The Dentist

Last week I had my first visit to the dentist in about 10 years (yes, I know that's bad... I know that there is a strong relationship between dental hygiene and life expectancy). But I found myself sitting in the dentist's chair being quite tense. There were a few uncomfortable moments, but for the most part it was a painless experience... and I knew that it would be (my reason for not having been to the dentist in 10 years is much more to do with laziness than dread), but I still found myself tensing up, and having to consciously relax my shoulders and arms. I wonder what it is that made me (and probably most people) tense up? Maybe it's just the expectation that an uncomfortable moment could be upon you at any moment?

In any case, I have a follow up visit this week, I'll try to be less tense for the non-un-comfortable parts.

-kdh

Delinquent

I will tell more about the wacky world of Toronto in a post that will be soon to follow this. I wish I had a good reason for this lull, but I'm not sure it is any one particular reason.

Thanks for the reminder, Gina.

-KDH

Europe Pictures

I have finally found time to put up some pictures from our trip. I'm still missing two or three days of photos that seem to have been misplaced, but once I find them, I'll add them.

You can see them here.

I'm still working on captions for them too.

-kdh

Lines (Queues)

I think that I'm often pretty decent at finding the line that is going to have me
standing there for the shortest amount of time. I tend to be fairly observant which I think is the key... I don't think any queuing theory that I learned in school is really all that helpful beyond the most elementary rules, which everyone really knows anyway, just not in a formal way.

I've been meaning to write this post since my trip back from the U.K., where I encountered a setup at Heathrow (the security line at terminal 3 for those of you who know the airport) meant to thwart any attempts reason out which path will be quickest. Basically the setup is that there are two lines that approach an enclosure from opposite sides... if you peer in, which I did (it's helpful to be tall) you can see that the lines are symmetric inside, so I went with the line that was shorter on the outside (which, predictably, was the one that was farther away from the origin point for all the people lining up).

Everything was going swimmingly, I was through the checkpoint a good 10 people in front of where I would have been in the other line when I got through the security pre-screening... at which point you are passed on to another set of lines that are not visible from the pre-screening lines. Not only that... but the choice that you made of which pre-screening line to take has now locked you in to which set of security gates you are going through. As it happens, the one that I chose was serviced by only one security gate, while the other line was serviced by two. Not only that, but there was a line to even get to where the security gate line started.

I think that I lost those 10 spots that I had gained, and perhaps even more. The end result was really that I lined up for longer than I wanted to...I was in no danger of missing my flight or anything so catastrophic... but I just wanted to get through the line!

Here are a few rules of thumb that I use to find the quickest line (feel free to suggest some additions!):

1. Two servers are better than one: If there is a line that has two people serving it, it will almost invariably be faster regardless of the length of line. The truth is that people will more often choose the shorter line thinking it will be less time even if the slightly longer line clearly has higher throughput



2. One and a half servers are better than one: Where do you get 1.5 servers? Well, as it happens, often at the airport when you are heading through customs, there will be one line that is for flight crew and disabled people... but there really aren't enough of those special types of people to occupy a whole line, so often when that server has no one in their line, the will take someone from the adjacent line.



3. The line farther from where most of the people come from is often shorter: Chalk this one up to "people are lazy". When people are looking for a line, they often end up in the closest line, not the shortest line... they only look to move lines if the first line is exceedingly long.
   
   
4. Younger usually equals faster: This one is just a rule of thumb, remember. Barring someone in training (which can usually be spotted by a trainer or manager nearby), younger cashiers tend to scan, bag and give change more quickly than someone older.

A few other miscellaneous points: look for new line opportunities (i.e. a new cashier is about to open), if it's available, self-serve is usually fastest and don't get overly agressive... it's just a line.

-kdh

Visit to Lewes

If you are reading in your head, it may be helpful to know that the name of that town is pronounced half way between "Lewis" and "Lewus" as a Torontonian might pronounce it. (I was going to put "Canadian"... but there is far too much variation for that to have gone by without a comment from someone... not to say that my job here is to write so that no one need comment... how do I so often get so far off track?)

Lewes, in East Sussex in England is the current home of my friends Julian Patrick and Sophie Thomas and their two children Asa and Helen. Many of you know, Julian and Sofie were my landlords for several years when I split a house with most of the people to whose blogs my blog links, and Julian is also my long time squash partner (although, he's only been in Canada 4 months out of each of the past three years).

In any case, as I found myself in England this past weekend, and freed from the chains of the work week, I took the train down to Lewes (remember... it doesn't sound like a reference to Karen, Dion and Adam) on Friday night.

My trip started with a leg from Cheltenham (where I'm staying) into Paddington Station in Kensington in London. I noticed at one point that the name of the station we had stopped at was "Reading"... I had taken a ride on the Reading Railroad! I did of course realize that this is not, in fact, the Reading Railroad of Monopoly fame... and moreover... it's not even pronounced the same! The brits pronounce it as a Torontonian might pronounce "Redding" (I just realized that there may be someone reading who doesn't know anyone from Toronto, so if there is imagine Peter Jennings, John Roberts (news anchor, not Chief Justice) or perhaps any national news anchor in the U.S. (incidentally, John Roberts (formerly J.D. Roberts) used to be a DJ on CHUM's MuchMusic) and if you don't know any of them, too bad)

After the Reading Railroad and a transfer from Paddington Station to Victoria station through the London Tube and a quick jaunt down to Lewes on the regional line, I was warmly met at the station by Julian and quickly lead a short ways to their house. I got a quick tour of their house and sat down to a pot of tea and some chatting. Helen had gone to bed before I came in, but Asa arrived in short order. Despite being the second youngest in the room, it made me feel a bit old to realize how grown up Asa is now. I guess that's what happens.

The next day I was eating breakfast talking to Helen when I had a feeling of deja vu. I got a flash back to when I was on the other side of the "you may not remember me, but I knew you when you were yay high" conversation. She did remember me though, as I have seen her as recently as two years ago and a bunch of times on and of over the past few years. Sofie had a university "do" down in Brighton, so I spent the morning and early afternoon with Julian and the kids on a whirlwind tour of Lewes (and it's castle, attending the kids' piano lessons, and traipsing about the English countryside with some great views of the downs (they really look more like "ups" to me). After lunch, Julian and I took our leave for the main event... our squash match! I had brought my gym clothes, and I borrowed Asa's squash racquet and we headed down to the local club. The match was cut a bit short when Julian (who doesn't stretch really) pulled a bit of a muscle in his back... I could tell that he desperately wanted to continue, but he was in quite a bit of pain.

This is becoming quite a long post, gosh! After a couple more fantastic meals (Sophie made dinner, and Helen made muffins for breakfast) Julian and I headed down to the coast for a hike along where the downs meet the ocean... the chalk cliffs. The are some pictures of both Lewes and the cliffs that I've posted here.

On my trip home, I took the reverse route, but there was one little wrinkle, the circle line (the tube route that has both Paddington and Victoria) was closed for construction (a notice of which I had observed on the way through the first time), so I walked. I wish I had had a watch because I ended up rushing a little more than I needed to... I was a bit paranoid about missing my train.

Anyway, I had a really wonderful weekend, and made it "home" without any problems.

-KDH

Not an accurate blog name

I'm not in Toronto. I know, I know.. there have been several times this year that I have not been in Toronto and I didn't point it out then... so why I am pointing it out now.

Dunno.

I'm in jolly old england, sitting in an apartment trying to go to sleep, but my body thinks it's still 8pm... so I'm not tired, as you can imagine. My flight over was fairly uneventful (which is always good) and I actually had three seats all to myself (I hope I get so lucky on the way back).

Anyway... time to try to sleep.

-KDH

"Nude Effect"

Adding to the list of misheard phrases, last week I was talking with Neil about something work related, and I heard him say "... nude effect." Or at least, I though I had heard him say that. After a short moment of thinking "what is the 'nude effect'?", I realized that instead, he had said "new defect".

I does still leave the question unanswered... so does anyone else out there know what the "Nude Effect" is? There are no wrong answers!

-KDH

Back Online!

My computer is back online.. there is still a lot of stuff to fix/reinstall, but at least I can surf from home. I'll try over the next little while to talk about some of the highlights of our trip and post some links to pictures... but it's off to bed for now. I've got an ultimate tournament that starts at 8:15 tomorrow morning.

-KDH

... and we're back

So we are indeed back safely, but my computer at home is completely broken, and I have started a new job, so I'm reticent to spend much time updating my blog at work. Also, I will only have pictures of my trip after Susanna's brother gets back since they have borrowed our camera for their week in England. I'll try to get everything up and running soon.

-KDH

And we're off.

See you all in a couple of weeks. We're off for vacation. There may be an opportunity to post stories or pictures along the way, but probably not.

-KDH

do re memememe

As prompted, here are 8 random things about me:

1. I read in the bathroom (it's not usually the main purpose of my visit there)

2. Of all the computer engineers I know, I am the one who is most afraid of making any hardware change on their computer. I really am of the mind "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", and it leads me to often accept non-ideal situations on my computer.

3. I don't really like performing for audiences (which is kind of strange for someone who sings in a performing chorus and quartet).

4. My trip to Taiwan on my honeymoon made me feel the tallest, the fattest and the most white I have ever felt.

5. I have a blog (I guess you already know that)

6. I have never owned a cell phone (I have carried one for work for the past couple years, but I've never had to pay for one... we'll see if two years of carrying a work cell phone has left me such that I can't live without it once I leave my current job and the cell phone behind).

7. I don't have a driver's license. (I guess that is not technically true, as I do have a G1 license, which is the first stage of the graduated licensing scheme here... I will also point out, before one of my "friends" does in the comments that this is the second G1 I have had after letting the first one expire through sheer laziness, and that I also did have what was know as a "365" well before the graduated licensing system was adopted, but it also expired through the very same laziness)

8. I am much better at learning to understand a language than I am at learning to speak that language. I think this is probably true of most people, but I think it is especially true in my case because I'm fairly good at extracting information out of whatever context I can (which aids in understanding), and I don't like trying to speak when I know I will be inept at it (which is a huge hinderance to learning a language).

Alright, so now I've got to pass this off to someone.... to keep this as a fully connected graph ("9. I'm a nerd"), I'm going to pass it to someone who does not usually post on their blog, but really, they are covered by the title... over to you Dion (a member of the Lew Family Blog family [sic]). I will also open the floor to others (MarkMark, I guess that would still have been fully connected too, Jesse and Pam, and whoever else reads this)

I'm in a quartet again

After a long hiatus from my last quartet (the Humbugs... no pseudo-spoonerisms please), I have now found myself singing baritone again in a quartet. Chameleon was looking for a new singer and asked me to audition, at the time not knowing whether I might sing lead (which I sing in the Northern Lights) or baritone (which is what I sang in the Humbugs). Following a fairly lengthy audition process (largely because our schedules conspired against us in quite a serious way) we decided that the sound was best with me singing baritone and Dave continuing to sing lead. He's got a real clarion quality to his voice which suits lead singing in the barbershop style, while I have a rounder and broader sounding voice (these adjectives might sound strange to non-singers) which suits the baritone part. I tried to convince the "boys" (I am the oldest in the quartet by a good margin, but they're not really boys... I just call them that) that one thing to consider is that I'd likely learn the lead line quite quickly, while the baritone line for songs(which is considered by most to be fairly tricky in this style) might take me longer to learn. They somehow were convinced that it wouldn't be a problem and I would learn quickly enough. We'll see!

I Quit!

I quit my job. My last day is next Friday, at which point I'll be heading away on our vacation and won't have any worries about work for the whole time! Don't worry, I do have a job lined up to begin after Labour Day. My leaving Soma is a bittersweet event: I do love (and will miss) the atmosphere and the people at Soma (and much of my job), but I'm also very excited about my new position and new company.

I don't usually talk about work on the blog to avoid any improprieties, but I think this is okay... I've already told all the people at work who really need to know.

-KDH

All day breakfast

I saw a sign yesterday day outside a local restaurant that said "All Day Breakfast (10AM - 4PM)". Is that breakfast really all day?

Project: vacation

It's all arranged (well almost all.. still some hotels and side trips to sort out), we are going to Europe with Susanna's family, a large part of which will be a Baltic Sea cruise. The plan is to spend 3 days in Paris (we can see all of Paris and get a strong appreciation for parisian culture in 3 days, right?) and take the chunnel on the way to Dover where we'll board the ship and head off to ports on the Baltic Sea.

The plan right now is to meet up with my sister and Thomas in our one stop in the north of Germany, and to spend the day with them. Our other stops are: Talinn, Estonia; St. Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland; Stockholm, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark. If you have any suggestions of not-to-be-missed experiences in any of those places, let me know!

After the cruise is done, Susanna and I have to hurry back to our jobs, but Susanna's parents, brother and sister-in-law will be spending another week touring around... possibly England, possibly France... it has yet to be decided.

I'm getting excited.

-Kevin

More babies!

Rob and Rebecca are pregnant! (well, really Rebecca is pregnant and Rob is responsible for it) They are expecting their "little Ho" (her words, not mine) January 26, 2008.

You can read more about it here.

My poor toe

In my ultimate game on Wednesday night, as I stepped out to get a flick out, my defender stomped (and I mean really stomped... well without any intention of doing so) on my right toe. It hurt quite a bit, and as when the point finally finished I went off and decided to have a look at it. It was ugly. Over half of the toenail is black, red and blue, so there is a chance that I'll lose the nail. I've only lost one nail before (also on my big toe, and also because of ultimate), but I really hope I don't. The worst part is when most of it is detached and a part of it is not.

I hope I keep the nail, I like it.

-KDH

Bachelor Days are here again!

Susanna has now left for 10 days away with her parents in the maritimes (as I write this, she has not left yet, but I won't see her before she leaves), so I'm a bachelor for the next little while. I anticipate that my evenings will be filled with lots of bad eating habits, lots of scratching myself, very little cleaning the apartment, and lots staying up too late drinking!

Two degrees of separation

I was chatting with my chiropractor this morning as she was causing me great heaps of pain (trading off short term pain to avoid long term pain) and we discovered the multitude of ways that we could have known each other: her university roommate married a guy who was in my high school show the year that I did the show, her one of her best friends from her high school years was a friend of mine from high school, her good friend married the good friend of Kern (with whom I have sung and lived), and finally the way we actually hooked up, my good friend from university (and former boss) knows her from a camping group that he hikes with, and actually uses her as his chiropractor too.

That was far too long a sentence! I probably should have split it up. I just couldn't be bothered with the formatting. I'll make up for that long sentence with a bunch of short ones. Great idea!

-kdh

Vacation part II

Susanna and I have been looking into our next vacation this summer (I don't really count the barbershop convention as vacation), and it looks like it will be a cruise. Now I'm not really a cruise person, I think, but the extenuating circumstance is that we are going to be travelling with Susanna's family, and her parents sort of are cruise people. I prefer my vacations to be more along the lines of staying in a town or a city for a couple of days and exploring it and the surrounding region, and then move on to the next place when you're ready. Every day in a new city seems a bit rushed for me, but maybe I'll find that for many cities, one day is all you need, if you distill it down to it's most potent form: the guided tour! It will be my first cruise, so I'll let you know how it goes.

While I was looking up cruises, I was also examining the pricing, and I can't say that I understand the pricing structure. I guess it's like airfare in that the pricing varies based on number of suites remaining, number of days remaining before the cruise, etc. Pricing for services such as this are are distinctly non-durable (that is to say that as soon as the ship sails, the empty rooms are "spoiled" and can't be sold) is always very interesting. As the sail date approaches, the cruise line is incented to fill their manifest and sell the remaining tickets by reducing the price... but... they do not want to do that if it means moving a future full price customer to the present reduced price (they would want to do this if the future is expected to be fully booked regardless, but only in that case). Does anyone have any experience with trying to get the best price for this type of travel? Also, while I'm asking, does anyone know the pros and cons of buying your airfare to the port with the cruise line or separately? Is there a big price difference, and is the hassel worth it? And lastly, any advice on booking different types of rooms would be appreciated.

thanks,

-kdh

p.s. If I go on a cruise, does it mean I'm in my Carlsberg years?

We're Back!

I'm tired, so I'm heading to bed now, but I've uploaded a bunch of pictures from our time in the rockies. As usual, the pictures don't really do it justice, but they serve as a reminder to us of what we did and saw!

-kdh

Rocky Mountain High

We just finished checking into our hotel for the BHS international convention after coming back from three great days in Rocky Mountain National Park. We did one exhausting day of hiking through fields of snow, and scrambling up steep rocky slopes hopefully in pursuit of what will end up being great photos (although, my experience has been that the pictures that I take never do justice to the breathtaking scenery). I didn't bring a cable to get my picutes off the camera, but I'll post them when I get back. We spent another day doing mostly driving tour of the rest of the park making numerous stops along the way to take in the scenery. Our last day in the park was really just relaxing and packing to head back to Denver. I've gotta run to rehearsal, so that's all for now.

-KDH

Vay Kay

We're off today for vacation, so this could be the last post for a while. There is a possibility that I'll post while I'm away, but I probably won't. See y'all later!

Nudie VD Burner

I misheard my co-worker today when he was telling me about a "new DVD burner" that he got. Quite unfortunate.

-KDH

Self Reference.

This post is great!

Okay, that's not really what I wanted to say. Today a friend of mine sent me a youtube link to a k.d. lang performance of a Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah" (it was also in the movie Shrek). I find that I enjoy lyrics, like in this song, that have a playful cleverness about them. The lyrics I'm referring to are:

I've heard there was a special chord
that David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, Do ya?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor Fall, The major lift,
The baffled king composing, hallelujah

The clever part, of course, is that the music follows the chords as described in the song. I don't know what it is about self reference that I find so amusing... but I can't wait to see what more Hofstadter will say about it in GEB!

-KDH

p.s. Hung out with Kristin for a bit last night... quite a caper... a few antics as well!

GEB

I just started reading Douglas Hofstadter's "Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid". It had been on my "to read" list for a while now, and I finally broke down and bought it when I was in the bookstore the other night. I'm not a very quick reader to begin with, but I'm finding it to be quite a dense read... I've had a couple of long subway rides since starting it, and I've only managed to get through the preface (which Hofstadter added for the 20th anniversary edition) and the overview which is basically a bunch of one paragraph chapter synopses. A couple people have already asked me what the book is about... and so far, I can't really tell them. Hofstadter does, in the preface, lay out what he thinks the book is about and mentions that over the last 20 years, the book has been misinterpreted many times. I won't try to lay out his thoughts on the book, as it would likely become yet another in the long line of misinterpretations ... but ... for those of you unfamiliar with the book, it is a discussion of what he calls "strange loops" (such as self reference) in everything from mathematical models to art to language.... but I'm not saying that's what the book is about (lest Douglas Hofstadter should come here and smite me).

-KDH

p.s. I made the ö by cutting and pasting from another page... I don't actually know how to make them with my (clearly insufficient) keyboard

p.p.s. No antics or capers with Kristin yet... I'll keep you posted!

KristinInToronto.blogspot.com?

I'm not sure when, but I believe that Kristin is scheduled to arrive today, so my dear reader, you can expect to be treated with the retelling of many great capers and crazy antics over the next four and a half days.

It's only four and a half days of inane adventure because Susanna and I will then leave for Denver to attend the Barbershop Harmony Society's annual international convention... it's actually more fun than it sounds.... and besides, we'll be spending the first half of the trip driving (and maybe hiking) around through the mountains of Colorado, which probably appeals to a wider audience.

-KDH

Getting old

Okay, I know I'm not really getting old (well... I am getting older, but I think we all are), but I am reminded that my body doesn't heal quite as quickly as it did even 5 years ago. At ultimate tonight, I laid out for a disk (for those not well versed in ultimate lingo, laying out is diving) and landed quite hard on the ground. I only played one more point in the game because I seemed to reaggravate my sore shoulder from the weekend. Also, I found that my hip flexors were quite tight this game despite some stretching that I did before and after the game... I think it's time to head back to the chiropractor!

-KDH

Keeping up with the Joneses

I noticed that my two "sister-blogs" (you know the ones that look just like mine) both made very long posts over the weekend, so in the spirit of feelings of inadequacy, I'll endeavour to keep up with them... if not in interest, perhaps in length.

A large portion of this past weekend was spent on the fields of Sunnybrook Park playing in an ultimate tournament run by TUC (Toronto Ultimate Club). After two hot sunny days of playing, my body is perhaps a little worse for the wear. I know that I probably stretched more both before and after that games, but as I haven't really played a full tournament in a couple of years, I'm finding myself a little extra sore today (could be I'm also a couple years older). Also, up until the last game of the day on Sunday (which I had to cut out of before the end), I was doing so well with my regimen of reapplying the sunscreen between every game. Consequently, my arms have a tinge of red in them today.

The reason I had to cut out of the ultimate tourney before the end of the finals (other than that the game went longer than scheduled) was so that I could make it back to Susanna's parents' place to shower and shave a pretty myself up for a family portrait that we were doing for father's day. The photo shoot was a rigorous series of posing around the flowers and fountains at Susanna's father's golf club. Susanna even commented that I didn't even complain once about having my picture taken, but I think it was just because I was too busy complaining about how sore and sunburned I was from the ultimate tourney.

We went out for dinner after the photos, and I was just exhausted. I'm surprised I didn't just wake up with my face buried in a pile of BBQ'ed meat, but I did manager to make it home (although , since I don't drive, I must admit it had more to do with Susanna than with me) where I basically slept on the couch until Susanna was ready for bed and then dragged myself to bed where I passed out. I slept for about 9 hours which is a longer sleep than I have had in a long time. The nine hours were interrupted by many times trying to find a comfortable poistion for my aching shoulder, various sunburns and scrapes.

Photos!

I've posted a bunch of photos here. Most of the pictures were taken by me on a mostly automatic camera that I got as a wedding present from my inlaws. So for you camera and photo junkies, you are likely to be disappointed. But if you just want to see where I've been, have a look.

The photos that weren't taken by me were taken by my friend (Yung Yung) at our wedding. I still have a couple more folders of pictures to go through (specifically Karen's) and add a few of the best shots from each "roll".

Originally, I had planned to just put a few wedding pictures up because some colleagues at work were asking about my wedding... I think they were intrigued that Susanna arrived at the ceremony by canoe. But when I started uploading them (seemed to be the easiest way to get them to work), I just kept going and uploading a bunch of other pictures that I had already loaded from my camera into picasa on my PC.

For those of you about to comment that it is rare of me to even be in pictures, never mind post pictures of myself for all the world to see... don't bother. You'll probably notice that I've included what I think is close to the bare number of pictures of me given that it is my wedding.

Babies, babies everywhere.

Two of my friends who does not have a 'blog (yes, people without 'blogs really do exist... in a manner of speaking), Valerie and Tiee Wong, just welcomed their second daughter to the world. Giselle Yanique Wong came into the world at 7lb 2oz, at 22:58 on May 30th, 2007. If my formatting is correct, you should already see a picture of the newest member of the Wong clan (this is exciting, I think it might be the first picture that I've posted on my blog).

Crazy Busy

I've been crazy busy and that my (poor) excuse for not posting. I noticed that before I had been doing some posting from work (tsk tsk!) but I have hardly had any time at work to do anything but work (imagine that!). I also have found myself extra busy lately with rehearsals for the Toronto Northern Lights, and ultimate frisbee has started up for the summer, so I'm busy!

I think a big part of it is just patterns... I got out of the habit of posting, so I didn't post. We'll see what happens now.

-KDH

Simple pleasures

This week at work, my computer has finally been set up properly to print!

Yep, that's it. For months I was going upstairs to a communal computer which I happened to know had the ability to print whenever I needed a hard copy of something. I now titter with glee whenever I try to print something and it works (okay, maybe I don't actually titter... but I'm pretty happy about it).

What is it about printing that is so difficult? I remember in undergrad, if I had something that I needed to print out to hand in, I would always have to give myself at least an hour to print it. Paper jams, out of service printers, bad network connections, people who decide to print out the unabridged encyclopedia Britannica... I'm sure I ran into each of these troubles more than once.

I've always managed to avoid actually having my own printer at home by either sponging off my roommates or bringing the files into work to print (from the known good computer, of course). For someone in my profession, I think I have a fairly strange attitude towards computers: if it ain't completely broke don't fix it! In general, I feel that any adjustments that I might make to my computer are tantamount to putting any functionality that I do currently have on the line for a chance to get added functionality. I guess I'm risk averse when it comes to my computer!

-Kevin "I hope writing this doesn't break my computer" Harris

Happy Mother's Day

If you are a mother, happy day to you.

I'll remember to give my own mother a call, as she won't read this... and Susanna's mom has been covered, as we're already at their house (and have wished her a happy Mother's Day).

-KDH

Investing

I've been doing some investigation into different types of investments, and sometimes I wonder how anyone can come up with a firm decision on how to procede. There is so much information out there that that is contradictory, it is difficult to sift through it all and make a decision.

Is there any benefit to managed mutual funds? Is the market so efficient that you can't really expect to beat it, so you should just buy index funds to reduce the cost of investing? Can one time the market?

And then there is the added complication that it is not as simple as the investment that will provide the highest return, you must also consider the tax implications to identify which will actually end up being the best result.

To avoid option paralysis, ignorance would be bliss.

-KDH

Long time, no post

This has been as long a hiatus as I have had since I started the blog, there is no particular reason for this other than I've run out of friends to add. I think I'll start putting in links for sites I often visit, mostly for my own ease of use.

I could blame my lack of posting on the tax deadline. I was helping my in-laws do their taxes (they were away until the middle of April, so the time frame was a bit squished) and I did end up spending some time in the past week learning about parts of the Canadian Tax Code about which I've never needed to know.

We met up with my parents for lunch a couple weekends ago, and they seemed to have really enjoyed their months in Europe. They didn't have any pictures for us to look at, but hopefully they will soon. My parents are actually homeless right now, as they have sold the cottage and bought a house in the same area, but they don't move in until close to the end of the month. So they are travelling around staying with their friends. Susanna and I will likely go up once they've moved in to see their new place (we've seen pictures only) and to see the pictures from their trip.

I've seen the Lew Family a couple of times in the past week, and it seems that they are quite lucky in that they've got a very well behaved baby (knock on wood). I know that this can change overnight, but for now they are lucky. After rehearsal on Monday, Karen and Dion came out to the pub with Adam, and he slept for the whole two and a half hours we were there. This brings up a question though: To get into the pub, you need to be of drinking age, but of course, a sleeping baby is a bit of an exception... so at what point can you not bring your child into the pub? Could an 18 year old get into the pub if they were there with their parents?

-KDH

Strange time of year!

I was at Blue Mountain (a southern Ontario ski resort) this past weekend, and it was kind of strange to look one direction and see people skiing, look another direction see people playing golf, and look a third direction and see people sitting by the pool (I think it was actually open, and people were actually swimming!).

I will say that despite recognizing that the whole ski village thing is contrived and nothing more than poorly veiled marketing... I still found it a nice atmosphere. It probably helps that I had never been to any ski resort before, I could see how it would lose any charm after another visit or two. I guess I'm just highly susceptible to that kind of artificial atmospheric manipulation.

Adverise to me, and I'll buy it!

-KDH

Adam Lew

For those of you who might be interested, Karen had her baby this morning at 7:17 AM, weighing in at 7 lbs 1 oz. Everyone is doing well. Aparently they arrived at the hospital around 6AM, so from the sounds of it, it was a fairly straightforward delivery.

woohoo

-KDH

Ben and Jerry reduce productivity in local businesses

Yesterday, as you may or may not know, Ben and Jerry's (should it be Ben's and Jerry's? or is it "Ben and Jerry"'s?) was giving away free ice cream. By free, I mean that it didn't cost any money, but you did have to line up (which at some points during the day looked like it was a couple hundred people long). A group of about 12 people from my workplace decided to go for some of this "free" ice cream (I followed along out of curiousity, of course, and because I was waiting for a long running script to complete). On the way there, I found myself wondering how much this expedition was going to cost our employer in lost wages.

Using the rough (and perhaps conservative) assumptions that the average salary of the group was about $0.50/minute (about 60K) and guessing that this would take about 40 minutes round trip, I figured it would cost about 12 * 40 * 0.50 = $240. In the end, we got there and decided the line was just too long, so we pretty much just walked back to the office. The round trip took at least 10 minutes, so it still ended up costing the company $60 (with which they could have just bought us a bunch of ice cream to consume in the office.

I know this is fraught with troublesome assumptions such as: some of the people may have stayed later than they normally would to make up the lost time (I don't think that would be the case here), or people will be more productive if they have a break like this (probably true with the 10 minute break, maybe not worth it with a 40 minute break), or even that it wouldn't have taken 40 minutes... maybe not... but probably close.

I'm sure that many of the businesses in the area fell victim to this cut in productivity, all due to Ben and Jerry.

By the way, I made it back before my script had finished running!

-KDH

Generation Gap

The generation gap I refer to is, in this case, a geographical one. Susanna and I have not had parents for the last 3 months (at least not on this continent), but that is all about to end. Susanna's parents get back this evening and my parents get back early this week... there goes our freedom. We'll be back to having curfews and having to do our homework before we go out to play. You know what they say: all good things must come to an end.

Seriously though, it will be nice to have our parents back, and will probably make our next couple weeks fairly busy catching up with them and hearing about their trips and seeing the pictures that go along with them.

Broken String

After a long period of post titles with punctuation marks, my post previous to this one failed to have one. I don't have the heart to go through the logs and see how long the string was.

On the bright side, I now have a string of titles without punctuation marks! Hooray for silver linings.

-KDH

Good-bye Recent Comments

As quickly as they appeared, they are gone. I decided that I liked the template view better for now... so until I figure out how to add stuff within the template framework, or decide to go back to the default and re-add the stuff I've added already, this is it.

-KDH

Hello Recent Comments!

I'd like to officially welcome the recent comments section of the blog. While most you my readers may not care, it is a simple way for me no to lose track of comments made without having to scroll through my whole blog and try to remember how many comments each one had previously to determine whether or not there is a new comment lurking behind the link.

-KDH

To Google Map or not to Google Map?

I thought about copying Gina (again) in a way, putting a Google map of my daily commute as a link on this blog. But I was struck that this is a completely public forum, and that is probably more information than I would want to post about myself (where I live, where I work). I'm sure that if someone wanted to find out such information about me, they probably could do it fairly easily, without having to be too resourceful. Nonetheless, it seems to be tempting fate by posting it such that no work is necessary to get the information.

the moral of the story is: if you really want to know more details about my commute, you'll have to get in touch with me personally.

-KDH

What would that sound like?

On my way home from work yestereday, I passed a store that sells only books... on tape! And I noticed the display in the window: an atlas. Certainly they don't have that book on tape.

The big Easter lie!

I checked this morning, and Alex (our bunny) had not laid any chocolate eggs... they may have looked chocolate, but take my word for it, they were not!

Maybe I should stick to basketball!!!

...not that I'm particularly good at basketball... but I feel like I'm getting quite atrocious at volleyball. It's mostly that my hitting is particluarly bad, so much so, that last night I decided after hitting about 10 either into the net or way out the back (that's 0-for-10) that I would just dump the ball whenever I was set. My passing and setting were probably about the same as usual, that is to say, lazy and inconsistent... but my hitting was atrocious.

I was never a particularly good hitter when I played consistently in high school... I was mostly there because I was tall and was sort of average all around... but tall. But my hitting has been slowly getting worse and worse over time, which I think is probably attributable to two main factors. First, I don't play regularly, and when I do play, we never do drills or hitting line, so I don't really get any rapid repetition that I think is good for maintaining and improving this type of skill. And second, that I'm probably 50 pounds heavier than I was in high school, so I just don't jump as high over the net (frankly, I really barely jump at all).

I don't expect to be at the same level that I was in high school, I just expect to be not horrible. Basketball doesn't offer the same disappointment, not because I'm really any better, but rather because I was never any good. I didn't play at all in high school, and I didn't really ever play consistently until a few years ago when I started playing in an adult league... and in these leagues, it's mostly enough just to be tall. By contrast, the people I play volleyball with are all quite good.

I don't think I'll ever really quit volleyball, it's just very frustrating at times.

-KDH (I've been forgetting to sign my posts lately)

The internet is like CityTV.... it's Everywhere!

I have found myself hiding from the cold and blustery winds and ground-shy snow during this "Spring isn't here yet" reminder by having a warm tea in a greasy spoon diner at the corner of Elgin Mills Rd. and Bayview Av. in the "heart" of Richmond Hill (the diner is aptly named "Baymills Diner"). In any case, biding my time here waiting for a ride the rest of the way to volleyball with CP24 having given up all the morsels of information that I'm going to find interesting I wondered if I might find an internet connection here. I realized, that I could probably hook my laptop up to my blackberry and surf that way (or even just surf on the blackberry itself)... but that seemed like it would be too much work. So I simply searched to see if I could find any undefended wireless routers, lo and behold... there was one!

The signal wasn't very strong, but it was strong enough to surf... probably slightly better than dial up, but more than enough to do this blogging. Now, I might expect to be able to find a connection in a more dense neighbourhood (like down town... or frankly even at an intersection that had buildings on every corner). It's not like I'm in the middle of nowhere, but there isn't much here!

Anyway, you really can get internet access almost anywhere... and actually anywhere if you are willing to pay for it.

Another Family Blog!

I think I'm almost out of friends who have blogs to which I have not linked yet, so I will need to start to find a new source for material. Mark, Mark Thompson (he doesn't like it when people forget the "p" in his name) blogs about his family life in the Mino Family Blog. Mark is a friend who I met when I started singing barbershop music, we had an immediate bond as two of the very few men under 50 who were in the chorus at the time. Mark went to Japan with the Jet program to teach english, and while there, met his wife Junko (she was in one of his adult english classes). They live in a small-ish town in northern Japan with their two boys, Conan and Leif, where Mark now teaches english at a number of local schools on a permanent basis, and Junko works in the family business. Mark and Junko have come back to Canada several times to visit family and friends, so we have all had opportunities to meet both Conana and Leif.

One of the stories about Mark that I am often reminded of (every time I eat spicy food) revolves around the fact that Mark loves spicy food. While at Ryerson, he developed a particular fondness for a Thai restaurant called "The Salad King" where they measure the spicy heat of a dish by a number of chilis from 0 to 20 (of course "mild", "medium" and "hot" are all less than one chili). I think that Mark once got up to a 10, and I can still remember him talking about the ring of fire... it burns as it goes in, and as it comes out!

Speechless?

Karen's post on Gina's blog the other day got me thinking (it happens!) about how a blog, and perhaps informal text communication (be it text messaging, email, google chat) are expressed as speech would be expressed. In said example, Karen wrote that she was speechless and I wondered if there was a word that was more appropriate, a word that meant she had nothing to type (or write) instead of having nothing to say? There are plenty of other examples of this type use speech based words for writing based ideas: "so-and-so said on their blog", "things that I'm never quite sure if I can talk about or not" (from my very own blog, )

I realize that this is pedantic, and I don't mean to really imply that what she wrote is incorrect (because I don't think it is), rather, I think it's an interesting linguistic phenomenon. Is it just a question of informality? Would the author of a book use phrases like these? How about a editorial piece in a newspaper or magazine? Is it specific to the electronic medium?

I guess it just comes down "to say" really doesn't mean only "to convey through speech", it has many other meanings. I wonder how long ago it may have had a narrower meaning? Frankly, people hardly use "say" in it's literal context anymore... the use phrases such as "... and then he went `oh yeah`." and "... and she was like `Get out of my face!`" instead. I don't think I would ever write things that way (maybe I have... I'll have to scour my blog), but I do catch myself saying things like that every so often.

And that's all I have to say about that.

A 4-in-1 blog!

The newest member of the link list has arrived and it's a real bonus blog: you get 4 people for the price of one. The newest blog belongs to my friends Jesse and Pam, but is largely about their family (which includes Nathan, and the very recent addition Grace). You may notice that thier blog URL refers only to Nathan, this was simply poor planning, in my opinion... I think they were just too excited, as the blog was started only a few short weeks after Nathan was born. This blog marks the first one to which I am linking which include children (Karen and Dion are close, and perhaps some might consider Kristin childish... but not actually a child). Am I now in the part of my life where I'm linking to sites about my friends' kids? I must be in my Carlsberg years!

Anyway, Jesse and Pam and also now the people that I link to whom I have known the longest. I got to know Jesse well during the 8-day TTC strike of 1991, I had to get to school early for volleyball tryouts. My friend Tiee, who was in a bunch of my classes, didn't live far from me, so he suggested that we meet up and bike into school together, and he brought along his friend Jesse (and another guy... Wayne... I don't remember). So for that week-and-a-bit, we biked to and from school together. I got to know Pam through Jesse, because from around then until their son was born Pam was probably Jesse's favourite topic of converstaion (okay, probably a bit before he was actually born... but then Nathan was still inside Pam, so he was kind of talking about Pam).

Welcome Tsang family! (I don't think they are readers... so I don't expect a response)

Who's Next?

Next in the line of introductions, because Rebecca already foreshadowed his arrival, is Kern. Kern is a big guy... so big, in fact, that he not only has a blog, but it's a whole planet... "Planet Kern". Kern and I sang together for a numbers of years in a quartet named "Terminal Barbershop". We also lived in the same house for a while (also living with a number of my other readers (I shouldn't say other, because I'm not sure that Kern actually reads)), where Kern lived in the basement apartment of the house we were all sharing. That configuration seemed to suit Kern's part-party-animal-part-recluse personality well, when he felt like it, he could hide behind his apartment door... and when he discovered something exciting he wanted to share, there was usually someone one door and one flight of stairs away.

Nowadays, Kern is slightly farther away, teaching english in Japan (and also learning Japanese... and quite well, as I understand). There is talk that he will one day come back and go to teacher's college (teachers' college? teacher college? college for teachers?). I think only time will tell on this one, I do have another friend who went to Japan to teach english, and he never came back! Well okay, he did come back, but only for visiting... but as the said on Tales of the Riverbank: "but that's another story."

Incidentally, Kern's blog is the first one on my list that is not hosted by blogspot... I wonder if they are going to sanction me for linking off-site?

-KDH

p.s. the string of punctuation marks in the titles is still alive and kicking.

I've got a string of posts with punctuation marks in the titles!

Indeed, I am a big fan of punctuation marks! It is one of the easiest ways to add life to a blog! See, isn't this post just full of energy and excitement? Hoorah for punctuation marks!

-KDH!

Extra! Extra!

Rebeeca gets added to list of links after guilt tripping! Read all about it.

Okay, it wasn't really because of any guilt tripping... it's because it was time... and I needed content. Rebecca (there, are you happy? :) ) is the final member of the triumvirate who lived in "The Pit" for those years in undergrad when I could oft be found sleeping like a mummy on their couch (I know there were other people who lived there at various times, but I think of Kristin, Karen and Rebecca as the women of the Pit).

I blame Rebecca mostly for my very neat and tidy collections of worlds come crashing together when she and my girlfriend at the time (now my wife) Susanna became friends (eventually being two of the three founders of the Only Human Dance Collective at UofT (I still prefer "Only Humans Dance Collective", but it wasn't up to me)). Nowadays, aside from being my friend, Rebecca is very helpful to me when Susanna asks me if I want to go see the latest dance movie (or some such other dance activity). If I'm not in the mood to see said dance activity (which I will admit, is often the case), and it's not particularly important to Susanna that I see it, I can suggest that maybe Rebecca would like to go see it. I think Rob appreciates Rebecca and Susanna's friendship for a similar reason.

Welcome Rebecca,

-KDH

He wrote what?

It's hard to know what is appropriate to talk about here.

While it's is technically a public forum, where anyone could happen along to this site (especially now with the link from the high traffic site "Kristin In Berlin"), it is mostly people that I already know fairly well who make up most of the traffic (or at least all of the comments). If I were sitting in a room with only the people that I suspect are reading, I would have few qualms about saying something inappropriate (as I likely have done many times in the past). But would I want to write down those thoughts where anyone could come along (perhaps even months later) and read them? It seems to me that might undergo slightly different filtering.

It is not only a matter of who is reading, but the fact that this is a much more permanent medium than speaking. With spoken indescretions, one can hope that they will fade away and be forgotten. With published indescretions, things that you have written could always come back to haunt you, even if you've editted the page to remove the indescretions... with all the web-crawling out there, you never know what version of your page Google is caching, or which split-second view of the page some other history-of-the-web site out there is saving for posterity.

Then there are things that I'm never quite sure if I can talk about or not regarding my workplace. It's always hard to keep track of what is public knowledge (i.e. there has been some sort of press release and it's posted on our website), what is still under wraps (i.e. things that are revealed in sentences starting with "Remember to keep this 'in the company family'"), and all the things in between (i.e. things that are not necessarily secret, but that haven't been announced on our company webiste). I think it is best if I just avoid talking about my company at all on the blog!

Almost all of my readers are bloggers themselves... what do you guys think? Do you often find yourself not posting things you might want to post?

-KDH

p.s. Don't worry... the change in page width that you've noticed was on purpose... I'm playing with the relative widths of the columns... and I'll likely play around with it until I find what seems best.

The game is up!

Okay. I admit it.

Being in Toronto is not a new thing, I've lived here all my life. I just couldn't hold it in any longer.

I feel lighter.

-KDH

p.s. Don't forget to weigh in on the European Vacation.

Spring has springed.

Spring: a time of new beginnings, of rebirth... a time when the sun is directly overhead at locations successively further north of the equator! It's funny how depending on your perspective the year "starts" at different times.

The usual beginning and end to the year is the calendar year, culminating with a countdown at a big party (are we supposed to be celebrating the end of the year, or the beginning of the year?), and bringing with it many changes. For one, everyone needs to get a new calendar (except school children and teachers... which I'll get to in a minute). Also, everyone tends to make new year's resolutions where they use this arbitrary new beginning to force themselves to change some behaviour that they don't like.

Another calendar new year is the lunar new year (in all it's incarnations), and for my family this means chinese new year. Being a lunar new year, the exact date in terms of the solar calendar fluxuates, but it usually falls in late January or early February. There are many traditions associated with chinese new year, but the ones that we usually follow are limited to cleaning the house before the new year, giving red envelopes and eating a meal with family (or talking with them on the phone if they are too far away).

When i was a kid, the only year that had much effect on me was the school year, so my year began in September and ended in June (I am still swayed by this calendar as Susanna is a teacher). What about the months in between? They just weren't on the calendar. As a kid, this new year always brought new clothes, new books, papers and pens, new classes, new teachers, sometimes a new school, and sometimes new friends. This is probably the new year that brought with it the most dramatic and immediate changes.

Spring, though, to me seems to be the real new year. There is something about the rapidly increasing number of daylight hours that seems to make a dramatic difference. Remebering how to differentiate sinusoidal functions... the vernal equinox is the day where the increase in daylight hours from day to day... so this is the time of year where things are changing the fastest (I suppose they are changing equally quickly at the autumnal equinox, but in the opposite way). The increased light changes people's moods (whether it's more vitamin D that effects a change or not, I don't know), changes the activities people do (they have more time to do things during the "day"), and starts changing the temperature. I'm no pagan, but I think the beginning of spring is the real new year. I'm going to start making resolutions, cleaning house and getting new stationery every spring

-KDH

p.s. A colleague of mine who is relatively new to Canada told me that it shouldn't be so cold anymore... spring is here, winter is over. I told him that in Canada, winter doesn't end when spring begins.

Vacation!

It's time to start planning vacation, and I think that you (yes, you!) could be of some help. Susanna and I talked about what we should do this year for our vacation, which all but absolutely needs to be in the summer, as Susanna is a teacher and is therefore at the mercy of the school year. After a short discussion, it seems like Europe is the likely winner for a few reasons. First, we could spend some time in Berlin, where my sister lives (as does one of my faithful readers) which would be good because we'd get to see Kim, Thomas and Kristin... and because we'd likely have free lodging... which is always good. Second, Susanna has never been to Europe, so the plan is that we could possibly spend some time in places other than Berlin.

Here is where you come in. We need some suggestions as to where to spend our time. There are a few details that may help you decide what would be a decent plan, and what would be too much or too far. Without checking with work about a vacation schedule, I'm hoping that I'll be able to get two weeks, and I think the plan was to spend one of those in Berlin, or at least a portion of a week... it's likely that Susanna will stay on for a week or so after/before me in Berlin (I haven't asked my sister yet... so don't blow my cover). The timing for this trip will likely be August. I have been to Europe before on a few occassions, which isn't to say that I wouldn't go back to somewhere I had been.

So, any ideas?

Additions

Today's introduction is appropriate, since it comes quickly on the heels of an event in their honour. As you likely have already noted, there is a new link on the right here. It leads to the Lew Family Blog! While it is in name the Lew family blog, I think we all know who wears the pants as far as the blog is concerned... it's Karen. Karen does have a bit of an on-again-off-again relationship with her blog: ultimatums to her readers and months with no posts. But things could change with this soon as the event in their honour was a baby shower for Karen and Dion (and baby). With Karen soon to be on maternity leave she might crave the human contact of the web (such as it is) and find herself posting on her blog more often.

Welcome to my blog, Karen!

-KDH

There'll be a change in the weather...

Brace yourselves, change is a-happenin'!

In what could become a long line of scrounging every ounce of content out of adding links to other sites, you will notice that there is another link, and this is the announcement about it. Today's addition is another of the sites to which I have already linked in a post, where I suggested that this site was an homage to sites such as this new one: Gina's site (don't worry Karen, your site will make it up here soon, I just needed to pay respects to my "sister" sites... you know other sites about people who are in new places (do you think I've hit that "new places" thing enough yet? (can you really nest parentheses like this?))).

Gina is many things to many people. Some of my readers may know her as a purveyor of fine used vehicles, while others may know her as a Danish hostel owner (not be be confused with a hostile danish owner?).

For me, if I remember correctly, Gina was the one who taught me to play squash back in "the day". Unfortunately for her, I think she might have recieved some collateral damage from my ugly displays of self-loathing whenever I didn't meet my expectations (which was usually when I lost... which against Gina was most, if not all of the time), for which I don't think I ever apologized. Sorry Gina (some poor excuse for an apology... it's not even as personal as an email... hidden away in the bowels of one paragraph in a long post, and she may never even read this).

On the bright side... I haven't broken my squash raquet in many years now... so either I'm a little more forgiving to myself, or I'm playing people who aren't as good at squash as Gina is. Probably a little bit of both.

-KDH

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Change can be scary! That's why I'll never frighten my readers with unannounced change. New links or changes in the format will always be talked about in a post when it happens.

Too many bloggers constantly make changes to their pages without taking into consideration the fragile minds of their readers (don't worry, I'm not talking about you, reader).

In that vein, I'd like to introduce a section you'll now see on the right hand side of my page: the "My Friends' Sites" list. The first on the list is Kristin, who astute readers will notice was linked to yesterday. Kristin, like me, is in a new and exciting place, and is blogging about it. If there is only one thing you would know about Kristin, know this: she is a mess with a breadboard! That's it! That's the one thing. Now that I've introduced Kristin, you will always find a link to her on the right hand side here (wave to the nice people, Kristin).

When I get more friends I'll add them to the list, but for now, Kristin, you're it.

Sincerest form of flattery

Some might say that this blog is a blatant copy of Kristin's blog: "Kristin in Berlin". I would like to make a few points in my defense:

1. Perhaps hers is a non-causal copy of mine!
2. blogspot really only gives you a limited choice of format, it could be a coincidence!
3. My name is Kevin, not Kristin
4. I am in Toronto, not Berlin
5. Maybe I was copying Gina?
   
6. I actually post.

Truth be told, this is not a copy of her site, but rather an homage to sites like Kristin's and Gina's. This site is, as their sites are, meant to capture the excitement and freshness of living in a new and exciting place.

I will admit that thus far this site has been more about style than content, but as a famous Torontonian said: "The medium IS the message"

-KDH

p.s. Yes, McCluhan wasn't originally from Toronto, but he spent a large portion of his life here, so I count him as a Torontonian... see this blog is about Toronto.

p.p.s I don't need to sign again after a p.s., do I?

A new tone

After consultation with a blog guru, I've decided that I will sign my posts! I feel that it gives a more personal tone to the blog, it allows me to connect with my readers on a new level: a more real connection.

Big news, yes, I know. If there is anything that my readers know, it's that I'm not afraid to make the hard decisions.

-Kevin "so what, I'm fickle" Harris

...must remember post title

I'm not fond of the way posts look without a title. Besides, readers don't want to have to read the whole post to find out what it is about (even if the post is only a couple of lines long).

Other blogs I've read sometime tend to use the title to refer to the post in only a round about way. I've even seen titles that are meant to trick you into thinking the post is saying the exact opposite of what it actually says. Maybe I'll try those with my titles too!

After looking at the first post, I've decided that I don't need to sign the posts, it does that for me. Any thoughts?

The First Post

Well I've made it past the first post, but it remains to be seen whether I'll make it to the end of whatever race this is.

I must say that getting to the first post was not as easy as it should have been since after composing most of my first post, my browser crashed and I lost everything that I had written. I don't have time now to resynthesize it all now... so it will have to wait!

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to sign off with every post as I might do in an email. I guess I will for now and I'll figure out what I want later.

-KDH