My own local open mic...

One of the greatest hardships I've faced in moving away from our last apartment is the loss of my harmonica playing spots. It's a traumatic ordeal, let me assure you. I miss playing on top of the parking garage and I miss our old neighborhood. I've spent a fair number of hours already walking around our new neighborhood looking for good places to play. The neighborhood, itself, is a very old-money rich kind of neighborhood, so it offers pleasant scenery and solitude. Yesterday, I came upon a school a couple streets over where I can hide under an awning between two buildings and get great acoustics. That was a great find. It's my new parking garage. But tonight took the cake. I decided to go try an open mic tonight that's at a place several blocks away. As I was riding over, I passed a different, smaller open mic being held at the coffee shop a couple blocks from my place so I stopped there instead. It was a small, friendly crowd just there to listen to amateur music. I got up and played with my eyes shut and had a blast... played a couple of really nice tunes. Then when I opened my eyes two songs later, there was a guy sitting on the couch in front of me with a whole bunch of harmonicas out on his lap. I invited him to play and when he put his lips to that harp, I swear some blues magic came out. His name is Carlos and he's been playing for 20 years, though you wouldn't know it from his modesty. He played old school blues so well at first that I couldn't even play with him. I had to listen for several moments before I could venture to join in. It was awesome. We played probably the coolest blues I've ever had a part in. We were both excited to find another harp player and we'll meet again next Wednesday at the Java Hut for a weekly jam! So awesome to find that so close to home.

Worst first night without girlfriend ever

So this morning I took Katy to the airport and said goodbye to her for the next 2 months. She'll be at home in Toronto for a couple of weeks visiting her folks and her friends and then she's off to Amsterdam for a month of school. So naturally, tonight could not have gone without incident.

All was well when I got home from work, save the eerie quiet of an empty house and the distinct lack of hugs. I paced around trying to decide what to do with myself until finally I committed to cooking dinner. That started okay, but about five minutes from being done, I blew the main breaker for the apartment. Too much power draw. I had a few too many lights on, the radio and my wok. I think it blew when the fridge kicked in. Stupid old wiring. So this wouldn't have been a problem, except the main breaker isn't located in our apartment. It's across the hall. In a locked room. I was very fortunate, though, in that one of my neighbors is a handyman for the building's owner. He didn't have keys to the locked room, but he did have all the right phone numbers to call to get someone here to help. No one was answering their phones and I had to wait 3 hours before the building manager arrived, but when he got here, we flipped the switch and all was well. It turns out that 75% of our electrical isn't on the breaker in our apartment. Sheez...

So once I got the lights back on I started cleaning up the kitchen and packed the leftovers from dinner (which, thankfully, were finished enough to eat when the breaker blew) for my lunch tomorrow.

I dropped them.

I want my girlfriend back already.

A fresh start

I was going to sit and write tonight because I've neglected to for so long, but instead I spent that energy cleaning up and changing the blog's appearance. It's needed it for awhile. So there will be no foolishness from me tonight.

Ahhhh....

And so moving weekend has come and gone. Yeah, my laziness has mostly kept it off my blog, but Katy and I moved this past Saturday into a new apartment. We'll have plenty of pictures before too long, but for now it looks the same as anyone else's newly-occupied pad: boxes upon boxes, balanced on stacks of stuff. Our new place is really fantastic... it has rooms! That may not seem like alot, but when Katy first moved in with me in Ottawa, we shared a 250 sqft one-room apartment and our last place was a 700 sqft studio concept (which means it was basically one big room). We're moving up in the world! We have doors! I was able to get up this morning and turn on lights and make moise without waking Katy! So many exclamation points! So much joy! Anyway, more to follow later, but things are well and we are enjoying moving into our new space. Hope you all have a happy day.

Eulogy to the Airwaves

Today is the day the TV stations across the US disconnect their analog signal for the last time, switching their broadcasts entirely to a digital signal. Today marks the end of one technological era and the beginning of another. I have grown so accustomed to technological advancements happening every day that I don't often pause anymore to think about what is passing. Sure, it's been a long time since anyone has seen a UHF/VHF knob on a TV, but who would have thought we'd see a day when television signals are no longer broadcast over the air? No longer must our coat hangers live in fear of being dismanteled and repurposed for entertainment value.

Fare thee well, beloved rabbit ears... you will be remembered fondly.

Two robots and a flower

These are my robots...

This is Big Bertha...

...and this is Large Marge.

This is Katy. She's not a robot. I think.


Do any of you botanical aficionados out there recognize that flower? (Mary K.?) It grows in our neighborhood and as much as Katy loves it, she can't figure out what it is. Bonus points for growing conditions and care instructions.