Category: Al K. Hall

It’s snowing….

I was thinking about hanging up laundry later, but I  think mebbe not.

We saw Mike and Heather last night, they seem to be doing well considering how hard they are both working.  Dr. Filk and Keith accompanied me.  That was the first time I’ve felt good enough to actually walk over there, so we walked there and back again; we left a bit early as Mike had to work the next day, poor guy.  The paraesthesia is no better, but my mobility has improved tremendously; I can bend and twist a lot better than I could at Christmas.

Keith found the bag downstairs at Mike and Heather’s and started kicking it.  It’s difficult to describe the noise; the whole house quivered uneasily.  Keith had a particularly fine sparring session at club the other night.

Keith has registered with an agency to get film extra work this summer.  We shall see how he does.

The great chain of beer continues to expand; Burnt exposed me to Cutthroat Pale Ale, and I exposed Mike to it.  He was favourably impressed.

Wilfred Hyde-White figured prominently in my dreams last night.  He kept making guest appearances and making droll English noises.

Back to the grind

Pic is of Smith, Jan’s salamander.

I had a fabulous time at brunch with Tammy, at a place called the Only Cafe which has an AMAZING beer selection, best I’ve seen since Fogg n Sudds closed, then snackies at Jan and Soon’s (where Catherine showed up with major amounts of awesome cheese and crusty bread, AND spiced olives; my small offering of trail mix seemed rather badly thought out!) and then a Sunday dinner en famille at John and Ruth’s where I (as threatened) inspected their children and was filled with pot roast AND approval.

John gave me a lift to the airport, where I came within a hairsbreadth of losing my ID as I stepped out of the car… good thing I didn’t… and then my flight was delayed but once again I was among the last ones on. My seat mate watched most of An Inconvenient Truth with the subtitles on so I got the benefit too. His laptop then died, and I felt like saying, have you considered any of the fine alternative power products manufactured by … but that would have been just plain wrong. My back this morning is a paean of protest, but apart from hearing that Katie’s planning to move out with her boyfriend April 1, Yes, p0p, it’s true, April 1st….. well, other than that I have little to complain about.

Off for a walk

Briefly:

  • I went out to the Golf Course with the folks last night.  We were gargling a liquid goodbye to Darryl and Dave, who had been with the company 17 and 11 years respectively.  I like and respect them both, but it’s Dave I’ll miss the most, because he is a complete sweetie and I ate lunch with him damned near every work day for five years.
  • I gave a neckrub to the guy who hired him away from my employer however; I too can live in hope.
  • I worked the entire table and gave everybody who wanted a neck rub same; excepting only that greedy oinker RobofNine, who’d already had one that day.
  • At the beginning of the day I gave Burnt a package of Buffy Valentines; he indicated pleasure in a deadpan sort of way.
  • The Dalai Jarmo gave an extremely amusing and highly accurate description of what happens when a slender, intelligent and goodlooking female new hire gets dropped into an engineering department.  Punch line, “Every time I turned around, some guy had pulled out a bigger crimping tool.”
  • Paul and Keith came out!  Keith had a Crantini. Paul tried to pay, but I made sure I gave him my share.  Paul was especially happy because there were not one but TWO flying buddies there, being RobofNine and Jeff F., who now works with Susan N., who was ALSO at the Course, and… well, you get the idea that the high tech community in Vancouver is about a thousand strong, and you have to mind your p’s and q’s.
  • When I got home, Keith, who is a marvel among children, had provided Dun Tot from St Germain bakery in Metrotown.  My happiness may be imagined.  No sign of Katie; her door is closed though, and I don’t know where she is for sure.
  • Two cow-irkers gave me detailed and horrific descriptions of why they are now so miserable that quitting without another job to go to seems like a viable option. They are both solid contributors to the org so I am shaking my head.  I just started working with one of them so I only recently came to an understanding of his value.  The other one I only knew by his reputation from other people, but it was solid.  It was a poke in the eye, lemme tell you.
  • One of my other cherished cow-irkers called me an evil genius.  Happy sigh!
  • Brother Jerome was there, as was the Otto-man. However, Tom and Mike couldn’t make it so we only reunited one half of the original lunch bunch.
  • Dave also described his exit interview.  Man, I can only wish I’d been a fly on the wall.

Well, it’s 6:30 in the morning, and unless I actually put on a coat and go for a much needed walk, it ain’t gonna happen.  May you all have a lovely day!