In two hours I leave for the airport. Maybe a bit earlier so that I can get some more Canadian cash and fill up the car a bit. I’m nervous. I don’t fear flying, but I fear forgetting something.
I’ll be keeping a diary while I’m in Jamaica. I like to be able to remember the good times, and they will slip away if I don’t commit them to paper. I’ll update the LiveJournal when I’m back. Although it will take awhile.
See you guys…

The initial plan was to go running this morning. It would be hard because I was up so late last night. But I’ve done a run without much sleep before.
I woke up on time. I looked out and saw it was foggy with a thick layer of snow on the ground. That’s the last thing I remember.
I really do need to go running again, but I am under a huge time crunch. I don’t know if I will even be able to get out this Wednesday, because I still need to pack and I don’t see me having time on any other day.

That was a good party.
The smaller venue seems to make it more personal. And the people going to this bar are regulars so interpersonal interaction are easier. At yesterday’s event, I didn’t know anybody, so it was harder to meet anyone. (Despite being surrounded by people.)
Anyway, I didn’t have to test my honor today. The judges picked as the winner for the men’s best costume, a tall skeleton. Which frankly looked like it was bought at a mass-market store. The women’s winner was a corpse bride, that was pretty forgettable. I really thought the women who make a homemade Twi’lek headpiece would have been a much better winner.
My costume sustained more damage. I guess sticking a wing between my legs yesterday strained them. So while trying to adjust the covering, a plastic rod snapped. I’m not too worried though. The piece that broke is one that is meant to be removed so that it can be stored in a smaller place. It shouldn’t be too hard to get it fixed.
And I met many nice people tonight. Some were very insistent I was robbed by not winning the costume contest. The attention was nice though.
I took lots of pictures. And I got some email addresses of the subjects so that I can send them copies. Unfortunately, the best looking women seemed to already be in couples. Although there was one woman that was very insistent that I promise to send her the picture. Almost scary.

I have a freakin’ awesome Halloween costume.
I had it made for me last year. I was an impressive demon, with wings that were big and strong. With the correct strings pulled, the wings would spread out to the glowing admiration of demonesses everywhere. I won some prizes for it last year, so it isn’t just my opinion.
But the parties I went to last year were in a smaller bar. I decided to try a different one. Specifically the place formerly known as Red’s. A radio station was having their party there.
So I went, but it didn’t go that well.
The most annoying part was the contest. I realized I was at a bigger party and that there was little chance I would win. But a lot of people came up to me and said that I had the best costume. So it went a bit to my head. But with a big prize, there would be more competition.
But, the judges never ever found me. I was never in the running. At no point was I on stage to be judged by the fickle audience. And a guy dressed as a mattress was up there. I’m sure I had a better costume than that.
Yes, I’m whining, but it would have been nice to be a contender.
Also at the party, one of my wings broke. The rope that held it in place snapped so it was stuck spread out unless I held it in place. So for the rest of the night I had have one hand on my wing at all times. Which made the party awkward.
I figured out a way to stick in between my legs when I wanted to take a picture of someone. That helped. But it wasn’t comfortable.
Oh. And my camera dropped on to the ground early on. It stopped working. Fortunately, it seemed to be that the memory card had popped out a bit. When it was back in, everything seemed fine.
Well, I’ve successfully repaired the wings now. A quick trip to Rona for more nylon rope and I figured out how it was constructed. Looks good. So I’ll trust it for tonight.
I’m going to go to the same party as I did last year with the same costume. Which I think should invalidate me from any costume contest. But still it would be nice to win, but I would have to decline. (Assuming I’m as noble as I’m pretending.)

It finally happened. Apple released new laptops. So I can now buy one with a practical guarantee that I won’t feel stupid in three months.
Unfortunately, I am way to busy these days to get one. Oh I could easily walk into a store and walk out with one (legally of course) but I wouldn’t have time to transfer data to it. I couldn’t spend time getting to know it. Find out what its hobbies are. It’s hopes. It’s dreams.
So I will have to wait until after my vacation to Jamaica.
Which means that the most likely date will be November 16th. Which is a special day for me. It will be exactly three years since I bought my last computer. (It was my thirtiest birthday.) At the time, I had a tradition to buy a new computer every three years. (I can easily justify that because I work with computers.) I had decided to scrap that plan when I paid off the mortgage to reward myself. But I kept the rule that I can’t do something that would make me feel stupid in three months.
In other laptop related news, at work today I got a new laptop. Our new corporate overlords want us to use a particular brand of computer, so they splurged for a lot of them. So I have a new work computer, but I can’t feel as thrilled about that. We’re only going to have a working relationship.

I have to be strong, but I feel that I am weakening.
Last year, when I went to Jamaica, my camera was stolen. Luckily I lost very few pictures.
Since I have a photography project I’m working on, I needed to buy a new one almost immediately on my return. The month after that, prices plummeted and new technologies made the camera obsolete almost immediately.
Now, I’m about to go on another trip to Jamaica, and I am very tempted to buy another camera. On routine expeditions to consumer electronic stores I see all the nice cameras sitting there, mocking me with their shiny new technologies, their higher megapixels, their impressive ability to zoom.
I’m only human.
But, if I buy now, it will be at about the same time I purchased the last one. So, if the lessons of the past are to be paid attention to (not a likely outcome), next month the prices will drop and the technology will go up.
But look, image stabilization. How can you look at that face and say “No.”

I wouldn’t say I am the best at making friends. (Please don’t comment on that.) So my pool of people I do stuff with is rather limited.
I have some good friends who I have had for a long time. But they never really want to go out and do things. They are quite content to stay in and play boardgames. There is nothing wrong with that, but man can not live on boardgames alone.
I have two friends who do call me up and want to go out and live non-productive lives. One has taken a job in Austin. I’ve known he will be leaving for quite some time and I’ve come to accept it.
But now the other friend has told me he is going back to Vancouver. It took overnight for it to sink in, and left me rather cranky the next day.
Crud.
So now what? I hate going out to bars alone, but I guess I will have to adapt.

There was an article in the newspaper the other day. It was about over-eating. One of the points it was trying to make was that if people are given a bigger container, they have a tendency to take more of what is in it. If the container was smaller, they would take less. So smaller portions are better.
The fifth year anniversary of the iPod is coming up. The first one could only store 5GB. That was about 1500 songs. Since then, it has slowly been improving.
I’ve been wanting one for awhile. I’ve been a fan of Apple products in a timespan measured in decades, so I should have had one for quite some time. But I don’t listen to much music, so it never seemed important.
Now with the mortgage paid off, I am treating myself. And I have a reason to need one. I’m going to Jamaica in less than three weeks, so I would like to use it to help store extra pictures.
Well, I went and purchased one.
And I had a choice between two sizes. 30GB or 80GB. Like an overeating slob I went for the big one.
And I’m finding it uncomfortable to find out how little I needed that extra space. I only have 736 songs I listen to (2.8GB). My collection of pictures will probably double that. So I am hovering around 5GB of space used on it.
I’m definitely going to have to start storing movies on it to justify this purchase.

Lying in a tanning bed is just as boring as I remembered.

I feel good today.
This morning I had a short run. 16-km. But it was done at a fast pace. (Done in less than an hour and twenty minutes.) And I feel great now. The endorphin rush is making me feel alert and perky. (The can of coke this afternoon may also be affecting my judgment.)
It’s been a long time since I’ve had a good run. All the others have been over the 20km limit. When I go above that, the endorphin rush is counteracted by the aches and pains of running too far. 16-km is perfect. And a good pace too so I feel like I did get a workout.
But I’ve come to a realization.
First some background.
I lived through the nineties. Nike was considered evil back then. Something about using child labor to make everything, and then sucking the marrow out of their corpses when they died from lack of food because they were chained to the sewing machines. I might be a bit fuzzy on the details. So I have an apprehension about purchasing anything Nike related.
The thing is, as a salesperson told me, that because they were having such bad press, they have to instead make sure their merchandise is of great quality.
When I run, I use spandex shorts, better known as bicycle shorts. It started out because I had read that tight fitting spandex toned your muscles better than loose clothing.
Oh look, a rut I’m stuck in.
I’ve been using Nike brand shorts for the longest time. Recently they expired. Holes were starting to appear where my legs were chaffing together. So I got a replacement. I went to the same place I bought the last ones, the Running Room. That place is trying to become a monopoly for all things running; An attitude that is starting to rankle me. In their quest for control, they no longer carry Nike branded shorts. So I had to get Running Room branded ones.
Since then, I have not had a comfortable run. The seams in those shorts are in all the wrong spots, and bigger than they should be. So I have a nasty rash during and after every run. It’s been hurting.
Today, I found out about a Nike store in town. I popped down there. They have shorts that I want, for half the price I paid the Running Room. The seams inside look intelligently placed and of minimal size.
I’m looking forward to my next run now.

So, excuse me, but I’m about to get geeky.
I collect comic books. I have for over a decade. I blame for introducing me into them.
The one I’ve collected through fair weather and foul is “Iron Man”. It’s probably the nerdiest of the Marvel group. No matter how bad it has gotten, I’ve continued to collect it. (And, Lord, there were some bad times.) Other comics have come and gone, but there is always Iron Man.

Iron Man, Iron Man.
Does whatever an iron can.
Steams a shirt,
Squishes ants,
Puts the creases in your pants.
–Source unknown

Now, there have been rumors of an Iron Man movie coming out. So I’ve been geeking out over the concept. Just so long as it is done well.
Comics should be an easy medium to translate into movies; The storyboards are done for you. The problem is that people want to produce/direct them not for love of the subject, but because they know it will be popular and will make them look good. In fact, I’m sure that some directors feel the opposite. There is mounting evidence that Joel Schumacher despises Batman. He tried to kill the franchise, not once, but twice! The same goes for, Brett Ratner and his relationship with the X-men.
For a good comic book movie to be made, it is important for the people involved to like the subject.
That said, I’m a little leery of the actor who has been chosen to play Tony Stark (AKA Iron Man) in the movie.
Robert Downey Jr.
I’m not a fan of the actor. I always felt that he was becoming famous more for his drug habit than any real talent. So I haven’t seen him in a movie in quite some time. But, Mr. Stark is a recovering alcoholic in the comics, so it might be an oddly appropriate choice.
I’m sure I’ll come to terms with it eventually.

The weirdest thing happened today. I mean, you won’t believe this.
I had two doctor appointments this morning. Separate ones that just happened to fall on the same day. One was at 8:00. The other was at 9:45. I finished the eight o’clock one at 8:45, leaving me an hour to get to the next one. Considering it was five minutes away, that was plenty. So I had time to kill. I could have gone to work, but as soon as I go there I would have had to leave. Going home for half-an-hour seemed pointless.
But the doctor had a nice waiting room. I had a newspaper and a laptop. I could easily entertain myself, and possibly get some work done. So I showed up for my appointment almost an hour early.
I didn’t have time to glance at the newspaper. They took me in, and ten minutes later I was done and out of there.
Can you believe that?!
I mean, that is the total opposite of every other doctor’s visit I’ve ever had.

I had my first acting class today. Nothing too exciting to report. I think I should be fine at this level. Two other people are in the same boat as I am, which makes 33% of the class.
But, as the saying goes; God never opens a window without closing a door. My Sunday evening improv jams have been cancelled. They were a lot of fun, although getting a bit crowded. A part of me is glad, because I’ve been needing to recover on Sundays from all the stuff I’m doing. So this should give me a chance.

It has been a miserable weekend. Specifically the weather. However, this works out well for me.
The Die-Nasty Soap-a-thon is on. (53 hours of improv, non-stop.) So anytime I want entertainment, I can just wander across the street (figuratively) and watch quality improv. Bad weather is conducive to this, because then I don’t feel guilty if I’m inside for many hours.
However, the problem is that life keeps intruding. There are things that I need to do that take me away from seeing the Soap-a-thon.
For instance, this morning I had a pleasant 32.5 km run. Did I say pleasant? I meant grueling. A run that long pretty much ruins the rest of the day. It exhausts you to a level that a sane distance run wouldn’t.
I had decided to use new shoes for this run. My previous pair are getting close to expiry, so it would probably be better if I used a fresh pair. And I knew the route we were doing, so there wouldn’t be any mud involved.
At least I thought I knew the route. I was mistaken. Going through Rainbow Valley we found the construction to reinforce the valley walls. To say there was a bit of mud would be an understatement.
I also tried a new type of energy gel. Previously I had used a PowerBar brand, but this time I used Clif Shots. They are slightly smaller, and I wanted to see if eating two would give me enough energy for the entire run. Lately I’ve been running low on fuel and the last 8km have been a slog. It was better this time, but they tasted bad and didn’t agree with my digestive system.
Experiments will continue until moral improves.

So, the Apple event was last Tuesday.
No new laptops, so I will continue holding off my purchase of a new one. Any day now….
However, new iPods are here. So I will get one. I just want to hear some reviews from other people before I totally commit. My biggest beef with the new ones, is that they look exactly like the old ones. The new features are just nominal upgrades: More memory; Brighter screen. Nothing I can really show off to my friends and make them jealous.
I’ll still get one.
There is another thought though. Maybe I should get the Nano? There is a package available for it that is made for runners. Unfortunately it seems to require Nike shoes. My feet don’t fit comfortably into Nike shoes, so it doesn’t look like an option for me. And I don’t know if it only works with Nanos, or will it work with regular iPods. Or with other shoes.
But it sounds so cool!

Yesterday, Theatre Alberta contacted me. It was my teacher from the acting classes I took in summer. She thought that I could go directly to the Acting II course, and could skip the class that is full. The teacher would know that I am not fully trained, but I could probably do it. That’s a nice compliment. And I took the bait.
So I’m going to be an actor now.
The bad part is that this means the class is on Tuesday instead of Monday. So that means I won’t be able to do Salsa lessons any more.
And that’s bad. Because I went yesterday again, and it was much better this time. I like the substitute teacher that has been teaching the class. There was also a very hot girl there that I sucked up the courage to ask to dance.
I didn’t embarrass myself.
I didn’t stun her with great dancing either. I’m also getting the impression that she might be showing up regularly. (That might be wishful thinking/imagination.) Just when I’m about to start missing classes. I could always show up for the latin dancing that takes place after the Salsa lessons.
Of course, I don’t know how tired acting lessons would make me.
This teacher will be teaching Salsa at another bar on Thursday. It won’t be within walking distance, but it might be a good way to get out and keep active.

I was thinking of taking an acting class. The Citadel theatre had one I was interested in taking. Unfortunately, I finally got around to signing up today and found that it was already full.
It’s my fault, really. It starts in one week, so I am very last minute. But a part of me didn’t really want to go to the class. I am already having trouble meeting my schedule, and a weekly class would have put a lot of pressure on my time management skills.

I tried to get a good amount of sleep last night. It would have been helped if two people hadn’t decided to argue on the street in front of my place about who could use the F-word the most. The joys of Whyte Avenue living.
It was a good run today. 29km. We attempted to do a negative split, so the trip back was four and a half minutes faster than the trip out. The conditions were good. Not too hot. Not too cold. Not too dry. I would say, not to wet, but it started raining, hard, as soon as the run started and didn’t end until, well, the run ended. Nice timing.
The rest of the day had gorgeous weather. Nice enough that I decided to tool around on the scooter for an hour. Which led to an interesting revelation. An hour of scooter riding and I didn’t cover more distance than I ran this morning. That means I was averaging less than 30 kph.
And I ran a lot of distance.
In other news, the Edmonton Journal broke down. They reduced their price and I’m subscribing again.

I’m getting tired of spending money. I haven’t actually been spending money on myself, but treating other people. But still, I have friends telling me to buy things that I don’t need, but they would like to use.
Today a co-worker suggested I get a Segway. I’m a runner and that seems to be the complete antithesis of that activity. (It’s a wheelchair for people who aren’t invalid.)
Another friend thinks I should buy an X-Box 360. I got an original X-Box due to peer pressure. (It came out on my birthday.) I don’t need the upgrade because there is only one game for it I’m interested in, and I have yet to finish the prequel which I’ve had for three or four years.
It was easier when I didn’t have excess money to my name. Then I knew I could just invest any excess cash in sensible RRSPs and no one bugged me.
But I do want to spend money on certain items. Apple is helping. They are going to be making a big announcement on Tuesday, which might be a new iPod. Or a new laptop. I need both.
Yes. I use the word “need” deliberately. I’m a programmer, so a laptop is actually something that I need. An iPod, because I am starting to get to the point that I need something to store large files onto.
Of course, my VCR has gotten vindictive recently. It has started to take the policy that if it can’t record on a tape, no one will. So whenever I eject a tape, it snips it in half. The quality of what it records isn’t anything to write home about either. So I should replace it with the latest in technology. Which would be a PVR.
And the rumor mills are also wondering if Apple might release one of those on Tuesday as well.
I also realize that I am getting absolutely no sympathy from anyone reading this.

I’ve been busy lately. I could say that it has gotten in the way of blogging, but it really hasn’t. But I’ve had two different people visit me recently. Each one of them I’ve tried to spoil rotten. I did my best to keep the constantly entertained to the point of exhaustion.
And I’m tired of it.
For a change I want to be spoiled. I want to do whatever I want, and let some one else takes care of my basic needs.
So I’ve come to my parents in the greater Calgary area, and it has started to happen.
Today we drove into the Kananaskis park. We went for a walk and then had a nice picnic near the Picklejar recreation area. The best part was that someone had started laying out rocks to build a dam across Mist creek. Being my grandfather’s grandson, that could not stand. So I spent an enjoyable two hours finding all the rocks I could to improve the dam. I got myself wet crossing the creek to pillage better rocks on the other side. Soon, the original dam was little more than a waterfall. It was great. I hope some more people come along and do their best to build on these works, but I fear a park ranger will instead tear it down.
Tomorrow I’m planning on catching up on some computer work I’ve been meaning to do.
Good times!

Let us suppose, for a moment, that Superman is real. There is a real nice Kryptonian flying around doing good deeds, saving lives, and helping old ladies across the street. He has all the powers and weaknesses of the comic book hero.
Now, in this scenario, what should be the legal status of Kryptonite? This is a green rock that only has one purpose, and that is to kill Superman, a man who 9 out of 10 of Metropoleans think is a good guy. He even seems to be on the side of the United States government.
And you have to admit, it would be suspicious if you saw a kilo of it sitting on someone’s desk. Why would he have it? There is only one reason.
But then it only affects one person.
Well, what if there was a rock out there that killed U.S. Presidents. (And I don’t mean like granite at a high velocity to the head. Stay on topic people.) Wouldn’t the government have a very vested interest in making sure Presidentite was kept safely away.
But what if there was a rock that killed Bob, and only Bob. Bob being a nice guy who lives down the street, an accountant who pays his taxes on time. Nothing really interesting about him, other than a huge allergy to Bobite. Would Bobite need to be controlled?
But back to that hunk of material sitting on someone’s desk. What if, instead of Kryptonite, it was plastique. An easily detonated explosive. Same story. Awfully suspicious to find it sitting on a desk.
But if we use that analogy, we are getting into NRA territory. The right to bear Kryptonite. Everyone has a right to defend themselves from Kryptonians. If owning Kryptonite is against the law, then only criminals will have Kryptonite! (Well, duh!)
I can see the U.S. Military stockpiling the green rock in case Superman suddenly becomes a threat. That’s just common sense. And maybe some research centers will be allowed to have it to study. That nice Mr. Lex Luthor says he wants to test its radioactive properties, so why shouldn’t we let him have some.
However, if the National Kryptonite Association (with its sister organization, the NRA) forms and starts demanding legalization of Kryptonite, then I can see things being awkward for Superman. I could easily see him immigrating to Canada, where there is no second amendment making him easy to kill.

Operation Foaming Horse could have gone better.
The litmus test was today. Last evening she went to Calgary to be with my parents. If she slept all day, then the mission would be accomplished. I called and checked, and while she was very tired, she did not sleep all day.
But I did a good job. On Friday morning I treated her to a Swizzlesticks haircut and then we went to Costco to pick up steaks. In the afternoon through to the evening we saw three plays, “Letters in Wartime”, “52 Pick-up”, and “Kind Hearts and Coronets”. After my sister went to bed, I snuck out and saw “Pajama Men”.
The next day, my sister counterattacked. She “claimed” she was sick and used that as an excuse to sleep. It was hard to argue with that. We did see “Mules” which I found very depressing for a supposed comedy. Due to the illness, we watched the two “American Werewolf” movies instead of doing other things.
Sunday she was feeling better, so I got to try and exhaust her again. We started slowly though, but went to the noon show of “The Overnight”. (Good play!) Then grocery shopping to get the final ingredients for a barbecue, that we then had. After, we saw “Get Off the Cross, Mary” which I wouldn’t really recommend. Then off to the Belke play, “The Raven and the Writing Desk.” To top off the evening, Karaoke!
On Monday I abandoned my sister while I went to work in the morning. I took the afternoon off. There were plans to see plays, but they mostly evaporated. We wandered the Fringe, and then hung out in Hawrelak park for a few hours. We went to dinner at Chianti’s. While my sister went to bed early, I went out to go for a run with a friend. That didn’t end well (see previous entry) and it resulted in me staying up later than I would have liked. That affected me for the rest of the trip. The missing of a couple of hours sleep is hard to make up with a tight schedule.
On Tuesday, energy levels had risen in my sister. I was tired but I refused to let her win. So after working in the morning, we went to see “Man 1, Bank 0”. Then we rushed off to an extravagant dinner with friends. After the dinner, salsa lessons at the Funky Buddha!That worked out well for me in my goals as I could get other people to dance with my sister and tire her out. (Of course, on my end, it is depressing to ask a girl to dance and, after she declines, to see her dancing with another girl five minutes later.) When we got back in the late evening, I made sure to doubly wilt her by starting to watch a movie.
Wednesday, I worked in the morning, and my sister slept. That’s probably where I lost the most points. It allowed her to rest up. She said that she didn’t have the energy to get out of bed and walking hurt. “Suck it up, buttercup!” We went and did a bit of shopping on Whyte Avenue; Wandered the Fringe; Checked out the hat store. We nearly saw a play; It was 45 minutes, but charged the maximum price, which implies a rip-off. So instead we finished the movie we started the previous day. Then I took her to the Sawmill restaurant to gorge herself. Hey, free salad bar with purchase of a prime rib! You try not leaving bloated. After, we had twenty minutes to kill before I needed to take her to her bus. She decided to try and embarrass me by going next door, to Diamonds Gentlemen’s Club. According to a quick poll of my friends, this makes my sister totally cool. However the joint wasn’t really happening at that early an hour. In the end, my sister was more embarrassed than me. Come on, I’ve been to Hedonism where I perfected the art of getting tired of looking at beautiful naked women.
And then I shoved my sister on a bus.
We did a lot, but apparently not enough. I will need to exhaust her better next time. And not be fooled with her pretending to be sick.

I was in my first street fight yesterday.
Well, more of a park fight…
I’m an amateur, so I really don’t know what to call it. I would like to stress my lack of experience in these sort of things. I don’t know if I conducted myself properly.
Basically, I went for a run with a friend yesterday evening. After over an hour of pounding pavement, we ended up at the top of Victoria hill and were resting in the gazebo there. It was a quarter to eleven, so it was dark out. But the gazebo is lit up quite well and we were near a major intersection.
Suddenly, an indian came up and asked where the smokes were. He was dressed mostly in black and had a scruff of facial hair. According to my friend, he smelled like pot. Let’s call him Black. We didn’t have anything for him. Heck, we had just been running. You want to carry as little as possible, and you certainly don’t want to have cigarettes.
Anyway, he started to take offense at us. Apparently we thought we were better than him because we had a place to live and he was homeless. (In this economy, you can only not have a job by choice. So my pity-meter for the homeless is at an all time low.) He was looking for a fight. His friend, a portly indian dressed in white and with a ball-cap, came up. Let’s call him White. It looked like he was trying to calm his friend down, but not very well.
We got up to leave. We didn’t want trouble. According to my friend, Black hit him in the back of the head at that time. So when Black tried to jump over the gazebo railing to get at us, my friend pushed him back. White was now no longer trying to calm his friend down.
They both ran around the gazebo and Black hit my friend in the face. His glasses went flying. My friend then TACKLED Black. They then started fighting on the ground. I have no doubt that my friend could beat up Black, no problem. Black was, after all, high, and probably not in the best of shape.
But White started kicking my friend while they were on the ground. I tried to stop him, and so White turned his attention to me. He threatened to stab me while reaching into the front of his jeans. Not the most pleasant of imagery. So I backed off. At no time did I see a weapon. When White went back to attacking my friend, we repeated that scene.
I figure that White wasn’t looking for a fight. But he had to support his friend’s stupid decisions. And that meant he couldn’t let a fair fight happen so they were trying to both beat him up.
Then the fight just stopped. They both got up and parted ways. I can’t remember the reason why. I figure that our side wasn’t looking for a fight, and when the indians (does that make us the cowboys?) stopped we didn’t pursue the matter. They walked away.
My friend was covered in the blood streaming down his face from where his glasses got knocked off. We went to his place and phoned the police. We gave a brief description of the assailants, and then waited until midnight for an actual officer to show up and take a report. While waiting we got ice on the wound. He seemed fairly upbeat, but that might have been the adrenaline talking.
My friend’s wife took him to the hospital to get stitches. I went home.
I ended up without a scratch on me. My friend had blood all over the side of his face. I feel I should have done more, but I’m not sure what the proper protocol is in these sorts of things. I didn’t want to escalate the situation, but I didn’t want two people beating up my friend.
The people I’ve told the story have varying opinions. My sister is wondering why I was in a park after dark. A co-worker wondered why two runners didn’t run away from the problem. Another thought the whole thing was surreal.
Ironically, those weren’t the only vagrants I had trouble with that evening. While leaving to go for the run, I found three people sitting in the stairwell, with backpacks, smoking. Initially I just told them smoking wasn’t allowed. After I had gotten to my car I realized it was obvious they didn’t belong. I went back and escorted them from the building.

On the way back from the airport last night my sister pointed out a flashing sign that was saying “Thank you”. Just sitting on the side of the road. I don’t know why (might have been troop related) but my sister thought it was very Canadian.
I asked her what it would say in America.
“Your tax dollars at work” next to a big road project that had been abandoned for a year.

Operation Foaming Horse is off to a poor start.
I raced home to try and see the play, but we didn’t make it. Probably five minutes late. They don’t let you in late, and that is a rule I support and I wish they would enforce more.
However we got up at an early hour and I’ve kept her going. She collapsed fifteen minutes ago, demanding a nap. I won’t let her rest for long. Then I’ll drag her off somewhere for more fun.

Today my sister will arrive from Miami. She is visiting for nearly a week before continuing on to my parents in Calgary. As usual, when I have guests visiting, my goal is to exhaust them.
My sister is actually the one that started this tradition. The first time she visited I kept her busy doing stuff. When she went home, she slept for an entire day. The same thing happened the next time.
So, now I just need a mission statement. After brainstorming with a co-worker we came up with some ideas. Operation: Pheidippides. Operation: Jenga (They are known for collapsing.)
In the end, we chose “Operation: Foaming Horse”. It gives nice imagery.
So I’ll pick up my sister and see if I can drag her to a fringe play starting at 10:00. Unfortunately, her flight is coming in half an hour late, so it will be tight. I hope she doesn’t need dinner.

In a seven day period I was at three barbecues.
The first was at a friend’s place last Monday. Then on Friday my company had another one. Then on Saturday I threw one myself. This was a part of my You-people-were-supposed-to-drink-all-my-beer-the-first-time party. I bought six more beers just in case I ran out, but in the end, I still have seven beers that are lingering in my fridge.
Unfortunately, alcohol wasn’t the problem. Food was. I had too much of it. Corn on the cob. Buffalo chicken wings. Marinated drumsticks. Hamburgers. It didn’t help that a Korean friend brought Bul-gal-bee as well. I had planned to do all the barbecuing myself, because I’m the host, I should be doing the work. But I wasn’t allowed near the fire. Other people were more insistent that they get to handle the duty. Fine, I’ll go back to making sure people are decently hydrated.
Of course there was a problem with that. A group was commandeering the fire and cooking the Bul-gal-bee. Every so often they brought some in to share with the people inside. I later found out that a lot of the meat was being held up in customs and wasn’t making it inside. Apparently Bul-gal-bee is better when eaten directly off the grill.
Still, there was a good turn out. Some groups that didn’t make the previous party finally showed up. So I’m going to call it a success as a party. It didn’t attain its goal, but I’ll decide to be happy with the result.

A few days ago I got an order from Amazon in. The prize book in that order was the latest in the Sword of Truth series by Goodkind, Terry.
Of course I have more of an inhalation process to reading than most people. So all 592 pages were done the next day. Needless to say, it is a good book. Heck, it is a good series. In the first book, my sister pointed out that everything seems to get worse and worse for Richard, the main character. I have to agree, the drama seems to have more tragedy than A Series of Unfortunate Events. The latest book continues this trend as properties of Richard that you have come to count on evaporate away.
But the past few book seem to have a theme behind them that is both interesting and creepy. In “Faith of the Fallen” it seemed to be a tirade against communism. That was the sixth book. The ninth book seemed to be not-so-subtlely mirroring the current Bush administration. This book, the tenth, actually had Richard going around advocating terrorism.
Political beliefs (or observations) aside, it was edge of your seat reading that I couldn’t put down.
In other news, I bought the complete Sherlock Holmes. I’m wondering if I will ever read it, or will it sit on the shelf looking classy.