Friday, 28 February 2014

Awaiting the Flare Up

So, last night as a precaution took a super-doozie , 600 mg Ibuprofen. The 600 should reduce swelling and dull the discomfort

To-day , minimal irritation , breakfast et al.
However , there is no time limit on the dentist's warning. Although the assumption on my part is that if I can make the week end then I'd probably be in the 60 - 40 range of a flare up - read , massive infection.
One week out and I'm sure those numbers reverse.

We are cold. Period. Warming trend apparently means one day will rise to freezing point. then we drop again. oops !

On the boob Tube; Showcase , rather than PBS or some other non-profit is running Sherlock Holmes. This SH , is the BBC version set in modern day London. SH uses cell phones ( actually, the Brits call it a ' mobile ' ).
I re-watched an episode called ' Scandal in Bohemia '. M came in part way through the episode. I remarked that I found the series irritating but interesting at the same time.
The format takes advantage of modern technology to boost SH 's abilities. Using dialogue and situations from the original texts by A.C. Doyle . This particular show was more fascinating than irritating.

As well , last night was ' Elementary ' the U.S. version of a modern SH set in N.Y. This version has Johnny Lee Miller as SH and Lucy Liu as ' Joan ' Watson. This modern SH does tend to be , more irritating than fascinating. however , it is still better TV production than almost anything else.

Can one get SH overload. I'm sure it could happen.

The BBC version boasts an excellent Mycroft Holmes. This MH is closer to the idealized MH as found in A.C. D 's writing and the other series MH s.

And one advantage to SH , either version is that the characters don't have fangs. Apparently , there is a plethora of gorgeous woman running around w / big incisors. B/c this is what I notice on ' Space ' channel and many other series carrying channels.
I have not used e - Harmony or other dating sites. In fact, I haven't been in the market or dating for 28 years. So , I probably don't see many fanged ladies. And of course , I would lack the proper etiquette for dealing w/ a hot vampire or werewolf date.
I'm so uncultured.
' My what big teeth , you have ' , could not be a good opening. It seemed to work for Little Red though.

The Ukraine is getting a lot of press. Confused. Divided. Dangerous.
are all words that come to mind. It is very hard to apply the concept of democracy to this area of the world.
However , these are countries in the relatively early years of government by the people , for the people etc. . This region still lives the long shadow of dictatorial government and repression of Western ideals except in books or film.
I've always felt TV as a process could be an excellent tool for education. But I've just about decided that a whole whack of people never got or get the education that I think that I received or receive from TV.
Personally , I found or find that many programs open doors and gateways to parts of the world that I do not intend or want to visit.
Further , culture is very hard to perceive or absorb from a limited exposure. And there is always the risk that the culture or milieu that you do notice is ' tainted ' by the production itself.

Ah ,the greatest fear of all scientists and explorers that the very act of exploration or discovery ,  itself alters the reality. 

In quantum physics , the dilemma is that you cannot know both position and speed of a particle. The process of testing for one , affects the other.

Thursday, 27 February 2014

Shout Out

In an effort to boost readership into the 3's ,here's a shout out to GRIMSBY , On
It won't work but .............

Grimsby - reference can be to Sherlock Holmes , the case of the ' Speckled Band '. The villain , really nasty dude , was Dr. Grimsby Roylatt , of the Stoke Moran Roylatts.
Kills his step-daughter for her monthly pay outs from her mothers legacy fund.

The DrP day.
The good , the bad and the ugly.
The good , had this been last year , root canal and pray. It would have been a short prayer. To-day , DrP filled w/ a combination tooth material and infection preventer. Probably , won't work but if it does no root canal and even better no extraction.
B/c thats where this is going. The decay is at the gum line and below ( ? ). A crown would just barely hang on. There is a potential crack and unless the filler stuff holds it to-gether , well.......
Lets put it this way. DrP , shook his head looking at the X-Ray.
Shook his head looking in my mouth. Shook his head when he finished.
His line ' this is like putting a lid on a boiling pot '. The infection could flare b/c its got no where to leak. He gave me his home number and a promise that I should call if its bad.

Weather : yes , cold. Real cold but Iwas out in little wind and it was OK. Actually , I was so grateful for surviving the chair , any temperature would have been OK.

OFK , the book.  Things are not going well in Camelot.  Arthur wins the big war. Lancelot goes questing. Lance is trying to avoid Camelot b/c Guenever is there.
He challenges lots of dudes and wins. They pledge loyalty to his token ( Guenever's hand ). When he returns the Round Table of 50 knights there has been some 60 more who are pledged to the Queen.
Gwennie falls in love , now. She is smitten by a knight who can get so many others to follow her standard. Besides , Lance and Gwennie are closer in age.
You know this is going to end bad.

For a treat of the week , went to SuperSushi for take out.
Everyone greets me by name ,  sort of ' NORM ' when I walk in the door. Neat.
I don't even drink beer there.
My favs : broiled salmon head
               age tofu ( deep fried tofu - bean curd )
               kamakachi roll ( lightly cooked tuna , panko crumbs rolled                 in your typical sushi style ( like California roll - which                       isn't close to Japanese )


D - Day...

nope .... nothing to do w/ any invasion
Its Dentist day
First , my dentist is nice
I'd love to gush etc but afterall this is the dentist
DrP feels that I'm a good patient -     I don't scream or moan  ( out loud )
DrP has been my dentist for 38 yrs

I'm one of the few people that I know of that actually makes money from dental insurance 
I figure that the insurer needs to make money - the premium is assessed and re-assessed every 3 yrs. We the insured pay the average of the cost. I figure that I'm ahead

Dental woes. We were listening to an audio novel while driving. I have referred to this story as ' The Devil in the White city ' w/ the Chicago's World Fair as the backdrop.
One of the characters , an architect , has tooth pain. Kinda all over his mouth.
While we were in Fla , I kept saying ' I know what that guy went through '. Yepper , all quadrants hurt at one time or another.
Upper left - there is a cavity for sure
Lower left - a tooth is dying but we can't pinpoint the tooth yet I'm pretty sure that I know which one. This area can ache

Upper right - tooth died , DrP did root canal and is now worried that the empty space left is asking for trouble. this upper right is the least of the problems
Lower right - when I was gnawing on corn nuggets when the popcorn was a little unpuffed ( remember , on the stove ) , I got pain after for the night.

And I have one year and some months to capitalize on this dental plan

More later - trust me - more later

Weather: freeze your nougies off. Windchill is enough to make adults cry.

OK - re: OFK , my latest read. I'm skipping the descriptive parts
White does a good job but all the flowery bits get in the way of the story.
Last night , Arthur pulled the sword from the stone ( anvil , too ).
Arthur slept w/ Morgause ( daughter of his mother , Eek ! ) and they will have a child , Mordred. Come on , you name a child Mordred , what do you think will happen.
Lancelot has come to Camelot ( Carlion , at one time , I think ).
Lance is a formidable opponent and starts his Camelotian life unhorsing the King.
BTW - Morgause's sons are knights as well.

So far , we realize incest isn't good. To be fair , Morgause used a strip of skin to seduce Arthur. The skin was infused w/ something ans she puts it on his head - and he doesn't feel it. 
Men ! Get w/ the game. Viagara isn't applied to the forehead.
Oh well , its a story , and I guess we could learn from it

Wednesday, 26 February 2014

OFK .... goes on

In the tOaFK , T.H. White... he has managed to drag in Morgan LeFey and Robin Hood and maid Marian.
BTW and FYI Merlyn is living his life backward in Time.
Still looking forward to reading OFK each night.

Weather : this is COLD and freeze your face stuff.  We get three more days of this and then its only real cold for a couple of days.

I'm house ridden , avoiding the outside , and trying to kick this stuffed up nose.
I'm using salt wash from the squirter bottle and Otrivin. Otrivin dries everything up in the nose. I'm sort of against using the nose spray
but so far it works , esp at night.

A cousin wings in from New Mexico to-night , and stays for 5 days.

Oh !!!!! big OHHHHHHHHHH

M gave me my Valentine's gift
The Outlaw Josie Wales in Blu Ray

JW: ' Thats the way it is. Just when I get to likin' someone , they're not around anymore '

Lone Wadi ( Chf Dan George ) : ' I notice when you get to not likin' someone , they ain't around long neither

' It is good that warriors such as you and I meet in the trials of life '
Chief Ten Barrels

Tuesday, 25 February 2014

OFK....

... or , properly , tOaFK
Written in the 1930's and finished much later. The first section published under the title ' the Sword in the Stone ' told the story of a young orphan growing up in medieval  England. Added to this were two other sections and finally joined to-gether under the title ' the Once and Future King '.
The tale of Arthur Pendragon as he grew up to become the king of England and Camelot. And the basis for the musical ' Camelot ' , both stage and screen.
Tangentially , and I've mentioned this before , the CBC ran a contest ' Catch a Falling Star ' in which listeners attempted to identify a famous personage singing in an audio clip. I got Richard Harris singing a song from Camelot.
I wrote that I was one of few thousand who bought the album ' Camelot '. The host , Arthur Black replied w/ condolences.
My prize , ' the Book of Canadians ' , a compendium of biographies of famous Canadians.

Back to the OFK , I've been flummoxed by my attempts to find a book to read. I've gone through my library searching for a good read. And failed til two nights ago.
The OFK by T.H. White is a fun read , full of period information and a pretty humble rendering of Arthur , growing up.
Highly , recommended.

Weather : Freezing and very cold. ' The wind cuts like a whetted knife' , which is stolen from ' Sea Fever ' by John Masefield.
Actually , to-day is the rising cold of the week. Yesterday was bitter and it gets colder all through the week. Eegads , what we need colder.

Yesterday , the trip to adventure land was re-newing passports.
First , to the CAA store for photos. Drive to the government offfices , take a ticket and sit and wait 45 minutes. Ours was a shorter wait as people re-applying for a passport. We get to the window to find that one set of photos lacked sufficient space above the top of the head.
Back to the CAA , for a re-take.
Back to the g.o. and another five minute wait ( we had a pass that said ' go straight to the head of the line ' ).
Only the fallback trip to 'Tara ' ( our pub ) saved the day.
Tara's Philly cheese steak is a winner.

Obviously , we survived. M called her friend who lives in a small city , Whitby , east of T.O.. The friend said that at the Whitby g.o. s
you walk up to window and hand in your papers. Whitby would be a 20 minute drive. Hindsight , magnificent. Next time ? Right in 10 years.
The dumb part. I said if we apply for Nexus , the U.S. -Canada  fast pass at the border , we'll try to go outside of T.O. for our personal interview. Good thinking , dumby.

Sunday, 23 February 2014

National Anthems

The choir sang the Russian anthem for the closing ceremonies. Has to be the best anthem ,almost like classical music which it probably is.
The commentator said ' we probably remember the anthem for the first time in..... ' and M and I said to-gether  ' the Hunt for Red October ' ...... the summit series in 1972 '. Ah , the prevalence of American media , can't beat it.

World news : another country struggling w/ the democaracy thing .. the Ukraine ... goodness as Will Rogers said ' We fought for democracy in 1940 , must have worked ain't no nation tried it since '

The R - IOC played one anthem at the ice hockey rink , O' Canada.
And it must be a real accomplishment considering who was trying to win gold in hockey. I mean both mens and womens.

The weather is not bad - still windy but close to freezing and sort of blue sky ,- really , pleasant for us up here.
Fla is warm and humid and crowded. Lousy weather every where in the U.S. has people desperate for something nice.
We're renewing our passports , so I guess that we still travel for the foreseeable future. Hate flying.


Saturday, 22 February 2014

Not Fixing the World

Its not my job to fix the world's problems.
However , some people really aren't helping much.
the TorStar reports polio is on the increase in Pakistan b/c vaccinators are being targeted by Muslim militia. 
The arguments are that the vaccines are laced w/ pig's blood and this is a plot by the Western world and the Jewish hegemony to poison the population. 

The weather was plenty miserable last night. wet , cold and blasting wind.
The wind stayed but the day broke clear and not freezing. Pretty day really.

In the news , the World by the Numbers wasn't very interesting to me : GPS tracking of Calif parolees is failing
The Chinese are rich and travelling. Sort of Marco polo in reverse

Friday, 21 February 2014

The Problem is ..........

rain. 
The new word of the day is ' ponding '. Oh yeah , there is still damage galore and cars are forced off roads but its only ponding,
Thats what Peterborough Public Works called the situation.
' We are prepared but expect some ponding ;. Right , guys 

In the news further : Financial problems have caused a corresponding increase in illness in Greece. Incidences of HIV , tuberculosis etc have gone up. Someone must be scrambling to explain the HIV connection . Cuz I cannot even begin to get the reasoning for that one. Maybe , its one size fits all , as in all diseases are up in numbers - still HIV  ??????????

Well ,we are getting rain , lots. Flooding ( thats what they call it in T.O. ) has diverted traffic and delayed commuter trains and buses.

I hesitate to bring up this next item. I got a letter from a friend ( alright , already , its a female ) from University days. ' Dear John ' , No , I'm kidding.
Sort of along the lines , got to thinking about the past and thought of you.
' Do you remember me ? '
Yep , fantasy life 101. been there , done that.

On the QMH front. We're ( I'm ) thinking about a tankless water heater in lieu of keeping 40 gallons of water on the ready all year.
So ,in preparation , called Kelly Fuels , our propane provider.
The tech guy was out. Left my name and account #.
The tech calls back. we talk. He had looked up my service record and started w/ ' Who told you that you needed a second propane tank ? '
Anyway , he was amazed anyone at his office would advise a second tank for someone who had minimum fuel needs.
the upshot of the whole thing - we keep the water heater , buy the one tank already there and get rid of the second rental.
Apparently , we'll get the lowest rate they have for low volume users ( us ) . Great phone call , that.

We still will heat 40 gallons of water . oh well , it was a thought

Thursday, 20 February 2014

Way 2 Personal

Always , I'm approaching this blog w/ some trepidation in regards to personal information. how much is too much , dunno.

Driving home to-day , the thought struck me , that public opinion would probably say that in the marriage game - I came out ahead.
That is , I was really lucky to get M.
Unfortunately , this thinking carries w/ it the concept that mayhaps I married above my station in life. Sort of social climbing. Weird that.

And not the best way to think about personal relationships , except people have expressed those sentiments before this and before the marriage happened. Well , how often would the arrangement be equal ?

Maybe, I'm one of those people that you can say things like that to.

Weather is warming and warming then crashing to our normal cold.
Before the freeze will get an inch of rain.
So , i cleared the deck at the cottage this morning and now get to go out and clear the roof fall snow form close to the house. i'm trying to move the snow 6 ft from the wall , thus the melt water goes away from the foundation.
I figure that there must be 3 driveways worth of snow out there in the back.  This will be the third round of snow clearing out back.
More to come as well.

Tuesday, 18 February 2014

Back in the Cold

WE ARE CANADIAN - but so glad the weather is warming up
We'll be above freezing for 4 days

Spent the day playing w/ the baby laptop. Maybe , I got rid of the virus ' search conduit ' w/ its ads. The bloody thing is so pernicious

Monday, 17 February 2014

Whats a Degree

I noticed this morning that the temperature in F reads what the Celsius temperature was in Fla ( 11 ) , a lot of the time , this past Ja - Fe / 14. Doesn't make you feel any warmer.. just an observation.

Back in the groove .. no , unpacked and washed clothes , caught up on mail , filed bills etc.

The PVR  ( digital recoder ) added 58 shows to the total. I didn't check but using HD format , the 50 something shows is probably maximum. A lot of repeats etc but a catalogue of what you would have watched.

When does the groove start ? Dunno , I play cards , later this week ... so , maybe.
When is a groove a rut or a rat race or........   
hey , should , I have all this figured out by now ?????

Definitely , then , I'll be on groove watch... to see when and if it happens

Sunday, 16 February 2014

Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig...

... love to quote the author or source , but haven't a clue.

We do not love America and America certainly doesn't love us.

They like our money , God , do they need that.

The Americans live fast and busy. Someday , I might even meet a contented American. Like really , dude.

Review : our trip south

We spent 40 days ( and the requisite 40 nights ). Found the grocery stores ( and Target and Walmart ) loaded w/ great variety and generally lower prices than here.
The theatres were cheaper , seniors $ 8 during the day. Our Ohioan companions thought $8 was a little high.

The service in restaurants and shopping venues is better than home.
The wait staff e.g. are usually pretty happy to see you and are pleasant.

Fishing very satisfactory. Not large numbers but , as Fri night , I managed 3 silvers.

Flying home. Plane was late , by 20 minutes. But after that , all happened on schedule. Luggage came quickly , Customs was scan passports and declaration and walk out. Limo came on time.

On the plane , there was no broadcast TV for the American side of the flight and they provide free access to PayPer View movies.
I watched ' Gravity ' w/ Sandra Bullock and Geo Clooney.

If you enjoy hearing SB , breathe loud , its your kind of movie.
Technically , well done - special effects etc. After that , its pretty much downhill  ( ha - ha , she ends up on Earth after all )
rating on the Redbox scale 0.3 out of 1 dollar. Do not buy this puppy but free from the library , it would be OK.
Please be aware that I was listening through earbuds and this fact just about guarantees that no movie can be good under the circumstances - they might just as well stuffed my ears w/ cotton batten

Home thoughts. crikey , who let the snow out. I'm assuming that the Federal Melting Agency will get right on this , and clear up the mess by June.

Glad to be home. Apparently , Rob Ford is a liar and a sly conniving deceiver. Do tell.
 And they discovered all this while I was gone.

In the TorStar , a headline at the back (  natch  ) , claims that Arctic warming may be responsible for our colder / snowier winters.
Shades of the ' Day After To-morrow '.

Time to shave and get normal

Thursday, 13 February 2014

The Logical Song

...... by Supertramp was playing on the way to coffee this morning.

' So they sent you away  ,  try to be logical ' 
Ah , being logical , umh ? Lately , I've tried

To wit , we had to turn in the rental car ( the boat ) and re-rent for insurance purposes. We ended up on line and found a better deal.
But we lost the $ 25 deposit and need to catch a ride or limo to the airport.
Now , logical. The return time was not in our favour at the airport w/ the original second session car. The cost difference was better than 140 dollars.
More importantly , the arrangement should suit us.. we shouldn't be putting ourselves out to match the terms of the agreement.

So logical or cheap ? Probably , both.  But we felt better right away , once we'd done the switch.

Wednesday, 5 February 2014

Popcorn et al

Sing America , blend right in
Song of the home we all knew
The place of our start , our heart

Way ahead of me to the gap
Years before , building proud
Names , reach out to everyone

Standing there , cheering loud
Smoke filled the rooms like
Velour on the walls

A country place , still , but wider 
Tunesmiths , pickers now gathered
Songsters for Americana bide

In the TB Times , a back page fluff piece was on ' Sexy Popcorn '
The timing is priceless. Twice ,  using the stove and a pan, I made popcorn the old fashioned way. No MW bag for me , nope , pan , oil and kernels.
The popcorn brand was ' Pop Secret ' but the popping was not dynamic. Hard bits were common. Twice , then , I hurt my teeth ,chewing on the nuggets.
Yesterday , M found a MW popcorn popper. MW popcorn popper ? .......  Its a melmac ( ? ) bowl w/ a plastic lid that has side vents for steam release. the results were dynamic ... big fluffy popcorn pieces.
Terrific !!

OK Sexy Popcorn. Small bags of flavoured popcorn. Why isn't popcorn sexy :
1 )   sticks to your teeth
2)    its dry and dusty
3)   flavoured popcorn e.g.  " bangin ' cheddar " stains your fingers
4)   too crunchy is not sexy ( a stereotype , no doubt )
5)   that bloated feeling ... not sexy
6)   irregular shapes are not sexy

Well , I'm happy w/ the MW popcorn maker. I'm showing it off to-day w/out the sex.

signed , the ' happy popper '

Monday, 3 February 2014

Forming Up

I'm writing a poem about the NPR program ' Nashville 2.0 ' on         ' Americana ' music.

Sing America , blend right in
Song of the home we all knew
The place of our start , our heart

Way ahead of me to the gap
Years before , building proud
Names , reach out to everyone

Standing there , cheering loud
Smoke filled the rooms like
Velour on the walls

A country place , still , but wider yet
A gathering of tunesmiths and songsters all 




This was written on a scrap of paper during the show itself.

It will need polishing and , well lots
You get to see it first

the sunrise loves you

... is the greeting on the phone.
To-day, the sun loves the Sunrise

swim... um - okey dokey - nothing great - slam bam thank you ma'am 
One and done as they say

the sun is shrouded in fog but this will change as the heat comes

Superbowl ? didn't watch and didn't win the house pool
Whats new , excellent numbers this year ,  Nope , close and no ceegar

Sunday, 2 February 2014

Did You Really Want to....

... know this ?

To-day , the swim was easy and smooth.  Then I thought , bet this isn't a fast swim. B/c when you're swimming easy , its probably a slow swim. Contrarily , when you think that you're really driving hard , yep , its most likely a slow swim , too.
OK , when is it a fast swim. 
When I ran usually about 3 - 4 miles , approx every 5 or 6 runs was what is called a  ' runner's high ' , you're working hard but  for some reason the adrenaline is up and you float.
When I started swimming ( you still float but not in the emotional sense ) I noticed right away that the ' swimmer's high came about every 30 swims .Maybe. Sometimes longer in between.

And then realize , I'm not swimming the same way as I used to.
Even my ellipticing isn't a hard driving work out b/c I've backed way off.
You know , no pain - well , that's good. The work out is closer to a massage then anything else.
older and wiser ???  Yeah , but probably , hurting isn't as much fun as I used to think it was.

Over the year's in talking to real runners 1) they were amazed that the runner's high for me was every 6 runs 2) swimmers must really tough it out b/c , you guessed it 1 / 30 was way beyond anything they could hope for.
Crikey. I couldn't imagine day after day and no high. The discipline to keep going ( ???????????????) haven't a clue how they do it.

Now , realize I'm recreational swimming , so , maybe its a difference that I can't envision. As in  way beyond my league or non- league , as the case may be.

Weather is c'est magnifique. 60 F - morning ,  going for 70 something this aft.

To-day could be a ' sunshine high '

Saturday, 1 February 2014

Feedback

In a constant effort to present semi-honest reporting , I will relay something that I checked on the 'net.
Reviews for the ' Last Air Bender ' the movie ,  were dismal. One site which rates by ' rotten tomatoes ' gave rotters to tLAB. Comments included unmotivated acting , poor direction and misuse of great source material. Apparently , tLAB , the TV show , was a critical success w/ lots of fan. The show is anime or cartoon but popular.
Who knew. See , way behind the curve again.
On the positive side , at least , I saw the movie.

I'm beginning to think that a whole blog needs to be devoted to ' way behind the curve ' , However , I have a feeling that I better get used to the back side of the curve. Actually , maybe , all these blogettes are proof that I'm way behind the curve.
I know just get used to it.

" On the bright side of the road " ala Van the Man ( who was born George Ivan for Christian names ) , swimming has been effortless.
Unfortunately , I lost count  of laps , maybe , 3 times to-day ( it is boring doing 100 laps ). 
I was saved b/c the hot tub has a new clock that is easily visible from the pool. I figured that a half hour of cardio is sufficient for the day   ( or the evil thereof  , as a RC friend used to say was a quote from the Brothers at DeLaSalle , an RC school )