Baby, it's (finally) cold outside...

Hyedie from the Cupcake Ride has started a series on winter bikers, and I'm honoured that she asked me to be interviewed. We rode to Queen's Park Circle, part of my daily commute, for photos at the beginning of December when it was still practically balmy.

You can see the interview here. Hyedie takes a nice picture.

In other news, it's finally Christmas vacation. I haven't been horribly in the Christmas spirit so far, although most of of my shopping is done already. I did go to the Sing-Along Messiah and visited the Christmas Market at the Distillery, so I feel a little ho-ho-ho-ier this week. Also, pickles were electrocuted.

Tomorrow is the last push. I have to buy one or two more presents and food-stuffs, make a few eatable presents, wrap the heck out of stuff, and make cranberry sauce and the raspberry semifreddo. No problem.

I'm gonna need a nap first.

I made them myself. At least, I helped.

I may have, once or twice in the past, mentioned my love of macarons. Well, last night I went with my friend R to Le Dolci to learn how to make them.

It turns out they're not as complicated as it seems, although there's still a bit of luck and technique required to get them to turn out right: our batch of pumpkin pie macarons looked perfectly cooked but were still wet and gummy on the inside. They ended up baking for a lot longer than the required 12 minutes. However, the mint-chocolate chip turned out very nicely indeed, and we eventually managed to get enough of the pumpkin pie to bring home three each, although we were given strict instructions not to eat any until they had stayed in the fridge for a day. I obeyed. Mostly.

And here they are.

I'm going to go on record and say that I really liked the texture of the "overcooked" pumpkin ones better than the mint-chocolate chip. I think it's the ganache. It's just too heavy for these cookies for my taste. I think that when I make my own chocolate macarons, I will try to find a less dense filling. Like a mousse, maybe.

Because? Hell yes, I will be trying these at home. Once I feel I have got the recipe more or less down, I might even graduate to the ones in the book!

Hamlet Distilled

Sunday I went with my friend A to see Raoul Bhaneja in his solo Hamlet show. He played 17 parts. His characterization of Polonius was hilarious, and for the first time I didn't want to slap Hamlet.

It was phenomenal. Breath-taking. As A said: "I have trouble memorizing songs!" If you ever get the chance to see it, run, don't walk.

It played at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in the Distillery. You may recall back in August I had planned to take a Bixi to the Distillery as part of the LGRAB Summer Games, and how that plan was foiled by the fact that Bixi didn't put a dock at the Distillery^*. To my shame, I had never gone. I finally got my first taste of it on Sunday.

Pretty, no?

Brick-lined streets, Victorian architecture. And with the Christmas lights up, very Charles Dickens. Nothing was open, of course, but we could peek in through the windows at the shops. And I'm a bit of a Grinch when it comes to early Christmas trees, but I'll forgive them if they look like this:

The Christmas market starts on Friday. The Distillery is not far from school, so I think I'll pop on over one evening after work and get a real feel for it. In the meantime, I'm glad I finally got to see the place.

^*Not anymore! Bixi is moving a station to the Distillery for the winter.

We interrupt this blog to say nothing

I've been busy marking things, planning lessons, submitting marks, and generally being a hermit. I haven't even looked at my New York photos because I feel guilty about all the work I really should be doing.

Meanwhile, my hair is getting longer and longer because I've made getting my hair cut the prize for finishing all my photos.

Just call me Rapunzel.

More tweed!

I knew there were pictures of me with tea cup at the Tweed Ride! Click here for one! Although I seem to be appearing under a pseudonym... Audrey?!

(Wait through the commercial and you'll see me at 1:39 waiting in line. They pan down to my oh-so-stylish shoes.)

Let the river run...

I'm so close I can almost taste it. I have finished my pictures of the Queen Mary 2. I'm sorry to say there aren't a lot of them. The thing is, you don't need to take a purse with you as you go around the ship and my old camera wasn't conveniently pocket-sized, so I never remembered to take it with me.

That and the fact that I spent quite a lot of time in my cabin working on my other trip photos. When I wasn't eating.

However, here they are.

Queen Mary 2, 2010

On to New York! Last album!

Call that a henge?

I promised myself a cream tea (that's tea with scones and clotted cream) when I finally finished my England pictures. The tea with Aged P at the Royal York doesn't count because a) it was for her birthday and b) it was afternoon tea. Totally different beast.

Tea awaits, my friends! Here are my Salisbury pictures. Warning: lots of pictures of megalithic stone ahead.

Salisbury 2010

When I was going through the pictures, I kept hearing the Michael Flanders monologue Built-Up Area.

So I've only got the Queen Mary and New York pictures left to go. I thought I hadn't taken that many pictures on the boat, but it turns out I somehow did. Onward!

(Why, yes, I do have several tests and labs to mark. Why do you ask?)

In which PhysicsGirl is always talking of Bath when she is home

Well, not always. But my Bath pictures are up. And by Bath pictures, I mean pictures of Bath, England, where Jane Austen set two of her novels, one of which is quoted in the title of this post.

If you were thinking of another kind of bath, I apologize for the disappointment.

Bath 2010

By the way, on one of the many walking tours I took in Bath, the guide said she didn't know of anyone who had drunk an entire glass of Bath water. Challenge accepted and met. It's disgusting. I drank it so you don't have to.

Oh, and that is water from Bath, not from the bath. Again, I apologize for the disappointment.

Tweedlicious... and more cupcakes

Yesterday was the first annual Toronto Tweed Ride. It was a simply ripping time, despite the chill and light rain and wind. About 200 tweedily-clad people on all manner of bicycles took a leisurely jaunt around the city core to raise just over $10 000 for Bikes Without Borders and have fun.

I arrived at Trinity Bellwoods about an hour before the ride was supposed to start. It was nippy. I was actually pleased, because I really wanted to add gloves to the outfit and now I could. After an hour and a half of standing around, though, the cold and damp from the ground seeped into my oh-so-stylish shoes and numbed my toes, despite doubling up on the tights. However, it was fun watching everyone arrive, especially the penny farthing bicycle, and especially the other Opus Nuovella! Yes, I have finally seen a sister to my pretty bike. The owner of the other Nuovella has a gorgeous wine crate mounted on her rear rack. All in all, we were a very dapper bunch.

Speaking of which, I know you are desperate to know the outcome of the outfit vote. Here you go:

Autumn Tweed: Your Opinion Matters

This time last year, I was busy not training for the 5k ZooRun. This year, I'm doing something a little more my style. I've registered for the Tweed Ride this coming Saturday in support of Bikes Without Borders.

What is a Tweed Ride, you ask? I'm glad you asked. You can click through to see a video about it. Naturally, once you see the video, you'll want to sponsor me and help me win swag, or at least support a very worthy cause. Do it! You will be pretty and witty and wise if you do.

Essentially, we dress up in tweed, go for a leisurely ride in the city (penny-farthings especially welcome), drink tea, then end up with a double-decker dance at Dovercourt!

Naturally, the outfit is paramount. I'm happy to say that I could have put it together without buying anything new. That I happened to buy a pair of shoes and earrings and they just happen to be kind of awesomely ideal for the Ride is beside the point. Anyway, I've decided on the hat, shoes, and top, but I can't decide on which skirt to wear. Major dilemma.

Which is where you, dear reader, can exercise your power. Let me know which look you think is best. Multiple choice:

A) Knee-length green tweed skirt, which has the advantage of a) being tweed, b) being easier to bike in, and c) going with my bike.


B) Calf-length black skirt, which has the advantage of a) being more period, b) looking nicer (IMO), and c) going with the hat.



More details:

Ada Lovelace Day: 3 great women

Today is Ada Lovelace Day and for today's post I am to write about a woman, specifically one involved in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM), who inspired me to become who I am today.

I originally thought I'd have a problem writing anything because I can't really say "this person is why I am who I am" about anybody, male or female. Nobody did some cool math or physics that made me say "that's gonna be me." I didn't plan to become a teacher until 3 am one morning when I realized that the PhD thing wasn't going to work for me after all, and the only thing I really liked about it was the teaching. That it is exactly what I should be doing was a happy accident.

So I thought I wouldn't know who to write about today; but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that there were three women who did influence me rather strongly. And since internet magic allows me to schedule for today what I am actually writing on October 5, Teacher Appreciation Day, it is doubly appropriate to celebrate these teachers.

How to play every song ever

In my quest to learn a new song on the uke/guitar/kalimba every month (which isn't going that well, to be honest)I have made a middle-sized leap by learning all the popular songs. At once.

The thing is, a lot of songs use the I-V-vi-VI chord progression, so once you know that, you know a large number of songs.

Don't believe me?

Allow the Axis of Awesome to demonstrate:


Upon linking to that video, I see they have an official video, now with even more four-chord songs!


These are not the only songs to get into the act. The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain demonstrate -- they did "Fly Me Off the Handel" as the encore at Convocation Hall ("Turns out, you can't get out that way...") last fall. While wondering what song they would do next, they all offered suggestions for Frank Sinatra, 70s disco, 70's rock. George decided they would do Handel. This is the result.


And finally, I leave you with the Pachelbel Rant by Rob Paravonian. I also hate the Pachelbel Canon in D, and for the same reason.

(Oh, and his name is Johann.)

You're welcome for the earworm.

Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff

I'm not "doing" this blog thing properly. I start a post and then get distracted by something shiny and go away for a bit, leaving the post unfinished and unposted. But then I go back days, weeks, and in the case of my Europe trip posts, years later and finish them. Naturally, I want to keep the posts in their proper chronological place.

Personally, I have no problem shoving "new" posts in old spots. Put it down to my being a nonlinear person. Dr. Who* explains it best.

In other words, it's my diary and I'll post how I like.

Alas, this creates a conundrum as the blog world is terribly linear. When I post something from the past, it won't show up in blog readers. It does get posted to Facebook, eventually, which no doubt plays havoc with the timeline**, and to Twitter, but for people who are sitting on the edge of their seats, anxiously awaiting the next installment, what to do? Simple.

In which PhysicsGirl turns water into wine...

...then into milk, and finally into gingerale.*

I'm trying to get as many of my demos on film, either stills or video, as possible. This is a classic demo that I show my grade 10 students because it's got chemical change, indicators, and neutralization reactions happening, all in less than a minute. I do it at the beginning of the year and refer back to it as we introduce acids and bases.

I'm going to try and get a slightly better quality video of this after the other teachers are done with the chemicals. Even though my new camera has sound and everything, you can't really hear the fizzing of the gingerale.

*Not really.

In which PhysicsGirl is deep-fried

School starts on Tuesday, so I'm scrambling to get as much summer in as possible. Intensive vegging out has been happening. I'm also trying to do some of that exploring of Toronto I keep meaning to do.

The Ex has always been the harbinger of the end of vacation. I haven't been in years, but I found out that they're doing a weekday lunch-time deal: Go between 11 am and 1 pm, leave by 2 pm, and you get your $16 admission back. I'd been hearing of all manner of deep-fried foods that I sort of really wanted to try, and this deal was the perfect opportunity.

I biked down with a thunderstorm threatening, prompting me to wear my lovely red rain boots. It rained, but the promised storm never materialized. Meaning I got to spend all afternoon walking around in sweaty boots. Blistery fun!

However. Food. Deep-fried.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of the deep-fried in general, but there are some things I'm willing to try. You know, for Science. I've had deep-fried cheesecake before and unfortunately it's really, really good. There are things I will not try, of course. The Krispy Kreme Doughnut Burger (to which you can add egg, bacon, and cheese if you are so inclined), for instance, which makes KFC's Double-Down seem like it's not trying hard enough. Yuck. However, I was intrigued by the deep-fried mac'n'cheese, coke, and butter. So I went to investigate. For Science.

Perhaps I should wear a carnation while I'm doing this

I really want to get these Europe pictures done so I can move on to finishing the blog posts and catching up on my Toronto pictures. Oh god, it's never-ending. Anyway, I pushed to finish my Oxford photos as soon as I'd finished with London. No doubt there are any number of typos.

I loved Oxford. I want to go back and try punting again. I also would like to take a guided tour of the Bodleian Library, one or two of the themed walking tours -- can you believe I didn't make it to Eagle and the Child Pub where Tolkien and Lewis met with the Inklings? And Blenheim Palace isn't far away. I'll be back.

Oxford 2010

On to Bath. Which means I have to re-listen to all the downloaded audio tours so I know what I'm looking at.

---

In other news, I finished French Revolutions by Tim Moore, which as you recall I started reading too late for the LGRAB Summer Games. I bring this up because while I didn't win anything in the Games, I guess I was so awesome they featured me again! Hee. They also featured Hyedie of Cupcake Ride fame.


By the way, should you decide to do your own Tour de France bike tour, may I suggest that a) you are nuts and b) you look at Duvine Tours? They're the company I biked through Provence with last year and they are amazing.

School starts in just over a week. I went to a great workshop in Sudbury a few weeks ago that I hope will make this coming year truly amazing. Of course, that means I have to pack a tonne of prepping into next week.

Who needs sleep?

Another mystery solved

I figured out why I seemed to have taken as many pictures in my 2 1/2 days in Athens as I did in my 5 days in London. It's not that I took so many pictures in Athens (although I kinda did); it's more that I took so few in London. I couldn't take photos at four of the places I visited: Westminster Abbey, Tate Britain, St. Paul's, and the National Gallery. And naturally, not during the shows. So that explains the dearth of photos.

This is leading up to my saying that, finally, my London photos are up. I did a hell of a lot during those 5 days. No wonder I was tired Sunday after having done "only three things."

London 2010

Oxford next. Fortunately, I've already finished the punting video.

Look at the baby guitar!

I finally made it out to the Corktown Uke Jam again last night. Manitoba Hal gave a blues workshop and then knocked my socks off with with gems like this. I can now shuffle. Just not like this.


I've been shamefully neglecting my guitar for the ukulele. Due to its portability and the fact that it doesn't seem to matter if I don't sound awesome (and due to the fact that this happened the last time I took my guitar to school), I've been playing uke almost exclusively at "performances": Teacher Talent show, Coffee Haus, Lindystock. At Eric's cottage, I played his mother's ukulele and promptly became dissatisfied with my cheepo green Mahalo. It didn't sound mellow and lovely. I figured the time had finally come to upgrade.

One last task...

The lovely ladies at LGRAB are awarding the prizes for the summer games this week, and today I was one of the featured players! More internet fame awaits! I haven't actually won anything yet, but I'm crossing my fingers that the Po Campo bag will be mine.

I was really hoping to do all the tasks, but at the end of the games I was left with this:

That glaring, non-crossed out item has been bothering me. It's especially awful since I am a great reader* and this should have been the easiest task on my list.

I initially wasn't even going to touch it, since I've sort of vowed not to read or acquire any new books until I'd made a sizable dent on the pile of unread books I already own. However, as more and more items got crossed off, the lure of having them all crossed off was too great. I caved. With only a few days to go before the end of the games, surely I could find a book about cycling. I have a bike-repair manual, but I wanted to read something along the lines of Peter Mayle, Frances Mayes, or MFK Fisher. You know: travel and food, with cycling thrown in.** A quick Google search showed me lots of books about racing, maintenance, and advocacy, but then I ran across French Revolutions by Tim Moore. It's kind of a travelogue about a Brit who decides to ride the Tour de France course. Perfect on several counts!

Naturally, I ran into difficulties. The Toronto Library has only two copies, and there were three holds on it, so no luck there. As it's ten years old, its not in Toronto bookstores, except possibly for used bookstores which don't have their catalogue on the web. Amazon had it, but only through a third-party seller. I decided to order it and hope for the best. It would have been so lovely if the book had arrived in time for me to take it to the beach and blog about it by the end of the games, but that was not to be.

The book was waiting for me when I got home from Sudbury last Friday and I've already read the first few chapters. It's very funny. He embarqued on his journey with rather less training than I did when I had the crazy idea to cycle to Inverhuron two years ago. I wasn't sure how much I could like someone who has never heard of the goodness that is a Fig Newton, but his story-telling and humour have won me over.

So even though I haven't quite finished it, I feel that I can finally cross that last niggling task of the list.

*Although I do take pleasure in many things.

**There is a section in A Year in Provence where they do some cycling, but I didn't really think that would count.

Did someone say baklava?

In the midst of all this biking stuff, the faithful reader, that is to say, Aged P, may be wondering what's been happening with my European photos. The answer was: er, not much, I'm afraid. I kind of let that slide. I know you are shocked.

However! I spent just 8 hours on a bus, not all at once, getting to and from Inverhuron and I used that time to get my Athens and Delphi photos done and started on my London photos! It's very helpful that I actually have a laptop whose battery lasts that long. It's been quite the experience for me.

So the Greek photos are all done, and I am now allowed to have baklava and blood of the pigeon tea from Arabesque*. I had some of the tea last week, but I did not have baklava and so I was not cheating. At all.

I'm still trying to figure out how I took over 500 pictures in Athens in only 2 1/2 days -- it's as many as I took in London, and I was there for twice as long. Let's just say there are lots of pictures of carved rocks.

Athens 2010

The Delphi pictures are dominated by the incredible views. Go to Delphi.

Delphi 2010

Sadly, Arabesque is closed on Mondays, and I'm leaving for Sudbury for a few days, so I won't be able to enjoy the baklava until the end of the week. When I also hope to enjoy the cream tea that will be my reward for finishing the England pictures.

Tally ho!

*I know, I know. It's not a Greek restaurant. But... baklava!

Veni, vidi, Bixi (LGRAB #5)

I was hoping to space out the LGRAB activities a bit more over the two weeks, but it seems that I am maintaining my long-standing tradition of getting everything done at the last second.

The Bixi bike-share program works this way: there are a number of bike stations with bikes and free docks. You pay $5/day (or buy a 3-, 30-day, or yearly subscription) and you can take an unlimited number of trips within that period. The first 30 minutes are free. It gets really expensive after that, but the idea is that you bike someplace within 30 minutes, dock the bike, do whatever you need to do, then take another bike out for 30 minutes, etc., all for only $5. It's quite a bargain.

While I have always thought that it was a great idea, I was originally not going to subscribe. Why should I? I already have a bike. But then, Matt Galloway on CBC's Metro Morning gave some reasons why it would be useful to have a subscription. Say I don't bike in to work in the morning for some reason, but want to bike home in the evening. Or, I want to bike downtown to meet up with friends, who do not have bikes. I don't want to be encumbered by mine, especially if we decide to move around a bit. I was sold. At $95/year, it's a great deal. I'd only need to use it 20 days out of the year to make it worth while. No sweat.

Except that the Bixis have been in Toronto for a few months now, and I haven't used them yet.

Picture of summer & ersatz commuting (LGRAB #4)

For the first* time since I've started teaching, I am not working this summer. This is a good thing; I've really enjoyed the break. However, I'm a little sad because that means I can't check "Commute to work if you don't already" off the LGRAB list, although I suppose I couldn't cross it of anyway since I do almost nothing on my bike but commute but never mind that right now.

The other thing I can't technically do, for this reason, is "Take a picture along your commute that says summer." However, I am not letting that stop me.

This was taken at Trinity-Bellwoods park, which I often bike through on my way to various places. It's not the best shot; I took it on my way to meetup with some people for a tour of the Roundhouse and I only had time for a quick snap and go. It says summer to me because Torontonians will start hanging out in any greenspace the minute the temperature goes above 10°C. During the weekday, the park is quieter, but after work it comes alive. In this picture alone, there are 7 groups of people just... being. There were lots more all over the park. Some of them were still there when I came back later that night. Once October comes, it'll start being too cold to just sit on the grass and the park is given back to the dog-walkers and passers-through. But for now, the park is living.

LGRAB task-wise:

Three to go. The astute and faithful reader will have noticed that I've finally crossed a few extra things off the list; since I'm going away this weekend, I'm not going to be able to do them again before the games are finished this Monday. But I'm so close, I can taste it!

*I should say, this is the first summer I haven't had to be somewhere during the month of July. There have been several summers where I didn't "work," but I took courses or had to travel down to Florida with Aged P right after school ended. This year I just got to sit. And feel guilty about all the stuff I probably should have, and still should be, doing. Sigh.

Begone, rusty chain! (LGRAB #3)

When I read the tasks for the LGRAB Summer Games, it seemed as though some of them were thought up especially for me. Rent a bike? Hey, I was going to try out the Bixi bikes! Group rides? Absolutely! Visit new parts of town/bike paths? All stuff I was going to do anyway this summer. Bike maintenance?

Clearly somebody has seen the state of my bike.

Advocacy (LGRAB #2)

One of the tasks for the LGRAB Summer Games is to write a letter requesting/advocating for bike infrastructure. Given the current climate in this city, this is might be an exercise in futility, but it's still important.

It turns out that in the past week, I've biked to a few places that could really use more bike parking. I went to the bulk food store on Bloor, and the lone post & ring just outside was full, as were the other rings further down the street. I had to walk half a block to find a free spot. The thing is, there is plenty of space for a few more rings right in front of the store, and I'm surprised they don't have more for us crunchy-granola bike-riding pinkos.* Before that, I had gone to the bank at Dundas and Ossington, and again all three, count 'em, three bike rings were full. As was the adjacent tree. This time, there was no other option but to lock my bike to the rail, as several others had done before me. Again, there is room for a number of bike stands.

What to do?

The City of Toronto has a post and ring program -- you can request bike parking and the city will install it, maybe. I'm sure the program is gravy to the mayor and that it will be axed as soon as may be, because heaven knows we've already given cyclists enough space in the city... ahem. Anyway, I figure I should put my requests in while there is still some hope of having them honoured.

By the way, if you want to know how to do bike stuff in Toronto, the Toronto Cyclists Union has a very helpful "How to get stuff done" page.

Back to the city form. You can fill out an old-fashioned paper form, or there is a handy online application. I like the online form more, because there is room to say why an area needs the bike parking. Which I done did.

So that's task #4 of the LGRAB Summer Games completed.

Thus I have completed the minimum required number of activities, but I want to do as many as I can before the end. Which for me is Friday, since I'm off to Eric's cottage.

*It might have something to do with unloading crunchy granola.

Summer fun, past and present

I just entered She Does the City's contest to win a Fuji FinePix XP20, which is essentially a really souped up version of my current camera. It takes videos with sound. Imagine the possibilities!

To enter, all you had to do was send them a picture of "Summer." Since you could send in more than one photo, and I am nothing if not dedicated to overkill, I did, and I thought I'd share my entries with you.

This was taken at The Beach(es). She seemed so peaceful and I thought, what a lovely way to spend the morning. Then I walked by her and realized she'd been yammering on her phone the whole time.

This was taken at the Beaches Jazzfest by the Big Band stage. When the weather gets warmer, we lindy hoppers will take any opportunity to dance in public. This time they provided a dance floor.

The next three photos are of much poorer quality, because they are scans of actual photographs. You see children, back before there were digital cameras, or at least before I had a digital camera (which wasn't that long ago in point of fact), I had several fairly crappy 35-mm cameras and of course, I couldn't tell what the photos looked like until they back from the store. It was always a bit of a crapshoot whether they'd come out, and I didn't want to waste film taking tonnes of pictures like I do now. I think these are not too bad, but I pointed out to the contest people that clearly I need a new camera. Of course, maybe I just need a better scanner...

Anyway.

This was taken the one and only time I've been white water rafting. We were on the Ottawa River. There are some very funny shots of me flying out of the raft into the river. This isn't one of them.

This was taken in Waterloo (or possibly Kitchener) at Chris's birthday picnic. I just love the dedication. You don't. let. the ring. drop.

Eric lives in Seattle, but he always comes back to his cottage on Lake Huron a couple of weeks every year, and he invites his friends to come stay for a few days. The directions to the cottage include "at Amberley, turn left. Stop for ice cream." So we always do.

The variety store/ice cream shop has a bit of a kitschy vibe to it. One year, I ordered a single scoop of ... I think that's mango ... something fruity, anyway ... and Brian and I got a bit distracted by the signs that said "Unattended children will be given an espresso and a puppy" and so forth, so we poked around the store a bit, getting giddier and giddier. After a while, I realized the kid behind the counter was taking a really long time to make my ice cream. I turned and saw why: he had spent about 10 minutes piling ice cream onto that enormous "single" scoop. It was practically the size of my head! Brian and I lost it.

The best part? It only cost $1.75.*

So there are my pictures of summer. Wish me luck!

*Ahem. Yes, it was a rather long time ago. In the last millenium, I believe. I keep thinking of a quote from Angel where the 200-year-old vampire says he can remember when a few bob got you a good meal, a bottle and a tavern wench: "I'm not cheap, I'm just old."

Squid on a stick and other post-biking fare

At the beverage stop at the end of the Round the City ride on Sunday, I mentioned that the T&T Supermarket on Cherry Street had turned its parking lot into an Asian night market and invited them to come with me. R said it would be fun, so off we went, past lots and lots of cars waiting in traffic. This place was busy.

And it was full of new-to-me delicacies, like self-contained fruit juices.


There was a lot of choice of foods, but I quickly narrowed it down.

BBQ'd squid on a stick. You have be careful not to choke on the tentacles. Very chewy, but satisfying.

They had a stage to keep us occupied while we waited for food. This tai chi demo set to music was so beautiful to watch. Almost as centering as doing it myself.


There were a few stalls that were a bit head-scratch-worthy:



We didn't stay long because it was really hot, plus R hadn't wanted to lock his bike up and was having difficulty manoeuvering through the crowds. As we were leaving, a fellow cyclist came up with a flat tire and it turns out that I had the pump and R had the proper valve adapter, so between us we made that guy's night.


Asian night market with a little superhero thrown in? Yes, please.

So PhysicsGirl and Rube Goldberg walk into a bar...

...and it sets off a cascade of dominoes...

I love Rube Goldberg machines. I think they are a brilliant mix of physics, engineering, and creativity. What is a Rube Goldberg machine, you ask? Allow the kooks at Mythbusters to explain it to you (the actual explanation starts at 0:33):

Oh, I'm sorry. Did you actually want to see the machine? Yeah, the Discovery clips are like that.

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of my favourite web RG machines.

In which PhysicsGirl bikes Round the City (LGRAB #1)

I joined the Toronto Bike Meetup at the same time I joined the French conversation Meetup groups, and for pretty much the same reasons: to get me out of the apartment, meet new people, and to improve my French conversation skills. Okay, maybe not that last one.

Sadly, since I've joined I've been on only one group ride due to rain, snow, and apathy timing. However, the LGRAB Summer Games gave me the impetus to not only sign up but actually go on Sunday's group ride. Especially since the Round the City ride would take me to the West Humber trail, which I'd never ridden but have wanted to for a few years.

Just over a dozen cyclists met late Sunday morning at Coronation Park on the lake shore and rode along the Martin Goodman trail to the beautiful Humber bridge. I'll gloss over how irritating those stupid gates are near Ontario Place and focus instead on how beautiful the day was. And it was beautiful. Saturday night's rain seemed to have cooled the cranky heat wave a bit and the air wasn't as oppressive as it has been. The sun was shining on the sea, shining with all its might, which was cool, because it was midday.

The game's afoot... er, abike!

The city is running a bit of a temperature, poor thing. I am disappointed that yesterday we did not break the all-time record set in 1936, because that would have been the least we could do if we're going to insist on calling this heat wave Heatmageddon. Bright side: we set a record for highest minimum temperature. Yay, us!

I sat here not quite sweltering because I finally installed my air conditioner this week and I did not, alas, work on my Athens photos. Or organize my course notes. I'm not entirely sure how my day slipped away yesterday, but suddenly it was 3 pm and I hadn't done much. I know you are shocked.

Anyway, today I'm very excited because the Let's Go Ride a Bike Summer Games are on. I missed them last summer, due entirely to the fact that I didn't know about them. There are prizes! Frankly, there are only two or maybe three things I'd want to win, but the prizes are not the point. Well, they're a tiny bit of the point. As with the 30 days of biking challenge, it's more about getting me to use my bike more recreationally, because I'm mostly a transportation cyclist.

How it works: There is a list of 10 activities. You complete at least 4 of them and either blog about it or send them an email detailing your escapades. Much fun is had.

I'm happy to report that I will do most of the things on the list, some of them all together. For example, renting a bike on vacation + test riding new style of bike + visiting new part of town = Bixi to the Distillery, for example. And writing a letter to my councilor? Timely.

Speaking of test-riding a new bike: I came across these bikes propped against the light pole outside my apartment when I got home from the Jesse Cook/Pink Martini concert on Wednesday.

Can you believe it? Free! That red and white number was really cute. If I had the space to store it and the inclination to restore it, it would have been mine.

By the next morning, they were somebody else's.

Updated: At the Big on Bloor festival, I saw the red & white bike. With most of the rust removed, she's really, really cute! 

Ahoy!

I have renamed all my Greece photos, which took a lot longer than I expected, no doubt because I have lost the ability to use alt-codes for accents (the HP has no key pad and alt-codes don't work with an external key pad. I love it when upgrading results in a loss of functionality!) and I spent some time trying to Google a solution. I have commented on and posted the ones for the ferry trip.

Only a week behind schedule.

Minoan Lines cruise 2010

I think I'll wander out into the boiling-hot air and get my still-to-be-purchased Provence cupcake before I come back and do the Athens and Delphi photos. Aντίο!

In which PhysicsGirl is somewhat sidetracked

I have, finally, finished my Provence pictures and am now out of France and heading to Greece, skipping over Venice. Pictures-wise, that is. I had uploaded the bike-trip part of my Provence trip last... er... August, but ah, took a little time to finish the Avignon portion. However, they are finally done and here they are:

From Provence 2010

Somewhere in this city is a cupcake with my name on it.

I would have done these pictures last week, but I have been a little sidetracked by a new toy. I just got an HP TouchSmart laptop. The idea is that I will use it with a projector instead of writing on the blackboard. I will be able to save my lessons for a) posting to the web site and b) future reference (for when I have one of the lessons where everything goes so well I want to reproduce it, but later can't remember exactly what I wrote on the board). I even bought a pocket projector, so I don't have to fight for the use of one at school. I had to buy the laptop off e-bay, since HP has pretty much abandoned the tablet pc in favour of a pure tablet, and it arrived minus the stylus, so I'm waiting on that to be resolved. So far, I'm very pleased. Solitaire is a lot of fun using the touchscreen.

Ahem. Anyway. New toy. Slight sidetrack. But now I am using the new toy to work on my pictures, so two birds, one stone!

Greece next. I've promised myself baklava and "blood of the pigeon" tea from Arabesque when those are done. Καλησπέρα. Τα λέμε!

To-do (bee-doo-bee-doo)

I am a big fan of to-do lists. I love making them. I love scheduling my time and colour-coding my plans by category. I love making lists, almost to the exclusion of actually doing anything on the list.

I take procrastination to a whole other level.

I make my lists in two places: a white board (I have 6 different colours! meaning 6 whole categories! which aside from being fun, works well for me as a visual learner) and on the calendar on my Palm Zire, which also has colour coding. The white board is awesome because it lets me write long lists of things and then wipe them off if when I complete them. It lets me totally rearrange things when I inevitably don't get things done. I then put them into the calendar on the Zire so I can see whether there are actually enough hours in the day to do all those wonderful things.

Seriously, I can kill a couple of hours setting this up.

Big plans are afoot for this summer. I'm finally going to build the drawer for my kitchen table. I'm planning on making an awning for my deck so I can sit outside without burning my delicate flower-like skin. I'm even inching closer to finishing my Provence pictures, and getting a Dlish cupcake as a reward.

Ooh! I should add that to the list...

Edited to add: I should have linked to this xkcd strip. It's so very true.

I'm famous! Sort of. Not really.

It is so cool when a blog you read, that a lot of other people read, quotes something you wrote. Granted, I sent it in, so it's not like she came across something I wrote and thought it was awesome. Still.

It's about money. The blog is by Gail Vaz-Oxlade of 'Til Debt Do Us Part and Princess. You should check out the website if you want money information. It is packed with information and helpful spreadsheets and so forth. She has just finished running a series on the way we save, for which she had asked input. I sent in my tip, because at the time I came up with it, I thought I was a genius.

Here is the link. Last year it worked out a little differently because they didn't deduct EI until I started working again and I used the additional savings towards my Europe trip (where I bought most of my Christmas presents, so it worked out sort of the same). The CPP, though, did turn into some extremely pretty dresses from Doll Factory by Damzels in this Dress.

Autograph line forms to the left, please.

But, see, we still need pies to celebrate...

Happy Tau Day!

On Pi Day, a friend sent me a link to the Tau Manifesto. Now, the author does make many interesting and valid points, although as a professional pedant, I feel the need to point out that he is reaching with his argument for the area of the circle. There are good physical reasons for the structure of the formulas of kinetic and elastic energies (and btw his equation for the object in free fall is only valid for dropped objects, although that's beside the point). If the area of the circle were related to the energies, then he'd have a stronger argument, but what he's doing is just a mathematical exercise. So is his manipulation of Euler's equation; to bring back the fifth constant he writes 1 + 0, which is more than ugly. It's silly.

Also? His argument that a simple substitution means we wouldn't have to replace all the math textbooks confuses me a bit. If he means you can just reprint university textbooks and sell the new editions to the next batch, well, that happens all the time anyway. But it also means he has never had to buy textbooks for a public school board. Replacing entire sets of class texts? Yeah, right. Oh, let's not forget about all the calculators we'll need to replace, and the software programs (because I just checked, and tau() isn't a function in my spreadsheet software). Not economically viable. And it'd be even more pedagogically confusing to tell 13-year-olds "Hey, your textbook is wrong because of something that you might not even learn about for another five years. Trust me."

Look at me, ranting. Actually, I'm not even invested in this. Like I said, he makes many valid points; I'm just bothered by a few weak arguments. But really? I'm content to let the Great Mathematical Council battle it out. And I'm all for another day to celebrate math with food.

I'm more concerned with how we're supposed to celebrate Tau Day. There is no food that sounds like tau. In fact, there is no English word that sounds like tau, so even punning is out, except for some philosophical ones that don't really relate to math. But that isn't as worrisome as the food thing.

Some clever friends have suggested that what we need is tea. And two pies. Totally on board with that.

And so we, finally, bid farewell to the City of Lights...

My Paris pictures. Are. Done.

Yes.

Again, to my Facebook peeps, click on "View Original Post" below to come over to actually see the pictures. If you're reading this on the actual blog site, ignore the previous statement. Everyone click the title below the pics to see more than just the one. Or click on the link at right to see all the albums in their glory.

I took pictures of Luxembourg Gardens, the St-Martin Canal, the Eiffel Tower, back to the Jardin des Plantes, and Père-Lachaise cemetery. Twice.

From Paris 2010: Cityscapes and Walking Tours

I finally went inside Notre Dame for more than a few minutes.

From Paris 2010: Look Ma, Culture!

I also did a bike tour to Giverny.

Giverny 2010

I've also uploaded pictures into my daily life and oddities albums.

Paris 2010: La Vie en Rose

Paris 2010: Ça m'amuse beaucoup!

Wahoo! Only the rest of Provence, the Greek Cruise, Athens, Delphi, London, Oxford, Bath... Salisbury... QM2... NYC...

Suddenly? I feel a little tired.

But, she said, brightening, I have these to look forward to, as I promised myself two months ago:


I may have cheated a wee bit and bought them on Sunday in anticipation, since I only had a few dozen pictures left to go. I did take them to my brother and sister-in-law's, and I did hold back while they took first choice. But they might not have eaten all of them. And Aged P may have bought me a macaron recipe book. And I may have bought a few extra to come home to...

In knee news, the scab has fallen off, and I've got a rather angry red scar bisecting my kneecap. It's still quite sore, especially when I've been sitting for a while. Perhaps it will be back to normal just in time for summer's end.