Fall is in the air

Indeed, in 30 minutes it will officially be fall, if the yucklers on K-Rock were correct this morning. Fall is actually my favourite season: a statutory holiday every month, crisp weather, and, most importantly, the hockey season starting up.

The weekend involved two very late nights. Friday, Jon and Jess had a few souls in. A lot of wine, beer, and conversation. Always great to catch up with those folks. Afterwards, took a cab to my place for some tea and a 4:30am finish. I very ill-advisedly tried lighting a fire in the woodstove, because the room temperature warranted it. Ill-advised because the chimney has two years' worth of creosote built up in it, and has been dormant for the summer. The house is still standing, so no biggy. I wanted to see how one of my slabs would burn. It's still there, largely unscathed; that's how well it burned.

Saturday night I had Craig, Ginny, and Jenn in for some Thai grilled chicken, which I think was a hit. After we had a few hands of cards, Geoff and his posse dropped by to go to the Georgetown. A most heinous turn of events: there was no karaoke that week. In fact, aside from us there were two other people in the bar, including the bartender. As soon as I walked in, I bellowed out "WHAT THE FUCK!" Craig suggested I work on my quiet voice. So we headed to Stanley's, which was a bit of fun. Stuck around there waiting for my name to be called a second time, and eventually got rotted with it and took off at 3:30am.

I actually did quite a bit of cooking this past week. In addition to the Thai chicken, I made a lentil soup and a beef-pasta bake. Ever since I started bringing bagels to work, and having one in the morning and late afternoon, I have more patience for cooking when I get home from work because I'm not starving to death. In fact, patience has become more of a fondness. In an attempt to encourage this behaviour, I treated myself to a nice set of Henckels knives yesterday. I like this set because it has the sharpening steel, which makes it look like I know what I'm doing.

Mid-September, would we?

Well, this month has been flying. Most likely since there's been lots on the go, both at work and leisure time.

This weekend was pretty tame, which is a welcome relief after last weekend. Friday involved some happy hour eats at the George Street Beer Market, then some bowling. Craig and Ginny met up with us afterwards, having just taken in an Our Lady Peace concert. We then went to Steve's Twin Lounge to take in some very spirited dancing (but not participating, it wasn't that kind of night).

Saturday I tried being productive, so I started building a set of shelves for my storage room in an effort to liberate some square footage on the floor. Midway through, however, I decided to take a break by distracting Ginny from her schoolwork at the Anchorage (new-ish coffee shop downtown, cuz there's evidently a crying need for them). Got back and finished the shelves off, and started putting them to use. The result: a noticeably less disastrous-looking storage room. I may have to put the cat's litterbox up there, as its current location is well within nose-shot (?) of my desk and piano.

That night we had a bonfire at Middle Cove. I tried out some of the aspen slabs for dryness: one burned kinda well, the other two were pretty hissy and steamish. Not that I was expecting them to be bone dry after only two weeks. I had to leave early to pick up mudder at the airport, so I don't know how the other slabs fared (perhaps one of those present could inform me).

And then Sunday, which involved housework. I've found that vacuuming gives me asthma attacks. That's a good excuse not to do it, eh? But I find this annoying. Maybe the HEPA filter on the vaccuum needs cleaning/replacing. After catching my breath, I made some pasta sauce from a recipe I had, and then some chicken parmesan which called for said sauce. Turned out well, I think. And enough left over for lunch today. Finished the evening by going for coffee with Jon, where we ran into Ginny and, once again, distracted her from schoolwork.

It's come to my attention that it's past the 11th of the month, and hence a recap is in order:

Cooking/Lunches Until this above-mentioned bit of cooking, going poorly. Thankfully, I had a really miserable experience at Mrs. Vanelli's on Friday -- not only had the combos gone up by a dollar, the pizza was salty and gross. This memory ought to motivate me to pack lunches. The chicken parmesan has the great properties of being inexpensive, simple to prepare, and tasty, so that it should crack the regular lineup. Good because BBQ season is drawing to a close.

Housework Not bad, really. Only my workshop is a disaster area. But if it weren't, then I couldn't reasonably cultivate the impression that I'm doing work in there, right? I still have a few paint jobs left, notably painting the other rail so that it matches.

Woodworking Wine rack is coming along. Almost ready for staining. And, as mentioned, I got a set of shelves built in an afternoon. I've got to get a push on getting at least a few walls of the shed sided before the snow comes.

Electronics Reminds me of work too much right now. This was the danger all along. Hence nothing to report.

Piano Still going well. Got a couple more pieces committed to memory. Wondering how much space I got left "upstairs" for memorizing.

Things are Heating Up

So work is just heading off the deep end now. I've been working on only one main project for the last couple of years, with the exception of one-month bursts where I'd have an ancillary role on some other project. This has gotten a bit tedious, so I've been lobbying to get on some other projects.

I've now learned to be cautious of what I wish for.

Over the last couple of months I've heard of work coming down the pipeline. This week we've had kickoff meetings for the two other projects I'm slated for, the themes of which have been pretty clear: this fall is going to be insanely busy. So much so that I've had to forfeit being on yet another project, which is a shame because it involved a giant ice crushing machine -- how cool is that?!

The upside is that these projects have travel potential that doesn't involve Conception Bay. It's looking more and more likely that I'll be in Holland for the end of October. And some other opportunities which I don't want to jinx.

The week has been going well besides. The scotch tasting went well, as we managed to recruit a new member. Frisbee, Rock Band, and trivia filled the other evenings. I've got to get back to working on my wine rack, lest it drag out like the last project.

In my defence, I was all ready to work on it Monday night, when I found that my Skil saw was incapable of making perpendicular crosscuts, even with the guide. I discovered that the shoe had bent -- probably from dropping the shaggin' thing on the sidewalk while cutting slabs. After some "coercion" from Mr. Hammer, it's back to normal now...

Not as much labour...

...as only Saturday was spent chopping. The upside: it's all done, save for the few slabs that the Skil saw can't get through. I'm trying to think of a clever way to use those logs as a boardwalk, or some other way to reduce the square footage of my yard.

So it's all (kinda neatly) stacked in about three ricks, and hopefully drying out in time for November (when I intend on moving it into the shed). Not a lot of drying to be had last night, as it piss-poured rain. Not a rainfall that would adequately test the siding reno, though, as it wasn't driven by a strong wind... can't say I'm complaining.

Other productive deeds on Saturday included a dump run to rid the house of (some of) the remaining clutter, and a nice splurging session at Kent where I basically bought a load of hassles. I got the "ingredients" for a crude set of shelves for the storage room, which now has more visible square footage due to the dump run. I also got a vapour barrier for the crawlspace floor, to see if that makes any difference to the heating situation over the winter. Finally, I got some Tyvek for the shed. With any luck, I'll have that sided by the winter.

Now for a recap of the fun bits. Friday we checked out a storytelling event at the Newman Wine Vaults which was pretty fascinating. We followed that up with a trip to Jungle Jim's, where we had to move from our original table owing to a leak and a bulging ceiling tile which caused concern. An early night, for we knew what was about to happen Saturday night...

...which was a gong show. It was Jenn's b-day celebration, so the plan was drinks at Tim's, and then dancing at Peddler's (which is now just part of the Martini Bar). Before all that, we decided to make a gall bladder cake for her. That is, a cake made in the shape of a gall bladder, rather than the disgusting alternative meaning. I think it turned out really well. And according to Dr. Brown, it was roughly anatomically correct.

So then there were the drinks at Tim's, which was fun. Met a few new souls, had some good chats. The turning point was about when we left. Tim pointed out that I had "one shot" of whisky left in my flask, and that I should glutch it back. Mid-glutch, however, it became apparent that this was more than one shot. On the way down the stairs, I almost puked and fell over. Thankfully it was just a dry heave, and I barely broke stride. The way to Peddler's was spent holding it all down.

There was only one sensible course of action after such a warning. But, there was also the Dave course of action, which was to pound five more drinks into me at the club. There was a lot of dancing. Oh hell yeah. I offer an open apology to all the people I showered with rye & ginger as dancing quickly turned into an effort to merely maintain balance. There was a cool down period on the deck, where apparently I did a bit of a strip tease in removing my ponytail elastic (memory of this = 0).

I'm very glad Ginny was able to drive myself and others home. Better than my other plan which was probably to pass out in a gutter on Queen's Road.

So I woke up the next morning in time to usher at church. And I managed to pull it off somehow. Afterwards I headed to Andrea's grand opening of her new belly dance centre. There I received my first psychic reading, which had some eerie elements of truth to it. And then there were the elements of how I had to "get out more and have fun" and of how I was "in control". Both of which were kind of negated by the above anecdote. The rest of the afternoon was spent at Don's with Ginny, Craig, and Jenn watching the football game.

And that's pretty well it. I've noticed my posts are getting longer, either because I'm doing more, or I'm getting better at fleshing stuff out. *shrug*

The Aptly Named Labour Day

This weekend was more full of arduous work than last. I decided to get the ball rolling on securing firewood for this winter. I probably should have done this a couple of months ago, but my sidewalk was not amenable to unloading firewood on it, what with the scaffolding and ongoing siding project. To my horror, the source I had last year seems to have a no-longer-operational phone number. So I had to find something else.

Thankfully, there's a sawmill in the Goulds that sells slabs of aspen left over from milling. This stuff is, in theory, good firewood, as it's easy to cut with a Skil saw (flat on one side), easy to stack, and, given its geometry, should dry out quickly. The last point is the one of most concern: it's very green right now. Hopefully we'll get several warmish, dry, windy days to help dry it out. (Today is not such a day.)

So with the help of Mike and his pickup, we headed out to the Goulds. Said slabs were longer than his 5' box could handle (this is totally ripe for innuendo). So with the help of his chainsaw, we set about cutting it up. Three truckloads later, I had a huge hassle in front of my house. We went to the Celtic Hearth so I could reward his efforts with a meal. After all was said and done, it was about $80 for nearly a cord of firewood (a steal considering it's usually $250/cord to get it delivered). Hopefully it dries out in time. Otherwise it'll be next winter's load. And I'll just freeze this year. :)

Sunday afternoon and Monday afternoon were spent cutting wood. On the one hand, it's nice to have a mindless physical task to do that involves power tools. On the other hand, it beats the hell out of my back having to drag boxload after boxload of wood through the house and stack it. So far so good: I'd say I have about 2/3 of it done.

The weekend wasn't all labour, though, and the fun parts started out pretty good: we went over to Andrea's for some Rock Band on Friday night. We also played this ridiculous Def Jam: Icon game. And after a while, I discovered that while I've gotten used to my own cat, I still retain an allergy to cats in general. Very weird.

Saturday night was supposed to be a Georgetown night, but it kinda fizzled. Craig made his way over and we shot the shit for about an hour -- first time in ages, since his surgery residency is taking up a lot of his time. We were then joined by Milley, and the shit-shooting continued. Then the ladies showed up from their sailor party (?). My memory gets a little hazy around here, but I don't think it stayed that way too long, as folks started taking off around 11:00ish.

Milley and I were the only ones left standing, and I'm glad we didn't call it a night right away, as it got wacky. We ran out of beer, and remembering history's lessons, I *didn't* tuck into the rum. So we headed to the Georgetown. I was promptly greeted by the cougar I had left behind the time before, and she didn't really leave my side the entire time I was there. Funny. I also slowly came to realize that the place was pretty busy, and that the people hogging the mic were all Bitter's bartenders. A very bizarre collision of worlds. After getting our fill, we took advantage of the cougar being distracted and took a French leave out of the place.

Got back to my place for a dram of scotch and a chat, and then all hell broke loose. We heard shrieking and yelling down the street. LOoked out, and no fewer than three dozen late-teen douchebags had piled out of one of the houses and erupted into a street brawl. One guy got turfed, and his head hit the pavement pretty hard, so Milley called the cops. The throng started making their way up the road, and one of 'em grabbed a slab of my firewood, ostensibly to use as a weapon. Given the "odds", I kept quiet till the cops showed up. Of course, most of them had scattered by that time, so I don't know what if any arrests were made. A few of us "concerned citizens" had a little chat in the middle of the road -- the upside is that you get to know your neighbours a little better after an episode like that. I guess it was 3ish before I turned in. I still chuckle that I was out there the whole time with a glass of scotch... and cops everywhere. I feel really bad for the poor lady who just moved in last weekend. Welcome to William Street.

Sunday night was considerably tamer. We went to check out Drag Idol, which was... interminable. It was worth it for all the puns, though. It really dragged on, parts of it were a bit of a drag, etc. We sought refuge and food at the Celtic Hearth, and even this was a bit of a nuisance. The waiter was frazzled beyond belief -- but the place wasn't that busy. But he still milked it for all it was worth to offer piss-poor service.

Yesterday was all right. Dominated by cutting firewood, up until the point I started seeing stars, so I gave it up. I met up with Ginny at Hava Java, then to the Duke for some grub. I was very excited that they had a cold plate on the menu(Ginny can attest to this). And a fine cold plate it was.

I still don't feel like I did a lot this weekend, but the length of this post would suggest otherwise.