Leaves, Life and Laparoscopy

Where does the day go? Away too fast, it seems....

June 15 - On Bicycling

Riding my bike to work is a choice I have made to reduce my dependence on a vehicle, especially one I would only occasionally use beyond a three-km radius from my home. Still, electric cars intrigue me, as they do a lot of people... who may have come up with a use for them as they site idle while charging. As shown by the massive power failure on the East Coast in 2003, the modern power grid in North American is going to need some serious help to keep running smoothly. Given the rising demand for alternative energy, it looks as though idle electric cars might best serve as a backup for the main grid during peak demand periods. In effect, the millions of charging car batteries can be intelligently managed by electric utilities to supplement their own systems and so help smooth out demand during events like summer heatwaves or the like.

The popularity of electric bikes is on the rise too, but I don't see the point, aside from those with mobility issues or long-distance commutes. Which I do see here on the highways of Vancouver Island; bicycles are allowed on the major highways in BC on the shoulders, which still freaks me out every time I see one there when I am driving along. I myself would not ride on the highway shoulder, ever - several people I have talked to have described close calls with high-speed vehicles that made my hair stand on end.

Getting around on my bike is not all that difficult, given that BC Transit intercity buses all have daytime bike racks. I can take the bus from Langford into Victoria and ride around the city on my bike instead of depending on the bus system, which is great. It really takes the stress out of 'needing' a vehicle to get around the area, and I hope that more people over time become less dependent on four-wheeled transport when it's not absolutely necessary. It's expensive in so many ways, and though there are car-pooling efforts and ride-share programs here, it still comes down to "Do you need a car, or just want it for the convenience?"

June 16 - Longevity and Disasters

Have you ever wondered how long something you've created will last? Fifty years? A century? A thousand years? Apart from the many dire reports about our garbage lasting centuries, I have wondered how long my own words will last, in various mediums. Some years ago I purchased a pack of CD-R's that claimed to have a 100-year lifespan... assuming someone can find a working CD-ROM to read the thing. News has come down the pipe now that scientists have created a method of recording data that will last... are you ready? A billion years. No kidding - have a look at the article. I wonder if the future will appreciate us saving those spam emails for posterity...

Then again, it could all end fairly soon. According to the Mayan calendar, the world will end in late 2012... so of course, there is a film coming out about it. And of course, it is called 2012 - the trailer is big on Day After Tomorrow effects, which makes sense as it is the same director. I think I may even see this one in theaters, just for the big-screen effect. Heck, we have an IMAX theater here in town, so who knows, it may even make it there. I just hope it has better longevity than The Day After did, which despite decent effects for the time has lost some of the scare factor in the last 25 years. Though with all the noise that North Korea has been making of late, it's still rather relevant.

I think the next place I rent might be good if it came with a bomb shelter, or at least some kind of disaster-survival room. Do you know the Eleven Steps to surviving a nuclear war? I can only name five... and not in order, apparently. Yet I can't seem to get any results from googling "Rent bomb shelter" ... ah well. I'd have to ensure it was well-stocked with DVD's and root beer anyway.

June 17th - SETI and Surgery

After work I had an appointment with my doctor to follow up on my gall bladder surgery. I am happy to say that I seem to be recovering perfectly, with no signs of complications. Now that I am free of my malfunctioning bile reservoir, I have noticed that my nausea seems to be fading, though I have to be careful to watch what I eat and how much... but establishing a baseline is something that doctor agreed with. I could still have a food allergy as-still undiagnosed, so he cautioned it is best not the jump the gun and conclude that all my problems were related to the gall bladder until some months have passed first.

My doctor today also mentioned that my surgeon is, in his opinion, the best laparoscopic surgeon on the entire West Coast, bar none. I agree wholeheartedly - I kept waiting for pain to kick in while I was recovering, but apart from some discomfort it was the best experience I could have wished for, in terms of being operated on. Chopping out bits of my original equipment is not something I ever want done more than absolutely necessary, which I think most people can agree with.

Last month, a ten-year anniversary date passed by without me realizing it. Back before the millennium, when the Y2K Bug was looming and most computers had just made the switch to Windows98, there was news about a new bit of free software that was going to take a novel approach to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Instead of trying to scrounge expensive time on supercomputers, the new idea for SETI@home was to break up the data to be searched into small packets which could be distributed to millions of home users, whose computers could be left on to analyze the data when not being used by their owners. It was the first application of distributed computer, which has exploded in popularity since - the Berkely BOINC page lists dozens of projects underway on tens of millions of computers worldwide, including many workplace groups and project associations. My own PC's have been running SETI@home fairly faithfully almost since the day it was first released in May 1999, clocking over 28,000 of hours of data searches... though nothing has been found yet, there is still the possibility. Ten years of searching is nothing compared to the age of the cosmos.

Related to SETI is the Drake Equation, which is a formula used to derive the number of intelligent civilizations out there in the Milky Way galaxy. Widely known and used by many, with a few detractors, it is interesting to plug in variables and see what numbers pop out. You can use this online version to see for yourself how many other civilizations may be out there right now... though they may be quite far away, and not around for all that long considering that the lifespan of the universe is in the billions of years.

June 18 - Words and Leaves in Summer?

Work is going well. Though we have seen a downturn in business like many other sectors, it is unlikely we will be closing stores or laying off staff, thank goodness. My doctor has ordered me to get plenty of rest after each workday, with no activity apart from walking around the house for at least another week. So no cycling, mowing the lawn... or raking leaves? The Arbutus trees hereabouts are all shedding their leaves, which apparently is quite normal for them to do in July. It is a bit early this year, due to the dry weather here on Vancouver Island, and seeing the lawn covered in rather acidic leaves is really rather odd... I am used to September leaf piles, and those being maple at that. Definitely different here.

Back in grade school, I loved history books in our library, and one of my all-time favourites was Castle by David Maccaulay released in 1977. It had had fantastic illustrations, which you can actually browse through some dozens of pages at this link from Google Books.The book describes the creation of thirteenth-century castle from the first shovel of earth dug all the way up to the whitewashing of the exterior, all done in Maccaulay's incredible line-art illustrative style. I think I will pick up a copy soon from AbeBooks.com, seeing as there are quite a few of them and the cost is almost nothing - Maccauly has sold millions of copies of his work over the years, which any author can only hope for with their work!

Books - I have a lot of them. While I have a good memory for titles, I have so many books from years of collecting that sometimes I end up duplicating a title I already have while browsing a bookstore. Since I always have my PDA on me, it has been on my mind for some time to get a list of ALL my books in electronic form, and carry it around with me thus avoiding duplicate purchases. There are quite a few software programs out there, but my thought has always been 'Can I just scan the barcode and have the rest of the data populate itself?' - having title, author, publisher and the like plucked from the 'net much like MP3 tags would save SO much time. So far, BookCAT is the front-runner, followed by Book Collector but I still have to find an inexpensive barcode scanner that's not cheap plastic crap.

No books on bacon though. Which may explain why I've never heard of Bacon Soap until today - and now, so have you. Mmm... bacon!

June 19 - Battlefield and Bots

Next week sees release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in theaters across the country, and the anticipation is massive. It remains to be seen if it will outperform the success of The Dark Knight, which was the highest-grossing film of 2008, according to IMDB's 2008 film database - that's a half-billion US dollars, folks. I really enjoyed last week's Transformers marathon on Teletoon Retro, though a lot of it was wince-worthy from a writing standpoint - but we watch it for the giant robots battling it out for supremacy, not the nuanced character development. As if there was much of that, though the more recent Beast Wars( Beasties on YTV )CGI animated series by Mainframe( now called Rainmaker )did a stellar job tying into the Transformers mythos. Some fine writing there, I kid you not: they won a few Emmy's, which I am not surprised about. The main writer on the series was Larry DiTillo, who also did fantastic work on the He-Man revival a few years back... not to mention some work on Babylon 5. Good job, Larry!

On the topic of transforming: The first MMO game I played after leaving Ultima Online was... Battlefield 1942, which was also one of the first massively multiplayer online shooter games, akin to Quake and Unreal Tournament. Unlike those other two games, where your lifespan was measured in stretches mere seconds long, BF1942 was a blast to play, almost literally. Teams of up to 32 players would face off against each other, playing classic battlefield maps set during WWII of Americans versus the Japanese, Germans versus British, and so forth. You could run as one of various soldier classes, on foot... or jump into a jeep. Or a tank. Or a plane. Or a ship, like a destroyer, battleship or even aircraft carrier! Teamplay was critical, though the communication tools were horrible - simple text chat, which usually got you killed as you were typing, and it was hard to keep an eye on the chat messages while trying to stay alive - no voice chat in those days. It was addictive fun, with a ranking system and a ton of servers to play on. My only regret is that it was still far too easy for people to hack the game and cheat, to the point where almost every game I was in had someone doing something illegal - my frustration built to the point where I just had to stop playing. Damned script kiddies - they probably went on to become the scum who spam people's email and hack into systems to steal personal data.... I wish them long stays behind bars, the sooner the better.

*ahem* My point? It was recently announced that Battlefield:1943 will be released by year's end as a download-only game for XboxLive! - great news! From everything I have seen, it will have all the good points of the old BF1942 but updated for today's consoles... and not a hacker in sight. Sweet!

June 20th - Simple Saturday

Today I finished watching the last few episodes of Arrested Development, along with some of the extras, such as the 'Last Day of Shooting' vignette. For anyone who hasn't seen the series, I highly recommend that you do; I am only sorry that I waited as long as I did after Rene mentioned how great it was to me years ago.

Just a reminder that Dell's 10 Days of Deals continues until June 24th( the day Transformers opens! )and though I haven't seen anything I need for myself, there have been a few great deals so it's worth checking out daily - you might just see something you've been waiting to get. I enjoyed browsing through RedFlagDeal.com's listings of previous day's items from Dell.ca, which may give you an idea of just exactly how good a deal you may have already missed.

Close to bedtime, I stumbled across The Majestic with Jim Carey on TV, and fell in without meaning to. While not critically acclaimed, I found it an intriguing story about a man who loses his memory and mistakenly takes on another life, that of a small-town hero thought to have been killed some years ago in WWII. It was touching at points, a touch too maudlin in other parts but overall a decent watch that didn't have me wanting to tune out, despite being tired. The original website from 2001 is still up, surprisingly, and they have a production journal as well - pretty good for over eight years after a movie's release.

June 21 - Dad's Day

The summer solstice today, the longest day of the year. I won't go into the historical significance, but everyone can see that it is light out really, really late at night. I wish I could say I spent the evening outside, but it's been cold and very windy here the last few days - quite a change from the start of the month's heatwave.

While I was all set for Father's Day today, some dads are notoriously hard to buy for. Given the massive search capabilities of the internet, there are tons of ideas for Gifts for Dad, but I found most to be cheesy kitsch... though I did come across a nice list of ideas you might want to peruse for next year.

We watched Wall-E in the evening, which was one of several DVD's I'd bought( on sale, of course! )for my dad for Father's Day. Neither of my parents had seen the film, so we watched it on my big-screen with the 5.1 speakers and they loved it - it helped that it was such a good film, won an Oscar in 2008, in fact.


I'll leave you with a clip from the upcoming animated film 9, and it's a doozy! No Wall-E, that's for sure - it's dark, dangerous and delightful. Enjoy!

Heat, Hummingbirds and Humdrum

This was a tiring week, but the blog was busy: we passed 2000 hits on June 8th! Updated the blog Monday - nice to have that as a day off.

June 8 - Wokking Work

Some good news today while I was at work: my dad called to say that he had been instantly hired by an airport shuttle service when they interviewed him today, full time! Wonderful, especially in light of the fact that the current company he's been working for has been light on work, as well as common sense - this will be a welcome change for him in terms of stability and I hope, less stress.

To celebrate after work, we went to the Wok Box which was only a few doors down from where I work in the Millstream Plaza. We had the Chinese Feast, whose portions were very generous - so much so that we ended up taking home more than we had eaten! I especially enjoyed the almond chicken, which was just the right level of spicy. I really enjoyed the meal, as did my parents, and I will definitely be back - especially as it is so conveniently only steps away from my workplace!

The future may have more Chinese in it too: news has arrived that Blade Runner is getting a new web series, called Purefold. While original director Ridley Scott won't be taking a personal hand in it, he IS allowing the series to come out under the Creative Commons license, which I believe is a first for any A-list Hollywood director - a good sign that there may be more good things to come.

I hope that in the future, they still have Bacon In A Can. I just can't see myself eating Instant Bacon... unless it's from a Trek-style replicator, then I might just.

June 9 - Heat Kills

We had a nasty example of how deadly the heat can be outside today on the deck. While I was outside, sitting in the shade, a calliope hummingbird flew under the overhead skylights and became trapped, unable to find its way out. In the time it took for me to race to grab a nearby stepstool and reach up to rescue it( less than 30 seconds )the poor thing expired from the heat under the glass. It was heartbreaking, and the only consolation was that I was able to have a close look at the jewel-like feathers of the tiny bird, scintillating emerald-green and shimmering browns. Strangely, we've also had a Great Blue Heron take a nap on the dock today - so that's Canada's largest bird AND its smallest bird, both in our backyard on the same day... good thing the heron didn't want to hop onto the deck.

Also hot: For a while now, I've been following the news about Microsoft's Surface technology - basically, a touch-sensitive screen the size of a coffee table that has been touted as the Next Big Thing in personal computing. Well, some people don't or won't believe the hype... to the point where they've taken one of Microsoft's Surface promo videos and done their own version of it - hilarious, and it has some good points about putting the cart before the horse. I myself derided laptops for years as expensive alternatives to the much more configurable home PC... but now that laptops are mainstream, netbooks are the cutting edge and home PC's can be had for less than $400.00 if you assemble your own, I have to give a nod to market pressure and the march of mass production. My wallet thanks you.

Relaxation was the key today: I just don't have the energy to do much activity-wise. My right leg( thigh, point of fact )has been intermittently numb for the last week. I'm going to make sure to ask the doc about it at my upcoming appointment, to ensure it's not related in any way to the operation. It's a weird sensation - like it's asleep, but I still have full functionality yet when I poke it with a pen, it's not 'fully' sensitive. *sigh* Just one more thing to add to my daily List of Oddities.

June 10 - Bender Rides Again!

Great news today - Comedy Central announced that it has approved production of 26 new episodes of Futurama, after amazing sales of the DVD series that was canceled in 2003. The new episodes will air in 2010 - I can hardly wait!

It was Oven Time at work today; the guy from the restoration services company was here in the morning( before my shift )and discovered the walls were not close to being dry... thanks to his forgetting to turn OFF the A/C. So not only did he do that, he cranked up the heat - to the point where I worked the entire shift with the branch interior at over 90 degrees. Can you say: sauna? Thankfully, like a sauna it was a dry heat... but man, that really sapped my energy and concentration. I was glad that it was a slow day( as many have been of late, unfortunately )so that I didn't have to move too quickly.

I ended up walking home today for the first time, due to various reasons - one of which is that neither the BC Transit buses nor Langford Trolley run in-town after around 6pm. Which means that I'll likely just be biking to and from work, like I had figured on doing anyway for the summer - which is free, as well as far more convenient than waiting around for transit. Though I like the idea of the trolley, it only seems practical for travel on my days off - since it's usually empty when I see it drive by, most people must think it's easier to get around by car.

June 11 - Lifestyle Thoughts

Car washes: I loved those as a kid! I remember going through them, listening to the tumbling roar of the water pounding against the glass and seeing the rotary brushes shimmy along the windows as the car inched through the car wash. It was cheap entertainment to be sure, but I just loved it - like being in the bowels of a monster only to emerge into sunshine and drying trails of water on the other side. Nowadays, car washes are touchless, so the brushes are almost all gone. Some people just don't get it though.

One thing that's changed in my lifestyle is a lack of pub-time. Since moving out to B.C. I've spent less and less time in pubs, mainly I believe due to the fact that I simply don't know as many people here. I consulted Foodpages.ca and came up with a list of local eateries, which was topped by the Country Rose Pub - a straight run a few km away.

Moving out to Langford has again illustrated the point most succinctly: while I DO know a fair number of people here, I don't spend much time with them on a regular basis. In point of fact, I talk to some of my online friends far more often than I do those here on Vancouver Island. Still, we do keep in contact, though again it's not like I'm used to - usually an email, text or call is just a prelude to meeting at Steebs or The Kilt.

I miss that.

June 12 - Uphill Accents

I watched an episode of BSG this morning "The Hand of God" which had some terrific CGI battle sequences in it. Afterwards, on a whim, I searched for some technical specs on things Galactica, and came up with a few surprising sites - Wolf's Shipyard also has B5 images, as does Starship Schematics. Again, I really like cut-away designs of SF ships, like this one of the Enterprise-D, though that particular one is signed by the artists - a little pricer than what I paid for mine. I wonder what it would cost to have Patrick Stewart autograph mine...?

Which reminds me: I love English accents, and apparently the rest of the world does too - anything sounds cool if it's said in an English Accent. I'll even take a Kiwi accent in an English one isn't available - you can even train yourself online to speak with an English Accent. How's that for making use of the internet?

Riding home from work was manageable; I walked the bike uphill for about 1/2 a km, past FutureShop, Staples and Costco, until I reach the crest and can coast down again into a nice backwoods community area away from all the traffic. It's really amazing to go from super-urban shopping zone to windy-road deep-forest semi-suburb in the space of just a few minutes, by bike no less. A quick trip across the highway( imagine traffic lights on the QEW, no overpasses! )and then it's a level jaunt for five minutes to get home through a quiet neighbourhood. Very relaxing, and eventually I'll be a able to cycle up those hills again.

June 13 - Transforming Business

Off in the morning to do some meet-and-greet in Victoria - talking to local businesses to let them know what services my work offers. I handed out a fair number of my own business cards, and chatted up a few folks; all in all, I think it was a successful day, if somewhat tiring to trek around in casual business attire. No way I was going to overdo it in a suit on a sunny Saturday!

When I got home, I tuned into the Transformers Marathon on Teletoon Retro, broadcasting 24 hours of G1-goodness - 48 episodes total. I had it on all day as I worked on various things, napped, and generally tried to relax in between doing minor things around the house. No yardwork yet though - I just don't feel up to it, and I don't have any mulch left to spread over the front areas anyway.

The second Transformers movie arrives on June 24th( inspiringly entitled Transformers2: Revenge of the Fallen )which I am looking forward to, especially as it again stars Megan Fox. Though from this collection of her quotes, she may be best known as just a pretty face, considering what she manages to get quoted for. Then again, most of the fanboys probably don't care if she has the power of speech anyway...

From old to new: I've had my Xbox360 for 1.5 years now, and I'm fairly pleased with it, especially as I only now just picked up a Chatpad for it( on sale this week at F.Schlock )which will make typing msgs SO much easier. Yet despite the Xbox360 having built-in voice chat, people seem to prefer text - weird. Which got me to thinking about upcoming video game consoles... and led me to stumble across this 'promo' video for the PS9 - 7 generations in the future; very cool concept.

June 14 - Sunday Sorting

Most of today was spent digging through cupboards and storage boxes to find, rearrange and toss things as necessary. Lots of little bits, pieces of tech and forgotten toy parts were spread all over as I sorted through things while watching episodes of Robotech Remastered: The Macross Saga - which held up fairly well to my memories of it. The updated DVD release has cleaned-up video and remastered( hence the name )5.1 audio, which sounds great. There are still a few hiccups with it, and the animation looks dated compared to today's Flash-based masterpieces( Stoked, people - go watch it June 25th on Teletoon! )but it's all about nostalgia, really.

And what the hell? io9.com also posted this nugget of flaming fecal fluff: a writer for Torchwood complaining that Babylon 5 has ruined SF by introducing continuous story arcs? How the heck can you say that going from the idea of completely unlinked one-shot episodes to a story arc that rewards viewers who tune in every week is a bad thing??? I wonder if JMS knows about this...

I attended a meeting near my workplace tonight, with about a dozen of the tenants of the complex who all want to share ideas on how to improve business at the plaza. We tossed ideas around for a few hours, all in a positive light - I came away from the meeting quite heartened that others in the plaza are committed to bringing in business through co-operation with their neighbours. Time well spent, with a very friendly and intelligent bunch of workplace neighbours.


Today, June 15th, also marks the beginning of the 10 Days of Deals at Dell.ca, something they do only a few times a year. For those of you with some spare cash and a hankering for tech at a discount, you may want to keep an eye on their site. As for me, I'm going to wait until next year... my stuff's too new, though that 42" Sanyo plasma TV for $649.00 really makes me itch.

DVD's, Dinner and Decisions

I'd ask Thought Police to actually read the blog entire, before commenting, as it only shows them to be foolish by leaving comments that ignore the blog's content.. but why bother? I'll bet they just skim, and don't actually read - keywording at work, folks. Hey, my first intro-comment link! Whoop.


Dec 15 - Scams

Low energy...

Turns out the phone calls I have been getting are from an 'Imperial Cruise Lines' ... important to note the name, as they are NOT the same company as 'Imperial Cruise LINE' - the distinction will be important later. Seems that this less-than-reputable bunch( nee scammers )use autodialers to call numbers and so determine the times of day when people there pick up. They then pass that info on to call center staff to peruse, based on data from their 'automated survey' call, which basically tells them if the mark is likely to have money to spend( nee be bilked of )on a vacation cruise. Apparently lots of people have been getting these types of calls, which often result in large sums vanishing from one's credit cards, if you are foolish enough to give such info away. Given that these scammers are taking full advantage of internet-based IP phones, which are difficult to trace and have no CallerID, it makes the National Do Not Call Lists rather impotent. Law enforcement is slow to follow up on complaints, which then means that the numbers that DO show up are already out of service a few weeks later. Reading some of the information that former employees talk about is eye-opening as well, and makes me wonder HOW this kind of company can stay in business legally? The world is not what it once was.

I watched Transformers in the evening, which was in the now-defunct HD-DVD format. Say what you will, I stick by my guns that it IS the better format - Blu-Ray has far fewer features, but had the backing of all the major studios, likely because it was cheaper to produce. Ah well. Transformers looked amazing on the HDTV, as the detail of the robots was mind-boggling. Too bad the video game stank... they should take a page from Good Old Games, which is a company dedicated to bringing the best of the older video games into today's age, making them run under Vista and the like. Oddworld!!

Dec 16 - Concepts and Movies

With the expression "Work is good for what ails ya" in mind, I set out today, my second day off, to make myself feel a little better... by organizing my place. I went through all my books, papers and sundry stuff to comb out all that which was no longer relevant to my life, which was surprisingly little. The papers took the longest, as old bills and other whatnot had to be examined to see if they were still worth keeping - the papers, not the bills. I progressed steadily through the day, cleaning, dusting, moving, tossing and the rest, until by dinnertime I was satisfied - my place finally looked like I wanted it to. All the extra was tossed or tucked away, I'd found a few things I thought lost, and in general I liked the neatness... the old saw of 'settled surroundings, settled mind' was definitely at work here.

I Stumbled across a website that is a mecca for people posting concept art; one fellow actually had his art go from concept to full-sized spaceship, built for a theme park in Germany, in only three months! Sing the praises!

Speaking of concepts, while waiting for Watchmen to come out, I came across a trailer for X-Men: Origins - Wolverine, with Hugh Jackman reprising his successful clawful role as the badass mutant. Nice that Wolvey keeps gaining popularity as the years go by.

I finished off the evening watching Iron Man, which was a great comic book movie. All the elements were there: cool superhero suit, lots of action, and even a redheaded Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, assistant to Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark. I've always liked Iron Man, though regrettably I've not kept any of the few issues I had from years ago. Apparently the newer issues have incredible writing in them, so I'll have to try and scout eBay for a few issues in the new year. Cool suit, did I mention that?

Dec 17 - What is that white stuff?

It snowed all day today, which in itself is nothing I am not used to from decades in Niagara. However, there is not even a tenth as snow removal or salting equipment here in Victoria, due to the much milder temperatures. Which means that when it keeps on snowing with low temperatures, things literally pile up faster than can be dealt with.

Tonight was a case in point. After I finished work in a flurry( hah! )of activity, I raced to the nearby bus stop, thinking I was a few minutes early for the scheduled bus. So I waited confidently, snugly tucked into my winter gear. And waited. And waited. After a half-hour, I was rather put out, moreso as I had spotted a bus in the far distance pulled over with its hazard lights on. After trying to call the bus schedule number futilely, it being busy constantly, I trekked over to the bus in the distance. The driver told me that due to the slippery roads, ALL transit buses had been told to wait until the roads were re-evaluated and the salters/sanders had had a chance to get around the main routes. So he took my ticket, gave me a transfer slip and I waited with a few others another ten minutes until we were finally given the go-ahead to proceed. I then waited with a large crowd downtown in the main foyer to Chapters, keeping warm for another hour almost until the bus I needed straggled in. Annoyingly, the driver told everyone that by that point, the ride was free due to the delay... but I had already paid on the other bus. Ah well, at least it got me most of the way home... albeit two hours late. Which was about the average wait for a cab that night, due to the virtual shutdown of transit. Thanks, snowfall.

Dec 18 - Bacon and Wall-E

A little late now to order in time for Christmas, but as a companion to my earlier blog entry I present: bacon ornaments! That's right... now you can hang your fave food on your tree for the holidays! And, in case you didn't already know about it, ILoveBacon.com is up and running for all your bacon needs!

Speaking of greasy, I made it home from work in the usual half hour, as the buses were running on time today, for a wonder. Seems it just takes them a day to get used to snowfall, which according to the locals has not been this heavy since the Blizzard of 1996, the year when Victoria held the record for all of Canada for the most snow accumulation in 24 hours... ouch. Not as much snow as the White Death, when Niagara and Western New York State got buried in snow in 1977. The sledding was good that year. Shades of The Day After Tomorrow, really, but without the bad acting. Or the wolves.

I headed over to my neighbour's place, in the next apartment on the same floor, for dinner and a movie. This was the first movie night we'd had since springtime earlier in the year, so I was excited... my social calendar here in Victoria has had few outings of this type at all, to my regret. We watched Wall-E, the Pixar CG-animated movie... it was fantastic! The graphics, as expected, were top-notch, and I was impressed that the producers did not try to go for a 'true-human' look as Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within did( mostly successfully )back in 2001. What impressed me the most though was the personality that the animators managed to imbue into the robotic characters, mainly done without dialogue. Watching their antics on the screen, I was reminded of the silent pictures of the early film era, where gesture, expression and body language had to convey the totality of expression in the absence of words. Charlie Chaplin, we miss you.

Dec 19 - Fuzzy Friday

Listening to the radio at work always helps the day go faster, or at least not suck as much. The station I have tuned in here, 100.3 'The Q' seems tailor-made to my tastes: lots of oldies, classic rock and the odd indie song tossed in, without any rap, dance, techno, metal or other related... stuff. I am almost always pleased with their selections, even the esoteric ones I've never heard of - rare is the time when I flick off the radio in the back when I can't stand the choice of song. So that's a good thing here.

After a long day, I was feeling rather woozy - dizzy even, at points. I've been taking digestive enzymes on my doctor's recommendation, to see if they might assist with bringing my plumbing back to normal... but no results as yet. So, I packed my bags and spent the night visiting my parents, who put me up in their spare room. I slept very well, and our cat Tristan was delighted to see me for such a long stretch, so much so that he barely left my side all evening. I didn't eat much, as usual, apart from a slice of pizza and a buttered bun - I have been using liquid meal replacements at work for the last few weeks, as they avoid the nausea that has inevitably followed eating solid food. That cannot continue forever though, as I need to find the reason for this problem and not just continue to treat the symptoms.

Dec 20 - Decision

I woke up to the toot of a train horn somewhat after seven AM, just one of the lovely things that living in Esquimalt forces you to get used to. At least the stench of diesel over the entire Inner Harbour is much less on the weekend, as there are fewer commuter flights leaving. Also, this is the off-season for tour buses, who show up three or four at a time during the summer to loudly proclaim over the views.

But, enough about that. I was still feeling burned out, as I have been for the last many weeks, due to whatever is causing my illness. Part of the symptoms is that I do not feel hunger, even after not eating for 12 hours or longer - I just don't. So I have to remind myself to eat, and watch that I don't eat too much at once... I've taken to having four or five smaller meals a day, as that seems to work around the nausea I get an hour after a regular-sized meal. Taking digestive enzymes helps, and I am still able to function fairly normally, despite a few dizzy or nauseous episodes a day, which only happen after a meal... for the most part. So that's only three times a day, really, when you think about it. Every day.

Which is why today I had to make a choice: to continue on my own, or make plans for my near future.

Plans, you say? Yes. I have to consider that I will not quickly figure out what is going on internally with my plumbing, nor that my doctor will find a simple solution - he hasn't yet, and I am going to be getting a few more specialist's opinions in the new year. So with that in mind, I have decided to hedge my bets in case I am unable to continue working or functioning on my own in the coming year.

Discussing things with my parents for the last few months, we have co-ordinated our searches for an alternate residence, and today we went to see a house in Langford that hit all the checkboxes. It is about a fifteen minute drive from Victoria, on a good day, is located on a lake with a view, close to many amenities and has plenty of room for everyone and our 'stuff' too.

We loved it, and immediately sent off an email to the owner that we would take it.

Which meant that I also contacted my own landlord and gave notice today, which broke my heart... because I love my current apartment. I've rhapsodized about it many times in my blog, so let me just say this: as I look around while composing today's entry, I am again struck by how comfortable and perfectly suited this place is to me, in so many ways: the size, the location, the neighbours, the way the sun lights the whole place all day long... that I can write in peace here, with my independence and all that I need at hand. It is everything I wanted in a place of my own.

Now I have to leave it, by my own choice albeit forced by circumstance. Which means that I will be moved out of this location by Feb 1st, 2009. Bitter is that taste, to have found a place that is all that you wanted and be forced to leave it by your body's betrayal. Bitter, bitter a taste indeed.

Dec 21 - Sunday Slush

The splash effect of slush on semi-cleared roads should not be understated, especially where temperatures have not solidly frozen roadside accumulations. I watched several people eat flying slush as cars zoomed past on the somewhat cleared main roads today, waiting for the bus on Fairfield Rd. I passed quite a few folks out on their Sunday morning to clear their walks; there must have been easily a dozen people flailing away with shovels, not to mention those who had already cleared their walks and the sidewalks in front of their homes too. I am sure that many an enterprising youngster will make a good few dollars today with no more than a sturdy shovel and a penchant for ringing doorbells all day.

Which made for a slow day at work. I've brought in a humidifier, as the air here hovers around 35%( or less )humidity, which is uncomfortable to work in. Cracked skin on one's hands and the occasional nosebleed are things I try to avoid adding to my list of winter enjoyments, so the added moisture, although not substantial, helps to keep these minor scourges at bay during my work day. Not to mention that the lobby is at least 15-20 degrees cooler than the heavy-glass-insulated teller area, so whenever the heating system comes on, cold air is displaced from the lobby and blasts into the teller zone... can you say, "My hands are frozen?" I knew that you could. Now thaw 'em out and count change.

I watched the DVD extras for Iron Man after getting home from work - amazingly easy on a Sunday night, as the bus goes directly from my branch to the stop outside my front door. Maybe a hundred steps total from work to home... and I won't be doing that ever again, in little more than a month. Though I will likely still be working every Sunday... I'm tempted to get religion, just for the day off.

Ahem. DVD extras... there are a LOT of them with Iron Man, all top-notch and informative. Must be the hundreds of geeks involved in the creative process... they know what sorts of things they would like to see on these things. Great gobs of CGI graphics, diagrams and interviews - when I was finished watching I felt like I had been on the crew for most of the production. I'll have to pick this one up.


And on to the Comments... if any. Will there be spiders?