Friday, September 30, 2005

The one downside to life...

We all know what that is, it is part of the definition of life; invariably one day we will all die. Yeah, I know a real happy way to start off a blog post, but sadly that seems to be the theme today. I learned today that Ryan, a friend from the U of A, died very suddenly recently. It's really kind of strange to hear something like that. Obviously I feel horrible for his family and close friends, to lose anyone is bad enough, for them to die unexpectedly leaves so much unsaid.

I can't say that I was close to Ryan. But the time that I spent in his company was good. He was younger than me at 22, I got to know him through his working in some of the chemistry labs. We played some soccer together and he was part of the "Burnd's Day" crowd. Though I don't know him well I can say that he was a genuinely friendly guy, always with a smile on his face and a positive attitude. Apparently he died of an infection to his heart, I don't have the details, it's all second hand and even unclear to those who are closer to the situation. All that I know is that it happened very suddenly, the first that some friends knew of anything being amiss was that he didn't show to a soccer practice.

Today I also found that Colin's dog of 14 years died recently. In this instance the deterioration in health was evident and the death was anticipated, not that it takes any of the pain out of it. Having buried a number of pets I can understand the sorrow that is felt. In a lot of way a pet is a best friend, how often do we find that kind of unconditional love?

All this serves to remind me how grateful I am for all that I have had in my life. I'm not religious, I don't believe in a god who is watching over us to keep us safe, I don't have any ideas what comes beyond life, if there is anything at all. And in a lot of ways for me that makes life here all the more precious. It is the only chance I have to say what needs to be said, to let those who are dear to me know as much. To be honest I don't know if I ever do say it enough; I love my family, my friends and all the people who have been a part of my life. You have all touched me, some in ways that you may not even realize. So tonight, or whenever you can, as soon as you can, find at least one of those people you care about. Hold them close and be honest with them, let them know what they mean to you, and to that as often as possible. The last chance isn't likely to come any time soon, I truly hope it does not, but when it comes, and it will, they will know how you felt and that honesty is a greater gift than anything else you can give another.

And remember even if I am not nearby, you all have a place in my heart and the relationship that has grown between us is worth more to me than I can express.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

The beard is gone

Alright, time to clear up a couple of details (at least for Kim's sake). Last weekend I did go out with three different women in as many days. The last of those dates (to the conservatory) was with the girl who I am for now calling 'on-line girl'. Last night was our second date. I am not dating any of the other girls I went out with last weekend because: one is dating a guy who is larger than me and the other girl doesn't seem to have all that much interest in me, or no time, either way I think things are working better with 'on-line girl' anyway.

So hopefully that's all cleared up now. In other news the facial hair is now gone. The funny part being that it took me a while to get used to my face with the beard and now I'm having issues without it...I'm having an identity crisis over facial hair, how neurotic can I get? As for why the facial hair is now gone, well for one it was just an experiment, and secondly my beard isn't exactly soft, more prickly, even as the hair gets longer. So I don't think you need me to draw you a map as to what tipped the balance to get me to shave.

I also learned something interesting last night. It seems that 'on-line girl' had noticed my profile before I sent her a message. I don't know how long before I wrote her that was, but she was reluctant to say how long she would have waited before she would have written to me. Ah the joys of the on-line dating system, as far as I can tell had I not noticed her profile she may not have done anything to help draw my attention...oh well, it's a good thing I had you guys send me profiles to check out. No she wasn't one that you sent to me, but I did see hers while I was looking for the ones you guys sent.

So as for the date last night, well you aren't going to get many details. I went over to her place with some pizza, drinks (Jones Soda) and chocolates to watch 'The City of God'. Well I don't know how many of you are big Seinfeld fans, but there was one episode where he went to see Schindler's List with his girlfriend and missed the movie. Well, don't ask me how The City of God ends, at least not yet, I will see it one of these days.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

The numbers keep growing

I just noticed that this is my 101st blog post...yeah, don't expect it to be any better than the 100 that came before it, actually this one may be one of the more boring ones. I've also noticed that today I already have 23 hits on the blog (and no I don't visit just to artificially up the numbers), total visits are up over 2,500! This is actually putting me in the situation where I want to make sure that I post every day to give you guys something to read...sadly my life isn't all that interesting and I'm not creative enough to make things up.

I did learn one interesting thing yesterday. I wanted to bond/glue two pieces of glass together as part of my research project. I was trying a method that I hadn't attempted before. This seemed pretty easy. Get a thin film of the glue on each wafer and press them together and let it sit over night to set. Well as it turns out I'm rather special. See I was able to get the glue to stick to the glass, yet I wasn't able to get the glue to stick to itself! How the hell did I manage to do that? I'm one talented boy at times.

On a non-work related note tonight will be date number two with the 'on-line' girl. Yeah, I could probably use her name, but I would rather not at this point. Anyway our initial plans were to head out for dinner, but with the rainy weather and the later night that she had last night things got changed. Now it's a get cozy on the couch and watch a movie date. Somehow I like that idea a lot better than the romantic dinner atmosphere, at least for tonight. After all it's cold and rainy, what better situation is there to curl up on a couch with someone?

So that's it for now, thanks for checking in on the blog and as always I will try to keep you up to date on my life...though why you would want to know is beyond me?

Monday, September 26, 2005

How dangerous can helium be?

So with all the fun I had this weekend I kind of forgot about an interesting little event that could have made the weekend much more different. You see Saturday morning I meet up with a bunch of the people from the bike club for the usual 9:00 am ride. Well it was rainy and kind generally unpleasant out when we all meet near an outdoor stage at one of the lakes. It was a bit unusual this Saturday, because there were plenty of other people down there as well. From what I could gather there was a charity walk for Alzheimer's...or I guess that's what the "walk for Als" on the t-shirts meant, we will just forget about proper spelling of AlZheimer's (it's the US, they are allowed to do that kind of thing).

Anyway this being a charity walk all the usual requirements were there, tents, table and plenty of balloons...I wonder how many balloons they have at walks for the environment? Anyway, having helium balloons is the only way to go, so there was obviously a helium tank on hand. And that's where things get interesting. As we waited for some of the club members to come out of the washrooms we were hiding from the wind near some of the buildings on a large cement walkway. All of a sudden I heard a very distinctive sound, a heavy metal cylinder striking cement forcefully. Those of you who have dealt with compressed gas can guess what that was, the helium cylinder had fallen over.

Now before I go further, here is a link to what a compressed gas cylinder looks like. These things are big and have a huge amount of pressure in them (around 4000 psi, a car tire is about 40 psi, a bike tire gets as high as 160 psi and the air around us is about 15 psi). Because of this pressure they are highly dangerous, essentially they become a bomb if the structural integrity of the cylinder is compromised. With this in mind the cylinders are very well made, in fact there is only one known weakness to the cylinders, that is the regulator, the way that you get the gas out.

Now when this particular gas cylinder fell over the next thing that I heard was a hissing sound! Not good! The regulator was attached, and took some of the impact from the fall. Oh, we were directly in the path of the regulator, should it have taken off. Honestly the whole thing shocked me so much that I barely moved when this happened, I panicked, not the adrenaline pumping panic that is useful, I froze cold, as in: "This is it, it was a nice ride". Fortunately the cylinder didn't blow, and the gas leak was stopped. I then saw a few people whom I assume were responsible for the cylinder lifting it back up and standing it once again near the building. I rolled over and told them that they really should have the tank secured so that it couldn't fall over. Trying to impress upon them that had it snapped the regulator off the tank would have been found somewhere on the other side of the lake. I got the feeling that they didn't really care. I should have tried harder but we were rolling out on the ride and I figure that maybe a little Darwinism is a good thing from time to time...so long as I don't die because of the stupidity of some other fool.

Anyway I figured I would share that little story with you. Thinking back that could have really changed how my weekend played out. It's also funny to think back to my post about the safety warning on my coffee grinder power cord, yet how much safety training was involved in letting these fools use a helium cylinder?

Sunday, September 25, 2005

The times they are a changing

From time to time I like to look back at the progress we humans have achieved in such a short period of time. It's interesting to think of a time when e-mail, blogs and cell phones were not the norm. Hell 5 years ago digital cameras were just starting out, now you can having one in your cell phone is common place. Though one can easily see and date technological advances there are sociological advances that have taken place over the last few decades that have been equally, if not more so, important, though sometimes harder to pinpoint when they occurred.

I think we can all agree that the advancements in equal rights (both for women and 'minorities') have been important contributors to our current social state. I don't think anyone is willing to say that doing such things was wrong...ok, there are those who would say that it was, but they would probably lose the argument to a tree so do they really count? And unfortunately though there are laws, there is still discrimination, I'd like to believe that we will eventually get passed it all, with each generation it seems to get a little bit better (now if only our generations were like those of a fruit fly, why it might be a perfect world by the end of the week). But it's not, yet despite the slow process of acceptance of change the changes keep moving forward.

The latest form of discrimination that is beginning to be swept away seems to be discrimination based upon sexual orientation. I'm very proud to be Canadian for the fact that we allow gay marriage. It is a sign of the intelligence and understanding of the Canadian people that the government is willing and able to pass such legislation. That being said, I wonder how long it will take for the US to catch up. Is there going to be some kind of underground gay railroad heading to Canada for weddings until the US starts to act like "the land of the free" (that phrase always cracks me up).

But I think we can all agree that gays be the next social group to have equal rights across the board...excluding theocratic states...humm 'in god we trust'...did they really separate god from state, or was it just the 'strange gods'? Anyway, the real point of this post isn't to bash the conservative nature of American politics, it's to ask all of you a question. Which group will be next to get equal rights? I see two front runners as candidates to escape the persecution that they have endured for ages: drug users and prostitutes.

If you look at it both have started to gain greater acceptance. Canadian laws are leading to the de-criminalization of marijuana possession and there are starting to be "safe injection" sites. And law enforcement tends to turn a blind eye towards prostitution, when was the last time you heard of a 'vice squad' busting 'Johns' like they used to in the 80s? In both cases the governments could actually profit from giving these groups equal rights. Taxing the products/services would be one way (wow that gives a whole new interpretation of the goods and services tax). Add to that the reduced cost in policing and there certainly would be a benefit.

Who knows, maybe I'm living in my own utopia, but I think it could happen, possibly in my lifetime. It certainly has the potential make those activities a lot safer for all parties. After all, if it is out in the open it may be a bit harder for some nut job to kill 20 or 30 prostitutes before anyone says anything. So what do you guys think, are these the next groups to be treated with equality, or have I overlooked a more likely candidate group?

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Wow!

Ok, so date number three of three just rocked! I don't know what else to say, this girl is just FABULOUS!!!! Yeah, I know, I'm gushing, hell I've got a grin on my face that is going to stay there and continue looking stupid for some time. But I can't help it, hell it's a pretty good sign when a first date lasts 8 hours! And don't ask me where the 8 hours went, I seriously didn't notice the time fly by (and right now I just want to see her again).

So for those of you who must know, here's the short form of what we did. I picked her up at her place at 3:00 and we drove out to Saint Paul to visit the Como Conservatory. For those looking for good first date ideas, this is a good one. Beautiful environment, with plenty of things to look at and comment on if conversation isn't flowing smoothly. However, I have to say that I barely even noticed the plants. We spent the whole time talking to each other, while sitting on a bench in the sunken garden or on a rock by the coy pond in the Japanese garden. The next thing we knew it was 6:00 and they were shutting things down. But fortunately neither of us had tired of the other, so back we went to Uptown (where we both live in Minneapolis) for some Thai food. After dinner, well, why not find a movie. Ok, so that part didn't work out too well, the show we wanted to see, The Constant Gardner, either started just before we finished dinner, or was starting almost two hours later. So we decided to make the run to the south end of town to catch The Corpse Bride, which would have been fine, other than the road construction leading to a massive detour, and the packed parking lot. But despite being somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes late for the start of the actual movie (not to mention the previews) it was an ok movie, visually it was very well done, a seamless blend of stop-motion and CGI (I think, it was hard to tell what was what). So after the movie we still wanted more of each other, so back to Uptown we went to get some ice cream and than a little walk in the rain under an umbrella (I come prepared when I go out on a date). After the walk I took her home and that was that...ok, there was the kiss good night, and a few more before that...but I'm not one to kiss and tell (much).

Anyway, this obviously has some good potential to develop into something really good. And all I can think of is just how fabulous she is...it's been an hour and a half, is it too soon to call? I know, I'll wait, a little while ;)

Friday, September 23, 2005

How did I get here?

It's sometimes interesting to look back at one's life and realize the key moments that lead to current aspects of your life. Some things seem so logical, like my doing chemistry, I'd actually wanted to be a "scientist" since I was in grade 6 (yes I was a geek back then, what you thought I was cool at some point? HA!) But at that age my idea of a scientist was pretty much the cartoonish image of a guy mixing things in test tubes while wearing a lab coat...and now I'm a chemist. Ok, so the synthetic chemists will argue that I'm not really a chemist because I don't "make chemicals". Yeah, maybe it's true that most analytical chemists don't make chemicals, actually a large number of us make careers of figuring out what chemicals the synthetic chemists have managed to poison us and our environment with ;)

So obviously chemistry was something that I was going to end up doing, and I suppose the same could be said about my passion for bicycling. Many or my clearest childhood memories are associated with a bike or Big Wheel. But there are other parts of my life that required a catalyst to get me to the point I am now. One such aspect of my life is my interest in some of the performing arts. And I don't mean the standard rock concert and other musical acts, I mean theater, dance performances, musicals, orchestras, those kind of things. Since just after my 19th birthday I have been going to more and more 'cultural events' (for the lack of a better term). In fact I'm pretty certain that I have been to more musicals than rock concerts. And no, I'm not gay, I'm certain that there are gay men who have gone to more rock concerts and less musicals than I have. Anyway my three dates in three days are all with women, and so what if I wear pink, it's the new black....and I seem to have slipped off topic...back to the musicals.

The only reason that I have actually been to all these musicals and other events was due to a chance encounter. The day after my 19th birthday I happened to be in Montreal, by chance I meet up with a friend and we decided that what better was there to do on an afternoon then head to the bar and drink beer. Well the place was just packed, we were seated with an older couple, probably mid-30's or older. The guy was just a slob, quite overweight, unshaven, he kind of had that puffy slob-like face that you only see in movies. Well he was a lot of fun, my friend and I had fun shooting the shit with this big guy for an hour or so. When it came time for him to leave he finally told us what he was in town for, he was the producer of West Side Story (which was wrapping up it's run in Montreal the next day). So for being good company he offered us tickets to the show that night, which we declined, since we were meeting other friends, and already quite drunk. We did however get tickets for the matinee the following morning. So the next afternoon there we were, the middle of row H in Place des Arts! I was seeing my first musical and the only reason was because I was out drinking the night before. Talk about a change of gears.

Well, I absolutely loved seeing West Side Story, but then again how can you go wrong with the Romeo and Juliet story...oh right, Romeo Must Die kind of fucked it up. Just the same since that first musical I've gained an appreciation for the arts and have seen many different performances, though I still need to see an opera. I just find it interesting how I discovered this interest and I wonder what other unexpected joys I will find through unusual routes in the future?

And yet another blog to add to the list.

I think many of you should already known Michelle Trommelen if you were part of the U of A dance club. If not, here's you chance to get to know her. She has recently decided to revive a blog that she started some time ago. Currently she's living in Victoria B.C. and finishing off a Masters in Geology (I hope I got that right). Anyway I'd suggest that you drop by and check out her blog. Not only is she a very fun person to begin with, she's also TAing so you know that there's going to be good ranting material to come, and she does get to go to some really cool (or maybe cold is the better word) places, this past summer she was in Svalbard for her research.

As always a permanent link can be found on the sidebar of this page.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

...and the rain keeps coming

This is just getting to be funny. After I got back from spending a couple of hours pleasantly touring the museum with the girl from dodgeball (and being thoroughly impressed with her knowledge of art) I decided to check my e-mail. To my surprise there is a message in my inbox from someone I don't know. Apparently this woman has a friend in my bike club who suggested that she get in touch with me. Apparently we have several common interests including riding cyclocross.

So I wrote back, after all it takes a good bit of courage to write someone blindly. Right now though I'm almost more curious to know who her friend is, all I know is that she is female. I'm not even sure how many of the people in the club know that I'm single, I don't know, do I give off that desperate single guy vibe? I would think that I don't, otherwise I wouldn't be going out with all these women. After all nothing repels women faster ;)

So who knows, my Sunday evening is still free, maybe I can make it 4 for 4...ok, 3 for 4 (but I still like to count going out with my friend, it maintains continuity).

Blog problems

Well I'm at a loss for an explanation of what's going on. It seems that if you view my blog with Microsoft's Internet Explorer, things fuck up. The text box background extends outside of the normal border and forces the profile information and links down to the bottom of the page. Why this is happening I don't know. My only answer is that it's because it's a microsoft product which like almost of their software, is a piece of shit.

I have not had any problems viewing my blog through the latest version of Netscape. This version of Netscape will display either as the Firefox or as IE, when I switch it to IE display it goes to crap. If anyone has any idea what to do to solve this problem let me know. I have yet to find a way to contact Blogger directly for help so for now you are stuck with the mess. Of course you could simply change your browser to one that works...

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

When it rains it pours...

Seems I'm getting back to some of my old tricks these days. Now I mentioned in my last post that I had a date this Saturday; well when Saturday rolls around that will make it three nights in a row having gone out with three different women. It's been a few years since I managed to do that, last time I did was at the end of my first series of ballroom dance classes. All three girls were from the class, and some guys wonder why I would go to a ballroom dance class!

Now before we get too far ahead of ourselves, in the interest of full disclosure (and self preservation), Friday night is NOT a date. I'm taking a friend from work out to the orchestra, this was my birthday gift to her. I just want to make things clear on this, as both she and her boyfriend read this blog, and he's bigger than me and already likes to throw things at my head, hard. So once again, Friday is not a date.

Thursday however is more or less a date. After trying to meet up on campus for lunch for well over a month now a girl that I meet at dodgeball has agreed to go out Thursday night. We're going to check out the museum that is only a couple of blocks behind my place. That should be a nice way to hang out and chat for a while.

And of course there is the date with the girl I meet on-line. I'm still not sure what we will do. I've given her a few options of things to do. But it is a real shame that I'm new to this city, it always takes some time to find neat things to do on dates, and as of yet I'm not sure what they are around here. Unfortunately I have yet to find as perfect a date idea as the botanical gardens in Montreal this time of year: they do a Chinese lantern exhibit at night. Oh well, I'll figure things out here eventually. Either way, it's going to be a fun weekend.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Homesick, or sick of not having a home?

I don't know how many of you bother to check out the blogs of my friends, I've linked them on the sidebar of this page (though apparently there are problems viewing the page with Internet Explorer at the moment?) . Anyway Chantelle has recently moved to Belgrade and has been feeling a bit homesick of late. Thankfully there have been a bunch of suggestions of things to do to get past the homesick feelings. If you have any good ideas that have worked for you I'm sure the suggestions would be appreciated.

Her situation though is one that I have encountered to various degrees a number of times in my life. Admittedly the only time I was forced into an environment where I could barely speak the language was when I was sent to a French school for 1st grade. Sure I was only 6 and it was tough, but my father gave me sticker for my lunch box each day that I went, funny how effective that was, I still remember them to this day.

But it is a real challenge to pick up and move away, even for a short period of time. Because of that I sometimes wonder how that aspect of my life has affected my relationships with friends and family. I don't think that it has ever stopped me from being who I am or developing meaningful relationships with my friends. Yet I have also come to learn that there are a number of people in your life with whom you will be good friends for a while, but once distance comes into play the relationship fades. Current technology certainly helps to keep people in contact, for which I am grateful, because the circles of friends that I now have are the greatest people I have ever had the chance to know and I do not want to lose them.

Right now I am faced with an interesting potential dilemma in my transient lifestyle. This Saturday I'm going to be going on a date with the girl I had mentioned meeting on-line. Now I'm not really looking for anything long-term at this point, and seeing as I'm still not 100% sure she's not a nut I can't say I even want a second date. But what does happen if everything goes well? I'm in a situation where within a year I could be moving yet again. For a relationship that could be a hell of a problem, particularly since I just can't see myself doing the long distance thing.

It's funny, I guess now I'm not really homesick for any one location, I'm homesick for a home. A place where I know I will be for a number of years and able to be confident in the direction of my life. But for now I guess I get to keep enjoying the changes that my life brings. So here's hoping that the date this weekend goes well, after all I'd rather have to have some of the above mentioned problems rather than be a hermit.

Monday, September 19, 2005

...like "Love Day" only not so lame...

Looking back, that last post I made was rather long, I'll try to keep this one a bit shorter, plus it should be more fun since I'm ranting again ;)

So for those of you who didn't catch the quote used as a title to this entry it's from The Simpsons (big surprise there). Well the reason for it is that this weekend I was out picking up a birthday card for a friend and came across a shocking discovery. Did you know that there are two holidays in October that I had not heard of or celebrated in the past? I'm not talking about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (even though they do sound made up) I have heard of those before. No the surprising ones were "National Boss Day" and get this "Sweetest Day" (which is like Love Day, only more lame).

I don't want to pick a fight with the Greeting Card industry, they are big, powerful and have been known to eliminate those who stand in their way...though I have heard that there is a very nice card which is sent to the wake on their behalf. But is a 'Boss Day' necessary? And what on earth is a 'sweetest day', somehow I see some covert connection with the dentists of the world.

Ah well, it will be interesting to see how and if these things grow to more than they are. After all the general public is simply a mindless buying machine and generally incapable of expressing sentiment without someone writing it out for them. Which may explain why it too me so long to find a blank card so I could write something more meaningful than "Hope your birthday makes you happy all over!".

Ok, rant off, back to work now.

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Need more sleep...

So this Saturday night is a full moon, yet I swear that all the strange and weird stuff that normally happens on a full moon seemed to happen to me Friday night. I don't know why it was but all in all last night was one of the oddest evenings I have had in a while, and despite it all kind of fun.

To begin with I knew the day was going to suck a good bit because I was having a tooth pulled. It turns out that the tooth that was giving me problems was one that I had cracked a couple of years back (it had been previously filled for a cavity). So I payed the stupidity tax in letting it go so long, by the time I started to feel any pain the tooth was at the state of needing a root canal. Actually, it was at a point where even if a route canal had been done it may not have been successful. So instead of spending thousands of dollars on a potentially ineffective procedure, I chose to spend $44 dollars and have the damn thing pulled. Fortunately it's my last molar, so it's not visible and when I finally have a job that actually pays me some money I will take care of getting a fake tooth in there. But that was just a bit of foreshadowing as to how odd the day would turn.

A good friend of mine from work was having her parents visit for the weekend, they wanted to come up for her birthday. This also coincided with a bachelorette party for another group member. This was a bit of a problem as my friends parents were arriving late Friday night, right in the middle of the party. So seeing that my friend had a bit much on her plate I proposed a simple enough solution. I would pick her up from the party, take her to get her parents, we would drop the parents off at her apartment and then I would take her back to the party and my job would be done. But it's never quite that simple is it.

Plans changed right from the start, the party was still at a house when I was to pick my friend up, and not downtown, which is very close to my place. To make matters worse, my friend only knew how to get to this place from her apartment, on the other side of town. But hey, I have a map, give me cross streets and I can find the place...or so I thought. See it turns out that Edmonton doesn't have the worst traffic grid ever, Minneapolis does. For example, I learned last night that Broadway crosses both Washington street and Washington ave (actually it seems that there are about 20 different Washingtons in the twin cities area!). So when I went to get to the house and I found myself in a rather seedy warehouse district I was a bit concerned. But no matter, found my way, see cell phones are useful and picked my friend up from the party. Next it was off to the airport, which is pretty easy, get on the highway, take a couple of interchanges and we are there. Well, except for the other drivers. See Minneapolis drivers seem to like to do two things while driving down the highways: a)drive nice and fast b)come to near complete stops on highways. Even a 3 year old would be able to tell you that this isn't a good combination. But regardless of the weather, time of day, road conditions, position of the moon, it seems inevitable that you will suddenly find yourself in a position where your speed will drop from 60+ mph to ~20 mph. So obviously driving defensively is a good idea, but sometimes that's not even enough. I don't know what happened but while in the left lane I suddenly saw the SUV two cars ahead of me hit the brakes hard and pull off to the shoulder. Well, as this happened the minivan in front of me hit the brakes hard too, and so did I. However we had been travelling 60+ mph and it doesn't take a math wiz to realize that the loss in time due to reaction speed as you go along a line can add up to hitting the brakes too late. Yup, that's right, I rear-ended the minivan! Fuck, was clearly the first thought through my mind. So the minivan pulled off the road, I pulled off the road, both my friend and I were fine, we were almost at a full stop when we did hit. So I got out of the car to see what the damage was. I don't know what kind of gods I have pleased lately, but I'm pretty sure I have to work my ass off to fill up my karma tank, because the only damage was a few scuffs to the bumper of the minivan! The Jetta was fine, the woman driving didn't care, I was clear! Woohoo! It was only after we got going again did I realize just how lucky I was with the whole thing, after all the Jetta has air bags that could have gone off as well!

So after all that we still made it to the baggage claim before the parents. We picked them up, got everyone in the car and we are off. From here out it should be smooth sailing. Well we get back to the apartment and before we get out of the car I hear "Uh oh..." It seems that my friend left her apartment keys in her car, back at the house where I picked her up, on the other side of town... So it was probably 45 minutes later that we finally were back at her place with her keys and were able to let her parents in. Alright, the bachelorette party has moved downtown, so we need to figure out which bar and get my friend there. Now at this point I started found out that my friend was going to have to drive a couple of the girls back home after the party. Normally that's not a big deal, but she had been really busy lately and was suffering a bit of exhaustion (to the point of getting a few dizzy spells). So I wasn't feeling too good about her finishing off the party and then driving people home until all hours, then having to entertain parents the next day. So I decided to hang out at the bar and when the party was over I could take some of the further out people home and my friend would be spared some of the driving. Well this worked out well, I had two girls to take home, both out towards the airport. Well I got the first one home with no problems, the other one was a different story. Admittedly she had been drinking, but it seems that she only knew how to get to her place from one direction, and even though were on the same highway she didn't know where her exit was. So rather than driving in no clear direction I pulled off the highway and we tried to figure out where to go. Then I saw the headlights in the mirror, yup, it's a cop. So he turns on all his lights, I'm being blinded by the side light reflecting off my mirror. As he walks up I figure I may as well cut things off at the pass and ask "So were is the exit for Portland?" (which was the exit we were looking for). He kindly pointed me on my way and we were off. Shortly there after I the last girl was home and I was off to find my own bed.

I didn't crawl into bed until about 3:30 am, I woke up at 7:00 am to go for a bike ride and then played dodgeball that afternoon. Ah well, that's just the way it goes, I'm always willing to help out a friend. And on the plus side of things the image of the dependable, friendly Canadian is being properly upheld, though it may be amended to be sleep-deprived shortly ;)

Friday, September 16, 2005

Do you trust your news source?

Today was one of those rare occasions that I was actually saw some TV news (assuming CCN counts as news, I have my doubts, but that will come later). See as I don't have a TV I don't watch the news on TV, funny that eh? Virtually all my news is obtained through the internet and the morning BBC broadcast on a local station. What is interesting is that I seem to avoid the standard US new media outlets like the plague. On the web I look for the versions of the stories by CBC, BBC or Reuters (maybe they are US based, but they are not mainstream corporate). Now some of you may ask why I avoid the big US news sources (i.e. CNN, FOX, ABC, NBC...). Well I don't trust them to give me the proper news.

Here's an example of what I mean, and how the focus of the news is blatantly wrong. Watching CNN today I was able to see some of a live broadcast of the press conference with Bush and Putin (for those not in the know, he's the Russian President). As always CNN had it's ticker taking up the bottom of the screen, as usual it was useless information (though sometimes it's just gold). The remainder of the screen was split three ways, featuring Putin behind the podium, the back of the heads of a couple of reporters and the US crest. The way the screen was split one image took up the left 2/3 of the screen the other two images were stacked in the right 1/3. So here's the million dollar question, what took up 2/3 of the screen? The President of Russia, the back of a reporter's head asking the question or the US emblem? Give up? Well it was the emblem! Not the Russian President, the US emblem! Here's another question, what the hell does the emblem have to do with Putin?

That is why I don't trust major US newscasts, they are presenting a nationalist item in a situation where it is not relevant or necessary. CNN also inserted an image of the White House on several occasions.

Now an even bigger concern that I have is the fact that some, like FOX News, have their own stores? Since when is news supposed to be a profit making business? Ok, it always has been presented to make a profit, I'm not that naive. But when you are going as far as merchandising doesn't it seem that there is a great potential conflict of interest. After all, do you want to report the bad news now, it may reduce the sales of your travel mugs? I don't think that state controlled media is the way to go, but I also don't think that news should be capitalistic to this extent. More realistically news should be a not-for-profit business, that I would trust a whole hell of a lot more. So feel free to tune into me any time, because I'm certainly not making a profit but I'll give you all the op-ed pieces you can want ;)

Thursday, September 15, 2005

General News

Ok, so the whole dating project seems to have exploded into way more than I anticipated. A few of you have posted profiles for me to check out. And I know that more are on the way. Maybe it's a good thing that my mother was overwhelmed when checking out the site otherwise there may be even more (yes, I'm that open about my life that my parents read this). So though I thought I would contact all those that were suggested to me I will have to be a bit more discriminating. After all I don't have any kind of canned greeting to use when I first write them so it can take a while just to make first contact. On a rather funny note, just as I started the whole thing I wrote to one woman who's profile I had not seen before (and has yet to be recommended to me) and we've now written a few times, she seems really cool.

In other news, if anyone is good a massaging backs I could use some help about now. Damn, I just remembered that Kelly (the girl in SD) is really good at that. But these days it feels as though my shoulders have become super tight. I think it has to do with all the cyclocross riding I have been doing. With lifting the bike over barriers and running it uphill over my shoulder cyclocross is a lot more physical than regular road riding. Though I will keep doing it, because it's so much fun and I'm stunningly good at it. I'm not one to brag, but I seem to rock at cyclocross. I do blame most of this on Peter Toth, who taught me how to race cyclocross last fall. Peter is the current Canadian Master B cyclocross champion. Anyway for whatever reason it seems that I am just crazy fast at running with the bike, both uphill and over barriers. It's at the point where I can close a gap of over 10 to 15 feet before we reach the second barrier. I'm still not sure how much I will race this fall, money is tight and I would need to buy a race license. So for now I will do the $5 Wednesday night races and try and pass along the knowledge that Peter shared with me.

So that's about all, no rants today, no exploding chip, no internet brides from distant lands. All in all things are good. I hope you are all enjoying the blog, it's nice to see that my readership is growing, hopefully I can keep your interest (though I don't really know why I care to do that, I guess I just want to feel popular, what can I say, I didn't get that kind of attention in high school).

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

New warning sticker

Last night while I was grinding some coffee beans to make an espresso I noticed the little white tag attached to the power cord of the grinder (bet you think this post is really going to suck now don't you?). We've all seen these before, we pay no attention to them any more, it's some safety compliance sticker letting us know that the cord was approved to do what it's supposed to. Do we really need a sticker for this, is there no faith anymore?

Well upon closer inspection it was a safety sticker, but not one I had ever seen before. Below is what was written on it:
Warning: The power cord on this product contains lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer, and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Wash hands after handling.
Now I have a number of issues with this 'warning':
  1. The cord is insulated (coated in plastic) why do I have to wash my hands after using it? Did they make a new plastic out of lead, I'm a chemist, you'd think I'd have heard of it if they did.
  2. Is the "State of California" smarter than all the other states? Maybe he/she/it knows where I left that other sock. This is particularly strange since I'm certain that you could get an actual person to say that lead is bad. You know, a doctor, maybe the surgeon general? Even a 6 year-old know this, unless he likes the taste of the paint chips.
  3. Does this whole thing even need a warning? Yes there is lead, it is contained, it is for the most part safe. Unless of course you are foolish enough to gnaw on the power cord and ingest the lead. But if you are stupid enough to do that, or even cut open the cord to expose the wires, I think you deserve some lead poisoning in case you don't electrocute yourself.
But then again that's just my point of view. I would rather have less stupid people than have more warning stickers on everything. Plus it's not like I'm paying for their medical bills if they mess up ;)

Monday, September 12, 2005

Finally, Beard Photos






Ok, so here you go, the great facial hair experiment of 2005 is well underway. I think the last time I seriously had a goatee was back in 1996 or 1997, either way it's been some time since I did the whole facial hair thing. It's kind of odd to have an unshaven face, yet silky smooth legs, but that's me now. Here are a couple of photos taken this morning, so give me your opinions, to keep the beard or not, I'm still not sure what I want to do about it just yet.

Oh for those curious to know how long this took to grow, the last shave was Friday morning a week ago, so 10 days. And if you look closely, or click the photo to see it full sized you can see the very, very white hairs on the corner of my chin. What can I say, I'm old now.

Sunday, September 11, 2005

A dating project

So if you've been reading this blog for any length of time, or just happen to know me, you know that I'm 28 years old and chronically single. I'm not saying that this is a horrible thing, I have been able to pursue any opportunity that presented itself in my life without having to worry about how it would effect a girlfriend. Let's face it, picking up and moving across the country back in 1999 and now having move to Minneapolis would have been a lot more difficult with a significant other in tow.

Though I do enjoy the Independence it does feel as though something is lacking, in particular the knowledge that someone out there cares for me (yes, I know I have great friends that care deeply for me, but there are certain things that you just can't get from a friend). So I try to meet women and see where things can go, but I haven't had any success of late. I'll admit that my lifestyle plays a part in that, the bike club and dodgeball aren't exactly teeming with women. And yes I know I should fall back on my old standby of the dance club, but I just don't think that they are the same here. Plus I am supposed to start doing that again, now in October, with a girl from the bike club, but the last e-mail I sent (three days ago) seems to have been ignored. So I can't say I'm holding my breath on that one. And yeah there is a girl from dodgeball that I would like to go out with, and I have asked, but it seems that her schedule is quite full these days. So where else does one go to meet women? I could try the bar scene again, but that wasn't even successful when I was drinking. No, come to think of it, I was often able to meet women then, though it was usually my buddies that got all the fun in the end.

So short of accosting random women on the street I decided to try internet dating. Actually this isn't something all that new to me, I'd tried it in Edmonton. I'm obviously desperate to be trying it again after that mess. Though I did meet a couple of nice girls the relationships that developed weren't exactly ideal. There was one girl that I dated for about a week, then was replaced while I was camping a week later. And sadly that's about as good as it got. There were those who blatantly lied, some who were incredibly needy, some made monumental commitments from minor statements. Hell the latest one I have found was a girl who claimed to be from Minneapolis, well it turns out she's from Yaroslavl Russia!

To be honest I don't know why I decided to waste my money on internet dating yet again, but I did. One of the biggest problems is that internet dating is a system with no accountability. First off it seems to be the unwritten rule that the guys are to pay to be able to contact the women (so the equality thing wasn't for true equality, just those cases when the women were getting the short end?). Another aspect that just puzzles me is that I have had a number of instances when a woman winked, smiled or whatever cute name they use for the free way to say 'look at me' and after I write to them I get no response. Well maybe I come off as a complete jerk (or maybe it's not as a big enough jerk...) but for some reason it frequently seems that they lose interest right away. In other cases women have just stopped responding to messages after a while, no explanation, just no response.

So since I have a membership to a dating site at the moment I figured let's have some fun with it. Here is the link to my profile (feel free to make fun of me as you wish). What I would like you to do is to search through the profiles in my area (Minneapolis, zip code 55404) and see who you think would be a good match for me. Post a link to them in the comments page and I will write to them (if there is anything specific you want me to say you can include that as well). This will be a little experiment to see if I just naturally pick women who have no interest in me or if the whole system sucks as much as I believe it does. At the very least I may be able to get some funny posts out of the whole thing.

Now before this gets started please realize that I am serious about wanting to meet someone, this is my cry for help to my friends to set me up, but as nobody knows anyone in Minneapolis you can do it this way. Secondly I am not doing this to make fun of the women on the site, though if anything humourous comes from it I will write about it. Finally I do not mean to knock internet dating. I know several people for whom it has been successful, including my current boss who meet his wife that way. So with that in mind please search the yahoo personals and see if you can find me a date (good luck in that).

Friday, September 09, 2005

Beard Photos

Sorry to disappoint you guys (not that I really think anyone wanted to see them) but no body from work brought in a digital camera. So though there are no pictures today there will be more hair to be photographed on Monday. Now if only I hadn't lost/thrown out the beard trimmer before I left Edmonton...oh well.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Cell phones

I think you all know that I only have a cell phone and no land line, it's been that way for about 5 years now. I like the convenience, the ability to have a phone when I'm biking alone, and frankly in the house that I was living in my roommates couldn't pick up after themselves, I truly doubt any of them could grasp the complexity of taking a message properly. Since I have been in the states I have noticed that people are on their cell phones nearly constantly. It's surprising to look around when you are outside to see so many people with a hand up to their ear talking away.

Yesterday though I think I saw the demise of society through the use of cell phones. I was sitting out in the quad having lunch on the lawn. I noticed a girl walking across the lawn, talking on her cell, as she approached a guy sitting there, also on his cell. As she got near she smiled and hung up, but he stayed on his phone, there goes the idea that they were talking to each other. It was however quite apparent that they were dating so I was curious to see how long he would stay on his phone before talking to her. Well the next thing I noticed she was on her phone again! Over the course of several minutes the two of them carried on several conversations with others over their phones, whereas they did mouth a few words to each other in lulls in phone conversations. It was truly stunning after the few minutes together they hugged a couple of times and parted ways. All the while I don't think they actually said anything more meaningful than 'Hi' and 'Bye' to each other.

The whole thing has me curious about a few issues:
  1. Is there so much that people need to say to each other that they have to be constantly on the phone?
  2. What kind of a relationship do these two have if they are more interested in their friends on the phone than the person they are with?
  3. Are people so afraid of being alone or out of touch that they need to get all the most recent information right away?
Now I like my phone, I appreciate being able to be reached just about anywhere. Whether it's to let me know of a party or if someone needs my opinion help, I like to be accessible to others. But I'm starting to think that some are using the phone as a crutch, as a way not to feel isolated. I wonder if these people can cope all alone in the world, to move off to someplace new and not have a network of people to rely on? Who knows, maybe I'm just bitter because these days my phone almost never rings?

* Oh, you will notice now that I have enable the word verification function of the blog, I found I was having to delete a lot of spam comments, sorry for the inconvenience. Blame the spamers, they ruined the system for the rest of us.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Add another one to the pile

Yet another friend has a blog up and running, though this guy actually had his going quite some time ago and only now has the fire rekindled in his belly, or maybe it's just pent up anger. Either way Bryan Rowsell is now back to his old trick (namely complaining) on a new web page. The link will be left on my side bar, so any time you want to hear the rantings of a disgruntled Ph.D. chemist... well you can check here. But if you want to hear the rantings of an even more disgruntled Ph.D. chemist with less hair check out Bryan's page (by the way he's the one who posted as professor baldie, so I feel free in attacking his lack of hair).

Speaking of hair for some reason I have entered into the great facial hair growth of '05. Ok, maybe CMac was the only other one who was growing facial hair, and that was likely only due to laziness, but I'm on the band wagon at the moment. I will try to get some pictures of the beard, white hairs and all, for you to laugh at shortly. I'm thinking I will shave it off after Friday, by then it will be a week of growth. But if I get pictures up soon you can try and have some say in whether or not I get rid of the mess.

Anyway check out Bryan's blog, not only is he angry but he's pretty clever most of the time as well. Plus he's teaching at a college so he's got plenty of material to work with.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

This post probably isn't worth the effort to read...

You know it's funny. Here I am with this blog and I can write and say whatever I want. Speak exactly what's on my mind after formulating it into the absolutely perfect sentence (yes, I know I have not actually taken the time to do that, but I could). Yet tonight I have tried twice to write out something meaningful about an issue that has been bugging me for a while. Yet I can't seem to do it.

In brief I have simply realized that I build people up all the time, I help them with their problems. From the inanely small (does he/she like me) to should I or should I not have the baby. I've dealt with the problems of a lot of friends and I have been able to help, or so I've been told. It just gets to be interesting to note how much time I have spent helping others. Though of late it seem that one is using me only for that aspect, but that's the way it goes. I'm still going to be the same person, I'm just going to be more aware of those that take advantage of it (maybe some bad advice is in order...).

Now of course with that being said I've now left you all with a rather craptacular blog entry. I would like to entertain you with stories of all the new university students on campus for the first time today, but I spent all day in a clean room (oh joy!). And this will give you a good idea how sad my life is today, I was there even longer than the engineering students, now that's just wrong.

Ok, so it looks like there is no real way to salvage this blog post. My brain is now useless so I'm going to try something different here. I want all of you who read this blog to make a quick post in the comments section. I've been watching my site meter (ok, I use it gauge my popularity, I'll admit it) and I have noticed a few regulars who I don't recognize off hand. In particular I want to know who is using the link in my yahoo profile to check this out, because that's certainly an unexpected route.

Oh and if you are lacking anything to say, just berate me for how horrible this blog entry has turned out to be, just remember to leave me a name as well (so I can track you down and punish you accordingly).

Sunday, September 04, 2005

Moods

So obviously in the last post I was feeling a bit off. I know this much about myself, these things happen from time to time. Most often when I don't get the chance to exercise regularly...wow that kind of reminds me of Graeme Obree. Though I know that I do now suffer depression to that extent, I have a bit of it in me. I really noticed it when I moved to Edmonton and the lack of daylight in the winter really started to get to me. All of this may even have been part of the cause for my alcoholism, I'm not really certain, but I can't say that I was the happiest I ever was, even when drinking.

Fortunately after I got my first two wheel bike for my seventh birthday I never stopped riding. In fact once I stopped drinking I stated riding even more, covering ~6,000 km that first sober summer (~9,000 km the next). All this exercise not only helped my physical health but also my mental health. And I know I'm not the only one. I remember a conversation one night when I was out with a few teammates from Edmonton. We opened up and we all found that we had our daemons: tempers, depression, alcohol, drugs....you name it, but somehow being on the bike helped us cope. More than that it was a solution for most of us. No need for medication, no therapy, no treatment, just exercise, somehow the combination of lactic acid and endorphins allowed us to 'self-medicate'.

I joke with friends that don't ride, and even some that do, that I'm sick in the head for cycling as hard, as often and as far as I do. But I think the reality may be that I do all this because I'm sick in the head. Though to be honest I can get a similar effect from any activity that gets my heart rate up and works my body hard, like running (though I really hate running) or a weight work out in the gym (my usual winter cure).

This weekend has been a perfect example of how much I need that 'medication'. This week I had missed a few rides and did not get the exercise I needed. By Thursday night I was well into my shitty state of mind. Yet since then I have been out for a mountain bike ride, a really hard road ride, a game of dodgeball (ok in that one I didn't work so hard, it was rainy and my tooth just hurt like hell) a low intensity bike ride and a run (yes I know, I hate to but I need to run to be better for cyclocross). After each of these I felt great, I felt alive and more importantly I felt happy! The combination of all of them has my body just feeling perfect and my mind is at peace.

It's funny how these blogs work. This post was meant to be a comment on my love of mountain biking, how it reminds me that, as in life, a lot of the time you have to let it flow to keep things in control, if you fight the bike you will crash, if you let it ride and hang on you will make it through. But instead something a bit deeper inside of me made it's way out, I really didn't even think that this would come out, I hadn't really consciously thought it lately.

But then again, it is just like a good mountain bike ride, I'm letting it flow, while keeping a good grip on the bar to navigate what I see in the trail ahead. So long as I am there for the ride it will all be good, I just have to remember when I can take control and when it's best just to keep my balance and just roll on through.

*By the way, do not worry about my state of mind and any potential depression related issues. I truly am happy and well, my mood on Friday was just that, a mood and that's the worst that it gets. And as I said, I know how to make sure that the mood passes as quickly as possible.

Friday, September 02, 2005

Bah

This is odd, not only was I in a funk most of yesterday and it almost seems to be there again today, but I really can't seem to get make a good post out of anything that I can think of today. So I think I'm going to try and do a little rambling and see where that goes. So without further ado, welcome the the mess that is running through my mind:

  • Last night I missed out on a group ride with the bike club, they were doing hills. I missed my bus and would have been too late to get there on time. So I decided to head out with friends from work to a bar, which I wanted to do but was torn between the need to get some energy out of my legs and to socialize. That being said I had fun at the bar but having way to many errands to take care of I had to ditch out early and seem to have missed out on some of the more entertaining parts of the night. The funny part is that though that does bug me, I wonder if I would have had as much fun anyway, in some ways I don't feel that I fit into that lifestyle as well anymore (but that may just have been the funk I was in)

  • Though this is completely horrible for some reason every time I think of what is going on in the wake of hurricane Katrina I think of the song by The Tragically Hip "New Orleans is Sinking" (yes I know I'm sick)

  • I am completely stunned that I now weigh 165 pounds. This is 10 pounds less than I was last summer when I was racing competitively and training all the time. On top of that I don't think I have lost any real amount of power with the weight. So does this mean that if I keep training less I will get even faster?

  • I'm really feeling that I have a lack of control over my life at the moment. Not sure really where this comes from, though I am trying to figure that part out, but I just don't feel like things are really how I want them to be, but I don't really know what I want. Yes, as I said before I am messed up.

  • I managed to blow up my microfluidic chip the other day at work! Turns out you can't heat the sucker up too fast, otherwise it makes a really neat popping sound, which just isn't good.

So that's mostly what's going through my mind at the moment. All I can say is this is turned out to be an odd end of the week. Which is really kind of a shame, since Wednesday night I had a great night, when a friend treated me to a sushi dinner for my birthday and we extended that into a really rich fondue desert and a walk by a lake. So hopefully I can get my mind back to a place that is less of a funk (wow I have used funk a lot in this post) shortly. The funny part is that think I have to give up some of the control that I am trying to have in order to get there, how that for a catch 22?

Ah well, it's the weekend so hopefully some good riding and a few dodgeballs to the head will straighten things out for me.