Random Ramblings

Yesterday I had a lovely time at Jing's "housecooling" party. I observed the disassembling of the "great CD wall of '08," participated in "Tea and Arguments Night 2," and consumed multiple tasty marocs. My only disappointment is that something (no idea what) was setting off my allergies and I needed to leave at the relatively early hour of 10:30.

Today I had tea with my dad, which featured deep conversation and a triple serving of food for thought. (Though, sadly, not much was actually resolved.) I also learned everything I need to know about project management in 5 minutes and one paper napkin drawing.

Tonight is Warren's tactile party, which means I get to wear silk pants and a velvet shirt. And play with Kaia. And, most likely, get massages. This makes me happy.

Onwards to that, then.

1. I wrote a letter to the editor that's in the Gazette today. Highly edited, but there. (Point of note: while The Gazette asks for a daytime phone number to verify authorship, they didn't call me this time or the last time one of my letters was published. They've done it before, but not recently.)

2. I didn't get enough sleep last night. I blame my own misunderstandings, which caused me to think Marc would be home at midnight, instead of leaving Verdun at midnight (actually somewhat later). On the other hand, at least I feel functional for now. We'll see what work I wind up doing for my training today.

3. Marc leaves in less than three days. Because I'm working all week, my chances to see him are very limited. These two facts combined make me sad.

4. My mom made us dinner last night, which was very spiffed-up (at least for us): nice placemats, candlelight, wine... it was lovely. Even better: she made enough so that I have lunch for today. Thanks, Mom!

5. Lack of karate is making me feel like a slug. Un-ergonomic workstation (temporary, until I get my own desk) makes my shoulder hurt. Starting next week, it's back to the dojo for me!

Some people replace their computers every year, or every two years. I replace mine every 4-5 years, and I consider that to be a decent half-life for a computer.

My mom's had her present computer, a Mac Performa 5200, for almost 13 years. For all of that time, it's worked pretty well, if you ignore the fact that the screen went yellow a few years back. It was a good, reliable computer, chugging on for over a decade, which makes it positively ancient in PC terms. Mom doesn't really use it for much anymore, opting to use my previous computer, an iMac from the early 2000s. The only thing she really uses it for is finances.

Like I said, it's been a good, reliable computer for many years... until tonight. Tonight, when mom went to turn it on, instead of the happy mac symbol in the middle of the screen, there was a diskette with a blinking question mark inside it. Based on the manual (which my mom, amazingly, still has), this means that the computer is no longer recognizing the hard drive as a startup drive. The simple solution, according to the manual, is to find the companion CD that came with the computer, pop it in the drive, and run a disk repair. This would be fine except for the fact that, unlike the miraculously-found manual, the CD determined to be elusive. We can't find it anywhere.

I used all the tricks in my admittedly-limited books: hard-restarting, trying to restart with a variety of (non-startup) diskettes and CDs, pressing a number of key combinations on restart... all nada. Mom has given up and is trying to reconstruct the data on her newer computer; I'm just frustrated with the whole situation.

All told, 13-year-old functioning computers are the centenarians of the digital world, the great-great-grandfathers of the modern flat-panel, bluetooth-enabled, streaming-video behemoths. Let us bow our heads and give a moment of silence for the departed...

Okay, so I've been a bit behind in the updates. I blame this on, first, being extraordinarily tired, and second, on actually having lots of people to spend time with and thus little time for the computer. (Though still enough that Marc can make jokes about the internet being my crack.)

So, backtracking a little, here's a recap:

( Toronto Day 3 (Saturday): Shoes, Tea, and Good Food )

( Toronto Day 4 (Sunday): 'Montreal' Breakfast, I Kill It and Take Its Treasure )

( Toronto Day 5 (Monday): New Acquisitions, The Drive Home )

And that, dear readers, was my time in Toronto. I'm glad I got a chance to do so much, though I could have done without the obnoxiousness of the drive back. But now I'm home, with practically nothing on my schedule other than Tuesday afternoon sessions at Dawson, a dentist appointment, and a bunch of holiday parties. That's it for now!

It's been a long couple of days. Yesterday was Bubby's funeral, at which I gave one of the eulogies. From all reactions I've gathered so far, it seems to have gone over quite well, and I'm happy to be able to do justice to my Bubby's memory. I spent a great deal of time at the shiva house yesterday and today. (note to non-Jews: Judaism has a tradition called "shiva," which involves the close family of the deceased gathering together in one house for a week to be together and receive visitors. There are other regulations for shiva, but that's the main point. As the grand-daughter, I'm not one of the official mourners, but I still want to be there for my father, aunt, and uncle, who are.) Attending the shiva house is surprisingly tiring, given that you're not really doing anything other than talking with people and making sure the mourners have enough food.

Other than fatigue, I've been pretty good. Taught two good classes today, and only have two more to plan this week (both on Wednesday). I've been appreciating that I can do tangible things to help my family -- like driving relatives around, making sure plates and cups stay full, and simply being there to talk. Not much time online, but I'll manage somehow. *grin*

Anyway. Ian's on his way over, and we're going to head back to the shiva house. Bye for now.

Last night, Marc and I drove up to my dad's country place -- just past Ste. Agathe. Dad had cooked the most awesome beef ribs ever, and his wife made a truly delicious apple cake. There was a fire in the fireplace, tea in the kettle, and the lovely slowed-down feeling of being in the country. I am, I will admit any day, a city girl. I love the energy of the city, the hustle-and-bustle. But being in the country for a few hours was lovely. I just wish we'd had more than three and a half hours before driving back into town again.

*stretches luxuriously*

... Right. Time to get stuff ready for teaching. Le sigh.

Today's essay on Daily Breadcrumbs is about the obnoxious anticlimax at the end of Exodus.

First, while I won't say anything about Hallmark day, I will say this:

Happy birthday, Dad!

I realize that I didn't actually say very much about what I did yesterday, other than what I was grateful for. So now, a bit of backtracking and updating:

( Behind the LJ-cut, because it's fairly long and not terribly interesting )

On the agenda for today: interview at 10:30, class at 12:30. Ideally going to Concordia or Dawson afterwards to put up my "writing tutor" flyers. Make a few phone calls. Possibly karate this evening, and possibly meeting up with Marc after that (though he doesn't know that yet *grin*).

So... off to breakfast. I need to leave in about an hour, and I should be slightly more awake for that than I am now. TTFN!

( 1. One of the most surreal phone calls I've ever receieved. )

( 2. Party prep )

That's it for now. Back to the grind, as it were. TTFN!

Yesterday, my step-sister, DJ Killa-Jewel, performed at one of the free shows at the Jazz Fest. She's part of a band called Microtone Kitchen, which consists of two live instruments (alternating between two keyboards and keyboard + guitar) and five scratch DJs. In the end, it's not really my kind of music, and it's not the thing I'd listen to if my step-sister wasn't performing, but I had fun anyway. My step-sister had the best stage presence of the group, by far. You can tell she's used to performing in front of people. She looked like she was having a great time, and she really connected with the (rather large) audience. Yay her!

The one question I have to ask, though: is it jazz?