I've been in a fairly bad mood since Thurs. when I discovered that someone messed with my bike. I actually came out and saw someone climbing on top of the bikes parked outside Union Station to get onto this concrete ridge. What a total a**hole. While I didn't actually see him mess with my bike, what I did see was that someone had yanked the brake cable out of place. I managed to get that back in place, then set off for home. There was some problem with the derailleur and the chain was clanking on the side of the wheel and looking like it would come off. I was so pissed. I turned around and put the bike in storage and then took the train home.
I was hoping that one of my co-workers who knows a lot about bikes could take a look, but he had just set off on a week-long vacation. I decided that since I would almost certainly need to take the bike on the train, I would need to wait until Saturday to retrieve it from work. And going forward, I'll have to either leave the bike in storage or bring it into the office, which is going to be a major pain, adding close to 10 minutes each way. I guess that is pretty minor compared to the bike being out of service due to sabotage. At any rate, it just reminds me how much I dislike scummy destructive people, of whom there are just enough around to ensure that the collective we can't have nice things...
Anyway, Saturday rolled around. I went to the gym fairly early, then picked up some swim goggles at Winners. (I think these will fit better, but I'll check this out later in the week.) Then I went off to work. I fussed around with the chain and the gears a bit and managed to get the chain to bite on one of the middle gears. However, this meant that I had to take it very slow and pretend to be riding a "fixie," i.e. a fixed gear bike. It was really hard not to shift up or down, but I was disciplined and made it home. I did risk gearing down once I got to the steep section of Pape and fortunately didn't throw the gears out of whack. At the shop, they thought they probably could fix the derailleur, but they won't actually know for sure until Tuesday. While this experience wasn't ideal, I had really been stressing over taking the bike on the train (and dealing with elevators and so forth), so avoiding that did put me in a better mood. (Of course, if the derailleur does need to be replaced and this is an expensive repair, then my mood will revert to a much darker shade...)
I got a few other tasks accomplished, and then after dinner I set off to Harbourfront to see Angelique Kidjo. She wasn't going on until 9:30! Anyway, it was pretty crowded, but I was able to get a seat towards the back. I think she was a bit disappointed that it was so hard to keep the crowd on its feet, but it was a fairly high-energy show overall. However, it is true that the Celia Cruz songs are a bit slower, and perhaps she should have skipped a couple of those in favour of more dance-oriented tracks. At any rate, she sang quite a few songs from her Cruz cover album. She sang three* of the songs off of Remain in Light: Once in a Lifetime, Cross-eyed and Painless and Born Under Punches. This was my favourite part of the concert. She also did "Macumba." (Oops - "Tumba".) During the song "Afirika" she had the whole crowd singing, then she went into seats and marched around the whole audience. Pretty cool. She had a singer from another group come up as they did Makeba's "Pata Pata." Pretty awesome. I think the only way it could have been any better is if she came out for an encore and did "Malaika." Well, you can't have everything.
While I got home fairly late, overall Saturday was a decent day, and I ended it in a better mood than I started. Well, I'll just have to see how this holds up after Tuesday.
* Actually, she also sung "Houses in Motion." It turns out this show made it to Setlist.fm after all! It looks like we got a fairly typical set (and she has retired Malaika at least for the time being), though a couple of months back she did "Burning Down the House," which I'm sure was awesome.
Saturday, August 31, 2019
Musical Musings
This will be a somewhat random post.
After having listened to several live shows on Youtube and more or less recreated Beck's Night Running Tour set, I'd say that, while I enjoyed seeing him, I don't think I would pay to see him a second time. I would also say that I appreciate Cage the Elephant more on CD than live. I don't think their fans are wrong or anything, but their live set didn't interest me all that much. I still wish Spoon had at least another 10-15 minutes. If you look through their various setlists for the tour, they mix the songs up far more than the other two groups with no two shows being quite the same. I would definitely go see them again if they come through Toronto on a more proper tour, so I'll just keep my eyes open.
It sounds like there is a good chance that Beck will be coming out with an album later this fall, and perhaps Spoon as well, though they may be a bit further behind.
Tinariwen is releasing a new album, Amadjar, on Sept. 6. I'm pretty excited to see them at Danforth Music Hall on Sept. 28. I imagine if I really want to, I can pick up the new album at that time, though I am trying fairly hard not to add any more CDs to my collection. However, if it is a great enough album, I'll probably weaken.
Sept. 6 is also the launch date for Rubberband, a "lost" album by Miles Davis, though it is probably more accurate to say it was an abandoned effort that has been stitched together and re-engineered. This has basically no interest for me, though I'll probably stream it once, assuming it comes to iTunes. I'm definitely not a fan of Miles's 80s work, though Amandla and Aura aren't too bad. I also have a bit of a soft spot for the Dingo soundtrack. However, I didn't like any of these sufficiently to keep them in my collection after the upteenth move...
Later in Sept. (Sept. 20), Robbie Robertson has a new CD called Sinematic coming out. This is tied together with the documentary on his life, which is going to premiere at TIFF. Aside from the fact that I boycott TIFF during the festival (because of their selfish and ridiculous demand to reroute the King Streetcar), I just don't have the patience to watch biopics (of anyone really, but specifically not musicians). That said, the film sounds promising, but just not something I'll ever get around to watching. I'll listen to Sinematic though.
In early Oct., Abdullah Ibrahim will release a solo piano CD called Dream Time, and I'll try to remember to keep my eyes open for that (in iTunes at any rate).
In early Nov, Skye Wallace is opening for Matt Mays at Danforth Music Hall. I haven't decided if I will go or not. I think the set will be pretty similar to her show back in July, where she had about an hour. Not surprisingly, she focused mostly on her newer material, but that left out a bunch of songs I had hoped to hear. To be honest, I don't know anything about Matt Mays, but I'll listen to his last couple of albums and decide if I want to go.
In early December, Cracker is coming back to Lee's Palace. I was really hoping this would be slightly later in Dec., since that would mean it would be a joint show with Camper van Beethoven. I think I'll go anyway, but of the two groups that David Lowery fronts, I do prefer CvB. Oh well. I wonder if he'll be playing any new material off of his solo album, In the Shadow of the Bull. This is also around the time that 54-40 comes around to do their anniversary celebration shows at the Horseshoe Tavern. I passed last year, but I might go again this time around.
I'm only just piecing together what 2020 will bring, but I am excited that Laurie Anderson will be performing at Koerner Hall in January. I've already gotten my tickets. I have no idea what she'll be doing, but I'm sure it will be interesting. I've never seen her live before, though I've listened to some of the CDs of her performances. Anyway, definitely some promising live dates in the near future.
After having listened to several live shows on Youtube and more or less recreated Beck's Night Running Tour set, I'd say that, while I enjoyed seeing him, I don't think I would pay to see him a second time. I would also say that I appreciate Cage the Elephant more on CD than live. I don't think their fans are wrong or anything, but their live set didn't interest me all that much. I still wish Spoon had at least another 10-15 minutes. If you look through their various setlists for the tour, they mix the songs up far more than the other two groups with no two shows being quite the same. I would definitely go see them again if they come through Toronto on a more proper tour, so I'll just keep my eyes open.
It sounds like there is a good chance that Beck will be coming out with an album later this fall, and perhaps Spoon as well, though they may be a bit further behind.
Tinariwen is releasing a new album, Amadjar, on Sept. 6. I'm pretty excited to see them at Danforth Music Hall on Sept. 28. I imagine if I really want to, I can pick up the new album at that time, though I am trying fairly hard not to add any more CDs to my collection. However, if it is a great enough album, I'll probably weaken.
Sept. 6 is also the launch date for Rubberband, a "lost" album by Miles Davis, though it is probably more accurate to say it was an abandoned effort that has been stitched together and re-engineered. This has basically no interest for me, though I'll probably stream it once, assuming it comes to iTunes. I'm definitely not a fan of Miles's 80s work, though Amandla and Aura aren't too bad. I also have a bit of a soft spot for the Dingo soundtrack. However, I didn't like any of these sufficiently to keep them in my collection after the upteenth move...
Later in Sept. (Sept. 20), Robbie Robertson has a new CD called Sinematic coming out. This is tied together with the documentary on his life, which is going to premiere at TIFF. Aside from the fact that I boycott TIFF during the festival (because of their selfish and ridiculous demand to reroute the King Streetcar), I just don't have the patience to watch biopics (of anyone really, but specifically not musicians). That said, the film sounds promising, but just not something I'll ever get around to watching. I'll listen to Sinematic though.
In early Oct., Abdullah Ibrahim will release a solo piano CD called Dream Time, and I'll try to remember to keep my eyes open for that (in iTunes at any rate).
In early Nov, Skye Wallace is opening for Matt Mays at Danforth Music Hall. I haven't decided if I will go or not. I think the set will be pretty similar to her show back in July, where she had about an hour. Not surprisingly, she focused mostly on her newer material, but that left out a bunch of songs I had hoped to hear. To be honest, I don't know anything about Matt Mays, but I'll listen to his last couple of albums and decide if I want to go.
In early December, Cracker is coming back to Lee's Palace. I was really hoping this would be slightly later in Dec., since that would mean it would be a joint show with Camper van Beethoven. I think I'll go anyway, but of the two groups that David Lowery fronts, I do prefer CvB. Oh well. I wonder if he'll be playing any new material off of his solo album, In the Shadow of the Bull. This is also around the time that 54-40 comes around to do their anniversary celebration shows at the Horseshoe Tavern. I passed last year, but I might go again this time around.
I'm only just piecing together what 2020 will bring, but I am excited that Laurie Anderson will be performing at Koerner Hall in January. I've already gotten my tickets. I have no idea what she'll be doing, but I'm sure it will be interesting. I've never seen her live before, though I've listened to some of the CDs of her performances. Anyway, definitely some promising live dates in the near future.
Monday, August 26, 2019
Easing Back Into Things
I didn't feel great today, but I was definitely better than Sat. or Sun. I made it in to work, though I took the TTC. I don't quite feel up to going to the gym. I think, weather permitting,* I'll bike tomorrow and perhaps I'll make it to the gym as well.
I'm hoping that I am 90% or so by the weekend, since I want to check out this Angelique Kidjo concert Sat. evening. I'm less sold on it, but I may go see a Panych play at Alumnae Theatre called The Ends of the Earth this weekend. I don't have much else planned, but I'll find some way to fill up the time.
* Looks like it will rain (most of) Tuesday, so perhaps I will aim to go to the gym tonight and bike to work most of the rest of the week.
I'm hoping that I am 90% or so by the weekend, since I want to check out this Angelique Kidjo concert Sat. evening. I'm less sold on it, but I may go see a Panych play at Alumnae Theatre called The Ends of the Earth this weekend. I don't have much else planned, but I'll find some way to fill up the time.
* Looks like it will rain (most of) Tuesday, so perhaps I will aim to go to the gym tonight and bike to work most of the rest of the week.
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Summer Sickness
I had an incredibly runny nose on Friday, leading me to get an extra strength antihistamine. Sat. was even worse, and I finally decided I was probably sick, not just suffering from allergies. I don't get sick too often, though I vaguely recollect getting sick last summer at some point. It could easily be brought on by stress (and certainly falling off my bike in the middle of the street counts as stressful!) or lack of sleep or almost anything else. Fortunately, I didn't have too much planned,* but I decided not to go to the gym this weekend (particularly on Sat. when my nose was running almost every 10 minutes) or to go up to the library. I think even on Monday, I will take the TTC (rather than biking) and then stop in at the library on the way home to pick up a couple of books on hold.
About the only thing I did manage to do was go to the grocery store on Sat., and then I went back to napping. I am about to run over for another short trip to pick up some baking materials, but even this could wait until Monday.
I was going back and forth about seeing The Winter's Tale at Withrow Park by Shakespeare in the Ruff, but the Now review convinced me that I really didn't want to bother. I didn't really like Portia's Julius Caesar that they did last year, but at least they were fairly clear that they were changing the play around. Here, the director, Sarah Kitz, has seen fit to more subtly add her own monologue towards the end to try to balance the play and talk about the oppression of women in history (and presumably by extension in Shakespeare), but I really don't appreciate this hijacking of a famous work to fit someone else's agenda (and I didn't like it a few years back when someone inverted Glass Menagerie). At least last year Kitz was more honest about what she was up to,** but not so much this time around. I am fairly unlikely to see any further Shakespeare in the Ruff productions as long as she is leading the charge. C'est dommage. And maybe it is a bit hypocritical in that I would accept strategic cuts in Shakespeare (namely Kate's last monologue in Taming of the Shrew) but not these strategic additions. Nonetheless, I find that contemporary playwrights don't do a good job when they add their words to Shakespeare's. (I'm quite consistent in this and didn't like this in Ted Witzel's All's Well That Ends Well in High Park back in 2016.)
So I mostly slept, trying to get over this cold or whatever it is, though I probably do need to get ready for a meeting at work tomorrow, assuming that I do make it in. It probably also true that my current reading has done little to lift my spirits. I'm most of the way through Naked Lunch. I've never read this before, and it certainly comes across as wilfully, overwhelmingly, obscene. If his other novels are quite so unrelenting I probably won't bother, but I'll try to finish this tonight. It does help a bit to think of it as a very, very long prose poem about man's inhumanity to man, further amplified by the raging desire of the addict to score and woe to anyone who gets in his way. The other book I am reading is Ibuse's Black Rain, which is sort of a cinéma vérité-style account of the bombing of Hiroshima and its aftermath. Neither of these is particularly helpful at a time when I am very down on humanity in general and Western politicians specifically. Given that Celine's Journey to the End of the Night is coming up fairly soon, I may have to go a bit deeper into the list to find something less bleak. Perhaps a Barbara Pym book or something...
* And it is certainly possible that not having more on my agenda led to the illness in the first place, as I generally get sick only on the few occasions I do attempt to relax.
** Actually, it was Kaitlyn Riordan who reworked Caesar, but my point still stands that I am not very interested in Shakespeare in the Ruff under the reign of Riordan and Kitz. I see that Hart House is going to be staging Portia's Caesar, so it will certainly get a wider audience, but I will not be a part of it...
About the only thing I did manage to do was go to the grocery store on Sat., and then I went back to napping. I am about to run over for another short trip to pick up some baking materials, but even this could wait until Monday.
I was going back and forth about seeing The Winter's Tale at Withrow Park by Shakespeare in the Ruff, but the Now review convinced me that I really didn't want to bother. I didn't really like Portia's Julius Caesar that they did last year, but at least they were fairly clear that they were changing the play around. Here, the director, Sarah Kitz, has seen fit to more subtly add her own monologue towards the end to try to balance the play and talk about the oppression of women in history (and presumably by extension in Shakespeare), but I really don't appreciate this hijacking of a famous work to fit someone else's agenda (and I didn't like it a few years back when someone inverted Glass Menagerie). At least last year Kitz was more honest about what she was up to,** but not so much this time around. I am fairly unlikely to see any further Shakespeare in the Ruff productions as long as she is leading the charge. C'est dommage. And maybe it is a bit hypocritical in that I would accept strategic cuts in Shakespeare (namely Kate's last monologue in Taming of the Shrew) but not these strategic additions. Nonetheless, I find that contemporary playwrights don't do a good job when they add their words to Shakespeare's. (I'm quite consistent in this and didn't like this in Ted Witzel's All's Well That Ends Well in High Park back in 2016.)
So I mostly slept, trying to get over this cold or whatever it is, though I probably do need to get ready for a meeting at work tomorrow, assuming that I do make it in. It probably also true that my current reading has done little to lift my spirits. I'm most of the way through Naked Lunch. I've never read this before, and it certainly comes across as wilfully, overwhelmingly, obscene. If his other novels are quite so unrelenting I probably won't bother, but I'll try to finish this tonight. It does help a bit to think of it as a very, very long prose poem about man's inhumanity to man, further amplified by the raging desire of the addict to score and woe to anyone who gets in his way. The other book I am reading is Ibuse's Black Rain, which is sort of a cinéma vérité-style account of the bombing of Hiroshima and its aftermath. Neither of these is particularly helpful at a time when I am very down on humanity in general and Western politicians specifically. Given that Celine's Journey to the End of the Night is coming up fairly soon, I may have to go a bit deeper into the list to find something less bleak. Perhaps a Barbara Pym book or something...
* And it is certainly possible that not having more on my agenda led to the illness in the first place, as I generally get sick only on the few occasions I do attempt to relax.
** Actually, it was Kaitlyn Riordan who reworked Caesar, but my point still stands that I am not very interested in Shakespeare in the Ruff under the reign of Riordan and Kitz. I see that Hart House is going to be staging Portia's Caesar, so it will certainly get a wider audience, but I will not be a part of it...
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Rough Day
Things didn't start off so badly today. I was running a little bit behind, but I wasn't too worried, since I had made blueberry muffins to bring in to work (excusing or at least explaining my tardiness). The weather was ok, so I rode in. I realized that my shoelace was about to get jammed in my spokes, but I pulled over before anything terrible happened. Nonetheless, I probably do need to buy a pair of shorter shoelaces.
I had a meeting up at College and Bay in the middle of the afternoon. I debated just taking the TTC, but decided to bike up. I didn't want to bring the full pannier, since I only had a notebook to bring, so I tossed it in a bag on my front handlebars. This ended up being a costly mistake. While it's never a great idea to have stuff hanging on the handlebars, this was a large notebook and incredibly stiff. About two blocks away from College, it jammed up under my knee and I lost control of the bike. I rolled the entire bike. It really was just like one of those movies with 360 degree barrel rolls, but happening in real life. I basically jumped up, untangled the bike and got over to the sidewalk. I was incredibly fortunate this happened north of Dundas where Bay St. widens a bit (and also most cars avoid the right-hand lane, which is technically reserved for bikes, buses and taxis). If it had been south of Queen, I absolutely would have been hit by a car, though I also might have been travelling a bit slower. I was pretty shaken up, as you can imagine, and quite sore. Once again, I was saved by my helmet, though I mostly hit my elbow and side on the pavement. A couple of people (a pedestrian and another cyclist) stopped to ask what had happened (and to hand over my bike lock, which got separated from the bike) and to ask if I had been hit by a car. I said that No, I had just been very foolish. I probably ought to invest in a backpack or a messenger bag for these small things that don't need to go in the pannier.
I walked my bike on the sidewalk the rest of the way. While I was certainly shaken up, it could have been a lot worse. I went ahead and went into the meeting. It was fine, though I did have a bit of trouble focusing. There was someone there who was going back to our offices, so I handed over my notebook. While I wasn't super eager to get back on the bike, it wasn't too bad (aside from some soreness in my side and a small bit of scabbing on my elbow -- it could have been a lot worse). I don't want to get too spooked or I will just stop riding altogether. (Probably my next serious accident will be the last time I get on the bike.)
As it happens, there was a terrible crash (caused by an Uber driver) with several pedestrians hurt, but I think they must have gotten the time wrong in the article. This must have happened closer to 3:15 rather than 2:30, since I had to cross that intersection to get my bike after the meeting was over, and it was definitely not closed off. Here's hoping for a full recovery for everyone involved in the accident.
I did wait an extra hour before leaving work, since Front Street is just too hard to deal with with the traffic at 5 and even 6. It was a fairly uneventful ride home, which was fine by me. I did decide to skip the gym, given that I am pretty sore. And I will take the subway tomorrow, though this is only partly due to my mishap today, but also because I will be taking the GO train to a BBQ after work. Anyway, I am definitely hoping there are no more incidents like this next week. I have enough to deal with already without falling off my bike into traffic again...
I had a meeting up at College and Bay in the middle of the afternoon. I debated just taking the TTC, but decided to bike up. I didn't want to bring the full pannier, since I only had a notebook to bring, so I tossed it in a bag on my front handlebars. This ended up being a costly mistake. While it's never a great idea to have stuff hanging on the handlebars, this was a large notebook and incredibly stiff. About two blocks away from College, it jammed up under my knee and I lost control of the bike. I rolled the entire bike. It really was just like one of those movies with 360 degree barrel rolls, but happening in real life. I basically jumped up, untangled the bike and got over to the sidewalk. I was incredibly fortunate this happened north of Dundas where Bay St. widens a bit (and also most cars avoid the right-hand lane, which is technically reserved for bikes, buses and taxis). If it had been south of Queen, I absolutely would have been hit by a car, though I also might have been travelling a bit slower. I was pretty shaken up, as you can imagine, and quite sore. Once again, I was saved by my helmet, though I mostly hit my elbow and side on the pavement. A couple of people (a pedestrian and another cyclist) stopped to ask what had happened (and to hand over my bike lock, which got separated from the bike) and to ask if I had been hit by a car. I said that No, I had just been very foolish. I probably ought to invest in a backpack or a messenger bag for these small things that don't need to go in the pannier.
I walked my bike on the sidewalk the rest of the way. While I was certainly shaken up, it could have been a lot worse. I went ahead and went into the meeting. It was fine, though I did have a bit of trouble focusing. There was someone there who was going back to our offices, so I handed over my notebook. While I wasn't super eager to get back on the bike, it wasn't too bad (aside from some soreness in my side and a small bit of scabbing on my elbow -- it could have been a lot worse). I don't want to get too spooked or I will just stop riding altogether. (Probably my next serious accident will be the last time I get on the bike.)
As it happens, there was a terrible crash (caused by an Uber driver) with several pedestrians hurt, but I think they must have gotten the time wrong in the article. This must have happened closer to 3:15 rather than 2:30, since I had to cross that intersection to get my bike after the meeting was over, and it was definitely not closed off. Here's hoping for a full recovery for everyone involved in the accident.
I did wait an extra hour before leaving work, since Front Street is just too hard to deal with with the traffic at 5 and even 6. It was a fairly uneventful ride home, which was fine by me. I did decide to skip the gym, given that I am pretty sore. And I will take the subway tomorrow, though this is only partly due to my mishap today, but also because I will be taking the GO train to a BBQ after work. Anyway, I am definitely hoping there are no more incidents like this next week. I have enough to deal with already without falling off my bike into traffic again...
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Back in the Saddle
I've actually been riding my bike quite a bit lately. In fact, last week I rode every day to work and then on Saturday rode in to Union Station (in the rain no less) and parked my bike in long-term storage while I took the Via train to Ottawa.* This week I'll probably not ride tomorrow (Wed.) due to the rain, but I will probably ride the rest of the week. This may seem pretty incredible to anyone who remembers my bad biking accident from last September. But the truth is I just don't remember the crash, so I don't get all anxious about riding. I'm probably a slightly more cautious rider than I was, but you pretty much have to be somewhat aggressive or you simply can't bike downtown.
In any event, I meant this a bit more metaphorically in terms of going back to the gym. I had one thing after another come up to prevent me from going (I think the last time I went was last Thurs, but it might actually have been Wednesday), and then Sunday I really was just too weary after replacing the ceiling fan. While I had a bit of adrenaline left after biking home on Monday, I basically just wanted to lie down on the couch. However, I forced myself to go to the gym. Once I am at the gym, it isn't so bad after I actually start working out, and I do feel a sense of accomplishment afterwards. I had wanted to free up Tuesday evening in case I went to the Shakespeare in the Ruff at Withrow Park, but in the end, I decided I was again a bit too tired and there was a 40% chance of rain. At this point, I'll aim to see Shakespeare on Thurs.
The good news is that I have been able to lose (and keep off!) 30 pounds. That's a solid achievement, though I really ought to lose another 20-30 pounds. However, to do that (and keep it off), I need to make more lifestyle changes. I would need to add in another form of exercise (like jogging on days I am not at the gym -- or swimming laps and so far that has not gone well at all!), go to sleep sooner (and not stay up half the night reading) and change my diet even more. I have to be honest that this is probably not going to happen, so I am trying to focus more on maintaining the original weight loss. I really shudder to think what kind of shape I would be in if I hadn't done so much biking over the years...
* As it happens, I dithered around for a week or two before finally booking my Via tickets and the price went up by $30 dollars, which was extremely annoying. However, at over $3 a ride on the TTC (even with Presto), I actually saved myself over $30 with all this biking. At least that is one way to think about it.
In any event, I meant this a bit more metaphorically in terms of going back to the gym. I had one thing after another come up to prevent me from going (I think the last time I went was last Thurs, but it might actually have been Wednesday), and then Sunday I really was just too weary after replacing the ceiling fan. While I had a bit of adrenaline left after biking home on Monday, I basically just wanted to lie down on the couch. However, I forced myself to go to the gym. Once I am at the gym, it isn't so bad after I actually start working out, and I do feel a sense of accomplishment afterwards. I had wanted to free up Tuesday evening in case I went to the Shakespeare in the Ruff at Withrow Park, but in the end, I decided I was again a bit too tired and there was a 40% chance of rain. At this point, I'll aim to see Shakespeare on Thurs.
The good news is that I have been able to lose (and keep off!) 30 pounds. That's a solid achievement, though I really ought to lose another 20-30 pounds. However, to do that (and keep it off), I need to make more lifestyle changes. I would need to add in another form of exercise (like jogging on days I am not at the gym -- or swimming laps and so far that has not gone well at all!), go to sleep sooner (and not stay up half the night reading) and change my diet even more. I have to be honest that this is probably not going to happen, so I am trying to focus more on maintaining the original weight loss. I really shudder to think what kind of shape I would be in if I hadn't done so much biking over the years...
* As it happens, I dithered around for a week or two before finally booking my Via tickets and the price went up by $30 dollars, which was extremely annoying. However, at over $3 a ride on the TTC (even with Presto), I actually saved myself over $30 with all this biking. At least that is one way to think about it.
Monday, August 19, 2019
Lost Weekend
It wasn't lost so much (getting so blitzed that I don't recall anything) as I just had quite a bit to do and this squeezed all my other plans out. This was particularly true for Sunday, whereas Saturday more or less went off as originally planned.
Friday evening, I had some folks from work over for a casual BBQ. The weather was supposed to be ok (certainly compared to the previous year where my event was rained out). It did sprinkle for about 10 minutes as I was setting up the grill, but fortunately it passed quickly. In the end, only about 5 people showed up, so I had too much food left over (particularly as one of them brought chicken to throw on the grill and this took ages to cook). It didn't go quite as planned, but it was still a reasonably fun time. Perhaps next year, I'll book my slot a bit earlier and more people will plan around my BBQ. It's a hard thing, since I probably don't want more than 10 people, but I had to cast a pretty wide net just to get 5... Anyway, this Friday there is another event (at my previous manager's place) that has been in the works (and Outlook calendars) a bit longer, so more people will make it, and it is more of an indoor potluck, so it won't matter too much if it rains.
Sat. I got up fairly early and got myself ready to take the Via train to Ottawa. I probably should have pushed through and left at 6:30, but I just wasn't quite ready. I ended up leaving at 7 am and got pretty soaked. I had enough time to change at Union Station and then get on the train. It was supposed to get in at 1:15 or so, though it wasn't until 2 pm that we actually left the train. There is still quite a bit of construction around Kingston, and then the Kingston-Ottawa leg seems to be down to a single track, so trains have to pull over onto a siding to let the other train go. So frustrating. Amtrak's on-time performance isn't much better (outside the Northeast corridor and the Chicago-Milwaukee run), but somehow it still seems run a bit better.
I was reasonably well prepared for the delays, though I didn't have enough food with me (I couldn't really bring a tub of left-over potato salad along...). I had spent a fair bit of time updating an old iPod mini. I probably hadn't used it in a couple of years, but the battery was still about 25%! Anyway, I wanted to add both of Glenn Gould's recordings of the Goldberg Variations, since this played a fairly big role in Thien's Do Not Say We Have Nothing, which I had selected for my on-board reading. I also added Tafelmusik's recording of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and Handel's Water Music. In the end, I didn't get around to the Vivaldi, but I did make it through the 1955 Goldberg a couple of times and the 1981 recording once, along with the Handel, most of Beethoven's violin sonatas, some jazz and a bit of rock music I've been listening to recently. The iPod still is about 50% filled with New Wave music, but it's probably a bit more balanced now. After the trip, I removed the 1981 Goldberg as it didn't speak to me quite as much, and I wanted to make room for U2 and David Bowie.
At any rate, I can report back that the iPod held up well on the trip (maybe better than me) and the battery still had a tiny bit of life as we pulled into Union Station. That's right, I actually did the round trip in one day for pretty close to 9 hours on the train, including the various delays (the return trip was delayed roughly 25 minutes). I did read the entire book on the train. Perhaps I should have left just a bit (maybe the coda) for the TTC journey home (it was far too late to justify biking home...). It's been quite a while since I have done that much concentrated reading on a train, though I must have read something last year when I went from Ottawa to Montreal and then on to Quebec City on the train. Not sure what that would have been, however. I might have finished up Sun of a Distant Land, but I would have wanted something longer. When I was much younger, I did the Chicago-New York run a few times on the train and often got through a couple of books. Given that I did read the while thing in one pretty large gulp, I'm still sorting through what I thought about it, but I'll write a review fairly soon (certainly before I have to take it back to the library at any rate).
I was making this trip to get over to the National Gallery to see the Gauguin portrait exhibit. After I started, I was worried that it was only a couple of rooms of self-portraits (and hardly worth my while), but then it settled down with several more rooms, including a few of his famous paintings from Tahiti.
I was pretty hungry after getting through the exhibit, but it was late by this point (3 pm) and the little cafeteria was shutting down, so I just grabbed some fruit salad. I had planned to meet a friend who lives in Ottawa at 4:30, so I had 90 minutes to get through the main galleries. Fortunately, I do go about once a year and most of the permanent collection isn't changed up that much, aside from the contemporary galleries. It's also true that I don't really think the pre-1850 European art they have is all that great, so I can just dash through those galleries. I did note that the Chagall piece that caused all the fuss last year is not up on the walls any longer, which is a shame, as it is nicer than the other Chagall, which is still up on the wall. (Below is the painting that the National Gallery foolishly tried to sell off to get the funds for a particularly ugly religious painting of St. Jerome by Jacques-Louis David.)
I came very close to buying a jigsaw puzzle of Stuart Davis's The Mellow Pad in the gift shop, though I have to admit, I am just not really enjoying doing the Monet puzzle that I have started. I think it's a combination of my interests have changed and just not having the space to do the puzzle properly and spread out the pieces. I'm guessing that between this Monet and a Van Gogh puzzle that I never finished, I may well be puzzled out. But who knows. I may change my mind on my next visit.
I met my friend and we went to a cafe, where I wolfed down a panini. We chatted about a lot of things, including the miserable state of the world and how it will be so much worse in another 15 years... He also told me that the LRT still hadn't opened (it was supposed to open a few days before). There is a Tremblay stop which is right near the Via rail station, so hopefully I can take that on my next visit. I did see them testing the trains, but didn't have a chance to get my camera out in time. I grabbed a bit more food for the return journey, and he dropped me off at the train station, where I had a fairly uneventful but long ride home. It was sort of amusing and sort of annoying that due to the delay, I ended up catching the subway just as huge numbers of Kiss fans emptied out of their concert and filled the train. Being Canadians, they were well-behaved, however.
Sunday I slept in relatively late, but I guess I was finally moving by 9:30. I had had a few things on the agenda, including going to the gym and then stopping by Robarts Library and then Union Station to retrieve my bike. However, the main thing I had planned was to replace this overhead light/ceiling fan in the kitchen. In the end, it took about 3 hours just to remove. I came very, very close to smashing the glass bulb, since that was stuck on (basically the main reason I had to replace the thing in the first place).
Then I had to make two trips to Home Depot - the first to pick up wire cutters, since I couldn't remove the safety anchor any other way and then at the end of the installation to pick up new light bulbs. I have some 40 watt bulbs that should work fine, but the instructions claim that anything over 35 is unsafe and will result in the shutting down of the overhead light! Of course, then the only bulbs are these new "dimmable" LED lights that flicker like crazy when you try to dim them. Basically, this is why I hate the environmental regulations that are trying to phase out all the old light bulbs without making sure that 1) the replacements really are as good (and they just aren't), 2) there is a way to dispose of the new fluorescent bulbs (again, nope) and 3) there is an actual effort to make sure that the new lighting systems work with the new bulbs. The instructions of the new fan basically say outright that the dimming feature only works with standard bulbs, so why are they even selling this in the first place? Shouldn't it be illegal? I don't care quite enough to take this down and ask for a replacement, but I am severely pissed off. In the end, I managed to get the new light/ceiling fan up right around 6 pm, so several hours more than I had bargained for, and then I still had to make the run for the new light bulbs, as I just mentioned. I was too tired and sore to go to the gym (my arms had been over my head for hours), and Robarts was closed by that point. The whole day was quite horrible, and I'm glad it's over. I suppose I will feel some accomplishment later on now that I have a working kitchen light, but it certainly shouldn't have been nearly this hard.
So that was my lost weekend. I'm exhausted just rereading everything I got up to.
Friday evening, I had some folks from work over for a casual BBQ. The weather was supposed to be ok (certainly compared to the previous year where my event was rained out). It did sprinkle for about 10 minutes as I was setting up the grill, but fortunately it passed quickly. In the end, only about 5 people showed up, so I had too much food left over (particularly as one of them brought chicken to throw on the grill and this took ages to cook). It didn't go quite as planned, but it was still a reasonably fun time. Perhaps next year, I'll book my slot a bit earlier and more people will plan around my BBQ. It's a hard thing, since I probably don't want more than 10 people, but I had to cast a pretty wide net just to get 5... Anyway, this Friday there is another event (at my previous manager's place) that has been in the works (and Outlook calendars) a bit longer, so more people will make it, and it is more of an indoor potluck, so it won't matter too much if it rains.
Sat. I got up fairly early and got myself ready to take the Via train to Ottawa. I probably should have pushed through and left at 6:30, but I just wasn't quite ready. I ended up leaving at 7 am and got pretty soaked. I had enough time to change at Union Station and then get on the train. It was supposed to get in at 1:15 or so, though it wasn't until 2 pm that we actually left the train. There is still quite a bit of construction around Kingston, and then the Kingston-Ottawa leg seems to be down to a single track, so trains have to pull over onto a siding to let the other train go. So frustrating. Amtrak's on-time performance isn't much better (outside the Northeast corridor and the Chicago-Milwaukee run), but somehow it still seems run a bit better.
I was reasonably well prepared for the delays, though I didn't have enough food with me (I couldn't really bring a tub of left-over potato salad along...). I had spent a fair bit of time updating an old iPod mini. I probably hadn't used it in a couple of years, but the battery was still about 25%! Anyway, I wanted to add both of Glenn Gould's recordings of the Goldberg Variations, since this played a fairly big role in Thien's Do Not Say We Have Nothing, which I had selected for my on-board reading. I also added Tafelmusik's recording of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and Handel's Water Music. In the end, I didn't get around to the Vivaldi, but I did make it through the 1955 Goldberg a couple of times and the 1981 recording once, along with the Handel, most of Beethoven's violin sonatas, some jazz and a bit of rock music I've been listening to recently. The iPod still is about 50% filled with New Wave music, but it's probably a bit more balanced now. After the trip, I removed the 1981 Goldberg as it didn't speak to me quite as much, and I wanted to make room for U2 and David Bowie.
At any rate, I can report back that the iPod held up well on the trip (maybe better than me) and the battery still had a tiny bit of life as we pulled into Union Station. That's right, I actually did the round trip in one day for pretty close to 9 hours on the train, including the various delays (the return trip was delayed roughly 25 minutes). I did read the entire book on the train. Perhaps I should have left just a bit (maybe the coda) for the TTC journey home (it was far too late to justify biking home...). It's been quite a while since I have done that much concentrated reading on a train, though I must have read something last year when I went from Ottawa to Montreal and then on to Quebec City on the train. Not sure what that would have been, however. I might have finished up Sun of a Distant Land, but I would have wanted something longer. When I was much younger, I did the Chicago-New York run a few times on the train and often got through a couple of books. Given that I did read the while thing in one pretty large gulp, I'm still sorting through what I thought about it, but I'll write a review fairly soon (certainly before I have to take it back to the library at any rate).
I was making this trip to get over to the National Gallery to see the Gauguin portrait exhibit. After I started, I was worried that it was only a couple of rooms of self-portraits (and hardly worth my while), but then it settled down with several more rooms, including a few of his famous paintings from Tahiti.
 |
| Paul Gauguin, Christ on the Mount of Olives,1889 |
 |
| Paul Gauguin, Melancholic (Faaturuma), 1891 |
I was pretty hungry after getting through the exhibit, but it was late by this point (3 pm) and the little cafeteria was shutting down, so I just grabbed some fruit salad. I had planned to meet a friend who lives in Ottawa at 4:30, so I had 90 minutes to get through the main galleries. Fortunately, I do go about once a year and most of the permanent collection isn't changed up that much, aside from the contemporary galleries. It's also true that I don't really think the pre-1850 European art they have is all that great, so I can just dash through those galleries. I did note that the Chagall piece that caused all the fuss last year is not up on the walls any longer, which is a shame, as it is nicer than the other Chagall, which is still up on the wall. (Below is the painting that the National Gallery foolishly tried to sell off to get the funds for a particularly ugly religious painting of St. Jerome by Jacques-Louis David.)
 |
| Marc Chagall, The Eiffel Tower, 1929 |
I came very close to buying a jigsaw puzzle of Stuart Davis's The Mellow Pad in the gift shop, though I have to admit, I am just not really enjoying doing the Monet puzzle that I have started. I think it's a combination of my interests have changed and just not having the space to do the puzzle properly and spread out the pieces. I'm guessing that between this Monet and a Van Gogh puzzle that I never finished, I may well be puzzled out. But who knows. I may change my mind on my next visit.
I met my friend and we went to a cafe, where I wolfed down a panini. We chatted about a lot of things, including the miserable state of the world and how it will be so much worse in another 15 years... He also told me that the LRT still hadn't opened (it was supposed to open a few days before). There is a Tremblay stop which is right near the Via rail station, so hopefully I can take that on my next visit. I did see them testing the trains, but didn't have a chance to get my camera out in time. I grabbed a bit more food for the return journey, and he dropped me off at the train station, where I had a fairly uneventful but long ride home. It was sort of amusing and sort of annoying that due to the delay, I ended up catching the subway just as huge numbers of Kiss fans emptied out of their concert and filled the train. Being Canadians, they were well-behaved, however.
Sunday I slept in relatively late, but I guess I was finally moving by 9:30. I had had a few things on the agenda, including going to the gym and then stopping by Robarts Library and then Union Station to retrieve my bike. However, the main thing I had planned was to replace this overhead light/ceiling fan in the kitchen. In the end, it took about 3 hours just to remove. I came very, very close to smashing the glass bulb, since that was stuck on (basically the main reason I had to replace the thing in the first place).
 |
| The nadir |
 |
| The old fan is finally down! |
Then I had to make two trips to Home Depot - the first to pick up wire cutters, since I couldn't remove the safety anchor any other way and then at the end of the installation to pick up new light bulbs. I have some 40 watt bulbs that should work fine, but the instructions claim that anything over 35 is unsafe and will result in the shutting down of the overhead light! Of course, then the only bulbs are these new "dimmable" LED lights that flicker like crazy when you try to dim them. Basically, this is why I hate the environmental regulations that are trying to phase out all the old light bulbs without making sure that 1) the replacements really are as good (and they just aren't), 2) there is a way to dispose of the new fluorescent bulbs (again, nope) and 3) there is an actual effort to make sure that the new lighting systems work with the new bulbs. The instructions of the new fan basically say outright that the dimming feature only works with standard bulbs, so why are they even selling this in the first place? Shouldn't it be illegal? I don't care quite enough to take this down and ask for a replacement, but I am severely pissed off. In the end, I managed to get the new light/ceiling fan up right around 6 pm, so several hours more than I had bargained for, and then I still had to make the run for the new light bulbs, as I just mentioned. I was too tired and sore to go to the gym (my arms had been over my head for hours), and Robarts was closed by that point. The whole day was quite horrible, and I'm glad it's over. I suppose I will feel some accomplishment later on now that I have a working kitchen light, but it certainly shouldn't have been nearly this hard.
 |
| Success |
So that was my lost weekend. I'm exhausted just rereading everything I got up to.
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