Blankshield

Lyle Lovett is coming to Edmonton at the end of May. Who wants to go?

(yes, he's technically a country singer. No, I am not even a little bit repentant.)

James

Exertions 2:8-13

And it came to pass that the man became distracted by worldly tasks and neglected the exercise of his body. He was beset by taxes and didst make excuse upon excuse whilst two weeks did pass.

Sore afflicted with guilt, the man became resolved, and set aside affairs of the mind to attend his physical needs. He entered the studio and did train for the entirety of an evening, both sparring and skill. A time was also set aside to work directly with another, and it was good.

And when his time therein was concluded, the Lord looked down upon the man and spake thusly:

Dumbass.

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Ow. owowowowow. Ouch. Ow. Grrrunngh ow. Who put so many stairs in my house? And whose idea was it to make going up or down stairs take so many muscles?

James

"Hey everyone, look! White smoke! They've elected a new pope!"

Cue Imperial March.

Two good things about that:
1) It took them three tries to break the deadlock. That means his support is anything but unilateral and he must have made some compromises to get there.
2) He's 78.

James

I've had a fungus named after me.

Well, Ok. *I* haven't, but Lawrence Beesley has, and for about 5 hours on Saturday, I was Lawrence Beesley, and having a fungus named after a person I've portrayed is as close to famous as I'm ever gonna get.

I attended the magnificent Titanic commemeration dinner that Val and Iain hosted, and will add my kudos to the others they have received: it was wonderfully done. Perhaps it was the crowd, or the subject, or their passion for the subject (or more likely, some combination of the three), but it was head and shoulders above any other dinner theatre/participation event that I've ever attended.

I'm fairly certain that I'm not the only one who choked up near the end; I had a hard time getting some of my lines out clearly. As it turned out, I actually had a lot of speaking near the end, as Mr. Beesley was one of the survivors, and had written a book about his experiences.

It was a wonderful evening, and has brought the reality of what happened to much in a much more real and immediate sense than any book or movie could accomplish.

Thank you.

James

Convert, heathen!

On Sunday, partly by being caught a bit off guard, and partly to have another adult in the house so that there would be a witness on hand to keep my from killing my children, I allowed an evangelist into my home to try and convert me to his religion.

I'll admit up front that I was biased to skepticism, because his sort has tried to convert me before, but he was very persistent.

He quoted scripture, showed me pictures of the devil, told me repeatedly that if not for my own sake, I should convert to save my children. He expounded at length on the weaknesses in my current faith and how his own brand of religion would make all my problems go away. He even, in the face of my continued unrepentant behavior, contacted a higher power to express his disbelief in my self-destructive course of action.

In the end, bitter and defeated, he fled my home. I shall remain as I am, an unrepentant user of the evils inherent to a regular vaccuum, and did not convert to the Church of Tristar, for I found his blandishments indistinguishable from the exhortations of the All Hope Rests in Beam Alliance and even the First Church of Kirby, Reformed.

I firmly believe that the evil Dust Mite and his kin are inherent to the nature of carpets, and that there is no Vacuum that can completely remove it from the world. It is only through the serious study of flooring and the practical application of new hardwood can the intrinsic faults of carpet be overcome.

Just call me a Secular Vacuumist.

James

Well skin me alive and call me luggage.

We had a company-wide broadcast this morning (no, not an April Fool's joke) and [Company I Work For] now has a wholely-owned subsidiary called [Company I Work For] USA, with offices out of Freeport, Texas.

That's, um, big. We're approximately doubling in size, and will be growing a whole lot more in the near future. We're also opening an office (virtual) in Vancouver.

Just call us the Little Company That Could. And Can.

I find it somehow sobering to be fifth (Fifth! Me!) on the seniority list of an international company. I've been here longer than half of my bosses.

When the hell did I become respectable?

James