New CD

Just like to mention that I received my pre-ordered copy of Memories of John, which I've been looking forward to for months. I'm a gigantic John Hartford fan. I haven't listened straight through yet but have been skipping around listening to different tracks of interest. I sort of doubt any of this blog's readers are gigantic Hartford fans, but if you are, I recommend the cd.

Ho hum.

So there are zombies a foot in LA. It has come to this, it seems.

Not much here. I took a nap this afternoon but turned on the ringer to my phone (rare) because I was expecting a call and instead ended up getting a call from my cousin, which I sent to voicemail, in which he discussed having heard on the radio that he'd heard how tall a trillion dollars in stacked $100 bills would be and couldn't believe it. I wasn't happy to have been woken up about that message.

Then I woke up and had an email from the person whose call I was expecting saying that he'd phone tomorrow. Boo.

I went couch shopping with my father this weekend. I bought a couch. It was expensive. Also a lot bigger than I had in mind originally. But it was really the only one I liked. It won't arrive until June. But I think I'm actually going to try to get the place furnished a bit and feel a bit more like a house. SM, who may or may not be friendly with E, loves doing such things and has drawn up a plan for how to decorate, she just hasn't shown it to me yet.

In other news, it's almost time to register for fall classes. So I'm figuring out what to take. I'm also petitioning to be allowed to take a course in another department that would be a really good course for me to take but has absolutely no legit connection to what I purportedly study. I think they might let me do it, which would be nice, but if they followed their own rules they really shouldn't allow it...

What happened?

So, as my loyal readers know, I recently went to Canada for a few months. I got back a little over a week ago and have been settling back into life in these parts. My schedule is pretty open these days, but I have tons to do nonetheless. No shortage of things to keep me busy.

Right now I have mushroom risotto on the stove for dinner and some dough rising to bake some bread, so I'll probably be running back and forth to the kitchen while I'm writing this post.

No. Back now. Risotto with me, bread in oven. I was supposed to split the dough into two loaves but didn't bother so I might go back in half an hour and have monster loaf on my hands overflowing into my oven. That would be cool.

Anyway. Did a bunch of yardwork this morning cutting back all the old dead plants from last year and getting ready to grow new ones. Things look a lot better now, and spring is virtually upon us. This'll be my first spring in the house after having bought the house last summer and I'm a bit worried I trimmed some things I shouldn't have, but it'll be ok in the end, I'm sure. The previous owner had the place landscaped really nicely and for my neighbors' sake I hope I don't manage to ruin it all in one fell swoop, but I won't be around a whole lot this spring and summer so the possibility exists...

Anyway. Reason for this post is that I have a new neighbor, so to speak. Right next to the bus stop that I disembark at when I come back from downtown is a brand new medical marijuana shop. Somehow I missed the fact that this was going to be happening, but apparently they've sprung up ALL OVER either just Denver or all of Colorado. One of which being no more than two blocks from my house. What happened? It's a bit odd. And right around the corner from the store is this house that has signs up saying that I can get an examination, presumably for a prescription, from the house. It's a bit fishy, methinks.

But I didn't even realize that this was going to be happening and I come home and they're all over the place. Bizarre.

Culture.

I think that there's been a Jane Austen theme on and off, what with the P&P&Zombies book I mentioned to you, etc. So tomorrow I'm going to see this with SM, who may or may not be friends with E, and her hubby. Musicals really aren't my thing, but they already had tickets and I DO like Jane Austen, so why not? We'll see how it goes.

Crazy day.

So. I'm back in civilization. Left winter project site at 2.30am yesterday - the rig was leaving at 3am and given the already-poor condition of the roads, I didn't want to be leaving after it.

This got me back to Calgary by about 3.30 in the afternoon, which had the added advantage of allowing me to drop off my computer for repair. (Did I mention it stopped working a few days ago?) I have it back now, less than 24 hours later, fixed. Which is a relief. And free, still being under warranty.

Anyway. First thing this morning I was planning to hang out around Calgary for about a week before going to do this other job. About 8.30am I speak to the ops geologist about coming in to meet with her today, and she tells me that they've decided to do the well without a geologist. Fine. So I book a flight back to Colorado for Sunday. I then proceed into downtown to have lunch with the geologists I worked with this winter. S offers me more work starting Tuesday. I go back to where I'm staying after lunch and cancel the flight I'd booked that morning. S calls about 5 minutes later to cancel me for the more work I'd just canceled my flight for. I have to book a second flight back to Colorado.

Argh. Lost two jobs in a matter of hours. Booking and canceling flights left and right. Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria. Bizarre day. But that's the way it works sometimes.

So I'm going home Sunday. The end.

I should be back by mid-April at the latest for more work, possibly sooner. But I did plenty of work this winter so really don't need to work any more. For the year, really, but it does sound like I'll be pretty busy through the summer...

Momento of a good winter.

Found this hanging on my car today after the USA-Canada hockey game last night. I lost the case of beer I'd won earlier in the Olympics.

Someone took a fair amount of time making the sign. But you'll notice that fairly ironically 'Canada' is actually spelled incorrectly. Which I found amusing. Turns out the Hutterite driller was the guy who'd made the sign, which probably excuses a spelling mistake as bad as that, even, given his upbringing. I think that after I pointed the mistake out generally to everyone that he was pretty embarrassed, and before he left his shift he'd taken it down and put it in the crew truck and was going to throw it out. I got him to give it back because I still like the sign and it's a momento of a good winter.

I leave my winter projects tomorrow, probably, and then have about a week off before this other job that'll be the last before mid-April, probably. So I'll be heading back to Colorado in a few weeks.