On da 'roids

Tuesday night I thought I was on the mend from this flu. Then I woke up at 2 a.m. incapable of breathing. Took a puff -- as that usually does the trick -- and went back to sleep. Woke up at 4 a.m., again with the no-breathing. It got old. So off I went to the doctor, who hooked me up with this awesome steroid inhaler. I can now breathe again. I just hope my testicles don't wither too much.

Dare I say again -- I'm on the mend?

Streak snapped

For almost 2 years, I had been flu-free. Usually around this time of year I get nailed with a brutal one. Last year was the exception, this one is the norm. I came to on Sunday with that signature soreness in the nose and throat which foretells the impending 3 weeks of flu-ridden misery. Blech. Pray for David.

It's a shame, since the rest of the weekend was pretty damn good, if a little laid back. Friday started at Erin's Pub, headed back to the house and woofed down some Indian food, and then headed to a frisbee party. Too frat-boy for some of us, and a disturbing lack of rye, so we took off. Watched a period of the hockey game at the Republic and called it a night.

Got some Christmas shopping done on Saturday -- I've got three names crossed off my list, and pretty solid ideas for 2 more. Which leaves about a half-dozen, for a record of at least 5-6 by the end of November. This shatters last year's record of 0-11.

Saturday evening we headed out to the Black Dog pub for some free jazz. Rarely do we get good jazz here, even more rarely is it free, and rarer still is it at a non-pretentious venue (Fuck you, Martini Bar!). All instrumental, featuring the vibraphones, sax, and organ. Also of note was that the organ actually had the rotating Leslie speaker (this gives the wrwrwrwrwr tremolo effect). I was hypnotized by its spinning as I tried to place a drink order at the bar.

This kind of music is great to take in, and the best part is that it doesn't preclude conversation. Hung around there for a while, and had a grand chat with the guy across the street who had later joined us. Capital evening.

Holy shit! I have readers?!

It's come to my attention that I have an audience now. So I'd better be on my best behaviour. Consider your blog linked to, Jessica. Oh, and to answer your question about crossed off items (maybe someone else in my enormous audience is curious too), use the <s> tag.

If you type this in your post:

<s>Crossed off item</s>

You'll see:

Crossed off item

Some clever, wha? Only 7.5 hours till happy hour.

More academia, maybe?

I've been doing a fair amount of tutoring lately. Good, because it means a little extra Christmas (drinking) money. Bad, because I've had to mortgage my evenings. But good, because it keeps my mind sharp on those topics.

This will be important, since it looks like the world of academia will have me in its clutches again. Just had a "career development" meeting with my hardware group leader, and I might be taking a digital signal processing course over the winter, compliments of C-CORE. They seem pretty cool about me taking courses towards a Ph.D, and with me taking time off to pursue comprehensives and research.

It'd be sweet if I could eventually arrange part-time work at C-CORE, part-time research and teaching at the university. A few profs are already doing that now. A change in gears, maybe, is in the not-too-distant future.

Feng Shui, pt. 2

Move office furniture

I'm liking the results so far of Operation Room Redefinition. Just gotta find somewhere to stuff my disassembled bed. *sigh* I guess I'll have to gut that junk room. It's full of junk now. Also, I'm churning out some plans for workshop shelving (power tools don't hang very well off peg board). Just need to finalize the dimensions.

Man, I hope I end up using this workshop as frequently as I had imagined, with all the effort going into it. At the very least, it's a room that I can let go to shit and not care too much about.

Look at me! I'm Bacchus!!

So yesterday was the wine show. Sampled some very fine wines, and I find I'm coming to like Chilean wines more and more. There was a lovely Pinot Noir which I ended up buying afterwards.

All right, that's enough pretending to be sophisticated. The main motive was to get drunk, and mission accomplished. After the show, we headed back to my place, and after struggling for a half hour, got a fire lit. I had to "steal" some wood from the guy across the street, and found myself operating a circular saw under the influence. Not my wisest moment.

At 6:00 we headed to Steve and Crystal's baby shower out in Cowan Heights. I would loved to have hung around there longer, but the 4 dogs were wreaking havoc on my asthma. Got some Chinese food afterwards and watched Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Afterwards, we went to the ol' faithful Georgetown Pub for some karaoke. My voice gave out halfway through my third song, so apologies to those who had to witness the squawking.

Woke up with very little trace of a hangover. Which has left me with an ominous sense of dread... I'm due something horrible now...

Feng Shui (pt.1)

So I started Operation Room Redefinition last night. I was instantly reminded of how much I hate moving furniture. Especially desks -- you gotta clear them off, and put the junk somewhere. And my computer desk is a pain because you gotta take the hutch off, which involves careful wiggling so as not to break the dowel joints. And where it's kinda deep, it's gotta be disassembled to fit it out the door. I tried that, but I couldn't find my allen keys, so I gave up, had a beer, and went to bed. Mranh.

Now both rooms are in a state. This is kind of good, since now I'll be more motivated to tackle the chore. But it's going to involve a lot of moving stuff to make a space, and then moving it back. Like one of those slidey-number puzzles. And then once it's all moved, I gotta replace all the stuff that was on it. Those who say Feng Shui is supposed to promote harmony, obviously neglect the process in that assessment.

I'm a cantankerous old geezer. Maybe a ton of wine tomorrow at the show will help.

What are the odds?

I placed an order with Amazon for some sheet music on June 1 of this year. I sent away to get reimbursed for back pills I bought 2 months ago. And I started calling around for a gutter to be installed on the back of my house 1 month ago.

Yesterday, I come home to find my sheet music in the mailbox (no need to pick up at the depot) along with the drug cheque, and my gutter installed on the back. Pretty wild that they would all happen on the same day.

Also,

Wipe window sills, doors, and stair fronts
Vaccum den rug

2 long overdue chores that made my list. Now I'll be vigilant to make sure I nip these in the bud instead of being a slob. And:

Setup wireless network

It seems to work, and I'm being one of the arseholes I decried a year ago who WPA-encrypted their networks so I couldn't mooch. Now I can move my computer and stuff to the den and still have net access. Techmology...

Long weekends

There really should be more of them. And instead of ending, they shouldn't.

Friday night started with a couple of beers at Bev's, a seedy bar in a bowling alley (redundant, yes). I was rejoicing at the end of a seemingly interminable week. Thence I headed to the house of a friend from first year MUN. Hadn't seen that crew in ages, so it was nice to catch up. Jon & Jessica suggesting we head downtown, so we took off. We stopped by my place and had another belt of absinthe (oh man), whereupon Hanz & Leigh met up with us. I found myself at Peddler's, exhibiting little grace as I danced and consumed rum and coke simultaneously.

Saturday morning was rough, but it was a big day.

1. Jon and I had made plans to do brunch en route to the Remembrance Day ceremonies. The hangover vanished after a lot of fruit, yogurt, and coffee. It was a nice cool, crisp day for the ceremonies.
2. I went to check out Steve's new place in Chamberlains. Very nice. He's got a budding zoo with two cats and a dog, so he's drove nuts.
3. Saw the funniest movie in the world: Borat. If you haven't already, do yourself and favour and see it.
4. Had a few people in for the first time in ages. Just had to show off the new hearth.
5. Went to the Georgetown Pub for karaoke. Hilarity ensued. I just love that place so much.

Sunday wasn't nearly as eventful. I had volunteered to help out with a fencing tournament, not realizing that it started at 8:00am, and not realizing that it would take 11 hours. But it was good to see the old fencing crew again. Haven't done it in ages because of my lousy back. Did some 1/2 price apps at East Side Mario's and then slept like a baby.

Monday consisted of a few errands (so rarely do I get to see what the world is like on a weekday when retailers are open) followed by a fine scoff of Indian food at Jon and Jessica's.

And now I'm back at work, waiting for PCB's to show up, hence being able to write a long entry like this.

Of Wood Heating (part I)

Well, the house still stands (for now). Though I was understandably alarmed when, during my first fire on Saturday, I went upstairs to find a thin haze and unpleasant smell. I didn't see any flames, and it didn't smell like smoke, so I refrained from calling the fire department, and instead called the installer. Apparently it's just the paint curing, and the dust vapourizing from the brickwork after God-only-knows how many years of dormancy. Sure enough, last night, the smell had lessened and the haze vanished.

After 2 hours of burning, it was actually warmer downstairs than up. If I can find a source of scrap wood, I should be able to put a significant dent in the ~$2000 heating bill.

Build Workbench

Got it done, less nailing the top board on. It was late and I didn't want to be that arsehole who nails at 11:30. Total cost was ~$35.

This is going to trigger an avalanche of shit I can get done now: my office is going to be transformed into a workshop, and I'm going to move my computer and stuff into the "spare room" which will become the new office. The bed will be disassembled, so if ya wanna crash here, get used to couches, rugs, and bathtubs.

Carte blanche

Had my last physio session today (for this round, anyways). I'm going to miss it: it was a free hour off work, and their machines were awesome. The back is still not 100%, but frequent exercises will help get rid of the remaining pain. I've noticed that my limp has disappeared, and that I can walk to and from work again, albeit with slight discomfort.

Nothing crossed off my list these past four days, but the top frame of the workbench I'm building is completed. Just need to bolt on the legs and assemble the bottom shelf.

The paperwork was received by both the city and the insurance company. HaHA! Up to code. I can now start lighting fires. Right in time for Guy Fawkes night! Tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be nice and chilly, so they should be a good test. I'll either let y'all know how effective the wood heat strategy is, or let y'all know where my new house will be ;)