The shift in space and reality because of a shift in Geography

I am sitting just outside a café in Merseyside, in the United Kingdom, reflecting on the differences between the culture I live in, and the cultures here.  It is odd that there are so many differences, on one level, because my family is a Canadian reflection of the culture here, being offshoots of families that still live in England, Wales and Ireland.  Yet the way we approach life in my corner of Canada is different, and largely driven by climate, populating density and a cost-of-living discordance.  What I pay a loonies/dollar for in Canada, I am paying a pound for in the UK.  That sounds okay on the surface, but when you note that the exchange rate is approximately 1.9 to  1, almost a 2 to 1 ratio, it makes little sense.  So a one dollar chocolate bar becomes 2 dollars, so quickly. You can quickly get confused if you try to compare the currencies using anything like an apples to oranges measure.  But the other harmonic in this is that the monies being earned here are equivalent and there is the balance point.  Huh?  Basically what I mean is that the Brits earn in pounds and spend in pounds.  If I worked here I would earn in pounds and spend in pounds.  The dissonance goes away....  it is only when you are working to match apples to apples does the apparent inequity show up.  Don't do it; its a tough one to try to balance when you're on vacation.

Did I mention that I am somewhat surprised by the number of middle agers (50 something's to mid sixties) who are just wandering about, doing errands, looking after toddlers, and generally going about their business of living outside of 'business'.  For instance, a fifty-something man just strolled by with a loaf of bread under his arm, an older woman just wheeled a toddler by on her way to visit friends over a coffee.  This little village with a road running through it that feels like a fairly major artery is idyllic on the surface, but teeming with activity underneath the surface.

Sorry; this post is a bit of a ramble.  I needed to write something, but couldn't focus on my book or on the technical blog posts...

Have fun!

Send me a note to call me on my behaviours!

If you find that this blog has not been updated within a two week period, please send a note or comment to that effect.  the blog was intended to connect with others who have had the same challenges, or just generally to stay 'in the world' rather than retreating into some sort of intellectual hibernation.  Not to remain as current as possible in this day of social media is just plain silly.  Help me to stay current... give me a virtual poke, a pinch, a kick in the pants, to remind me.

Thanks!!

Command and Control culture doesn't translate well...

The Command and Control culture that is the military, that is law enforcement and to a lesser degree that is fire fighting's backbone has severe limitations when applied to organizations that require innovation and transformation to thrive or even just to survive.  In spite of what the gurus over at the Harvard Business Review have to say, the Command and Control culture cannot be layered over the existing culture of an organization successfully simply because the new CEO/CIO/CFO/COO is from another organization with a long standing Command and Control culture.  It doesn't seem to matter what post graduate degree they've got tucked under their epaulet regardless of how it was supposed to compliment the braid and embroidery.  The very notion of a Command and Control culture background fights innovation and transformation when it is coming from the senior levels of management.  There are lessons to be learned from the Command and Control world, but when its unyielding dictums are applied too rigorously to those not already steeped in the culture the application spawns fear and loathing.  By all means let's find a place for experienced military and paramilitary leaders in the mainstream of the corporate world, but bear in mind that only a special few are equipped to take a seat in the C-Suite.

Buying a new car...Volkswagen in Canada, Norden Autohaus, and the Tiguan

We've recently had a most satisfying experience buying a new car.  We hate buying cars.  The experience usually leaves us angry and totally frustrated with the concept of 'commission' sales and extremely disappointed with the salesman, the sales manager and the dealership in general.  We've been 'burned' in the past and resolved not to go through it all again.  In fact we had threatened to make our son-in-law handle our next vehicle acquisition.

We've been dithering around this decision for the last year but we did finally decide that it was time to seriously investigate replacing our ageing Jeep Liberty.  Our Jeep has served us well.  Imagine our disappointment when we came to realize that Chrysler/Jeep had decided some years ago not to continue to make the Liberty but instead chose to produce inadequate products like the Patriot.  Hell, we might even have considered the Jeep Commander if we had determined that it met our needs as an urban four wheel drive alternate to the Liberty.  

We did our due diligence; we spent time trying to visit as many of the dealerships in our neighbourhood that had vehicles of the class and in the price range that we thought were appropriate for us. Even this simple act of window shopping was a huge challenge for us because of our schedule, and the severity of the local winter this year.  I do have to say that the arrogance of the dealerships that decided that they wouldn't be open on Sundays in a regional culture that supports Sunday shopping were all given a miss when it came down to the final decision making.  I mean, for heaven's sake; I can go spend thousands on furniture, electronics and almost anything in this community including a new home on a Sunday, but then you tell me I can't shop for a new car.  Somebody out there is out of touch with the reality of this community and region.  

So we did the research on line and especially with the help of the latest Consumer Reports for the 2014 model year and weren't able to get near more than two dealerships before we narrowed down our choices.  

Those dealerships that refused to be available on Sundays probably saved us from a repeat of the anguish and anger we've experienced in the past with slick sales guys, intractable sales managers and  the pushy business managers masquerading as finance guys with their incessant attempts to up sell on us on all the little things that have the most margin for the dealership, like extended warranties and rust proofing and upholstery conditioning and rock chip protection.  Quite honestly, if those items are so damned important but a vehicle manufacturer doesn't see that it is important enough to build it into the basic product then I don't want the product, as it is obviously substandard and what's worse is that their own sales and distribution network doesn't even trust the product. 

 Anyway after the analysis using on-line resources and the Consumer Reports documentation We decided to take a detailed look at and try to arrange a test drive of a suite of four choices; the Volkswagen Tiguan, the Hyundai Santa Fe with a quick look at the Tucson for good measure, the Toyota Highlander and the Jeep Cherokee.

We went with the Valkswagen Tiguan from Norden Autohaus.  The Hyundai product was a strong second choice, and in fact we might have considered the Tucson.  The Toyota Highlander is a lovely vehicle but a bit pricey.  We have no idea what the Cherokee is like.  Speaking of arrogance, what is with Chrysler running that massive ad campaign and then not providing vehicles to the dealerships to meet the demand?  Oh, and probably the tipping point that drove us away from the Cherokee was running into another of 'god's gift to vehicle sales' which didn't help the Chrysler/Jeep dealership's chances at at all.  We're very disappointed with Chrysler Jeep.

The sales team at Norden Autohaus were exceptional!  We'd recommend visiting them any time you are in the market for a vehicle, new or used.  Seriously.  give them a look.  they are part of the GoAuto network and they seem to work really hard.

So now in our garage we have two Volkswagens, being an EOS and a Tiguan, and then of course there is the obligatory motorcycle, while languishing out on the parking pad we have the Jeep Liberty which I can't quite bear to part with just yet.  Wait?!  What?!  The motorcycle isn't obligatory for a guy on the wrong side of fifty?  Who said?!!  They must be wrong.  Its definitely more important than a darned boat when you live this far inland and away from any decent lakes.  And those ATVs and sleds are just plain silly if you don't have some decent recreational property to tear up.

And it keeps turning...

Well, in spite of the silliness of so many of the world's leaders, their inability to engage with the people whom they govern, and their clumsy interactions with the other leaders they absolutely must deal with, the world keeps turning.  Yes, well, we've got a volcano with renewed activity out there showing that the planet is developing indigestion likely from the antics of its parasites, and some pretty confused and confusing weather patterns.
But on the home front, things are becoming a bit more stable and the future is looking far less bleak.  We are exercising regularly, in fact it is becoming part of the routine, which coupled with the rehab efforts, including the continued use of Lumosity.com website's exercises, is by all reports, making a difference.  The potential for personal financial calamity is decreasing, and we are making some headway with the filing of benefits claims on the various disability insurance policies. I still question the bureaucracy that surrounds the way the claims are processed.

One of the high points of recent days are the Olympics, and Canada's medal count and the potential for continued success in curling and hockey.

On a more personal note, high points of the Family Day weekend included time with one of the grand daughters and the two grand nephews.  The visit with one of the grand nephews was made so much brighter by his introducing me to the world of Bey Blades. Wow; battling tops, revisited 40 years later!  So much fun!

I don't mind a challenge or two, but this morning we've reached the point of 'enough!'

I guess that just challenging fate by surviving cancer and working through the effects of this damned stroke isn't enough... the universe has to pile it on higher and deeper.  So, with the stroke comes the responsibility to tell the ministry of transportation that there has been a life altering change in my medical status.  I did that yesterday.  Now it's official; I cannot drive until the doctors sign off on my 'fitness' to get behind the wheel.  Let's layer on the mess with my disability benefits coverage for the mortgage.  Add the general embargo on 'working' which will eventually affect how I return to work, coupled with the unsuitability of my home work station to get done the writing that I really want to be working on, and the continued sense of being under 'house arrest' because of the loss of independence by being forced to rely on others to get any where and let's not forget to mention how the bloody cold keeps me and any relatively sane human being from just going for a quick wander around the neighbourhood to shake out the cobwebs.  Its actually been so restrictive that I haven't been able to get out to get anything for  Valentines' Day. You know, on balance, I think I can cope with all of that and I may even be able to contrive something acceptable for Valentines.  But continuing to sift through the other layers that the universe is piling on... G.'s family in the UK is having some significant issues, and she is emotionally affected, largely because she isn't there to help or to intercede, as the case may be.  Saturday evening while we were hosting some young friends who have returned from Wales to make a home with their three year old daughter here in Canada, an old friend of G's and part of a past life died in Vancouver.  There was of course the thankfully brief personal recriminations about not being there when she passed.  Now there is a bit of drama around the timing of the Memorial service, and how G. and the others who were close to the woman on this side of the mountains could get there.  Somewhere in all of this, my G. has gone missing.  Where is my G., the woman that I married and with whom I have lived a full and somewhat tumultuous life.  I miss the woman who was so full of joy that she practically pranced around the house being obnoxiously 'positive' and trying to find the good and the meaning in all that happens.  And then yesterday she was feeling physically beat, not just emotionally whipped, but her core ached;  she put this down to over doing it at the gym in the past week.  Her muscles hurt, and generally she had no energy and not much of a spark at all.  We didn't get out at all, which considering the cold it wasn't surprising that we chose cocooning, although it was more about be inactive than cocooning.  G. spent time on the phone with contemporary of her mother's who with her radiologist and slightly hypochrondriacal husband has lived here for a good 40 years, talking about the challenges they are facing with the real health issues he faces and the ongoing drama with one of her adult daughters.  Now G's sleep patterns are odd at the best of times, and only get more complicated with stress and anxiety, and so this morning it is truly unfortunate that not only did she not sleep well, but G. woke physically ill; nausea, stomach cramps, diarrhoea.  This now complicates the day.  She can't take me to the rehab centre, so we're scrambling to find me a ride there and back.  G. will also have to cancel her class at university, and arrange to do a make-up class for her 30+ students.  Add to the mix the drama of a friend who's car finally gave up on her.  This woman is a teacher with a horror for a principal... so she's gotta go and go now.  Well, G. isn't well enough to drive her to school, and I don't dare because of the license suspension that is pending.  So we lent her the Jeep for the day, which further restricts our mobility if something goes pear shaped.    By having lent her the Jeep we give up the child car seat that would allow us to rescue the granddaughter from daycare/kindergarten.  Our very pregnant daughter now has no real backup in case picking up the granddaughter becomes a necessity.  All of this just serves to reinforce the complexities presented by my inability to drive.  What happens when the next granddaughter is birthed?  How complex does it all get, then?  Well we did manage to arrange a ride to see my occupational therapist, and a ride home.  It really is time to work out a better, more reliable system for getting around.
I'm getting concerned... where is the joy?  I'm finding it a chore to be happy when the people who orbit my world are in such disarray and distress. This is getting tougher.  I find myself teetering on the brink of depression.  We can't afford for that to happend when G. is in such a state of anzieity so much of the time lately.  I'm gonna have to 'step up my game' and find some unique ways to bring the joy back to her.  When she's happy, I'm happy.  Gotta get this solved, and stop the petty dramas that interfere with with our journey.

The question of privacy on the Internet and in this blog...

I was reminded this morning that this blog is open to the world.  I had three images on it which contained way too much personal information, so I have taken those images down, to be reposted when I can make a couple of edits to trim the more sensitive material from the images.

We've all heard the reviews about internet privacy, that once its up there, or out there, its there forever.  Obviously the big caution is for young women, for those interested in a career in politics, and anyone whose behaviours could be considered career limiting if they were widely known.

I apologize if you came to this blog looking specifically for those images.  I can only ask for your patience.  The images should be restored fairly soon, and with the appropriate narrative.  I must admit that I am finding it difficult to find the time to do this properly.  It will be done.

Thank you!!

Its not necessarily as bad as it seems; so just to add some clarity...

So I had occasion to send a note off to a friend just to put some things in perspective for him about how I’m doing and feeling.  Maybe it will fill any gaps for the rest of you as well until I can compose a proper note to each of you, or until I can draft the post that puts it all into perspective for you:

The note to my friend starts here>>

Good morning, dude!  I do have to laugh at the way that my wife and designated household communicator presents things.  Based on some of the communiques that have come out of the household you’d think that at some point I’d been reduced to the status of a stroked out zombie, complete with drool, new age shuffle and an inability to feed myself unless it was from a bowl on the floor.  None of this is now or ever has been true.  Nothing is as bleak as one could interpret from the communiques.  Probably the biggest deficits I have been wrestling with have been the balance issue, my challenges with vision plus the fact that I no longer type at 80 words a minute, but even that is coming back.  The darkest point remains that that I don’t get to go to work.    Everyone I complain to about this and the fact that the family has hidden my corporate BlackBerry invariably keeps trying to convince me to use the embargo on work as a way to relax.  HA!  I’m still trying to keep up with things at work and in my profession, and am treating this as a speed bump, not a full on detour or stop.  I am working at getting the doctors to lift the restrictions sooner than later… I figure that if I’m annoying enough they’ll agree to some sort of modified work arrangements just to shut me up.  😊

By the way, this photo was taken late one evening in July of 2013, a full 3+ months ahead of the actual stroke.  That droppy right eye was there then, and in a series of family photos taken in early June.  So don't be trying to read anything into it.  

Has Google’s march towards world domination stalled?

Google’s attempts at world domination through the subversion of the efficacy and productivity of the individual user will never have even the limited success that Apple has enjoyed because the Google organization does not have a charismatic front man like Steve Jobs who can convince the individual that by placing their trust in Apple and allowing Apple to control their user experience they will be better off and enjoy something that no other organization can offer.  Google just doesn’t have the talent to make that presentation a convincing one.  And the marketing of Google’s capabilities, how the individual user benefits from surrendering completely to the Google environment and how Google is more than a search engine is woefully inadequate.  Time for Google to find a new pitch man…

Be an active participant in your own life

There are few things so demeaning, debilitating or soul numbing as not participating in your own life, whether it be because of choice, personal neglect or being actively prevented...

Get in there and take an active role in what is happening to you and your world.  Check out my entries on the 'short list'.  Maybe it will help.

Stop sleepwalking through life.

A violent few days...

The Monday has dawned as a bright, warmish (for March in northern Alberta!) day after a week and weekend of violence... both man-made and another example of Mother Nature pushing back.

Late last week in Ontario, just outside of Belleville, an eighteen year old boy murdered two people while trying to get at his estranged girlfriend.  He killed the girl's mother, her younger sister and seriously injured the object of his affection before fleeing...  The husband/father found the carnage when he returned home early in the morning from what I assume was a night shift.

Here in Edmonton a disgruntled employee, suspended from his job as a mechanic at a local car dealership for uttering 'racially charged remarks' went into the dealership one morning with a shotgun and started shooting.  He killed one person, wounded others, and then killed himself.  It is made that more poignant when one understands that one of the first responders, a female police officer, discovered that it was her husband which had been killed by the shooter.

As we begin to understand the background stories to the scenarios, we begin to see that there were certain checks and balances in place that may have identified the killers before the situation got to these levels, if they had been properly applied.  Hindsight is 20/20 though, isn't it?

But this same sort of due diligence and care that could have saved 4 lives should also have been applied to a scenario which allowed Mother Nature's wrath to kill two people and hurt up to 30 others in the mountains just out side of Revelstoke.  Even after being warned, even after avalanche alerts had been posted for a specific area, up to 200 people chose to ignore the evidence and rode their snowmobiles into the back country for a competition, the Big Iron Shoot-out on Boulder Mountain, challenging the mountain to push back.  It did.  People died.

There are warning signs.  There are behaviours that we can identify if we're paying attention.  Indicators are usually in place before human beings cause something irreversible to happen.  People don't pay attention to the signs.  Or, unfortunately, they become thrill junkies putting others at risk.

...the reality of mortality creeping closer...

Well, I guess that it really can't be ignored any longer. We need better maintenance. We're starting to wear out. The warranties have expired. I'm getting older. Those around me are getting older. As we get older, we start to wear out. And yes, getting sick is just another way of wearing out...

This past year I lost an aunt... the third member of my parents' generation to move on. Two uncles, and an aunt. We start thinking about, planning about how we'll deal with it when our parents are gone. But on some level that's expected. We expect our parents to go before us. Its when our friends, our contemporaries start to falter that uncertainty sets in.

My illness made a lot of the people I know take pause. I never really understood it. In my naivete, it never occurred to me that I could have died from the cancer. Typical. I just didn't get it.

Somewhere in the time line that chronicles my illness, there was a blip that marked the heart attack of an actor we know. He lived. That was startling. (The attack, not the surviving!)

About ten days ago, another actor/musician/comedian of our acquaintance died of a heart attack at 41 years old.

We have recently learned of another actor who has been diagnosed with lung cancer; we're told that it is decidedly terminal, though we can't find anyone who can say anything about it with any technical certainty. I suppose that because we (or at least me!) has been through something similar, I want to be told about it in language with a bit of certainty. You know, one of those 'it fits in this box' kinda of discussions. I'm a little disheartened on his behalf because of the fatalism in the conversations I've read on line... people have him dead and buried, but haven't been presenting the backup information. What stage is the cancer at? What have the doctors actually said? Is there any sort of treatment protocol planned?

Okay, so where am I going with this line of thought? 'Not sure, really.

So the warranties on my generation have now expired. Okay. What now? Maintenance. Good maintenance. Regular checkups. Awareness of changes.

Hmmm... I may have to come back to this post to reframe it a bit. It's coming off a bit depressed; I'm not being depressed, just thoughtful...

G. is upstairs, trying to sort out the house now that the painters have left... while I'm in the basement office, supposedly studying for the next ITIL V3 exam in the series. Randy, the painter, and his assistant really did do a lovely job; Top Notch Painters in Edmonton, if you ever need someone. They did finish, finally, on Thursday... the wallpaper removal caused them huge problems which delayed them by a full day. Now G. is putting back the switchplates and rehanging some pictures. Why this evening? Well, Thursday night was at the theatre, Friday night was at dinner with friends, Saturday was spent buying stuff, including a very chic storage unit for the kitchen nook from IKEA, followed by me trying to quietly assemble it while G. napped, and today was spent at the Citadel, again, this time watching Marty Chan's The Forbidden Phoenix.

This incarnation of The Forbidden Phoenix is really quite good, and should be seen... the story itself has matured some since Ben Henderson and Running With Scissors Theatre first worked with Mr. Chan on it, a few years ago. It has become more comfortable in the wrapper of traditional Chinese opera in its music and lyrical content, but has traded in a bit of the theatrical tricks and magic that does help to define Chinese opera... Robert Walsh, as musical director, has done some really nice things to support Ron Jenkin's direction in the way he has handled the 'westernization' of the Chinese operatic musical form. And John Ullyatt as the Monkey King was very good... I must say, and G. was quite annoyed that I threatened to say it out loud, that during one of his first moments on stage, and at various other places throughout, Mr. Ullyatt reminded me of a young Bob Hope in some of his 'Road' movies. There are mannerisms, affectations, little quirks to his performance that immediately made me think of Hope...

I have to admit that I missed some of the 'subtleties' that were woven into the story, regarding the move to the industrialized west (read 'Canada and the building of the railroad'), the growing Maoist influences in the China that the Monkey King left behind. I suppose that if Leslie Frankish, the set and costume designer, had sacrificed some of those elegantly clean lines, she might have been able to beat us over the head with the symbolism. Thank goodness, she doesn't. Well, she does... in the rendering of the Iron Dragon... and then it all tumbles into place.

And I would have liked to see what she would have come up with if she were told that the waterfall/river and the journey were her challenge, and not the lighting designer's. She does so well with fabic... I sure that she could make something pretty special out of the traditional Chinese opera forms for water and movement...

It is my understanding that this show will eventually move to the Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People, in the early spring of 2009. Take a kid to see it...

By the way, Marty and The Edmonton Journal serialized the story... http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/nie/serialstory_pdfs/00370995%20week3.pdf

Hopefully the link will work so you can pull it up to read...

Hey! I pushed through yet another barrier last night; I attended a show at the Citadel for the first time in 11 years… and I managed to fly in under the radar. Now, I’m not entirely sure that this is a good thing… only one person in the place who wasn’t expecting me to be there actually recognized me. There were a fair number of the crew that I used to work with on hand, plus board members, with artists and folks from other arts organizations… and I managed to move through them undetected. My shyness over rode and took control of the situation; I did not try to make myself known. It should be noted that I did agree to go to the reception afterwards. Until last night, I really had no idea how much my physical appearance has changed… and not just in the last year. I also mean in the last 10 years. This was an opening night with a full house; the attendance at the post show reception was significantly under attended. This was something I found very surprising… until we discovered that the Citadel management has recently changed policy and charge for drinks at the reception. The finger food is still free, and seems to be quite good (not that I had any!), but they no longer provide that free glass of questionable quality wine post performance. Why would anyone pay the premium to attend opening night, now? As a cost cutting measure, I question its validity. As a way to address the liability question (serving drinks without any sort of restriction and therefore, as the host, being culpable for audience drunkenness), well, okay, I’ll accept that. I’d be curious to know what the reason for the change is.

The show we were treated to was Ronnie Burkett’s new piece, ‘Billy Twinkle; Requiem for a Golden Boy’.

It will get better. Won’t it?

I was disappointed. Last evening’s performance was not his best work. The script doesn’t live up to Ronnie’s previous works, although the storyline and the concept seem solid enough. His work with the hand puppet (vs. his masterful manipulation of the marionettes) leaves a great deal to be desired. And his voices… the range, the tonal quality, the timbre all seemed too close to each other, with sporadic, unsustained exceptions. There was a frenetic quality to the interactions with the hand puppet that just didn’t feel right… a great deal of the significance of the language and the interaction was lost. I’m sure that now that opening night is over, he will slow it down, find the best pacing for those very intense scenes, and settle into his normal, seemingly casual rhythms of presentation. We saw a glimpse of that usual Ronnie when he missed a prop clearance, and wove the error back into his banter… now that was some of the Burkett magic that I was looking for.

From a scripting point of view, there are some things that need rewriting… which I’m sure he’ll find as he goes along. There are a lot of sexuality references which advance the story; there are too many overtly sexual references which don’t. He either needs more of the puppet show-within-the-puppet show (he does a brilliant stripper, a drunken socialite, a moment with a bear on roller-skates and a bitter-sweet bit with an old man and balloon) or he needs less. The Juliet needs more work… it seems confused, unfocused, and the presentation, the delivery of Shakespeare’s language was totally inadequate for that moment, and those rants at the beginning of the piece... which brings me to my final point. Ronnie Burkett is an exceptional puppeteer, and a wonderful raconteur, which, when put together with a well deployed script, make for an astonishing evening of theatre. Unfortunately, Ronnie Burkett is not an actor.

Well, its been over a week since last I posted anything here, and a lot has happened. An interesting election result, a very ugly financial picture emerging, the price of oil sliding dramatically, the looney taking a beating...

I strongly suspect that everything else that has happened/is happening in my little world is pretty trivial stuff to anyone but me.

My mother and father, younger sister and younger brother all made it to St. Albert for Thanksgiving... did I mention that? It made for a really warm and fuzzy weekend.

Mom brought her copy of a 'slow cooker' cookbook. We had purchased a really nice crock pot just before they got here, so it was very timely... We tried out a recipe this past Sunday with what should have been a nice sirloin tip roast, however, it just didn't work. Its seems that what we've heard is true; the poorer the cut of meat, the better the result in a slow cooker. The roast we did was very tasty, but dry and overcooked... the vegetables (baby potatoes, carrots, onions) were nearly perfect. Oh well, live and learn... I'll try again this weekend.

While the meat was being murdered, I spent most of the day in the garage. I found a great system to hoist and store our bicycles at Mountain Equipment Co-op. It was fairly easy to install. It would have been really easy if my shoulder were a bit more cooperative... but it works, and works well. And with the bicycles up out of the way, I managed to fit the motorcycle in, with the jeep and G.'s convertible. Does that mean that the motorcycle is 'put away' for the winter? Well, I suppose so... although I should probably change the oil...

And we spent the rest of the day finishing what we started on Saturday; moving furniture, removing pictures, and generally creating havoc in the townhouse.

We're finally getting a start on getting the townhouse updated. To that end, we have contracted a painting company to give a fresh coat of paint to most of the place, excluding the living/dining room, the big bathroom and the basement. We got a fabulous price quote; a quote, mind you and not an estimate subject to escalation! And they started yesterday! Whoo hoo! This is great! They have run into one snag, however, and that's the removal of the wallpaper in the kitchen/breakfast nook area. It just will NOT come off! They're back today, and I suspect that they'll be in tomorrow as well...

This morning I lept out of bed at 5:30 am (lept? Ya, right...) to make it to a fundraising breakfast event for the Kid's Kottage way out in Sherwood Park that started at 7:00 am. Premiere Ed Stelmach spoke, and did so quite eloquently... and with a nice sense of humour. Danny Hooper MC'd... darn, but he's a funny guy. And Dr. Bob Westbury was there, but, even after G.'s time spent with him yesterday, part of which was spent briefing him on my little challenges over the last year, he didn't recognize me. I didn't push it... just let it go. We'll probably see him on Thursday evening...

The Deloitte table was hosted by partner Ken Sklar, with Dalibor and Dejan (the Brothers-in-law Karamozov), and Ms. Mucha representing the rest of Deloitte. We were hosting the provincial Minister of the Environment, Rob Renner, and another MLA who I didn't recognize, nor did I catch her name. (Unfortunately, I suspect that this was more due to my hearing than the noise in the room... I felt a bit uncomfortable at various points during the event because the ambient noise seemed to really get in the way.) I sat beside the CIO for the ministry of Employment and Immigration, and across from the CIO for Finance.

You know, these things are touted as great opportunities for networking, but they're not really working for me at this point. Sure, the right folks at the GoA are getting to know my face, and who I am on the Deloitte team, but I just can't seem to sustain a decent level of conversation right now... the hearing issue is really plaguing me in noisy environments. Maybe I will have to get those damned hearing aids just for those events. In terms of frequencies, and subtleties, I can hear quite well now, and it seems to be getting better... except in these sorts of circumstances. Damn.

Tonight is an itSMF dinner at the Royal Glenora Club... and its starting to look like I get to be the MC 'cause the Prez can't make it. That just makes it tougher to sneak out earlier if the speaker is a dud.

Wednesday evening, we get to put all the furniture back that had to be moved for the painters.

Thursday evening we're slated to be at the opening of Ronnie Burkett's new piece, 'Billy Twinkle' at The Citadel's Maclab Theatre.

Sunday afternoon, we're going to catch 'The Forbidden Phoenix' at The Citadel's Shoctor.

Busy, busy, busy...

...and the weekend goes on...

My back is soaking wet... its 4:30 in the afternoon, and I am absolutely drenched in my own sweat. Why the hell am I sitting outside instead of enjoying my airconditioned condo? 'Cause I won't be able to do this at all in December...

I'll take a quick dip in the hot tub once I've finished the blog... I dropped the temperature on it substantially so that it becomes a lovely place to lounge in the heat...

Saturday morning I attended a meeting of the three Boards of the condominium corps that share this parcel of land. Attitudes have definitely softened since the changeover in Phase One... we're going to actually get somewhere. Lots of promises of cooperation.

And then I ran off to the insurance company... where the claims agent profusely apologized for the team the day before shutting down early. She was very contrite, and then very embarrassed and slightly angry that no one from the phones team had tried to reach me that morning...

Regardless, with police file number and now a claims number in hand, I started for the body shop...

Did you know that most body shops are closed on Saturdays? I didn't... so, frustration turning slowly to furious, I went home. I'll have to deal with it all when I get back from Victoria...

And now, I really do need to cool off... some I'm going to cut this one short and slip into the cool hot tub... You are welcome to join me...

Relaxing weekend, except for the comedy of errors...

As I sit under my little Chinese umbrella in my Muskoka chair (they are NOT indigenous to the Airdoronaks, dammit!), sweltering in the 35 degree C heat, banging away at this laptop, I find myself quite relaxed and generally happy with the way the weekend has been going. Tomorrow morning, really early, I'm jumping on a jet and heading the rest of the way West... Victoria... to meet up with my darling and our eldest daughter. But for now, I'm just enjoying being somewhere that they aren't bombing me, shooting at me, flinging hand grenades at me, or in any overtly militaristic way trying to disrupt my day. Thank what-every-powers-there-are that I was born Canadian! Sure, we've got our problems, and some of the worst weather on the planet, but compared to most places in the world, we are, or at least I am, in a charmed place... near enough to heaven that I really won't complain.

The weekend did start off a bit rough... on Friday afternoon when I returned to the parking lot where I park my jeep when I have to drive to the downtown offices, I discovered that some stupid M/Fr bastard creep tweaker had smashed in the driver side window. What was missing? Just my change for parking... and that lovely hardened leather case that I picked up dockside at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich during the Nelson/Trafalgar celebrations. That is probably the part that pissed me off the most. The other part is that they spilled my coffee all over... and then I began to laugh. They missed the laptop I had secreted in the back... They smashed, reached in, snatched the money, knocked over my coffee mug... and didn't even unlock the door(s) to give it a decent rummaging...

Of course this is being discovered at 4 PM on a Friday afternoon... I finally took a deep breath and phoned the Police... got a really nice desk sergeant type who warned me it would be close to two hours before dispatch would get a car to me... and at least an hour before I could dictate the details to one of the officers handling the phones... he suggested one or two community policing offices that I could run out to... of course there was always the headquarters, but with the parking issues, I was better off going to the community policing stations...

The Sergeant was right. I got to the Kensington Mall station, got in, got out in about 15 minutes. Armed with the file number I headed off to the insurance claims centre, and ran into a significant traffic jam caused by the Grand Prix. I know that they close at 5 PM, so I called... and was rewarded with an early closing message. I was very angry and quite short with the answering machine. How bloody useful is an insurance company that can't or won't make themselves available?

I went home.

After calling G. to whine and complain of my treatment at the hands of tweakers and insurance companies, I went off to the gym for an hour, and then settled in to feed myself... something which I can do quite well when properly motivated. This seemed like an opportune time to use the food prep as a form of relaxation... a zen kinda thing, I suppose. No rakes in little sandboxes, or the careful placement of rocks. No, instead I would chop something vigourously, fling meat onto hot coals, and figure out what other things I could abuse in the meantime. I did manage to unload the dishwasher without chipping or breaking anything. That was a good start.

I went to the freezer to get the frozen 'gourmet' burgers that I had prepped a week ago, and, even as I was pulling the patty-stacker-tube from the freezer I remembered/realized that I had made a tactical error. You aren't supposed to freeze the burger still in the tube... why? 'Cause the meat swells when frozen and makes it damn near impossible to get the burgers out of the tube!

After three five minute stints in the microwave, I finally freed up the burgers. I then started the barbeque, deciding to try to cook the burgers from their frozen state... a bit of an experiment. Warily I checked the propane in the tank on the bbq, decided that there really must be enough to get through the cooking of four burgers, right?

I went back inside to start laying out a plate. Once there, I stoppered one of the kitchen sinks and put the pieces of the patty stacker thingee into it, started the hot water as a trickle, with detergent, so that I wouldn't get too many bubbles.

I took the plate of burgers out to the barbecue, only to discover just how wrong I was. The propane had run out. So I hauled out the other tank, and swapped them... dropped the burgers onto the somewhat preheated grill and then went back into the condo for the lighter...

The first clue that something was wrong was the sound of water falling gently off the counter onto the tiled floor. I had left the water running... hot water... argh!

Once the cleanup was done, and the burgers carefully cooked, dinner was a delightful affair. Thank God for chardonnay...