a small rant plus a Guest Blather

Parki's Blathering is up! See bottom of page!!






Got up at 5:15 a.m. this morning and went down to the dock to check out the sunrise. The lake was calm, brushed with mist, and the interesting reflection of the clouds in the water prompted me to take the photo above (though as usual, the picture doesn't do reality justice).


Ordinarily, I would have sat outside for a while, but this time the peace and solitude of the early morning were broken by noisy cottager neighbours down the shore. The lake has been busier this weekend as cottagers have started arriving. At first I figured someone else was up early watching the sunrise as well, but quickly realized that these people had been up all night, and were still partying. Their voices carried clearly across the quiet lake:


"F---, man, look at that f---ing bird! Stephanie, did you see that f---ing bird go by? Did you see it? Hey George, we're havin' a debate over here HAHAHA..."


Then they obviously spotted me.


"OH MY GOD, LOOK AT THAT GIRL OVER THERE! F---, here we are all passed out, and she's up at dawn. HAHAHA. What a f---ing picture..." Followed by uproarious laughter.


While I appreciate the fact that we all derive enjoyment in life differently, I have to question why people like this bother to come up to a place like this at all, a place with such breathtaking beauty and opportunity for quiet and reflection, away from the chaos of the city.


Okay, I'll stop fuming for now and move on to happier topics.


re: dehydrated milk in the hiking boot incident. Just to clarify on a previous entry (a few expressed genuine concern)...apologies for the misunderstanding: it wasn't that big a deal, really. :-) Jeff read the bit I wrote about the spilled milk in my Blatherings, as I knew he would (he reads them every morning), only minutes after I wrote it. I purposely waited on the couch while he was doing his morning Web browse so I could see his reaction when he read it.









Parki's here! We all spent yesterday lounging about, reading, napping, talking, listening to music. Jeff and Parki made a splendid dinner...steak with blue cheese sauce, rice, salad. I'm nearly finished my "Dot Com Survivor" song, with the help of Parki, Jeff, and some of my other technonerdboy friends. Late last night, we watched "Swimming With Sharks" on Jeff's laptop (are we geeks, or what?). Many thanks to Bryan Fullerton for lending us this DVD (he said that I would likely get extra enjoyment out of it because of my recent corporate experience). Kevin Spacey was amazing in this movie even if his character was a jerk.


Anyway, I've convinced Parki to do a Guest Blathering, but he's still sleeping. Stay tuned later today for a Blathering update!


Guest Blatherer: Brian Parkinson


The sun is shining, those damn teenagers next door have gone indoors after their all-nighter, good music is playing on the CD player, the fire is crackling, and all this at a shade after 9:00 in the morning! I'm awake (well, almost - mug of coffee at the left elbow) and ready to fulfill my duties as Guest Blatherer. It's the pressure of the assignment really, not so much the deadline. Another cup.


I've only been here for one day, and thus I don't have a necessarily consistent set of observations, but I think I know enough now to give you some idea of how Debbie spends her time up here - a bit of an insider report, if you will.


Debbie gets up at a shockingly early time, and begins the day by writing the Blathering entry that you have come to expect. One can see why she does this in the early hours, as it is absolutely beautiful here, but as well she has a responsibility to you, the reader, to have get Blatherings out in a timely fashion. This pressure is immense (as you might be able to imagine) and so it's likely that pretty soon she'll start charging money for Blatherings - big money, which only seems fair compensation.


After writing Blatherings, Debbie usually plays with Flash, but since I'm using her machine right now, she's out back riveting some body panels back into that Studebaker she's been lovingly restoring for some time now. It should be done by the end of this visit. Cool Deb!


Debbie is working on some music as well, and Jeff and I helped out a bit with lyrics yesterday. She needs a harmony voice to finish the one song off, so later today The Supremes are flying in for a brief recording stint. Diana Ross wasn't invited, apparently.


There are a lot of books around, and reading takes up a big portion of the day. For example, Debbie read the Lord of the Rings trilogy in one sitting a few weeks ago. She also took detailed notes at the same time, and has been releasing these observations on a related web site, a bit at a time. Debbie usually polishes off 8 or 9 novels a day - she is one of those rare people that can keep up with Steven King's output.


Food? Good food up here at Canoe Lake, for sure. Tonight's dinner promises to be really cool - who will win - Debbie or the Iron Chef?


There's always time for exercise up at Canoe Lake, and the routine seems to be either a brisk run to Huntsville, or to swim a few laps of the lake. This doesn't mean it's all non-stop activity here - there's plenty of room in the day for sleeping and lazing about as well. In the morning, Debbie usually finds time for an after-Blathering nap, a post-breakfast nap, and a brief pre-lunch nap. In the afternoon, there's the post-lunch nap, and then a rather long-ish pre-dinner sleep. After dinner, there's the slow slide into sleep, and then it's up early for another day!


It's always great to get up north, and what with the weather, sights, sounds and company up here, it's perfect - I couldn't think of a better place to spend the long weekend. It's time to sign off, and chill out on the dock.


Hope those damn teenagers keep it down tonight.




Today's Blatherpics:


- Sunrise this morning.


- Parki.


Today's Poll:

Do you own a PDA? (Visor, Palm, etc....if you don't know what a PDA is, choose "no")