Posted on 20 February 2011

Ah, what a great weekend. Yesterday, for what could well be the first time of 2011, I had nowhere to go. Coldsnap is done. No out of town trips (which are fun, but not always relaxing). No Ferret Information days or anything, either. And today, not a ton on the hopper. Which means I can write, a little. I’ve got a bunch of blog drafts that I want to finish this week, but I probably won’t. First, I want to try this– a round-up of the week (I’ve done this in the past by importing Twitter and/or Delicious manually, but didn’t like what it did to the look of the blog. This is more personal– which also means if you don’t know me, it could be boring. Heck, even if you do know me, it probably will be).

Things That Happened This Week
Since this is the first time I’m doing this, I’m going back over a week, to Saturday the 12. Things started with a Ferrets North information day at Quacker’s Canine Cuisine downtown. It was ridiculously cold, so the turnout wasn’t stellar, but a few people came, learned, and even made donations. Here’s some of the ferrets in the display window:

Meanwhile, my parents are putting in hardwood, so they started ripping out hardwood. By the time I got over there to help, they were done (not nearly as many staples as in our house, where it took days to get them out), so I got to go out in what was now the rain to help take stuff to the dump– yes, the weather was fluctuating that much. The awesome part of this was seeing a once ubiquitous linoleum style in their hallway:

That night, two parties, for who knows why? It’s always this way: I’ll have nowhere to be for weeks, then get multiple invites on the same night. Anyways, the first was a going-away for an old friend (all the way back to elementary school) who’s moving to Abbotsford to work (I suspect I’ll be doing a few more of these in the next few years), the second was the much more nonsensical “Plants vs Zombies” dance party. I’ve never played the game, but I do know it’s a rival to Angry Birds (which I’ve also never played), so I went with this as a costume:

Other people weren’t quite so obnoxious, actually going full-out into this theme. I don’t know what it is, I guess this game is popular– or else people just like dressing up in February:

The next day my brother was competing in the Prince George Iceman, a multisport competition that has skiing, running, skating, and swimming. We cheered him on in the last leg, at the pool:
The Prince George Iceman – Swimming by AndrewCellsOut
He did well for himself, getting 27th in his first competition.
What else? Had a Crimestoppers dinner, which for the first time ever meant getting a special dinner made up– that was Tuesday. Lost dodgeball– I was really off my game this week (not to take away from the other team, who were great catchers)– but it was frustrating. The week prior I had managed to do a dodge/catch/hit in a single play, this time I couldn’t do any of those things. We’ve been playing Kirby’s Epic Yarn on the Wii– it’s easy, but a good, two-player easy. Weather’s been fluctuating. Getting stuff done at CFUR– paid off the debt that I inherited when I took over, and started the process of getting a transmitter that doesn’t break and has a clearer signal. At CBC, I put together a story about iceclimbing– on a tree in someone’s frontyard– that ran Friday on Daybreak, and is being syndicated. I’ll have that later. Also, the publicist for the fight coordinator for the “Highlander” movies called me: he’s coming to Prince George to put on some workshops.
Weather’s been cold, after last week’s rain: too cold to actually do anything outside, so it’s been quick walks and indoor workouts. Today’s workout is either going to be squash or helping my parents put in the floor, depending on how far along they are.
Music:
[audio:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13148122/Call%20Me%20On%20the%20Phone%20-%20Michael%20Rault.mp3]
“Call Me On the Phone” by Michael Rault (post)
[audio:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13148122/Love%20Me%20-%20Justin%20Bieber.mp3]
“Love Me” by Justin Bieber (post)
[audio:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13148122/Peripheral%20Visionaries%20-%20Young%20Galaxy.mp3]
“Peripheral Visionaries” by Young Galaxy (post)
[audio:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13148122/I%20Need%20a%20Dollar%20-%20Aloe%20Black.mp3]
“I Need A Dollar” by Aloe Blacc (post)
[audio:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13148122/Legend%20In%20My%20Own%20Mind%20-%20the%20Stepkids.mp3]
“Legend In My Own Mind” by the Stepkids (post)
[audio:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13148122/Why%20Even%20Try.mp3]
“Why Even Try” by Theophilus London ft. Sara Q (post)
[audio:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13148122/Contact%20High.mp3]
“Contact High” by Architecture in Helsinki (post)
[audio:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13148122/Everyday%20I%20Write%20the%20Book%20-%20Elvis%20Costello.mp3]
“Everyday I Write the Book” by Elvis Costello (post)

Almost Mainstream Episode 19 – February 18 2011
download | subscribe to podcast
Links and Stuff:
This is what it’s really like using a air-powered hand dryer.
craigslisp: than antonio clathifiedth for jobth, apartmenth, perthonalth, for thale, thervitheth, community, and eventh
“4 artists, 4 early morning hours, 96 litres of red food colouring sprayed on 19 snow pile sites around Prince George. To activate curiosity, thought and conversation on this Red Letter Day attributed to St. Valentine. To be reminded of the gift of love that we carry with us and to remember how fortunate we really are …. before it melts away…” (picture)

Pandora is not radio – James Cridland

How Yelp Could Help Save Millions in Health Care Costs | eaves.ca

Media Lynchings Permit Victim Impact Statements « Jpols Blog

“The Response to Arcade Fire’s Album of the Year.”
and
“whoisarcadefire.tumblr.com”
It’s like looking into a parallel universe!
Not that Arcade Fire fans can’t be ignorant, too.

Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz’s guide to getting a sitcom cancelled

Live radio + realtime social media | misener.org

“In Digital Era, Music Spotters Feed a Machine”
Awesome article about how music identification apps are creating new jobs. Listen to the audio interviews on the sidebar, too!
Video: “Petting is Passe! Your cat wants a massage!“.
What?
“Usher ripped OMG off from the Simpons?”
Seems pretty airtight to me.
“An explanation of why Watson, the supercomputer on Jeopardy!, thought Toronto was in the United States.”
And a really good sitcom idea based on that explanation.
“Please send me your credit card number!”
Fun on Facebook

“Defector admits to WMD lies that triggered Iraq war.”
Fascinating.
This dog up for adoption in Haida Gwaii looks just like Yoda.
Current Worldwide Annual Coffee Consumption per capita.
What is the correlation between countries similar to Canada (Norway, Switzerland, Sweden) and high coffee consumption, I wonder?
“Terrestrial could kill satellite and Pandora overnight if they turned down the commercials and opened up the playlists, if they became Apple instead of Microsoft, if they appealed to those who cared and learned to care instead of being a commodity.”
Yes. (link)
Explore latest BBC audio
via James Cridland and some BBC programmers comes this experimental feature for discovering audio content: you turn the virtual radio to different podcasts, at random points in the program, to replicate surfing stations. Try it here.
“We are being naïve if we think aesthetics do not play an important role in the way photojournalists tell a story. We are not walking photocopiers. We are storytellers. We observe, we chose moments, we frame little slices of our world with our viewfinders, we even decide how much or how little light will illuminate our subjects, and — yes — we choose what equipment to use. Through all of these decisions, we shape the way a story is told.”
– Through My Eye, Not Hipstamatic’s: Damon Winter Discusses the Use of an App – NYTimes.com
Counterpoint.
Family Feud: Name Something That Gets Passed Around.
Hilarious.
And finally, here are our cats named after two forms of the same vegetable:

Filed under: personal