The Dave Cave

Ugh...

2009-10-30T14:52:00.003-02:30

Well, I guess technically I made it to three years.

But I'm going to be giving this up for a while. It's boring the hell out of me. Can't imagine what it's doing to you...

Just an FYI that my negligence here has been more or less by design. :)

I'll not have a two month bubble

2009-08-31T08:41:00.004-02:30

It's bad enough that I didn't get a post in for July. Now August is on the threshhold of expiration, so I figured I'd give a brief recap of the last, er, 2.5 months. It'll be mostly bullet points.

St. Pierre trip: I'm going to blame my blogging hiatus on this. I took a bunch of pictures, and was going to post a big ol' blurb about this trip... but it just never happened. Oops. I'll try to do it later. Suffice it to say, it was an entertaining trip involving, um, interesting bar cretins, haphazard restaurant hours, and an extension due to the ferry being marooned by wind.
Spirit Fest: I had missed the past few Spirit Fests, so it was good to do this one. It was a blast of an evening, particularly after the show. We headed to the Republic, and then to Lottie's where we came up with very questionable dance moves. I've decided that I like Spirit Fest least of the three NLC events -- mostly because it's a magnet for 20-year old douchebags who like to dress up in pin stripe suits, white fedoras, white belts, and white shoes. Oooh... I get it, you're some kind of high roller, right? Dolts. It got obnoxious before long.
Vacation: I had a bunch of vacation days built up over the past few years, and now they need to be used before the end of March. So I took all of July off. One would think that I'd easily be able to catch up on blogging then, eh? But no. It was very relaxing and I got a bunch of things done around the house.
Three Dog Night: Jon, Jess, and I decided to head out to Bishop Falls to see Three Dog Night. Jon's folks live in Grand Falls, so we had a free place to crash. What a time. The concert quickly disintegrated into a drunk horror show, involving retarded dancing, random pictures with strangers, and yelling along to songs. Jeremiah was indeed a bullfrog.
Buddy System: Myself and Ginny now have gym memberships, and have taken to going first thing in the morning. It's been working pretty well. Well, she's been in Houston lately, so the system has temporarily been suspended, also coupled with the fact that I have...
Renewed back pain: So I'm back to the physiotherapist. The sessions certainly work, it's just that it takes a while for recovery. I've been doing the exercises fairly regularly, and noticing a mitigation of the pain. This has been a bit of a problem since the winter, but over the last month it really came to a point. I don't think digging in my crawlspace really helped matters, so I'm going to have to cut that short and just vapour barrier what I can.
Brother and family visit: Geoff, Katherine, Timothy, and Douglas visited the rock for about a week. It was great to see them again. The nephews are growing like weeds, and still full of energy. I had them all over for a BBQ which seemed to be a bit of a hit, particularly the Madagascar Bananas. The highlight was when Geoff told Tim, "Your Uncle Dave made that grandfather clock," to which he replied "Why?"
Work: Work's going pretty well (though the sitting does aggravate the back pain). I've been busy with this military contract, which I still find intriguing in spite of the absence of results we're looking for. But that in itself is a result -- just a very anticlimactic one.
Travel: I booked a ticket to Tokyo for the first of October, to visit my sister. She's been hinting that she may not be there for much longer, so I figured I'd visit while I have a place to stay. Should be a hoot. We're also talking about flying to Busan some weekend, since she can get us a very cheap fare.

I'm going to recap my summer chores list in a few weeks, to try and summarize how successful I've been. I'm giving myself a few weeks to make myself more successful ;) I will say that #10 was taken care of -- I did indeed come up with another unsuccessful scheme to stop my window leaks. :P The good news there is that I have another plan -- I'm going to leave it at that John Kerry-esque ambiguity until I attempt it. Which will hopefully be soon.

I'm quite likely to have forgotten some other highlights, but I've typed enough for this morning. Ta.

Full, profitable weekend...

2009-06-15T12:37:00.002-02:30

On Friday, Leigh and Sheldon booked a table at Don Cherry's to check out the game. And what a game! Congrats to Pittsburgh, even though I thought for sure Detroit would win. Even outside of the game, the night went very well -- good conversation, lotsa drinks. And then I went to get up to leave -- and suddenly the two pitchers I drank hit me like a ton of bricks. I don't remember paying the bill, nor the car ride home, nor anything -- until I woke up Saturday morning at 7:30 on my couch with the TV on and a pounding headache.

I suffered through it, and by 1:00 I was best kind again. Which is good, because I agreed to tutor Richard's cousin in Physics that afternoon. And they paid me for it -- sweet! That night I spent just painting some more of my floors (this project will take a while to complete) and more general housework. Myself and Geoff and his crew were supposed to have a karaoke night, but that got nixed. Fine by me; I don't think my noggin could have taken another thrashing that night. Instead I headed to bed early.

And consequently, got up early. I participated in the neighbourhood cleanup at 10, and in so doing, took advantage of the truck they had rented and dumped about 4 bags of garbage out of my yard. The sad thing is that it barely made a dent in the amount of work I have to do... ugh. That afternoon was more tutoring, and more painting. Then some supper and a coffee with Ginny to close out the weekend.

So it was a balanced weekend: drinking night, quiet night, house chores, tutoring, volunteer work. I'm ready for another one now.

Finally Friday

2009-06-12T15:11:00.004-02:30

Good Lord, this week has been interminable. It's not that I'm bored at work, either, it just seems like time has crawled. Should have taken vacation this week. ;)

Next week will be busy: meeting Monday about the possible expansion of a project I finished a few months ago, performance review (dun, dun, DUNN!!) on Thursday, and a luncheon to receive my P. Eng. certificate. Speaking of the last, I got my stamp in the mail on Monday. Now I need to find a way to remove ink stains from the walls, furniture, floors, and the cat ;)

I'm afraid to say anything, but the project I'm working on seems to be showing signs of promise. That's made this extremely long week bearable. I'm hoping it means that I can stop (inadvertently) zapping myself with 30W of continuous wave UHF radiation. Can't be good for me.

I tried making a Hollandaise sauce last night. It totally didn't work out. I found out that one must remove the bowl from heat when adding the butter; otherwise one winds up with a egg and butter soup. Oh well, next time.

Yet Another Monday Recap

2009-06-08T13:19:00.002-02:30

While this system does provide regular weekly updates, it does get a little monotonous. And it seems like many of these posts are about home improvement, which is also a bit monotonous, but I'm not changing that for this post :P

This weekend was very industrious. On Saturday, we (being myself and two fellas who know what they're doing) replaced the dodgy back door and dodgy back window. I'm very pleased with both of them now. I got a killer deal on the back door: a nice fibreglass affair with a fancy, but not girly-fancy, half-window. And I bought a huge window for my workshop. I can now jump through it in case of fire (I remember the insurance adjuster giving me grief about that very point). Most importantly: both are airtight. And the back door opens without a tug-of-war, and closes without a bodycheck.

So, that's two more items off my list. Three done, and a fourth (the floors) well on the way. I'm going to arrange a bulk garbage pickup date sometime over the next week to get some of the trash out of my back yard. I've decided that the patio table and chairs that were left behind are too dodgy to consider using. And there's a bunch of other stuff that's gotta go too.

The guys also have a good idea about the front windows. Unfortunately, it looks like they'll have to be popped out and then reinstalled -- properly, this time. The drip caps are missing, as it turns out, compliments of Johnny Cutcorners. And then we'll be able to properly insulate them (I noticed a residual draft coming from them this past winter). The really good news is that it shouldn't cost as much as I had feared. At this point, I don't even care; I just want them done. And if all goes according to plan, they should be done by the end of the month. That'll be fourth item off the list, or, if I get the rest of the floors painted by then, the fifth.

I also got a small shelf for under my kitchen mirror built. Just need to paint it white. I was delighted to see that the unorthodox mounting scheme I came up with did, in fact, work.

Anyways, enough about the productivity. Friday night, Leigh and Sheldon came over to my house for supper. They seemed pleased with the madras chicken I whipped up. And then we spent the evening with a few bottles of wine and a ton of conversation. What an awesome evening -- I'll definitely have to do that again.

Saturday night I was so exhausted that I just flaked out on the couch watching the hockey game. Twas glorious. Yesterday, I went out to brunch with Brad, who is back in town for a quick business trip, and Karen, who I haven't seen in years. That was a load of fun. And then that evening we popped out to the Grapevine for a few drinks and more catchup. Jenn got in that night too, ahead of schedule, so we picked her up at the airport and then came back to my place for a little late-night convo.

A very full weekend, and hence, a very full blog entry.

Recap

2009-06-01T15:48:00.002-02:30

So the past week was busy as predicted with the French choir. We had about 5 hours of practice the past week, over Monday and Wednesday nights. Then Thursday was show time. They did a wonderful job -- we've really got some talented singers in this group. We had a fairly large audience this time, and I think it was very well received. Afterwards they surprised me with a card and a gift, which was very touching. *blushing here*

Tuesday night I helped Mike out with some EE stuff, and then headed to the Keg and Shamrock City for Jon and Lynn's PhD convocation -- congrats to both! It was shaping up to be a late night, but I had to duck out at 11:00 or so, what with work the next day and being exhausted and all.

By the time Friday rolled around I was pretty zonked, but Laura was kind enough to host a last-minute BBQ at her place. Myself and Ginny went up there to meet up with her, Blair, and Neil. Good food, drinks, and company. At around 11:30 we called it a night.

Saturday mostly involved cleaning up the frigging mess that accumulated during the week. I think I did about three loads of dishes that day. Between the indoor cleanup, and the shitty day outside, I was unable to do any yardwork. That evening we had a potluck at Jenn's place, where lots of great food was had.

Sunday I hardly did anything, and it was great. I went out to hit some shops for a mirror for my living room. The last destination was Kent, and still couldn't find anything with the right ratio of appearance-to-cost. I was about to pick up a few wall shelves there, as I had been looking for a bathroom shelf, a shelf for under the kitchen mirror, and a mantle-type shelf for above the woodstove. But I realized that I could probably make these shelves for much, much cheaper. In addition, I could then make a frame for a bare mirror and stain it the same colour as the mantle. We'll have to see how it goes; I'd want a darker stain for both, and dark stains are supposed to be difficult to apply to pine.

Seems like I just made more work for myself...

Of Floor Paint

2009-05-25T11:35:00.002-02:30

So, continuing (somewhat) my productivity from last weekend, I managed to get my stairs, landings, and hallway floors upstairs painted. I think it turned out well. I'm pleased with the level of glossiness -- and consequently glad I didn't get the glossier, more-difficult-to-use epoxy paint. This was the tricky part, because doing the stairs and painting between spindles was a pain in the ass. Also, I had to keep Dorrie barred in a room for 4-5 hours at a time. I think she'll be happier barred out of rooms. The only pain now is moving furniture to get at the floors.

I also managed to get someone lined up to help replace the back door, which should be happening on this coming Saturday. At which time, he's also going to size up the dodgy workshop window and possibly replace it the week after. It is, I guess, conceivable that if I buckled down with the painting, I could have three more items crossed off my list in two weeks' time (making the total four).

But we'll see... none of it will happen this week, as the final performance for the French choir will be on Thursday night. This is going to involve two more longer-than-usual practices tonight and Wednesday night. And then Tuesday night I told a colleague that I'd give him a hand with a circuit he's having trouble with. On the upside, after this week, French choir is done for the summer. So it'll be nice to have Monday evenings back for a while.

This past weekend was pretty decent. Checked out Zack and Miri Make a Porno at C&A's on Friday night, which was a good flick. Saturday I headed up to Richard's cabin on Salmonier line to help him haul out some old junk, including a couch, fridge, and toilet. That night we just chilled and tossed back a few brews.

Yesterday was a little larger. I used the Kitchenaid to make pasta. It certainly helped, but it's still a wee bit labour-intensive. I guess the trick is to make a big batch once every week or two. I paired it with a pesto sauce compliments of the food processor -- most excellent.

That night, a bunch of us checked out the latest incarnation of wrestling. And it did not disappoint. Jon and Lynnette are back in town for Jon's convocation, so we introduced those folks to it -- Jon was a little overstimulated by the end of it, so it was clearly a hit. My voice is hoarse today from the amount of yelling I did.

Anyways, back at it I suppose. These long blog postings are indicative of my reduced workload...

Early returns

2009-05-19T08:54:00.002-02:30

So, I actually managed to get an item crossed off the list this weekend. The shed roof is done. And by the looks of the forecast, it should get a minor test tonight.

This past weekend was all over the place. I'll just make a list -- it's easiest.

Spaghetti Squash at Ginny's. It actually does come out looking like spaghetti!
Coffee at Hava Java.
Jazz (!) at the Rose and Thistle. Those guys were good.
Early Saturday morning run. I'm still able to run for 20 minutes, which is encouraging. Not as good as some people I know, but it's a start ;)
A bit of yardwork, and sizing up the shed roof, which was not water damaged as I had feared since the fall.
Cape Spear with Ginny and Jenn (and Hendrix, Rob's dog).
Eurovision (?) at Bitter's Pub. We arrived a bit late, but caught the tail end of the rowdy. Got ourselves some Stella pint glasses!
Pool at West Side Charlies (ironically, the one in the east end)
Late night eatery at Rustler's.
Ushering at church Sunday morning.
More coffee at Hava Java with Ginny.
Kent/Canadian Tire/Chapter's run.
Baked chicken parmesan at my place.
Rock Band at C&A's.
Shed roof repairs on Monday morning.
Northern Bay Sands excursion. Guess what? The ocean is cold.
Moose burgers at the Guv'nor.
Chores (including prepping crème brulée) before crashing hard last night.

All in all, a great Victoria Day weekend. And the weather was awesome for all three days -- I can't remember the last May 24 when that was the case.

I'm thinking about investing in an outdoor fireplace. I had been thinking about it for a while, as it would actually be an outdoor furnishing of some sort. But now the potential aesthetic has been married to a practicality: I could burn all the loose spruce ends and dead branches in my back yard. This is the sort of stuff that's too much trouble to store in the shed and burn during the winter. And it'll certainly help with task #4 in the previous post.

Ah, fire. The biblical cleanser.

It's been a little while

2009-05-15T10:01:00.002-02:30

Work was really busy the past couple of weeks, as we had to prepare for a lit review meeting yesterday. It went well, so now I'm back to a more relaxed state. Today we'll probably be connecting some power amps and maybe doing some radiating. Woo!

I finally used my Kitchenaid. I've noticed that cheesecakes pretty well make themselves with such a tool. I'll try it with pasta dough sometime soon, maybe over the weekend. So far, though, it's lived up to its billing. Also kitchen related, I did a mad fridge purge the other night. The vegetable drawer is now 99% less dodgy. And there's a lot more space. The only clutter in there now is an abundance of beer -- I'll try to take care of that "problem" this weekend

On a somewhat sadder note, I found out last week that my cat has a tumour. They know very little about its nature, other than it's inoperable and is next to her lungs and heart. They wanted to put her down on the spot, but she's still very active (try keeping up with her at 10:00pm), and Lord knows she still has an appetite. Apart from the odd wheeze, you'd never know there was anything wrong with her. So I'll take it a day at a time. I've been trying to dismiss it as little more than a heads-up.

Anyways, enough of that. The weather lately has been fantastic. We actually cracked 20°C for the first time this year. Today it's hella windy, but still sunny and warm. And it's actually not supposed to be shitty over the weekend. I might be able to get a few things done in the yard (gadzooks!)

On that subject, I'll going to make a list of things to get done before the fall. I don't hold a lot of hope in getting all of them done, but I won't get any done if I don't at least identify them:

Tar paper shed roof
Side shed
Make new shed door
Clean up back yard, for fuck's sakes
Install new back door
Replace shitty window in workshop
Dig out under house, put down vapour barrier & insulate (or least as much as possible)
Paint floors
Secure more firewood
Examine what the fuck is up with my front windows, and come up with yet another expensive, time-consuming leakproofing scheme that will undoubtedly be fruitless, because it seems like this goddamn problem will follow me to the grave

Yep, this summer will be buckets of fun. Any volunteers? :)

Early night, Late night, Late night

2009-05-04T12:05:00.002-02:30

My weekend in a nutshell. Friday I headed down to Christian's with C&A. Just chewed the fat for a couple of hours while the hockey game played in the background. I was back home by 11:00pm, but the combination of the pitcher I drank, plus the walk back home, plus the 5:30am start to the day, made for a very tired Dave.

Saturday I spent money. Lots of it. In response to the blog entry I made a few weeks ago, I did find something to blow $300 on: a Kitchenaid stand mixer. Tis gorgeous. I haven't had the chance to use it yet, though, as the rest of the weekend was pretty full too.

I also bought floor paint with the goal of painting the softwoods upstairs sometime soon. Chips and spots are starting to become noticeable over the past few years of abuse. And I wasn't too keen on the reddish-now-turning-rose-because-of-sunlight colour to begin with. The paint has a fairly short drying time, so I should be able to do sections while quarantining the cat for a few hours at a time. This is going to involve a lot of furniture moving, though... ugh.

That night I had Ginny over for some chicken madras. We headed down to Dooly's for a few games of darts which was a hoot. Ginny kinda freaked me out when she nailed two inner bullseyes in one round (and the third shot was close too). Afterwards we headed to Christian's to exploit the jukebox. The first round of songs made it through all right. Then we waited for hours for the second round of songs, eventually giving up on it as the songs playing during the wait became increasingly aggravating. Got some street meat from a not-all-there vendor and then cabbed it home. George Street nights are great every now and then.

Sunday was slow getting out of the starting blocks. Ran a couple of errands, went out for supper with mudder, and then headed to the Ship to watch the Nancy Drew Burlesque Band's final show. Unfortunately, the 8:00 start became a 9:00 start, and they were the last act, so it was a rather late night. But all of the music was excellent, so no complaints.

I'm good and ready for another weekend now...

Trust me -- I'm a professional

2009-05-01T09:49:00.002-02:30

Got home yesterday to find a few more letters after my name :) Finally got my P. Eng. I guess there was a quorum, and that my reference letter got in on time. So now the rhyming scheme is complete: B.Eng, M.Eng, P.Eng. Bengmengpeng... sounds like Chinese food.

I'm totally going to order a stamp. And apparently the certificate comes my way during the next Chapter Luncheon. They usually happen once a month. We haven't had one since February now, so hopefully that should be taking place soon. Some other good news: they didn't charge me for a whole new membership like I thought they would, but merely an upgrade. So that saves me a bit of cake.

*sigh* I suppose I should act like a professional now and get back to work ;)

Lovely weather

2009-04-27T10:04:00.002-02:30

Although today is a bit chilly, it marks the fourth day in a row of sun and blue sky. I'll recap the prior three:

Friday
The evening started with me being a bit ambitious and cooking some chicken chasseur for Ginny and myself. I think it turned out all right, but I feel like I should have cooked it maybe another 5 minutes. The only other annoying outcome was cheese-grating my thumb while making the Dauphinese potatoes. Thankfully no blood made it into the meal, and it clotted rather quickly.

Ginny kindly asked me along to a Writing Centre party that night. I knew a couple of people there, and I recognized more simply from being on campus for 12 years. The highlight was the punch. I had seen several months ago what it's capable of doing to other people -- so I decided to try it out. It was very tasty. But as rum was a primary ingredient, it just builds up and hits you all at once. After about my eighth glass, I was reportedly swaying a bit. Midway through, I saw a new batch getting made -- and knew I was in trouble.

Saturday
A bit groggy waking up for sure. But I had to take advantage of the weather, so I ran a few errands downtown. That evening, the French choir had a performance at the Ramada, where Canadian Parents for French was having a banquet. The performance went very well, and I'm very proud of the trio who did their part. The setup was kind of lousy for this performance, though. I ended up having to bring my own keyboard, set it up in the warm-up room for a couple of pieces, and then tear it down and set it up in the banquet room, and then bring the whole works home. Exhausting.

After that, we headed to Mike's, a friend of Rob's. And that was a great evening of standing around and shooting the shit. It was also a fairly late evening, with a turn-in time of about 4:30am.

Sunday
Which certainly makes rising for brunch at 9am a bit difficult. Nevertheless, J&J and myself headed to the Bagel Cafe and then for a stroll around Duckworth and Water. I ran a couple of more errands that afternoon, and then in the evening, Ginny and I headed back to Mike's place for a BBQ. First one of season, in April no less! Chowed down on some steak and potato salad, and then we watched the Howard Stern movie.

It was a pretty full weekend. Now back to reality...

Happy St. George's Day!

2009-04-23T09:44:00.002-02:30

Good, that will suffice for a title. Guess I'll do a point form recap.

Curling
My office went curling last Friday as a social event. Ginny had never been, and had expressed curiosity, so I invited her along. She provided a recap of the events on her blog, so I shan't duplicate here. Suffice it to say, it was a little more dangerous than the participants were banking on.

Chinese Buffets & Food Processors
...are apparently good ways to kill a Saturday. Ginny and I headed to the Bird's Nest on Stavanger for their buffet, and I think we got our money's worth. Afterwards, we headed to Canadian Tire, as I had heard that food processors were on sale. Both of us walked out with new appliances, though I still haven't tried mine yet...

Feeling Saucy
I made a brown stock on Saturday night. I now feel comfortable in letting it simmer overnight for the 10-12 hours necessary. Afterwards, in a fit of ambition, I made an espagnole sauce from it, which required another 4-6 hours of simmering. And then last night, I made a demi-glace sauce from both of them, which 'only' required about an hour of simmering. It damn-well better be good, since it required 15-20 hours to make. I hope to try it out on a chicken dish either tonight or tomorrow night.

French choir
This has been taking up a lot of time lately: practice on Sunday, Monday, and tonight, and then a performance on Saturday. For the performance, I'll have to bring my own keyboard -- times are tough ;)

Refund!
Got my tax refund today. Woo! That should pay for my professional dues, if I ever get my...

P. Eng
So I found out that one of my references did not send in the required form. Apparently he either didn't receive it, or misplaced it. So there's a set amount of bullshit; how it's divided between PEG-NL and the reference is the only question. Another form is on the way to him, and it's my (faint) hope that it'll be returned in time for the next Council meeting on Monday. Even if this long shot comes through, I'm informed that there may not be a quorum. These meetings are of great importance to the attending members, I see.

I'm very glad that I followed up on this. As registration is a "performance objective," I'm rather anxious to get this put to bed before my next review.

What to do with $1200 of unused silicon...

2009-04-15T09:29:00.002-02:30

Warning: This post is a little geekier than ordinary. It also may be a tad useful :)

Since getting my netbook, I've had little (zero) use for my old laptop. What I did like about the old laptop was the extensive collection of media files I had ripped from my CDs. And growing weary of the old routine of switching CDs in and out of my player like some kind of caveman, I decided to permanently hook my laptop up to the TV via S-Video. Bam! I could access all my files from Media Player, and even have the funky visualization.

Over the last week, however, I got two things that augmented this setup greatly:

PC Remote Control
It kinda sucked having to haul the laptop out to switch albums, skip tracks, etc. So after a little poking around the net, I found a remote control. It comes with an USB IR receiver. No drivers, no fuss. It has all the common media controls (play, pause, skip, etc.) as well as a mouse control near the top. It even has common PC shortcuts. I was a little leery of it, as it isn't exactly brand name quality, but at C$15 on eBay, I figured it was worth a shot. No regrets. And a whole lot cheaper than some of the other remotes available.

Sesam TV
Unfortunately, Windows Media Player has really tiny fonts and is not meant for viewing at a distance. And while I could do everything with the mouse control on the remote, it was a wee bit clumsy to use. So, once again, poking around the net, I came up with a whole bunch of hits for "Media Center" style software. I tried three: XBMC, based on the XBox, which had an annoying habit of omitting the first 10 seconds of a song (FAIL!); MediaPortal, which is that damn loaded down with unnecessary extensions that performance slows to a crawl, not to mention that I couldn't get the display to work; and then finally, one called SesamTV. Very simple, elegant, and intuitive interface: all functions can be accessed with the arrow keys and enter. It's basically a front end for Windows Media Player, so all the visualizations, as well as any DRM media files, are accessible. And best of all: free.

Anyways, I just thought I'd share. I was about to get a set-top box like the WD TV, which, with the required external hard drive, would have set me back $300. For $15, I was able to turn my otherwise useless laptop into a media hub. Sweet!

Now I gotta go and find some other way to blow $300... ;)

Birthday/Good Friday Pub Crawl recap

2009-04-13T08:59:00.003-02:30

This was an overwhelming success, and I thank all who attended for making it so.

The evening started with Milley, Ginny, and myself having some fish and chips ordered from the Big R. Not usually my first choice when it comes to F&C, but Ches' phone line had the annoying habit of either a) being busy, or b) never being answered. Big R came through and had our meals ready in 40 minutes. Something got lost in translation, since our 2 piece meals became 3 piece meals... but I guess that's a good problem to have. Alas, I was unable to finish -- my heart forbade it.

So here are the pubs visited, and a brief recap of each.

Rose and Thistle -- Met up with all the attendees: Craig, Andrea, Hanz, Laura, Mel, and us F&C crew. It's not a dive, of course, but it's a good first stop.
Bar None -- This place is almost exactly how I remember it from two years ago. (Minus the squid jerky that was there that one time - Ginny was vexed that this (imaginary) promise was unfulfilled) I don't think the "regulars" were too thrilled with us being there, but fuck 'em: we tripled the population of the place. The highlight is the incredibly creepy painting on the left wall.
Nautical Nellie's -- I love this place. Unfortunately, the air was thick with seafood aroma after a long Good Friday's worth of cooking. This played havoc with Andrea's allergies, so she and Craig both had to nip out for a bit. We clued up after discussing the fish chart on the table, and tangentially, sculpins. The important thing is that that makes sense to me and a few others.
Stetson Lounge -- My first time in this place. And we were determined enough to plunk down the $4 cover. It immediately paid dividends. Oh man. First of all, it wasn't so much a bar as it was a cougar exhibit (but to give credit, the bar was tastefully appointed). Secondly, Craig had an incident involving bathrooms which left us howling. I won't get into the details, but suffice it to say we took off fairly quickly thereafter as we were getting a bit of stink-eye from the patrons.
Fiddler's Pub -- The crown jewel of the pub crawl we had 2 years ago. I was flabbergasted at how (comparatively) full the place was. The best part was that the guy who made it so memorable that one time was there again! And he was in fine form: causing shit behind the bar, wandering into the employee-only section, yelling out whatever was on his mind... God love 'im.
Folly -- This was the great find of the evening. It's not a pub, and it certainly wasn't on the list, but we were kinda hungry and this place was on the way. Formerly Tangled Up In Blue, it's now an all night place specializing in burgers and pizzas. The food was awesome and the service prompt, even for our large table. Move over Celtic Hearth, we've found a late night place that doesn't suck.
Jay Dee's Lounge -- On the list, but sadly CLOSED when we got there. This was the only minor disappointment of the night. Some other time, though. In need of another dive, we hiked up the hill to the...
Peter Easton -- Why not? Didn't stick around there too long, though, as fatigue started setting in. We watched in lazy amusement at two very large dogs who were all over each other.

The list was shorter this year, but then, we're all two years older ;)

Now I can take a break from the booze for a while: more social drinking than full-on binging. It gets expensive...

Of Getting Older (pt. 30)

2009-04-08T11:02:00.002-02:30

So it's happened: I've turned 30. But I actually feel healthier than when I was last in my 20's, since I just overcame a flu. HaHA!

Let's see... a recap of the last two weeks:

We had tickets to beer fest on Saturday night (March 28), but that didn't stop some of us from heading out on Friday night as well. Myself, Ginny, and Jon met up at Christians for a few pitchers. That night got a wee bit crazy, thanks to some random guests who showed up at our table: some the good kind of crazy, one who was definitely the bad kind of crazy. Jon did an admirable job of summarizing the encounters here.

The beer fest went largely as intended. The selection was a bit disappointing, but that didn't really matter. Pounded back a pile of beer, but failed to partake of the free food there. The thought process at the time was "More food will mean less beer"... which in retrospect would have been the sensible approach. I wasn't too bad until we got to Christians (tempting fate?), but then the 3-4 screeches did me in...

Work has relaxed considerably as of March 31. I'm down to one project now, at least until the suspended one resumes (still don't know when that will be). So I'm loving it. The stress of the days prior to the end of fiscal caught up with me in a big way last Wednesday -- I came down with some kind of jungle flu which put me out of commission for three solid days. Thankfully I recovered in time to take in Ginny's deferred second half of her birthday celebrations -- a night of sucking down pints at the Duke, what could be better?

Indeed, nothing came to mind, because I did the same thing last night as an impromput "day-of" birthday celebration for myself. :) The big part will come this Friday, when we do a pub crawl... should be a hoot!

Brightening mornings

2009-03-23T08:30:00.002-02:30

Lately I've been setting the coffee to brew at 6:15 and getting up shortly thereafter. And I noticed today that the sky was starting to brighten when I got up today. An encouraging sign of longer days to come.

A decidedly discouraging sign was the snowstorm we had on Saturday. Believe it or not, on Saturday. It pretty well wrecked all plans, except for a birthday shindig hosted at Richard and Jennifer's place. With the help of an intrepid cab driver, I managed to make it there -- and I'm glad, because they had awesome seafood chowder there. It was an earlier night, and I was back before midnight (in stark contrast to last weekend).

In view of the pending storm, Ginny moved her birthday dinner to Friday. That was a great night too: a fine meal at Get Stuffed, and then a few drinks at the Grapevine. Again, an earlier night, but after last weekend, I could certainly use the rest. And the lineup for the next few weeks is a little frightening for my liver: Beer fest, the deferred "larger" part of Ginny's b-day celebrations, and a Good Friday/birthday pub crawl.

Yesterday was a domestic day. Made bread, stock, and some lunches for the upcoming week. Also grocery shopped and cleaned up a bit. Oh, and got my taxes done -- looks like, for the second year in a row, I should get a refund. This one isn't as large as last year's, and doesn't have the element of novelty this year, so it doesn't get its own post.

St. Paddy's Day Boil -- Part X

2009-03-15T03:13:00.002-02:30

And this will be the last one. It was an overwhelming success. I'm drunk out of my mind now, and will soon hit the hay. But, some final stats:

Hours of day boil: 11am - 3am = 16

Beers drank by me: Lost count after 11. But I think I did one drink/hour, which would (probably) result in 16 drinks.

People showed up... by first initial, and approximate order of appearance: A, C, T, M, H, R, J, G, G, L, B, K. I'm probably forgetting a few, but from what I have: 12

Dishes served: 2 (Andrea's kick ass Shepherd's Pie, and my beef stew)

Favourable hockey outcomes: 0

Number of chores taken care of ahead of time: 2 (bottles, and leftovers put away)

Bags of Chip/Nachos had: 6 (est.)

Firewood burned: 9 compressed logs, 6 aspen slabs

Vomiting by host: 0

Amount of partying still going on next door: Lots

Passing out by host: 0/Soon

St. Paddy's Day Boil -- Part IX

2009-03-14T23:08:00.003-02:30

It's officially a party now. Laura's friends have shown up, and a bunch of us have just smoked a disgusting cigar. The highlight of the last two hours, however, was Ginny's ignorance of what a "motorboat" is. Unfortunately for her, and fortunately for the rest of us, Rob was all-too-willing to demonstrate the maneuver. Hilarity ensued...

St. Paddy's Day Boil -- Part VIII

2009-03-14T21:07:00.002-02:30

The Leprechaun movie is being shown right now. The beef stew seems to have been a big hit among those who've had it. The level of drunkenness is steadily increasing. There are cigars on the coffee table, and I fear that they will be smoked in the not-too-distant future...

St. Paddy's Day Boil -- Part VII

2009-03-14T19:28:00.002-02:30

Holy shit I'm hammered. Ginny, Jenn, Rob, and Laura have joined us. And Rob is raising (lowering) the bar for acceptable behaviour. The stew is on, and while it appears very watery right now, we'll see how it goes...

St. Paddy's Day Boil -- Part VI

2009-03-14T17:13:00.002-02:30

Mike and Heather just took off. It's wild -- this was the first time they were actually at my place in the 4 years of knowing them. Good folk.

Role Models is becoming an increasingly hilarious movie, now that it's started with the Kiss meets Dungeons and Dragons bit. Sweet.

I'm told other folks are in transit... I await their arrival.

St. Paddy's Day Boil -- Part V

2009-03-14T16:12:00.002-02:30

Going really well. Mike and Heather showed up, and we threw on Role Models, which is hilarious (now that I'm aware of this fact, cuz I'm sure I'll forget). I'm on Drink #7 now. The fire's going with aspen (that actually dried out in time). People are trickling in now... this pleases me.

St. Paddy's Day Boil -- Part IV

2009-03-14T15:02:00.002-02:30

Tim has joined the fold, and along with him, a bottle of Red Breast Irish Whiskey. The movies/TV have been suspended, and in its place is some Irish music recorded live at O'Reilly's some time ago. Right now we're all standing in the kitchen and shooting the shit. I've started my second tour of Ireland, still going strong, if a little buzzed.

Still waiting for the "We'll show up in the afternoon" folk...

St. Paddy's Day Boil -- Part III

2009-03-14T13:47:00.002-02:30

It's now 1:50. Just finished the tour of Ireland, as has Craig. Andrea is seeping in the history like the academic she is, and is near completion of pint #2. The Departed is progressing, the plot of which has fallen by the wayside. There are double agents, everyone has a bad Boston accent. But it's all good... I love this idea.

St. Paddy's Day Boil -- Part II

2009-03-14T12:56:00.002-02:30

It's now 12:50. We're on Pint #3, and have now put on The Departed. The buzz has begun...

Waiting for some more folks to show up, but I understand that it's not everyone's cup of tea to start before 1. ;)

St. Paddy's Day Boil -- Part I

2009-03-14T11:43:00.002-02:30

So, I've resurrected the St. Paddy's Day Boil idea. Basically, we're endeavouring to drink all day. And to add a technological twist this year, I've decided to keep a blog of today's events. So here goes.

Craig and Andrea show up at ten to eleven. The fridge is loaded up with beer, coffee is put on the brew, and breakfast started. And at eleven sharp the first Guinness was broken out, and inaugural toast made. We then chowed down on breakfast -- and here we are now. Got some Simpsons on, Dorrie's being social now, and we're about ready for Guinness #2 -- before noon.

More to follow.

Wow, that's really thin coffee

2009-03-09T08:43:00.002-02:30

Someone clearly dropped the ball on the scoops of coffee to water ratio. It's basically brown water. I hope the week can recover from this setback ;)

It was another good weekend, in spite of circumstances. We were supposed to check out a Fleetwood Mac tribute show on Friday, but it ended up getting postponed because the first show two weeks ago recorded a ridiculous loss. Oops. But the night was salvaged. Ginny, Tim, Tim's friend Stephanie, and myself headed to Christian's, then to O'Reilly's to see some Fergus O'Byrne, and then to the Duke. I like mini-crawl nights. They're a bit costly, but that doesn't matter if the conversation and company are good. And both were that night.

Saturday started out a little tamer. I had hoped to get some workshop time in -- I haven't touched a thing for about a month now -- but I ended up just being very domestic. Tidied a bit, and made a stock, so it wasn't a complete wash of a day. Then Ginny gave me a shout and we wound up at CBTG's to check out her friend's band. George Street two nights in a row. It's been a while since that's happened.

And yesterday was nice weatherwise, so I had to go out for a stroll around downtown. Eventually the wind got on my nerves and I retreated back to the house. Then headed out to watch a rare early Sunday evening hockey game with Craig at the Duke.

So all told, a pretty full weekend, and none of it planned. Love it. This week, however, just like the other remaining weeks in March, are going to be nuts at work. With any luck, they won't impact upon my weekends, since there are a lot of grand designs in the works: Paddy's Day party, a couple of birthday parties, and then Beer Fest. Hopefully my mind -- and liver -- will be up for all of it :)

TCB

2009-03-03T12:17:00.003-03:30

Which, of course, was the number one hit of BTO, Canada's answer to ELP.

As the end of the fiscal year approaches, things get absolutely nuts at work. I've got a final report to crank out in the next couple of weeks, on top of a literature review for another project I'm working on. But I think I've found my writing groove (at least for now), and this shit is getting done. What helps is the fact that the other stressful project is on hiatus for the time being.

Also helpful is full weekends which adequately recharge myself. Friday night was Andrea's b-day celebration. We first headed out for snowshoeing -- which, incidentally, was riddled with coordination problems originating from an inept Parks & Rec employee. But it was a great night for it: not too chilly, clear sky, and miles of snowy trail to tread upon. Afterwards we headed to Jenn's place for some cake (compliments of Ginny) and wine (compliments of Masi). The conversation was flowing that night, and of course, included some highly inappropriate humour.

I had to avail of the great weather we got on Saturday, so I headed out to the Bagel Cafe with Ginny, and then out for some downtown strolling with Milley. That night was Leigh & Sheldon's housewarming, as well as Sheldon's birthday party. Their new place is gorgeous: recently renovated, and located in a mature area of town. Some people got very hammered, and for once, I was not among them. Add a bit of Guitar Hero, and it made for very good times indeed.

Yesterday I finally submitted all of my P. Eng. application material. Now it's just a matter of waiting for my referees to get back to the association and then the council's decision. I just realized that I didn't have a "midterm interview" (I tried twice, but both times they cancelled on me). I'm hoping this doesn't become a sticky wicket.

Also, I found out on Friday night that I'm likely to be published! Just a few more minor edits to do (as opposed to the more weighty objections the editors gave me several months ago). This should help if I ever decide to pursue a Ph. D. Can't say the process has made me decide one way or another.

Anyways, back at it. A blog entry breaks up the monotony of a technical report.

More relaxed start to this week

2009-02-23T10:19:00.002-03:30

I found out last week that one of my projects is being put on hold for a couple of months. Now, usually what the client would do in this situation is retain the original deadline while forbidding us to work -- nice grasp on reality, fellas. But this time reason came through and deadline has been extended commensurately. The upshot is that my workload, at least for the time being, has been drastically reduced. Good thing, too, since I have a final report due by mid-March which I was fairly convinced I would be bringing home with me for the next month.

Of snow days

We had a snowstorm on Wednesday which resulted in a day off. Rather than make any pretentions of being productive, I simply slept for most of the day. There was also a bit of snow on Friday. Enough to close the schools, but not enough to close the office. Ah well.

Of vermin

It's becoming more dangerous to be a rodent in my house. Dorrie caught her first mouse Thursday morning before I went to work. I was sickly intrigued as I watched the grisly affair. Pick mouse up in mouth, spit out, pounce... and repeat. Like a hockey ref, I let the "fight" go on for a bit before breaking it up. I then bagged the mouse and threw it out on the way to work.

Unfortunately, it was apparently not the same mouse that left a few droppings on my stovetop on Sunday morning. So I set up a good old-fashioned trap last night. Woke up at 3:00 needing a puff of my inhaler (this happens every now and then, which is quite annoying). Going downstairs to get it, I noticed that the trap, within 4 hours of being set, had struck. This was a big sucker, too. I'm hoping there aren't too many more friends...

Of low key evenings

Friday night I met up with Andrea and Ginny at the Anchorage for coffee, and then we hit a couple of Water Street bars for a natter. Saturday night we headed over to Jenn's boyfriend's friend's place for a couple of drinks. Both were good evenings. I got my wish of getting out more this weekend :)

Of other stuff

I'd like to try to grow my own herbs indoors. I'm not sure of how this will work with a cat in the house. Next weekend I'll try to snag the necessary supplies.
I got a couple of jazz piano books about a month ago, and I've finally had the chance to look at them. One focuses on theory, the other is a songbook. I've started working my way through both of them. I'm glad, because I was starting to stagnate a bit.
I've gotten the itch to woodwork again. I've purposely taken a break from it these last few weeks. And I believe that absence has indeed made the heart fonder.

All right. That's enough for now. No trouble to tell work has abated slightly, eh?

Housebound weekend

2009-02-16T10:10:00.003-03:30

It occured to me this morning that apart from the brief coffee with Ginny on Friday night, and trips to Sobey's and Halliday's, I didn't leave the house this weekend.

Saturday involved the usual tackling of chores that pile up during the week. I guess I'm getting more efficient at doing them, or I'm getting up much earlier, since they were all out of the way before noon. That afternoon I spent doing work "homework", which kinda pisses me off. I won't even begin to tell you how awful March is shaping up to be...

That night kinda came out of the blue. Andrea, Ginny, and Hanz came over for a few drinks, and with the aid of wine, scotch, and beer, we pretty well made something out of nothing. A good way to kill off a Valentine's Day.

Sunday I made a brown stock. I've decided I like making stocks. Put them on in the morning, then strain them in the evening. And by the end of it the whole house smells delicious. I also finally finished off my power supply, and put it in an enclosure. Looks sharp now, and allows me to do more hobby electronics-y stuff. Heh. I've also been considering removing the desk -- which serves no real purpose other than that of "junk-collecting surface" and making a wall-mounted cabinet with a flip down working surface. This way, my electronics stuff doesn't get coated in sawdust, and I should have a few more square feet of workshop floor. Woo!

Next weekend I'm hoping not to have to take my work home with me, and I'm looking forward to spending just a bit more time outside of the house...

Pretty full weekend

2009-02-09T12:05:00.002-03:30

My Friday evening started out pretty early. C-CORE had just won the "Best Small Employer" Award for Newfoundland, which was pretty cool, so we had a little party in the office at 3pm involving snacks and wine. Most people at the office are the responsible sort -- meaning I had to step up and be a suitable counterbalance. Then there was a happy hour planned for right after work, so a few of us had some beverages at Arriba's.

Thereafter, I had a cards night planned at J&J's place. So good times were had there. Except for the wine I bought -- that's twice I've brought an untested bottle of wine to J&J's and have it turn out to be terrible. Thankfully, I had brought along a bit of scotch to wash the taste out. Called it a night at around 1:30.

Saturday involved a bit of workshop cleaning. Which was tough slogging. That'll be a project of its own. It was mudder's birthday, so we went out for supper at the Gypsy Tea Room in its new(ish) location at the Murray Premises. I was very impressed.

That night I hosted a small bruhaha at my place in preparation for heading to the GTP. Fewer people showed up than had been planned, but it was still a good time had. The highlight had to have been entering the pub, seeing that dodgy cougar across the room again, and then later giving me guff about not going over and saying hello. Hilarious.

Sunday morning I was ridiculously hung over. I'm now deeming J&J "bad influences." :) But I pulled through it... and even managed to make some asparagus soup which I think turned out well. Met up with Ginny for a coffee, and then pissed the night away not doing anything in particular. That's nice every now and then.

This morning I had a dentist appointment which went well. I'm now in the process of re-staining my teeth with coffee, and lamenting this slow-moving Monday...

Quick trip

2009-02-05T13:35:00.002-03:30

So my first visit to Western Canada was successful. We flew out Monday morning, and arrived in Calgary shortly after noon. We were staying at a hotel in Brooks, about two hours east of Calgary. The next morning, we had our meeting in Suffield, which is about an hour away from Brooks. Meeting lasted 6 hours, then drove back to Calgary and caught the red-eye back home. So, all told, about 23 hours of transit for a 6 hour meeting. Wild. But it was a good break from the grind. It's already Thursday :)

The meeting was productive, and it was helpful to see the facility the client has. They also seem fairly hands-off, which I fancy in a client. I also managed to meet up with Joe after getting back from the meeting and before my flight. We went to some Irish bar for a few pints a catchup. Said pints made sleeping on the plane easier, too.

In other news, I got my grandfather clock done last weekend! I think it turned out all right. I also think I'll take a break from woodworking, as this would mark three projects being completed in about three months. Maybe I'll even clean up the ol' workshop. Right now it's carpeted in sawdust. Blugh.

A productive, less sober weekend

2009-01-26T11:05:00.002-03:30

It's not a strong correlation. Phew... thought I'd have to cut back :)

Friday night was kinda tame, once again. We headed to Bitter's to check out the AngelShakes, who were all right, if a little heavy on the glockenspiel (not often I level that criticism at a group). We decided we had enough of that and then headed to the bowling alley bar again. It's scary; I think it's becoming a watering hole for us lately. But with cheap beer and pizza, how can one really go wrong?

Saturday I once again got an early start on the day. Got a chicken stock made, and got a bit of tidying done in my office (it's still a mess, but it's an ordered mess, you see). Also got a little clock time in, and a Canadian Tire run. Unfortunately, I realized that getting an early start only makes you tired earlier. So I plonked in front of the tube for a solid couple of hours. Then Ginny and I made a supermarket run, and then a liquor store run, and then had a bunch of drinks at her place. It was good fun -- I like guzzling wine and shooting the shit.

Sunday I slept in till 11:00, which was brutal, but I still managed to get a lot of stuff done. After a couple of hours in the workshop, all the clock parts are made, and the first coat of stain applied. Even got some work reading done (which will justify an early departure today) at Hava Java. Then went to the Yellowbelly for some pizza, which was both awesome and not outrageously priced.

On the work front, I may be heading to Calgary next week for a couple of days, in order to attend a kickoff meeting for this new project. Not as exotic as, say, Egypt, but it would move the marker as to how far west I've been in North America (currently the stanchion lies in Minneapolis). Details should become clearer soon.

A productive, relatively sober weekend

2009-01-19T12:05:00.002-03:30

I wonder if there's a connection :)

Friday night I popped out for a coffee with Jon and then headed back to my place for a beer and a scotch. Not much was on the go, and I wasn't inventive enough to come up with any kind of plan, so that's as far as the night got. Good every now and then.

Saturday I woke up and was a powerhouse. First thing I did was head up to Kent and buy cheap firewood (compressed hardwood logs which burn for hours and throw off lotsa heat). Then I made my living space on the bottom floor very tidy indeed. Even got the top of the fridge cleared off, and implemented a 'system' of sorts in my pantry cupboards. Also got a crapload of groceries, including some turkey necks, so I can try to make a stock sometime when I have 6-8 contiguous hours at the house.

Domestic, eh?

That night, we headed to the Ship to check out Mopaya and The Discounts. Utah Jon is back in town, as he's defending his thesis on Tuesday, so it was good to chat with him during the breaks. Both groups were pretty good, but all of us were just pooped, so we called it an early night.

Sunday I got more work done on the clock. The only major hurdle now is making a glass door for the top. Gotta cut the frame just right, and then get an appropriate sized piece of glass. I think it's going to be a pane (mwahahaha). That night a bunch of us headed to C&A's for some Rock Band and football. Good times. Alas, I again find myself tired heading into the work week, which is bad because with my Monday and Tuesday schedules, no naps/prolonged sleeps are possible. Bring on Wednesday.

Actually, bring on Friday. Yeah, that'd be better.

Kinda wish it'll be declared a snow day...

2009-01-14T11:32:00.003-03:30

...but I also don't want to head out until it's all over. Ah well.

So it looks like another project will be added to my workload sometime soon. I'm awaiting the kickoff meeting. This one should be pretty interesting. I also found out that if I do head to China for the other project, it won't be until the fall, not the spring as previously stated. I'm OK with that.

I had my first lecture in almost five years yesterday. I had missed the first one of the course (owing to a meeting that just had to be held at that time) but I later found out that that class had been cancelled anyway. Two wrongs do make a right. It actually went all right -- this course could be quite interesting. If I sit through all the lectures, and finalize this damn P.Eng paperwork, I'll have my "performance objectives" all completed for this year.

The cooking course gets more and more interesting. We made two cream soups last night -- asparagus and tomato -- and both turned out awesome. When I get a free evening, I'll have to head out and get some ingredients and see if I can replicate that success.

Free time has been hard to come by this week. Not that I'm complaining; I like being on the go. Tonight, it's meeting with the choir director to discuss some other roles she has in mind for me. Hopefully all will become clear.

It's gotten really rotten out -- I could have sworn there was a building across the road...

Dis and dat

2009-01-12T12:15:00.002-03:30

I'm glad to have the first week back from Christmas vacation out of the way. Starting to get my groove back at work, and it's a lot easier since I'm back to two projects rather than three (though I have heard through the grapevine that more are coming my way).

My weeks, at least for the rest of the winter, are going to be very front-loaded: French choir on Mondays, and a cooking class on Tuesdays, both of which end at 9:00pm or later, making for long days. But it's all good; both of these things are going well.

The weekend was nice and full. Friday night a bunch of us went bowling, followed by a visit to Steve's Twin Lounge. Blue Star was on sale. I don't really like it that much, but I found myself having about five of them -- the last of which was chugged, leading to momentary nausea.

Saturday I disassembled the entertainment centre and positioned its replacement, which I finished that morning. It looks much better, if I do say so myself. This task took all afternoon -- the old unit held a lot of stuff, and hid most of it quite well, so it had to be moved. It's stashed in my office now, and I need to organize it somehow in the near future.

That night a bunch of us headed to J&J's for a wine tasting party. It went well; sampled some good ones. And then there was the one I brought, which turned out to be horrible. At least one other person agreed with me when I said it had a somewhat coconut finish -- not desirable from something supposed to be made from grapes. And I'm not going to keep it anonymous; its name is Care, a cabernet blend from Spain. The pleasant surprise was this wine from Hungary (whose name escapes me now).

Yesterday afternoon I spent running errands, mostly getting a few things to assist in my organization challenges mentioned above. In the evening a few of us headed to Don Cherry's to take in a football game. The good guys (at least in C&A's eyes, and in the absence of my team being in the playoffs, in mine too) won fairly convincingly.

Woke up to some snow today, but not enough for a snow day. However, it looks like a snow day may become a reality on Wednesday (30+ cm and wind, I hear?)

From 2008 to 2009

2009-01-04T16:18:00.003-03:30

I'll break this down into three sections:

Christmas Vacation recap

It wasn't a very busy Christmas break, but I planned it that way, so I consider it a success. The first few days were spent tidying up around the house and finishing off Christmas shopping. I (unexpectedly) got my netbook on the 22nd, a testament to Purolator's delivery speed. Christmas Eve and Christmas morning I spent at Mom's place. In the evening we went to my aunt and uncle's place for an awesome turkey dinner.

After Christmas Day, the vacation got a little "drinkier." Boxing Day we went to Trapper's for some drinks and to watch a hockey game. The day after, House and James came over for a bit and we headed to the Georgetown. And the day after that, myself and Craig did a monster day-boil. Started at 3:00pm and drank till about 2:00am. With, between us, 32 beers during. Nuts.

Took my foot off the pedal then, and had a mellower couple of days. Necessarily, because I was coming down with something. Richard and Jennifer had a nice Christmas gathering at their place, involving most of our visiting high school friends.

New Year's Eve I felt like crap, but knowing that myself and others didn't have a plan for that night, I managed to medicate myself with coffee, chicken soup, and amoxicillin (compliments of Dr. Brown), and have a few souls in. It came to my attention that night how expensive my drinking tastes have become -- scotch and wine were the orders of the night. Party ended at around 5am, I guess, and I managed to get at least a few hours sleep.

From then until yesterday, I battled some kind of flu. The worst is over now, so I'm ready for work tomorrow (shudder). So there it is, vacation in five paragraphs.

2008 New Year's Resolutions Recap

Cooking/lunches -- This started out badly, got a whole lot better, but in the dying days of 2008 when I was so busy with work, etc., it died off. I'm going to claim success, though, since I learned about a 8-9 new recipes, plus the dozens from the BBQ course I took. Also, not a single freezer dinner had in 2008 (I think).

Housework -- I only found myself eyes-deep in chores a few times this year. I did manage to make it part of my daily routine, however, not 30 minutes as I had hoped. I've found that the secret is to let everything have its place. As I'm still making some of those places (see below), my housekeeping system still needs to be streamlined.

Carpentry -- I still really enjoy it, it's just that I didn't get as much done as I had hoped. In 2008, I made two plant stands, a dresser, a wine rack, *almost* got the entertainment centre replacement done (two coats of stain left -- c'mon!!). I had hoped to get six projects done. Obviously, I came up a little short.

Electronics -- Fail. It just reminded me too much of work. That and I need some kind of better system in my workshop so I can keep the sawdust off everything.

Piano -- Success, I claim. I learned a bunch of new songs, and I also got involved with this French choir thingy.

What did I learn? Resolutions are hard to keep. However, I was at least mindful of these five items for most days of the past year, so their statement on this blog was at least somewhat useful.

2009 Resolutions

So what will make the list this year?

One thing: Time management, or just doing it.

It seems like the unifying element in all my misses above is the drive to just get my ass in gear and do it. Often I find myself surfing the net, or turning on the TV, or (and this isn't really bad) playing the same songs on the piano. Or when I'm not that lazy, I waste time thinking about doing stuff, or the best way to do stuff. Before I know it, a couple of hours of my evening have been stolen. And getting started on tasks at hand on weekends is even worse. I wake up thinking "Oh yeah... all day to do that" and then it's 1pm and nothing even started -- sometimes not even dressed.

Worse still is that I find these habits creeping into the workplace. I'll waste time mulling over details rather than just starting and letting the details come naturally. Sometimes I leave work frustrated at how few tangible results have been attained. I realize that sometimes that's the nature of the beast, but other times I feel it could have been prevented.

So how am I going to break this habit, or bore you, the reader, with somehow quantifying it?

That I'm not going to worry about. Right now, I'm going to get off my ass and tidy this damn office.

Now under 24 hours

2008-12-18T15:23:00.002-03:30

In fact, the festivities have moved up to 2pm tomorrow afternoon.

I'm terribly distracted today. For whatever reason, I've spent this entire week thinking it's a day later than it is. So it feels like a Friday to me. I'm glad it's a half-day tomorrow, and that there'll be drinking in the office.

In the more immediate future, there's sushi and wrasslin' tonight. Can't wait. It's a "crowd brings the weapons" night -- I'm gonna bring a cheese grater. I'm also looking forward to hearing -- and participating in -- the heckling which makes the event great.

Bouncing off the walls here.

Just gotta get through the next 97 hours

2008-12-15T13:47:00.002-03:30

I think the anticipation of Christmas vacation is even better than the actual vacation. As of 3pm Friday -- when our office party takes place -- I should be done till next year (momentarily ignoring the very real threat of something popping up).

The last few days have been pretty good. Had a surprise birthday party at J&J's for Leigh on Friday night, which went off without a hitch. Jon had some cask-strength scotch which nearly burned a hole in my stomach. Wine is not a good chaser for that. And beer is certainly not a good chaser for both. But that didn't stop me. Seemed like good times were had by all. I ended up crashing on their couch for the night.

Saturday was pretty lazy -- usually what happens when I'm late out of the gate like that. But that night was pretty good. We headed to C&A's for some Rock Band and drinks (yes, even another belt of scotch!) and we all met Jenn's new beau. He didn't run away from us, so he passed that test. ;)

Sunday was much more productive. I started flattening (that is, unscrewing) some of the furniture I'm replacing, thereby reducing the clutter. And I got a fair bit done on the two ongoing projects -- I think it's still possible to get those done before Christmas. That'll be three out of the four that I'd hoped to get done -- and that's better than "ain't bad."

I also had a successful breadmaker experience last night. The first loaf I made (about 10 months ago) came out like a mountain of cracker. That's when I learned that the wet ingredients have to be heated. What a difference. I'm going to be using that thing a lot more now.

A Stream of Conciousness

2008-12-11T10:01:00.002-03:30

We've just got to be approaching a record for rain over a four-week period. It's been relentless.
It sucks when you have to write a report on a moving target. Write something, the subject of that something has changed, so the report has to change. Aggravating.
It also sucks when you have to design hardware for a moving target. Design a schematic, the interface for that schematic changes, so the design has to change. Also aggravating.
It also really sucks when the deadlines stick for the above two items, in spite of the never-ending changes.
I'm tolerant of this stuff, because somehow, some way, I'm getting hammered this weekend. And also, in less than 200 hours, I'm on a 16 day vacation (unless something fucks with it; I wouldn't rule it out).

Dave out.

OK, a bit better this week

2008-12-08T10:34:00.002-03:30

So last week, which started so poorly, gradually got better as the tasks at hand started getting completed. The most frustrating thing is that one of the key team members has a key portion of work that needs to be completed before I get this thing done. And he's been most vocal about getting it done before Christmas. I'll gladly point this out if any guff comes my way.

Not a lot of sleep to be had last night, owing to another marathon session of wind and driving rain we got. Around 3am, I got fed up with it and had a couple of glasses of wine to knock me out. I found out that this is a very effective strategy. So I'm a bit groggy today, and need a blog entry to get me in "writing mode."

This past Friday was a hoot. A well-deserved finish for last week. We started out at The Cellar, a very upscale restaurant, for our Christmas dinner (we elected to do this rather than a Kris Kringle). After a meal of swordfish and lobster, a few glasses of Chianti, and a belt of scotch, I was feeling on top of the world, if a bit poorer :)

We went to the Grapevine afterwards for a few more drinks, where we met up with Tim and a crew of his friends. Then on to the Martini Bar for some dancing. As the night wore on, my mood got set to "crazy." I was doing something on the dance floor, when Jenn blurted out "What are you doing?!" At that moment I found my myself in the middle of a very bizarre action, and then just had to leave the floor because I was doubled over laughing my ass off at the situation. Shortly after we called it a night.

Saturday was relaxing. Had some quality workshop time. I started on the forming portion of my clock project, and then started the sanding and staining portion of my entertainment centre. It's becoming more necessary that I sell/otherwise-get-rid-of the furniture I'm replacing. Inquire within.

That night I had Craig and Andrea over for a few drinks and a chat -- it's actually been a while since I hosted a simple function like that, so it was quite nice. After they left, Ginny gave me a shout and we hung out for a few hours longer.

And yesterday was just errands. I put a big dent in my Christmas shopping, so that was good. And now I'm just good and ready for another weekend. 268 hours till Christmas vacation... but who's counting?

I've had better days...

2008-12-01T13:40:00.004-03:30

Ugh. It hasn't been going so well lately. Here's a litany:

I found out that I've been lifted off a project that may have sent me to Egypt for a business trip. As it (hilariously!) turns out, I managed to be stuck on perhaps the most boring part of the whole thing. FTR, I was lifted off because I'm 150% utilized.
Torrential rain on Saturday prohibited some badly needed yardwork before the fall. So bad were these rains that it actually prohibited said work on Sunday, owing to the degree of saturation.
Said rain simply made heading out to run other errands, like Christmas shopping, prohibitively undesirable.
Said rain also illuminated the fact that, in spite of the heaps of time and money spent on my siding job over the summer, my windows still obstinately persist in leaking.
After a conference call today, I found out that I will still be on the above project long enough to meet a crushing deadline (ie, next week). This probably would not have been required if the client told us two months ago what they wanted. Also, I found out that my brain will still be picked on this project for the coming months. In essence, I get most of the responsibility, and none of the benefits.
The timing of all this is great; I have another project that has a milestone to be achieved before Christmas. And there's another project that I've been able to put on the back burner because our sketchy supplier has been slow getting parts to us. Guess which parts are due in at the end of the week?

December 19th is my last day of work before the break. Let the hour-by-hour countdown begin.

Anyways, I had to take some time out to vent. Hopefully there won't be more grouchy entries in the near term. But I can't promise anything.

Oh, and look... it's raining... again.

My ridiculous industry...

2008-11-24T13:25:00.004-03:30

So, every now and then while looking for parts, I come across something like this:

Yeah. Thought I'd share.

Two big nights in one weekend...

2008-11-24T09:15:00.002-03:30

...for the first time in ages. I was beginning to think I was getting too old for that. Thankfully I still have a little problem-drinking youth left.

Friday night: After a very hit-the-spot meal and Thundermug at Boston Pizza with Ginny, I met up with Jon at Christian's, where we availed of inexpensive pitchers ("inexpensive" is a rather tall order at Christian's). C&A met up with us there for a couple of hours. We lorded over the jukebox, but it seemed like every song we chose struck a chord with at least one other person in the bar. Afterwards we went to Dooley's for a few games of pool. I guess it was about 2:00am before we called it a night.

Saturday night: Craig's b-day. Of course that's going to be a big night. And it delivered. Lots of Rock Band II played, and we were all in wonder at the very extensive song list it had. With the aid of some wine stolen from Tim, it was a very large night indeed. Cut it off at around 2:45am, and probably would have been sooner if I hadn't rambled about my Happy Adventure story. Blame the wine, folks, it makes me talkative.

Unfortunately, these late nights meant late rises: after 10:30am both mornings. Of course, some of that is attributable to the lack of sleep I got over the last week, owing to the heaps of noisy, driving rain we got in the nighttime. But I got some stuff done. Namely, I caught up on all the housework that had fallen by the wayside as I pushed myself to get that wine rack done last week. Yes, the wine rack is done, and functioning in my kitchen right now. Like my Holland trip, I'll eventually post a pic (maybe).

This morning was a great fall morning. Blue sky, chilly temperatures, and most importantly, no fucking rain. A good start to the week. As is posting a blog entry...

Fall Rain

2008-11-20T10:00:00.002-03:30

This fall hasn't been too bad for us, in terms of getting tail ends of hurricanes. But it looks like we're getting our fall rain in one massive installment. It hasn't really stopped since Tuesday night, and is supposed to continue (in varying intensities) until after Saturday. Does wonders for one's mood.

The glue is drying on the wine rack right now. Just have to glue up the other half, which I could have done simultaneously if I weren't so cheap and bought more clamps. Meh. By Friday night, this puppy can and should be ready. Unfortunately, it means finding a spot for the wretched liquor box and its contents. I guess I gotta lug that old thing up two flights of stairs. And I have some cupboard space available above my fridge, so I guess I'll stash the bottles there until I can trick my friends or myself into drinking them.

This project has really dragged on, so I'm looking forward to continuing work on the other ones. I've got a magazine rack and "entertainment centre" (basically a tall coffee table with shelves underneath) well under way. So on Saturday when it is - once again! - piss pouring rain, I'll try to get the rest of the forming done on those.

Methinks work is gonna get busy again soon. I gotta get myself mentally prepared to make a big push until Christmas. This year I'm planning on taking two full weeks off for Christmas, which will work out to only seven vacation days. I'm not going anywhere, and no family is coming in, so I'm looking forward to two weeks of just slacking off at home. I can't remember the last time that happened.

Slow start this week

2008-11-17T10:49:00.002-03:30

Having a little difficulty getting myself going this week. I'll say one thing about crushing deadlines: they're good at motivating a person. In their absence, however, sometimes it's hard to get started. Maybe it's because I uncharacteristically skipped breakfast this morning.

It may also be that I spent a lot of time in the workshop over the weekend, and I'm "worked" out. On the upside, I've gotten a lot done -- I've found myself working on three projects concurrently, with a fourth to be added to the mix. It's easier to motivate myself to stain a project after having done something "more fun" in the shop. "More fun" means cutting, dowelling, routing, or anything involving some sharp, dangerous power tool.

The goal is to get these four projects done by Christmas. Given my slow pace so far this year, this goal is indeed lofty. But now that it seems every weekend has at least one shitty-weather day, there's more time spent at it.

The weekend was pretty good. J&J had a party at their place on Friday, which was buckets of fun. It was also a very late affair, with a turn-in time of later than 5am. Saturday was actually a nice day, so I moved some of my firewood into the shed before this latest marathon installment of rain.

Ah, One Fine Morning by Lighthouse is now on the radio. Maybe that'll give me a boost.

Long Hours

2008-11-13T13:23:00.002-03:30

The last couple of weeks were crazy busy. The meeting in Holland produced a lot of work, which I'm only now really getting around to, since I had another project that was boiling over. I think I've got things under "control" now, but last week almost drove me nuts. Long hours at work, on top of which I had to attend a conference (NECEC) and prepare trivia as I was hosting. Both went well, I thought, except that at trivia there was a drunken British lout who kept bellowing out answers and generally acting like a huge tool.

Needless to say, I was glad when the weekend finally rolled around. I found empathy with Andrea and Ginny at a happy hour held at the bowling alley bar (awesome specials!), as they had had pretty shitty weeks as well. That was pretty well the highlight of this past weekend; the rest was spent doing a bit of workshop stuff, and watching a football game at my cousin's place.

This week has been much more manageable, mostly because of the holiday on Tuesday. Went to the Remembrance Day ceremony with Ginny that morning, and spent the rest of the day in the workshop getting dizzy from stain and turpentine fumes. I hope I didn't get any dain bramage. And last night a bunch of us checked out a hockey game, which was a good bit of fun.

Ah, that's pretty well it for now. Hopefully this coming weekend produces some good drinking stories...

Happy (belated) 2nd Birthday to Blog!

2008-10-30T10:39:00.002-02:30

It's been (slightly more than) two years now, and I still haven't gotten sick of this thing. In the last year I made 38 posts, so a little less frequency than the year before, but I've noticed my posts getting longer.

Let's see... highlight reel. This was nowhere near as productive a year as the year before, but I attribute that to being busier at work (so, more productive in that department, I suppose). But here goes:

Cooking
I've gotten a lot better with this, and have that BBQ course I took over the spring to thank for my newly found love of preparing foodstuffs. Whereas last year, sandwiches, freezer dinners, and GD Mrs. Vanelli's was the norm, I'm more and more bringing leftovers. Whereas last year I was most pleased with my carpentry, cooking has taken over that spot.

Woodworking
That's not to say I've gotten tired of the woodworking. In the last year I made a console table, endtable, two plant stands, and a dresser. Hoping to have my wine rack done soon. So less prolific than last year, but still all right. The dresser was a major undertaking.

Electronics
Finally got an electronics workbench set up in the house. And not much gumption to do anything with it. Still, I did get one project finished (power supply), and have the parts for a couple of more. Maybe when I run out of woodworking projects, I'll have more mojo to get at this stuff.

Piano
I've learned a few more songs, and started playing with this French choir thing in a very token role. I'm hoping this role will be expanded...

Home improvements
Got the Tyvek job done. It hasn't really been adequately tested yet, but so far no complaints. I was hoping to get my shed sided, and now fall is running out. Ugh.

Hmmm... I guess that serves as a resolution recap as well, saving me the trouble of doing that. Ha HA! Two birds, one stone.

Catching Up

2008-10-28T11:45:00.004-02:30

OK, so it's been a couple of weeks, but I was away for last week with negligible net access.

Wine Show (October 18)

Every year it never disappoints. We sampled a bunch, and there were a few really nice ones, including a couple of Carmeneres and a Chiante. We came up with a new strategy to beat the line at the end: at about 2:00pm (midway through) we went to the checkout and just got them to send boxes to the liquor stores of our choosing, and then go back to the show and get hammered.

Afterwards, as has become tradition, we headed back to my place. Wolfed down some Creole chicken that I had on the crockpot, which I think was a hit. Then we started with the drinking games. Goddam "bus rides" got us sloshed. It went on like this for a while. I kept looking at the clock, expecting it to be near midnight, but it was only 7 or 8. Ridiculous. I don't know the exact timelines of people coming and leaving, but the night ended at around 1:00, I think, after a solid 12 hours of drinking. Can't wait till next year.

Holland (October 20-26)

So that Sunday was spent cleaning up the house and packing. My flight left early on Monday. I arrived in Montreal for an 11 hour (!) stopover. I was about to leave the airport to hit the town, but I ran into my coworker from the Ottawa office who was also going on this trip with me. We (mostly he) decided it would be best to further get our ducks in a row for the meeting while we were still awake. That's because when our flight arrived in Holland, we had about an hour to get from the airport to the meeting -- after already having been awake for about 25 hours, excluding the couple of hours of sleep I got on the plane. Needless to say, the meeting was perceived through a haze.

We had this ridiculously opulent, five star hotel on the beach called the Huis Ter Duin. I would have called it a king size bed, but I think it was even bigger. And I think it had more square footage than my house. And all mine for three glorious nights. I slept hard each of those nights, since each day was a nine hour meeting, followed by a huge supper, and then drinks at a pub called the Punt. The best part of Holland is its proximity to Belgium -- specifically, Belgian beers. The Punt had a list of over 70, and I think between the six of us regulars, we tried them all.

So after the work part we headed to Amsterdam. Didn't get there till late Friday, so we didn't see a lot. The hotel there was considerably less opulent -- my room was triangular, which reminded me of living on Bond Street. We managed to check out the Van Gogh museum while there, which was cool. And we walked to the Heineken brewery museum, only to find it was closed for renos. And by the time we made it back to Madame Tussauds, there was a ridiculous lineup. So a couple of disappointments, but we managed to cover a lot of the scenic parts of the city and snap a few photos (which I may post here...)

The trip back was uneventful, which I guess is a good thing. And now back to work -- the upshot of the meetings is that I still have to work like a dog, but with a less insanely compressed timeline than before. At least for this one project...

Loves me long weekends

2008-10-14T14:52:00.003-02:30

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers.

It was a pleasant weekend. No late nights, but they were enjoyable nevertheless. Friday we parked ourselves at West Side Charlies, where we (specifically, I) watched a hockey game and had some conversation (Andrea and Ginny doing more of this). We availed of their cheap buckets. This lessened the sting of my team losing in a shootout.

On Saturday I ran some errands, and then had a visit with Jon who had just returned from a hunting trip. Shot the shit for a couple of hours that afternoon. Then over to Ginny's for some mac & cheese (sweet!). Met up with Craig and Andrea afterward, and Craig removed my stitches -- it's good to have another index finger again. Thence we headed to the Peter Easton where we met up with Tim. The idea (at least for me) was to watch the hockey game, but the seating wasn't close to a TV, so it turned out being taken in via updates from bar runs. All good, as my team thumped the opposition.

Sunday I was a powerhouse. Got a lot done on the wine rack, and actually started the sanding and staining process. Also got some more slabs chopped up and started moving the drier ones into the shed. This worked up a healthy appetite for mudder's Thanksgiving dinner, which was awesome. Finished the evening having a few beers and a natter with Ginny. Also tested my slabs again, 1.5 months of drying later. They still hiss a bit, but they burned well. They also burn quickly... a whole log rack only lasted 5 hours or so.

And yesterday I lazed for the most part, except for doing that piano-at-French-choir thingy again. The flu is getting better -- I think -- but it really sucks in the morning. As the day goes on, I feel back to normal. Hopefully it clears up before Wine Fest. Oh, and Holland, which was finally given the green light. Just waiting to hear back from the travel agent before it's made official.

And the Fall Flu Hits Dave

2008-10-08T10:01:00.002-02:30

Like clockwork, I tells ya. Just not very good clockwork. Last year I got hit with the flu in November, but this year October is the chosen month. It's been a pretty harsh couple of weeks on my body, what with the back pain, finger being sliced, and now this.

I'm all right with the timing, though. It should have worked itself out by the time Wine Fest rolls around, and for my trip to Holland. Speaking of the latter, that still hasn't been finalized. I was just about to buy the ticket today, when I get an e-mail telling me to hold off. Apparently there are outstanding visa issues with the other parties attending these meetings. I first heard about the meeting in August. It was supposed to be the end of September. Then the last week of October. Now it's Oct 20-26. Or maybe not. I'm starting to see why people around here are at best indifferent toward business travel.

Eh, short one today.

It's good to know doctors

2008-10-05T12:56:00.002-02:30

Especially when you're clumsy like I evidently am. I'll get to that in a bit...

It's been a hard few days on my liver. Thursday we hit RPW again at Junctions. Soooo much better there. Some quality heckling to be heard. The highlight, and main reason we went there, was the barbed-wire death match. What of Vince Austin's career now?

Friday night we successfully resurrected our happy hour idea. This week was the GTP, since it's nearby and very affordable. Had a few more drinks at my place, and then Ginny and I made downtown. First to check out her friend's band at CBTG's. They had some balance issues at first, but they got sorted out. Then we headed over to Dooley's to meet up with Tiff and her crew.

Saturday involved my usual plunking down of cash at hardware stores. I was going to side the shed, but it was far too windy to be dealing with Tyvek that day. But I still managed to be productive. I worked on the wine rack for a bit, and then I had some quality axe-time chopping the larger slabs in half, in an attempt to make them dry out more quickly.

You'd think that's where I would sustain an injury. But no. The injury came later that day, while I was chopping potatoes, only to have my hand slip, resulting in eight inches of German steel slicing my left index finger. It wasn't a huge cut, but was still bleeding after a half hour. So I gave Craig a shout and queried his medical expertise. Unfortunately, he was just going into a movie. But it was still quicker for him to see that movie and come over, rather than me going to the ER and waiting for God knows how long.

So it was hilarious -- he shows up with a sack full of medical gear and he stitched me up on my kitchen table. Three stitches, smooth as silk. A well-deserved MD. It was mid-procedure that people started showing up. One of whom is a little squeamish about this stuff, so I can only imagine that must have been a joy to open up the door and be immediately confronted with that scene.

Anyways, we put it behind us and did some good drinking. Then headed to the Georgetown which was a blast. I don't know how much I had to drink when I got there, but it was a four-star hangover this morning...

The last few days...

2008-10-02T14:08:00.002-02:30

...have really been all over the place. Last week was marred by a resurgence of my back pain, which I thought I had done away with. I can't think of any one thing that would have caused it; it must be an cumulative thing. The important thing is that it now seems to be better.

The weekend was pretty good. We went to see RPW again, this time at the CLB. It was weird being in the presence of so many young'uns, given that I'm used to seeing it in a bar capacity. I've concluded that alcohol definitely augments the experience. The best part was that Dan, who was back in town for the weekend, attended and didn't seem to know what had hit him. Afterwards, we headed to the Grapevine for a nightcap.

Saturday was tame. I had a list of to-do items, none of which were accomplished. I did manage to meet Paul and Stephanie's new son, as they were heading out to Paradise and stopped by my place on the way. Cute kid. Seeing Paul with his son was one of those "God I'm getting old" moments. I shortly thereafter napped for two hours, which really helped the back (yep, getting old indeed). Went to West Side with Ginny and Hanz for some pool in the evening, and then to Trinity Pub where we were all subjected to very loud, very not-good live music. After one drink there, we called it a night.

Sunday was more productive. I reorganized my workshop (now that the back was better). I like this new system. I have two waist-high shelves around the perimeter, so that I can lay stuff on them while working, rather than having it all accumulate on my workbench (which is mostly reserved for electronics). Managed to start and finish the drawer for my wine rack, which was a big bottleneck (oooh... wicked pun) in the project. I also got more lumber at Kent, so I have enough for three more projects now. Unfortunately for me, this stuff doesn't just put itself together...

That evening, Ginny came over and I made some carbonara (which was, uh, very al dente). Had some wine and gave Jenn a pre-surgery phone call (who is out of hospital and doing well, BTW).

Monday I found myself playing piano for a French choir. Yep. A cousin of mine asked if I could do that for a couple of hours every Monday night. The nice thing is that it's a good opportunity to practice speaking French, which is a skill that has really rusted out over the last decade.

That's all for now. This post is totally incorrectly dated, since I just realized that it was in my drafts folder...

Fall is in the air

2008-09-22T11:04:00.002-02:30

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?

2008-09-15T10:08:00.002-02:30

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

2008-09-12T13:36:00.004-02:30

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...

2008-09-08T11:00:00.002-02:30

...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

2008-09-02T09:20:00.002-02:30

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.

Time flies...

2008-08-25T10:13:00.002-02:30

So I thought I was really on the ball with this thing, but before I knew it, two weeks had gotten behind me. August has just flown, after a very slow July. Both were fantastic, though. Here are some of the highlights over the last two weeks:

Gros Morne Trip
Ginny and I headed over to the west coast the weekend before last, and it was an aweseome time. She has produced a very thorough recap on her blog, complete with photos, so I won't bother writing my own -- it'd be redundantly redundant.

Republic Pro Wrestling (RPW)
What a riot. It has to be seen to be believed. And at $8, ya can't go wrong. In the spirit of pirating recaps, see Jenn's entry.

This Weekend
Friday night -- Went bowling for the first time in ages on Friday night. Wound up at Don Cherry's afterwards for a small scoff.

Saturday afternoon -- FINISHED THE SIDING JOB. No more God-awful scaffolding in front of the house.

Saturday night -- A brief primer at my place, and then off to The Dock to check out Chris Kirby and the Marquee. Somehow managed to duck cover. The absence of the $40 I walked in with seems to imply that I had a lot of drinks that night. But it was an excellent show -- good ol' blues rock.

Sunday afternoon -- A birthday party at the Dwyers' place. This was a hoot. By the end a few of them got together and broke out some instruments and played a bunch of songs. It was clearly not the first time they did so...

Sunday night -- Bonfire at Middle Cove. This was the first of the year for me, and it offered me the opportunity to get rid of some of the dirty ol' spruce ends I had left over from last year.

It makes me happy to have a nice, full weekend like that. Here's hoping next weekend can follow suit...

Resolution Recap

2008-08-12T11:14:00.002-02:30

Ugh... so here goes:

Cook more/lunches I've decided that I hate sandwiches now. So I'm going to have to cook more the night before so that I can bring in leftovers. This has not happened of late, and there's been a lot of money spent on Mrs. Vanelli's lately. On the upside, I rarely cheat on supper. I'd like a little more variety, though.

Housework Ironically, since I got the cat and the associated chores, I've been more on the ball with this. I guess it's a matter of necessity: if I don't scoop litter, there are dreadful consequences. And while I'm at this, some other stuff gets done. And I've been finally getting a bunch of one-off chores done too: finally painting the handrails after agonizing for months over what colour to go with (and the consensus is "white"), and getting out to the dump to get rid of about three years worth of accrued boxes. I guess I can thank the crappy weather keeping me away from outdoors stuff.

Woodworking I took a lengthy break after the dresser. But now that that's a distant memory, I've started up again. I've got the legs done for a wine rack, and other miscellaneous cutting done for other projects. I was cursing a blue streak while finishing the dresser, but now I find it enjoyable again. Must be the clean slate -- I'll have to make an effort not to let projects drag on.

Electronics Oi. Absolutely nothing. I still have to crank out a small enclosure for my power supply. Or I may just break down and get plastic project boxes. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Piano The stalwart resolution. I'm working on about three newer pieces, and starting to commit them to memory. It's a tough job, though, keeping all of the older pieces fresh.

Not too bad, I guess....

More catching up...

2008-08-06T14:00:00.002-02:30

So I'm still about a month behind. I'll give it all in point form:

Andrew's wedding: My cousin got hitched on July 11th. It was a nice service, and an enjoyable, modest reception. I'm all about any reception that sells Glenfiddich for $3.75. And I'm also all about any reception that's a karaoke dance! It was going well, with a couple of my usuals. I was about ready to ask for Roxanne, since that was the Maid of Honour's name!! How perfect that would have been... had the reception not suddenly shut down at 11:15pm. I got karaoke blue balls. But afterwards, I managed to meet up with the gang who had just come off of (in their words) a "three-ring circus drunk" as a result of the Spiritfest. For once I was the most sobre person in the group... and that's saying something. Kinda wish I coulda made it, but I'd committed to this wedding months before.
Renée's wedding: This was pretty well a high school reunion. It was a lovely service, and pretty fancy reception, wherein Renée and Jerred broke out their mad ballroom dance skills and just served the rest of the room. Found ourselves at Christian's afterwards for many pitchers, and then back to my place for further conversation (and so people could meet the cat). I guess it was 4:45am before everyone cleared out... large ol' night.
BBQ's Galore: I hosted a BBQ two nights later. I think my rum-jerked wings and Gremolad tomatoes were acceptable. Then it was Paul's BBQ in Pouch Cove the night after. And then a week after, Richard and Jennifer held a BBQ complete with beer can chicken. But they were all sooooo good.
Still siding: So I eventually got my permit, after a hilarious anecdote involving the inspector ignoring it. It's almost done now, but has been waylaid by a) the power company taking their time collaring the power lines (so that the scaffold and occupants don't get zapped), and b) the rotten ass weather we've been getting. Can't even prepaint the planks, since that requires a continuum of 16 hours without precipitation -- a pipe dream.
George Street Festival: Ginny and I hit the George Street Festival on Saturday night, and met up with Tim a couple of bars in. Suffice it to say we got our money's worth in cover. The pinnacle of the evening was hitting the Sundance. Been a long time since I've dance like a fool on that floor. We also had bastardized Irish Car Bombs (the Guinness was replaced with whiskey, cuz weren't nearly drunk enough).

Those are most of the major highlights, methinks. It was a very full July. You'll notice that I haven't posted a resolution followup for that month -- which is just as well, since it would have just been a litany of slackness. And with five days to go for my next one, two of them would be redundant.

Introducing Dorrie

2008-08-02T15:40:00.003-02:30

After years of waffling, I finally decided to get a cat. Andrea was fostering Dorrie and her four kittens for a little while, so I managed to get an a priori glimpse of her mannerisms before deciding to adopt.

She's very petite, very vocal, and very full of energy. But she has calmed down a bit since I got her fixed a couple of weeks ago. Most importantly, she's no longer yowling and spraying (fuckin' gross). As I had hoped/anticipated, my allergies have improved. I need a few more Bricanyl puffs a week, but no biggy. It's worth it for the companionship.

Attention Mice: consider this your fair warning. Based on how I've seen her "play", she will fuck you up if you dare to show your disgusting faces. I suggest you find some other dwelling to inhabit this autumn.

(Yes, I am talking to invisible mice. I'll sign off now.)

Some Jazzfest pics...

2008-08-02T15:35:00.004-02:30

The view of the Place des Arts, wreathed in festival goodness.

A fella by the name of Felix Stüssi, one of the many free concerts:

Jennifer & Randy at an apportez-votre-vin restaurant:

So yeah, I'm hardly a shutterbug. There are a few more pics, but this is enough...

Montréal Jazz Fest

2008-07-15T12:38:00.003-02:30

This is strange territory -- I've actually got a backlog of blogging material. But I'll try to space it out over this week. First, the Montréal trip.

July 1 Belated Canada Day greetings. Got into Pierre Eliot Trudeau airport at around 7pm, and was at my modest dorm accommodations by 8:30. I noticed from the Jazzfest pamphlet that there was a "big" free concert that night, starring Bran Van 3000. For those who don't know (and I was one of them two weeks ago), they are a funk group that started in Montréal about 10 years ago. Not my usual style of music, but it was a good way to pass away a Canada Day evening.

July 2 Soaked up sun and jazz all day, starting at noon. Even the free concerts are outstanding (most likely because they are new faces giving it their all to get noticed). And that night I checked out a paid show -- McCoy Tyner, who used to play with Coltrane. It was solo piano for about an hour and a half, and was fantastic.

July 3 Piss-poured rain all day, but I took the opportunity to check out a 3D Imax of a U2 concert. Probably the closest thing I'll get to actually seeing them. Then I met up with Sharon (cousin) and her friend Jen from Australia for a bunch of drinks and a few more free concerts.

July 4 Joined up with Jennifer and Randy. Did some problem drinking at this cheesy rooftop hotel bar, exchanging jokes and downing jugs of Sangria. Unfortunately, in that amount of time, and in that amount of sun, I got nuked. Tried to hold it together for when we met up with Geoff, Katherine and nephews (I'm clearly a model uncle). Went out for supper at an apportez-votre-vin spot and then finished the night at the festival.

July 5 Slight hell to pay for, but made it out to breakfast at 8am. Then went to the casino with Randy for some problem gambling. Our plan to make stacks of cash was thwarted by "odds" -- believe it or not, we actually lost money. It was all right, though, because there was another fancy dinner that night, followed by a visit to Sharon's place for some wine and chat.

July 6 Nothing really spectacular, just quality (sobre) time with the family. The closing Jazzfest show starring Mory Kanté was pretty cool, though.

July 7 Met up with Brad and Melissa, who had just bussed into town, for lunch at Reubens. Did a little shopping during the afternoon, then met up with Dan for supper at some Afghan restaurant. Stuck around there for about 3 hours and had a really good chat -- hadn't seen Dan in a couple of years.

July 8 Back in NL by noon.

...and later that day, I got something that will become the subject of the next blog post.

So, all-in-all a decent, relaxing vacation. I took a few pictures which, provided I muster the gumption, I may add to this post.

Huzzah for Tax Relief!

2008-07-10T14:05:00.002-02:30

Since I bellyache about taxation here, it seems only fair that I should rejoice whenever the trend is reversed.

I got a letter in the mail the other day stating that my insurance premiums have gone down due to the government's lifting of the 15% tax on policies in this province. I heard the news, but wasn't too excited since I get my insurance from Halifax, and I was pretty sure that there would be a FYDC. An FYDC is the "Fuck You Dave Clause" that creeps up often enough that it demands its own acronym.

I also noticed that my last paycheque was a little larger, since the tax cuts that the NL government introduced in the last budget came into effect July 1st.

It's just become $40/month sweeter to live in NL. Thanks, Danny!

This year's reno...

2008-06-26T12:43:00.002-02:30

I now have in my possession 300 square feet of clapboard. I'm hoping to get some of that stained over this coming weekend, but it doesn't look like the weather will cooperate. When I get back from Montreal, we (being myself and the contractor I have lined up) should be able to start getting that up, with Tyvek underneath it. (still can't believe that Johnny Cutcorners who flipped the house didn't do this).

Hopefully this will mean fewer (zero?) leaks when it rains with a southeast wind -- the two usually go hand-in-hand... spiteful weather. And no more smelling Gary's woodsmoke from across the street. And, most importantly, fewer BRUTAL drafts in the winter. Might actually get some insulation under the siding as well, which should cut down the heating bill a bit.

If I notice a difference this winter, I may very well tackle the other two sides of the house next summer. Given that I should know the ropes by then, I should be able to go it alone. It'd be nice if the back siding matched the front -- it's a common trick on my street to use cheaper vinyl on the back. I'm also hoping that at least some of the siding we'll be tearing off can be salvaged for siding my shed (which held up quite well without it this past winter).

Sadly, this means yet another summer of passing on my deck extension. The idea is to whittle away square footage in the yard, thereby eliminating the need for mowing. The temptation is huge just to get a ton of mulch and bury it all...

Of weekends and oil heat

2008-06-25T09:46:00.004-02:30

So my plans to go camping this past weekend sprung a bit of a leak.

Everything thing was all set for Windmill Bight. All we had to do was go to mudder's (who is out of town) to get the tent and allied hardware. In searching for said allied hardware in her basement, I was greeted by about a centimetre of water over the furnace room floor, which had spilled over into the adjacent rooms. As it turned out, the coil in the furnace had developed a pinhole leak, which was causing the pressure relief valve to trip and spill water, everywhere.

So instead of camping, I was shopvac-ing her basement for all of Saturday afternoon and evening. When things got under control, I still got drunk, albeit at a different locale than hoped for.

A blessing in disguise, I guess. I'm glad I discovered the mess then, and not when I got back from camping. Also, I managed to meet up with Steve at CBTG's that night. This is two weekends in a row; I'm hoping it means that he's back in action. I guess the little one is at an age where critical surveillance from the parents is no longer necessary.

In summary: oil heat, while comfortable, is a pain in the chookies.

LCD Bliss

2008-06-20T11:24:00.002-02:30

So I got a new LCD monitor for work today. And Holy Crap, what a difference. First of all, it has liberated about 400 square inches of desk space (which I can now fill with other crap). Second, my eyes are no longer less than a foot away from the screen. And finally, it's nice no longer having that old Radiation King drying my eyes out and leaving a silhouette of my head on the wall behind me.

This changes everything.

This was one result from my performance review meeting yesterday. The other being the return to my conundrum about pursuing further graduate studies (i.e., da PhD). "They" seem fairly keen on me doing so. The problem is that over the last year or so, I have become less keen on me doing so. But they did briefly mention a kind of fellowship that they offer for this endeavour. Basically, I'd still be an employee, but a student as well, and with only a modest pay cut. I'll have to get in touch with the guy at work who is already doing this (incidentally, a former undergrad classmate of mine), and see if he either advocates or warns against it.

Something to think about (again), I guess...

Lobster & Good Times

2008-06-16T14:05:00.002-02:30

So this was an entertaining weekend. Started out Friday at Mike's place for a small b-day shindig, followed by Jenn's and then CBTG's to check out a band called the Subtitles. They were pretty damn good; well worth the price. We then headed over to the Trinity Pub since the following band was "worth leaving bars over". It was a late, but not bright-sky late, evening.

I wound up sleeping in till 10:30. That annoys me nowadays. I also had a sore head, which I first thought was undeserved, but then after doing some light addition... Anyways, a couple of cups of coffee later I was fine. I had grand designs to finally tidy up my office, but decided the afternoone would be better spent at Hava Java with Ginny, drinking still more coffee. No regrets, since I was a tidying powerhouse when I got back.

I then took a nap, only to be woken at 10pm by my cousin, wondering why I wasn't at his brother's grad shindig yet. After some quick preparation, I bolted over there. Lots of Rock Band played. And some other game called SingStar, which was a bit like karaoke except with only lousy music selections. A cruel joke, really.

Sunday was also nice. I managed to get a power supply more-or-less completed (all that remains is an enclosure, which I may make out of scrap wood). Electronics projects go a lot more quickly than woodworking projects, because solder dries in seconds (unlike carpenter's glue), and there's no freakin' staining involved.
I guess it was fitting that that was my project du jour, since I had an IEEE lobster boil that evening. God I love seafood. And I also managed to walk away with a shiny new Newfoundland Hydro water bottle as a door prize. Sweet...

At long $#%@ing last

2008-06-10T21:36:00.004-02:30

One month overdue, and a few fuckups later, the dresser is done. Well, I still have to secure the top to the carcass, but so long as I don't move it in the interim, it should be fine. Here's a pic:

(Note the junk and dust still under it from the previous dresser. I was too excited to get it there, that I didn't bother, you know, cleaning.)

By the way, this is the first image I've put on this blog, apart from my Clint-Eastwood-meets-Steven-Seagal avatar. I've decided it's time I put my camera to use. The Dave Cave is now multimedia!

With tangible results, and it being the 11th of the month, you better believe I'm doing a resolution recap.

Cooking/lunches Suppers have been good; lunches have fallen by the wayside this past week. There's been a lot on the go the past little while, and I hadn't been able to make it to a supermarket. Hopefully after today's Bitters adventure, I should be back on the wagon. The few weeks prior to that went really well.

Housework Good Lord, I'm a slob. Some positives: I've restored the semblance of order in my workshop; I've finally picked up paint for a couple of touchup jobs that have been forgotten about; and I gutted my fridge.

Carpentry As above. Now I need a new project, preferably one that can be completed in 3 weeks so I'll be back on schedule. Maybe a night table to match the dresser. Or a square coffee table for my office. Or, I may just take a break from carpentry, and pick up the slack during the chilly autumn weather (not that this summer has been very balmy).

Electronics Got a Digikey order in a couple of weeks ago. And now that the workbench is no longer riddled with sawdust, tools, and scraps of wood, I can actually get to work. First project of the year: a power supply. Logical start, no?

Piano Still going well. I feel like I'm stagnating, though, and I'm considering taking lessons again in the fall.

Once again, middling success. And with a season of yardwork, shed maintenance, trips to Montreal, two weddings, and hopefully Tyvek'ing the front of the house, I don't foresee improvement till September.

Yikes. This entry started with such promise. I won't have it end sombrely, though, so I'll talk about the weekend.

Saturday morning was the farmer's market. No produce yet, obviously, but the place was still packed, and there was plenty to see. I may just make it a weekly thing, given it's proximity to my house. And then that evening was pretty damn good. Started at Ginny's for some awesome curry. Went to the Grapevine to meet up with some other folks, including this new fella who's doing a folklore degree (I know a disproportionate number of folklore grad students). So, of course, we had to get him screeched in. Vokey wasn't at Christian's, so he got a lesser ritual, but still got the certificate to prove it. Then to the Republic to finish it all off. Guinness ain't a good closing drink... makes one a bit logy.

And Sunday we went for a hike around Bay Bulls and Witless Bay. It was nice to breathe in the sea air and the smell of woods and bog. It's got me wanting another...

Wee bit tired...

2008-05-26T13:37:00.002-02:30

Last night was pretty restless. I made the mistake of having a Tim's at around 8:30pm -- I get quite the chirp off this stuff, moreso than any other coffee. I fell asleep at a reasonable hour, but woke up at around 1:00 (slow release chirp, I guess). I had just gotten back to sleep again, when the street cleaners did their thing at around 4:30. After another "nap", I was up at 6:30 -- seeing the sun, I feel I have to take advantage.

Thankfully, it seems like two wrongs make a right -- the Tim's I'm having now is at least temporarily pulling me out of this fog.

It was a pretty decent weekend. Had a bunch of TGIF drinks with Ginny before heading downtown for a short spell. A couple of good stories were tossed back and forth before calling it a night at around 3.

Saturday we checked out the hockey game. Our plan to watch it at Christian's was thwarted by the throng of people leaving the Bob Dylan concert and flooding all the bars on George Street. So we headed to West Side Charlie's, where our plan to watch the whole hockey game was thwarted by their insane decision to throw on UFC midway through. Good call, morons. Let's just shut off the Stanley Cup final -- I mean, who in Canada watches that? -- and put on something that's only a couple of pieces of fabric away from being gay porn.

So back to my place where the third period was watched via rabbit ears. But hey, the beer was cheaper, and snacks more accessible. And a favourable outcome.

Looks like after a long lull, work is getting pretty busy again. So I guess I should get back at it...

Illness... abating?

2008-05-13T10:52:00.002-02:30

So the flu I caught last week did its standard progression, from nose, to throat, to chest, to troubled breathing, to me going to a doctor, to getting antibiotics, and to resting it off. These pills are pretty damn strong, and are playing havoc with most of my gastrointestinal tract. But I'm able to breathe again, which I regard as a good thing. The shitty part was missing out on Saturday's marathon of activities.

I neglected to mention that we resurrected our scotch tasting group after a 2-3 month hiatus. To make up for it, we did two scotches. This brings us to five:

The Glenlivet
Bruichladdich
Clynelish
Glenmorangie
Laphroaig (aka liquid campfire)

Recently we've been appending a visit to the Duke after these tastings, which is a favourable development. Especially when there's a hockey game on.

Time for another resolution recap:

Cooking/Lunches Going really well. I'm only forking over cash to restaurants 2-3 times a week now. Today will be a bit of an exception. I only had enough for a sandwich, which I didn't make because the thought nauseated me. So I'll be buying lunch somewhere today (provided I even get hungry today... it's showing no signs of happening so far)

Housework Still haven't made this a habit. I find myself doing some stuff while waiting for the kettle to boil in the evening. Guess I'll just have to drink more tea.

Carpentry Mothballed the past week. Last thing I needed was sawdust, stain fumes, and turpentine fumes in my lungs. But I need to make a push to get this dresser done. It's been dragging on. I'm itching to start something new, which hopefully will be completed before the end of June, so that I'll be back on track.

Electronics Haven't done a thing, except finalize my Digikey order. Hopefully that'll be in later this week, and barring any omissions, I'll have enough parts to complete two projects.

Piano One thing about being sick, it's given me a lot of time to play piano, since it's one of the few activities I was capable of. Another song is close to joining the fold now. And it's nice that this one provides a high note to end the otherwise glib list of resolution setbacks.

I've decided that my workshop could use a streamlining. It'd be nice to have a lumber rack against the long wall. I don't like leaning lumber against a wall because after a while it starts bowing. So I'm currently putting all the spare lumber on the floor along my banister. Which isn't too bad until the fifth time I stub my toe on a piece of 1"x8" on my way down the stairs in a morning haze.

I also have two sets of shelves in the workshop but no "system" for using them. And I have an old TV stand and desk where stuff that should be on shelves usually winds up. By getting rid of these, it should simultaneously enforce a system of shelf usage and free up some space. That'd be a good start.

Anyone want a desk and/or a TV stand?

Green's Law:
Length of blog post ∝ boredom at work

That's right! Tax REFUND, bitches!

2008-05-09T09:49:00.002-02:30

My strategy of dumping some spare cash into an RRSP paid off yesterday, when I noticed my tax REFUND deposited to my account. I'm afraid the novelty of a REFUND is not going to wear off soon, since for the last several years it's been pay, pay, pay.

2006 Made the mistake of working two jobs for a while. One did not deduct my wages. Ended up having to pay about half of the second job's meagre salary back. That'll teach me to get ahead!
2003-2005 Research grant money was not tax deducted by university. I was aware of this, but it's still annoying getting a hefty tax bill in April. The keen observer will notice that the federal government removed all taxes on grants in 2006 (that's right, the year after I finished).
2002 Had to pay in after HILARIOUS misinformation presented to me by CCRA. I was told that whatever I paid in Norwegian taxes could be used as a tax credit for Canadian taxes. Totally NOT the case. Had to pay taxes to both Canada and Norway for the period 01/2002-04/2002. The keen observer will notice that Norway and Canada now have a tax treaty, in force as of January 2003 (that's right, the year after I worked there).
Also HILARIOUS about this episode was the letter I got this January stating that I still owe a chunk of change to Norway. I liked how they happily sat on it for 5 years, allowing interest to pile up, before notifying me. Thankfully my REFUND covers it and then some.

I know, I know... I shouldn't be complaining too much. The fact that I've had to pay in implies that I'm doing well for myself. The circumstances are nonetheless still annoying. So I feel awesome now that I got a REFUND.

In other news, I caught something on Tuesday and had to spend yesterday at home. Thankfully, bo-diddly has been happening at work lately, so it was a guilt-free sick day. Ah well, it happens every half year like clockwork.

Still in other news, I finally got my ticket to Montreal for a non-retarded price! Direct each way (fuck you, Halifax airport!) If any of my vast readership wants to meet up in Montreal from July 1 to July 8, drop me a line.

Of Rice Cookers

2008-04-21T14:35:00.002-02:30

Gotta say, these things are the bee's knees. No more burnt-on crap, and no more frickin' Minute Rice. Just gotta work on the timing: it takes about thirty minutes for it to (properly) cook rice, and about twenty for me to whip up a stir-fry. That leaves ten minutes for me to do some kitchen tidying, I guess -- never a shortage of that.

I've got the tabletop, legs, panels, and drawers made for the dresser. All that remains is joining the two parts of the front frame, dowelling the whole works together, and adding drawer guides. And of course *sigh* staining. Might be difficult to get this done by the end of the month, but I should be able to pick up the slack on the next project (which shouldn't be as involved -- whatever I decide it to be).

The weekend was pretty good. Went curling for a work social outing on Friday night. I really enjoyed it, and would probably do it more often if it weren't so costly (thankfully, our social club picked up the tab -- my biweekly contributions paying dividends). Saturday afternoon was spent doing some of the above-mentioned dresser work. And then Saturday night involved watching a frustrating hockey game over some comforting beers, and then finding myself at the Georgetown. The others bolted around midnight, but I lingered until the place shut down, socializing with the (other) locals. Good times...

And yesterday I got outside and enjoyed the rare weekend sunshine (it was friggin snowing a bit on Saturday). It knocked me out, cuz I went to bed around 9 and slept till 7. Musta needed it I guess... and it was nice getting up well-rested on a Monday for a change.

Of getting older (pt. 29)

2008-04-11T10:03:00.003-02:30

Last weekend was my b-day celebration, and it went well. I had no grand plans for a pub crawl this year, so I decided to just get everyone over to Christian's and see what happened. We ended up staying there the whole night, which suited me fine. I lost track of the number of pitchers arriving at our table after about the 6th one. So yes, a success. Highlights include:

A favourable hockey outcome, visible from where I was sitting.
Belly dancers arriving
C&A totally ruling over the jukebox and cranking out tunes
On my way back from the pisser, getting ambushed by said belly dancers and busting a move (putting it charitably) by said jukebox
A stray screech and coke that added flavour to the mix
Faint recollection of a rant about something to someone
Telling a bunch of brutal jokes
Having a deadly time!
NOT having hell to pay for the day after

A simple but elegant celebration. I'd do it again. And it just kept coming. Headed out to My Brother's Place for a seafood scoff with mudder on Sunday. I took Monday off, headed out to lunch with my cousin, and then had a belt of scotch with Jon that night (Laphroaig, for future reference, is like drinking a campfire. Fortunately, I like campfires.)

Work has been pretty tame lately; I attribute it to end-of-fiscal-year hangover. I get a sense that something is coming down the pipe, but details have been scarce.

And it looks like it may be warming up! Ten degrees yesterday, and fog and drizzle most every other day. Snow's mortal enemies -- sidewalks are gradually being reclaimed.

As it turns out, it's the 11th of a month again, so time for another resolution recap:

Cooking/lunches Had a few folks over for chicken alfredo fettuccine. And nobody went blind, so I'm guessing it was a success. The sauce ain't too hard to make, and it keeps well, so I think that'll make a regular rotation. There's still room for improvement, but suffice it to say that takeout is only had about twice a week for supper, and twice a week for lunch. Which is much better than before Christmas.

Housework This hasn't gone so well. I'm not in a pig sty, but things could be more orderly more regularly. My office is a state -- methinks I'll need a new desk. This hutch thing is annoying.

Carpentry The dresser is progressing, but not as quickly as I had hoped. I blame taking my entire b-day weekend off. I still have three weeks to finish it off as per resolution schedule. I'm distracted by thinking about stuff I want to make; gotta get my focus back.

Electronics I have another Digikey order percolating. I think I have found a better part for one of my designs (at least, easier to work with). It's hard to do stuff in my workshop when there are parts of dresser everywhere. Might need to make another workbench exclusively for electronics, complete with a dust cover.

Piano This has become so much of a routine now that it's not even requiring concious effort. I've got a piece learned, and another memorized. And I've gotten my "older" pieces back to a regular rotation, so they aren't rusting as badly.

Put on your Easter bonnet...

2008-03-27T12:55:00.002-02:30

...and Easter parka, and Easter snowpants, and Easter scarf...

To say I'm sick of this winter would be an understatement. Waking up day after day to see more... shit... falling... outta the sky. When I water my plants, I can't pour too long cuz eventually I'll run out. Apparently there's a giant aqueduct from off the shore of Cape Hatteras to here. Oh, and a refrigerator, too, cuz it's mostly been snow.

Bitterness aside, it was a pretty good long weekend (hard to be bad when it's the first since New Year's!) Headed to Jessica's parents' place (housesitting) for Good Friday afternoon, where a big ol' feed of fish & chips & beer was had. That night we went to Get Stuffed, where I selected one of the Nine Ways of Salmon. And finished off by hitting a couple of hotel bars.

Saturday involved a bit of dresser construction -- getting more and more parts done. And then in the night was Kes & Ash's going away party at Bitters. The hockey game was a big distraction... and then in the third period, the power went out. Bullshit. The important thing is that the good guys won.

And last night I headed to Richard's place to watch Hitman. The violence pleased me. And it was good company there. I'm glad to know there are more people out there who share my warped sense of humour.

Work's been going well. I've enjoyed having to blow our budget before the fiscal year ends -- a $300 this, a $5000 that, and a whimsical $400 something else. Just like the old Wheel of Fortune, except you can't put the rest into gift certificates. I'm pretty well in coast now, until new parts get in... a good space to be.

Heh. Looks like the snow has stopped (for now). Allelujah!

It's deceptively calm today...

2008-03-12T11:33:00.003-02:30

...as we're supposed to be in for a blast tomorrow. The normal gamut of precipitation, which makes for a sloppy mess by the end of it. On the plus side, it should be a snow day tomorrow, which I'll certainly take.

Good times had at R&J's place on Saturday, where a surprise party was thrown for his mother's 60th. Her visibly weak knees indicated success. Lots of food and beer had, and conversations held with a bunch of people I see only a few times a year. The sleep debt accrued the course of last week, plus the hour lost to DST, made for a late rise on Sunday. But it was worth it to still see the sun at 6:45pm.

Once again it's been a month since my last post, so here's another resolution recap:

Cook more/lunches - A bit of a relapse here as far as lunches are concerned -- case in point, I'm heading to Bitter's after this post. But A&W has only claimed my money a couple of times since the last post.

Housework - Certainly no pileups of chores happening, but there are a few major one-off tasks that still need to be done. I think 30 minutes a day isn't enough.

Woodworking - Plant stands are done! And look pretty sharp. On Saturday I picked up enough lumber to fill the car (there's such an easy innuendo about "wood" and "trunk" that I'll let you, the gentle reader, piece it together). Alas, that's only 2/3 a dresser. Enough to keep me busy tomorrow while being snowbound, no doubt.

Electronics lab - Finalized and received my Digikey order. I realize that merely starting the lab is a crummy resolution -- so I've been doing stuff too, including a couple of "proofs of concept". Trying to decide if I want to spring for PCB's for a few projects.

Piano - Going all right, but I've noticed that some of my "older" pieces are getting rusty. So I'll have to break them out more frequently.

Some night, wha?

2008-02-11T09:33:00.000-03:30

So Friday was very large. When we headed down to Kelly's, I had had seven beers and a few rye and gingers. I learned that I should never sing Spencer Davis Group (not that this is a valid defence, but when you have the spins and can't read the words on the screen, what do you do?) Bon Jovi is no longer alone on the blooper reel.

Spins, shmins, though, for afterwards we headed to the Trinity Pub. Met up with another crowd of friends and decided to shoot Sambuca. The attempt to light the shot on fire in my mouth didn't turn into the cool-blue-flame spectacle that usually results, but more of a scorching of my upper lip. Thankfully I was too far gone to really feel it. Headed back to my place for a cup of tea. And then I realized it was 6am. That's probably the latest I've stayed up on a winter bender. It's weird not having the sunrise to tell you how late/early it is.

The rest of the weekend was (necessarily) pretty relaxing. Shot some pool for the first time in ages on Saturday night. And on Sunday, nothing was done. Now for some motivation to make next weekend just a smidge more productive:

Resolution recap

Cook more/lunches - This has been going fairly well, with a lunch packed at least three days a week now. And Tim's has become my latest take-out destination, as its cheaper and not quite so bad for me (plus it comes with good coffee!) I have gone to a lot of restaurants for supper lately, but most of those were social outings. I still haven't really tried many new recipes -- so I gotta get on that. But I'm still cooking two or three times a week -- a marked improvement from a few months ago.

Half-hour of housework per night - This started out fairly well, but it's shrank to about 15 minutes a night now.

Electronics lab - I've got a massive Digikey order in the works. I've just been trying to think of other things to add before I finalize it. Probably just as well to do that now, cuz Lord knows there'll be a few things forgotten.

One woodworking project per two months - I'm actually ahead of the curve on this one. I've got a pair of plant stands in the works, with only two edges left to stain. So hopefully they'll be done for the weekend. It drives me nuts; I can get the actual "forming" done in a few hours. Then it's just days of sand, stain, sand, stain. I wish I were more of a morning person, since I'd be able to apply a coat then and have it be dry by the time I get back from work.

Keep it up with piano - OK, so I'm giving up on improvising for now, as I think this is the sort of thing that requires a teacher. But I still practice at least 15-30 minutes a night, sometimes closer to an hour. Over the last month, I've learned a new piece and almost memorized it.

All in all, not bad, but could be better. We'll see how it goes next recap.

Another January bites the dust

2008-02-04T15:11:00.000-03:30

I (along with many others) despise January, what with the post-Christmas blahs, short days, no prospect of a long weekend till Easter, terrible weather, etc. This one wasn't so bad, I thought, but I'm happy to have winter that much more over with.

The weekend was pretty entertaining. Started out with a happy hour at Arriba's, and then to my cousin's MBA bowling fundraiser. It was BYOB, which made the experience all the more unique. I found that bowling is one of those activities that I do better when I get a little drunk, but quickly goes to shit after that (sorta like pool and speaking French).

After this bowling episode, some of us decided to continue on -- and my karaoke* suggestion was a big hit. After I stated I would not do it, my cousin went up and belted out Roxanne. It was interesting being on the receiving end of such an act. (Good God, this is what I've been doing to people? I'm a monster!) And then a few of the b'ys headed up for Don't Stop Believing by Journey. Quite the spectacle.

Saturday was a little tamer, but my head appreciated the break. A few drinks at my place with a couple of friends -- can't ask for much more, eh?

Sunday was the Superbowl. First, a big thanks to Hanz for providing a few of us with a 50" HDTV to watch the game on. Alas, he was in Curaçao on business. Holy moley, what a game. Or I should say, what a finish. A sour one for the Pats, no doubt, but I guess you gotta respect the grit of the Giants (says this incensed Packers fan as their playoff blood was spilled at the hands of said Giants).

I was going to do a resolution recap now, but this entry is long enough, and I could use a few more days to enact some of these resolutions. And I'm aware of the irony of procrastinating a task of "self-improvement", so don't bother pointing it out.

* I'm fully aware this keeps happening -- but I can't help it, it's just too much goddamn fun!

Heavens, the rain

2008-01-29T12:54:00.000-03:30

Was forced to get up today at 6:00 because of the rain -- its intensity, coupled with a fierce wind pounding it against my bedroom windows, makes it rather like trying to sleep while going through a carwash. The good thing is that it's kicking the crap out of the surplus snow. Nice mild temperatures -- now there's the global warming we all know and love.

Trivia last week was good -- we flattened the opposition (the host played right into our hands). The weekend was pretty tame, which is good every now and then. Ginny had a crew in for some awesome chili on Saturday night. And I got a few things done in and around the workshop during the daytime. Just a few more edges to stain and I'll have a sidetable for my fireside chair. But I'll wait till next week before I launch into a resolution recap...

One month into winter...

2008-01-21T12:13:00.000-03:30

So it's been a fairly eventful week. I gave a presentation at work last Wednesday which seemed to go well (at least, there were a lot of questions of interest at the end). I then found out that my workload is going to be increasing soon. Which is good, I guess, since stuff was starting to wind down.

We had our third scotch tasting on Thursday night. And once again, very good times. We have a good idea of what the next two bottles will be, so the tradition should continue. I think that in October, after we've accrued close to a dozen bottles, we should have Scotchtoberfest.

Friday night started off innocuously enough at the Guv'nor for a meal and a couple of pints. Then we got back to my place where we tucked into that surplus liquor I have. Stupid Triple Sec. And Disaronno. We wound up at Kelly's where we belted out some standards. I was on the verge of passing out when I got called to the stage again. Got my fourth wind, and was belting out Steppenwolf when some Good Samaritan informed me that my mic was off... that kind of night.

And then on Saturday, Paul was in town, so we headed to Hefford's (which was a big time blast from the past... hadn't been there in years.) We played Rock Band, which is like Guitar Hero but with more instruments, and as such, more amenable to many players.

Oh, and finally, fuck Queen. I'm sick of hearing bloody Bohemian Rhapsody. It wouldn't be so bad if it were a short ditty. But no... it's the musical equivalent of five-hours-in-the-dentist's-chair. Seems like some yuckler is always requesting it on the radio when I'm in the lab. It's enough to make me want to solder my ears shut.

New Year's Resolutions

2008-01-11T11:57:00.000-03:30

Maybe. We'll see how it unfolds. I found that doing my "todo list" on this blog helped me get shit done, so I'm going to try a resolution + regular followups, a la House.

(Note: I realize I haven't crossed items off on my "list" in ages. Stuff is still getting done, just nothing really major to report. And I don't think you all need to know that I scrubbed my toilets one night.)

(Actually, somewhat of a lie: ~~Finish console table~~. Looks pretty sharp.)

These are my intentions:

Cook more/Pack real lunches: This has been one of my shames. I have a repertoire of about three or four recipes. And I don't even prepare those very often. Mostly it's frozen food or some kind of soup and sandwich thing at suppertime, or very frequently a trip to A&W (I walk by it every day). And lunches all too often wind up at the food court. It's hard on the wallet, and can't be good for the health.

So, whether I'm using the crockpot, pasta maker, or regular ol' stove, I'm going to try to cook and bake more. And to attach some numbers: Limit lunch takeout to once or twice a week; cook "real supper meals" three times a week; and takeout outside of work hours to three or fewer times a week.

BTW, so far so good: Lunch was packed three times this week, and only a couple of restaurant visits.
Devote a half-hour each night for general housework: I found that once I get started, I don't mind housework. Problem is, if it piles up it's hard to get started. If it's regular, then it shouldn't pile up. Sounds good in theory, eh? So whether it's scrubbing, dishes, laundry, tidying, painting, sweeping, etc. I'll try to do a half-hour each night.
Get the electronics lab under way: I meant to get this going last fall/winter, but I'm not ashamed of the way it turned out. It all started by getting some stuff (parts cabinet, soldering iron, multimeter, "third hand", etc.) Then I went and built a workbench and found that I really like woodworking. So my electronics lab turned into a general workshop -- not a bad thing, but I'd like to resurrect the electronics part again...
One woodworking project every two months: ... but not at the expense of carpentry. I've got a bunch of ideas in mind now, and the goal is to churn out one of them every two months. I got four done last year, so this shouldn't be terribly lofty.
Keep it up with the piano: I learned a bunch of short pieces (2 minutes each) last year, and some of which I've committed to memory. I want to get more into improvisation -- and this is going to be a big pain in the ass to start with. I need to brush up on the theory more, and put it into practice. So I'm going to try improvising over a simple chord progression for fifteen minutes a day, and see how that goes. Hell, if I come up with some decent passages I'll write them down. I've tried improvising before, and it's an aggravatingly slow process.

Not an overwhelming list, but enough to stay mindful of. Time will tell how well it goes.

Well, this fell by the wayside...

2008-01-09T10:57:00.000-03:30

No post for December. Probably because there was a lot afoot. Now you all get to enjoy an omnipost.

Work
Work was pretty busy in December. I had to undo a bunch of fuck-ups on one project. I was also trying to get the engineering model for another project working before Christmas, and I'm happy to say that it was mostly functional before I left for the holidays. And now it's all functional. Just need to pack it up and throw it in the ocean (this is in fact part of the device's mandate -- not a sign of frustration).

Christmas shindig
We decided to have a big ol' Christmas do, rather than do a secret Santa. Started at India Gate, came back to the house to fit what liquor we could around the meal, and then off to the GTP. Awesome times.

Scotch tasting (pt. 2)
On December 13th, we had our second installment of scotch tasting. And it was also good. Got a few new recruits, and it's looking like it'll be a monthly thing. Next one is a week from tomorrow.

Family
My brother and his family came back for the holidays on December 14th, for a whoppin' two week visit. It was great to see them, especially my two adorable nephews. On the downside, I caught some kind of stomach flu off them. That Sunday was a "stay-in-bed-because-it's-shooting-out-of-both-ends" type day.

My sister came back the day before Christmas Eve in a very dramatic fashion -- very close to missing her connecting flight to NL. But she made it, and all of us were back for the holidays for the first time in years.

Christmas
This was a blur, but I'll try to do a day-by-day recap:

December 21 - Left work and had a small gathering of CFA's at my place. Were going to head to the Duke, but didn't want to derail the conversation.
December 22 - Headed to J&J's place for some vino.
December 23 - Finished off Christmas shopping & wrapped stuff. Sister arrives.
December 24 - Went to the Pageant at the Cathedral, starring my nephews: Timothy was a cow and Douglas was an angel. Had a bunch of drinks and a nice long natter with the family in the evening, as is tradition.
December 25 - Christmas Day. Bagged me a digital camera (THAT'S RIGHT -- I'm part of the digital age now) and a breadmaker.
December 26 - Boxing Day. Mudder had a big extended family drop-in, and then I shuffled off to April's party. Saw a bunch more CFA's.
December 27 - Sister leaves, former roomie Joe arrives. Went out to dinner with Brother & Co.
December 28 - Drove Brother & Co. out to airport in a brutal blizzard, because God love 'em, Air Canada managed to fly out in it. Spent the morning snowbound, then met up with Joe in the afternoon and started drinking. Got Craig & Ginny on the go and kept it up. Pretty blurry night.
December 29 - Picked up Jenn at the airport. James, Paul & Stephanie were in town, so we got our drink on and headed to the GTP again. The place simply never disappoints.
December 30 - Drawin' a blank here.
December 31 - Brunch with the high school boys and Mr. Green (former French teacher), which was awesome. Then a fantastic NYE party Chez Jenn which went on till 4:30 or so. It was a good turnout; and I finally used my digital camera in a social setting! I'll post pics later.
January 1 - Hazy afternoon, and then a turkey dinner at my aunt's house. Wound up at Steve's new place in the east end (Better proximity -- might see him more often now). His child is one year old now, and frickin' big (in a nice way, of course).
January 2 - Learned from last year, and took the day after New Year's off as well. Met up with a couple of old engineering buds at the Duke and tied on a few more and stayed a little longer than was reasonable. But no regrets (now).
January 3 - Back to grind. But I'm happy to have structure once again.

Good Lord, I'm tired of recapping. I'll post again soon....

Lots on the go & coming down the pipe

2007-11-26T12:12:00.000-03:30

Christmas must be coming, cuz there's been a whole lot happening and more to come.

B&B party
One of the members of J&J's bridal party had a bruhaha at this B&B she was house-sitting. There was a really decent turnout and lots of mingling. Afterwards we broke out, hoping for a Kelly's adventure. Alas, Brian was not hosting, so we headed over to the Runner. And that was appalling karaoke. No rhyme or reason at all to the song list, so it was hard to find something decent. And one song I did had all the words fucked up -- dropped verses, etc. And no, it wasn't just my inebriation. Ugh. I can't believe I've become a karoake snob, but there it is. And that's only the beginning of last week's pretentions:

Scotch Tasting
A couple of months ago, a few friends had an idea to start a scotch tasting group. Basically, get together every month or so, chip in $10-$20 each, and buy a bottle of scotch. The dream became reality last week. And it was awesome. Gonna have to invest in snifters for next time, methinks. If this seems pretty lah-ti-dah, it's only because it is.

Blast from the Past party
One of my high school friends recently moved back from Taiwan and got a hold of me on Facebook. Saturday she threw a party and I caught up with a few people I hadn't seen in years. It was good times. What was really nice is that she's only a few blocks away, so stumbling home was a viable option, even in the cold and wind.

Upcoming...
Got a work Christmas party on Friday, heading to a friend's house for lasagna next week, a group Christmas party next weekend, Tiff will be back for a visit around then, and Scotch Tasting Part Deux that week. Kinda like having all these plans.

Overcoming illness...

2007-11-15T12:00:00.001-03:30

Just as last year, I came down with the flu. I suspect that I got it from one of my nephews, which is a pretty raw deal as I gave him a cool DVD and toy.

I found out that wine doesn't help the flu so much, but does result in good times. Starting at 1:00pm, we glugged wine until we were looped, and then drank some more. We returned to my place, and after some coffee and chips, switched to our respective poisons of choice (mine was rye). A lot of hockey was watched (by me, at least), with bittersweet results. There were plans to head to the GTP, but we were all pretty exhausted by that point. Also, the flu had taken a toll on my voice, making me sound like Super Dave. And Lord knows my voice has just gotta be perfect for karaoke ;)

On Remembrance Day, I surprised myself by overcoming shitty weather, progressing flu, and wine hangover to make it to the War Memorial for the service. I figured that the fact that these were the three largest inconveniences in my life, was reason enough to pay respects.

I spent the rest of the day at my cousin's place, watching football on HDTV. This was my first exposure with HD, and I gotta say, it's pretty damn clear. But I don't think it's so mind-blowing as to warrant the extra costs, especially for someone who watches as little TV as I do.

Monday was spent ailing and wishing that the doctor's office was open. Could have gone to the ER, I suppose, but I toughed it out till Tuesday. Now I got some infection-whoopin' pills and feeling a lot better. Hopefully well enough for Friday night which should be a debaucle, if all goes according to plan.

Ha HA! Ethical.

2007-11-08T13:53:00.000-03:30

So I managed to fool the folks at PEG-NL into thinking I'm ethical. And now it's too late for them... if they could see my behaviour at this coming Wine Show, they'd probably rescind that evaluation.

Anyways, it's a big weight off my shoulders, and a very nice thing to come home to. Which brings me to:

Ottawa Trip

Finally got to Ottawa to see my newest nephew, Douglas (who isn't that new, at 11 months old tomorrow). It was a pretty domestic few days, but it was nice to see the brother and his clan after more than a year. And I learned a few things:

The imagination of a three year old could outmatch Dali.
If we could harness the energy of kids and put it on the grid, we'd be set.
I don't know how Geoff and Katherine do it. I guess you must get used to it.

Now back to the grim reality that is work. Which, I suppose, shouldn't include blogging. Ethical indeed.

Happy Birthday to Blog!

2007-10-25T10:08:00.000-02:30

It's come to my attention that this blog is now one year old. I've made 53 posts over the last year, so roughly once a week. That includes the summer where I was grossly negligent and posting once a month. Clearly, this thing is a good way to stave off winter boredom.

I'm going to have an annual highlight reel now, because I'll be too hungover on New Year's Day and the week after.

Woodworking/Carpentry
I managed to build a workbench, piano book rack, bookshelf, coffee table, closet shelf, and shed this year. I discovered that the hardest part is getting started, taking the plunge, and buying all the tools and lumber necessary. I was hoping to have added the endtable and console table I'm now working on to that list, but now I'll have them to add to the next October 25 posting.

Home improvements
I redefined two rooms, installed my bannisters, refinished my dodgy, dodgy bathtub, and got a woodstove and new gutter installed. Also secured a decent supply of firewood for this winter. Still not done are the underfloor insulation and the front Tyvek.

Piano
In spite of having halted lessons, I've learned about a dozen new songs, eight of which I've committed to memory. Most are latin/jazz style, with a few rock-ish ones thrown in there. The dynamics probably still need work, so it'd be nice to have an instructor for that; but, hey, I enjoy playing them.

Wedding after wedding
From October to October, I've attended six weddings. Congratulations once again to:

Richard & Jennifer
Sam & Meg
Paul & Stephanie
Domenica & Jon
Mike & Heather
Jon & Jessica

Back
Got fixed. Thank God.

So I guess it's been a pretty productive year. Somewhere between all this, I've managed to fit in a lot of karaoke and drinking adventures.

On a side note, every now and then I have a night of "This Is Your Life". That happened last night while at Starbucks. In the span of an hour, I ran into two girls I hadn't seen since elementary school, high school librarian, former coworker, and an old friend who moved out west two years ago.

Yikes. A very indulgent post, but then, it is a blog, after all.

Stupid rain... (pt. 2)

2007-10-22T11:35:00.000-02:30

Well, I kinda got my wish. From Thursday morning to Saturday afternoon it didn't rain. So I managed to get some wood into the shed. The rest of it was still soggy so it stayed out... and got another wash. A 24-hour wash. Followed by a 4 hour wash this morning. And possibly another on Wednesday.

Outside of whining,

~~Build wood shelf~~

I had been meaning to make a set of shelves for my kitchen closet, upon which I could keep 3-4 days supply of firewood, as well as kindling and old newspapers (that way all four of my kitchen chairs are free... not that they're used much anyways). It's now my fire closet.

I was surprised: they took me less than an hour, and cost less than $15 worth of materials (four 2x4 studs, one 2'x4' sheet of 7/16" OSB, and 56 nails). Here are the steps:

Cut two 1' lengths off each of the studs, so you should have eight 1' lengths in total (the cleats), and four ~69" lengths left (the legs)
From the bottom of each leg, mark across at 12", 30", 48", and 66"
With 8d common nails, face nail and glue four of the cleats across two of the legs such that the top of each cleat is flush with the marks above.
Repeat above. You should have two 1' wide "ladders"
Cut the OSB into four 1'x2' shelves.
Nail (with 8d common nails) and glue the ends of the OSB shelves onto the tops of the cleats such that they span the two "ladders".

Certainly not the prettiest looking shelves, but quite functional. Plus they've got that wicked OSB smell (what I call "new shed smell"). Good for a junk room or dodgy closet like I have.

There... this blog isn't just drinking stories and modest life updates.

But it is that too. Thursday night I hosted trivia with JP, which was quite a hoot. I love doing it; if only I knew more trivia, I could host more frequently. I got pretty drunk that night, which made for a sluggish day of work on Friday.

The weekend was pretty good too. Kinda productive (as above), as well as choking back a few brews with friends. On Saturday night, this imbibing was purely medicinal; I was stupid enough to grab a 600°F woodstove handle by the metal part. I had to keep a cold beer in my hand to ward off the pain. And by the time I ran out of beer, I was numb enough to no longer feel it. The perfect plan.

Stupid rain...

2007-10-16T09:22:00.000-02:30

I've been waiting for a two day stint of no rain so that I can get the rest of my firewood in the shed. In two weeks, that hasn't really happened... and doesn't look like it's going to any time soon. Bad enough that the sun doesn't rise until well after 7:00, but when you're greeted with yet another gray and showery day, it doesn't give ya a lot of oomph. Can't complain too much, I guess, since before that two weeks, it was pretty nice out.

Cat for Lease

I took care of Jenn's cat for a couple of weeks. This is the second October in a row I've cat-sat. But this one was a lot mellower (being 10+ years older than Guinness), and for whatever reason, I seemed less allergic to him. I was kinda hoping that he would gruesomely kill the mouse, but so far I haven't found any corpses. Being declawed probably diminishes his effectiveness as a predator.

Anyways, the whole thing has got me thinking that I could probably own a cat at some point down the road, at the modest sacrifice of lung capacity.

Ethical?

I wrote my law and ethics exam yesterday. I'm comforted (somewhat) that others found it as unsettling as I did. Now I get to wait "6-8 weeks" to see if I'm ethical. But I already know the answer to that...

Rye and more Georgetown Shenanigans

I'm happy to have rediscovered the joys of rye, after cashing in a bunch of NLC gift certificates for a pile of Crown Royal. I'm also pleased to say that we have a couple of new recruits for GTP Saturday nights. Gonna cool it for a little while, until Wine Fest. That's gonna be a gong show of a day and night...

Better get one post in before September expires

2007-09-19T13:22:00.000-02:30

Recap time.

Friends coming...

I took a week off work for when Joe and House came back to visit. Joe stayed at my place (on a mattress that I dug out and threw on the floor... my house is more of a tavern and less of an inn). There were a couple of crazy nights, including one that involved a booze-up at 'the tavern', a screech-in, meeting up with Tiff in one of her last hoorahs here (more below), and heading to the GTP. Joe was also of tremendous help getting the shed completed (more below).

...and going...

Unfortunately, these people had to head back. Very unfortunately, others left as well, including Tiff & Corey who are starting anew in Alberta. Jon and Lynnette are finally into Boston after some immigration drama. Add to that list Brad, who left the island entirely after securing a job in Ottawa.

Carpentry Complete (Kinda)

The shed... she's functional. Note I didn't say done. I still need to Tyvek the thing. And I'm not 100% satisfied with the roof, though it did repel the rain we got a few nights ago. Big shout out to Joe, Jenn, Paul, and Jon for helping out.

I also finished off a coffee table project I had been working on. It has replaced the catenary-shaped, dark coffee table in my living room, and as such has brightened things up a bit. Next up: a matching console table.

Vermin

In addition to the scattered earwig that ventures inside from my remaining lumber pile, I also have a mouse living between my kitchen ceiling and workshop floor. Not really sure what the hell it's living off of (do mice eat sawdust? If so, I'll upgrade it from 'vermin' to 'pet'). I've deployed a variety of traps, but none have yielded results so far. I may have to borrow Jenn's cat to pull a hit on it for me (promoting it from 'vermin' to 'livestock').

Work

Is all right. No projects are boiling over.

There we go. A September post... with four days to spare.

Week Without Weddings

2007-08-14T12:36:00.000-02:30

My busy wedding season is over. But I've got lots to fill the time...

Work kinda boiling over
I'm on three projects now, all of which very pressing to some degree. On the upside, I get a week off next week whatever happens.

Decent weekend
Had the crew over for a BBQ on Friday. I'm determined to get as much use out of that thing while I still can. Went pretty well, I think. At around midnight, it was only Paul (who is fortunately in town for the next few weeks) and I who remained. Did the Peter Easton in hopes of karaoke there, but as it turned out, only very cheap pints of Guinness, which is still a great silver medal. Then mozied down to Kelly's for the gold. Shut the place down and headed back to my place for a 4am BBQ. I cooked burgers, he swatted spanworm moths. It was a good team effort.

Saturday I headed to the Duke for a pint with Richard. Had a chance encounter at the Duke with Dan, who was in town. Met up with his crew later and had a couple of drinks. The night would have probably gone further had they not all decided to go to Junctions. Fuck Junctions. The highlight was the ultra-efficient "ejection of poison" one of the b'ys had in the alleyway. Only myself and Dan heard anything, and we just thought he spilled beer.

Dave vs. Firewood
Not too long after hauling half a cord of firewood through the house and stacking it, I saw an ad for some scrap wood from a contractor that makes baby barns. So I gave him a shout and bought it off him.

The good: Man, that's a crapload of wood.
The bad: Goddam, that's a crapload of wood.
The ugly: Gotta find the time/means of moving over 150 cubic feet of wood through my house. It's making more urgent the completion of...

The Shed
...which is progressing. Two walls done. Hopefully another banged out tonight. And I guess I'm going to have to finally decide upon a door width before I bang out the front wall. I'm looking at 4' since, even if a little wide, it means less cutting.

Congrats Jon & Jessica!

2007-08-08T12:14:00.000-02:30

Two more friends tie the knot. :) I think things went off without a hitch. Just like a cell phone: great service and fantastic reception. Highlights include:

Successfully shooing off the firewood guy so that all of us groomsmen could get ready at my place.
Getting photos done at Jess' parents' place while knocking back a few cold ones.
Delivering a speech without being booed off the podium.
Sucking back cheap drinks at the Mess Hall.
Dancing like a fool for the rest of the night, both at the reception and at the Sundance afterwards.
Passing out on my couch in a tux.

The day after was the gift opening. The morning was pretty intense, which involved dealing with the deferred firewood delivery, and orchestrating the delivery of the bridal party's gift to the opening (thanks to Stef and her van-driving father!). It was a pretty food-oriented event... somebody made a seafood chowder that was tantamount to heaven-in-a-bowl. I sucked back yet another cigar at this thing (that makes three in a month. Is this now a habit?) with da b'y's outside -- the conversation should have been videotaped I think, and made into a TV show.

Oh, and a brief mention of Friday night, since it was action-laden too. Went on a boat tour with the rest of the bridal party and some of the CFA's right after work. Then headed to Kelly's for (you guessed it) karaoke. It was the last time I'd see J&L before they took off to Boston, so we made a big production out of it. Good times.

Productivity update (this almost became another 'all-booze' post):

My shed floor is practically done. Just gotta pop in a few more screws. Would have done that last night, but again with the rain.
Got my tub resurfaced! A bit of caulking to do, and a couple of days drying still remains.
Still staining coffee table legs. To my horror, one of them had a lot of drip down the side so that had to be redone. This is a brutal process: stain one face of each leg, wait 8 hours, restain, wait 8 hours, then do it for each of the 4 faces.

Hmmm... a chronologically distorted post. Kinda like a Quentin Tarantino flick, except without all the acclaim.

Nice morning

2007-07-31T09:29:00.000-02:30

During the summer months, I'm faced with a terrible dilemma when getting to sleep. I either a) Keep the windows closed and suffocate in the third-storey heat, or b) Open the windows and let the cool air and the noise of William Street in. Lately I've been doing the latter. And you get some pretty nutty stuff wafting in through the window at 2-3 in the morning.

The night before last I heard a bunch of people out drinking down the street. And I heard the progression of one fella as he got more and more drunk, staggered up the road, and started puking. It was kinda funny for something that was fucking with my sleep.

Last night the bat-shit crazy lady who lives up the road was out in the middle of the road for probably an hour, squawking. It's her thing; she'll push her shopping cart (?) up the road, maybe taking a step every 30 seconds. And all the while very audibly grunting and yelling. I can't remember exactly some of the stuff she was saying, as I was on the cusp of consciousness, but it was all so random. A five or six word phrase about something, and usually punctuated by "FUCKING COCKSUCKER!" And then lather, rinse, and repeat.

Not condusive to sleeping. I may have to invest in a fan to break my dilemma.

So I wake up this morning pretty groggy, but nevertheless plowing through my routine of making breakfast, drinking coffee, and watching an episode of something (today it was Trailer Park Boys). On my way to get a second cup, something caught my eye in the vicinity of the woodstove...

There was a bird in there. A real, very alive, and probably very creosote-covered bird. Just chilling and looking around. A starling, I believe, but an ornithologist I am not. It was a pretty big starling, too, leading me to wonder how the hell it got in there. Sure it could fit down the flue, but through the baffles and all? I thought I was cracking up.

So I opened the front and back doors expecting a "hilarious" chase-the-bird-out-of-the-house-with-a-broom vignette. I went to open the stove door, and the bird freaked out a bit and pressed itself against the corner. But I got it open, and when I stepped back the thing made a bee-line for the front door and outta the house, leaving a little puff of ash on my hearth.

No confrontation, just surreal. I guess the birdscreen on the chimney needs replacing. *sigh*

I've got to stop this self-destructive lifestyle

2007-07-30T09:46:00.000-02:30

Summer months are hard on my body. Here's a recap of my boozin' adventures for July.

Jon's b-day (July 8)
A birthday BBQ is a good opportunity. Started at around 2 in the afternoon. It was good times: pretty decent turnout, awesome food. Then around midnight we decided to head to Kooler's on Ropewalk. Didn't last too long, as we were pretty lethargic at that point.
J&D's wedding (July 13)
The first of my busy wedding season, this one was a blast. Lovely service -- Min's musical acquaintances provide a nice touch. The reception was fantastic. I was kind of worried, since my supervisor was present, that I'd have to tone it back. But he left at around 9:30, and not only that, left me his drink tickets! Got my drink on, and once again, was a social liability on the dance floor. Most of the screech and cokes made it to my mouth, but some landed on said floor.
J&L's going away party (July 14)
A pimps & ho's theme at this shindig, and most of the attendees were all in for it. J&L had to empty out their liquor cabinet, so being the tremendous friend I am, I helped out. I remember grabbing bottles at random, and speaking out loud the ingredients in a Mr. Burns voice as I added shot after shot to the glass. I also had my first cigar there. Good the night of, but lousy the morning after. Another highlight involved wanting to hit the GTP at 1:30, and Don calling Brian and telling him to "hang on, we're coming".
Mike's wedding (July 21)
Went out to Gander for this one, which was cool, since I got the opportunity to check out B&M's digs there before they depart for Ottawa. They also put me up for the night (mad props to you, B&M!). The wedding was good stuff, and I managed to catch up with some old friends. After the reception, we headed to Legends for a few more drinks. Gander gets rowdy later in the evening. I think fatigue was more a factor than drunkeness in ending the night, but still good times.
Milley's stag (July 27)
What a gong show. Started at my place where I put my recently acquired BBQ to good use. Tossed back a few (lot of) brews and chewed the fat for a while, then Milley had the great idea to share his scotch. After this glass full of wonderful, tasty, smooth-as-silk scotch, I was pretty hammered. Smoked a cigar, then headed to the peelers. It was a good show. Pretty pickled in the morning; but I pulled through, and...
Random karaoke (July 28)
Made it to the Georgetown with Tiff and her crew, after talking about it for several weeks. The place was hopping, and there was (and I mean this seriously) a lot of good singing that night! We rocked out until the place shut down. And I think we made some believers...

Yeah, so 6 times in 22 days I've gotten bombed. And there's Kelly's and J&J's wedding this weekend, where I'm likely, nay expected, to be a drunken boob again.

Huzzah for summer!

What have I been doing apart from problem drinking?

2007-07-19T12:36:00.000-02:30

Lest everybody think that all I do is drink (which is a reasonable impression given my last few posts) I'll give an update on my more mild-mannered life.

Work life: Gotta say, every now and then I love this job. It's gotten better recently, what with my new office that is more spacious and has windows. Natural light is my favourite kind of light. The field work has been pretty cool too; it's nice to spend a day at sea with the folks from the CCG and get paid for it.

Lastly, I participated in an employee survey recently. The turnout was low so they had to resort to bribing people by offering prizes. Found out I won one. Expecting a ballcap, coffee mug, or other company merchandise, I was pleasantly surprised with a bottle of red wine! A company that helps me get drunk is a good company.
Shed construction: During my week off, I tackled building a shed. It's turning out to be a whole lot more work than anticipated, as the ground on which it's being built is terribly lumpy. So far I've got most of the piers laid out, which is a very labour intensive and iterative process of digging, checking for levelness, moving, etc. I should be able to tackle the joists next week. Haven't been able to lately as the weather has been, and this'll sound weird, too nice for heavy work. Also, I had to deal with spanworms (see below).
Lethal chemicals: During my break from shed building, the spanworms came. And heavy. A maple in my neighbour's yard that partially shades mine is now rendered leafless. And the little shaggers got all over my building materials and house. So I got a can of Raid and gassed 'em good! Nothing more satisying than hearing the <thud, thud, thud> of dead spanworm falling from the walls. I got some Killex too, and I hope that the weeds in my yard will meet with a similar fate.
Furniture building: Finally got my bookcase done a couple of weeks ago. Looks pretty decent, if I do say so myself, and so far it's been bearing the weight of hardcovers without collapse.

Now my coffee table is nearing completion. Spent about 2 hours sanding and staining last night, the most onerous of all woodworking tasks. Got pretty dizzy from the fumes; might have to invest in a fan.

There we are... a few more dimensions of Dave. Of course, I do have a few more "being blitzed" anecdotes to share, but those are for another post.

Circus Drunk, pt. 2

2007-07-02T21:36:00.000-02:30

~~Drink till the sun comes up~~

So this has been a pretty wild Canada Day weekend. Brad and Melissa were back in town, so we met up at Bitters for some grub after work. We made plans to meet up at Trapper's at 11:00, since Brad's brother and sister-in-law were also in town, and the latter needed to be screeched in. In the meantime, I headed to J&L's place and planted the idea of downtown in their heads. From this acorn a mighty oak grew.

We did meet up at Trapper's (oh, and George Street was in "fleece" mode: $10 cover on the street, expensive beer everywhere). But they refused our request for screech-in. On to Christian's... just missed that one (which is a crying shame). Kelly's refused, but I did notice our favourite karaoke host was there. More later.

Craig finally managed to arrange a screechin at this lah-dee-dah place above O'Rielly's called Rain, Drizzle, and Fog (basically the martini bar, without the cockface attitude problem). For an impromptu screechin, it was pretty damn good. I mentioned the idea of Kelly's karaoke, and everyone was sold.

We shut the place down. It was good times. I'm happy they had "Free Bird". We showed the place how it was done. And Brian (host) dazzled all with his version of "Billie Jean".

Craig ended up crashing on my couch, and on Saturday I helped him out with some light fixtures at his place. Not having the materials to finish the job, and being otherwise devoid of plans... we started at my place drinking in the afternoon, of course. Meeting up with us was Geoff and Brad. And not having our fill of karaoke from the previous night, we headed to the Georgetown.

We noticed our beloved host wearing the same shirt as the night before. That's because this maniac had been partying ever since. What a champion. And then he informed us of a party he was heading to afterwards. More later.

Unfortunately, the place was deader than usual. But we belted out some favourites and some new stuff. And good ol' Geoff busted his karaoke cherry with a solid version of "Run to You". High on my renditions of "Born to be Wild" and "White Wedding", I decided to attempt "Living on a Prayer". I ignored the warnings of Brian, and proceeded anyways... which was, to put it charitably, a tactical error. Thankfully Brian was right there to turn down my mic on the really dodgy parts.

So we headed to this party. There was a hot tub and a keg. We were feeling a tad out of place until Craig met up with one of his colleagues. Had it not been so freezing, or had I been a bit drunker, I probably would have splashed in there, but we erred on the side of caution. We drank and drank, ogled the chicks that were in the tub, and watched an awesome Peter Gabriel DVD that was on in the background. Brian and Steph (cute barmaid) showed up eventually and all was well.

Finally, at 5:30am, we called it quits. Bright as day out, and we staggered back to my place where pizza was had before falling into a coma.

Breaking me out of that coma was Brad calling to see if we wanted breakfast at the Bagel Cafe. Really glad I did this, as it was just the tonic. Took 'er easy for most of the day until nightfall when we headed to a bonfire planned by J&L. It was a grand turnout and a good laugh.

I just got back from helping Craig do more with the light fixtures, but sadly we were about two feet short in the wire department so we couldn't complete. But what was done looks pretty damn good. It was a bit grief-laden, given the age of the house and all its foibles, but we managed to make a laugh out of it.

All in all, this has been one of the most surreal 72 hour stints I've ever had, peaking at the moment that I was drinking as the sun rose on this gong-show of a party our karaoke host invited us to.

O Canada!

Circus Drunk

2007-06-27T15:48:00.000-02:30

This is an apt description of last Saturday. After being denied in our quest to get Spirit Fest tickets, we decided to buy $38 (the face value) worth of booze and start early. There was a lot of "shit-shooting" going on that afternoon, but we broke it up by heading out the GTP for some pub games. The good news: the attractive barmaid is back.

As it turned out, Paul and Steph were back in town, so they joined us early in the evening. Had a good natter and still more drinks. Paul's brother was having some kind of birthday shindig at Kelly's Pub, so we decided to saunter down and meet up with that crowd. It was kind of like a two-month wedding reunion.

More and more drinks had. There was a band playing some toe-tapping Irish stuff. So myself and one of the female members of the party decided to hit the dance floor...

Now, it was going well, until I find her on the ground next to a speaker near the stage. I'm hoping it was just a simple accident. But my ever-guilty morning-after conscience keeps telling me I might have inadvertently flung her. I don't think so, though, since Paul and his brothers could have pounded me to a snot. It'd be good to know that I can keep my misogyny under control while drinking, and that I'm not, in fact, Andy Capp.

After this episode, we all headed up to the GTP again (the fact that P&S went with me allays my fears too). Did the whole karaoke bit, but moreso with the dancing. There was a red-headed cougar who was on the floor with all of us -- if my beer goggles were a little thicker, the night could have ended tragically. My retrospective memory leads me to believe I made the right call.

Best part? Not much of a hangover. I'll try it again next week.

In the Merry Month of May

2007-05-29T15:19:00.000-02:30

I'm just so terrible at this. But now I can recount stuff in point form -- good because a wordsmith I am not. And really only the weekends, because outside of a few trips to the Duke, not much happens on weeknights.

May 5 weekend: Never rains, it pours. Started at J&J's shindig, but T&C were back from Labrador and had planned a belated birthday celebration at Dooley's. Good to see them and hang out for a bit. Jugs (of beer) for $9.25, as I recall. The Sens closed out their series with the Devils, much to the chagrin of one of Tiff's friends. Managed to get back to J&J's to mooch some SoCo, and then a lengthy drunken walk back home, taking me along paths and shortcuts I hadn't taken since God-knows-when.
May 12 weekend: Lynnette's birthday party at her place. I found myself as the DD (!), but it's good to see the "other side" every now and then. The big hit gift that night was a hula hoop. Shared some dirty jokes with Don and Jon. Then dropped them off to the Sundance. Woulda gone, but as DD, I was about 9 drinks short of being able to enjoy it.
May 19 (long) weekend: Ahhh... a grand, out-of-the-blue, composite Saturday. Started with a hike around Cripple Cove with Geoff. The worst part of that was the dodgy dirt road to the trailhead, particularly the rusted culvert that we had to drive over. Lovely hike though; first one I had done in about a year. Then back to my place/good ol' GTP where we met up with Craig and took in the hockey game over a few beers. Sens closed out Buffalo that day, much to the chagrin of nobody. Jenn and Andrea then showed up with Indian food. Shot the shit till about midnight then turned in.
May 26 weekend: Had supper and shot pool with Jenn on Friday night -- a good catchup session. Then went to a b-day shindig for Nikki on Saturday. I tried to push the idea of karaoke, but in retrospect, I'm glad it got vetoed for going to the Rose instead. I also tackled the ~~weed farm~~ back yard. Between old eavestroughing, crummy patio furniture, a derelict bicycle, a tar bucket complete with oozy brushes, dead tree branches, and, yes, some woman's purse (!), I'm looking forward to bulk garbage pickup day. I've deemed an extension to the deck unnecessary since visualizing it sans the clutter. Channel that money towards a shed now.

Also, Lori lent me a copy of the first Harry Potter. I've decided it's time. That and the fact that I've been bloody illiterate over the past year and need to start reading again. Children's literature might just be a suitable calibre right now.

Congrats Paul and Stephanie!

2007-04-30T13:28:00.000-02:30

Went out to Stephenville on Thursday for Paul & Stephanie's wedding. Man, I needed a trip like that -- it was a fantastic time:

Thursday: Rolled into Stephenville at around 6:30. This was much sooner than I thought, given the 10:00am departure owing to the goofing around getting the rental car. Had the stag party that night at Clancy's Pub. Lots of drinks consumed, stories shared, pool played, and good times had.
Friday: Nursed a tiny hangover at a deli called Hartery's -- like a combination of "hard" and "artery", which was very apt considering the greasy feed we had. Managed to buy a hacky sack at the dollar store there, so that entertained us throughout the afternoon. In the evening, we all went to the rehearsal party. More good times, in spite of the presence of asthma-triggering dogs.
Saturday: Another grease-laden breakfast, this time at the Holiday Inn. Got all decked out and went to the wedding, which was nice and short. In the 3 hour interim, we non-wedding-party folk went to our hotel's lounge, tied a few on, and chewed the fat. Rarely do I see the folks who were there. Then off to the reception, which was awesome. Dandy feed, cheap bar, and a live band along with the DJ. Danced the night away...
Sunday: Still wondering when I'll get the bill for the hangover I should have had. In the meantime, we hit the road early, pit-stopped at Deer Lake for breakfast with B&M, and drove back home. This was exhausting, so I was in bed by 9 last night.

A good trip. And here's to Paul and Stephanie, and many, many happy years together!

There we are... hopefully that'll sustain my massive readership for the next three week lapse.