still alive

And mostly just posting to one up both Dan and Matt.

That's all.

nearing an end

I have a goal for the month. I want to have my car paid off this month instead of having to wait until the end of November to be there. When I got it 3.5 years ago, I'll be the first to admin I hadn't really considered the implications of having to make monthly payments for the next 5 years. I quickly learned that car ownership is much more expensive than the glitz on the brochures. On top of the payments have come repairs, insurance, and lots of gas.

At least with the payments being done, I can better afford gas and repairs.

blaze a trail 2011

This is a bit late, but we're running Blaze A Trail again this year for Emmanuel students. You're welcome to support the students by going to my Giving Page. This year we're going to have a bunch of students hiking with me as it's harder logistics wise to get them all to different locations. So we'll be doing 20 km along my favourite section of trail from Hilton Falls to Limehouse Conservation Areas.

candid camera

Do you ever have those moments where you're convinced that someone's going to jump out from behind a bush and yell "Suprise! You're on Candid Camera!"? I have those every time I try to dry my hands in one of the washrooms at work. There's an electric hand dryer in one of the washrooms with a sensor on it for starting. But after about 10 seconds, it stops. Then no matter what you do, it won't start again to finish the job, because as we all know, 10 seconds of mediocre wind and mild heat is not nearly enough to dry your hands completely. Today I actually looked to see if there was a camera peering at me from one of the corners of the room.

I guess that's what I get for longing to be a good citizen and wash my hands (and dry them) after visiting the little boys room.

Sigh.

another trip round the sun

A day went by this week without much fanfare. Monday was the marking of 5 years since I've started working my current job. This is 5 years of being split between 3 different departments for my time. 5 years of going to the same location Monday - Friday 8:30 - 4:30. 5 years of having some of the same co-workers. 5 years of sitting in the same office chair.

But over those 5 years, some things have changed. I've moved 4 times. I've done some travelling around Canada, the US, and Europe. I've had 3 different direct supervisors in the one department I work in. I've changed offices once and relocated my desk recently to a different wall for the first time since moving into that office.

Sometimes I feel like life can be pretty stagnant with lots of things being monotonous. But I know that I'm fortunate to have this current setup and am not complaining in the least. I'm looking forward to the 6th year and I know that some things will change - some by plan and others as things run their course. Some things may happen because I want to do something differently, and others may drag me kicking and screaming into the unknown.

Tomorrow starts the beginning of the "unofficial" academic year with a week of training. Am I ready? Am I ever ready, should be the real question.

My answer: bring it on.

there and back again

Vacation 2011: the away edition has come and gone with a trip to Prince Edward Island with some friends. We left early in the morning on Canadia Day heading for Ottawa to join in the festivities there. We were staying in Barrhaven, on the south-west side of the city, and took the bus downtown to join the masses. There was some music, the Duke and Duchess, and fireworks. It was the best of Canadian Culture packed into a few hours of festivities. After the fireworks finished, we tried to get onto a bus to get back to our vehicle, but a large quantity of the over 100,000 other people on Parliament Hill had the same idea as us. This led to a showing of the worst in people as we saw people almost trampled in attempts to get on the bus, other people were swearing and pushing. It took about 20-30 busses going to our destination to fill up over the course of an hour and a bit before we were able to finally be among the last to squeeze onto one (3 of our group were able to get on one about 45 minutes before the last 3 of us). I was disgusted in how quickly it could go from a moment of national pride to the disgrace of the bus queue (if you could call it that.)

Upon returning to where we were staying well after midnight, we went to sleep for an early departure the next morning with our final destination that day being just outside of Charlottetown, PEI. The drive was smooth, but long. 16 hours later with just 5 stops en route, we arrived at the cottage in Glenfinnan PEI where we would be spending the next few days.

Over the course of the next few days, we had lobster, toured Charlottetown, got a tour of Province House with an actual MLA (PEI's MPP equivalent) giving us lots more details than just the standard tour, saw the "Singing Sands", and had a day of doing nothing. It was wonderful. The second half of the week was spend near Cavendish in a cottage right on the shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We saw the national park, went swimming, played a round of golf, had a seafood boil (clam, scallops, mussels, crab, and oyster made it through my mouth, and there was salmon available as week, but I wasn't interested), and much more.

Driving home, we went through Shediac, Mirimachi, Bathurst, Campbellton, through the Matepedia Valley, and ended up in Levis, just south of Quebec City for the night. This was the only night we had to hotel it, which helped keep the cost of the trip to a minimum. This morning we left by 8:30, and had dropped everyone off and was back to my place by 7.

It was a great trip, and I have some good pictures, but first it's going to be sleep in my bed where I have no fear of pillows flying with haste towards my head due to snoring. Should be great.

Out.

en route

I'm writing this from a VIA train en route to Montreal where I'll transfer to another train and end up in Moncton this time tomorrow. Seems like a long trip in comparison to my co-workers who are flying out tomrorow afternoon and arriving only 4 hours after me.

This morning I was dropped off at the bus terminal downtown Kitchener and found out the bus driver wasn't stopping at the Royal York Hotel due to the Toronto Marathon that was being run this morning. I took the bus because I don't trust the train between Sarnia and Toronto through Kitchener to be on time into Toronto. It's on average 15 minutes late every day. (Just for note sake, I looked at the arrival status and it arrived in Toronto 5 minutes ater this train left today instead of the regularly "scheduled" 35 minutes before.) The bus took a different route to downtown TO, but the driver wasn't very familar with the route and we ended up getting lost / detoured due to the marathon.

After making a phone call for directions, we ended up on Bloor Street, which was bumper to bumper and I was expecting that I'd have to run to get to my train. Originally, it should have made it to the Bus Terminal at 10:05, but it arrived closer to 10:45. Knowing I had 45 minutes to make it to the train station, check my bag, and get in line to ensure I wouldn't be stuck with a terrible seat, I high tailed it from the bus terminal through the Atrium on Bay to the Dundas subway station, hopped on the southbound train and was at Union by 10:55.

So that's how I ended up on the train. Now to sit back and enjoy the next 5 hours to Montreal. I didn't get a window seat, but I should get one on the train that matters.

on another note...

After the last post, I decided to talk about a good thing that's happened. As of today, it's been a year since I last had a can / bottle / glass of pop. The only exception has been when it's been mixed into punch, and even that was on limited occasions.

I haven't decided if this means that I'm off it for good, or that I can do something like that if I put my mind to it.

And to celebrate, I'm going to have some water (Agua - Español, L'eau - Français, Wasser - Deutsch).


Also, a few small notes:

German 101 has been not too bad, although I feel like I know nothing and the exam's next Saturday. The next week's going to be fun-packed with studying. And then starting in May, I'll be taking German 102. Exciting. Or something.

I decided it was time to upgrade from my single bed that I've had for the past 5 years to one that might actually fit me - a queen. I've had it since Monday and haven't had a solid night's sleep yet, but then again, I hadn't had a solid night's sleep for at least a week or two before I got it, so it's not to say it's the bed that's causing this.

Looking forward to doing some travelling this Summer - first to Moncton (by train) for a conference in May and then to PEI for a road trip with friends in July. Lots of time spent out east in recent years - looking forward to the possibility of going to BC next summer for a conference.

all parties lie

If there's one thing I would want to tell to those who are only hearing the loudest candidates this election, it's that all parties will lie, cheat, and steal in order to get / hold on to power. Just because someone professes faith, does not mean they are beyond the temptation to use their power / longing for power as a reason to drop their moral code.

So pretty much what I'm saying is, just because they're a Christian (or profess the faith), doesn't automatically mean I'm going to vote for them.

But it is election season, and minority governments are better than Conservative majorities (Sorry Mr. Harper... I'd vote for you if you were trying to get onto the Evil League of Evil, but not if you're going to mess up the country where I hope to live most of my life in.) A coalition is not automatically going to happen if Mr. Harper does not get his way (despite the loud and repeated proclaimations - coalitions aren't necessarily bad either - most of Europe functions this way). And when the majority of representitives in the House of Commons find your party in comtempt of parliament, you should at least acknowledge that you did something wrong and promise to change, not just shrug it off as something being done by the evil coalition as a vain attempt to grab power that should rightfully belong to you.

All parties have their merits, all parties have their faults. Look into them before you vote and don't vote for someone just because your parents have or they're the loudest or fearmonger you into believing the other options are going to cause the end of the world.

In my opinion, none of the leaders are all that great at the moment. None of the parties really have a platform that I can get behind... but I still believe I should vote. And I will. I just need to figure out which of the options is the lesser of all evils.

the twitter

I think I've moved to posting my life in 140 characters or less on the Twitter, although it's very sporadic.

This comes as we work through the season of Lent, traditionally the 40 days or so before Easter, depending on if you count Sundays or not. Lent is another one of those traditions that I didn't learn about until later in life due to them not being a part of life in the church I grew up in. (Not necessarily a bad thing, but it's cool to know more about the Christian year and all that comes with it.) So this year, as in the past 3 years, I've given up Facebook for Lent (and a bit.) Lent started late, and I got annoyed at the amount of time I spend on Facebook, so it started at the beginning of February for me.

I do feel somewhat out of the loop, but Twitter keeps me in the loop for the 4 people I follow. I still think Twitter's somewhat useless when it comes to pretty much everything, but it's a tool that's been developed in our social-media-centric culture. I feel as though I learn everything second hand now because anyone who's anyone shares life with their Facebook friends before the rest of the world.

So here's my update that's not on the Facebook:

I'm still alive.

managing

motivate this

A few months ago, I started pondering a bit about motivation - what it is, why we're motivated to do some things and not others, and how it encompasses a lot of our lives.

I found this TED video tonight on the topic. Interesting thoughts:

slow down

I noticed today that 2010 was the year of the minimal blogging. In years prior, I had posted on 87 - 207 times per year, but last year I was only able to churn out 44 posts. Potentially I've given up on sharing every mundane detail of my life, or thought that I may have because I can now share what's going on in 140 characters or less on Twitter (although I deleted all of my tweets recently) or include pictures and links and witty banter with 125 of my closest friends on Facebook or maybe I'm just becoming a less overt individual in regards to sharing what's going on.

There was an event that happened in 2010 that changed many things. About halfway through the year, my social life changed to include another person in most things. I would guess that having an individual always around for face-to-face communication makes life more meaningful thus pulling me away from my desire to have the world know what's happening by way of blog.

It seems that it's not only me who has faded into the background, but many people have reduced their blog consumption through the year. My feed reader can go a day or two between new stories that are not comics or the UW Daily Bulletin.

It's just an observation. Maybe it's just me.

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On a somewhat related note, I just read an article that answers many questions regarding the state of handwriting today: http://www.raptitude.com/2009/10/how-to-improve-your-handwriting-or-anything-else-at-will/

I would say that the thesis is correct, at least in my case. I can write and print neatly and legibly, but I always feel rushed when I'm writing things down to the point where I'm the only one who can decipher the code. I think I started this blog in 2004 as a way of having a place for me to express myself in place of written diary. Mostly because I think my handwriting is messy and it takes too long to write down your thoughts on paper. But after reading this, it may encourage me to take up writing again, although it has been many years since my last stint at long-distance writing (more than a hundred or so words at a time written by hand).

Thoughts to ponder anyway...