It’s funny. Almost everyone I know has passed through some sort of higher education, and like everything else in life it has been (for most of us I presume) a mixed blessing. Deadlines, assignments, marks, degrees. It is a funny business.

Most of us, however, started out with a kind of shining idealism, of what academia’s place is, or ought to be, in society. In theory, the academy (like the Internet) is a place where what matters is contribution, rather than contributor. Truth over fantasy and fancy. And — at the risk of becoming saccharine — light over darkness.

Somewhere along the line we lose sight of this. Being a student is a demanding job… Somewhere amongst the mechanics of our discipline we lose touch with that idealism. Focussed on some sub-problem of some sticky issue being studied by hundreds we feel very distant from those ideals which in retrospect seemed overly romantic.

Some days, though, the fire is there again. Again it feels like academics as a vocation beats all else, by any measure. And it is those days that we must cling to as times get tough, the prospect of progress becomes murky, and politics, the bane of the academy, makes its rounds in the ivory tower.

What has spawned this grandiloquent entry you may ask? Why a post in ladyjaida’s livejournal, a blog of a 17 year old freshman at Columbia (coincidently where our conference was this summer) who is at the glorious beginning.

For some reason, enthusiasm like this is infectious to me. These entries come about very infrequently as I’m scanning around for online reading material. There must be 10 000 entries about girlfriend problems for each gem like Jaida’s, I’ve mentioned this before in a previous entry which also made me happy. I choose to believe that people tend to live the highs and blog the lows… at least we can hope.

 › cool     2004-09-30 00:28   ...1 comment

Do you know that old joke? The one where all the parts of the body argue about who is in charge? It goes something like this:

Well, I am not having exactly that conversation with my body, but there does seem to be a dispute among major muscle groups unfolding.

Here’s the version that’s playing out with me:

So now I have a very sore throat, and a hoarse throat. Just like if I’d been sick, but it started all of a sudden with this weird neck spasm.

I really think all these items are related, and I’m hoping that there isn’t a whole new spasm next week. Damn.

 › health     2004-09-26 16:25   ...1 comment

I love this entry on LiveJournal. However, if you do not like poorly spelled vulgarity, do not click here.

 › funny     2004-09-22 23:48   ...0 comments

What do you get when you cross the world’s best search engine with an old-time cab driver, an information kiosk, a cartographer and the yellow pages? Why it’s local.google.ca.

Try typing, for example, coffee and your street address (e.g. 1234 My Street, Ottawa, ON).

 › cool     2004-09-21 18:57   ...0 comments

Since Keltie has been posting cat photos, I immediately thought of her when I encountered some (created) cat images on LiveJournal.

Edit: More here on the website of this guy’s employer/business.

 › cute     2004-09-20 19:17   ...3 comments

Avast Mateys!

Take heart me boys, for today be the day of talking like a true crusty seafarin’ man. It be international talk like a pirate day.

In honour of this fine day, I’ve added a swashbucklin’ mode to me blog. Click here ta be reading this blog in the very spirit of the day itself.

 › funny     2004-09-19 20:23   ...0 comments

Well, I guess it happens to 90% of people at some time in their lives. Acute lower back pain.

Yesterday, Barkworth Green was singing two songs before the Ottawa AIDS walk, and on a freezing blustery day to boot. May and I went down to the car to pick something up, and when we got to the top of the steps at city hall I felt this stabbing pain on my lower back at the left side, with a nasty and excruciating muscle cramp as well. It stopped me in my tracks for sure. Soon the initial stabbing cramp passed, but I was left with an aching back, and no possibility of leaning forward without more stabbing pain. I then lay down for about 45 minutes, but that didn’t really help. Then I sang two songs in front of an audience like that, thankfully no stabbing during the singing.

I watched a movie with the crowd last night, while lying on the floor. Sleeping was barely OK. I did kind of half-wake to move around, but still felt rested this morning.

This morning things were still very sore, but no sign of the stabbing pains which was good good good. Then I decided to have a shower. This was a good idea I think as the heat was nice, but then I began to have thoughts about how probably the muscle tension was about the only reason that I was not feeling ok. So I relaxed my back and deliberately bent to pick up the soap. I was fine on the way down… but then more stabbing crampy pain. Bad plan. This was a bit of a setback, but I’ve been mostly lying down since then, and things are pretty much back to the this morning state at this point.

I’ve done some research on the internet about acute low back pain. here is an excellent reference. (It helps to know that radiculopathy is a pinched nerve, and I do not have this or any of the things that have long latin names.)

Interestingly, long bed rest is no longer advocated. It seems it harms more than it helps. So I am getting up and walking around every half hour or so. They recommend 2 days or so of rest, followed by a gradual return to activity with care to operate only within the bounds of comfort.

What seems so unfair is that I was not lifting anything at the time, I wasn’t being bad to my back, I just walked up the stairs! Really! Anyway, I probably set myself up for this with recent canoe lifting, etc. I’m now considering a return to Pilates when I’m feeling better because of its fantastic effect on abdominal and back tone, a key aspect to preventing relapses of back spasms. Also I need to work seriously on my posture.

Is this a wake-up call? I certainly feel that way today. Hopefully I’ll be able to carry this through when I’m fully back in action

 › health     2004-09-19 19:08   ...0 comments

Looking through older photos today I came across a series of pictures of white roses. The roses were from Carrie and Kevin’s wedding, it was a bridesmaid bouquet carried by Jen. Here’s a selection from the series.

 › photos     2004-09-18 10:20   ...2 comments

The beach enlargement that I’ve been talking about is finally framed. I thought about taking a photo of it, but taking a photo of a framed photo that’s already on the blog twice seems like a bit of overkill. You’ll have to come over to see it. I think it’s great.

 › photos     2004-09-18 09:50   ...0 comments

Well… a little red-and-white canoe to be more accurate. (Photo here, imagine red instead of blue. Info here.)

So I was biking home from work last Friday, idly thinking thoughts of nothing in particular when I rounded the corner at the Rideau Canoe Club and saw the large Swift Canoe and Kayak banner on their property. It might as well have been a large red bull flag for me, beckoning me onto the club lawn where 8 or 10 people were unloading boats onto the grass.

As you may know loyal reader, I, the recently betrothed narrator of this story, had not yet purchased any token of my affection for my intended. No ring. Nothing. This niggardly disregard for the niceties and proprieties of engagement wasn’t entirely thoughtless, however, as my fiancée doesn’t like rings. A few months ago I was presented with the following demand: “Provide an engagement canoe.”

Actually, the request wasn’t really made in that peremptory tone. But artistic license and all…

So anyway, here’s your man, complete with 10 year old scuffed red helmet, sunglasses, sweaty shirt and totally unshaven bouncing wildly along the sidewalk and over the club lawn like some kind of predator bearing down on his prey. The field of canoes. Now, I know of this sale, my mother having bought a canoe here several years ago. I know that Swift canoes are fantastic craftsman-built boats. I also know that this is their year-end sale where demonstrators and used boats are sold alongside new boats.

I approach the staff. Their uneasy eyes on me as I leap over bush, bracken and gully. (Ok, ok, it’s only 10 metres from the road and it’s grassy and flat. Throw me a frickin bone here people.) I inquire: “How much would I expect to pay for a 17’ prospector design.” They answer: “Symmetrical or asymmetrical design.” I begin to feel that the day is fated for a canoe purchase.

They are still setting up. The sale does not begin until Saturday morning. However, they suggest I look at a pair of green Chestnut canoes. Alert seafaring readers may know that Chestnut is the brand of canoes that paddling legend Bill Mason (see also here) favoured above all others. Bill’s preference was for the beautiful old fashion of a canvas-covered wooden boat (now extinct). Swift is now producing the Chestnut design again albeit with modern materials instead.

The Chestnut was only 16 feet long though. And that’s a touch narrow in the beam for a canoe tripping boat. And Jen and I are canoe trippers. So, I cast about for another option.

And there it was. A 16’6” Kipewa design. Looking like new, it was sitting resplendant between beaten-up used old rental boats, it was a vision in white and red. Red in the freeboard (the part of the hull above the water) and white below. I was drawn to it immediately, almost as if in recognition. Although it had aluminum gunwales, It had cherry wood fittings, with a sliding front seat for trimming the boat, a kneeling thwart for solo paddling, and a contoured yoke for portages.

I said to one of the salespeople: “I am really interested in that red and white Kipewa”. All the sales staff immediately became very excited. “That’s the best boat here” cried one. “We made a mistake on the pricing… it’s a steal” cried another. I didn’t see these exclamations as ungenuine, more as the staff sharing in the excitement of the sale of this heavenly craft. It was in fact reasonably priced. And it was the best boat there… I looked.

The sales people told me that a lot of folks would be disappointed if I bought the boat Friday night (by which I understood that they would, in fact, sell me this boat before the sale started). I wish I’d told them that it was to be an engagement canoe, but I didn’t think of it. In any case, the boat had been used only as a demonstrator at the Rideau Canoe Club for the summer. That meant that it was being sold at a discount to account for the few small scrapes, scuffs and scratches on it. There aren’t enough scratches to be disfiguring, just enough subtle ones to make the boat look inviting, functional and real. Anyway, it turns out that several people who tried the boat over the summer had told the staff that they planned to show up for the sale on September 11th and buy the exact demonstrator they had tested. I was trumping their desires by being around on the 10th!

Problem… no wallet. In my rush to leave in the morning I had not brought my wallet with me. So here I am, with the canoe purchase opportunity of a lifetime, and no means to complete the sale. I said, “will you still be here in an hour?” they said “hurry back”. So I jumped on my bike, and tore off down the Rideau Canal Eastern Pathway to get home. I bet it was a record time, as I kept thinking about someone else arriving and buying the canoe in the meantime.

A few stressful moments at home when Jen wasn’t there, but I found her walking home from the grocery store, and bundled her into the car and back we went. I told her that we were on a secret mission, and this seemed to be keeping her on edge too; she kept asking if it was a good mission, and I reassured her, but she had no idea where we were going until we arrived at the place and she saw the array of boats. She pronounced that although she knew little about selecting boats, this one was acceptable if I thought it was good. By this point in the story you should be getting the idea that I thought it was great.

I paid for the boat. Explained to Jen that it was a boat for her. She was excited. I was excited. It was exciting. We went home. Sans boat, because I hadn’t brought all the tie downs and everything.

The next day when we went to pick up the boat we were told that indeed several people had come to the sale early specifically to buy that boat. They were very disappointed to learn that it had been sold the night before. Again I wish that I had told the staff that it was an engagement boat, but didn’t think of it at the time.

In the end, we put our new boat in the water Sunday evening at the cottage. We paddled it for an hour or so, and it was a great paddle. As dusk fell we explored a lily-pad marshy spot, flushed a few beaver out of hiding and generally enjoyed the super-smooth paddle in our fantastic new boat.

 › domicile     2004-09-17 11:11   ...0 comments

For those cinephiles out there I can recommend two short flash movies that I’ve just looked at. One is US election related, and the other is a conspiracy theory.

Election: JibJab seems to be a political cartoon site that’s been around for a long time. Here’s their take on Bush, Kerry’s medals and Woody Guthrie.

Conspiracy: We all know about the fate of the twin towers, and of the flight that crashed on its way to Camp David. But what about that pentagon plane… did you ever see it?

 › normative     2004-09-09 21:08   ...0 comments

Guess my identity!

• I have been used for centuries to treat stomach and liver problems
• My name in norwegian is gurkemeie
• Like Henna, I am used as a skin dye in Mehndi
• Curcumin is a component of me. A powerful anti-oxidant, its chemical formula is C21-H20-O6.
• May says I make Dan smell like dirty. (Or, like feet.)
• I can stain Colin and Jen’s stainless steel pan yellow.
• I am evil incarnate.
• I am Turmeric.

I seem all-powerful, but I may be susceptible to this bad boy:

• Its chemical formula is: NaHCO3.
• It can put out electrical fires.
• Overdosing on it can cause: spasms, convulsions, frequent urination and constipation.
• When mixed with an acid it releases bubbles!
• It can treat mold and fungal growth in a horticultural setting
• It can remove paint from old brushes.
• It’s Baking Soda!

 › food     2004-09-07 22:31   ...1 comment