Well I am now 30 years old. Strange to have made it to this mile stone. My Phd still grinds slowly, but while I'm a bit worried about when I will finish, I'm not really worried that I won't. I feel like I've hit kind of a still period in my life. Hoping for some excitement in the future (tempting fate).
( updates and mimeage )

Two events I need to tell everyone about. First On April 20th in Downtown Toronto at Sylvester's cafe 16 Bancroft Avenue I will be celebrating my birthday (3 days early because I plan to be out of town on the date). As in the last few years I'm braking out my Karaoke machine for the event. Any of my friends who can make it are encouraged to come.

Second, in June I will be participating in Toronto's annual Ride for Heart. I do it in part for the challenge (I'm not in the best shape so 50 km on a bike is a challenge for me) and because it seems like a worthwhile cause. More specifically as mentioned previously. If you would like to sponsor me feel free.

Now time for a meme (or as I like to call it a mime).
( more mime and update )

So early Saturday morning, a week and a half-ago, I was riding the Toronto subway back to Kipling station, where I had parked my car. There was a young (late teens or twenties I would have said) couple sitting across from me and as we neared the station, the young woman got up and started pulling out an ad from the wall. I then realized the ad said something like "There probably is no God," part of the (unoriginal) atheist bus campaign imported from England (go here to see what this looks like on a TTC car in Toronto).

( More details and reflections )

I have not updated this blog in three months, in this time much has happened including the celebration of Christmas, New Years and various other holidays including Ontario's newest holiday Family day.

Christmas saw my entire immediate family reunited and a good time was had by all. My parents have been away lately and it was good to see them. My Christmas haul was not as weighed down by material goods as in previous years. However it included books DVDs and sonic deer repelant and some nice winter boots.

I managed to damage my dad's car again in the meantime. I was not careful backing up and knocked out the wing mirror and thereby broke its connection with the control motor. I managed to repair it myself, but the parts were not cheap.

In the past three months I saw many shows including Evita, Hair, Knickerbocker Holiday (a little done political satire by Kurt Weill (music) and Maxwell Anderson), Jerry springer the Musical and just yesterday Tom Stoppard's Arcadia. Although most of these were done by amateur companies gotta were still enjoyable performances. Knickerbocker Holiday was done by a more professional group and although not the most brilliant work has a unique charm making it a shame it is not done more often.

There has been a great deal of snow the past three months. In December the snow pilot or so high I had to obtain help from my snow blower equipped neighbours in removing the snow.

My choir's performance at Christmas went off without a hitch and practice for our March 29th performance of Mozart's and Handel's coronation masses is goings well (3pm at Great Hall of Hart House).

My main impetus for writing this message now is that I have received the December 2008 issue of Isis, the journal of the History of science Society.. In this issue is my second academic publication, a short book review of Alan Grier's When Computers Were Human.

My thesis work grinds slowly on. Far more slowly than I can justify. I must hope I can yet return to my all but blunted purpose. It is not just livejournal I have been neglecting (my personal diary is also several months behind).

The past few months have been made happier for me by all the good news of my friends who have gotten married, graduated or been blessed with children. Hopefully soon enough I will have some achievements to report. Until then I remain reminded by predicament of the ancient Greek thought that the only victory that can grant happiness is the victory over oneself.

Got to go (I'm seeing the movie Watchman in IMAX tonight) I'll update this a little more later, hopefully.

Hey first just announcing my choir, the Hart House Singers, concert Sunday, December 7th at 3 PM full details here. It should be a pretty good show and its been a lot of fun practicing.

In the past couple of weeks I've seen more local theatre (Crimes of the Heart and Sweeney Todd) and spent the last week in November in Tennessee celebrating American Thanksgiving with my family and my brother's in-laws. I also got the car fixed and got one or two other things done.

Well since the last entry much has occurred. I should have mentioned last time that I went to see the play Goodbye Piccadilly, a rather nice production about death in the family. It was part of my family and friends monthly subscription.

( The Hills are Alive )

Oh and apparently there was an election in the United States, you may have heard of it.

Well in the past two weeks I've been a bit out of it. Despite my cold going away I've let my sleep schedule get away from me and have generally been unable to get much (procrastination plays a role). Last weekend was Thanksgiving here in Canada. I had a turkey dinner on Sunday.

( elections and other things )

There are two Science stories I have to comment on. One is that yes it is that time of year again time for perhaps the highest awards recognizing the works of scientists and even world leaders. I am speaking of course of the IgNobel Prizes, awarded to those in science and society whose work makes us laugh and then makes us think. I think the one I appreciate most is the prize in Physics for showing why string and other such things will almost inevitably become tangled. The prize in chemistry for work in the area of Coke's effectiveness as a spermicide was clearly long overdue. Finally, I have to echo the sentiments implicit in awarding the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee and the Swiss people for committing to the position that plants have inherent dignity and worth, if the Arrogant Worms have taught us anything it is that Carrot Juice is Murder. Good to know even if the Swiss are neutral in all other things they at least take a side on the treatment of plants.

Perhaps even more importantly and not to my mind covered nearly enough in the media is the news that the 45th and 46th Mersenne Primes were discovered in August and September by the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS). ( more on Mersenne Primes )

Well, apparently staying up until 4 AM, caught up with me because by last weekend I started developing a cold that has lingered until yesterday.

( more stuff )

So there is a mime going about to take a picture of yourself and post it, my impression is your supposed to do it ASAP, I actually was too busy to do it before (both owlfish and smccloud did this awhile ago). Above is my contribution, my laptop's webcam needs lots of light to create even a crappy picture.

( more stuff )

Soon after I posted my last entry I went out with a friend to see the movie Kung Fu
Panda. It was a fun movie and although I would have to say I have seen movies with greater awesomeness and bodacity, it certainly possessed these properties in abundance. Of course it helps if you like Jack Black's particular comic stylings. Yes I am very late seeing this movie.

( more stuff )

Been a busy two weeks since I last checked in.

During my last weekend living in downtown Toronto I attended the annual FanExpo.

( More details )

Well I missed the one year anniversary of me setting up this livejournal account, back on July 20th-21st of 2007. I have made a fair number of entries.

In other news last week I went to a party for entrant in DC's Zuda comic competition Shock Effect. Made by two local Toronto creators this is the suspenseful action-drama story of a girl and her mother during an alien invasion. I think pretty much all the competitors in this month's Zuda competition are neat and worth checking out, but sadly there can only be one winner and I went with Shock Effect, although I think I really wish like eight or nine of the ten could win.

( more stuff, summing up my lj )

Well not much has happened in the past two weeks. There were some things I meant to talk about last time that I forgot about.

So my hart house singers concert went off without a hitch, last weekend. Sorry I should have announced it here.

So some people of note who's work I've have contact with have shuffled off this mortal coil
recently. ( deaths )

I am writing this on the train train Chelmsford to London [well I did write part of this entry then]. I just finished Meeting with daisho, we had a long conversation ranging from English history to the mobile phone industry. I forgot to get a picture of him, I've been doing that a great deal lately.

( really long description of my trip and one or two other things )

On Monday I changed my cellphone/mobile number, so if you know my number and tried to call me that would be the reason it did not work.

Well I'm fully recovered from the Ride for Heart. Last Thursday I had another meet-up with some friends from New Central (I put the pics on Facebook may put them on my sight eventually).

( Moving, moving )

Hey all,

I managed to finish the Ride for Heart 50km in about 3 1/2 hours. Unfortunately since I'm not in the habit of biking that far or otherwise keeping myself in top condition the aftermath of all that was a lot of pain. I think biking the 4.5 km back and forth from the event was a mistake. Several of my friends finished well ahead of me and had to leave before I finished. As it was I spent the afternoon napping and treated myself to a sumptuous (and expensive) meal at Boulevard Cafe conveniently located really near my apartment, fortunately for me one of their specials was the rack of lamb, some of the accompanying potatoes were a bit off but otherwise a good meal.
( more whining and new game )

As I mentioned about two months ago, I'm participating in the ride for heart with some friends.

Wish me luck.

Also, wish me luck with why I can't network print, like I could the last time I tried (which was a few weeks ago, arghhh).

Well this past weekend I went to Anime North with some friends. I had a good time although I perhaps spent to much money on Anime Swag. I got the entire series X (I saw the first few eps back at Brock and always wanted to see the rest) and the award winning short movie Voices of a Distant Star (I saw it once at a con, it is a pretty amazing little piece), plus various manga (Nadesico, Hikaru No Go and Shaman King), A History of Webcomics and two CDs (one a Soundtrack for Bleach, mostly for the song Life is Like a Boat). My spend thrift actions are made a bit more egregious by all the DVDs I have unwatched lying about.

( more stuff )

Well last weekend was Victoria day Weekend here in Canada. For some reason we celebrate this most English of Queens every year, perhaps because she gave us a local elected government.

On a more personal note, yesterday, my department celebrated 40 years of graduate students. This was a fun event with several past and present graduate students on hand, including some of the first. It was a bit of an eye opener about the dynamics of our department in the murky past. I have photos, which should soon be on facebook and may eventually be on the website.

By some odd coincidence I had to miss the reception in order to go to a friend's birthday party back in Oakville.

Otherwise I am hanging about and not doing much, but I should be. My parents returned from a trip to England, ending three weeks of me taking care of the house. Today I had to overcome a nasty stomach ache (which I am somewhat prone to) in order to attend some of my class mates practice talks for various upcoming conferences.

( random news )