October update

I've started two new photography classes, Photoshop II and Wedding and Portrait. Both classes are interesting so far, and once I'm done them I'll only have five more classes till I get my photography diploma.

I was also assigned baseball at work, which is a much better sport than greyhound racing, although the greyhound articles are pretty easy to write. With the playoffs on, and the Jays in the news lately it's been a lot of fun writing at work. I don't know what will happen when the World Series is over, hopefully I get hockey or football, but I'll probably get squash, or rowing.

After my post last time about Sudbury and my car being booted, I got an email from the CEO of Sudbury's Green Party, which was a nice surprise.

A couple weeks later we were in Ottawa for the  Spoken Word festival and the poetry slam finals. Kate and I were both disappointed with the poetry, although the Montreal team was good. It seemed every poem was about God, or how bad wars or, or other horrific things. It was the end of the competition so much of the artist's best work had already been used, but still. I'm not a huge fan of the poetry that centres around violence, or the evil of man, I'd rather read an essay about those things than hear a three minute piece of art on it.

I am writing for an online magazine called Pucklife (at pucklife.ca), so far I haven't actually written anything, but I did interview Ben Maxwell, a second round draft pick from the Montreal Canadiens who is playing for the Hamilton Bulldogs (their AHL affiliate). The issue with my article is scheduled to come out sometime in November, and I still need to polish it and get it approved, although I don't really think it would be rejected.
I've only read one issue of the magazine so far, but I thought the writing was pretty good, the ideas and voice of the magazine specifically. It was relaxed, but not ridiculous like some sports magazines.

I'm rather shocked that Rob Ford got elected in Toronto.  Here's a guy that was caught being physically aggressive with a high school football player when he was a coach, he got into a drunken argument with a couple at a Leaf game, and he was charged with refusing to give a breathalyzer test while driving. People usually do that when they're drunk. He's also insulted, the Chinese, the gay community, and he thinks bikes shouldn't be allowed in Toronto? What's next? No pedestrians? Anyway I'm sure Ford would fall over dead if he ever set foot in Montreal because of all the bike lanes and acceptance of other people, so I'm glad I'm here and he's there.

Our cat supply is down to four after the kitten was sent to another foster home. I would have rather returned an adult cat than the cute little kitten, but what can you do. One thing we can do is never sleep again as the mother of the kitten roams the house at night with incessant meowing and the other foster cat climbs on our bare skin with her claws out. Occasionally two cats will meet on the bed and a fight will ensue, or something will crash somewhere in the house. Generally it's pretty fun times at Cat Paradise.

Compounding the sleep issue is the coffee issue at work. I donated four bucks to the coffee fund, then I bought an 11 dollar tin, went to the bank to take that four out and whatever anyone else had put in only to find the money gone, except for a couple bucks in quarters and a boatload of nickles and pennies. It took two weeks for everyone to drink my coffee and not one looney has been put into the jar. Today I brought in my jar of instant coffee, that's my new coffee system, so far it's working pretty well.

So that's the crap I've done lately, most of it anyway. I had Thanksmas with my family, but since you are all 80% of this blog's readers I didn't think it pertinent to write about it since you were all there. I am enjoying my Montreal Canadiens set, it included a bucket, four glasses, a bottle opened, and some coasters. The bottle opener had a poor design that only Kate could use so we got rid of that. The bucket has become a tool used to clean up cat pee from the front hall, and one of the glasses helps me get the kitty litter from the bag to the litter. The other three glasses are among our best pint glasses now so it's a nice even split of how the pieces were used. The coasters will probably be broken out at the next poker game. Kate also loves her cooking pot.

That's all for now. Go Leafs Go.