Getting Better

On a recent sunny Saturday morning, I woke up creaky but very happy. 1.) My diet is complete and there is now 25% less of me than there was a year ago. 2.) I am working on my core strengthening and learning how to deal with my back, and 3.) I can still play golf and WALKED an 18 hole round on a full size course!

This has been quite a year for me. I’ve always been a walker – golf gave me something to do while walking and an excuse for exercising but last summer I started to notice how stiff and creaky I was getting. A chance encounter with a 5 lb. blob of fat at a Diabetese Association display got me thinking that it might be a good idea to try to loose some weight, and so on Labour Day 2008 my diet began.

It wasn’t a fancy or extreme diet, just eating sensibly and avoiding treats and junk food. And yes, I learned to love salads. However, in October I did something to my back which resulted in me being off work and on pain killers for several weeks. I was told that I have two crushed discs in my lower back, and that there is no surgical solution that can fix them. There were things I could do, including loosing weight, exercise, physio therapy, and making life-style changes.

As some of you know, I’ve worked in television for the past 20 years and my doctor has been lecturing me about stress for at least a decade. I was surprise to discover that when I was laid up with my back problems and zonked out on oxycontin, I started to really relax and notice how good that “letting go” felt. This all got me thinking about all sorts of things, including all those things I wanted to do with my life, but hadn’t gotten around to. This in turn helped me to decide that I had had enough fun at CSCN-TV, and in April I took early retirement.

Slowing down this summer has been a wonderful thing. I’ve had the time to sort out and deal with stuff (both physical and psychological) that I hadn’t had time for in years. And although I know that I’m going to have to find some work to help buy cat food and golf lessons, I’ve had a great relaxing summer off.

Now it’s time to get ready for the next act in the soap opera of my life. I’ve reached my weight loss goal, and next I have to learn how to stay here. I’m getting rid of all my too-big clothes to make sure I can’t just back-slide into them.

But I think the biggest things I’ve learned is that it’s rather pointless to worry a lot about where I’ve come from and all the things I can’t do anymore, and it’s also pointless to worry too much about all the things I’ll never get around to doing. This leaves the here and now – this is where I am right now, so I might as well make the most of it. Life is never perfect, but most of the time it could be lots worse so I’m trying to appreciate what I’ve got.

Liquid Nitrogen night with electrified pickles

I started out planning to call this post “Fun with Science”, but then thought that perhaps “Liquid Nitrogen night” would do better at grabbing people’s attention.

A friend is in town visiting family, and wanted to host a get-together that would appeal to both family and friends, and would be of interest to a wide range of ages and backgrounds. They also wanted to do more than just sit around the back yard eating and drinking, and so conjured up a Mythbusters/Brainiacs sort of evening around the idea of slightly off kilter science fun.

The headliner of the evening was several thermoses of liquid nitrogen, which is a liquid used in cryogenic research because of it’s extreme low temperature, of between -195? and -210?C (-321? and -346?F). It was poured into a metal bowl on an insulated base, and then we all tried freezing stuff in it to see how the various stuff reacts and shatters. You can watch the attached video if you want, but due to privacy concerns I was not allowed to record any names or faces.

We also tried electrifying a dill pickle to see if the story of them being able to act like a light bulb is true. A suitable pickle volunteer was recruited, electrical leads attached to each end, the pickle placed on a stable non-conductive base (see photo #1), and the leads plugged into a marine battery with no results.

We then wired the leads into a standard electrical cord which was then plugged in. As you can see in the attached photos, the pickle then did manage to illuminate (see photo #2)

It should be noted that both of the above activities have the ability to cause injury (or worse) if not done properly. You should always be careful playing with electricity, and liquid nitrogen can cause severe freeze burns if it comes in contact with bare skin. While science can be fun, it is necessary to take appropriate precautions in order to mitigate any risks involved

The final act of the evening was the insertion of a large number of Mentos mints into a 2 litre bottle of diet soda. which then sprayed all over the garden.

We all had a good time, laughed a lot, made a mess in the back yard, and did manage to do a fair bit of eating and perhaps even some drinking. So next time you’re bored, go pick up a jug or two of liquid nitrogen and go freeze something.

Crashing & Banging

The crashing and banging part is coming from the basement where the men are installing the new furnace. The old one is old and heavy and has been living in the same spot for almost 50 years so it’s reluctant to give up its space. It will soon be gone but right now there is a terrific racket going on.

That’s okay, it’s all part of the process. The install is supposed to take two days so I’ve tried to plan my schedule to be in the house during this period. The “mature” old cat, who was rather freaked last week when we had the ducts cleaned, is having a mini-vacation out in the studio where she won’t have to deal with all the noise and commotion. I think she got the better end of the deal, as the studio is already air-conditioned while the house is not (yet), and the forecast high here today is in the 30’s. (astute readers will have noted that it’s taken me an extra day to get this post finished. It’s not in the 30s today, but they are still crashing and banging in the basement)

I’ve no shortage of things to keep me busy, as I’ve been saving up some of those special tasks like reconciling the bank statement and doing the house books which are so hard to keep up with when it’s nice outside.

However, what I really wanted to share today is what a great time I had working at the Regina Folk Festival this past weekend. Keith, one of my golf buddies, has been involved with the business side of the festival for years, and “recruited” me to help set up and run the new beer ticket sales area. Previously it had been done adjacent to the bar which created huge bottlenecks, so this year they had a whole new setup. I originally said I’d help get it set up on Friday for a couple of hours, but somehow that turned into eight hours on each of the three three nights of the festival.

We had our own pavilion/tent on the south side of the festival area near the bar but not right in its space. Because it was a new setup, Keith had scheduled lots of volunteers, but we soon learned that between 4 and 6 people at the table was enough to sell the drink tickets and verify that people were of legal drinking age. Keith and/or I would stand out in front organizing the lines and dealing with anything else  that might come up.

Here’s one of our volunteers now

We had an almost good view of the stage (there was this one tree…) but were far enough back so as to be out of the traffic flow except for those who wanted tickets. We could hear fine and the sound wasn’t quite deafening.  The volunteers were fast enough that we rarely had line-ups, and the best part was that we all had fun. By Saturday there was some dancing in the tent and by Sunday evening all the volunteers in our area were up and dancing. We even had the customers dancing.

Take a look!

I can’t remember who’s who, so Thanks to all our great volunteers

Erin

Alicia

Michelle

Robyn

Kelsie

Gail

Stephanie

Katie

Cyndy

The trouble with raspberries

The trouble with raspberries is the same as with everything else in life – if you want to do something, you have to make some sort of a commitment to it. I’ve been fooling around with this blog site for a couple of months now, trying to figure out how it all works as part of a larger project of rediscovering who I really am after retiring from a 20 year career in April.

I been dithering about going public this past few weeks, but have been distracted by nice weather and things like the folk festival. I figure if I’m going to do this, I’ve got to commit to keeping it (somewhat) fresh and interesting, and was holding off until I could have a launch post ready to go. Last night, my good friend Erica Hargreave in Vancouver said “enough is enough” and outed the site on twitter. And here I am dashing off this new post, hoping to get it done in time so that I can take down the netting and do a raspberry pick before I go off to sell beer tickets at the folk festival later today.

I love fresh raspberries out of the garden, but so do the robins and other assorted wildlife, and it has turned into a real struggle to get any berries for human consumption. I used to have a strawberry patch as well, but about 3 years ago it reached the point where I didn’t get a single strawberry because of the birds and ripped all the plants out  in frustration. However, I wasn’t ready to conceed the raspberris.

I had already built a trellis for the raspberries out of 2×2s, and this gave me a framework to use in protecting thems. I went and bought several meters of tulle, that wispy fabric they make wedding veils from, and wrapped it around the trellis to completely cover the raspberry plants. It looks a little goofy, but keeps out the birds and seems to help ripen the berries as well.

The trouble with raspberries is the same as with everything else in life – if you want to do something, you have to make some sort of a commitment to it, including wrapping and unwrapping.