Neighbours Part 3

Our hero lives Apt C (apartment CC was not available). Above him, the new nefarious nemesis of neighbouring negativity lives in Apt B. I probably have not mentioned that his buddy lives above him in Apt A. This has not been noteworthy as I have no quarrel with Apt A. It has been only an indirect problem as they have thrown mutual parties and generally just spur each other on.

Well. The dude in Apt A has left. The "chaos bloc" has been neutralized.

I met the new tenants in Apt A last night. A young woman and her beau. Within minutes, they asked me, unsolicited, if I could hear our man in Apt B. I felt vindicated. Though undoubtedly we suffer different experiences (due to the setup of the building), we are both suffering.

And so, though said umbrage, we have forged solidarity. In hushed tones, I encouraged my new compadre to fully voice any concerns to the office HQ. Later, I wrote out a manifesto on some paper. We agreed that upon greeting one another in the parking lot, we would make a gesture that basically shows our united front and also interrogates the other on how things are going.

Basically, we are in a gang.

And it is a hoot. Our own secret symbols and everything!

I don't know how much longer we'll have our friend in Apt B, but he is going down.

Give Early, Give Often

hey folks,

I've joined the Miss Jess and the Insouciant Cyclists in their annual ride to help cure diabetes.

I'm asking for your help. See my irreverent page (click here). I just can't write the usual upbeat, exclamation-point-laden call to arms.

My only pitch is that I don't ask for much, especially now that I have a reliable car. I will never ask you to help me move. I will never ask for a ride to the airport. But I am asking for this.

Partly because I've joined the party really late. And partly for my Uncle Nick, RIP.

CC

ps. If you are in Canada, you can probably donate. But if you are nervous to do so online, just tell me how much to put in and we can work it out offline. No worries.

pps. All irreverence aside, thank you. (And no worries if you choose not to.)

TV Alert

For those in St Louis (and/or the US):

On Sunday morning at 10 am, on the Speed channel, a show called My Classic Car will feature a "British Car Show" from a lil' province called Prince Edward Island.

Woo-hoo! My guess is that it will be down east near Montague. It was most certainly taped during the summer months: probably August.

Neighbours Part 2

Last weekend there was a new issue with the neighbours: a puppy. My guess is that the guy wanted to move on from his relationship, and if you already have a dog, then what better way to distract oneself than to get a new addition to the family. Plus the chick magnet thing and all that.

A week ago, the big dog and the puppy were out on the deck at 2 am. I went out and complained. I was tempted to yell and use profanity but I was on _my_ neighbours roof and so it is hard to get riled up. 2 dudes were sitting out there, eating dinner (I think). They barely paid any attention. Perhaps they were stoned: hard to say.

I came off my deck, went up the outside stairs, and repositioned myself near their fence. Making sure my voice stayed in that deep, sleepy baritone I growled at them about the dogs. Barely any response. 5 minues later, they were all inside but it seemed like it was on their terms.

By 10 am the next morning, I had 2 copies of a letter describing the last few months: one for the apartment office and one for their door. The one on the door had some choice words as a post-script. The apartment manager was adamant that "this wouldn't happen again". We'll see.

In the week since, things have been better but only barely. If I remember correctly (from a conversation several months ago), if I complain enough times, the apartment will level fines against the resident. That's when things will get interesting.

Hopefully it won't come to that.

I haven't been on my bike this year. It really bothers me but I have to remind myself (a) it has been raining cats and, yes, dogs almost all the time and (b) I have been exhausted from all this crap. Friends say that I "nap a lot". LOL... So would they, in my slippers. Plus I have a highly tuned metabolism and massive cranial capacity which requires constant maintenance.

Happy Memorial Day, USA

'Tis the big weekend down here... A major holiday where one needs to have plans for Sunday or Monday or else one looks like a total loser. One thing about the USA: people make sure that we wayward waifs are "taken care of" in the sense of "do you have somewhere to go?". This is extremely true for Thanksgiving but also the other big holidays.

I have been grousing a lot lately, debating about my future. I hope no one takes it as an indictment of St Louis. This is a great town and I am blessed to have a fantastic social circle here.

Plus, I think the USA generally kicks butt. It is a big, complex country, and a lot of the good things go unrecognized.

peace out from the CC newsdesk

Track Tasks Online

A friend of mine has a web site as a semi-pro hobby: the Online Task List (click here).

Check it out if you like: it's free. I use it for my weekend task list but also in general. He hasn't really advertised it anywhere: it is has been just been spreading virally to a level of several hundred users.

You can assign priorities, get email reminders, etc. It's pretty slick. The user interface is outstanding (e.g. changing colours on rollovers).

Happy Victoria Day

Happy Victoria Day, to everyone back home!

Victoria Day is the big May holiday in Canada: it is one of the major differences from the US in terms of holidays. In the US, Memorial Day is a giant weekend (this coming weekend). In the US, Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer; I wouldn't say that about Victoria Day.

My family on my Dad's side has a major gathering every year, on the Sunday before. When I was back home, it was a day to play soccer in someone's yard.

Here are some quick facts about England's longest reigning monarch:

• She reigned 63+ years from 1837 to 1901. Amazing. Queen Elizabeth II may give her a run for the money though. You go girls!
• Her husband died in 1861. In mourning, she wore black for the next forty years.
• I can't find it online but as a youth there was a great, quirky book called The Book of Lists which featured a very rare photo of Queen V smiling. She was on morphine.

Singing Songs

There is great news over on the Hegemom Blog...

wooHOO!!!!!!!

On My Current Power Rotation

Climbed a mountain and I turned around
I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
till the landslide brought me down

Oh, mirror in the sky: What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Well, I've been afraid of changing
cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older
I'm getting older too


Landslide -- Fleetwood Mac

Check out the audio and a sumptuously gorgeous guitar solo here.....

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom, all of the Mom readers, and all of the Mom-to-be readers!

I love being male and all that goes with it but I do respect motherhood: I've often said that the strongest force in nature is a mother defending her young.

I watch a _lot_ of nature shows and motherhood is truly universal. In the nature, the fathers can be rather shaky.

The Joy of Physics

My car, Rowdy, was rear-ended yesterday at a red light. No injuries and the car is just barely scratched, which is amazing.

I was turning left and a guy behind me gunned his Mustang into me, from a stop. So there wasn't much momentum but I could not believe how hard he hit me. Headache and a sore neck yesterday aft but fine now.

As it happened, I was due for a 30,000 mile tune-up on the ride, so I took Rowdy into the shop today. They saw no structural damage.

I've seen someone push hard on a fender and dent it worse than the damage left by the Mustang. I just don't understand, but I guess the back bumper may have one of those 5 MPH zones that "folds" in and then back out.

I was quite ready to be confrontational but the guy was sincerely contrite, so I was civilized. No cops, no insurance claim.

Lord Stanley's Mug

Bah, well there is no joy in Mudville again this year.

In Vegas in November, I bought 3 long-bet tickets for the Stanley Cup winner:

• Toronto didn't make the playoffs.
• Ottawa was ousted in the first round.
• Montreal was my last hope. This is somewhat ironic since I have historically not supported Les Habs. No matter: they are out as well.

Drat. Keen readers will remember that I seriously kicked butt on the first trip to Vegas (picked World Series winner, picked Superbowl winner, and the hockey pick went to the Cup finals).

There is only one conclusion: back to LV !

New Era on PEI

Quoteth (from this article):

A new era begins on Prince Edward Island Saturday as retailers can once again legally sell canned carbonated beverages for the first time in almost a quarter-century.

The lifting of P.E.I.'s so-called "can ban" is being viewed by Islanders as either a cause for celebration or a day to lament. Prince Edward Island was the only place in North America where pop could only be sold in refillable bottles.

The ban was put in place in 1984 to protect jobs at the local Pepsi bottling plant and to protect the environment.

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

I thought the ban was way before 1984 ? I remember a can of pop being a 'status symbol' in the mid 1970s!?

CC

Reason #71 why I love Joe Satriani

Joe Satriani is a favourite guitar player of mine. Top 3 for me (and possibly Jess ;-)

Reason #71 is the name of his new album:

Professor Satchafunkilus and The Musterion Of Rock

Awesome.

For reason #70, check out this video where he explains music theory. Modes are scales. He uses sophisticated terms such as lydian, aoelian, raised 4th, etc, but don't worry about that: just listen to the moods that he evokes. And his style of exposition which is pretty much what I strive for (in general, when explaining computer science, guitar, award-winning blog writing, etc).

Passport Renewal?

Does anyone have any anecdotes about how long it takes to get a Canadian passport renewed these days?

Mine expires in Dec 08 and I need to plan around some stuff.

Merci bien!

Cops

After 2 nights of peace, things got crazy again at 2:30 am.

To their credit, the neighbours stayed off the deck. But it was still loud enough to wake me.

They were clearly on the verge of a total breakup, fighting about money etc.

I stood, blearly-eyed, in my kitchen for 20 minutes trying to decide what to do. Then the woman yelled "let go of me" and it was Game On.

Thankfully I had the phone # for the police station right at hand.

In the mean time, there was no violence. She locked him out at one point, so he was in the open-air hallway, yelling, further buttressing my decision. Things quieted down by the time the cops arrived.

From what I can tell, she may have been leaving, with him nattering at her, just as they arrived. Hard to say. They definitely did not like being greeted by a pitbull at the door. They might have asked him about a license? Not sure.

I slept until 9:45. It is now 10:45. It will be interesting to see if there is any confrontation as I go outside about my business. Hey, I gave him fair warning.

Update: My neighbour left a note. He said he is moving soon, and apologized for being "nothing but trouble" throughout this ordeal.

Drama Redux: The New Deal

Tuesday night, around 2:30 am, I awoke to another racket on the roof. My neighbour and his belle were in another shouting match. They get into it in the house and then come outside to smoke, with no reduction in volume.

It was relatively tame and short, but I was angry enough that I couldn't sleep.

After hours of tossing and turning, reading boring articles on Wikipedia, and awaiting another earthquake, I eventually drafted a note. It was surprisingly civilized: I censored the profanity and threats of violence. In short, I said "Remember that deal we made where I come up and tell you if it's too loud? The deal is off: I'm calling the authorities if you don't start acting like adults".

At 6:30 am, I symbolically nailed the protestant missive to his door and trudged off to work. After a day of utter misery, I returned home circa 3 pm.

To be honest, I was nervous. I can enjoy confrontation but the apprehension isn't fun. Plus a nuanced, sensitive discussion is probably not in the cards here. This is guy who, as a display of emotion, yelled at his girlfriend that he can benchpress 200+ pounds. (I didn't get it either. I guess I should tell the ladies in the bars that I can run a mile in 6:30 or better.)

When I arrived home, his car was gone: probably went to work (2nd shift, I think). Surprisingly, there was no note of retort at the door.

I slept for 2 hours, and went off to a tri club meeting.

At 9 pm, I returned. He was home, but still no note: what? What is going on here? Was this some kind of tactic?

That evening, at 2 am, I lay awake in bed. Only the crickets chirp near the lake: all is still.

I am puzzled: what is he doing? Trying to outfox me with some silent strategem? I cocked my head to one side to pick up the slightest hint of the damn dog. Or the shrill voice of his girlfriend. Nothing.

"Dammit, man. This guy is good.", I thought to myself, rolling over to yet another side of the bed.

Here on night #2 of The New Deal, it is similarly quiet. Stay tuned.

New Toy

I have a new computer!  My first since 2000.  That is pretty crazy.

It is a laptop: the ultrachic Apple MacbookPro.  I'll attach a link or a pic soon.   It has a 17 inch display and a 2.5 GHz dual Intel CPU with 2 GB of RAM.  

In short, it is pretty wicked.

I've been up and running within minutes.  Really excited.  I've been looking for quite awhile now, and have known that I would join the autonomous collective known as the Mac community for some time.  Many blog readers use Macs and there is a strong faction in the geek community at work and elsewhere.  At those Java conferences, the saturation is about 100% among the presenters.

It's really fun to play with a new computer and OS.  It reminds me of the days in the 1980s with the Commodore 64 etc.

Don't come a knockin if the house is a rockin

Yep, we had a 5.x Richter earthquake in the midwest.  It has been the talk of the town.  In fact, during the talk at work, we had an aftershock around 4.6 R or so.

I wasn't sleeping well so came out onto the couch to watch TV circa 4 am.  I was snoozing when things got weird.  In my dozy state, I actually thought my upstairs neighbour was shaking my couch somehow.  I was ready to raise hell when I realized something was up.

For some reason, I knew it was an earthquake.  It was really weird.  I checked CNN immediately but of course it took time for the news to break.

At work, we were talking about the quake when the aftershock it. I didn't really feel it.  I thought some people were pulling my leg.  Or that they suffered from pyschoseisomatic disorder (ha ha!).

Forty

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

-- Freewill, Rush

I don't like writing long, introspective posts.

But I am 1.5 years away from being 40. The number and concept doesn't scare me but it certainly adds poignancy to the ongoing debate about where to live, play, etc.

I mean, if I'm lucky, life is half over. That's sobering. And somewhat liberating. I mean, even if I go on to become addicted to sniffing glue or something, people can say "well he had a good 40 years". As long as I outlive my parents (the fun just doesn't stop in this post), then who cares?

I'm truly torn between some big questions like "shouldn't I be with my family?" versus devil-may-care hedonism such as "why not live in New Zealand for a year? I don't have kids to put through university".

Heavy stuff. Especially now as things are going very well in St Louis. My life on PEI is well-documented, but I have great friends here. Work is going great and I've started to dabble a bit in the teaching/presentation side of work. That is a major draw for me. Like many of my cousins/family, I'm a natural born teacher.

My fear is that I will excel. I'll love it and wake up 10 years from now wondering why I'm still in St Louis.

See the quote at the top. From a Canadian legend, no less. Perfect.