I'm moving to Blogger. I'm sorry. It just isn't working out. It's not you, it's me.

Speak Into the Mike

Note: Also seen at http://themikestand.blogspot.com
(and yes, i'm looking for input from anyone reading regarding a possible switch to blogger)

Because Jason wrote this entry in his blog, I feel I must respond to it, even though it's a good three months late. Ironically, it's only because I didn't post enough in his comments section that he named me as a tagee in this little shindig.

So, without further ado...witness the participation!

What I was doing:

Ten Years Ago: Early December 1995 would put me in Edmonton, freezing my ass (and my long, beautiful arts-student hair) off every morning trudging to university to either prepare for, or write various economics exams. I'd recently dropped out of Econ 487 (Advanced Methods in Mathematical Economics) -- the only course I ever had to drop because I -just- couldn't do it. As an aside, but not an excuse, the midterm average and passing grade was 32% in that course. At any rate, I ditched that little gem of a course and was about to venture into new territory in my degree (the "Honours Essay", or Wimps Way Out). I was sharing an apartment with Neall, a friend from a drama class I took (aka "the bird course") the previous year, and driving a very cold 1971 volkswagen beetle on the weekends. I was both trying, and trying not to continue a summer romance with a girl who was from the Edmonton area, but was actually going to school in Halifax. There are times in our lives when we can readily admit to not being even remotely rational. This is one of those times for me. Anyway, I got through both the romance/breakup and the school year unscathed.

Five Years Ago: The end of the year 2000 puts me in Halifax (...seriously), one year after moving to this locale, having just finished my Masters thesis and getting a one-year casual job with the federal government, and through amazing coincidence mixing both my university degree disciplines. My first season of indoor ultimate was getting underway and I was still six months from wrecking my knee on the ultimate field. I wonder if I was faster or more agile that winter on the indoor pitch? Living downtown, but not on the wrong side of the tracks (you could see the wrong side of the tracks from our house) with my now-wife of three years, we were making strides in the domesticity department. I think I was going through another bout of selfishness, but I'm really not interested in delving into that right now. I'm already anticipating some therapy, thankyouverymuchJason.

One Year Ago: Halifax. I'm a home-owning daddy and husband of 2 yrs. Knee fixed but body-bloated, I embark on a weight-loss/maintenance regime that I continue even today. My son's first Christmas is approaching, but life is moving at such a breakneck speed (the irony of a toddler who can't walk making your life swirl about you is rich.) that it's hard to know if you're paying attention to the little things. Some other family issues have arisen over the past six months, lumped on top of even larger family issues in the past, so everyone (myself included) is trying to focus on a few little things to get us through the holidays.

Yesterday: Shut the alarm clock off and willingly slept in an extra half hour, which surprisingly made little impact on the time I arrived at work. 9 hours later I'm at home trying to calm down a tantrum-pitching toddler, eventually acquiescing to letting him eat his dinner bit by bit in the comfort of his playroom, rather than in the Iron Maiden (or you'd think that's what his high-chair was by his insistence to get "downpease"). Chill out, watch some curling, go to bed early.

Today: Work, as usual. Write a blog entry, consider moving my blog to a more user-friendly environment (again with the wimps-way-out, mike?). Think about a second coffee. Make mental note to buy coffee for home at some point today. Consider some xmas shopping for the relatives out west, and sending off pictures of the boy to the USAnian cousins. Catch up with a friend over a rare pint this evening.

Tomorrow: Thursday. Who can think this far ahead?

Five snacks I enjoy: Super Cherry Nibs, Hint of Lime Tostitos, toasted pita with peanut butter, popcorn, and a good juicy, semie-sour apple.

5 bands/singers that I know the lyrics of most of their songs:

This one's not all that hard for me, being a music freak.
- The Whitlams
- Ween (trust me, you don't always want to know the lyrics)
- The Refreshments
- Guster
- Neil Diamond

5 things I would do with $100,000,000:

- Pay off various debts, including student loan and house
- Bring family closer, if that works for them.
- Fix up aforementioned house
- Buy iPod
- take time off to be with soon-to-be second child.

5 bad habits I have:

- nail biting
- morning bitchiness (even though i'm a morning person)
- drink too much coffee
- open my mouth too often on the ultimate field. (i could have a whole list of ultimate bad habits)
- getting sidetracked at work.

5 things I like doing:

- playing ultimate
- watching football and napping with my wife
- going out for a run with the boy (the latter in the BOB, of course)
- discovering new tricks for the iBook
- eating and conversing with friends

5 TV shows I like:

- Monday Night Football
- Survivor (usually)
- The OC (no, really, stop laughing)
- Arrested Development
- Black Books

5 famous people I’d like to meet:

Wow.. this is tougher than I thought. I'm bad at identifying famous people.
-

5 biggest joys at the moment:

- the boy / family
- music
- coffee
- watching friends have kids and witnessing the "change"
- great food and wine

5 favorite toys:

- iBook
- bass guitar
- anything resembling a stereo / radio in my house
- digital camera
- power and hand tools.

People to tag:

(because I can't think of five people I know with blogs who know me back)
- briannak
- stolidmortified

On Sunday, whilst driving to the parental units' house for dinner, we heard the familiar sound of an ambulance siren, so instinctively moved off to the right side of the road, slowing down so it could pass.

It passed, and turned in the same direction we were heading, so we were sort of following it. My wife and I were thinking, "hmm, that ambulance doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry, considering it has the lights and siren going". Actually, she first accused me of driving too fast (i.e. tailgating a speeding ambulance).

And then, the rarely-thinkable happened. It slowed down and pulled a U-Turn.

Seriously.

All indications were that this ambulance was going the. wrong. way. Talk about a confidence-builder.

Wow.




What a movie.

description

Originally broadcast on HBO, THE GIRL IN THE CAFE is a thought-provoking drama from British director David Yates (THE WAY WE LIVE NOW). Yates slices his narrative into two parts; the first involves a lengthy courtship between primary characters Lawrence (Bill Nighy) and Gina (Kelly MacDonald). Meeting by chance in a cafe, the two share a common bond, although Lawrence's natural reticence makes it hard for Gina to read him.

Watched this on Saturday night with some friends, and thoroughly enjoyed both the political side of it and the romancey side of it. Superb dialogue and sharp wit make this a gem of a rental. There's a lot more to it than the above description, but I cut it short to avoid giving it all away. Trust me on this one. If you liked Lost in Translation and (at least the dialogue in) Love Actually, you'll probably like this. Also, if you like delicious irish accents on cute actresses, this one's for you.

And if you're still not convinced, try on this line uttered in the movie regarding the impending G8 summit dinner which a main character is about to attend:

"Ah, three hours next to the dullest man in Canada... and that's a pretty competitive category."

/end

Not much to report on today, so I thought I would include a few pictures.

Here's one of the boy copying his dad. Yes, that's his mom in the background laughing at us. He's just entering a copycat stage, which is fun and scary all at the same time. Note to self: watch language around child from now on. Easier said than done.



And here's the play-by-play on dinner, as recommended by briannak. Spinach and ricotta Lasagna Rollups. Yummy, but I forgot to add in the extra spice she suggested. Oops.

So, here's last night's experiment in various stages of completion. It tasted better than it probably appears here.

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The real bonus of it all is that with the roll-ups, it's far easier to serve without making a huge mess and impacting the next person's portion. I know, I'm stupid about food.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled rainy day, already in progress.


/end

A few thoughts on a nice fall morning:

1.

At this moment, my son is getting needles. *sigh* poor little guy. Honest, it's for your own good. Reallyreally.

2.

I had a great walk to work this morning (and stayed dry, I might note.) Here are some lovely images showing how our city will soon be blanketed in colourful maple leaves. How disgustingly Canadian.

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3.

I listened to part of a radio radio interview / discussion on my walk to work this morning, explaining how 150 years ago Canada invited "the Chinese" to come and help build our national railroad. That sounds nice, doesn't it? Well, after the railroad was built, and "the Chinese" kept immigrating in larger and larger numbers, it was decided that a head-tax be imposed. It was $50 per immigrant, meant ostensibly to limit or discourage immigration. It did not.

It should be noted that this head-tax was not levied on any other nationality. Only "the Chinese". And it increased in value twice, to $100 and then to $500 (once it was obvious that $100 wasn't stemming the tide). Apparently $500 was about equivalent to two years' wages for the average Chinese immigrant.

While the head tax was in effect, Canada collected $23 million. Now, feeling guilty but not apologising, the options are: to redistribute the funds to descendents of head-tax families, or to provide an endowment to certain head-tax Chinese immigrant groups to do with what they may. I understand there is anything but general concensus out there.

Sometimes I'm embarrassed by what our forefathers/foremothers did (really, just our forefathers...the foremothers weren't allowed to do anything, right?). This happens time and again: Some group of people out there brings it to the public that our country has horribly wronged them in the past. Often it's mired in beliefs of national unity and / or security. Japanese internment, Chinese head-tax, and the list goes on. I can only hope that we're not still committing these types of atrocities, to only one day be exposed and re-embarrassed, questioning our own belief in the Canadian cultural evolution.

Is my hope misguided?

Read more of this story on the Current website

/end

Here's a brief description of my preparation for, and walk to work this morning.

T-minus 20 minutes: Wife and child leave for work/daycare. I help load aforementioned child into van, noting the beauty of the yellow leaves that have fallen in the overnight hours due to high winds. Rains have subsided and there's a pleasant dampness to the morning. Decide goretex shell is a good bet, just in case more rain comes before the eventual clearing. Temperature: 13C, light wind.

T-minus 4 minutes: Fully dressed with goretex jacket on, I venture out and once again enjoy the splendor of the fall morning that is upon me. Slate gray sky appears drab, but optimistic. Looking forward to my 35-minute walk to work.

3 minutes into walk: Realise shoe choice for walk to work not optimal, but not bothered terribly because the trees have lost about 40% of their leaves overnight, creating a multicoloured carpet on the sidewalks and edges of road. It is a truly gorgeous fall day out there.

10 minutes into walk: Starting to really warm up, thinking about taking my jacket off. Unfortunately, some mist still hangs in the air and I don't want to get all dewey.

13 minutes into walk: Mist getting heavier. Consider removing eyeglasses soon. Umbrella might have been a good accoutrement.

15 minutes into walk: Mist turning to light rain. Decide to put hood up and protect personal radio from the elements. Witness a passing bus. Wonder if the $2 jingling in my pocket should be used for transportation instead of coffee.

20 minutes into walk: Rain. Unhappy about the change in the weather. Now realise what "showers ending this morning, chance of a thunderstorm" is all about. Vow to never again assume that just because it's not raining, that the showers for the morning have ended.

27 minutes into walk: Downpour. Charcoal coloured pants are now as dark as the sky above me. Wonder if I still have spare pants/socks at work. People begin to jog and run. Some with umbrellas. So close to work now that I smile and slog through it. Shoe is untied.

31 minutes into walk: Socks squish. Subtle laughter washes over me, much as the puddles and rivulets on the street corners was over my soggy shoes. I realise the coffee shop is around the corner, but consider skipping it to avoid soaking their floor with my drippy pants and jacket.

34 minutes into walk: Open door to coffee shop, dig out wet coinage to pay for coffee. Note that the cream is out and attempt to get enough milk into cup without overfilling. Leave coffee shop noting that people are no longer running, but the world and its inhabitants are sodden. Brush of momentary chill upon exiting the shop, knowing work is just around the next corner and one block away.

35 minutes into walk: Silently curse coworker pulling into driveway in car. Assume he's far dryer than self.

Time: work + 5 minutes: Have changed into spare pants. No longer have any chance of not looking like I dressed in the dark this morning. Don comfortable, but nonpractical beach shoes that I often wear in the winter after taking off my winter boots. Not winter, not the beach, yet somehow the most appropriate wardrobe choice of the morning.

Time: work + 7 minutes: Drape pants over the spare office chair and sopping jacket over door. Hope that everything dries out before I have to leave the office again. Silently chuckle at my blue pants and my striped green shirt and tie. Enjoying coffee. Good choice to not hop the bus after all. Perhaps six years in Halifax isn't enough to learn to overdress for the weather and to take the forecast with a grain of salt. Salt water, perhaps.



/end

Liberation
or "when's mama coming home"?

OK, so... here's the situation (no, my parents did not go away on a week's vacation):

It's bachelor week in town this week, meaning that M has gone away to Ottawa on a training course so it's me and Jack for six nights and seven days (movie ref? maybe). Anyway, in order to successfully get everyone off to daycare and work (that is, the two of us) at a reasonable hour, the parent has to be both organized and up early enough to get himself dressed and groomed before the child gets up. This usually results in me sneaking around the house like I'd just broken into it while he snorts, groans and moos in his sleep, threatening to throw a toddler-sized wrench into my morning routine.

In preparation for the morning espionage, I hit the sack last night at a totally ridiculous hour (yes, 9:45) and got out of bed at 5:45 this morning. The peanut continued to moo and rustle around in his crib until 6:30, when I went upstairs to retrieve him in his semi-lucid state, only to find that he was still dead to the world, the little runt. So I proceeded to get dressed and find him some clothes before convincing him he should get up and come downstairs to watch a little weather network (long story, largely centred around the calming effects of a blue screen).

By 7:30, both dad and boy were ready to go. I was quite amazed, really. Only four more repetitions of this before mom comes home and saves us from ourselves.

And, not unrelated....

Overheard this morning:

me: so, the Sox won again last night, eh?
me: (not that i stayed up..i fell asleep listening to it on the radio)
briannak: i didn't watch but... ok
me: ooh, LJ fodder. my radio. i should read your update, too.
briannak: your radio is interesting enough to make an lj entry?

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Y'see, in going to bed so early last night, i sacrificed watching Game 2 of the World Series on television and instead opted to listen to it on HALIFAX'S NEW RADIO STATION!. This ordiarily would not be the source for much adulation, except that Halifax generally sucks when it comes to providing any sort of variety on the airwaves. We have less than a dozen FM stations, including CBC Radio 1 (News and Current events), CBC Radio 2 (Classics and Beyond), a lite-rock station, a top-40 station, a country station, and a classic rock station. It doesn't take long before you've exhausted the dial and purchased a CD player for your car, or an iPod (hey, we can dream).

Every year there's talk about a new radio station coming to Halifax, and every year I hope and hope for something a little better than what we have. When I heard about this station (actually saw a TV ad for it), and then found out it was "News. Talk. Sports", I nearly died. Yes, I suppose there is a need for our AM-dial equivalent on the FM-dial, but I think I had hoped for some more progressive music station to move in and turn enlighten some of the local troglodytes.

What I realised yesterday was that, at least yesterday, it was broadcasting ESPN radio -- meaning I could listen to the NFL scores during the day, and listen to the world series at night! Just like I could do when I lived in Toronto! Halifax radio has irked me for so long that I'd forgotten how much I appreciated the full-spectrum of formats enjoyed by larger cities. Also, now I don't have to scan the AM dial late at night, with my free arm in the air, to hear snippets of sports radio stations from the US. Hooray for News. Talk. Sports, indeed.

/end

No, you don't really get your choice. But I'm dying to know, which would you choose, if you could choose?

Wall Update: Graffiti-less wall is now half brown, half white. Looks quite pretty, and still undefamed. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed.

CBC Update: Everybody's back on the air. My morning show, the noontime call-in show (puke!), and the afternoon/evening shows. And, as far as I can tell, the CBC television network's back in action too, not that I watch it much. It's no coincidence that the strike/lockout ended in time for CBC to air the first official weekend of the NHL and Hockey Night in Canada. So sad that hockey saved our national broadcaster. *sigh*

That wasn't much of an update, eh? Go read Jason's blog, and hey.... Let's be careful out there.

/end

There's a wall outside my house (see below) which, being monochrome-coloured and 10 ft high makes it perfect for graffiti. The managers of the building have tried time and again to remove the less-than-lovely artwork that appears there from time to time, and have repainted the wall on many occasions.

This time, apparently, they mean business. They've been out there for a week now, scraping and power washing the wall to remove all the loose paint. Actually, it doesn't look that bad right now. But they're determined to pretty it up. I should note that you can't actually see this side of the wall from the building's grounds, but I suppose it makes the building look unsightly.



As you can see, this nice bright white wall (painted yesterday) is not tempting enough for the local vandals/artistes to make use of in a timely manner. Perhaps I'm giving them too much credit. I was hoping I'd see some kick-ass artwork there by morning, but apparently not.

Here are two more pictures, the first showing the extent of yesterday's paint job, and the second showing the previous colour of the wall. I presume they will repaint with something similar, and not leave it with that whitewashed look.

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I'll post more pictures if anything noteworthy comes of it. Seeing as how we're expecting rain for the next few days, I would say the painting will be on hold until after Canadian Thanksgiving. Did you HEAR that, local graffiti artists? *hint*

ALSO!

The CBC lockout is all but over. As far as I know, the union has to ratify the deal and everyone will be back to work on the 11th. Whee! I'm overjoyed at the prospect of having my morning information stream flowing again. Also, I wonder what will happen to the newly redesigned CTV Newsnet channel (which changed to look much like CBC Newsworld about a week into the CBC lockout).

I'm sorry that for 8 weeks people have been walking the lines without pay. How terrible.


/end