Well, the season is beginning to change, as indicated by the amount of fur that our cats are shedding. There have been a couple of frost advisories that have resulted in my covering my tomato plants. The leaves and beech nuts have been falling from the trees. (By the way, beech nuts will do damage to the cranium if they fall on you. Be warned!)
So why is it that I'm sitting here in shorts?
This has been a strange year, weather-wise, even up here in Canada. I won't begin to go into the problems experienced in the lower forty-eight. Summer took its own time getting here, with a lot of rain and then, when it did arrive, it did so with a vengeance. The humidity was enough to flatten you out, and then create short thunder storms. Now we go from highs of 26 C to lows of 1 or 2, sometimes to the freezing point.
I think that's one of the wonderful things about being Canadian. We always have something to gripe about. If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes!
On the other hand, I don't think I could imagine living someplace with a more regular climate. My aunt and uncle have a place in Florida that they escape to each winter. They were even tempted to spend the Christmas Holidays down there. Christmas without snow. So wrong, on so many levels. Besides, I think my favorite time of year is when the maples have all changed color, but the leaves haven't all fallen to the ground. That would be so hard to give up.
So, like every other Canadian, I think I'll go ahead and complain about the weather, and just keep a pair of shorts handy.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Babysitting?
I know I promised not to do this here, but I just have to vent a little.
When did I become a babysitter?
There was a problem yesterday evening with some of the tenants. Apparently, they felt that one of the boys who lives in the building was being far too rough with the others. I received a phone call, complaining about something that happened the day before yesterday. While I am responsible for the safety of the children as they play in the yard, I have to be notified of things when they happen before I can take action.
Furthermore, without the proper complaints filed, the most I could do was talk to the boy's mother, and ask her to have a serious chat with him. As the assistant superintendent, I really don't see how it is up to me to handle how the children are behaving. Even as I was talking with both sets of parents, all of the children involved were outside playing together.
I really do want to keep peace among the tenants of the building. I'm just not sure how to do this when somebody gets their feelings hurt, and feels the need to say "he started it" to me. Then there is dealing with the kids.
Okay, that last paragraph was a little harsh.
When do I start treating "boys will be boys" as a tenant incident with the possible consequence of eviction?
When did I become a babysitter?
There was a problem yesterday evening with some of the tenants. Apparently, they felt that one of the boys who lives in the building was being far too rough with the others. I received a phone call, complaining about something that happened the day before yesterday. While I am responsible for the safety of the children as they play in the yard, I have to be notified of things when they happen before I can take action.
Furthermore, without the proper complaints filed, the most I could do was talk to the boy's mother, and ask her to have a serious chat with him. As the assistant superintendent, I really don't see how it is up to me to handle how the children are behaving. Even as I was talking with both sets of parents, all of the children involved were outside playing together.
I really do want to keep peace among the tenants of the building. I'm just not sure how to do this when somebody gets their feelings hurt, and feels the need to say "he started it" to me. Then there is dealing with the kids.
Okay, that last paragraph was a little harsh.
When do I start treating "boys will be boys" as a tenant incident with the possible consequence of eviction?
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The LHC
By now I'm sure that just about everyone has heard about the LHC, or Large Hadron Collector. The particle accelerator was brought on-line a week ago. It is the most awesome observation machine ever constructed by man. More than seven kilometers of tunnel under Switzerland and France. All to detect a particle that scientists aren't positive exists, and is so small, a scanning electron microscope cannot see it.
I was intrigued by the number of doomsday scenarios that surrounded this thing. The directors of CERN, who are operating the LHC have even been threatened. According to some, it was going to create a black hole, and the earth would be devoured by it. Others had the idea that the collisions would result in a fusion reaction, that would cascade, and essentially be a huge nuclear bomb.
In fact, there have been a number of particle accelerators. The only difference with the LHC is that it's so much larger, and the detectors much more sensitive. There is an infinitesimally small possibility of creating a reaction harmful to anyone. The possibility is so remote, it doesn't even bear considering. We are talking extremely tiny reactions that the Universe produces itself by chance.
The goal here is to detect the Higgs particle, or what was created at the moment of the big bang. If the current model is correct, then there is an elemental particle of our universe unaccounted for. As well, physics has yet to explain why there is no antimatter anywhere to be found in the known universe. If it annihilates when it comes into contact with matter, should there not be an equal amount of each, matter and antimatter in the universe?
Science is attempting to explain how you go from nothing, to a whole expanding universe. We are reaching out to God, in essence, and asking, how and why are we here.
I won't even begin to comment on the debates that question brings up.
I was intrigued by the number of doomsday scenarios that surrounded this thing. The directors of CERN, who are operating the LHC have even been threatened. According to some, it was going to create a black hole, and the earth would be devoured by it. Others had the idea that the collisions would result in a fusion reaction, that would cascade, and essentially be a huge nuclear bomb.
In fact, there have been a number of particle accelerators. The only difference with the LHC is that it's so much larger, and the detectors much more sensitive. There is an infinitesimally small possibility of creating a reaction harmful to anyone. The possibility is so remote, it doesn't even bear considering. We are talking extremely tiny reactions that the Universe produces itself by chance.
The goal here is to detect the Higgs particle, or what was created at the moment of the big bang. If the current model is correct, then there is an elemental particle of our universe unaccounted for. As well, physics has yet to explain why there is no antimatter anywhere to be found in the known universe. If it annihilates when it comes into contact with matter, should there not be an equal amount of each, matter and antimatter in the universe?
Science is attempting to explain how you go from nothing, to a whole expanding universe. We are reaching out to God, in essence, and asking, how and why are we here.
I won't even begin to comment on the debates that question brings up.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Home Sweet Home
Sandra and I have been in the apartment for just a couple days over a year now. And quite the year it has been. It's had all of it usual ups and downs.
When we moved in, we had some issues with the upstairs neighbors. They had two large dogs that made a lot of noise first thing every morning, as the sun started to come up. The couple tried caging them at night, but that just led to the noise of rattling cages and whimpering. After a time, they had to move out, it not being fair to the dogs to keep them in an apartment like that.
There were issues with some of the other tenants as well. A couple of them were dealing and using drugs out of their units. That is, they were until I started sitting at my computer at the kitchen table! The "clients" weren't willing to be seen at the door. It did take a tribunal hearing to get rid of the worst of the trouble makers, and the others had to be given two month notice of lease termination.
On the other hand, Christmas was lovely here. Our tree looked lovely in front of the living room window. With the tree lights on, we didn't even need the living room lights at night. From outside, you could see the lights. We had our large plastic ornaments outside our windows, and they were great too, even if we weren't able to light them up.
Speaking of winter, this apartment is a dream in winter. The air is a little on the dry side, (Can you say "Sahara"?) but it is warm and comfortable in here. The windows seal very well, and the walls are so well insulated that the worst winds couldn't even be heard. We had to open the blinds to know what was happening outside.
It had been a little difficult getting used to the trains being so close at first. Now, we hardly notice them. The cats ignored them from day one.
The spring brought with it a lot of melt and rain. Even in a basement apartment, there was no real dampness problems. This has been a boon to Sandra, who has had arthritis issues for as long as I've known her. As far as comfort goes, this place has it all.
Now in June, our superintendent took it into his head to quit. Not having all of the story myself, I can't really go into too much detail. All I know is that suddenly we were left to fend for ourselves. I took it upon myself to go around each evening and make sure the the building remained secure. It had taken so long to get it to feel like home.
Starting in July, I was hired to be the assistant superintendent on site. All I really have to do is continue to watch over the property, report problems, and handle any paperwork that comes out of the building. Tenants bring issues to me, and I pass them along to my immediate boss.
At least, that's the way it's supposed to work. I have a tendency to try to handle maintenance issues myself. With a swift kick in the butt by my wife, I've started to let these things go. It's up to the professionals to do them. I still do some of the really simple stuff, but no more trying to get up ladders and things like that. It's still nice to have tools to do the easy stuff. I like to put in the homey touches, that take the place from an apartment building to what the tenants can proudly call home.
Sandra has been doing her best to get our home organized. She purchased new shelving units for the storage room, and know there is space in there, with everything neatly up off of the floor. I can go in there to change the Kitty litter without having to back out to change my mind.
So now we find ourselves having been in the building for a full year. Things haven't always gone smoothly, but this apartment has eventually become home.
Sandra cried when we left Cardinal for the last time. May it be a long time before she has to shed tears like those again.
When we moved in, we had some issues with the upstairs neighbors. They had two large dogs that made a lot of noise first thing every morning, as the sun started to come up. The couple tried caging them at night, but that just led to the noise of rattling cages and whimpering. After a time, they had to move out, it not being fair to the dogs to keep them in an apartment like that.
There were issues with some of the other tenants as well. A couple of them were dealing and using drugs out of their units. That is, they were until I started sitting at my computer at the kitchen table! The "clients" weren't willing to be seen at the door. It did take a tribunal hearing to get rid of the worst of the trouble makers, and the others had to be given two month notice of lease termination.
On the other hand, Christmas was lovely here. Our tree looked lovely in front of the living room window. With the tree lights on, we didn't even need the living room lights at night. From outside, you could see the lights. We had our large plastic ornaments outside our windows, and they were great too, even if we weren't able to light them up.
Speaking of winter, this apartment is a dream in winter. The air is a little on the dry side, (Can you say "Sahara"?) but it is warm and comfortable in here. The windows seal very well, and the walls are so well insulated that the worst winds couldn't even be heard. We had to open the blinds to know what was happening outside.
It had been a little difficult getting used to the trains being so close at first. Now, we hardly notice them. The cats ignored them from day one.
The spring brought with it a lot of melt and rain. Even in a basement apartment, there was no real dampness problems. This has been a boon to Sandra, who has had arthritis issues for as long as I've known her. As far as comfort goes, this place has it all.
Now in June, our superintendent took it into his head to quit. Not having all of the story myself, I can't really go into too much detail. All I know is that suddenly we were left to fend for ourselves. I took it upon myself to go around each evening and make sure the the building remained secure. It had taken so long to get it to feel like home.
Starting in July, I was hired to be the assistant superintendent on site. All I really have to do is continue to watch over the property, report problems, and handle any paperwork that comes out of the building. Tenants bring issues to me, and I pass them along to my immediate boss.
At least, that's the way it's supposed to work. I have a tendency to try to handle maintenance issues myself. With a swift kick in the butt by my wife, I've started to let these things go. It's up to the professionals to do them. I still do some of the really simple stuff, but no more trying to get up ladders and things like that. It's still nice to have tools to do the easy stuff. I like to put in the homey touches, that take the place from an apartment building to what the tenants can proudly call home.
Sandra has been doing her best to get our home organized. She purchased new shelving units for the storage room, and know there is space in there, with everything neatly up off of the floor. I can go in there to change the Kitty litter without having to back out to change my mind.
So now we find ourselves having been in the building for a full year. Things haven't always gone smoothly, but this apartment has eventually become home.
Sandra cried when we left Cardinal for the last time. May it be a long time before she has to shed tears like those again.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
My take on the Olympics.
Like everyone else, I've been following the Olympics to some degree. There are events that I really enjoy, and others that you couldn't pay me to watch. For example, the beach volleyball had my interest, whereas the baseball and basketball were to be flipped over if at all possible. That might mark me as less of a regular guy than most, but it's how I'm wired.
My wife and I are very fond of the diving events. Watching these young men and women hurl themselves off of a springboard or the 10 metre platform is very exciting. We don't even pick which athletes to be interested in (beyond normal desire to see our country get a medal), we just admire the form that they show.
Interestingly enough, after a while, you begin to understand just what the judges are looking for. Were the toes pointed on entry? How vertical was that entry? At first I wasn't sure why some divers were scored the way they were. Now I get it. It was the same way during the winter Olympics, with curling. It took me time to get that one too.
There was an interesting debate in a forum I frequent about what constitutes a sport, and what is just an athletic equivalent to a beauty contest. It seems that some feel that an event that is judged subjectively is not really a sport. Only the events with clear "first past the post" winners can be considered a sport. I haven't really come down on one side or the other. I think that all of the events are sports. If it requires physical training to the nth level, and is not something just anyone can do well, it's a sport.
The day they introduce competitive eating, I'm out of here. Now that is NOT a sport!
An interesting side note, the CBC sports program asked for viewer input on who was the most gifted athlete at the games, or something to that effect. Somebody very wisely voted for one of the horses on the Canadian Equestrian team. We get so caught up in the human element, sometimes we forget what we ask of our partners.
My wife and I are very fond of the diving events. Watching these young men and women hurl themselves off of a springboard or the 10 metre platform is very exciting. We don't even pick which athletes to be interested in (beyond normal desire to see our country get a medal), we just admire the form that they show.
Interestingly enough, after a while, you begin to understand just what the judges are looking for. Were the toes pointed on entry? How vertical was that entry? At first I wasn't sure why some divers were scored the way they were. Now I get it. It was the same way during the winter Olympics, with curling. It took me time to get that one too.
There was an interesting debate in a forum I frequent about what constitutes a sport, and what is just an athletic equivalent to a beauty contest. It seems that some feel that an event that is judged subjectively is not really a sport. Only the events with clear "first past the post" winners can be considered a sport. I haven't really come down on one side or the other. I think that all of the events are sports. If it requires physical training to the nth level, and is not something just anyone can do well, it's a sport.
The day they introduce competitive eating, I'm out of here. Now that is NOT a sport!
An interesting side note, the CBC sports program asked for viewer input on who was the most gifted athlete at the games, or something to that effect. Somebody very wisely voted for one of the horses on the Canadian Equestrian team. We get so caught up in the human element, sometimes we forget what we ask of our partners.
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