Obligatory Olympics Post

I feel that with something like the Olympics going on, I should probably at least mention them once or twice in my blog.

I'm not really a big watcher of sports. I don't normally watch any of the professional sports (even hockey, which is almost obligatory for Canadians). I'll watch football now and then, but only because SouthernKitten likes it and there is often beer involved.

The Olympics are different though. I've found myself watching the oddest things, but only because they are in the Olympics. I watched part of the men's rings competition, it looks hard, and I don't think I'd like to upset any of those gentlemen, but it's really an unusual program selection for me. I watched triple jump, which is interesting, but an odd concept. I watched rowing, and gymnastics and countless other sports. I don't know what's wrong with me.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not constantly sitting in front of the TV watching them, it's just that they are always on.

The sport I've probably enjoyed the most though, is beach volleyball. And not just for the reasons JV enjoys it. Also because this is the first summer in a few years I haven't played it myself (no, not at anything bearing any kind of resemblance to the Olympic level), so I miss it. (I also miss Ultimate Frisbee, but it's not an Olympic sport [yet]).

Ugh

I stayed out a little late last night and had a few too many beverages with Devilboy and Grover. Both had been roommates at one time or other, so we did some catching up and consumed more alcohol than may have been prudent.

We returned to DevilBoy's place and watched a movie (Hackers) and played computer games (America's Army) with his brother until about four AM. DevilBoy Jr and I had a good system going. He did the running and shooting part while I typed amusing things in the chat box ("Kill da wabbit! Kill da wabbit!"). I also gave him various strategic hints and tips. (Run! Duck! Duck lower! Shoot over there!).

Anyway, today I am paying the penalty and I feel rather gross.

In Orillia

Well, I'm in Orillia.

Spent the evening drinking beer and setting up DevilBoy's new computer (which I am using to post this). Fun toy. When I get some money I may have to spend some on making my computer faster, better, more cool, etc. Yes, I am a computer geek.

SoutherKitten is back in Lexington. Her flight again landed with a complete lack of flaming death.

I'll post something longer later on.

Random Pants

I took my second and last exam of the second half of summer this morning at the unreasonable time of 8:30 this morning. (see I used to hate people like me) It went fine and I was only slightly late. Fortunately for me, it was another multiple guess test (I knew it would be) which is something I do well, so time wasn't even remotely an issue.

With school out until Labour day I'm going to be roaming about the province for a bit. So, I filled the rest of the day with a combination of napping (yes, students suck) and generally tidying the house in preparation for an extended absence and possible guests when I am here. I collected dishes that had been left in random places around the house, I did laundry, I mowed the lawn.

While mowing the backyard, I made a bit of an unusual discovery. Pants. I found a rather dishelved pair of what looked like athletic pants whose owner I thought had likely been a teenaged girl. Now, I'm pretty sure that had there been a murder or assault of some nature in my neighbourhood I'd know about it. This is Canada, these things are big news.

Now, my standard of dress has dropped considerably over my year spent as a student. While a was working I didn't often wear a t-shirt without a button up shirt over top, and always tucked in. I shaved almost every day and wore shoes and socks. Things have changed a bit over the past year. My normal attire is jeans and a t-shirt (not tucked in), I almost never wear socks (this will likely change when summer ends...) and have grown a beard.

There are a few things that haven't changed though, and one of them is pants. Occasionally they may be shorts, but once I'm dressed for the day, pants of some kind are included. And I can't think of a time when I might have misplaced my pants during the day.

I know there's likely some benign and boring reason as to why there were pants in my yard, but what fun would that be to write about?

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As I mentioned, I'm going to be out of town and traveling for the next few weeks. I'll be going as far north as Orillia and as far south as Kentucky. I don't know just yet what this is going to do to my update schedule. Possibly nothing, or on the other extreme, you may not hear from me until September. Time will tell...

Unwelcome guest

Last night I stayed up a lot later that I really ought to have. I was fiddling with my blog template and working on the "Straight From the Bottle" logo you can now see near the bottom right hand side of my page (yes, I have the artistic ability of a very talented 7 year old). Eventually I realized what time it was and at around two in the morning I wandered downstairs fully intending to go right to bed.

On the very front of my little house is a fully enclose porch. It's not very big, and extremely cluttered. My landlord stores some assorted stuff in there, and so do I. It's basically like a garage that my car will never fit in, even in the unlikely event it's ever all cleaned out. When I first moved here I thought that cleaning it up would be nice... I could sit there during one of the frequent thunderstorms that Windsor gets, sip a frosty beverage and watch the rain. This will never happen. Anyway, one of the things I store in there is the big trash where all the little trashes around the house are emptied into, and then collectively carted to the curb on garbage day.

So, last night, as I was getting into bed, I heard rustling coming from the porch. I figured that a squirrel or possibly a rodent of some description had gotten into the aformentioned trash. So, I got up, stumbled to the door and flicked on the outside light to see just what was so rudely disturbing me.

I could see a black furry tail clearly belonging to the mysterious interloper poking into view above the pile of garbage strewn about the porch. It looked a lot like a rather big squirrel and I contemplated opening the door and shooing it out. Then I thought I saw a little white mixed in with the black (squirrels are black here). Then my guest's head poked up. My visitor was not a squirrel. My visitor was a skunk.

Opening the door somehow no longer seemed like an attractive option. I retreated back to my room and pondered the options for getting rid of a skunk. More importantly, the options for getting rid of it without getting either myself or my house sprayed. My best idea was going downstairs and knocking on the door. Not to startle or scare the skunk, but just to let him know I was there, and possibly suggest he may wish to move on to somewhere else now. I knocked. The skunk ignored me. I knocked a little harder. The skunk looked up with a "What do you want? Can I help you? Can't you see I'm in the middle of something?" look on its face. Clearly this skunk knew that I wasn't about to open the door and that a polite knock was pretty much the most powerful weapon in my arsenal. I retreated back to my room.

Online, mary, who being in the Pacific time zone was still up, had read yesterday's entry, and helpfully suggested that I should not alarm the skunk. Thanks... I further pondered my options and came up blank. Clearly this animal had me outgunned and knew it.

I sat and continued to ponder for a while, but before I came up with any more bright ideas, like maybe a little sign saying "please go away", the skunk decided he'd had enough of pawing though my refuse and quietly wandered off into the night.

I'm still not sure what else I could have done. Clearly I'm going to have to invest in better securing my porch, and possibly a skunk proof garbage container... And maybe even a little sign...

Acts intended to Alarm Her Majesty

Back in November of last year, a couple of months before we started dating, I emailed SouthernKitten the following link under the subject "Kentucky in the Canadian News" Bathe yearly, or else. She didn't think it was as funny as I did for some reason. Well, today I'm bringing to your attention something that's possibly more silly in the Canadian Criminal Code: Criminal Code, [R.S., c. C-46] 49. Acts intended to alarm Her Majesty or break public peace. It's short, and that link is mostly to assure you that I am not making this up. It reads as follows:

"Every one who wilfully, in the presence of Her Majesty, (a) does an act with intent to alarm Her Majesty or to break the public peace, or (b) does an act that is intended or is likely to cause bodily harm to Her Majesty, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years."

Ok, (b) is completely reasonable. Causing bodily harm to Her Majesty just isn't a nice thing to do, and frankly, if fourteen years is all you get, you should consider yourself lucky. (You will also likely be roughed up by a guy in a big furry hat, which bears a certain ignomy all its own...)

But section (a) seems a little harsh. What constitutes "Alarming" Her Majesty is a bit vague. Would sneaking up behind Her Majesty and saying "BOO!" land you fourteen years in the clink? What about a particularly well brought up belch at the dinner table? Those offences really strike me as simply rude, or perhaps even a social faux pas. I'm also a little concerned that someday I might walk up behind Her Majesty a bit too quietly and accidently startle Her. I do that to people sometimes.

Anyway, if by some fluke of cyberspace Her Majesty happens to stumble upon this humble blog...

BOO!

Tests,Talking emails and SouthernKitten is in Vegas

SouthernKitten left on a business trip to Las Vegas at a little before three today. After several hours of flying and a stopover in Atlanta she has now arrived in Arkansas. Well, 35,000 feet over Arkansas. She should be on the ground in Vegas in a couple hours.

I've been telling SouthernKitten that her flight will be uneventful, and even fun. She, however, is convinced that the plane will plunge flaming into the desert and she will die a hideous death. Seems Southern Kitten just doesn't like flying that much. I promised her that her plane would arrive just fine. She did not find that promise to be at all comforting, as if it turns out I'd lied she would be unable to hit or bite me. Personally, I think that should be counted as a plus.

I also wrote the first of my exams today. 55 multiple guess questions. No big deal. With any luck the second will also be this easy.

I also discovered Talking email today. If you're in Canada you've likely seen the TV commercial it's based on. It's such fun. I encourage you to check it out and send amusing emails to your friends and family. I have personally already sent four of them. Fun fun fun.

(Edit - SouthernKitten has informed me that she has successfully landed in LV. No flames involved.)

Slow week

I finished my classes for summer semester yesterday and have exams on Monday afternoon and Thursday morning. Neither of these courses have been all that demanding and I don't really anticipate needing to do much in the way of studying.

After briefly flirting with the idea of trekking north for the weekend, SouthernKitten has decided that it would be a better idea for her to stay in Lexington and prepare for her business trip to Vegas next week.

What all this adds up to is a slow week for me. I can't really afford to do much until next year's funding is worked out, and I don't really have time to leave town anyway. Which is funny, because I have nothing but time, except for about an hour on those two days. But they're important hours, so I can't just blow them off.

So, I guess I'll do some housework and whatnot. Maybe mow the lawn, perhaps check out some of the stuff going on in Windsor this week.

A little background

Living in Windsor, I'm not exactly at the epicenter of coldness in Canada. In fact, Windsor is just about as far south as Canada goes. So, while due to the vageries of currents and winds and other things I don't fully understand, Windsor is not the warmest city in Canada, it also certainly is far from the coldest.

It does snow here and it does get a litte cold, especially when compared to, say, Lexington Kentucky, as SouthernKitten can attest. But it's nothing like where I'm from, or other even more northern localles.

The expression "Cold Cold Canada" comes from my girlfriend, the aformentioned SouthernKitten, who finds Canada a mite chilly even in almost temporate Windsor.

I just hope no one from Timmins reads ever reads my blog.

I used to hate people like me

I was late for class this morning. It was the last class of the course and while I enjoyed the content, I did not enjoy the timeslot. I don’t think I actually ever made it to that class on time. 8:30 in the morning just seems ungodly early at this juncture. Which is my point, really. Before August of last year I was a responsible adult. I went to work, consistently got up before nine in the morning and put in at least 7.5 hours of work every day. Occasionally, in talking to a (usually younger) friend or relative who was still in school, the person in question would lament evil pre nine AM classes and absurdly long four and a half hour days. I would usually quietly grate my teeth, glare and then remind them that every day I got up earlier and worked longer.

Now I am that person. (and more often than not SouthernKitten is the one doing the glaring)

Greetings from Cold Cold Canada

Hey, how's it going, eh? This is my blog, welcome to it.

I guess I should really start with who I am.

I am CanadaDave. Former IT guy. Current university student. Political hack. Airplane enthusiast. Computer geek. Dater of SouthernKitten.

I am a member of the Liberal Party of Canada, and have slightly left of center views on most things.

I was born and grew up in Orillia, Ontario, now live in Windsor, but spent some time in between in Toronto and miss it. I spend just an awful lot of time in Lexington, Kentucky.

That’s it for now. We’ll see how the whole blog thing works in the coming days.