Drivers license

I realized something recently, I'm going to have to get a new drivers license. My current license is dated from 1999, back when I lived in Quebec. It's really a sick looking ID. The plastic is pealing apart, it's just paper underneath and there is no actual birth date indicated (it's part of an ID number below the photo) which makes it tough to use as proof of age (but my greying hair is helping me get by I guess). But all this means is that I will need to get a new license, and since I'm living in Minneapolis, I will need to take their drivers test. Now that's going to suck! I haven't really had to think of the rules of the road for ages, being a cyclist I just do what the hell I feel ;) But now having Kelly's car I suppose I should be licensed...but then again it's not my car...though I suppose having a Minnesota drivers license will help me get around paying Canadian income taxes, which would be favourable. So in an effort to ensure that I pass I managed to find a copy of the road test on-line, though I'm going to need some help answering the questions, so please let me know what you think the best answers would be to the test below (we all know how smart I am and how much help I will need on this):

Minneapolis Road Test

• When approaching a green light a driver should:

1. maintain a constant speed
2. turn, but not signal the turn
3. apply the brakes while crossing the stop line
4. apply the brakes rapidly in the middle of the intersection

• When approaching an intersection where you wish to turn you should:
1. signal the turn in advance, then turn
2. make the turn from the lane that is the furthest away
3. make the turn at full speed, there is no need to watch or yield for anything smaller than a tank
4. do not advance across the stop line until there is no oncoming traffic, then slowly turn in order to leave other vehicles in the intersection when the light goes red
5. if the light turns red before you can turn you may still make the turn, as long as you are either in a rush or have been waiting for more than 10 seconds to turn

• When a traffic light is yellow an approaching motorist should:
1. slow down and prepare to stop
2. keep going, it's not red yet
3. if it turns red, keep going, it was green when you first saw it
4. speed up fast enough to cause a Doppler shift in colours towards blue, making the light green

• When parking a vehicle on public roads:
1. park parallel with and as close to the curb as possible
2. park part of the car close to the curb, the opposite corner can be as far into the moving lane as you like
3. park parallel with the curb, but at any distance from the curb greater than 16 inches
4. leave the largest space between vehicles that can only accommodate a European sub compact style car

• As a pedestrian crossing the road you should:
1. cross in the designated walkway only when indicated by traffic signals
2. cross anywhere you feel
3. cross as slowly as you can possibly move
4. start crossing at the last possible moment, ensuring that the light is red before you finish crossing
5. both answers '3' and '4'

• Should your vehicle incur damage in a collision you should:
1. get it repaired as soon as possible
2. repair it yourself with the best materials possible
3. repair it yourself with the least expensive materials possible (i.e. string, packing tape, plastic bags...)
4. do nothing, missing side panels and open engine compartments increase the worth and fuel efficiency of the vehicle

• If you are going the wrong way or miss a turn you should:
1. take the next turn and go around the block to get in the proper direction/lane
2. pull a u-turn around the median at the next light, ignore other vehicles and normal traffic signal conventions
3. stop the vehicle, reverse against traffic until at the desired location
4. turn partway through the next intersection, across the oncoming traffic, stop, reverse into said oncoming traffic regardless of their speed or number of vehicles

Thanks any help guys, as you can see this is going to be a tough test, lucky for me it's multiple choice.

Things that make me chuckle

Ok, so of late a number of my postings have been a bit negative, though I have tried to add some humour to them, though I guess a good bit of that has been more dark humour. Anyway I don't want you guys to get the impression that my life is a total buzz kill, there are a lot of things that I enjoy and I'm having a lot of fun. Hell just last night I took second place in a poker tournament, the benefit of being the new guy to the table, they can't read me just yet.

But this morning while waiting for the bus I started to think of the little things in life that make me laugh, maybe not out loud, but at least they make me smile and laugh on the inside. So here's the list of those things that I can see every now and then and just make life seem entertaining:

• Mullets - why on earth people keep getting this style is beyond me, but if they stopped I would miss the occasional mullet sighting
• People riding old 10 speed bikes with the handle bars turned upside down - all they need to do to raise the handlebar is to loosen a bolt (same thing they did to turn them)
• Guys staring at girls - I'm sure the girls don't appreciate it, but if you see a hot girl walk by don't watch her (well not the whole time) look at the other guys, they are the funny ones to watch
• Gangsters or wannabe rappers with droopy pants that have the crotch down at the knees - yeah, sure you may think you look like a tough mofo, but if you have to pull your pants up every other step you just look the complete opposite in my books
• Old, crappy cars, decked out with spinning rims and other custom features - why not just put the money into one good car?
• Catching myself checking out a bike and not even paying attention to who's riding it, even if it's a cute girl (yes I know I have a problem)
• People who just don't have a clue - you know the ones who go the wrong way down a one-way, those who just can figure out to pull the door rather than push it
• Sprinklers turned on in the rain - it's just so stupid I have to laugh (until I think of all the waste of water and energy)
• Kids - watch any small child, or a group of them for a couple of minutes and you will see all kinds of funny stuff (just don't do it while peeking over bushes, the parents kind of freak when they notice you then, especially if you are chuckling quietly)
• Watching people slip on ice - yeah, I know, even in Canada I can't see this every day, but it's damn funny to see people try to catch themselves (the fall part sucks though)
• People who can't J-walk, but try - it's funny to see them panic and scatter, somehow they seem to panic more when they are running from a bike, that part I don't understand
• Any of the above involving someone with a mullet - yeah, I put mullets down twice, but they are damn funny

So I guess that's about all that comes to mind of late. If there is anything else that you would like to add to the list feel free to do so, I'm sure there are many funny things out there that I miss each day

And another nice guy gets the ax

Before I get into this post I want you all to know that despite the content of the post I'm not depressed with relationships or anything of that sort. I know that the 'nice guys' can get the girls, in fact they get the great ones, my friends are all proof of that. But that being said I do find it entertaining (in a morbid fashion) to see how nice guys can get the shaft easily. So without further ado (why the hell am I using such a strange word?) here is further evidence of good guys finishing last.

This case revolves around a friend who was dating a guy for a number of months. When he left for a month or so on duty (he's an army guy) she happened to find out a few things about him. Namely she found some pretty convincing evidence that he was cheating or about to cheat on her. So this obviously stressed her out quite a bit. Fortunately said 'good guy' happened to fall into the picture. So they get along great while the boyfriend is away, they spend lots of time together and anyone who sees them knows something is going on, or about to. Now I distinctly remember the girl saying that after spending an evening with the guy, doing nothing in particular, she had felt as though she was "I was completely swept off my feet, [the boyfriend] never made me feel like that." When the boyfriend gets back in town she breaks up with him, even having the 'good guy' and a number of us help move her stuff out after a week of trying to see if they can share the place.

So what happens next? Is it the storybook ending where she rides off into the sunset with the 'good guy'? Well the title of the post gave that one away, unless you didn't read the title in which case you just did now and you know what happens. It seems that even though the 'good guy' did everything right, even sent her flowers while he was away for a week, he gets squat. The girl recently commented that she is jealous of a friend who is going out on dates (oh, this is the one who is starting to see the jerk from a previous post). So despite the fact that she has this 'good guy' eating out of her hand, a guy who swept her off her feet, something the guy she was about to move in with had never done, she isn't interested.

There is something seriously wrong here! Ok, I do realize that the whole recent break up from a rather serious relationship is a factor, but still, you would think that finding a great guy would be enough. Oh and for the record the guy is quite good looking too, so it's not like that's a potential deterrent. All of this does make me wonder what it takes to win a girls heart? Because if you get her singing your praise about sweeping her of her feet and yet still get nothing in the end, how are you ever going to win?

Hypocricy and Double Standards

I initially wanted to make this post about hypocrisy with regard to a specific incident that occurred recently. However I'm not one to attack someone, particularly if they don't know about it, I will make gross generalizations about vast numbers of people and paint them in the most unflattering way possible, but I will not smear an individual, no matter how much they deserve it. Hey, I just realized that I fell right onto the topic that I wanted to discuss, double standards!

It's interesting to realize how prevalent double standards are. My personal favorite is the US policy regarding communist nations. Cuba, a communist regime, is subject to massive trade embargos, to the point where US citizens are forbidden to visit the island. Then there's China. Probably the largest trade partner of the US, certainly the supplier of most consumer products, yet hey, they are communist as well! Plus they have the largest army and air force on earth. What does Cuba have to fight with? Hell I bet Canada could take out Cuba with a couple of Sea King helicopters and some boy scouts.

So clearly double standards exist all over, I won't even get into the double standards between the sexes. But what stunned me the other day was a conversation wherein a divorced friend was disgusted about being propositioned by a married individual (who apparently has an 'open relationship'). Now this isn't stunning on its own, what was stunning was the later allusion to the fact that this divorced person was contemplating (may have) entering into an affair with another married person (talk about being PC with all these persons/individuals). Though the two situations are identical this person didn't seem to acknowledge any hypocrisy in the statement. Oh and just to add to it, part of the reason for the divorce was a lack of fidelity on behalf of the other partner.

It is stunning how willfully blind people can become to the lies that they are telling themselves...oh crap, they are capable of 'double think'! (Ok, if you don't get that you really need to read 1984, not only is it a good book, but I seem to reference it a hell of a lot.) In brief 'double think' is the ability to believe a lie despite knowing the truth, and in the process not knowing that you know it to be untrue. Essentially it really can be distilled into blindly maintaining a hypocritical position while still opposing it.

I wonder why it is that people act in such a fashion? Is it easier to get what you need by ignoring what you know? Or is it part of our selfish nature to do what favours us most? I can't say for sure, I just hope that I can avoid making myself into an example of double standards and hypocrisy.

I'll trade you some freedom for...

I'm curious to see how a new proposal by the mayor of New York will be accepted by the public. Due to the recent bombings in London the mayor of New York is authorizing random baggage searches on New York subway systems. So will this really make a difference, other than slowing down people on their commute, infringing on the freedom of Americans afforded by the constitution (4th amendment). The ACLU has already been opposed to a similar plan proposed in Boston in 2004, though I do not know the outcome of that situation.

Now lets look at things from a statistical, logical point of view. There are 4.5 million passengers a day on the New York subways. So let's say there are 4 people with bombs, as there was in London, you have 1 terrorist in every 1,125,000 passengers (that's on a day with 4 terrorists, otherwise there is ZERO). Ok, so at this point my ability to do anything useful with statistics is proved, I don't know what the odds are of finding any of the 4 terrorists, but think of it this way: if there were 4 terrorists and if the police checked 1.125 million people on the train, they would be likely to catch one of the terrorists, the three others would likely still be on their merry way.

I understand the desire for people to feel secure, but the idea of random searches will not deter the terrorists, heck they probably know stats better than I do. But what this will do is put everyone one step closer to an Orwellian society. Seriously, how long until random searches of cars and homes becomes acceptable? I really worry about how easily the "Land of the Free" are willing to give up freedom for the sense of (not actual) security.

Oh boy, oh boy!

Sometimes life just manages to do some of the most astounding things, among these I particularly enjoy: the Northern Lights, solar/lunar eclipses, CMac's beard and instances of incredible timing. This post is about the later of that list (though I was tempted to do a top 10 list on CMac's teddy bear like appearance), the particular fun with this timing is that it is related to my last post. I enjoy this because I felt the last post was a good one. I spoke about a passionate topic, I cracked a few jokes, got in some self pity (CMac stole the show though) and I was able to rant a bit, all in all a good post. So why mess with a good thing?

So back to the topic of jerks and the women who date them. Last night I was able to experience first hand the baffling way that a jerk (or a potential jerk) can attract an otherwise intelligent girl. Oh, it should be noted that his is in fact the same girl who said that she dates nice guys. And in the interest of full disclosure I should state that I do like this girl, though I think that it's best to keep things at the friendship level. But that may in fact be tainting my view of this guy somewhat, though I think that I am being objective. So like most Wednesdays we all ended up at the bar after the softball games, the guy had made a particular point of making sure the girl was going to be there. Anyway I sat off with some others while I chatted and ate, though the girl did come over to see if I would join them, I told her I would after I had my food. So when I joined them we all chatted for a while and then there was a decision to play some pool. Somehow nobody had any change so I paid my bill and got three bucks in change. Since the table was being played on I let the guy and girl challenge the past winners and they managed to take the table so I was able to join in with a friend of the guy. Since this is getting a bit long I'm going to try listing the jerk-like qualities that I observed over the next few games.

1. A lot of swearing, particularly whenever he missed a shot
2. Missing a shot often involved some kind of aggressive swing/kick towards some nearby inanimate object, once there was jumping and swearing at which point the girl told him it's ok and that he should take it easy
3. Pretty constant trash talking of his friend (who I was playing with), not such a bad thing, but it was all one way
4. Playing with the Buck Hunter (videogame) shotgun, pretending to shoot his buddy multiple times for a slow shot
5. Aggressively confronting his buddy for grabbing the wrong mug of beer from the table
6. A lot of yammering/complaining at a jump shot I was making and a scratched shot that I may have accidentally taken a half inch in front of the line (after he scratched on the 8 but the game kept going?)
7. Lying to the girl about the time, I assume to try to keep her out later (it was only 15 minutes and I'm pretty sure he knew she had her car so this isn't so bad)
8. I may have missed this last one, but I doubt that I was thanked for paying for the games of pool (hey look, it's a nice guy getting screwed already!)

All in all my assessment of him was that he's one of those guys who needs to act tough, who wants to be the alpha male and will try an make it known that he is, using everything but subtlety. So is he a true jerk or just a young cocky prick...well maybe those are the same thing...either way he got the girl's number and wants to do something with her on the weekend. As for the girl, well at the moment her only concern is that he may not know how much older she is and she's worried that may bother him. So my money is on her going out with him again, it will be interesting to see if my assessment is right. For her sake I hope not, but I do very much enjoy being right, that's one of the other astounding things that happens in life, though it is quite rare.

Dating jerks

Ok, so it seems that my most recent posts didn't get much attention/reaction from everyone. Apparently a happy version of me isn't very interesting. Or maybe it's just something about blogs, because I have to admit that the ones that I enjoy to read the most are those that have some complaint in them, perhaps it has that universal appeal. Who knows, either way this blog was in part encouraged by that part of my mind that wants to complain, you know, the part of me that always thinks I'm always right.

So of late I've been thinking about relationships a good bit. Not that I'm actually in any kind of relationship, and though I think I want to be in one I can't really figure out why that is at the moment. I have realized that it has been a near constant topic of conversation with some friends down here. One of the topics that was brought up by a male friend was that he's sick of being the nice guy. He's tiered of treating girls nicely, being a gentleman and somehow getting nothing from it. All the while he sees these jerks getting the girls, and essentially treating them like shit. Now this is something that I can relate to, hell to be honest I saw this pattern in elementary school. The tough guy/bully/idiot always seemed to get the girl. At the time I distinctly remember thinking, "when they get older they will be smarter and not go for the jerks, I'll have my chance then". Well, I'm almost 28, my friend is 30, so when are girls going to stop dating the jerks? (no we aren't trying to date 16 year olds)

Now I have to pause her for a moment. After all a number of girls read this page, at least I would like to believe that. And many of them have boyfriends, I think most probably do, most of those guys I am friends with and would not consider them to be jerks. So obviously there are exceptions. Just the same, I'm still going to rant, if I'd had a blog when I was 10 I would have ranted then, but I don't think the Apple IIe was internet ready.

Now I don't think I need to go into much detail as to what kind of jerks there are out there that women will date, either you're a girl and you've dated them, you’re a guy and you've been passed over for a jerk, or you are a jerk and you keep getting girls and I hate your guts. But I did have an interesting conversation with a friend who claimed that she doesn't date jerks. Being the gentleman that I am I didn't correct her at the time, but the last 3 guys she dated were/are all jerks! One still tries on occasion to hook up with her even though he has a girlfriend at the moment.

So how does a girl who obviously has recently dated a string of jerks manage to claim that she dates nice guys? This just goes to show that women will date jerks yet somehow, even though they acknowledge that they have dated jerks, they will claim to date "nice guys". Or perhaps girls can't see the guys as jerks until they have dated them, though I could have spotted most of these guys as being jerks from the outset.

So I don't really know where I'm going with this post at this moment. I'm not looking for some miraculous answer to why the jerks keep getting the girls. After 18 years of hoping I've pretty much given up on the idea that girls will stop falling for the jerks. So I'm trying to figure out how to be a jerk, since that seems to be what I'm missing in order to get/keep the interest of a girl. It's either that or I keep going with my current method which has netted me about a half dozen girlfriends (depending on how you want to classify them) in 18 years. So though that averages one every three years the fact remains that the longest relationship was about 3 months. Hell I know that jerks have had longer relationships than that.

But I'm sure the plan to be a jerk would fail at some point. I would do something stupid, like fail to make a sexist joke, forget to kick a puppy, not swear ever other word, or worst of all I may actually ask the girl what she thought/wanted/likes. So I'm pretty much screwed...wait, I'm not screwing, that's the problem...anyway you know what I mean. I probably won't try to act like a jerk, I think CMac has a lock on that one, but deep down he is a good guy, and somehow the girls see that (or maybe it's the stench of desperation?). Anyway for any of you single girls out there reading this wondering which jerk you should date next, do me a favour. Look at your friends, figure out which one hasn't in some way done something typically jerky (jerkish, jerkily...who do you conjugate that word?) and give them a shot. You may just find that they are in fact the nice guy that you've been saying you want to find. Here's one last tip to help identify them, he's the guy who you talk to about all the jerks you've dated, unless of course he's gay, but you get the idea.

Holy Crap it's Hot!

Seriously, I've had enough of this hot humid weather. I literally broke into a sweat while brushing my teeth this morning! The high the past two days was 36 C, I have no idea what it was with the humidity factored in, they use the dew point temperature here rather than a relative scale. Accordingly though there would have been condensation on any surface at or below 21 C.

So what do I do when it gets this hot out? Well, being a highly educated individual I've always found the best thing to do in hot weather is more exercise. Particularly a nice long bike ride at a blistering fast pace. That's right folks, Saturday I went out for a ride with a bunch of guys from Birchwood again. The ride started a little after 9 am, so that it would be a bit cooler, but that didn't really help much (it was already 30 C outside). The first three hours of the ride went rather well, we probably averaged about 34 km/h before we stopped in a small town for more water and a little rest before the 3 km long climb out of the valley, which was followed by about 30 km of rollers until we got back to town. Well I don't know if it was the stop, the heat, the hill or all three but the return part of the ride was just deadly. We were a group of about 8 or 9 guys, but after the hill we broke into groups of 2 or 3 riders who could hold the same pace, which was now somewhere just below 30 km/h for myself. It was just really harsh riding at that point, the road was like an stove top and I was drinking and pouring water on myself to try and cool off, yet hoping to save enough to make it to St-Paul. We all made it back into St-Paul and made an alter of a public water fountain along the bike path for a while before we continued home.

So despite having lost plenty of fluids and salt what did I decide to do next? Sleep, eat, drink, rest? Nah, that's for wusses, I went out to play dodgeball. Ok, I did drink a whole lot of fluids before I left, plus I kind of napped for about 45 minutes, and was about an hour late for the start of the dodgeball games. But it was fun, as I knew it would be, so I'm glad that I went. Well except for the point where I fried to avoid a shot to my lower legs by jumping and doing the splits, only to realize at the last moment that the shot was rising! Let's just say that it was a good thing that I was out, because I needed a bit of rest at that point.

That night at least I decided to be a bit more reasonable in my ventures. Rather than sitting over a hot stove I decided to go out to a jazz bar/restaurant and enjoy the air conditioning, music and food. The place was really nice and the band was particularly good. I now have a fond appreciation for the clarinet as a jazz instrument. It has a much smoother, more subtle sound than a saxophone or trumpet.

At one point during my dinner however I almost became a rather interesting spectacle. I was sitting at my table, a high table with bar style chairs, when a muscle in the back of my leg suddenly cramped. I almost fell out of my chair and would have likely been rolling on the floor in pain if the spasm hadn't released as soon as it did. I guess that's just the price I pay for working out in this ridiculous weather.

Time just keeps rolling

Hard to believe that it was almost 3 months ago that I moved down to Minneapolis. It really doesn't feel as though it's been that long. But that's the way things seem to have been the last few years, it always seems as though time is just slipping by without me realizing where it's gone.

I think one of the most particular examples of how quickly time can slip is just looking at my e-mails. Every now and then I manage to forget or put off e-mailing someone, then when I finally look back it's been months. I noticed that today, I remembered that it was the last day to confirm if I would be attending the wedding of Graham and Alison on August 20th. Which of course means that the wedding is really soon. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it to that wedding, with Colin and Kathryn's wedding only two weeks earlier and the lovely cost of airline tickets (I'm paying about $550 for the flight back and I don't even get one of those craptacular tv diners on the flights!) time and money are a bit too tight to make two trips. Though I may still be able to 'crash' the party if I can find a cheap flight for that weekend in the week leading up to the 20th, here's hoping.

Another interesting little note on the passage of time, I still have yet to get the compensation cheque from UPS. Though in all fairness they did mail it to me on Monday. That's right folks, if you need anything shipped, follow the lead of the "world's largest package delivery company", use the US postal service! Ok, yes there is the fact that they can mail me a letter for something like 50 cents, but perhaps they should try a little harder on the customer satisfaction end of things and get me my compensation right away, rather than reminding me that there are alternative delivery services out there.

I have to say that I will be looking forward to spending some time in Alberta again, at least for the cooler, dry weather. This coming week the lowest temperature expected will occur sometime Monday night, when it dips to the almost comfortable level of 17 C. Meanwhile this weekend I will try not to kill myself as the temperature hits 34 C both days.

Biking with the Birchwood club

So last night I went on my third ride with the guys from Birchwood, it seems that they have recently started a Tuesday night hill ride, which is nice from a training standpoint. For those of you who don't ride, well actually anyone who has ridden a bike knows just how hard it is to go up hill, hell a lot of the time it's easier to walk. But from a training perspective if you ride hills often you become stronger and you do so much quicker than any other method. However hill training in a city such as Minneapolis is much like it is in Edmonton, hard, not because of the hills, but because of the lack of significant climbs. But that being said the best is made of the available terrain.

The hills last night apparently were numbered at 12, no repeats, just ride from one to the next. Personally though I think that a few repeats would be good, as it seemed to me that there were only about 6 good hills and a few rises that were done quickly but with minimal effort. Of the hills that we rode a few stand out as being fun (ok, painful, but it's fun for cyclists, we're rather masochistic). One started at the foot of a bridge which we rode across the Mississippi and the road on the other side just kept going at the same grade as the bridge. The whole climb was about 3 km long, so that made for a nice effort, as long as you don't get caught at one of the two red lights. Another couple of hills were fun, shorter, about 2 km, but really curvy on the way up, which changes the grade a bit, meaning that you have to think about how you ride them.

The last hill of the night was Ramsey hill, I mentioned this one once before, it's probably about a kilometer at a 10% grade (this means that every 100 feet you go forward you go up 10). That was one of the two hills that I did not crest first. So that part kind of confused me, I've always been ok on hills, but never the best all night long, especially on new hills. So either the >30C temperature helps me or these guys need some work on their climbing skills. Either way, they were fun to ride with so I'll keep riding with them in the future, hopefully I can find another guy like Jere to make me work my ass of on the hills, only to be passed as if I was standing still in the last couple hundred meters. I just have to keep telling myself that it's good for me...so long as my heart doesn't explode ;)

Everything's comming up Millhouse!

This weekend was a really good one and it seems that things are still going my way. It's a nice feeling, it seems as though I have regained a measure of control over my life that seemed to be lacking in some ways.

On the bicycling side of things I have finally found a club that feels a lot like ERTC. At least in terms of personalities. Everyone is really friendly and the rides on Saturday and Sunday had about 20 people each time. On top of that they are starting to do Tuesday night hills, which will be good for getting me back onto form. All in all this club feels a whole lot better than the others that I have ridden with.

UPS it seems has managed to finally drag themselves to the point where I will be getting the compensation for what they broke. Though I'm still not sure when that will happen, though I'm hoping that the cheque will be on the way before the end of the week.

Socially things seem to be picking up as well. Last night I was finally able to catch up with a group that plays dodge ball every Monday and Saturday. It's just a pick up game, played out in a park with a couple of fences at the back to try and keep the balls in the field. All in all it's just stupid fun and a lot of exercise with a really fun bunch of people. On top of that I may have found a new group to play poker with from within these guys (the other group I had played with were starting to fall apart).

And of course I have the flight planned to get back for the wedding on the 6th, which will be plenty of fun. Hopefully I'll have time to catch up with everyone, I have a feeling that week is going to be rather similar to the last week that I spent in Edmonton, in a word, "frantic". But it will be all worth it.

Softball

Well with the news that softball and baseball are being cut from the Olympics in 2012, and CMac's blog post about his adventures in softball I figured I run with the same topic today.

The chem department has a rather large participation in softball down here. In fact there are 10 teams that are chemistry or chem related, we all play on Wednesday nights, and every time it's a double-header. All in all it's a good system, but in my opinion that's where the good planning ends. There are a few odd rules/things about softball in this university league:

1. They use an actual strike zone, not really a bad idea, but subject to errors in calls. For those that don't know, the U of A used a mat that extended home plate, as long as a pitch landed on the mat it was a strike, not to hard to miss a call that way.
2. The count starts at 1-1 (one strike and one ball). This it seems was decided to speed up, and I'm still not sure on how the rules work on "fouling out", it seems that there is one free foul ball, but it's not really clear to me
3. If the play at home is close, you have to slide. Sounds like a dumb rule to me, but thinking of how competitive some of the guys are I guess this is to keep people from running over the catcher. Though once again the U of A idea with the line to cross (rather than touching the plate, is a lot safer).
4. One nice idea the U of A had was to put a line in the outfield, about 10 meters behind the infield. No matter who was up to bat the outfield could not move in past that line until the ball was hit. The idea being to give girls and weaker batters a chance to get a hit. No such rule is in place down here. Last Wednesday we just played a practice game and even there some of the guys were right up to the edge of the infield, to ensure that a girl didn't get a hit (I really don't like that at all, to me it shows a lack of class).
5. Finally in order to pack 4 softball fields into the lot that they have they chose to do something that is...well damn stupid is the only way to describe it. The outfields are in fact shared between two fields! So if a powerful hitter comes up the other outfield has to watch for players and balls crossing into them. In fact one time I fielded a ball in another fields infield, at the same time as there was play going on in that field! All in all, not a very bright idea in the land of litigation...

Anyway that's all for now. I need to get some rest, after a day spent paddling a canoe down river (though into a stiff head wind) I'm a bit sore. Go figure, it's not like I'm a cyclist with tiny little arms...oh wait I am ;)

Tripple post...

Ok so three posts in one day may be pushing it a bit, but I just couldn't resist adding this one to the list for the day (plus I'll be off on a chem. dept. canoe trip Friday). Kelly got back to me, well she e-mailed me, though it's more in the style of a telegram...how about I just show you:

Hello!!! No time to write...just wanted you to know that I have not
forgotten about you!

How are you?

KElly

So at this point I haven't responded quite yet, I'm probably just going to sit on it for a while. I don't see any point in putting in much effort to writing her at the moment, at least not in this mood. Though I guess this e-mail is an improvement over the last one I got from her (a week ago) which was a response to my e-mail about what I was up to:

Hey,

Sorry...have been busy as usually...will call this weekend if not before.

Kelly

And as well all know, she didn't manage to call. Oh well, I hope you guys are able to laugh at this as much as I am (which is a good amount all things considered).

Back in town...well shortly

So as many of you know, Colin and Kathryn are getting married this summer, the exact date is August 6th. I was graciously chosen to be best man in the wedding, which is quite an honour, but also requires me to make my way back to Edmonton, after having been gone for what seems to be only a short while.

I finally got my flights planed and I will be flying in on Tuesday the 2nd (admittedly I don't get in until ~11:30 pm) and I'll be in town until the morning of the 9th. Of course that means a massive amount of running around will take place in those few days that I'm back. I don't even want to think about the scheduling challenges at the moment, needless to say though my social life will take a drastic upswing from its current lull. I do hope to be able to see all of you again, but if you want any specific moment of my time e-mail me in advance. Obviously though there are a few major events that will necessitate my presence: Burnd's Day, wedding stuff, hopefully a bike ride with ERTC (probably the hill circuit). Other than that though I will be looking for things to do during the week day afternoons that I'm there, though maybe sleeping then might be a good idea...

Anyway I guess the only other thing to figure out is where I will be staying. I recall a number of you offering room if I needed it, though unfortunately I've forgotten exactly who those people were so I can't hold you to your word. Though if enough of you are willing to have me I can be spread around as to not annoy anyone one person too much ;) I may even check in with Todd and see if I can get a room in my old place for a week, at least that way I won't need to get a key.

More Blogs

Wow, these things just seem to be springing up like weeds. Not that I'm complaining, I personally like the idea of blogs and they seem to be a relatively good form of mass communication, at least as opposed to mass e-mails, which I despise writing (yet oddly enough, enjoy reading).

Anyway two friends from the chem department in Edmonton (we all started the same term in fact) have blogs now. Like all blogs they may be short on content at the beginning, but give them an audience and who knows what will happen. The two newest blogs are linked on the sidebar of my page, the authors are:

• Chris MacDonald (a.k.a. CMac, for those of you who were wondering who the bearded guy responding to my posts is). CMac is a self admitted asshole, so his blog is likely to contain some interesting rants from time to time, at least that's my prediction.
• Colin Vitols (a.k.a. the beta glimmer twin, this nickname goes back a while, with myself as the alpha twin, the names are courtesy of Bryan and Aaron) Colin isn't nearly the asshole that CMac is, but he does have a somewhat twisted sense of humour, which should shine (or should that be glimmer) through in his posts.

I look forward to seeing where their blogs go, and hope that you'll also check them out from time to time.

Littering

Well so much for not raging on americans, it was a nice run while it lasted, what was that, 2 maybe three days...

Now as I'm sure many of you know littering is an eye-sore, it's everywhere, it's unavoidable it would seem. It is present in all cities of the world, however it seems to be worse here in Minneapolis, than in any other city I have lived in.

In the past 3 or 4 days I have seen three people blatantly drop their trash on the ground, even though they were all within 100 feet of a garbage can (there are a lot of them around, they just aren't used). One was a father with his son getting off the bus, as soon as he was off the father threw his transfer on the ground, the trash bin was within 10 feet (they have one at most bus shelters). The next was a kid walking down the street, he simply tossed his empty chip bag to the wind, he was right near a corner that I'm certain had a trash bin. Finally I was just walking up to the chem building and saw a woman drop the plastic and foil cover of her cigarettes on the ground, admittedly it was about a 100 foot walk (in the direction she was going) before she would encounter about 3 trash cans.

So what the hell is up with these people! Why on earth are they so ignorant of their actions, which are not only detrimental to the environment but also detract from the marginal beauty of a city. But this ignorance sadly isn't isolate to a few people on the street, it's everywhere in the states. From the massive popularity of gas guzzling SUVS, to horrid policy choices of the current US government. Some of these are truly stunning and include (but are not limited to):

• A proposal to drill for oil in the Alaskan wildlife refuge
• Severe cuts in funding to the EPA
• Not being willing to adopt the Kyoto Protocol

His reasons for not adopting the Kyoto Protocol are particularly cute; in so much as they are asinine and juvenile. For one, India and China aren't doing it. Where there's a great reason, how about leading by example for a change, or can that only happen in the name of "freedom". In addition he stated "that some European friends said it would hurt the US economy" (this may not be exact; I didn't take notes when I heard the recording on the BBC news this morning). So when exactly does the US follow the advice of Europe? Oh wait, it's that lovely double standard, they listen only when it suites them.

Maybe I'm hoping for too much, but it would be nice to see the US government take an active positive roll in the environment. Perhaps then some of Regan's trickle down idea might actually work and people would stop throwing their garbage on the ground. But that would require some kind of social conscience, and in a nation of aggressive capitalism (i.e. look out for number 1) this isn't likely to change any time soon.

A question for you:

Since this has been chewing at the back of my mind for a while I figure I might as well make a blog posting out of it and see what you guys think. As you all know by now I meet a really nice girl (Kelly) soon after I arrived here and things started to look promising as far as relationships go, well if you neglect the minor fact that she’s going to be in San Diego until October. You are hopefully also aware that I had been a bit hung up on the fact that she may in fact not be coming back as she is trying to decide whether or not to make the Coast Guard a full time career.

Well since that aspect presented itself, about the same time as my last post about her, I’m not quite sure what has happened between us. Around that same time we stopped talking as often on the phone. When I would call it would seem that she was always busy, and well she seems to have simply stopped calling. On top of all this though the past two weekends she has said that she will call, yet did not. I find if particularly funny that two weeks ago when we did speak mid-week she said that she corrected herself when she said she would try to call and made it she will call me that weekend. Though as she said this something in the back of my mind said sarcastically, “yeah, right”, sure enough the cynical part of me was right. The same occurred this weekend, though this time the statement was made through a 1 line e-mail, in response to a more substantive e-mail I had sent her. Yet again there was no call, and this weekend was a long weekend on top of that.

Now of course I don’t particularly care, well I guess I do somewhat otherwise why would I take the time to write this? I guess what is pissing me off is that it seems as though I have been unceremoniously dropped from her life. Not that I need a big deal to be made of it, though an acknowledgement of the fact that there is no longer time for me would be appreciated. On top of all this there was a short letter that I sent her with some stuff she needed from her apartment the week after she left. In it the only thing I asked of her was that she be honest with me. For I truly don’t mind if she finds someone else, or loses interest in me, frankly I more or less expect both to happen, and may already have. I just wanted to know when my time was up as it were.

So now I’m left with a bit of a dilemma, do I make a point of calling her on her failure to keep her word, or do I just let go as I have done so far? I’m not the type of person to turn things into a guilt-trip, certainly not over something which in the grand scheme of things is rather minor. In the end I don’t know if I would be any happier if I were talking with her frequently anyway. I guess what it comes down to is that I don’t appreciate when people break their word; I always try to keep my word, and generally feel shitty when I don’t. I would hope that others would not give me their word so carelessly, but alas…

So lets put this to a vote, should I make mention of it or should I let it go?*

*Please note that as I am not a formal democracy, and infact an autocratic dictatorship, I will chose to follow the voice of the masses only if I feel like it and it suites my need. But I just thought it would be fun to make you think you had some control in my choices ;)

Bumper stickers (yet again)

I just looked back at some of my previous posts and it seems that this may be my third posting dealing with bumper stickers, who knew that they could be so much fun? It's just funny though to see how many bumper stickers will be pasted to a nice looking car (ok formerly nice looking car). I have seriously seen some that from behind you would not be able to identify the colour of the car due to the number of stickers.

These stickers of course represent all forms of opinions and beliefs. Some are subtle, like the silver jesus fish, which has it's opposite, the Darwin fish. And since the last federal election was only about 8 months ago there are plenty of Bush or Kerry stickers out there as well. Thinking of it now there seems to be a uniqueness to the Kerry campaign stickers that I have not seen for the Bush side, that being humour. Though I don't remember many of the humourous stickers the one that I have seen most (possibly because it's on a car on my street) read "Bush/Cheney 1984". Making the obvious association to Orwell's novel 1984. However I wonder if this is yet again a case of preaching to the converted, for I doubt that the majority of people have read 1984.

Beyond the extensive selection of ribbon stickers (yellow, pink, red, american flag...) there are a number of funny ones as well. One creative one on a friends car reads "Quit treating our earth like dirt". I did see a funny one in front of my place today that I will have to track down for CMac. It read "Learn how to fucking park", now unless you are Aaron, CMac or myself this won't seem all that funny to you, fortunately irony was on hand to make this story fun for the whole family. The owner of said sticker was parked parallel to the curb, though he was about a foot and a half away from the curb...