the pod bay door

This time around, I’ll keep it short and sweet.  Today is my 59th birthday.  I was born at 01:05 in Winnipeg on 28 June 1953.  I don’t necessarily like getting older, but as my Mother noted some years ago when I complained about a birthday, and I paraphrase: “Think about those who never made it to the birthday that you’re celebrating today.”  Good point, Mom, and thanks for the reminder.

One thing on my mind today is that this is the last year of my 6th decade.  I’m still single, still think mostly like a kid, and probably have the maturity level of a 30 year-old.  I still wear t-shirts that celebrate the bands I like: Buffalo Tom, Bob Mould, Steely Dan.  Hey, grow up, already!  Well, maybe not.

Many things for which I am grateful: my health, my extended family, my friends and colleagues, the great career I’ve had and the opportunities it has given me to meet so many wonderful people and travel all over the USA and to India, the good fortune to have lived in Canada my entire life and in two great Canadian cities, Winnipeg, and since 1978, Edmonton.  I’m grateful for my ability to make music with a guitar, and for the many fantastic musicians with whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working over 40+ years, many of whom I count as friends.

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of my life right up to this very second.

.: Happy Birthday to me. The Skinny: born at 0105 hrs, Sunday 28 June 1953, Winnipeg MB. Eligible to retire in one year, maintaining small vestige of youth as guitarist in rock band, happy to be alive, blessed by many amazing friends, colleagues, and family.

.: This week is the first of three very busy ones in my life. Tomorrow I deliver the first of six lectures, to a group of 82 4th-year mechanical engineering design students. On Wednesday I fly to Toronto for to attend and present at the OLA Superconference (see Sat 9:05 am, #1722.) Upon my return, I will be teaching five more engineering-related classes, and on Feb 22, perform a concert with Amelia, for which I need to rehearse considerably beforehand. In the midst of all this, I have not had much time to begin working as the NINT Librarian. Last week, I did spend some time there, meeting more people and signing more documents. The office space I will be sharing at NINT will not be available until mid-week, which is when I fly to Toronto. Subsequent to my return, I will settle in and begin more official duties.

.: I have been playing with WordPress 1.5.2, and after the usual weeping and gnashing of teeth, was able to download and install it here; note that the default template out of the box is based on the Kubrick template – cool. At the same time, Moveable Type 3.2 was just released, along with a new set of style templates, and I need to upload it and see if it makes any difference to my existing sites.

It’s my understanding that WordPress has great spam comment protection. I wonder if it has improved on Moveable Type. Recently I had comments submitted to STLQ refused because of “questionable content” or something similar. Turned out that the commenter used “analysis” in his comments, and my MT-Blacklist of entries included the substring “anal”. Wonderful. So I had to switch the entry from “Block” to “Moderate”, and to date, of the 169,975 comments sent to my sites, which were blocked by MT-Blacklist, 6,369 of them had “anal” in the text. 169,975 spam comments? I wonder what part of “get a life” these morons don’t understand. We need a new word for spammers, something like spidiots, or spassholes. What about spuckwads?

Regardless, PBD is overdue for a tuneup and retooling, and the opportunity now presents itself accordingly. Stay tuned.

I am scheduled to be in NYC from 7-16 October, ostensibly to attend Jessica‘s wedding on Oct 15th in Summit, but as most know, NYC is my favorite destination, so I’m stretching the trip out to nine days.

:: Yesterday, while having dim sum with Taras, someone tossed a rock through the window on the front passenger door of my car. The only items missing were coins, which were sitting in the coin slots by the emergency break. With today a holiday in Alberta, I’ve been unable to do anything about this since it happened. Tomorrow morning I will drive to an auto glass repair shop and hope the window can be replaced asap. A police report was filed, and my insurance company was informed accordingly. What a mess, and for less than five dollars in change. The rock used to break the window was in the driver’s seat.

Depending on the cost of the repair, I may not file with my insurance company. Ironically, the day before, I saw My Summer of Love. There is a scene in the movie in which one of the characters tosses a garden gnome through the front passenger-side door window of a car. The next day the same window in my car is smashed. Coincidence or are mysterious forces at work?

:: My Winnipeg homies are cyclemaniacs. A typical week will find Mike, Steve and Tony on one or more 70-100 km bike trips. I, on the other hand, have no cycling friends close by *sniff*. Today I went for a short bike ride with my shadow, took a self-portrait on 34th Ave, and stopped at Keith’s for a short visit before returning home. I have a guest in my house for two weeks, her name is Polly.

:: One of the mothers-of-all-thunderstorms is nearing its peak in south Edmonton as I type this.

A number of people have written asking what’s happened to PBD, where are the entries, why is the screen blank? Thank you to all who have written. I’m taking a short break, waiting for two things: a) Moveable Type 3.2, to see if the new features make it worth sticking with it for a while longer, and b) WordPress, and the knowledge and comfort zone to use it as the new blogging software for PBD and STLQ. STLQ, in any event, will become a WordPress blog sometime soon, as it will be moving to a server on campus that uses WordPress for its blogs.

I’ve also been busy with conferences, vacations, and visitors. Yesterday I finally finished some correspondence, and today am trying to catch up on 160+ e-mails. In a few days I’ll be working backstage at the EFMF. So…please be patient with me, PBD will be back soon.

I do want to mention that I spent the last six weeks watching all three seasons, 37 episodes in total, of HBO’s The Wire, a police drama set in Baltimore. It is a brilliant series, no surprise, given the pedigree of its creator, David Simon. Simon wrote the book on which my favorite series of the 90s, Homicide: Life on the Street, was based. Each of the three seasons of [b]The Wire[/b] follows a small number of story arcs, and features an ensemble cast of some of the best character actors on screen, many of whom I recognized by face, but not by name. Each season focused on one major issue: drugs, working class, and city hall. Highly recommended.

The storm is over, skies are clearing. Maybe we’ll see this tonight.