ziparumpazoo

Back at work and in the office today. All that writing and reading I'd planned on doing while I was off did not get done, though it's not unexpected - I'm not very good at sitting still when I'm not on the clock.

Went camping with the express purpose of hiking some trails and getting some kayaking in. Success on both fronts. The weather cooperated nicely, even if the brain didn't. Witness the litany of things I forgot to pack:
- a pot (amazing the number of things you can cook in a single frying pan in a pinch)
- a lid for the non-existent pot to put over the frying pan
- camp chairs (can be attributed to a lack of space)
- a strainer for pasta (used a slotted spatula to pick noodles out of the pan)
- a coffee pot of any sort (see comment #1 regarding the frying pan)(I have three camping perks in a bin under the stairs. There's no excuse for this one)
- pancake syrup (picked wild blueberries and used as substitute with extra bacon grease while cooking. Yum!)
- the dials for the camp stove that fell off and which I found and put in a VERY safe place LAST summer. (Used the pliers in my tackle box to turn the propane up or down - who needs eyebrows anyhow?)
- the frozen pork chops for one night's supper (thank god they never made it out of the freezer and not left sitting on the counter)
-Miscellaneous tongs, oven mitts, and other cooking-over-the-fire paraphernalia (I was a boy scout. I got this one with my eyes closed. Witness me brandishing my marshmallow roasting sticks!)

Books I did finish: The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules (Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg) - The League of Pensioners, unsatisfied with the treatment at their retirement home, plan and execute a series of white collar crimes, escalating in a bank robbery. Tranlated from the original Swedish, it's both a fun read and a clever statement on the invisibility of aging.
Next up on the nightstand: Yiddish for Pirates (Gary Barwin). From the author's website: Set in the years around 1492, Yiddish for Pirates tells the story of Moishe, a young man who, enchanted by maps and seeking adventure, leaves the shtetl to join a ship’s crew. There he meets Aaron, our ribald yet philosophical parrot narrator who becomes his near-constant companion. With a beakful of Yiddish jokes, this wisecracking bird guides us through a swashbuckling world of pirate ships and exploits on the high seas.

Here, have a vacation picture:

I have been to the big box hardware store twice today, and the local hardware store three times. I think this might be a personal best.

Sad part is it was mostly to get parts to correct things the original builders were too lazy to do properly.

It is almost proven that the length of time required to finish the third period of a hockey game is directly proportional to the number of degrees below freezing it is in the arena spectator area.

In other words...I don't think I'll ever be warm and not aching again. And it's not even January yet.

Endgadget has the specs on the new iPhone. It's not the iPhone5, but rather the iPhone4s, but it does come with a dual core processor. Available from Sprint in the US on October 14th. Ironically, Apple.com is down at the moment.

This interests me the most (since really, it's a camera I can make phone calls and surf the web on):
On the back is also a new camera that sports an 8-megapixel camera with a backside illuminated CMOS sensor for better low-light performance. The lens now comes packed in a new 5-element assembly with a hybrid IR filter and sports apertures down to f/2.4.

Translation: It's fast and sharp close-up. And you could probably make some decent sized prints. (my DSLR is only 10-megapixels but I have 12x14 prints that looks nice and sharp)
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First hockey game tonight. Tomorrow is going to hurt. Also provincial election day. As I said, tomorrow is probably going to hurt.
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Rewatched Fringe 4.02 last night (this time without Fox's simulcast unsynching the sound from the picture, which is really distracting), and I take it back - there are some brilliant, if subtle, moments I missed the first time around.
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Aaaaannnd... I'm pretty sure writing would be easier if my brain didn't need to know ALL THE BACKSTORY, regardless of if were actually being used or not.
Dear Self, it is not important why they are in the car, or where they are going, or any divergent history that may or may not change the name of 'Stockholm Syndrome'. What matters is they are pulling over to talk and... um... maybe other stuff... okay? Got it?