CaptainOrange

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 My usual slow paced serentity has been replaced by a frenzy.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...