Finally I could “baptize” the PowerShot A85 digital camera and take a rainbow picture last night as well as the setting sun colouring the clouds. And, of course another picture of Finnegan our dog.
My butt is sore today like I’ve ridden many kilometers on my bike. Now I know why some of the Dragon Boat race participants brought foam pads. At least I remembered my neoprene bicycle gloves: keeps my office keyboarding hands from getting blisters.
It was a fun day though we won none of the three races. Thanks to my wife whose sore shoulder prevents her from paddling, we have lots of pictures though I only show four here.
I take two sleeping pills each night. Each of them are about an inch long and somewhat conically shaped. I include a picture. 
)
- After dark, don’t let your dog sniff and poke around under bushes—he might find a stinking, dead bird.
- The only thing our dog doesn’t try and eat is poo, his or others.
- You know you are a dog owner when you are relieved to hear the only thing the lab found in the stool sample was (I paraphrase) dog poo.
- People who don’t have dogs seem to comment on how well-behaved your dog is when, just at that moment, he happens to be sitting quietly.
- Our dog is quiet. Whether it is by nature or training, I don’t know. He only barks when he’s really frustrated or angry much like me. )
- Puppy walks have two phases: sniffing every object within lease distance for ¾ of the time and then running home again.
- A little cheese or liverwurst helps the kibble go down especially as it seems our dog tastes exclusively by smell so you only have to mix in a little of the “flavouring.”
- Dogs can learn by example: Finnegan learned has learned to bark at the back door to be let in because he’s seen the neighbour’s dog do it. I think that is also why he barks at dogs being walked on the park path on the other side of our fenced yard.
My son and I will be joining my wife’s school staff team for Dragon Boat racing at Kelso Conservation Area near Milton on Saturday morning. Right now the weather’s looking kind of iffy for a sun tan but it should be fun anyhow.
I spent almost $150 on perennials today at the nursery where my “daughter” works for the summer. I planted some this evening before it started to rain. This is the first time I have bought perennials other than bulbs for years. I still have some I raised some from seeds many years ago; however, most of those I have I got as transplants from other gardens starting with the daylillies and violets which are from my grandfather. My wife can remember who gave the wedding gifts, I can remember where or from whom I got my plants.
My wife’s youngest sister turns 40 this week so her husband gathered us all for a surprise party. Of course, Finnegan was there, too.
The birthday girl
I was too tired to comment on the table I put up last night comparing four routes from work to a place near the transformer station I worked at last Wednesday. I already knew the way but I wanted to see what the web map sites said.
Both Google and Yahoo! suggest the same basic route through downtown Toronto. Perhaps those times (20 or 26 minutes) are realistic at 3 a.m; however, with traffic lights, street cars and traffic “calming” on a couple of streets I would probably allow an hour for this route. Mapquest recommends the route I usually take. Except for rush hour, I would probably allow just ½ an hour for this route. The Maporama route starts similarly to the Mapquest until this direction: Follow Don Valley Pky for 6 km, Turn left, follow Millwood Rd. I have an image of that left turn which seems to include a 30 m vertical climb as well.
I do like Maporama street maps because they include house numbers: just don’t ask for directions!
| Yahoo! | Mapquest | Maporama | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 km, 20 mins | 18.2 km, 26 mins | 27.2 km, 25 minutes | 24.1 km, 18 min. |
|
1. Head northwest from Kipling Ave - go 1.2 km 2. Turn right onto the Dundas St. East ramp - go 0.1 km 3. Bear left at Dundas St W - go 3.9 km 4. Turn left at Scarlett Rd - go 0.1 km 5. Turn right at St Clair Ave W - go 8.8 km 6. Continue on St Clair Ave E - go 0.9 km 7. Turn left at Mt Pleasant Rd - go 0.4 km 8. Turn right at Moore Ave - go 1.5 km 9. Continue on Southvale Dr - go 0.8 km 10. Turn left at Laird Dr - go 0.3 km |
1. Start at 800 KIPLING AVE, ETOBICOKE going toward NORSEMAN ST - go 1.4 km 2. Turn right onto DUNDAS ST W toward DUNDAS ST. EAST - go 4.0 km 3. Turn left on SCARLETT RD - go 0.2 km 4. Turn right on ST CLAIR AVE - go 9.7 km 5. Turn left on MT PLEASANT RD - go 0.3 km 6. Turn right on MOORE AVE - go 1.6 km 7. MOORE AVE becomes SOUTHVALE DR - go 0.6 km 8. Continue on MILLWOOD RD - go 0.2 km 9. Turn left on LAIRD DR - go 0.3 km 10. Arrive at 86 LAIRD DR, E YORK |
1: Start out going SOUTH on KIPLING AVE toward JUTLAND RD. 1.0 miles 2: Take the GARDINER EXPWY. EAST ramp. 0.3 miles 3: Merge onto GARDINER EXPY COLLECTORS E. 1.2 miles 4: GARDINER EXPY COLLECTORS E becomes GARDINER EXPY E. 8.1 miles 5: Merge onto DON VALLEY PKWY N via the exit on the LEFT. 4.2 miles 6: Take the DON MILLS RD. SOUTH exit. 0.1 miles 7: Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto DON MILLS RD. 0.2 miles 8: Turn RIGHT onto OCONNOR DR. 0.1 miles 9: Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto DONLANDS AVE. 0.3 miles 10: DONLANDS AVE becomes MILLWOOD RD. 0.7 miles 11: Stay STRAIGHT to go onto LAIRD DR. 0.1 miles 12: End at 86 Laird Dr |
1 Follow Kipling Ave for 1.3 km 1.3 km 00h 01 2 Turn left, follow Gardiner Expy for 15.4 km 16.7 km 00h 12 3 Follow Don Valley Pky for 6 km 22.6 km 00h 16 4 Turn left, follow Millwood Rd for 1.2 km 23.8 km 00h 18 5 Follow Laird Dr for 236 m 24.1 km 00h 18 |
There are about 8 Windows 2000 equipped PC’s at transformer stations about the province measuring GICs. I have fixed the software and upgraded some drivers to make them work better. However an older version of PC Anywhere would die under mysterious circumstances so that one couldn’t contact the machine anymore unless it happened to reboot. Many of these TSs are unmanned and remote so you can’t just call someone to press the reset button. Today I figured out one work-around that should have been used from the start. I added a new Scheduled Task to run once every ½ day:
net start "pcanywhere host service"
Either one of us a work has to drive out to the two remaining stations and upgrade the software or, perhaps, we can convince some travelling operator or service person to reset the machine so that we can call it again and add my work-around. Then we can download the software and driver upgrades at our leisure, so to speak. I’m not sure how PC Anywhere upgrades itself when you run setup over an old version of PC Anywhere though.
Finnegan was getting rather ripe. I figured the only way to get him bathed was to put on my bathing suit and take him in the shower with me. This worked OK though Finnegan did a lot of slipping and sliding: two feet with skin beats four furry paws in the traction department this time. Lots of fine clayey dirt in his hair and feet went down the drain.
He didn’t like the hair dryer. In fact I had to take a second shower after he emptied his bladder and then some on me during that episode. I think I’ll have to get him used to the noise by just turning on the hair dryer every so often while I’m in the kitchen doing other things. After all, he just ignores the noisy coffee grinder.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
8:00 p.m. Christ Church Deer Park Anglican, 1570 Yonge Street, Toronto
“A Canadian Spring Rhapsody”
The Bell’Arte Singers present an evening of choral works by Canadian composers including members and former member of the Singers
The concert of all-Canadian, recent compositions and arrangements went well though I had a bit of cough going into it and my voice “disappeared” a couple of times. Apparently my solo southern Ontario 'r' in Feller from Fortune came through loud and clear:-).
Being choir manager and riser schlepper, I had to run out after the concert and move the van to one of the church doors to pick up the 5 risers. Methinks, after “donating” a half-days vacation, paying for some gas, spending extra time picking up the van from work and being deprived of my wife’s company while driving to/from rehearsals/concert, that the choir will have to look into hiring a riser schlepper for the next season.
After last night’s choir rehearsal I had to return the van I used to get risers back to work. I didn’t get to bed until midnight and then had two coughing fits during the night as well. I napped at lunch, during a long program install—any chance I could get basically.
Finnegan really enjoys his puppy classes; especially play-time. Right now the bull mastiff puppy and he are about the same size. She’ll eventually be more than twice his weight.
In moving the large daylilly to prepare for my front walkway construction, the red trillium I had planted several years ago “saw the light.” This year it bloomed again. I hope the bloom will last until the weekend so I can get a daylight picture.
That commuter train ad is now just a plane. No logo or lettering anymore.
On our walk with the dog this morning we saw that “Company A,” the “business” who took our deposit, dug out and gravelled our driveway but never came back to pave it had visited some people in a cul-de-sac nearby. We had Burl-Oak Paving come and complete the job after three months of promises. Anyway the representative from “Company A” was talking to some people, so my wife gave him a piece of her mind. Said representative came over to our place and talked to me about trying to call us (we have Call Display: no calls). We called them several times. He said he drove by in the summer and it was already paved. Again not true as we didn’t have it repaved until the end of August, over 3 months later. He said the deposit barely covered his costs of the disposal bin. Again, not true, I know what disposal bins cost from excavating for my front walk. They can recycle the old asphalt. Besides, I had an estimate for excavating our driveway for pavers and it was about what we paid “Company A” in a deposit. He told me he’d let the matter drop and not sue me and that my wife should have a Happy Mother’s Day. Yes and I’m sure that “Company A” is squeaky clean and would just love to open their books in a counter-suit.
At least my wife has probably ensured that the people on that cul-de-sac will actually get their driveways paved so that “Company A” can show us they are honest. “Company A” doesn’t deserve any publicity whatsoever from me by naming it in this blog.
After the concert this coming weekend I’m going to line up some window sellers to quote me on replacing some or all of the first floor windows. Priorities are the living room bay window because the frame is rotting and the kitchen window because it is a slider and difficult to reach across the sink and a deep windowsill. An awning window would be better here as you wouldn’t have to rush to close it when it rained. The other four windows are OK—they just don’t operate very well and they are “old” technology. The phone number of the outfit that did all our upstairs windows in 1998 is no longer in service. Like last time, I intend to have each entire window replaced and I’ll finish off the inside “at my leisure.”
Our maple tree is looking kind of denuded with bark missing on two sides. It didn’t give a lot of shade last year and the leaves dropped early. Is it acid rain, ozone-layer thinning, climate warming? Can I just trim the four largest lower branches and see what happens or should I take it all down?
I saw this at the bottom of an email today: If you cannot see this email click here.
Fri. April 29 and Sat. April 30, 2005
8:00 p.m.
Glen Abbey United Church
1469 Nottinghill Gate, Oakville
“Spring Inspiration”
The Oakville Choral Society present Famous Anthems, Choruses and Hymns with an audience sing-along
Personally I think I sang both of them pretty well. However a couple of the choristers around me were making more mistakes last night than on Friday. One person admitted he thought he knew the music so well he could watch the director more. Perhaps I need to let these people in on some secrets: Unless you have the time and, ah, memory, you must be selective about what you memorize and what you continue to “sight read.” It is a good idea to memorize page turns and repeats in case you flip the wrong number of pages, memorize entrances and ends of phrases—especially where the director changes the tempo and, say in Bach or Handel, learn the complicated runs. There’s not enough time “at speed” to sight read a bunch of sixteenth notes. Don’t be afraid to mark beats with pencil strokes. For example, the last few bars of Hubert Parry’s, I was Glad, has a combination of dotted eighths and sixteenths and dotted quarters and eighth notes. This is quite impossible to count “by eye” when the director is pulling back the tempo, too.
It was a small but happy crew that gathered at the bar after the concert. I got to know a couple of the female choristers including one who had joined on my wife’s urging when they had been talking at the gym.