Poll results

Just in case you were wondering, the results from the poll, conducted a couple of days ago, at this point in time are here.

It seems that I have a total of 13 readers...which is odd because in the same period of time I have had 76 visits to the page...from at least 24 different geographic locations...ahh democracy at it's finest (not that this vote really mattered in the least).

Thanks to those that answered.

The things you see

You know, living in a big city has some really great benefits to it. And trust me, I've lived in a small town so I know the difference. Hell, the centre of my hometown is the intersection of two seconday highways with a flashing light. On the corners there is a gas station (the convenience store burnt down...twice, it would seem the fire department got there too fast the first time), a post office, I think the antique store (which had been a restaurant that went under every few years) has finally closed, leaving only the funeral home as a permanent fixture. So yeah, I know small towns...oh and if you are wondering where the bar is in town, it's in the next town.

So living in a big city offers all kinds of advantages to the average 20-something person...or anyone who wants to eat out in the same postal code. But beyond the food, the culture, the activities what I like most in cities are the characters. The oddities. The things you see that make you do a double take and still question what you saw.

Pets are often a source of great ammusement to me in cities. Growing up in the country it made sense to have a pet, hell I had a friend who had a "pet" cow, animals are everywhere so why not enjoy them. But city people seem to find some interesting animals to make as pets. I recall a time I was walking home from the bar at about 3 am and came across someone walking what looked to be a slender cat on a leash. It was only after I had bent down to pet it and it had crawled halfway up my arm that I realize this was not cat...this woman was walking a freaking ferret! After seeing that I kind of figured I'd pretty much seen the oddest pet to be walked in a city, until Tuesday. I was out riding on a bike path and notice a woman walking a plump dog near the path. Wrong again, that was no dog, it was a pig. Now why is it that I never saw that out in the country?

Cars can be another source of fun. There are the rediculous, like the Hummer limo and aroudn here a lot are nearly falling aprat, some actually look like they are held together with bumper stickers. Walking to work the other day though Deirdre and I saw one of the ugliest coloured cars I have seen in some time. Oddly enough though this was a Lotus, one damn expensive car. Though I guess the guy spent more than he should have on the car, because he was turning into the McDonald's drive-through for breakfast. Which also means that the smell of new car will be replaced with Egg McMuffin, and I only thought that happened to minivans.

The beauty of big cities is that you can see anything just about any time below are just a few that I recall seeing:

• The guy playing with a bullwhip in a public park
• The black guy wearing a green clown wig in a restaurant over lunch (the rest of his clothes were normal)
• The guy (why are they always guys) out with a faux-hawk and a mullet with an anarchy sign on his suit jacket out to dinner at a nice restaurant with hiw well dressed (and normal looking) wife and daughter
• The punk guys on their double decker bikes
• The woman in a park with a parrot on her shoulder
• The guy painted up as a gold statue/robot

See in the city all these people and so many more are just interesting characters that make the city that much more colourful and exciting. In a small town, these are the people that are talked about in hushed voices and generally thought of as wrong. I'm glad I grew up in a small town, but the big city is where I belong...and no, not just because I fit in better here.

How do you know me?

So this blog has been up and running for quite some time and I have to say that I'm quite happy with how it's worked out. Though I may not be getting many comments at the moment that probably has more to do with me not posting anything meaningful, as the number of readers is still about the same.

So with the goal of keeping from posting anything meaningful let's try a little poll. It's all anonymous so feel free to answer even if you don't normally comment on the blog. I'm really quite curious to know how I obtained the readership that I have.

How did you come to find my blog?
Know me from Canada
Know me from the USA
Found the blog through another blog (link or post)
A specific search
Random chance/"next blog"
Current results

A little update

Of late it seems that I have been doing more commentary on the blog than anything else. What can I say, I prefer to do that rather than recount the day to day details of my life. After all, I want people to come back and reading about my day at work isn't likely to inspire many people. It's not like I'm a real doctor, or even a fake real doctor, I'm a real fake doctor...did anyone else get lost in that train of thought?

Anyway, as far as my work goes, it goes rather well. I've been here for 11 months now and I finally have a full grasp on what I'm doing. The projects are moving slowly forward, as is always the case with research, but I'm hoping that I can get things to move a bit more quickly shortly. I've also been working on ideas for my future, scary as that is. One day I may have to find a real job and actually apply for it. So I'm trying to come up with research proposals and I've been keeping a watch on the job market.

Things with Deirdre are great as always. We have been enjoying the gradual arrival of spring, and cursing the snow every time we see more of it. We've been spending a lot of time together, going out to see plays and movies and just enjoying the great indoors until it's warm enough to venture outside comfortably.

Speaking of the comfortable outdoors, I wasn't able to find them on the club ride I went on Sunday. Things started off nice and easy. We were rolling at a moderate pace and chatting to those nearby. Then we got out of town and someone decided to jump on the accelerator. I don't know how or why but I ended up in the front group (damn racing instincts). Of the group of about 20 riders I found myself in a group of 6 hammering pace-line well off in front of the rest. Unfortunately, I'm not in any condition to be doing those things that my brain remembers doing. See my brain forgot that spent far too much time this winter sitting on the couch and not on my bike or in the gym. So even though I would like to believe that I'm one of the strong/fast guys, at the moment I am not, and believe me my legs reminded me of that. So it wasn't too long until I was spit off the back of the pack and in that no-mans-land between groups...oh the joy.

And I don't know what it is about riding out to Afton, but every time I do, I suffer, badly. That was one of my earliest rides after getting here, when I rode it with three well trained Cat. 2 racers. I hurt big time. The last time I recall going out there was in July, when it was over 32 C (90 F) out and I thought I was going to die. Well this time, I didn't think I was going to die...well maybe I did a little, but it would have been kind of pleasant as I curled up in the ditch and drifted off. I seriously bit off more than I could chew and I suffered. I didn't eat enough in the first two hours so after the 5 km or so of climbing to get out of Afton I was shot. In the end on the way back I was no longer in the front group but in the group at the tail end. But hey, that's where I belong at the moment. I'll do my bit work my ass off and hurt and then try and recover. Just maybe next time I might want to get a couple more rides in before doing a 100+ km hilly ride...probably unlikely though.

I'm smart, I swear I'm smart

Though sometimes it's really a questionable statement to make. I know that on paper I look smart, any fool who manages to get a Ph.D. can't help but look smart on paper. But in the real world...well that's another story. The latest example of my intellectual shortcomings is really quite impressive. Ok, it might not be as good as getting assistance in the lab with an instrument that wasn't working (after an hour of trying on my own) only to find out that I hadn't pushed a switch all the way into position.

As I may have mentioned before Deirdre has been lending me her iPod for some time now (many months in fact). Through this time using it I have been resigned to using the standard earbuds that come with it. Now I'm not one of those people to do something just because it's trendy. I don't own a pair of goggle like sunglasses or "distressed" jeans (personally if my pants get a hole in them I throw them out, but that's just me). So my choice to use the original earbuds was not one that was made just to be "fashionable". See it was made for a very stupid reason, because I thought that the iPods used connection jacks that were smaller than the current norm.

This wouldn't be unheard of, many companies have proprietary versions of standard items, like batteries and memory cards, in order to control an additional revenue source. For some reason I had assumed that Apple had done this with the iPod, after all the damn thing was so tiny it didn't look like it could really accept a normal earphone plug. On top of that the plug on the iPod earbuds is very sleek in design, making it seem a lot smaller than it really is.

So because of this, yes I know it's my own damn fault, I have been using the original earbuds. This wouldn't be so bad, but they really aren't that comfortable in my ears, they tend to fall out from time to time and extended periods of wearing them seem to hurt my ears. For some time I had actually wished that I could use my old earbuds with the iPod since they felt a lot better and I though that they had even better sound quality. Finally I noticed that a friend was using the same earphones with her iPod as she had been using with her computer. Now to show just how bright this is I puzzled over how this could be possible for a few days. Finally this morning I figured it out. I held the iPod port up to the port on my computer and realized...THEY ARE THE SAME SIZE!!!!

So now I'm either a complete retard and I can't figure out the simplest thing (or even test an idea in a logical way, it would have been easier just to try and plug a set of headphones into the iPod) or I'm finally reaching that state that has eluded me for some time. That state of idiot savant that seems to be a virtual necessity for having a successful academic career. So yeah, I'm kind of hoping that it's the latter.

Good ideas gone bad

Sorry for the recent lull in posts on the blog. I've been a bit busy and hadn't really had anything to say. I mean there is only so much I can complain about in life before I'm really starting to reach. So with that in mind, it's time to complain yet again...hey, I've said it before, I'm pretty much a one trick pony. Anyway, where's the fun in reading about how great my life is or how boring my work days can be?

Now I'm not too sure about you, but having lived in North America all my life there haven't been many times when I've encountered a roundabout (or traffic circle) while driving/biking. In fact it wasn't until I moved to Edmonton that I ever recall encountering any. I have to admit that I like them, they speed up the flow of traffic through the intersection. A "hidden" aspect of them that you only notice if you are on a bike, is that they are banked which makes them a lot faster when cornering and more fun on a bike...and yes, I know that I'm obsessed, no I don't have a problem, YOU have the problem...there, it needed to be said.

That being said, some people don't like them. I've seen more than a few people kind of panic when entering the circle, and let's face it most people in North America don't know the rules to traffic circles. I remember talking to a guy on a bike ride about them. He told me the story of when he got to Edmonton for the first time after driving in from British Columbia. Apparently he got to a traffic circle and didn't realize it (hey, he was from BC, they have great pot out there) and drove straight through, fucking up his axle when he hit the cement island in the middle.

So yeah, at times roundabouts can cause trouble for some people. Hell, I'll be the first to admit that I even have trouble with them at times. No, I don't get scared and stuck in the inner circle like Chevy Chase in a National Lampoon movie. What throws me off is when there are traffic lights (or stop signs) in a traffic circle. Now, I'm not city planner or civil engineer (a.k.a. target builder) but isn't the purpose of the traffic circle to eliminate the need to have traffic lights?

The strange thing is that I have seen one with lights in Edmonton and there is one with stop signs right on the university campus right here in Minneapolis. This one is even taken to a new level of stupidity. Not only are there stop signs to confuse things, but there is also a bus stop! Who the hell uses a traffic circle for a bus stop? Plus the bus stop is right beside the stop sign, hiding the cars on the inner circle from those trying to enter the circle. It's just a damn good thing that isn't a very heavily trafficed area.

Sure sometimes the combination of two things provides great results: ice cream and chocolate sauce, my legs and a bicycle, the internet and pornography...the list is endless, however it doesn't include traffic lights and traffic circles. I just pity any European who comes across one of those traffic circles...well maybe the European doesn't need the pity, I think the North American who is scared shit less when the European blows through the light/sign could use some pitying.

Slow People

So why is it that people are so damn slow? And I don't mean in the "let's vote for Bush again" kind of slow, but in the physical sense of not being able to beat a snail in a race...uphill...in the snow. And no it's not because of my "freakishly strong legs" (nor are the freakishly long) that I move so fast, I just don't like to go slow. Hell, I'm proud enough to say that I have walked with people shorter then me who walk faster than me, so I'm not that fast a walker. But at times I can seem way above the norm.

Yesterday was a great example. I was walking over to the building where Deirdre works so we could go out to lunch. Well as I was getting near the building, maybe 300 meters away, I passed someone who looked like one of her co-workers. I was waiting outside her office since she has to wait for the co-worker to return before she can leave. I don't know why they can't leave without having two other people in the office to cover for them, somehow the office manager expects them to be swamped with work right around noon. Either way Deirdre's co-worker (who in fact was the person I passed on the way over) finally showed up, now my question is, how the hell did I get here that much faster? Hell, I took the longer way into the building.

But people all over are like this, they walk at mind-numbingly slow speeds, usually three or four abreast so you can't easily pass them on a sidewalk. Or better still are the ones driving around town, usually in rush hour as if they have nowhere to go. Seriously, how do you have so much free time that you have nothing better to do than move as slowly as possible to get to a destination? I mean I've even seen people biking so slowly I was sure if I tried the same I would fall over...and I can balance at a complete stop!

I really don't understand why people don't try to get to a destination as fast as possible. I mean if you have extra time, spend more time at home or leave work later, just don't slow me down. I mean sure we've all heard that the "it's not the destination but the journey" inspirational BS, but somehow I don't think that applies when the journey takes you through that part of town that always smells like ass.

Old and cantankerous

Last night I started to realize one of the benefits to getting older, and damn it I'm jealous. See what I noticed was that as long as you were old enough, you could be as rude as you liked and nobody would say anything, well at least not to your face. I saw some behaviour last night that I would normally anticipate of redneck teenagers with attitude problems, not senior citizens seeing Hamlet. Oh well, maybe there is less of a culture gap in society than I first suspected.

There were a couple of stellar examples of behaviour that I'm certain would have earned these seniors a lashing when they were children that they felt perfectly entitled to commit. One of my favorites was the old woman who just started going backwards down the line of deserts offered at intermission. Without saying anything she just shouldered her way in front of me, confusing the hell out of me, because I was sure she had just paid for the cookie she had in hand. But apparently she wanted to exchange it for a cake and to hell with anyone who stood in her way. I actually do think she shouldered-checked the woman in line in front of me in order to get some more space. I backed away quickly at that point, she might be old but I've heard of what can be done with a hat-pin or a crochet needle.

Another example of elderly rude behaviour were the people coming in well after the play started, or leaving before or immediately before the curtain call. You would think that these seniors would have realized by now that they don't drive nearly as fast as everyone else (can we keep them off the road during rush hour?). Add to that their haphazard choice of lanes, or lack of choice (sure, your Crown Vic is big, but you don't need two lanes grandpa). You do have to wonder how they end up being late for shows anyway, I mean I've seen some old-folks just ignore stop signs and no turn on red signs. I guess when you get that old death is already in the passenger seat so what does it matter if you roll through a stop sign or two...even if it's only done at 10 mph (damn...the Americans are taking hold, I meant 16 km/h, honestly I did).

At the end of the show of course we weren't finished with the "I'm old so I own this place" attitude. As anyone who has ever been to a theater for a movie, play, musical, concert or lingerie show knows, people have a tendency to want to leave rapidly (particularly after the last one in the list). So what did the old man who is gradually shrinking to the height of a hobbit do a foot out the theater door? He stopped to delicately put on his coat or whatever the hell he decided to do right then, either way he was taking his sweet time (which as far as I could tell, he doesn't have much left).

What struck me about all these incidents is that nobody says a damn thing. So I can't wait to be that old. I mean I'm a nice guy in person and I don't do things that will piss people off, after all I am Canadian. So I can't wait until I'm old and able to finally feel free to flip the bird as needed, take up all the lanes in the road and drive whatever damn speed I like...it's going to be sweet!

Hurts so good.

This past weekend I did a lot of biking, a little over 140 km (88 miles) to be exact. Now that's not too bad for this time of year, but by mid-summer that will be seen as a light weekend. Hell there was the one Labour Day weekend where I did 400 km (250 miles) in three days, ok that may have been a bit excessive. But for me riding the bike is great fun. It's a unique freedom and it just helps me feel that much more alive. This weekend I realized one of the things that I love about bicycling, the connection I have with my body.

Now I know that might sound a bit strange, but there have been a number of instances when talking to friends that I've realized that I am a lot more aware of what's going on with my body than most. See I'm never caught by surprise by any pains or anything like that. I'm constantly self-diagnosing my body and anything that feels unusual sets off alarm bells. I know when something goes wrong and I generally don't ignore pains...that's often a good way to fuck things up even worse.

So this weekend while biking it was interesting to find myself somewhat out of touch with the signals my body was giving me, one could say I was having communication problems, with myself...yeah I know, I'm "special". See what happened on the Saturday ride was a typical early season occurrence for me. After riding for a little less than two hours with a couple of teammates I decided to extend my ride, thinking I would roll out to St. Paul and back and call it a day. Well about a half hour after I started this journey my body started to get through to me, unfortunately it was telling me I was out of gas. Yup, there I was, about 15 km (10 miles) from home, and facing some nasty headwinds all the way back. That just sucked. But I do it every year, because I still have to teach myself what my limits are each year.

The really interesting part about this though is how quickly my body adapts to the stress of riding. Sunday's ride ended up being 5 km (3 miles) shorter but WAY hillier yet at the end I was feeling much better than the day before; I didn't think I was going to fall down the stairs while going into the apartment, a fear the day prior and why I keep my helmet on until I reach the couch.

And this difference in sensation after the ride is what I love to feel. That sense that I am getting stronger or faster or having greater endurance. Part of why I love to race is because I love to push myself to that point of exhaustion, to get to the point where it's all about to fall apart and then keep going. And it's not the feeling at the time of the event, in the race it's all pain, it hurts and on many levels all you want is for it to stop. But you also don't want to drop out, you don't want to ride in alone, so you keep pushing until it's over, or you are. But that's when it feels the best, right when you are done. It just feels good to exhaust my body in that fashion, to feel this heavy yet strong sensation in my legs after a long ride or a hard race. To know that you have pushed hard enough to cause your body to change and next time you will have to push harder to get a similar effect, and you will do just that. I can't wait for next weekend, assuming that the snow is gone...

Customer service

I don't know how well it shows through in my blog, but most days I have no faith or hope for humanity. It seems as though everyone is either greedy, self centered or just plain stupid, in many cases all of these at once. So this week had plenty of potential for turning out to be really crappy.

First off, last week I realized that I was getting low on coffee. Now I've only been hooked on this stuff for about a year (damn you Glen...humm I should get some Turkish coffee again sometime...see what you've done!) but when I get hooked I go all the way. I've never actually had a cup of coffee, I prefer to enjoy coffee as an espresso. Small on volume, big on punch. Though the comments I received from some cyclists on a ride would lead me to believe that they never heard of or drank espresso!!! How can a cyclist not? It must be a Midwest thing, after all they all call it eXpresso. Anyway, the point of this story is that Glen had pointed me to Peet's Coffee, and I got an espresso sampler pack for Christmas from my parents. Damn that's fine coffee! So last week I ordered some more, a pound of the Espresso Forte, which arrived promptly Monday. Well I opened it up and enjoyed the aroma, and then I was quickly saddened. I had ordered it to be ground specifically for espresso, a very fine grind to pack well and allow for rapid extraction of the flavours (yes, see analytical chemistry in coffee). Well this stuff looked almost like wood chips, they had given me the percolator grind size, which really doesn't mix with an espresso machine.

Fortunately they are a really great company. I called them up to complain and what did I get, an apology, a new order of the proper grind, second day delivery and I get to keep the original pound of coffee. So there was one potential headache averted.

The second one came from my glasses. I hadn't realized it but over the past three years my eyesight has fallen off considerably. It's really strange how a gradual change can be imperceptible for so long, but suddenly you realize that you're straining to the sign on the McDonald's across the street. So it was time that I got my eyes checked and sure enough, I needed to get new glasses. Well all my life I had been getting my glasses from my uncle, he is after all an optometrist. But since he lives in Montreal I haven't actually picked my frames since the first pair of glasses that I ever had. Now all things considered, he'd done a fabulous job of picking out styles that worked really well for me. But for a change I figured I'd pick out my own pair...until I realized I really can't see what the glasses look like on my face without proper lenses in them. Thankfully Deirdre has great taste and I now have a really great looking pair of glasses. This is the style but they are brown in colour.

Anyway, yesterday I was looking that the glasses and noticed something. The paint on the part that holds the nose pad was chipped! I don't know how the hell that happened but I was pissed, I've only had these glasses for about 2 or 3 weeks. So I called up the optometrist and mentioned the problem. Before I could even ask what they would do about it she was telling me that they were ordering me new frames and that it should be there in about a week.

So maybe there is some hope for humanity after all...either that or I'm the luckiest bastard when it comes to customer service, either way I'm happy.

Back in the saddle again

So Saturday I was out for my first bike ride of the season. Damn it felt good to be out riding again. The weather wasn't great, somewhere around -4 C (25 F) but once you get moving on the bike so long as you have the right gear on you'll be fine.

Speaking of gear, I've found that one of the most important items is a really good undershirt. Specifically the stuff made by Craft. Looking at and feeling the material you would never believe it to be so warm, it's thinner than a t-shirt. But the material and the weaving used to make the shirt make it stupidly warm. I swear I would be comfortable in temperatures just above freezing in only this undershirt. So with three layers like this and a fleece biking jacket, and a jersey, I was nice and toasty. But then again it really wasn't that cold, there was a Texan riding with us. But then again, she's a bit nuts, she's going through a withdrawal of not being able to ride every day all year long like they can in Texas...except those days that it's too hot to be outside...I think I prefer it too cold, some may remember my brain melting ride last year.

It was a good ride and despite the fact that it was my first ride of the year I found myself riding at the front of the pack most of the time, stupid racing instincts. For those of you that don't ride the reason it's stupid to be at the front of the pack on your first ride is quite simple; the closer you are to the front the more direct wind you encounter and the harder it is to maintain your speed; the further back you are in the pack, the better the draft and the easier it is to keep up. So I was pleasantly surprised to see that despite my stupidity my strength and speed were good enough to keep me at the front with ease, and to be able to go up the minor hills without straining.

On the way back I managed to fall even further into the usual habits. It was a headwind on the way back so since it was just myself and another girl going back at this time (the others were going for a longer ride) I ended up being the lead rider...it's always the case when there's a headwind. Though that may be because even when I'm the one in the lead into the wind I'm often able to push the pace to a point where the people in the pack will complain that the pace is too high (I heard that a lot at the end of rides back in Edmonton). I'll always back off when I hear this, but I will also smile to myself that I'm able to do that. And yes, I had a little smile on my face on the ride back in.

I did get a funny e-mail after the ride from my mother. The e-mail is below:

Please tell me you weren't rushed to the ER and that you had a good bike ride?? Was it with your bike club? Or were you just being weird? It isn't yet that warm, is it??? Talk to you soon.

I guess mom forgot that I have ridden in every month of the year other than January and February, while I lived in Edmonton. Hell I was once riding my bike on a road next to a guy cross country skiing in the trail next to me. But that's what mothers are for, to care and worry about you, even if it is unnecessary.

I'm looking forward to this weekends riding. The weather is supposed to be much nicer, around 6 C (45 F) so that means way less winter gear...hell I've raced in the summer in Edmonton in colder weather! I've got to say I have the usual spring feeling again, the potential of a summer of racing and all the fun of riding for hours. It's going to be great.

Am I speaking a different language?

I mean I know I can speak French, though these days it's bloody rusty. I miss the "Frenchies" who had populated my old grad department. They helped me keep my French in practice and kept it from developing too much rust. Down here, well let's just say that my father has better pronunciation then the French teacher instructing my girlfriends brother.

That being said there certainly are a few terms that I have used that have managed to gain the attention of Amercians listening to me, here are a few of them:

• Z (pronounced zed) - What can I say, it's classic Canadian, it's not going to change. But the optometrist really threw me for a loop when I had to read a line "backwards but this time without zed". Well, I showed his smart ass, I walked out without paying...ok, I actually forgot to pay, I'm sure my insurance will bill me for that.
• Cougar - It's best you not ask how this topic came up, but it has, several times in fact. I think I will be able to get this one to catch on, because unlike 'Z' Americans just don't have a term for it. Oh, if you don't know what a cougar is here are a few definitions...now you know, aren't you happy?
• Garborator - Ok, I was almost beginning to think I made this one up, but by god if NationalPlumbing.com will use the term it's good enough for me.
• Canadian bacon - I'm seriously going to make an effort to avoid Americans from now on if there is Hawaiian pizza around. Because if I have to explain that "No we don't use the term Canadian bacon in Canada." one more time I might just snap...wait I think I just did, I'm contemplating why Canadian bacon is on a Hawaiian pizza?????
• Tuque - Ok, I could understand if you were from Texas and didn't know what this was, but how can Minnesotans not know what a tuque is? And how can such a proud and noble piece of clothing be lumped in with all the other "hats"? It's shameful really.
• Jujube - Maybe I'm just mispronouncing it by saying it as the name of the fruit, rather than "jujubee" but if that were the case would it cause fits of laughter from my girlfriend and her siblings?
• Washroom - Seriously, I never thought this one would be a question, but after I made the comment that I was going to the washroom a friend of my girlfriend turned to her and jokingly said "What's he going to wash?". So let me get this straight; washroom is wrong, even though there is a sink to wash your hands in, but bathroom, even though there is no bath, would be correct? This one has come up a lot it seems. I guess it's a good think I don't use the term water closet, I'm sure that they would piss themselves over that one.

I'm sure that there are a few others that I've missed. I know I don't need to go into the whole aboot issue. It's just funny to find the little differences that help make Canadians and Americans different...other than social policy (zing!).

It's almost here

Spring finally looks to be almost around the corner...or at least what someone who spent the past 5 springs in Edmonton would term spring. It's always a matter of debate as to what one would classify as the first day(s) of spring. Some like to look to oversized rodents that have been disturbed from their sleep to predict when spring will arrive based upon the direction it looks when pulled from it's den. Seriously, how drunk was the first person to do this? Did they try it with a badger first and regret the choice before finally deciding to use a groundhog?

Others prefer to go by the vernal equinox, but come on, the scientifically determined point in time where the exact amount of daylight hours is half the hours in a day...where's the fun in that? At least the badger thing had drinking...or at least probably involves a lot if you standing around on some February morning to harass a rodent.

No I really prefer to look at spring in terms of when I start to become more active and emerge from my cocoon of an apartment...as a scruffy, kind of soft, more "insulated" version of myself. To me spring is when I finally feel that it is time to get back on the bike and start riding again, even if this means that the Gatorade in my bottles will freeze and I might experience hypothermia...yet again. At least this is a much more useful measure of spring for me, though it would be kind of nice if it coincided with green buds on trees rather than slowly thawing dog shit in the neighbours yard...and somehow that smells worse than all the cattle manure I grew up around.

So it's looking as though this Saturday will be the beginning of spring, or of a short stay for me in the emergency room while they gradually bring my body back up to temperature so that my internal organs can continue to function. Either way I am looking forward to it, I've spent a good bit of time inside this winter and it will be nice to breath in some fresh air, even though I will likely be coughing for hours after I get back (damn cold air).

Though the promise of warm weather also offers the possibility of other outdoor activities. One particularly fun one will be getting back into dodgeball. That always made for interesting Saturdays, with rides in the morning and dodgeball in the afternoon. Needless to say I wasn't doing all that much dodging in those games. Which also segue quite nicely to a conversation between Deirdre and her youngest sister the other night:

D: "So you do lots of exercise don't you?"
5 year-old: "Of course, I have to use up the old energy to make room for new energy."
D: "So what kind of exercise do you do, do you play games? Did you know that Chris plays dodgeball?"
5 year-old (totally serious after looking at me for a second): "Well obviously. You can tell he's been hit a few times."

That's right folks, a five year-old insulted me, right to my face...I tell you, I get no respect. And the worst part is that she's absolutely right about it too.

Taxes suck even more this year

It is about that time of year, taxes are coming due shortly. This year is a bit odd for me as with the move to the US that is where the majority of my tax dollars are going. Though thankfully the right amounts seemed to have been taken out with the payroll deduction and I will be getting a nice return. I've always kind of liked that, it's like a savings account set up for just when I might need to pick up some new parts/items for the bicycling season.

There is one downside to the whole thing though, and that is that I have to pay tax to the US government. One key reason why I don't like this is because of what the money is being used for. Ok, I know that I'm really not paying all that much in taxes, and that the amount I paid doesn't even come close to the amount Halliburton charged for movie rentals $152,000 (how many times can they watch Glitter, Crossroads and Gigli?).

The worst part of all this though is that not only do I get taxed differently (more) for being a "non-resident" alien, but I don't get a say in what is done with the money. It's kind of like chipping in for pizza but not being asked what you want on it. And in this case it seems the pizza is covered in nuts (coincidentally I'm allergic to nuts).

See I really wouldn't mind paying taxes to this government if they were going to do good things with it, but I really kind of doubt that they are. After all two of the most pressing issues to the Republican party are ensuring that marriages are protected by preventing gay marriages (with a divorce rate at ~50% what harm can the gays do to the "sanctity" or marriage?) and the lovely removal of a womans right to chose whether or not to have an abortion (after all that whole land of the free thing is just to sucker you in).

Now maybe if the Republicans took a page from Trudeau's book "... that there's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation." I wouldn't mind paying taxes. Hell the soldiers that the government sent to Iraq could certainly use the money for more armour...or for Halliburton to rent some more movies...damn I wish I could vote here.