Advice

2009 has been fairly rough. My detractors are never small in number but it seems like a lot lately, and probably with justification.

I remember hearing a young George Clooney say once that his father (an eminent journalist) would offer this advice:

You're never as good as they say, and you're never as bad as they say.

I guess this presumes no laws have been broken (e.g. a felony charge would put a kink in it). At times like this, we thank the senior Clooney for the perspective.

How To Reclaim 21,000 Miles

Great news! I am back in black with American Airlines: 21,000 miles.

I called them some time ago (when I received the dire expiration message), and received some ideas. The agent told me that if I had used one of their partners (and everyone is a partner) since the last flight, that would count. I just had to call the partner and attach my AA number to the transaction.

I used a rental car last September in Detroit, and bingo, 6 weeks later, I am ready to roll.

*whew*

Minor Update

I had my first workout today since the move.... My gym is a 5 minute walk (if that). Very nice indeed....

Still no internet yet and no cable TV. Working through options on that one... Plus it has been a busy week so I essentially just have the bed and bathroom set up. Everything else is still in boxes.

Turn Off The Lights

I've moved! I'm writing from the new complex's office centre.

It has been a tantric experience. Saturday morning was a high point of suffering, as there seemed no end to the amount of "stuff", but the payoff has been worth it.

Thankfully the weather was very good, and miraculous for the pro movers: book-ended perfectly by rain. Pro movers are astounding, though I think anyone at a pro-level for anything is generally impressive.

My new place is full to the gills, despite some major sell-offs and the use of a storage space in the basement. The move really isn't over but definitely in the end-game.

CC

ps. Fun fact: A married couple lives next door. During introductions, I told them straight-faced that I was a concert-level tuba player and that I practice rather loudly at night. The guy's body language got highly defensive before I told them I was joking.

pps. I lived at the old place for a long time. I feel like I should post a retrospective but to be honest, I feel unsentimental. I had some good memories there but stayed 3 years too long.

Into The Twilight Zone

I'm writing on Friday PM and will be offline for awhile... I haven't ordered Internet/cable/phone for my new place yet, but the clubhouse at the new complex has Wifi.

Things will be 'interesting' tomorrow but I think I'm good shape. A productive night last night and tonight. Alas, as everyone knows, it is the last 10% of nitty-gritty stuff that really drives you crazy.

peace out... see you on the other side!
CC

Couldn't Stand The Weather

The good news is that since the weird WD-40 deal with the AC unit, I haven't had to run heat or AC during May. It has been lovely, and I have had the windows open for an unbelievably long stretch of time.

However, Missouri's spring is no longer quaint.

Several moons ago, I took a class in aviation weather. In the class, we learned how thunderstorms formed, and why they are especially prevalent in the spring in the midwest of the US.

All very nice, and moderately interesting from an intellectual standpoint.

But when one is TRYING TO SHUTTLE one's stuff from one apartment to another, they are NO LONGER interesting. Especially after the 5th day IN A ROW, where the weather is lovely during the day and then a CRUSHING DOWNPOUR from 5 to 7 pm.

I only gave myself a week to work with, and it's gonna get interesting. I can't afford downtime in the evenings.

CC

ps. Many friends have offered to help me move. Unfortunately, I have chosen to 'shuttle' rather than pack-haul-unpack, and 'shuttling' doesn't scale very well. Also, I have a strong aversion to asking people for help for moves. Perhaps more in another post. However, I am sincerely grateful for all offers. It is nice to be acknowledged, as I have tried to help others move.

pps. The title of this post comes from one of the greatest songs of all time.

Free Stuff ! (and some Not-Yet Free Stuff)

I'm moving soon and have been jamming since Saturday.

It has been intense and occasionally emotional: everyone knows that people purge when moving but when you are single, you may very well touch every single item that you own. That's crazy.

I have some free stuff if anyone wants it. I'm not naming names but I will stare at Eric B.

• Some strong bathroom cleaners such as Tilex, Bleach, etc.
• I have a couple of bottles of anti-freeze for the car. I have no idea where to get rid of it.
• I have some potentially old bottles of hooch: vodka from 2004 and Jagermeister from 2003-4. Yikes. The good news is that there are no insects in that cupboard.
• I have rusty deck chairs that might be salvaged with some paint. Also a table with the glass top blown out. My deck looks pretty rough. I don't think I'm up for a beautification award.

I have already posted this to Craig's List but, here is some Not-Yet Free Stuff:

• I am selling my iconic BBQ Grill. It is in rough shape and needs the hoses checked. $50 including 2 half-full propane tanks (that's value right there)
• I have some laptop bags for sale. They are good stuff.
• It is unclear why this is true, but I have many Maxim and Stuff magazines from 1999-2000. Potentially a real collector's item. These are the early editions where the writing was brilliant and hadn't dipped completely into sophomoric mediocrity.
• I also have a broken hammock frame. The wood is shot but the metal joints are prime. Plus I still have the hammock -- it has stayed inside. The latter is quality stuff. Contact me for EZ pricing.
  

That's it from Moving HQ.

CC

A Moment of Silence

My community back home lost someone very special recently.

I have been quiet. It feels wrong not to mention it, yet writing my thoughts seems inappropriate. She was not family, and yet is family to some readers of this blog. She was a mother and aunt to several kids on our road. She and her husband are among my parents' dearest, closest friends, and have been for 40+ years.

My condolences to anyone who knew her, for it is a sad time. Jean will be truly be missed.

The Oak Tree and the Cypress

As alluded to in the previous post, my sister and Dave asked me to read this poem at their wedding: On Marriage by Khalil Gibran.

Though it is popular, I hadn't really heard of it, and as I practiced it over and over again, I grew to appreciate it deeply. I loved its jazzy dissonance against the traditional parts of the ceremony: here is a poem from the 1920s, written by a Lebanese-American, that has both elements of celebration and warning within it. When reading it, I tried to accent the text in such a way that balanced that tension in the poem.

Fill each other's cup, but drink not from one cup.

I remember being being stunned at how the author had nailed an idea that I had barely considered. Though I have a few different aesthetics that I admire as a lifelong union, this one is close to a personal manifesto. There were several readings at the nuptials: I wondered if my sister paired me with this particular one as some kind of Buddhist message. ("See? There is a middle way.") Or perhaps because it fit rather well: my own personal narrative and experience, as the scarred embodiment of caution. (Of course, any rationale was probably more personal to the couple's style than 'me', as it should be.)

10 years later, I have some new perspectives on it, naturally. But, for now, that stays with me. Maybe more on my birthday.

ps. Binky, am I correct that this was a reading at your wedding?

(Readers, 'Supermom' is a dear cousin to my sister and I, and especially close to my sister growing up. She and Binky married 12 years ago. We're very lucky to have him as well.)

Party Like It's 1999: Happy 10th

It's not for a couple of days yet, but I want to wish my sister and bro-in-law a

Happy Tenth Anniversary!

Wow, 10 years. That is hard to believe. I'm truly happy for them, and our family is blessed to have such a cool guy join the family. (Dave and I would have been friends in high school... very similar interests)

I will probably blog more thoughts, but here are some things I remember:

• It was really special to see my sister get married in our church. We have been going to the same one since we were little.
• I vaguely remember that my father and I didn't quite set up the reception hall correctly with respect to balloons. Let's just say that we thought we did a fine, if utilitarian, job. When the work was surveyed by the supervisor, there was much disagreement. Yikes.
  
• I was asked to read at the wedding. I thought the poem was a nice touch, as it was used by others in the fam, but upon reading it closely, I was stunned. It was gorgeous and articulated a thought that had barely surfaced in my own mind. I practiced it so loudly and so long (in different voices) that my sister nearly laughed at the actual reading in the church. More on this one later. Massively influential.
• Everyone looked great (my sister was radiant, my bro-in-law: dashing), and it was a lovely day.
  
• I'm pretty sure that they were married by a female minister who was really fantastic. Alas, she joined our church just after I went "away" to Ontario and then the US. She was really cool and I regret not getting to know her better.
• At the reception, our Dad constructed a mini-putt golf course. To get the couple to kiss, one had to sink a putt. The course wasn't groomed to PGA standards and it quickly became a par-3.
• My bro-in-law mentioned guitar during his thank-yous but I didn't realize at the time that he was a huge fan of Randy Rhoads and Steve Vai, and could play a lot of RR stuff. (This is like winning the in-law lottery).
• I spoke at the reception. As a public speaking performance, it is the only time where I have no self-criticism: A+. This is fortunate because it was one of the few times it was truly, profoundly important. As Mom would say, "you only have one sister". I have told the story to several people, in person. The gist is that it was, by turns, heavy and funny; but the main thing was reciting a poetry verse to my sister. I didn't write it, but it was highly personal. It seems crass and a betrayal to write it here. Though sad, it remains the most beautiful (and haunting) thing I've ever read, and I can still recite it effortlessly.
  
• The 2nd part of the reception moved to the very same fire hall as mentioned in the post about Uncle R and C. I remember that the couple danced to "From This Moment On" by Shania Twain. It was cool to meet Dave's family. I vaguely remember his Mom trying to set me up with someone... ha! I had forgotten.

I'm comfortable with my lifestyle, and am at peace with the Beethoven-esque golden years that probably await me, but as I've written many times, I'm a sucker for a good wedding. This one was great.

Here's toasting the next 10....

Dance The Night Away

A friend is appearing in a bellydance concert on Saturday night.

Here are some details (look for Nisaa presents A Thousand and One Nights-An Evening of Middle Eastern Dance, at the StCharles Community College)

I'll be there, as will some of 'the gang'. Come on out! It is really neat and truly a show put on by women, for women.

Happy Mother's Day

A note to wish a Happy Mom's Day to my Mom, and all Moms who stop by here.

I wanted to post a YouTube video of a mother defending her young, but everything is either too graphic or just weird.

Let's just say that I pity the fool that messes with Mom!

Humanity

It has been a fairly rough week. The icing was that I inadvertently offended the wife of a very dear colleague at work. Our team had heard a lot about her, and finally got to meet her as she picked up her man to go to an afternoon Cards game.

As they left, I called out "nice to finally meet you: you are our 5th Beatle!".

Apparently she heard "5th wheel" and interrogated her husband (our main biologist) for 7 innings.

Perfect.

But life beats you up and then gives back. Two items you should see...

YouTube Phenom

First, check out this vid. It is truly joyous and the music really makes it:



It makes me happy that this video has been watched 21 million times. Someone's music, someone's voice, has been heard just as often.

The Timeless Original

Second, and infinitely longer lasting, is that the StL Symphony orchestra is playing Beethoven's 9th this weekend. The finale is known as the Ode to Joy -- the inspiration for my tech blog.

I'm no musicologist but among the amazing things of the piece are:

• Beethoven was pretty much deaf. At the end of the piece, people had to turn him around to face the audience so that he could see the wild adulation.
• The libreto (words) come from a poem by Schiller. It celebrates the unity of humankind.
• Symphonies rarely (if ever) used a choir. Beethoven regularly took traditions that stood for 100+ years and kicked them over.
• The main melody is taken from a simple major scale that any 7-year-old piano student could play. You and I could noodle with a major scale continually for a decade and not write a better melody.

This is the best audio I could find. The graphic is very weird but the music is good.

Today, we are joyous. Life goes on....

I am 32 flavours and then some

[post edited]

Here's a recent doozie... I just realized, one day too late, that my frequent-flyer 'air miles' with American Airlines are seriously about to expire. I don't have a lot compared to business travellers, but I had been cultivating them half-heartedly with some major trips.

Yesterday, they expired. I think all I had to do was buy some via the website.

I'm fairly unhappy about this development, as it could have been avoided.

Ah well. Chalk it up to being eccentric.

ps. I guess I should login to Air Canada and see what they have to say.

Harambee

This is long overdue, but I'm trying to catch up.

While I was home last year, I saw a news item on the CBC that was outstanding.

It was about the origins of CHES, the Canadian Harambee Education Society.

Back in the 1970s, a young teacher left BC to go to Africa and teach at a girls school. The village was impoverished, and many students could barely afford to go to school.

After a few months, one girl came to the Director and confessed that her family could no longer afford the small tuition. The teacher was distraught, saying that this must be prevented, as the girl was the best student in the school. The Director replied, "well, then you pay for her.".

And so she did.

Years later, CHES is dedicated to funding many such girls, giving them an opportunity against a backdrop that is quite daunting.

In the news piece, the same girl, now a nurse, was re-united with her former teacher. It was a special moment. The African woman often talks to the young girls, acting as a stellar role model for their dreams. (As an aside, she jokes that they think she is a doctor, because anyone involved with medicine is elevated to that status.)

My sister and bro-in-law often give me Christmas gifts that are charitable donations (e.g. solar panels for a village in Africa, or a goat for a needy family). I was happy to reciprocate this Christmas with a similar gift to CHES.

ps. Harambee is Swahili for "pull together".

Movin' On Up (To A Deluxe Apartment...)

I'm moving outta here!

It's not far, and in fact it isn't moving "up" as the new place will be smaller, less rent $, and no deck or lake.

But it is damn well time to bid this dump adieu.

Bonus: I will be within easy walking distance of my current gym. Hopefully I will start going again (it has been a rough spring).

Woot!

Anvil: A movie experience

The Skinny

This movie is recommended. My experience was transcendent, though somewhat unique, as you'll see below.

The flick is high on profanity, dubious on music, and enormous on charisma.

The Long

A friend and I went to see Anvil on Saturday night. A key point is that the band was in attendance for the viewing. They would take a Q&A session after our 7pm show and then play after a 9pm viewing.

The Setup

As background, Anvil is a heavy metal band that formed in Toronto in the late 1970s. They scored some modest success circa 1982 with an album called Metal on Metal. They toured with acts that would go on to be much larger. Though respected to this day as trail-blazers, their career tanked.

The buzz about this movie is that it is a mirror image of Spinal Tap. Spinal Tap is the iconic mockumentary where art imitates life. Anvil is a real-life, gritty 30-year existence of a band, whose tragic career trajectory imitates Spinal Tap.

This is especially true since the style (but particularly the lyrics) are similar. What's more: Rob Reiner directed Spinal Tap; a different man, Robb Reiner, plays drums for Anvil. It is no wonder that a lot of people think this is a big hoax.

It isn't.

To be honest, I only vaguely remember Anvil. I probably thought they were pretty cool, on the edge of the new metal sound that was quite electric to my 12 year old ears. Going into the show, though, I have to say that I was very skeptical and joked about asking some rude questions to the band.

The Movie

The film opens with a 50-year-old man delivering food to schools, driving a minivan. He is Lips, the lead-singer of Anvil, and founder of the band, along with his high school chum, Robb R.

For awhile, you laugh at these guys. They are old, weather-beaten, and well, kinda pathetic. However, their enthusiasm and passion is quite contagious: particularly Lips'. As they go on hiatus from their day jobs to embark on a modest club tour of Europe, you wonder, as they do, if things might turn around.

They don't. The tour is a disaster. e.g. They play a show in Poland for a crowd of 50 people, and then have to fight just to get paid. (This is bizarre as the movie theatre -- the Tivoli -- is at about 10% capacity itself, for the movie.) Their sound isn't really much different from their heyday in 1982. As they talk, the emotions run the gamut from devotion to their fans, hope for the future, and utter despair at the current circumstances. All of this is fuelled by a deep bond between Lips and Robb, who love -- and fight -- as brothers. They almost seem like Lennon-and-McCartney Lite: all the yin-yang fraternity, without the calories of musical genius.

This is cognitive dissonance as art.

Somewhere, though, along the way, they win you over. You secretly realize that though you know intellectually that they should pack it in, you are rooting for them. This was doubly strange with them in attendance at the Tivoli. I really felt embarrassed about some of the jokes I had made. These guys are living their dream. Robb is quiet about it, but Lips is pure, unabashed charisma. He is so excited to be onstage that it belies the dark, macabre genre that they've chosen.

The Mind-Blowing Weirdness

I don't feel that I've caught the vibe here but by the end of the movie, some shed tears. I don't know why, and yet I do. This movie is about humanity, brotherhood, and blind devotion in the face of logic and sanity.

At the Tivoli, the credits came on screen and I heard some music start. After a moment, we realized what had happened: the band had secretly jumped into the orchestra pit, donned their instruments and began to play their flagship anthem. They weren't supposed to play yet, but to hell with it -- this is rock 'n' roll!

Half of our crowd stood to clap and rock out. About 6 (six!) dudes with long-hair, tattoos, and dusty metal tee-shirts now rushed to the front to head-bang.

For 3 incredibly weird minutes, we were in the documentary. University City (a section of StL) was united psychically with Krakow, Poland: both were mostly indifferent to Anvil, and yet contained a few freaks to offer support to an aging metal band. There are no words.

It was embarrassing, cool, and foreign, all at the same time.

The Departure

I wore a red t-shirt that sported a Maple Leaf and the slogan "Canada, Eh?".

As we left the theatre, the band manned the merchandise station. I went up to Lips, the singer, and said hello. He burst into a big grin and said "hey I have a shirt like that, only with black lettering". I told him I was from Canada and that I hope that the film takes them "through the roof". He shook my hand and thanked me.

The sincerity in his eyes was unbelievable: it was heart-warming and alarming (in the sense of being worried about him), all at the same time.

Moments later, as we walked down the street, I desperately wanted to return, and give the guy a big hug.

And that feeling is precisely why you should see this movie.

More curves than Marilyn Monroe

Life at my apartment complex is somewhat unpleasant. However, there is an oasis of sunshine in an otherwise bleak existence: this car in the parking lot.

I drive by this beauty every morning. Compared to the boring, efficient lines on all the other cars, this thing stands out like a black lightning bolt against a grey sky.

Taking a page from my Dad, I'll invite readers to guess the year and model. I've done some research and have it down to a 2-year window.

ps. I'm not sure if it is the suspension or the pavement, but she is always leaning to one side, which really adds to the dynamic of the lines (though probably not the ride quality).

Hrmm... maybe this could go somewhere

I mentioned the new tech idea in a previous post.

Here is some early reaction from someone in Brazil.

If this is my new gig, I'll save some $ on bumper stickers!

ps. Props to EMB for the funny comment on CtJ ;-) He asked if "patently false" consists of fake news

Golfing on PEI

BryGuy sent this my way... A reality show on the Golfing Channel, set on PEI (click here)!!!

The sport of golf on PEI is no surprise: about 15 years ago, a US magazine rated an Island course at 5 stars. Quick to look for income, there was an explosion of courses all over the Island (with some concern for the environmental impact).

However, I didn't know that there was a TV show! This will be a great boon to the tourism industry. If you watch it, you will probably be tempted to write me and ask: why would you ever leave? Before you do that, I invite you to check out the photos over on Pedaling PEI to get a more accurate assessment of the Island.

(There is no denying that the summer is perfect, though).

CC

Wired magazine gets spooky

I received the May issue of Wired today.

You can't make this stuff up. Every month they do a page called What's Inside, where they explain the chemicals in a product ranging from spray cheese to Tilex.

This month, and I kid you not, the product is WD-40.

No joke. It turns out that it is mostly mineral oil (i.e. baby oil and vaseline) with some hydrocarbons thrown in as the solvent and propellant etc. The main nasty seems to be cyclohexane which, as they point out, "will knock you out cold if you huff it".

Overall, the apartment situation is much better and I consider it resolved. Though still going to look for a new joint this weekend. It's time.

In other news, I thought I found a neat puzzle for Mom in the Wired issue. These guys make high-end jigsaw puzzles that are beautiful and backed with cherry wood. This monstrous example has a mere 44 pieces, but they fit together in many different ways: and only one is correct.

The bummer is that the thing costs $400. Holy moley! The catalog is fun to look at, though....

The Best Help-Me-Move Request in History

This is a wonderful email from my friend Andy.... all personal info removed.

--------------------------------------------------

On the morning of Saturday, April 25, at 10 in the morning, you are all cordially invited to help me move the detritus of my work life....

I shall, by the end of the work week, have moved all the operating technologickal equipments from the premises, leaving only the
BULK FURNITURE, BOOKS, and USELESS JUNK
to be
BRUTALLY MANHANDLED
and
SUBJECTED TO THE FORCES OF GRAVITATION
accordingly.

With a sufficient force of manpower, and the
ALL POWERFUL BACK PORCH WINCH
and also the
ALLEGEDLY USEFUL U-HAUL TRUCK
I'm confident we can extract said materials from the old location and deposit them in the new one within the span of two to three hours...

Thereafter, we shall adjourn to my
BACK PATIO
and feast upon
TASTY ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
and
CHARRED ANIMAL FLESH.

Please RSVP

And now, the WD-40 Atomizer

I won really big at poker recently, and the universe has decided that there must be balance, because things have been pretty rough since then.

Rant: enabled.

The heater at my apartment is pretty loud, which I think has been contributing to a "ringing in the ears" sensation. I have a mild case of this from, probably, my Miata and my guitar playing.

I asked the apartment complex to check it "and see if it is normal".

Later, I came home to a rather smelly apartment. My sense of smell is not keen: but even I could tell something was awry. (This wasn't just a faint odor: it seemed serious.) I shut the heater down and opened the windows. I called the complex to complain.

Four days later (with heater turned off), they send someone out. I was there with a maintenance guy (who was cool and helpful). I fired up the electric furnace again (for the first time) and there was the smell. This time, I recognized it immediately: WD-40.

Now, we all know that WD-40 is the twin brother of duct tape: an all-purpose remedy for anything squeaky or stuck. (It isn't a lubricant, from what I understand, but whatever: it works.)

I think, if used carefully, it might make sense for a heating unit.

However, using it liberally on a glorified fan probably isn't a great idea. Surprise: the air tends to fill with atomized particles of WD40ium, or whatever that stuff is made of. The maintenance guy agreed that "they went a little overboard".

Perfect. Now, I will wonder if my couch smells like WD-40 for the rest of my days. I tend to get neurotic about air quality. Though in this case, I'm not sure that it is neurosis.

I am 90% sure that I am moving out at the end of May. I can't take it anymore.

Rant: disabled.

I am grateful that I have family, friends, a career, and my health (I hope). I will repeat this today.

ps. They are replacing the electric motor and cleaning the unit. I wish they had done that in the first place. I have only been paying them rent for 8 years!

pps. Yes, the potential fire hazard was on my mind as well.

New Venture

This is more on the tech side, but I thought I might write a bit here, as I'm excited and really grateful to some key people who have listened to me on this front.

Though I remain true to my tech blog, it hasn't been doing anything new lately so I have decided to try something else: a Twitter feed that is dedicated to the spoof stuff. Specifically, it is just satirical, absurd geek headlines and nothing else.

The idea came when I realized that the best part of The Onion are the headlines. The actual articles are just follow-through filler! (Though the Kafka video is unbelievable -- a masterpiece)

Anyway, thanks again to my peeps, and wish me luck...

The Twitter feed is here. There is a blog as well but mostly as a "home base".

ps. Long-time readers will recall incendiary tirades against Twitter both on this blog and the other one. What can I say... it is a cool site, and I've been swayed. To quote one wag, Twitter is to Facebook as Google is to Yahoo.

Metallica is still hardcore

Check out this great pic of Metallica's lead singer out on the town!

The best part are the words: they match the rhythm of one of Metallica's heaviest songs (One).

Happy 10th!

Friday will be the 10th anniversary for my Uncle R and his wife C!

If you know me in person, you probably know that I had two major influences (from each side of the family): Ricky and 'R'. R is often referred to as my Beatles Uncle.

Many readers also know that, despite being happily single, I quite enjoy stories about weddings: particularly the proposal, the choice of wedding song, and other traditions such as the tactic used to get the bride and groom to kiss at the reception.

Well, Uncle R and C have a dandy story. A Hall of Famer. I hope I haven't written it before... I'm getting old and this is an old blog.

Here we go...

Both of the families have a long history with our local volunteer fire department. C's father and my father (R's brother) were in the department for many years. Many of us grew up around the 'fire hall'. We were often at the station on weekends; there was a major summertime competition between rival departments, where the firemen/women would display their skills; and, of course, our fathers would rouse themselves from bed in the dead of winter to fight a barn or a house fire. (See the quote by John Godfrey Saxe).

Ever since she was young, C wanted to ride on a fire truck at her wedding. She was often told, despite the sense of community, firemen do not -- cannot! -- use equipment for such things. For years, she was told "it's not gonna happen".

Many years later she met my uncle and the courting commenced. A couple of years later, I was living in Cincinnati and I received the call: he popped the question. I was asked to be best man.

And so on a sunny day in April 1999 there was a lovely ceremony in a small church back home. Though I nearly killed poor R by pinning a corsage into his chest, everything else went swimmingly. (Some other time, I'll write about weddings in small churches. They are wonderful.)

The couple walked down the aisle together, smiling, and received people at the back of the church. We all filed past them, going outside to blow bubbles (in lieu of throwing rice) on the happy newly-weds.

Imagine the look on C's face, as she stood at top of the church steps, when she gazed upon the Fire Engine No. 1, below. Fresh from a wash, its classic red paint glistened majestically in the mid-day sun. Four firemen from the department stood by her, dressed in their formal blues. Giddy with delight, C and R climbed aboard, off to the reception, held at the very same fire hall where we played as children.

When a father and an uncle put in years of good work, and want to surprise good people, things happen.

And dreams come true.

'Tis the Season

Happy Easter and a Joyous Passover as appropriate, dear readers!

It has been a lovely weekend here in StL. Really sunny and fairly warm, unlike the past few days. Many friends are making Easter eggs and taking the kids on hunts.

CC

ps. Factoid: my tech blog receives a lot of hits these days for "Easter". Many of them come from a Chinese search engine called baidu.com

Podcasts

Long-time readers will know that bought a new stereo for the car, Rowdy, some months back. It isn't super-fancy but it is modern: it plays MP3's, has a connection for an iPod, etc.

It has been fantastic, for several reasons:

• I rotate two RW CDs. Burning new podcasts on disc gives me the same thrill as buying a new CD. I'm not especially materialistic but that feeling is pretty neat (considering it is free) in this economy.
• I can't stand listening to the radio anymore. If I have new stuff to listen to, I'm happy to drive anywhere. Otherwise, I feel like I am wasting time.
• The connection to Canada is fantastic. I am listening to all kinds of news and entertainment stuff, mostly from the CBC. I recently listened to the woes of Newfoundland (celebrating a tumultuous 60 years in Confederation) and a tribute with the legendary Gordon Lightfoot.
• I listen to a lot of geek podcasts. Free-training during my commute!

The upshot: podcasts rock. If you don't have any in your life, there are many ways to open yourself up to them. An iPod isn't strictly necessary!

Anonymous Blog?

I'm considering an anonymous blog. I celebrate the mix of people who know about this blog but there are times when I would like to write openly, pensively about some subjects.

My fear is that I would offend someone, or that I would spend way too much time on disclaimers, trying in vain to ensure that I don't offend anyone. (In person, I like witty repartee and am fairly free-wheeling within defined boundaries, but about serious stuff, I am mortified at the thought of offending someone.)

An example topic is nationality and identity. Though it probably seems like I am always writing about that on here, the material only scratches the surface.

Naturally, I as get older, I can see my childhood in a new light, as we all do. I have had insights there as well, but I don't really want to get into all of the details.

Oh dear, I guess I need a diary blog.

I doubt if I will do it but if I do, I won't tell anyone, and I will never confirm nor deny on here. So I guess we'll never know!

CC

Prague's Franz Kafka International rated worst airport

This news piece (from the Onion) is pure genius... I wish I had written it.

Many thanks to JAK! A perfect description of Air Canada but also a wonderful play on Kafka.

Weird and Wonderful

In 2000, at a keynote address in San Jose, a mentor and I saw this man speak: Clifford Stoll.

He is, in some ways, my Platonic ideal as a speaker.

Although the clip below is not the same talk, and not as good, it has many of the same elements. He is theatrical, weird, clever, and immensely warm. I was delighted to stumble upon it tonight.

This guy is phenomenal. I only wish I could find the show from 2000. The ending part about the bell was done perfectly, with the rhythm of a great stage actor. (This one is only ok, but it will have to do.)

Bird Song

During my last summer on PEI, before I went off to grad school, I consciously tried to drink in a lot of PEI and appreciate it.

I remember walking in the woods and hearing one particular bird's song. I thought it was lovely. When I later heard it in Ontario, it really meant a lot to hear the familiar tune. Not being a ornithologist, I had no idea which kind of bird it might be.

And so the years went by... I heard the bird in Missouri as well. Now, I have a tremendous affinity for the tune, but really haven't thought much about it.

This week, I heard a podcast where a guy talks about using a sound feature on his digital camera to capture the song of birds while out watching. He played a sample song.

It was the same one.

Now, this may be pedestrian as far as bird-watching goes, but not for me: my bird is the white-throated sparrow. Click here to read about it and to hear its call. It will no doubt be familiar.

Interestingly, a mnemonic for the song is "Oh sweet, Canada, Canada, Canada". That is heart-warming given my station in life when I first took notice.

CC

ps. Other favourite birds include the barn swallow, which are rampant around my apartment. Naturally, most Canadians love the loon: we heard its call all the time on TV growing up (in nature short-films with a hauntingly familiar and surprisingly creepy flute intro), even if not actually in the wild.

Silly Pics

For those who aren't on Twitter, here are some pics of mine. These are generally from the sillier side of my tech blog.

Some acquaintances of mine are speakers at various geek conferences. This week, they are in Las Vegas and chatting about it on Twitter. So I unleashed "part 2" of a series that I took in December.

There's really no easy explanation for most of those photos but write to me and I can tell the story of some if you are truly curious.

CC

ps. Twitter is pretty neat. I am really coming around to it. Think of it as Facebook Lite: all the updates without that "another application is bugging me for contact info" aftertaste.

Baton Bob in his new habitat

St Louisans will recall the controversial figure known as Baton Bob.

For those away from StL, Baton Bob did his thing along Kingshighway, a major street in the Central West End. Generally heralded as a hero, his last years here were marred by some articles in a local paper where people debated if he was really a kind, quirky showman or an arrogant diva, of sorts. (I have no knowledge or option on the matter... He was fun to watch.)

Thanks to JAK for the heads-up !

Air Canada Transcribed

Some people like details about retail horror so that they can learn. I am not one of these people, but it might help me vent a bit:

• I purchased, online, a flight on Air Canada for late June for $660. An error code came back after submittal.
• AC agent #1 tells me that some credit card companies in the US are charging a "foreign company transaction fee" and that I need to call my card company and agree to a 2% fee.
• The Visa company says this is not true. Call back the airline and tell them "to run it through again".
• AC agent #2 tells me that AC agent #1 is wrong. What happened was that the fare was removed during my transaction. The fare is now $800. I demand that the previous transaction be voided, that I receive the original fare plus $100 off for being on the phone for 30 minutes.
• AC agent #2 tells me I am not a customer at this time. Nothing can be done. I tell agent that I have a frequent-flyer account and have bought many times before: I am indeed a customer. No dice.
• I explain to AC supervisor that AC agents are telling me contradictory things. She agrees with AC agent #1, citing Bank of America. I tell her that BoA is not my credit card company and that my Visa company does not process such a fee. I want to know if I can get the same flight by "running it through again" as instructed. Confusion.
• After several minutes, the AC supervisor offers me the same flight for $660, but cannot speak to which transaction will be used. I explain that I am frustrated that I might be charged twice and that everyone has a different story.
  
• After an hour in total, I pull the switch and tell the AC supervisor:
  

I am not mad at you personally, but I pity you for being involved in an infrastructure that is so amazingly incompetent. I hereby announce my severance from Air Canada and though I am not sure how I am going to get home this summer, I can assure you that it will not be through your airline. I will monitor the open authorization on my credit card and sincerely hope that I need not speak with you again.

A final call to the credit card company revealed that I have an open authorization on my account that cannot be removed or disputed until a charge is actually posted. Most likely, it will not be posted. If it is, I can dispute it.

That is one busy lunch hour (or 90 minutes), let me tell you.

ps. I don't think I could ever do business travel. I hate the logistics of flying more than I can describe.

Air Canada, I have reservations (about your existence)

At Christmas, I vowed not to use Air Canada for trips home in the winter.

After being on the phone for 60+ minutes with 4 different people, and with a charge of $600 on my credit card and no airline reservation, I am now jettisoning Air Canada year-round.

I don't know how I'm coming home this summer, but it is not on AC.

Details and sternly-worded post to follow.

The Saturday Night Downer

It has been a busy week. My client has me working with a small team in France which means I try to be at work for 7:30 am. Then at night, I was cramming for the tech talk on Thursday. Then, one of my beloved Java conferences this weekend. I have been in a conference centre for most of Friday and Saturday.

Today, I was really into the conference and received some kind comments on the tech talk. Some key people have vouched for me as being worthy of speaking at the conference, which has been a goal, of sorts.

I saw great presentations, laughed, made people laugh, dined with geeks, and took sticker photos. Everything was good. I quite liked my place in St Louis.

But here on Saturday night at 10 pm, I'm wondering where the heck I am and what I'm doing. This is not uncommon for Saturday nights. If one were to graph any loneliness during my tenure in the US (or even away from PEI), I'm sure Saturday night would be the most frequent.

Wow. I just wrote for 20 minutes but it became quite introspective and alarmingly "diary"-like. I'm glad I wrote it and it helped me think, but I don't think the world needs to see it.

I'll be fine tomorrow morning, and that's a problem: I'm always fine Sunday morning, because there is a new day to keep me distracted from dealing with the important things in life.

Kablammo

I have this internal threshold when it comes to public speaking and presentations: if it was "very good" (or better) then I experience a euphoria that is unbelievable. If it is anything less, I brood for days if not weeks. I wonder if I'm manic-depressive in that regard?

Tonight, we took one on the chin.

The crowd was super friendly and the style stuff went pretty well. My joke slides worked. But I lost them in example #2 and got rattled in my own head. It wasn't "very good". It wasn't "wretched" either but it doesn't matter.

It wasn't "very good".

I'll spare you the profanity and general piss and vinegar. Schisse. Weeks of study for this one. At least I learned a lot.

CC

ps. For those who have seen my endless prepartion for this, here is a photo of the audience. I didn't take it but was standing near the guy who did.

pps. I used some real-life props which went over well. Apparently this was a creative idea but for some reason that comes natural to my family.

ppps. I've since realized that I left my power supply for my new laptop at the venue, or that it was stolen. Perfect. Perfect.

Big Night Coming Up

Over Christmas, I read a technical paper on a subject I knew nothing about in an unfamiliar computer language. To be honest, I was fairly lost and rather challenged intellectually.

When I returned to StL, I signed up to give a talk on said topic: the ever-esoteric monads. (click here)

Most of my friends have suffered countless monad references and jokes lately. I have really restricted my social life so that I can prepare, much like I did when I was in school (which is unfortunate really).

I'm not afraid of public speaking but the bar is high here in terms of the people attending. Wish me luck!

CC

I Miss Hockey

I have a basic cable package and have little access to hockey. It is painful.

I especially miss Hockey Night in Canada, of course, and the constant abuse from one fan base to another.

As an example, check out this glorious goal from well outside the blue line. The Washington Capitals beat the Bruins in OT, but the best part is the music track, which is "Feeling Satisfied" by the band... wait for it: Boston. Spiteful and perfect.

Pedaling PEI revisited

The photos on Pedaling PEI are taken near my old turf.

I don't know why, but seeing these photos posted on a blog, in a decent size, is truly moving. Some may seem like random snow-covered fields but they are usually on neighbouring farms. Often, these fields had names (e.g. The Rabbit Patch) and were our playground for bicycles, motorbikes, and especially snowmobiles.

I'm pretty sure I know exactly where this one and this one was taken. This one is a no-brainer. It is like seeing family, in a way. Very weird and wonderful. Especially to think that, as a teenager in times of strife, I would look out across the snow, and wonder where I would be someday. I certainly never thought I would be in a good career in the midwest USA, with easy access to photos of PEI.

The thing is: the scene portrayed aren't really much different than when I was a teenager. I can tell that the trees have grown, but the vegetation and the drifting of the snow is exactly the same. They are time capsules.

Number 1 with a Bullet

Here is a time-sensitive link: it is the standings in the tri league. It is somewhat disingenuous as the #2 guy has one less race than I do, and is still on my heels. However, fraud has never stopped me from posting before.

I met the #2 guy last weekend at Wildwood, and I think I spoke to him at the West County Y as well. A cool guy and quite fast... He spins the bike like a hamster on cocaine.

An interesting factoid: at Wildwood in 2008, I did the event in about 57:20. This year, I was within 15 seconds of the same time. That may sound like amazing consistency but this year my bike time was 5 minutes faster and my lazy-ass run was 5 minutes slower. *shrug* Weird.

CC

Triathlon #4

The great fish moved silently through the night water, propelled by short sweeps of its crescent tail. -- Jaws

A great fish, indeed. The dorsal fin of our hero rises to the surface, slicing through the waves, seemingly without resistance. Other, smaller fish scurry and hide for cover. The presence is electric. At the end of a length, a swoosh of the tail and a flip to the other direction.

It is the Wildwood YMCA Indoor Triathlon. Everything is going according to plan. Our hero has temporarily shape-shifted into a tiger shark, as is apropros for the swim leg.

On the next flip, he notices a humanoid form standing above the water. Egad! Is it a hunter? Does he have a speargun? Our hero bears no malice to the other fish: this is a docile competition. However, if it comes to survival against man, then he will have no choice but to engage in attack.

Two lengths of the pool, and again on the flip, he hears, "*blurb* Michael *blurb*". Zounds! The miscreant has identified our hero and, worse, refuses to use his pseudonym. Surely he is being hunted. Violence seems inevitable.

This is war that the great fish did not choose, but will win.

Finally, at the end of the swim, our hero morphs from the tiger shark back into original form. Breathing heavily through new-found lungs, he slips from the pool. Quickly, he whirls to face his attacker.

Before him stands the inimitable Jim G, dressed in street clothes. JimG claps his hands together and says "C'mon Michael... let's go buddy! I don't have all day".

CC

ps. JimG lives in Wildwood and came out to watch my tri. After realizing a battle was not at hand, it was good to see him. He heckled me on all three legs of the event, but was kind enough to bring me towels and water.

Worthwhile Canadian Initiative

Fareed Zakaria is a cool dude. He writes for Newsweek and is editor of the magazine's world edition; being from India, has a credible voice on the world scene. He is one face in an increasingly cosmopolitan America.

Here is a piece of his on Canada and the "common sense" of its banking system.

Some thoughts:

(a) Until the recent upheaval, the primary story about Canada's finance system was that Canada began balancing the budget in the mid 1990s and truly righted the ship (though the budget cuts were not without controversy).

(b) I'm not posting this as a "Go Canada!" thing. I think thoughtful readers from either the US or Canada might gain from seeing this rare perspective.

(c) I find the part about immigration, near the end, to be the most interesting. The immigration policies of the US are definitely not in its best interests. This is repeated by many thoughtful commentators throughout the political spectrum (this inherently excludes Lou Dobbs).

(d) The Canadian media portrays the economic conditions in the same dire terms as the media in the US. Perhaps we don't have a banking crisis but the other ills (housing, jobs) are a clear and present danger.

Pickles, Ice Cream, and Cupcakes

For out-of-towners, there is both major news and some fun pics over at the Cupcake Project. Check it out.... Demi Moore didn't have pastries in her iconic photo shoot!

More Diamond Dave

I don't know when this turned into the "David Lee Roth Parody Reference" but this site is too good not to mention: check it out here.

I have some good ideas and some modest success with web stunts but some people simply blow me away. Very nice.

JimO

I had dinner with other night with JimO. Some may remember him from a former workplace.

Note that this is not JimG, my arch-rival! JimO is considerably older; I often refer to him as the "barkeeper who listens to your troubles".

Well, sort of. He also has a gruff exterior much like Clint Eastwood. When I saw the trailer for the new movie, Gran Torino, I thought of JimO (though minus the ugly racism, thankfully). A single man who lives alone, his only cares (on the surface) are: food, money, and to be left alone. I have told him repeatedly that he should sue the writers of Shrek on the basis of prior art.

Strangely, he is also one of my closest friends. This is weird to write as I only see him once every 4-6 months, but he is a true confidant and is one of the few people whose insight into my psyche is staggering. I think most of the people in our lives make comments and observations that are often spot-on (and God bless them); but, it is rare and downright eerie to know people who are almost always right.

Anyway, he is doing well. He still works for said employer. He could retire any time but he enjoys the work and figures he might as well stay busy. As for our convo, all I can say is that he asked one or two questions about my long term plans that, as always, made me hide my face while he cackled and said I would never change.

Today

Q: How many people must be in a room for there to be a > 50% chance they were born on the same day, tested and vilified, and ultimately lionized and celebrated 200 years later?

A: Two, if the people are Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln. Happy 200th, lads!

A New Kind of Smackdown

Gnnnnnughhhhhhh!

The dark cavern halls echo the tortured groan of a man under duress. The scene is morbid: an array of pods, each encasing a human: they run endlessly on circling tracks. Sinister wires flow from the machines up to a large powergrid: they are generating electricity for their evil overlords. Veritable hamsters.

Our hero is one of them. A beast of burden.

The situation is dire indeed: there seems to be no way out of this jam. The tableau is so dark and despairing that even the nefarious JimG dared not enter into this misery. It is yet another Indoor Triathlon of Tyranny!

Our hero bows his head and continues to run, searching for an escape. Finally, an idea! He'll run so quickly that it will blow the system's capacitors, freeing him from this prison. He looks upward, straightens his shoulders, and lights the jets.

With each breath, the air becomes more humid, stifling. Before long, he grunts with every step, as though trying to break the pod with sheer sonic energy. A loud "Guh!", "Guh!", "Guh!".... with each pounding foot drop.

Suddenly, a middle-aged woman knocks on his pod. She lowers large headphones from her ears, and says, annoyed, "will you please shut up?" Just as quickly, she returns to her pod, and continues trotting.

Our hero shrugs feebly, and slows down a notch, quieting his breaths.

It is going to be a long day.

Double Congrats

I've written to he and his wife on email, but a hearty Happy Birthday to Phil and a major congrats for the new (second) addition to the family!

Keen readers will recall that Phil is my oldest friend: we go back about as far as possible. Strangely, we were born a mere 11 weeks apart and yet it fell across a major school admission boundary, so we were never in the same grade.

I have many friends for whom I am delighted on how things turned out... and Phil is way up at the top of the list.

Random

I am doing 3 mini triathlons in 8 days. Despite the glimmering patina of 'triathlon', these are short events. Yes, one has to be fit; but as an example this morning's gig was 48 minutes.

Doing this, and watching people's reactions with a certain bemusement, is from my father's influence.

Sending hand-written thank-you notes to the event co-ordinator and volunteers is from my mother's influence.

This post occurred to me during the bike leg this morning. I don't know why.

Quote of the Moment

"Wherever I travel, I'm too late. The orgy has moved elsewhere."

-- Mordecai Richler

Happy Birthday, Colleen

A shout-out to my sister, who is 30-something today....

Happy Birthday!!!!

Cello Scrotum and the CBC

There are many intelligent, quirky media outlets in the US and Canada, but only CBC Radio can lead into a story with this, in a semi-straight face:

....Well, nuts to that! For years male musicians have feared a condition known as 'cello scrotum', an irritable condition from long hours at the instrument. However, it has been revealed that the British Medical Journal had fallen for something from one clever doctor's bag of tricks. CBC's As it Happens, the podcast edition: radio that chafes at junk science.

The story is wonderful: 30+ years ago, a young doctor and her husband read about a condition called "guitarist's nipple". She was sure it was a hoax, and tried to go one up. She invented "cello scrotum" and submitted it to the mighty BMJ (above). To her surprise, it worked. Now a baroness, Lady Elaine Murphy has come clean (click here).

Back in the Swing

Though I still plan to sell Blackbird (a fairly shocking development that IMHO went un-noticed on this blog), there is still some tri-action in my future.

Keen readers will recall the parlour game known as the indoor triathlon. It is a bit of a joke -- stationary bikes and treadmills -- but they are short and energizing. (The worst part is putting the treadmill on the back of the car :-)

Plus, I am fairly un-fit right now and signing up for 4 of these jobbies in February is a good kick in the pants.

So... the first one is Sunday morning at a local YMCA. The morning of the Super Bowl, no less! No Jim G as he is recovering from the bike crash, and generally avoids indoor tri's for some reason.

Wintery Message to Chicago and the World

About 6 inches of snow here in the last 24 hours.

Some people are at work, but some are having fun... Check out this pic! I'm pretty sure it has not been Photoshopped.

This town loves their Cardinals.

CC

Je me souviens

This weekend, a top UFC fighter named Georges St Pierre is going to fight in a title bout. He is a French-Canadian who trains in Montreal; he has a tattoo of the fleur-de-lis on his calf.

I was once fluent in French, and have occasionally deluded myself that I understand Quebec. In 1980, Quebec first tried to separate from Canada. In a triumph of multi-lingual education, I remember being puzzled at why so many people called the Quebecois names: it was just a language, and for me, not an alien one. Though I could tell that this was very serious, I didn't really understand what all the fuss was about: neither why Quebec wanted to leave nor why the rest of Canada seemed anti-French. I thought I understood.

Around that time, Quebec changed the slogan on their license plates from "La Belle Province" to "Je me souviens". I knew it meant something along the lines of "I remember" but I didn't think much of it.

Years went by. Quebec again tried to seperate circa 1995, with players (on both sides) who were sad imitations of the intellectual giants of 1980. By this time, I realized that there was so much culture in French-Canada that I didn't understand (can you name a famous Quebec folk singer or author? There are zillions), but I still thought that I understood the issues and the divisions, on both sides.

Last year, I mention the phrase "Je me souviens" to a friend at work. He is my product manager, from France. I don't know if he has ever been to Quebec. As I spoke, I became curious, and looked up the phrase on Wikipedia: sure enough, there was an entry.

My friend read the full phrase (arguably from a poem dating to the 1880s):

Je me souviens,
Que né sous le lys,
Je croîs sous la rose.

I remember,
That born under the lily,
I grow under the rose.

He nodded and smiled immediately: he got it. Born under the lily (fleur-de-lis) of France, yet living under the rose of England.

He had seen something profound that I had never really considered. Now, I think of it every time I see the Quebec flag, or their license. In a way, it is vaguely approximated by the Confederate flag in the southern US.

CC

ps. This post is about the phrase "Je me souviens" and not the issue of separatism. That is a deep, complex issue that had its origins in the 1960s and the seeds of oppression long before that. I can't possibly summarize it here. However, I can state that I am 100% federalist, for a united, bi-lingual Canada.

Happy Anniversary

This is a shout out to my Mom and Dad, who are celebrating their anniversary today... 46 years!

Happy Anniversary and here's a toast to many years ahead....

peace, love, and fun wedding cakes
CC

Bookworms

My sister read over 300 books in 2008. That's wicked, and a major bonus for family members: she works for a bookstore (i.e. discounts) and thus gives books that generally kick ass. I started one recently and can't put it down, despite having a ton of stuff to do. Merci pour rien!

The best part is that she doesn't buy many books: she is a library patron of the highest order. At the risk of making PEI look like a one-moose town, Vic's daughter works at the city library and knows both my Mom and my sister by reputation (it is unclear if they have met).

It would be a lie for me to say I'm a true bookworm. But both on PEI and here in St Louis, my bookies are the best, and my kind of people.

Resistance is Futile

Long ago, I resisted from getting a cellphone because I thought it was cooler not to have one. I found solace in the sweet irony of being a tech person in my career and yet a Luddite at home. e.g. To this day, I have never owned a printer.

This blog has featured rants about Facebook and Twitter in the past, but I have to say: resistance is futile. They are both charming sites and, IMHO, enrich one's experience with friends. They seem different from old chat-rooms where one can have a total, weird online existence without ever meeting anyone.

Case in point: I have played a word game called PathWords on Facebook. Due to some dexterity, I have done somewhat better on it than some of my friends. At a recent party, people came up to me and asked me how I achieved the scores I was getting. (Hint: click on the starting letter, sweep through the word, and then release the mouse. It's fluid and fast.)

The point is that the game is an immediate icebreaker. Pretty cool.

Both sites might be fads and part of me still wants to shower with industrial soap after using them, but highly recommended. Especially to the Luddites out there who are holding out: you know who you are! (Including you, Mr BPL !)

Running with the Songsmith

I've sent this out to some people but it is too good not to share, particularly if you like hard rock from the 1980s.

The setup: Microsoft has a research product that generates cheesy background music to a recording of your voice, in key. Here is a lame video of it.

The gag: Someone pulled the audio from a hard rock song to see what it would be like with a real singer, or in this case, David Lee Roth. It is pretty funny (click here).

Bandit

From the "Sometimes you need a smile" Department:

Long-time readers will know that I am a cat person, not a dog person. I am usually neutral on dogs. Negative neighbours aside, I tend to not relate to "dog people" (general animal lovers are a different story).

E.g. I have a small comic bit of how if I say I need to leave work to practice piano, my ethic is questioned; if someone else says that they have to go home and let out their dog, then people will call for a police escort. For God's sake, make way! A dog has been holding it for hours!

However, there are some dogs that give one startling, serious pause: e.g. Brawley, a Sheltie from my youth. And now, Bandit, a puppy recently purchased by a friend. Bandit is a Havanese. Particularly as puppies, these dogs are the distilled essence of dog goodness and gregariousness. I still remember Rocky, a bike-shop resident (also a Havanese pup) that witnessed my purchase of my bike, Blackbird. These dogs are adorable.

N.B. This pic is not a pro photo: it is really just a coworker's pic of Bandit. I told him I would post it some time ago.

Update on JimG

Recall from a previous post that my arch-rival, the nefarious JimG, suffered a serious motorcycle accident that resulted in broken bones and a concussion.

The news is that he is back to work, which is a very good thing. He is in physical therapy and I'm guessing his triathlon future is on hold, but all things considered, he'll take it.

I hope to have lunch with him later this week.

CC

Tri League 2008

Well, it wasn't a gold medal but I came in 4th in my local triathlon league! (click here)

This is easily the best I've achieved in the standings, and I've won a gift card and other schwag from FleetFeet.

Part of the story this year is that I was one of the few to complete the maximum of 6 events. Actually, within those that did complete 6 events, I'm last... But I'll take it.

We win ! We WIN !

Canada has won its 5th straight gold medal at the hockey World Juniors!

This is a great achievement, given thrilling games against the US and Russia, who would absolutely love to take us out. We were down 3-0 against the US, only to comeback 7-4. Russia led 5-4 until Canada scored in the final seconds, and the Canucks went on to win a shootout.

Tonight, we rolled over Sweden 5-1.

And again, all is right with the world of sport. I am so happy for those lads.

New Blog on the Block

There is a new blog on the block: introducing Pedaling PEI.

The author is unclear, but consider this: do you know anyone on PEI who bicycles for tremendous distance, and has been doing so for years. i.e. Perhaps he is near retirement age by now.

At risk of giving it away entirely, there will probably be a lot of weather-related photos on there as well. Check out the blog for the recent dump of 50 cm (20 in) of snow.

Hello 2009

A quick post.... I have been back in StL but super-busy with work and various social stuff.

The trip home was great, if somewhat chaotic. I saw most everyone with a few exceptions, which are regrettable and entirely my fault.

The travel was pretty wild, and yet it could have been much worse. e.g. The Maritimes is currently being hammered with a wicked storm. If I had been there circa Dec 31, I would still be there, I imagine.

Many readers have asked for a review of 2008 and for predictions on 2009. After all, this blog serves as a moral compass for many. The crown rests uneasily here, as I haven't had time to consolidate a lot of my award-winning thoughts. More to come?

There have been many joys and sorrows among my friends lately. One piece of sad news is over at Geography. I invite you to read and send along a prayer and positive energy.

Hello from Avondale

Dear Readers,

This post is being written under strict orders from Vic Central, on his 42 inch LCD TV.

Normally, I would not endorse such an involuntary exercise, but I have just enjoyed a good meal (and nap, and entertainment) here at home base, in Avondale, PEI.

Bonus! In semi-related news, I am happy to announce that the Douses will soon be renting a cottage here on PEI. It is on a lovely 2-acre lot in the popular Poplar Point, PEI. Check out all the details over at this site.

Vic has told me that I have satisfied the requirements of my visit, and that I can continue to enjoy my evening, wearing Dad's sweat pants, part of my new Air Canada Collection of men's fashion.

under duress,
CC

Ode to Montreal

Dear Montreal Airport,

Yet again, you disappoint me by exacerbating a long trip with miserable delays and cancellation chaos. Your city gets feet upon feet of snow, handling it with an army of men and machines, and yet you shutdown as though you are Orlando, and shocked by snow.

You have caused much trouble, impacting Christmases, weddings, family, and friends.

All I ask is one more trip on Dec 30. I have sworn off winter travel through your doors in the past, but this time it is real. Trains, buses, everything is on the table. In 2009 and beyond, I will not darken your winter doormat again, so help me God.

sincerely
C.C.

ps. Readers, I am home on PEI ! I'm also in bed sleeping.

Big Day

Today is not only my father's birthday but also his last day at work; he is retiring, after 25+ years of dealing with vehicle regulations and registrations.

In 1980, he shifted from one career into another. Given retirement packages for gov't employees, this was probably a good move compared to alternatives. I was young back then, but I realize now what it must have been like to make a big shift.

Congrats, Dad! Sleep in as late as you want tomorrow (which for Dad will be 6:30 am).

Call for ideas

A friend is starting a meme (aka fad) of posting favourite holiday recipes on one's blog.

I'm going to post Mom's rhubarb dessert but I want a good name for it.

Islanders and other readers, step up and help me out! Here are some ideas:

• Audrey's Rhubarb Dessert (my Mom's name)
  
• Island Rhubarb Dessert
• Abegweit Rhubarb Dessert (Abegweit is a native Canadian word)
• Old Abby's Rhubarb Dessert (Abby is short for above)
  
• Red Rock Rhubarb
  

Some of those are lame..... but you see the idea

CC

Thinking of Jim G

I just received vmail from my arch-rival, Jim G: he has been in the hospital for several days following a serious motorbike accident.

He bought a bike this summer and (at the insistence of me and others) took a safety class. I don't know what happened.

I know he is conscious and he said he will be ok in an abbreviated conversation. But there are broken bones, a concussion, and a bunch of other stuff.

I'm in shock. We were supposed to do a team run on Sunday morning and I had been vaguely wondering why his email was so silent.

Naturally, both Jim and his family are in my prayers.

Political Fireworks

Wow, things are heating up back home with some serious politics.

I don't have time to really write a recap, but essentially the Queen's representative, the quiet, ceremonial office of the Governor General, may receive a petition from a coalition of opposition leaders to form a new gov't. This is an exotic tactic, designed to go around PM Harper and bring down his
leadership. Interestingly, the PM recommends the GG to the Queen for appointment (former PM Paul Martin recommended Michaëlle Jean in 2005).

Get it? (Yes, it is much different than US politics)

This is all predicated on the minority status of Harper's Conservatives. Recall that this blog informed CC readers (in the comments) that this was the 3rd minority gov't in a row, and that it would ensure a new election in 1-2 years. That said, I don't think anyone saw this coming.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends down here in the USA !

In related news, the Macy Parade was just catapulted into the 21st century with a wonderful "Rick Roll" by the Cartoon Network (click here). This is brilliant.

(To be "Rick Rolled" is to be duped into visiting a web page only to find it is a video clip of a cheesy 1980s song, Never Gonna Give You Up, by Rick Astley. This may be the first in-person version and shows that both the Cartoon Network and Rick have a sense of humour.)

The Shop

This weekend, some people and I ran into a lovely store in the CWE in St Louis.

Simply called The Shop, the store offers a nice variety of scarves and knit hats, mittens, etc. The owners were really nice and offered us chocolates and wine even though we didn't buy anything. I told them I would tout their store on my blog as thanks.

It is at McPherson and Euclid, next to the old Balban's (which is now Herbie's). Check it out for some great holiday gift ideas.... Note that they are a transient, seasonal store so this post is time sensitive! They will be gone in Jan 09.

CC

Draft Beer Party

With all the election hoopla this autumn, I was reminded of a situation in Grade 4.

As I told friends, my Grade 4 French/homeroom teacher started a political party, and ran in the PEI provincial election circa 1979. It was called the "Draft Beer Party". Now, I have no idea if this was a protest movement, an ironic commentary on western culture, or a way for him to meet women; as kids, we just thought it was cool.

I remember wearing a button for the DBP (probably one of the few dozens printed) on election night. I wondered to my father if he might win -- with 40% of the polls reporting, he was at 69 votes. My dad commented that he was surprised he got any votes at all.

This is a nice backstory but the real point of this blog post is that, on a whim, I looked up the short-lived, beloved Draft Beer Party on Google.

Get this: there is a Wikipedia entry for it (click here).

Wow. Perhaps it was written by Mr Campbell himself.

ps. A final thought: many CC readers try to probe the psyche and influences of someone who famously prints slogans on trite media and then poses in public, in a vain attempt to achieve noteriety. To those readers, I say: take note, and thank Mr C.

CC Version 4.0 (beta)

This week, I took one step closer to CC Version 4.0 (i.e. a birthday). Not there yet though.

It has been a good birthday 'season' good times with special people, good food, and really enjoying a film festival that occurs each November here in StL.

There is much introspection as well. Who do I want to be? What is my moral obligation to my family (in terms of proximity)? How long will the American experiment last? (It is going very well but I am increasingly losing touch with my homeland. I have spent 25% of my life in the US.)

To quote Rush, "if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice". Yikes. Thanks, Neil.

More heaviness later... For now, I'm celebrating version 3.0 which worked out pretty well. When I was 30, I had never completed a triathon or played the piano. I hadn't seen Europe or Hawaii. Despite major academic success (at a monstrous time investment), I hadn't really done much with my career.
(I'm certainly not done on that front, but there have been some wins.) And I was fairly lonely in a town without many friends. (I have since found wonderful people in StLouis.)

so.... what's next?

Twitter

I don't like e-fads. I resisted Facebook for a long time and also Twitter. Now, I'm on both.

For the uninitiated, Twitter is a micro-blogging site where one just updates their status. It is like an offline IM site, where you follow friends and they follow you. It is useful for employees in remote offices, for groups attending conferences, and for anyone who wants more PR. The name comes from the analogy of birds chit-chatting to each other in the trees.

For me, the PR potential broke my resolve: so my tech blog is on there now (click here). This is my technical 'persona' so the updates will mostly be career based. My friends are more than welcome to follow me; I may or may not follow you. I'm less likely to do so if you are a frequent 'tweeter' as I find the whole thing a bit distracting at work.

Right now, I try to 'tweet' once a day. I peak at work but don't tweet.

Some CC devotees may remember the famed "micro posts" on this very blog, as started some time ago. This was somewhat inspired by an early article on Twitter. Or possibly an older, prototypical service -- I wouldn't be surprised if Twitter ripped me off! It would bother lesser bloggers but at the apex of the vanguard, it is our burden at CC to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous imitation.

He's Gone

I have confirmation that my upstairs neighbour has moved!

Rejoice!

If ye break faith with us who die

Lest we forget: Flanders Fields

As I point out annually on here, this poem is why Canadians wear poppies in the first days of November until Nov 11.

It is sobering to think that a war would be so intense and cause such suffering that it would be known as The Great War -- and yet it would hardly be the last of the 20th century.

CC

Quick Update

Just a quick note to say hello.... Very busy week:

• Attend a live PostSecret event (more later)
• Busy at work and thankfully the gym
• Nuptials today for Michelle and Brad (congratulations!)
• Oh, let's see. Ah yes: the Americans had an election down here which was sort of a 'big deal'. If you consider a historic event and speech, with palpable joy and electricity to be 'big'. I had hoped to blog some reaction but it is hard to recreate the magic of that evening.
  

ps. My travel plans are set.... Heading home circa Dec 20 - 30. I booked ages ago and Air Canada updates my itinerary every 5 days so heaven only knows when (or where?) I'm really going now.

New York Times Machine

For you literary types, welcome to your next addiction (click).

The New York Times has digitized articles from 1851 to 1922 and put them on the web. You can read about the end of WWI, or the sinking of the Titanic.

This is a monstrously cool example of some tech stuff called 'clustering' or 'cloud-computing'. The data and the software are hosted on a giant network of computers at Amazon. The cost of doing this was incredibly small: as software and data scale up, economics get strange indeed.

Happy Halloween

I bought a new stereo for my car recently.

Though I haven't explored all of its features, it has been great so far. It has a display that does some fairly sophisticated animation (e.g. a moving sine wave for the AM/FM tuner). If you look close in this pic, it is showing that it is hooked up to an iPod.

Today, when it is first turned on, it shows pumpkins and a witch, and flashes "Happy Halloween" ! Charming and ghoulish.... Now I know why it asked me for my birthday when I was configuring it. Looking forward to that....

Lick of the Day, Unmasked

My bro-in-law is an excellent guitar player and runs the popular site, Lick of the Day.

In a rare glimpse, you can see him better (than usual) in this video

I did not.

Vic's birthday is coming soon. As a gift, I thought I would relate this little tale from his visit to St Louis.

The Setup

You may not know that one can actually ascend to the top of the Arch. People go up in a 4-5 minute ride on a tram: the "cars" are tiny, bizarre pods from a B space movie (see pic). They hold 5 people each, knees touching.

Vic and I were in a long line to go up, on a Saturday afternoon. A ticketing agent comes by and asks us if we are traveling together. Cleverly, Vic says "yes but we can go as two singles if that works". We are handed two tickets: a #2 and #3. Having gone up before, I knew we would travel separately but I figured that would be fine.

The Condescension

We go through turnstiles and past security (after all, this is a National monument), and stand in adjacent lines to enter into the pods.

Inexplicably, Vic scoots over into my line. Wide-eyed, I look at him and tell him that we can't go in the same line. There are finite seats, and security will freak, and, and...

He opens his arms and floats his arms downward. In a long drawl, he says "Reeeeeellaaaaaaaaax".

Then, the pods open and newly-descended visitors crawl out of them. It becomes immediately apparent to Vic that there is no way this is going to work. He scoots back into the other line. I rub my temples and wonder if our imminent arrest will make it into the Eastern Graphic.

The Plot Thickens

The ascent is long. The pods lurch to-and-fro. It is noisy, jangly, and though one can't see outside, one can see a lot of pulleys and chains outside the little window.

At the top, a full 5 minutes later, we emerge from our respective pods. Vic looks pretty green. In my best Maritime accent, I say "how'd you like that, now?".

His response was terse and serious: I did not.

Apparently, we suffer from claustrophobia, and we weren't prepared for these little pods. On his ride up, some passengers -- kids -- talked a lot about a time when a malfunction caused people to be trapped in these things for 8+ hours. This was getting very interesting.

The Payoff

After a quick look around (which isn't nearly as cool as the ride up), Vic announces that he has seen what he needs to see and it is time to go. He notes that it is quite windy, and though the CN Tower is far taller than the Arch, the Arch has more sway to it. He doesn't look so good.

I tell him that we should stay a bit until the crowd clears. He looks at me and just shakes his head quietly.

Then, with all the irony I can muster, I outstretch my arms, floating my hands calmy downward, and with a long, drawl:

"Reeeeeeeeellaaaaaaaaaaaax."

CC

ps. Happy Birthday Vic

Thank you C-Span

Wow, will wonders never cease: I am in StL watching a live feed of election night coverage from CBC on C-Span, a gov't channel down here in the US. I just happened across it while surfing....

This is so fantastic! I have only barely heard the voice of the big players (Harper, Dion, etc) in the media. Stephane Dion is speaking now -- I'm not sure I have ever heard his voice before.

(I have read a lot about these people and the policies).

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada

Quick note to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back home...

I think every year now I have written about the differences between the Canadian and US Thanksgiving. This year, I'll defer to those previous posts.

CC

Tale of Two Tallies

The USA

Things are getting hot in the US. Today, an admin assistant sent an dept-wide email saying "this is the last day to register to vote. Register today for this historic election". She later sent an apology, as some one called her on being biased. Heaven only knows which way she was called on it.

I have heard people say "if X wins, I am moving out of the country", for both values of X !

Canada

Canada goes to the polls on Oct 14. Canada is currently under a minority government, which is always tenuous at best -- though some say that is a good form of government as it innately encourages balance. I believe that the Conservatives are leading the polls; the media suggests that they will win a (slim?) majority, though this is not clear. If so, this may come as a surprise to those Americans who want to migrate North in the event that McCain/Palin win down here.

IT Incognito: episode 2

Episode 2 of IT Incognito is out! Check it out here... This is not me in garb but you may recognize the voiceover at the end:



Note that this is really geeky stuff. Don't worry if you don't understand. Essentially, it is an attempt to "go viral" with some offbeat material from our IT training department. Plus, we're having fun which IMHO is inherently attractive.

No worries if you don't like it. The whole experiment tends to receive rather polarized reactions.

I think the video editing is really well done!

Cardinal Consolation

In baseball news, the main focus for this town, during the summer, was the startling success of the arch-rival Cubs and our losing the wild-card spot to the Brewers.

It was a lame season. Sweet revenge is seeing both of those teams ousted in the first round, with the Cubs being swept on the 100th anniversary of their last win.

Hey -- any team can have a bad millenium!

Bye bye, Blackbird ?

The last post mentioned a new search for simplicity. This isn't a joke: I'm considering selling Blackbird and retiring from triathlon.

Dean Karnazes is a famous ultra-marathon runner. In his book, he talks about his passion for running. He mentions, dismissively, a period of doing triathlons, but went back to running. When I read this, 3 years ago, I couldn't understand: triathlon is inherently greater than running and is surely superior in every way.

Now, I think I understand.

At the risk of writing a Dear Diary post or an outright rationalization, here are some thoughts:

• I have never had medical issues with running or swimming. All pain and medical attention has been because of that bike.
• Most bikes bring you back to being a kid. Not a tri bike: it is a finicky racehorse that has to be 'set up' correctly, with great care and non-trivial expense.
• Both in terms of my car decision and my geography, the bike is a constant concern. Runners can drive Corvettes :-)
• It pains me to think that I will never do an IronMan, but that just takes so much dedication. I don't think I can train for one _and_ play piano _and_ write blogs etc etc. I need something simpler, and with balance. To me, that means marathon. Running is still ambitious, no doubt, but it seems reasonable with respect to my other goals.
• There are many indoor triathlons. They are a cross between a joke and a parlour game but they might server as a good motivation to cross-train (e.g. for swimming).

And so, it might time to close a chapter. As you can see, neither my original endeavours nor my quitting are whimisical. But it feels right. With the possible exception that the Fall St Peter's Recplex Tri is happening very soon, and I won't be in it. Jim G 1 CC 0.

CC

ps. My swan song may well have been the 1/3 Iron Man in August 2007. After 38 miles, I couldn't wait to get off that bike. It was hot as blazes too: rather famously, I ended up in the ER for dehydration. However, for the record I remind the universe of this side fact: I finished.

Life Update

Yikes! One of the valued 'home pagers' (those who set CC to be their home page) has threatened action: a sure sign that things have been all too quiet on here.

Generally, life is great here in St Louis. Work is a dream and my neighbour has responded to a warning letter from the apt complex (i.e. the dog and late night parties have been curtailed). I have completely slacked off on fitness (more to come), but had a lot of fun this summer and fall in my personal life.

Compared to last fall, things are fantastic. Last fall, I hated my client gig and was really depressed. I was terrified to sit at the piano and was agonizing over a decision to stay here in the US. I'm not sure that I am "at peace" with respect to life decisions, but generally things are good.

My new mantra is a return to simplicity. Stay tuned for more. Also, I am well under 2 years away from the big 4-oh. I hope to re-invent myself somewhat for "version 4" in the same way that I have for version 3, which all-in-all, was a big success.