senatorhung's pad
ramblings of an information troubleshooter
ramblings of an information troubleshooter
productive procrastination
permalink Sunday, 06NOV2005:it's interesting that you can get really productive when you're avoiding what you should be doing. maybe it's just your subconscious telling you that you are not quite ready for the other task. anyway, i had meant to re-install windows xp today, but it will have to wait until the remembrance long weekend as i ended up vacuuming the apartment.
i had tried to do this on saturday, but the vacuum bag hadn't been changed since i moved to the north and could not fit in another speck of dust. none of the local stores had a suitable replacement, so i ended up ordering a 5-pack of panasonic c-4 vacuum bags online, after making sure that they shipped to canada. online retailing is truly fab for being able to fulfill these kinds of niche markets.
anyway, instead of waiting a couple more weeks for the ordered bags to arrive , i manually unclogged some material from the bag (*eww*), kicking up a storm of dust as i did so. however, the operation was successful and i was ecstatic that the vacuum was able to gather up the dust in the rest of the apartment. as i was moving stuff around to hoover, my latest perfect floorplan crystallized in my head and i ended up shoving furniture around for the rest of the evening. with measuring tape in hand, i was able to get at least the furniture in place, if not all the miscellaneous piles of yet to be consumed media.
stumps of iqaluit
permalink Monday, 07NOV2005:
so as i was walking to work this sunny morning, i noticed that one of the wooden walking posts just recently installed had been knocked over, with the metal post inside bent over like a crumpled lollipop stick. either some poor drunken schmuck drunk woke up this morning to discover a huge dent in their front fender or what the city giveth on one hand, the city taketh away on the other.
i haven't heard a single person comment favourably on these 'stumps of iqaluit'. they don't seem to quite fit aesthetically, and at the first real snowfall we'll find out whether the visibility stripes will actually work. i suspect that if this season tops the number of pedestrian fatalities that prompted this un-arctic concept, that the city will rush to pull them out, even tho this will be a hugely challenging (and costly) task once they've been frozen into the ground for a few months.
left out in the cold
permalink Tuesday, 08NOV2005:got so wrapped up in taking minutes for a meeting tonight that i neglected to check on the outside door down the hall in a timely fashion, leaving connie and malcolm standing out in the cold. it's pretty sad that the amount of break-ins has caused such a security crackdown, with electronic keypads on just about every door. the only good thing to come out of this mess was that we resolved to hold our next meetings at the bar where we wouldn't have problems with people not being able to get into the building.
newbie snowmobile owner oopsie
permalink Wednesday, 09NOV2005:iqaluit broomball chronicle:
team black: julian, jacques, kerry, marco, bobby, dan
team white: siobhan, kevin, mark, JF, christian, me
with 12 people making an appearance, we finally had a chance to play all-out with a sub on the sidelines. both kevin and bobby showed off the backstopping prowess that had been missing from a few of the earlier games this season. however, jacques seemed to have kevin's number and scored a pair of goals while threatening more. kerry added a third goal for team black with a shot that bobbled precariously over mark before slipping in behind him.
team white charged back as JF responded with his own pair of goals, joined by solo goals from christian and siobhan. so, while team white prevailed 4-3, we were all mystified that the dynamic duo of marco and mark (thankfully on opposing teams again) were shut out of the scoring. perhaps they weren't used to having so many people crowded onto the ice and decided to content themselves with assisting on the goals by others.
when i got back to my apartment building, julian suggested that i make sure that the tracks on my snowmobile weren't frozen into the ground. i did a quick lift check, but alas, the sled didn't budge. julian suggested a hot water treatment, so i boiled some up into a thermos and steamed up the ground around the rear end of the snowmobile. all the weight training at the gym didn't succeed in giving me the chest strength to make the sled move, so i crouched down with my back against the building wall and pushed the tail bar up with my legs. it moved !
however, it was an uncontrolled move and the sled kilted off to the side while i was trying to wedge a box stuffed with cardboard sheets underneath the treads. again i went down on my back and gradually nudged the sled up in stages until i was able to slide the box under. then, it was simply a matter of wiggling the sled bit by bit until i was able to jam the wedge with a broom, positioning it to maximize the gap between the treads and the ground.
that was enough exertion for me for the evening, so i spent the rest of the night watching the caribbean episode from the 2d season of the world poker tour on dvd. umm, twice. hey the daniel negreanu commentary track where he explains what he was thinking while he was busting out was fab. really ! *sigh* some people ...
anticipating opportunities
permalink Thursday, 10NOV2005:delaying my lunch, i attended an impromptu meeting of the local members of the nunavut library association, in conjunction with a teleconference course on the '12 effective habits of successful librarians'. one of the neat factoids was that in a drug company survey, librarians came in 2d after accountants as the professionals having the most frequent headaches. while many librarians went into the field many years ago, anticipating a quiet, stable road until eventual retirement, the challenges and stresses of modern librarianship have been a shock to them.
the combination of technical skills, professional library skills and people skills required to effectively perform as a modern librarian was likened to the situation facing many business or management leaders - quite a stretch from the popular image of a mature lady with spectacles and hair bun shushing the teens making out in the corner.
after work, i took in the monthly meeting of the city's solid waste management committee. nothing too exciting happened, but we did get some good news about the ownership of the piece of land proposed for an extension of the existing landfill and a note to indicate that the city could indeed expand beyond its near-capacity site assuming that all regulatory bodies give the go-ahead. those would include the nunavut water board, inac, dfo and ec.
i had been intending to watch the zorro sequel on its last night in town, but anna called up and invited me to a powwow at their place instead. it seems that neil and tony are ready to rally the troops for their production of the inuit 'mahaha' legend and had tapped me as someone who might fit into the mix as a sound guy. sounded great to me ! alison and celina agreed to help out with coaching the cast, claude continued to be the costumer of choice and babah was confirmed as the legendary monster. we'll meet again next week to finalize the promotional details before we hold auditions for the cast in january, with the shoot scheduled for early april.
gathering at bella's
permalink Friday, 11NOV2005:slept thru the remembrance day ceremonies at the legion (and the afternoon of free beverages) as i was exhausted from staying up late watching the world poker tour dvd set. hauled myself out of bed late in the afternoon to get ready to head up to bella's place where she was hosting an evening of food and good cheer.
among those in attendance were alison, naomi, mike and tracy, robert, odile, jillian, orla, lori and paula. also joining us from montreal were erin and david who were in town to put on a theatre workshop over the weekend. erin, of course, was infamous as the city's recycling girl in her previous sojourn in this burg, and she was glad to be able to make a return visit.
playing back
permalink Saturday, 12NOV2005:attended a playback workshop at the inukshuk high school library hosted by erin and david. we learned a variety of different forms that would be used depending on the type of story being played back. these included fluid sculptures, rants, double and three-piece. we also used a gang exercise to prepare for the double. using these techniques, the actors on stage would do an improv based on a story related by someone in the audience.
during a break, chris and i paired up to relate a story to each other. chris talked about how much he misses his mother who passed away a year ago last summer. i related my 'running in paris' story, where i took off from my high school tour group after i got frustrated that we kept going around in circles because the chaperones didn't know how to read a map. i was a little bit apprehensive that i might be wrong, but also excited to be on my own in the city, having made my own decision. i made it to the hotel, breathless from running, and could not explain what had happened to those waiting in the lobby. the rest of my group showed up another half hour later after they had gotten themselves sorted out and i got a semi-stern talking to, but i think they were just relieved that i was ok.
on reflection, this story highlights the fact that i'm more likely to need to be right than to need to go along with the crowd. i'm almost self-reliant to a fault and perhaps i need to find a way to let myself be more open to accepting assistance from others.
afterwards, i went to the storehouse to hang out with a few of the workshop participants - erin, david, robert and odile. we played air hockey for a bit before hitting the dance floor to rock out to the smashing pumpkins and michael jackson.
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