Hup Nederland!

After a France-Romania draw, the Dutch are the leaders of Group C after taking it to the Italians. You can dispute the first goal all you want, the fact is, until the player beyond the end line gets treatment, he is still in play. Further to that is Holland's pretty second goal and the 3rd goal.

The plan now is to be back at Kickoff for game 2, hopefully the French supporters show up as strong then as the Italians did today.

In other news...the Catholic school board is at it again with their monopolistic business partnerships. Apparently my mom ordered Grad photos for my brother a few weeks back at an astonishing total of $162 dollars for a very limited package of photos. Well, while I was out today apparently the people at the company that the Catholic School Board chooses to do the grad photos called my mom up and promptly informed her that she wasn't entitled to the photos she ordered, despite ordering over their '$100' dollar minimum. In the world of cash grabs and monopolizing people with a once in a lifetime opportunity (e.g. graduation), Lifetouch / Life Touch has done their utmost best to fuck over the little man. Similar to the uniform monopoly run by McCarthy's for uniforms in Catholic schools in the area...this bullshit needs to stop. The Catholic schoolboard, if they want to sustain themselves within a society with so many other religions needs to stop buying into these bullshit contracts. And the people who run these companies need to be held accountable for their actions. If no-one is willing to even file a complaint (i.e. my mom) then these issues won't come to the forefront.

So if you have an issue with Life Touch / Lifetouch and their photos...be sure to at the very least file an e-mailed complaint with the board. If the board doesn't hear about it, they have no official cause for concern. In the end...no matter what watermarks you put on your proofs Lifetouch, educated people will find a way around it.

Used Book Browsing

A few days back, Carolyn and I met up and walked uptown for a coffee. Having spotted a used bookstore on the way there that she'd heard about, but was unsure of the location of, we decided to stop in on the way back. In particular she was after a few Timothy Findley books, the titles of which I don't recall, and a copy of The Screwtape Letters.

The store was actually the main floor of a 1930s or 1940s era house, stuffed with 8 foot high shelves spaced too closely together to be able to stand far enough back to read the titles on the top shelf or two. Despite not finding The Screwtape Letters, she did find one of the Findley books she was after. I, on the other hand, after not finding any Douglas Coupland came out with Cat's Cradle, and a non-fiction book by Isaac Asimov, who I've only ever read a short story of for a project back in highschool english.

The stop planted a bug, and we decided to hit up another bunch of stores downtown today. The first stop was a disaster, with books spread into sections such that many had one or more overlaps with other sections making it difficult to really find anything. Some sections sorted by author name, others by title, and some apparently not at all, it was impossible to find anything specific, without randomly coming across it. The prices however were cheaper than the uptown stop (a trend that was true of every other stop as well).

A couple more stops, without finding good condition copies of the Findley books she was after, or any condition copy of The Screwtape letters, and myself not finding anything by a rather limited list of authors I was after (more or less George Orwell, Chuck Palahniuk or Douglas Coupland) we finally headed home to check out Amazon.ca.

A quick google found one more store in town we had missed, right by the universities. It turned out to be the smallest of any of the 5 stores we ended up at, and really the most bland. But despite its lack of musty bookstore character, it had the best, and cheapest selection.

She ended up with a couple Findley books, and settled for the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe in lieu of not finding the other C.S. Lewis work she was after. I, being the geek that I am, finally found a Coupland book (Miss Wyoming), and also came out with two more non-fiction science books (Comet and A Brief History of Time).

The moral of this long-winded story? University students will sell off their good books to the store closest to them for beer/rent/tuition money, leaving the stuffy, musty stores to jack up their prices on books with mosquitoes squished in the inside cover.

I Never Went to Junior High

The Catholic school board I was brought up in didn't have a junior high; just elementary and highschool each with its own little divisions, for what mostly seemed to be inter-school sport competition purposes. That said, it was shortly after the middle school/junior highschool time period had I been in school that I started mailing it in effort-wise.

It comes as no surprise then that I haven't written here for a few weeks after having been certified as a junior high accomplished blog 'writer'.

Three months at work has flown by, but it hasn't changed the status of my bachelors thesis, which is still a work in progress. I've stretched the definitions of the words 'work' and 'progress'. Its December 1st, and the people with the gaudiest of x-mas decorations already have them blazing at night. The mall parking lots are packed, and I have next to no ideas for gift giving this year, though I know none of them will be decorative x-mas coffee mugs or glasses.

Why is it that people give these little sets as gifts? 4 or 6 glasses at a time that don't fit with all the other tacky sets that are given during the holidays every year. We have at least 4 different sets sitting in boxes in the fruit cellar that never see the light of day, and likely never will. Its where poinsettia laced, reindeer printed glasses go to die.

And now its time to go dream up gift ideas that are only moderately better than a box of glasses.

Rock & Roll Review

So almost a week later, I guess I could write something about the Matthew Good show. It was, as expected, a fantastic show, replete with humourous banter, and Ted Nugent appreciation. The highlights for me were Prime Time Deliverance, Silent Army in the Trees, a 5 minute tangent about the miraculous healing powers of ingested Vick's VapoRub and the acoustic re-working of Suburbia, which I hope to be laid down at some point in a studio setting.

It was so good infact that I attempted to get last minute tickets for the Hamilton show, but by the time I was able to find someone that wanted to go with me, a trip to pick up tickets in Mississauga from the seller on eBay, and then backtrack to Hamilton would have put us 45 minutes into Matt's set.

The time since has been filled with little to no work to do, an e-mail to potential Masters supervisors for the winter, and the first 3 seasons of the Office since Monday night. I caught what I assumed to be a re-run about 2 months ago and finally remembered to download some last week. Those who have seen it know by now why I haven't been able to stop watching since, those who haven't, this is what torrents are for. Absolute hilarity, though Steve Carell's character does get to be a bit much at times. I'm sure in the normal half hour prescribed doses, there's no issue, but that's what a slightly addictive personality will do.

This post would have been a lot better if my camera wasn't a piece of shit in low any light.

Rock Dungeon

I spent the last two days at work cutting rock core in the basement of one of the biology buildings. Dirty, wet, loud, and yet peaceful. Working for 15 hours in a two day period, I didn't see a single living person down there.

That's not to say that I saw any dead people either, though at least one person has died down there; from my recollection, a girl who hung herself from the pipes during midterms the year before I started my degree. Things like this happen more often than you'd think to students, but the school does its best to hide the realities of these things. Probably for the best for the families of the dead.

But a few days down there to yourself, not bothered by anyone, and taking your life should be the last thing on your mind. Plus, I had some time to work on some do-it-yourself (read cheap) x-mas gifts. I know, with all my bitterness and contempt for winter, I should be punched in the face for mentioning it, but hey, I've learned you have to jump on these things when they present themselves...kind of like...well never mind. Steak's on..

Oktoberfest Sucks

Have I mentioned lately how much I love the admin around the university? Really I do. I love how none of their multiple online systems seem to interact with one another. I love how the different departments of the admin themselves don't interact. I love them not putting my paycheque through on the scheduled pay date, with a MasterCard bill sitting and collecting interest. I love the vagueness of the responses when I ask for some clarification in trying to track down just what happened to my money. And I especially love being told that my pay request would be in on a specific date, that being today, and still not finding it there.

Other people get charged twice for their tuition because no-one cross checks things.

And still others are forced to write petitions to stay in school only to be informed, after being told that the petition was denied, that a completely different term from the one that the petition was written for was actually considered. Was there any kind of outline of the whole petition process to be found anywhere on line, or were people more forthcoming on the phone, this kind of thing could be avoided. But instead, the administration around the university just continues to build great report with those that ever have dealings with them.

And then there are the people swarming to the city for North America's biggest beer festival. Driving like idiots. Staggering around like idiots. Closing streets. Its an overrated sham, like every other year. I don't understand why people need an excuse to drink beer in the first place; but then they wait until the price on it is jacked up, and the stuff being served is old stock being cleared off in mass quantities. Don't get me started on sitting through the awful music, along with accordion accompanied covers of otherwise tolerable songs.

Am I bitter? Just a little bit. But at least not watered down like all those $6 cups of beer that in no way actually taste like a good German brew.

The Best Part About Being 'Tragically Uninteresting'

The best part about being "tragically uninteresting" is that I happen to catch incoming links from sites like this one in my site stats. It seems that someone's taken the time out of their much more interesting lives to make a blog with what appears to be the sole purpose of trashing other UW blogs he comes across.

What's startling is that one would take the time to read through a blog they describe as boring and dribble, and even follow outlinks to its last.FM account to look at my musical preferences. What's more amazing; that they do this for a number of blogs, actually spend money on an internet domain name like 'uwspectator' to give some sense of credibility or self-importance (and yet not posting even a first name or pen name anywhere on the site), and then further take time out of their exciting lives to write summaries for each of them (mine's here)! You really have to commend the man for his efforts, after all, the only thing better than a boring blog, is a boring summary of a boring blog.

Putting aside the far too simple gay jokes though, and the apparent dislike for people who are critical of the current government's policies, instead of simply allowing things to be foisted upon them, regarding this as Conservative hatred, I have to honestly give it credit for its humourous approach.

One has to wonder though, why someone who hates Waterloo so much would choose to go there, or not move elsewhere, and instead wallow in their bitterness, and lurk around a whole bunch more websites from people at Waterloo with so many other better, and admittedly far more interesting and well written sites out there.

At a Medium Pace

Slowly, but more steadily now, my thesis is getting written. Much to my surprise, my unofficial transcript already has me listed as being awarded a Bachelor of Science Degree with Honours, despite the thesis being listed as in progress. Actually, I retract that statement about surprise, because the university admin from day 1 has never been on top of things quite the way they should be, so really it comes as no shock at all. Somehow managed to stay on the Dean's Honours List as well.

With all that said, I'm not feeling too guilty about sitting outside in the 30 degree weather, cruising the web and listening to music.

I've set myself up with a last.fm account to keep track of what I've been listening to, and find some new similar stuff. Always more toys to play with. In that light, I've also been thinking about getting myself an iPod finally, and maybe a Mac to play around with to go with it. Of course these things cost money, and despite my transcript saying I'm a hydrogeologist now, that's not official, and nor do I have any job fitting that, or any other description.

But this weather sure is great!

Piles of Papers

Apparently its May 1st already, and two more less than notable weeks have passed in the annals of my life. I keep pushing the boundaries of patience and tolerance with my thesis supervisors, and really, my own brain in not getting my thesis done. I have finally got an introduction more or less completed, but now am swamped in papers to read and past theses that in all honesty should have been read months ago, not looked at for the first time now.

The most annoying part of it all is that these bachelor level theses seem to be entirely self serving, and not really of any use beyond making an example of themselves to students, and the occasional reference to them in further BS theses. The two I have checked out from the department library were unopened until I got my hands on them after sitting there for a year already. I'm sure a number of the much older bachelors theses sitting in that library haven't had their pages exposed to the air since they were printed as well.

For now the room renovation has stopped mid demolition, with my rad pulled away from the wall and a tray collecting water from the furnace system as it pumps out excess, with no way for me to cap the old line and its unusual fittings. I'm left with stress building over sitting down to put the thesis together, and walls just waiting to absorb the brunt of that stress, but no justifiable time to go and take a prybar to those walls.

Exhausted

The eggs are scrambled. The noodle's cooked. The brain's fried. But my last exam ever for my undergrad degree is done and gone, and hopefully passed. But instead of being full of energy to go to Toronto, and get some things done around the house that have been a long time coming, I'm absolutely drained.

The miserable, cold weather sure isn't helping the situation, but its slowly shaping up for the long term I think. Hopefully by the time May rolls around when the Jays have their next discount game I won't have to wear a coat to the game and it will be easier to get some other people on board with the idea.

During my last exam yesterday, for the first time in the 6 years I've been on campus, some assclown pulled a fire alarm, forcing everyone in the building to drop their exams and saunter outside into the gusting wind, snow and rain. At the time I was absolutely pissed at the idiot, but then I came home only to look at the news and see the loose details coming out on yet another school shooting tragedy. Something about the animal killing of 32 people will quickly put a fire alarm inconvenience to get out of an exam in its place.

Once again some kid loses control of reality, whether you blame it on the 'system' failing to be there for him, or video games, or TV, the fact of the matter remains that if there isn't such easy access to guns, every disaffected youth out there can't go run out and grab himself a semi-automatic weapon to relieve some stress. Now instead 33 are dead, and there will likely be a series of copycat threats and attempts across North America like those that followed Columbine.

People will be living in a heightened state of anxiety on campuses for weeks to months to come fearing that their school will be added to somber lists with Columbine, Dawson College, and West Nickel Mines Amish School.

People kill people, easy access to guns just facilitates it in large volume mass-destruction. Its time that governments do something more serious about gun control, particularly those governments that fail to even restrict assault weapons.

Bubble Machine

One exam down, three to go in the next 65 hours or so. That's 100 carefully shaded in scantron bubbles so far, and too many more to go. Since its finals time again, my nose today started emulating the outdoor faucet on the side of the house that froze and cracked this winter. I'm sure the people sitting next to me absolutely loved my sniffling tonight.

I don't feel the least bad for it though after all the sniffling, rustling, inappropriate questions and cell phones I've put up with over the years.

And in less than 3 days it will all be over, and time for some relaxation and a trip down to Toronto on Tuesday night where I won't have to worry about undue traffic around the ACC. I wonder what Mats is handicapping these days?

In more worthy Toronto team news, both the Jays and Raptors pulled off huge wins over Detroit tonight. If you asked me, or any honest person, in October if I could imagine the Raptors with a shot at 2nd place in the Eastern Conference, there would of course have been an emphatic 'no', but what a show these guys have put on. And with the average age of this team, things should only be looking up for the next 3 or 4 years. Bryan Colangelo deserves most of that credit for pulling together the talent pool he has, but Sam Mitchell also deserves an apology from me for being very much a skeptic of his coaching ability. Ultimately he's the one that's gotten this team believing there is no 'I'.

And now I have nothing except psychology terms and bacteria names plying into the little folds of tissue in my head so its time to climb back into my hole, grab some vaporub, throw on the tube and get some sleep.

Endless Distraction

Around this time of year every year is like christmas for all the sports networks. With the NHL and NBA winding down their seasons with tight playoff races, the Masters kicking off the golf grand slam tour, and baseball and auto racing starting up for the summer, there is no need for the fluff pieces on some local phenom who never comes to fruition, or annoying banter between hosts.

All that sports activity also serves as a major distraction to the tri-annual studying season. Being a resident minority here in Leaf nation, I get sucked into the whims of the vast blind majority and all their uneducated devotion to a shitty hockey team. And so last night saw me crammed into an overcrowded bar, packed with blue and white jerseys, as well as the disgustingly tacky pink alternatives whining about every possible bullshit non-call or call against possible.

And then what do you know, the Leafs get some absolute shit luck garbage goals as are so typical of their teams over the years, and they keep themselves alive in the playoffs. To top the evening off, the Avalanche dropped the ball on their playoff run, only to get the help they would have needed from the Oilers beating Calgary and leaving the control in the hands of Colorado.

So where does that leave me today?

After actually managing to get some productive studying in, its left me channel surfing between the Jays game, the Masters, and the New York Islanders game hoping beyond hopes that the acquisition of Ryan Smyth from the Oilers pays dividends, if only to be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

Right now the Isles are up 1-0 and holding tough, making it look like those Canadian teams that aren't in Ottawa will soon get a whole bunch more blind bandwagon hopping support from the large proportion of Leafs fans who actually know nothing of the sport. At this point I don't become much better throwing my support towards the Sens and Canucks, but not so much blindly as hoping to get a cup in Canada for a talented team that isn't the Red Wings for example. The best possible outcome being a Sens cup win just to incense all the Leaf fans that much more.

With that I wish you a happy easter if you celebrate it, and a happy playoffs which you definitely should be celebrating.

Update: In the same vein as last night's fans: na na naa naa, na na naa naa heeyyy heeyyy heyyy, goodbye. What's another year to wait after 40 anyways right?

Fun Fact Friday III

House centipedes eat a variety of insects and spiders, and thrive in humid, warm environments, making them most active in the spring and fall in mid-latitudes associated with weather change. The conditions most conducive to these qualities are basements and bathrooms. Their rigid bodies make them very quick. Girlfriends, upon seeing a said quick moving house centipede in the spring, bolting across her boyfriend's basement floor may herself bolt up the stairs and wait for you to "do something about that thing eww eww eww", and proceed to shake out all blankets before being able to watch TV again.

The U.S. Department of Labour (via my Psych textbook) lists, among other things dope sprayer, bosom presser, cookie breaker, impregnator and impregnator helper in its Dictionary of Occupational Titles. Once again I've been shown that I am pursuing the wrong career path.

The samples from Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction in the Fun Lovin Criminals song Scooby Snacks were taken without legal permission, and so Quentin Tarantino has gone on to collect writing credit and royalties for the song.

My thesis deadline is April 6th, exactly one week away. I have not written a word. April 6th is also a recognized holiday (good friday), and setting due dates or exams on said day is against school policy. I'm wondering exactly how I might work this to my favour; perhaps by waxing born-again for a few days.

Turning into a Plot: RedOx

Thanks to Steve for accurately depicting my flow model:

My final thesis presentation was yesterday, and given that I haven't started putting down my thesis on paper or on screen yet, it was a bit of a challenge to scramble everything together into a coherent, intelligent sounding presentation. Ultimately, I'm not sure that it ever did reach those goals, but its done and gone now. In theory, my undergrad will be done and gone in three and a half weeks, but I really don't see me having a fully edited copy of my thesis in by then, while still having managed to squeeze in some exam prep.

This evening the department is hosting its annual banquet for the 4th year students, and despite the fact that its a cash bar, I'm going to try to put on a happy face and see if I can't score myself at least some summer work around the school, while I decide what I want to do in terms of going on to a masters, or joining the real world.

Turning into a Plot

St. Patty's Gong Show

Actually, contrary to most expectations, St. Patty's this year wasn't much of a show at all. There was no hitting the Bomber beer tent before noon to have my recommended yearly intake of green food colouring. There was no group sabotage of otherwise drinkable beer with salt and pepper shakers. There wasn't even a noon 'til midnight binge, barely removing myself from the same chair at the BarleyWorks this year. Instead, some 'retro' EA Sports game on PS2, some Belgian and German wheat beers (since I dropped the ball on getting myself a substantial quantity of, or in fact, any Harp or Smithwick's), and some movies.

Not very Irish of me, I'm aware, but I have my health to show for it today. Will I use the lack of feeling like I got punched in the liver to get to work on the final presentation for my thesis I am expected to make on Thursday? Probably not. Will I watch more of round 2 of college hoops, and pretend like I knew what was going on beyond the top 4 or 5 teams in the country before this tournament started? More than likely. Will I listen to the Jays game, and think about ways in which Gustavo 'DUI' Chacin's career could now parallel Boomer Wells'? You bet.

There's still one week til the Fantasy Baseball Draft, get signed up!

Update: I was listening to the Ongoing History of New Music archives earlier this week, in particular to a two part show on Tool, when Alan Cross played a sample of a lullaby version of one of their songs. Curious, I looked it up and found that, not only are there some hilarious renditions of Tool, but a bunch of other bands from Bjork to Metallica and a bunch in between. Check out some of the samples here.

Its March; Gimme a Break

Snow days are spectacular events when they happen. A few days after the fact however, once your assignment and exam time-line for the following week gets all compressed; not so much. On the plus side, I'm done everything for 2 of my classes til exams. On the horizon though, 3 exams in a 24 hour period, 4 exams in 4 days. Under some circumstances I could probably have one of those deferred, but because the distance education office and registrars office seem to refuse to work together (a recurring theme with many of the University administrative services) I likely won't be able to do much about getting bent over and made a multiple-choice bubble colouring bitch.

But this week is over, and the weather is looking up. Forecast highs above freezing for the next week, and some rain in there to help melt the thick pack of grungy gray-white, pebble and car-part filled snow lining the streets.

Hopefully I'll manage to unwind this weekend, have a few beers, and help the girlfriend celebrate her birthday. Then next week I can resume the stress involved with grinding out my thesis before the 22nd, and hoping to hell that the government tax system gets its shit together soon so I can file my return and get some much needed cash returned to my needy student self. That's enough whining for now though.

Funny story for the day. I'm out picking up some gas, and running some other errands. I'm stopped at a traffic light, when this year or two old black Nissan Sentra pulls up to me with sports seat belts and after-market rims, and the sound system blasting out some modern hip-hop. I look at the driver, and there's this balding, greying, forty-five to fifty year old white guy droppin' more bombs than the bible's got psalms right along with his system. That, combined with the fact that it was warm enough for me to have the windows down and hear it all, made my day.

Mid Degree Crisis?

As I've expressed here frequently of late, I'm not a fan of my honours thesis project. A week off that should have seen me focus on it saw me look at it for maybe 3 hours in making some simple plots to keep supervisors happy and responding to a few e-mails. I was supposed to go in one day this week to learn how to prepare some of my samples for yet another set of analyses, but didn't get an e-mail telling me when that would happen.

Apparently the next tests will take the better part of 3 weeks to finish, while I am supposed to have a rough draft of a thesis written for next week. I could write the thesis around the data I am still waiting on, but instead I'm using it as an excuse to string things out even further. So long as I have things in order for my presentation near the end of March, there shouldn't be any issues. In the mean time I just cannot bring myself to sit down and put things together.

At first I thought I was just sick of schooling in general, but I am taking other courses this term, and aside from the typical gripes, am enjoying them. Infact, having saved some arts electives til the end of my degree and now taking the same style introductory courses I took 4 years ago, I've found a bit more interest than I had of late. I'm certainly not about to switch into a 4 year Psychology degree or anything ridiculous like that, but it holds interest well enough.

Instead, its the self directed thesis portion of things that's dragging me down right now. I am hoping that its simply the fact that I was never enthusiastic (to say the least) about my topic to begin with that is most of the reason for my dragging my ass. If its the self directed research side of things, then perhaps going on to get my Masters won't be the best idea. The problem with stopping now of course would be that I don't like most of the jobs I could go fill with my Bachelors degree. In truth, I've had the feeling lately that I'd be most happy doing under the table computer repairs, or at worst registering as a small business and doing the same.

So long as I could make enough money to roughly maintain the same lifestyle I have now for the long term I'd be satisfied. I've never carried illusions of leaving a major mark on society, or making myself a rich man. A few extravagancies (my beer, my music, my computer, my home theatre and my steak) are all I really need. Beyond that, making contributions where I can; being an intelligent person and passing on any wisdom possible when possible are all I motivate myself with.

We'll see what waking up in the morning for the next few months brings in terms of new motivation, or job opportunity. In the mean time, I'd be happy to fix your computer problems at minimum wage + parts and travel!

Reading Week

It had to come eventually. After such a mild December and January, the snowfall was due, and mother nature took a big white dump on us this week. On the plus side, the first big hurrah, may also have been the last big hurrah of the season, as the long term outlook is looking at weather getting up above freezing again soon. It will be nice to not creak when I go outside in the mornings.

Its officially reading week now, which for some people means flying off to nice white sand beaches in the tropics. For others it means trying to put together a Bachelors thesis in a week, while also playing catchup in actual reading and assignments. Its what I signed up for ultimately.

I also signed up years ago for the NIN mailing list, and unlike other bands whose mailing lists I've also been on at one time or another, there is very little garbage advertising that gets pumped into the account from NIN.com. So yesterday when I got an e-mail I was obliged to open it, and found that there is already a new full length album coming out in 2 months, and that two of the songs are posted on the NIN myspace page.

Of course for the slightly more initiated, the songs are available out there for download, though not in spectacular quality. The first single, Survivalism, follows a political tone more apparent in Trent's latest work, while still replete with biting sarcasm and enough variation in sound again to make it a decent single.

I'll admit I was slightly shocked to see the songs available a full two months before the album release date, but then Trent Reznor is known for embracing technology and inviting fan remixes, as well as providing various forms of media under the NIN name. And when there is invariably a leak of material before the official release of an album these days anyways, why not embrace the opportunity. I'm looking forward to the release.

I also heard on the radio in the lab yesterday that Chris Cornell has once again decided to fly solo, leaving Audioslave. I think Audioslave was getting tired anyways, and this just opens the door for a more permanent reunion of Rage Against the Machine, should their gig at Coachella in the spring inspire them.

Now about inspiring myself.

Lost in the Fog

I'm not dead, despite the best combined efforts of my thesis, course load and procrastination. The days seem to dissolve into one another and another week sneaks up almost completely unnoticed. The unfortunate part of it all is that none of the blur has been due to anything particularly exciting, just the mundane and monotonous assignments and reading, and requests for more and more lab work.

The mindless rushing around late this week lead to me tripping over my own books and putting a hand through a window pane in supporting my weight. Yet another item on the home reno 'to-do' list. That same list, combined with the sad state of my van, and lack of much of a bankroll right now has me thinking of resigning myself to a week long camping trip within a 5 hour drive, instead of a month long road trip out west in the spring. Its about time to start thinking about putting away money to buy out the house and get in some renters to help pay it off.

I've really nothing more productive to say. If you are/were ever a Police fan, I'll offer a reminder that they're reuniting for tonight's Grammys, and that you might want to watch that. If not, football's over and there should be some great TV on competing with said Grammys, so it should be a great night for channel surfing.

Goin' Off The Rails...

I've been annoyed lately with my sleep patterns. One night I can get into bed, nod off, and sleep until the next morning dead to the world, and completely forget any dreams I've had in that time. And then the next night I fall asleep quickly enough, but wake up 20 times through the night with a million different stresses on the mind, as well as the intermixed dream sleep that I tend to remember more vividly on those nights. After finally giving up on sleep, and getting to the day's trivial exercises, I'm still left with an uneasy feeling for hours.

Normally I'd be able to attribute differences in my sleep to some boozing, but that hasn't been the case much lately. The mind-racing sleep isn't anything that's new to me either, its been something that I've done since I was a kid, but not with the same frequency, and it was never as chaotic as it seems now. What I'd like is a big red e-stop button for my brain on those nights. Something to turn all the crap off, and let me just forget about things for a good night's sleep, and a holdover until morning when everything can come rushing back to me. Without the bonuses of a damaged liver, pounding head, and vomiting would be ideal.

Something tells me a winning lottery ticket, and a cereal box degree would take me a long way in finding that stop switch. For now a snow day, and some catch-up reading will have to suffice.

The Home Stretch

Nothing will quite make you feel old like walking in to a first year arts course in the last term of your bachelors degree. All so young and naive and still pretty much straight out of highschool, and most without a clue of what they actually want to do, but just going through the motions. I suppose I incited the same feelings some 6 plus years ago already when I found my way into my first university class.

It was a general interest course in descriptive astronomy, listed under the science department, but not valid as a credit towards a science degree. It was a night course on top of that, so the spread in the class had me, at 17, to a man who appeared to be in his early sixties taking classes to keep the mind fresh. It took me about 2 classes to learn that you didn't actually have to try to jot down every single word of the lecture. Combined with the advent of profs making coursenotes more readily available online, the note-taking practice has been carefully revised over the years following, and a sixth sense for the actual relevant/exam worthy points has been well developed.

That skill too will grow on the kids in my 1st year classes this term, but in the mean time they will sit there scribbling every passing comment made, and chatting it up incessantly over the lecturer in between. And I will sit there feeling older than I am, but not young enough to be amused by it all anymore. Four months from now if I was in the States I'd be accredited with B.S., but I'll have to settle for my B.Sc.