foran_object

2009-03-25T10:08:00.000-07:00

Some more pictures for those of you who've been asking...

2009-02-06T11:24:00.000-08:00

2009-01-27T07:33:00.000-08:00

Our Baby is Born

Jennifer and I are proud to announce the birth of our baby daughter, Avery Elizabeth Foran, on January 19^th 2009. She was born 8 pounds, 8 ounces, at 10:24 PM, at the Queensway Carleton Hospital here in Ottawa.

Here is my recollection of the day:

Although we were past the due date, and we knew that the baby could be coming any day, when we woke up last Monday we saw no signs of what was to come. In fact, I went to work expecting a normal day, except for our midwife appointment at 11:15 AM. At the midwife appointment, our midwife, Sharon Dean, and another midwife did a “stretch and sweep procedure”, and during this Jen’s water broke. This meant that the birth was imminent.

We headed for home, got our stuff and then went to the hospital. I was of course anxious, but Jen wasn’t in any discomfort (yet). Finding and getting into the Birthing Unit definitely didn’t do anything helpful for my stress. It’s pretty far from the entrance, and it’s locked down like Fort Knox, requiring that you pick up a phone and identify yourself before they let you in. I couldn’t get the door open and had to use the phone several times, feeling a bit like an idiot.

Once inside, we met up with Sharon, our midwife, and got things started. Because Jen tested positive for Group B Streptococcus, she had to go on antibiotics before the birth. This was administered by IV, along with the hormone Oxytocin , which was used to control the onset of labour.

By about 5:00 PM, things were starting to get rolling. Jen was starting to experience contractions and some discomfort. The contractions were about 5 minutes apart at this point. We called Megan, whom Jen had requested to be her secondary birth coach, as it was anticipated that I would either pass out or have low blood sugar. We also called my Mom, who also came to the hospital. My Mom was very supportive of me and I really appreciated that she was there. I have deep regret that, due to somewhat Nazi-ish rules at the hospital, Mum wasn’t able to be there for the actual birth.

As the evening progressed, Jen began to experience more powerful and more frequent contractions, and quite a bit of pain. She coped admirably and didn’t request any pain management, apart from the TENS unit that had been in operation since shortly after she got into the bed. I was tasked with operating the controls in response to the pain. We tried several positions, including the much talked about “sneak attack with WD-40” position, but that one didn’t do a whole lot of good.

I’m not sure of the exact time, but around 9:45 PM Jen started to experience what appeared to me to be extreme pain, and she also had desire to start pushing. Everything up to the point was pretty good and I’m thankful didn’t last a whole lot of time. Megan and I just did our best to provide Jen with any comfort and encouragement that we could. From here on though, things got rough and made this, by far, the most stressful night of my life. In the description that follows, I may have some facts wrong as I got pretty emotional.

Around the time that pushing started, Avery’s heart rate started to drop, indicating that she was under stress. Sharon indicated that this is not uncommon and that it didn’t indicate an immediate emergency, but it was a large concern as a baby can’t persist in this state for very long.

Shortly after, the heart rate was lost entirely. This was hopefully just an equipment problem, but this is when I got really scared. Jen was in so much pain by this time that I doubt that she really knew everything that was going on. She was focused on her task at hand, and she did an excellent job of it. At this point there was also some kind of problem with the IV. Although the plan was for Sharon to deliver the baby, a doctor and some nurses were called in. When Dr. Honey came in she identified herself to us and briefly explained the situation and what she was doing about it. Although there was a steeply elevated urgency in the room, Dr. Honey’s voice was calm and reassuring. I felt better, bit it didn’t last long.

Avery’s heart rate was once again found, this time using a probe that was inserted up the birth canal, and directly to Avery’s head. Unfortunately the situation was still bad and my memory of the situation was extreme panic. Everyone in the room was pretty stressed. I remember Dr. Honey saying “This baby needs to come out now!” She first tried vacuum and that didn’t work, then she moved on to using forceps. I was shocked by the amount of force that she was using on the forceps, and this, coupled with the sense of urgency, made me very, very scared. I cannot describe how scared and worried. My mind was racing with scenarios of what could happen. I felt nauseous and sick; I probably would have thrown up had I not calmed myself. I had to keep it together for Jen. I stayed by her side, holding her hand and encouraging her. As the doctor pulled on the forceps I screamed to Jen to push, and push she did. Her face waas beet red and blood vessels were rupturing in her face and upper body. Particularly alarming was the white of her eyes being replaced with large amounts of deep red. Megan held her leg in position and watched Avery’s head in the forceps. I never saw any of this. I’m not sure if that was a good thing or not, because it allowed my mind to paint its own picture. Although the situation was definitely not good, I know believe that much of my panic was probably unwarranted. Many babies are born with forceps and birth is never easy.

I did everything I could to encourage Jen. Her pain was surely incredible. Eventually though Avery came out. She was rushed immediately to the warming bed and her condition was assessed. There was no “Do you want to cut the cord?”, pictures, or time with Mum. It was clear that the hospital staff was worried about her condition. I stayed with Jen. There was tons of blood and there was no way that I could abandon her side after what she’d just been through. I told her that if I was covered in 500 pounds of bricks, that she’s be the one that I’d want to lift them off of me. Before this day, I had no idea at all of her strength, tenacity and resilience. What she did will be a memory of inspiration to me for the rest of my life. Of that I am sure.

When babies are born their condition is graded using a variety of criteria and a rough score is given. It was truly a miracle, but Avery had a great score, despite everything that had gone on. Evidently she has her mother’s resilience.

Under midwife care, you can leave the hospital about 3 hours after giving birth. This had been our intention, and getting back to the comfort of home sooner was one of the benefits that we saw in having a midwife. Our situation warranted a longer stay however.

Things started calming down as Jen was stitched up. Megan took a few pictures of us and Avery. I was surprised that Jen was able to hold her after what she’d experienced. I guess her excitement to meet Avery gave her a second round of strength.

Through the night, Avery had some choking on mucous and some breathing problems. She spent most of the night at the nursing station under observation, as breathing problems are a great concern. Fortunately, the problem cleared pretty quickly.

We stayed in the hospital until the next afternoon. We had a few minor problems over the last week, including some feeding problems and jaundice. These were solved by getting a lactation consultant and by following a strict regime of feedings, that haven’t left much time for anything else, including sleep. My Mom has been nice enough to help by looking after Avery a bit, preparing meals and cleaning. Thanks Mum!

Fortunately, at the one week mark, I’m very happy to say that it’s all good, and we’re starting to get more sleep. I deeply enjoy holding my daughter, talking and singing to her, and wondering what she will be like. She is fantastic, and Jen and I have had nothing but the deepest respect for each other. We are operating as a great team. I’m so proud of our family.

2008-01-04T07:08:00.000-08:00

Internals of Infinity PS212 subwoofer:

2007-10-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

Exploring the way to Tubingen:

Although I have very much enjoyed walking in the beautiful forested areas in Filderstadt, it's difficult not to get bored and depressed without some kind of purpose. Last time I was here, I was chatting with one of the guys here about how nice the forest trails were. He mentioned that he thought that the trails extended as far as Tubingen. On another occasion, when I was here, the guys took me to Tubingen, to see some sights. I found Tubingen to be a very nice old city. It took us ~40 mins by car to get there. I have been entertaining the thought of bicycling or walking to Tubingen on the trails since.

I have been scouting out the route, and I believe that, on foot, the distance is somewhere in the 35 KM range and that it would likely take around 6 hours. On a weekend, it might be nice to walk there, stay the night, and walk back to Filderstadt on the Sunday. Yesterday, I walked from Filderstadt, to the point I circled in the middle, which is almost half-way. Since I also walked back, this is almost the total distance of walking to Tubingen, and it took 5 hours. The difficulty is in choosing the correct trails, as there are many, and the signs are a bit confusing to me. I think that I might need one more out-and-back walk to make sure I take the correct route to head south, then I'm ready for the full walk. I will need to plan a hotel stay, and commit to the full distance, as it would be exceedingly difficult to walk much greater than half-way, then turn around and walk back.

If I were to drive, I would likely be crossing this huge bridge. It is near Neuenhaus on the map above.

This stand of Spruce trees was probably in the range of 80 ft tall, but since they were up high on a steep hillside, their tops were probably almost 200 feet above me.

The trail has many nice places to sit, and some springs with cold, clear water rushing out into old looking, moss-covered, hewn stone basins.

2007-10-15T19:11:00.001-07:00

Timber Framing course at Lee Valley

I took a one-day Timber Framing course at Lee Valley a few weeks ago, in between my trips to Germany and England. I became interested in Timber Frame construction in 2002, but had since dismissed it as something that I would likely never get to take part in. The course has now led me to believe otherwise. The instructor, Mike Symons, a professional timber framer, was fantastic, and under his guidance I got to cut part of several common timber frame joints. We build a section of a wall something like 9' high by 10' wide, which will be part of a shed. The mortice/tennon and knee-brace connections below are somewhat like what we did.

The image is captured from Google Sketchup. If anyone reading this wants the file, I got it from a Sketchup file archive. Do a search for Level1Joinery.skp.

I can't stop thinking about what kind of project I can build. Even before my workshop is complete, I'm thinking about building a 12' x 16' garden shed.

The idea of putting an addition on the house has been with me since we moved in, and I think that Timber Frame might be really nice. I've started working on some shed plans using Sketchup, and thinking that building the exact frame that I would attach to the house, except smaller, would be a cool idea to practice. Below is a frame I designed on the plane to Germany, purely from memory, after re-reading Steve K. Chappell's "A Timber Framer's Workshop:" last week.

This is a frame I got from Sketchup repository. Search for radkey.skp. It's somewhat similar, so I think that I'm pretty close to the mark.

2007-10-15T18:58:00.000-07:00

Travel Summary: August to October 2007

Life has been very busy since last post. Below is a summary of all of the trips I've done since last post, and I'm not entirely sure that I even remembered all of them. Some nasty experiences, but also some tremendous ones as well. I actually took the time to assign a point scheme to each trip, with '+' numbers for good things and '-' for bad. Ironically, it actually totaled up to exactly zero!

1 week Kokomo, Indiana:

trouble with US customs, almost didn’t make flight
met customer in person which I had previously had a long-standing relationship with and had never actually shook hands with

1 week Fort Worth TX:

flight canceled on way back due to problem with the main cabin door, spent 12 hours at airport waiting and stress about what to do

1 week San Jose:

fantastic trip; went hiking in Big Basin State Park and in Muir Woods National Monument, both breathtakingly beautiful forests
went to San Francisco, bought lots at Ameoba Music, the best music store in the world

1 week germany:

hiking every evening in the forest

1 week England:

M1 was closed; got off plane at Heathrow at 6:30 AM; didn’t make it to hotel until dinner
got to meet Mum and Paul for dinner, as they just happened to be vacationing there while I was visiting
ate at the same Indian restaurant every night; you can’t improve upon perfection

2 weeks Germany:

here I stand

2007-07-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

Listen to Coltrane, Derail your own train:

Linux, linux, bag’s groove, linux. Human nature, not that I hate yer.

Joe satriani, Joe Satriani.

John’s comliation…to the river of Nahanni

Miles Davis, Gipsy Kings.

Freebies and budist nature hymns

Oggf. Facebook situation. Jaggermeister pizza, with bonus groove station

Children, children, everywhere. Children, Children…it’s a big scare.

The groovy sound. It makes me get down

BSP dream, don’t say what you mean.

It’s OK. It’s OK. It’s not about the pay.

Hotel. Hotel.

It’s late at night and there is no fight. The wood colors keep flowin’

Down by the river.

Circle in the round. Companies sell away the soul by the pound.

195’s really too fast, but the Internet ains’t gonna last.

Friends and mistakes from the past.

It’ll be nice to be home. Eurythmics. Motown. Heavy metal tone drone.

2007-06-17T14:51:00.000-07:00

Update to last post: My passport fell apart

Also,

- After class on Wednesday, the German's took me to the interesting old town of Tübingen (wikipedia link w pictures) It was very cool. We saw a castle and I drank interesting beers, one out of a roughly molded clay mug that must have weighed at least 5 pounds with the beer in it.

- Also, I went for another run on Wednesday. About 30 min.

- I haven't been sleeping well. I thought some exercise would help. Seems that isn't the case. I bought a fan to combat the heat, and lack of AC in the hotel. That has removed one barrier to sleep, but it still seems that there are others.

- I felt very good about the training this week, much better than past sections. Other than the 'events' section, everything went perfectly, even though I was delerious with tiredness.

- I went to Wilhelma zoo and gardens on Saturday. It was very nice. I had forgotten about the high level of interest that the German's have in aquariums. The zoo has some very nice ones. May even have been nice enough to revive my interest in this hobby.

- On Sunday I ran again. I intented to go out long, with running interspersed with walking to improve my distance and endurance. While running up a particular hill in the forest, several folks moved over, even though it wasn't necessary. They appeared to be impressed with my ability to ascend the hill, as they were ailing even though they were just walking. A bit later on I started to feel very dehydrated. This is first time in a very long time that I have run in any kind of heat. It hit hard and fast. I dropped to a slow walk and I didn't feel well. Worse yet, I decided to take a new route, and I didn't really know how long it would take to get back. I became worried that I was going to be in really bad shape when i got back to the hotel. Fortunately, I heard the sound of children off in the distance, and following the sound, I reached a tower upon a hill, and there was many people bbq'ing sausages, playing soccer and drinking beers. I found a stall where I was able to get a water. It tasted so good, but then I didn't feel well. I drank the rest of the big bottle very slowly, over about 30 mins while sitting in the shade. There was a beautiful view of the countryside. On the way back I felt well enough to run the last bit. My total exercise was 1.5 hours, including running and walking up and down some steep hills. After showering and relaxing for a while, I went to the restaurant and ate way too much for dinner, for the 3rd day in a row.

2007-06-11T12:40:00.001-07:00

The Perfect Amount of Adventure: Passports are durable, Mentos are not

I made it to Germany just fine; the usual lineups and frustrations, but nothing too bad. I got in during the morning and checked into the hotel. I napped until about 4:00 PM, went to grocery store for supplies, and to get dinner. After dinner, I checked email and such, then decided to go out for a walk. I’m trying to keep more active, and I figured some exercise might help me to get to sleep at a decent hour.

I’ve become somewhat familiar with the paths around Filderstadt, so I didn’t hesitate to walk out through the orchards and into the forest that I have blogged about previously. About 20 minutes in, the sky started to darken and nasty clouds started to form. The air cooled and it felt good to be enjoying the freedom, the calm and the peacefulness of the forest after being confined to airports and airplanes for the long journey here.

Every time I’ve done this walk, it has always been an out-and-back route, always the safest, as far as not getting lost. Sure enough, not long after I’d reached the point where I decided to turn around, it started to downpour. It was fairly light rain at first, but with scary lightning and thunder so loud it made me jolt. I could feel the impact so deeply it was really rather terrifying.

The German’s don’t seem to be too big on air conditioning and for some reason or another, probably due to how fat I am, I really can’t take heat. I especially find it difficult to sleep in the heat. Add this to difficultly of trying to adjust my bodily clock and it’s real trouble. Fortunately, the windows in the hotel room are big and they open completely. I’m talking really completely—like I could easily jump out if I felt like it. I, of course, take advantage of this. Not the jumping out, just the airflow.

As I walked through the dense part of the forest, the sudden darken imparted by the declining sun and the encompassing thundering clouds was quite creepy. I could still see the path, but my visibility through the trees was limited. Also, it was around this point that I remembered that my laptop was lying on the bed, beside the above described giant, completely open windows. Oh oh, maybe I ought to run.

And so it began. As I began to run, the rain started to intensify. It started coming down so hard that I couldn’t see very well. In spite of the protection offered by my glasses, the rain penetrated my eyes, causing them to blink rapidly, and my eyelids wanted to close to protect my eyes from the onslaught. The big raindrops pounded against my body like hail, and the wind threatened to blow me off course. My entire body became as soaked as if I stood in the shower, fully clothed, for an hour. In fact, the sheer pressure and volume of water that was let down upon me would be to compare the water coming out of my clogged aquarium pump to a firehose. My body felt heavy, especially my soaked feet. Every step caused water to evacuate from my shoes like a pump. The stom became as fierce as anything I’d ever seen in my life, and it made me wonder if there was some reason Germany received worse storms than back home.

In spite of the tremendous effort that it took to run, I was driven by the worry of the rain entering my hotel room, and damaging my laptop. When I made it back into the town, it didn’t get any easier going. The rain was completely saturating the roads, at the sides the depth reached right up 5 inches or so to the curb. I didn’t see a single other person and only two or three cars. Finally, when I got under the canopy in front of the hotel, I tried to ring out my shirt and shorts as much as possible, then I wiped the soles of my shoes on the mat. I walked briskly through the lobby as many people began to stare. I wanted to sprint up the stairs, but my grip was too slippery.

Fortunately, when I got into my room I found that my computer was fine. The heavy blinds were keeping most of the wind driven rain out, although the carpet was damp right to the bed. I tore off my clothes and draped them over the walls of the shower stall. Everything in my pockets was completely soaked. The heavy paper in my passport would be fine. The wrapper of the Mentos candy however had disintegrated, leaving melting soggy candies to be fished out of my pocket.

As I dried off, I thought back to an interview I saw with a guy who did mountain climbing and artic expeditions. During a discussion about why he wanted to risk his life doing such things, he stated that when embarking on a trip, he always wanted to have enough challenge that it was an adventure, but not too much of an adventure, he said, with a strange smile on his face, eluding to all the terrible things that could go wrong.

Well, I am exhausted, but I didn’t get hit by lighting, eaten by a bear in the forest or slip and fall, and my laptop is fine. I think tonight was the perfect amount of adventure. Thanks Mother Nature, I will sleep well, even though my wet hair is causing my pillow to smell like “wet dog”.

2007-05-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

Dog:

Conversation from Friday:

Chris: "Wow, I'm really excited to be coming home tomorrow! Can you pick me up at the airport?"

Jen: "Oh ya, I might bring our new dog"

Chris: "errr.... pardon me.."

Anyway, puppies are always fun, except when they need to be taken out in the middle of the night.

Her name is Sophie, and she is a 10 week old Dalmatian. She has lots of energy, but she is very smart and is already learning to fetch and respond to her name. We still have some trouble with getting our legs tangled in the leash though.

2007-05-10T13:38:00.000-07:00

Back in the Hannover forest:

I found out that this beautiful old forest that I've enjoyed walking through, in Hannover, is called Eilenriede, and it has a rich history dating back to medievel times. Although the forest has been damaged by cattle, forestry and WWII, I can't image that parts of it wouldn't be classed as 'old growth'. Eillenriede is nearly twice as big an NY's central park.

I found the translated German wikipedia page very interesting. For any of my colleages who may visit Hannover, I highly recommend a visit to this forest.

The tall forest canopy is so dense that the forest floor is cool and moist, even in the warm sun. Probably a perfect habitat for interesting slimy creatures that would dry out in any other environment.

I was totally unable to capture the shear magnitude of this White Oak tree on film. Digital SLR with wide-angle lens, won't you please come and live with me? I estimated the tree at > 4 ft. diamter, and somewhere over 80 ft. tall. As a young tree growing in a dense, mature forest, it would have had to grow fast and tall to compete for light. It's form is greatly unlike any Oak tree grown in open sun, it has a smooth, straight trunk for about 60 ft. maybe. It's hard to make out the upper branches.

2007-05-10T03:11:00.000-07:00

2007-05-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

Rewarded for pain:

This morning was the first day the training session I'm giving here in Hannover. Unfortunately, it didn't get off to a great start. About 30 minutes after starting the course, I started to feel a bit "off" and started wondering if I had low blood sugar (due to my diabetes). I wanted to push on , at least for a few more minutes because I felt really akward taking a break just after getting started. I really didn't want to have to explain my circumstance. Normally I can get away with this, but only a few minutes later, I was nearly on the floor. I was likely speaking weird and acting weird, and the folks, which I had met only a short time before starting giving me strange looks. I called a break, and by this point it was very bad. I started to panic bad and shovel down massive amounts of sugar. The participants of the course were starting to talk to each other in German and laugh. I felt really embarrased because I imaged they were talking about me. I started sweating and became super nervous and shaky. I got up and went to the washroom and sat on the toilet in the stall to have some privacy so I could calm down and wait for my sugar to come up. It took nearly 1/2 hour. I came back to the room and they were chuckling. I felt I had no choice but to explain myself and they became silent. I felt it cast a weird vibe to the training at least until after lunch. I tried to be extra friendly, to try and work the mood back to normal. Fortunately, by the end of the day I think it was all good. Strangely enough, I'd normally be really sick with high blood sugar after an episode like that. I must have been really bad because even with probably 100g of sugar, it wasn't high.

I managed to wrap up the day a bit early, and went back to the hotel to relax. The hotel is pretty cool. It is a reworked building where foutain pens were manufactured. The ceiling in the room is around 20 feet high. Sun beams in the window and makes it super hot; fortunately it's been rather cloudy and rainy, so my room is comfortable.

Later in the evening I went for a walk and found a beautiful, huge forested park. Some of the oak and beach trees are over 4 ft around and 80+ feet tall. My guess is that they are over 100 years old. There is a zoo bordering the park, and apparantly it was established in 1860. My guess is that the trees are from around this time as well. I walked for about an hour. I felt excited to see the trees and the cool, moist forest understory with it's woodland plants and old mosses made me feel calm and at peace. The day's trouble melted away.

2007-05-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

Highway 508 near Calabogie:

Jen took these:

2007-04-28T08:23:00.001-07:00

CN Tower Stair Climb for WWF:

I just made it up the 1776 stairs in 23:35. I'm proud of myslef.

2007-04-26T10:05:00.000-07:00

CN Tower Stair Climb:

Brian, Ryan , Barry and I, will be climbing the stairs up the CN Tower this weekend. The event is in support of the WWF. If anyone wishes to sponsor me, on-line donations can be made from this link.

Several weeks of training, mostly on Ryan's appartment building stairs, have strengthened my legs and humbled me enough to realize that I will not be able to "double-stair" the entire 1776 stairs. My public goal is to make it up < 40 minutes. My private goal is -- ---- -- -- -- ---- ---- ---- --- ---- -- ---- ---- ------.

It should be a good event and a good road trip.

2007-04-23T10:24:00.000-07:00

Moss: A forest within a forest

2007-04-23T07:06:00.000-07:00

Climbed Calabogie Peaks on Saturday:

2007-04-16T13:37:00.000-07:00

Seedling update:

Japanese Maple germinated 2 years ago. Growing is much slower than I expected. Several other seedlings perished for unknown reasons. This one died back a bit after last season, and looks like a bit recently as well. Fortunately some buds are breaking and it looks like it's getting started with some new growth.

Jack in the pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) germinated about 4 weeks ago. It germinated in warmth, with no stratification, although the other seedlings perished, possibly due to inadequate drainage.

unknown Rhododendron, germinated around 8 months ago, and still barely 1" tall! Quite a bit bigger than the seeds which were the size of a speck of dust. (pictures back in August). These germinated easily in a warm, moist, soil-less medium. The challenge is keeping mould and fungus growth down. I used 50% peat, 25% perlite, 25% vermiculite, and cooked it in the microwave in attempt to kill pathogens. I'm getting a bit of alge and moss growth, but nothing too serious as to impact the seedlings.

Tomato and Watermellon, these were quick and easy to germinate

2007-04-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

Curling:

Although I have never been much for team sports, I could see myself curling again.

2007-03-29T13:45:00.000-07:00

Justin Hall and a brief history of my time

In early to mid 90’s my primary interest was audio and building and tinkering with audio things. I hated the crap information that was in the magazines and I thirsted for real technical information.

The original reason I got online, sometime around ’94 was to access the BBS of the audio company Madisound, who had a great (for the time) collection of information, programs and spreadsheets for designing speakers and other audio equipment. Some of the stuff were downloads, so I made the investment is a U.S. Robotics 14.4 modem. 350 some odd $. At this time BBS’s were the thing, I hadn’t even heard of the Internet.

A while later, I tried out some of the online services that widely offered free trials: AOL, Compuserve and the like. They were OK, but nobody told me that my parents would get billed for the call to their site. The trial service was free, calling the number was not.

A while later I got onto the Internet. My first site visits were audio related, but I quickly started exploring other things. One of the first sites I went to regularly was links dot net, the online-log of Justin Hall. Justin’s web site was a “blog”, at least decade before I ever heard the term. His content was raw and unique, documenting his experiences with drugs, sex, traveling, meeting people, computer stuff, etc. Over the last 13 years I’ve visited Justin’s site regularly and am always envious. Justin is a guy who lives life, and shared his experience. In 1998, I started my own site, and shut it down because I was unhappy with the number of “hits” it got and how boring I’m sure it was. Justin’s site was my model, but if I couldn’t tell his kind of stories, what was the point?

A few months ago was the last time I visited links.net, and I was sad to find that it didn’t seem to be there. I wondered if the rise in popularity of blogging turned him off. This article tells the real story:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/20/MNGBKBEJO01.DTL

I am now happy to say though, that

www.links.net

has returned, albeit in a new condensed form without the good stuff of yore, but I don’t care, I’ve already read it.

2007-03-21T08:17:00.000-07:00

The rest of the roof put up by the pro's:

Big thanks to John Schryver of 3F construction, and his crew. They did an awesome job on my roof, even making up for most of my mistakes in misalligning the rafters and not squaring the roof well framing well.

2007-03-19T07:17:00.000-07:00

Fell off the ladder:

Visit to the hospital, diagnosis: concussion. Painful bruised and bleeding shin.

/dev/null thinks my injury ironic based on my fearless picture standing on the roof (below)

2007-03-12T08:03:00.000-07:00

2007-02-19T07:52:00.000-08:00

Wife's Bathroom Renovation:

Jen's been doing all of this "her own self", mostly when I go on trips. I seemed to think we ought to get the workshop project done before starting any others, but she wasn't in agreement. Anyway, it seems pretty good. I'm very proud of her. Good work dear.

2007-02-14T17:33:00.000-08:00

Sierra Nevada Moutains

view from my motel room

2007-02-05T07:34:00.000-08:00

Went for a walk this weekend in the forest near our place. We got a bit lost. Jen wasn't too pleased, but I was glad to get a good long walk in.

Also, I checked out some of the trees that I've planted on our land within the last 2 years. Some are good, some not so good.

Sugar Maples: completely decimated, probably by deer

Small apple trees grown from seed: mostly decimated, I'm hoping some might recover

Two plum trees: one is fine and put on nice growth during the fall. It was about 2 feet when planted, and now about 4 ft. The other has taken some animal damage, I'm hoping it'll recover, but it hasn't put on much growth

Metasequoia: doing well, put on about foot of growth in it's first full season.

Butternut: This tree is the winner. This is it's 2nd winter. It was about 2 ft when I planted it, now it's about 6.5!

2007-01-27T06:23:00.000-08:00

More travel hassles:

Couldn't get a cab from two different companies. Apparantly it only takes 5 minutes for a cab to get there. I waited almost a hour. I ended up having to offer the hotel clerk all the money in my wallet if she'd drive me to the airport. Desperation to get home. Fortunately she gave me a expediant drive in her truck. She even refused my money. I insisted, telling her it was being expensed.

Then, when I arrive at the airport, I find my flight cancelled. Fortunately, a bit of luck kicks in. Strangely, I actually have two return tickets. I wanted to get home earlier than the return ticket matching my arrival would get me in, so we had to buy another ticket. It wasn't very much extra. So, I'm using that ticket. At least I get home today. Hopefully there won't be any more trouble.

2007-01-26T19:10:00.000-08:00

exhausted:

"Do you think that you're the hippies of the 80's?."
-------------------------"Oh no, hell no", the man says in a gruff voice.

Significant things over the last week:

the jazz factory
southern bbq
debugging shared libraries
nicola conte
cannonball adderly
JBL PT800 and PS1400 speakers

The camera hasn't taken a good picture in 30 shots now, so I'm about to give up. Here are some old ones for y'all:

2006-12-21T06:32:00.000-08:00

I will not be leaving the ham dammer up on the ladder again.

2006-12-13T06:59:00.000-08:00

Working late into the night

2006-12-11T07:21:00.000-08:00

Big progress on Sunday

Super big thanks to Meg & Greg, Brian, Barry, and Kris W. for coming to help out on Sunday. I was so excited I was giggling like a school girl when two more walls went up. When the ridge board and a few rafters went up the building started to really take shape.

2006-12-08T09:16:00.000-08:00

Rafters up by Sunday?

This weekend I'll be putting on a big push towards getting my buiding roofed-in for the winter. Primary tasks will be:

1.) finishing and erecting the remaining walls
2.) tweaking the position of the walls and getting them all as plumb as possible
3.) erecting the ridge board
4.) putting up the roof rafters

The roof will look something like below:

I lifted this image from: http://www.deathbike.net/projects/strombergbarn.html

Overall, this building is quite different from mine, but the roof is fairly similar.

I'm begging lots of the guys from work to help. Pretty please guys! I love you!

2006-12-01T08:28:00.000-08:00

Big thanks to Tony!

I ended up taking an expected day off work yesterday to try one more time to put the tarp up. My neighboor Tony and I came up with a sheme of holding the tarp to the walls by wrapping it around a 2x6 and sandwiching edge against the building. This way tension will be distributed over the whole length of the tarp rather than just at the eyelets, which are mostly ripped out anyway.

Since it was raining and windy, the work was cold and brutal. Big thanks to Tony for sticking out the harsh conditions to help me out. I'm not forgetting the many people who've helped me out with this thing.

2006-11-29T07:03:00.000-08:00

I hate tarps. I really hate tarps.

Actually, I guess I don't hate tarps, I just hate the problem they are intented to fix. The tarp has blown down several times, and now most of the eyelets are ripped out. I've decided there's not much I can do to protect the building at this point. I'm only going to try and keep more water from getting into the floor, where it can't easily get out.

With all the things going wrong, I sure am happy that these walls are straight and square:

I'm also very exicted about a detail that I decided to add. The overhang will have a knee-brace below it and will support the end rafters. I love details like this that are both structural and ornamental.

2006-11-27T07:05:00.000-08:00

Latest workshop progess:

The long walls were pretty quick and easy to build, requiring about 4-5 hours each. The short walls are proving to be very diffiult to square up, mostly I think because of their diagonal top.

2006-11-12T22:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I went for a walk again in the forest. Same area as last time. I figure I covered ~15 KM.

Today I made the journey into Stuttgart. Being Sunday, almost everything was closed, so I just walked around and took some pictures.

Some of the galleries and museums were open, although I only had about enough energy for one. The gallery I picked was very close to the Subway station, and had a very cool architecture. It was basically a 5 story glass cube. Most of the art consisted f paitings, but a bit of scupture and other stuff as well. A few of the paintings were very provoking and morbid, to the point that I was pretty shocked. For example, one of the art displays had a chair hanging from the ceiling, with long sharp spikes protruding through the back, and blood spatter on the wall. Some of the paintings by Otto Dix intruiged me. They were quite strange, bending deep, dark and strange with comedy and parody. I did some research on him when I got back to the hotel. His life history explained his work.

2006-11-10T12:28:00.000-08:00

You scored as Miyamoto Musashi. You're considered a sword saint, whatever the phrack that is. You don't give two hoots what weapon or tact people come at you with, as your solution is a steady grip on a sharp blade and it tends to work.

You're never going to be defeated in battle, but you are going to die of Cancer.

Miyamoto Musashi

83%

C.G. Jung

83%

Jesus Christ

75%

Charles Manson

67%

Dante Alighieri

67%

Friedrich Nietzsche

67%

Hugh Hefner

67%

Adolf Hitler

58%

Stephen Hawking

50%

Sigmund Freud

42%

Elvis Presley

42%

Steven Morrissey

33%

O.J. Simpson

17%

Mother Teresa

What Pseudo Historical Figure Best Suits You?
created with QuizFarm.com

2006-11-09T21:29:00.000-08:00

My Diabetes, my job, my lifestyle, my health and my future

A part of me really enjoys the fact that my job often entails that I travel to far away lands. Getting to live life somewhat differently, experience different culture, and see different sights has truly enlarged my understanding of the world, and to some extent has partially raised a veil of ignorance that I’ve always had regarding many aspects of the human race.

For me, a typical overseas trip pulls my stress level way up however. Two problems that consistently plague me are my inability to adjust to local time, and inexplicably bad blood sugar episodes.

I left for Germany this past Sunday, and it’s now early Friday morning. I’m still waking up in the middle of the night and then lying in bed for hours, too tired to do anything, but too awake to sleep. At 4:15 AM this morning, I awoke feeling sick. Managing my eating, exercise/exertion/stress, and my thus my blood sugars, is always a challenge on a trip, so right away I headed for my blood glucose meter. 19.6. This is very bad. In the 14 years that I’ve had Diabetes, I’ve been above 18 less than 20 times. All, except 2-3, have been within the last two years.

I’ve always chosen to make life decisions that most people would not call conservative, especially considering my Diabetes. I’ve run 10 Km races, all without adequate training. Once I even ran after being up all night partying, although at least I didn’t drink. I’ve stayed up all night partying and drinking. I’ve eaten an incredibly diverse range of foods from chocolate bars to sushi. From authentic curries prepared by real Indian people to the Tiramisu that I ate tonight for dessert at the Italian restaurant, and that most definitely contributed to my 19.6 blood sugar. I have pushed my body physically to almost exhaustion, hiking, working for a moving company, and most recently doing construction work on my building. I’ve damaged my body by breaking bones, spraining ankles, cutting myself.

My point is basically that I have not let my diabetes limit my life much, if at all. I try hard to manage my blood sugars. I’m certainly not ignorant of the situation. Sometimes I test as much as 10 times in a day.

<< I have more to say, but it I feel like crap, and I’m tired. I’ll continue this later>>>

2006-11-06T12:56:00.000-08:00

Prairie dogs, my relationship with coffee, the fridge, the car wheel, and a really, really painful visit to the bookstore

The pain came on suddenly and was excruciating. It happened just after I walked into the bookstore and located the sci-fi section. It wasn’t really that I wanted to buy a book; I was there more just to pass time at the airport. I’m not sure what triggered it, but my right thumb instantly started pulsing and throbbing. I brought it up close to my eyes to have a look. Sure enough, there was a small pimple-like bump. There was clearly infection. Retched painful infection. Also, as I turned to exit, I noticed the cashier was curiously watching my strange behavior. Odd to have a pimple on the thickly padded skin over my thumb, I thought. At first I couldn’t bear to touch the area, the pain was too great, but, knowing what I had to do, I vacated the bookstore and found a more private location to burst the pimple, and purge the vile infection from myself. I mustered up the courage to squeeze, and sure enough, a tiny explosion of pus and blood burst from under. But, I still did not feel any relief. I could hardy stand the pain, but squeezed again. This time amongst the blood and fluid, a small black spec appeared. Again, I squeezed, tears threatening to stream down my face, I squeezed harder, and a tiny black splinter revealed itself. A few moments of thought, and I knew what it was. A small bit of one of the thousand drywall screws I drove into the floor of my building, while working in the cold darkness last night. Even though the fundamental problem of my pain was now revealed, however, I still could not resolve it. As I squeezed, the sliver would come up above my skin, like a prairie dog poking its head out of barren landscape. I tried to pinch it between my nails, but in doing so, I had to release the squeeze. Frustrating, but eventually I did pull the damn thing, and boy did it feel better.

On another note, life was rather crazy this week. While in Syracuse, Jen informed me that she had a flat tire, and that the fridge had stopped working. Plus, I was hell-bent on making some progress on the workshop during my short stopover back home before going to Germany for two weeks. Let me tells you, Sears is not a pleasant bunch. Anyway, to make a long story short, I hate Sears. They suck bad. I highly recommend using anti-seize compound on wheel hubs before putting wheels on the car. I have no idea why we are getting so many flat tires, and I bought a reciprocating saw which really helped to make me feel better.

For some reason I drank a coffee today. It’s the 4rth one I’ve had in my life. I didn’t like it very much.

Here are a few pics of the workshop as of Saturday Nov 4:

2006-11-01T17:20:00.000-08:00

Income trusts tank!

Jen sent me an email early this morning, knowing that most of my investments are income trusts, and that new legislation is mandating increased taxes on companies operating income trusts. I didn't think it would have all that much effect. I was wrong.

I own 5 stocks, 4 of which are income trusts. They are down and average of about 16% today. I'm hoping they'll bounce back, as stocks often do when bad new comes out. Or, maybe it's just the start of a mass self-off. The following is an excerpt from a stockhouse.ca article from today:

It's a day that could go down in Canadian stock market history as Black Wednesday. After the markets closed on Halloween, Canadian Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty spooked Bay Street by announcing a new tax on income trust distributions in a bid to stem the growing number of companies that are converting to trusts.

Not something I need right now when I'm way overextended trying to pay for the workshop construction.

2006-10-31T18:41:00.000-08:00

Last night at about 1:30 AM I awoke to the sound of an air raid siren. Ominous and scary, right away I knew what the sound was. The elementary school I attended had one, and as a little kid, they tested it occasionally. My mother said they would use it some day if war broke out, and planes started to bomb our city. If I ever heard it, I was to come home right away. She also explained to me that countries were getting along better than when the school was built, so it was unlikely that it would ever be used for real. Still though, the fear was forever implanted within me.

Being in the U.S., far from home, I right away was charged with adrenaline and scared. “Damn the Americans and their aggressive relations with every county whom they think is bad”, I thought. I thought to 9/11, and the fact that I was in the same state. “Why do they have to be attacked when I’m visiting?” I thought. My heart pounded in my chest.

I started up the computer to check for information on the Internet. As the siren wailed, I’ve never been so impatient watching the computer boot up. Finally when it came up, I checked CNN, CBS, and local news. Nothing…

I called the front desk of the hotel. My voice obviously panicked, the desk clerk explained that the siren was on the top of one of the other hotels nearby, and it was used to signal that a truck was leaving the nearby volunteer fire station, and that volunteers should come. Why a big city like Syracuse needs a volunteer fire department is beyond me. The siren was silenced shortly thereafter, but came back on several more times. It seemed as though it was pretty much as got I got back to sleep each time.

This morning I complained to someone from the company I’m visiting. They explained that there had been a bad car accident on the highway near my hotel. I searched the ‘net and found this:

Man dies in a crash early this morning
A man was killed on Interstate 481 today in a fiery crash in Cicero.

The Onondaga County Medical Examiners Office is scheduled to perform an autopsy later today to determine the motorist’s identity and the cause of death, state police troopers said.

Troopers say the crash happened about 1:30 a.m. The motorist was traveling south on I-481 in a 2004 Ford Taurus. The motorist lost control of the car and entered the median, troopers said.

The car crossed the northbound lanes and struck a guide rail. The Taurus then caught fire. When emergency responders arrived at the scene, the Taurus was fully engulfed in flames, troopers said.

Once responders extinguished the fire, they found the man, who was already deceased, in the car, troopers said.

2006-10-30T18:40:00.000-08:00

I spent several days fighting and escaping. They were zombies or some other such menace. Deeply evil creatures of pure death that wanted to rip my face off. I was lonely; most of the new world had become inhabited by them. But there were still human people out there. Good strong people. Together we fought them, right to the bitter end, almost to the end of humanity. Still though, I chose to spend much of my time alone. Being with too many others increased the risk. If we were all caught, it might very well mean the end of all humanity. Also, we were easier to find and eliminate this way. As a group, we drew attention. At least that was my belief. There was disagreement among us.

When it got bad, really bad, we, the resistance decided to launch bitter attacks on them. Suicide attacks. Mother earth had become such a place that life was no longer worth living for us. If we were successful, at least there would be a good chance for the people who had taken to the mountains and to the forest, in hiding. A careful plan was created, and we were emotional, as anyone would be. On the morning of the planned day, I headed to the designated meeting place. It had been raided. My feeling was of despair. I was so mad and hopeless I rushed to the evil headquarters. Without a plan, my fierce rage, like a battering ram infiltrated their building. My body taking terrible injury I fought on. Surprised and fueled by my success I wreaked utter havoc on their kind. They had no expectation of my arrival, and as a single man, I slipped through their weak defenses. My mind racing, I chose once to evade rather fight. I hid and slipped through quietly. They made the age old mistake of thinking they had won, and that their shear numbers meant victory was in hand. My weeks of build up pain and anger led to insane fury.

Battered and broken I reached the inner sanctum, and the top of the tower. I burst in through the opening to their meeting place--the sacred place of their leaders. I challenged them, but they stood unflinching towards my vicious fury. I hated them, but I hesitated, and began to fear them. It was obvious this was the elite of them, the best. I had no chance. Absolutely no chance, probably not even to harm a single one of my most hated evils. I was done, drained of the momentum that had taken me this already incredible distance. Days without sleep, and lacking nutritious food, my weak body began to fail. It could fight no longer.

I took stock of the situation, knowing that this was the end, and that I had done well. With my one life I had struck down incredible numbers of them. The only tragedy was that no human would know my success. No one would know that they could be defeated, here at their fortress--their ultimate inner home.

Guessing that I would be captured, likely tortured and experimented on in terrible ways, I ran, and with last of my strength, dove for the tall window opening. Breaking through the heavy glass, not even looking at what was beyond I began to fall. Free falling downward, my last thoughts were of thinking that this is what it felt like to fly. Then I landed. It was too early. Shocked, I realized I had hit something. A metal outcropping from the building caught my fall. The sheet metal, failing under my inertia, let go, and dropped me in towards the building. There I lay, my body broken and bleeding. I had just a few moments of cognizance before I blacked out. I don’t even remember my thoughts. Maybe wondering, “Would I die here?”

I awoke to the crashing sound and shuddering on the entire building. At first I was unable to move. I was sure my arm was badly broken, and congealed blood adhered my sticky clothes and skin to the metal and brick surrounding me. Suddenly, I realized that the evil building was taking damage. My brothers in arms had not been taken in the dawn of this morning as the raided meeting place had me to think. In fact they were alive and they were here and obviously having success. After my own attack had weakened them, and thrown them off, maybe our people could have a chance. I managed to sit up, and I could see them, hundreds of humans not 200 feet away taking the building by storm. At that point I knew today would not be the end of the human race. Tears began to emerge on my face, and I drifted off, off into the blackness.

2006-10-29T18:12:00.000-08:00

to Syracuse:

Over the last week I've made slow progress on the shop. The floor is mostly done. I figure 3-4 more hours, and I'll be on to the walls. The worst obstacle is still the weather. I got a huge tarp to cover the whole floor. I have to spend pretty much the next three weeks on the road, so I wanted to seal it up well, especially now that insulation is in the floor. Naturally, today was the windiest day I've ever seen, and that doesn't go well with a 1200 sq. ft. tarp.

This afternoon I drove to Syracuse. The border guard looked through my car. Stuck his hand in the vent of my subwoofer box, asked me to play music to make sure it worked. Then he went through my suitcase, opening up my razor, and other stuff. Fortunately, my diabeties supplies where on my person, and he didn't search me. I really feel violated when they search my stuff. He ended up being satified with my car and my stuff, but not with my purpose for coming into the country. I knew it was bad when he kept my passport and stuffed an orange card in it. "Please go into the building", is all he says. I wait in line for a short while. Last time this happended, in 2004, I spent somewhere around 5 hours in the US customs while heading to Detroit. When the burly guy at the counter calls me up, I give them my usual explanation about going to visit a customer. ... He goes off somewhere for 15 minutes. When he comes back, the news is, "go home and come back with the proper paperwork." Not impressed, I politely challange him, and request he reconsider. Also, I decide to go out to my car to try and find any other paperwork that might satify him. I struck paydirt, a purchase order from the company I'm visiting. I don't think it's what he wants, but it might help. Turns out he likes it and let's me through. At least the whole episode was pretty quick, compared to last time, in Detriot. Also, he seems like a nice enough guy.

When I arrive in Syracuse, naturally, I get lost. I'm starving and tired. Dinner at Ruby Tuesday's sucks ass. Glad I didn't have to pay 30$ for it.

2006-10-18T06:37:00.000-07:00

Current state of the workshop:

Beams are laminated, leveled, and bolted into saddles. Floor joists are going on top, but what is slowing progress now is the fact that I'm trying to weather proof the floor from the bottom with plywood and and housewrap on the very outside.

2006-10-18T06:29:00.000-07:00

Very tasty Spartan apple from orchard near Renfrew

Madawaska river near Calabogie

Grassy Bay on Calabogie Lake

2006-10-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

pics:

the tubes after backfilling:

foran_object chicken (dump a whole bunch of spices on chicken, pour on olive oil, brush, grill):

un-backfilled tube, so inspector can see it

aspen trees in back yard glow as sun sets

2006-10-06T09:24:00.000-07:00

Roof and walls:

2006-10-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

The plan for my workshop floor:

2006-10-02T06:57:00.000-07:00

Foundation piers go in:

Thanks to all who came out on Saturday to help move dirt around! I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm exhausted.

Here are the "before" pictures. I'll have to take some "after" pictures.

tubehenge:

2006-09-26T12:20:00.000-07:00

ya, ya, here's the list...

1. If you could have any job, without consideration of requirements, experience, or cash flow, what would you be doing?

Well, my job would entail the following four things:

1.) Managing two tree plantations, one of which would be in Ontario, which would include Eastern White Pine, Hybrid Poplar, Black Walnut, Yellow Birch, Black Cherry, Beach, White Oak and Sugar Maple. The other plantation would be in the tropics, and would include a variety of tropical hardwoods, especially Cocobolo.

2.) Managing an orchard of Apple and Pear trees.

3.) Building things. Mostly out of wood, but also maybe metal and concrete. "Things" could range anywhere from chess pieces to houses.

4.) Reading books and listening to jazz in a yurt on top of a mountain.

2. Who is your favourite character on Buffy: The Vampire Slayer? You're allowed to split this up into pre-season 6 and post-season 6 if desired.

I've never watched Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.

3. If you could have lunch with anyone, alive or dead, who would you have lunch with?

Marilyn Monroe

4. What movie which never got made would you most like to see?

I don't know, I have to think about it.

5. What was the last book (fiction only, no reference books) that you read?

Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson, an extremely good sci-fi book, recommended, and lent to me, by You Look Like a Nail.

6. If you could change any one historical incident, only to return to a present changed forever into a horrible mockery of the world you knew, Twilight Zone style, what historical incident would you change?

I've seen enough time travel movies to know that you don't mess with history. No thanks.

7. If you could have a summer home anywhere, where would you want it to be?

I don't know--someplace nice, but I hate travelling, so it would have to be close.

8. You know that episode of Friends where we find out Ross has a card with five names on it? Right. What five names would go on your card? Well, I've never seen a complete episode of Friends, but I think I get the idear..

Lauren Graham, of Gilmore Girls
Marilyn Monroe
Grace Park, who plays Boomer on BSG;
Wonder Woman
Susan Lewis, I stopped watching ER shortly after she left

9. God created the heavens and the earth in six days; on the seventh day He rested. If God hadn't rested on the seventh day what would He have created?

Some nice jazz music. Probably with a saxaphone, or maybe a trumpet. Also, probably some nice ale, to sip while listening to the jazz.

10. If you were able to take vacation anywhere in the world (money, time, etc all not withstanding) where would you go and why?

I'd tour Japanese gardens in Kyoto

11. What is your favourite wood?

Hmmm....good question. It's really a close race between Curly Maple, Cocobolo, and quartersawn clear Sitka Spruce. Also, Apple is a very nice wood too.

2006-09-25T12:21:00.000-07:00

Good movies are hard to find

In the last year I've watched way more DVDs than usual. Here are some of my favorites. Links are to imdb:

Last Night
The Shining
It's all Gone Pete Tong
Seven Samurai
The Last Temptation of Christ
The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
V for Vendetta
Human Nature
Battlestar Gallactica (the new TV series)

Twin Peaks (TV)

2006-09-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

Saturday to explore Filderstadt on foot:

Many industrial buildings here have a funky contemporary architecture.

Filderstadt is near Stuttgart, home of Porsche. These are probably recycled pallets.

Jen recently bought me a small weeping Nootka False Cypress. A beautiful tree that I am very excited about. They are very popular around Filderstadt. It is the larger tree on the left.

Many of the homes here blend modern elements with amost medieval. Across the street is a funky new age house.

Typical street within the town of Filderstadt.

The famous Citroën 2CV. This one with extra personality.

My walk took me down a path that led outside the town, with large cottonwood trees running beside. Beautiful orchards followed, with apfel (apple in german), pear trees and fenced in areas containing berries and other plants that animals presumably like.

Further along, the path led me into a forest. The trees consisted of spruce, beech and oaks. There were some small cleared areas and stumps that indicated that the forest was logged in a very controlled way. I estimated the spruce logs above to be about 75 ft long, the bigger ones being close to two feet diamter, and about 75 years old by the growth rings.

The forest had little undergrowth. I could see much farther through the trees than in Ontario forests I've been in.

Tucked away at the edge of the forest was a little beer garden. I had to point at a beer glass to order, so I have no idea what I got. It tasted very fresh, and it was quite cloudy, indicating to me that it wasn't mass produced. After drinking the large beer I felt very tired. Thinking of the long walk back made me even more tired, but the walk went quickly. I had dinner at the little Italian restaurant for the last time. Today almost made the trip worthwhile. I'm looking forward to going home torrow.

2006-09-13T18:14:00.000-07:00

From Filderstadt:

Tomorrow will be my 3rd of 4 work days here in Germany. Unfortunately I seem to in my non-sleeping mode again. I slept about 2 hrs tonight and woke up to noise in the alley beside the hotel. In two hours they'll start serving breakfast. I'm a walking zombie. At least I don't have to drive anywhere this trip. For this course, training has become a recital of long ago decided upon words. I don't need to be awake.

From calls back to Ottawa, it looks like I've found some professional help for my workshop project. All design and construction will halt until my plans are approved or disproved by him. At this point I'm hoping to continue doing all the work myself and with friends, but John will provide expertise which is sorely lacking. Yay!

Here's a pic from the front yard of a house near my hotel:

2006-09-12T14:31:00.000-07:00

Influences:

Some images which were early influences in the design of my wood shop. At this point cost and practicality have taken over to the extent that it will likely bear little in resemblence or spirit with these fine buildings.

2006-09-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

Sunday September 10: Travel to Germany

While trying to construct my 800 sq foot workshop, it doesn’t help to have to be traveling for work. Fortunately, the trip was uneventful; just lots of time in the plane. I spent a lot of time thinking about the shop construction. No matter how much I think, I can’t resolve many uncertainties. I need a pro.

Germany is nice, but I’m exhausted. I found some dinner and figured out where I have to go tomorrow. Now to vegetate in my hotel room, and hopefully get some sleep. Usually with time zone changes I can’t sleep, even when I’m exhausted. On my last oversees trip I only slept about 10 hours in 6 days!

Oh, ya, and they're still not letting people bring liquids and gels on the plane. This caused me a bit of stress. I had to sucumb to a thorough inspection of my insulin and diabeties supplies. I don't like it when people I don't know touch things that I poke beneath my skin. I don't trust you any more than you trust me buddy.

Apparantly this guy doesn't like airport security much either. I'm surprised he got off so easy.

Saturday September 9: Things are at a stand-still

Frank was kind enough to haul out the remaining lumber today. We couldn’t start on the formwork however because I have to resolve the footing issue. I found these, and they appear a lot more sturdy that the Rona and Home Depot offerings. I’ve contacted the manufacturer and I might choose to order them.

http://www.sqfoot.com/

Problem is they are expensive, to the tune of 25$ each. I need professional help. If I unnecessarily spend money, I might as well get it professionally built. Somebody help me!!!

Friday September 8: An easy day goes bad

Today was supposed to be devoted to obtaining the concrete tubes (sonotubes), the plastic footing bases, and the various lumber to brace the tubes for the pour.

Turns out that the only footing bases Rona and Home Depot carry are so flimsy I can’t imagine them holding up under the stress of an 8” wide by 6’ high tube of wet concrete on top. These things might be fine for a deck, which is what they are mostly used for, but not for a building.

Frank B. was kind enough to offer the use of his truck to carry the materials home. Eric N. says I’d have no luck at all if it wasn’t for bad luck. Just as Frank arrives the sky opens and the fiercest rain storm I’ve seen in years comes down. Bernie and Ann's tree split and did substantial damage to their deck. The concrete tubes are made of cardboard, and seem to me to be flimsy enough as it is. Even thought they are coated with a bit of wax, I didn’t feel that traveling 40 KM in the rain was going to be good for them.

We ended up bringing them home in my car, in two trips. Jen had to sit at Rona because we couldn’t fit her into the car with the tubes. Again my luck hit. Traffic lights were out, and the traffic was so bad it took hours. Big thanks to Jen for her patience, tolerance and understanding. Not traits she exhibits on a day to day basis, but she brings them out when it really counts. I love you dear!

Thursday September 7: The excavator cometh

My original plan had been to rent a CAT 416 backhoe from Battlefield equipment and drive it myself to perform the following tasks:

- Dig out ~20 tree stumps of varying size
- Push top soil and organic material off the surface (~140 ft x 20 ft area)
- Dig trench for hydro line (150 ft x 1 ft wide x 3 ft deep)
- Remove stumps from the workshop footprint, and grade the soil
- Dig 20, 5 ft deep holes for the concrete piers that the building will rest on

My best guess was that this was going to take about two days. Battlefield wanted 2 x 330$ + 250 delivery + possible extra insurance charges because they would consider me to be somewhat of a high risk renter. Overall 1000+ dollars.

I decided to explore other options and called Tackaberry, a local aggregates and excavation company. They came out and recommended bringing a “highhoe” which is an excavator quite a bit bigger than a backhoe. The highhoe is 100$/hr vs. 70$/hr for the backhoe, both including operator. The highhoe can do trenching, excavation, etc much faster, usually resulting in a lesser price.

With a professional operator, and a bigger machine, the thinking was a single day should be plenty, and would cost about the same as me renting, with less risk. Highhoe we go.

Well, the day was quite stressful. Things go very fast with a machine this big, and good communication with the operator is key. Since I have pretty much zero experience with this type of work there were some mistakes. First, my plan was to forget about the hydro trench because the bigger machine was going to dig a really big trench which was going to require much more hydro sand fill, which is expensive stuff, also, there was the issue of needing to backfill part of the trench so that the trucks could bring in the gravel for the road and for the building. It ended up that we dug part of it, and that had me scrambling driving frantically to the local building supply store to get the electrical conduit and get it glued up in the trench so that we could backfill. All this time Bill the operator was essentially performing whatever he thought needed to be done.

The real problem came about from the fact that the big excavator has a 4 ft wide bucket. I had originally hoped to scoop out holes about 3 ft square with the backhoe. Bill recommended that the bigger machine would be better off digging big trenches instead. This was a last minute decision. When deciding to go with the highhoe instead of the backhoe, I had never considered the bigger bucket. I thought about it quickly, and didn’t see any problem. The excavation however is gigantic. Totally unnecessary for a building like I am putting up. This excavation is more suited to a house.

I freaked out (quietly). I even considered asking them to fill in the hole. I made some quick calls for advice. Big thanks to Scott J. for getting me some advice from his brother in law, John, who is a skilled contractor. The hole stayed and will be fine. Only this is that I spent more money than necessary digging it, and that it will cost about 1000$ more than I planned to backfill. More material, plus I’ll probably need to bring machinery back in. 8000 cubic feet of fill isn’t going to get put back in with a shovel.

Oh well, all in all, things have moved forward, and it’s not a disaster. I have come to the sad realization however, that I really do need professional help. Not for the actual labour, but for the expertise. Researching, thinking, and carefully planning don’t make up for actual experience.

Wednesday September 6: Clearing Brush

I’m finally ramping up for the workshop construction. The last week has involved a lot of long physical work cutting and clearing brush. Labour day was a day of labour. Today I worked from first light until dark. Tomorrow the excavator and the aggregate come.

Thanks to Burto for producing most of the site plan, part of which is below. Burto is a talented architect working for Douglas Cardinal. Burto is preparing to start up is own company, Chiasm Design Group.

2006-08-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

Made it to work today without stopping!

I am happy to say that I was able to drive into work this morning, without having to bring my car to a complete stop. Not even once. The major thing that allowed this to happen is the fact that most of my drive is on Highway 416, and I only have a few stop signs, which I rolled of course, and a few traffic lights, all of which were either green, or I was able to slow down and coast until they turned green. I had a bit of a tough one at the end, making the left from Eagleson onto Michael Coupland; I had to slow down to around 5 Km/h, but still made it. This is actually the second time in the 21 months we've been living at our house that I've been able to do this. What made it extra unusual this time was that they've installed two new traffic lights recently.

Woohoo!

2006-08-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

Banana Bread:

My wife has requested that the following recipe be posted. Almost everybody I know who has a blog has been posting recipes, and I think she feels that foran_object is culinary inadequate. I can offer, however, that I enjoyed several pieces before it even left the cooling rack.

Monkey Mel's Gâteau garni au chocolat et aux bananes 350 F for 45- 50 min

1 cup softened butter/tasse de beurre ramoli
2 cups granulated sugar/tasses du sucre granulé
2 beaten eggs/ oeufs battus
1 tsp vanilla extract/c.thé de vanille
2 1/2 cups ripened mashed bananas( approx 5)/de bannanes mûres (environ 5 bananes) 3cups flour/ tasses farine 2tsp baking soda/cà thè de bicarbonate de sodium 2tsp baking powder/cà thé pardre à pâte 1cup sour cream/tasse créme sûre

Place half the batter in the greased pan and then place half of the following ingredients over the batter. Place the remaining chips, brown sugar and cinnamon over the top of the banana bread.

1/2 c brown sugar/cassonard bein tassé
1 pkg chocolate chips paquet de 300gr. chocalat un-sucré Baker's
1 tsp cinnamon/cà thé cannelle

* I lowered the sugar to 1 and a half cups and substituted 1 cup of whole wheat flour. Next time I'll take it down to 1 cup sugar and 1 1/2c whole wheat flour.

2006-08-29T06:36:00.000-07:00

Garden pics:

2006-08-24T06:46:00.000-07:00

Update on seed germination: Week 3

Redbud Trees:

Of the four Redbud seeds, one has germinated so far. I checked the remaining seeds, one had decomposed and was covered in green fungus, mold, or some similar such thing. The seed coats in the remaining two have decomposed, revealing fresh white embryo beneath. My guess is that they are alive, but still dormant. The seed that did germinate is now ~2" tall, with two cotyledons, and two true leaves. I am now using a bottle over the top of the plant to keep the environment moist. I am watering it every few days using a spray misting bottle, which has a weak solution of seedling fertilizer. I am using either reverse osmosis or clean rain water.

Rhododendrons:

Many of the tiny rhodo seeds have germinated, and are now about 2 mm high. I removed the plastic wrap, and am now using two pieces of glass to cover the container. I am removing for short periods of time, once or twice a day, to examine the seedlings and exchange the air. I'm lightly misting the seeds with with my rain water and seedling fertilizer mix.

2006-08-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

Just for Serdic...

view from our second story bathroom in winter

2006-08-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

Thursday August 12, 2006

As I write this, I’m sitting in a rusty old chair, tucked away under an escalator in an around the corner away of the underground walkway that connects Concourse B and C in a terminal at Chicago O’Hare airport. Apparently, there has been an attempted terrorist attack on planes at London Heathrow. My plane to Ottawa is massively delayed and every time I check departures, it gets worse. Even though I left California first thing this morning, I’ll be lucky to get home by tomorrow morning.

The Transportation Security Agency (I think) has put the airport on orange alert. I don’t know what this means exactly. What I do know however is that there are signs and continuous announcements indicating that people cannot bring liquids, gels, pastes, or anything or that sort on planes. There are some exceptions, insulin being one of them. The ridiculous thing about this is, they are not checking for these things before you get on the plane. There’s nothing stopping people. This isn’t security, it’s a plan to inconvenience and hassle the honest.

I was pretty much ready to go postal an hour ago, but now that I’m tucked away in the corner, away from the crowds, I’m starting to calm down.

2006-08-07T18:23:00.000-07:00

Sunday August 6, 2006

On Sunday I made my journey to San Jose. Man, I hate hotels. Lifeless, boring, lonely places without many of the conveniences of hom, and they make me homesick, and they have bad art. I hate hotels almost as much as I hate airports. Don’t even get me started on airports.

Jen, the taxi that pulled into departures before us, the one with the bunji-corded trunk, billowing with oversize luggage; there were two middle aged women in it. They were on the same plane as me, to Chicago. The plane boarded late, and took off even later. I can’t remember the reason, I’m just glad I had 2 ½ hours stopover, so I didn’t miss my connection. The two ladies boarded pretty early, and held up people in the aisle.

The Jerks in the seat in front reclined their seats all the way, impeding my legs, and not allowing me to use my laptop well. I rested it, angled down, touchpad end up, resting 4” inches up on my ever increasing huge gut.

Frank Zappa provided the music for the ride. “Hot Rats”, isn’t my favourite Zappa, but it drowns out the stupid crying kid, the people next to me talking about tornadoes, and the pilot and fight staff talking on the intercrom. Crap, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the spiel. Amost exactly the same every time. Drive’s me nuts I swear.

Weird. I’m starting to write like Holden Caulfield.

Buddy in front of me played Solitaire on his huge laptop. Damn boring game if you ask me. His wife sipped her acquisition from the in-flight beverage service, and read the in-flight magazine. Good times, glad I had got ‘the curious incident of the dog in the night time.’

While I’m not usually “lovin’” McDonald’s, I am lovin’ this book readin’ thing I’m into. The last few years have seen me read about only 3-4 novels. I’ve read countless computer books, woodworking books, gardening books, etc, but never cover to cover, and usually not in linear order. Initial thing of beauty, about the novel, was that it kept my attention, and passed the time on the way home from Chicago a few weeks back—but the best thing, I was allowed to continue reading while the plane decended, landed and taxied. Damn if they’ll let you do that with a laptop or even music player.

Saturday August 5, 2006

I swear somebody upstairs doesn’t want me riding my bicycle. I few weeks ago, I get some new gear for my bike. Eager to try it out, I go for a ride, and…flat tire. Over a week goes by before I can get a new one and get it installed. Finally on Saturday I journey to into town and it feels good. New seat cover is definitely more comfortable. Gloves and shorts help too. I felt so good I hit the trails in Ferguson Forest. After coming out I’m sweaty and tired. Trip to the store for beverage. Come out…flat tire. Damn good thing I brought Jen’s cell phone, it would have taken hours to walk home. I think I’ll start carrying a spare tube and pump again.

Also, we went looking for a bike for Jen. I’m picky, and there’s no luck. Most promising ride looks to be the Norco somethin’ or other from the small shop in town.

Thursday August 3, 2006

Thursday turned out to be rather interesting at work. The return to support work didn’t excite me much a first—it certainly didn’t work out well for me last time. Skills learned since my earlier days have proved beneficial however. But not just that, it’s added confidence and experience too. I now have no fear of jumping into the source code to figure out something; at least the simpler apps anyway.

Wednesday August 2, 2006

Wednesday proved to be another inconsequential day at work. This can have its merits, but not today. I felt lousy and tired. Tired from nothing. Tired of nothing.

After pulling away from the gas station, I decided to throttle on the gas. A little adrenilin to fix my woes. Even at 138,000 KM, the motor still sounds sweet, with all the power it had when new. I punch the gas, and the car pulls hard as I run through the gears on the on ramp. My car has probably been the most faithful material object I have known. It has been, for me, many things, pickup truck, off-road vehicle, and tonight, as it has been before, racing car.

Third gear is my favorite.

2006-08-02T13:36:00.000-07:00

Feel like crap. Ate too much sugar with lunch and had high blood sugar. My eating habits, and, to a lessor extent, exercise habits have been abisimal for months and I feel like I'm paying a price. Even knowing this however, I can't seem to help myself.

To add to my cloud of depression is the fact that I have so many things in my life that have been neglected, and that I can't seem to find the energy to catch up on. Case in point would be my tax return. For the last few months I blamed it on the magnitude of my business travel. In the last little while however, I've hardly travelled at all.

Tonight's mission: keep my eating and blood sugar under control, and get a good night's sleep

2006-07-31T10:41:00.000-07:00

Germinating Seeds:

A few weeks back I bought some seeds from Gardens North, about 20 minutes drive from Ottawa. Nice folks, and very knowledge as well. I’ve tried several times now to grow trees and plants from seed, mostly with a lack of success. Eddy at Gardens North guided my seed selection to some easier ones. On Sunday, I finally got around to trying to germinate them.

Mixed Rhododendrons:

I filled a big shallow plastic container with about 2” of peat, vermiculite and perlite, which I moistened, and spread the very tiny seeds on top. I put cling wrap over the container, leaving about 2” of air space over top of the mix. The fact that I’m using a ‘soil-less’ mix will hopefully keep fungus and other problems at bay for a while. I situated the container such that it should get a bit of sun through a southwest window. The hot and humid environment should hopefully stimulate germination.

Cercis Canadensis (Eastern Redbud):

This is a very cool tree, but it’s debatable whether or not it will accept the climate in the Ottawa Area. Apparently the seeds came from a tree that has been growing here for some time, so that is very encouraging.

I scarified the seeds slightly using sandpaper, as per Gardens North’s recommendation. I roughed up the long side, just enough to reveal the layer beneath the external coating. I did four seeds, roughing them up in slightly different amounts.

I put the four seeds into small pots, in a mixture of moistened vermiculite, perlite and peat. I put some cling wrap over the top of the pots. I put two outside, and two in the window. The two outside are sitting in a shallow dish of water.

2006-07-26T12:32:00.000-07:00

A few links:

A 2-3 page story: The real story* behind the first man to Mars

Orion's Arm is a detailed collaborative vision of what the world will look like 10000+ years into the future

BLIT: a short story that involves a sci-fi concept I found quite creative

2006-07-24T11:17:00.000-07:00

Thursday July 24, 2006: Visit to the Calgary Zoo

Saw a guy wearing this “Never Trust A Hippy” shirt.

2006-07-24T11:16:00.000-07:00

Tuesday July 18, 2006: Driving the tractor and listening to Grandpa tell stories about blowing things up with dynamite

All night I’m hot and can’t sleep. In the morning Jen is hyper again; not as bad as yesterday, but I just need more sleep….

The lady’s all go into town. I sleep in and then read, hiding out in the bedroom that has become my sanctuary.

While Grandpa is out collecting hay bails with the newly fixed machine, Mr. C. gives me tractor driving 101. The thing had 5 pedals and about 12 levers, but wasn’t too hard to drive. Mr. C. did play a trick on me though. He didn’t tell me how to turn it off. He said, “Go drive it around the field.”, and then he went in the house. I had to get him to come back out and show me the tiny little engine kill button.

In the evening, Grandpa told stories of blowing up rocks, granaries, and in fact, entire hills, with dynamite.

2006-07-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

Monday July 17, 2006: Work on hay bail machine, and visit to Corner Gas

Jen was awake and fidgety at the crack of dawn, annoyingly disrupting my unusually light sleep. Fortunately, everyone is up early, and she joins them in the kitchen, leaving me to sleep comfortably. As I get older, sleeping somewhere outside of my home becomes more and more of a discomfort.

After breakfast, I go outside to help Jen, Mr. C, and Grandpa working on the bail wagon. It feels good to actually be doing something, rather than sitting around chatting. We change out a tire and a hydraulic hose. Unfortunately I broke one of Grandpa’s sockets. I pointed out that the shiny socket isn’t designed to be used with an impact wrench, but we use it anyway, and sure enough, it first cracks, then later breaks, probably not helped by my inexperience with the big air-compressor driven wrench.

Lunch--sorry “dinner”, as I’m not used to calling my midday meal--is of giant proportions. Nice food, but bland. Roast beef, potatoes, and some vegetables.

This afternoon, Jen’s cousin Adam takes us to the Rolleau, Saskatchewan, aka Dog River, site of the show Corner Gas. I had found the show to be mediocre, until I watched several episodes while feeling lonely and homesick in some country and I can’t remember. The show gave my some much needed comfort. Rolleau, isn’t far from the farm, but again, basically in the middle of nowhere. We’re not allowed into the set. The gas station and the Ruby, appear obviously fake—actually seeing them in person. We catch a glimpse of the character Hank. He gives a brief wave. The rest of the cast in currently in the bar, filming. We go into the police station, which is actually a coffee/souvenir shop. I can’t believe how many other tourists are here. Who wants to drive all this way just to see Corner Gas? The number of people in the town is probably double or triple due to the cast and crew, and our fellow tourists. I buy a “Brent’s shirt” and copy of the 2^nd season DVD set. Normally wouldn’t, but I’m caught up in this strange small town Hollywood place, and the shirt is damn cool.

In the evening, Mrs. C, takes Jen and I out into the pasture in the what she calls, “Blackie”, an old Chevy pickup truck. Our goal is to reunite a sickly starving calf with her bloated mother, who needs to be rid of the excess milk that is causing her swollen “bag” to hang nearly to the ground. If you’re picture the pasture as flat, you are wrong. I’m surprised at the 2-wheel drive pickup’s ability to make it up and down the rocky rolling hills. Although on one occasion, we fail to make it up a hill, and need to back down and try a different route. We never do find the calf. Mrs. C says both calf and mother may die. I worry about their fate while my stomach is full of the roast beef we had at dinner.

2006-07-24T09:25:00.000-07:00

Sunday July 16, 2006: Drive from out(in)laws residence in Calgary to wife's grandparent's farm in southern Saskatchewan

In rural Saskatchewan, the sign on the grain elevator is what makes the town. They blew up the local grain elevator in the 80’s Jen says. At that point I guess it stopped being a town, now just simply southern Saskatchewan.

As we drove through the Saskatchewan prairies, the scenery a change of pace from the Ontario farmlands where we live, I couldn't help wonder why there were no tress growing anywhere? Jen says the farmers cut them all down. This makes me mad and frustrated. The climate here is not overly conducive to growing trees; almost the exact opposite to where the beautiful California coast redwoods grow. Every tree growing here, fighting honorably against the elements should be considered sacred.

The sunlight falls in an interesting pattern over the undulating hills. The clouds casting their shadows like a camouflage fabric. Upon coming here for the first time, many people are surprised, as I was, to find that much of Saskatchewan is far from flat.

Listening to Miles, on my work laptop: the ‘Brew, Silent Way, on the Corner, and Pangaea. Perfect music for such a trip. Reading: Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland. The author that coined the term ‘generation X’ never fails to provide an interesting book, even if not altogether exciting. Again, the perfect book for being confined to the car on such a road-trip.

The experience of finally reaching the farm is difficult to describe, a mixture of, fear, curiosity and tiredness. There are in fact, not one, but two guns. Although they sit, not in, but propped against the wall, just outside the bathroom. I could see how one could be standing to take a leak, and see some small animal running around the farmyard. Shell casings litter the farmyard, together with the carcasses of several small animals. Also, there are clusters of bullet holes through various things: truck, platic containers, …

I was sternly warned about Grandpa. That he curses a lot, and that his politics were nearly exact opposite from my long-haired neo-hippy attitude. Turns out we got along fine. Over the coming days I told him about my use of chainsaw and other equipment in our forest, as well as my work on cars, and even my experiences welding. I think all of this garnered me some respect.

While I certainly miss the trees, I cannot deny the power of the sunset here as it plays across the breadth of the fields.

Advice from Grandpa, “Don’t shoot a deer that’s runnin’ away from ya. It’s all jelly in the back, you’ll ruin the meat.”