the pod bay door

:: I reported earlier this week that my right eye was causing me some discomfort. I visited University Health Services on campus on Thursday morning, and the physician prescribed eye drops and eye cream. He noticed an abrasion on my iris, which I am aware of from visits to an optometrist in Edmonton some time ago. So I’m not sure if that’s the problem. It feels like there is a tiny pebble under my eyelid. Anyway, by yesterday morning, it began to feel better, and I had a good day. But at home last night, it started hurting again, and I had major difficulty trying to fall asleep last night. Of course, it’s the weekend, meaning seeing a specialist isn’t going to happen. So I’m going to debate what to do. I may go to Emergency at the U of Alberta Hospital, but that could mean sitting there for the rest of the day.

That’s not all. I started feeling tired and weak through the day yesterday, with a touch of a sore throat, stuffy nose. All the symptoms of an impending cold. Timing couldn’t be worse, next week is our heaviest teaching load of the year. So this boy is going to try to take care of himself this weekend, and eat lotsa good, healthy food, and double up on the Cold-FX.

:: Dave Pollard, of How To Save The World, offers his list of the ten most important blogging ideas of 2003. He also has a page that links to his various entries on blogs & blogging, many of which provide advice, tips, surveys, and other items of interest. Examples include Good Weblog Design and Layout, and Secrets of Breakout Blogs. Also, check his list of favorite Canadian blogs (no, I’m not on it.) Also worth checking, his list of 14 time-savers for bloggers. My favorite is #13: “Learn to type properly.”

:: In addition, the New York Times Magazine featured its annual Year In Ideas issue on Dec 14, 2003, and considers these 67 movements to be the most important of the year. (Free registration required.) Do you agree? Billboards That Know You is cause for concern, the Pod Car is kinda cool, but Tribute Bands in Denial?

:: The Directors Guild of America has announced its nominations for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2003. One notable absentee is Anthony Minghella, for Cold Mountain. Overall, it hasn’t been the best year for film. Sales of tickets in the USA dropped for the first time since 1991.

:: With the Spirit Rover firmly in place on Mars, the US will now move its search for WMD to the red planet itself. Meanwhile, The Beagle isn’t doing too well.

:: The Writers’ Union of Canada is “aghast” over cuts to Regina’s public library system.

:: I’m a bit cranky tonight. Last night while falling asleep, my right eye began bothering me. This morning I woke to a burning feeling in said right eye, and it has yet to subside. I know, I should have it examined.

:: An interview with Al Franken, author of Lies and The Lying Liars Who Tell Them, is available on the NPR Fresh Air website. Franken just returned from his fourth USO tour, where he entertained US troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Kuwait. Franken tells a number of interesting stories about performing on the tour, and about travelling through the region. Al and I are good friends, btw. Well, not really.

:: Robert tells an interesting and frightening story about his new two-month old daughter, Kasia. She was sick with a cold, and Robert and Mary were instructed by their doctor to take her to the hospital…

:: The annual Google Zeitgeist is out:

The 2003 Year-End Zeitgeist offers a unique perspective on the year’s major events and hottest trends based on more than 55 billion searches conducted over the past year by Google users from around the world. Whether you are tracking the global progression of the latest news or learning about healthy searches in Japan, the 2003 Year-End Zeitgeist enables you to look at the past year through the collective eyes of the world on the Internet.

The term “zeitgeist” comes from the German “Zeit” meaning “time” and “Geist” meaning “spirit”. The term is defined in English by Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate® Dictionary as “the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era.”

In the Popular Queries Top Ten for Canada, “canadian tire” checked in at #7. Does this reflect a lack of imagination in my countrymen and women? BTW, at #6 was “loft story.” Loft Story??? A French reality TV series that has generated much controversy and protests. I assume it is broadcast in Québec.

:: My mother offers another interesting tale from her childhood. She lived on Selkirk Avenue, in the north end of Winnipeg, in the 1930s and 40s.

On Wednesday nights at our local theatre, which was called the Palace, they would give out dishes, which every woman in the neighbourhood had to have. They would go every week until they had collected the entire set. So after my father would eat his supper, my mother and he would leave for the show.

My sister Alice, who was the oldest of my brothers and sisters, was always in charge of babysitting my brother Roland, me, and the youngest member of our family, Carol. One Wednesday night, my sister Alice got the brainy idea that my brother Roland should dress up like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and lie in wait between our house and the building next door. As soon as he would see a woman coming down the street, he would jump out from behind the building, and with a pillow stuffed in the back of his shirt, he would slither out from his hiding place looking very scary and making weird noises. Of course it was dark out, and this just added to the fun. We’d be huddled upstairs, looking out our parents’ bedroom window, killing ourselves laughing, as one woman after another would run off screaming.

After scaring off two or three women, he came back in, and we all tried to act as if nothing happened. Had my parents ever found out, we would have been given the what for, believe me. What seemed hilarious back then no longer seems quite so funny to me today. If someone were to do this to me now I would probably have a cardiac arrest as I tend to scare quite easily.