West End conditions poor predictors for cycling to UBC

I came into work today. Let's say light work, as I only have a couple of things I "have" to do. I was supposed to take my daughter out to lunch but she is stuck at the house with the flu. I was going to show her the pottery studio at UBC that she is thinking of joining next term. I'll still take a break during the day and go over to the studio and make something. Starting the day with a break to make this post... maybe I can avoid working altogether!

I was in Ireland during the first snow we had here and when I got back it was clear in the West End where I am living now, and I thought it was fine to cycle into work at UBC. Luckily, I can see UBC from my apartment window (I do love my view) and the West Side hill was covered in snow, so I knew to take transit.

It has been clear in my neighbourhood again for a few days with rain and temperatures above zero. I was happy to cycle in today, first time in several weeks. It was even not raining! Probably should not have, as the conditions are still icy as you come up the UBC hill. Interesting how that little bit of a change in elevation makes such the difference.

I'll have to be more careful about checking conditions for cycling in the winter. In my old neighbourhood, I could go out the front door (North facing) and check the front walkway for ice. That was a good predictor for the worst conditions on my route.

Nostalgia extends to UVIC Physics class 1980-1985

So as I am going through old pictures I am finding some of my undergraduate years at UVIC. These were also good times. I don't mean to say that between grade 3 at Berkeley and UVIC there were no good times, but they were few and far between. At UVIC I found a social circle I could really enjoy again. The first class we took together was Physics 211. Note that John Z (who I don't remember well) is holding up a drop/add form. The instructor took these pictures so that she could remember our names. I so get that now.

We eventually graduated:

And the picture of our honours class got put up on the wall of the Elliot building. As a quirk of human nature, no-one asks why we are in red overalls, they only ask why that one guy (whose name I don't remember) is not in red overalls.  

More pictures of Berkeley 1969-72 buddies

I am going through my collection of pictures, digitizing them. Somewhat sadly, this is because of my separation from my long time partner. There is only one set of negatives and we both want to have records of our time together (notably two great kids, now grown up). I have the job of digitizing everything of interest. Well, Lealle is not interested in these pictures, but I found them in the box, and remembered good times.

Below are Alan (the coolest kid) and Jeff Jones (my best friend):

Roger (who had a pet rat) and Tommy Tamura:

and Utz McKnight:

Apparently, I can only remember last names from back then if they alliterate. Utz is an exception because my mother was close friends with his mother, so I could be reminded of his last name in later years. 

Those three years in Berkeley (grades 1-3) were very formative for me, due in part to the great friendships I had with these guys. 

Brian Wetton Grade 2

In grade 2, I was in Berkeley California and I was in Cornell School. My mother was a graduate student in Resource Economics there. It was 1970, so an interesting time to be in Berkeley. You can see from the class why I ended up being a strong believer in racial tolerance:

Jeff Jones, Utz McKnight, Tommy Tamura, and Roger and Alan (the coolest kid) whose last names I don't remember are in the picture. Here is a close-up of me. It is one of the few good pictures of me as a kid. I was just not photogenic. It was much later when I had hung around my ex-wife's family long enough that their ease in front of the camera rubbed off a bit on me. 

Ireland work trip

Last week I was in Limerick, Ireland, attending a workshop. It was the tenth anniversary for MACSI (Mathematics Applications Consortium for Science and Industry), an industrial mathematics group. I was quite impressed by this group. A former PhD student of mine, Iain Moyles, is a post-doc there and he got the invitation for me based on my own industrial mathematics activity in modelling electrochemical systems. I stayed at Kilmurry Lodge, which had the best breakfast buffet I have ever had. Irish bacon - yum! Below is the view from my room, and Iain and I on the fancy foot bridge that connects the two halves of the University of Limerick campus across the River Shannon. 

I arrived fighting the tag end of the flu, so with jet lag added to the mix, I was not up to much. Iain did take me to Blarney Castle and I kissed the stone and we enjoyed walking the grounds. 

I did do some work, too!

My hotel room was large and a bit old-fashioned (in a good way) but the bathroom was modern. It had one of those bathroom clothesline things I haven't seen in a while. Whenever I get an apartment where I can add things without losing my damage deposit, I am going to put one of these in. 

Ceramic creamer

I have been slowly improving and filling in the gaps in my household items. I have everything I "need" now, but it is nice to have aesthetically pleasing things that you use every day. I upgraded my cutlery (using Airmiles points) and got cloth napkins from Etsy that really work for me (they are swirly patterns of red to orange). My latest purchase was a ceramic creamer that came from a studio in Bulgaria:

https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/StudioRosalina

I hadn't noticed that I didn't have one because I have switched to drinking my coffee black, but I do have a friend that comes over that takes milk. This was going to be for my daughter, who asked for a milk jug, but since I have a use for it now, I am going to keep it. It is tiny, so wouldn't work for my daughter anyway, since she takes a lot of milk in her tea. I made a larger one for her myself at the UBC pottery studio, just need to glaze it.

Dating Advice

I separated from my wife this Summer and moved out into an apartment in the West End. I think everyone who would care knows about this already. I apologize to anyone finding out from this blog post.

A few weeks ago, I joined an online dating site (Match). I would have probably joined eHarmony, as that seems to be the site that targets long term relationships, but they do not allow people that are separated but not yet divorced (fair). I had not dated someone new for thirty years, so was happy to ask for advice from friends. Here are some of the tips I received:

• Dress well and buy a nice new car [BW: from my father, 89 years old]
• Cut your mid-life crisis hair and buy a car 
• Don't let her see right away how nerdy you are 
• If you text a woman enough, she will sleep with you [really? has that been tested empirically? I would say this is more likely to lead to a restraining order than intimacy.] 
• It is too soon after your previous long term relationship to start dating
• Why did you wait this long to start dating? 
• Just get noticed [I think this is a successful strategy, but you don't get to choose who you end up with]
• When she comes over, don't wear those old sandals you use as slippers. The ones you repaired with orange duct tape. 
• Be kind, honest, and respectful [this sounds like a good one to me. It is from my hairdresser. She retired but still cuts my hair at her apartment] 
• Don't date a woman that owns a horse. She will always love the horse more than you. [from my adult daughter, wise beyond her years]. 
• When she comes over to visit, put the toilet seat down and have a garbage can in the bathroom with a lid [also from my daughter]. 

Imagining me at the apex of all this "wisdom", you might be surprised that I have actually had a date, that seemed to go quite well. 

Airmiles suck, but I used some to get new pots I like

I have a credit card that generates Airmiles, a reward programme with points that you could originally use to get flights and selected merchandise. They have changed the programme to give two types of miles: one with the old use, and a new type that you could use as cash but only at selected merchants. You can select the ratio of points you earn into the two streams. They are not transferable and all the old miles you have are almost worthless, as I describe below.

Flight availability was always terrible. I checked recently on where I could go with my old miles and found out that it allowed me no options for places I wanted to go to at times when I could travel. Nothing new here. I used to use the miles on merchandise. Really, I used them for things I thought were interesting but that I couldn't justify spending money on: the propane lantern for the back yard, the camping gear for the camping trips we never did, the table saw, etc. You could get pretty good electronic equipment from the programme. When I looked recently, there was almost nothing interesting to spend the mass of old points we had accumulated over the years. I finally found a set of pots (picture below) and some cutlery (which has not yet arrived) which I ordered to drain most of these points away. These are useful as I just moved and needed new pots. I have cutlery from the dollar store (and some generous friends) but will be happy to upgrade when the new stuff arrives.

The pots are quite nice. They have copper exterior, but I understand that is basically for show and the cooking surfaces are stainless steel. I used to have a perfect pot for making popcorn but I made some last night in the new pots and it went fine, actually quite entertaining to watch it through the glass lid.

Going back to airmiles: I recommend against it. There are reward programmes that are basically cash back that seem like a better idea. With cash, you can get whatever you want!

Recipe: Julienned Beet and Tofu

I could say that this was an awesome recipe that came to me out of nowhere, but I guess I have been making some tofu dishes like this for several years now, trying out different variations, and adding the beets just pushed it over the top. I got a mandoline with julienne attachments as a house warming present which I used for the cabbage and the beets in the recipe. You really should use the guard thing for the mandoline, or be prepared to loose thin slices of your fingers every few years like I do. Ouch!

Slice up the cabbage and julienne the raw beets. 

Add a little bit of frozen corn (mostly for colour), garlic, black pepper, some minced sun-dried tomatoes (I guess this is the unexpected ingredient), some oil and start sautéing.

When the beets are al dente like cooked pasta, add the tofu (I think softer tofu is better for this dish) and oyster sauce. Heat through and serve. 

I have a pescatarian friend that I first made this for. To make it vegan, you would have to replace the oyster sauce. I would try black bean sauce, or maybe just soy sauce and then thicken with corn starch. 

Carpentry project update

I put that drawer into a coffee table. It doesn't quite fit perfectly (OK that is an understatement) but the drawer does open and close if you work at it a bit.

My next project is some cabinets and drawers to put into IVAR shelving units (from IKEA). My table saw and router are getting a workout. I am doing all this with scrap wood in the garage back at the house when I visit on the weekend to see the kids and the cats (and to do garden work, but it's been raining the last few weeks). I am also doing it all scribbling my little designs on paper on bus rides rather than reading on actually how to do it in a book or online. I got discouraged looking at online videos of this kind of project, where they start by showing you the five machines you "need", each of which costs thousands of dollars. Still, I think it is time to start reading to get better ways to do things. 

Not related to carpentry, here is my 2016 pumpkin design. I did this at the Britannia Community Centre event that I volunteered at. Dragged tables and chairs back and forth but got to carve a pumpkin in between. 

The umbrella is dead, long live the umbrella

I had a terrible habit of leaving accessories behind: gloves, hats, umbrellas, coats, etc. I guess I was preparing myself to be an absent-minded professor. I have learned some habits that lessen the occurrences, but they still happen. For example, I have to replace umbrellas every two-three years. I am always sad: I have really great umbrellas now in styles I like. They all come from the Umbrella Shop on Broadway, which I can really recommend:

http://www.theumbrellashop.com/#main

It all started with a red umbrella I got as a birthday present from my shopping knowledgeable friend. I just lost a red umbrella, not that original one but its replacement. When I remember where I have left it behind in the past, I'll go back and try and find it, but I drew a blank this time. Anyway, it was an excuse to go to the umbrella store. I thought about getting a third red umbrella, but decided instead to go with this quiet number:

Merged Blogs

I had a separate blog I had intended for short, daily posts that I merged today into this main one. All the joyous content from "Brian Wetton's Short, Daily Real Life" is preserved, reposted in this blog, after I read online how to do that.

Scrap wood carpentry

I have worked in the garage again over the last couple of weekends on a new project, another coffee table. The picture I have is an intermediate one, of the drawer that goes into it. There was table sawing, there was routing for the pieces that make up the drawer bottom. The bottom panels are leftovers from an insulated ceiling I put in the house. If I only had a decade, endless scrap wood, and lots of space to put scrap wood furniture, I could get good at this.

Old MP3 player: Creative MuVo N200 (1/2 Gig)

I found my first MP3 player in a box when I moved recently. It is a Creative MuVo N200 player, purchased in 2005. I was was heading out on a long work trip to Europe, and one of my activities was to be the external examiner for a PhD student in Aalborg, Denmark. They were paying my way and an honorarium, most of which I pre-spent on this player. Some kind of primitive iPod was out at the time, with more memory. I liked this one better, since it was smaller and used replaceable batteries rather than USB charging. You can still get them on eBay, although they were discontinued long ago by the manufacturer. It is a nice little device and it may still get some use: the battery operation would be useful if I were ever to go into the "wilderness" and it has a nice strap for using in the gym. It also has an FM tuner and an LCD display. A great piece of equipment for the time, even if it is dated now.

Canvas Chair Repair

I have a canvas chair, from my stepfather years ago. It is one of the two things I have from him. The other is the chest of drawers that he had as a kid. It is one of those old, solid wood pieces of furniture that will outlast me, as it did my stepfather. The original fabric of the canvas chair (director's chair? captain's chair?) decayed a long time ago. It was revived briefly when my mother in law sewed new canvas for it, but that ripped quite quickly. Either the canvas was too thin or me and some of my friends to heavy and excitable while sitting in it. Anyway, I went to Dressew (on Hastings downtown, an awesome place if you are in to sewing or crafts of any kind) and got the heaviest canvas I could. I also got some advice from one of the other customers on appropriate heavy thread. She asked me what kind of sewing machine I had, and I held up my hand. Anyway, I stitched something to replace the seat. It survived a social event this weekend. Either the canvas is heavier or my friends now are lighter and less excitable.

On the right, notice the fancy wooden thread puller I got at the East Lansing Craft Fair.

A gorilla fixed my belt

Well, Gorilla Glue fixed my belt. This is a belt I got second hand more than a decade ago. It is very solid leather. It is one of those things you have that looks a bit worn, but the same as it did ten years ago after constant use. I stitched that join up once before many years ago but this time, after breaking two needles, I decided to try out the glue I had bought for a different project (it didn't work for that project, btw). Wet one side, glued the other, used my high tech clamps, and three hours later it seems to have worked. We'll see how long it lasts.

Cycling Psychology

I took a new bike route to work last week, cycled it MWF. I varied my route home but had the same new route in all three days. It was noticeably easier the third day I did it. I am pretty sure I did not get myself in better shape in one week, so I think this is all psychological. When you know the route and what is coming ahead, it is just easier to face it I think. Possibly it was just that I paced myself differently on the route knowing what was coming up, but my total time was about the same all three days.

Not all oranges...

Not all oranges are created equal. My wife picks these Cara oranges up somewhere on Commercial Drive: Donald's Market, the East End Food Co-op, or Santa Barbara Market - all excellent places to shop for food, so you won't regret hunting for oranges in these places. Slightly pinkish flesh, but not tasting of grapefruit or blood orange, these are juicy and excellent!

Garden Improvements

I have fallen behind with my blogs, but a few weeks ago my friend, Trent, and I undertook the major Summer gardening task of removing the last section of cedar hedge in the yard. They used to be all around the back yard, taking out about 5 feet on all sides of yard space. Cedar hedges are not trivial to maintain and these had been neglected, by the previous owners as well as us. The yard feels a lot bigger with them finally gone.  

Nothing left but the stumps to remove. My aim is to do one a week and they'll be cleared out by Spring. 

This back garden used to be a fenced in dog area, with cedar hedges all around. I found those ancient roses back there and on the right is now our herb garden (chives, oregano, sage, lemon thyme, and mint) as well as some of the hardy irises that spread like crazy that we have from the place we rented 20 years ago. 

On the East side, which was also taken up by cedar hedge removed a few years ago, we have some vegetable beds. This year it is garlic, blueberries (but you won's survive on the number of these we get), tomatoes, yellow squash and beans. The small one on the right was put in by my son and his girlfriend. 

Scrap material coffee table

I wanted to make a coffee table from the scrap material I have piled in the garage. I looked online through images of coffee tables and saw some really excellent ones. The one below I thought was really interesting, and it wasn't that expensive (listed at $200). To be clear, I didn't make this one!

Below is the one I did make, out of 1by2s and two panels from an old computer desk. I like the contrast between the metal and the wood. It turned out more or less as I had hoped. The joints are not square and there are visible screws, but that just adds to the rustic character!

8tracks

I have re-entered the streaming music scene. I have come to the conclusion that you still need to own music that you want to have available to you "forever". Streaming music sites like Google Play Music and Apple Music don't have everything you want and (as I discovered to my horror) their collections change over time. Apple Music and its lack of transparency with my purchased collection in iTunes was particularly annoying. I have gone to managing my own music in iTunes and using Google Play Music service to sample new things to see if I am interested enough to buy them.

None of that gives me the ability to share playlists with my friends, except by burning a CD for them (very old fashioned!). My daughter put me on to the streaming service, 8tracks, which fills this gap. You upload your own music in playlists that are available for others to play from their server. There are some restrictions on what you can upload but I haven't hit any yet (for example, they prevent you from having too many tracks from any one album or any recording artist on a playlist). It seems like they are keeping it legal and so may stand the test of time. You don't get to see what is on the playlist before you start - it just shows you one song at a time. I don't know what the quality of the playlists on 8tracks is yet as a way to find good new music, but the sharing with your friends aspect seems good.

I have one playlist up now if you want to check it out. Unlike the other things I am using, the free version seems quite useable: https://8tracks.com/brian-wetton

Britannia Community Centre Solstice Festival

I volunteered this weekend setting up a Britannia Community Centre event, a Solstice party. I like volunteering. It makes me feel useful, I get to meet new people, and I enjoy being wanted for my ability to lift and carry heavy things rather than anything intellectual.

I went to the event, with my adult daughter. Bands played (I liked the creaking planks), there was coffee, tea, and cookies. The venue was nicely decorated (I helped to decorate, but I only get intellectually that decorations help make an event successful). I should say that it was all free - a community building event. Maybe one day I will actually understand how to build community but at least I can lift and move things around for those that do.

Embroidery Sun Finished

Here is the finished design. I hadn't done this on purpose, but it is just finished for the Summer Solstice. I am wearing it tonight to a Solstice party at Britannia Community Centre. It is an event I volunteered to help set up, and will help to take it down after it is done.  My next project will either be a set of moons and stars, or a dragon (tried that once before but it didn't turn out well). 

Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge

This year I achieved the lowest echelon of frequent flyer status with Air Canada (copper? no, "prestige 25K"). I do some travelling for work, to conferences and to collaborate on projects, but not that much, and always with the cheapest fares since I am travelling at the tax-payers' expense. I have only achieved "status" twice in my life. This time, I must have been pushed over the top by the trips to Barcelona and Beijing last year. My prestige status gives me free checked bags - pretty nice. I also had some optional rewards and I chose to get four tickets into the maple leaf lounges. The last time I had reached status I also picked this option, but always forgot to bring the tickets when I travelled. This year, I finally got a chance to enter the lounge, in Toronto terminal 1, D gate area.

I have been keen to see what these are like, and I am an enthusiastic guy with a good imagination. So, it didn't quite live up to my completely unreasonable expectations of hot and cold running gin, and beautiful heiresses just dying to get to know me better. There was a mediocre self-serve breakfast. Wine did arrive eventually but it was eleven in the morning, and I decided that was too early even for me. I have to say that the area was quite nice (except for the quite grotty carpet) with very comfortable seating groups, widely spaced, and lots of windows with a nice view. There was good coffee. It was very quiet, a really calming area of refuge to the stress of travelling. While not as good as my imagination, I really did see the appeal. I will happily use my remaining three tickets this year if I can. 

Toronto experience June 2016

I have visited Toronto many times over the years for work, and even lived here for a year 92-93. People from the West of Canada have a knee-jerk negative reaction to Toronto. I think there is some jealousy mixed in with some more honest reaction to the smug superiority that many TO residents have. Being here this last week, though, I am reminded of how interesting a city it is. I could see myself living here without hardship. Part of it could just be that I have found restaurants I really like (both the food and the vibe). I am in the Holiday Inn just North of the UofT campus on Bloor. I found Daddyo's Salad and Pasta restaurant just South of here on Spadina:

Inside is exactly as you imagine looking at the outside. It has pasta, salad, and wine. What more could you want? Just a few blocks away on Bloor just West of Spadina is Greg's Ice Cream, with really high quality stock. I have had chocolate (I always try out a new place with a "basic" flavour) and last night after pasta I had star anise ice cream - excellent. 

The conference ended a day early. It was billed as Monday-Friday but when the schedule appeared it ended on Thursday. Maybe this was a clever plan to trick people into not leaving before the last session. Anyway, today was a "free" day in TO. I walked around my old haunts here, after going to breakfast at Over Easy. Another great place, helped that I was sitting outside on the patio on a great day, with time on my hands. 

I could live in this neighbourhood happily, but my plans to lose weight would have to be abandoned. Saw a high rise building I liked the look of: