skiing at Lake Louise

What is it with me and analgesics? They either act instantly (implying a serious placebo effect) or take ages. Example, you demand? Today. Just now, in fact. I'm not sure why (since I slept 9 hrs Monday night and 10 hrs last night), but when I got to work/school this morning at about 10:30, I developed an increasingly nasty headache behind my eyes. For me headaches usually occur like this when I'm low on sleep. Anyway, in agony, I stumbled to the convenience store on the ground floor of the CS building along a glass corridor from Earth Sciences. They had Advil; good enough. Two tablets washed down with OJ and water, and still the nastiness persisted; bad enough that it prevented me from thinking, even enough to play hearts. Somehow I passed the time opening and closing windows on my desktop until just ten minutes ago (almost a full hour after taking the tablets)... when the pain disappeared. It was instantaneous and actually shocking; any explanation for this, bio people? It was good timing as I was toying with the idea of defying their "two pills per 4 hrs" dosage recommendation, on the basis that I have more body mass than most. Yay for inhibiting the COX-1 enzyme, depite how long it took.

In other news, I went skiing again yesterday. This time we went to Lake Louise, where because it was Tuesday it was pretty empty. As expected many of the runs were very icy due to the windswept nature of this ski hill, but we mostly stayed on the better protected hills. My rentals were, as with a week ago at Sunshine, fantastic. My thighs hurt from supporting all my weight plus g-forces while carving those turns so nicely. I am also improving my mogul-handling techniques, depending how steep the incline is. I had one absolutely spectacular wipe out, described in the following diagram (click).
Apologies for illegible handwriting. Loads of respect if you can decipher all of it.

I was tricked because the first time I went down that run I went over one of these drifts and only the lip part was soft; perhaps it had begun life as a mogul because it was mostly solid. However, this was clearly not the case with all of the drifts. I was only slightly injured because of the way my right wrist was bent due to the ski pole not wanting to plunge into the snow so eagerly (the left one went in at a better angle). It was surprising to find myself unexpectedly near-horizontal while in the air, but it was also rather comical.

At lunch my rental skis (although strangely not the poles) were taken from the rack by someone, understandable since all the rentals were the same. Even more strange was that they didn't leave a pair of skis with the same size-setting on the bindings (there was a pair there but they were too small for my boots). Since we were at a lodge on the other side of the mountain I had to take the lifts back to the main lodge to get replacements (free of charge). Luckily when we went back to check the same rack later that day, whoever it was had realised their error and put them back. The dude at the lodge agreed to return them for me. If they hadn't been returned, I'd have been on the line for roughly $300-400. As I said, they were nice skis.

On a sidenote, it is difficult to get off a ski lift with only ski boots, but I managed it without falling over. I still looked like an idiot: have you ever tried to run in ski boots?

Unlike last time, I did not collide with any wildlife. I did get some nice pictures of mountains I don't know the names of. They're up above somewhere in case you somehow subconsciously screened them out. Now go look and be jealous. There are more reasons to come to Calgary than the nuts economy.

another pointless all-nighter

It's 4:10 am and my accomplishments tonight (since 8 pm Sunday) amount to printing three pieces of paper (the content was already done) and extending (by a few cm) a couple of straight lines representing UTM grid kilometres on my base map, all while listening to the latest "Lost" podcast. It was tough, I needed a ruler. I just finished a four hour session of playing the original 1991 DOS game "A10 Tank Killer". Prior to this orgy of tank destruction I had watched a bunch of Malcolm in the Middle and Sopranos (downloaded Friday). Now I ask myself, what better way to continue to avoid doing any work than making a blog entry? None, of course; besides, I'm way overdue.

It has been 7 days of complete slack now, apart from making those kilometre lines and printing out the coordinates of each station from last summer (now I must put them on the map). Usually I would have posted a couple of contests or perhaps just some amusing photos either from my vast repository or pilfered from the net. However, my motivation is lacking somewhat. I don't know what it is, but it seems that many blogs are cooling down, are being updated less and less frequently. Is it a decline in general interest? Is this trend more global than just among my friends? I doubt it. You start scanning around the blogosphere (I abhor that word but for lack of a better one must use it) and find that blogging is on the increase everywhere. So why are the friends I'm thinking of, and myself, gradually abandoning our weblogs? Maybe it was cool at the time, and now a passing fad? Or perhaps just some sort of welcome distraction that is losing its appeal (as almost all distractions do)? I don't know. I will continue to post, probably on a weekly sort of basis (a far cry from the 10-20 times a month last winter/spring). Also I looked back at those old posts, and is it just me or are they way more amusing than this drivel I'm composing right now? This train of thought has amounted to nothing useful, although I don't think I'll delete it.

I got caught up with events in the blogoverse (any better?) this week, as I said, and saw this most excellent blog. I went the whole hog and watched the youtube video (audio only, it's on putfile as well). Here's the upshot if you're too lazy to go and read the first post on that blog: Dude uses cell networks for data transfer, was going to Canada, wanted to know Verizon's rates for data transfers in Canada. So he does what any reasonable person does, and calls them up to ask. He is quoted "point zero zero two cents per kilobyte" and, knowing this sounded low, asked for a note to that effect to be made in his account. He was charged $0.002 per kb, and had a bill of about $79 from the trip. He expected $0.79, based on the quoted rate, and then proceeded to have hours of conversations with various managers at Verizon call-centres, none of whom could understand the different between 0.002 cents and 0.002 dollars. It's funny at first, then gets more disturbing as person after person (and possibly entire rooms full of people: in one call the girl gets him to hold while she asks around) fail to get it, despite admirably patient hours of explanation. Anyway it's brought up this whole issue of poor math instruction in the states, although it's likely that the people who've held call-centre jobs long enough to become senior managers don't have a lot of other career options. Anyway, the funniest thing to come out of this is this picture from this website (click for big).
If you remember math from first and second years, you might notice that it's all just 0.002.

WHAT NOW, BITCHES?

Hah that still gets me! Next post I'll have some other amusing pics from around the web.

I'm going home on Thursday, my flights aren't actually as complicated as I'd thought (I only change at Regina and Toronto), and I get in earlier than I'd thought as well (8pm instead of 10). Since getting this laptop flying has become way more fun than before; watching TV and movies helps me forget about the horrendous lack of legroom and the inevitable cramps and bruised knees. I just wish that people on 1 hour midday hops would refrain from reclining their seat, or at least do it gently so I get enough time to rescue my screen from being crushed between the underside of the tray and my legs. I swear that on every single flight I've been on (5 days of travel) since my first-class return from europe last year, the old person in front of me has reclined their seat for the whole flight, regardless of the time of day. I don't do that. I'm considerate.

I actually feel a touch of guilt when I recline my chair. Think about it: here in Canada we have loads of space, and individuals' personal space can be fairly large. In a plane it's already reduced to a woefully minimal space. You have to wage intense battles of wits against sweaty overweight guys for your armrest, and you don't even own the space 10cm under your ass - that belongs to the bags or feet of the person behind you (sometimes even your window-side armrest belongs to their now unclad and reeking foot). So reclining your chair is a sudden and blatant encroachment on the personal space of the person behind you (although if their foot's on your armrest your best bet is to try and sever some tendons by reclining). Assuming it isn't some sort of intentional retaliatory strike, you must consider that by reclining you're removing a sizeable chunk of their already tiny space volume. On night flights it's usually fine because everyone puts their chair back (except the poor bastard in the last row against the bulkhead) but if it's a day flight, it's possible that the person behind you can't recline to reclaim their space because of the terrible ergonomic situation they'd be in for watching illegally acquired tv shows (i.e. ME). So Dear T.S. Bundy*, I know you'll be sitting in front of me, so if you must recline, please give me some warning so my incomprehensible new-fangled adding machine isn't damaged. Thank you.

I did enjoy ranting on like that for so long. Tedious though it may be to you, just think that it's all for a good cause. I've wasted nearly another hour writing this pathetic blog entry. And now I suppose I should actually do some work - I'm supposed to present my summer's worth of fieldwork accomplishments to my supervisor today, so it would be nice if I actually knew what I've done. Well, I do know, but I want it to look at least somewhat organised. Hence fixing up the base map and stuff.

See you in Fredericton (those who'll be there); give me a call at home (or the cell, but that'll still be long distance) on Friday, preferably not the morning. Who's up for market Saturday?

Cheers, minions.

* I bet only Joe gets that.

slacking, drinking, skiing, Bond, and squirrels.

Hello, vast readership of approximately three.

My term is complete! I took my 30 minute oral exam and proudly handed in my paper (18 days late, a new personal best) on Friday. Celebration began immediately, as I went to the grad lounge to pre-drink before the departmental Christmas party booze-up, which was excellent. I had about a dozen beers over the evening, and failed to drink enough water that night. I was drunk enough to forget if I made a complete ass of myself (which is likely), which is fine by me: I don't even want to know. The hangover on Saturday was not quite bad enough to prevent me from joining friends going to Sunshine Village for skiing, but was bad enough that I had to insist that Jason pull over and stop as quickly as he could at one point on the drive there. Powerade at lunchtime saved the day.

The skiing was fantastic. The mountain was virtually empty, the snow was 'decent' quality (counts as excellent quality back east) and the weatherwas perfect. It was between 0 and +5 or so all day, glorious! Plus the mountainous view is more impressive at Sunshine than any other ski hill I have ever been to; and the light through the thin clouds was incredible. I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera. I had rental skis which were virtually untouched because they replace them all at the beginning of each season, and were terrific. They carved like you wouldn't believe and I was amazed every time at their ability to turn sharply.

The most unexpected part of the day was on the last run, the ski-out to the parking lot, when against all odds I struck a small squirrel. The crazy creature basically fell down a tree on the right and bolted across the thin trail. It was most of the way across then doubled back. It would have made it back again too, but when almost off the trail it doubled back again. It froze just in front of me, then doubled back again, right into my left ski. I lifted it quickly but the impact was distinctly audible. Either not seriously injured or on adrenaline, it ran off in the other direction across the trail and into the woods, cutting across the woman behind me. She and I looked at each other, absolutely shocked. We were both lost for words. As I waited for my friends on the next rise I wondered if it was some sort of omen. Don't we have a deal with the squirrels?

Next day I got a much needed haircut and then went for roast-beef dinner with a (now graduated) doctoral student of my father's. There were five people there and the meal was excellent, although I felt conspicuously young by at least 10 years.

Then yesterday (Monday) I went to see Casino Royale. It is excellent, I've read the book (it's the first one Fleming wrote) and the film sticks fairly well to the plot in the book, with changes made to reflect that the Cold War is over. Craig's Bond fits much better with Fleming's decription of how he should look and behave than any prior Bond: much more cold, serious, and gritty than the suave pun-spewing Bonds of earlier films. He's like Timothy Dalton, although I wasn't a fan of Dalton.

They've rebooted the series (it's Bond's first mission as a double-O agent); and they're starting over with modern film technology and a revised concept of who Bond is and how he operates. It is actually rather refreshing, and it all seemed believable and tangible so long as you understand the departure from continuity in the series. I can't say I'm going to miss the cartoonish exploits of some prior Bond films, as I always found the more reasonable plots more entertaining (eg Goldfinger, Octopussy).

I think Craig works well as Bond, although his flappy ears are at times amusing to behold. He's also the most athletic Bond since Connery (although they didn't "show off" Connery like they have done with Craig; it's not obvious in those early films how built Connery was, he was in contention for Mr. Universe in 1953). I think I miss the flippancy and wit shown by the Bonds of Connery, Moore, and Brosnan, but regardless I think this is the best Bond since Goldeneye, and very possibly better.

The car (2007 Aston Martin DBS) is utterly amazing, and they do feature an iconic DB5 as well. But in a nice departure from the recent films, there are no missiles, machineguns, mortars, or howitzers in the car. Nor does it go invisible, although with no Q we don't get a rundown on the gadgetry, we only see the medkit including a portable defibrillator. The sound of the DBS engine was like hearing God himself. I can't wait till the Top Gear guys get their hands on one!

A couple of weeks here to organise my desk, book my probe time next term, and select what parts of what thin sections to zap with electrons. Home on the 21st (evening), but leaving for England on Christmas day (~9 pm from Halifax) and not back until the 3rd. Then I return to cowtown on the 7th. Hopefully this will be enough time to meet up with most of you at some point. Book now to avoid the rush!