I did it to myself again
Tried to use the iGoogle blog interface to generate a post and mistakenly tried to refresh my email. Methinks I need to move this thingy to another tab in my iGoogle page.
(Outburst, I was actually writing something that you might appreciate. Specifically, the madness of the local sports media vis-a-vis the non-decisions of one Mats Sundin. But I wonder...does complaining about their silliness make me party to it???)
According to the weather-guessers, we have set some sort of moisture record for this season.
In layman's parlance, the Toronto area has been summarily pissed upon. Over, and over, and over. Frankly, I didn't expect this kind of rain this side of Monsoon season in Indonesia. But I was quick to remind myself that I could have just as easily been spending my weekends in an open jeep on some kind of FTX (Field Training Exercise). As a sidebar, I knew a Reg Force Captain who loved to utter the phrase "it ain't trainin' if it ain't rainin'!". Of course HE got to spend the bulk of the weekend in the CP (command post) while we got to practice personal "pruning" and experiencing the early stages of trench foot.
...not that I'm bitter.
Anyway, I just wanted to rant about the weather, because getting into some long-winded beef about stuff like Mats Sundin's hockey future or the sad state of the Who Jays, or the shockingly large number of unsold ducats to the Buffalo Invasion would just be too easy.
I just watched one of the better games of the CFL season tonight. Montreal visitng Saskatchewan. The score was extremely tight for most of the game and the lead changed hands at least 8 times. However, near the end is when things got exciting. Fumbles, interceptions, and a real hard-fought game that sent the Regina faithful home with a smile. Pretty intimidating when the defending grey cup champs can beat you even with their third-string QB.
Viva la Weekend!
I spent a day snipe hunting (with outcomes that Scott Adams could appreciate) and I am now home, relaxing and unwinding. Okay, so the relaxing came in the form of two large Rum & Cokes, but that's not really the point, is it?
Sadly, I have work stuff to tackle over the weekend so it won't all be relaxation and/or home reno activities. However, the work stuff is all part of my greater career advancement plan so I will make the necessary sacrifices.
...geekery most foul.
There are times when iGoogle is a neat way to centralize stuff, but maybe not for blogging. I had a nice little post on some post-grad school ponderings and managed to lose it.
Just sayin'
(Of course, Penny says I should just do it "the old fashioned way")
This weekend saw some more tweaks and fixes completed at the Stone-Shagwell manor. I brushed in this nifty sand/polymer mix in the stones on the front walkway. When this stuff gets wet, it hardens and cures, not only locking the paves in place, but also preventing ants and weeds. Score one for the bipeds there. The other labour completed was the building of a shelf in the garage. Not just any shelf, mind you, but a hanging shelf that takes advantage of the high ceilings. I'll have to get a picture of this puppy to do it justice. It's actually the first of three ceiling-based shelves we will be putting up there. We don't make good use of the space in there, so lesser-used items and seasonal items can get off the floor, and that will help a lot. Sadly, I haven't figured out how to deal with the 2 big snow shovels, but a few ideas come to mind.
I didn't get a lot of sleep lat night despite some serious fatigue. Not quite how I wanted to kick off Monday, but what can ya do?
Today began the work in the long-overdue leveling of the front walk. It looked okay before the deck went on last summer, but not so much now.
So after shopping today we got started on the first part, removing the stones and clearing out the weeds and soil accumulating between the pavers. Ironically, while we have many patchy spots on our lawn, we manage to grow a bumper crop of weeds between the stones in the walk.
It was a rather mindless, dirty job, but we managed to get all the stones out, all the weeds out, and most of the aggregate re-leveled. However, a little research showed that the bozo who put in the stones didn't really do it right. So when we go to pick up the big tamper tomorrow, we will also pick up the appropriate edge barriers (to prevent the stones from slipping and spreading), the cloth barrier (to prevent weeds from growing), and the sand to lay over the aggregate and to brush over and inbetween the stones to bind them all together. If done correctly, the online sources tell me the walk should last a good 20 years.
I figure by the time the task rolls around again, I'll have recovered from this one.
We won't talk about those big-ass 2'x2' pavers in the back that still have to come up and get sorted out. I'm not naive enough to think they were laid down properly in the first place. But, yeah, I know it will have to be done too.
Maybe next weekend....
(Edit: The task was largely done Sunday night and everything hurt afterward. All that's left to do is re-positioning the edging, adding more sand to the gaps in the stones, and re-installing the stairs on the porch. If the "fuck you" signals I was receiving from my muscles are any indication, I will definitely neeed to make the back patio refresh a 2-person job.)
Ow...
There's really nothing worse than the end of your vacation and trying to get back into the groove after you drag your hide back to the salt mines.
Don't get me wrong, I can be productive, and I am contributing (one of my colleagues even said "were you away???") but I always find it the equivalent of jogging through knee-deep water. Slow, messy, and awkward.
Just sayin'...
On other notes, I am excited at the start of the CFL season, and the hometown Boatmen might be able to go 2-0 if they smack the Pussy-Cats in the home opener at the Dome tonight.
I am baffled, however, at some of the NHL free agency moves. However, I am not surprised at the local media going bananas over Mats Sundin's non-decision with respect to his career. Every little indecision spawns 2-3 articles agonizing over it and performing some kind of navel-gazing analysis.
Gawd. You'd think this burg only had one team that mattered. Guys, he's likely not coming back. Get over it. Move on.
(I've missed my writing outlet. Glad school's over. For now. *8*)
