i tweet therefore i am

So pre-flight the other day, I couldn't sleep and was bouncing around on the interweb, bored and looking for something to do. I ended up finally looking at twitter. Until then I had successfully avoided all things twitter. In a moment that I may end up describing as either genius or weakness, I joined.

So yes, you can now follow me on twitter. I don't think I'll be one of those people who tweets each time I twitch, but you never know. I imagine I'll just tweet short thoughts, links to random things and have the odd twitter conversation (does anyone know what that's called?). Also, I'll probably tweet new blog posts as well.

I'm not following many people so far, and don't have many followers. I think if I keep using it I'll follow a few more people. Maybe some of the people I have praised and punished on this blog should be followed.

how do you like your plane...big or small?

I'm flying again, moving progressively farther west and north. While doing the puddle jumper flight from Regina to Calgary this morning I was thinking about people's preferences when it comes to plane size. Now I know some of you may say that it's not the size of the plane that matters but where it's going. However, I for one think size matters. When it comes to my planes, I like them small.

I've flown in planes of all sizes, from a two-seater to massive jumbo jets. Hell, I even put my life at risk and flew Aeroflot (affectionately known as Aeroflop). Without roads, small planes are the main source of transportation north of 60, so I've spent a lot of time in them. In a small plane, you hear all the noise, feel all the bumps and are crammed in, but at least you know you are flying. Also for a number of irrational, incorrect and mildly insensitive reasons, I feel safer in a small plane. Let's consider:

• Ground control: in small planes, you can usually see the ground. Even if it's cloudy, you know you're closer to it than you are at 30,000 feet. Closer to the ground, means less distance to fall (I told you these were irrational)
• Glider Effect: a big plane is a whole lot of metal. A small plane weighs a lot less. Combine this with being closer to the ground, and a small plane can glide safely to the ground (see above for how it's closer to the ground allowing it to do this) while a big plane will likely just plummet straight down, damn gravity.
  
• Terrorists: think about it, terrorists don't blow up small planes:, they go for the biggest bang (literally). If I think of all the big terrorist attacks on airplanes, they have usually been big planes.
• Hijackers: (see terrorists above) Once again, big plane with lots of people. Small plane, not enough passengers for adequate leverage.
• Personal Touch: In a small plane you often see the captain and co-captain, many times they are the only crew on board. I'm convinced this personal interaction makes us safer. They know who their passengers are, we've chatted, made some jokes, shared a granola bar. Because we've interacted they now have a personal vested interest in getting me there safely.
  

So yes, a small plane may not take you as far, or may take longer to get there, but in my view it will always get you there safely.

PS - given I spend a lot of time in small planes, please don't shatter the illusion by pointing out the irrationality of these reasons.

guilty pleasure: literal video #1

The blog has been quiet for a while, but finishing law school, graduating, moving and travelling has taken up most of my time and energy these last five months. Anyways, as noted below I've started a blog for my time in Regina, which has now begun. There's a new post over there.

On this blog, I'll probably be posting those silly or general thoughts that don't quite fit on the Regina blog. On the topic of silly, I figure it was time for another guilty pleasure, this one a literal video. Literal videos can best be described as someone singing exactly what is happening in the video. I stumbled upon this one the other day. I've discussed my love for cheesy 80s/90s power ballads before and now one of my favourites gets the literal video treatment. Enjoy!

moving

As some of you are aware, once law school ends I will be moving to Regina, Saskatchewan for a year. In the spirit of this move I've decided to move my blog as well. Beginning in May 2009 (with a few advance teasers) I will be posting short tales of my experiences and life in Regina. Think of them as short monologues..in fact, think of them as Regina monologues.

The new blog can be found here.

an explanation

Regular visitors to the blog may have noticed that the blog was locked up for the past few months. Essentially, I shut down the blog as I had not been posting regularly in 2008 and when I got back to school I found I didn't have the desire to write.

Not knowing whether I was done with the blog or not, I thought I would shut it down for a while and give some thought to what I was doing with it. This was also during the time when blog posts were coming back to haunt candidates during the election.

I looked at a couple of options on Blogger for shutting it down, but it came down to two, deleting the entire blog or locking it up so that I was the only person who could access it. I wasn't ready to delete the blog entirely, so I locked it up.

I probably should have put a post up first telling people that I was going to do it first, but I figured I hadn't posted in quite some time so I just shut it down.

If I gave the impression that people were being locked out of the blog, I am sorry. Really, it was more of a blog downtime. I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do with the blog, and I'm in exams right now so this will probably be the only post to the new year, but I realize the world needs access to my guilty pleasures so feel free to poke around and indulge.

i got meme'd

Megan, the little sister, meme'd me. Her answers can be found here. My responses are below.

A) Four places I go over and over: Saskatoon, Calgary, Toronto and Yellowknife. My life is a circle between these four cities. This will change as I will be going to Calgary less often now that my sister has moved back to Toronto.

(B) Four people who e-mail me regularly: Megan emails all the time, usually to go for coffee; it appears the phone is so last year. Jana, Facebook (all my friends email through facebook), and spam (is that sad?)

(C) Four of my favorite places to eat? Swiss Chalet, Swiss Chalet, Swiss Chalet. Hmm, does that count as 3. Other than Swiss Chalet, I'd say the Thai restaurant on 33rd in Saskatoon.

(D) Four places you’d rather be? London, Prague, Utrecht and Budapest.

(E) Four people I think will respond: None, I'm a bad sport, refuse to spam and won't pass this along.

(F) Four TV shows I could watch over and over: Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog (ok it's an internet tv show but it still counts); Firefly; Relocation, Relocation; and Project Runway.

have i matured?

My recent experience of getting getting glasses has brought a sense of aging, but it's also now brought a sense of growing maturity. When looking at glasses, I asked if they had anything big, black and geeky. I thought hey, I'm still in school, I should have some glasses that are fun and ironic. I can hear you all now, "act your age, not your shoe size".

Well, surprisingly enough, the eyeglass retailer was able to find t a pair and brought them in. I was excited to try them on. I was hoping for Elvis Costello, but ended up looking like Drew Carey.





Despite the Drew Carey look I thought they would be a fun pair for going out and having fun, but t I realized I am just not cool, hip or ironic enough for these glasses. In the past this would have been a pure impulse purchase, $300 for irony. The fact that I put the glasses down show not only that I am aging, but that I am maturing.

these eyes

I've always prided myself on my vision. I've always been the one who could see the small text far away. I never expected that I would have to get glasses. However, that's no longer the case. Law school has wrecked my vision.

Okay, it's true that I haven't had my eyes checked for eight years. Maybe its not all law school's fault. However until the words "I'm in law school" came out of my mouth, it looked like my need for glasses could have been put off for a few more years. I know that would have been postponing the inevitable, but it would have left me glasses free for a while.

My eyesight isn't that bad, however one eye is radically different from the other I have learned. It's the fact that I spend all day reading that is really driving the need. However, I should also notice an improvement when driving, less fatigue looking into the distance.

Now, I am on a quest for frames. I've blogged before of the challenges of my big head. Unfortunately it appears to be a problem for glasses as well. I trudged off to the local eyeglass shop. After trying on pair after pair that didn't fit, it came down to "show me the biggest ones you've got". A parade of ugly glasses came forth. One wasn't too bad, however I look like Drew Carey when I'm wearing them.

I want a fashionable pair, but is it possible? Kenneth Cole just doesn't make glasses big enough for me. Thankfully, the woman offered to bring in a few others on spec for me to try.

I tried the other glass shop without much more luck, but have found two frames that are in stock that may work. The question is, what look do I want to have for the next two years? I'm in school so still want something fashionable and fun, but will also be clerking with the court, so do I need something simple and professional? Gah! What would Russell Smith do? I don't have his book with me to see if he has a section on this?

These are the business/work friendly frames I found:


I can't find an image online of the other pair, but will keep looking. Maybe I'll take some snapshots of me wearing them and invite comments and suggestions!

memories of the 20-minute workout

Growing up on City-TV in Toronto there was a horrible show called the 20-minute workout. The title pretty much sums it up. It was lunges, bends, forward thrusts, think Pussycat Dolls in legwarmers and tights, big permed hair, a leotard and a sweatband. Pretty picture isn't it.

Well this Pull Shapes video brought those memories rushing back:

men in capris

Yes, I said men in capris, not men in trees. It seems a recent trend that men are being marketed capris. It's a fine line between a long pair of shorts and capris. My advice, and I'm sure Russell woud agree, is to say no to capris.

How this came about is a recent incident here in Name-of-Town-Withheld. It's one of those incidents that happens in a small town. I was walking and saw a man in capris. Now he is tall and thin and if anyone can pull them off, it's probably him, but the problem is, he's my dentist.

How can I take him seriously at my next appointment? I'm going to be thinking, hey, he wears capris! That just seems wrong. I want my professionals to look like professionals. Now, I'm sure he doesn't show up at the office that way, it was probably a day off.

Much like a firearm, there should be a 72-hour cooling period if you want to buy capris. Men should have to go home and think about it. Sure, you're in the store, you see them, they look cool on the mannequin, you're thinking, hey Brad Pitt would probably wear them, so why not me and boom you have bought them. However, if you had to go home and seriously think about it for three days, I'm sure the impulse would pass.

Come to think of it, there should be a similar rule for Speedos!

rare in nature

I came across this photo on another blog today and was stunned. It's so rare, that it is even rarer than a recent blog post from me.



From what I read on different blogs it hasn't been photoshopped and there is even video available. It's a unicorn, well more accurately a unihorn deer. It appears this deer is on a nature reserve in Italy and has some genetic anomaly that has given it one horn in the middle of its head.

I've often thought there is some kernel of truth to many myths and legends. This shows that at some other time, there was probably an animal with a genetic anomaly like this that created the myth of the unicorn.

marathon man

Okay, so the title may be a misnomer. I am not a marathon man; I am however a half-marathon man. Last summer I ran my first half-marathon. I finished. It was a big achievement. I do have to say though that I am not a natural runner. It's not like I will just say to myself, hey, I should go out for a run.

My half-marathon last year was actually a bit of a fluke. I had been preparing to run a 1/4 marathon, or more accurately, run the marathon as part of a four-person team. I had been doing some training and preparing for that. Unfortunately our team fell apart and there was only two of us left. A few weeks before the actual marathon, I ran the half distance to see whether I could and figured that if I did it once I could do it again.

Come the actual day of the marathon I did the half-marathon and it was an achievement. One of the drawbacks of doing this in a small town like Name-of-town-withheld is the sheer number of people I knew involved. It's hard to do something like this discreetly the first-time when everyone knows you, knows it's your first and cheers you on.

In the days following, I did learn that I had not trained enough and was incredibly sore. This year, I decided I would do things differently and joined a local learn to run group. My usual approach to training is to sign up for a race, then have fear of humiliation be the driving factor to get me training. The group helps, however I think it mainly replaces humiliation with expectation. As is quite likely in a small-town I know many members of the group, and I know show up for my runs because people expect me to be there.

I do like the sense of accomplishment that running brings. Although I may not enjoy the actual process of running, I do enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes with running a set distance and knowing you accomplished it. Each week I'm probably doing on average 20-25 km if I make all three runs. Right now I'm averaging two out of three. However, by August I will do the Name-of-town-Withheld half-marathon for a second time and here's hoping I'm not in pain for days.

reader-indirectly-submitted complaint

Little Miss Know-it-All contacted me today letting me know that one of her readers had contacted her to ask whether (or when) I'm going to start blogging again. It appears guilt is maybe all that it took.

I have been on a two-month hiatus from the blog. It's been a period of considerable change. I finished second-year, left the little law school on the prairie and headed back north of 60 to name-of-town-withheld. I started my summer job (which really appears to be several jobs), caught up with old friends, and have already lived/stayed in four different houses.

As a result, I have not had any regular structure, routine or internet access and the blog has gone by the wayside. I was never one for self-discipline and once I stopped, it was easier not to write than to start writing again.

However, there have been a core group of people returning regularly or coming newly to the blog. Those finding the blog seem to be arriving because of Polkaroo, one-size-fits-all hits being a lie, and silly columnist sarah hampson(that's an actual search, it's hilarious).

Knowing you are out there reading helps in forcing fingers to keys and hopefully this is the start of some active blogging.

mandatory shutdown

Hey everyone, I'm into exams so there will be no blogging until the end of the month at which point I should be back north of 60 for the summer. Hopefully I'll be better at blogging over the summer than I was last year.

i am not alone

As mentioned below, I found The Pipettes through the YouTube entertainment show What the Buck? As will be ably demonstrated by these two videos, Mr. Buck's obsession with The Pipettes is far beyond mine, although I do have time to catch up.

This first episode is not long after he discovered The Pipettes:



This second video is a musical episode of What the Buck? using "Pull Shapes":



Enjoy!

blog reader

I've added a new blog to the blogs I read section over on the right side of the page. Not sure why this blog hasn't been in the list before as I have been reading it for ages. The blog is called Towleroad. It's named after its founder, Andy Towle, a former editor of Details magazine. Anyways its updated many times a day, five days a week, and includes weekly guest bloggers on music, technology and theatre.

earth hour

Today, people around the world at 8 pm in their respective time zones will turn off the lights and use the least amount of electricity as possible to mark earth hour. I understand the symbolic importance of these initiatives, but they still drive my crazy.

I understand that if we can get each individual to change their habits, we can make significant changes. However, I am frustrated on this total focus on individual behaviour when countries and nations are doing nothing to resolve the climate crisis. Why as an individual should we pay, when the majority of the damage has come from large scale polluters. Don't get me wrong, I think individuals needs to do their part, and I recognize that large scale polluters are often making the items that we as individuals demand, but still, the focus is still too much on the individual.

Here's a youtube video that takes on Al Gore along this same idea, poking fun at Al Gore jetting around creating a huge carbon footprint to talk about global warming:

guilty pleasure: rick rolled

So, Rick Astely has been all over the internet lately. It appears he's unwittingly part of a new (ok new to me) internet prank where a link is identified as to new gaming news, when it fact it takes you to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up". There's even a site dedicated to it called YouGotRickRolled.com.

The other big news is here and here. I loved Rick Astley. He's a total guilty pleasure.  I couldn't find a version of the video that I could embed here. If you want to see the 80s video in all of its fabulous glamour click on the yougotrickrolled link above. Otherwise, here's Rick, live in concert:

oh harry, you let me down

No, this is not a blog entry about Prince Harry and all his roguish antics that appear to be coming to an end now that he has served in Afghanistan. It is about Harry Rosen. And it is more than just the brand Harry Rosen, it is how that brand relates to Mr. Rosen himself.

In the latest round of procrastination efforts, I was looking through the society photos on the Globe and Mail. Yes, I know. I don't need a lecture. Anyways, I saw the following picture of Mr. Harry Rosen himself, taken at a swanky society event.

Note: this photo belongs to the Globe and Mail.

Now, I know I am going to be accused of being harsh, but Mr. Rosen, what's with your tie. It's tied nicely, and certainly appears to be long enough. Why on earth is the short narrow end not tucked into the handy that piece of fabric that keeps it behind the other part of the tie.

If your name is synonymous with men's fashion in this country, is it too much to ask for you to make sure you set a standard. It's one thing around the house, but at a society event where you are going to be photographed, please, for all of us who look to you as a standard, please, please pay attention to the small details.

Harry, you let me down. It's not quite worth a withering look of disapprovaltm, but it's close.

i told you so

Back in January I wrote about Stephane Dion's appointment of a sitting (recently elected) NDP MLA as the Liberal candidate in a northern Saskatchewan riding. The by-election for that riding took place yesterday.

Well to Mr. Dion's and Ms. Beatty's surprise, but not to mine, Ms. Beatty lost. It appears having a candidate dropped in from another party with no open nomination process encourages people to stay home. I suspect, and it has been widely discussed, that a lot of Liberals upset at the process stayed home this election figuring out whoever was elected wasn't going to be around for long.

Here's some of the coverage of the by-election results:

CBC Saskatchewan
Globe and Mail
UPDATED: New Globe and Mail Story

As for Ms. Beatty, it appears she has the right idea. Stick around, fight a nomination battle if she has too, and run again whenever the Liberals finally stand up and vote rather than sit and abstain. There's a good chance that spending the next several months campaigning and showing people that she's willing to make a commitment to running federally may be what it takes to get Liberal supporters back to the polls and her into the House of Commons.