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Our first family trip this year was to British Columbia to visit family and friends. Pre-trip drama: - Monkey had a bout of vomiting that lasted a couple days and the presence of blood (a tiny bit but still) prompted me to make a last minute visit to the veterinarian. Turns out he has a tumor or cyst in his abdomen, pushing on his liver and stomach. We got him on an  anti-emetic  and a soft food diet but it seemed like his time left was limited. - About a week before the trip our A/C stopped working -- air was coming through but it was not cold. It's an old unit, probably over 20 years, and was leaking coolant through a crack. We had someone re-fill and seal, a temporary measure that is currently allowing us to live sanely. Before the repair we were using fans and sleeping in the basement. The usual tactics. (If you ever need a big fan that blows HARD, get one of these bad boys .) Day 1: June 29th We were supposed to arrive in the afternoon but our Porter flight got pushed bac...

The MRI for my knee comes up in January, so I've been (mostly) avoiding karate. In the meantime I've taken steps towards outfitting myself with archery equipment, which I guess is a thing I do now. Who knew there are so many doodads and trinkets involved? My mind has been taken up with my coming trip to Connecticut for a few days. Why Connecticut, you ask? Well, my friend David and I put in a bid to see the new Star Wars film with several (minor) podcast celebrities. Trip of a lifetime? Maybe. What's there to do or see in Connecticut? Not much. Will this dent my wallet? YES, QUITE A BIT. It will at least make use of the vacation days that I'd been saving up, though not at all in the manner I'd imagined. I don't think I have much else in news. I went to a couple of those ROM Friday Night Live events, which I have to say my feelings on which are very mixed. There's just something irksome about today's youth drinking and schmoozing amongst historical a...

Summer and still no decisions on my vacation. I have given thought to taking every Monday or Friday off for a month to at least use up the days. Even then, how would I spend the time? Is this what a mid-life crisis looks like? A loss of direction, a mule pulled toward every promise of hay? O.K., I'll allot some time to think about this. I saw Amy Schumer and friends at Massey Hall, part of their "Trainwreck" tour. A fun, funny night: Vanessa Bayer likeable and passable; Mike Birbiglia polished, his material barely worn; I didn't care for Colin Quinn's jabs at the environment, cheek or no; Dave Atell remains that dirty uncle, no subject safe; Judd Apatow pleasantly surprising. And Schumer satisfied, quick and smart and completely comfortable. I will however note three annoyances: 1. The tickets were $100, which I thought a bit high; 2. The seats were in MH's balcony section, which are too thin, too shallow, too hard AND too far; 3. The show gave proceeds to...

I see only the mistakes Yeah, I guess I really like archery. From what I've tried it's rather a lot like golf in that one's form, at least in the beginning, is a lot more important than hitting the target. Consistency over accuracy. I got my first real taste a couple weekends ago, when I drove out to Kitchener to celebrate Andrea's birthday with her and her crew. If I find the time I can see myself taking this up, I really do. My time since my last entry is mostly taken up with karate and FutureLearn. Gosh I just really do enjoy those on-line classes. I suppose I've been up to other stuff too -- installed and put a few hours into Heroes of the Storm, the new Blizzard online RTS arena game. Yeah, I guess some things never change. I suppose you're wondering how work is, and the answer is that it's complicated. I still feel at times lost, my routine for the past ten years thrown out of whack, swimming upstream against a current of training, administrati...

Indeed I've been back for a while now. The Germany trip was a whirlwind of sightseeing and getting lost and soaking up the European sun. People were generally friendly and, despite our lack of German language skills, we got along with the locals just swell. The vacation itself began with some 12 hours of flying (Toronto to Brussels to Berlin), then a quick bus ride to the train station for a 2 hour train ride to Hanover to meet Michelle, Mary Jean's friend. It was then another 2 hour train to Oldenburg, where Michelle was studying. Add in all the wait times plus the bus/subway ride to Pearson and you have a pretty full day of traveling! Oldenburg's a quiet town in Germany's north-east, with some tourist highlights including a castle turned museum, a stylish market and a couple idyllic parks. We took advantage of the town's location to take a day trip to the North Sea. I didn't have a chance to try the water though -- we were there to see the Seehundstati...

I returned a couple days before New Year's day, deprived of sleep but still basking in the memories of Maui. What follows are my notes while there, and my observations that have since emerged, so please excuse the switching of tense. Day one: Denver was an easy enough flight, and the one to LAX was just as uneventful -- had a sandwich and juice in the terminal, briefly tempted by the greasy wares of McDonald's. It's funny that the place always brings Doris to mind, due to the disgust it invoked in her. I am glad to be offline, without the distraction, to really be unavailable to the cares of the daily grind and the holidays. It was a combination of work, life and Christmas that drove me out here, an escape from choices. I'd forgotten how maddeningly loud it is inside the plane, a constantly surging white noise, clouding my attempts at concentration and knocking me into dozing. There's a 5 hour time difference between Hawaii and Toronto -- I wonder how I w...

Cape Cod Got back from my Vermont, Boston, Cape Cod trip Sunday night; some 3000 km of driving! Lots of walking too, so I'm somewhat still recovering. In actual fact, I stayed at home today with a fever and stuffy nose. Nicest day in March and I slept much of it away. We did have some pretty good days weather-wise in Boston and Cape Cod, but it was snowy and/or rainy while in Vermont, my first trip to any of these places. Ok, so the itinerary went something like: Drive from Toronto to Burlington, VT. Enjoy the Vermont countryside, stop in a couple tiny towns. Check into the wrong Holiday Inn, drive to right one. Burlington reminds me a lot of Guelph; laid back, quiet university town with lots of pro-environment sentiments, hippies. Ripped off by the parking meters. Lunched at a Skinny Pancake. Small drive down the highway through the mountains. Dinner at an Olive Garden where a friendly couple struck up a conversation. Visit Montpelier before heading down the s...