1. Do you watch sports? If so, which ones?
I usually don’t watch sports. I prefer participating rather than watching. And I find watching sports to be pretty boring.
2. What/who are your favorite sports teams and/or favorite athletes?
The Edmonton Eskimos and the Edmonton Oilers naturally.
3. Are there any sports you hate?
Well, I’ve never really be terribly fond of pro wrestling. Baseball comes to mind as well. I find golf to be pretty dull too.
4. Have you ever been to a sports event?
I’ve been to a few Oiler’s and Eskimos’ games. Almost went to a Red Wings a few years ago. I also saw the South Carolina Stingrays play a couple of years ago.
5. Do/did you play any sports (in school or other)? How long did you play?
Can’t really grow up in Alberta without strapping on a pair of skates. I spent most of my childhood winters on the ice rink playing pickup games. Played a lot of soccer in elementary, and some volleyball in high school. Did track and field in high school and university and played intramural hockey in university.
Strange Dreams
In most of my dreams, I’m watching myself doing something. Last night I had a peculiar dream where I was making soup. There I am, standing at the stove stirring a pot of soup. I decided it needed some pepper, so I sprinkled some in. Then I looked over at our new pepper grinder, and decided the soup needed more pepper. So I grabbed it, and have it a few twists. Grind grind grind. Then grind grind grind some more. Eventually after some indeterminate grinding time, I looked in and saw the top of the soup pot covered in pepper. Then I woke up.
There really didn’t seem to be any point to the dream. Just pepper and soup.
World Year of Physics 2005
Hey, coming up in 2005 is the World Year of Physics! 2005 marks the 100 year anniversary of Einstein’s publications on Brownian motion, general relativity and quantum mechanics. An auspicious year in the world of physics, as any physics geek will tell you. And in 2005, you can join physicists worldwide celebrating the event. Start your preparations today!
Lowcountry weather survival: A guide for Canadians
Ok, it’s been a few years now, and I figure I’ve experienced enough weather here to make up a weather survival guide for any other Canucks who should choose to move here.
General weather: Humid. Days of less than 70% humidity are rare. 90% to 1000% humidity are normal. When you step outside, you’ll feel like you’re either swimming or drowning. Spring and fall are hot. Summers are even hotter. No need for anything much heaver than a fall jacket.
December/January: Might need the jacket for the mornings. Sweater is fine during the day. Most days are like a cool fall day. Might get below 0C on cooler nights. On very rare occasions, you might even have to scrape the windshield of your car. Don’t expect any snow at all. If there is, it will simply be a light dusting that will barely cover the grass. This will however incite people to panic about the weather and make them race out to the stores and stock up on several days worth of provisions. Copious amounts of salt will be spread on the road. The snow wil be gone once the sun hits it. City will remain shut down for the next day or two. On the very rare night that it does snow, it’s safer to stay home. Roads will be very icy if there is snow and nobody knows how to drive. Everything will probably have shut down anyway.
February: Starting to warm up a little. Can probably go back to wearing shorts and t-shirts. Those from warmer areas of Canada might want to stick with long pants.
March/April: Ahh, summer’s beginning. Break out the shorts and sandals. Don’t forget the sunscreen. If you never burned before back home, you will here. If you park your car outside, make sure to buy one of those windshield screens for your car. Go enjoy the beach for the next few months while the days are still tolerable. It’s also the rainy season. Keep your umbrella handy.
May: The hot part of summer is beginning. Early mornings and late evenings are still tolerable.
June: It’s getting hot outside. Make sure the AC in your house and car is in good working order. Hurricane season starts. Pay attention to the Weather Channel. Did the 1st degree burns on your hands convince you to buy a windshield screen for your car?
July/August: Even hotter now. Glasses fog up going from AC-cooled buildings to the outside. Stepping outside drains all your life energy from you. You feel like collapsing into a steaming puddle of goo. You want to take off more clothes to get cool, but then you’d be naked. And then you’d get suburned. Stay inside where it’s cool for the next couple of months. Hurricane season is in full swing. Keep that umbrella handy.
September: Finally starting to cool down. It’s safe to go back outside now. Hurricane season is just past the peak, so keep an eye on the weather stations. Feels like late summer for most Canadians.
October: Starting to feel a little bit like late summer/early fall. Decent temperatures again, hurricane season is winding down. You can enjoy being outside once again. Don’t expect to see leaves changing colour. They just turn brown and fall off the trees.
November: Might need to break out the sweater now. Weather is most like mid fall.
Babies and shoes
Well, seems my mother-in-law has decided what our girl child (should we ever choose to have one) will look like. The image comes from an Adobe ad in some technology in education trade magazine. Apparently the girl in the ad is of Asian descent and bears a resemblance to my wife when she was a kid. Who knows.
My wife’s parents even dug out her old baby shoes. Yet another thing to ‘encourage’ us onto the road to babydom. Teeny little leather shoes with her name written on them.
I think I shall see about getting the shoes electroplated. It’ll look cool on our knick knack shelf.
When you’re newlyweds, everybody drops subtle hints about providing them with their first/next grandchild/niece/nephew. With us they don’t hint anymore, and there’s nothing subtle about it either.