turning it up a notch or three

The past week has been restful. It's always nice to come home for a week at Christmas and enjoy the time spent with family and friends with lots of food and get plenty of sleep on a bed that's a good size.

On Saturday, I installed Windows 7 onto my laptop. It's going nicely so far with only a few small glitches that seem to be fairly prevalent in the world of Windows 7, but it's nothing unliveable. I'll be ok. Definitely a bit different than XP, but I'm ok with it so far.

I've gotten some Wii in over the past few days too - Super Mario Wii is fun and as addicting and aggrivating as the other versions I've played. I give it two thumbs up. Also, Pictureka, Pictionary Man, Dutch Blitz, Skipbo, Scrabble, and Bananagrams have been played at some point in time over the past few days as well. Good times all around.

Anyway, I'm out.

(post 800)

...

in whoville they say...

Last week was the annual student Christmas Banquet at EBC, marking the 7th time I've gathered for Christmas with the EBC community. The theme this year was "In WhoVille They Say..." with the theme of Dr. Seuss' the Grinch. We had Roast Beast (ham) for dinner and then had a coffee house afterwards.

I had an idea about writing a piece of prose based on a "Who" that wasn't so sure about the Grinch's "transformation" from mean to nice. And so...

Injustice in WhoVille
(c) 2009

Up in the mountain,
Not ‘er to be seen
There lived a foul creature
Whose skin was dark green.

This creature was cruel,
This creature did hate
The rumours were that
He’d never been on a date

His name was the Grinch
He loathed us Who’s,
Each night we heard his
Hissing and Boos.

We loved each Christmas
As much as the last
Even though the Grinch
Just wished it would pass.

One year he decided
To pull off a ploy
That would see Christmas gone
For each Who Girl and Boy.

He came in the night
To every Who house
Christmas he took,
From even the mouse

But something strange happened
On that Christmas morn,
No sounds of tears,
Not even of scorn.

The Whos, we did sing
And join in the square
While the mean Grinch
Watched from his lair

They say something changed
In that Grinch heart, it did
They say his heart grew
Like a 6 year old kid.

He returned us our gifts,
He returned us our feast
He was even allowed to
Carve the Roast Beast

And feast – they did feast
Feast on our precious and only Roast Beast.

The Grinch he did smile
The Grinch, he did laugh
It was almost as if
They increased his portions by half

How could this happen,
I found myself ask
Surely he had only
donned a “good” mask.

He didn’t deserve this
Who treatment there
He should have received
Just a Who glare

This is unjust!
Take him to courts!
Throw at him laws,
Statutes and Torts!

Perhaps it is only
Fit for this time
That maybe the Grinch
Tastes less like lime

His transformation was fast
Almost too fast for me
Forever nice?
Improbably

Unfair, yes it is
Unfair this must be
How can we have him
‘Round the Who Tree?


My thoughts have not changed
While the Grinch is around
Although he may differ
This change is not sound

I do not trust
The new Grinch in town
But as for right now,
It’s time to lay down

Thank you for hearing
My thoughts to you
And now I will leave you
With a Whoville Haiku:

Christmas Time is Here
Break out the Who Pudding, yes.
Carve up the Roast Beast
-- Haiku

just like a snowplow

The weeks leading up to Christmas mark the season of Advent, something that wasn't part of my tradition in growing up. However, in recent years, I've become more aware of it and have come to appreciate the idea that is behind it: preparation of our hearts to celebrate the coming of Christ.

At church last week and this, the band has played a song that they wrote to go along with the theme of advent called "Turn on the Porchlight". Although there's no copyright, I don't want to do anything illegal, so I'll just make mention of the beginnings of the verses:

Turn on the porchlight, dazzle the dark night. God is coming soon.
Just like a snowplow, scraping the road now, prophets clear the way.
Here is a newsbreak healing our heartache: Christ will bring us home!
Born in a stable, straw for a cradle, now the baby cries.
Thousands of angels stand in the heavens, singing Christ is born

I've come to appreciate the symbolism that comes with the season of advent - light, green branches, and all that goes along with it.

It also brings Christmas back to it's original intents, away from the consumeristic trends that seem to be overtaking us in this recession-laden world (and even before, but now they're trying to get us to spend for more reasons than profit, or so it would seem).

I found out about an idea a few weeks ago called the Advent Conspiracy. The chapels this week will be focusing more on the theme, so I look forward to hearing more.

Out.

[don't] call me...

Over the past 7 years, I've moved a few times. And each time I've moved, I've changed my land line number, mostly because it's cheaper to start fresh than to have your old number moved. And each time I've gotten a new number in recent years, it seems that it's an old number that Bell's recycling fairly quickly after it was last used.

So, in the past, I've had calls from someone's grandmother who, although my voicemail very clearly stated my name, didn't realize as much and left a few messages stating it was his grandmother and to call him back, and finally left one that just said "It's grandma..." and then hung up. Last year we had the phone number of a former electrical business, so people were leaving messages asking for quotes and letting us know where we could get discounts on electrical supplies. But I think over the past few weeks, I've gotten the one to trump them all: A Collection agency is calling for someone (who is not me). At first it was a few messages from a person, who I figured if they were stupid enough to not realize it was the wrong number after listening to my answering machine (that clearly states my name) then I didn't need to call them back and let them know. But last night took the cake. It was an automated message asking this guy (who still is not me) to call them back.

Usually, I'd ignore these, but I think if they're still not understanding they have the wrong number and are going to use machines to call my number, I need to take action.

I can deal with the occasional call for the former users of this phone number, but when it becomes harassment, it's time to fix it.

Any suggestions on how to deal with it easily?

slowdown

I've had a blogging slowdown recently, partially because I've been fairly busy with work and school in recent weeks, and probably just a small bit because I'm trying to hold off on hitting 800 posts until 2010 (currently sitting at 794, this will make 795).

I made the upgrade to Office 2007 at work this week. I'm glad that there's a menu emulator for 2003 otherwise I might have to gouge my eyes out due to the stupid uses of space in the Office 2007 menu structure. I don't need to see the style spread out like it is, but alas, they think I do and don't give me the option of turning it off. M$ is stupid.

This month was a big month for events at work. First came curling where we had 16 people out. Once we got into the club (a few minutes late due to it being locked when we got there), we had a ball. Only 1 person was new to the sport that evening, which meant there was less time for training, but hopefully more new people are interested in coming out next semester. Secondly was the 10.6 km hike from near Milton to Speyside on the Bruce Trail. This is the 3rd time I've done this section of the trail and it gets better every time. This was the best weather of all the times I've gone, and the most people I've had on an outing through the school so far. We'll see how things go in January (still need to get snow tires before that one) with the next one. And thirdly, what is quickly becoming a semesterly event, Taize happened. We tried to record it, but it didn't work, unfortunately. Good times with harmonies and singing and different languages and such.

Next semester, on top of Outdoors club, Taize, and curling, I'm co-directing a choir for an art show fundraiser we're doing in March. I'm excited for it because I really miss singing in choir and this should be lots of fun. There are many people who are interested in joining, so hopefully the sound will be full.

But otherwise, life continues. A take-home exam is all that's left for this semester's course. Next semester I'm taking two classes - Social Psychology and Soundtracks: Music in Film. Should be a ball. Or something.

Out.

probably not

With all news sources being turned into Pandemic Central over the past few weeks, there could be a lot of concern in my head over getting ill with the piggy flu.  Thousands have lined up for hours to get the pain in their arm so far - many of them perfectly healthy and not in the high risk groups.  Sure, a lot of people are probably in the right to get the shot, but I'm not planning on taking that step unless I'm forced to by some reason unbeknownst to me at this time.

I'm probably ok with getting sick and just riding out the recovery time at home.  I have 6 seasons of Corner Gas and 7 seasons of Scrubs to keep me company if I do.  I can also download other seasons of shows if I'm that bored.

Besides, if there's some side effect like infertility, I do want to be able to have kids at some point in time in my life [staying hopeful, Mom.]

So here's me keeping well with handwashing, sneezing into my elbow, and cleaning up after myself where needed until that point.  Hopefully I can get along just peachy without getting ill or getting the shot.

i [don't] want candy...

Many years ago, I remember going to a pizza place in Sarnia and wanting a sucker out of the bowl by the front door. But since then, I cannot recollect liking candy. In recent years, even the smell of it triggers a mild gag reflex. Chocolate is not included in this for some reason, although I don't enjoy chocolate in mass quantities unless it comes with gorging on a pack of Oreos.

But back to the candy. Over the years, I've received different reactions to this. Some people choose to ignore it entirely [or forget it] and offer every time they have some. Others realize it and don't even offer, which is fine. Others look at me like I'm some kind of wierdo [which I do not look like, not unlike Captain Vegetable], which seems to be the most chosen response.

Enter the one Hallmark Holiday of the year where candy takes centre stage in North American culture. I used to go out for Halloween and take in a massive haul of the stuff. I went through the piles of loot and took out the things that I would consume, including some chocolate, and pop. The rest went into a container under my bed and stayed there until the next time I did a massive cleaning of my room and then it was moved to a location where someone might enjoy it more than I was. This happened until around Grade 8 when I decided that it was a pointless venture for me to continue on, so I stopped. Although it's occasionally fun to try a new outfit [probably the best I've done was Alfalfa from the Little Rascals], I'm not too much a fan of the holiday, and I don't really see a need personally to propogate it into the future.

addendum

Well, more like 2 addendums, although one might not be related to the last post:

1. The fall colours along the 401 were beautiful, especially between Toronto and Kingston where most of the trees still had leaves.

2. Blaze A Trail 2010 - September 25, 2010. Details coming... sometime.

road trip

About 6 years ago, I went on a road trip. Three days in a car with two friends seeing places that were pretty cool. Although the majority of our waking hours were spent in the car, it was a memorable experience. An experience I've wanted to do again since, but it's become harder to plan a trip like that. Until this weekend.

Some friends from Indiana came up and we took a road trip to Montreal and Ottawa for the weekend. We left KW by 9:00AM on Friday morning and after 3 quick stops for gas and food, we made it to our hotel on the in the Outremont district of Montreal shortly after 4pm. Driving in the city wasn't as bad as some people made it out to be, but we hit rush hour before it truly started and didn't have far to go once we left the highway.

First impression: Our hotel was in a Jewish neighbourhood. Many Hasidic Jews were walking around with the hats and the hair and the yamakas. We walked by a synagogue on our way to the Metro stop. It was good times. I spent a day in Old Montreal last year, so I was fairly familiar with what's there, but this time it was fall and wet and cold, so not much was open, and it was getting dark by the time we got there. Instead of walking around too much, we got a Crepe at a restaurant for dinner, and then took a quick walk through Chinatown, and then back to the hotel for the evening.

Saturday was spent at the Biodome, Insectarium, Botanical Gardens, and the Eaton Centre (still cold and rainy). That evening I was tired, so I stayed back while my friends went out to Schwartz's deli for dinner. They brought me back a sandwich with lots of meat on it. Tatsty stuff. I went to Tim Horton's near the hotel for my dinner and was sad to find out they didn't have chili. I got over it quickly and ordered a sandwich instead.

Sunday we drove through the fairly empty streets to the top of Mont Royal to see the lookouts, and then we drove by St. Joseph's oratory (rather huge), and then hit the road to head westward to Ottawa. I've only let the gas light come on three times in my car. Twice I was within 2 km of a gas station every time. The third time was between Ottawa and Montreal and I had no clue where the next gas station was on the 417. Thankfully, there was one about 5 km up the highway, but we went for the first 25 km in Ontario without seeing one, which is somewhat reminiscent of the 402. The car didn't die and we got enough fuel to last us through partway home. All was well in the world again.

Upon arriving in Ottawa, I decided to turn off and take the "scenic" drive into downtown, which turned out to be a rather pretty drive along the Ottawa River, past 24 Sussex Drive and Rideau Hall, and to the parliament buildings. We found some parking and then took a walk around Parliament, opting not to take a tour, mostly because my friends weren't really interested, and I plan on going back sometime. After about an hour or two there, we left for the hotel, checked in, and then went out to a guy we met at EBC's place in Orleans for dinner. It was nice not to have to eat at a Restaurant for the first time in the weekend.

Monday morning, we woke up, packed up the car, and hit the road by 10:15. After brief stops in Prescott for breakfast, and Port Hope for lunch / gas, we made it back to KW by 4:30, only 1433 km later.

It was some fun times, and I'd like to do it again. Probably in the summer next time.

breathing room

I just decided to widen up my blog a bit to give it some more breathing room to deal with the newer monitors that are out there. If you're on a feed reader, come enjoy the extra 160 pixels of width.

fear this

Today I went to Rockwood with some students for the second time in a month.  Why go two times in that short period of time?  well... here's the story:

Backtrack a few weeks:  I'm talking with a co-worker about exploring the caves at Rockwood and how I would never go into them because of my claustrophobia (which I think is caused by Dan sitting on my head too many times as a child, but let's not point the figures at any brothers in particular.)  He said he'd come with me because he's explored them a few times and is fairly comfortable in that type of situation.  So we made an Outdoors Club outing of it.

Fastforward to yesterday at lunch.  We're both eating lunch in the Campus Centre at work and are talking about what we'd be doing at Rockwood.  And as he's talking, he was getting more and more excited about this, while at the same time, I was getting more and more anxious.  He laughed at me as I told him this.  Then last night, I came to the conclusion, much in the same way that I came to overcome my fear of rollercoasters (and more recently the concept that my feet might be chopped off by Top Gun at Wonderland)  I decided that I was going to just do it without thinking about what I was doing.

Fastforward to this morning at Rockwood.  Things were going great until we got into the first cave and headed to the back to go in the tunnel from 1 to A to 2.  I made it almost halfway through the tunnel from 1 to A (see map below) and had to turn around because it was overwhelming me.  After a moment or two and some encouragement from the others, I went back onto my belly and slithered through the tunnel into the A and then again out into the open air at 2.  We then proceeded to go back into cavern B, which was another slither on my stomach trying not to get stuck, but cavern B opened right up to the point where I could sit up and have some room to move around while still seeing daylight from the tunnel entrance.

It was good to get beyond the entrance and actually underground for a change.  The other guys continued on through all the tunnels and caverns mentioned on the map, but I stuck around in B, C, and D because they were the most open.  There was a bat sleeping in one of them, stalactites hanging from the ceilings all over the place, and even some cave paintings (I'm doubting any of them are original native drawings, but they were still cool to see.)  Maybe next time I'll go further in, but it was a start, and I was somewhat glad to be back in sunlight.

Come to the next challenge.  We decided to take a different way back from the caves that none of us had ever done before.  So we walked along the cliff face and found a way that looked climbable and up we went.  Everyone (including the dog) went up before me and I was left with my wimpy upper body strength and my fear of heights.  The solution: tie a rope around me and belay me up the cliff.  It worked, and I was thankful I packed my rope for the trip.  Once at the top, we tried to find a place known locally as the "Devil's Well", a giant glacial pothole hiding in the

park.  It seemed to be the roundabout route of getting there, but we found it and it was huge.  We even found the way to the bottom of the 15 metre deep, 11 metre wide hole in the ground and climbed through the crack to get inside.

Some more hiking led us out the easy way and back to the park lookout for lunch.  Some afternoon walking let us go island hopping where I got a soaker on my right foot, the dog got over it's fear of getting wet, and we had an adventure.

Good times had by all, and if the park didn't close tomorrow for the season, I'd probably go back again.

still breathing

This weekend was the annual Thanksgiving trek home for time with the family, any friends that might be available to get together, and to eat way too much turkey.  On an ironic note, there were more people for Thanksgiving Dinner on Sunday at my grandparents house than there were at my parent's church in the morning.  I think the final tally was around 35-37ish at dinner.

Now onto other things.  On Saturday, I went out to the Brigden Fair for the parade and to spend some time watching my niece and nephew enjoy the rides and whatever else was there.  I took my camera along for the ride, and got a few pictures:

Brock, Garrett, Grant, and Mason are in the top blue car.


What's wrong with this picture?

And just a note: Blogger finally upgraded to allow Image Upload to cursor.  It's much easier to include pictures sequentially now.

As for other things in life:

• I haven't slept through the night more than 5 times since around August 22nd.  I think it's starting to play havoc on other systems.
• We just launched a new website at work.  It was many hours of content editing over the past month and a bit, but now it looks pretty(er) than the old site did.
• I'm hoping to get out to Rockwood again on Saturday before it closes for the season.  One of my friends who knows the cave system is coming with us to take people back in to explore.  I'll more than likely stick in the open with any bags of those who do go in.
• I'm hoping to take two classes at UW next semester.  My enrolment appointment starts tomorrow afternoon, so I'll register and then share which ones I'm taking.  This semester's course is "Jesus: Life and Legacy".  Seems fairly close to much of what I've learned at EBC to date, but it's a good "starter" course at UW before I branch off into other disciplines.  After this semester, I'll only have 13 courses left to go before I graduate with a BA in Liberal Studies, unless I decide to change my major before then.  Haven't thought too much about that one yet.

That's all.

true to life

Sometimes, comics come very close to resembling real life thoughts.

rock in the woods

Today was the first Outdoors Club hike of the season.  The weather was beautiful and 4 students and myself went off to Rockwood Conservation Area, and then proceeded to Limehouse Conservation Area.

We went for a walk through Rockwood and noticed extraordinarily large amounts of Geocachers on the trails.  Turns out there was a large annual gathering going on for Geocachers in the Guelph / Hamilton area.  We even saw a few licence plates from the States with the Geocaching logo on their vehicles.  I decided to give the group with me a taste to see what it was like during the day.  I'd already found the two caches we found, but it was good experience for them to see why there were so many people around for the day.

I'd seen on the news earlier this week that there was a movie being filmed at Rockwood with the Jonas Brothers... I've never heard their music, and I'm sure that it's horrible, but they messed up small parts of the park.  They put a bunch of cabins up by the beach for the movie and had a sign that said "Camp Rock Trails" pointing towards the trail system in the park.  There were cardboard signs up with No photos please written on them in sharpie.  So, in the way I usually do things, I took a few pictures from afar and caught the Camp Rock sign with my cell phone camera.

Rounding the other side of the river, we noticed that there was some pieces of mismatched astroturf covering the shore, which we guessed was their attempt at making shots across the river look like there was grass over there instead of rocks.  So here's my shot of looking back at the beach.  The set looked OK, but there were cables running all over the place in the background.  I'm not sure I'd be interested in going to Camp Rock, although some people might enjoy it.

We continued up the trail to the lookout and then on to the caves where one person ventured through the tunnel into the ground while I watched the light disappear from through the rocks.  He made it back to the surface, a bit muddier than when he went in.

Rockwood is really a nice gem in this area of the world, especially since it's a little piece of the Muskoka's in southern Ontario.  There's a large amount of glacial potholes in the area, and some great spots to look over the river.  It's too bad that the park's not open in the wintertime, but oh well.  Someday maybe I'll get into the caves a bit deeper.  I'm told there's some larger caverns after a ways, but claustrophobia stops me from getting too far.

On the way out I saw a piece of wood on the ground with "Jonas Bros: Wildlilly wants to have your baby" on it.  Some people are over-obsessed.

Limehouse was fun, as walking around crevices always is.  And Purple Pig Pizza from Pepe's Purple Pig Pizzeria in Rockwood is always tasty.

Next hike: October 3rd to Rattlesnake Point as the kickoff for Creation Care week at the college.

specs appeal

The time has come for me to get new glasses. The last time I got them, I went alone and it was probably my downfall (there was a cute girl at LensCrafters... and I ended up paying way too much... last time I go there). I ended up with some frames that I haven't really been happy with. They're ok and not horrible, but overall, I haven't loved how they look.

So here's where I petition the masses for suggestions on what type of frames I should get next. For reference, here are the past few sets of frames that I have had.

Current (2007 - 2009):	Former (2004-2007):	Elder (2001/2 - 2004):

So go ahead, post links to suggestions.

not dead

The past few weeks have been fairly busy with life at the college running in hyper-mega speed as things start going and students start arriving. I've been mostly pulling long days for the past few weeks, and my sleep issues haven't abated yet, so there has only been one night in the past 3 weeks that I've slept straight through the night, so I'm fairly tired and ready for some rest. Saturday afternoon is when I can take a break from work-related things and rest for a few days before starting back at work on Monday at a less-intense pace and start class at Waterloo on Tuesday evening.

Until next time, I present: The Internet

the trail has been blazed

After 8 months of preparation, Blaze A Trail finally happened yesterday. Although there was a significantly smaller turnout than hoped, it was still a good day of hiking the trail in a new location.

After getting up at 5, leaving KW at 6:15, and arriving in Eugenia at 8:15, we dropped off the car at the south end of the Beaver Valley and got a ride up to Old Baldy Conservation Area near Kimberly.

Highlights of the day:

-The mist made the view very minimal, but it was still was a really good one from the lookouts at Old Baldy.
-Amazing views and spectacular beauty along the trail - most of it off roads, which is a plus.
-Saw Eugenia Falls and Hogg's falls, as well as a number of streams as we walked through the varied landscape of the Upper Valley extension.
-Took 8.25 hours to walk from km 41.7 to km 62.3 with a re-route in the middle that may have added an extra kilometre.

And because I know you want to see it, here's the map and GPS track of what we did. (We started just above the top of the map, so that's why km 41.7 isn't shown.)



Points of Interest: A - KM 41.7 - Starting point (9:15am)
B: - middle of road walking section. We reached our max average speed of approximately 5km/hr during this section. (KM 46.2 - 10:25am)
C: Top of the Hydro chutes from Lake Eugenia down to the turbines below. (KM 50.2 - 12:00PM)
D: Eugenia Falls (KM 55.6 - 2:33PM) Our pace got slower after this point. There was lots of ups and downs, fording of streams, crossing of stiles, walking through meadows, resting under a Hemlock tree, etc.
E:KM 57.1 - 3:25PM
F: Hogg's Falls - Car - End (KM 62.3 - 5:33PM)

the trail beckons

It's here! The last 8 months of planning have all been towards tomorrow. I'll be heading up to the Beaver Valley with a few people to hike 20 km of trail. Although we're far from reaching our goal of 900 km covered, we'll still raise some money for EBC students, which was the goal from the outset.

Pray for safety and that the rain holds off (or is less than predicted at least.)

Thanks for your support and I'll shut up about this for a few months until we start planning for next year.

trail once more

Next Saturday, August 29, 2009, EBC is running an event entitled Blaze A Trail, in which we hope to collectively hike the Bruce Trail in it's entirety in one day. That's 900 km of main trail covered over the course of 8-10 hours. The goal is to have 100 people split into pairs to cover approximately 50 sections of 20 km each on average.

As of now, it looks like we might reach 30-40 people hiking about 300 km of the trail, somewhat disappointing from expectations, but it's still fairly reasonable being the first year and all.

This event is being run as a fundraiser for student scholarships and bursaries. Each participant is required to raise a minimum of $100. Could you consider joining with me to reach this goal.

For more information, and how to register, visit the Blaze A Trail page on the EBC website.

If you'd like to support me in this endeavour, visit my GivingPage at CanadaHelps.org or you can get me cash or cheque when you see me. Tax receipts are issued for any donation online and any donation over $20 if by cash or cheque. I'll be hiking with some friends in the Beaver Valley for that day. Maybe even a continuation of where I hiked in May.

imaged

Back around Christmas, I joined the Bruce Trail Conservancy as a member. One of the perks was the option of uploading my pictures to the website for other members to peruse. I like sharing, so I uploaded a few. And wouldn't you know it, but one of the two I uploaded was added to the few visible on their homepage. So after that, it's become my challenge to get another picture up there.

That vision became reality again this week.

Behold:



That's all. I got Harry Potter 6 off of a co-worker yesterday and read half of it last night. I'll probably finish the other half tonight between loads of laundry.

update

Staycation's almost over. Here's what I've done:

• Visit Guelph Arboretum
• Drive to Peterborough for my cousin's wedding
• Visit Emo in Hamilton
• Read Harry Potter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
• Visit Wonderland for day
• Realize in Cambridge that I've forgotten wonderland tickets at home, so we had to turn around to pick up said tickets before going to Wonderland.
• Ride Top Gun for first time ever as part of 10 rollercoasters (all but Ghostercoaster and the Fly)
• Travel to Corunna with Nephew in tow
• Golf twice
• Watch way too much TV while in Corunna
• Donate blood
• Renew plates for another year.

I'm back to KW tomorrow with not much planned for the last few days until I'm back at work.

In other news, this comic resonated with me.

stay-cation

I'm on vacation for the next two weeks. Although I'm not really vacating the premises this year.

The biggest plans I have include a trip to Wonderland and a trip to my parents. Almost as fun as the trip to the dentist on my last time off in June.

I may get out hiking sometime between now and then, but we'll see how the weather turns out.

Out.

walk on by

This summer I had a goal: to get more exercise (and maybe lose a few pounds along the way). Over the past year, I've gone to the Kitchener YMCA with a few friends who have memberships and tried to join them in their exercise routine for an hour or so. The operative word is "tried". I feel awkward every time I walk into a gym and there are lots of other people around. I have no clue how to use 99% of the machines at the gym, and overall I feel clumsy and just overall unknowledgable in the ways of "working out." But still, I keep contemplating getting a membership.

I haven't yet, and I don't think I will, although they do have a pretty good pool, much longer than the one at the last apartment I lived in.

But anyway, back to the original topic at hand. I can't run for more than a hundred feet or so at a time without losing my breath, and my bike is locked to a tree with flat tires in the back yard, and has been there since I moved in May. The only logical choice is walking.

So I've done a lot of that. Since May, I've hiked about 80 km of Bruce main trail and side trails, walked to work at least 75% of the time (1.2 km each way), and have spent many evenings walking anywhere from 2-7 km loops around KW. It's a nice way to get out, get some fresh air, and get the exercise I need.

As for getting exercise, I think I'm winning the game. As for weight loss, not so sure... I had two bowls of ice cream with strawberries last night... it was good.

That's about it. The trip to the Pinery this weekend that I was hoping to take has been canned due to lack of interest. Any ideas on what I should do instead?

freedom!!

After Sunday night, I've been reflecting on Galatians 5 a lot and all that's held within. I've found the Message paraphrase to be particularly revealing during this time, so here's the passage I've been focusing on:

(It's a longer read, but it's worth it. Sorry in advance.)

Gal 5:13-26

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?

My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.

But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.

Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

free to threaten?

Last night I went to a worship night put on by the church I've been going to that was entitled "Free to Love", based off of Galatians 5 and the freedom that we have in Christ. About 30 minutes after it started, a guy walked in the side and sat down. He looked a bit unkempt, so I just assumed he was someone from the community who decided to join us for a while. He clapped after every song, and was stomping his feet every now and then and talking to people somewhat loudly. I wasn't turned off by this at all.

The part where it started getting weird was where, in the middle of a song, he got up, walked to the front row, and shook hands with the two people that were there and continued to clap after each song and stomp his feet. Odd, but still acceptable. Someone then got up to speak, shared what was on their heart, when at the end he started asking for more music, and the speaker responded "It's time to talk now, there will be more music later" or something along those lines. Another guy then got up to share, but before starting, he introduced himself to the guy and then started talking.

In the middle of his talk, he made a statement about Christ giving us freedom through his grace and love. The guy didn't like this. He said "Speak slower." So the guy said that last statement again slower. This somehow set something off in the guy's head, and he started questioning it. Loudly. "What the f*** are you talking about ?" and "You're an f***ing retard" And "That's f***ed." It wasn't acceptable anymore. Someone got up and asked the guy to listen. "We're listening now. It's rude to interrupt. If you want to be here, you can, but you have to listen when other people are talking" He kept going on. And then "I want to f***ing punch this guy." At this point, everyone there was sitting in a stunned silence, not knowing what to do. I was considering running across the street to the police station, fearing that the guy might start tackling everyone who was there. After a brief time with the first person trying to calm him down, the pastor came up and started talking to him, and gently escorted him out, all the while the guy continued to speak expletives and we could still hear him going on after he was outside.

The service continued on, and I appreciated it, and got lots of things to think about from it. But the presence of this event made me realize that there was something counter to what we were doing going on in the background. And it's been a while since I've seen something like that. Christ is still active in the world today. Yep.

boring day

Today is the first Saturday in 4 weeks that I've had nothing on my calendar, and the last one for another 3 weeks. So what did I do? Not much. I was bored. I went for a walk and visited those who share my last name a few blocks away, and that's about it. I vacuumed my floor too.

Sigh. I need to do something productive, like read all the books on my bookshelf again, or get a hobby, or make a puzzle. Any suggestions?

wha...?

This morning I got a weird phone call.

Me: Hello?
Her: Hi. Did I wake you up?
Me: Who is this?
Her: Penny.
Me: Who?
Her: Penny.
Me: Who?
Her: I met you a while ago on the chat line.
Me: What?
Her: I met you a while ago on the chat line.
Me: I'm sorry, you have the wrong number.
Me: *click.*

have a nice trip

Today, a friend and I decided to go hiking on the Bruce Trail (I'm not that obsessed with hiking, I'm just bored a lot recently) north of Georgetown. We parked on 10th line north of 27th side road, and hiked toward Niagara. On our trip, we took three side trails to make a sort-of loop of 20.5 km. We passed through Silver Creek Conservation Area and Scotsdale Farm, two areas that are really nice to walk through, although sometimes the trail was a bit challenging. The trail guide called it a "moderately difficult trail".

So, if you'd like to follow along on the attached map, we started at km 39.0, hiked south for 1.5 km, and then turned right onto the 1.6km long Roberts Side Trail which was typical trail and included a boardwalk over a pond. At the end of the side trail, we rejoined the main trail from km 36.3 until km 35.3 where we turned right onto the 3.9km Bennett Heritage Trail, which took us along the edge of some meadows and through Scotsdale Farm, a working public farm. After reaching the main trail again at 29.9, we turned left, back toward the car and stopped just before km 31.4 to have lunch on a bridge across a stream. The mosquitoes tried to attack, but didn't win as much as they could.

After lunch, we continued along the trail to km 33.3, and turned right onto the 3.6 km Great Esker Side Trail (esker: A long, narrow ridge of coarse gravel deposited by a stream flowing in or under a decaying glacial ice sheet. - answers.com). This is where I had my nice trip. The trail for some reason was annoying me. Perhaps I was tired, or thirsty, or hungry, or sick of the meadows, or just wanting to be done, but I let my guard down and while trying to get over a fallen tree, I tripped and went down, landing on my hands and knees. My pants were clean afterwards, but it told me it was time to stop for a break.

After regaining my composure, we continued back to the main trail at 33.6, turned right, and pretty much followed it right to the car at 39.0 with minimal stops along the way. We passed a group that was heading toward Terra Cotta Conservation Area to camp, and various other groups of people and pets.

It was a good hike, and I think I'd do it again in the opposite direction some day.

Because I like maps, here's what we did.

price check on aisle... everything?

Last night, I ended up going to Ikea to pick up the table that I had planned on getting. So, I went to the self-serve warehouse and picked up the table, and on the way out, I noticed the chairs that I was interested in too, so I picked up two of them with plans to get two more somewhere down the road.

At the checkout, I scanned them in and realized that the price was different than what I thought. They rang in as $25 instead of the $20 that was advertised online and on the large banner in front of the rack in the warehouse. So after 10 minutes of back and forth with the sales-clerk, they finally rang them in for me at $20. Then I scanned in the table, but instead of $39.99 that I was expecting to see, it rang in as $59.99. So a run back to the warehouse, and the price tag was $59.99, however I swore I saw it earlier that week online at $39.99. So, with me thinking that I had the wrong table, they voided the table, and I bought the chairs so I wouldn't have to go through that pain again if I ended up finding the table later.

I went back through the store to look for the Table in the display area, and it was labelled as $59, so I was very confused. Rather than give in and pay what I thought was the wrong price, I went to an information kiosk and asked if they could check it out online for me. The Interweb told them it was $39.99, so I got to go through the fun of price over-rides again.

I'm not cheap, I just know that if you do your research, you won't get ripped off. As I was walking through the store with one of the clerks, he told me that this has been happening a lot recently.

In other news, today was a very interesting day. I ended up assisting some of the student workers for most of the day in assembling racks and shelves, and weeding rock-beds. It was fun, but it wasn't what I expected to be doing. And then, about 10 minutes before I planned on leaving, one of the students came to me and said "Tim, I think there's a flood happening in one of the buildings." So, after finding the right key, I went in to realize that a pipe had burst in the kitchen, and the water was leaking through the floor into the shop and heating ducts, and then out from under the door. We couldn't get the water shut off, so we called one of the Facilities guys in who happened to be 20 minutes away (and he was the closest), and got it figured out, and then I was there for another hour cleaning up afterwards.

So I got my shower in for the day.

sigh. I just started laughing near the end.

apartment = 95%

It's been two months since I've moved into my apartment. Overall, I'm pleased with how it's turned out. The only thing I'm missing is a kitchen table and chairs. I even have a space set aside for them (as of last night when I couldn't sleep).

I found a table at Ikea that's a fairly decent price and seems to be good quality. I just need to make the trip down to pick it up. There's also some chairs that would work well with it, however they're not in the budget at the moment, so it'll be Bring Your Own Chair for a while, I think, or computer chair, folding chair, lawn chair, and knees to get four people around it.

But that's another issue for another day. But overall, I'm liking the new place. It's quiet, close to work, groceries, drug store, coffee shops, and more. I can even walk downtown if I really want to.

In other news, I took a trip to a cottage near Wiarton this weekend with some friends and their kids. It was a fun trip. Just so you know, 2 and 1/2 year olds don't hide in Peanut Butter jars. On Saturday, two of us left the cottage and took the trip up to the Bruce Peninsula National Park to do some hiking. I'd never been to the park before (that I know of), and it was a really good experience. It was a beautiful day on Saturday, so we put on our hiking boots and went off down the trail toward Georgian Bay and the Bruce Trail. We stopped at the Grotto, Indian Head Cove, Overhanging Point, and then went south for 2 km to the beach at the Storm Haven backcountry campground, just to see what it looked like in case we felt like camping there another day. There's many really cool natural features in the area, including the Grotto itself, a few tunnels leading down to the beach (The Chimney at the Grotto and Lord Hunt's Tunnel at Overhanging Point), many flat rock surfaces to sunbathe on or sit and watch the water, and beautiful views of Georgian Bay and Fathom Five National Marine Park. I think I'm going to attempt to get up there again this summer and do some more hiking.

Also, below you'll find a post asking for your help in raising some money for EBC Students. You really should. It's a good cause, and a really cool idea. $10 from 10 people will help me raise my goal of $100. If you'd like to donate by cash or cheque, it can be arranged as well. Or, if you're really adventurous, you can sign up to hike a section of the trail. We need all the people we can to accomplish our goal of completing the entire trail in one day.

Pretty Please?

trail part 2

Greetings,

I am writing to you today to ask if you would consider supporting me as I participate in the first ever Blaze A Trail event on August 29th, 2009 in which I will be part of a collective effort to hike the entire length of the Bruce Trail in one day. The money raised through this event will go directly to supporting Student Scholarship funds at Emmanuel Bible College. Would you prayerfully consider how you can support me in this event?

To sponsor me, please go to my CanadaHelps Giving Page and follow through with the steps on the screen to process your donation. All donations will be issued a tax receipt directly from CanadaHelps.

Thank you for your consideration and I encourage you to pray for the success of the event as well. If you are interested in participating with me, more information can be found at http://ebcollege.on.ca/trail

Blessings,

Tim

photo blog'd : june 15.09

As mentioned previously, I led an excursion to Hamilton to see a whole whackload of waterfalls yesterday. In the end, we made it to 8 waterfalls and 1 waterfell (dried up). The list includes: Webster's Falls, Tew's Falls, Baby Webster's Falls, Tiffany Falls, Sherman Falls, Albion Falls, Felker's Falls, and Devil's Punchbowl Falls (dried up).

Here's a few pictures of said waterfalls:


Tew's Falls


Webster's Falls (where I learned that Oceans don't have rocks.)


Sherman Falls


Felker's Falls

vacate this

I'm on vacation for the next week. And I had one more overtime day left to use, so I took today off. To celebrate, a friend and I drove to Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area (near Milton) and went on a hike.

The hike took us by some amazing lookouts along Rattlesnake Point, down the escarpment into the Nassagaweya Canyon, along it to the south end, across a creek and back north on the Walker LIne Road Allowance, back up the other side of the canyon by a very bouldery path into Crawford Lake Conservation Area, along the edge of the escarpment through Crawford Lake Cons. Area, around Crawford Lake on a boardwalk, back across the north end of CLCA, back down the bouldery path, across the north end of the canyon and back up the other side, and back south down to the car in Rattlesnake Point.

Total distance hiked: approx. 15 km over 4.5 hours.

I gave my new hiking boots a test, and they passed. Although I was ready to take them off by the time we reached the car, but that was for other psychological reasons.

We celebrated victory at DQ in Milton, and then came back to KW. It was a good day.

Supposedly there's some fun crevaces and caves at Rattlesnake Point that you can explore, but we didn't get around to doing any of that today. It was a good hike, and good as an introduction to the Bruce Trail. It has a bit of everything.

And because I like you all so much, here's a map of what we did - with the start and finish point at the flag in Rattlesnake Point.



Next week's plans include a trip with EBC students and staff and Gord to Hamilton to try and see a gazillion waterfalls, a return trip to the dentist, and probably a whole lot of nothing else.

photo blog'd : june 7.09

Yesterday, I took a trip with two friends to two places on the Bruce that are very cool. The first being the Cheltenham Badlands, which I've been to 3 times in the past year, and 5 times total, the first being in November 2005 when one of said friends locked his keys in the car. I recently realized that I enjoy seeing trail like this - dirt path with vegetation growing all around it. It seems ... rustic... nice... Something about it adds to my (sometimes hidden) sense of adventure. I want to explore, but I like remaining in safety. But this type of trail makes me feel at ease, almost to the point where I can go unhindered without having to worry about losing my life around the next corner. It's always a good feeling when I don't feel like I'm going to die.

The second place we went was in Belfountain. A few years ago, I read about part of the Bruce Trail that leads you up the escarpment to a lookout called the Devil's Pulpit. Every time I've gone so far, we've been tired by the time we got to the parking spot, so we just kept on driving, but this time we were on a mission... or at least I was. The other two didn't seem so happy about it. It started with a slight incline up a road, then across some grass, over a boardwalk, and then the stairs started. Lots of stairs built into the slope of the escarpment. Up and up and up, across a set of train tracks, and then up some more stairs, over some boulders, up a slight boulder slope, and then to the cliff. There were stairs built into the side of the cliff with a line to hold onto while climbing. I made it to the stairs and looked back but didn't see my friends, so I assumed they'd given up, but I was determined to make it to the top this time. The view at the top was worth it. Eventually, they made it to the top to enjoy the view with me. Sure, I like being outside, but it's even better when you have other people to enjoy it with.

And there's always the story to carry with you.

photo blog'd : june 1, 2009

Here's some pictures I took while in Johnston Canyon in Banff last week.

the internets

Upon my return from the only part of Alberta that sucks this afternoon, I walk in to discover that I have a working Internet connection. But, there's still no working phone connection. I don't know what's happening, but it's really odd.

Sigh.

The conference was good, with lots of good networking and hearing from some very gifted speakers about various topics surrounding Student Development and all that it pertains.

they who should not be named...

I've decided that after many previous faulty experiences with bell, I would never use them again, so I've signed on with TekSavvy for my phone and Internets at the new apartment. These were supposed to be connected on Friday, but it didn't happen, so I called on Saturday and they said that they'd give it back to Bell to do the hookup on Monday. Monday passed and still no connection.

On Tuesday, I sent an e-mail to TekSavvy regarding all this, and on Wednesday, I received a phone call from Tech Support letting me know that my order is Blocked a previous tenant had a dry loop with Bell that they didn't cancel and now my landlord needs to call Bell to get them to cut it off so I can get service on the line. Woo!

Thankfully I'll be credited to the date that my service actually starts, which will hopefully be sooner rather than later.

Sigh. Another reason to hate Bell.

recursion

I noticed that the river valleys in southern Saskatchewan and Alberta look a lot like Fractals.

don't mind me

Owen Sound from 35,000 feet


Bruce Peninsula from 35,000 feet

but calgary does... cont'd

I'm in Calgary. And I can see snow-capped peaks from my window.


I want this view in Ontario. Anyone? Anyone?

Sigh. I'll enjoy it for the week and get lots of pictures.

but calgary does...

I'm off to a Conference in Calgary for CACSD from Monday - Friday next week. It's going to be great. Because, according to the Arrogant Worms, Alberta doesn't suck. Part of the trip is going to include an excursion to Banff, so I'm hoping to get some good mountain shots. I haven't fully decided on whether or not I'm taking a nice camera or my point and shoot with me. Either way, pictures will happen in abundance.

In other news, I was supposed to have phone and Internet hooked up yesterday, but Bell's taking their time. So hopefully I'll find out a bit more information about it on Monday (because Bell doesn't work on the weekends. Lazy buggers.)

And I'm off to Rockwood with students and co-workers today. It's going to be a great time. I should go get something for lunch now...

Out.

photo blog'd: may 20-2009

This weekend I went hiking. Along many parts of the trail, there was an opportunity to take the stereotypical group walking in a line with your packs shot. So I tried a few times, but it only really worked out in one or two pictures. Here's one of my favourites from the last day within 2 km of the car. You can see the sun hitting the same leg on all three hikers ahead of me in this one as they all seem to walk in stride without realizing it.

the bruce meets long weekend: take two

A few years ago, Gord and I decided that we wanted to go hiking on the Bruce Trail on the May long weekend. So we did, however we didn't clue into the weather reports regarding the fun-ness that was cold weather coming our way. So it was a very cold weekend.

This weekend, I went hiking again. But I was ready for the cold, with lots of layers and an extra blanket for sleeping. But that's not the whole story.

A few weeks ago, I got this e-mail from a friend asking me if I wanted to go hiking over three days on the May long weekend with them and 4 of their friends. I said maybe, and then waited for more details. When the details came, it turned out that these people were thinking of doing up to 65 km. After thinking on it, I figured I'd probably be ok with doing that type of thing. As the days came closer, and the weather report turned worse, it was decided that we would cut off the first 8km, which was a really good idea, seeing as I didn't need to get up at 5:30 to get up to near Singhamptono for 9. (I still was up at 5:30, but that's only because my body hates me, but if you're a faithful reader of this blog, you'd probably know that already).

Saturday was wet and windy. And muddy. We did 14 km from near the Loree Forest outside of Craigleith, south to Petun Conservation Area. It was a pleasant walk, especially after the rain stopped, and we went along the top of a few ski hills, saw some nice views (albeit somewhat cloudy), through a forest with a couple streams to cross by bridge, or by making our own path, along some trails made by the Scenic Caves ski-area, and finally, we took a shortcut up a road to get to the trail into the campsite. It was a nice site, hidden from the trail a bit, and once the fire was up and going, we warmed (or burnt in some cases) our shoes. Sleep wasn't great, but it happened in there somewhere. About 1:30 start to a 6:00 stop.

Sunday was cold and windy, but the sky was clear. I was awake at 6, and after a glass of hot chocolate and some time to pack up our gear, we were off by 8:00 am on a somewhat ambitious agenda of 30 km. The first part of the day seemed to be going great until about 4 hours in when we realized we were only averaging about 2.5 km/hr. Unfortunately for us, it was hard to break this speed in many places due to the 5 times down and then back up the escarpment for the day. We went through many different scenic areas and saw some nice streams (water was pumped and filtered from a tributary of the Pretty River, and then later in the day of the Mad River). Some highlights of the day included the Osler Bluff lookout, the disappearing trail due to heavy wind damage in Devil's Glen Provincial Park, muddy switchbacks galore in Devil's Glen, the deer that ran away, the porcupine that didn't notice us, and the couple that hiked just ahead of us and then offered us advice and supplies before we passed them while they were loading into their car. We made it into the campsite 28.5 km from our start point at around 7:30 pm, set up camp in Nottawasaga Bluffs Conservation Area, got the fire going, and then settled in for a nice long snooze. Sleep came, but wasn't great, again, especially with my frantic searching for the "mouse that wasn't" around midnight. Supposedly I was snoring, so I guess that says I slept some.

Monday morning, we got up around 8, warmed up and packed up by 10, and were on the trail. We took the Keyhole side trail which takes you through some awesome crevices in Nottawasa Bluffs to cut off about 2 km of walking for the day, filled up with more water at the first stream we found, and then started walking on our last road stretch. When the trail veered off the road, two people decided rather than follow the trail, they would just walk back via the roads to their car. So we said goodbye and continued down the trail. 2 minutes later, we met up with the couple from the day before walking the opposite direction, so we gave them some pointers on what was coming up for them (lots of mud and fallen trees), and then said bye and carried on to the car, to which we arrived around 12:30, after only 5.5 km of hiking for the day. The day was warm and sunny, like the rest of the days should have been, but oh well... it was nice to have a warm day to end off the trip, so we didn't head home feeling miserable at least.

It was a good trip and I'll probably end up doing something like it again. Not for a few weeks though at least.

You can click on the images to see close-up's of the trail we did. The blue track is my GPS track, and the purple is the Bruce Trail's route as a few years ago. You can see where we took a few shortcuts, or the trail's been re-routed since then. The pictures aren't the same scale, but you can see the entire trip in the first picture.

Pictures to come.

photo blog'd: may 12-2009

If I could figure out how to make the sky turn out blue in these pictures without having to purchase any extra lenses or filters, that would be cool. I guess I have to do some more research.

Oh! And you can find the essay I wrote for the UW English Language Proficiency Exam here. It's entitled "The Danger in the Storefront"

sleep

So I've come to the conclusion that I sleep when I have nothing better to do. I had a 2 hour nap both days this weekend just because I was bored (and I got to test out my new pillow... not bad). And I've gone to bed by 10 a few nights this week just because. Sigh.

Oh well. There's some fun things happening though.

Like the phone call I received last night from an unknown number asking for me and then informing me that the newlyweds were home and I was invited over. I ended up helping move boxes around and we went to watch Star Trek. I'm not a "Trekkie" and never will be a hardcore fan, but as far as movies go, it wasn't too bad.

And the 60 KM of hiking on the Bruce Trail that I'll be attempting next weekend with a few people. Starting near Collingwood and marching south until not to far south of Singhampton.

And my apartment is completely unpacked and all that I need now is the futon to be delivered and a small coffee table and kitchen table so I don't have to eat at my desk anymore.

And I tried a new recipe for lunch today: Fucilli noodles with chicken, tomato, and asparagus all covered in ranch dressing. It was tasty.

And over the past few weeks, we've had church spread throughout the city at various homes because the facility was unable to be rented. So we watched the Nooma videos. The two weeks I was able to attend, our group watched Name, which was about labels attached to people, and Rhythm, which was about the presence of God through creation and beyond. Both interesting discussion starters to which good discussion abounded. It was also nice to meet a few people outside of my group of friends at church, so now I may recognize a few more faces when I'm at church.

So I don't lead a completely pathetic existence. It's just a new learning curve that will take a few weeks to get embedded into routine.

photo blog'd

I've recently had an opportunity to play with a nice SLR camera around work, and here's some pictures that I took yesterday with it. I was hoping to go out again today, but the clouds rolled in and it's nice and grey out there again.

downsizing

My week can be summarized in one word: chaotic. But it's over now and life is slowly returning to normal. My best friend and former roommate is married and off on his honeymoon, my stuff is out of storage and set up into my new apartment into a somewhat-organized fashion, phone and Internet service have been ordered, and should be connected within 10-15 days, and I feel like I finally have some room to breathe.

The wedding was wonderful, the weather was perfect, and everything went over well, except for the baby screaming when asked if anyone objected. They've sent the scream off for analysis and the marriage license is being held pending clarification on the meaning of "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

I'm out of my old apartment and handed the keys in on Thursday morning, and was in limbo for the weekend as I couldn't get into my new place until Sunday afternoon. But now that I'm in, everything seems to have some semblance of order once again. I have a microwave! The space is smaller than what I had, but I'm making due. I think I've organized it to the best of my ability, and will have to see how things look when I get the futon in and finish the unpacking of all the leftover stuff.

But for now, it's time to leave my Internet-filled office and head on to my 12 minute walk home. It's good to live so close to work again.

creep

There's something distantly creepy about a nearly-empty apartment with no curtains on the windows at 2:45am. Yes, I know it's 2:45am and I know that for some reason, I'm awake.

Somehow, over the next 8.5 hours, I need to sleep, empty out my car into my office, empty out my kitchen into my car and then part of that into my office, clean said kitchen, including stove and fridge, vaccuum and hope for the best in regards to the final inspection of this place.

... sigh.

I hate moving.

living on a thermarest

I've spent the past two nights in the mostly-empty Apartment. It's not been too bad. I haven't slept solidly through the night yet, but it's to be expected. I have maybe 1-2 more car loads of stuff to get out of this place, but that'll happen closer to Thursday.

I need to vacuum, mop, wipe, wash, spray, yadda, yadda, yadda before then. We need to rent a steam cleaner as well for the carpet. There's a few areas that need it more than others, but it'd probably be better for us if we did.

Life continues, and after this week, I'm looking forward to not having to move again for a while. One can only hope, at least.

you know it's april when...

I told a few co-workers about my upcoming move yesterday and they started joking "You know it's April when Tim moves..." This is the 6th year in a row that I've moved in April, or within a week thereof. I have moved 11 times in the past 6 years, with number 12 coming up over the next few weeks. I'm hoping my next place can offer me stability. I got 13 months out of the current place, which is the record since I started going to school in Kitchener.

This year is a different type of move. Usually it's just out of my old place and into the new one. But this time, due to timing of various events, I'm moving my big stuff out of here tomorrow into a friend's garage, camping out in the current place until next Thursday during which time I'll be cleaning up a storm, and probably doing some paint touch-ups. On Thursday I hand in the keys and head to Sarnia for the weekend, and then from the garage / my car into the new place on the afternoon of May 3rd. It's going to be a fun 9 days. I'm going to Sarnia because I'm in a wedding that weekend. So it'll be great times all around... or something.

Woo.

If you're interested in helping, tomorrow both of us are moving out, with a stop by the garage on the way up to the roommate's new place, so you can get a two-fer if you're interested, starting somewhere around 5pm, going til most likely 8 or 9. Otherwise, May 3rd, probably around 3-5ish is when I'll be driving back and forth across the neighbourhood to get into my new place. Let me know via phone or e-mail.

wha...?

Last week, I had the great fortune of having to write the ELPE (English Language Proficiency Exam) at the University. We sat down in a room with about 500 other people, turned over a yellow sheet of paper, and had 50 minutes to write a short essay on one of three topics. I was done in 25 minutes. I was just happy to be finished it, and now I can continue my studies at UW in peace.

I received this e-mail today:

Hello Timothy,

I am writing regarding the ELPE you wrote on April 7, 2009. Although student marks have not yet been posted, I am writing to inform you that you wrote an outstanding paper. You passed the ELPE. Congratulations!

Because I found your paper to be particularly interesting, I would like to ask your permission to use your essay as an example of good writing. May I post your ELPE on my department’s website, and may I use your ELPE in my Writing Skills Workshops? Your name and any identifying comments will not be disclosed. Your identification would remain confidential.

Please let me know when you are able.

I commend you on writing such a good exam.

I said sure, so I'll post a link to it whenever it gets put online.

4 parts: reprise

I can only guess this is the meme Brock was referring to with the previous post title.

Is it sad that I've considered doing this with audio recording before?

Also, two other things: I finished up the draft of my take-home exam today with hopes to do the final proof and hand it in tomorrow.

And, Lent's past, and I'm still off Facebook. 2 months will be on Friday, so I think I can make it til then. Once I get there, 3 months isn't too hard... then maybe 6, 12, and beyond. But for now, I'll just make it through Friday.

four parts, one song

Here's the recording from our most recent Taize service. For the most part, it sounds really good. You can hear the mistakes if you're looking for them, but don't look for them. Just sit back and enjoy. The last 15 minutes is dead air, so you can stop it after the doxology and benediction.

synergize this

From the Sarnia Observer today: "As a member of Sun Media, The Observer has taken advantage of many corporate synergies in recent weeks. "

What the heck is corporate synergy? Not that you should ever badmouth synergy.

art

And here it is, the art project from the NYC trip where we took pictures out the front of the van every 20 minutes on the way there and back.

Enjoy.

the rules

Last summer, while on vacation in Europe, I came up with a game that could be played in almost any big city around the world: "Kick the Chicken"

The rules of this game are simple, you must kick the chicken (pigeon), but it can only be by an accident. If you purposefully kick it, you will lose.

I have yet to win this game.

Today, I had to go up to the University for something, and on the drive up Westmount, a Canada Goose flew and landed in front of my car, forcing me to slam on my brakes, just missing the stupid bird by a few inches. Had I not had enough time to stop, I would have won a variation on Kick the Chicken, but I still would have felt bad. Stupid birds.

Although, I'm not sure I'd actually like to attempt "Kick the Chicken" with a Canada Goose (or a swan for that matter) because I think it'd get pretty ugly fairly quickly. I am not recommending trying this variation to anyone. If you do, I do not and can not take any responsibility for the outcome.