In short...
A full past several days. Wednesday had dinner with the Terry Prachett meetup group, and found that next year's North American Prachett Con will be in Madison, Wisconsin, home of benet! I smell being a houseguest in my future.
Thursday zipped down after work to the Music Garden for the first time this year, to hear a string quartet (plus clarinet) perform some Brahms. Purchase the Music Garden book in order to toss some money their way, I live in fear that the city will decide that these events are nice but not necessary. After the performance it was zip up to U of T for one of their monthly astronomy lectures. That night it was a grad student talking about his infra-red work observing dust clouds in the Milky Way. These nights have been getting a steadily increasing turnout which I'm very pleased with.
Science continued on Friday with my dropping by the North York Physics Meetup for the first time, to hear a spirited debate on the meaning of the double-slit experiment. And yes I had fun.
Saturday it was time for new vistas on my bike. I took the GO train out to Hamilton to try out the Hamilton-Brantford bike trail. It's a converted railbed, and the trail actually goes all the way to Cambridge, a distance fo about 80 km. Even with a map of Hamilton it took me riding in circles for about an hour to find the start of the trail (have no sense of direction). The ride was OK, the trail itself is good, not paved but packed hard with crushed stone, so it was easy to ride on, and there was few roads crossing to interrupt you, with even those very quiet. But the scenery isn't very interesting, the whole trail is trees with the odd cornfield on one side, so I dunno if I'd do it again. The first 10-odd km was all gently uphill, so it was steady work getting up it, but far easier coming back (thank Newton it wasn't the other way around, I would have been destroyed). Did 85 km in all that day.
In the evening Rebecca called up, and we went to see Splice, which I enjoyed. I know that its gotten knocks for its treatment of women, but I really don't know what that's all about (probably opening myself right up here). I thought the film was quite smart (ending was a bit conventional) with good performances from Sarah Polley (who's character has issues up the yin-yang, or she would never had done this in the first place), and Adrian Brody (who can't quite say no to her even when he wants to, at least partially because he knows she's smarter than he is).
Saturday went over to Clinton's to watch the World Cup finale with some friends. Was rooting for the Netherlands, but the damned octopus prevailed with a Spanish goal late in the overtime. Well, it would have felt wrong had the game been decided with penalty kicks. And finally relaxed in the evening with some anime watching with my brother, the fourth (and last) season of Maria Watches Over Us. I'm currently making a decided effort to get thru my anime backlog, and am also working on the Original Gundam Compilation Movies, three two hour plus theatrical films that are a retelling of the first Gundam TV series. Their message: War is Bad (bought home about 17,612 times).
Thursday zipped down after work to the Music Garden for the first time this year, to hear a string quartet (plus clarinet) perform some Brahms. Purchase the Music Garden book in order to toss some money their way, I live in fear that the city will decide that these events are nice but not necessary. After the performance it was zip up to U of T for one of their monthly astronomy lectures. That night it was a grad student talking about his infra-red work observing dust clouds in the Milky Way. These nights have been getting a steadily increasing turnout which I'm very pleased with.
Science continued on Friday with my dropping by the North York Physics Meetup for the first time, to hear a spirited debate on the meaning of the double-slit experiment. And yes I had fun.
Saturday it was time for new vistas on my bike. I took the GO train out to Hamilton to try out the Hamilton-Brantford bike trail. It's a converted railbed, and the trail actually goes all the way to Cambridge, a distance fo about 80 km. Even with a map of Hamilton it took me riding in circles for about an hour to find the start of the trail (have no sense of direction). The ride was OK, the trail itself is good, not paved but packed hard with crushed stone, so it was easy to ride on, and there was few roads crossing to interrupt you, with even those very quiet. But the scenery isn't very interesting, the whole trail is trees with the odd cornfield on one side, so I dunno if I'd do it again. The first 10-odd km was all gently uphill, so it was steady work getting up it, but far easier coming back (thank Newton it wasn't the other way around, I would have been destroyed). Did 85 km in all that day.
In the evening Rebecca called up, and we went to see Splice, which I enjoyed. I know that its gotten knocks for its treatment of women, but I really don't know what that's all about (probably opening myself right up here). I thought the film was quite smart (ending was a bit conventional) with good performances from Sarah Polley (who's character has issues up the yin-yang, or she would never had done this in the first place), and Adrian Brody (who can't quite say no to her even when he wants to, at least partially because he knows she's smarter than he is).
Saturday went over to Clinton's to watch the World Cup finale with some friends. Was rooting for the Netherlands, but the damned octopus prevailed with a Spanish goal late in the overtime. Well, it would have felt wrong had the game been decided with penalty kicks. And finally relaxed in the evening with some anime watching with my brother, the fourth (and last) season of Maria Watches Over Us. I'm currently making a decided effort to get thru my anime backlog, and am also working on the Original Gundam Compilation Movies, three two hour plus theatrical films that are a retelling of the first Gundam TV series. Their message: War is Bad (bought home about 17,612 times).