I'm getting behind on my reading!!! I've set out 50 pages a day for me to read (other than for work), which is a lot considering all the other things on my schedule but I should be able to knock it off especially since I'm reading fiction right now (book 11 of the Wheel of Time). The 50 pages is tentatively for non-fiction as well but that's yet to be seen. But I'm still getting behind. I'm going to bed at 10 tonight to try to catch up.
My parents visited today: my dad retired as of Friday so the visit was sort of to kick off his new freedom. That is, until he finds some other job or work to do. My 2yo son LOVES my dad and is always excited to see him. I mean, he's pretty easy-going, my son is, and gets along with pretty much everyone (even my grandfather who has a tendency to scare small children, LOL) but he can just think we MAY see my dad and he starts running around yelling "PAPA!". He's a riot.
We had a friend of my daughter's and her older sister stay over last night (NOT a regular thing... her parents had a wedding to go to and their regular sitter couldn't cover it) and all I have to say is that I'm GLAD we only have one girl. *flashbacks of my daughter's birthday party -- with half a dozen of the little darlings -- mixing in with fake memories of 'Nam*
Oh. If you are ever near Kingston, and you need some fruit and/or vegetables... Produce Town is the answer. Great selection, great store, great prices! Woah. (Yes. I am now both a father and an adult, and as such can rave about my favourite grocery establishments. Don't look at me like that! *sticking my tongue out in a rather childish way*)
[Currently listening to "It feels nice" by Mysterymen. Smooth.]
I was writing down some notes so I wouldn't forget what has happened over the week and I wrote down "BLOG" and then the initials of my site name: "JAM". Get it? Blog Jam? What a great name for a site! (Damn. Somebody already thought of the phrase!)
It was really a party week: my son's number 2 birthday (well, really number three, technically) on Friday, a housewarming barbecue for some coworkers (good food, some new people, but crazy kids - mine of course!), and then driving my daughter to the birthday party of a friend from school. And then, of course, the party in my wife's mouth: she had her wisdom teeth removed. What a week. It would have been much better if money wasn't so damn tight. I don't know what the problem is. We don't spend frivolously, I have a decently paying job... I think we just don't track it well enough and little bits get wasted here and there. I try to budget and track and record everything but after months of storing everything in Excel (awesome) or Quicken (useless), I get lazy and forget to really think about where everything's going.
I don't mean to say that we're poor. It's just that all our money is well "ear-marked" before it pops into our account. *laugh* But we make up for it with the joys of looking through stores for things we wish we could afford, the thrill of wondering whether I'll have enough gas to get me to work for the week, the excitement of wasting money on the occasional but still depressing "good luck" lottery ticket, and the pleasures of worrying about everything connected with spending money. WeeeeeeeeHACK! When will this roller coaster of FUN ever stop??? Hopefully around the time I get a second job?
Well, back to trying to sort our crap!
It's been a difficult year. We moved here because I got a temporary position at Bracken Library (maternity leave replacement), hoping that I would find something more permanent in that year. I applied to the Web Development Librarian position and got rejected, the Continuing Teacher Education Liaison Librarian position and got rejected, and the Training Librarian position (at the public library) and got rejected. I am really grateful for Bracken for making a new 12 month position for me and I love working there but I really need to find something permanent here! It's getting very frustrating.
The family and I went to the Agnes Etherington Art Centre here on campus, by invitation (since I'm kinda new faculty again). It was pretty neat: my daughter got to play with some clay and make some art, while the rest of us wandered around the gallery, looking at some interesting, classic, or beautiful art. Since he's just starting to know some basic words, I asked my almost-2 year old son what some of the less identifiable objects were. It's kinda revealing about how he sees the world.
I discovered a cool new musical artist: Master Higgins. Electronic, groovy and fun!
Tuesday was a very busy day: I went to a "Focus on Foundations" session called "The Scholarship of Teaching", a webcast on Google Scholar by Karen Hunt, and taught two groups of students about finding journal articles in pharmacology specifically.
Today, as I was waiting for the bus, it started to rain. I had my emergency umbrella of course (boy scout that I am) but I didn't use it. It wasn't raining that much and it made me think about a Calvin and Hobbes strip that I had just read, about Calvin being impatient and his father talking about how sometimes it's good to have something to wait for, that it's good to use the time to just sit and think and appreciate the world around you. I "appreciated" the rain. For a little while. Then my hair started to get too wet and I gave in. *laugh*
We actually got to go to Canada's Wonderland last weekend. It was perfect weather too: it rained in the morning, pretty much entirely while we were driving there and then cleared up when we got there. As a result, the park wasn't as crowded as it could be. We rode almost all the rides, and of course had to get funnel cake -- excellent as usual. I really enjoyed the Tomb Raider lying down one and the Cliffhanger, slowly turning us upside down, was pretty awesome (it was the only one I took my glasses off for, which was pretty good because someone had lost their glasses from the group before us). It got a little cold late in the day so we skipped a few of the wussier rides and left early, stopping at East Sides in Bowmanville before going back to Mike and Jessica's.
I got a glowing rejection letter from KFPL. It said they "were impressed with [my] qualifications" so hopefullly, if push comes to shove and I apply for something else there, I'll be a shoo-in. I have mixed feelings: it's always disappointing to get a rejection and I know I would have loved the job and did well, but I'm certainly glad to stay at Bracken for the time being. And my boss baked me a cake when he heard so it's all good.
I had a busy day particularly today: I washed the car (perfect day for it), cut the lawn (with a non-powered push mower, it's good exercise, unless it kills me), and watered everything that needed it (since it's a even day). And I had all this time to kill because I finally finished both Age of Mythology campaigns! Yay for me!
About the kids: Zoe is becoming either the genius of the class or a consistent teacher's pet -- she's been "leader" several days in a row (what a great teaching trick), and she recently came home with a "recognition certificate" for "great book writing and helping all her classmates" which she apparently received at an assembly they had that day (12 Sep). And Max, not to be outdone, is learning new words all the time (e.g. "puddle", names of food at Produce Town, "button" (which apparently means chewable vitamin), "star" (but loudly pronounced "DOW"), etc.). And of course, regularly, easily getting out of his high chair, and getting INTO everything else. He's not supposed to be terribly two until the 23rd! LOL
Well, I re-borrowed "Introduction to Reference Work in the Digital Age". I had to return it because I had renewed three times already (the limit) but didn't start reading it until about a week before it was due. There's some pretty good stuff in here. I don't know why I didn't start "studying" these regular topics before. Thanks Books! I love ya! Oh yeah, and I'm finally reading Robert Jordan's "Knife of Dreams", the final book so far in the Wheel of Time series.
Yes. I'm back. I've decided to post here only about once a week. Other people do it! What? Stop looking at me!
Just finished reading an article on "Live Skepticism" (called "When a skeptical hypothesis is live" by Bryan Frances) so here's a brief description to prove (to myself) that I actually read it and understood a little of it (it's been a while reading actual philosophy and I'm a little out of practice): basically it's skepticism ("you don't really know anything") that allows knowledge of a practical kind -- saying you know something when you're not aware of or talking in the context of possible "live" theories saying that you don't know it. For example, I'm talking to the cashier at the grocery store describing the hat that I think I may have lost and I say, "It is green". Despite a "Colour Error Theory" that claims that the hat is not green, that "green" really only exists in my perception of the hat, I can "know" that it's green because Colour Error Theory is not really my concern right now, and the cashier can "know" that it is green because they aren't aware of Colour Error Theory. (Sorry Bryan if I misrepresented the concept.) Interesting, but I think it still rubs me the wrong way. Let me think on it...
I cleaned the car today: why DO they put so many nooks and crannies in cars?!?!?! Did they mean for there to be enough crap collected between my seat and the gear shift to grow a small garden??? I don't recall asking for that option when I bought it!
I think I did really well at my KFPL interview on Thursday. I enjoyed talking with them and learning about the position. Although I was a bit nervous during the presentation -- I wasn't entirely pleased with it -- I think I did ok. It would be a really fun job to have and I think I would do it well. Fingers crossed.
My wife and I planned on going to Canada's Wonderland and/or at least spend some time together over the weekend but due to unforeseen circumstances, it was not meant to be. But it will happen. Dammit, it will. (Hear the sound of my fist hitting my palm?)
Kids are great. My little almost-2 year old son had a great time playing with an ice cube today. I gave him a little bowl to put it in when his hands got cold, and he picked it up, squeezed it in his little fist, rubbed it on his belly, and sucked on it until it melted away to nothing. What a nut. *laugh*
Dammit! I just remembered that I forgot to water the garden today like I planned! Our stupid city (actually rather reasonable) has ruled that even numbered houses (like ours) can only water on even numbered days. They'll have to wait until Wednesday now, but of course, I'll be back at work then. There ain't enough hours in the day... Maybe if I stopped playing "Age of Mythology" for two seconds I might find a few more hours... Nah.
(And no, I'm not going to mention Steve Irwin. Sad though.)
