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Last day. It’s been a busy week. I’m trying to wrap up work on an important design document, mapping out the user login process with connections through to another system that maintains user security rules. But I also managed to send in my time reports for the next 10 months… I guess I’m really committed […]

5 1/2 days left. The countdown continues. I had to work really late last night preparing a document for today and missed choir rehearsal. But with the end in sight, it all seems very bearable. The project’s got a weird dynamic at the moment, though; the bank leadership are hunkered down working on planning the […]

I’m now in the position of learning the same music (Orff Carmina Burana) for two different choirs (Exultate & Toronto Mendelssohn Choir) at the same time. Conductor’s interpretations, pronunciation of some words, etc. may vary — and I’m singing second bass for Exultate and baritone for TMC. However, I am getting paid for the Mendelssohn […]

A week since the World Trade Center/Pentagon attacks, and it’s clear the world simply isn’t going back to how it was last Monday. Sure, daily routine hasn’t changed too much, but there’s a lot of bitterness, a lot of fear, and a lot of anger. The only thing missing seems to be real, concrete answers. […]

On the canoe trip, I completed Park and Ride: Adventures in Suburbia, by Miranda Sawyer. Often very funny, this nonfiction book discribes Miranda’s trip into the deep dark secrets of suburbia in England, exposing some of the myths and explaining how the suburbs are working their ways back into the cities. An excellent read. 4 […]

Well, nothing like a single horrific event to change how the day looks. The disaster in New York and Washington shocked us all, and I had number of personal connections to it which brought it close to home. Thankfully, it seems that all of my friends and family are safe and were not in the […]

Boy, nothing like a few days back at work to sap the energy. I could have used an extra couple of hours’ sleep this morning. Still, I think we’re on the brink of making some serious progress on the project; we’ve finally worked our way through Royal Bank’s byzantine strategic sourcing processes and should be […]

I had a wonderful trip up to Algonquin Park last weekend, organized by Patrick. We spent 8 days trekking around the park, heading in from Magnetewan Lake on the west side to Lake La Muir in the middle and back. We moved camp every day, and had portages as long as 2.6km (carrying canoe & […]

After an unbelievably busy week at work last week I had a nice relaxing weekend. Saturday I played tennis with Dave and then gingerly went back to the weight room (last time I was in pain for a week) to try and get a routine started. Saturday evening Molly cooked for the Usual Suspects — […]

I had a wonderful weekend up at the cottage of Rob and Anna Kennedy, two choir members at St. Thomas’s Church. I drove up with Heather Fitzgerald and her husband Jeremy, who is a graphic artist. (I plan on following up with him to see if I can buy a print or two — he […]