I spent the most recent weekend at the Heritage days in Edmonton, which is an annual event up here. They take one of the larger city parks, shut it down, and then host dozens of different ethnic and cultural groups. Each will generally have kind of an informational area, some presentations (often dancing), and then the food tents. It's a great opportunity to wander through and have foods or hear music that you really would never hear in the course of a normal year. I took advantage of the opportunity to try some Russian Kvas, some Turkish coffee, and many many more very odd foods. Broodje Haring for the non-Dutch among you is a bun with salted herring and a lot of onions. It sounds a little weird, perhaps, but tastes delicious. I was quite disappointed that the Peruvian tent ran out of Inca Cola.

In the picture above, they are playing panpipes, and other traditional South American instruments. Pretty neat really, I almost bought one of their CD's, but they're $20 a piece, and I didn't have that much cash on me. In any case, it's an all around pleasant way to spent a weekend and one of the better festivals in town for me. This coming weekend is the Edmonton Folk Festival, which I am tempted to go to, but these things aren't cheap, and I think Folk Fest is about $35 a day. Still, I am a pretty big fan of folk music, so maybe I'll still make it there.

I am reading Tête-à-Tête right now about Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. It's a fascinating book, as I had no idea about any of the personal circumstances surrounding the writing of some of his more famous works, like Being and Nothingness and Ethics. Perhaps more on that once I have finished reading it.

I spent the most recent weekend at the Heritage days in Edmonton, which is an annual event up here. They take one of the larger city parks, shut it down, and then host dozens of different ethnic and cultural groups. Each will generally have kind of an informational area, some presentations (often dancing), and then the food tents. It's a great opportunity to wander through and have foods or hear music that you really would never hear in the course of a normal year. I took advantage of the opportunity to try some Russian Kvas, some Turkish coffee, and many many more very odd foods. Broodje Haring for the non-Dutch among you is a bun with salted herring and a lot of onions. It sounds a little weird, perhaps, but tastes delicious. I was quite disappointed that the Peruvian tent ran out of Inca Cola.

In the picture above, they are playing panpipes, and other traditional South American instruments. Pretty neat really, I almost bought one of their CD's, but they're $20 a piece, and I didn't have that much cash on me. In any case, it's an all around pleasant way to spent a weekend and one of the better festivals in town for me. This coming weekend is the Edmonton Folk Festival, which I am tempted to go to, but these things aren't cheap, and I think Folk Fest is about $35 a day. Still, I am a pretty big fan of folk music, so maybe I'll still make it there.

I am reading Tête-à-Tête right now about Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. It's a fascinating book, as I had no idea about any of the personal circumstances surrounding the writing of some of his more famous works, like Being and Nothingness and Ethics. Perhaps more on that once I have finished reading it.

I am hoping to get out camping fairly soon, as it's summer, and I really didn't get an opportunity to go last summer. Convalescence and the great outdoors as experienced in a tent are not necessarily the most agreeable of companions. However, it is a new year, and I am more then eager to make up for lost time. Fitting it into our already somewhat conflicting weekend schedules could be interesting, but I am sure there is enough time in there for two trips out to the mountains. And I have one in there guaranteed, as I am heading out to Vernon, BC in August to attend a good friend's wedding. The bigger problem is perhaps finding someone to borrow a tent from for a couple of these excursions...

And as odd as it sounds, I have been gaming a lot more recently. I had been fairly tied up with academic duties, and groups that I had joined during most evenings during the semester, but the abrupt and somewhat unsettling dissolution of said schedule left me with an abundance of time in the evenings and the weekends. I have taken the opportunity to continue my more academic pursuits (Freud) and the lesser so (Rainbow Six: Vegas and Rallisport 2). It is nice to start playing so many of these games I had previously lacked the time for.

Staring out in the Pacific today, looking at the innumerable waves crashing up on the shore, it is hard to imagine a more accessible representation of oblivion. Stretching out thousands of miles a merciless and pitiless sea wages an eons old war upon the shores that encroach upon its domain. It's tranquil appearance belying a malice and hostility to life that is found merely in its vastness. For upon those waves, in those chilling depths, no sustenance may be found.

This is man's greatest fear, one might suppose. For in the sea, one looks upon his eternity. A place where memories dissolve. The slow loss of oneself into the chaos that surrounds him. Is this not what death looks like? And for all of that, it is profoundly peaceful. Sitting on granite that the sign says is around a 190 million years old, and it will lose its war. Even now, salt, ice, and water assault its very existence on that shore; it will fail. How true the Psalmist proclaims the fragility of our finitude. We are as the grass and in that we have but a season (Psalm 37:2).

Paul's answer to us is that we must grasp what is infinite (2 Corinthians 4). But Paul offers a hope that seems beyond grasp at times, looking out into darkness.

I walked through red cedars today over a 1000 years old while my uncle fought for his life in a sterile hospital gurney.

I have been busy preparing to move, graduate from the University, and finish my class. March has been somewhat productive as a result, though busy. I would like to think at least that I have accomplished quite a bit, but that may just be overly optimistic thinking. I did finally make it down to Southern Alberta to visit family over the Easter long weekend, which was quite relaxing. It's a shame that those weekends never last quite long enough, and they come so rarely.

Once I finish the move over to my new residence this week, I should be able to tackle a few long running projects I have been meaning to get to for some time. Already, I have had the time to read a good way through EP Sanders' book on first century Judaism, and I am nearly finished with Colin Gunton's theological overview. It is refreshing to have the time and the opportunity to have a bit of self directed study without the pressure of certain arbitrary deadlines. Either way, summer brings with it a host of opportunities that I find to be ripe for the seizing.

GuluWalk

It's been quite some time since I last posted, but suffice it to say that it hasn't been a particularly eventful winter in most senses. With a dash of angst, I am back to working full time in Human Resources, which has been going well. It feels odd to make the transition from student to working full time, but it had to happen some time. I just now need to pay back a lot of my loans and figure out exactly what I want to do with myself. Both of those are, of course, easier said than done. It really doesn't feel like I am making progress on either one, and I suppose it might be quite some time before it does.

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Tags: edmonton, weather, life

As is painfully evident from the picture, I received the license plate that I have been so desperately seeking around 8 tonight. This is, of course, deplorably late. What was supposed to be five or so business days according to USPS turned out to be about 2 weeks. In fact, it is so late that I had already paid Fedex and the Secretary of State to get a 30 day plate overnighted to me with Saturday delivery. It's painful just thinking about it. I put in official complaints with both of the offenders, but thus far I have heard a lot of hemming and hawing about whose fault it is. This is why, I am happy to report, that credit cards are the best way to pay for most things. One word: Chargeback.

Regardless, I am absolutely going to leave Canada tomorrow for what has become a brief sojourn in Michigan to quick see some of the relatives. I found and bookmarked all the sites that give road conditions, bought a few audiobooks, and picked up a ton of music from Rhapsody. I am praying for smooth sailing, because heaven knows I have earned it. This frozen road trip has brought some non-trivial angst to the people that I have notified about it, and I'd like to prove them all wrong. Hard to do since I missed Christmas, but I digress.

I am curious as to who everybody is going to vote for in the primaries. The next few days should be fascinating as the race tightens up and the second tier candidates drop off. Personally, I have not really decided on any one candidate, but since my voter registration was in MI, it doesn't matter anyway. Our votes were disqualified by an over eager legislature, eager to cash in on Iowa and New Hampshire's share of electoral funds. I guess I'll watch and see what they come up with.

In one of the odder holidays that I have experienced, I spent Christmas in Edmonton. This was of course not my preference but I lay the blame at the criminally incompetent USPS/Canada Post that stranded me here. Despite what you may have wished to believe about our postal services, I have come to realize that they are appallingly bad. So bad, in fact, that I wonder why people would willingly consign items and packages that they are care about to these bumbling oafs. We may all have wished to believe that the express service (3 to 5 day) meant just that, but as I have so recently found out, one needs to at least triple that time frame. So, I have been waiting in Edmonton since Tuesday last week when I finished my exams to receive my license platein the mail. It, of course, has been completely and totally absent.

So I spent my Christmas in Edmonton. It was certainly peaceful. It's surprising how much this neighborhood clears out around the holiday season. I wouldn't necessarily say that everyone left, but if I had to put a number to it, I'd guess at least 80%. It was quite different than the normal, which is caught up with family and parties. I would ideally not like to miss out on New Years festivities, but of course that completely depends on when I receive that plate. As far as I am concerned, it could not arrive here soon enough. I have lost more than enough time as it is.

The tube you see above is a tube of mayonnaise that my roommate brought back from Switzerland. I had to throw it up here, because I have never in my life seen a tube of mayonnaise. He insists it's pretty close to the stuff that we keep over here in a jar, but I am mistrustful of anything that looks like its container was more suited to toothpaste. Heh. Anyway, I am going to get some sleep.

December brings nearly the same every year -- a dash of snow, a sprinkling of insanity, and heaping spoonful of stress. I have been getting plenty of tiem in the library lately, trying to figure out a series of chemical reactions, equilibria, and kinetics. Believe it or not, several of the libraries on campus have extended their opening hours to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week until the two week period of final exams end. This means that a few times already I have been found in the library past 2 AM. Personally, I think that's a little ridiculous, but there it is. I look forward to writing my environmental chem final and being done with all of this.

In addition to exams, I am trying to get done with the normal flurry of tasks that all hit around the Christmas time, not least of that are the travel arrangements. Trying to clean up the apt and get it ready for a few weeks without me (without killing my plants or fish), make arrangements for my car, finishing up with jobs, and getting done all of that miscellaneous stuff that gets put off when busy. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to getting out for a while and visiting family over the break. Once again, it's been a long time. So, as long as my drive is uneventful, I'll be happy.

And now I am exhausted, going to try to salvage my sleep cycle...

Now, perhaps some of you can make sense of the first problem there, but I am not sure that I can. It's nucleophilic substitution reaction, but I can't for the life of me figure out the mechanism. And this is all that I have been working on for the past few days, and pretty much all I will do until Tuesday evening. i am not sure that I can pass this final either. All I know is that it is 10:30 on a Saturday night, and I am in the student union building with about 8 inches of paper and a meg of online notes. The exam is, of course, completely cumulative. So I would guess that I have well over a hundred mechanisms to memorize in detail along with various reactivities and reagents. I certainly don't remember the one for above.

I finally got my car re-plated and insured after an excruciatingly long hiatus. I miss driving, but I certainly don't miss any of the bills associated with the operation of a vehicle. Every little thing adds up, and even the little things for an automobile wind up costing and arm and a leg. I don't have any kind of shop up here, so anything big (or anything at all) needs to be done by a mechanic. Now I all I have left is to psych myself up for a drive across the Prairies in December. I think I am going to pick up an XM radio and an audiobook copy of Crime and Punishment or the Brothers Karemazov. I figure while in the pursuit of epic feats... The last time I drove across the country was a few years ago now, crazy as it seems. Past due for another trip, I think.

I am going to be seriously cutting back on the amount of time that i spend in class as of next semester, and likely cutting down to just one job, and so I hope to be on here a little more often. I am sad to say that when things get a little hectic, it's usually the side projects that get cut first.

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Tags: fall, death, goldfish, pets