Goddamned Yankees

Once again the Yankees have gone out and bolstered their forces at the deadline with no care for salary issues or the future. Why not trade away all the farm prospects after all if you can just trade or buy a player for every position you need to fill.

I'm a bit more bitter because the Jays were within 3 games of a playoff spot this week. The end of July and we're almost right there. Of course aside from Hillengate the Jays haven't pulled off anything, nor are they really in a position to. The most tradeable pieces as I see them are Hinske and Catalanotto, and they're not enough to pull in the bullpen help we need down the stretch. At least, not without giving away most of our future simultaneously a la Yankee, but minus the Steinbrenner buying power.

If J.P. Ricciardi finds a way to prove me wrong tonight before the deadline, I'll be ecstatic. But given the Jays' performance on this road trip, the Yanks improvements, and knowing how both they and the BoSox can turn it on in the stretch, the East is gone and the wildcard pretty much as well.

Can't give up yet though, not with a bunch of gamers like Reed Johnson who will play out every game til the finale. There's always a place for Cinderella in any playoffs.

During the Getaway She Will Drive the Vespa

Every 6 months or so the circle of friends from highschool that I've otherwise fallen out of touch with drops word of a keg party around town. Last night was one of those semi-annual gatherings.

Between the years spent together in school as kids and the long periods of time between the parties, there's always plenty to talk about. "Bryan moved to Halifax and got MARRIED?" "Jen is doing what??" And so the time goes and everyone keeps pretty relaxed. Most of us being another year removed from the real partying days just keep things mellow and want to sit and drink and have a good time, but as always with these keggers, the drama seems to work its way into things.

Some people just can't have a good time and chill out and need to go that extra mile for attention, others just like to be pricks. Around 1am some of the guys from a couple years above us in highschool decided to try to walk off with one of the empty kegs to return for the deposit. My buddy steps in to settle things in what by all accounts was a civil discussion, quite contrary to the old way of settling things with some of my friends, and is blindsided, headbutted in the face and punched in the mouth, chipping off half a tooth.

All in all behaviour that you'd expect from the younger kids, and definitely not from the older ones that should be bored with the antics. But I guess that's what you do with all your buddies when you're in your mid to late twenties with no real job, and no real ambitions in life.

Despite the drama, I still managed to get wrecked, have a good time, and end up with a solid beer hangover this morning afternoon, even having chugged two litres of water after the drunk pedal home.

Neighbourhood Demographics

I guess its the way things work in time, but most of my neighbourhood has gone from middle-aged to senior-aged to something like mid to late twenties-aged. Across the main street has always been a bunch of older students who no longer want to live in partyville right near campus, but still be a reasonable walk away. But, now there's a bit more of a young infusion of the non-students as well. It seems strange given the houses in the area just keep going up in value, and we keep getting fucked by region property tax even though we're really doing nothing to improve the quality of our property.

The old people are clearly gone for non financial reasons in most cases, but I would have figured they'd be replaced by some more middle-agers. Instead, on any given evening there are at least 2 milfs strolling around with their kids and new pups.

I guess that explains the real reasoning why one of my buddies going way back to elementary school is moving back into the neighbourhood to the apartment building I can hit with stones (and tennisballs, baseballs, soccerballs, and just about anything ball-like, within reason) from my backyard. Of course I'm sure his girlfriend doesn't know about that whole milf part yet, but since she already knows I'm an ass, and buddies are there to give a hard time to, I can drop that word any time now that the lease is signed. And needless to say there will be many more barbecues going down around here for a while.

As for the whole young thing, I obviously can't really complain because I don't get crotchety old women calling in noise complaints for my guitar or music, or for the smoke from my occasional fires. As long as we don't get that one overachieving, prissy tool, this can keep up. And soon the milfs will all be my age...the verdict is still out on whether that's really a good thing though.

Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum

...a pirate's life probably not so much for me. Before having a party with the Captain last night it was months since I'd had hard liquor of any kind. Liquor and me are more of a winter affair, while I have various flings with blondes, ambers, and the occasional darks along with numerous others of the lager girls during the summer heat.

Some combination of rum, heat, smoke and mosquitos devouring half my blood volume really kicked my ass last night, and I spent the whole day feeling like my head was under a hundred feet of water. I guess I'll have to find some other life that doesn't involve wenches, pillage, plunder and gold. What a let down.

A Bit Loopy

The week began with me watching Office Space and getting myself set to be in a sarcastic mood about being stuck in the 3 and a half walls of my cubicle most of the week. Four 11 to 13 hour days later I'm exhausted, grimy, grungy and aching like the old man I shouldn't be for another 10 years. And I feel like I actually accomplished some real work as opposed to going through the motions. The counterintuitive part of it all is that this week streaked by as long as it was.

Three weeks from now I'll be done and bumming around finishing some wiring and drywalling that has been an 'on-going' project that really hasn't been going, and has been off more than on, for far too long. And then 8 months will bring me an Honours Bachelors degree, and that time too will be like crowded like the 400 on a Friday summer evening, but instead of moving at a crawl, it too will fly by.

My time at the university already has flown by. Not so much with individual courses at a given time, but on the whole. I've been on campus in some capacity for 5 years, that feel not more than 2. I say all this because of all the times I've been on the job the past few weeks and been asked my background by drillers and my intentions by site project managers. The background part always comes easy enough, but looking ahead there's not much besides a thick mist beyond my masters project, whatever and with whomever that may be.

These things aren't going to get any clearer tonight though. Infact, there's also a thick mist beyond a few brews and a good night's snooze. And 2 weeks worth of laundry, casting a spotlight on the other upside of fieldwork; complete disregard for appearance and cleanliness in wearing nearly the same shit for a week.

And so its time to get the literal stink out of here, the figurative pungeant aroma around here will likely linger a while though.

What the Shit?

George W. Bush says 'shit' within earshot of a microphone or two, and the media latches on like its an impeachable offense or something. Its not even close to the worst thing he's done in his schoolboy whim and prayer type leadership so far, and it gets this much attention?

Anyways, what was looking to be another grey week in the office has turned into a bright, hot and humid week in the field. I've been loving every sweaty, salty drop of it so far. Tomorrow I'll be off to Barrie again, like today, but likely will get the luxury of a night in a hotel again to save some mileage and time and get the current phase of our project there done.

Hopefully, in some backwards, ironic, twist, the hotel room in what is the beginning of Ontario redneck country will be better equipped for internet than my room in Edmonton was. If not, then I guess I'll grace this electronic black hole with my presence again in a few days.

New Tensions

Another day, another set of eruptions of social differences in the world. Its been brewing for weeks, and I certainly don't profess to be enough of a historian to go into the background of the whole affair, but the better news sources are doing a job well enough on their own.

I think in North America with our massive national borders we are inherently ignorant of the real proximity of some foreign nations, and the combustion cells they quickly form under provocation.

A guest post over at Matt Good's blog today gives an excellent perspective and discussion in detail more appropriate than I could hope to give.

Around here we apparently still operate on a "he started it" principle in politics.

Stem cells are in the news again too, with Bush still swearing by vetoing any bill passed by congress toward loosening some restrictions on funding in the U.S. for lines of cells. Its beyond amusing the irony behind supporting the bombing of civilians and yet still holding blind in the denial of anything irrefutably helpful in the search for medical advance in embryo cell research. Just think of where we'd be as a global society if we could all pull our heads out of our asses.

Reset to Default

The flight home was good, great even. The seat next to me was empty so I had some space to myself on the way home. Maybe its cause I was so busy with work for the most part, or simply because I failed to find Edmonton itself very exciting, I wasn't really disappointed to be leaving as I often am when I spend some time in a new domain.

There's more work planned for out there, and I would go, only for the sake that its better than some of the bullshit work I've had to strain through since getting back (with no time off mind you). But I'm really in no hurry, and am likely going to schedule myself to be done within the month, having already met the requirements for my co-op program that I intend to drop anyways. In reality, the only reason for me to be there is for the money.

The longer I work, the less time I'll have to spend money, and the shorter window I will have to budget for. 8 months straight of school will be harsh enough on the wallet, but things like weddings and birthdays and ideally a month long road trip out west add to the need.

A truly dedicated person would give up their guilty pleasures like booze and CD's and booze. One booze cut is perhaps an option, especially once the summer drinking season fades away again in its shitty way, but two? CD's for the most part is doable as my collection of the 'must have classics' is pretty solid now, and to be honest not too much 'new' stuff is really new or inspiring enough to buy, with some obvious exceptions.

I'll find a way somehow I'm sure, but right now the burnout of 10 days straight of work is getting to me, and I need to be done with that soon. I'll take sanity over salary thanks.

Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again

It looks like I overestimated the traffic, check-in and security times this morning, so here I sit with an hour before boarding. Once again I'm without internet access, as I was last night again after a strong band of thunderstorms rolled through the Edmonton area and knocked out the power grid.

Around the time that storm was rolling through, I was wandering around between the mountains in the front range of the Rockies in Jasper, a 3 and a half hour drive from Edmonton that I'm glad I made.

What a feeling of distance from everything you get when you're a kilometer up a hiking trail thousands of kilometers from home, your cell phone turned off and left behind in the car. It was all at once incredibly relaxing, but also brought on the pangs off stress. It'll be back to work at the office tomorrow.

Back to the monotony.

I do look forward to having an actual conversation with a human being again though. This morning instead of just saying no to a credit card offer and moving on, I let the woman work through her sales pitch, saving both of us some boredom I suppose, before passing and moving on to my gate.

And so here I sit, contemplating dropping 4 bucks for 15 minutes of net access on the in-house wireless access point. I think some food and the pages of jPod are the better option for the moment.

Running on Vapours

Upon my return to my hotel room this morning I had worked 34 hours, and slept 8, in the preceding 54 hours total since walking out my front door for the airport on Friday morning. I grabbed myself a Timmy's coffee (the Tim Horton's are fewer and farther between out here, read, not one every 3 blocks) on my way back from dropping off my samples, hoping to stay awake at least for the game, and possibly into the late afternoon before grabbing a short nap, and then getting a good night's rest and getting back into a halfway normal pattern before hitting the road for Jasper in the morning.

In actuality, I managed to make it to about the 56 minute mark of the soccer game before zonking out. Just as well I suppose since I didn't have to sit through the suspense only to be let down once again; the recurring theme of this World Cup.

The one thing I've always liked about hotel rooms is the wide selection on the tube that we don't opt for at home, when I'm awake enough to watch, but my eyes are too sore and tired to read any more of jPod, which has been awesome so far. I have to give credit to a highschool english teacher that most people disiked for recognizing my personality and turning me on to Douglas Coupland's Microserfs, which likely would have been against the position of the schoolboard. In truth jPod is the only other of his books that I've cracked since, but I'm sure I'll end up picking up a few more in the near future.

My fingers ache from 12 hours of cutting and trimming pvc tubing, and at the lowest point of my fatigue slipping with tinsnips and jamming them into my left wrist, while simultaneously slicing open the fingers on the other hand as they dragged down the fresh rough cut in the PVC. That said, I'm done with typing for now, and will go seek a cold beverage at the hotel bar to soothe the hands and dumb down the brain some.

The Shakes

Well clearly I finally found myself a connection...had to come to the foyer 'business center'. Plugged my laptop into the LAN jacks here and still had no luck, but I did manage to grab a wireless link somewhere, and have finished sifting through all my e-mail/and spam.

Said business centre is conventiently located right next to and acoustically linked with the central courtyard area which just had a wedding finish. Congratulations to you Amanda and Bryan!

Anyways, worked myself 15 hours yesterday, another 5 so far today, and I'm due back at 10pm mountain time to work until 8am. After that storm cleared up last night it turned into a gorgeous evening, with the exception of the mosquitos. I think there's a methodone clinic or something around where I'm working. I say this because of the sketched out people I see walking around, and the guy that came up to me yesterday looking for smokes sayin he just finished treatment and presenting with a bad case of the shakes. I'm not really an addiction specialist though, but wow there are some classy people that hang around a hole in the wall liquor store in Edmonton on a Friday night.

I drive by the West Edmonton wall on my way back and forth between hotel and site, but have yet to stop in. I should probably take advantage of the exodus of people to Calgary for the Stampede and enjoy the mall with a less dense crowd.

For now though its back to the hotel room to grab a nap. Hopefully my cable doesn't go out all night again...

Edmonton

Flew into Edmonton well enough, no lost luggage, but all the equipment I had to bring raised a few eyebrows. Small but strong thunderstorm cell is blowing through and I'm letting it pass before I get started on my sampling for the evening, and have my laptop in the car. The problem however is that I haven't been able to connect to any wireless networks which is needless to say getting rather annoying.

Anyways, had my lunch/dinner at a local small brewery. The flirty waitress made a solid suggestion with her recommendation. The first store I walked into here sold pocket breath-alcohol meters; do I expect this of Edmonton? Maybe a little. The rain's stopped, time to get to work and post this later somehow. One last comment...how great it is to see oiler flags everywhere and not those ugly blue maple leafs.

The Vines, The Burns and The Beer

Ahhh what a relaxing weekend, if not for that it once again went by so quickly. Too much, and probably too similar to most other people's Canada Day long weekend to really spend too long dwelling on it, and so missing it.

It involved plenty of beer, friends, hops (not the kind related to brewing, nor tiny jumps or rabbit like movements), fire, sun, and sand. The only real oddity in there is the hops, which grow as a climbing vine on, and over the fence between here and the neighbours to the east. The thing about them is that the vine has little spines, sort of like those of a raspberry bush, but more dense, all turned in one direction giving roughness in one direction and a smooth feel in the other like a cat's tongue.

Well, when you walk quickly through one of said vines carrying say, a garden lantern broken by a poorly controlled soccer ball, it tends to grab your skin and rip it open, occasionally leaving marks across your torso looking at times remarkably like finger nail scratches. And they burn for a while, and they inspire questions, all of which are handled with the consumption of some beer.

Of course the beer consumption tends to lead to other random, completely preventable, stupid injuries, moreso in the presence of fireworks and bonfires. But again, no need to be repetitive of the numerous other long weekend shenanigans.

And now its back into the hustle and rush of trying to get everything lined up for my ass and ten thousand dollars worth of equipment and supplies to get out to Edmonton leaving Friday with the first rays of light. On top of this, I get called on to spend 12 hour days amongst the steel factories of Hamilton, and get my hands stained by chemicals that make me look like I was at a loss for toilet paper or a good leaf. In short, definitely looking forward to a hike in the mountains, and the next long weekend.

Fortugal

Another game you didn't deserve, another win for you Portugese...now go drive up and down the streets honking your horns in celebration of needing penalty kicks to beat a team 1 key man down for 3 quarters of the game. You really showed them.