Today I thought I would have more activity in my place. Let me expain. Kevan, my coworker, has been getting free cable. Shaw doesn’t know about it, and he isn’t telling them. But it is preventing him from getting HDTV. If he asks to upgrade, Shaw will notice and start charging him. But there is a workaround that he has tried in the past. He previously got an HDTV decoder and hooked it up at my place, got Shaw to turn it on, then took the decoder home and used it there. He eventually returned it.
There is now a new decoder on the market that has fancy new features. Specifically a hard drive so you can record programs, and even watch them at the same time. With the Olympics coming up, Kevan wanted to do the same thing again. That was the plan yesterday. So, I tried to make sure the condo was clean. Unfortunately I’ve been distracted lately and didn’t do a good job.
My distraction has been a new webcomic called Sluggy Freelance. It’s not very well drawn, and not particularly funny, but it is still quite good. What attracts me to it is that it has nice nerdy plots, and is very good at continuity. Previous plot-lines are never forgotten, and the characters seem to evolve (especially in the case of the alien Alyee.) The comic has been around since 1997, so I’ve been going through all the archives reading them. It is so easy to read just one more comic, that I’ve been forgetting to be productive until far too late. Anyway, my condo isn’t as clean as it should be.
Fortunately, Kevan decided to bite the bullet and get HDTV the correct way. So he doesn’t need me. Unfortunate because he’s going camping this weekend and was going to let me try out HDTV. The brief time I had it, I wasn’t impressed, because nothing was being broadcast on HDTV. So if I had it for an entire weekend, I could probably get a good feel for it.
Anyway, I’ve got to prepare dinner right now, and then meet Andrew around the Fringe area. Then afterwards I’ll eat dinner.

Since Sunday evening I’ve been feeling depressed. I guess it was just one of those days. The scooter gang met and we went all over town. This time to Rundle Park. The last time I was there it was on a run, so I know it is 13km away from the Kinsmen center. My only problem was that I wasn’t dressed for the weather. So I was a little chilly.
I must say I’m learning more about Edmonton since I joined. Before, I never drove anywhere just for the heck of it. Now I’m seeing all over. However, I’m always with a group. I can’t imagine myself doing it alone. I’m not cut out for aimless wandering.
Yesterday I joined the Edmonton Hash House Harriers. They are like a running club. The point of a hash is like a fox hunt. One runner goes ahead and makes a path using flour. He makes a trail with several tricks, and goes through bad terrain. Then everyone else tries to follow the trail. Since there are points where you can’t tell where the trail has gone, you might run the wrong way for awhile before you have to turn around. So the faster runners have to run further. They find the dead ends and only figure out the correct route by the time the slower runners have caught up. When you find the trail you yell “On On!”
That all sounds good on paper, but the official slogan of the group is: “The drinking club with a running problem.” So part way through the run, we stop and have a beer. Then we run to the end and have another beer. Then everyone meets up at a bar to have another beer. Since I don’t drink, it’s not quite the same for me.
It was fun, but I think it could have been better. My legs were still a bit sore from the Sunday morning run. And the trail wasn’t laid out very well. The group I was with lost the trail so badly that we found the drinking spot instead. So we waited around for twenty minutes for the guy to come and unlock his truck and pass out beer. The others passed the time by abusing the truck.
Then it was a run back to the start. There they had some ceremonies that mostly involved forcing people to drink beer, either for bad things they had done, or for celebrating accomplishments. Is drinking a reward or deterrent? The ceremony took too long, in my opinion. We were standing out in mosquito infested park. Since I was a virgin runner, I had to entertain them all, somehow, at one point. They gave examples of bad jokes or an embarrassing story. I took the safe route and juggled some beers. They were slippery (when wet) so I couldn’t keep it up for long. But it seemed to satisfy the natives.
After all that, we went to a nearby bar. They had a pizza special on that night. But it took forever for them to come. Over an hour. I didn’t get to eat until after 10:00. I did get to watch everyone get steadily drunker and drunker. I left at about 10:30.
My opinion of the whole thing is similar to watching the monthly variety show/play “Oh Susanna.” That tries to get its laugh by plying the audience, and themselves with alcohol. Being the only sober person in a room full of drunks isn’t as hilarious as the drunk people think it is.

So I did the run this morning and had brunch.
Now I’m looking out my window at the vacant lot across the street. Some neighborhood kids (let’s call them punks) are goofing off there. They’ve taken the sign for the condo development that blew down in the storm a few weeks ago. They are using it to build a ramp for their bike that they are trying to do tricks off of. Not entirely successfully though. They seem to know one trick, and not even very well. Half the time they fall off and make a good attempt to hurt themselves.
Sometimes they go sliding down the sign towards the big pit that has been filling up with water. The water never seems to get any deeper since the past few rainfalls, but I keep hoping to see it fill up. The lot is mostly sand, so I’m actually surprised the water has stayed there this long.
Whoa, that was a close one. One of the kids nearly went into the pit. He had that cartoon moment of teetering on the edge. But that’s it. His second attempt seems to have gone better. He’s more in control of his face plant.
I’m still hoping to find out how deep the water has gotten. A kid falling in would give an excellent depth gauge. But it looks like he has gotten enough practice of how not to fall in.
I’ve had better entertainment.
Oh wait, he fell in. Unfortunately he didn’t make it into the water. He stopped at a ledge just above. Hasn’t daunted him. He’s trying again. He had a nice flop around the sign, but no plunge.
Safeway, on Friday, had a great sale of salmon, with just the head cut off. I decided that I should learn to cook a fish, and at that price, it doesn’t matter much if I screw it up.
Looks like the kid did a successful trick. Maybe he’s cocky now? Nope. Still dry.
So on Saturday I tackled the fish. There was quite a lot of fish involved. I’m not entirely sure I cooked it all. It was all pink, but some parts were a little too shiny. The sauce I made was good though. I made too much of it. And the risotto too made that meal entirely too big. But I have some leftovers now that should make the rest of the week easier.
The kids have gotten another bike. Doesn’t look like they’ve gotten the guts to use it. I stand corrected. But no face plant.
So after the salmon dinner, I went out to New City. I decided this time to take the scooter. I’ve been hesitant to do that for awhile. At least in a car, I can get to the bar without the entire world seeing PVC pants. But it was cooler out, and I decided that I shouldn’t care what other people think. (Wasn’t that what Richard Feynman always said?)
Oh, that looked like it hurt. But he’s still standing.
Anyway, it was nice and cool, so I could at least wear my jacket. I also didn’t wear my net shirt. That would have been a bit too public. but the ride was uneventful. Disappointingly so.
Kid nearly fell into the pit again. He had enough control that he jumped to the safe spot. Now they did a successful trick, and he still went into the pit. I think that’s there finale move there. They do the trick, come down off the ramp, and jump into the safe part of the pit. Look’s like they’ve gotten enough now. They’re moving off. Maybe they’ll be back some other time.
I think I’m going to go out and sun myself now. The weather has been pretty sucky all weekend, but now it is only partly cloudy. I might get a bit of sun.
Well, they aren’t entirely kids. They’re putting their bikes into the back of a van they they have driven into the lot. So I guess that only makes them punks.
I’ve been invited to a BBQ this evening. Unfortunately it’s in Winnipeg, and I don’t think I can make the commute to be there in time. I should RSVP, but what’s the point.
I’m just going to do the scooter gang thing tonight. Assuming the weather is nice.

I decided at around 11:00 to go out to Timothy’s and have a hot chocolate. Imagine my surprise when I get there and find it boarded up and closed. Even the sign is gone. I still have a frequent user card that says I get a free hot chocolate! Oh, the humanity.
So I cross the street to the Starbucks that opened up there. It was built on the ashes (literally) of the Uncle Albert’s diner. For a week or so, the busiest corner in Edmonton had three different coffee places competing to see who could caffeinate the most people. I was waiting for the fourth corner to lose its bar and have a TIm Hortens open up. But now we’re back to two.
Anyway, now I’m sitting here, updating my live journal. There are three women nearby discussing boys. They’re ignoring me, so I’m ignoring them. I don’t think I have anything to add to the conversation anyway.
The hot chocolate is good. I’m not sure if it is as big as the Timothy’s one, but it has the qualities that I look for in a hot chocolate. (Hot and chocolate.)

Yesterday I had Brian from downstairs over and we played Halo. He recently broke up with his girlfriend/roommate, so I’ve been helping him nerd out. Since he’s already had a date with another woman, he is way ahead of me in social skills.
I accept that I am rusty when it comes to Halo. But I need to start working on my Halo muscles, because the sequel is supposed to come out this Fall.
Today I ran. My legs felt tired afterwards. This is a bad sign. I’m either not over my marathon, or it was too humid. It was raining when I started out, so it might be the latter.

Yesterday I went for a 26km run. It went well. My legs didn’t feel tired from it, so I think I’m getting over my marathon. I still don’t think I’ll be doing the Edmonton Marathon. If I was going to sign up, I should have done it yesterday. It is now $99 to sign up. The route is a lot hillier than the Winnipeg one.
I saw Monica after the run. Apparently she is doing exercises in the Kinsmen center. I think this was the first time I’ve ever seen her in shorts. Man, her leg muscles are developed.
In the afternoon I saw the Bourne Supremacy. Good movie, but the camera was never steady. I think it would have been better on a smaller screen if they are going to pull stuff like that.
In the evening I did the scooter gang thing. We scootered all the way to West Edmonton Mall and then raced around in the parking lot. I think my scooter is finally getting broken in. I’ve been getting it up to 80 without noticing it. It used to top out at 70km, but I could push it to 75 if conditions were right. I’ve got to take it in for a checkup soon.

It’s been a gorgeous day today. I ate lunch outside and relaxed in the sun. Which was why it was quite a shock to leave work and find that it was raining. Of course I had taken my scooter to work.
So, homeward bound in the rain. Along the way I find myself waiting at a light behind a cute girl on a motorcycle. (Assumed to be cute. She was wearing a helmet, but then again she was on a motorcycle. Ergo, she was cute. Isn’t that a physical law?)
Of course I don’t say anything to her. Well I do, but she doesn’t hear me, or pretends not to. I wasn’t very forceful.
The annoying thing is that less than an hour later I’m in a similar situation but with a man on a motorcycle. No problem saying hello to him.
Face it. I just can’t talk to girls.
If I had gotten out a more forceful hello to biker babe, what would I have said next? I’m not good at small talk. The weather was a current issue, but then what. Certainly asking her for a number was way beyond me.
On another note, the run today was good. My legs felt tired fifteen minutes in, but I just ran through it, and they felt better soon enough.

Wow. Just got back from my scooter gang. Looks like we’re in for a big storm. The wind just started howling, and I watched as the patio umbrella on the balcony two floors down just decided to up and leave. I have no idea where it is heading. Looks like it got some good air, and I can’t see it anymore.
The cover of my barbecue blew off and tried to come in the patio door. The sign advertising the condo that is never going to be built in the vacant lot across the street has blown over and is currently lying in the open pit mine there.
Lightning and thunder, but not that much rain.
At least there is no hail. And good thing that I’m not scootering now.

Now back to laundry.

In the fourth season of Black Adder (the World War 1 years) there is an episode, “Corporal Punishment”, where Edmund is sentenced to death. Percy and Baldrick (amazingly) figure out a way to rescue him. With a cunning plan. But instead of doing it, they celebrate the plan and forget to actually do it.
I feel my life is like that sometimes.
I plan to do things, and then, because I have a plan, feel good about my prospects. Then I forget to actually do the plan.
An example is the internet dating I’m trying out. I filled out a profile for myself. I really need to work on the introduction and make it better. Because I have done this, I can see myself in the future having a girlfriend. Then reality hits and I realize that no one has shown the slightest interest towards me in months.
I need to act out on the plan and make a good introduction, upload some photos, and generally pursue this more aggressively. I have no one to blame but myself. I have a person who asked me some questions, but she gave me personalized questions, that need some thought into their answers.
She asked, “If you had three wishes, what would they be?” Or something like that. That’s not a simple question. I can’t think of three things to wish for. Well, not anything that is serious. So I’ve just been stalling, and realizing I can’t answer the question. “I wish I had a girlfriend” sounds very needy, and would put the girl off.
This is similar to another question that was asked of me. (You know who you are.) I didn’t have an answer immediately. It’s been bothering me for a month now, and I am still no closer to an answer.
“What makes you happy?”
I don’t know. I can’t even remember being happy.
I can remember being content. I have activities that I enjoy. I’ve had fun. But I don’t know happy. I don’t feel suicidal, so I don’t have to worry on that front. It’s somewhat disconcerting to know there is a good emotion out there, that seems to be missing from your life.
Would shooting up some crack make me happy? Chemically for sure, but still happy. Moot point. I wouldn’t know where to get crack if I wanted some.
I think I might have been happy when I finished my marathon, but that seems so ephemeral. Could that have been called happy, or just a sense of accomplishment?

“I wish to be happy. I wish to finish a marathon faster than 3:10:00 (Boston qualifying time). I wish I had time to do everything that I want to do.”

Today was a day for digesting.
At work we were having a pancake breakfast. We have a social committee that organizes these things. The employees pay a bit each year to pay for events like breakfasts or golf tournaments.
Anyway, I ate a lot of pancakes and strawberries, so for most of the day, I was digesting. It made the day last for a long time with the lethargy that comes from the digestive process. That and I’m working on a frustrating problem. It’s progressing, but slowly.
I didn’t leave for lunch until 2:30, and even then I wasn’t that hungry. I had to do banking stuff, so I went to a Little Ceasar’s nearby and picked up a $5 pizza. More food than I needed, but it was cheap. I didn’t finish it, but the lethargy continued.
This evening I had a Random Acts of Gaming. That’s the name of games night. Bring whatever games you can, and we’ll play whatever people want. No real planning. It wasn’t that random though. We all wanted to play Seafarer’s of Catan.
The first game went poorly for me. I was out of it for most of the game.
The second game was far more interesting. We were all fighting for position, and nobody was getting left behind. It was also fun scenario where we had to explore the oceans and watch islands reveal themselves. I won in the end.
Tomorrow I have JavaScript level 2 class. I’m hoping to actually learn more this time, instead of rehashing basic programming. Unfortunately it’s supposed to be beautiful weather this weekend. Bad time to be stuck indoors.

Yesterday I had a bit of a shock. I payed a bill over the phone, and found that my bank balance was far lower than I expected. Since my bank is going through some moving pains, I thought that my paychecks weren’t getting deposited.
I looked online for my transactions, but it wouldn’t report anything. I scootered down to the bank and tried to use the instant teller to update my bankbook. It refused.
Try sleeping peacefully with that.
When I got up this morning I went through my finances and made sure they were all entered. The complete information made it look like my balance wasn’t that far off. I still have some details to examine, but it isn’t as terrifying. I still wanted to know why my bankbook hadn’t updated.
For lunch I went to the CIBC and they updated my bankbook. I haven’t gone over it with a fine tooth comb yet.
My irritation is now about my checks. Because they are changing my transit number, they need to give me new checks. I still have 85 left over, and I’m going through about 12 a year. The new checks they gave me have the wrong name on them (Well not entirely. They have my mother’s name too because it is a joint account with her, but I’m the only one who uses it.) They also don’t have the carbon-copy for every check. That is a luxury that I’m addicted to. But then I’m anal-retentive when it comes to finances. I got them to reorder so I’m hoping this will fix all the problems. I’ll only get 50 new checks, but that is probably for the best.

Wednesday. I’m not writing regularly, so this is observations from a few days later.
I ran about 8km with the regular group that evening. It still doesn’t feel comfortable for me. The temperature was okay, but my legs felt tired for most of the way. I wasn’t breathing heavily, so I’m still in shape. I don’t think my legs have recovered from the marathon yet. The mosquitoes are starting to come out, but they aren’t nearly as bad as they were in Manitoba.
After the run, I met some friends at a pool hall and played billiards. It was a nice break from the ordinary. Michael won two games and Andrew won the other two. Still it was fun. I never felt that I was out of the game totally.
I also made what would have looked like an amazing shot if it hadn’t been a fluke. It even looked like it was intentional.

It is really too hot to write regularly. It is an effort to actually sit down at a computer in a non-air-conditioned residence. But there is a cool breeze with the approaching rain.
On Friday I had a games night at my place. But to make it special, we purchased some steaks and cooked them on the barbecue. After a nice dinner we played Lord of the Rings Risk. (I successfully captured the ring when it tried to pass through the Mines of Moria. Evil wins because Good is stupid!) After that we played a game of Seafarers of Catan. I was on the verge of winning, and would have done so, if I hadn’t rolled the robber on my turn. Cameron went on to win.
Yesterday it was hot and muggy, so I didn’t do much. I did go out and buy a good deck chair. I probably paid too much, so I’m going to look for another one, and if I find it, I’ll return this one. In the evening, I decided to go see Chimprov. Before I left, we got a lightning storm. I took the opportunity to clean my balcony. I sloshed some cleaning solution into the rain, and then mopped all the dirt off. I’m not going to think about where all the dirt and soap went when I pushed it off the edge. Chimprov was okay. Every time I go (which is sporadic these days) they want me to volunteer for something. On the 26th I’ll be running concession for the Masters of the Obvious improv tournament.
This morning I went running. It’s the first long run I’ve done since the marathon. It was somewhat of a mistake. It was 23 degrees, and humid. I still did twenty kilometers over hilly backtrails in the river valley. The last set of stairs nearly did me in.
In the afternoon I checked out “Spring Action” at the street performers festival. They were good trampolinists, but there isn’t much plot in street theatre. I think I’ll stick with the scripted stage productions.
I then went on to my balcony, and tried out the new deck chair. It’s good and adjustable. Heck I can make a bed out of it if I want. Solid construction too. You get what you pay for. I sunned myself and read a book. I noted that I’m on the top floor and somewhat sheltered from everyone when I’m in the corner. So I decided to sunbath in the nude. Tres Risque! I suppose people could have seen me from the major street a few blocks away, but they would have to be really looking and have great eyesight. And not keeping their eyes on the road.
After an hour, I strapped a golf club to my back and scootered to the driving range. I am totally out of practice. The first basket of balls was a write-off. The second one was a lot better. Just as I was leaving, a pair of beautiful women came in with a set of golf clubs. I’ll have to come back next week and see if they are regulars. I don’t know if they are, because one was in high heels.
I left when I did because the scooter gang was meeting. We trolled the streets of Edmonton like a flock of lawnmowers. It’s a good way to get cool, and put some kilometers on my scooter.
For the later evening I sat on my new chair on the balcony and read a book. It wasn’t until 10:00 that I realized I haven’t had a dinner yet. Too bad! I have to update my journal. I’m not that hungry, so I’ll just sleep it off.

The mark of a good gift: The neighbors are jealous of it.
For Christmas, I gave my family in Winnipeg a water cooler. My mother was initially skeptical about it. But she changed her mind soon enough.
Now with summer here, the neighbors across the street are apparently thinking of getting one for themselves. After seeing the one my family has.
It’s amazing how much the value of something increases if someone else wants it.

Today I have a focus group I’m going to. It pays $50 and seems a nice enough way to waste time. I just have to have opinions on banking.
The hail storm that happened two days ago is being referred to in the papers as a “once every 200 years” storm. The Whitemud Drive highway was totally filled up with water in places. I’d like to say I’m glad I wasn’t out in that, but unfortunately I was.
I had the Top Gear look over the scooter yesterday. It was only cosmetic damage.
Interesting story though. On the way home today, my scooter was in a lane where traffic was going faster than the other lane. So I passed a guy on a big hefty motorcycle with the biker-babe accessory. He yelled at me to “Slow down! You’re making me look bad.” Big grin on his face.
A few blocks later a person in a hatchback offered his opinion. “You should pull over and kick his a**.”
I’m sure this scooter will be the death of me, but I love the attention.

So I made a promise to stop whining. I’m amending that promise to just stop whining about things that no one really cares about. So I can whine if it is interesting.

This has been a bad day. My head doesn’t feel like it was too bad, but emotionally, I feel drained.
I signed up for a JavaScript course that has effectively sucked my weekend away. It’s for people with only an HTML background, not eight-years-of-C++-programming-experience background. Let’s just say I could have taught 95% of the stuff on the first day.
Today was the second and final day. It was nice out, so wearing shorts and T-shirt, I scootered downtown to the Alberta College Campus. Nice place by the way. I actually learned some stuff today, but I’m still feeling that I could have learned more. Anyway, because it is web programming we had constant access to the internet. There was a 70% chance of thunderstorms today, but it looked fairly nice out, so I didn’t worry too much. They said the same thing yesterday, and it was beautiful all day. (Heck, I played disc golf yesterday evening.) I kept checking the weather office and it was at about 2:30 that the radar indicated that out of nowhere, a storm was falling to the southwest of Edmonton.
I got out at around 3:15 and got onto the scooter and headed home. It was sprinkling a bit. I don’t worry too much about rain when I’m on a scooter. I don’t want to scooter in the rain, but I will if I have to. I get wet, but if I take it slow, it isn’t too bad.
Personally, I think I overuse the phrase “And then the heavens opened up.” But this was the poster child for that saying. It wasn’t rain. It was hail and rain. There may have been thunder and lightning, but I couldn’t hear it against the pounding on my helmet.
I had just crossed the river when the hail started. It wasn’t too bad, but it was hurting. My bare arms are stretched in front of me, perfect targets for the stones. I briefly thought about sheltering under an overpass, but I was five minutes from home, so why bother.
When I had gotten out of the river valley, it was pounding harder. Every light seemed to be red. The hail was getting worse, and my arms were in a lot of pain. I crossed Whyte Avenue (82nd Avenue), and the streets were overflowing with water. I successfully turned right in a deep puddle onto 80th Avenue (a residential street). There were big trees that should have provided shelter. They didn’t help. Under the constant bombardment, the street was literally filled with hail. You couldn’t see the pavement any more.
Did I mention it was slippery?
I’m surprised I didn’t wipe out earlier. I felt I was starting to lose control on that street, but I kept it together. But right next to my building, before I was turning into my back alley, I lost control in all the ice. I went gently over onto the side. I was going slowly, so there wasn’t much hurt. And the scooter seemed fine, but I wasn’t paying attention. Get out of the hail.
I got to the garage entrance, and balanced the bike while standing in a deep puddle of moving water, trying to fish the entry fob out of my wet pockets. I got in, and drove to my parking place. My arms were killing me from the hail and I don’t think I was thinking totally clearly. I ignored all the alarms and sirens around me. Must be a weather warning thing.
I was getting off the elevator on my floor by the time I realized it was a fire alarm.
I didn’t care. I went into my condo. Took off my shirt and put on a dry one. I then took my laptop out of my wet backpack. Seemed fine. I then did the proper fire alarm thing and went down to the front lobby.
A person on the condo association looked at the alarm chart and reported that it was a dust detector on the roof. I think the hail probably set it off. I decided to not worry about it.
I then went and checked the scooter to see if it was damaged much. There was a white plastic ring that was loosely attached to the bottom of the bike, but I have no idea what it was from, or even if it was part of the bike. The biggest thing I found was the front right signal-light covering had fallen off. i.e. the clear plastic that protects the light from the elements. It happened before the first time I wiped out.
The hail had let up a lot so I walked out to check where I wiped out to see if I could find it. It wasn’t hard. The hail had left a nice imprint of the car tire that had run over it. I collected up the pieces and went back to my condo.
The alarms didn’t stop until the fire department arrived an hour later.
My arms are covered in welts from the pounding hail. I’ve got a scrapped knee that seems to have swollen up a bit. Right now I’m feeling a little down. It’s not about the scooter though. That doesn’t bother me because it wasn’t too bad. But I just feel in my gut, a little down.
I’m probably just tired.

I probably should go out tonight. But I still feel sick.
Yesterday I went to the doctor to get my testing done. The fasting sucked, but it was over in half an hour. What irked me is that there was a sign, really a photocopy, telling how much better it is if you smile and are happy. So I took to it and tried to be friendly with the doctor. She never cracked a smile. Gloomy Gus.
I was supposed to prepare a D&D game for that evening, but I wasted a lot of time sunning on my balcony. I read some of the Lemony Snickett books I’ve been trying to get to.
A half hour before the game I got a call from Cameron saying he couldn’t make it. He had gotten too much sun. With that, we lost quorum for a game, but a few of us got together anyway and played some board games. Chrononauts, Settlers of Catan, and Munchkin.
This morning I tried to sleep in, to give my body a chance to heal, but I couldn’t sleep. With all the mucus my nose feels responsible for producing it’s hard to sleep.
I did go to get my haircut. It was raining too much to take a scooter, and it is too close to take a car, so I walked. Five minutes in, I ducked into a store and purchased an umbrella.
My stylist has decided that we’re going to try and work on having me grow out my hair. I trust her, so I’m going along with this. She did color my hair a bit, so the trip wasn’t a waste. No freaky colors though.
On the way back I stopped by the farmer’s market. I bought a chicken pie and some cherries. I polished off the cherries as my lunch. The Hutterites didn’t want to sell me eggs because I only wanted six.
This evening, I’m going to relax and try to heal. I don’t think I’ll run tomorrow because I’m still sick, and it’s raining. I’m tempted to go out and see some improv because I have a lot of tickets that are set to expire, but that would mean too little sleep.
I think I’ll try and finish Splinter Cell.

When I moved into my new condo I took a rubber floor mat with me. It was a rubbermaid thing for putting wet shoes on. I noticed it was dirty, and so I put it on my balcony and hoped that when it rained, it would soak enough so I could scrub the dirt off.
It took me several days to notice it was missing. I assume that the wind blew it off to somewhere else. This irks me. One, for being stupid enough to do something like that. And two, for not being able to find a good replacement anywhere.
It’s been raining non-stop today. It’s just cleared up so I went out onto my balcony to just be outside. I looked down, and clear as day, I can see my rubbermaid floor mat on the balcony of the people two floors below me. Still dirty.
It’s been a year since I lost it, so it would be awkward to try and claim it. Even if I’m wrong though, and it isn’t mine, I would like to know where they got it, so I can get one too.

Busy day today.
When I woke up, I didn’t feel that good, so it took me awhile to get going. When I did get moving, it was around 9:00. I scootered down to the legislature for the free pancake breakfast. There was a 5km and 15km run at 7:30, so I talked to some of the participants. I would like to have also done the run, but I’m taking it easy while my body recovers from the marathon.
I got to the scooter place at 10:10. They had asked people to come in and be part of the scooter gang in the silly summer parade on Whyte Avenue. We then proceeded to wait and wait and wait. The parade didn’t start until noon, so there wasn’t much we needed to do. At around 11:15 we went to the staging area, a nice suburban area off Whyte. and waited there. The Wooly Bully bar’s float was many beautiful girls in a tub. It looked good for awhile that we would be behind them in the parade, but it wasn’t meant to be. I did get one to squirt me with a water pistol, but that was the extent of my guts. (In my defense, it was hot out, and I did want to get wet.)
So for the parade, we just scootered around in circles. We weren’t an interesting float, but I can now say I was in the parade. Afterwards, I hung around the celebration area. Not much happened there.
I went home and relaxed for awhile. Then I decided to go to the Bikini car wash to get my scooter cleaned. It wasn’t that thrilling, and I don’t know how good a job they did. It was probably overpriced. Still, no complaints. I did convince them to use the hose on me. It was hot, so I wanted to cool down.
I then took the scooter around to Hawrelak park, and went back home. On getting back home, I discovered that my neighbor below me is having a change. Brian and Amy live below me, but now it is just Brian. I didn’t get too many details, but from what I learned, Amy didn’t feel it was going anywhere, and moved out.
Now I’ve just been lounging around, being unproductive. I noticed that I have a bit of a farmer’s tan today. It’s good that I’m getting some sun. I need to buy a lawn chair for my balcony so I can get a lot more.
I’m going to go to the doctor tomorrow. I’m supposed to give some samples to the lab, but I can’t eat anything for 12 hours in advance. Since I have the day off, I’m hoping to get there early enough in the day so I’m not hungry, but late enough so that the morning rush is over.
Now I have to design a D&D game for tomorrow.

I feel sick. It started as a tickle in my throat yesterday, but now I have a stuffed up nose. I blame lack of sleep.
On Sunday, I tried to go to bed early, but I don’t think it was early enough. I got up insanely early to catch a flight to Edmonton. The flight was pretty good, considering it was Air Canada. There was no one sitting in my row, so I got to lie down and try and sleep. I didn’t actually sleep, but I did pretend.
I then went to work, and tried to do a reasonable facsimile of a productive day. I went out to dinner, did some grocery shopping. Then stayed up way to late going through some of the books that came in from Amazon.
On Tuesday, I stayed up too late again. A friend had tickets to see the Molson Indy Model search at Red’s. It was supposed to start at 9:00, but Red’s has an excellent bait-and-switch program. It didn’t actually start until 10:40. When they had a five to ten minute break, it lasted half an hour. I left there around midnight. I didn’t stay to see who the winner was. They said they would find out in ten minutes. HA!
Today, we were let out of work early. We released a major product so in celebration, we’re getting a really long weekend. I get Friday off too. In celebration, I ignored my sickness and went to see Spider-man 2.
It was a good movie. I felt it was a little slow at times. My biggest beef was that Spider-man used any excuse to take off his mask. He didn’t need villains to do it, he just did it himself. As near as I can tell, half of New York now knows what he looks like.
Now I’ve updated all the journal entries that I wrote over the vacation, and posted them. I’m now going to try and get some sleep. I have a busy day tomorrow. And I hope I’m over this cold by then.

The other day I went to see Shrek 2 with Coram. It was a good movie. What impressed me the most was that a small element from the first movie became a larger plot point in the second. Specifically the Muffin Man. I felt a little spoiled from the commercials and trailers. I know I shouldn’t watch them, but I can’t help myself.
Yesterday I went to the bar with Canticle. Everyone was saying that the place was dead compared to the ususal. It was nice that no one is allowed to smoke, but I think I smelt marijuana at one point. The TV playing some Godzilla movie was somewhat distracting.
I met Jeff’s friend, Erik. (That was weird to type.) We have a surprisingly large amount in common. Just to start with, D&D and no fear of math. It sounds like the three of us will be going to Europe next year, but the planning stage doesn’t seem to be progressing much. Well, we’ll see.
At the bar I met Adam. Erik said I was supposed to talk to him about Magic Squares, and then their practical applications. He did seem to know a lot about them, but I’m guessing they are his hobby. I talked to him about fractals, but I only know enough to be dangerous. Not enough to keep up a conversation.
An interesting thought crossed my mind. I had never met Adam before, but I was able to have a good conversation with him very quickly. I’ve never had that luck with women. I wonder if that is because I have never had anything in common with any of the women I’ve talked to. Or is it because their gender makes me uncomfortable. I’m not talking being gay or anything, but with men, I know that nothing is ever going to happen. But with women there is always that faint hope, which starts making conversations awkward for me. (The more you want something to happen, the less likely it is to happen.)
I guess I just need to talk with women more and get comfortable.

So I just saw Troy with Canticle. I haven’t had time to really absorb it, but I liked it. Part way through I decided that I would not want to own the DVD. I think the problem I had with it was that there was no real hero to root for. Achilles seemed to be the protagonist, but he didn’t even like what he was doing. The Trojans seemed far more honorable, but you know from the start that they are going to lose.
I’m happy I saw it, but not again.

I got the paper and the final results.
I placed 156th out of 869 people. The official time I had was 3:41:49. The first place winner did it in 2:31:27 and the last place person did it in 7:08:26.
There is some controversy over the first place women. Apparently some women, signed up for the full marathon, had actually run the half marathon. That must have been hard to do because there were big signs showing where the half and full people should split up. Heck, if I had just been doing my previous half marathon, I would have come in before her.

Yesterday I ran a marathon.
I completed it in roughly 3:42:00.
My goal was to run it in 3:30:00, but I’m not upset I didn’t make that goal. I am getting over an injury. Fortunately my peroneus [sic, probably] muscle didn’t hurt at all during the run. That is no longer true. My legs are really aching now. Hardly a surprise.
For the first half of the run, I was great. I was going faster than the 3:30 pace bunny and felt good. My father and sister were stalking me the entire way, so I had something to look forward to. I loaned my sister my camera and she took pictures. My mother was waiting for me in Assiniboine park with the dog, Harry. She had made friends with a photographer who got a good picture of me. (I hope I’ll be able to buy it for a reasonable price.) Harry was having a great time and when my mother was racing to meet me at another part of the park, he thought it was a great game and tried to trip her.
After the halfway mark, I started slowing down. I didn’t really accept it until the 3:30 pace bunny passed me on main street going over the Norwood bridge. I tried to increase my speed to keep up, but I just didn’t have the energy. So I slowly fell further and further behind. Eventually I just lost sight of them. By then I was just slogging along. With seven miles to go, that was a real slog.
The worst part was when I turned onto Bishop Grandin. I could see the apartment building that was at the end of University Crescent, and I could see how far off they were. That was discouraging. They never seemed to get any closer. But eventually they did, and I was in the university again.
For the last bit, I didn’t have any more to give, so I didn’t try and speed up for entering the stadium. I just focussed on the track and got to the end. There was someone there to greet me and guide me to some food and drink. I downed a Gatorade quickly. It was one of those awful tasting blue ones, but I didn’t notice.
My family was all in the stands cheering me on. I found out later that they didn’t take any pictures. My sister had run out all the batteries of the camera. She thought she could take a hundred pictures without a problem, but I had never mentioned that the batteries could run out. So there is no picture of me crossing the finish line.
After I stretched and ate whatever was put in front of me, I wandered out of the stadium to see the family. I was pretty giddy, and feeling high. Everyone was my best friend, so I was giving profuse thanks to the volunteers.
We went home and I showered. Then we went to a quick brunch at Perkins. The rest of the day was spent recovering. I took a walk to help flush out the lactic acid in my muscles, but they still hurt today.

Life is hectic. I haven’t had a good chance to update this journal, and I still haven’t. I have so much to do to prepare for the trip, and I’m having trouble organizing myself.
The weather has been at odds with me. I want to take my scooter to work, but the weather forecasts have all said rain for the past while. And in the morning, it has been rain, but in the afternoons, it looks beautiful.
After Improv class today, I realized I had left my sunglasses behind in the building. The locked building. I’m hoping I have a chance to pick them up tomorrow. I really need them if I’m going to be on vacation next week.

Yesterday evening I went to the Magnetic North showing of “The Danish Play”. I wasn’t that interested in seeing it, but I felt obligated, being of Danish heritage.
It wasn’t a comedy.
It was more of a tragedy. It was one of those shows where they give the life story of a real person, and show how everything conspired to make them miserable. But through that misery, they created art that will last for blah blah blah.
Frequently, my opinion of these styles of play are that the protagonist made their own bed. In says to me that there are certain people, who although they may be great artists, cannot function in the real world. Just because you want something to be true, doesn’t make it so.
In this case, Agnete Ottosen was part of the Danish resistance. She was captured by the Nazis and experimented on. That was the first act, and I was fine up to then. The protagonist was actually someone I could care about.
In the second act though, she had lost her grip on reality after the war. She wanted to have a child and did so. The father was unknown and she didn’t want to say who he was. Then the nice bureaucracy had trouble with that, even though they gave her many options that would have let her go on. But she had to raise a stink over everything. Attacking German tourists didn’t help either. So the son, Soren, was taken away.
I can see where Agnete was coming from. The bureaucracy was reminiscent of the horrors of the work camps. But she had friends who tried to help her. They told her what she had to do to keep her son. But she refused them all, and had to do things her own way. In the end, her son died an hour after he was returned to her (at age of maturity) in a scooter accident. She committed suicide soon after.
Oh, and through this all she was writing poetry.
If some Danish nationalist reads this review they will probably despise me. I don’t know what kind of hero Agnete Ottosen is to Danish culture (I suppose I should, but I’m more Canadian than Danish), and I’ve never read any of her poems, but this is the impression I got from watching the play.
To give myself some credibility in this, I saw a play about Emily Carr at last year’s fringe festival (I think the title was “Talking to Trees”). I think she is the Canadian cultural equivalent to Miss Ottosen. My opinion of Emily Carr is equally bad after seeing that play. Ms. Carr should never have been let out in public and seemed to determined to make her life as miserable as possible. Just because you talk to trees and keep a lot of animals doesn’t mean you can take care of yourself.
Art is all well and good, but don’t needlessly suffer for it. I have no sympathy for the starving artist. Art is not a substitute for life; Don’t sacrifice yourself for it.

I got my evaluation for last month’s improv class. Finally. So I’m going to share it.

5) Students Reason For Taking Course (as they explained it to you)
a dark secret
6) Instructors Overall Goal – What were you focusing on?
Improving understanding of games ie: purpose vs. execution,
7) Students Attitude:
very open, willing, thoughtful, honest
8) Ability to Accept Concepts Presented:
strong acceptance of new ideas. Dives in.
9) Strengths:
good with pace of scenes, very positive energy.
10) Weaknesses:
I would like to see more diverse characters, changing body and voice.
Needs to connect with other players more. Aims for comedy over drama.
11) Recommended Future: Next level, more training, Show?
More training recommended

Frankly I liked my last evaluation better. Josh put a lot more information in them.

So I went to a Wednesday run today. I haven’t been for two months, but I feel like I’m totally out of shape. Running up hills was taking a lot out of me. So I’m starting to get worried about this marathon I’m running in eleven days.
I’m accepting that I won’t be able to make my time goal. But I’m worried I won’t finish. The past few runs I’ve done seem to take a lot out of me. Mind you, most of them have involved hills, and there won’t be any in Manitoba. And it has been hotter in the afternoons, and I’ll be marathoning in the morning.
I can only hope.
A person at the Running Room commented that it looks like I’ve lost weight. I don’t know if that was in the good way (lost fat) or the bad way (lost muscle).
Well, more things to worry about.