updates are in order

So it has been a ridiculously long time since I last updated my blog. Several times over the last *gasp* 8 weeks I have thought of updating, but have just never gotten around to it. Other things to do I guess.

So what has happened? Well, I got my cast off in mid-November, and my ankle is healing well, although the physiotherapy is a royal pain in the rear. I can only seem to go early in the morning, and I feel like I keep doing the same excercises, only to have little progress actually made. But the good part of all this is that my fitness levels are increasing. I managed to gain a little bit of weight while my mobility was resticted, so I am happy to be a little more active. I am now walking at least one way to school every day, usually both ways, so things work out pretty well.

In the middle of October, I went to Vancouver to see the "Body Worlds 3" exhibit at Science World, now unfortunately named the Telus World of Science. The exhibit was okay, but after awhile it was pretty tiring, and somewhat absurd. I was expecting it to be cold, hard science (no pun intended) but there was an element of the theatrical which I found perturbing. Not to mention the fact that one body looks a lot like the next. There was also a somewhat-disturbing focus on the perfect body: none of the bosies on display were overweight, they were all perfect specimens, and the ones that still had skin were all caucasian. It was a little weird. Factor in the $21 admission rate (yes, that was the student rate!!) and the exhibit wasn't worth the price. All in all, I can say that I went, but I wouldn't reccommend the exhibit to anyone who wasn't an anatomy student.

While I was in Vancouver, I met up with Lindsay and Ryan and saw their new place, and spent the night with them. It was really nice to see Linds, as we hadn't been chatting much because of school. We walked up to a Starbucks near her house and had a good chin-wag. It was good.

In October I quit my job with Cinecenta, and applied for a position with the Student Facilities Group to work in the Clearihue Computer Lab. I got the job, and it has been working out pretty well. It is definitely lacking in some areas, but the wage certainly makes up for it. I do miss the people at Cinecenta, and the set schedule of hours, but it was a good move, financially at least.

For the November Reading Break I went to Nelson with Ella to visit my friend Samara's parents and drop Ella off at her mom's house. It was a great couple of days, spent hanging out with Samara and her family, doing very little, and eating a lot of amazing food! Samara's dad is a coop owner of the Kooteny Coop Bakery, and there stuff is amazing! The Baker's Breakfast on a spelt pizza bun? Definitely yummy! And the coffee from Oso Negro was delicious as well. I just wish we had more time, it didn't seem like long enough. My car did pretty well through the mountains. Road conditions were favourable, and Samara and I shared the driving. The drive up with Ella was fun, but we had to spend the night in Hope at the Alpine Motel because there was a blizzard going through the mountains. On the way home, Samara and I got caught in that dreadful storm that swept through the lower mainland. Incredible winds, power outages, no traffic lights. It was a nightmare! It took us two hours to get from Langley to the ferry terminal. But the trip was good, and I had a good time. I will really miss Samara when she moves back to Nelson in February, but I guess it will be one more excuse to go visit her!

In late November, I picked up a new job. Chris's parents bought a coffee shop downtown, and they brought me on board to help them out as a managing consultant. I also get to work the bar ocassionally. It is a great opportunity, and one that I wouldn't pass up, but it is job number three for me! Between three jobs and school, I have been stretched pretty thin this last little while.

Speaking of school, classes wound down last week, and I just finished a run of exams. I had German 200 on Monday afternoon, which I suspect is a disaster, and then I had my oral exam for German on Wednesday. It went alright, but the TA kept interrupting me and it through me off, so I made a few mistakes. But they can't be expecting too much, it isn't like we spoke German in class very often. I wrote my Shakespeare final last night, but it was pretty good. I felt reasonably confident coming out. I will interested to see what my final mark turns out to be.

Finally, I put myself on Lavalife and Plenty of Fish, and have had a couple of interesting leads. In fact, I even have a date tonight!

I think that this pretty much sums up what has been going on in the last little while. Not to mention, the longest blog post in awhile. Hopefully I get some pictures up soon.

And I'm out...

update

So I don't have much to update on, except that ENGL 353: Introduction to Medieval Literature is a freaking hard course! The prof assigns a LOT of work. Next week, we have two hours of reading for each class, a five page assignment due on Thursday, and a translation quiz on Thursday as well. And that is a typical week.

And, in typical Dave fashion, I have been procrastinating quite badly. I am going to rearrange my room, do the dishes, go see a movie, go for coffee, do ANYTHING except my schoolwork. Add to that, I started up on MySpace. So there is a few hours out the window right there.

Speaking of movies, I went and saw Little Muss Sunshine. It is one of the best movies I have seen in years. Well executed, and absolutely hilarious. I have now seen it twice, and laughed my ass off both times! If you have an opportunity, I would strongly recommend seeing this film. Not to mention, the soundtrack is so cute!

And I'm off to my German class...

I'm tired, cranky, and sore. My ankle hurts, and now my arms and hands hurt from the crutches... life's a bitch.

But it could be much worse. To quote Monty Python: "Always look on the bright, side of life"

So yep, my ankle is broken. I broke my fibula in 2 places, and have to get a cast. I'll be on crutches for the next 4-6 weeks, and in my "AirCast" for 6 weeks, followed up by more xrays. Oh well.

The bad thing is that the cast is approx $300 dollars, and it might not be covered under my health insurance, which is super shitty.

So I had people from work over for an end-of-year party last night, and everybody had a great time. The clincher? I have likely borken my ankle. We don't know for sure, I am going in for xrays tomorrow morning, but it sure looks/feels broken. How'd I do it? I fell the down the last half of the stairs from our deck to the backyard...

Oh well, shitty things happen. Maybe people will pay alot of attention to me if I am temporarily crippled. The bad news is that I had to cancel a shift at the Gardens, cause I can't really work a standing canape reception with a broken ankle, can I?

My house is pissing me off...

Sitting in Nanaimo

Alright, so here I am in Nanaimo popping in on Liz and Chris' place. They are getting back from Europe in about a week. Hopefully they will have brought something for me with them. I just wanted to include some pictures from my Okanangan visit. So below, here they are!


A view from the top of Knox Mountain, looking across the bridge over Okanagan Lake.


The view from Cedar Creek Estate Winery


The view from the patio at NK'MIP Cellars, where we ate lunch.


The Grotto at NK'MIP, where they age their red wine in oak barrels.


The view into the vineyard at Sumac Ridge Estate Winery in Summerland. It used to be the fairway for the first hole of a gold course, before Sumac Ridge bought the course and started the winery.


This is a picture of the Barrel Cellar at Mission Hill Family Estate Winery. It is underground, and quite a dramatic site. It was just a little too polished for my liking, like a "Disneyland of Wineries." The Barrel Cellar is stunning, but you just know that there is a warehouse somewhere stacked high with barrels and lit with fluorescent lights, where they actually make wine. It was stunning there, but a little fake.


Above ground at Mission Hill. They have a stunning site. The entrance to the Barrel Cellar is underneath the bell tower.


This is one of the cutest dogs I have ever met. His name is Tux (for Tuxedo) and he is on the sweetest dogs ever. I wanted to take him home, but Rowan's mom wouldn't part with him.

so much wine...

So I have been up in the Okanagan for the last three days, and man, have I tasted a lot of wine. Rowan's parents have been gracious enough to let us stay with them in Kelowna, and we have been running around. On Sunday, we went to Summerhill Pyramid Winery, and Cedar Creek Estate Winery. Monday, we went down to Osoyoos, and went to NK'MIP Cellars, where we had lunch. I had caribou sausage and bison steak. It was really quite good. On our way home we stopped at the Golden Beaver Winery, which was an experience in and of itself. This morning, we went to Sumac Ridge Estate Winery in Summerland, then on to Mission Hill Family Estate Winery. After Mission Hill, we stopped at Quail's Gate. Needless to say, I have purchase 6 bottles of wine for myself.

Anyways, I am on a borrowed internet connection, so pictures and details will follow later!

And I'm out...

BaratsandBereta.com

These two guys make this videos, among others, and they are all pretty darn funny. From what I can gather, they attend Gonzaga University, a Jesuit university in Spokane, WA. Visit their website at BaratsandBereta.com and prepare to laught your ass off. They are also posted on YouTube.com

omg

I don't know where these people come from...

long time no blog

So, as usual, it has been a long time since my last entry. Here we go in a nutshell:

We had our Corporate Challenge Regatta on June 3rd: My team took the championship in our division (Challenger Quad). It was a lot of fun, Claire dropped by to watch, and a great time was had by all at the party afterward.

I bought my ticket to go to London/Exeter/Berlin/Munich/wherever Tara will be living in February. Quite exciting, now that I actually have the ticket. Although I have some supreme jealousy. Liz and Chris are going to Europe for three weeks this August. I hope they have a good time, but they better bring me something!

I am settling into a routine at the new house. We are coming up on two months now, and so far there haven't been any roommate clashes, so we are doing pretty well, considering that there are 6 people living in the house.

I had the Father's Day from hell. Mom mad at Matthew, Liz and Chris trying to get back up the island to take care of their pug, and mom angry at me for having the gall to make breakfast plans, even though we agreed that I would go to their house at 12:30pm, so suck it up Mom. But Chris' parents came as well, we had a barbeque (although we ate indoors), and it ended up pretty well. I also found out that my Mom is certain that I was molested by the janitor at my elementary school, who was arrested on molestation charges last year. I found this out from my siblings. Thanks a bundle, mom.

Work is work. I am not really enjoying it this year. They are cracking down on expenses, and management is riding everybody really hard. My director has me terrified to take a lunch break or 10 minutes to have a glass of water, cause he always comes down to check on the outlet when i am on my break, and has this impression that I am never there. Add to that chronic understaffing, and it is a pretty stressful place.

What else...

I had breakfast with Mera on Sunday at DeDutch. It was good, but not quite what we were looking for. But Mera treated, and we had a good time.

I think that is everything I can come up with at the moment. I'll post some pictures later!

new house

Here I am two weeks after my move. Everything went pretty well. I am really liking the new place, and looking forward to getting settled in even more. I just have this to say: Hardwood floors need a lot of cleaning. And I mean a lot. It seems like they are always dirty!

But I have had a very productive day. I walked up to UVic this morning and declared my program, English Major with a Minor in Professional Writing. I also picked up the new Academic Calendar for next year, so I can start choosing my courses for next year. Except I have a late registration date (July 5) so we'll see what I actually get in to. I also mowed the lawn today! House looks a lot better for having a tidy lawn!

Anyways, back to domesticity. The bathroom needs a good cleaning.

I'm out.

new home, new bed

Well, after two days my move is complete. I, however, am entering one of my world-famous, "I don't care anymore about anything now fuck off" funks.

And it's pissing me off.

But Keenan is making Kraft Dinner, and we are going to veg out in front of the TV tonight. So I should try and cheer up.

elk lake isn't warm in april

Oh, dear lord.

So we were all rowing merrily along this afternoon on Elk Lake, when all of a sudden, two of our rowers got out of sync, and got their oars caught in the water. We started to tilt to starboard. So, being the "experienced" rower that I am, I decided to compensate by depressing the flat side of my oar against the surface of the lake in order to counteract the forces pulling us to starboard.

But there was one thing...

My oar wasn't squared against the surface of the water. Oh no, it was perpendicular. So what happened? I too got my oar caught, and contributed to the forces pulling us over. The boat started to slowly tilt, and I though "Well, we've tipped this far before, and we always recover." Except we didn't. All of a sudden, Elk Lake was filling our boat over the starboard gunnel, and we swamped the boat and flipped.

That's right, we flipped the boat, dumping all of us rather unceremoniously into the lake. The cold, cold lake. And when you are rowing, your feet are velcroed into shoes that are fastened to the boat. So as we started to swamp, someone yelled "FEET!" and we all tried to pull the emergency release on our shoes before we went right over. Luckily, we did. Another bit of luck: the coach boat was following us, and they have life preservers.

So there we are, beaching ourselves over our capsized boat, and we are thinking "the coach boat will pick us up, and we'll go back to the boathouse and dry off/warm up." Except that when you flip a $15,000+ boat, its recovery become fairly important. And so we had to STAY in the freezing lake, remove all of the oars from the boat, and pass them into the coach boat. Then, we had to flip the boat back to upright. Then we got to climb into the coach boat. But wait, we have to tow the boat back to shore. Well, there is nothing more exciting than freezing your ass of in wet clothes, with no shoes, while leaning out the side of the coach boat to hold a swamped/sinking rowing shell beside you as you creep back to the boathouse.

Once we got to shore, we all got to shower, which was fortunate. It was also fortunate that I had brought a towel in my backpack today. It was unfortunate that I had no change of clothes. So off with everything (including skivvies), a hot shower, then putting on the wet swimsuit (ick), and helping bring the submerged boat back up to the boathouse.

Needless to say, an eventful day.

Now my warm, cozy bed is beckoning. I think I shall heed its call.

kinda fitting, eh?

Your Superhero Profile

Your Superhero Name is The Night Glider Your Superpower is Radiation Your Weakness is Vince Vaughn Your Weapon is Your Strobe Club Your Mode of Transportation is Seahorse

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whoa

so it's been more than a month. but a lot has happened, and will be happening. Pictures, updates, text, and rants will follow shortly.

because I am done exams, I now have more time to spend on my blog...

which isn't necessarily good.

german, party, and news

So I have been out of touch for the past couple of weeks, simply due to school overload. But most of that is behind me now, so I can focus and relax a little. I know, they sound like two things that shouldn't go together, but being able to focus coherently brings order to chaos, which eases stress/causes relaxation.

I got my German midterm back, and I didn't fare too well; 53%. But the test was grossly oversized for the 50-minute timeslot it was scheduled for. Only two people left the room ahead of time. 8 of the marks I lost were for mis-spelling words, or forgetting to finish words completely, which got worse towards the end of the test, and was caused by lack of time.

I went to a St. Patrick's Day party on Friday at Michael's house. An amazing time was had by all. I drank too much (way too much), smoked some weed (big mistake) and tottered home at 3:30am in the morning. I then got four hours of sleep, because the sun came out and woke me up, and Samara's mom made the three of us poached eggs on toast, which was exactly what I needed before heading to Cinecenta to work a split 8-hour shift. Needless to say, Sunday was pretty much a write off, except for a great walk that Mera and I went on. I hadn't been to Witty's Lagoon in a long time, and it was great to go there. I forgot how beautiful Metchosin is.

But something else happened at the party on Friday that is worth mentioning; I met someone. Someone I want to spend more time with and get to know. We had coffee today at the school, just sat in the sun on the Quad and talked. It was great. He has to bury himself in some papers over the next couple of weeks, but we are going to do a couple of movie nights (hopefully) once his work load eases a bit.

Anyways, I am off for another walk downtown with Mera, maybe I'll buy her a coffee, and then off to Paboom to buy a journal.

Cheers all!

random

so...

i was going to clean my room, and then I was like "I need to change the background on my blog."

So i did...

You are now looking at a picture of the MacLaurin Building at Uvic. Ain't it hot?

I have been really into architecture and photos lately. I need to buy a book on it. Speaking of books, Mera loaned me "Magical Thinking" by Augusten Burroughs, which is probably the best book/collection of short stories I have ever read. Really a hoot. Maybe if I keep it long enough, Mera will forget she owns it. I also recently read "Brokeback Mountain" by Annie Proulx. It was amazing, movie hype aside. It actually opens up the movie, if you get what I understand what I mean. I also need to read "Rise of Rome" by the ancient Roman historian Livy. Not exciting, in the slightest.

Anyways, I think I will finish cleaning my room now.

and I'm out.

worst job ever

This guy has a terrible job. Mind the langauge in the video...


Click here to view

lack of activity

Rachel was right, there has been a lack of activity around here lately. I had a crazy, crazy week before reading break. I did indeed write the midterm that I had stopped caring about, and it was indeed something i should have been caring about. The exam was uber specific, so I don't know how I did. I also wrote my History midterm, with what I am sure are to be good results. The Prof scared the bejesus out of the class with the proposed content on the exam, but it ended up being 10 multiple-choice and an essay question, so it went really well.

On Sunday I headed up to Nanaimo to hang out with Liz and Chris, and did absolutely nothing. Lindsay drove up the island with me, and we hung out in the afternoon before dropping her off at the ferry back to Vancouver. I came back down on Wednesday, worked, and then went to Vancouver with Keenan on Thursday. We took care of some business, and then hung out for the rest of the day. We went to Mountain Equipment Co-op and I got a man-purse (they call it a travel satchel) and a new mug for work. We hit Metrotown and IKEA in the afternoon after having lunch with Lindsay, had dinner and went to the ferry. All in all, it was a great day, good to hang out with a friend on a little mini-holiday.

But I gotta stop blogging and get back to work! I have a research paper due next Monday and I haven't started at all!

not good

it is really bad to get a case of the "i-don't-care-anymores" the night before a midterm in a course that you haven't done any of the required reading for

here i am

here i am, after cleaning the bathroom at my parents. I am tired, and my arm is sore from scrubbing. Matthew isn't able to clean the bathroom anymore due to his back, so no one does it.

Which reinforces the fact that I could never move home until they got a cleaning lady and kept her. Sad, but true.

No movement on the mould front. I want to go back to my house. This is day three at the parents, and I am going a little stir crazy here right now. I want my bed, my music, my books, my notes, my life, my food, and I really miss socializing with the roomies in the evening. Much as I love the family, everything in my family is always so sensational, and it can be trying sometimes. I am going to call the landlady tonight and give her and update (she is back from New York) so we can get this issue resolved. I like living where I am, and I want to resume that.

Now that the schock has worn off, I think I can approach this from a more level-headed space than before. I knew about mould on the windows and the bathroom ceiling, and I could handle that. Single-pane wood-fram windows do get extremely wet and mould as a result, and the bathroom fan isn't great, so the ceiling gets mouldy (Crystal graciously cleans it) but I wasn't awaere to what extent there was mould in the house. Samara had a small run-in with mould behind her bookcase, but that was one time. What got me was the shock of finding it, and finding it all over my stuff. That was really upsetting.

But on to greener pastures. I went to the BC Archives yesterday and found the public inquiry I was looking for, and Greek and Roman studies was cancelled today, so I got home early, so all is pretty good. Chicken for dinner, and then on with the evening!

i feel like a bag of all-sorts

meaning i feel out of sorts, sort of. I found a LOT of mould in my closet today, and it was disgusting. Anywhere that something was touching an exterior wall, it moulded. About 12 of my ties are at the drycleaner now (covered in mould, that may not come off), along with 3 sweaters, including lambs wool from my late grandpa and my dad, that are worth a lot. I hope that they come clean. Not too mention the dry cleaning bill...

Most of my uniform is mouldy, except the shirts, all of my bedding (except what was on the bed), along with all of my expensive microfiber shirts I wear in the summer, as well as my rowing gear. My goosedown slippers are ruined, and I had a throwcushion that was actually green with mould on it, not just spotty.

Part of me feels like I am over-reacting. But I have respiratory allergies anyways, and so I am not going to subject my lungs to the mould unneccessarily. I have been having "allergies" all winter, and I was just chalking them up to odd weather we have been having this season, but maybe it was the mould all along. And the mould was/is gross. I called the landlady, who is in New York, and she told me to call someone in to look at the mould and see what needs to be done to fix the problem, and to let her know. She also wants the roomies to look for mould. Mould removal is expensive. Sure, you can wash it off the surface, but it is still in the wall itself. I am worried that the landlady is getting in for an expensive repair, but one that has to be done nonetheless.

In the meantime, I have uprooted a compact version of my life and am residing at the parents place for now, washing the mould out of what washes, and waiting to hear from the mould man. But the guest bed is not MY bed, and it actually takes longer to get to UVic from here (3 kms away) than it does from my house. I dunno what to do...

Oh well, in the meantime, beddy bye for Dave. Below are a couple of pictures for your delectation...

Mouldy shelf! Mouldy wet wall!


Mouldy ties!

i don't heart junk mail

I am so sick of junk mail in my mailbox. I got the most ridiculous subject line today:

"If your penis looks like an old shrivelled banana under the bedsheets, use Super Viagra!!"

I want these people to fuck off! Get out of my mailbox!

On any given day, I get approximately 50 junk mails, to an account that I never give out on the web. It is bloody ridiculous. They should do some market research before sending these things to 22 year old men.

Even if my penis DID look like a shrivelled banana under the bedsheets (which incidentally, it doesn't) I wouldn't consult my junk mail box for advice, I would go to a DOCTOR!!

JEEBUS!

On a positive note, at least the junk mail filter in Outlook is good enough to catch every, single one of these emails and divert them out of my inbox. Thank god. I just hate deleting these things.

GAH! AGH! and an ARGH! for good measure!

i heart the sound of music

I forgot just how much I love "The Sound of Music." That movie makes me spontaneously smile, a giant plus.

Part 2 to be watched in the coming days!

one down, twelve to go...

So, first week of classes is over. My professional writing course is going to be a snap. Today, the prof couldn't show up, so he sent a TA instead to supervise an in-class assignment. The task? Write a memorandum on how to write a cover letter. Then leave.

It wasn't difficult. And he cancelled class for tomorrow. So I can SLEEP IN!! YAY!

Tomorrow is going to be a great day. The 8.30am class is cancelled, and German (at 11.30) is only an orientation in the CALL Facility, which is moronically simple, and then I have Greek and Roman studies at 12.30, then done for the day.

I shut down my wireless network, aand now have a 50ft cable running into the kitchen for network access. It aint pretty, but it does the job. The wireless network kept booting my computer off the network, usually in the middle of downloading my latest purchase from iTunes, and then wouldn't let me back on. Several times a day. I bought a new wireless router to replace the old one, but that didn't work either, same problem. And before you all say that it is my computer causing the problem, it uses other wireless networks without a hiccup.

Technology: they say that it is great, and that it is supposed to help us, but there are times when I doubt that.

First day...

Today is the first day of classes, and the fun begins once more. 4 classes
this term, and so far, it's looking
pretty good. At most I'll have 2 finals, but I have a LOT of writing to do. I
am in an Introduction to
Profession Writing class, and we have to write a bunch of memorandae (sp?) and
a final report worth 35%
of our grade. But all will be well.

Best of luck and fun for the new semester!

All the best

Happy New Year!!!!

A yank on your ear for the first of the year!

and Tara knows what else I will say i f she doesn't say it first...