Congratulations

Congratulations to Bob, Anna and Gigi on the birth of a new baby girl! I would write more but I'm at work. In short: Hooray!!!

A Journey to the Past

I took my inner child to the Canadian Museum of Nature today. It's located in an old stone castle type building built by Scottish masons in 1905 (the Victoria Memorial Museum Building) at the end of Metcalfe street. I had last been there on a school trip sometime in the 1970s when it was also the Museum of civilization. The Museum is undergoing extensive reconstruction both externally and internally and I have to admit it was much more of an impressive experience then walking the main hall to see a West coast totem pole reaching four stories high.Today I walked past construction barriers under scaffolding into an unfinished and gutted interior. I'm not complaining. I'm glad that there is funding being invested in the museum. It was just a big disappointment to my inner child in that regard.

To get to the exhibit I walked up the four flights of stairs to get to the first floor where the dinosaur and prehistoric mammal fossils are on display. The first exhibit was of three ancestors of the modern whale (Archaeocetes). The first was a dog like thing with a very long snout. The second was a similar skeleton but larger and with limbs that worked as paddles. You could see the hind legs had shrunk. The third was an even larger skeleton and this on had even more fin like forearms and the hind legs where wee little things that would be useless on shore. Very impressive. They also had a complete and enormous elasmosaurus skeleton as well as a giant ancient sea turtle. He or she lived 70 million years ago and swam the Western Interior Seaway that ran form where the Gulf of Mexico is to the Arctic through what are now the great plains of North America. Yes that thrilled my inner child.There was even a dinosaur bone that was on display for you to touch. Now that was exciting.

Afterword I was hoping to get some postcards but alas the museum book store didn't have anything local. Just generic Canadian souvenir postcards. Maybe that will change once they have the museum up to speed. All in all it will be fun to go back this summer with my nephews.

(their Website fails the friendly navigation test by the way)

The Everything Condiment

There's a Chinese grocery store across the bridge on the Old Montreal Road. I like going there to get spicy tofu. Today I found a condiment called green seasoning. Ingredients: Scallions, water, celery, garlic, cilantro, coyote jalapeño peppers, corn starch, white pepper, basil, vinegar, thyme, salt and ascorbic acid.
wow! That's pretty much all my favourite herbs and spices. I would just add some chili flakes and it would be perfect. As it is it tastes quite good. i will use it soups and stir fries and maybe try it on pasta like a pesto.

Meander Stall

Missing You

Tangerine

Fantastic Four -legged Duck

I found this strange critter at Red Orbit Breaking News. The photo looks real but given that this is a kind of tabloid Website I'll take it with a grain of salt. What struck me enough to post this comes from working with computer code all day. The idea that you can cut and paste things in a module way to create new functioning things and this picture all came together. If organic code for duckling legs was "cut and pasted" in nature would you get this?
In conclusion I saw 'Quack'.

Happy New Year

Today we begin the year of the Pig, or Boar as you please.

"Intellectually curious, honest and tolerant, those born in the Year of the Pig can be relied upon for their loyalty and often make true friends for life." more >>

February is the Saddest Month

Has it really been 4 years since Steve left us? It's painful to think that this is what it means to lose someone. That the years pass and they aren't ever coming back. Mortality means finality.

I was listening to my itunes this evening and the Neil Diamond song I Am...I Said came on. I never really listened to the words before. When we were kids Steve was a Neil Diamond fan which I never "got". Listening to the song made me think of him and why he might have been drawn to the music. Then it struck me that it was February the time of year when Steve checked out for good. Four years past.

I am, I
said
To no one there
And no one heard at all
Not
even the chair
I am, I cried
I am, said I
And I
am lost, and I can't even say why

I am, I
said
I am, I cried
I am...

Identify Please

Embolden Me

Throughout the Bush fiasco we have heard the term "embolden" used frequently, as in "it will embolden the terrorists!" Today in the US House of Representatives the word was whipped out again. It was used to attempt to lash the tongues of naysayers to the proposal to send 20-some thousand more men and women from the US into the war in Iraq. Republican minority leader John Boehner mimbled loudly that a rejection of the President's policy would embolden terrorists worldwide.

Do we really need to worry about 'emboldening' people who would hi-jack planes and fly them into skyscrapers, people who willingly blow themselves to char on buses> By definition you aren't really much of a TERRORIST if you aren't already embolded somehow.

Imperaffection

Nothing is perfect in this world. No perfect geometric shapes. No absolute circles. No 4 sided 90 degree angled stones. Close but no cigar. Species mutate. DNA gets corrupted. Even computer data fails in the transfer. The words we meant to say didn't come out quite right. Love hurts.

During the day someone else's words oscillate between thoughts. The words of the prophet "There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."

Happy Valentine's Day Massacre

I love Christmas. I love Halloween. I never loved Valentine's Day, funny enough the day of love. In fact I've always viewed it with disdain. Halloween and Christmas have mystery and despite the commercial aspects like every other thing in our society there is enough to mine in them that I can appreciate them in ways that are meaningful to me. Valentine's Day always seemed a little more forced and crass. More hallmark less family and all. I mean we never took a country drive to Grandmas for a Valentine's Day dinner. Plus it is in February when all good Eastern Canadians are in Florida or some other such tropical clime.

So here's to Valentine's Day

Too Much Coffee Not Enough Blood

it's a Percheron

Now that I have my new job I can afford to buy Leslie a new horse. Okay he's only 4 inches high and made of plastic but it's high quality German plastic!


See how happy she is with her new horse! Anything for my baby!

Pheasants of Owen Sound

Now you might think that a lot of peasants live in and around Owen Sound but in fact there are some spectacular pheasants living in Harrison Park.

Congratulations

I want to say how thrilled I am that Leslie was accepted as an assistant at an animal hospital in Boulder this weekend. I'm certain that she will explain all about it on Songs to No one and I don't mean to steal her thunder but this is exciting for us both. Also the contract job that I have been happily doing has been made into a full time position so as of April 1st I will no longer be a contract worker. I really love my job and I guess it shows. There is a lot of work and responsibility but I feel fully engaged in what I'm doing so what more could I ask for. All that and Leslie too.

Goddess of the G&W

What's Old is News

In 1974 Neil Young recorded The Vampire Blues. In 2006 someone made a video out of found footage to illustrate a more contemporary story.

Out With the Old in With the Older

I don't feel at home in this version of the Glob. I feel like I'm wearing something from Sears that my Aunt bought me for Christmas. This is not the Way of Shamus. I managed to snag my old Glob source code off of the web (thanks to the Ubik powers of the GOOGLE.

and yet , you can never go back

Amazing Discovery

It's been discovered that a man can have sex with a male prostitute and be 'completely heterosexual'. Reverend Ted Haggard, former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, resigned last year when he finally admitted to having extra-marital sex and drug orgies with another man. At first Ted stated that the accusations were lies. Then he said he had indeed visited a male prostitute but that it was just for a massage and that although he did purchase drugs on the occassion that he never took them. finally ted resigned as he was forced to admit that the massage was "that kind of massage". Now after a period of deep reflection Ted says he is convinced that he was completely straight even while he was doing it with another guy. Apparently it was the other guy who was having gay sex and Ted was just there 'acting out'. Ted is completely heterosexual, just like he's completely honest.

Not Directed by David Lynch

Sick as a Dog?

I've been sick since Friday and tonight it's reached a feverish peak. Sedona and Luna heard me groaning and with concern they both came into the room to see what was wrong. Sedona hopped up beside me and snuggled up to me while Luna licked my cheek (her way of saying "R U OK?") Dogs are sensitive and emotional creatures. I've always appreciated that aspect of them. If you have a dog you will know what I mean.

A Time of Change

It's been a season for fundamental changes. Leslie is preparing to come to Canada, my new job was made a permanent position in the organization which means I will now have some financial security and benefits. On a lesser scale the original Glob and Wail is gone. I lost the template to the NEW Blogger (Which I am not thrilled with. It merges my gmail account with my blogger account which has actually proven to be a big pain in the ass.) and have had to move it to a new address. I've also had to retire the grapefruit as my favourite fruit due to an interaction it has with a medication I've recently been prescribed. Nominations are now open for a new favourite fruit although it will be hard to beat the grapefruit.

Oh yeah. And the planet is screwed. Thanks people.

Burning Log Burned Out

If you are wondering what happened to the Burning Log it has met the same fate as the original Glob and Wail. It is hosted on my jamesmac server which the NEW Blogger will not publish to for reasons I have not had time to investigate.