Buzzards and Bicycles:
It's been a pretty busy week off for me. I think the concept of "mandatory vacation" should be implemented more often.
Yesterday, I attended a graduation of a friend of a friend at the Ontario Police College in Aylmer. On the way there, it was a pretty enjoyable drive through the countryside. The corn is much shorter than I would have expected at this time of year, but then we've had a pretty cool wet summer. We also encountered a couple of huge black vulture-like birds circling around a carcass on the road near a tiny little town with the unfortunate name of Crampton. A rare but interesting sight.
It was a nice ceremony, although I'm already used to all the formation marching and the pipe and drum bands due to my brother's association with the Toronto Scottish Regiment. I think they should have reconsidered having a couple of motorcycles circle around the parade square (we got a hefty dose of diesel fumes). But it was short and to the point, which is what everyone always hopes a ceremony would be. The highlight of the day had to be finding out that Wendel Clark was in the audience. We saw him drive into the parking lot with his honking huge black SUV with (we assumed) his wife and two cute kids. He was there to support his brother, Kerry Clark, who was also graduating. After the ceremony we were all standing outside and he was within 30 feet of us. Young kids went up to him for his autograph, but since in our group we were all in our 20s and above, we thought it would be slightly tacky if we tried it. I think we were able to sneak a photo of him from a distance (yikes, we've become amateur paparazzi!).
Today, I decided that I want to live on one of the Toronto Islands. My friends and I brought our bikes downtown, took the ferry across the harbour, biked around the islands, and had ourselves a nice little picnic too. The first thing that really struck me was how quiet it was. Even with the downtown core not that far away, it was as though we were biking somewhere in the country. Very cool. It didn't take that long to get from one side to the other, but it was a leisurely ride, interrupted occasionally by cars passing at 30 km/h (the speed limit) and those little tour trains that you see at places like MGM Studios ("and on your left, you'll see the 'clothing optional' beach"). We had to cut our adventure short (some of us had to get our long weekend started), otherwise we could have stayed until dusk and rented a firepit on the beach (the one where clothing is somewhat mandatory). But now I can add another "favourite Toronto activity" to my list. I wonder how much one of those houses costs...
"What would you say, don't drop the big one, if you a monkey on a string, don't cut my lifeline"
Friday, July 30, 2004
Monday, July 26, 2004
One Little, Two Little, Three Little Asians...:
Actually, there are four of them. For those of you who hasn't heard my story yet, my dad's high school alumni association (Queen Elizabeth School Old Students' Association) got together many years ago and founded another high school, which they creatively called Queen Elizabeth School Old Students' Association Secondary School, or Q.E.S.O.S.A.S.S. I don't know about you, but it makes me appreciate my high school's abbreviation a lot more. Anyway, every year the alumni association sponsors some of the top students to spend some time in North America. Usually it's been Vancouver, but for some reason they decided to send them to Toronto this year. My dad, being the president of the Ontario chapter of Q.E.S.O.S.A., organized their trip. So, for the next two weeks, my family, along with several other families, will be housing these three girls and one boy and taking them to see the sights. Since we live the closest to the airport, we picked them up today and will be housing them for tonight and tomorrow (I think), and then they'll split into two groups and spend their time in other homes across the GTA until the last night, when they'll be back here and we'll take them back to the airport the next day.
They're all fourteen, except for Emily who just turned fifteen. Of course, she's the tiniest one in the bunch. The boy (Bobby) seems to be the most talkative, despite what he wrote in his letter (but each one of them wrote that they were quiet and shy). He's also the smartest of the group. I think the prinicpal of the school wrote to my dad that Bobby has an IQ of 150 (I just tested my own IQ, and apparently I'm 146, or "genius"...how did that happen?). Helen was the only one who got a little sick on the plane. She was pretty pale but a couple of hours and a shower later she looked okay. The last one, Edy, reminds me of someone. I can't think of who...
I Fought the Law, and the Law Won:
Well, more like the law kicked my butt a little. I went to a two-day seminar this weekend to prepare for the Professional Practice Exam to become a professional engineer. My exam isn't until the 14th of August, but I figured I needed a little help on how to study, since they didn't really provide any guidelines. The ethics section was okay, even though it's the less cut-and-dry of the two. But as long as you write everything down and explain your logic, then it's all good. And I'm pretty okay in the BS department. Law, on the other hand, has an okay part and a not-so-okay part. The okay part is that the instructor gave us templates for the different types of questions (tort law, contract law, fundamental breach of contract, etc.) and so when we encounter those questions, we would just plug the facts into the template and the answer would write itself. The not-so-okay part is that we have to memorize these templates and all the legal definitions, whereas the code of ethics and the definition of professional misconduct will be provided during the exam. There was one case that confused pretty much everyone in the room, including the instructor, which is never a good sign. It had to do with calculating the amount of damages the owner could get from the contractor in a fundamental breach of contract case. There were two trains of thought, so everyone was arguing about one or the other, when in fact both methods ended up producing the same result. But the next day the instructor came back to clarify the answer and confused me again. I don't know, I'll just BS through that too I guess...
"Into the river below, I'm running from the inferno"
Actually, there are four of them. For those of you who hasn't heard my story yet, my dad's high school alumni association (Queen Elizabeth School Old Students' Association) got together many years ago and founded another high school, which they creatively called Queen Elizabeth School Old Students' Association Secondary School, or Q.E.S.O.S.A.S.S. I don't know about you, but it makes me appreciate my high school's abbreviation a lot more. Anyway, every year the alumni association sponsors some of the top students to spend some time in North America. Usually it's been Vancouver, but for some reason they decided to send them to Toronto this year. My dad, being the president of the Ontario chapter of Q.E.S.O.S.A., organized their trip. So, for the next two weeks, my family, along with several other families, will be housing these three girls and one boy and taking them to see the sights. Since we live the closest to the airport, we picked them up today and will be housing them for tonight and tomorrow (I think), and then they'll split into two groups and spend their time in other homes across the GTA until the last night, when they'll be back here and we'll take them back to the airport the next day.
They're all fourteen, except for Emily who just turned fifteen. Of course, she's the tiniest one in the bunch. The boy (Bobby) seems to be the most talkative, despite what he wrote in his letter (but each one of them wrote that they were quiet and shy). He's also the smartest of the group. I think the prinicpal of the school wrote to my dad that Bobby has an IQ of 150 (I just tested my own IQ, and apparently I'm 146, or "genius"...how did that happen?). Helen was the only one who got a little sick on the plane. She was pretty pale but a couple of hours and a shower later she looked okay. The last one, Edy, reminds me of someone. I can't think of who...
I Fought the Law, and the Law Won:
Well, more like the law kicked my butt a little. I went to a two-day seminar this weekend to prepare for the Professional Practice Exam to become a professional engineer. My exam isn't until the 14th of August, but I figured I needed a little help on how to study, since they didn't really provide any guidelines. The ethics section was okay, even though it's the less cut-and-dry of the two. But as long as you write everything down and explain your logic, then it's all good. And I'm pretty okay in the BS department. Law, on the other hand, has an okay part and a not-so-okay part. The okay part is that the instructor gave us templates for the different types of questions (tort law, contract law, fundamental breach of contract, etc.) and so when we encounter those questions, we would just plug the facts into the template and the answer would write itself. The not-so-okay part is that we have to memorize these templates and all the legal definitions, whereas the code of ethics and the definition of professional misconduct will be provided during the exam. There was one case that confused pretty much everyone in the room, including the instructor, which is never a good sign. It had to do with calculating the amount of damages the owner could get from the contractor in a fundamental breach of contract case. There were two trains of thought, so everyone was arguing about one or the other, when in fact both methods ended up producing the same result. But the next day the instructor came back to clarify the answer and confused me again. I don't know, I'll just BS through that too I guess...
"Into the river below, I'm running from the inferno"
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
You Can Tell That I'm Supposed To Be Studying:
What is this, the third blog of the night? I'm sitting here trying to make some sense of engineering law, and of course this pops up in the book and I had to share it with the rest of you. It gives you an idea of how much sense I've made of everything I've read so far:
Sometimes letters of intent are clearly agreements to agree, rather than well-defined agreements. The agreements to agree do not constitute enforceable contracts: the courts will not enforce an agreement to agree. It is, in fact, no agreement at all.
What is this, the third blog of the night? I'm sitting here trying to make some sense of engineering law, and of course this pops up in the book and I had to share it with the rest of you. It gives you an idea of how much sense I've made of everything I've read so far:
Sometimes letters of intent are clearly agreements to agree, rather than well-defined agreements. The agreements to agree do not constitute enforceable contracts: the courts will not enforce an agreement to agree. It is, in fact, no agreement at all.
Nothing Beats Raspberries:
I was having the worst day yesterday. Nearly killed myself 10 times on the way to work due to drowsiness at the wheel. Had little to do at work since I was waiting for other people to finish stuff for the projects I was working on. Guy who was supposed to get a document to me by yesterday didn't. Got gouged at the gas station. Drove home in the pouring rain. Found out that gas is cheaper closer to home by something like 10 cents a litre. Came home to an "I told you so" speech (regarding the gas). Had to scrounge something up for dinner for me and my brothers.
But then the girls came over, the sun actually came out from behind the clouds, and we went raspberry picking in my backyard. The bushes are dense and thorny but that didn't stop Em or Boni from crawling right in there to pick the fruit. Jocelyn screamed every time a snail was about to attack her. Doyali went for the surface fruit, then watched the rest of us like we were a floor show (which we were). Every so often you'd hear someone say "OW!" and then "CRAP!" as she drops a ripe berry. I'd be checking around to make sure we didn't lose Boni to the bushes. In an attempt to get rid of a mosquito on Jocelyn's foot, I slapped at it, which of course caused it to explode, so Jocelyn blood was everywhere.
We came back into my kitchen and had some of the spiciest hot chocolate ever. It had ginger, chili peppers, Madagascar vanilla and orange peel infused into it. Completely reminded me of Turkish coffee (you know, the kind that you can actually chew while you're drinking it). Except with Turkish coffee, you're only supposed to drink a shot. We each had half a mug (and in the case of Boni, Doyali and Em, two servings each). I was ready to give up but I chugged it down in the end. Everyone left with a smile and a bucket of berries.
So my day was saved by raspberries. Is there anything they can't do?
"Raspberry in my hand, you feel alright but I don't know if I am"
I was having the worst day yesterday. Nearly killed myself 10 times on the way to work due to drowsiness at the wheel. Had little to do at work since I was waiting for other people to finish stuff for the projects I was working on. Guy who was supposed to get a document to me by yesterday didn't. Got gouged at the gas station. Drove home in the pouring rain. Found out that gas is cheaper closer to home by something like 10 cents a litre. Came home to an "I told you so" speech (regarding the gas). Had to scrounge something up for dinner for me and my brothers.
But then the girls came over, the sun actually came out from behind the clouds, and we went raspberry picking in my backyard. The bushes are dense and thorny but that didn't stop Em or Boni from crawling right in there to pick the fruit. Jocelyn screamed every time a snail was about to attack her. Doyali went for the surface fruit, then watched the rest of us like we were a floor show (which we were). Every so often you'd hear someone say "OW!" and then "CRAP!" as she drops a ripe berry. I'd be checking around to make sure we didn't lose Boni to the bushes. In an attempt to get rid of a mosquito on Jocelyn's foot, I slapped at it, which of course caused it to explode, so Jocelyn blood was everywhere.
We came back into my kitchen and had some of the spiciest hot chocolate ever. It had ginger, chili peppers, Madagascar vanilla and orange peel infused into it. Completely reminded me of Turkish coffee (you know, the kind that you can actually chew while you're drinking it). Except with Turkish coffee, you're only supposed to drink a shot. We each had half a mug (and in the case of Boni, Doyali and Em, two servings each). I was ready to give up but I chugged it down in the end. Everyone left with a smile and a bucket of berries.
So my day was saved by raspberries. Is there anything they can't do?
"Raspberry in my hand, you feel alright but I don't know if I am"
Sights and Sounds at the Distillery:
I went to the Distillery District on Sunday to check out the pre-Beaches Jazzfest scene. I've said this before, but the Distillery District is my new favourite place. Yes, it's become touristy and expensive, but it's one of the few cool places in the city that's all 19th century but not "look don't touch". The jazz was pretty good, the weather was not. But every time it rained we just ducked into another art gallery. A few things I noticed:
I went to the Distillery District on Sunday to check out the pre-Beaches Jazzfest scene. I've said this before, but the Distillery District is my new favourite place. Yes, it's become touristy and expensive, but it's one of the few cool places in the city that's all 19th century but not "look don't touch". The jazz was pretty good, the weather was not. But every time it rained we just ducked into another art gallery. A few things I noticed:
- While I was sitting in the Sandra Ainsley gallery, I noticed a woman who had all the appearances of being blind (the dark glasses and the white stick kind of tipped me off). However, she walked to each piece and stopped. She even asked a by-stander how much the giant rotating glass cube cost and when he couldn't find the price tag she helped him out by pointing to a tiny square on the floor.
- Outside the bakery there was a one-legged pidgeon. The bird just hopped around on the one leg, eating the stuff under the picnic tables, flying off if people got too close, but always came back and hopped around again.
- I saw the skinniest woman ever. She had to have been something like 4 and a half feet tall, but her legs were nothing but skin-wrapped bones. Well, I couldn't tell with one of her legs since she was hobbling around in a cast.
- There was a Chinese girl with Down syndrome that passed me a couple of times. Even though, statistically, Down syndrome effects everyone of any racial background equally, I still think it's rare to see it in someone of Asian descent.
- One of the great things about the Distillery District is that it's incredibly clean. This is largely thanks in part to the boys they hire to walk around with garbage bags and tiny rakes to clean up all manner of crap on the ground, even the small blue water bottle lid that one of them saw near the bench I was sitting at. As he walked away I finally saw what was written on the backs of the red shirts they wore: "Don't Litter".
"Come one come all into 1984"
Monday, July 12, 2004
Pass the Mish-Mash, Please:
Everyone has crazy co-workers, right? Sure they do. So do I. Now, I'm not sure I should use her real name, given how much I might make fun of her at this point (and actually, some of you who read this already know her name anyway), so I'm just going to call her "Pam". Pam...she's one of those people you just really can't figure out. I mean, she's a nice enough person (if you don't upset her), and she means well (despite being slightly hypocritical), but frankly, I think she's a nut. I've only been working with her for five months but I've already accumulated a book's worth of stories about her.
Let's start with a couple of recent events. Before my department split into two groups, one in the office and one on the production floor, Pam made an almost daily trip out into the plant to observe the operators and make notes about any and all deviations she can find. Basically, she was the snitch. And she's really particular, she will report every little detail she can see. So, for someone who's that...for lack of a better word, anal, it was really surprising when I found out that she was a total slob. Her house, her car, her desk, it's all pretty much a horrible mess. Monica had to check something on Pam's computer and came back motivated to clean her own office. She said that Pam had the most disgusting keyboard she's ever seen. She didn't really want to touch it.
The other Pam story for today isn't that spectacular, just a little funny. Last week she came to work in a fairly conservative outfit: a sort of brown and tan-coloured top, black pants, and a pair of hot pink platform flip-flops.
Yeah...we all looked twice.
Keep in mind, she's gotta be in her fifties by now. She's been around forever.
Okay, switch gears. I was at the Street Festival this weekend and I separated from my friends briefly to go up to Yonge and Lawrence to get something. On my way back to the subway, I was following a Chinese family down the stairs. Here's how it went: the older generation (grandmother, I'm guessing) was trying to get everyone to give her their hats so she could put them in her bag. The father, carrying the stroller, scolded her for distracting them as they went down the stairs ("do you want us to fall to our deaths?"). The mother starts yelling at the daughter for being disobedient. The father tries to make peace between everyone because hey, they're supposed to be having a good time today. The moment they reach the bottom of the stairs, the grandmother starts grabbing the hats off the kids. All of this was happening in Cantonese. I moved away quickly after that because I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep from laughing. I swear, it was like I was watching my own family.
That's all for today. Hopefully, I will have done this correctly and you'll be able to comment from now on (yes, I have succumbed to the peer pressure...whatever).
"Narrow daylight entered my room, shining hours were brief, winter is over, summer is near, are we stronger than we believe?"
Everyone has crazy co-workers, right? Sure they do. So do I. Now, I'm not sure I should use her real name, given how much I might make fun of her at this point (and actually, some of you who read this already know her name anyway), so I'm just going to call her "Pam". Pam...she's one of those people you just really can't figure out. I mean, she's a nice enough person (if you don't upset her), and she means well (despite being slightly hypocritical), but frankly, I think she's a nut. I've only been working with her for five months but I've already accumulated a book's worth of stories about her.
Let's start with a couple of recent events. Before my department split into two groups, one in the office and one on the production floor, Pam made an almost daily trip out into the plant to observe the operators and make notes about any and all deviations she can find. Basically, she was the snitch. And she's really particular, she will report every little detail she can see. So, for someone who's that...for lack of a better word, anal, it was really surprising when I found out that she was a total slob. Her house, her car, her desk, it's all pretty much a horrible mess. Monica had to check something on Pam's computer and came back motivated to clean her own office. She said that Pam had the most disgusting keyboard she's ever seen. She didn't really want to touch it.
The other Pam story for today isn't that spectacular, just a little funny. Last week she came to work in a fairly conservative outfit: a sort of brown and tan-coloured top, black pants, and a pair of hot pink platform flip-flops.
Yeah...we all looked twice.
Keep in mind, she's gotta be in her fifties by now. She's been around forever.
Okay, switch gears. I was at the Street Festival this weekend and I separated from my friends briefly to go up to Yonge and Lawrence to get something. On my way back to the subway, I was following a Chinese family down the stairs. Here's how it went: the older generation (grandmother, I'm guessing) was trying to get everyone to give her their hats so she could put them in her bag. The father, carrying the stroller, scolded her for distracting them as they went down the stairs ("do you want us to fall to our deaths?"). The mother starts yelling at the daughter for being disobedient. The father tries to make peace between everyone because hey, they're supposed to be having a good time today. The moment they reach the bottom of the stairs, the grandmother starts grabbing the hats off the kids. All of this was happening in Cantonese. I moved away quickly after that because I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep from laughing. I swear, it was like I was watching my own family.
That's all for today. Hopefully, I will have done this correctly and you'll be able to comment from now on (yes, I have succumbed to the peer pressure...whatever).
"Narrow daylight entered my room, shining hours were brief, winter is over, summer is near, are we stronger than we believe?"
Thursday, July 01, 2004
Dum-da-da-dah!!!
I have finally updated my website with the Winter Getaway story complete with pics! Peruse at your leisure...
I have finally updated my website with the Winter Getaway story complete with pics! Peruse at your leisure...
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
May I Have Your Attention Please:
As of Monday, June 28th, Karen Lee has become a full time employee, with all the responsibilities and benefits (ESPECIALLY the benefits) associated with the position.
Please join me in saying "woo hoo!"
Thank you, that is all.
"Movin' on up, to the east side, we finally got a piece of the pie"
As of Monday, June 28th, Karen Lee has become a full time employee, with all the responsibilities and benefits (ESPECIALLY the benefits) associated with the position.
Please join me in saying "woo hoo!"
Thank you, that is all.
"Movin' on up, to the east side, we finally got a piece of the pie"
Saturday, June 26, 2004
So That's What It Tastes Like...:
The Bell City Chase sounded okay. In theory. And I guess it really wasn't that bad. In theory.
Emily and I started off the day feeling pretty confident. Both of us have done scavenger hunts before, just never on such a short time limit and never in the city of Toronto. We had six hours to find 10 of 15 checkpoints and to complete the various activities at said checkpoints to receive a stamp in our passport. We could only travel on foot or by TTC (they gave us the day passes). Sounds okay, right? So...first of all, before we could get the checkpoint clues (of course, they're not going to just TELL us where they are), we had to do a mini-scavenger hunt at the beginning of the race. Within 45 minutes, we had to find 10 of 15 objects in and around the Air Canada Centre before we could get the list (after 45 minutes, you could go and get the list by default). The ten things that we found:
1) a dandelion
2) a TTC transfer
3) a page from yesterday's Toronto Star (with the date on it)
4) a carrot with the leafy part still attached (they gave us a clue about that before the race)
5) a lock of hair, 10 strands minimum (we took the scissors to my head)
6) a worm (Em found one in the median on Front Street across from Union Station - quite impressive)
7) Canadian Tire money (a girl on the street gave us 10 cents for free)
8) a maple leaf (I was wearing a Canada hat)
9) a magnet (had to buy that one)
10) a 1984 coin (the last coin I had on me, naturally)
The remaining five things that we didn't get were: the main label from a beer bottle, a cup of sand, goose poop (still in log form), an inflated balloon, and a golf tee. So, this gives you an idea of the kind of day we had in store for us.
To make a long story short, we only got six and a half of ten checkpoints. Briefly and in the order of completion:
1) Ransom: My hands were tied with a plastic chain and a Dudley lock and I was blindfolded while Em had to run up and down the street with the ransom note to find a way to set me free. She got the list of combinations but we tried them all and none of them seemed to work. The guy eventually had to help us out.
2) Boggle: Make as many words (five or more letters) as you can with the letters from "Bell City Chase". You can't reuse letters, you can't use the word 'chase', no plurals, no proper nouns, and at least one word had to be 6 or more letters. With some help from Boni via cellphone, we got it done pretty fast. Em was the wordsmith of the day with 'blase'.
3) Show Me The Money: Panhandle for 20 minutes or until you get $5 at the corner of Yonge and Bloor. We tried for five minutes, then I just put in $5 and we were off. (The money was for charity)
4) A Rooftop View: Who knew that New City Hall had an observation deck? Who knew that it was on the 27th floor? Who guessed that the two of us had to climb 27 flights of stairs before doing a small orienteering task?
5) Surprise!: After searching for a specific car with a clue in the City Hall underground parking, we made our way over to Queen and Peter to...eat stuff. A bad roll of the dice and flip of a coin meant that the two of us had to eat two cans of cat food. I had to ask the guy what the difference was between the pink one and the brown one (salmon and tuna). I don't know what's worse - the bones, or the crunchy stuff that I couldn't identify. I only almost threw up once. But it could have been WAY worse. The other choices besides the cat food were sardines, hot peppers, a live grub (actually, that was the easiest), chew a whole pack of gum and blow a bubble, or drink a cup of the first five items blended together. I heard that a lot of people ended up with that choice, some refused to do it, while others tried and quickly regurgitated it.
6) Trivia 101: Sit in a classroom at U of T, answer 10 of 15 questions involving pop culture, history, and math. By far, the easiest part of the entire race for me.
The last thing we tried to do was actually an ongoing process. We had to find four business cards: one with a non-416 area code, one with a Dundas Street address, one with a photo on it, and one from a police/fire/ambulance worker. The only one that gave us trouble was the photo card, because it was incredibly difficult to find a real estate agency when you're downtown and running around. After we got them all, we had to find a Bell store on Dufferin. Somehow we got misdirected to Yorkdale, but by then it was 5pm (they extended the race by an hour), so it was too late.
We got back to the ACC but we were not the last to arrive, so I guess that says something. It took us a total of 7 hours and 30ish minutes, I think. The winning team finished in 4 hours and 45 minutes, so they're representing Toronto in the National Championships in September. If we thought this race was gruelling, that race is probably going to be killer. First of all, they're competing with eight other teams from across the country, but nobody will know WHERE in the country the race will be held until the day before. And for today's race, finish times were measured in hours...the Nationals will likely be measured in DAYS. Good luck to them.
My legs have rarely hurt in this manner, but hopefully I'll get over it soon. What's really sad is that I started getting tired before we even got to the first checkpoint. I feared that I would burn myself out in the opening moments, and my fears were realized. But this was our first attempt, and it gave us a chance to work out the kinks and realize that our strategy was slightly flawed. I'm sure it'll turn out better next year.
"Just sweet beginnings and bitter endings"
The Bell City Chase sounded okay. In theory. And I guess it really wasn't that bad. In theory.
Emily and I started off the day feeling pretty confident. Both of us have done scavenger hunts before, just never on such a short time limit and never in the city of Toronto. We had six hours to find 10 of 15 checkpoints and to complete the various activities at said checkpoints to receive a stamp in our passport. We could only travel on foot or by TTC (they gave us the day passes). Sounds okay, right? So...first of all, before we could get the checkpoint clues (of course, they're not going to just TELL us where they are), we had to do a mini-scavenger hunt at the beginning of the race. Within 45 minutes, we had to find 10 of 15 objects in and around the Air Canada Centre before we could get the list (after 45 minutes, you could go and get the list by default). The ten things that we found:
1) a dandelion
2) a TTC transfer
3) a page from yesterday's Toronto Star (with the date on it)
4) a carrot with the leafy part still attached (they gave us a clue about that before the race)
5) a lock of hair, 10 strands minimum (we took the scissors to my head)
6) a worm (Em found one in the median on Front Street across from Union Station - quite impressive)
7) Canadian Tire money (a girl on the street gave us 10 cents for free)
8) a maple leaf (I was wearing a Canada hat)
9) a magnet (had to buy that one)
10) a 1984 coin (the last coin I had on me, naturally)
The remaining five things that we didn't get were: the main label from a beer bottle, a cup of sand, goose poop (still in log form), an inflated balloon, and a golf tee. So, this gives you an idea of the kind of day we had in store for us.
To make a long story short, we only got six and a half of ten checkpoints. Briefly and in the order of completion:
1) Ransom: My hands were tied with a plastic chain and a Dudley lock and I was blindfolded while Em had to run up and down the street with the ransom note to find a way to set me free. She got the list of combinations but we tried them all and none of them seemed to work. The guy eventually had to help us out.
2) Boggle: Make as many words (five or more letters) as you can with the letters from "Bell City Chase". You can't reuse letters, you can't use the word 'chase', no plurals, no proper nouns, and at least one word had to be 6 or more letters. With some help from Boni via cellphone, we got it done pretty fast. Em was the wordsmith of the day with 'blase'.
3) Show Me The Money: Panhandle for 20 minutes or until you get $5 at the corner of Yonge and Bloor. We tried for five minutes, then I just put in $5 and we were off. (The money was for charity)
4) A Rooftop View: Who knew that New City Hall had an observation deck? Who knew that it was on the 27th floor? Who guessed that the two of us had to climb 27 flights of stairs before doing a small orienteering task?
5) Surprise!: After searching for a specific car with a clue in the City Hall underground parking, we made our way over to Queen and Peter to...eat stuff. A bad roll of the dice and flip of a coin meant that the two of us had to eat two cans of cat food. I had to ask the guy what the difference was between the pink one and the brown one (salmon and tuna). I don't know what's worse - the bones, or the crunchy stuff that I couldn't identify. I only almost threw up once. But it could have been WAY worse. The other choices besides the cat food were sardines, hot peppers, a live grub (actually, that was the easiest), chew a whole pack of gum and blow a bubble, or drink a cup of the first five items blended together. I heard that a lot of people ended up with that choice, some refused to do it, while others tried and quickly regurgitated it.
6) Trivia 101: Sit in a classroom at U of T, answer 10 of 15 questions involving pop culture, history, and math. By far, the easiest part of the entire race for me.
The last thing we tried to do was actually an ongoing process. We had to find four business cards: one with a non-416 area code, one with a Dundas Street address, one with a photo on it, and one from a police/fire/ambulance worker. The only one that gave us trouble was the photo card, because it was incredibly difficult to find a real estate agency when you're downtown and running around. After we got them all, we had to find a Bell store on Dufferin. Somehow we got misdirected to Yorkdale, but by then it was 5pm (they extended the race by an hour), so it was too late.
We got back to the ACC but we were not the last to arrive, so I guess that says something. It took us a total of 7 hours and 30ish minutes, I think. The winning team finished in 4 hours and 45 minutes, so they're representing Toronto in the National Championships in September. If we thought this race was gruelling, that race is probably going to be killer. First of all, they're competing with eight other teams from across the country, but nobody will know WHERE in the country the race will be held until the day before. And for today's race, finish times were measured in hours...the Nationals will likely be measured in DAYS. Good luck to them.
My legs have rarely hurt in this manner, but hopefully I'll get over it soon. What's really sad is that I started getting tired before we even got to the first checkpoint. I feared that I would burn myself out in the opening moments, and my fears were realized. But this was our first attempt, and it gave us a chance to work out the kinks and realize that our strategy was slightly flawed. I'm sure it'll turn out better next year.
"Just sweet beginnings and bitter endings"
Friday, June 18, 2004
Little Blue Car:
Our FDA inspection went well. And I mean REALLY well. There were some tense moments this past week and a half, but in the end the inspector was impressed with us. I never really saw him up close, but we noticed him leaving the building on Wednesday afternoon. He looked like an average guy. After a few minutes, I saw him pass the window again in his rented car. Now, these inspectors usually have expense accounts in the neighbourhood of tens of thousands of dollars. Nenita said that she's seen some of them that have a limo come and pick them up. So here's this guy, driving away from the plant, in a little blue car. I have no idea what make or model it was, but it was EXACTLY the kind of car that I would have pictured any kind of inspector driving. It reminded me of old-school European cars, like Renaults or Citroens. Or if you've ever watched Mr. Bean, it's kind of like his car. Only blue.
"So far so good, 'cause no one knows I'm faking, I wish I could show you the toll it's taking"
Our FDA inspection went well. And I mean REALLY well. There were some tense moments this past week and a half, but in the end the inspector was impressed with us. I never really saw him up close, but we noticed him leaving the building on Wednesday afternoon. He looked like an average guy. After a few minutes, I saw him pass the window again in his rented car. Now, these inspectors usually have expense accounts in the neighbourhood of tens of thousands of dollars. Nenita said that she's seen some of them that have a limo come and pick them up. So here's this guy, driving away from the plant, in a little blue car. I have no idea what make or model it was, but it was EXACTLY the kind of car that I would have pictured any kind of inspector driving. It reminded me of old-school European cars, like Renaults or Citroens. Or if you've ever watched Mr. Bean, it's kind of like his car. Only blue.
"So far so good, 'cause no one knows I'm faking, I wish I could show you the toll it's taking"
Monday, June 07, 2004
Addendums:
1) Yes, that was a llama.
2) My estimate was a little bit off for Kimberly. She GRADUATED from Med School at around the same time I was starting 3rd year.
3) Huzzah! I am in no pain whatsoever! The miracle continues...
New Business:
1) The fashion industry doesn't like me. At all.
2) They've discontinued one of my favourite products at the Body Shop!
3) I'm going to the Dido concert tomorrow.
Made off, don't stray, my kind's your kind, I'll stay the same"
1) Yes, that was a llama.
2) My estimate was a little bit off for Kimberly. She GRADUATED from Med School at around the same time I was starting 3rd year.
3) Huzzah! I am in no pain whatsoever! The miracle continues...
New Business:
1) The fashion industry doesn't like me. At all.
2) They've discontinued one of my favourite products at the Body Shop!
3) I'm going to the Dido concert tomorrow.
Made off, don't stray, my kind's your kind, I'll stay the same"
Sunday, June 06, 2004
Exceeding All Expectations:
Wow...I am absolutely amazed. Here I am, just a few hours after riding by bike (almost) 50 kms, and I AM NOT DEAD.
The scoop: Emily and I arrived at the CNE for the Becel Ride for Heart at 7:15am this morning, but that was the time we were supposed to be at the starting line. We quickly grabbed our stuff and found our way to the start and it turned out we could go even though we were about 15 minutes late.
Biking along the Gardiner Expressway and up the Don Valley Parkway was kind of pleasant at some points (the downhills) and quite brutal at other points (the uphills), but overall it was not as bad as I had imagined. It was less of a gruelling ordeal than, say, the CN Tower Stair Climb because (1) the scenery changes, (2) you can bring food and drink along with you (actually, it was provided for free at the rest stops), and (3) you get to see some interesting things, like a guy on a unicycle (I think he was doing the 50km ride, which is crazy) and a lot of people on tandem bikes (what happens when one person stops pedalling?). There were the hard core types in the racing gear who were passing us at top speed even on the uphill, but there were also entire families who looked like they were just on a leisurely Sunday bike ride.
There were two distinct moments when I was completely ready to give up. Both of them occurred during brutal uphills after we had rounded the top and were heading back down the DVP towards the lake, and Em was a good 200 metres ahead of me and there seemed to be no way in hell that I was going to catch up. But somehow I was able to mentally push myself up the hill. I was really surprised with myself.
Then there was the part where we kind of cheated. We didn't realize that we had to take the Bayview/Bloor off-ramp and bike for a little bit in the valley and then come back up the on-ramp and continue on the DVP. The sign just said "rest stop", and although we did stop at the top of the off-ramp for a break, we didn't want to go all the way down to the actual rest area and grind up the hill again, so we just cut across the ramp. Oops. I guess we should remember that for next time.
So our total time, from start to finish including all rest stops, was 2 hours and 22 minutes. That still really amazes me. I was so sure, based on my own preliminary trials, that it would take me twice as long. But this leads to:
Lesson of the Day: Always bring Emily with you for all physically challenging events. She will push you to your limits in ways you didn't even know were possible.
We were provided with a lunch that consisted of a lot of low-fat, soy-based products. The tofu dessert scared me, but Em said it tasted like the tofu dessert they serve in chinese restaurants (which I can't stand), so I just left that for a member of my family (most likely my dad). We met up with the rest of the McBride Bicycle Junkies (the group we registered with), and we hung out on the lawn for a while listening to some guy butcher one song after another at the bandstand. As we were about to leave, there was a loud pop, like a firecracker. Andy's tire had exploded, even though it wasn't really overinflated, but the sun had just come out while we were eating. It blew a tear in the outer tube of the tire. Kevin was able to mcgyver the tire using one of the Ride for Heart ID stickers. We all laughed and someone said that he was probably going to start patching it with grass next.
In a stunning display of endurance on my part, Em and I left the car at the CNE and biked to MEC so that she could get a hydration pack. We didn't have a bike lock so I got to hang out for an hour and a half on King Street, watching the bikes and checking out the scene (it's an interesting demographic of people who frequent the MEC establishment). I got home an hour and a half ago, and I am still really surprised that I'm not in an immense amount of pain. I hope I can still say that tomorrow at work.
P.S. Thanks to everyone who supported me, both in pledges and in words of encouragement. It made a huge difference.
"You're on the road, but you've got no destination, you're in the mud, in the maze of her imagination"
Wow...I am absolutely amazed. Here I am, just a few hours after riding by bike (almost) 50 kms, and I AM NOT DEAD.
The scoop: Emily and I arrived at the CNE for the Becel Ride for Heart at 7:15am this morning, but that was the time we were supposed to be at the starting line. We quickly grabbed our stuff and found our way to the start and it turned out we could go even though we were about 15 minutes late.
Biking along the Gardiner Expressway and up the Don Valley Parkway was kind of pleasant at some points (the downhills) and quite brutal at other points (the uphills), but overall it was not as bad as I had imagined. It was less of a gruelling ordeal than, say, the CN Tower Stair Climb because (1) the scenery changes, (2) you can bring food and drink along with you (actually, it was provided for free at the rest stops), and (3) you get to see some interesting things, like a guy on a unicycle (I think he was doing the 50km ride, which is crazy) and a lot of people on tandem bikes (what happens when one person stops pedalling?). There were the hard core types in the racing gear who were passing us at top speed even on the uphill, but there were also entire families who looked like they were just on a leisurely Sunday bike ride.
There were two distinct moments when I was completely ready to give up. Both of them occurred during brutal uphills after we had rounded the top and were heading back down the DVP towards the lake, and Em was a good 200 metres ahead of me and there seemed to be no way in hell that I was going to catch up. But somehow I was able to mentally push myself up the hill. I was really surprised with myself.
Then there was the part where we kind of cheated. We didn't realize that we had to take the Bayview/Bloor off-ramp and bike for a little bit in the valley and then come back up the on-ramp and continue on the DVP. The sign just said "rest stop", and although we did stop at the top of the off-ramp for a break, we didn't want to go all the way down to the actual rest area and grind up the hill again, so we just cut across the ramp. Oops. I guess we should remember that for next time.
So our total time, from start to finish including all rest stops, was 2 hours and 22 minutes. That still really amazes me. I was so sure, based on my own preliminary trials, that it would take me twice as long. But this leads to:
Lesson of the Day: Always bring Emily with you for all physically challenging events. She will push you to your limits in ways you didn't even know were possible.
We were provided with a lunch that consisted of a lot of low-fat, soy-based products. The tofu dessert scared me, but Em said it tasted like the tofu dessert they serve in chinese restaurants (which I can't stand), so I just left that for a member of my family (most likely my dad). We met up with the rest of the McBride Bicycle Junkies (the group we registered with), and we hung out on the lawn for a while listening to some guy butcher one song after another at the bandstand. As we were about to leave, there was a loud pop, like a firecracker. Andy's tire had exploded, even though it wasn't really overinflated, but the sun had just come out while we were eating. It blew a tear in the outer tube of the tire. Kevin was able to mcgyver the tire using one of the Ride for Heart ID stickers. We all laughed and someone said that he was probably going to start patching it with grass next.
In a stunning display of endurance on my part, Em and I left the car at the CNE and biked to MEC so that she could get a hydration pack. We didn't have a bike lock so I got to hang out for an hour and a half on King Street, watching the bikes and checking out the scene (it's an interesting demographic of people who frequent the MEC establishment). I got home an hour and a half ago, and I am still really surprised that I'm not in an immense amount of pain. I hope I can still say that tomorrow at work.
P.S. Thanks to everyone who supported me, both in pledges and in words of encouragement. It made a huge difference.
"You're on the road, but you've got no destination, you're in the mud, in the maze of her imagination"
Thursday, June 03, 2004
Takin' a Look Around:
Since I'm on the road a lot these days, I get to see a lot of interesting things. Like close calls. Goddamn, why do all the crappy drivers hang around me??? It's almost a daily occurrence now to see someone almost get hit by someone else (thank God it's never me...so far). And it's like it always happens in slow motion. The guy starts moving into the next lane, not noticing that someone else is already occupying the next lane, and he just inches closer...and closer...and closer...and finally the guy in the other lane gets a clue and swerves out of the way, honking like there's no tomorrow. Or the ones where the guy stops just centimetres away from rear-ending the guy in front. Hello, do you not see that the car in front has come to a complete stop?
I probably mentioned this in the past, but Stouffville is the horse capital of Ontario. So naturally, I see a lot of horses. Even more now that the weather is nicer. There's this one farm that's right by the highway, and the horses are usually grazing by the fence so you can see them pretty well. Lately there's a new foal standing around looking cute. But today on my drive home, I glanced at the fence, and although I only saw it for a second, I'm almost certain that I saw a llama. Otherwise it was the ugliest horse I've ever seen. On second thought, it could easily have been a camel too. I'm going to have to take a closer look tomorrow.
The other day my dad asked, "Where's Moldova?" To which I gave my standard geography answer, "I dunno, somewhere in the middle." The reason he was asking was because one of the many cousins in my family is getting married in August to a guy who's originally from Moldova. Kimberly's the daughter of my dad's cousin, which makes us somewhat related (I can never get the categories straight. Second cousin? Third cousin? Removed a couple of times? I don't know). This is also the infamous "brainchild" cousin that I think I may have met many many years ago, but haven't seen since. She's the kind of kid that our parents will heap praises on and make the rest of us kids feel completely inferior. She got into Johns Hopkins University at age 15 or something, then got into med school at around the same time I was starting 3rd year at Waterloo. Now I think she's a practicing OB/GYN. And she's about the same age as I am. And she's getting married. To a dermatologist from Moldova. Grrr...
"Hey, don't write yourself off yet, it's only in your head you feel left out, or looked down on"
Since I'm on the road a lot these days, I get to see a lot of interesting things. Like close calls. Goddamn, why do all the crappy drivers hang around me??? It's almost a daily occurrence now to see someone almost get hit by someone else (thank God it's never me...so far). And it's like it always happens in slow motion. The guy starts moving into the next lane, not noticing that someone else is already occupying the next lane, and he just inches closer...and closer...and closer...and finally the guy in the other lane gets a clue and swerves out of the way, honking like there's no tomorrow. Or the ones where the guy stops just centimetres away from rear-ending the guy in front. Hello, do you not see that the car in front has come to a complete stop?
I probably mentioned this in the past, but Stouffville is the horse capital of Ontario. So naturally, I see a lot of horses. Even more now that the weather is nicer. There's this one farm that's right by the highway, and the horses are usually grazing by the fence so you can see them pretty well. Lately there's a new foal standing around looking cute. But today on my drive home, I glanced at the fence, and although I only saw it for a second, I'm almost certain that I saw a llama. Otherwise it was the ugliest horse I've ever seen. On second thought, it could easily have been a camel too. I'm going to have to take a closer look tomorrow.
The other day my dad asked, "Where's Moldova?" To which I gave my standard geography answer, "I dunno, somewhere in the middle." The reason he was asking was because one of the many cousins in my family is getting married in August to a guy who's originally from Moldova. Kimberly's the daughter of my dad's cousin, which makes us somewhat related (I can never get the categories straight. Second cousin? Third cousin? Removed a couple of times? I don't know). This is also the infamous "brainchild" cousin that I think I may have met many many years ago, but haven't seen since. She's the kind of kid that our parents will heap praises on and make the rest of us kids feel completely inferior. She got into Johns Hopkins University at age 15 or something, then got into med school at around the same time I was starting 3rd year at Waterloo. Now I think she's a practicing OB/GYN. And she's about the same age as I am. And she's getting married. To a dermatologist from Moldova. Grrr...
"Hey, don't write yourself off yet, it's only in your head you feel left out, or looked down on"
Monday, May 31, 2004
If It Isn't One Thing, It's Another:
Lesson of the day: Hippopotamus sweat is a natural sunscreen.
Maybe it's just been a long winter, or I need a refresher course on applying sunscreen. No sooner had my hand burns started peeling away, I go and burn myself again. First, on both my arms in a single band, right where my t-shirt sleeve ended and the apparent sunscreen protection began. And also...on the top of my head. Yes friends, I have sunburned my scalp. That's going to look great when it starts to peel.
So how did I let this happen? I was at my good friend Jocelyn's first horse show this weekend and I neglected to bring a hat. Who knew we were going to be sitting out in an open field with no shade for about five hours? At least I was smart enough to copy some of the other spectators and get the umbrella out of my car. Otherwise I probably wouldn't be able to touch the top of my head for a week. But other than the potential skin cancer it was a fun day. Jocelyn did as well as could be expected with an ornery horse and really subjective judging. I'm sure next time we'll be able to entirely cover her outfit with ribbons.
So the photos of that day are in the process of being developed, and yes, I am STILL in the process of getting those other photos up on my website. But...in the meantime, here's a little something I was finally able to scan for your viewing pleasure. (Kev, this one's for you)
P.S. In case anyone wants to kill me for some reason, I just want to point out that the only link to the photo is through this blog...so this internet experience will be somewhat contained.
"And I'm so sad, like a good book I can't put this day back, a sorta fairytale with you"
Lesson of the day: Hippopotamus sweat is a natural sunscreen.
Maybe it's just been a long winter, or I need a refresher course on applying sunscreen. No sooner had my hand burns started peeling away, I go and burn myself again. First, on both my arms in a single band, right where my t-shirt sleeve ended and the apparent sunscreen protection began. And also...on the top of my head. Yes friends, I have sunburned my scalp. That's going to look great when it starts to peel.
So how did I let this happen? I was at my good friend Jocelyn's first horse show this weekend and I neglected to bring a hat. Who knew we were going to be sitting out in an open field with no shade for about five hours? At least I was smart enough to copy some of the other spectators and get the umbrella out of my car. Otherwise I probably wouldn't be able to touch the top of my head for a week. But other than the potential skin cancer it was a fun day. Jocelyn did as well as could be expected with an ornery horse and really subjective judging. I'm sure next time we'll be able to entirely cover her outfit with ribbons.
So the photos of that day are in the process of being developed, and yes, I am STILL in the process of getting those other photos up on my website. But...in the meantime, here's a little something I was finally able to scan for your viewing pleasure. (Kev, this one's for you)
P.S. In case anyone wants to kill me for some reason, I just want to point out that the only link to the photo is through this blog...so this internet experience will be somewhat contained.
"And I'm so sad, like a good book I can't put this day back, a sorta fairytale with you"
Thursday, May 20, 2004
As Though It Never Happened:
Hello one and all. Well, some stuff has been going on lately, but due to work, social encounters, a weekend out of town, and a very brief but violent bout with nausea, I haven't been able to keep this blog up to date. So here we go.
This past weekend I went with my good friends Emily and Jocelyn to Warsaw (Ontario, not Poland), just north of Peterborough, as they prepared to do their first adventure race, Storm the Trent. 4km run, followed by 16km bike, followed by 10km paddle (canoe, not doggie). Since it wasn't set up as the most ideal spectator sport, I got into volunteering to help the organizers (my specialty, I guess you could say).
The race started early Sunday morning, so we headed out Saturday afternoon/evening to Em's friend Ryan's place just outside of Peterborough. Since we were a little late getting on the road, Ryan and his fiancee Stacey had gone out by the time we got to their place. But they left us their key and their dog Tripper to keep us company. We watched the ends of "Point Break" and "Harry Potter" on TV before we realized that it was 11pm and we had to get to bed soon if we were going to be able to get up at 6 and be on the road by 7. Now...keep in mind that I have never met these people before, so it was extremely weird wandering through their house, looking for the bathroom or some kind of sign of where they expected us to spend the night. The basement was unfinished, but we found some sleeping pads so we quietly borrowed them to sleep on the living room floor. After learning that the cold water faucet in the bathroom doesn't shut off properly, I went to sleep wary that at some point in the night Tripper was going to bound off the chair and land on my head. But not long after lights out Ryan and Stacey returned and took Tripper with them up to their bedroom. In the morning, we tried to make as little noise as possible as we let ourselves out. That was the weirdest overnight visit I've ever had. Not only did I never get to meet the owners of the house, we left the place almost exactly the way we had found it. It's as if we were never there...
The overcast sky worried us a little, but it turned out to be an awesome day. Not as many bugs as I had feared, but much more sun than I had anticipated (Lesson of the Day: Remember to put sunscreen on the back of your hands). As with any event, the initial registration was the most chaotic part of the day, but I was able to hold my own against a sea of eager racers. When they all left on the buses to the starting point, it was eerily quiet. I hung out with the other volunteers (very nice ladies) and walked around and took photos. After about an hour and a half the first bikers started to arrive. I got worried when most of the people had already checked in and taken their canoes and Ema and Jocelyn were nowhere to be seen. Finally I saw their matching red bike helmets. After they took off in the canoe, Sean (the main organizer guy) asked me to man the Wall. This thing was pretty impressive given that I think Sean and his dad built it on their own. It was a roughly 12-foot wall, with two bells attached to levers at the top. There was also a small climbing wall right next to it with a bell at the top. The 2- and 4-person teams had to work together to boost one of their teammates up and ring one of the bells at the end of the race. Solo competitors got to climb the wall. My job was to be at the top of the wall (there was scaffolding behind it) and help out the teams by pushing the bell a little lower if they were having a hard time reaching it. I have to say, it was the best part of the race for me. For some reason, when the person rang the bell, it was like a signal for the person/people at the bottom to just let go. Luckily, nobody got hurt really badly, and I started to caution the teams about letting them down a little more gently.
So the race results are posted up at the website, and Team Triboluminescence came in 68 out of 85 in the 2-person team category with a time of 4:04:02 and no time penalties. Add on to that the fact that Em won a t-shirt and socks in the draw, and I'd have to say it was a pretty successful race. I don't have access to my scanner right now, plus I haven't gotten the photos developed yet, but once things are sorted out I'll post some on my website. And I SWEAR I will get the dogsledding photos and stories up as soon as I can. Kev, I'll let you know when I've got the OTHER photo scanned too. =)
Oh, I guess you're wondering about that nausea thing I talked about earlier. Well, it seems to be a unanimous diagnosis at work that I suffered some kind of heatstroke on Sunday that didn't hit me until 10am on Tuesday when I was at work. I couldn't handle it and barely made my way home at lunch (had to pull over on the 401, but fortunately the traffic was slow). I collapsed on my couch for a couple of hours before my mother fed me some water and the nausea really kicked in. Funny thing about me is that once I get it out, I'm 100% okay, as if I had never been ill in the first place. I'm a weirdo.
Finally, in a really unrelated way, congrats are in order for Laboni! She secured herself a teaching position in Mississauga, which means she can enjoy the summer knowing that kids will be waiting for her in September. Wait...is that a good thing?
"Between my fire sighs and my burning eyes, my heart burns wildly in his eyes, he's just a drunken, gambling man, dealing with the hands of desire's game, I'm gonna shuffle his deck clean"
Hello one and all. Well, some stuff has been going on lately, but due to work, social encounters, a weekend out of town, and a very brief but violent bout with nausea, I haven't been able to keep this blog up to date. So here we go.
This past weekend I went with my good friends Emily and Jocelyn to Warsaw (Ontario, not Poland), just north of Peterborough, as they prepared to do their first adventure race, Storm the Trent. 4km run, followed by 16km bike, followed by 10km paddle (canoe, not doggie). Since it wasn't set up as the most ideal spectator sport, I got into volunteering to help the organizers (my specialty, I guess you could say).
The race started early Sunday morning, so we headed out Saturday afternoon/evening to Em's friend Ryan's place just outside of Peterborough. Since we were a little late getting on the road, Ryan and his fiancee Stacey had gone out by the time we got to their place. But they left us their key and their dog Tripper to keep us company. We watched the ends of "Point Break" and "Harry Potter" on TV before we realized that it was 11pm and we had to get to bed soon if we were going to be able to get up at 6 and be on the road by 7. Now...keep in mind that I have never met these people before, so it was extremely weird wandering through their house, looking for the bathroom or some kind of sign of where they expected us to spend the night. The basement was unfinished, but we found some sleeping pads so we quietly borrowed them to sleep on the living room floor. After learning that the cold water faucet in the bathroom doesn't shut off properly, I went to sleep wary that at some point in the night Tripper was going to bound off the chair and land on my head. But not long after lights out Ryan and Stacey returned and took Tripper with them up to their bedroom. In the morning, we tried to make as little noise as possible as we let ourselves out. That was the weirdest overnight visit I've ever had. Not only did I never get to meet the owners of the house, we left the place almost exactly the way we had found it. It's as if we were never there...
The overcast sky worried us a little, but it turned out to be an awesome day. Not as many bugs as I had feared, but much more sun than I had anticipated (Lesson of the Day: Remember to put sunscreen on the back of your hands). As with any event, the initial registration was the most chaotic part of the day, but I was able to hold my own against a sea of eager racers. When they all left on the buses to the starting point, it was eerily quiet. I hung out with the other volunteers (very nice ladies) and walked around and took photos. After about an hour and a half the first bikers started to arrive. I got worried when most of the people had already checked in and taken their canoes and Ema and Jocelyn were nowhere to be seen. Finally I saw their matching red bike helmets. After they took off in the canoe, Sean (the main organizer guy) asked me to man the Wall. This thing was pretty impressive given that I think Sean and his dad built it on their own. It was a roughly 12-foot wall, with two bells attached to levers at the top. There was also a small climbing wall right next to it with a bell at the top. The 2- and 4-person teams had to work together to boost one of their teammates up and ring one of the bells at the end of the race. Solo competitors got to climb the wall. My job was to be at the top of the wall (there was scaffolding behind it) and help out the teams by pushing the bell a little lower if they were having a hard time reaching it. I have to say, it was the best part of the race for me. For some reason, when the person rang the bell, it was like a signal for the person/people at the bottom to just let go. Luckily, nobody got hurt really badly, and I started to caution the teams about letting them down a little more gently.
So the race results are posted up at the website, and Team Triboluminescence came in 68 out of 85 in the 2-person team category with a time of 4:04:02 and no time penalties. Add on to that the fact that Em won a t-shirt and socks in the draw, and I'd have to say it was a pretty successful race. I don't have access to my scanner right now, plus I haven't gotten the photos developed yet, but once things are sorted out I'll post some on my website. And I SWEAR I will get the dogsledding photos and stories up as soon as I can. Kev, I'll let you know when I've got the OTHER photo scanned too. =)
Oh, I guess you're wondering about that nausea thing I talked about earlier. Well, it seems to be a unanimous diagnosis at work that I suffered some kind of heatstroke on Sunday that didn't hit me until 10am on Tuesday when I was at work. I couldn't handle it and barely made my way home at lunch (had to pull over on the 401, but fortunately the traffic was slow). I collapsed on my couch for a couple of hours before my mother fed me some water and the nausea really kicked in. Funny thing about me is that once I get it out, I'm 100% okay, as if I had never been ill in the first place. I'm a weirdo.
Finally, in a really unrelated way, congrats are in order for Laboni! She secured herself a teaching position in Mississauga, which means she can enjoy the summer knowing that kids will be waiting for her in September. Wait...is that a good thing?
"Between my fire sighs and my burning eyes, my heart burns wildly in his eyes, he's just a drunken, gambling man, dealing with the hands of desire's game, I'm gonna shuffle his deck clean"
Friday, May 14, 2004
High Rate of Turnover:
It's a game of musical chairs at work. Last week Tina (one of the Validation girls) left the department and went to work at the Markham site. During her farewell dinner there were some horror stories about her new boss and the plant in general (Lesson of the Day: the smell of penicillin during production will permeate everything you own). She was cool but I didn't really get a chance to talk to her. All I really know is that she loves the show "American Dreams".
This Tuesday will be Shanthini's last day. She got offered a job at OPG (hooray for nuclear power). She was kind of surprised because she had the interview in November. But a job's a job, and in particular this is an engineering job. She's kind of nervous about it and a little hesitant because she likes the pharmaceutical game, but it's not like she can't come back. So we're having her farewell dinner on Monday (I've been eating out a lot lately). I guess this means that there is yet another opening in our department. Oh, and the new summer students started last week. Jonathan's a kinesiology student, which is a little different than the rest of us, but like Monica said, this ain't rocket science. He's sort of the hobo of the group, since there weren't enough desks in our area. He's using Michael's (the night shift guy) desk right now, which works out. And all the production guys are drooling over Maria. I'll admit that she's pretty, and it was funny how some of the guys reacted when they first saw her. Especially the guys who are married and have a few kids. Actually, that's kind of dirty...
Anyway, by the end of the month the new QA office on the floor should be finished, and so half the department is moving out onto the floor and the rest of us will stay in the office. All this moving about made me think about my situation, and how I kind of feel bad about deciding to move on after my contract is up. But this is after all a contract position, and the woman I'm replacing right now will be back, so it's not like I'm leaving them with another space to fill. The most ideal situation would be to get an engineering job with this company, but I guess we'll see. I suppose I should start to get to know the engineers a little better...
"Combat baby, come back baby, fight off the lethargy, don't go quietly"
It's a game of musical chairs at work. Last week Tina (one of the Validation girls) left the department and went to work at the Markham site. During her farewell dinner there were some horror stories about her new boss and the plant in general (Lesson of the Day: the smell of penicillin during production will permeate everything you own). She was cool but I didn't really get a chance to talk to her. All I really know is that she loves the show "American Dreams".
This Tuesday will be Shanthini's last day. She got offered a job at OPG (hooray for nuclear power). She was kind of surprised because she had the interview in November. But a job's a job, and in particular this is an engineering job. She's kind of nervous about it and a little hesitant because she likes the pharmaceutical game, but it's not like she can't come back. So we're having her farewell dinner on Monday (I've been eating out a lot lately). I guess this means that there is yet another opening in our department. Oh, and the new summer students started last week. Jonathan's a kinesiology student, which is a little different than the rest of us, but like Monica said, this ain't rocket science. He's sort of the hobo of the group, since there weren't enough desks in our area. He's using Michael's (the night shift guy) desk right now, which works out. And all the production guys are drooling over Maria. I'll admit that she's pretty, and it was funny how some of the guys reacted when they first saw her. Especially the guys who are married and have a few kids. Actually, that's kind of dirty...
Anyway, by the end of the month the new QA office on the floor should be finished, and so half the department is moving out onto the floor and the rest of us will stay in the office. All this moving about made me think about my situation, and how I kind of feel bad about deciding to move on after my contract is up. But this is after all a contract position, and the woman I'm replacing right now will be back, so it's not like I'm leaving them with another space to fill. The most ideal situation would be to get an engineering job with this company, but I guess we'll see. I suppose I should start to get to know the engineers a little better...
"Combat baby, come back baby, fight off the lethargy, don't go quietly"
Monday, May 03, 2004
Viral Chaos:
Sasser struck my workplace today, leaving most of us with little to do for the majority of the day. Funnily enough, my computer was the only one that escaped infection (hooray for Windows 95!). By mid-afternoon, the one IT guy at our site came around and patched things up.
Continuing on the topic of diseases (and, coincidentally, from my last entry), my boss got the results from her biopsy today...and as we had feared, it turned out positive. So on top of the silence in the office today from the lack of PC fans whirring, there was a sombre stillness. Oh...I suppose I should mention that she is already a breast cancer survivor, and so it's quite understandable when she mentioned last week that she would prefer NOT to go through chemo again. But it looks like that can't be avoided now. I was thinking today that she is the first person I've really personally known who has cancer. I know I talked about Vince last week, but I didn't really know that much about him, and had only talked to him sporatically. Then there are those distant family connections who have had leukemia and so on, but I didn't really know them personally either. Monica's been a really great boss, and since we have lunch together almost every day, I've gotten to know a lot about her and her life and her family. But she's a toughie, and I'm pretty confident that she'll be okay. It's just a little hard to watch sometimes and knowing that there's nothing you can do to help.
Sorry for the downer, friends. Hopefully next blog I'll have something more fun and peppy to write about.
"If I could find you now things would get better, we could leave this town and run forever"
Sasser struck my workplace today, leaving most of us with little to do for the majority of the day. Funnily enough, my computer was the only one that escaped infection (hooray for Windows 95!). By mid-afternoon, the one IT guy at our site came around and patched things up.
Continuing on the topic of diseases (and, coincidentally, from my last entry), my boss got the results from her biopsy today...and as we had feared, it turned out positive. So on top of the silence in the office today from the lack of PC fans whirring, there was a sombre stillness. Oh...I suppose I should mention that she is already a breast cancer survivor, and so it's quite understandable when she mentioned last week that she would prefer NOT to go through chemo again. But it looks like that can't be avoided now. I was thinking today that she is the first person I've really personally known who has cancer. I know I talked about Vince last week, but I didn't really know that much about him, and had only talked to him sporatically. Then there are those distant family connections who have had leukemia and so on, but I didn't really know them personally either. Monica's been a really great boss, and since we have lunch together almost every day, I've gotten to know a lot about her and her life and her family. But she's a toughie, and I'm pretty confident that she'll be okay. It's just a little hard to watch sometimes and knowing that there's nothing you can do to help.
Sorry for the downer, friends. Hopefully next blog I'll have something more fun and peppy to write about.
"If I could find you now things would get better, we could leave this town and run forever"
Monday, April 26, 2004
My God, I'm So Depressed Now...:
This has been a weird evening. I was watching Sixth Sense on TV, which if nothing else is a pretty sad movie. I flipped between that and Everwood, which featured the character who had AIDS leaving town because people were shunning her and mainly because Dr. Brown just broke up with her. And then, for some reason, I decided to log into Friendster to see what was new and found out that last month a guy I had met at CUTC had died from cancer. When I met him, he had just come back from missing about a year of school and the chemo had left him relatively bald and somewhat thin. But he was such a great guy, full of awesome ideas and energy. He came with me during our midnight grocery store raid for pop and chips, and he was one of the guys who agreed to pull the overnight shift for me at the headquarter desk.
I think he was about a year or so younger than I am, but since he had missed so much school he had to drop back a couple of terms. I remember that I didn't see him at this year's conference in January and I meant to ask someone about it but it slipped my mind.
Vince, we hardly knew ye...
This has been a weird evening. I was watching Sixth Sense on TV, which if nothing else is a pretty sad movie. I flipped between that and Everwood, which featured the character who had AIDS leaving town because people were shunning her and mainly because Dr. Brown just broke up with her. And then, for some reason, I decided to log into Friendster to see what was new and found out that last month a guy I had met at CUTC had died from cancer. When I met him, he had just come back from missing about a year of school and the chemo had left him relatively bald and somewhat thin. But he was such a great guy, full of awesome ideas and energy. He came with me during our midnight grocery store raid for pop and chips, and he was one of the guys who agreed to pull the overnight shift for me at the headquarter desk.
I think he was about a year or so younger than I am, but since he had missed so much school he had to drop back a couple of terms. I remember that I didn't see him at this year's conference in January and I meant to ask someone about it but it slipped my mind.
Vince, we hardly knew ye...
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Word Play:
I don't know if any of you look closely at your spam, but I've been getting some fun ones. And not the usual teen sluts or Viagra discounts. These are just a random grouping of words. It's in both the subject line and the message, but there are too many words to list here, so I'll just give you a sample of a couple of my favourite subject lines:
liquefaction juliet rainbow religious facade cornell scram lemonade...
confucian wine tetrachloride jacobus romulus anionic child yank furtherance...
(I couldn't copy it all down, but that second one really brought out the Chemmie in me)
Has anyone ever been able to buy playoff tickets online through Ticketmaster? Is that even possible? Because I've been trying and it's like they allow you to try, but they don't have any left if you wait a second after 10am. You just end up clicking back and forth, typing ridiculous words as their way of attempting to bypass clever computer geeks and their programs. It makes you wonder if the words they use are real too. Hungred? Ostiary? Then, after a bunch of relatively small (5-8 letter) words, they threw this one at me: "trialbalance". After about half an hour of trying (while...um...at work) I started to get the feeling they were telling me something when they were reusing some of the words. And then this word showed up and made me give up all together: "damnum"
Finally, a little tidbit of something that I had heard on the radio while driving to work. There's some new book about the White House and their role in Iraq or something, and they interviewed Colin Powell for it. They asked him what his relationship with the Vice President was like. Powell said that they had an informal and friendly relationship, and here's a direct quote from the book: "When the Vice President and I are alone together in a room, it's just Colin and Dick."
If you don't get it, just remember to pronounce the names correctly.
"And I see you standing there, wanting more from me, and all I can do is try"
I don't know if any of you look closely at your spam, but I've been getting some fun ones. And not the usual teen sluts or Viagra discounts. These are just a random grouping of words. It's in both the subject line and the message, but there are too many words to list here, so I'll just give you a sample of a couple of my favourite subject lines:
liquefaction juliet rainbow religious facade cornell scram lemonade...
confucian wine tetrachloride jacobus romulus anionic child yank furtherance...
(I couldn't copy it all down, but that second one really brought out the Chemmie in me)
Has anyone ever been able to buy playoff tickets online through Ticketmaster? Is that even possible? Because I've been trying and it's like they allow you to try, but they don't have any left if you wait a second after 10am. You just end up clicking back and forth, typing ridiculous words as their way of attempting to bypass clever computer geeks and their programs. It makes you wonder if the words they use are real too. Hungred? Ostiary? Then, after a bunch of relatively small (5-8 letter) words, they threw this one at me: "trialbalance". After about half an hour of trying (while...um...at work) I started to get the feeling they were telling me something when they were reusing some of the words. And then this word showed up and made me give up all together: "damnum"
Finally, a little tidbit of something that I had heard on the radio while driving to work. There's some new book about the White House and their role in Iraq or something, and they interviewed Colin Powell for it. They asked him what his relationship with the Vice President was like. Powell said that they had an informal and friendly relationship, and here's a direct quote from the book: "When the Vice President and I are alone together in a room, it's just Colin and Dick."
If you don't get it, just remember to pronounce the names correctly.
"And I see you standing there, wanting more from me, and all I can do is try"
Friday, April 16, 2004
Why I Am Not Asleep:
Stupid me is waiting for my cell phone to finish charging. Yeah, I'm weird.
So, Hairspray was pretty good last night. It was cheesy in a fun way, like Grease. And I was mistaken, it's set in the 60s, not the 50s. The hair is impressive, and there were a number of surprises in terms of the set design. Oh, and that American Idol chick is not too shabby either. I don't watch American Idol at all, but the only thing I think I recall about this girl is that Simon called her fat or something. Okay, so she isn't a stick, but what does that have to do with anything? For Christ's sake, check out the guy who won...
Where was I...oh yeah. So yes, I would recommend Hairspray to anyone who doesn't mind some good clean cheesiness. I mean, when you've got 60s style music, racial tension, several sexual innuendos, and a large man dressed as a woman, what more do you need?
Moving on...
Is anyone out there interested in going on a cruise? Sometime between July 24-Aug 1? To the Mediterranean or thereabouts? For roughly CAD$2000? I was just wondering...
BB16
"That's the start, the middle, and the end, aren't you glad the universe pretends"
Stupid me is waiting for my cell phone to finish charging. Yeah, I'm weird.
So, Hairspray was pretty good last night. It was cheesy in a fun way, like Grease. And I was mistaken, it's set in the 60s, not the 50s. The hair is impressive, and there were a number of surprises in terms of the set design. Oh, and that American Idol chick is not too shabby either. I don't watch American Idol at all, but the only thing I think I recall about this girl is that Simon called her fat or something. Okay, so she isn't a stick, but what does that have to do with anything? For Christ's sake, check out the guy who won...
Where was I...oh yeah. So yes, I would recommend Hairspray to anyone who doesn't mind some good clean cheesiness. I mean, when you've got 60s style music, racial tension, several sexual innuendos, and a large man dressed as a woman, what more do you need?
Moving on...
Is anyone out there interested in going on a cruise? Sometime between July 24-Aug 1? To the Mediterranean or thereabouts? For roughly CAD$2000? I was just wondering...
BB16
"That's the start, the middle, and the end, aren't you glad the universe pretends"