CaptainOrange

-- guess I forgot to put a link to the great review we got in the StarPhoenix . Ever since working on Cinderella (capO), Leora has been on my case to do more community theatre. When she heard the possibility that Gateway would be doing To Kill A Mockingbird (wikipedia), she would not let me rest. I had to repeatedly check the website for any hint of auditions. When we saw James Hawn (who was to direct it) there would be questions about when auditions might be scheduled, etc... Eventually, there were auditions. Wendy, Leora and I all tried out for roles and Anwyn hoped to work as a crew member. Anwyn got her way, as did the rest of us. Short of patient, reliable children, James H. eventually convinced Anwyn to also take on a couple of roles in the show. So we were all in the show -- a first for our family. We were excited, yet trepidatious. I know how hard it is for the family with just me in a play. For this to succeed we were going to have to take special measures. I took time off w...

Despite a lingering fear of larger specimens, I absolutely love spiders. When information about "vegetarian" spider started to circulate in October, I was thrilled. I've been busy working on the show and not had much time to look into it. Now that I have the week off during our performance run I've listened to a great radio interview and done a bunch more reading. For the overly interested: In this 10 minute .mp3 , Bob McDonald of Quirks and Quarks interviews Dr. Robert Curry (villanova.edu). Here is a .pdf copy of Curry's article published in Current Biology . Here is a supplemental paper and some videos of several spider specimens.

Yes, Leora's birthday was in the beginning of November. Let's leave it at that. Leora and Anwyn think that it is their pleasure in life to come up with increasingly difficult cooking challenges for me. This generally culminates with their choice of birthday cakes. Leora, in particular will spend hours pouring through the dessert selections in our cook books. She currently limits her choices to things that have a great picture. I am frightened of what may happen once she can visualize the outcome just from the recipe. Leo's inspiration this year was from a great garage-sale find of 10 or more years ago, Time Life's The Good Book: Classic Desserts (Amazon.com). It's part of an awesome series, of which I own several. They give wonderful descriptions (with informative photos) of classic techniques followed by a series of recipes in the back to which those techniques can be applied. For anyone who has consumed it; my fudge comes from the companion book entitled "Can...

I did my campus-tower-home run in my Vibram 5-fingers for the first time about a month ago (and several times since). Let me tell you, I was nervous. My last major run in them, the 10km with Jaime last month, resulted in 3 days of serious stiffness in my calves and not a little whining. I recognize that (re)training my lower legs and feet is a process of undoing 37 years of unwitting damage. Atrophied muscles aren't going to strengthen and flourish in a month or two. However, I do feel that I am well on my way. I have started to think of running barefoot as a type of physiotherapy class taught to me by my own feet. I have found three distinct running styles while I am barefoot. When on grass, I jog with a typical "heel strike" method. Such as you would do all the time in running shoes. On harder surfaces, I run landing on the padding between the arch and my toes. This is what really gets the calf muscles working. When my muscles are feeling sore, or I am at a slower than ...

This last QNY Dave off-handedly invited me out to Calgary to climb a mountain with him. I said that it sounded like a summit would be a great place to have a celebratory game of chess. Dave insinuated that should I bring the necessary gear to play chess, the act of carrying it up any mountain he chose for me would make it likely that I would leave the board and pieces on the mountainside out of sheer exhaustion. I didn't take a chessboard, but after five months (and very near the end of my summer holiday) I managed to make it out on a tight schedule (if there is any other kind) to spend a fantastic day with a very old friend. Dave drove out from Canmore to meet me at the Lac des Arcs campground at 7:15am. I was prepared to leave earlier, but Dave assured me he had not planned an overly ambitious hike. I pressed a quick bodum of coffee and we headed into the national park. This is Bow Peak. I had to take this picture the next day after a lengthy debate with Dave over where th...

Several weeks ago, I posted on Facebook (via Twitter which now ends up at the bottom of this blog) that I have managed to beat the first of the records I am pursuing vis this year's Quest goals . I've been actively seeking the push-up goal, working on the plan posted at hundredpushups (which I have a few issues with). I came to the conclusion that I was not going to dedicate the time (right now) to making the hundred push-up goal. So, after eight weeks, I bailed out during "week 4" of the program. Anyway, I managed to eke out fifty consecutive push-ups. I am very excited by the success and am now looking forward to trying to get my right elbow back in shape from the injury I suffered a couple of months back. I am only posting this now for historical purposes. I actually typed this post weeks ago, but forgot to publish it. Sorry that you have to suffer. Old data. Pay it no mind.

Our microwave oven stopped working on Wednesday. Actually, it continued to work, but the door wouldn´t open. Something inside the door-latch mechanism seemed to be jammed or broken. I was more than a little perturbed. After all it´s only a little more than a year old. I´m not sure about you, but I am a heavy user of the microwave. It´s primary purpose in my life is to warm the many forgotten mugs of coffee that I perpetually leave around the house. That´s enough of a blow in itself. Of course there are other tasks for which it is suited and, short of baking bread, it is part of virtually every meal I make. Wendy began to get alarmed with how panicked I was becoming over the loss of this small appliance. I felt thrust back into a dark age of wood ovens and feudal servitude. I don´t mind daydreaming about such things, but not over a cold cup of coffee -- especially when the weather has been so dreary again. Rain about 4 or 5 days running and a high temperature today of 14 C. That´s ...

FAMILY There has been a constant flurry of activity around the house, now that school is over. My usual slow paced serentity has been replaced by a frenzy. It's mostly good, but always takes some adjusting. Wendy comes home in full battle-school mode. Leora and Anwyn come home forgetting that the whole world doesn't celebrate summer holidays like elementary school children. Parents, see below... Anwyn - "I thought summer was for totally relaxing and doing what you want." Father - "Right. But between you and your sister being home, that's eleven extra hours of home and yard messing that happen every day." Leora and Anwyn - "Daaaaad!" Father - "I'm only giving you an extra hour of chores per day. compared to your share of five and a half hours of messing, that's a pretty sweet deal." We have now all signed up for a summer chore schedule which takes a lot off of my plate. This is good, because I am taking a lot more ...

I'm driving myself mad. It's kijiji's fault really -- too much free stuff. Add that to my very flexible schedule and you have an exhausting combination. On the right are the straw bales that I brought from out of town to mulch the garden with. I didn't want to make two trips, so I wound up with waaay too much. Should have taken Wendy's advice there :( I've also been hauling a lot of rocks which are getting put to use for some nice front yard landscaping. Many are still in "storage" until I have time to do some more sod removal. All this might be somewhat diverting if I weren't continuing to attempt all the new food production things that I've learned recently. Casualties are mounting. Yesterday I killed millions of bacteria when I messed up making yogurt. When will the insanity end? Wendy told me to stop doing extra shit and start behaving like a human being towards my children. Do you think she is trying to tell me something?

Being injured sucks. We've talked about this before. My elbow is still nagging me but, I have started a slow program of push-ups again. As well, you may have noticed that the spreadsheet up top has a couple of new times for the Arts Tower. Neither of them are PB's but both are very strong and I am encouraged by how good I feel at the top. Today I ran to campus (20min), stumped heavily up the first 8 floors of Arts (40sec) and then ran home (20min). My computer is back. Against what they told me were the odds, the data on my harddrive was indeed lost. Soooo, I have lost about 3 months of pictures. Ouch. That really hurts. You may recall that my ambitious photo campaign has been to assist my pathetic memory. Loosing 3 months is a blow that will certainly result in more regular back-ups. I do have all of the last 4-5 weeks of photos that I accumulated while my computer was in the shop. This is the one that I want to share with you today. So... you shake it. Yeah, you kn...

My grandiose exercise plans were brought to a screaming halt by a weird injury that I suffered in both elbows. I´m not exactly sure what precipitated the painful swelling. Could be over training... Could be an imminent battle with arthritis. I don´t really know, but it has been discouraging. After a month of nagging twinges and stabbing pain, I decided that my third round of Strep Throat was long overdue. I initially blamed my nephew, but further observation has indicated that it is ¨going around.¨ So far I have made sure that Wendy got her share. I am expectantly watching the girls. Naturally, in my pre-injured state, I was ambitious and the weather good. This overzealousness has lead to far too much time spent covering various plants in my yard to prevent freezing during this recent clinic of good old Saskatchewan weather. I have some pictures that I have been wanting to share and lots of good posting ideas, but my main computer -- the one I do all my major typing and graphic...

The Doctor requested a review of this movie, which I saw over the weekend. I am, as you should know, a great fan of the original series. Bear that in mind. I´ve told you before why I identify with Kirk. It´s the struggle. It´s a fight against authority, ill-doers, women, and against the odds. In a nutshell, that is what I like best about TOS and I think it is what had me enjoying every moment of the movie. Now understand, I really wanted to like the movie. I was there for a thrilling, authority-bucking ride. I was there for hommage-a-plenty and I was there to see Kirk make it with a green-skinned babe. Check, check ... and ... check. Was it a sucessful ¨re-boot¨ of the franchise? Meh?!? It was no ¨Batman Begins,¨ but it was a damn sight more interesting than most of the movies the series has produced. Did they really throw away the Canon of the Star Trek universe? Nope. But they did leave themselves free to do so at any time. I didn´t read anything before I saw it, but here a...

I´m finished with my play. I don´t really think it was ready for the stage, but such is life. I had a great time AND am glad it is over. That is really the best I could hope for. The Star Phoenix review of the show didn´t encourage last minute ticket sales, but there were a couple of nice words for yours truly. Considering the opening line of the review, I´m not sure you can take any of it seriously (good or bad). Gateway ends season with uneven production REVIEW By Tom Eremondi The StarPhoenix 16 Apr 2009 “You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life.” You also have the latest presentation from Gateway Players. The company’s final play is a stage adaptation of the Agatha Christie murder mystery And Then... read more... Tech Tags: The StarPhoenix newspaper Arts & Life ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would have just given you the link to the Star Phoenix , itself, but I am really exc...

Well, there is nothing for it. I have to plug Earth Hour on my blog. If only to improve upon my percieved sincerity for those of you who read or will read the article in today's Star Phoenix. Betty Ann hooked me up with the reporter who did the story. She seemed to think that I was doing somebody a favour, but I feel that I am the one who benefitted. The hour that I spent talking to the reporter was quite enjoyable and a good opportunity to continue to reflect on some of the lifestyle choices that many of us have been wrestling with over the last days, weeks, and years. I am only advocating for Earth Hour because it is an avenue for self-reflection. How much will your life be changed by turning off your lights for an hour? Not at all. I don't really care if you "believe" in global warming. This issue trancends the concept. For me it is about wanting and having less. Using what we need and no more. Enjoying your loves -- be they people or activities, or things -- ...

Stardate, blah, blah, etc, etc... O.K. I've included a spread sheet of my activities at the top of the blog now. Now you can all keep tabs on my attempts to break my records. I'm not going to record everything I do (not yet anyway), just the serious attempts to increase my current record. I intend to eventually add all the old "book" data and highlight the current records in each category. It will stay until I become embarrassed by it's presence. I hope to hear of everyone competing and logging your own personal bests at home. You will be glad of it. Saw a story on Oprah, (get over it, I sometimes watch) about calorie restriction (wikipedia). Looked fun. I'm always put off by how rabid (oprah.com) people are about these new heath fads, though. For now I'll just stick to whole foods and plenty of coffee. --edit-- And if you give a damn about twitter, but don't have it (probably not eh?) you can see my most recent tweets down at the bottom of t...

I was 24 years old . The previous year had seen me secure both my degree in English from the U of S and my wife. It would still be 2 1/2 years until Leora was born. In the most cliché sense, I had the whole world ahead of me. Of course I had just spent the last 4 months of 1995 living apart from Wen (as she tested out her first teaching job in Rosetown (wikipedia)). Shortly, I moved out of 518 Albert Ave. and into our first apartment. Small town life didn't agree really agree with me. Being an unconventional egg-head/vegetarian/freak from the big city, I felt watched and overtly judged wherever I went (but only because people were watching me). View Larger Map A perfect example is the cooking job that I got there at the Blue Baron -- a restaurant attached to a road-side motor inn. I was ´let go´ there after my 3 month probation. I challenged the owner (who was almost never in the kitchen) to tell me why I was being fired, and I was told that it was because the quality of the food ...

Once again I thought spring was certainly here this time. I was wrong of course. Below minus 20 before the windchill on March 17th is depressing. Never-the-less, a scant two days ago, it was marvelous and sunny. Wen and I got a bit edgy and decided to do some seeding in the greenhouse. It was between minus 5 and minus 3 outdoors, but in my little haven the temperature (at waist height) was 24 degrees celsius, in the shade. The sunny parts were making me sweat as I did a little caulking that I had neglegted in the fall. I seriously considered trying to put up a hammock in there and spend the day reading. It really is a bit early to plant and when I do, it will still involve a lot of transporting things back to the house for the non-sun hours. Currently the temperature will still rapidly drop below freezing inside the greenhouse if the sun isn't shining pretty hard. Later that day, Leora and Anwyn wen't to Liz's to help with some party preparations for Anthony's birthday ...

An early celebration was had last night. The core group of Questers was in attendance. As a first order of business we discussed last years quest books. A general favorite was "How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read," which, humourously, Dave hadn't. You could look up the less than favourable Guardian review, or you could take my word for it and have a good read (and a good laugh). From there we moved on to this years reading list which, I'm sad to say, I did not contribute to. It will be a light reading year (for must reads)... 2 Picks (Filthy Lucre/Heath/Starcat, Notes on Democracy/Mencken/rainswept) I will also attempt to read Dave's attempted pick (which is in 6 volumes and he hasn't quite finnished yet) entitled The Nature of Order - Christopher Alexander Follow this link for my pictures from the evening... QE19 I have set a few goals for the coming year: First I plan to beat the 24-year-old me. I'll explain that one another time. ...

A couple of days ago I went out searching for something to brighten my spirits. QWednesday it was trying to melt and I was excited by the prospect of early spring. I failed to make the outdoors a priority and promised to do it the next day. Thursday, I took a few pictures but it was already back to bitter winds and cold. This was all the run-off I could find. My fingers numbed and people stared at me wondering how someone's ears get this red. It doesn't look too bad, here, but I'd already been in for about 5 minutes at this point. Whining? Maybe. Today I had to shovel huge drifts from my driveway. Uphill, too. I've consoled myself with this great orange flower. I try to look at it several times a day. It might be helping... I really need it to be helping.

With any luck, I will be meeting with the Quest over coffee something like a week early. I haven´t heard from Geof or Handwing yet. The proposed date is March 8th and we are, once again meeting at the current favorite location. Problem is Spring. It hasn´t come a week early. In fact as of this morning, it is still blastedly cold here. I´m going out for a run later today, but I really need things to warm up or I just don´t feel like Questing. The original celebration was due to a warm wind blowing through town and causing a big melt. I have trouble generating the necessary feelings of adventure if the wind doesn´t smell adventurous. I know, I know. You´re thinking to yourself, ¨he´s always like this at the beginning of March.¨ And, you´re right, of course. Without a little anguish the Quest just does not seem worthwhile. I´ll go anguish for a bit and be back when I have something productive to add to this discussion.

You likely recall that I got Rock Band last January (I considered it a birthday gift from the Universe). I intended to post about my first repair, but perhaps I forgot. I won't bore you with the details other than to say that an integral component in the guitar stopped working. As it turns out, there was a broken spring involved. After 12 or so screws that stood in my way, the repair itself was fairly simple. I feel great when I repair these things because it saves both me and the companies involved money (Well, technically the warranty wasn't expired -- the first time, but who cares, it was fun) I don't have to be without the controller for 4 weeks No one has to pick up the tab for thousands of miles of shipping I (hopefully) learn a bit about the electronics involved So, I refashioned  the existing spring -- simply stretching it out a bit further and making a new loop so it could reattach to where it had fallen from. The repair lasted about 4 months only to surfa...

My volleyball season is winding down. It has mostly been an enjoyable season. My team is in the "D" division of our co-ed league, and if you were to break "D" into pieces... we would be in the "D" part of it. In case you don't get the picture -- we suck sort of hard. I say 'sort of' because, on this team, we don't do anything all the way. I guess that's part of the problem. It's been good for me, really. I've helps me to focus on my game and not get frustrated with things beyond my control. For my part, service reception has been quite weak all year. I don't quite know how to shake off the nerves of making that first good pass. Aside from that, I am very happy with my game. My vertical has been coming back over the last 6 weeks as has my general bounciness. I had a bit of a knee issue all through the late fall and right up until the end of December. I was starting to feel age seeping in through the vulnerable places and sett...