humid that I'm almost starting to think that the appearance of rain may be helping by cooling things off.

-I guess quite a number of university students started classes today.  Maybe that is why it was a little quieter last night?  I guess we'll probably have to wait until Friday to find out how much of a U of O party scene we'll have to contend with in this neighbourhood.  Hope it's not too bad.

-One of local feralish kittens has taken to sitting on our front steps.

And though at times I've simultaneously seen about ten cats hanging out in our neighbourhood, these days this is one of the few cats I see on a regular basis.  If only this thing was big enough to take on the local squirrels.

-So my cayenne pepper and water solution seems not to have worked (though the squirrels were absent for about 24 hours).  For the past two days they've been back and badder than ever.  If I didn't know better I'd think that they were purposely destroying things before they ripen just so that we can't have them.

The worst part is that I have no idea what it is they are looking for.  They keep digging in the dirt, but a far as I know there isn't anything there for them to find (aside from more dirt - and that doesn't seem to be what they are looking for).  

It definitely bums me out to look at the plants each morning and find that new damage has been done and a bigger mess made. 

-On Saturday Jeannette and I took a day trip to upstate New York.  In addition to witnessing what appeared to be a glee club sing-off in Potsdam, we also managed to find the world's worst homefries.  These bad boys were undercooked, soggy, cold, poorly seasoned, and over-priced.  Oh, and the same at the same place the 'side of fruit' was canned pears.  While we didn't see to many things that we would recommend, on the up side we have started to create a list of places that don't merit a return visit.

(Oh, and we saw five bros buying a 55 inch TV for their apartment.  Probably a pretty solid investment for your average undergrad student wouldn't you say?)

It's election day in Quebec!

Though I haven't been following Quebec's election too closely, based on the limited coverage I have seen I get the sense that we could be in for a bit of a change.  Of course based on the outcomes of recent provincial elections, polls don't necessarily seem to be wonderful predictors of the eventual composition of the legislature.

Of course predictable or not, I hope to catch some of the coverage somehow tonight.  I'm probably not quite motivated enough to head to a bar in Gatineau, but I'm sure I'll figure something out.

A Few Quick Notes 589

-It looks as though it is going to be a beautiful Labour Day in Ottawa this year, though maybe a few degrees warmer than ideal.

-Because we don't have the same morning rush to readiness today I'm hoping to crank out a batch of raspberry muffins for breakfast.

-Last night, based on a recommendation from my father, I sprayed our balcony plants with cayenne pepper water.  The idea is that this will deter the squirrel from visiting the plants.  I'm a little curious to see if it worked, or if the squirrel responded vindictively to the new flavour.

-Yesterday Jeannette and I engaged in a multi-hour cleaning and organizing event.  Is there any better way to spend a beautiful Sunday?

-Actually, because it's move-in weekend at the local universities (and one of these universities is only a few blocks away) it was nice not to be outside and in the midst of that craziness.

Caught in the act

Since my flurry of squirrel related posts a few days ago I've intermittently been trying to memorialize our pesky squirrel in a time-lapse film.  Until this morning I've been entirely unsuccessful and was evening starting to think that my recently installed ultrasonic rodent annoyer may have been working.

Of course today I've caught the squirrel out in various plants a few times.  Bummer.

On the upside, I was finally able to get some footage of it doing its thing in a few of the plants.

[Embedded video]

I really have no idea why it keeps digging deep into these pots.  I don't think that there's anything at the bottom of these pots that the squirrel could possibly find useful.  Maybe at this point it's just trying to annoy me?

Third time's a charm?

So when I just went back to refill up my coffee mug I again noticed that a squirrel was digging around in a few of the plants.

This time instead of grabbing my water squirter I reverted to loud noise making.  Though the squirrel didn't immediately leave the balcony it didn't take too long before it was at the furthest point away from me and then looking an escape route.

Amazingly, this time, instead of just jumping off of the side of the balcony, the squirrel climbed up one of the support beams and then into a tree.

I'm not if I should be tricked into thinking that this is a different, smarter, squirrel or if the first squirrel has finally realized that just jumping from a third storey balcony onto a garage roof below is not the best idea.

Just to be clear, until today I'd only actually seen the squirrels in the plants one time (though they frequently leave evidence of their visits).  I have no idea why they keep visiting today, but hopefully I've seen the last of them for the day (but I guess I thought the same thing the first time I saw a squirrel make a hail Mary blind jump from the balcony to a roof below).

Damn thing just came back

So I just went out to refill my coffee cup and look at our plants again and again found a damn squirrel messing things up.

This time I was a little bit more careful about my closing the door thing and the squirrel was definitely less responsive to the squirting water thing.  Instead of leaving the balcony it just climbed around and tried to hide.  Of course because there aren't many hiding places on our small balcony this wasn't an entirely effective tactic.

Of course eventually the squirrel decided not to share the balcony with me anymore and again jumped from the side rail balcony across our car and onto the garage roof.  Again my stomach was in my throat as I worried that I may have to deal with a seriously injured squirrel.  Fortunately, like the last time, the squirrel again scurried across the garage roof to safety.

On the up side, I'm learning a little more about the jumps squirrels can safely land.  On the downside, I'm now pretty sure that making the jump the first time didn't scare the squirrel away from our balcony garden.

Maybe we'll have to hire an old guy with an air rifle to sit back there and mind the farm while we're away?

My heart is still pounding

I just went out to the kitchen to refill my coffee mug and take a look at the balcony garden.  While looking at our plants I noticed that one of our local squirrels was digging around in a few of the pots.

I opened the door and stepped onto the balcony to scare the squirrel away.  While reaching for my water squirter (a tool that I use because the squirrels don't seem to respond to me shouting at them) I noticed that there were actually two squirrels on the balcony and that the second squirrel was behind me.  Just as I was getting an accurate sense of the lay of the land squirrel-wise the second squirrel ran under the open balcony door and into our apartment.  At the same time the squirrel I first saw made an unseen departure from the balcony (but by this point I didn't really care where it went or what it was doing as long as it didn't involve the inside of our apartment).

The squirrel then ran around the kitchen at speeds that were unnecessarily fast.  Of course, in addition to running around it was also insistent on taking a convoluted path that seemed to involve jumping on just about everything around.

Almost before I knew what was happening it ran from the kitchen to the living room and continued jumping on things (including Jeannette's knitting box).  

At this point I was pretty worried.  Because I was standing between the animal and the door I was fearful that the squirrel would make its way further into the apartment and maybe even try to stake out a hiding place rather than run through me towards the exit.  And because I couldn't see how to get the squirrel between my body and the door I was worried that any step towards the living room might exacerbate the situation.

Fortunately once the squirrel entered the living room it cut left into the main part of the room and I was able to slip into the room and put the squirrel between my body and the door.  Of course, even though the squirrel was where I wanted it, it's not as though my body was an impenetrable shield that protected the rest of the apartment (all the squirrel needed to do to get past me was run around me).

Fortunately, I think the squirrel was less interested in being in our apartment than I was in having it there.  Once I was in position it ran out of the living room, through the kitchen, and right off the side of the balcony.

All of a sudden the squirrel was flying through the air, seemingly heading towards the pavement two storeys below.  Amazingly, despite the apparent lack of planning on the squirrel's part, the squirrel managed to leap off the balcony, make it all the way over our parked car, and land on a section of garage roof on the other side.  From there the animal, seeming uninjured, scurried away across the roof to safety.

Do you think it's too much to expect that this near death experience will be enough to scare the squirrels away from their now daily destructive visits to our balcony garden?  I really hope so because the visits are becoming more regular and more destructive.  At this point we're hardly harvesting anything because the squirrels keep destroying the fruits of our labour just as they start to ripen (and sometimes even before they start to ripen).

With (a) great car comes (a) great responsibility (to go on road trips)

A few weeks ago, long before we'd even thought about acquiring a car, my friend Nicole mentioned that at the end of August she would be in Montreal for a few days.  At the time the distance, though it is only 200 km, seemed almost unimaginably far.  And while I hadn't completely written off the idea of somehow making it to Montreal for a visit, it certainly seemed a little unlikely.

Of course once we had our car in hand travelling the 200 km to Montreal didn't seem so challenging (and what better way spend time with a new car than by taking it out for an extended test drive?).

So with the transportation issue out of the way I now just had to play catch up and get the dates of Nicole's visit.  Amazingly, after what seemed like just a few minutes I got a response back from Nicole indicating that she'd just arrived that day.  Within a few emails we'd arranged to meet for lunch the following day.

Though we had to deal with a few construction related delays while making our way out of Ottawa, the trip went relatively smoothly (though had our air conditioning been working it would have been even more pleasant).  The only noteworthy aspect of the trip, which was remarkably straight forward, was the traffic.  Though I haven't made the drive before it seemed that there was a fair bit of traffic for a Saturday morning in August (though this feeling may just be because I'm still unfamiliar with the traffic patterns).

In just about two hours from our time of departure we were in the Mile End neighbourhood of Montreal.  Despite the fact that I hadn't spent much time in the area there were a few names and locations that were familiar.

After a short stroll around the surrounding area we made our way meet Nicole (it being a hot and sunny day we were looking forward to not only our rendezvous but also the restaurant's shade and water).

It was really great to catch up on post-library school goings on a hear a little about life in New Zealand.

After a very pleasant lunch and chat we made our way over to my old stomping grounds.  I was able to show Jeannette where I used to live, work, and shop.  Unfortunately because of one-way streets and an unfamiliarity with streets from the perspective of a driver the trip to this part of town took a fair bit longer than it should have.

Despite the fact that I tend to think that I don't really miss Montreal all that much it was really nice to see the place again after about four years.  Despite the fact that there have been quite a number of changes in my absence, there are a remarkable number of similarities.  Maybe now that we're only a two hour drive away I'll have the chance to head back a little more frequently now.

Due to popular demand

Jeannette was a bit surprised that I didn't include a photo of our fancy new table in the last post.  To make up for my omission here's a photo of the table.

For better or worse (but probably worse) the table's base is a fair bit smaller than the table's surface.  Thus if one leans on the table they may end up toppling the items on the table into their lap.  Good thing we don't have too much stemmed glassware.

Isn't life exciting?

On Wednesday afternoon I received a call informing me that my recently ordered table was ready to be picked up on Thursday.  Much to my surprise, despite the fact that the store is closing and the table was suspiciously cheap, the call about the table's availability came right on time.

At about the same time I also received a call informing me the used 2000 Toyota Echo that Jeannette arranged to buy would also be available on Thursday.

Talk about synergy.

Now we could use the car to pick up the table, or at least that was the plan that was rapidly forming in my head.

On Thursday we bussed out to the car pick-up site and were back on the road within minutes.  Not surprisingly, our destination was the table pick-up site.  Of course, because it's construction season and because the loading dock is tucked away beneath a bridge getting to the pick-up point (even though it's only about 3 blocks from our apartment) took the better part of a half an hour.  Then, once we were finally on site, we found that the table was too wide to fit in either the back seat or the trunk.

So before we were back to the original table pick up plan - my hand-truck.

Of course the loading dock guys were amused to see that after the failed car-based load I came back with an even smaller means of conveyance.  Anyway, even if it looked a little funny, I made it back to the apartment with the table on the hand-truck in much less time than I spent driving around in circles trying to find the right one-way access point to the loading dock.

(I guess I somehow managed to spend more time and effort on the table pick up than I did on the new car details.  It's nice to know that even with the acquisition of a new vehicle I'm still not car (R)obsessed.)

Pretty good variety for a balcony

Today I harvested all four different varieties of beans we have growing on our balcony.  For maybe the first time in my balcony gardening career I have a harvest that is actually larger than a single meagre serving.  Exciting.

How are these not the subject of a major controversy?

While waiting for the bus on Rideau this afternoon Jeannette and I noticed a few symbols on a building across the street from us.  I was surprised that the symbols were still on public display.

Or maybe I'm just reading too much into this?

It finally happened

For quite a while I've been wondering when I would first get to experience a bus-other vehicle accident.

Well, last night the answer was revealed to me with a thump as the bus I was riding in clipped the mirror of a car it was passing with a loud thump.

Of course because this was my first such accident I wasn't up on the protocol.  And despite the fact that most of the passengers soon exited the bus I wasn't sure if this is what I should be doing, or if another bus would be sent to pick us up.

After speaking to the bus driver I learned that they wouldn't be sending another bus for us, but that we were supposed to walk to the next stop and pick the bus up there.  And because of my slight delay in getting off of the bus I almost missed the bus at the next stop - and that would have really been a bummer.

Anyway, I'm just hoping that yesterday's lite accident will be the one and only bus-other vehicle accident I'll have the opportunity to participate in.

A table in three prices

Today, while on our way back from lunch, Jeannette and I decided to visit a local department store so that we could peruse the store's going out of business bargains (which were recently bumped up to up to 40% off).

After taking a quick look at the clothing and kitchen departments Jeannette reminded me that we should head to the furniture department we've been thinking about looking for a new dining table.  And wouldn't it be nice if we could get such a table at a deep discount?

Almost as soon as we arrived in the furniture department we realized that the store only had about four tables to chose from, and most were too large for our apartment.  So it didn't take us to long to focus our attention on a round 48 inch diameter solid-wood table that should actually fit in our apartment.

According to a price sheet on the table the table was $349, though we were expecting that there would be at least a 30% discount.

When we finally tracked down a non-furniture department employee (the only employee handy) he suggested that he would try to make sure to order us a table rather than sell us the floor model.  While we were both excited to buy a non-floor model table, the idea of ordering something in seemed a little strange considering that the store is in the midst of closing and they are very actively trying to sell their remaining stock.  So despite the absurdity of the proposition we decided to just go with the employee's suggestion.

Things became even stranger when we saw that instead of being applied to the price indicated ($349), the 30% discount was being applied to $189 (we still don't know where this price came from).

So instead of paying $349 - 30% for a floor model, the store (despite the fact that they're closing) is ordering us a brand new table at more then 60% off of the original price.  Maybe this kind of special math is why they're closing?

And to make things even more bizarre, when I came home I went online to find a listing for the table on the store's website and learned that online it's going for $319.

It's moments like these when I am quite happy to accept the mysterious ways in which the world works.

Neighbourhood sights

Despite the fact that most of the time our neighbourhood is kind of quite, there are occasionally a few funny or noteworthy goings on (such as the car accident two blocks from us that made the news this morning or the flipped semi from a few days ago at a different nearby intersection).

Maybe these are a few of the less noteworthy features of our neighbourhood?

So I think I've figured out where the local pizza fanatic lives.

And then yesterday I saw this cool bike as I was walking home.

Isn't Ottawa life exciting life?

Which is the greater journalistic sin?

Is it worse to make up a quote to complement your argument, a la Jonah Lehrer, or to plagiarize another author's work, a la Fareed Zakaria?  Or maybe they're both offences equally egregious sins?

The more I think about the issue the more I'm inclined to think that fabrication of content is a greater sin, and is generally more likely to cause more harm, than plagiarism, though that doesn't mean that plagiarism isn't problematic in its own right.

Is this really the best route?

I know that in Ottawa there designated routes trucks are supposed to take to cross the bridges into Gatineau/Quebec, but does it really make sense that trucks carrying unmilled lumber end up in the downtown core?

I would think that for the trip from the forest to the sawmill most truckers would do just about anything possible to avoid being anywhere near downtown Ottawa.

Maybe truckers like to show off to each other by citing their number of successful trips through truck unfriendly locales?

A Few Quick Notes 588

-Though today started off hot and humid, a few periods of rain and thunder showers have done a good job at bringing the temperature down by a few degrees.  Of course, it's still incredibly humid and sticky here.

-Because I couldn't talk Jeannette into going with me I had to go to the local busker event solo yesterday.  Despite the fact that it would have been nice to have someone to share the experience with, it was also nice to be able to not have to worry about causing someone to stay through a show they weren't enjoying.

After a somewhat lacklustre first performance (I think the heat likely had something to do with it) I happened to walk by another show just as it was about to start.  Like most of these shows the ramp-up was a little long-winded, but once they eventually got down to business they did a pretty good job.  Though they are likely not the only group with their own portable aerial gymnastics equipment on the busking circuit, they were certainly the first group I've seen with such a rig.

Oh, and it turned out that this group is based in Michigan.

-It was nice to have a little rain today so that I won't have to deal with the afternoon and evening watering sessions.  In addition to this natural watering session, the main development of the past few days is the ripening of our sweet peppers.

Maybe in a few days these three peppers will be ready for consumption?  I certainly hope so.

The rest of our plants seem to be fine, though nothing particularly exciting has been happening.  I'm starting to wonder if we might have enough time for a second planting of a few of them?

-Jeannette's tricked me into watching too much of the Olympic coverage.  I'm starting to look forward to upcoming events.  Ugh.

A Few Quick Notes 587

-We're in the midst of another hot and humid day in Ottawa.  I made the mistake of going for a short walk at about noon and was really feeling the consequences of my mistake by the time I returned home a little while later.

-Despite the fact that Jeannette isn't a fan of buskers and their ilk, she was kind enough to let me know about a busking festival currently taking place a few blocks from where we live.  Though I didn't go to any full shows today, I did walk buy just in time to see a grown woman stuff herself in a  small plexiglass box.

Though Jeannette definitely won't be joining me, I may try to head back at some point this weekend to see one or two of the shows.

-Despite a relatively good harvest a few days ago, things have taken something a turn for the worse in our balcony garden.

We woke up this morning to find that something, presumably a squirrel-like animal, did some substantial digging in a few of our pots.

So not only are we losing consumables, but finally we've started to lose plants because of this infestation (at least one of the two bean plants in this pot seems to have died).  I really hope this soon comes to an end otherwise we aren't going to have many plants left.

This turn of events is definitely something of a bummer.

-I've definitely fallen out of the habit of blogging regularly haven't I?

A Few Quick Notes 586

-After a few days of lower humidity levels we seem to be back in the sweat zone.  Maybe even more than my trip to Arizona the past few days have made it clear to me how much humidity makes a difference.  30 with lowish humidity is entirely tolerable if you have a fan.  22 and high humidity is a recipe for sweat and aggravation.  Hopefully we can slide back down the humidity scale in the coming days.

-It seems that our balcony garden is a favourite site for at least one of the neighbourhood squirrels.  Frustratingly the squirrel seems to be picking tomatoes and peppers and burying these finds in the other pots.  This is frustrating because we keep losing almost ripe food, and because I know that the squirrel isn't even eating or coming back for its treasures.

Though the tactic was borne of laziness, by leaving the porch light on last night I think I have found a way to discourage this visitor.  Hopefully the squirrel won't clue into the fact that the light being on doesn't mean that there are humans watching.

-Despite my best efforts, Jeannette's interest in following the Olympics has spilled over a little.  While I seem to be able to keep myself away from the live television coverage, I must say that I find some of the newspaper and social media coverage particularly consumable.  The very positive aspect of consuming sports content in this way is that I don't have to listen to the inane commentary that typically accompanies live sporting.  I have no idea why broadcasters are so afraid of letting viewers watch the sports uncommented upon.  Is this a weird hold over from the visual-free radio era?

-I guess today was Regatta Day in St. John's.  Apparently we are due for a Civic Holiday in Ottawa this Monday.  Exciting!

Update: Apparently the upcoming holiday is called Colonel By Day, which I can't help wanting to read as the first part of the following sentence: "Colonel by day, X by night."

Some thoughts on writing and related topics

A few weeks ago I remember reading a story about the so-called self-plaigarism of regular RadioLab contributor and New Yorker staff writer Jonah Lehrer.  Aside from the general topic of the story, a topic find inherently interesting, I was curious about the story as a regular listener to Radiolab.

At the time I presumed that this self-plaigarism angle would the last I would be hearing about the journalistic practices, if that is the appropriate term, of Lehrer.

Thanks to an article published on Monday that outlines a number of fabricated or misattributed Bob Dylan quotes in his most recent book, Lehrer's journalistic practices have once again come up for discussion.  Of course, unlike with the self-plaigarism issue, in this case Lehrer didn't walk away from the dust up with his job (he has now resigned from his post at The New Yorker).

While it's clear that for a reader or publication an author fabricating sources, quotes, or data is unacceptable and is a firing offence, how one should handle of 'self-plaigarism' is likely not quite as clear cut, and readers and employers may approach the matter differently.

From the perspective of a reader that an author revisits a topic (sometimes with passages take directly from earlier iterations of a work), but each time refining his or her approach, may not be problematic.  Despite the fact that such an iterative approach to writing may not be a particularly common practice in popular literature, there are areas of publishing - like some scholarly domains - where this approach is quite common (Lukes' multiple editions of Power: A Radical View is one such example that comes to mind).   Of course, as a reader I do like knowing when I'm encountering something that I may have read a version of before (While reading Carol Shield's Unless a few years ago I was haunted by a sense of deja vu while reading a scene about gifting a scarf only to realize some number of years later that I'd first encountered a similar passage in one of Shield's short stories.).

Of course it is also important to take into consideration the extent to which author continues to re-engage and refine the ideas and arguments are being examined.  If the 'self-plaigarism' is nothing more than a re-jiggering of paragraphs and paraphrasing of past publications without any new substance then this practice becomes almost valueless to most readers.  In such cases I am inclined to feel duped by the author - and that is almost never a pleasant feeling.

'Self-plaigarism' when viewed from the perspective of the publisher raises an entirely different set of concerns.  Firstly, at least as far as I can see, is the matter of copyright.  If the publisher of second version of the text doesn't provide proper attribution and attain appropriate permissions from the publisher of the first version of the text (maybe because they don't know that the writing isn't all original) might they not have copyright infringement issues on their hands?  And I can't see prominent publications appreciating 'their' content turning up in another publication.

Secondly, I would have to guess that most major publications don't like paying full price for 'recycled' content.  Assuming the ideas discussed in these pieces haven't really been overly refined from iteration to iteration, which I think is a relatively fair assumption in this case given the short/informal nature of many of the posts in question, I can imagine that this breaks the spirit and letter of agreements that authors have with their publishers about submissions.  (I also have to assume that readers don't appreciate paying full price for a publication that has supposedly 'new' content that they may have already read.)

Unfortunately, I think that this confluence of conditions (from both the perspective of the reader and the publisher) and stories like this that that vilify 'self-plaigarism' (and that don't differentiate its various forms) may mean that professional authors may be less likely to re-visit and revise work as time and their understanding of the topic progresses despite the fact that technologies currently available may facilitate such regular revisions of a work and allow the reader to see how this work has been changed with each new iteration.  Though I certainly hope it's not the case, I fear that the appearance of an ever-changing, always-a-work-in-progress text like Whitman's Leaves of Grass may be less likely now than ever before (I can only imagine that what an author was paid to revise a text in the manual type-setting days was relatively little compared to the overall cost of a new printing/edition and would require only marginally more work on the part of the publisher, whereas in the current context a new printing that also entails a re-formatted and re-written document substantially increases printing and re-publication costs relative to just re-printing the same text you already had on file).

I'm not sure that I've really brought this to a satisfying conclusion, but I guess I can always come back to a few of these ideas in the future and see if I can add anything new to the conversation.  If I do take such an approach I'll try to remember to send you back here so you can see what I wrote the first time around.