it is late so I’ll keep this short… do any of us care without the Flames in the playoffs? do you think the Pens can repeat? what are the Canadiens chances vs the caps in round 1?
and more importantly, does anyone beyond the spambots actually read this anymore? 
after so long, do I really know what “normal” is anymore?
Every day that goes by I find myself thinking more about normal stuff, and less about what I need to do to win the war I’ve been waging for the last 5 months. A large part of this is because I took a fairly expensive and drastic measure and cooked my house to ensure there wasn’t a living organism left to torment me, nothing left to ruin my sleep and cause more stress than I’d ever have imagined possible from such a small creature.
After the thermal treatment I took steps to ensure that even if there were any survivors (doubtful when you consider the temperatures and the durations they were held for) they had no way to get back in (or out), and if by some small miracle they did find their way back in… well, I don’t suspect they would live long enough to cause a problem. I’m still following procedures until I’m clear of the 60 day mark, but in my mind I keep telling myself that it is finally over and I can take my life off pause and get things back on track.
Today was a small step towards doing things I used to do, or at least putting things in place so I can do them again. I haven’t done any real baking (muffin mixes and jell-o don’t count) in probably a year or more, and so when I went grocery shopping today I made a point to go through the baking aisle and fully stock up. My cupboards are still surprisingly empty after dropping a fair amount of money at the grocery store, but I’ve now got ingredients in place to create stuff again.
I hope that I haven’t completely lost the knack, but the good thing about baking is that your mistakes are almost always still edible…
other things in my life that have been ignored for far too long and need to be dusted off as soon as possible:
biking – not since September of 2009, after riding 99% of the days the year before
walking – my knees are too bad for running these days, but I need to get out and be more active now that I have the time and energy (both physical and mental) to do so
taking pictures – and then uploading them to flickr. it’s been so long I can’t remember the log in info for my flickr account.
reading and playing games – it’s tough to do these when you don’t want to be in your house for more than 5 minutes.
there are other things, like writing on here, but I’m enjoying the idea of simply having my friends over for a night of fun fairly soon. having people over and actually relaxing in my house. what a novel concept.
it feels good to be getting back to normal, and I look forward to the day when I can look back at this five month period and be glad it is just a distant memory.
so the other day I was thinking
big thoughts
not big like a mountain thoughts
not burning bridge thoughts
not continental plate thoughts
but fleck under the contacts thoughts
splinter beneath the skin thoughts
quiet wispy soul-crushing thoughts
i know the answers
we all know them
they are as universal as skin and mountains
it’s the implementation
that kills
and the giant hunching whispering unknown
is
on the other side am i reborn
or undead
On October 30 I discovered the two people I took a chance on when deciding to rent them my house left more than excessive dirt and a destroyed carpet behind in their wake…. they left me a lovely parting gift.
Bedbugs.
I know what you’re thinking, and I couldn’t believe it either. Bedbugs are something you worry about in hostels and divey hotels, not in your home, not in your sanctuary from the outside world.
I honestly got lucky to discover them as early as I did, and the only reason I found out was because one was just a little too eager to get to the buffet table (me) than it should have been. I was going to bed, and what looked like a piece of lint was on my red flannel sheets. I was planning on vacuuming the house the next day so I just tried to brush it off to the floor and go to bed. I missed, and it started to run away. I went to grab it, thinking it was an ant or something, and it squished in my fingers making them all red.
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i was thinking yesterday that momentum plays a role with blogs much like it does with relationships…
we must not be in a state of rest.
According to this graphic, over 34 million people in the US are on food stamps. That is more than the entire estimated population of Canada.
I was just talking about the difference in cost of living between the US and Calgary with a friend and I can’t imagine how screwed people would be if Calgary’s cost of living was applied everywhere.
I prefer my nuts salted.
i like ‘em
Prior to leaving work on Friday I spent some Google time looking for hikes in the area we would be camping in that had some elevation gain. The closest I could find was Plateau Mountain, and lacking a better knowledge of the area this is where we decided to go. We didn’t have a map, and only a vague idea of where to go once we got out on the road, but we somehow managed to find the start of the hike without any turning around.
You start out on a road that is blocked off by a locked gate, and walk up at a relatively easy incline… on the road. This continues for a while and I say “well, it is great to be out here walking but this hike better not all be on this road or this is going to suck”. We continue walking on the road and reach the top of the ridge with no difficulty at all. The road continues off to our left and directly across from us is our goal, Plateau Mountain.
Yeah, the road we were on took us up 90% of the elevation gain we were expecting to have to work for, and there wasn’t an obvious alternative to the road to continue on to the top of the mountain. At this point I think we agreed this hike was sitting in the 2 or 3 out of 10 category for challenge, fun, views… all the stuff you hope for when you go on a hike.
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