For the first few year of my life in Edmonton I walked everywhere. I didn’t have a car, and I didn’t like having a bus dictate my schedule for me. It was just a half hour to get to work, and it kept me healthy. Work back then was much the same as it is now: Sitting down all day.
Anyway, on the way to work there was a lumber yard that had two german shepherds guarding it. Every time I walked by they would bark and growl at me. I missed the family dog so I actually liked this. I would try encouraging them. As near as I could tell, the gate to they lumber yard was always open at that time, so they could have come out and ripped me to shreds if they wanted. But they seemed happy enough to just bark at me from the safety of behind the fence.
Eventually I got a job at a different company and I stopped walking past the lumber yard.
The point? I saw today that they had renamed that place “Big dog lumber”.

I make no secret that on Wednesdays I go running with the Running Room run club. (Sorry, I couldn’t fit more “run”s in there.) So that’s what happened today. It was only -9, so it wasn’t too bad. I didn’t mind the sleet, but the real pain in the neck (legs) was the loose snow that covered everything. Running up a hill is not fun when you can’t trust that every step won’t take you forward the appropriate distance to the energy expended. (F=MV)
An interesting aspect of the Running Room that I go to, is that it is located right next door to a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. So before and after every run there is the sweet scent of grease. I’m not being sarcastic. After a run, it smells really good. My problem is that I hate KFC. Every couple of years though, I forget that I hate it, so I go out and buy some. Then feel stupid for forgetting that I hate it. So far I’ve never gone to that KFC.
Good news on my condo. I finally complained to the right people about things that weren’t finished. So when I came home today I found doors fixed, lightbulbs installed and latches applied. But still there are those scrapes in the bathroom. Well, we’re making progress.

So I went for the public humiliation. I signed up, once again, for the singles mingle that the Edmonton Journal is setting up. I was up front and honest with the webpage and cited my past history with their contests. So now I just wait and see what happens.
Earlier today I had posed the question “What do my friend’s think of me” to a co-worker/friend. He didn’t want to answer, but eventually I got “Meticulous and strait-laced.” I can’t argue with that, so I put it on the application.
I’d ask the peanut-gallery here what they think of me, but as near as I can tell, I only have one person reading this. If he hasn’t responded by now… well it’s too late in either case.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I am programmer at heart. I’ve become enthralled at how this web page is working. That I can “click here” and suddenly have more options appear. I want to know how I can program this. So I’ve taken time and started playing with Javascript to figure out how I can abuse this system.
Anyway, about three years ago I opted for some nice public scrutiny/humiliation. The Edmonton Journal published that they were having I dating game. I decided to apply, having nothing better to do, and being lonely. In the end I was picked to go on a date with Kimberly Bigl. I had a good time, but I read in the paper the next day that her response was “I had an awesome time. He was so nice and nice looking, but I just don’t think we’re compatible.” Shot down in front of the greater Edmonton area. The newspaper said that even if it didn’t work out, that other people would probably be interested in contacting me. But I’ve heard nothing. And that has pretty much been my love life for the past three years.
Why is this relevant?
I read in the Edmonton Journal this sunday that they are doing a similar experiment of trying to fix up single people. I have not learned my lesson, I have nothing better to do, and I am lonely. I just need to apply. The question I’m stumped at is “How do your friends describe you?” It’s very open and I haven’t gotten a serious answer from co-workers. (Any suggestions?)
At the same time, some people in my running club decided that they need to try and fix me up with someone. I’ve heard that story before, so I’m not holding my breath.
I also recently decided to try eHarmony.com. They claim that they probe your personality and determine who would be my perfect fit. So I did the personality test, and now I have several people I need to contact to see if we’re really compatible.
But will any of this lead anywhere?

So I DM’d another game of Dungeons and Dragons today. Not much happened. They were finally in town after being gone for months (for a year in the real world) so most of the game was taken up with selling loot and doing the downtime stuff. I tried to make it interesting by sprinkling in some minor town encounters with the locals. What really hit the group hard was the fact that their home base is a small town. They couldn’t get nearly what they wanted for their stuff, because no one had the money for such valuable items.

One of my players wanted to play a new character. He had been playing someone else’s and now wanted to make his own. We decided to try and sneak the character on the party with a bait and switch tactic. So I had a non-player character introduce himself and imply that he wanted to join the party. I was planning to switch him with the real character at the last minute. So I’m role-playing this man, while the person they think is going to play him is sitting next to me.

I couldn’t help but think of an old Bloom County comic. The one where Opus and Michael Jackson have switched places. At one point, while Mr. Jackson’s accountant is talking, Opus is thinking, “Surely this man must suspect something.” To which the accountant eventually says “Michael, did you get another nose job?” I felt like the Opus in that comic. The players bought it hook, line and sinker. The switch happened and they were all suitably surprised.

If that’s the high light of my day, I’ve really got to get a better hobby.

I’m going to try and insert some HTML into this entry. I hope it comes out correctly.
I received the latest issue (January 19, 2004) of Time magazine today. In the Verbatim they had an interesting quote.

“I believe the reason I smoke and drink and my wife is overweight is because we watched TV every day for the last four years.”
—Timothy Dumouchel, who threatened to sue a cable company for providing free cable for four years after he asked that it be canceled.

I shared that with the people at work. Especially since the chief programmer has been receiving free cable from Shaw for quite some time. So he determined that “I should sue shaw.” It quickly became apparent that he had just created a fairly good tongue-twister.
He went on to conclude that they probably picked the name deliberately. “What’s the hardest word to sue?”
Continuing on that idea… “You go to the lawyer and say ‘I want to shoe Shaw.’ By the time the lawyer figures out what you want to do, you’re out of money.”
I keep telling the chief programmer that he needs a radio show, or at least to take his rants on the road.
At work they’re looking at moving us out of out current building. Apparently the server room doesn’t have enough cooling and is starting to melt the servers. So I may actually have an honest to god commute I’ll have to deal with. We still might stay in our current facilities because they are cheap compared to other rates in the neighborhood. But we need to find a way to cool that server room.
The temperature is still warm here. It’s warm enough that yesterday, when I went running, I did it in shorts. Of course there is still lots of snow and ice on the ground, and I was the only one in the Running Room store who was in shorts. So I was mocked. But as usual, halfway through the run other people were saying they wished they had chosen shorts too. I know it’s petty, but I feel really good after having mocked choices justified.

It’s warm here, but thankfully the city has gotten used to it enough that the sidewalks aren’t doubling as a skating rink anymore. So when I went running today it was fairly good. I think I’m getting back into it again. My moment of doubt is over.
Anyway, I’ve been thinking about music again. The timing of yesterday’s post was interesting. That same day, one of the radio stations I listen to completely changed their format. They’re targeting the older people now, which I am sad to say is what I am now. In other words they are playing songs from the 80’s forward. And they don’t seem to be talking either. I listened to them on the way to work and not once did I hear a DJ. It was a nice change of pace. That doesn’t mean I like the songs they were playing, but it was nice that I knew I only had to wait four minutes before a different song would come on. In fact, I was enjoying the song that just started when I pulled into work. I couldn’t listen to it, but I liked it.
Which brings me to another interesting facet of myself. When I go running, it seems that the last song I listened to, that I liked, will play in my head for the entire run. So while I was running seven kilometers today, I had an early Dido song going through my skull. When I do a long run on Sundays those songs can last a long time, and picked from the briefest moment of listening to the radio on the way to the Kinsmen sports center.
The most interesting time this happened was when I had a song, I didn’t recognize at the time, with the words “Running through my head” running through my head the entire time I was running.

Well I think it’s interesting.

Life continues to… continue.
As usual for Monday, I went out for dinner and then saw Die-Nasty. Nothing special to report.
Today (Tuesday) has nothing exciting or unusual to discuss.
Some things have struck me recently and I’m wondering about their validity.
When I listen to music, do I do it in the same as everyone else? I see some people who get totally into music and can’t actually function in life without it. Most people seem to care deeply about it. Yet, I do not. I listen to music, and there are songs that I like. But I can just as easily tune it out. In fact, I do.
When I drive somewhere, I’ll turn on the radio. If the music stations are having the DJs talking, I’ll switch to the talking of CBC AM. Unless the CBC is playing music, then I’ll just turn it off. When will the stations learn. If you specialize in music, stick to it. Don’t yammer about news events and contests for dumb people. If your station specializes in talking, don’t play music. It’s not a hard concept.
Anyway, if there is a song on, and I don’t care for it. Chances are I’ll just tune it out and not even notice I’m listening to it. Occasionally there is a moment of lucidity and I’ll suddenly notice, “Hey, I hate this song!” and switch the station. But even with music I like, I’ll tune out. I have to actively force myself to listen to music and try not to have my mind wander off. Otherwise, it’s like it isn’t even on. I use iTunes to play my music collection, and I’ve seen it happen where I’ll look at a list of the music I played in the last hour and not remember listening to half of them.
I don’t even listen to the words in songs. I’ll pay more attention to the tune. Chances are, if, after hearing a song, I was quizzed about the subject matter and character development inherent in the plot, I’ll have a nice blank expression that you could share with the whole family.
Does this happen to other people?
On a similar note, I’m known in the office as the person who hates Christmas carols. I’ve gotten snarky when I hear someone’s cell phone is set to play “Jingle Bells” for its ring. The only time I do enjoy carols is in August. When there is snow on the ground, I associate carols with attempts to make me spend money. In summer though, they feel more devoted to the religious experience they were meant for. Last year the documentation department tried to taunt me by, each day, singing their own version of the Twelve Days of Christmas at me. They were weak and couldn’t keep it up. They had started about fifteen days before Christmas and then flaked out after only singing about twelve days. If you are going to be annoying, be committed to it.
I did discover recently that I don’t hate all carols. I only hate the cheery ones that you hear on commercials or in shopping malls. The exception that changed my opinion was the “Carol of the Bells”. That is a nice song! It’s got that really creepy tune that really does not say “Buy me”. More like, “Doom is coming… for Christmas!” I checked the iTunes store for it and found that you can get pop singers, like Destiny’s Child, trying to make it more cheery or something, and that just ruined it. You need a good choir to properly do it justice.
Well that’s enough ranting today. Actually, this was probably my first real rant on LiveJournal. I’m so proud. I think I have another intangible subject for the next time.

Yesterday it was below zero, but barely. So it didn’t stop it from raining. Everything was covered in a nice layer of ice. The thought of driving in those conditions was scary.
This morning though, I went out running. It sucked. Big time. I ran about 24 km, and there was barely every any traction. I got back home somewhat depressed. I hadn’t done a long run for four weeks before, but I really felt out of shape. And I hadn’t enjoyed that run. I was thinking I wasn’t cut out for doing a marathon. After awhile though I figured that it was just a bad day for running. If I had traction I would have been fine. So I’m going to be a poor workman and blame my tools.
I remember earlier today thinking of some things that I would mention in this journal. But now they have completely slipped my mind. Maybe I’ll remember them later.

I got the mortgage for my condo in May of 2003. I chose Bank of Montreal for it, partly because I had been accidentally accumulating FirstHome Dollars with my MasterCard for the past nine years. What this meant was that I could cash out those dollars if I got a mortgage with Bank of Montreal when I purchased my first home. Over the years I accumulated over 3500 points. However, when I asked about it, I was told that I could only use up to 2500 points, and then only for 2.5% of my mortgage. Since I had a large influx of capital when I got my condo, I didn’t need a large mortgage. Certainly not the $100,000+ that would need to max out the FirstHome dollars. So I could only get cash in 1850 points. And the other points will never be usable by me, because I will never have a first home again.
Anyway, Bank of Montreal had completely forgotten how to handle FirstHome dollars. It was a promotion from nearly a decade ago. So it’s taken them nine months to figure out how to get me my money. I got it today.
If I was an interesting person, I would blow it on something (Drugs, beer, fast and loose women). But I am a boring person. It’s going to go into RRSPs, which I’ve been neglecting in my goal of killing this mortgage as quickly as possible. I’m hoping to get myself to a lower tax bracket and get a refund which I can direct into the mortgage.
Or possible a vacation to a sunny place. I haven’t had a vacation in a long time… But then I would be an interesting person, and not a boring one. Decisions, decisions.
Anyway, today there was a wine and cheese party in the lobby so that we can get to know the neighbors. There are a lot of runners in this building. There was Jim and Brenda at the party. Jim is one of the few people who can actually wear an IronMan watch and not be lying. Brenda has run seven marathons. I run in a faster group than her, but I’ve never run a marathon. (Just a half-marathon last February.) A girl named Sheena is trying to run further distances too. I think her problem is that she is running too fast. If you can’t talk while you are running, you’re going too fast. I’ve also seen one or two other runners outside of parties. Anyway, it was nice to meet some of the people I barely ever see in the halls. I was able to put a name (Danielle) to the top of head I see on the balcony two floors below me. I talked to a cute girl who was there for awhile (Amanda). She has a boyfriend, but I don’t have the self-confidence to ask someone out, so that really doesn’t matter.
The party went later than I expected. So afterward I had to scramble to finish more D&D stuff for the new character in the campaign. I’m staying up later than I would like. (And yet I am still updating this journal.)
It was my mother’s birthday today. She’s going to go see Return of the King to celebrate. I hope she likes it, but that’s like saying “I hope the sun rises tomorrow.” Hope implies a chance of it not happening.

I’ve missed the last couple of days for updating, and I feel bad. But that’s in the past. Let’s concentrate on the thoughts right now. And I will start that by reviewing anything interesting that’s happened in the last couple of days.
I went to the live improvised soap opera, Die-Nasty on Monday. The show was good, but not great. They seemed to be missing several cast members that night.
Other than that I’ve been busy with D&D. One of my players is making a new character. He has been playing someone else’s character, but now that we are in a good spot, we determined he could make his own. I’ve been liking what he’s been coming up with. But since he wants to play a cleric, I have to quickly sort out my religions in the game. Thats the one area of my world that I don’t think I’ve fleshed out enough. So I’ve been scrambling to give him something to work with.
This evening I went running with the Running club. I’ve been slacking off lately so I felt a little more out of breath than usual. I’m hoping that goes away soon. I tried out my heart rate monitor, and it felt strange. I think it may either be affecting my heart, or it’s giving me tiny electric shocks. Neither option sounds good.
After the run, I had to rush off, because tonight was my book club meeting. It’s a very informal club that only reads science-fiction and fantasy. We don’t do deep discussions. It actually seems more like an excuse to go out and eat at a restaurant, while nominally discussing the book. We had just finished Joan D. Vinge’s “The Snow Queen”. It was a good book. It took me awhile to get into it, but once I got past the start and knew who the various characters were, I sailed through it. In an interview with the author she said she based it loosely off the snow queen story by Hans Christian Anderson. I was the only one in the group familiar with that story. My heritage is Danish, so I had it forced down my throat at an early age. 🙂
The next book is going to be “In Conquest Born” by C.S. Friedmann. I didn’t see it at Chapters, so I’m going to have to look elsewhere.
So that’s the update of my life. I have no deep interesting thoughts to share with anyone. I’m feeling very shallow right now.

At about 7:00 this morning I checked the temperature. -26 degrees. That’s too cold. I’m not going running outside.
So instead I had the guilty pleasure of sleeping in. After an hour and a half of that luxury I got up, ate part of a breakfast, and then went to the gym in the condo to use the treadmill. I did a fast pace and I think I’ve improved from the last treadmill. It doesn’t count as real running, but at least it gets me exercise.
After that, I went out for brunch with some people who did real running outside. I didn’t eat much. I didn’t think I deserved it. Then I went calendar shopping. I picked up some comics. I went home and read the comics. Then I read the newspaper. Now I’m here updating this journal.
Most people would probably put deep thoughts down here, but I seem to just itemize what happened that day. As near as I can tell no one is reading this. If they did they would think it was pretty boring. I’ve got to start thinking deeper thoughts, or take up some interesting hobbies.

According to the weather office, Sunday is having a low of -28 degrees. I’m not sure I want to go running tomorrow. Technically I’m supposed to be running 32km. (Actually it’s 33km, but the Running Room has been lying about the distance. According to their own studies it’s 33km.) I remember the last time I ran a long distance in weather that cold. It was last February for the Hypothermic Half-marathon. The one where I hurt my knee. That injury kept me from doing a long run for over half a year. I’ve heard theories that it was because it was so cold and a long distance that did it in. But it also could be that I tried to do the IT band stretch for the first time and that gummed up my knee which wasn’t used to it. A similar thing happened to a runner friend recently.
Is it worth doing the run and possibly injuring myself? I’m not actually training for a race. Plus I’ve already shown that I can run 33km.
Decision, decisions.
Other than that, I spent the day at a New Year party. It was a small affair at one of my D&D player’s house. We just talked a lot and ate party snacks. I tried to avoid talking about D&D because the host’s fiance doesn’t play. There is only so much nerdage that one can put up with.

So it’s finally friday. I don’t have much to say here. The biggest thing of interest since I last updated was that I ran my bi-weekly D&D game. I expected to be writing in this journal that my player’s were a bunch of morons. Surprisingly, they didn’t do anything too stupid this session! It was an important game tonight, the culmination of a long adventure. The players had been stuck on the same adventure since November 2002. They finally completed all the hard stuff and are finally able to return home. The next session is probably just going to be a denouement. Sort of like the last half hour of Return of the King. The wrapping up of the loose ends.
I try and give my players the feel that the world doesn’t revolve around them. So I always try and think of what the ramifications of their actions are, and how that is affecting the world around them. Then I have the world bite back. That happened tonight. The players were talking about a quest they had never gotten around to: Finding a gem supposedly hidden in the valley. As planned, they returned home and found out another adventuring party had beaten them to it. That’s what happens when you leave a quest hanging for half a year (game time).
I generally have a low opinion of my players. But that’s my fault. I’ve tried to give them a world with many secrets that I’m continually leaving hints about. They never pick up on those hints. So my respect for them isn’t great. But it’s a poor workman who blames his tools. (Is that all the player’s are? Tools?)
The game ended at midnight. The temperature outside is -27. Brrr. When I got home, I went to my condo’s exercise room and tried out the treadmill. As a rule I don’t like treadmills. You spend all the time running and looking at a wall. It’s mind numbing. But, I just purchased some new sneakers and I needed to test them out, and the store doesn’t accept returns if they’ve been used outside. Also, I wanted to see if I could improve my pace from the race on New Year’s Day. I ran 3.2 miles in 22:40. I think that’s about the same pace. But I would have thought I would improve since I wasn’t slogging through snow. I don’t think I could have run any faster. Well that’s treadmills for you. You can’t trust them.
I got a bit of a thrill recently. My friend, Jeff (AKA Canticle), mentioned me in his Live Journal. It’s a small claim to fame, but it feels nice to have someone else think of you.
Since it is now almost 2:00. I’ve publicly admitted I’m a nerd that plays D&D. I’m going to bed.

So my friend suggested I start a livejournal. Having no backbone, here I am. Looking at the name I chose for myself, I’m sure my creativity is at an all time low. I blame society. From what I can gather, I just write out whatever is on my mind. So essentially this will be an Erik dump. (Similar to a file dump; nothing to do with waste management.) I read an Onion article recently about a mother finding her son’s weblog, so my writing is probably going to be colored by that.
Yesterday was New Year’s Eve. I always have low expectations of that day. If I go out, it’s always disappointing. However, staying at home alone is depressing. Given a choice between the two, I chose to go out. However, with the above attitude, I waffled a lot before forcing myself out the door. I decided to head to New City Likwid Lounge (Yes, I check for spelling before I post.)
I’ve been wanting to find myself a bar I can go to regularly (where everyone knows your name) but it’s hampered by several facts: I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I suck at socializing with people I don’t know. Since none of the friends I made in Edmonton seem to want to go out to socialize at a bar (if the bar is not showing hockey, they’re not going) I just stand there awkwardly hoping to fit in, but not. I probably shouldn’t be going to bars, but society has raised me to believe that that is where you go to make new friends (and influence people?) I had heard that New City was interesting. I think it’s a goth bar. I’m not goth myself, but I find some of the goth women attractive. So at least the view will be nice. I went there before Christmas and surveyed the place once. Nothing wrong with it. I think someone mentioned to me once that you have to go to a bar several times before they start accepting you. So that is why I decided to try and go back for New Year’s Eve.
Long story short, I had waffled too long and the place was full by 10:00.
I drove home, and then walked to a nearby bar called the Armoury. It was a top 40 place, so I enjoyed the music. A lot of the people were younger than me, and the women seemed to all want to be Britney Spears. I drank some overpriced coke that was mostly ice and awkwardly tried to fit in. This involved standing at the bar and trying to say hello to people who came to order drinks. But on the whole it was disappointing. I went home before 1:00.
I really shouldn’t go to bars. I’m not comfortable in them and I can’t help but think of the saying about being alone in a crowded room.
So that was my New Year’s Eve.
New Year’s Day has been better. A month ago I had signed up for a short New Year’s Day run at a local YMCA. I think I joined more for the free heart rate monitor, cleverly hidden in the price of the run. Anyway it’s a reason to get up and do something. I went and by 11:00, I was starting to run five kilometres. Conditions were bad. It was -16 out, but I was dressed for that. At times the wind was strong, but that didn’t bother me. My problem was that it had been snowing all night. There was a nice layer of snow all along the course. Traction was non-existent. I still came through with a decent time of 22:20. I didn’t win anything, but I was just behind the woman who came in second. i.e. If I was a girl, I would have placed third. If I was a motivated girl, I could have come in second. The last fifty meters though was all loose snow. I couldn’t sprint properly. But I think I did ten seconds better than last year.
Afterwards there was a pancake breakfast. The advantage of finishing the race quickly is that you get first crack at the pancakes. After I had finished my second course of pancakes, the place was packed and getting more required a long wait.
There were some door prizes, but I didn’t win any. I shouldn’t expect to. The chance of winning is less than 1%, but there is always the hope that you will.
Well, that’s it for now. The first Erik dump of the new year. Looking it over it sounds rather depressing. So I guess I better pick that as my mood. Although I’m wondering if writing this is the cause of that emotion. If I hadn’t written this would I be happy? I’m sure the philosophers would like to debate that. Or the physicists. (Is the act of observing the mood, changing the mood?)
P.S. I saw that I could pick Disappointed for my mood. That sounds much more appropriate. That or “Meets Expectations”.