Culture Update

So I have survived the blizzard(s) of March 2008. We got two big snow falls within a few days of each other, but it looks like a $20,000,000 snow removal operation will not be required as was the case last month. This poor Hummer was entombed during last month's snow falls.

I finally saw the great new Coen Brothers film No Country for Old Men last weekend. I had wanted to catch it at the Toronto International Film Festival, but never got a chance. It reminded me of their first film, Blood Simple. Nothing wrong with that... Both films revolve around two hard-bitten characters on a bloody and remorseless collision course. Bit of a bigger budget this time 'round though. I also saw The Counterfeiters, a nuanced Holocaust film based on the true story of Jewish artisans forced to carry out a Nazi counterfeiting scheme.

I've finally got around (ironically enough) to starting a book my mother loaned me called Oblomov. It's a classic of 19th-century Russian literature about "a really lazy guy." I'm enjoying it, but I think Mum's trying - very subtly - to tell me something, which adds an irritating layer to the experience...

I was back at Absolute Endurance with my Running Room 5K Clinic a while ago for a gait analysis session. Taking my turn on the pressure pad I discovered that I've been wearing the wrong shoes for two years! Not that I was complaining. Turns out I don't need "stability" shoes, I need "cushioning" shoes. My feet don't wobble, but they hit hard. Really hard. So I've got a new pair of Mizuno "Creation" shoes to get used to now, with only a few weeks to go before my first race of the season, 30K in Hamilton.

Listening to: Every Day Is Exactly The Same by Nine Inch Nails from Every Day Is Exactly The Same (Remixes).

Everybody Talks About The Weather, But...

Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. - Mark Twain

I've always loved this quote. It seems appropriate today as the weather was a bit odd. It was hot and sunny all day until 6:00 PM when a massive thunderstorm commenced. Just as I was about to head out for an evening run with a friend... So my workout today was just a 2,200m noon hour swim. I was out driving on the freeway a bit later and in places there were pools of water 15 cm deep! It's raining pretty hard even now.

Three house showings today, which kept me hopping. I also had a "Go See" for a Bell Sympatico campaign. Tomorrow I have an interview for another I.T. job. Fingers crossed for both opportunities! Still waiting to hear about the Telus job...

Tonight I've been working on some web hosting projects for my photographer friend Adrian, adrianfiebig.com and irisimages.ca. They're both just placeholders right now, but there have been some configuration issues with the web hosting company he chose. I wish he'd gone with my preference, pair.com. There are always subtle differences between services. When he gets around to giving me some images to work with I can build some display galleries for him.

Listening to: Connected by Stereo MC's from Connected.

Out of the Frying Pan

So Wednesday's concern about gas shortages looked a bit lame today. We had a serious "winter storm" on Thursday that produced a short-lived blizzard that was followed by freezing rain. I managed to get out to two "go-sees" (in the same building, but five hours apart!) before things got too ugly, but the streets were treacherous. More freezing rain overnight made things even worse.

At about 2:00 AM on Thursday morning we lost power, which always awakens me as my Mac's UPS begins to beep. I have a gas stove and water heater, so hot water and cooking were still possible but my gas furnace won't operate without its electric fan. The house began to slowly cool down. Breakfast was scrambled eggs (without toast!) and hot tea and while my son sloshed to school, which had power, I set to work finding the street's sewer grates and digging them out so the road and sidewalks would be able to drain. In many spots there was 5 cm of slushy water swirling around.

With no phone, TV, or internet I was forced to read for hours. After a while I returned to bed to get some sleep as I'm still pretty wobbly from the flu and it was starting to get chilly. By late afternoon we were still without power and had heard that power might not be restored "to all areas" until Saturday or even Sunday. The temperature was down to 12C (54F) in the house and I had gathered candles for the coming night. I suggested to Chris that he might prefer staying at his mother's since she was lucky to still have power, but he chose to hunker down beside me in solidarity. And also for the faint chance of being able to play World of Warcraft...

Just before dusk the power returned. Whew! I got to warm up properly and Chris got an hour of WoW time.

Listening to: Burning Down The House by Talking Heads from Stop Making Sense.

Valentine's Day Blizzard

We got a substantial snowfall last night, resulting in slippery roads and slow traffic today. Too bad I had a million things to do in the car! I knew I had a casting call in the morning, but then Sheryl called from her daughter's house in Rosedale, where they were "stranded" without a car. I agreed to swing by en route to the casting, drop Sheryl at her condo and take Tamara to her office. Then another call from my agent added a "go see" to the end of my morning.

So the day started with a quick trip to a neighbourhood chocolatier for two boxes truffles and then down to pick up the girls. Trying to find a side street route to Sheryl's I managed to do an illegal right turn in front of a police officer and buy myself an expensive ten minute time out. I got to the audition late, but so did everyone else. Later in the day I got word that I'm on "hold" for the part. Lines and everything! Fingers are crossed...

Next I slipped and slid over to the "go see". Met the art directors in their lobby, shook their hands enthusiastically and showed them my portfolio. Waiting to hear about that one. Next stop was my agent, to pick up my first big cheque from the work I did back in December and leave them the first box of truffles so they don't forget me. The second box of truffles were for Sheryl as we were heading out for a celebratory lunch over the pay cheque.

Since it was Valentine's Day I had a card for her to go with the truffles. The card was actually a carefully planned practical joke... She's been complaining that since we "broke up" I've been spending more time with a mutual friend (Adrian the photographer) than I do with her. She's also been teasing that she suspects there is more to my friendship than meets the eye. So her envelope actually contained a pretend Valentine written to Adrian with lots of references to how much he has "taught me", has "opened my eyes" and how I look forward to "learning more." As she began reading the card with a puzzled look on her face I quickly pulled it away from her and told her I'd put the wrong card in the her envelope. I had her going for about ten seconds...

A quick technology "ha ha": Last week while Bill Gates was promoting the launch of Microsoft's new version of Windows (Vista) he stated that there is a new exploit of Mac OS X "every single day" but no one will be able to exploit Vista. Well first of all the slight against Mac OS X was blatantly incorrect, as Bill undoubtedly knew. There have only been a handful of exploits reported in five years and none of them have ever been used to actually compromise a Mac. Secondly, Microsoft has already released it's first security patch for Vista, a critical vulnerability in Vista's security tools! Microsoft has also admitted that they made a number of deliberate and significant security compromises in the name of user convenience. It's also clear that a sound file, played over a Vista computer's speakers and "heard" by its speech recognition can, under the right conditions, execute commands to delete files, go to dangerous web sites, or mail user's documents to a third party. Oops.

Politics: Prime Minister Harper admitted today that he intends to pick judges that support his ideology. That's an unsettling first for Canada, love 'em or hate 'em the Liberals did a pretty good job of keeping the judiciary qualified and apolitical. Also weasel words today from Environment Minister John Baird; in spite of Al Gore's explicit statement to the contrary Baird claims he is still justified in quoting Gore as supporting the Conservative government's do-nothing environmental agenda.

By the way, the worst snowfall this week has been across Lake Ontario in the town of Oswego. They've had 12 feet of snow!

Listening to: In the Beginning by K'naan from The Dusty Foot Philosopher.

Winter has arrived...

The temperature has finally dropped and this time the snow is going to stick around. I went for a 12K run on Friday; it was pretty cold, but also slippery on the compacted snow. Saturday afternoon I tried the new extended spinning class at my health club, ninety minutes long. I felt pretty good at the end of it but decided not to follow with a Sunday morning run with the Running Room crowd. Too cold and still too stiff! My feet were also still a bit sore from impacting on the uneven and slippery trail. I guess I'd better stick to cleared sidewalks unless there is a thaw.

Chris has been absorbed in the new addition to World of Warcraft, The Burning Itch (I mean Burning Crusade) so he's not keen to get outside either. He's also been "forced" to work on his school project, which is to learn a skill that he can demonstrate to his classmates. Belching is apparently out, as he chose paper airplane-making. We've had fun tracking down designs on the internet. Sadly Scientific American's classic The Great International Paper Airplane Book, which came out when I was his age, is not easily available.

I've been talking to my brother down in New York a lot more lately, but just on weekends. The reason? He's lost his home internet connection and he's jonesing for his e-mail hit. After a few minutes of chatting/life advice he asks if I'd mind checking his web-mail for him...

Listening to: Sunday (The Day Before My Birthday) by Moby from 18.

Stream of Conciousness

We finally got our first significant snowfall of the year last night, in the form of frozen rain. There wasn't much of a build-up, but it was like loose sand. Now of course it's all an icy coating or slush, depending on whether you're on the sidewalk or the road. The result is that my ex-girlfriend's dog Barkley is still here although she returned late last night. I'll drop him off tomorrow morning when the streets are clear again. Right now Chris is charging through his 500 piece Christmas puzzle, with Barkley snoozing beside him on the sofa.

I've had a bit of a tiring weekend. Friday afternoon I dropped in on a friend to help get their PC back on it's feet, and decided on the spur of the moment to go for a long run first and finish at his place. I ended up following a 16K route in pretty cold conditions even though they only lived about 2K away... I ran over to Laird Drive first to see if I could spot where Enduro Sport, the local triathlon store, was re-locating their main store (I did, and chatted briefly with the owner). Saturday I did a one hour spinning class. Sunday I joined a friend at the Running Room's regular 8:30 AM Sunday group run. There were at least 50 runners there! Last time I showed up there were six. That's New Year's resolutions for you I guess. I was pleasantly surprised to see half a dozen other Toronto Triathlon Club members amongst the crowd. Once again I ran further than planned, this time due to peer pressure, covering 17.5K. It was cold and dry on the run but afterward, while I was helping my friend Adrian on a photo shoot, the snow began to fall. Today I trudged through the slush for another spinning class, and then got a haircut ahead of my next audition.

One more thing about Florida; at the beach house our garbage was beset by rats and hermit crabs! The crabs we saw crawling about dragging their seashell armor with them. The rats however appeared at night when we closed the "hatch" down to ground level (they made desperate escape attempts, racing all over the floor until I opened the hatch enough for them to slither out). Too funny.

Late night update: I've just finished installing the latest patch for my son's World of Warcraft game. This primarily enables access to the extra-cost Burning Crusade module, which I presume is superior to the Burning Itch module. Also I found an audio recording of a book tour appearance by John Hodgman, who plays "PC" in the current Apple commercials and appears on The Daily Show. He's a very funny deadpan comedian, and he's a blogger. I think I'll have to pick up his book, The Areas of My Expertise shortly.

The full title, by the way, is An Almanac of Complete World Knowledge Compiled with Instructive Annotation and Arranged in Useful Order by Me, John Hodgman, a Professional Writer, in the Areas of My Expertise, which Include: Matters Historical; Matters Literary; Matters Cryptozoological; Hobo Matters; Food, Drink, & Cheese (a Kind of Food); Squirrels & Lobsters & Eels; Haircuts; Utopia; What Will Happen in the Future; and Most Other Subjects; Illustrated with a Reasonable Number of Tables and Figures, and Featuring the Best of "Were You Aware of It?", John Hodgman's Long-Running Newspaper Novelty Column of Strange Facts and Oddities of the Bizarre. Thank god for copy and paste...

Listening to: Talisman by Air from Moon Safari.

Winter Wonder

Who would have thought that I'd be riding my bike around town in the first week of February? Well it happened today. I cycled over the gym for a spinning class. (Ironic, no?) I didn't even need gloves! I should be wearing a parka and insulated boots around town this time of year. We are having a weird winter...

Listening to: Why Can't I? by Liz Phair from Liz Phair.