Ramblings From My Week

I just want to take a minute to write a little about the week that was. I honestly don’t know if you’ll be interested in my ramblings, but feel free to comment on any of it.

Reading

I seem to have gotten back into the swing of reading on my commute. I finished Bill Bryson’s The Body. The Body: A Guide for Occupants I like Bryson’s writing. He can write some incredible facts about the body and explain it well, and then suddenly make me laugh out loud on the bus. It was a long read, but I learned a lot and laughed quite a bit. I also started a Bosch Novel. Dark Sacred Night (Renée Ballard Book 2) I have enjoyed this quite a bit. Bosch’s mantra that “everyone matters or no one matters is a fitting one for the world we now find ourselves in.

The Commute

The bus continues to be an interesting place to do character studies. This week saw fewer drinkers, but still lots of people who reeked of pot. Now that it is legal, can’t we make it smell better? How hard could that be? That improvement alone could triple profits.

Tools

I bought a sit-up bench and assembled it today in rather quick time. The things that made me laugh is that I had to use 5 different sized wrenches to put it together. It’s always awesome when you get to use all your tools. It is also good that they made the bolt heads and the nuts a different size. I don’t have duplicates of my wrenches and hate using an adjustable wrench.

I am pretty sure I am going to buy a saw this week. What I wanted has come on sale. Yes, it is part of the whole “Black Friday Hoopla” that seems to be in the air. I doubt any Canadian Store is now in profit, but whatever. I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade.

I finally got some stamps…oh, never mind, I should save that for my stamp blog.

Around the House

I raked up a lot of my leaves. Hopefully I won’t miss yard waste pick-up day. I usually forget to put the bags out and they have to live in my garage until spring. I really don’t want that to be the case this year. Tuesday morning is scheduled pickup.

Christmas has started early this year. The displays are out and I have heard a few Christmas songs. I have been reading about people complaining about it, but maybe this year we can start celebrating and wishing for peace on earth a little early. I don’t think it would hurt anything.

I had waffles for breakfast. Delicious.

I got to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs two days in a row. The results weren’t perfect, but the games were entertaining enough.

The End

I could ramble, but I could also go to sleep. I think it prudent I choose the latter. Feel free to comment about your week or anything I have written.

Good Pond and Good Food

The GTA (the Greater Toronto Area–not the video game) is blessed with lots of nature. The city and suburbs have managed to hold onto some nature in the rush to build condos for foreign investors. That is a good thing–the nature, not the embrace of foreign capital which might line the province with tax money because foreign buyers pay a ten percent to displace and outpace residents from ever owning a house–because it means that during the lockdown, there is still something to do.

My girlfriend and I headed to a place called Toogood Pond because it offered a nice trail that was close by enough that we could do other things with our day if we got tired, or bored, or it rained, or the trail was way too crowded. This was not a true hike, but it was a pleasant stroll. I am not sure if the pond was “too good”–a combination of words I would never allow my students to utter–but who gets stuck on names. It was a beautiful day and other than being on a bike, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend it.

The pond was beautiful and the path through the area was secluded enough that there were only a few times when the outside world seemed to intrude upon it. In fact, it was at those times that I wished changing houses were easier as I found a few beautiful places that I would have liked to live.

We were quite fortunate as we found a parking spot quickly. Later on in the afternoon we saw cars parked willy-nilly all over the neighbourhood. I didn’t see any tickets despite the no parking signs, so maybe the locals knew something I didn’t. Maybe they don’t write tickets on a Sunday in Unionville.

We did a couple of laps of the pond before branching out on side trails that crisscrossed the river. We came across some “invitation spots” that featured Japanese “forest bathing” or Shinrin Yoku. I thought this was rather nice and tried my hand. We also managed to skip some stones, take some great photos, and indulge in some soft ice-cream.

After that was done, we decided to visit a food truck for a delicious meal. Food trucks aren’t really a thing here yet. Currently the pandemic lockdown restrictions are making it difficult and the fact that they can only park in designated areas–making it more like a food court rather than a food truck–really means you have to want to eat at a food truck, rather than coming across one while out. Fortunately there are a bunch of food trucks cordoned off in a mall parking lot near my girlfriend’s place featuring a good variety of ethnic and comfort food.

As will be the case for a while, photos are featured in my Instagram account, which is also called todaysperfectmoment, and you should find a link to right of the screen if you are on the actual blog page.

The Laundry List

Having not written for a few days, I have a bunch of things to declare as Perfect Moments, even if I cannot specify on which days they occurred.

I showed my girlfriend a few episodes of Hell’s Kitchen. I haven’t watched the show for years, but somehow found myself watching a couple of episodes so far this season. She had never seen it and I thought it would be fun to get her reaction. Predictably, she wondered why anyone would take that abuse and appear on the show. While I couldn’t disagree, I suspect that money and prestige are somehow linked to it–though I am not really sure how.

I went out for a walk Sunday. I have been Zwifting a lot and had overlooked the joy of other kinds of exercise. I didn’t walk very far, but as it used other muscles, I definitely could feel the effort at times. Of course, my fitness app, which seems to bother me at times of inactivity, didn’t record all of my effort. So much for digital glory.

Sunday night gave me a chance to catch up with friends via Whatsapp. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again, I am very lucky to have the friends I do. Talking to them is the easiest thing and regardless of the time between meeting or talking, it’s like no time has passed at all.

Our conversation ran from Superbowl predictions, to the Mandalorian (which I haven’t seen), to books, to life and all its weird peculiarities. I really hope we can get rid of this pandemic and get out and do things together. The world still owes us our 50th Birthday trip.

I found some great clips on YouTube for building core strength for cycling. I am going to add some of these to my routine this week. I am also going to start a more serious stretching routine. This is an area which I know could benefit me.

I had some delicious meals this weekend. My girlfriend is an excellent cook and her accommodating my desire to eat healthier is fantastic. I can’t do this alone, so support is definitely welcome.

I saw several people driving without their headlights on. I guess they just accidently hit the switch that turned them off. I wish there was some universal signal to tell them. In both cases it was not completely and they were probably easy enough to see–but not necessarily. Something to think about for the next update to the driver’s manual.

I caught Sunday night’s episode of The Ongoing History of New Music program hosted by Alan Cross. I love the program but don’t really consider myself a podcast listener. Either way, I learn so much every time I tune in. Sunday’s topic was plagiarism, theft, and trials in the music world revolving around copyright and ownership. Fascinating to say the least.

Tales from the Freezer and the Pantry

Photo by Taryn Elliott on Pexels.com

When the lockdown started, I distinctly remember stories of people losing their jobs, not being able to shop, and having to get creative with their meals by eating all the things in their house that they hadn’t eaten. Despite the sadness that surrounded it, I thought this was great in a way.

I can’t speak for any of my readers, but I know that many of my family members have food in the freezer and food in their pantries that they aren’t using. It could be that they bought something on sale and didn’t like it that much. It could also be that they bought a bunch of them because it was a deal conditional on quantity. It could be that they had every intention of eating whatever they bought, but completely forgot about it. It could also be that someone gave them things that they expected they would like, but probably don’t.

This is no less true for me than any of my family members. My freezer has a lot of stuff that I should eat before I buy any more. My pantry is a little better. I no longer have 8 boxes of cereal waiting to be eaten. However, there are some things my neighbour gave me–sample products from her food company which don’t really appeal to me, but I feel bad about throwing away without trying–but most things are relatively recent purchases and are not gathering dust….yet.

I didn’t put it down in my resolutions, but getting rid of stuff I will never eat and eating stuff that is already paid for so the freezer and pantry will be empty are goals for this year. I didn’t put it down because except for empty space and a slightly fuller wallet, I don’t know how I could measure that.

In the past couple of days, I did managed to make a few decent meals out of the stuff I had on hand. I have saved a couple of bucks, and created some room in the fridge and freezer. I consider this a big win and more importantly, Today’s Perfect Moment. If I can delay shopping by even one day, that is a win.

And So it Begins….

After several weeks off, I am back to work tomorrow morning (or this morning depending on when I post this and when you read it). The commute will be quite easy– from the kitchen to the office should only take ten seconds or so. Nonetheless, I would be lying if I said I didn’t want another week of vacation.

Though I should pick one Perfect Moment for the day, I want to shine a light on a few of them. Just so you know, some of them deal with support and its role in our lives. There might be a lesson here somewhere…..but don’t worry, there won’t be a test.

Eating

My girlfriend was kind enough to prepare a delicious, healthy, and not highly caloric meal for me. I can’t erase all of my bad eating habits in one fell swoop, but with a little encouragement I can make some positive eating changes.

Accountability

When I wrote my list of resolutions, I stressed that accountability was an important part of these things, and I stick by it. The whole reason to list them here was to encourage myself to have some accountability. I even set myself a timetable to measure my accountability. However, it never hurts to have some help.

In that vein, A Dude Abikes reached out to me to propose supporting each other in the accountability phase of our goals/resolutions. I thought that was fantastic. Support is key to achieving a goal, and having support that lets you know when you are slacking is also important.

Starting in on my goals

Sometimes, my goals are thwarted by my own stubbornness. You see, I have a couple of books I am somewhere in the middle of from 2020. I don’t know why I didn’t follow through with the books, but neither is a challenging read, and neither is dull. If I only had one book on the go, I would probably not worry about starting another one, but with two (actually 3 if I include Lawrence Block’s stamp book) there seems to some internal resistance. However, yesterday, I finished one of them (Lee Child’s Past Tense–it is a Jack Reacher novel and I think Tom Cruise has ruined them for me). I had about a hundred pages to go and was able to blast through them pretty quickly.

This should free me up to start reading books that I will count towards my goals for this year. Since I started this at the airport in Colombia a few days before Covid turned my world upside down, I can’t count it in this year’s books.

I also managed to Zwift today. I put in a good effort and I even had a few minutes to tweak my avatar. I still am pretty low on the learning curve, but I will continue for a while before making any drastic changes. I still need to explore the training sections and do some of the sprint tests.

Battling the Machines

I should be writing about how I prepared a decent meal for my girlfriend on the weekend. Too often, I have relied on takeout rather than my culinary skills. While one is certainly easier, it really is a little on the lazy side–especially since she cooks some rather epic meals.

While I should write about that, I am instead favouring something that happened a bit more recently. I have to write a new chapter in the saga of men over machines. If it sounds compelling, please read on.

Yesterday, I changed my internet and TV provider. There are always better deals than what you’ve got, and after looking at the wasteful amount of money I have been spending on TV that I really don’t watch very much of, I decided to trim that expense by taking one of these deals. As far as internet speed is concerned, it is fast enough for my work needs and allows me to watch some TV on my tablet.

The thing about changing internet providers is that it is really all about having to reset your devices and passwords. For me, my printer/scanner has been a saviour since I started teaching from home. The thing works well and based on my experience with other people’s scanners and software, it is relatively easy to use. When I changed my provider, I quickly changed the computer, the tablet, and my smartphone so I could access the internet. What I forgot to do was reprogram my printer.

This morning, I wanted to use the printer but it failed. I tried for quick fixes and nothing worked. I really wanted to scan some documents for class. Even though I had the manual (and was able to put my hands on it quickly) and the appropriate cables (I have lots of inappropriate cables too) I couldn’t get it to work quickly.

When I got home from work, I set about solving the problem. I followed the steps and was rewarded with a non-functioning scanner. Actually, I thought the whole thing didn’t work, but came to discover that the printer worked wirelessly fine, but the scanner was offline. How weird was that.

I wrestled with the problem for quite some time before I had it solved. I checked YouTube, I checked forums, and I even called my new service provider and had the displeasure of speaking to one of their customer service representatives. She was unpleasant, so you can imagine how I responded. Just remember sarcasm and bluntness are considered virtues in my family.

I checked the software version and was told I already had the best and most suitable software version. This obviously wasn’t true as I ended up downloading the latest software to get the thing to work.

While I might think that sarcastically lacing into a customer service representative would constitute a Perfect Moment, I don’t want to celebrate negativity. Instead, I want to share how it felt to finally solve the problem. I felt smart and capable, and I felt like I triumphed over the machine. That is Today’s Perfect Moment.

Leftovers

Photo by Keegan Evans on Pexels.com

Upon waking and opening my refrigerator door, I spotted the leftover Chinese food and thought it would make a good breakfast.  Then I spotted the leftover pizza and thought it too would make a great breakfast.  Then my eyes drifted over to my cereal stash and thought about that.  Besides realizing how hungry I am in the morning, I realized that I had a question for all my readers.

What food makes the best leftovers?

Too Drained for the Kitchen

It’s funny how we develop and break patterns.  I could be talking about habits, but really I am just talking about where I get my takeout food from.  Lately, I’ve mostly had pizza or Chinese food, or Shawarma.  Pizza because….well, it’s pizza.  You probably don’t need an explanation.  The Chinese food place was the victim of some discrimination early on in the Covid 19 saga and I thought they needed my patronage.  I went to the Shawarma place because I really like it and I want it to survive.  There are going to be retail casualties of all kinds, regardless of how much funding there is.  We need to do our part.

Before Covid 19 one of my monthly stops was Mucho Burrito.  However, owing to their location and a bunch of other pandemic related reactions, I hadn’t gone there since before my winter vacation, the end of which coincided with the lockdown.

Today, I had to deliver unfavourable news to one of my students and their arguing and bizarre rationalizations were rather draining.  I was able to keep a straight and sympathetic face….most of the time. Maybe I rolled my eyes a few times….maybe I buried my head in my hands once or twice…and if I am being honest, I probably showed my dumbfounded look once.

My point being, that when it was over, I didn’t have the energy to make something.  A special pick-me-up was needed and that is why I donned my mask and gloves and headed to Mucho Burrito.  I can report that there were some safely protocols in place.  As usual, I got the server to make the burrito rather than sit over him pointing out each thing that I wanted.  This doesn’t work at all restaurants, but I have had luck with it from time to time.  To his credit, he managed to jam a whole lot of stuff in there, and find a good balance between deadly spicy and tongue burning.

It wasn’t the best  burrito I have ever had, but it was definitely good enough to be Today’s Perfect Moment.

Lots to Talk About

In the bleakest moments, people need to shine their brightest.  I am not sure that things are truly bleak, but they are a far cry from good.  What I can say is that I have not been doing my best to shine my brightest.

Due to laziness, boredom, or general blah feelings when sitting at the keyboard, here is a rundown of Perfect Moments I have failed to record.

My girlfriend celebrated an important birthday–though now I think all of them, and even the days in between, as important.  Rather than do the romantic thing and cook her dinner, I allowed her to cook her favourite dish.  I have to admit that it was better than anything I could have made.

I did manage to buy her some birthday presents that brought a smile to her eye.  I won’t bore you with the details, but I think we’ve all been in that situation when we doubted out gift choices.  The moment of anticipation can be too great for the giver as well as the receiver.  How crushed would you be if the “perfect gift” turned out to be the “perfect dud?”

We were able to get some delicious cakes.  Unfortunately, I had spent too much time looking for a light bulb for her stove that  I fear we didn’t get the variety of choice we were hoping for.  She was quite gracious when she said that she didn’t mind.  I still feel a little bad about it.

My foray into home DIY continues.  My confidence is improving and things are turning out well. I’ve fixed a few more things and assembled a couple of others.  I had a little setback installing some outdoor lights.  This is mostly due to some rather bizarre choices that were made when siding was put on the house (long before I bought it) and had me step back and do a little bit of a re-think.  I’ve got it figured out, but I just need a bit more time to execute the solution.

My interest in woodworking and “making” continues unabated.  While the library is not open to loan me some magazines, they have started curbside pickup if I put something on hold.  Unfortunately, someone has put the books that I want on hold already.

I did managed to survey the various magazines available and was able to take advantage of membership in the CAA to get a pretty good discount on the yearly price.  Were the library running smoothly, I probably could have saved that money.  However, sometimes you’ve just got to make a choice.

I’ve taken some time to watch a bunch of old movies and old TV series that I seem to have collected on DVD.  I watched Stallone in Victory.  While it wasn’t a particularly great movie, Michael Caine was his usual understated best.  If I remember correctly I got the DVD’s at the dollar store in a two pack.  The other movie was American Flyers (Kevin Costner and bicycles….)  I am sure that the cycling movie was the reason I purchased it.

Virtually every night I am dreaming about traveling somewhere.  This is often by bicycle or train.  I don’t know if this is an omen that I will be traveling soon or a reflection of my deepest fears that I won’t get to travel for a while.  I still have a deposit on a bike trip to South Africa–it isn’t officially cancelled yet–in December.

My war with the weeds in my front garden continues.  I am not winning, but I am not losing ground.  After it rains tomorrow, I will be out pulling up more weeds and planting new grass in an effort to leave less room for weeds.  If I fail this year, I will either have to call in the professionals or turn the whole thing into a rock garden.

Another, we can’t call it a Perfect Moment, but more a Perfect realization Moment is that I have (touch wood) been drifting well enough in these turbulent seas.  I am still working and paying my bills.  A year ago, I was very busy at this time.  While this may not be true this year, it isn’t terrible.

I have been waking up earlier than I need to make the long two metre commute to work.  It is kind of nice not to feel rushed in the morning.  I am sure it makes my coffee taste that much better.

I wish there were some Perfect Moments while teaching, but there aren’t.  This might be the future, but it isn’t good enough right now.  I am learning a lot, but the learning curve is not over.  I need more tools and I need better tools provided to me.

The protests that happening south of the border are sad, both for their causes and results.  I don’t have a lot to say about it, but I don’t want to be silent.  My thoughts go out to those who are in pain.  You all deserve so much more.

Just Because

Is it wrong that Today’s Perfect Moment is a quick snack.  I’ve been feeling bogged down at work and I turned to junk food for a pick me up.  There are probably better things that could have done the trick….but there are worse ones.

I wanted to take a picture of the cookie on top of the box.  I didn’t notice that I had the French side up.  Maybe this one will inspire someone to take up French.  The cookies were delicious, in case you were wondering.