Saturday, August 26, 2006
Tomorrow is a proud day for Canadians, but I doubt that many will even realise. STS-115, the third shuttle launch since the Columbia disaster in February 2003, will be taking a Canadian into space. Steve MacLean has been there before, indeed on the ill-fated Columbia in 1992. This time, he'll be the first Candadian to operate the Canadarm2 in space, and I found that the Canadian Space Program has a list of the personal items he'll be taking into space. Cool.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Oof. Ouch. Oh.
You hear that? It's the sound of someone going back to work after a week's holiday.
Newfoundland was very nice. St. John's is a fair sized town/city of about 100,000 people - about the same size as Guelph. It's by far the largest urban area in the province. We stayed within a quaint little clump of houses about 30 minutes south of St. John's, collectively known as Bay Bulls. It has a pub, a convenience store, a petrol station and a couple of restaurants/eateries. Oh, and a road that runs out the other side, too. All very relaxing, and just what the doctor ordered.
Getting back home, after seeing no whales, no moose, and only the slightest hint of the arse of a beaver for a split second, our wildlife memories of Newfoundland are of 300,000 puffins. Small buggers, they're only about 8 inches tall and flap like a duck on acid whilst airborne.
The journey also made me miss British Airways, as Air Canada is not the "world's favourite airline", and I can see why. Some focus on the "customer" would be nice, even for domestic flights. Alas I have to make another trip next month, on my own, for a business thingie in Calgary.
So we got home with nothing broken, nothing lost, and the house in pretty much the same state as we left it. Great to sleep in your own bed again, and nice to slouch in front of the TV, for last night was the first in the latest BBC wildlife programs, "Planet Earth". Shot in HD, the footage was great - soul-stirring stuff and it helps fill the gap left by minimal wildlife sightings in Newfoundland.
Shout out to Pat & Betty, who embodied the traditional Newfoundland friendly reception. Thanks for a great meal out, and a greater drink in.
You hear that? It's the sound of someone going back to work after a week's holiday.
Newfoundland was very nice. St. John's is a fair sized town/city of about 100,000 people - about the same size as Guelph. It's by far the largest urban area in the province. We stayed within a quaint little clump of houses about 30 minutes south of St. John's, collectively known as Bay Bulls. It has a pub, a convenience store, a petrol station and a couple of restaurants/eateries. Oh, and a road that runs out the other side, too. All very relaxing, and just what the doctor ordered.
Getting back home, after seeing no whales, no moose, and only the slightest hint of the arse of a beaver for a split second, our wildlife memories of Newfoundland are of 300,000 puffins. Small buggers, they're only about 8 inches tall and flap like a duck on acid whilst airborne.
The journey also made me miss British Airways, as Air Canada is not the "world's favourite airline", and I can see why. Some focus on the "customer" would be nice, even for domestic flights. Alas I have to make another trip next month, on my own, for a business thingie in Calgary.
So we got home with nothing broken, nothing lost, and the house in pretty much the same state as we left it. Great to sleep in your own bed again, and nice to slouch in front of the TV, for last night was the first in the latest BBC wildlife programs, "Planet Earth". Shot in HD, the footage was great - soul-stirring stuff and it helps fill the gap left by minimal wildlife sightings in Newfoundland.
Shout out to Pat & Betty, who embodied the traditional Newfoundland friendly reception. Thanks for a great meal out, and a greater drink in.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Today is our 6th wedding anniversary. Yay us!
We're off to Newfoundland for a week first thing tomorrow. As the flight is very early, we're staying in an airport hotel tonight. Due to a recent terrorist alert, hand luggage is severely curtailed. No liquids, lotions or gels allowed in hand luggage - it must all be in the checked bags.
Newfoundland trivia - the island has its own flag, the "pink, white and green" tricolour. It's the oldest flag that contains pink. The pink denotes the English protestants (a mix of the red and white roses of the Tudors), the green denotes the Irish catholics, and the white is taken from the white saltire cross of St. Andrew, patron saint of Scotland and (handily) of fishermen.
We're off to Newfoundland for a week first thing tomorrow. As the flight is very early, we're staying in an airport hotel tonight. Due to a recent terrorist alert, hand luggage is severely curtailed. No liquids, lotions or gels allowed in hand luggage - it must all be in the checked bags.
Newfoundland trivia - the island has its own flag, the "pink, white and green" tricolour. It's the oldest flag that contains pink. The pink denotes the English protestants (a mix of the red and white roses of the Tudors), the green denotes the Irish catholics, and the white is taken from the white saltire cross of St. Andrew, patron saint of Scotland and (handily) of fishermen.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
We visited some friends of Deb's at the weekend, to drop off the chocolate I bought in the UK. One the way back, we stopped off at a butcher's and picked up some lamb sausages.
Most sausages I've had contain at least some filling that's not meat - cereal or some such - but these ones seem to be tubes of pure meat, and tasty with it. I barbied some up the other day and they were really nice. Tonight we're having some more, but this time they are the spicy kind. (Labelled "homicide". Apparently the "suicide" ones are hotter).
I've polished off one of the two bottles of Robinson's I brought back, and the other will not be too long before it's gone either. When it gets hot, the choice is water, beer or juice. Water is boring. Beer dehydrates you and makes you pissed, so juice is by far the better option.
The pile of books to read got smaller yesterday - I finally completed a paperback, something I've not done for the longest time. I started another one, and I hope to have half of it done by the end of the week. I miss reading, but slothing it out on the sofa is too inviting. The upside of starting work at 7.30am is that you can be home by 5pm if you are lucky. This means more "home time", more quality time, and sitting outside with a book, listening to the birdies, is very relaxing.
Most sausages I've had contain at least some filling that's not meat - cereal or some such - but these ones seem to be tubes of pure meat, and tasty with it. I barbied some up the other day and they were really nice. Tonight we're having some more, but this time they are the spicy kind. (Labelled "homicide". Apparently the "suicide" ones are hotter).
I've polished off one of the two bottles of Robinson's I brought back, and the other will not be too long before it's gone either. When it gets hot, the choice is water, beer or juice. Water is boring. Beer dehydrates you and makes you pissed, so juice is by far the better option.
The pile of books to read got smaller yesterday - I finally completed a paperback, something I've not done for the longest time. I started another one, and I hope to have half of it done by the end of the week. I miss reading, but slothing it out on the sofa is too inviting. The upside of starting work at 7.30am is that you can be home by 5pm if you are lucky. This means more "home time", more quality time, and sitting outside with a book, listening to the birdies, is very relaxing.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Back in the late 80's/early 90's, I saw some (then) groundbreaking videos by a Polish film maker. Until recently all I could remember was his first name - Zbigniew. It wasn't until a few days ago that I started to think of the videos again, and wondered if they were available commercially. So I googled, and hey presto I rediscovered Zbigniew Rybczyński. He's an Oscar winner, and has 3 DVDs for sale on his website.
I bought his "Media" collection, and it should be turning up shortly. I look forward to seeing some more of his work, and I hope the two pieces I remember are on there.
Also on the subject of DVDs, after watching the next episode of Green Wing (see blog entries passim), I watch a BBC drama called Life On Mars. A cop from 2006 gets hit by a car and wakes up in 1973. Culture shock ensues, and he/you're never sure whether he's still in a coma and dreaming it, whether he's really in 1973 but insane, or whether he's really time-travelled. It mixes the tried-and-tested cop drama with a dash of time-travel, and seems to work very well. Mainly, I think, because of the interaction between the cop and his boss.
Yesterday, a tornado touched down just south of Guelph. No damage, but lots of thunder and lightning. At least it broke the hot weather streak and we're not at mid-twenties rather than mid-thirties.
I bought his "Media" collection, and it should be turning up shortly. I look forward to seeing some more of his work, and I hope the two pieces I remember are on there.
Also on the subject of DVDs, after watching the next episode of Green Wing (see blog entries passim), I watch a BBC drama called Life On Mars. A cop from 2006 gets hit by a car and wakes up in 1973. Culture shock ensues, and he/you're never sure whether he's still in a coma and dreaming it, whether he's really in 1973 but insane, or whether he's really time-travelled. It mixes the tried-and-tested cop drama with a dash of time-travel, and seems to work very well. Mainly, I think, because of the interaction between the cop and his boss.
Yesterday, a tornado touched down just south of Guelph. No damage, but lots of thunder and lightning. At least it broke the hot weather streak and we're not at mid-twenties rather than mid-thirties.
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