An Exercise In Futility

When we arrived at the front of the queue for “security” in Comox, we had already deduced that the greeter was a fuckwit, mindlessly regurgitating rehearsed lines and enforcing ridiculous rules. “Any computers or electronics?” he asked, just like he had asked everyone else. Is he so blind he cannot recognise a laptop bag? Some people were asked to take their cameras out of the camera bags, others were not. “Any liquids gels or [blah blah]?” he boomed. Jo indicated we had Victor’s sippy cup with water. “He can only have that if he’s under two, is he under two?” What, the water is magically endowed with dangerousness dependent on age? Jo had to go dump it out, i wanted to throw it in the imbecile’s face.

I want to wear a t-shirt when i fly, with ‘refuse to be terrorized’ emblazoned on the front, plus some snarky comment about one of the many stupid restrictions. But i imagine that would be considered threatening and get me stuck on the no-fly list or something else ridiculous.

Why is it that in general i feel so much more productive late in the evening? These days i have been awake at night concerned about work, then so tired in the day that it is a tough slog to get the work done. Bad cycle. Tonight i am doing some catch up and feel pretty good, but i expect i’ll be wiped tomorrow. MEH.

Whatever proportions of instant coffee, sugar, and milk were in my cup this morning, the flavour took me right back to a little motorway stop on E19 in the Netherlands back in 2000. It is so neat how taste and smell can awake vivid memories.

I am pleased to say that we managed to cut our electricity consumption this May/June by more than 100 kWh! That is a small amount but it is still almost 4%. For a 60 day period ending Jul 13 ‘07 we used 2633 kWh, and for the 62 day period ending Jul 14 ‘08 we used 2527 kWh. Usage rate and Basic rate both increased over the last year, so the actual dollar amount is almost the same for both periods ($1 more this year).

Some of the things we did in the interim period that may have contributed to energy savings were: Replaced old exterior door in kitchen and insulated gaps, sealed attic hatch, lowered water temperature on water heater. I was quite surprised to see the actual usage having decreased since i was certain we’d been using the heaters more this June (seemed unseasonably cool).

Just some miscellaneous personal notes

Day after his third birthday, Victor demonstrated his newfound ability to say a hard C sound. Now he can say both F and V, and the other night at the table he was impressing us with his annunciation of the word ‘five’. Another very recent development is final S. I am not sure how this compares to other kids his age but i am totally impressed

My eye twich is still here.

Today was pretty hot, especially in the sun. i think it might have been 30C, but dry.

Went climbing at the steppes on thursday, definitely not the place to go after work — 40min of walking each way! Only got home at 10 to 11. Otherwise it was a good spot and i will definitely go there again when the timing is right.