Sat, 31 Jan 2004
A month of winters.
January is at an end. I'm sitting in the local coffee shop, where a guy is playing some Jazz and Blues classic tunes, fairly well, and I'm enjoying it, and reflecting on the past month.
January was a full non-stop month of winter. It was seasonably cold, (as opposed to unseasonably cold, which for January, had better be pretty damned cold. I don't think that wind chills of -30°c really qualifies as unseasonable.) and seasonably snowy. More importantly, it was consistently cold and snowy. Wow. Real winter.
I went to my second Tai Chi class since the whole Christmas season which was pretty much a write off. I'm really enjoying the classes. I've got a decent (in my opinion) sense of balance and flow, which helps. And Vic was nice enough not to charge me for this session, since I missed so many classes last session.
I had a relatively glowing review from my boss yesterday too. Apparently a lot of issues that came up in the previous year's review have shown considerable improvement. Yay me. Maybe I'll get a raise. That would be nice.
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Wed, 28 Jan 2004
Calzonetti's Last Theorem
I was working really late last night, and I needed strings of pseudo random numbers up for creating user IDs for this one project I'm working on. I don't think I'm really compromising any security or confidentiality here, by telling you this. I ended up finding a website that listed pi to one million digits, and picked sequences from that.
Being rather tired and prone to letting my mind both wander and hallucinate, I envisioned discovering some highly covert message or pattern in the stream of random numbers I was looking at. Perhaps akin to the scientists finding the message embedded in pi in the book Contact. (Or so I'm told. I've yet to read it. It's on my list.) I would be shocked and amazed at my discovery, and hurriedly scribble something down to that effect ("Remarkable proof!") before assassins employed by the oppressive and top secret government agency that already knows about it dispatch me.
I am found dead at my desk the next morning, my half-completed writings mostly, but not completely erased, thus beginning an epic thriller-action-adventure for the plucky young thing I secretly have a crush on discovers my body and becomes enmeshed in a web of intrigue and danger.
Sadly, my life is not so interesting. Though I am still alive. So I suppose that's something.
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Wed, 21 Jan 2004
Once upon a time, there was a little monkey.
This monkey was not that unusual, in that he liked bananas, throwing feces, and to sit around, not observing (either visually, or aurally), nor uttering evil.
One day, the monkey was wandering around, minding his own business, when he happened upon a very complicated and involved combination bank robbery and puppy torturing in progress.
So second nature had the act of not seeing evil to the little monkey, and so pervasive was the evil around him, that he thought that he had gone completely blind. He stumbled around amazed, until he walked out of the bank, and got hit by a bus. (An evil bus.)
The End
Happy Chinese New Year's!
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Sun, 18 Jan 2004
Winter's firm grasp
After the Christmas' unseasonably mild weather, it's nice to see some real winter weather. Today is the mildest of the days I've seen in quite some time at a particularly balmy and sunny -4°c. Over the last few weeks, we've seen some much nastier weather, including wind chills of approaching -40. Real winter.
I ran into a friend I had not seen in a really long time yesterday who is now teaching in Guelph. It was purely by accident. I had decided to get a coffee at a nearby Tim's before I went to wait in line at a medical clinic that was having an open registration for people looking for family doctors. And there she was having lunch with her mother.
For those of you not from 'round these parts, K-W is in desperate need of doctors practicing family medicine. I've lived here for nigh on thirteen years now, and I haven't really had a doctor here. The really nice thing was though I was warned of the long wait in line at the clinic, when I arrived, the gentleman who handed me a form to fill out told me that I couldn't have picked a better time. All told, I think I was in and out in about ten minutes, whereas that morning, there were people waiting over an hour.
At any rate, things have been going pretty well of late. Nice wintry weather, a stroke of luck here and there, and to top it off, I have my health. Not too shabby.
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Mon, 05 Jan 2004
A Stroke of Luck
I've been playing lottery tickets on a continuous streak of luck, from a single scratch and win ticket given as a stocking stuffer to me from clvrmnky (who's site is as of this writing unavailable due to the relocation of his top secret headquarters).
Assuming I remember correctly, here's the path I've taken so far:
- The "12 Days of Christmas" scratch and win won $7, which I traded in for a Bingo scratch and win, and $4. Net winnings: $4
- The Bingo ticket won $3. Traded in for another Bingo ticket. Net: $4
- That ticket won $9. Traded in for another Bingo, and a Crossword ticket. Net: $7
- The Bingo ticket won $6, and the Crossword $3. Traded in for a Bingo card yet again, and a Cash 4 Life card. Net: $9
- The Bingo ticket didn't win. Désolé. The Cash 4 Life card won $4, which I traded in for another Cash 4 Life card. Net: $9
- The new Cash 4 Life also won $4. And it's sitting burning a hole in my pocket as we speak.
At this rate, I'll be comfortably wealthy 0.09% sooner than the rest of you. I'll remember you fondly when I'm sipping scotch on my yacht.
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Fri, 02 Jan 2004
Spending time
The end of the Holidays was fun. I got to see my niece and nephew, both exuberant and getting into all sorts of trouble. I was glad to get back home though, and get caught up on my sleep.
I had a fun New Year's. I went to a ZUckerVaTi's wine and cheese party, where I made a decent mulled wine, and brought eight year old cheddar for people to consume.
The other fun thing I've been doing has been spending money. I've got a new toy, a fully loaded onyx GameBoy Advance SP, with all sorts of connector cables and other accessories. My every waking moment of late is consumed with thoughts or visions of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance; a game which gets better the more I play it.
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