New York 2008

Here's pictures from me and Katherine's New York trip. Fun time was had by all.

Winterlude

Katherine and I checked out some of Ottawa's Winterlude festivities. This is what we chanced upon in the evening. As I was watching, I was wondering if it was just whiskey that they were blowing out of their mouth so I checked what it was when I got home.

From fire breathing at wikipedia:

Fuel Risks

Ethanol can be absorbed into the blood stream without drinking it. Thus attempting fire breathing with ethanol can cause intoxication.

Methanol (used with many colored flame recipes) has a variety of entry vectors and can cause blindness or neurological disorders.

Very low flash point fuels like Naphtha, Butane, and Propane can create a condensed vapor build up in the oral cavity leading to internal combustion, damaging the mouth or lungs. Naphtha also is quite carcinogenic, and performance careers built on using it lead to a high risk of mouth cancer.

Common fuels like Gasoline and Kerosene often contain carcinogenic additives or refining by-products, such as sulfurated compounds, or benzenes. Outside the US, many fuel oils, even some specifically targeted for fire breathers, contain even higher percentage of these chemicals.

Ultra pure lamp oil mist inhalation can cause a headache, sinus infection, and chemical pneumonia. If a large enough amount is swallowed it can also cause vomiting, diarrhea, and vitamin deficiency.

Reading and understanding the Material safety data sheet for the performer's chosen fuel is recommended.

Winter

I've seen a lot of desert pictures on some friends blogs as of late. Being that I'm not in the sand and sun, I thought that I'd share what winter in Ottawa is like at the moment.

1. Christmas tree hunting. We found one.


2. Antique shopping at the Christmas tree farm.


3. The radio said said everyone should stay home tomorrow. Too much snow.


4. See, Katherine picked a good looking tree.


5. Snow day afternoon means making gingerbread cookies. Thanks Kirstie! I helped too.


6. Notice the man (me) in the picture for scale. Yes, those snow piles were put there by hand, not machine, and they will get taller tomorrow.

I'm hungry.

In the grocery store the other day, I picked up a basket, and began shopping for a few things. I was moving through the produce section as I usually do. First, I look at the bananas. They're extremely green, so I don't buy any, then I go to the lettuce and it's really wet and wilted, so I don't pick any of that up either. No salad this week. Then, I head towards the zucchini and mushrooms. Two items that can't be bad in the produce department. Really, there's nothing that can be wrong with either of these. Have you ever heard of a bruised mushroom? I filled up a bag and as I was placing it in my basket, I noticed that there was a grocery list in the bottom of the basket. I was in a bit of a strange mood and thought that it might be great to ditch the things that were on my list and try shopping with somebody else's list for a change. Unfortunately, when I looked at the list it the following items listed: sandwich meat, coffee whitener, buns OR bread, and sugar. That was it. Hardly seemed worth a trip to the grocery store if you ask me. I probably would have just grabbed a jar of peanut butter, spread it on some saltines, and drank my coffee black. If you want to try shopping with somebody else's list, try mine out. I guarantee there's at least six dozen different meals that could be made with a combination of the following ingredients + anything you have lying around.

Please sir

What the hell is going on? So, I'm on this world wide interweb thing - you know the one, it's a series of tubes that sends information from one end to the other. I went to click on my favorite blog site Neurosparks and lo and behold the damned thing has picked up and left the internet. Now, I don't know where it is, it seems to be missing. If it's not on the interweb, then it must be floating around aimlessly. I feel terrible. Was it me? Did I not comment frequently enough? I'll be better, I'll read more frequently and I'll try to write more too. Please sir I want it back and I'm not concerned about the medium. If you want to print it out and send out flyers via plane drop, I'll understand. Listen, we ripped up the cheque for the car. Please neurosparks, come back.

Ottawa Bluesfest

It's a sad thing that an issue between 'standers' and 'sitters' has taken over the spotlight with regards to the happenings at this festival. A festival is supposed to be a celebration and how one chooses to celebrate should certainly be a matter of choice, but a little bit of courtesy to your neighbours goes a long way. When I've listened to the media coverage for a short period every morning on the radio, this issue has been forefront, and the part has been missing is the celebration of the music, the art, and the camaraderie that can quickly develop between festival goers who are enjoying great music. There are a great deal of positives that aren't getting out there. I've had numerous conversations with people that I would have never met as we looked on at the musicians in admiration. There are also many other issues associated with such a large event.

I haven't heard anything in the media about: pot smoking, getting excessively drunk and spending 30 min. groping one's girlfriend, chatting loudly all the way through a concert, or smoking a pipe and blowing the smoke directly in your neighbours face. These are all things that I've witnessed at this years bluesfest and they are certainly things that I could do without, but I accept that when you stick a whole bunch of people in big pen, there is bound to be differences of opinion about what is good festival etiquette. Other people just don't seem to care about the enjoyment of others as long as their own enjoyment isn't compromised. In my eyes, this is where the problem lies.

When I was a young boy, my mother taught me what her mother taught her. That is, that you should do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It's a simple bit of wisdom that I think encapsulates the notion of common courtesy. I would suggest that in the absence of many peoples mother at the festival, maybe the festival could adopt a 'festival mother' or better yet a 'festival grandmother' to remind people of these things before some of the events that are expected to be a little crazy. I'm sure the White Stripes wouldn't mind.

As it is now, I'm very much enjoying the festival,

Does she cash the cheque?

A couple of years ago this girl I know who happens to also be my wife, sold a car to a friend of ours for sum of $100. This particular car, which happened to be a dodge colt that was actually an imported Mitsubishi with an American badge on it, had been a very trustworthy steed. In all the years that this girl owned the car she nary had to sink any money into it to keep it operating. There was a bit of an oil leak, but really nothing mechanically wrong considering the paltry price of the vehicle. I believe that the sale of the car was on an 'as is' basis, as are all used car sales in Alberta.

Shortly after the transaction had taken place this friend took the car and set off on a journey that would be greater than 1000 kilometers. When he had travelled for approximately 30 km the timing belt snapped and he was left stranded on a remote stretch of highway near a small town called Vulcan. It cost our dear friend many hours on the side of the road while he changed out the belt and prayed that greater damage had not been done to the internal workings of the vehicle. In the end, the belt was changed and our friend made it back onto the road cursing the girl who neglected the routine maintenance which calls for the belt to be changed every hundred thousand kilometers (car was at 300k and its possible the belt had never been changed). He made it safe and sound to his destination that was over 1000km away and I believe the car is now waiting for its owner to return. Anyhow, I'm in no place to speak about the details of this operation. There are others much better equipped to tell that story than I.

The point of my banter is this: today while searching for a stash of American dollars that seems to have disappeared this girl came across a cheque dated April 27, 2005. The memo line says 'car'.

Does she cash the cheque?