the pod bay door

:: The festival is over, it was a glorious, rewarding time for me for many reasons. I arrived home this morning at ~5:00 am, following a 60 minute jam with Andrea England, easily one of the highlights of my weekend. I promise more details about my Saturday and Sunday experiences within a day or two.

:: Had a two-hour meeting with a nutritionist today. It’s the first step in my attempt at a permanent lifestyle change in my eating habits.

:: Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com has founded a new company called Blue Origin, a company whose focus will include space tourism. (Don’t expect much from the website, though.) It’s Bezos’ new space programme. (From: Bill Maher)

:: The Steely Dan concert at The Gorge Amphitheater in George WA, was outstanding, brilliant, wonderful, a concert for the ages. My review and observations are posted below, also available at blogcritics.com.

:: I’ll write more when time permits. The trip had a few bumps in the road, and we also stopped at Crowsnest Past, where firefighters are dealing with the Lost Creek Fire. Smoke was everywhere, and some of the helicopter airtankers visible at all times. I was able to obtain a number of major maps of the fire’s progress for the U of A map collection.

:: Yesterday, my brother and I drove from Moses Lake WA to Calgary. Moses Lake is about 50 klicks from The Gorge. When we arrived in Calgary, I decided to drive back to Edmonton, arriving here about 12:30 am on Sunday. A long day of driving, to be sure.

:: Note to self: be prepared to spend money when you walk into an American Wal-Mart store the size of three Costcos (or more), thinking you’ll buy one or two small items and leave immediately.

:: Krispy Kreme doughnuts rule the world. They blow Tim Horton’s out of the water. Easily. What a pity that they don’t have stores in western Canada yet…
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:: The largest rock concert in Canadian history happened yesterday at Downsview ON. The Rolling Stones and 15+ other musical acts performed a show to support the city of Toronto, hammered on many fronts, mostly tourism, since the SARS breakout earlier this year.

The television coverage in Canada, well, SBT’d: Sucked Big Time. Broadcasters from Much More Music and CBC interviewed teenage girls and aging hippies for their (constant, non-stop) moronic perspectives of the event, as if anyone gave a rat’s ass. At one point during the CBC’s waste-of-time two hour broadcast, Ralph Ben-Mergui “interviewed” a beautiful, waif-like young thing from Florida who looked as if she just left a casting call for Blue Crush, asking her dumb question after question, getting close and closer to her each time. It was a sad performance from someone who knew better.

In addition, the MMM VJs often interviewed the performers, and again, like, who cared? I wanted to see the concerts, the performances, the music. Live Aid, anyone? Remember how pathetic the coverage was for that in 1985? Didn’t the CBC or MMM learn anything? Ooooops, sorry, I forgot: contractual obligations! Must show commercials endlessly. Must show idiot interviews. Must show videos of old concerts. Toronto rocked, the rest of Canada was passed over.

:: Derryl advises that Bill Maher is blogging. This is a good thing, I love Maher. But Bill: c’mon, let us comment on your postings – DUDE!

I will be away for the next few days, on the road to see the Dan. Can’t promise any posts during this time, but one never knows…

:: I arrived home from work at 1830 hrs, angry with myself because of something that transpired today. It’s interesting that when you are mad, especially with yourself, and then you let the anger manifest itself further, whatever happens next usually will get you madder still.

Lately I’ve been losing things: business cards, stamps, a program book, another book I bought as a gift, and on and on. It’s been driving me nuts. Anyway, I arrive home, furious with self, and gather together a blood test request, post office parcel notice, and a prescription. I drop off the prescription, then drive to the lab for the blood test (close by). I park and walk to the lab only to notice that I grabbed the wrong document, and had to turn around, drive home, and get the right one for the test. I was not a happy puppy. I retrieve the correct form and arrive at the lab a second time, only to remember that I had to fast for eight hours before the test. (Note to self: D’OH!)
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