Books

So it was the fact that I was tired that was making me lose interest in The Eight. In the end I did enjoy the book and I would recommend it to others. I also learned that it not a Da Vinci code knockoff, it was actually written a long time before Dan Brown put pen to paper on his famous book.

Since finishing The Eight I have read the final Harry Potter book. I enjoyed it but felt it took awhile to get going while Harry, Ron, and Hermione were jumping all over the damned country. And was it really necessary to kill Hedwig like that? I’m not saying don’t kill the owl, but have it happen while she is doing something useful like carrying an important message to the Order of the Phoenix or delivering a pizza to Harry at the Burrow.

Now that Lupin and Tonks have been killed off is there a future series of books with their kid as the star? Sounds remarkably similar to Harry, what with the parents killed by an evil wizard and all. Not sure if there is a scar though.

Now I’m reading Ishmael by… well I don’t remember who wrote it and I don’t have the book here next to me. It’s supposed to be a journey into the soul and mind or some such nonsense. I bought it on the advice of the chick behind the counter at Chapters when I purchased The Eight and the Curse of the Red Ring (Newfoudland Author). She said it was really good. The jury is still out on that one.

Back to School

I couldn’t in good conscience let my wife out pace me academically, so I started my Master’s of Engineering on Wednesday under the supervision of my old Power Systems Professor, Dr. Jeyasurya.

 Academic jealousy aside I had been trying to find someway to expand my knowledge of the power system and engineering in general since I graduated. However, most of the courses available were, to put it mildly, crap. This Masters will take upwards of 4 years to complete as I’m doing it part time only. Toss in a full time job, an attention seeking dog (and wife) and I’m going to be a busy boy.

 The first course I have chosen is Engineering Analysis with Dr. George. For those who haven’t taken it before me, it’s an glorified math class and boy did it dredge up demons from my past. By the end of the two hour class all I wanted to do was get in my CR-V, drive to Pouch Cove as fast as I could, and dig out my old math books to review partial differential equations, partial factions, vector spaces, and a whole bunch of other mathematical terms that I can spell but not comprehend. I haven’t seen this stuff in at least eight years and Dr. George jumped into it like we had just finished the last course with him.

My head hurts.

Da Vinci Code Knock Offs

I enjoyed reading The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown and I enjoyed the movie with Tom Hanks. Krista tells me Brown’s Demons and Angels is a pretty good read too. But I’m not going to discuss The Da Vinci Code here. While walking through Pearson Airport awhile ago, waiting for a flight, I noticed a book called The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury at one of the several bookstores in Terminal 1.

The book was compared to The Da Vinci Code and my interest was piqued by reading the back cover. I purchased it on my next visit to Pearson, while on my way to Saskatoon, and I had it read by the time my plane touched down in St. John’s on my return trip. While I didn’t think it was as well written as the The Da Vinci Code I enjoyed it nevertheless and would recommend it.

Templar basically tells two stories in one. The first is the present day story that unfolds over two continents and follows the exploits of an archaeologist and an FBI agent hunting ancient clues to the Holy Grail. The other story takes place in the 12th century and follows a band of Knights Templar in their struggle to save the secret of the Grail and leave the clues that the people in the first story are looking for. It’s a good read, though I found some aspects of the main, present day, characters to be “convenient.” If anyone wants to borrow my copy let me know.

Right now I’m reading The Eight by Katherine Neville, another Da Vinci knock-off. This one is more like Templar than Da Vinci in that it jumps back and forth between a present day (well 1973) and historical (1793) story. The book revolves around the Montglane Service, a legendary Chess set owned by Charlemagne that is said to hold the key to a game of unlimited power (a quote from Wikipedia). It was recommended by a friend from Toronto and is according to the cover an ‘International Bestseller’.

I’m about half way through it and really enjoyed it at first. Lately I haven’t been as interested. I’m putting that off to being too tired to enjoy it after standing in a very noisy power station on a concrete floor in work boots for 10-14 hours a day. Once difference between this one and Templar is that the historical story is as detailed as the present day story in The Eight. This wasn’t the case in Templar and so it is taking quite a long time for the stories to develop. I almost feel like I’m reading two books at the same time. Anyways I let you know if it worth the read once I’m done.

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Three Months Later…

Well it’s been almost three months to the day since my last post. It’s been a busy summer to the say the least. While I’m sitting here in Ephrata, Washington, waiting to start work on my third of four jobs out here, I thought I would write a bit to let the few people who might give a crap know how things have been going.

In my last post I talked about my Grandmother Sullivan and her declining health. I’m sad to report that she passed away in late June and was buried on June 23rd. My only consolation is that she isn’t suffering anymore of failing health and mental capacity, and that she didn’t live in the home long.

There have been two weddings this summer, one of which I missed due to the death of my Grandmother. Michelle and Rahul were married in Bonavista on June 23rd and from all accounts it was a great time. Krista stood as a bridesmaid and from the photos I’ve seen looked beautiful in her sari. Mike Snow got married on July 21st to Heather Hillier. I had the honour of being Best Man, though I damned killed the groom on his stag weekend when I took him for a 10km hike in 27C weather on the East Coast Trail. We hiked from Freshwater Bay to Cape Spear.

On the home front, our fence has been installed no thanks to me. On construction day I was flying home from Saskatoon. I did install two of the gates with the help of my Grandfather Sullivan and the trellis that completes the fence between our flower garden and our neighbours. Thankfully now we can let Dufferin, his girlfriend Annie, and his best buddy Cody out in the backyard without being tied on.

Our back deck has been expanded and is now usable by more than three people. There is some finishing work to be done on the steps and rails but it is usable.

Work has been unusually busy this summer. Normally, with everyone running their air conditioners we don’t have any field work scheduled for the summer as power plants will not shut down for us to work or they cannot run at all due to a lack of water (hydro stations). This summer has been different and I’m falling behind on reports because of it.  So far I’ve wasted a week in Northern Ontario, spent a week in Saskatoon, a week in Wisconsin on a training course, a weekend in Iowa at an old, dirty coal plant, last week I was in Oregon and this week I’m in Washington state. In September I may be going to New York and I will be going back to Saskatoon. Thanks to all of this I’m up to Prestige status with Air Canada and getting close to Elite status. Bring on the executive class upgrades!

Hopefully, it won’t be three months until my next post but I won’t promise anything.

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The Inevitability of Old Age

I consider myself lucky that I still have three living grandparents. The first having passed away in February 2006. Another has just been admitted to a nursing home where she will undoubtedly spend her remaining days. The sad part is that she may not have a clue as to where she actually is. At 85 years of age my Grandmother Sullivan, once an energetic woman who loved spending her summers at the cabin at Mahers (near Bay Roberts) and could bake up a hell of a storm, is in the late stages of dementia. Her condition in no doubt assisted by approximately 50 years of smoking.

She gave up baking a number of years ago and a number of recipes are lost in the spaces between her misfiring synapses, including one for my favourite apple pie. She has trouble remembering recent people and events and she gets family members confused, but her long term memory is still decently clear. My Grandfather has been caring for her as best he can but at 85 himself he has now realized he can no longer cope on his own even though he is in pretty good shape. She is also the source for the Sullivan temper, which I myself have inherited from her, it has been known to show its ugly head periodically as of late.

I find it funny that some people can live for more than a century and be spry and alert to the end while others tend to whither slowly at an earlier age. I’m not saying that 85 is too soon in fact if given the choice I would rather suddenly drop dead at 70 with my faculties intact then to slowly fade away from everything and everyone at 85 or 105. I guess the age difference has a lot to do with genetics and the environment in which one lived. My great grandparents lived into their nineties, so the genetics look pretty good. Even on my Mom’s side they look good.

I read recently that our generation will be the first NOT to outlive our parents. That is, our average life expectancy will be less than that of our parents generation. That sucks and blows, and it appears to have everything to do with the environment in which we live.  So basically the food we eat, air we breath, chemicals we absorb, and exercise we don’t do are going to kill us early and none to pleasantly.

Maybe the Inuit had it right when it comes to getting old. Why wait around to be a burden on your family when you can end it on your own terms. I’m not saying I want my Grandmother to go out and kill herself, I would never suggest that. However, I am saying I don’t want to slowly fade into oblivion when my time comes.

An Update…

Well as I expected and as anyone who knows me at all should have expected I’m not exactly great at keeping in touch. What’s it been now, a month, since my last post? Not that much has happened in the last month. Basically I’ve been keeping busy at work and around the house.

As was to be expected I have not had my camera returned to me, though I did receive an email from Air Canada basically calling me a dumb ass for having my camera in my suitcase in the first place and it’s not their fault… but they’ll dig around and look for it anyway. Goodbye camera, I barely knew thee.

Krista has been kicking ass and taking  names at University. She convocates with her MBA Friday the 25th of May. I believe I will have to add an extra room onto the house just to display all her awards, scholarships, etc. Basically it means she’s too damn smart for my own good!

I just finished reading a book on Sputnik and it’s impact on the US. It was a pretty interesting read especially its comments on why the US had fallen behind the Soviets technologically. Major fault was found with the education system and it was revealed that this was not a knew realization but that previous attempts to improve the system had been put down by a strong lobby in the South who were afraid that educated black people would mean an end to segregation. Heaven forbid!

Anyway, that’s about it for me. I’m heading off to Northern Ontario for a few weeks on Monday evening with stops in Sault Ste. Marie and an hours drive north east of Kapuskasing. I should have a few days in Toronto at the beginning of June, so Sanjay, Jamie, Simon, I’m coming to visit.

The Interesting Trip becomes the Worst Trip… Ever

Last Tuesday while I was sitting in the Maple Leaf Lounge at Pearson’s Terminal 1 drinking a Guinness, little did I know that the interesting trip would turn into the worst trip of my almost five years in this job.

Thanks to the fog in St. John’s we made three attempts at getting into St. John’s and I ended up in Halifax and Deer Lake. I finally arrived in St. John’s noon Wednesday, 27 hours after leaving site in Washington.  We were almost on the ground in St. John’s before the pilot hit the throttle on the engines and we were on our way to Halifax. When I arrived in Halifax I was feeling really good, the free red wine in executive class will do that.

After arriving in Halifax the earliest flight to St. John’s I could book was 2 days later but I managed to get on the standby list for a flight at 7 that morning. I was told that my chances were slim and none for getting on board as I was number 12 on the list but the executive class ticket might help… I was the second person called.

Again however, St. John’s was socked in with fog. This time we didn’t even bother to descend, we circled for 20 minutes and then headed for Deer Lake. By the time we landed in Deer Lake the fog had lifted in St. John’s and the pilot announced we would refuel and try again. I finally made it home. It was then the trip took it’s worst and final turn.

As I mentioned in my previous post, my suitcase and I parted ways in Minneapolis and it finally made it home Thursday morning. I noticed however that the zipper was open by about a foot and when I opened it I noticed that it wasn’t packed as nicely as I had left it. My camera was also missing, my brand new Nikon, wifi enabled camera was missing. I was most displeased to say the least and I was wishing the perpetrator burned in an especially hot layer of hell. A phone call to Air Canada made me realize that I will never see that camera again along with the binoculars, flashlight, compass, battery, memory card, or tripod that were in the case with the camera. Luckily, my GPS wasn’t in it’s normal home in the camera case or it would have been gone as well.

I hope you rot in hell you bastard!

An Interesting trip

This business trip didn’t start off particularly well. My luggage got lost somewhere between Toronto and Spokane, WA and I had to wait five hours for it to show up on a later flight after it made a side trip to Seattle without me. Now that’s not too bad, it could have been worse. My first job of this trip was uneventful, other than having to work nights thanks to a power shortage in Washington State. I drove 9 hours across the State on Friday the 13th and even that was uneventful. The really eventful day was Saturday the 14th. Now the number ‘4′ is unlucky in some Arab countries I believe, I remember my first apartment building in Toronto not having a 4th or 14th floors. Anyway, I should have been more cautious Saturday morning. That was when I got to experience first hand American medical practices as I ended up spending my morning in the emergency room at Sedro-Wolley’s United General Hospital.

The company engineer and I were leaving our company house we were staying at to go get breakfast at the company cook house. The station operator was outside walking her pack of dogs at 6:20 am when her German Sheppard ran up barking and said hello to my right hand in a none to friendly manner. That hurt like hell.

The consequences were a visit by two ambulances, a deputy sheriff, a trip to the emergency room, a lot of paper work, and a days work wasted. In the end the injury is not bad and I had full use of the hand by the end of the day. Though I had to be a little gentle with it. Now the work is done, albeit a day late, and I’m on my way home.

The trip was supposed to end well, I had to book an Executive class ticket to St. John’s since everything else for days is full. So here I am sitting in the Maple Leaf Lounge at Pearson Airport about to partake of a free beer, while writing a blog entry. However, the bad part is that my bag and I have again parted ways, this time in Minneapolis.

A Plague is Spreading… and I’m skipping town

The evidence is mounting that I married into a family with lousy immune system efficiency. My in-laws have been sick with what I think is influenza. Not what most people call the flu, which is just a cold. They have basically been bed ridden since Friday, crawling out to do a few minor things every now and then.

Now they have passed it onto Krista and myself.

My own immune system appears to be working at its normal efficiency as I have not been severely impacted. Krista however, who picks up every plague and pestilence going, is not doing so well. Right in the middle of her final MBA exams this week too. Poor girl is achy, feverish, and coughing (I liken it to a seal bark). Those are perfect conditions for studying material that is nap inducing at the best of times.

This is the perfect time for me to get the hell out of Dodge. I’m heading back to Washington State bright and early Saturday morning and if all goes according to plan I’ll be home late on the 17th. If all goes according to how I expect it to I’ll be home sometime in mid May! That is after trips to Washington State, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Saskatoon, and Thessalon, Ontario. All in that order. Bring on the OT!

I’ll be in TO the evening of the 16th for about 24 hours. Hopefully I get to see some of my buddies while there!

The other pestilence in all our lives right now are taxes and I thought I was going to be hosed by the likes of Stephen Harper and Danny Williams. I was very worried about the difference in tax rates between Ontario and Newfoundland. It turns out I was right to be as my initial pass through my taxes resulted in me owing the government approximately $3k! Once my heart re-started I added in the moving and medical expenses and was able to reduce that greatly. Before that, I was starting to plan faking my own death so Krista could get the insurance claim.

I gave Facebook another try last week and re-activated my account. We’ll see how well I do maintaining it, I have since even added some photos to it. Plus, this is the second installment on my blog, so maybe my immune system has adapted to the Technical Degeneration I was suffering and has started fighting it off!

Technically Degenerate? The cure is blogging… hopefully!

This is my first blog entry! Isn’t that special (copyright Dana Carvey and SNL)?

For the last little while I have started to realize that I am technically degenerate and if I don’t do something about it, I will, in short, order be using the telegraph to communicate, pen and paper to send a letter, and rubbing two sticks together to light a fire to keep my wife and dog warm. I have seriously considered getting rid of my cell phone, I have talked myself out of a HD tv for the time being, and I have even considered getting rid of cable tv altogether.

To quote Bart Simspson, “TV sucks!” And of course the response from Homer, “I know you’re upset boy, so I’ll pretend you didn’t say that.”

Recently, my friend Sanjay tried to get me to sign up for FaceBook, and I did… for about an hour. Then I deactivated the account and walked away from it. I realized that I would never use it and too me it came across as a dating service. I’m hoping this blog will be different. Although I’ve been finding that it’s becoming harder for me to figure out how new gizmos work. Maybe it’s because I haven’t purchased many of them, who knows? Or maybe I need to start having kids so they can figure them out for me?

For now I’m just content to play with my dog, mow my grass, spend time with my wife, and go to work everyday. Though I am hoping this blog will keep me from becoming a drooling (Dufferin does enough of that), stun as me arse, caveman!