I hate temperature fluctuations

The one thing that drives me absolutely nuts in terms of the weather is temperature fluctuations. I don't mean the changing of the seasons, though to be honest I would much prefer it if it was always around 22 C (72 F - I hope the Americans appreciate all my efforts to do conversions for them, even though they may be wrong). No what I truly hate are the rapid changes in temperature, the kind where it goes from -5 C (22 F) to -25 C (-13 F) within 24 hours. I swear that happened at least twice last winter in Edmonton.

Of course these types of temperature fluctuations are inevitable; thankfully we live in a modern society and have good shelter from the elements. Most importantly to those of us in northern climates is heating, I assume that my regular readers from Hawaii and Malaysia aren't overly concerned with home heating systems, cooling yes, heating no. But it's comforting to know that no matter how cold it gets outside you can come home to the ideal 22 C (sorry, you only get each conversion once per blog). Or if you live with my parents, the slightly less comfortable, 16 C (62 F). It's kind of funny that when I visit them it's the only time that I pack and actually wear sweaters, and I curse myself each time I forget to bring the slippers (ok, I forget every time) that I never wear at my own place.

The house where I lived in Edmonton had a fabulous digital thermostat. It was set to keep the house nicely warm when most people were home. And by nicely warm I mean around 24 C (75 F), but what would you expect with multiple roommates from Iran, India and undetermined African nations. Hell, some of them started wearing tuques as early as August. Oh, if you are wondering about the link (you must be Canadian) because it's to inform non-Canadians what a tuque is. In the US it's called a hat, they are an odd bunch down here. The real benefit of the digital thermostat was that you could control the furnace temperature to cool the house a bit at night, to around 18 C (65 F) which made sleeping very comfortable, and saved energy (what a noble idea).

Well, my current residence is in an old apartment building, so it's kind of lacking in things like digital thermostats, or even double-pane windows for that matter. No this place relies on hot water radiators to heat each room. The up side to this is that I do not have to pay for heating (at least not directly, I know it's paid for in my rent, any bets on whether or not my rent goes up next year?). The downside though, is the ability to control the temperature, and I swear, there is someone fucking with the water for the radiators just to make it as hard as possible to keep a stable temperature.

Last week I didn't spend all that much time at my place. So when I came home one evening to the rather balmy temperature of 26 C (80 F) I figured it would be a good idea to nearly close the valves on the radiators and crack the windows a bit to get things to cool off. That night I didn't spend the night at home and I only returned to my place with Deirdre after Thanksgiving dinner at her parent's place, a couple of days later. This was when I realized that the temperature in the apartment had dropped to about 14 C (56 F), needless to say nobody was very happy with this. So I cranked open the radiator valves and closed the windows; the problem is that the water doesn't flow continuously through the radiators, it's sporadic; the only time I know for sure that the water is flowing is 4 am; the air bubbles knocking in the radiators woke me up constantly in April. (For those wondering about the semicolon use, I'm reading "Eats, Shoots and Leaves", a really good book on punctuation rules, so does anyone know if I used the semicolon properly?). So because of that the apartment wasn't much above 18 C the following morning, so when we left, I figured I would leave everything as it was.

Well upon returning to my place Monday night, I found that I was now the proud tenant of the tropical apartment, it was 30 C (85 F) in there! If my place was a German school I would have donned my swimsuit. Now I don't know about you, but when I'm not the type of person to sweat when sitting under a ceiling fan, but Monday night I was. So I fiddled with the radiators again, keeping the windows closed this time, by morning it was a bit chilly, but I had just gotten out of bed, so I expected as much. Well it seems that I hadn't achieved the proper balance just yet, because when I came home the apartment was 16 C, it reminded me of my parents place (I dug out the slippers right away).

I finally have the temperature right where I like it, 22 C. I'll let you know tomorrow if I wake up in a tropical hell or frozen wasteland.

First snow

So it's just a little over halfway though the long weekend, and since my mornings are taking a lovely leisurely pace I figured I may as well make a little post about the weather. So it was bound to happen, after all this is Minnesota, they get snow here, so yesterday (much like with Canadian Thanksgivings) there was the first snowfall.

Having spent the last 5 winters in Edmonton, my only real exposure to significant snowfalls had been when I was back in Montreal for the holidays. Now I'm not saying that it doesn't snow in Edmonton, ask anyone who lived there long enough and they will tell you stories of 6 foot high snow banks...but I'm sure if you search you could find the same stories from a Floridian. You see, the winters that I spent in Edmonton were, to be frank, desert-like. It would snow from time to time, not the big fluffy flakes that those out East are used to, but small pellets, kind of like movie snow, which would barely accumulate and was more likely to blown away rather than shoveled away. But that was all due to the climate, being in the rain shadow of the Rockies the region was generally very arid. Minneapolis however is on the Eastern edge of a state renowned for it's lakes, so it's a lot more humid here (much like Montreal).

So awaking yesterday to several inches of snow was a bit of a surprise, and though beautiful I knew that it would mean that the roads would be hell. So of course one of the first things I did was take Deirdre's car to get some pastries from a local bakery, after all we needed breakfast. Fortunately the roads were almost deserted, as most people take the Friday off, so I could get a felling for the traction and control of her car. You see it also seemed that the road crews took the day off as well, since the roads were pure white (kind of like in Edmonton where they only plow major through ways). Driving for me was fine though, then again, I've driven the Icefields Parkway at around 120 km/h when it was -30 C, the dead of night after skiing all day..oh and the parkway was glare ice at the time. Glen found this out for us, while walking around the car to take his turn driving he found himself suddenly on his back. For some reason, the rest of that drive was done at 90 km/h.

But as expected those who did venture out on the road were generally clueless about how to drive in the snow. Most either seemed to be afraid, or turned their brains off, or were simply from Florida. One of my favorites was the woman I saw as I was walking to the bakery. Though it was snowing rather heavily she didn't bother turning on her lights, but then again I guess that's acceptable when you are only going 10 km/h. Oh, the kicker, she was driving an SUV. Seriously, do the people who by these things not understand the capabilities of those vehicles beyond burning excessive amounts of gas? Another fun aspect that I noticed was the inability to remember which roads were single and double lanes, or simply the desire to have more space, I'm not sure which. The really funny part was that when I was out that night to get some pizza I noticed that the driving didn't improve, even though the roads were clearly salted and some seemed to be plowed. The drivers were doing a bit better, though unwilling to go above 20 mph. But the really funny guy was the one with Florida plates. He clearly had not used his heater before, because he was scraping the inside of his windshield to be able to see out, while drifting into the oncoming lanes...this is going to be a fun winter. He also failed to brush most of the snow off the roof of his car, but then again, at 20 mph that snow wasn't going to be coming off any time soon.

The final joy to the whole snowy day came at 4 am. Deirdre's apartment building has it's own parking lot at the back of the building. Well, they also have a contract to have it cleared, at 4 am apparently. This isn't so bad, unless you have a "garden view" (a.k.a. basement) apartment, with the bedroom window facing the parking lot. Add to this the fact that the truck with the plow made about a dozen passes by the window, and honestly, I think that was done out of spite, because there is still snow out there. So yeah, that was just loads of fun.

Oh well, at least it's nice and pretty out, except for the roads, which already look like a sick grey pudding. But hey, this is winter in a northern climate. All I can say is that it will probably still be one of the warmest winters of my life...how sad is that?

The joys of a long weekend.

For those of you who aren't aware, tomorrow the US celebrates Thanksgiving. This will be my first big American holiday, already I can see that it's a bit different to the Canadian style. See it's not like the idea is completely foreign to me, after all Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving as well, only we do it a hell of a lot earlier in the year...it's something to do with an earlier harvest time, go figure.

I really have to say that I am somewhat stunned at how big this holiday is down here. For the past couple of the university campus has been nearly deserted, even though classes are still running. I know classes are on because for the 4th or 5th time this year a demonstration in on of the chem classes has set off the fire alarm and caused the evacuation of the building. I really wonder if this prof even bothers to test the experiments before doing them in front of a class. This morning the radio news explained where everyone was, in the form of a warning to travellers to expect delays at airports and all the usual obvious advice. It's kind of funny to me that people will seriously consider travelling across the country to spend the weekend with family. Not that I don't love my family and all, but I don't seen a single meal being worth the hundreds of dollars for a plane ticket. Hell at that point you may as well take some cute girl out to a really expensive restaurant, after all the kiss good night from her is likely to be more fun than the one you'll get from grandma (if it's not something is seriously wrong). I also find it particularly odd that it is such a big issue for some to get home, after all, you are likely going to be seeing the same people for Christmas, and that's only a month later. But that's just me, as you all know, I look at the world a bit differently.

However since Deirdre's family lives in St-Paul, the 30 minute commute won't prevent us from going over to their place for a family dinner. I'm really looking forward to it, I have had a lot of fun with her family and I'm kind of curious to see how a family dinner like this will work out. We figure that there should be about 20 people there.

Of course this being such a large dinner I had asked Deirdre if we needed to bring anything, at which point I was told that we would be told if we needed to bring anything. So I was caught a little off guard a week or so ago when I was over at the parent's house with Deirdre. Her mother said that she was looking forward to the "gourmet dish" that I would be bringing to the dinner. My response was something like: "Ok, sure, I can do that." I hadn't been told up to that point that we were going to bring anything. Not that I mind, many of you know how much I love to cook. And I guess the little cooking that I have done for Deirdre has received good reviews. Hopefully the Tunisian recipe for spiced potatoes goes over as well.

Though the nicest thing about this whole holiday is the long weekend, and I'm talking a 4 day weekend! Beyond the dinner not too much has been planned for the weekend, but it's more fun that way. We may end up going out to a museum, we will probably catch a movie or two and hopefully we can find some time to get out to the rock climbing gym to try out Deirdre's new shoes (I'll see if we can get some pictures if we go). But other than that it's going to be a nice long weekend of no responsibilities and relaxation. Hopefully heading out to the Dakota grill tonight will kick things off properly.

Still getting used to the system

I received an e-mail today, a reminder from the university that I needed to "enroll for my benefits package"...a lovely euphemistic fashion of saying that I had yet to choose how much I wanted to spend on my health care next year. Ok, that is a bit cynical, the university does pay the majority of health care costs, so I am getting some benefits, I only have to pay $650 next year (total health insurance cost is ~$5,300).

Oh wait, I forgot, that's what I have to pay to HAVE health care, that's not what I have to pay to USE it. They like to use the term, co-pay, instead of cost or expense, which is what it is. See if I want to go see a physician, I have to pay $10, an optometrist, well that's another $10...this is what I have to pay for walking in and just seeing them. Of course, this insurance doesn't give me access to any doctor...well it does, but only a few of them that work with (for) my insurance, if I'm outside of my "network" I have to pay a $500 deductible! Wait a minute, did I buy health or car insurance? At least with a car I can get a warranty, though I guess by now some of my parts have exceeded the mileage to be covered by warranty.

So in doing this whole 'enrollment' I found that I couldn't simply renew my old plan, that package was no longer offered (seriously, do these things come with more options and upgrades? I feel like I'm buying a car). So they provide us with a table of the costs for the various health plans, trust me, it doesn't help much. For example there were two plans, by different 'health care providers' that looked identical, but one was about $4 less per payment (or ~$100 less per year). I still don't know what the difference was because I didn't feel like sorting through all the BS and legal jargon that is used by these companies. See in the end, the main thing is to pick the right "Primary Care Clinic". That's right folks, you have to pick which hospital will be most convenient for you should you need medical attention, and you have to do that now, for all of next year! Pretty convenient isn't it?

See that underlines the gross stupidity of the whole system. Because now, should I be so unfortunate as to be involved in some kind of accident and need medical assistance I better be taken to the right hospital (or network, not that I know which hospitals are in my network). Otherwise I'll be out $200-$500 right away, oh wouldn't that be fun.

And one last thing, can someone explain to me the difference between "emergency care" and "urgent care"? I've heard of the Emergency Room, hell they even did a whole TV series on the damn thing. However I have yet to see an Urgency Room. And why the hell do I have to pay different amounts depending on which I go to? Better still, which one am I supposed to go to? If I go to the ER I have to pay $50 (though the fee is waived if I'm admitted). Yet if I'm not admitted I have to pay $50 and then what? I'm still not admitted! Do I then go to Urgent Care and pay the $10 fee there? I might just have a nervous breakdown trying to figure this shit out, at least I have 100% Mental Health/Chemical Dependency coverage.

I really miss the simplicity of the Canadian system. Pay your taxes, go to any hospital, anywhere, get taken care of with no additional costs. I like that.

Update on my life

I've noticed over that last little while that I haven't been posting all that much on the blog about myself. Not that this is a bad thing, after all, my life, particularly in the colder months, tends to be on the mundane side of things. I'm not one to get into car crashes, get shit faced drunk (any more), or even have any minor catastrophes in my life. Sure my research has it's set-backs from time to time, but that really isn't blog worthy. So instead I look outside of my life for entertaining things to discuss. Why? Because I'm an attention craving whore. Seriously, when was the last time you saw me post on a weekend? Want to know why I'm doing it? My hits for this week have been rather low. I'm worried I won't continue the inflation in readership that has been experienced since I started the blog...I know, I'm sad and pathetic...but then again, you're reading this...

But since I have nothing else to say I suppose I might as well give you all an update on what I have been up to. So let's pretend this is an actual conversation, it would go something like this:

You - "Hi, how are you?"

Me - "Good, thanks. You?"

You - "Good. What's new?"

Me - "Not much. You?"

You (pissed off because you know I always say 'not much', even if I was visibly missing a limb I would say 'not much') - "I'm busy, I have to run." As you run away you might shout "Later" or "Go to hell!" if you're nickname is CMac.

The sad reality is that somewhere along the way I have conditioned myself to saying "Not much" when questioned as to the new developments in my life. I don't know why I do this, I just do, but now that is out of the way I can get on with what actually is going on in my life.

Honestly there hasn't been much actual development in my work lately. I have been doing a lot of planning and conceptual designing. Mostly because I am waiting on parts to arrive, I really hate that part of things. I will have to get things moving shortly on this project. I want to get something out of it shortly, hopefully I will have that breakthrough soon.

As far as biking goes, I have to admit that it's pretty much over for the season. It's finally become cold down here. And since UPS managed to lose some of my key pieces of cold weather gear (which I haven't bothered to replace yet) I'm not likely to do much cold weather riding any time soon. I should get back into the gym. I will probably check it out on Tuesday and get back into a weight training regime. My brother got me a great training book a few years ago for Christmas, I have used it as a guide for the past couple of years. I have never made it through the full schedule/program, as it is something like 12-15 weeks long!

Other than that I have been spending a lot of time with Deirdre, quite a lot of time actually...to the point where an abandoned building across the street from my apartment has gone from standing to being a pile of rubble without me seeing any stages in between. It has been really interesting to realize how this relationship has progressed. We went on our first date 8 weeks ago, and now I can hardly remember a day where I haven't seen her. The nice thing is how smoothly things seem to have progressed, we both seem to be able to communicate well with each other and are just comfortable being together. This past week we haven't gone out much, which was nice, it's fun just to curl up together on a cold fall/winter night. Tonight I will be cooking dinner, a bit of a celebratory meal, as Deirdre has sent off her grad school applications!

Spending time with her has been wonderful. In fact what she now means to me was clarified by a comment from a stranger on a bench in a little mall in St-Paul on Wednesday night. After watching us look at some of the pieces on display at a glass shop he commented to me as we walked past with my arm around her:

"She's worth more than everything in the world isn't she?"

It took me a second to register what he had said, but as soon as I did I turned to him and said:

"She sure is." She sure is.

A little follow-up

This is kind of interesting. A couple of days ago I posted an entry critiquing an e-mail that was sent around campus. My biggest issue is that there was no description of the suspects, other than their being black. Let's face it, that doesn't do much to identify a criminal unless you are in rural Alaska.

Now I noticed today that the University paper was running an article related to the e-mail crime alert. They however the criticism of the e-mail is not for it's content, but on how long it took for the e-mail to be sent. Which to me is plain silly, let's face it, the crime occur ed after 10:00 pm on a Friday, the e-mail was sent Monday morning. I don't see that as being a problem. Not very many students are on campus during a weekend in the first place. And really, do you think the chief is going to be working a weekend, I'm sure as soon as he got word he sent off the e-mail.

What strikes me about this is that it seems that it seems that people are more concerned about being told that there is something to fear rather than what to fear. But then again, this country seems to be afraid from the top down. I do realize that it is important to warn the community about such dangers as repeated robberies. I simply would have prefered there to be more useful information in the e-mail.

It has begun

Well it feels as though winter is finally here. I woke up this morning and it was -13 C (8 F) outside...yeah, I don't really like that so much. It's not that I can't take the cold, I just don't enjoy it. The only sick pleasure I get in winter is walking across campus in the freezing cold without bothering to grab a jacket before I leave the building, I know a number of you have seen me do this. It's not that I'm trying to be macho or anything like that, though I do enjoy the stunned looks I get from those dressed for Arctic expeditions. But I really only do it because I can, I don't want to have to take the time to get bundled up for a walk of less than one minute across the quad. And the reality is that though my skin does get cold, my core temperature never even dips and within moments of getting indoors I feel normal, if not hot again.

I'm not oblivious to the risks and dangers of being out in the cold. After all, I've been on bike rides where my dilute Gatorade drinks have frozen to slush. If you know anything about the influence of salt and sugar on freezing points you realize how cold that would need to be. The worst instance was an early spring ride. I became so cold on the ride (and I was bonking as well) that once I got back to the bike shop it took me 10 minutes before my body had adsorbed enough heat to allow it to shiver again! Mostly though on late fall and early spring rides I would simply end up with very cold feet and possibly a jaw that was frozen to the point where I couldn't articulate words properly. Which incidentally makes it really hard to ask a store clerk for a book, even more so when you are trying to speak French (I remember holding my jaw for a couple of minutes that time in an attempt to defrost it faster).

One of my biggest annoyances in the winter though has to be the fact that I wear glasses. If you have the miss fortune of requiring corrective lenses and do not wear contact lenses and live in a northern climate you know exactly what the problem is. For those who haven't had the joy allow me to paint a picture for you:

You finally get to your destination after walking outside in the freezing cold for a few minutes, it's going to be great to get inside and defrost, meet up with your friends in the bar and enjoy an otherwise unpleasant day. Now the moment you step in the door you have about 0.2 seconds to survey the entire place and find a safe path to your friends, because after that window of opportunity your windows to the world will be covered in frost. See all the happy warm-bodied people are kicking off a lot of water vapour, and it's going to decide to condense on your glasses. I actually remember it being so bad on the high school bus that I was actually able to pick off small sheets of ice from my lenses.

Now this year is the first time since high school that I will be forced to take the bus to work (well I could walk, but that's just stupid). So I'm curious to see what will happen this winter. I've already mentioned the number of 'interesting' people I've seen on my bus, I just hope I don't sit in someones lap. But judging by my fortunes this morning, when I managed to wing my face on the Plexiglas shield near the driver (I'm sure he's glad it was there), I'm betting that I'm going to have some interesting stories about my bus rides (oh, and sadly my glasses weren't frosted this morning).

Useless fucking information.

Before I get into my actual post I just want to say that the lying bastards in the US government are pissing me off again. The latest issue is the denial of use of white phosphorous as a weapon in Falluja. Well after denying that they used it, they now say they did, but it's ok, because they didn't sign the treaty to not use it. Fucking hypocritical bastards. One last thought on the subject, how many US citizens have been attacked by Iraqi terrorists (outside of Iraq)? Just a question, cause I still don't see how Iraq fits in on the war on terror.

Ok, so the useless fucking information that I want to rant about comes from the university chief of police. First of all it seems that the campus police in the US are the equivalent or real police, not the rent-a-cops that we have in Canada (ok, they may have some powers, but just the same they are more funny than anything else).

Now the chief sent out an e-mail the other day. It was a warning to the university community about a number of robberies that had taken place of late. Below is the advice that the chief decided to share with us:

* Be aware of your surroundings, especially in the off-campus areas.
When possible, stay in well-lit areas where people are gathered.

* These events have taken place mostly from 9:00 PM to 3:00 AM. If you
must travel by foot through the neighborhoods during those hours it
would be preferable to travel with a group.

* When walking on campus and in the blocks adjoining campus, you can
call 624-WALK for an escort. Student Monitors carry radios linking them
directly to UMPD police dispatch.

* If you are confronted by one or more persons armed with a firearm,
cooperate and surrender belongings upon demand.

Now is it just me or is this advice just plainly obvious? I mean it's not as though we are dealing with elementary students here, this is a university after all...but then again there are a lot of undergrads milling about, and we know how bright they are.

Now the stupid advice isn't why I wanted to relate this story to you. What got to me was the description of the "suspects" (how exactly are they suspects, they have robbed people, people who were robbed were there and saw it?). Anyway this is the exact description of the suspects that was provided by the chief of police:

The suspects have been described as 1-4 black males, late teens to early twenties.

Ok, now is it just me, or if there have been a series of robberies don't you think that there would be a bit more to the descriptions? Come on, give me hair length, distinguishing characteristics (scars, tattoos...), fuck even an approximate weight and height!

But no, instead I should "call 911 if you observe suspicious parties and activities." So does that mean I call the cops if I see a black male on campus!

This kind of information is absolutely useless. I mean other than letting me know that there have been robberies on campus the fact that the robbers were black males really doesn't help unless there is a better description of them. And I am willing to put money on the fact that had the "suspects" been white there would not have been any mention of skin colour. It's really just sad.

I miss the race.

It's kind of strange to realize that I have now gone an entire year without participating in a single bike race. Considering that in the past couple of years I would go to a race pretty much every other weekend (at least) through the summer, this year was a big change.

It's not that I was surprised by the fact that I didn't race. The move to a new country kind of throws a wrench into things like that. Hell, it took me most of the summer cycling season to find a club that was good to ride with. Even with them I realized that the training structure was vastly different from what I had been used to. Going from a club with as many as 5 organized/coached rides a week to a group that does 3-4 with lose direction of what is going to be done is like going from the military to civilian life. It becomes more of a choice to do the interval sessions, to ride long and hard, rather than having a regime in place to say that you should ride hard these days.

Now I'm not complaining about the lack of training structure, well not too much. I did enjoy the solid foundation that was provided by my old club, that there were specific workouts that could be done and that you knew that people would be there to suffer with you (trust me this makes things better). But I'm also very much of the mind that each individual needs to tailor his/her training around what they know to be right for their body. Though without a structure to the training this can take years to figure it out.

Funny enough, this year without training hard and not racing I learned a good deal about myself and how my body reacts to training. One of the nicest things to learn is that it seems that I do not lose my power/strength very easily. This Saturday was a perfect example of that. Likely one of the last rides of the year most of the people out for the ride were gunning to win the sprint for the town sign of Wyzata (there are a lot of funky town names around here). Well I've taken this sprint a number of times and though I never really thought of myself as a sprinter I think the power work I did in the gym last winter and spring payed off quite well in that regard.

Most of the people going for the sprint took off very early, at probably 400-500 meters out. For a sprint of a bicycle this is a really long way out. But most people want try and draft another rider until about 100 meters to go and then sprint around them. So when one person goes from far out a lot of people jump on his wheel to get an easy ride to the line. Well the one thing that I really gained this year was confidence in my ability to close a gap, so I don't worry when everyone takes off from far out, because I know I can stay with the bunch rolling a bit slower and then take off closer to the line. And that's just what I did this time. I stayed with the non sprinter group until we were about 300 meters from the sign, the sprinting group was about 20-30 meters ahead of us. I simply pulled out of the pack and started to accelerate. By the time I caught the bulk of the sprinting group they were at about 150 meters from the line and I just flew smoothly past them. There was one more guy up ahead, I caught him about 50 meters from the line and managed to pull past in the last 10 meters for a clear win.

Yeah, I know this is a bit of bragging, but damn it felt good to win that sprint. Sure I don't know if everyone was giving it all they had, but it was a bit of a test for me. To see if my body was still functioning like it should and if I have learned to be a bit more calm mentally in a race situation. So considering I haven't ridden more than a couple of hours per week for the last month or more, and that I did no serious training or racing this year, I'd say I passed the test rather well. And for a more quantifiable measure of the success, my top speed in the sprint was 63 km/h (39 mph) and I didn't do any drafting once I left the non-sprint group. So needless to say I'm itching to see what I will be able to do this spring.


Oh, if you are interested in seeing a recent picture of me go to Deirdre's blog, she has a couple of photos of us from Friday night (apparently camera phones have a use after all)

Ya know what I mean?

I swear that I will punch the next person that I hear using that phrase as the casual ending of a statement. I don't know if it's the Minnesotan version of the Canadian 'eh' but I had the unfortunate pleasure of hearing it about a dozen or more times from the woman sitting next to me on the bus this evening. So not only was this woman loud enough that I could hear her clearly over the music playing on the iPod (borrowed from my girlfriend, have I mentioned how great she is?) but to add to the stupidity of her conversation I had to put up with inane phrase.

What the fuck is the point of saying that anyway? I don't suspect that she was talking to someone who was not familiar with the English language. I mean had that been the case I could then see it as an acceptable statement, sometimes you need to make sure that things are understood. But when you are droning on about helping someone and seemingly looking for accolades for what little you have done, it doesn't really matter. So you did a 'good dead', big shit, you want a medal, maybe a Nobel prize? You're pissing me off right now so that negates the good dead, how about that!

The only other excuse I could see for saying that phrase at the end of each sentence was if she was using any kind of euphemistic language, such as: "If I hear her say that I again, I'm going to clean her clock, ya know what I mean?" See there it's perfectly acceptable to use the term. I want you to understand that I have no intention of cleaning anything that she owns much less a clock...and where the hell did that phrase come from? Were clocks at one point in time incredibly prone to becoming dirty? I mean 'clean her engine' would make more sense...but as you are all giggling to yourselves we all know that that particular one is already taken. And another thing, wouldn't cleaning a clock require a certain level of delicateness? That is certainly not the meaning I intended, I was thinking more along he lines of using a clock to bludgeon her.

So take that as a warning. Pay attention to what you say and don't add on any stupid shit at the end of a sentence...well nothing longer than 2 letter, eh!

More remembrance.

I have to say that I am sad to hear through Aaron and Lisa that there seems to be a lack of poppies around the U of A. After all, it's not like this was some kind of surprise event, it's been going on for a long time. When you think that the end of World War II was in 1945...it was over 60 years ago that it all ended.

It's strange and kind of scary to think that I am only slightly older than the average age of a soldier in WWII, which was 26. I could not even begin to imagine what it would be like to be in a landing craft heading towards a beach on D-Day. To have to rush the beach and hope to make it to cover, just so that you could move further forward and take out the German positions...but what about the Germans? Would it be any better to be them? Stuck on the hill in a little bunker, seeing boat after boat of men coming to kill you. Hell, if that was me I would have shit myself just as bad as if I had been one of the guys in the boats.

I think that is one of the greatest losses in our interpretation or understanding of war, the loss of humanity. We always see ourselves as right and good, and the enemy is some kind of monster that is absolute evil. But is that really the case? Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the Nazis were good, what was done by Nazi Germany was pure evil without question. Yet, the majority of those who were seen as the enemy, those who were on the front lines dieing, were just young men about my age. Yes they had been sold a lot of propaganda to get them to the point of being willing to fight what they were told was the good fight, but other than that they were no different from those they were fighting. Hell the only difference was the source of the propaganda.

When I think of it I have to acknowledge the fact that at one point in time my grandfather, who was a Major with the Vitoria Rifles of Canada, was doing all he could to kill the grandfather of a good friend, who just happened to be a German General. Fortunately for both of us they survived. And clearly, by how my friend turned out his grandfather probably wasn't some horrid monster, he was just a soldier, doing his duty. The same is likely for the relatives of any of the Germans that I have meet in my life. And I'm sure like my grandfather, they had all kinds of scars from what happened to them.

Only my father's father was involved in WWII, along with my father's uncle. Both have passed away, my great uncle died two years ago, I can't even remember how long ago it was that my grandfather died, it might be going on 20 years now. But they were both fortunate, they survived the war, they were both physically healthy as far as I could tell, and they had the chance to live full lives. But I do wonder what their lives truly were like, for I'm certain that thought they bore no physical scars, the emotional ones certainly were there.

I wish that I had had the chance to sit down with my grandfather, to learn what he went through, if for no other reason than to honour the sacrifice that he had made. But I was far too young to understand that concept. On top of that I have the feeling that he may not have wanted to discuss it, some things are best left buried. I know that I could have had the chance to talk to my great-uncle about his experiences, I was old enough to understand them then. But I also got the sense that he would not want to talk about it. I don't know if it was something my family may have mentioned to me. But seeing him at family gatherings it would seem to me that there was a sad quietness to him, not often, but every now and then I recall seeing something different about him. I don't really know what it was that he was dealing with, if there was anything at all . But after well over 50 years, I doubt that talking to some 20 something kid would have helped matters any.

I guess what saddens me most is that I never did properly thank them. To let them know that I will be eternally grateful for the sacrifices that they made. That the loss of friends, of youth, of innocence, will never be forgotten. That it made a difference in the world, and that I cry every time I think of how much they and all soldiers suffered through. I feel the same pity for all those who have to fight a war that others devise.

I guess that is what Remembrance Day really is supposed to be. So you will have to forgive me if I don't got to a ceremony or visit their graves. I will remember them in my own way, and it is something that I will do without ceremony, without realization of a specific date, for the rest of my life.

There are no poppies here!

Ok, the opening statement of this blog post is for the Canadians in the crowd. For the Americans it will take a few lines to catch you up, so just bear with me. You see this Friday is November 11th, I was stunned to realize it, normally I don't miss that date. The big reason for it is the poppy, a couple of weeks before Remembrance Day I used to start seeing them around and it would remind me of what was upcoming. Well it seems that the poppy is only a commonality in the British Commonwealth (and a few European nations). I kind of figured that the poppy was a 'universal' symbol.

Ok, to get the Americans up to speed I should point out that the poppy is used to symbolize Remembrance Day, a day to honour all military personnel from all wars. The day of the Armistice of WWI is used as the commemoration date. The poppies (plastic and felt pins) are provided by the Canadian Legion in exchange for donations, and are worn by most people during the weeks leading up to Remembrance Day. The history of the use of the poppy is best summarized by the Canadian Legion's web page, but in particular it is associated with a wartime poem written by a Canadian medic from WWI, Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Remembrance Day itself is an official holiday throughout most of the Canada. Ideally allowing time for everyone to attend memorial ceremonies, which seemed to be rather well attended, though I must admit that I have failed to attend any such ceremony in a long time. Though it does not mean that my thoughts are not on the topic every year around this time.

For the Canadians wondering how it works down here November 11th is Veteran's Day in the US. And though this would seem to only be a matter of semantics there is more to it than just that. See the US also has Memorial Day, which is meant to honour the war dead. But the sad reality of it is that Memorial Day seems to be more of a long weekend (as the holiday is not a fixed date, but the last Monday in May) for partying than for somber remembrance. Let's face it, November is a hell of a lot more appropriate month for remembrance than May.

I have to say, sadly, that I feel that the US really doesn't do an adequate job of remembering those who have devoted their lives to war. I mean sure, the politicians and political supporters do a great job of talking the talk, and walking the walk when the cameras are around. But when the primary day to remember the war dead is seen as the "unofficial beginning of summer" something is seriously wrong. It's not something that I had realized until now, I figured that November 11th was the day for remembrance here as well, I was sadly mistaken. And one would think that with such a stark reminder of the cost of war (Fort Snelling National Cemetery, the little white lines are headstones) visible from the LRT in Minneapolis, there would be a bit more attention paid to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

I have more to say on the matter of remembrance, but it's getting late, and this post is getting rather long. So look forward to more of my thoughts on this topic a little alter this week.

More people sound off on babies.

As you have all become well aware, I'm not one to devote posts to other peoples blogs. But since two of the blogs that I regularly read happened to recently post about the whole parent vs non-parent idea I figured I may as well link them.

From what I can tell, neither of these authors read my blog, and likely don't even know that I exist, not that I would expect them to. Well maybe the one in Calgary might, I have commented on her blog a few times.

Anyway here they are, one from California, one from Alberta, both going off about the same little tirade I had last week.

I would suggest keeping an eye on both their blogs, I find them fun to read. Though be forewarned, the one from California has an interesting theme on Wednesday posts, let's just say you may not want to check them in the office...hell if you are a guy you probably don't want to check it at all until about Friday just in case.

Differences in the news

One of the really strange things that I have noticed since I moved to the US is that even though I have begun to use miles and Fahrenheit as units of measure (though I still think in and prefer metric) I don't really pay attention to the US news. I do however read the Canadian news, as well as the major international news. This does seem somewhat odd, as I am not fully abreast of the events within the country that I am living, but to be honest I think I prefer it this way. As you will see shortly, when I learn about the US news I tend to get angry. Oh, if you were wondering how I get my news the source is through Google News, which compiles all news sources on the web and sorts the stories by their topic. The beauty of this system is that you can read about the same event from various sources, such as The People's Daily (China's government run news) FOX news (pronounced like the French word 'faux', which is the politically conservative run news in the US) or more reputable sources such as CBC, BBC and Reuters. The nice thing is that the site is made in such a way that you can focus on new relating to your country, be it Canada, the US or even the Netherlands.

So being a proud Canadian, I have been paying attention to the Canadian news. The big stories as I have been able to ascertain have related to: train derailments, tainted water, the ongoing sponsorship probe, a potential federal election and other such news. Let's face it, Canadian news is boring. There is little to no death and destruction. Hell the major 'prison' story in Canada has been a potential wrongful conviction coming to light over a decade after the fact. The major US 'prison' story this week would be the escape of a convicted murdered who was recently sentenced to death in Texas. Guess what, the jurors from the trial are afraid for their lives...I guess that's the danger in the death penalty, what does this guy have to lose if he kills again?

So yeah, Canadian news is bland, maybe that's why people in the US have a hard time even figuring out which provinces are where on the map. But I would rather keep Canadian news bland, because here are a few other headlines from the US (the ones that make me angry):

• Report: US relied on false information linking Iraq and Al-Qaida
• Judge upholds Oregon gay marriage ban
• Bid to seal off US-Mexico border
• California to vote on parental abortion notification act

Now, these headlines are significant, I mean these things are going to have a hell of a lot more impact than "Oil-rich Newfoundland to post modest surplus". Though anyone who is Canadian may worry about losing Newfies as the continual butt of jokes, so maybe that is a bit of a concern.

But let me just pick at those US headlines for a second, because they all disturb me to some extent, after all, I have to live with these people now. And as we have seen, the US seems determined to spread it's influence, and "freedom" around the globe.

And the whole "freedom" thing is what is pissing me off. How on earth can the US claim the moral high ground in any argument on rights and freedoms, hell, they didn't free their slaves until over 30 years after the British Empire ended the practice. That's not a short period of time, that's almost time enough for a whole generation to be born into and die in slavery.

Yet in this day and age the US wants to go around bringing freedom to people around the world. After all, part of the argument for invading Afghanistan (and the only thing that has actually been achieved as well) was to remove the Taliban regime. See the problem with the Taliban is that they enforced a very strict, fundamentalist view of Islam upon the populace. This greatly limited the rights and freedoms of women among as well as forbidding numerous other freedoms that were once afforded to the Afghan people. Yet, if we look at the news stories that I've listed above, half of them can be seen to have a very strong religious influence.

It's very sad to see that the whole separation of god and state seems to be failing at an ever increasing rate...maybe having a president who is in direct conversation with god might not be such a good thing. Though one of Canada's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lyon_Mackenzie_King" target="_blank">greater prime ministers did consult his mother and dog for advice...oh yeah, they were both dead, but at least he didn't invade any countries...well, there was that little incident in France, Belgium, Italy, Austria, North Africa, the Netherlands, Germany...but everyone else was doing it...ok the US joined in late, what else is new.

You know what, I'm not going to go off on how angry those headlines make me. I just don't see the point of if any more. Clearly the US government is set on turning this country into the next Vatican City. I mean even Spain allows gay marriage, and they held the Inquisition, could you find a more catholic country? Ok, other than the Vatican City?

As for fencing off Mexico...well that's just fucking asinine. Part of the reason this country is able to do well economically is because it still has virtual slave labour, in the form of illegal aliens. But hey, if they want to stop them from coming across fine. Just please, someone sandblast off that damn motto on the statue of liberty, it's becoming more an more mocking with every year. And while we are at it, can we change the end of the national anthem, you know the part that goes "the land of the free and the home of the brave". Why not make it something like "the land of hypocrisy and home of the paranoid"? You know I kind of like that, it has a better ring of truth to it. Now if only I could find a place to slip in 'fundamentalist christian rule' any suggestions?

Am I being a moron of is this just a form of idiocy?

Ok, this blog is going to be on a much lighter note than what has gone up on here lately. I know I need a laugh and I'm sure you would all enjoy one as well.

So this was pointed out to me this afternoon by a co-worker. It seems that a couple of them had gotten into a debate on the finner details of stupidity. In particular the definitions for many of the synonyms...yeah, I know, grad school is a hard life. But I suppose these are important things to know. After all, you don't want to call the guy who cut you off in traffic a moron, when really such an act is more deserving of the title of idiot...yeah, it really doesn't matter, but I swear this thing gets funnier in a second.

So here are the definitions found in Merriam-Webster on-line:

Moron:

Pronunciation: 'mor-"än
Function: noun
Etymology: irregular from Greek mOros foolish, stupid
1 usually offensive : a mildly mentally retarded person
2 : a very stupid person

Idiocy:

Pronunciation: 'i-dE-&-sE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -cies
1 usually offensive : extreme mental retardation
2 : something notably stupid or foolish


Now am I just being stupid here, or do the definitions 1 and 2 conflict in each case? Seriously, how can someone of "extreme mental retardation" be only "notably stupid". Whereas someone who is "very stupid" is classified as being only "mildly mentally retarded".

More baby talk

It seems as though I managed to stir up the pot quite a bit with my entry a couple of days ago about not wanting to father children. So since there was quite a bit of interests, well thought discussion, I figured we may as well revisit the topic.

First I do want to comment on a comment made by Silentknyght. Since you suggested to leave the biology to the biologists I will. The quote below was taken from the web page of Dr. Robert B. Suter, a biologist:

Monogamy is exceptionally rare in mammals. The mate-assistance hypothesis suggests that males who make a parental investment in their young are usually monogamous. Although fewer than ten percent of male mammals give substantial parental care, most of these exceptional males are monogamous. Males who make a large parental investment increase the likelihood that their offspring will survive and pass on their genetic information, thus it serves the same genetic purpose as the paternal animal not making an investment in his offspring, trying to fertilize as many females as possible, and having many litters with low survival rates. There are rare cases of males being sexually monogamous and not making a large parental investment in the offspring. This is known as facultative monogamy.

A quick search of google or any scientific journal database will yield many hits on the lack of monogamy in nature. So with less than 10% of mammals following the route of monogamy I think it's fair to say that monogamy is in fact a rarity in reproductive strategies. As for bird I have seen instances (Discovery channel) documenting life partnered female birds mating with other males, superior to their own mates. Dr. Suter's page delves into this a little as well, but the point is once again, monogamy is rare.

Now one of the big questions that needs to be asked in this day and age is, should we be having more children? Let's face it, there are a hell of a lot of us as it is. And in western nations the amount of energy and material consumption per person is greater than anywhere else in the world, do we need to have more people using up more resources?

I'll agree that there is a need for there to be a generation after mine, if only so that there is someone around who will be capable of changing my diapers when I'm old and decrepit. But with the worlds population growing at the rate it is, does it make sense for those of us who do not benefit from having children to do so?

You see there is a point to having lots of children, if you have farm land and need cheap labour. As long as they can help produce more food/profit than they can consume, it's worthwhile to have kids. In a western economy where children are simply an expense is there a need to have them? Some may say that they are part of the economy, and they are, but hey without kids I think the amount of money I will pump into good restaurants and bike shops will be a hell of a lot more. Plus I sure as hell won't be saving any money in the form of inheritances, I'll be spending it all.

But yes, we need another generation of consumers to keep things going. So why don't we follow the example set by the business world, we could out-source! Interestingly enough, the countries that seemed to have already profited from the business world out-sourcing are likely to be the ones that will benefit from baby out-sourcing. The only down-side to the whole thing is that the babies won't be in the consumer's favorite colour, too bad about that social hang-up, I think I was really onto something there.

So I guess that if we do want things to keep functioning we will need to have another generation or two. But in doing so, is there a bit of a class distinction between those who chose to have kids and those who do not? I think that there is the prevailing attitude in society that if you are not having children there is something wrong with you, physically or mentally. Perhaps this will change, after all, there are certain going to be more and more gay couples and generally that seems to prevent the whole procreation thing. But for those who are heterosexual I could easily see the act of not having children as being selfish. But is it really? After all, if it's selfish not to reproduce is it any less selfish to only have 2 kids and not 12? To me the choice to not have kids is no more selfish than choosing to have them. After all, I'm not only impacting my life by having them, eventually they will leave the house and inflict themselves upon the rest of the world. The choice to have children is a method to fulfill a desire, which by it's nature is a selfish act. Choosing not to have children is simply a sign that the desire is not there.

So I suppose I will end this post on this note, if you feel like commenting, do you think that there is a social stigma attached to those who chose not to have children? Or am I just becoming paranoid with my old age?

So you want to help...

So it seems that I'm up for some more late night blogging. It's kind of funny how this seems to feel right for me, it must have something to do with all the last minute lab reports that I wrote through my undergrad.

Now on the topic of undergrads I came across a story lately on the UMN home page. For those of you who don't like to read (what what the hell are you doing here? I don't post pictures) there are two interesting points to the story.

The first being that there has been a huge number of student volunteers for the university chapter of habitat for humanity. It seems that this year they are going to be helping to rebuild in the wake of Huricane Katrina. This has touched the generous and giving spirit of the student body who were jumping at the chance to do what they can to help...or maybe because it's a trip to New Orleans on spring break? Somehow I don't think that there would a be huge push to go help out had there been a major disater in Millwakee. But maybe I'm just cycnical...or bitter that I didn't realize that there would be a chance to get to New Orleans for spring break and get free housing (possibly a free flight, but I'm just guessing on that one).

The other intersting part of the story was the students spending the night outside, 'to see what it's like to be homeless'. Yet, they were allowed to go home at 6:00 am. Come on people, if you are going to pretend to be destitute at least do it properly. Spend a full weekend playing make believe. See what it's like to have to clean yourself in apublic washroom, while the mall security keeps harassing you to move along. Think about it, there are no public washrooms, there are public access washrooms on private property, but can you really claim a right to them? I guess you can if they are in a government building, but what about us aliens? Are we alowed to claim those as well?

Ok, I'm getting a little side tracked. The point I want to make though is that I really don't understand the act of doing these one day in the life of unfortunate person X. After all, are these people who pretend to be homeless that devoid of an imagination that they cannot comprehend how hard it would be to live in such a situation? If so, how the hell are they going to get through university? Seriously, if you need to spend the night in a cardboard box to realize how much that must suck all I can say is get used to it, because you probably are going to have a hard time holding down a fast food job.

And another thing, are these people even doing any good ore really even drawing attention to the plight of the homeless? Let's be honest, society has rendered the homeless virtually invisible, pertending to be one of them doesn't make them more visible, it makes you invisible. Perhaps actively doing something to help the homeless would be a better use of their time? If you want to get the plight of the homeless recognized by the government get a bunch of buses and bring all the homeless people out to one of the posh suburbs for them to camp out in. You know, the ones with the big gates and private security to make sure that the shopping carts aren't messed with at night. That would make a difference. Sleeping for two and a half hours isn't really doing a damn bit of good. Hell, this blog entry may have more impact than that!

Baby talk

Yeah, I know, I really suck at keeping this blog rolling at the moment. I'm not too sure why that is. Admittedly I do seem to have a bit more on my plate at work, things are going well and I want to keep it that way. And I seem to be occupied most nights, hey given the choice to spend time with my girlfriend or write blog entries, I'd chose her over this...though is that really a hard call to make? If so something is seriously wrong.

Now the process for blog topics in the past has generally been a thought that had come to mind, that I didn't have a chance to discuss with anyone else. This blog entry however isn't going to be one like that, I haven't really had those thoughts lately...well that's not entirely true, I have spent a good bit of time in the nanofab and am disgusted at the mess that I find there every time, but I've hit that topic a bit much in the last month. So let's talk about something new, let's talk about babies!

Now before you get your shorts all up in a bunch, NO I AM NOT THINKING OF HAVING BABIES WITH MY GIRLFRIEND!

In fact nothing could be further from the truth. On several occasions this past week we have both commented on the benefits of not having children. Now before I go any further I just want to be clear here. I do not think that babies are horrible little creatures infused with the pure essence of hell...well, not all of them anyway. Actually I like kids, I think that they are fun, and I enjoy watching them learn, their curiosity is incredible, which makes me wonder how they can grow up to be adults who are spoon feed lies and willingly believe them (i.e. anyone who voted for Bush a second time)...funny how they lose the curiosity yet retain the desire to have everything given to them. But for the most part my enjoyment of kids is limited to stretches of a few hours at a time. Generally about enough time for me to bore of them, or for them to become, hungry/cranky/sleepy/gassy/burpy/smelly/wet...yeah, there is a lot about little kids that I don't like. So yes, I do like kids, so long as there is someone nearby that I can give them back to as soon as they start crying, which they all inevitably do, for the first 5+ years.

The fact is, I admire anyone who is willing to raise kids. I thank my parents for having kids (go figure), as well as the parents of my friends, particular the parents of my girlfriend (and with 12 kids there are a lot of people thanking them). There are however a lot of people that I don't thank for having had kids, the parents of the two people who almost nailed me while I was riding my bike this weekend, the parents of the idiots that are so dumb that Dr. Pepper bottles come with warnings that the contents are pressurized, and of course the whole Bush family for their efforts in procreation (hey, I haven't ragged on the Republican government in a while, I want to make sure people don't think I've gone soft). Though I admire those who have kids I don't think that it is a necessity for all of us, after all 6 BILLION plus seems like enough for the moment.

I know a lot of you will argue that it is the biological drive of any organism, the desire to reproduce, to ensure that some of my genes make it into the final organism...and what prize do I get for that? Sure a few billion years ago immortality was best achieved through genetic heritage, but thanks to Google and their information gathering I will be forever stored in some digital form through this blog and probably all my e-mails. Anyway, if my biological drive is to spread my genes around why should I stick to one mate? I mean it takes 9 months to pop a kid out, I could knock up plenty of women in that time if I wanted to ensure the survival of my genes. But since I want to follow a path of monogamy, which seems biologically abnormal, why should I reproduce?

One of the biggest reasons I can find for not wanting to father children, is the time. Not only is the pregnancy 9 months, but unlike gazelles, antelopes and cattle (yeah, I know they are all in the same Family) human babies are not self-sufficient at birth. Hell, judging by what I have seen of undergrads a lot of them still aren't self-sufficient when they are "adults". Do I really have the patience to deal with the stupidities of a child for that long? I doubt it. Once again though, I really do wish to thank my parents, 'cause let's face it, I wasn't exactly the brightest kid out there.

So I have to say that it is great to have a girlfriend who, when we are out to dinner and we hear a child crying at the table next to us, will look at me with an expression in her eyes as if to say "I never want to be in that situation." Which just makes me smile. Because I don't want to be there either. I would rather have the freedom to take a vacation along the Mediterranean coast, to hike the Costa Rican rain forests. Not have to change diapers, go to parent/teacher nights or deal with any of the other crap that being a parent entails. After all, I don't see there being much fun in being the guy who has to make the late night tun to the grocery store for diapers, I'd much rather enjoy a nice late romantic dinner for two, but that's just me.

As I said, my hat is off to all of you who chose to raise children. If you believe that they are a gift, I'm certain that they will be to you. And remember, I see nothing wrong with having kids, and I do not look down upon you for your choices. All I ask is that you not look down on me for my choice not to have kids.