I ain't saying I'm burnt out, but today was a bit of a flicker.

Today I ran out of steam in a huge way just after lunch. Several files are in the process of blowing up, and none of my files seem to be resolving. I have clients who seem to be on quest to make my life difficult, and I have opposing counsel who seem to be doing the same. For the first time in a long time, I have been losing sleep over files. (Also because today at 5:30 AM the cats decided to have a 'who can piss Owen off the most' contest.) My energy is waning, and it is affecting my ability to function at the level at which I want to. One factor in this is the sheer number of active files I am conducting, well over 100 since the other family law lawyer left the firm. This is about double what it should be. As a result, I will not be taking new files for the foreseeable future, and I will be working to close the ones I have to get down to a proper caseload.

Getting at the root of the problem is one key, and that is one that will have to be addressed over the next weeks and months. The other key is to de-stress right now, which means improving my diet and exercise, and really enjoying my upcoming 4 day weekend.

Larium

Antimalarial drugs are giving me an upset tummy. Could be worse. They're giving Jenn strange dreams. Either way, Jenn isn't getting much sleep.

Mandy apparently adopted again.

Mandy's profile has again been removed from the EHS website, which means I am much happier. I will stay that way until she shows up again.

Sadness

I checked again today, and "Dot", better known as Mandy, is back up on the EHS website. Our initial hopes for a short stay for Mandy have been overthrown. Mandy is still in need of a home and of love. If you know someone who needs/wants a very snuggly apex predator, please point them to "Dot", pet #5900.

Now that I have no snow tires...

AS OF 3 PM RADAR INDICATES BANDS OF SNOW DEVELOPING TO THE NORTHWEST OF EDMONTON VICINITY THE SWAN HILLS. THIS AREA OF SNOW IS FORECAST TO INTENSIFY AND TRACK SOUTHEASTWARDS THIS EVENING. A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL DEVELOP NEAR CALGARY LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND THEN TRACK RAPIDLY SOUTHEASTWARD INTO SOUTHWESTERN SASKATCHEWAN BY WEDNESDAY MORNING. THIS SYSTEM WILL TAP INTO A WARM STREAM OF MOIST PACIFIC AIR AND IS EXPECTED TO BLANKET THE ABOVE REGIONS WITH 8 TO 12 CENTIMETRES OF FRESH SNOW. IN ADDITION THESE AREAS WILL EXPERIENCE STRONG EASTERLY WINDS AND REDUCED VISIBILITIES IN BLOWING SNOW ESPECIALLY IN EXPOSED AREAS. BRIEF PERIODS OF FREEZING RAIN ARE POSSIBLE AS WELL

Mmmmm, warm Pacific air mass, with everything that entails - above-normal temperatures (a wlecome departure, I assure you) moisture in the air, oh yeah, and huge amounts of heavy, wet, slippery snow. I really don't mind, I just hope that my new car with it's low-profile all-seasons doesn't wind me up in the ditch. Just chant along with me, "Drive for the conditions...Drive for the conditions...."

Someone loves Mandy.

Today, I did my normal review of the Edmonton Humane Society website to check up on Mandy. She had been put up on the site about 1 week ago. She is now off of the site, which means that she has been adopted. Someone has seen her extra-love personality and her complete gentleness, and taken her home. I only hope that she will be treated as an indoor cat, and given plenty of love, because that is what she deserves.

For whoever took cat #5900 "Dot" (Real name - Princess Mandolin (Mitten) Manjit Bananna-Muffin Sunbeam-Tiger Cat-Taylor-Kirkaldy (AKA Mangalore, AKA Mandibles, AKA Mang, AKA Mangy-Moo, AKA Mucous)) into their home, I wish you the warmest blessings of whatever god-figure, analogous entity, or lack thereof that you (believe/tell your mom you believe/don't believe) in.

Humiliation at the Opera

On Tuesday, I attended the Edmonton Opera's production of "HMS Pinnafore" as part of the "Opera Explorer's Club" Which is a fancy way of saying "Rush seats, pizza and beer for people under 30 who want to go to the opera".

It was at the pizza and beer intermission that I had my humiliating experience - I was part of a group of people, albiet a small part, who were admonished for.... (it's almost too horrible to say)...

Not Drinking Enough Beer.

Sure enough, of the 50 or so people in the room, there were perhaps 10 who had availed themselves of the free beer that was already poured and waiting for them. I did my best and sucked back two, fast, between acts, but I wasn't able to make a serious dent in the backlog by myself. Embarassing.

Moreover, the Total Loss department has finally gotten back to me about my truck and made a better offer. I will be accepting that and probably buying the car that the firm accepted in lieu of fees from one client. It kind of looks like a drug-dealer's Civic, but that's only because it was, well, a drug dealer's Civic. That having been said, it will be nice to have a vehicle with a trunk again. I am a little dissapointed that I don't get a convertible, but that's on my wishlist for sooner rather than later. The nice thing about the 3rd generation Miatas is that they have dropped the bottom out of the used market for 2nd generation Miatas.

Moist Kitty

Today the inevitible happened. Little Billie fell into the fishtank. She got out just fine, and made a big mess right before the open house, but I don't think she'll be going after those fish for a while.

Post # 200

To celebrate the 200th post, I will provide the good news. I am alive. I have not frozen to death in this cold snap. This, according to the Globe and Mail and other reputable news sources, places me ahead of quite a number of other people in the last week. Two small children have frozen to death in Saskatchewan, three people were killed in a blizzard on the road between Edmonton and Jasper, and a cat was found, I am not making this up, frozen to the sidewalk in Edmonton last week.

In other news, the total loss people have finally told me that they are making an offer on my truck. I will be squeezing them for closer to what it is worth, but I might just be able to buy a working car with what they will give me. Fingers crossed, people.

Jenn Went back to work today. Apparently, it was...bleich. The kids were really happy she was back, and plenty of the staff. On top of that, her grievance has been formalized, and we are now at the start of the actual "under the collective agreement" thing. What that means is that if the timelines for the grievance process all go the maximum length, Jenn's problems might just get resolved by the end of the teaching year. Isn't that great?

Anyway, work has been going good for me, I have been rocking the whole practicing law thing, and I hope to actually be finished my thesis soon too, which would allow me to justify reading for fun.

You can get used to anything

Witness the fact that I was happy on my drive in to work because it was "Only" -38c WITH the windchill. The actual temperature was only -28c.

Next week it is supposed to go up near zero. I don't know how I will cope. I'll have to take off all my clothes and go tanning on the front lawn.

A weather update

The windchill this morning on my way to work was announced on the radio as -47c. My colleague spent an hour digging his car out of the end of his driveway, and had to go home with mild hypothermia at noon.

I am not looking forward to the drive home. I think I may leave early to take advantage of the daylight.

My weather forecast

Here is what environment Canada has to say about Spruce Grove tomorrow:

AN ARCTIC AIR MASS HAS SETTLED OVER NORTHERN AND CENTRAL ALBERTA. THE VERY COLD TEMPERATURES COMBINED WITH A BRISK NORTHERLY WIND WILL PRODUCE EXTREME WIND CHILL VALUES BELOW MINUS 40 TONIGHT INTO MONDAY MORNING. HIGH RISK OF FROSTBITE. EXPOSED SKIN CAN FREEZE IN 5 TO 10 MINUTES OR SOONER DEPENDING ON WIND SPEED. REDUCED VISIBILITIES IN SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ARE OCCURRING IN THE COLD LAKE, FORT SASKATCHEWAN AND LLOYDMINSTER REGIONS. SNOWFALL AMOUNTS NEAR 10 CENTIMETRES ARE EXPECTED AND WIND CHILL VALUES WILL FALL BELOW MINUS 40. VISIBILITIES AND SNOWFALL ARE EXPECTED TO IMPROVE MONDAY MORNING HOWEVER WIND CHILLS WILL REMAIN BELOW MINUS 40 INTO MONDAY.

Doesn't that sound lovely?

Here are a couple of pictures of the tiny kitten. She is very tiny and very sweet.

Part two of the saga of the visit to the Edmonton Humane Society

As sad as we were to leave Mandy at the shelter for someone who can provide a ferret-proofed space for her, we couldn't leave a cat at an over-capacity shelter without doing our part to make us cat-neutral. On the way home, we were joined by Pet # 5174 (Shiraz). She was promptly re-named in the music theme: Billie (Bear) Holiday Cat-Kirkaldy. She is almost as snuggly as Banjo was when he was her age, but she hasn't shown any distinct preference for Jenn yet, so I have high hopes she might like me too.

I am not very happy.

Last night, Mandy, who has already had an ongoing problem for three years with chewing through string, has moved on to harder stuff. Electrical cords. This makes my cat a fire hazard.

So this afternoon, we are going to the humane society to give her up to the program for cats who are too difficult to live with and are adopted as barn cats. This means that my cat, who is the gentlest cat I think I have ever seen with people (although lethal to anything smaller than her) will have a new life where she will probably never get another tummy rub. After about noon, she won't be getting any from me.

Okay, I know.. Long time no post.

But, hey, it's the holidays, and I can't be expected to make room for blogging when there are cookies to eat.

Okay, here's a roundup of the events since the last post.

Supper club Christmas Dinner - This took place at the apartment down the hall from the crack dealer downtown, otherwise known as M&N's. I must say that the supper was a much needed non-turkey experience, as we would be starting in on a string of traditional Christmas Dinners.

23rd - Our house Christmas Dinner -
We wrapped a free-range turkey in bacon, made Brussels Sprouts a-la-Mornay, mashed potatoes, carrot pudding, creamed carrots with parsley, two kinds of stuffing, and that wasn't including what the family brought (scalloped potatoes, desserts, salads, assorted other veggies). I just want to say that 1: not stuffing a turkey leaves it moister than with stuffing, 2: an electronic probe thermometer on a remote works wonders for having a turkey done exactly right, 3: Jenn's grandma is way too much fun when she's doing shooters with the girls.

24th - Family Supper in Sherwood Park -
There were a lot of dogs. Also there was a baby. The turkey was not as moist. We left early to get to church, where Jenn played flute, which was awesome. Then we went back to the in-laws.

25th - Christmas Morning and Bus Ride -
Turkey sandwiches for lunch, also we got us a bread maker, which kicks bum, since our old one has pretty much kicked the bucket. Jenn gave me a digital camera, which she bought just before learning that we won one in the home lotto. That's getting returned for store credit as soon as we can get there. We have our eyes on a couple of items.

At 3:00, we got on the bus and headed to Calgary. We took the Greyhound as an experiment, rather than the luxury option - the Red Arrow. The Red Arrow is worth the extra money. On the trip down, one fellow was so drunk he thought he was on a plane to Halifax. he started screaming "Just land this M**********R already!!!" along with shouts of "Holy S***" and "F***" and "What the F*** are you looking at?!? I'll take care of YOU!"

Fun, eh? So the driver pulls over, manhandles him to the front of the bus, and calls the cops. Within 10 minutes, buddy is on his way to the RCMP cells in Olds, and I just can't get the old Pogues song "Fairytale of New York" out of my head. Seriously though, No more Greyhound for us. They don't screen the passengers as well as either the airlines or the Red Arrow.

We arrive about a half hour late and eat Tourtierre and Quiche, and play with my brother's Guitar Hero III until it was time to open presents, which we did. I got, among other things, an HBC gift card, which leads us to...

26th - Boxing Day -
We arrived early at the mall, where I bought a new banker's coat at 40% off, and Jenn went nuts at Lululemon. Just after the coat-buying, Jenn shouted at me about hating to shop with me and yelled at us both to leave, so my brother and I headed out to the Wildwood Brewpub (Which has gone downhill) and then to a buddy's place to play "Rock Band" which I found fun because it was like Karaoke for points.

Later we picked up a shopped-out Jenn from the mall, and headed home for turkey dinner #3 at my parents house. This was a somewhat quieter affair, with no shooters and no dogs, just the steady application of too much food and too much wine and too much scotch until the company went home. All in all, a good supper, and it laid the foundation for...

27th - A day of rest (and turkey) -
On the 27th, we went out shopping again, and I picked up some shirts at winners so that I don't have to look like such a gorf all the time. We ate turkey soup for lunch, and turkey-Shepard's pie for supper.

28th - Travel -
Seriously, the greyhound driver took such a retarded route out of the city that we left the terminal at 4:00 and weren't on the highway until almost 5:00. Add to that the fact that the lights in the coach wouldn't turn on, and we had a pretty rotten trip, with no reading, no sudoku, and only our lupper to hold our interest. It included - you guessed it - turkey sandwiches. MMMMMMMMMMMM. I love turkey.

when we arrived back in Edmonton, our car wouldn't start until we plugged it in for about an hour, so we killed some time with getting me a haircut and whatnot.

29th - Today -
Wre have no turkey to eat. In a way, this makes me sad, but then I think of the gallon sized ziplock in the freezer holding our leftovers from the 23rd and all the good things that that will make, and I get a little happy.

In the morning, we listed our house for sale, following which we will be moving back to Edmonton, and lopping about 30-45 minutes each way from our commutes, which will give us an extra 2-3 man-hours per day to put in into renovations. It should also make it easier for our friends to come over, since it is kind of a long haul to Spruce Grove.

This evening, I get to put on my suit and go to a wedding of a distant cousin of Jenn's. This means (I hope) no turkey. Fingers Crossed, people.

So that is my update, I could have broken it down into several chunks over the last few days, but as you can see I was busy, and my Mom's computer is kind of, well, in need of an upgrade.

Happy New Year to all our readers, and for those of you in Supper Club, see you for the annual fondue in a couple days.

Coming up on Christmas

It is now about a month post-accident and the folks at the insurance company have not yet decided if they will be repairing or writing off my truck. I want to know because it is time for an oil change and the tranny fluid could use changed too if I am keeping it. Otherwise, I'm not going to bother.

Christmas is almost upon us, and that means that Jenn's students are performing Christmas concerts. I attended the first one along with a ton of other supporters, and we were really really impressed. Her grade 7 students didn't sound like they had been playing only for a few months (except for one bunch) and her Jr High Jazz band was really really good.

What about other Christmas stuff? My Christmas shopping is just about done, I just need top get Jenn her "Good" present, and the rest is over. That includes buying the turkey for the dinner on the 23rd. I bought a free-range farm turkey from Parkland Packers, although I think I will need to get one more, since it is only 17# and there are at least 12 people coming. I think I will need to get a small turkey to do alongside. I am also making the Christmas pudding as we speak, even though I am probably the only one who will eat it, I will continue to make it until people smarten up. The only thing I really still need for the supper is brussels sprouts, but I'm sure I will be able to manage. They will be made a-la-mornay, as they should be this time of year. The stuffing will be my mom's recipe if I can finagle it, and the cranberry sauce will be hand-made, since I'm that kind of guy.

For New Years, we will be having the Supper Club Gang over for Fondue and debauchery. Mostly debauchery. I have already picked up the non-alcoholic sparkling beverage (for those who don't drink) and some Jacob's Creek Sparkling Pinot Noir Blanc de Noir for those who do, together with Blue Curacao and Raspberry Sourpuss, to make the shooters that the girls all like, which go by the unfortunate name "Porn Star". I suppose that the theory is that if you drink enough of them, you start acting like, well....

I have further been considering another potential new tradition to insert between New Year's fondue and Lunar New Year. I think that I should start a tradition of mid-winter Fiesta in the third week of January. I propose that I host supper club around that time for a menu of traditional Mexican and Tex-Mex offerings. I need to use my tortilla press for something, folks! And don't forget that I have all the tequila in the world lying in my basement, and if I don;t have a reason to use it, I won't finish it before I go back to Mexico. Throw in a couple of cases of Pacifico or Dos Equis, and we are in business.

Yes, I think that we need to get that together.

Update on the accident

So here's the story - I hurt. Not a whole lot yet, just steady. Headache, jaw pain, stiff back, stiff neck... we'll see how it goes.

As for the truck, I took it in to get it appraised for repairs today. Here's the rundown:
Rear Bumper destroyed, both rear quarters damaged slightly where the bumper bent into them, outter panel on the tailgate smashed, frame bent slightly where the bumper attaches (not structural, just a tiny bit of bending) bent front bumper, cracked grille, bent frame pieces where front bumper attaches to frame, and my personal favourite, damage to two panels on the back of my cab where the frame flexed enough to smash the back of the box into the back of the cab (a 1 inch gap).

Conclusion? He hit me really really hard. He bent my truck in half and really messed the thing up. Tough little truck, though, and cheap to fix. Cost to repair? About $4500-$5300. Market value of the truck? Maybe $4000-$5500.

And therein lies the problem, folks, depending on whether the adjuster has had his coffee on the morning he opens my file, I might or might not get to keep driving my truck. I can't help but feel partly responsible, however, since I have had green truck for two years now, and have never given green truck a name, and because of that, bad things happened to it.

That is why I am sending out an SOS to the world and asking you all - If green truck survives, what should I name it?

My first thought - Thumper.

Pressing Questions of our times...

Many people have asked me, "Hey, Owen... What is it really like to be concussed?" This question has been based on a number of factors... My tendency to hit my head on things, my general clumsiness, and my occasionally asinine statements on the human condition.



So as of today, I can tell you with all honesty, being concussed sucks. It is like the last half of a medium-bad hangover. You vomit, you get chills, you get dizzy, and you feel generally rotten. Then your wife gets you out of bed to take you to the hospital so that the doctor can tell you that what you need is bed rest. What I personally think I need is to not have my head slammed into the rear window of my truck.



Oh, yes, the truck... probably written off, thanks for asking. The damage to the rear bumper and tailgate is pretty severe, and the truck isn't worth that much to begin with, which means we will probably have to buy another new vehicle which may have to put off moving back to Edmonton for a while. Maybe, maybe not. We'll see how bad the damage to the front bumper is.



Oh, yes, the front bumper. Not only was I rear-ended by the chief of the Duncan's First Nation (just outside of Peace River, incidentally (the first nation, not the accident)) in his brand new GMC Denali (indian chief must pay well these days), I was thrown forward a carlength or so into the back of a Student-at-law driving a Santa Fe. When we exchanged business cards, we just laughed.



So anyway, WAD 1-2, we'll see how it turns out, and a concussion. Nice way to spend your weekend, no?

Been a while

Boy it has been a while since I posted anything. The reason for that? Busy, but doing things that aren't very interesting. I have been taking a course every friday in Calgary, Jenn has been doing report cards and now doing parent/teacher night. Also band camp is next week. In and amongst all that we have decided to move back into Edmonton, since what we would save on gas in a month would top up what we need for a mortgage on a fully detached bungalow in a good location. Needless to say I have spent the evenings lately painting, spackling and cleaning.

I have been so busy, in fact, that I have not had time to make beer. I am almost beerless. The only beer I have is the good one that I want to send to competitions this year, so I don't want to drink it.

So that is what we are doing. Boring, I know.