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.