Sunny side up

Felix warms up on the roof of Chris and Kyoko's car

It's sunny out today. Still cold but really sunny which is hasn't been over the last week. Looked outside to see the neighbour's cat lounging on the car. I have a crazy ass cold, most likely from the crazy party weekend. I was pretty sure I was going to pay for that and now I am. Project is due today. The good news is that I managed to finish my section before getting the full on cold deal. Going back to sleep. bleh.

Lucky as a Bagel

Montreal Bagel

I found a Montreal bagel in the back of my freezer. A good omen as I've been craving a bagel from the Fairmount bakery for at least the last week, so much so that I've considered travelling to Montreal just to pick up another dozen or so.

This may seem like an expensive proposition but it's not. Right now Canada Coach (or was it Coach Canada?) has a seat sale. You can get to Montreal via bus for as low as $1 (if you book online). That's cheaper than taking the public transit across town. Granted there are some restrictions like you have to travel between monday and thursday and not every seat is $1.

Then there's the time thing. Can I afford to take time out to travel there and back? As of today the answer would be "no" as I just got some work for Science North (see I told you the bagel was a good omen).

Rest of the day

A different configuration every time.

I kept forgetting Carl couldn't see much of anything. On our walk to the Plucker Carl slipped on some ice walking up some stairs near the bus station. He seemed to be doing fine before that. An explanation is involved here. Last night while his head was in a pelvic thrust, I'm not sure if it was dancing or wrestling or both, Carl lost his glasses. Rather his frame was smashed. He still had the lenses but wasn't wearing them since the incident. This made him blind for the most part or at the very least have blobbo vision.

At the Plucker I ordered the, now "usual", coconut shrimp. I'm not sure why I order that dish on a regular basis. It used to be made differently, deep fried. I find that this isn't as tasty as it's predecessor but still I like to eat it. Also, every time I've ordered it, it always gets served in a different configuration. Perhaps in the back of my brain I wonder if it'll change back to the deep fried version.

After shovelling food into my system and I say shovel because I was starving, starving since 2:40am when I saw Becky eating a shwarma after the awards. I hadn't eaten anything for a few hours prior to that. That was over 12 hours ago.


It's hard to believe Carl didn't get any sleep, he's pissed drunk, almost blind, yet looks "normal"

From the Plucker we took a cab to Perky and Jett's pad and from there got a lift from Scott to Mainway where the HCRG practises. I took a few photos and then when practice was over got a lift back to Hamilton thanks to Dicey and Carla. I felt like a roller derby, camera wielding, hobo this weekend.


Judge Jody


HCRG girls line up for next drill.


Injured Carla Coma sits and watches


speaking of wipe outs


on the GO bus back to Toronto...

Ack! Is it morning already?

Nermal probably wonders how humans can function after an all night partying binge.

I woke up freezing, curled up in a cocoon made up of two blankets that were infested with cat hair. One of them was the size of a bath mat and really had no purpose being on me other than keeping my feet warm. The pillow was nice and soft compared to the hard wood floor. The only thing missing from making this scene look more harsh was maybe a pool of drool next to my head on the ground. Then again maybe it was there and I hadn't noticed it? No, the pillow would have absorbed any of that nonsense. Sorry guys.


Agh, the sun is seeping into the room.

How did I wake up here? It's not a big mystery as I didn't drink. There was no fuzziness from booze only maybe from bad sleep. For the first four hours of the after party I had been sitting in a lazy boy like chair. Only it didn't tilt back. In fact it tilted forward. The back was curved and there was a person sitting on the floor in front of me. It was the only place on the floor that hadn't been taken over by the accidental beer swamp. It was because I was in this embryo like body position that I eventually crawled up out of the chair to sit on the floor where it was more comfortable. I would find a pillow and lie down. One thing would lead to another and before long with the help of a blanket or two I was fast asleep with the party going on around me.

Derek's Party Tip: One should be careful when doing this. You should know the people you're falling asleep around. If the people get too drunk they could step on you, fall on you, drop things on you, or worse case do things to you that you don't notice until you wake up (ie. Shave off one eye brow, put a potato chip in your mouth, put hot chili peppers down your pants - yeah, I saw slumdog millionaire).

There is also strategic positioning to think of. example: if you're sleeping on the couch, is the couch an active area? Where others night push you out of the way or join you and squish the lfe out of you because it's "comfortable"? People don't always use common sense when under the influence.


Perky is still going. Take that Energizer bunny.

By the point I was losing consciousness most of the people that were partying had gone home or to get laid. Only the hard core smokers and drinkers were left behind. Most of them were tired and didn't move around much. conculsion: sleeping on the floor was A-OK! One of them, Carl, was amazed that I could fall asleep in the middle of the floor. I told him it wasn't really such a big feat as I would be paying for it later on. I was sure of it.


aftermath on the coffee table

As the sun slowly crept into the apartment it revealed all the things that were hidden in the previous darkness, empties, cigarette butts, Nermal the cat... People were actually surprised to see the cat and were wondering where he was hiding all night. He was lying on the bed... in plain sight. It's things like this that you notice because you're the sober one.

Waking up in the clothes you were in the night before is not what I'd call refreshing especially if you smell like smoke. I've noticed this more with the longer hair. The hair seems to suck up all and every odor you come in contact with. I had to get out before I vomited. I'm not big on cigarette smoke.

I waited for Carl to down another beer then it was off to the Plucker.

HCRG awards for the 2008 season

The HCRG roller derby awards

The HCRG derby awards. This is where awards are given out to skaters of the HCRG. Among them were categories such as best improvement, best blocker, sexiest ref, best sportsmanship. They was even a best fan acknowledgement which went to Scott otherwise known as the HCRGs superfan.

The big highlight for me during the HCRG awards was being called up onto the stage to receive the coveted 2008 season T-shirt (designed and made by Cheese Grater). It's a nice black T-shirt with the new Hammer City Roller Girls design on the front and the list of the 2008 season games on the back. It's nice to be appreciated.

Once the awards were given out things shifted into party mode. Socializing, dancing, limbo, eating, drinking, the odd person getting half naked, the usual stuff. The partying lasted until about 3am.

GO bus to Hamilton

"What's going on?"

After photographing a house for a realtor in Pickering I took a GO bus from Union station to Hamilton. Normally the bus ride is bettwen 40 and 50 minutes on a good day. Good day being normal sunny weather conditions, average traffic.

Today the trip took one and a half hours due to some snow and crazy drivers. I had slept for the first half of the trip then woke up when the bus stopped for fluids. Stopped for fluids? Maybe windshield fluid. I'm not sure. The driver parked the bus on the side of the road and got out leaving us passengers in the dark (both literally and figuratively).

The second half of the ride was nutty. Being awake I was now aware of my surroundings instead of being in my sleeping ignorant bliss. Shortly after "fluid stop", the bus driver hit the brakes narrowly missing a car that cut us off. We all lurched forward. Some guy on the right side of the bus yelled at the car driver while giving him the finger. As if the car driver could see or hear the angry passenger.

The woman next to me had a cold of some sort and was making sucking noises with her nose as she tried to suck in the liquid that was coming out all over her hand. It was kind of disgusting and I desperately tried to find a kleenex or even some lens cloth that she could blow her nose into. Eventually she used her sleeve. The sleeve that was next to me. I tried sliding over to the left of my seat to squish against the window to create as much space between me and the nasel fluid cloth on her arm.

While all this was taking place I could hear the guy sitting behind me talking to his girl friend on his cell phone. During the conversation I found out that she was driving in a car twenty minutes behind us. I found it ironic that the guy at the beginning of the conversation told her to drive carefully but then proceeded to talk to her for another 10 minutes. She's driving and talking on a cell phone you idiot. The information wasn't even pertinent to her driving (ie. directions or road hazzards). It was what they were going to do for food after they met up. He wanted McDonalds so they could save time getting to whenever they were going to next.

By the time the bus pulled in it was 6:40pm. I had 20 minutes to make it to PepperJacks for the HCRG awards.

Impromptu Bowl

Candy Striker surveys the pins

On the way home from delivering a photo CD in the west part of town I bumped into Candy who I last saw in London Ontario during the Little bout of horrors roller derby bout. As it so happens, there was a bunch of people meeting up at the Bowling alley near where I live.

The plan was to meet up with Candy to give her back a bag of sunflower seeds she gave me one morning in Las Vegas. Back during rollercon (yes, a while ago). Of course as events happened to unfold I ended up wearing bowling shoes and one thing led to another and I was bowling for two hours with a bunch of strangers. Once Candy showed up I knew two people, maybe three if you count the guy wearing a T-shirt of a band that I knew the lead singer of (The Hyena Dog Robbery). Granted I didn't know him but we connected because of the shirt he was wearing.

The bowling was fun and because I was eating potato chips my bowling nickname became "Chip Fingers". Hopefully it wasn't because I was getting chip greese all over the little grapefruit of a ball (we were playing 5 pin bowling).

Do photographers dream of pipe cleaner sheep?

Sheep made by Robin Polfus

I was trying to go to sleep early and realized I didn't post anything today. While cleaning through the apartment I found this sheep. It's made from pipe cleaners and wool. High quality construction.

If anything I should take the time out to appreciate this as there was a lot of work involved maybe even the chipping of teeth. Seems like yesterday but in reality it was over 12 years ago (maybe more). If that's the case than it's a thanks that should have been said a looooong time ago. Thanks Robin!

and now for the pitch...

Looking for a gift with...

1. super duper quality?
2. created in Canada by a Canadian?
3. the unique thumb print of a talented creative artist?
4. a product made with child-free labour?

Then you need to go to www.roroart.com.

The Crystal Experiment

There are approximately 10 tablespoons of mix in the little silver sack that resembles dyed blue salt. The dye is handy.

While adding water to the mixture I found that my container had a leak. It started spraying out the side leaving a trail of liquid on the counter. Had it been transparent it would have been harder to see in order to wipe it off.

As the manual states the stuff does stain so it's good that I had my newspaper covering the counter and a soapy sponge ready to clean off the counter. I also had a back up container ready.

The solution is very blue and almost opaque. It's no wonder you need a flashlight.

Stuff not included

This is a continuation of the last post...

After reading the instructions for the Space Age crystal growing kit I've come to the sad realization that the person buying the kit (ie. me) needs more stuff. How aggravating!

When I was a kid and got a toy that said "Batteries not included" I was upset. However at least the manufacturers put a notice on the box of this deficiency. My parents being the smart people that they were bought batteries separately and packed it in with the present. Come my birthday, Christmas, or whatever fun day it was I would get the whatever it was all good to go.

The science kit I picked up yesterday lacks a whole bunch of things. What is worse is that they don't list the items on the outside of the box. It's not until you're ready to do the experiment and open the box that you realize you have to find all these other items.

To try to be fair, in most households the items are pretty common. Then again some are not. Does everyone have safety goggles? Granted I do, and they're designer one at that but I'm a nerdy geek (so I've been told). In my case only a few things on the list were readily available in my home.

The items required are...


1. Container for mixing the solution - the instruction manual (sheet) recommends cutting a coke bottle in half.

2. Container for crystal growth


3. a rock (10 cm in diameter, and up to 2.54 cm in height) - they couldn't provide a base for the crystals to grow on? I picked this one up at the Beach.


4. rubber gloves - to protect hands from touching the Ammonium Phosphate and pulling out the rock from solution



5. newspaper - to lay over things that may get stained (ie. table)


6. flashlight - not really needed but handy if you're in a dim room.


7. magnifying glass - also not really needed for the experiment to work but handy for observation. ( so yeah, the only magnifying glass I own is part of a Lego set)


8. safety goggles - the instructions do not say anything about safety goggles yet warn you about getting the stuff in your eyes. I have added this as something one should use.

9. Measuring cup or utensil - kind of important to have especially if you require an exact amount of water or crystal mix.

Another interesting observation I have made is that, for a science kit, the instructions for the use of the ingredients is poorly written and really not very scientific at all. There should be an action method, something like the Joy of Cooking book uses. List the items required. List the actions taken in a specific order. Use millilitres instead of grams if talking about fluids and specify the exact amount to use.

If adults can't write instructions properly how can we expect children (12 and over) to understand them? Because of this I looked up the web to see if I could find anything to make things clearer. As a result I found the chemistry section on about.com.

Another point to make is getting a rock that's 10 cm in diameter. With only 10 ounces of liquid getting a container wide enough for the rock would mean that the water level would be pretty shallow for crystal growth. I went through a lot of containers to find that the optimum one would be a plastic container that used to hold whole mushrooms.

What should be a simple science experiment watching crystals grow has become more of a treasure hunt for things not included with the kit. Thank goodness it doesn't require batteries as well.