The clock ticks...

Only 89,400 seconds left and counting... It's a weird feeling, knowing it's so close. As it draws near, the times when I think of it being so close start to overtake the times when I think I still have plenty of time. I'm mostly packed, save for some last minute items... I hope.

I'm sure I'll have access to a computer at some point, so I'll try to get off a quick note sometime. Next time you hear from me, I should be halfway around the world.

Blah blah blah.

That is all.

Stats ahoy!

I'll get to the stats in a bit, but first:
It's only 4,596 minutes before the first flight of my trip... not that I'm counting or anything.

Now some blog stats (since May 26):
- total views: 377
- total visitors (different people): 144
- countries that have visited my blog: Canada (338), US (32), France (1), Malaysia (1), Sweden (1), Netherlands (1), Japan (1), Great Britain (1), Chile (1)
- browsers: FireFox (144), Mozilla (126), Internet Explorer (105), Safari (2)
- operating systems: Windows (368), Linux (5), Macintosh (4)
- search engine keywords: belvedere broadcasters (5), "51st Eight" (4), "Oh Gelato" victoria (1), www.swinginswirlie.blogspot.com (1)

Some of those numbers include me, but not anymore as I've set up the stats to ignore me now. I think the most interesting stat is the list of countries (aside from Canada and US).

That is all.

Oh, how things have changed!

Last night after work, Holly and I went for a walk around UVic. We wandered around Finnerty Gardens and some of the chip trails until we passed by good ole Lot 1. I parked here almost every day for about 5 years and so I detoured and headed to my old haunting grounds, the Engineering Lab Wing (ELW). I took Holly around to see all the 'sights' in the building and the various places I spent way too much time in. We then wandered over the new connecting bridges to the freshly built Engineering/Computer Science building (ECS). Wow, that's a nice building! The interior is nice and open, with a central atrium as its main focus. Offices, lecture halls, meeting rooms, and lounge areas occupy the perimeter. In the centre of the atrium is the elevator shaft, with short walkways providing access.

The lecture halls are ulta-modern and very very nice. All the halls are wired. The smaller labs are outfitted with computers and LCD panels at each desk. The lecture halls are wired with network drops and power plugs in pods on top of the desks for each seat. The three main halls have a raised stage and a plethora of connections and control panels. LED stair lighting provides illumination when the projectors are on and the ceiling lights are off. So many toys to play with!!!

Tables and chairs are scattered in various locations for studying, with easy access to power plugs everywhere. Some of the lounges are furnished with leather chairs and couches, others with the standard durable fabric stuff. And the most important item for students: there were nice, flat, COMFORTABLE benches that were nice and wide and long that are absolutely PERFECT for sleeping on. If I had to spend another night at school, this would be where I would stay. As a preliminary rating, I'd say it was a 3.5-star accommodation. I had to lower the rating because the benches/beds were on the first floor, where most of the traffic would pass. I didn't hit the 4th floor, so I don't know if there were any up there. Floors two and three had the leather couches, but I didn't notice any of the wide bed/benches.

Almost makes me want to go back to school sooner... If I'm going to get my Masters, I might as well get in on a new building.

That is all.

THERE's my SideKick!

A few entries ago (Where's my SideKick?) I posted about a stolen SideKick II and the website dedicated to shaming the unlawful possessors into returning it. The whole sordid tale is over... sorta. After numerous antics, several forums and webservers brought online and crippled to their knees by traffic, and a few police encounters; the SideKick is now in police hands waiting to be retrieved by the owner. If you haven't read it yet, you can catch up on the whole story at How NOT to steal a SideKick II.

That is all.

Cooked flesh and street workers

For quite a while now, every so often, I get the urge to dabble in electronics (stuff like the Light Spider Robot or BEAM robots) and ultimately to build a robot to do my bidding. I mean, every good World Domination scheme has to have at least one robot bent on human destruction. Anyway, several months back, I ordered a few kits and a Learn to Solder kit. (Hey, you gotta start somewhere.) This weekend, I finally got around to it. (What can I say, World Domination is sometimes a slow process... or was that lazy process?) It's a lot of fun and the couple simple kits I've put together so far have worked flawlessly. I got through it only partially scathed. I learned the hard way that you don't touch metal things that you're currently soldering, because they get very hot. Very very hot. I've got the cooked flesh to prove it. I've also learned that I will repeatedly and accidentally touch the soldering iron holster while it's still hot. At least that thing doesn't get hot enough to cook. At least, not so far. So yeah, in a few more months, I might get around to finishing off the rest of the kits and I'll have a Light Spider Robot of my own wandering around. (It'll probably be a few years before the human-destroying robot will come about.)

On a completely different topic, as of June 24th, three of the five current male members of our swing team have significant others that work on the street. Holly (my SO, obviously) works for Black Beauty Carriage Tours, which offers horse-drawn carriage tours downtown. Christabel (sav's SO, also on the team) works for Royal Blue Line Motor Tours, which offers open- and closed-top bus tours around the city. Starting on the 24th, Tina (David's SO/wife, also on the team) will be working with Christabel at Royal Blue Line.

That suggests a plan to me: get Chris' and Rajeev's SOs to work on the street! For Chris, that'll require acquiring an SO first. Easiest thing would be to set him up with somebody that works at Black Beauty (or one of the other carriage tour companies) or Royal Blue Line (or one of the other bus tour companies). For Rajeev, that requires getting Angela to change or expand her job. (Somehow I don't think Angela would agree to getting Rajeev to change his SO... I have a feeling Rajeev may not either.) Angela does video editing and production and stuff like that. I wonder if she has any interest in on-street camera work? Hmm...

Just think... every male member of our swing team will have SOs that WORK ON THE STREET! Just imagine all the jokes and hilarity that will ensue! (It's already happened when we had two... and soon to be three.)

That is all.

Oh so close, yet oh so far!

What time is it? 3:15PM? In 336 hours (2 weeks for the rest of you), I'll be sitting inside a Bombardier Dash 8-100, operated by Air Canada Jazz, on my way to YVR (Vancouver). Assuming it leaves on time, I should be a little over halfway there. From there, it's British Airways to London and then Stockholm. By this point, I should be decked out in Canada gear, starting my Canada Day celebrations. I have to make up for being away from the home festivities! I might leave my big flag in my bag until after I leave the airports and I'm on my way to Herräng... don't want airport security thinking I'm too crazy. I'm sure when I arrive the other Canucks will know what's going on.

me: I need to get a big Canada flag for Canada Day, so I can wear it when I'm out of the country.
bro: You're going to wear it? Just get one of those Canada shirts.
me: Why? Why not a flag?
bro: You don't want to look like you're wearing a cape and pretending to be a super hero.
me: Don't I? Don't I?

Hmmmm, Cap'n Canada has a nice ring to it...

That is all.

Me: 1, Swing 1: 0

So last night was our last class of Swing 1 and I survived in one piece and not dead... despite the best efforts of Steve and Greg last week. Both Steve and Greg chased me around the studio doing skip-ups, with wild, menacing looks in their eyes. It was truly frightening! Or hilarious. Either way.

Overall, I think the class went well. Good job, Sara! It was interesting taking the lead for the first time. I taught with Carolyn the last two semesters/sessions at UVic, and she usually did more of the talking, though that sort of reversed during the last session. In the last couple weeks this session, I was prompting Sara to speak more, partly to save my voice or prevent it from dying all together thanks to a stupid cold/flu/black plague (Sara's words). It was good; we got through all the material, but I definitely need to work on my crowd control and pacing. We were consistently running late/behind after the first couple classes... though, it really didn't help that the (*ahem*) woman in the studio before us never finished her stuff on time. There were times when she would try to extend past her time by at least 15-20 minutes. "Other people pay for the studio space, too. Get the *BEEP* out!" Grrrr. People are inconsiderate.

In other news, I now have my plane tickets! It seems weird to think that I'm flying out in less than three weeks! Mid-afternoon on June 30th, I'll be on a plane to Vancouver, then to London, then to Stockholm. After a week in Herräng, I'll be on a short flight back to London. A few days in London, I'll be making my way towards Paris for a couple days. Then a short flight back to London (London, again?), a long 9.5 hour flight to Vancouver, and finally a short hop back home! In all, I'll see Heathrow three times... spending about half a day there. And an interesting coincidence, my travel agent will be in Heathrow on her way home to Victoria at the same time I will be. She'll be on a different flight, though, I believe. Another interesting coincidence, my coworker will also be in Heathrow at the same time. Not just Heathrow... we're on the same British Airways flight to Vancouver!

Some more ne... Wait... 2.5 weeks?!?! Holy crap! When did it get that close?!

That is all.

Where's my SideKick?

Gotta love the power of the Internet.
How NOT to steal a SideKick II
This guy's friend left her SideKick II in a taxi and it was subsequently stolen. That was a couple days ago. Read the ongoing saga now and marvel at the stupidity of the perpetrators.

That is all.

Can I have a do-over?

The weekend wasn't too bad, despite getting sick. I started getting a sore throat late Friday and it only got worse from there. Here I am, at work on a Monday, with a full blown cold/flu/black plague.

Saturday, I met Holly's mom (Patti. I think that's how it's spelled, after surreptitiously spying it written down...), brother (Marty), and aunt for the first time; after meeting her dad (Craig) last weekend. Her mom was away last weekend, and her brother and aunt both live in town. Despite the growing soreness in my throat, the slight nausea, and the uneasy stomach, I soldiered on. Holly's mom dropped by Holly's, with Skye in tow, and we made our way to the De Dutch down the street for breakfast/lunch. Well, we made our way there after dropping off Skye at her aunt's place nearby. After Patti, Marty, Holly, and I (De) Dutchified, we picked up Skye and headed off to Butchart Gardens. Oh yeah, by this point, I had added a pulsing (every 20 seconds or so) headache that felt like a vein in the back of my head was trying its darndest to escape the confines of my skull. Yeah. So anyway, we took a nice stroll through the Gardens. On the way out, we stopped for gelato and sat down on the grass for awhile. We headed back and Holly and I took a short nap before she went off to dinner with her mom. I headed home here as things were getting worse. Time to cut my losses.
On the phone later, Holly told me that her mom and aunt both liked me, so things went well.

Sunday, I was still feeling like crap, but less crap-like. I sat out and watched Balboa class, which was a little tough to do. We were doing bal-swing, which is so much fun. At team practice, we were talking about updates to the website, including adding our bios to the Dancers page. Instead of writing our own bios, we're going to be writing each others. I get to write Sara's, by virtue of being on her right side. Well, officially, it was her being on my left side, with how it was decided who would write whom's. (<--- I *think* that's grammatically correct.) All I can say is, "Good luck, Sara". I think Carolyn's going to be writing mine. According to my under-developed (or over-exposed?) photographic memory, the writer/vict.. errr.. writer/subject pairings go something like the following:
- me -> Sara
- Sara -> Angela
- Angela -> Rajeev
- Rajeev -> Christabel
- Christabel -> sav
- sav -> Chris
- Chris -> David
- David -> Tina
- Tina -> Carolyn
- Carolyn -> me
This is going to be interesting.

That is all.

Giant 3D Tetris... IRL style

So I got to play a giant game of 3D Tetris yesterday. I helped my brother move to Vancouver. We rented a 1-ton truck for the purpose. We started way too early in the morning (earlier than I start work!) and got the truck filled by about 11AM. My dad did most of the truck stacking with me helping. Break for a quick lunch and we were off to the ferry. Catching the 1PM ferry and driving into Vancouver, we got to the public storage around 3:30PM. Thus began my real life game of giant 3D Tetris.

The public storage is a massive 3-storey building, with two elevators for upper level access. We had a few people helping us. I was stationed at the storage locker to organize, while the others unpacked the truck and brought me more Tetris pieces. Here I was trying to get the contents of a cleverly (and tightly) packed truck into a slightly larger box on the third floor... without knowing what pieces were left or were coming next. Twas an interesting puzzle and I think I fared rather nicely. The back of the storage locker was packed pretty tightly, from floor to wire-mesh ceiling. It wasn't until later, when we started running out of time, when things got a little more sloppy. This was also when the weirder pieces came into play.

This actually mirrors how I often play Tetris. My strategy at first has the goal of getting the 4-line tetrii for big points. Later, when things start getting more hectic and faster and furious..er, my strategy changes to go for the quick lines and clear things quickly. The top of the Tetris box is a scary place when things are moving very rapidly!

We managed to finish the game just after 7PM, with a decent amount of room to spare and everything packed away. Off to the ferry to catch the 9PM. Back in Victoria, we headed home and off to return the truck. I finally got home and into bed (a much needed shower and a quick call later) at about 12:30AM... and back to work at 8:30AM. Joy. At least I have a massage lined up for tonight.

That is all.