A good game

I had a lot of fun last night playing softball. We did a number on the team we are fighting for 2nd place, beating them 26-11. As usual, we had our one bad inning where a bunch of errors cost us 6 runs, but fortunately our 3 seven run innings (mercy rule) allowed us to stay ahead of the game.

I hated the park we played in. The trees in left field were two close, and there was a ditch in right field. Every time somebody hit it out there, the ball was dead. And the other team's right fielder kept calling our hits home runs, so who were we to argue? One guy on the opposing team kept whining that we were too serious (maybe our pre-game cheer gave him that impression) or that we were taking home runs and not giving them the right calls - but he was just angry and didn't really understand the rules.

All I know is that my 3 ground-rule doubles probably would have counted for a lot more at another ballpark.

Field Work / Long Weekend

Looks like another well is being drilled, this time off to the east. This one is a 400 foot hole to be used for borehole geophysics. The target aquifer is approximately 200 feet below the ground, and we are planning on a pumping test. Looks like we will need a monitoring well at that depth. I'll be out there again tomorrow, and in Mississauga too.

...

This weekend is Caribana in Toronto. However, with the recent increase in shootings, including the execution in the parking lot of Square One, I am starting to become a little concerned about safety. Granted, there are usually almost a million people in town for this thing, and there are only a few problems. But do I want to take the chance that that bullet or knife will hit me? Or worse yet, somebody I care about? Or am I just being paranoid?

Monday

Ugh.

I feel groggy. And it is already stinking hot outside. And it is only 7am.

34 C today. I read somewhere yesterday that Toronto had already had something like 26 days over 30C already this year (yikes) and many of them in the 33-35 range. And the city has had something like 50mm of rain since May (a quarter of the usual). A dry, hot summer. Welcome to global warming. Not that I actually believe in that.

Feelin' Better Today

Yesterday I felt kind of blah with an overall sense of fatigue. I blamed it on lack of sleep this week and poor eating habits (more going long stretches without food instead of having small snacks throughout the day to keep my sugar levels constant), and of course, not drinking enough water. That has always been a bad habit of mine. :)

Hopefully today will be a little better - softball at 6!!! Hopefully this time I won't make 3 throwing errors in an inning....

Toronto the Dumb

I really can't believe the politics in this town sometimes. Seems that the current Ms. Universe, Natalie Glebova, who is from Toronto, is not allowed to open the Taste of Thailand Festival in Nathan Phillips Square.

Why is this you ask? Because there is a bylaw stating that,

"Activities which degrade men or women through sexual stereotyping, or exploit the bodies of men, women, boys or girls solely for the purpose of attracting attention, are not permitted on Nathan Phillips Square."

I really don't know what to say. I'm flabbergasted. I've heard all the arguments over the years about exploitation of women. I am a little stunned that our attitudes haven't changed yet. This not only goes out to the exploitative folks in the crowd, but also the other side who can't get over that some of these pageants aren't the same as they were in the 70s, 80s and 90s. This woman, a Canadian, a Torontonian, has achieved an honour that few have in the past. And instead of celebrating her position, we are ashamed of it.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2005/07/19/1138266-sun.html

The little annoyances

You know, sometimes a day just has it in for you.

I decided to sit in front of my computer for 5 extra minutes this morning and finish reading an article after breakfast. In that time, my roommate decided to get up a half hour early and have a shower. That made me miss my usual bus and get in to work at 715 instead of 7. No big deal, except that's 15 minutes less sleep.

Then I walk out into the back yard and I hear a rustling to my left. I don't even look, I walk quickly ahead, sniffing at the air. I get to near the fence and I turn around and go back to confirm what I thought I heard. And totally missed that the skunk had gone from its initial hiding place to the middle of the backyard. I turned tail and headed out of the yard.

One of these days, someone is going to accidentally step on the critter and that's gonna be it. Stank city. If it happens to me, I don't know if I'll run away or toss the thing around the back yard.

Rain

What a wet weekend in KW.

Saturday was really a strange day. Shea and I headed to the farmers market just after noon. After a quick stop at Shopper's, the skies opened up. We got a little wet on the way to the market, some 4 blocks away. By the time we finished up at the market, the rain had eased and it was 2pm. It had rained hard for at least an hour and water was on the streets everywhere.

But that wasn't all. After a brief respite, nature was at it again. Starting around 3, the floodgates opened again. The park across from Shea's place turned to mud. By 5pm it had stopped again, and all I could think about was what had flooded where. To my surprise, the news didn't show too much damage except for a sidewalk that had washed out in Cambridge.

That wasn't quite it. I went to rent a movie at Far Out Flicks and everything seemed normal. A flash of sheet lightning on the horizon, no thunder. 10 minutes later, I came out of the movie place to sheets of rain. I stayed for 5 mins, watching an episode of Ren and Stimpy that was playing, but I soon lost patience and walked home in the rain. I got rather drenched, but it was the kind of warm rain where it really didn't matter.

It had been an interesting summer - the curse of the derk seems to have been lifted.

Hockey's Back

Finally these selfish goofs have gotten their acts together, sat down, and hammered out a 600-page document that should keep hockey where it belongs - on the ice - for the foreseeable future. It sounds like the league has done everything in its power to punish those who went out and spent tons of money before armageddon (i.e. the rich teams), who have only one option to cut salary - a one time buyout opportunity at a portion of the players' remaining contract that won't count against the new salary cap.

Problem is, these teams cannot resign these players after they release them. And get this - in a move that really makes no sense to me or many others whom I've read recently - there can be no renegotiation of contracts to make the current folks fit under the cap. For some reason that seems to me to have some legal question marks to it - but if it is under the new CBA, well, not much we can do.

Looks like the Leafs (and many others) will have some very hard decisions to make very soon.

Self Recrimination

So I got on the bus this morning and it was just pulling out of the station when I realized I had left my softball stuff at home and it was too late to run back and get it, even though I live so close. Then the self blame began - "I am stupid", etc. I have been doing that a lot lately, giving myself a hard time for every little mistake. Something for sure I need to work on.

I'm likely gonna have to work late anyway, but I'd rather have made that decision on my own rather than make it by forgetting something. I guess that's what happens when you leave yourself 10 mins to leave when you get outta the shower.

Small World

I just called Rogers to see if I could get my internet connection date bumped up.

"What is your name sir?"

I tell him.

"Oh. Dude. I can't help you because I know you."

Turns out it was a certain friend of mine, or to those of you who know me better, a brother of a friend of mine who used to run a cafe. Who knew. ;)

(Names have been left out to protect the innocent. This call may be recorded for your protection.)

Stress

I made a mistake this past weekend. I took work home with me.

That has been a rule that I have tried not to break. When I take work home, I take the stress associated with it as well, and that is no good. Home is supposed to be my sanctuary, where I relax and unwind from the daily grind.

But with two reports supposed to go out today or tomorrow, that doesn't leave me much wiggle room.

Oh, and hopefully, my internet will be up and running by July 19, or earlier if there is a cancellation.

Blogging from an Internet Cafe

So my roommate moves out and out goes the internet with him. Being a busy sort of person (i.e. lazy), I have yet to get internet at home again. And of course, work reared its ugly head yesterday, deeming that I do some work this weekend. Unfortunately, that involved printing out a document (if Silke had a cd burner on that mac of hers....) and reading it and making corrections. Of course, the aforementioned Silke's mac only showed half of the figures and tables, so here I am, spending 3.50 to log on for half and hour and print 6 pages. Strange experience, to be sure.

But now I can head down to Timothy's and read up on this stuff to see if the news is bad or good.

A couple of items

1 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY linda!!!

I know it was yesterday, and I apologize for not posting yesterday.

I had a great time at dinner and the "comedy" show. Here's to another year! *cheers*

2 - Internet at home is currently GONE. Now that Mr. Jack has moved out, he has cancelled the cable and internet, which was in his name. I will be looking into a new connection soon.

630am

There she is, sitting in her usual seat near the front of the bus, unobtrusive, just another person. She occasionally says hello to other passengers in a friendly manner, bringing a motum of wakefulness to a person's morning.

The bus moves on in its relentless quest to take people where they need to go. Another small group leaves the bus, the doors close.

Quiet for so long, the woman springs out of her seat almost before the doors have closed and rushes to the front of the bus and pulls the cord to let the driver know that the next stop is hers. It happens to be mine too.

Several minutes later (depending on traffic), the bus grinds to a halt. She is at the doors before they have opened, waiting. The doors open, she springs free! No sooner is she off the bus, she sprints across the street and up Valhalla. She gets about three quarters of the way to Cochrane Drive, and then she stops and starts to walk. She walks the rest of the way to wherever she is going. This happens every morning.

Another unique individual who lives life a little differently than the rest.

Fun weekend

Another long weekend has passed and I sit here at my desk Monday morning ready to face yet another meeting. But this time I feel more relaxed than I have in a while, partly due to the status of my relationship (**** - four stars), and partly due to the sudden deflation of work stress (my boss is on vacation).

It was really nice this weekend to get out of the house and walk around - outdoors, in the malls, etc. The gf and I got to spend some quality time together, and I really enjoyed that. And the good news is that she is coming here again this weekend, which makes 3 in a row! :o

Happy (belated) Canada Day!!!

Since I was out most of the past two days, I just wanted to say Happy Canada Day to everyone and hope that you had fun in celebrating the birth of our fine nation!

Now while the fireworks in North York left much to be desired, I appreciated the effort that went into the show. There was a huge crowd on hand that seemed truly impressed. Good for them.

And apparently Live8 was a huge success too. Hope folks enjoyed that too.