Sunday, August 20, 2006
Great goings-on! Given my propensity for listing things, I will proceed that way. In no particular order, here is a grab bag of what's going on in my life:
Our good friend from Ireland, Hubert Watson, passed away about a week and a half ago. He was the nicest man, a very intelligent former pathologist who had worked all over the world. He and his wife Eleanor retired to a beautifully cluttered house to do subsistence farming in Killybegs (Co. Donegal). Our visits there were always very happy. They named one of their lambs after me when I was small, and if there is one way to secure the love of a child, then that is pretty much it. Hubert and Eleanor are both very hardy specimens, but for the past few years you have been able to tell they are aging. The saddest part was that their memories were going, which was a cruel thing for people with such delightful, inquisitive, engaged minds. Eleanor is in a home now, so she won't come to any harm from living by herself on an isolated farm. It is very sad, though. They were great as a couple, too -- never a harsh word to say to each other, very harmonious.
I am taking my driver's test again on Saturday and am beyond certain I'll fail it again. Because if I think I'll fail, then I have already prepared myself for the worst that can happen, and it will all be good!
Boopsie is off to fencing camp all week! She left today, I am sure she will have a fabbo time. Mum is driving back from dropping her off as we speak. Well, we're not speaking, really, so "as I type".
My meeting last week with Andy went just fine; I have tons of work to do before I go, but it'll be OK. I might have to work extra this week, but whatever. I'll get it done. My greenhouse gas paper is actually looking half-reasonable, so that's good. The oil sands project Katy and I have been given is morphing into a behemoth. We had a meeting to explain to everyone what we are doing and they all decided that it is such a good idea for a project that we should expand it so that it covers every environmental effect and potential scenario ever. Since I am leaving in a week and a half, I will not be there to see this thing finished, so hopefully I don't leave Katy with too much work on it.
On Friday I got offered part-time consultancy work at the Canadian Solar Industry Association, just by revealing that I am going to school in Ottawa! Check me out. And their offices are on the same bus route as I am, so that could be very handy indeed. Something to check out. Let's just hope they don't think I have any particular expertise in solar power... apparently there are lots of technical people who would have my back, though, and they are just running short of policy people.
On the Ottawa front, there are a few things going on. It is Jacob's birthday this week, hooray! Emily is going home to the Hammer for a week and then to Scotland with her dad, the lucky fool.
When I get back to O-town, I'm going to get a solar device to run my desk lamp and maybe my laptop. Hopefully such things are available -- the Internet has not been forthcoming with exactly what I want so far. Perhaps the cats at the Canadian Solar Industry Association can help me out!
The truce in Lebanon is definitely not going to hold. But it would be really, really, really nice if, just for one minute, people would realize that maybe the way the past fifty years have gone is maybe not the way we want the next fifty to go, so much, so everyone should put down the fucking rocket launchers and let cooler heads prevail. Hokay?
I have a new haircut. It's like my old one, only better. And Boopsie chopped off a lot of hers, so now she has an adorable chin-length bob. It's very charming.
Last night I went out with a bunch of the gals: Becca, Laura, Diane, Marie Claire, and a few others I hadn't met before, as well as the birthday girl herself, Rachel. It was her 18th, so we were there to show her the ropes. I did this in fine style, I believe, and only fell over once. I tell you, there are days I am embarrassed to even know me. Although if I can figure out how to post it, I will definitely put up our rap video. Laura's the driver, I'm the MC, and Becca was workin' the camera and makes a guest appearance. Anyway, we went to Stolli's (DJ semi-lame, but whatever, it was fun anyway). Best of all, only one or two guys tried to scam on us! This was a positive thing because the pickings were mighty slim. The only guys any of us thought were at all non-creepy-looking were taken. I mean, not that I actually would have picked up (bars not generally being the place to form lasting, fulfilling relationships), but it would have been nice to have the hypothetical option. This morning, Becca woke Laura up by sneezing, Diane had zonked out on the couch in a truly weird sleeping position, and my head felt like it had had coffin nails driven into the back of it. We got Timmy Ho's coffee and made hash browns, scrambled eggy-weggs, and lomticks of toast. Laura and I got baked goods at Timmy's, because we really wanted them, and didn't bring any back for anyone else, winners that we are. Hey, we asked if they wanted any. Anyway, the calorie shock made us all feel better, and I hitched a ride home with Becca's mum, for she is a kind person. All in all, a good night!
And now, Jessica's Media Watch:
I neeeeed Neko Case's new album, because Dirty Knife is such a creepy song. Shudder!
Sexyback is actually kind of good. I am ashamed to even say it, and will probably go to rocker hell for doing so, but it's true. And rocker hell is probably kind of cool anyway, so there you go.
Here is a funny blog: Lady Jaida.
And here is something utterly brilliant:
And something else utterly brilliant:
This has been your Recommended Daily Intake of my musings. I'm amazed if anyone made it this far, because it is turning into a monster post.
Our good friend from Ireland, Hubert Watson, passed away about a week and a half ago. He was the nicest man, a very intelligent former pathologist who had worked all over the world. He and his wife Eleanor retired to a beautifully cluttered house to do subsistence farming in Killybegs (Co. Donegal). Our visits there were always very happy. They named one of their lambs after me when I was small, and if there is one way to secure the love of a child, then that is pretty much it. Hubert and Eleanor are both very hardy specimens, but for the past few years you have been able to tell they are aging. The saddest part was that their memories were going, which was a cruel thing for people with such delightful, inquisitive, engaged minds. Eleanor is in a home now, so she won't come to any harm from living by herself on an isolated farm. It is very sad, though. They were great as a couple, too -- never a harsh word to say to each other, very harmonious.
I am taking my driver's test again on Saturday and am beyond certain I'll fail it again. Because if I think I'll fail, then I have already prepared myself for the worst that can happen, and it will all be good!
Boopsie is off to fencing camp all week! She left today, I am sure she will have a fabbo time. Mum is driving back from dropping her off as we speak. Well, we're not speaking, really, so "as I type".
My meeting last week with Andy went just fine; I have tons of work to do before I go, but it'll be OK. I might have to work extra this week, but whatever. I'll get it done. My greenhouse gas paper is actually looking half-reasonable, so that's good. The oil sands project Katy and I have been given is morphing into a behemoth. We had a meeting to explain to everyone what we are doing and they all decided that it is such a good idea for a project that we should expand it so that it covers every environmental effect and potential scenario ever. Since I am leaving in a week and a half, I will not be there to see this thing finished, so hopefully I don't leave Katy with too much work on it.
On Friday I got offered part-time consultancy work at the Canadian Solar Industry Association, just by revealing that I am going to school in Ottawa! Check me out. And their offices are on the same bus route as I am, so that could be very handy indeed. Something to check out. Let's just hope they don't think I have any particular expertise in solar power... apparently there are lots of technical people who would have my back, though, and they are just running short of policy people.
On the Ottawa front, there are a few things going on. It is Jacob's birthday this week, hooray! Emily is going home to the Hammer for a week and then to Scotland with her dad, the lucky fool.
When I get back to O-town, I'm going to get a solar device to run my desk lamp and maybe my laptop. Hopefully such things are available -- the Internet has not been forthcoming with exactly what I want so far. Perhaps the cats at the Canadian Solar Industry Association can help me out!
The truce in Lebanon is definitely not going to hold. But it would be really, really, really nice if, just for one minute, people would realize that maybe the way the past fifty years have gone is maybe not the way we want the next fifty to go, so much, so everyone should put down the fucking rocket launchers and let cooler heads prevail. Hokay?
I have a new haircut. It's like my old one, only better. And Boopsie chopped off a lot of hers, so now she has an adorable chin-length bob. It's very charming.
Last night I went out with a bunch of the gals: Becca, Laura, Diane, Marie Claire, and a few others I hadn't met before, as well as the birthday girl herself, Rachel. It was her 18th, so we were there to show her the ropes. I did this in fine style, I believe, and only fell over once. I tell you, there are days I am embarrassed to even know me. Although if I can figure out how to post it, I will definitely put up our rap video. Laura's the driver, I'm the MC, and Becca was workin' the camera and makes a guest appearance. Anyway, we went to Stolli's (DJ semi-lame, but whatever, it was fun anyway). Best of all, only one or two guys tried to scam on us! This was a positive thing because the pickings were mighty slim. The only guys any of us thought were at all non-creepy-looking were taken. I mean, not that I actually would have picked up (bars not generally being the place to form lasting, fulfilling relationships), but it would have been nice to have the hypothetical option. This morning, Becca woke Laura up by sneezing, Diane had zonked out on the couch in a truly weird sleeping position, and my head felt like it had had coffin nails driven into the back of it. We got Timmy Ho's coffee and made hash browns, scrambled eggy-weggs, and lomticks of toast. Laura and I got baked goods at Timmy's, because we really wanted them, and didn't bring any back for anyone else, winners that we are. Hey, we asked if they wanted any. Anyway, the calorie shock made us all feel better, and I hitched a ride home with Becca's mum, for she is a kind person. All in all, a good night!
And now, Jessica's Media Watch:
I neeeeed Neko Case's new album, because Dirty Knife is such a creepy song. Shudder!
Sexyback is actually kind of good. I am ashamed to even say it, and will probably go to rocker hell for doing so, but it's true. And rocker hell is probably kind of cool anyway, so there you go.
Here is a funny blog: Lady Jaida.
And here is something utterly brilliant:
And something else utterly brilliant:
This has been your Recommended Daily Intake of my musings. I'm amazed if anyone made it this far, because it is turning into a monster post.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
So... my boss wants to know what I've been doing all summer. Shit, guys, I don't know. None of it's all that presentable, frankly, and now I feel like an idiot for not having really developed a plan for presenting this stuff earlier. I think that disagreeing with so many of the policy decisions that this government makes and yet being in no kind of position to kick up a long-term fuss, I maybe haven't put my work together all that fast or well. Or maybe I am just kind of a putz and am now making excuses so that I don't have to type the word "partnership" any more. Anyway, if I put in a couple of long days, it should work out OK. I just have to whip millions of pages of work into shape by... oh, Thursday. And I have a meeting all day Thursday. And a huge database project to finish by Friday. And something else due Tuesday. Crap. Why didn't I work hard earlier? Why are environmental impact assessment reports so impenetrable? (As impenetrable as we would like the linings of oilsands tailing ponds to be to heavy metals and hydrocarbons, HA!)
On the bright side: Folk Fest is this weekend! I'm very excited, though it is supposed to rain Thursday. And I'm going back to Ottawa soon! And I have just had the brilliant idea to get The Office off BitTorrent, because all the idiot video stores in my area aren't stocking it right now and I love love love Pam and Jim. Finally, I am having a little get-together two weeks from now. If you read this blog and didn't get an invitation, then I probably meant to invite you, so send me an e-mail and I will give you the details. Yeah?
Dad is going to Chiapas on Thursday, and Boopsie is going to fencing camp soon after (Sunday?). I will miss the little scamps.
Cheers to Jacob who went sky-diving and lived, and chucks under the chin to Katherine, who went cliff-jumping and pulled her intercostal muscles (for those of us who are not medical students, that means "an injury that hurts like a beatch").
On the bright side: Folk Fest is this weekend! I'm very excited, though it is supposed to rain Thursday. And I'm going back to Ottawa soon! And I have just had the brilliant idea to get The Office off BitTorrent, because all the idiot video stores in my area aren't stocking it right now and I love love love Pam and Jim. Finally, I am having a little get-together two weeks from now. If you read this blog and didn't get an invitation, then I probably meant to invite you, so send me an e-mail and I will give you the details. Yeah?
Dad is going to Chiapas on Thursday, and Boopsie is going to fencing camp soon after (Sunday?). I will miss the little scamps.
Cheers to Jacob who went sky-diving and lived, and chucks under the chin to Katherine, who went cliff-jumping and pulled her intercostal muscles (for those of us who are not medical students, that means "an injury that hurts like a beatch").
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Maui Photoposto!
Who is that hot surfer chick? That photo of me on the water is one that was taken by the photographer for the surf school, not by my loving parents, who were busy taking photos of the wrong group lesson entirely.
Here is a tiny tiny pineapple. We named it Kai, after the guy who tried valiantly to sell us a time-share. Thus, it was the Kainapple.
What an attractive Boopsie. This is on the day we drove around the north/west side of the island.
Honolua Bizzay, mah homizzles!
Here are some strange people who followed me around the whole time I was on Maui.
Here is a very lovely sunset on the Fourth of July, just before the scary amateur fireworks started up.
Who is that hot surfer chick? That photo of me on the water is one that was taken by the photographer for the surf school, not by my loving parents, who were busy taking photos of the wrong group lesson entirely.
Honolua Bizzay, mah homizzles!
Here are some strange people who followed me around the whole time I was on Maui.
Here is a very lovely sunset on the Fourth of July, just before the scary amateur fireworks started up.
