And I keep thinking tomorrow is coming today / So I am endlessly waiting.
A day with nothing to do! What a rarity!
Actually, no. I should pre-prepare some food for tomorrow's AWA potluck. I'm planning to make my favourite chicken curry, but substitute grilled tofu for the chicken. I just realized last night that this will make the dish not only vegetarian, but actually vegan, which == bonus. If the tofu doesn't work out, I guess I can fall back on dal. But for some reason, that strikes me as less appetizing than tofu in this particular dish, even though I don't normally like tofu much. I'm also planning on serving it with pandan coconut rice. Hey, who says you can't mix faux-Indian and Singaporean cuisines? Which reminds me, I need to get down to Chinatown to see if I can dig up any pandan leaves (I have a bottle of extract, but would like to use real leaves if I can get them).
Okay, so I do have things to do today. But nothing academic- or strictly work-related.
The laptop finally has (just about) all the software I want loaded onto it, including all the weird and esoteric LATEX modules I need for my weird and esoteric strain of research. Now I can get work done over Christmas, yay!
The only thing missing is a working driver for the wireless internet card. I downloaded and carefully followed the instructions on Intel's wobsite (it being an Intel card), but the new kernel resolutely refuses to boot, sigh. Annoying, since wireless internet was one of the reasons I wanted a new laptop in the first place. Sooner or later, I'll have to dive into it again, but in the meantime, I'm putting it off and hoping that my parents have some form of wired internet at their place (though I don't think they do).
Yesterday, I went down to Chinook, dressed up like Santa, and took pictures with dogs for 5 hours. It was part of a "get your pet's picture taken with Santa" fundraiser for the
Feline Rescue Foundation of Alberta. The final tally was 48 dogs, 1 cat and two babies. I suppose babies are pets... so long as they donated money, we didn't care. I was hoping for more cats, obviously, but ah well. I suppose they aren't very controllable or posable. Having said that, most cats I know are more controllable than many of yesterday's dogs.
Amazingly I made it the entire session without getting shat, barfed or peed on, tho' there was a close call with one over-excited pooch. I also got knocked off my throne-thing by a pair of somewhat rambunctious St. Bernards (of all breeds!). And had my face polished on six occasions by dogs' tongues. The owners generally loved it when their pets did that, insisting on getting a photo. Sigh.
Other than that, the Calgary component of my Christmas shopping is done. All remaining items either make more sense to purchase in Vancouver or can only be purchased in Vancouver. So, I'm pretty much done here. My 417 students were night and day compared to
last years'. The lowest grade on assignment 4 was 103% (the assignment is such that bonus marks are sittin' for the pickin's if you want them) and the lowest grade overall in the course was in the low 90s. Oh sigh. It makes such a difference when the students are enthusiastic. This course can actually be so much fun, rather than the plodding drudgery it was to get through anything last year.
The high temperatures are above zero these days. This is way too hot.
"And I'll walk on water every chance I get."
Actually, no. I should pre-prepare some food for tomorrow's AWA potluck. I'm planning to make my favourite chicken curry, but substitute grilled tofu for the chicken. I just realized last night that this will make the dish not only vegetarian, but actually vegan, which == bonus. If the tofu doesn't work out, I guess I can fall back on dal. But for some reason, that strikes me as less appetizing than tofu in this particular dish, even though I don't normally like tofu much. I'm also planning on serving it with pandan coconut rice. Hey, who says you can't mix faux-Indian and Singaporean cuisines? Which reminds me, I need to get down to Chinatown to see if I can dig up any pandan leaves (I have a bottle of extract, but would like to use real leaves if I can get them).
Okay, so I do have things to do today. But nothing academic- or strictly work-related.
The laptop finally has (just about) all the software I want loaded onto it, including all the weird and esoteric LATEX modules I need for my weird and esoteric strain of research. Now I can get work done over Christmas, yay!
The only thing missing is a working driver for the wireless internet card. I downloaded and carefully followed the instructions on Intel's wobsite (it being an Intel card), but the new kernel resolutely refuses to boot, sigh. Annoying, since wireless internet was one of the reasons I wanted a new laptop in the first place. Sooner or later, I'll have to dive into it again, but in the meantime, I'm putting it off and hoping that my parents have some form of wired internet at their place (though I don't think they do).
Yesterday, I went down to Chinook, dressed up like Santa, and took pictures with dogs for 5 hours. It was part of a "get your pet's picture taken with Santa" fundraiser for the
Feline Rescue Foundation of Alberta. The final tally was 48 dogs, 1 cat and two babies. I suppose babies are pets... so long as they donated money, we didn't care. I was hoping for more cats, obviously, but ah well. I suppose they aren't very controllable or posable. Having said that, most cats I know are more controllable than many of yesterday's dogs.
Amazingly I made it the entire session without getting shat, barfed or peed on, tho' there was a close call with one over-excited pooch. I also got knocked off my throne-thing by a pair of somewhat rambunctious St. Bernards (of all breeds!). And had my face polished on six occasions by dogs' tongues. The owners generally loved it when their pets did that, insisting on getting a photo. Sigh.
Other than that, the Calgary component of my Christmas shopping is done. All remaining items either make more sense to purchase in Vancouver or can only be purchased in Vancouver. So, I'm pretty much done here. My 417 students were night and day compared to
last years'. The lowest grade on assignment 4 was 103% (the assignment is such that bonus marks are sittin' for the pickin's if you want them) and the lowest grade overall in the course was in the low 90s. Oh sigh. It makes such a difference when the students are enthusiastic. This course can actually be so much fun, rather than the plodding drudgery it was to get through anything last year.
The high temperatures are above zero these days. This is way too hot.
"And I'll walk on water every chance I get."