vapourtrails.ca

Running late for my class downtown, I decided to take the bus. Apparently I was running late for that too, but the driver kindly stopped when he spotted me tearing down the sidewalk. Out of breath, I thanked him briefly. He responded with a comment about my height followed by asking how tall I was (6′3″). That’s when things started to get weird.

The driver rambled on good-naturedly about his concerns for the safety and well-being of tall people. He claimed to belong to an organization called the Society for Prevention of Risk and Injury to Tall People. “SPRIT-P,” he said calmly, “is the sound that a tall person’s head makes hitting the ground.” (more...)

The inimitable Shelley Powers:

My cat weblogs — but she doesn’t link. Bitch.

Not my February 2005 form, but my laptop. I really didn’t expect to see it so soon: it was sent back to Dell late on Thursday and re-appeared at my door this (Monday) morning. I’m very impressed with the quick turnaround and happy with the overall tech support experience. For once I didn’t have wait on hold or go through a tedious list of beginner questions (”Is it plugged in?” “Is the switch in the ‘on’ position?”).

So now I guess I should tidy up around here a bit and answer some support questions. Then maybe I’ll go for a run. Maybe.

You can almost see the tumbleweeds drifting by on this site. There must be over a dozen new comments that I still haven’t responded to and a few spam that I’ve deleted just now.

My recent schedule has not only been unkind to vapourtrails.ca but has also taken a toll on me. I’m no longer in the same trim almost-tri-ready form that I was in only two months ago. Weekly swim distance plummeted quickly to zero, my Sydney has cobwebs between the spokes (although the Bianchi still sees some action) and my new runners look, well new. Eating out and sitting around hotels haven’t helped, adding more than a few extra pounds to my frame. Sadly the peak of the triathlon season is here and I am in no condition to race even if I could find the time.

But this sad tale doesn’t end here: on Monday — somewhere between LAX and SBA — my trusty laptop cried “Enough!” and short-circuited, leaving me lugging around a fairly expensive and useless hunk of plastic. They say they can replace the motherboard and have it back to me later next week, but I don’t think it will ever be the same. So I write this from an archaic device known as a “desktop” which you certainly won’t see me trundling around an airport any time soon.

Thank goodness for L’il Stiny. I make lots of backups knowing that laptops are fragile things and that I’m bound to lose data at the worst moment, so I saved everything several hours before heading out to LAX. And this site is safely archived too, so I can always put up a fresh copy if the weeds get too aggressive. But I have yet to figure out how to restore a backup of my once-fit self from February 2005. There’s a lesson in there somewhere.

I’m going to be out of the province on election day (May 17) so I took advantage of advance voting which started today. So it’s too late to sway my vote — yes, Gregor, I’m talking to you.
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