C-Train. C-Train run. Run, Train, Run.
If I have to take public transit, it’s usually the bus, just because I love the busses and some of them get me closer to home than any of the C-Train stations do. But when Nate and I have been out walking, we’ve taken our fair share of C-Train rides.
But ever since the pandemic hit, we’ve been really limited in our walks due to 1) no public bathrooms being open, 2) being afraid of malls, which were our primary stopping points, and 3) being wary of public transportation (even though, in my opinion, it’s probably safer now than it ever has been due to the fact that there are so few people utilizing it).
So we haven’t had a C-Train ride in a while.
But I just found these two videos of both the Red and Blue C-Train lines, so I shall use them to travel the city vicariously.
Enjoy.
PMLE!
It’s hard to capture in pictures how gnarly my arms look right now, but here are a few shots at it:
It kinda looks like a bad sunburn in these pics, but it’s definitely not a sunburn. It’s just my body going “lol, ultraviolet light? I’ve never seen that before. Let’s have a bad immune reaction to it!”
Super coolio, body. Super coolio.
Have I done this survey before? I think I have. Whatever. Screw it.
200: My crush’s name is: Does my husband count as a crush? He’s more than a crush, though, so…
199: I was born in: The ‘Scow.
198: I am really: Horrible.
197: My cellphone company is: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…uhhhhh…Shaw?
196: My eye color is: Hazel.
195: My shoe size is: Ten and a half in Saucony Kinvaras. Which are the only shoes I ever wear anymore, so yeah. Ten and a half.
194: My ring size is: No idea.
193: My height is: 5’2.5”
192: I am allergic to: Pineapples. Azmacort. Some sort of pollen.
191: My 1st car was: NON-EXISTENT!
190: My 1st job was: Wendy’s.
189: Last book you read: Oh god I don’t even know.
188: My bed is: Nice and soft and cozy.
187: My pet: Jazzy! She’s the best.
186: My best friend: I don’t think I have one. I don’t know if I even have any regular friends anymore.
185: My favorite shampoo is: Whatever the heck I use. I can’t remember. It’s in a green bottle.
184: Xbox or ps3: Xbox.
183: Piggy banks are: Something I’ve never seen in real life.
182: In my pockets: NO POCKETS JUST UNDERWEAR
181: On my calendar: Nothing. I, surprisingly, don’t use a calendar.
180: Marriage is: Happy.
179: Spongebob can: Do a lot of things. Spongily.
178: My mom: Is the best mom in the world.
177: The last three songs I bought were? I don’t freaking know. I’m not doing my daily songs, so everything is a blur and time is meaningless.
176: Last YouTube video watched: A video about the kilogram, because of course.
175: How many cousins do you have? Five?
174: Do you have any siblings? Nope!
173: Are your parents divorced? Yes.
172: Are you taller than your mom? No. There aren’t a lot of people that are shorter than me.
171: Do you play an instrument? Several.
170: What did you do yesterday? I ran! I screwed around. I cried. The usual.
[ I Believe In ]
169: Love at first sight: Yes.
168: Luck: Yes.
167: Fate: Sure.
166: Yourself: I’m a horrible human being, so no.
165: Aliens: What a sad universe this would be if the only life out there was contained on this one little planet.
164: Heaven: Eh.
163: Hell: Eh.
162: God: No.
161: Horoscopes: They’re fun.
160: Soul mates: Considering I’m married to my soul mate, yes.
159: Ghosts: Maybe not in the typical way they’re portrayed, but yes.
158: Gay Marriage: How…how do you “believe in” gay marriage? It’s not like something that may or may not exist. Gay people exist. Some of them get married. Gay marriage is…real.
157: War: War is real..
156: Orbs: Dafuq is an orb?
155: Magic: Nah.
[ This or That ]
154: Hugs or Kisses: No touchy.
153: Drunk or High: Neither.
152: Phone or Online: Online, bitches!
151: Red heads or Black haired: OH GOD THAT’S A TOUGH CHOICE. Um, red.
150: Blondes or Brunettes: Blondes, yo.
149: Hot or cold: I’d rather be too cold than too hot. This is frequently the case, so it works out.
148: Summer or winter: Summer.
147: Autumn or Spring: Ugh, neither.
146: Chocolate or vanilla: Vanilla.
145: Night or Day: I love the sun, but I am most awake at night.
144: Oranges or Apples: Apples.
143: Curly or Straight hair: I’ve always wanted straight hair. I hate my freaking hair.
142: McDonalds or Burger King: McDonald’s.
141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: Milk chocolate. White chocolate is creepy.
140: Mac or PC: PC.
139: Flip flops or high heels: Neither.
138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: Would being sweet and poor erase my current ugliness, or am I stuck with that?
137: Coke or Pepsi: Neither.
136: Hillary or Obama: Dated survey is dated.
135: Buried or cremated: Throw me in the burny-burny. Then take some of my remains and scatter them on/near Leibniz’ grave. I am 100% not kidding about this.
134: Singing or Dancing: Singing!
133: Coach or Chanel: Don’t care.
132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: I don’t know these humans.
131: Small town or Big city: Big city.
130: Wal-Mart or Target: Walmart.
129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: Ben Stiller is pretty great.
128: Manicure or Pedicure: No touchy.
127: East Coast or West Coast: What country are we referring to here?
126: Your Birthday or Christmas: Christmas.
125: Chocolate or Flowers: Chocolate. Half the appeal of flowers is lost on me because of NON-FUNCTIONING NOSE.
124: Disney or Six Flags: Disney.
123: Yankees or Red Sox: METS.
[ Here’s What I Think About ]
122: War: It’s…bad?
121: George Bush: MAN, WE HAD NO IDEA HOW BAD THINGS COULD GO FROM HERE, DID WE
120: Gay Marriage: Do it! I mean, if you’re gay. If you’re not, it won’t work.
119: The presidential election: The next one? It’ll be hell.
118: Abortion: Pro-choice.
117: MySpace: HA, does that exist anymore?
116: Reality TV: Reality cooking shows are pretty great.
115: Parents: Mine are good.
114: Back stabbers: They’re…bad?
113: Ebay: I haven’t used eBay in a looooong time.
112: Facebook: Blah.
111: Work: I like my work.
110: My Neighbors: I don’t know them.
109: Gas Prices: I don’t care about them personally, but Alberta is an oil province, so…
108: Designer Clothes: Give me gaudy Goodwill madness instead, please.
107: College: It’s my life.
106: Sports: BASEBALL
105: My family: My immediate family is good.
104: The future: Eh.
[ Last time I ]
103: Hugged someone: I hugged Nate this morning.
102: Last time you ate: Yesterday?
101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: Q U A R A N T I N E B I T C H E S
100: Cried in front of someone: Yesterday.
99: Went to a movie theater: Q U A R A N T I N E B I T C H E S
98: Took a vacation: Q U A R A N T I N E B I T C H E S (yes, I’m going to use this for every relevant question)
97: Swam in a pool: Q U A R A N T I N E B I T C H E S
96: Changed a diaper: Ew, I hate kids, no thanks.
95: Got my nails done: Q U A R A N T I N E B I T C H E S
94: Went to a wedding: Q U A R A N T I N E B I T C H E S
93: Broke a bone: Never.
92: Got a peircing: Whenever I got that industrial, so…2008?
91: Broke the law: It’s been a while.
90: Texted: A few minutes ago
[ MISC ]
89: Who makes you laugh the most: Nate is hilarious.
88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: I have already left home. I probably won’t see it again until at least next year. I’m sad.
87: The last movie I saw: I have no idea.
86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: The end of this freaking pandemic nonsense.
85: The thing im not looking forward to: Continuing pandemic nonsense.
84: People call me: My name. Super original and unique, right?
83: The most difficult thing to do is: To be happy. I’m…not good at that.
82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: Nope.
81: My zodiac sign is: Aquarius.
80: The first person i talked to today was: Nate.
79: First time you had a crush: Hahahaha, let’s not go into that saga, shall we? (Fifth grade.)
78: The one person who I can’t hide things from: I can hide things from everyone.
77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: My mom and I are always on the same wavelength. We’re creepy.
76: Right now I am talking to: No one.
75: What are you going to do when you grow up: I am an adult right now! I teach math/stats.
74: I have/will get a job: See above.
73: Tomorrow: Will unfortunately happen.
72: Today: Is unfortunately happening.
71: Next Summer: Will hopefully be a lot more normal than this one, holy hellbaskets.
70: Next Weekend: Will be the same old boring nonsense.
69: I have these pets: Jazzy.
68: The worst sound in the world: Babies crying. Kids crying.
67: The person that makes me cry the most is: Me.
66: People that make you happy: Nothing makes me happy.
65: Last time I cried: Yesterday.
64: My friends are: Probably not actually my friends anymore. I am both forgettable and not good at keeping in touch with others.
63: My computer is: My bro.
62: My School: I’m surprisingly not going to school right now.
61: My Car: No car.
60: I lose all respect for people who: Aren’t taking this damn virus seriously.
59: The last movie I cried at was: Probably whatever the last movie I watched was.
58: Your hair color is: Black.
57: TV shows you watch: One of the TV stations up here, for whatever miraculous reason, shows Chicago Hope at 4 PM. I watch it religiously now that I’m stuck at home.
56: Favorite web site: I don’t know if I have one. The one I use the most is probably YouTube.
55: Your dream vacation: The Leibniz museum in Germany!
54: The worst pain I was ever in was: When I had appendicitis? I’m actually not sure.
53: How do you like your steak cooked: Well-done as all hell. Fight me.
52: My room is: Not a thing. I don’t have a room.
51: My favorite celebrity is: I’m all about Adam Arkin now that I’ve been getting my Chicago Hope fix. I really like him.
50: Where would you like to be: Nowhere.
49: Do you want children: GOD NO
48: Ever been in love: I currently am!
47: Who’s your best friend: I don’t know if I have one.
46: More guy friends or girl friends: More guy friends.
45: One thing that makes you feel great is: Nothing.
44: One person that you wish you could see right now: My mom.
43: Do you have a 5 year plan: Get the tenure. That’s…that’s it. And keep walking obsessively.
42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: Eh.
41: Have you pre-named your children: I LOVE the name “Hugo.” I also love the name “Victor,” so that’s a problem. But I’m not having kids anyway, so…
40: Last person I got mad at: Myself.
39: I would like to move to: Nowhere. I love Calgary.
38: I wish I was a professional: Anything. Being a pro at something would be coolio.
[ My Favorites ]
37: Candy: M&Ms!
36: Vehicle: Car? Or do you want more specifics? A Jeep Wrangler with the plastic top.
35: President: Millard Fillmore!
34: State visited: Alaska.
33: Cellphone provider: I don’t think I have a favorite.
32: Athlete: Oh god, a bunch of baseball players.
31: Actor: As above, Adam Arkin.
30: Actress: Dunno.
29: Singer: Chris Martin from Coldplay.
28: Band: Coldplay.
27: Clothing store: Uh…no idea.
26: Grocery store: Superstore is great ‘cause it’s cheap, but it’s probably COVID CENTRAL right now.
25: TV show: Chicago Hope!
24: Movie: Sunshine.
23: Website: I’ve done this one already.
22: Animal: Cat.
21: Theme park: Have I ever been to a theme park? Disneyland counts, right? Disneyland.
20: Holiday: Christmas.
19: Sport to watch: Baseball!
18: Sport to play: I don’t do sports.
17: Magazine: I used to read Mental Floss.
16: Book: The Caine Mutiny.
15: Day of the week: I’ve always liked Tuesdays and I have no idea why.
14: Beach: Whatever that one was in Hawaii.
13: Concert attended: I’ve only ever seen OK Go.
12: Thing to cook: Spaghetti is easy as hell and is also probably one of the “fastest” things I can cook. I take 4 hours to make a salad and I’m not even kidding.
11: Food: Broccoli. Cheese. Cheesy broccoli!
10: Restaurant: Mongolian BBQ. I hope it survives all this madness.
9: Radio station: 106.1 in Moscow.
8: Yankee candle scent: ANOSMIA, BITCHES
7: Perfume: See above.
6: Flower: I like sunflowers.
5: Color: Orange.
4: Talk show host: I have no idea.
3: Comedian: Brian Regan! Ben Baily is great, too.
2: Dog breed: I don’t think I have one.
1: did you answer all these truthfully? I TRIED, OKAY?!?!?!?!?!
13.1
Y’ALL I ran a half-marathon today.
That’s the first time I’ve done that since 2017. In 2017, I did it on two consecutive days and gave myself a really bad case of runner’s knee, but that was probably because I jumped from 10k distances right to 13.1 miles. Not the smartest move.
But I’ve been building up to it a bit more this year. Also, for whatever reason, running in general this year is a lot easier than it’s ever been before.
So that’s cool.
Let’s see if I can do more of these!
Kid Stuff
So I don’t know why this is, but every once and a while I think about a show I used to watch when I was a kid (six or seven years old? We lived in Troy at the time, so somewhere around that age) in which a bunch of kids get permission from a TV station to do their own news show type-thingy.
In my several years of searching for this show, I have never been able to find any clips of it – mainly because I didn’t remember what it was called and the only two things I have a distinct memory of the intro (at least parts of it) and one clip where there were kids dressed in snazzy sequin coats singing “Rockin’ Robin.”
But I finally, finally had some success with my searches today!
The show was called Kidsongs, and here is the intro:
God, this made me want to go into TV and/or radio hosting so badly. I’m sure my mom remembers that summer where I was doing the fake radio station stuff AND the summer(s) where I had the camcorder. My poor mom.
Edit: holy crap, it’s the “Rockin’ Robin” thing:
Those jackets are snazzy as all hell.
Eigenblogger Turns 14!
AHOY, PEOPLE!
So today marks my 14th year of blogging. That’s 14 years of daily nonsense.
That’s a lot of nonsense. 5,115 days’ worth, to be exact.
Thanks to those of you who still read this on occasion. I don’t understand why you do it, but thank you. I’m not going to do anything special for this anniversary because who freaking cares, but 15 is coming up next year and we all know I like numbers divisible by 5, so there will be something big for that one.
YAY!
Open
I ran 10 miles today!
In completely unrelated news, Alberta published its “here’s how we’re going to re-open the province” plan. Let’s see what we’ve got.
Comments:
May 14 sounds awful soon for some of the “Phase 1” items. Farmers’ markets? Hairstylists/barbers? Daycares and summer camps (even with limited occupancy)? That seems…frightening. Hopefully enough people share my same sentiment so that these places won’t be overrun by peeps. Or maybe they’ll push it back.
Also, movie theaters in stage 2? And schools, even with restrictions? Oofs.
And I might just be missing it, but I don’t see anything on there about universities. Who knows when that nonsense will reopen.
I’m glad there are no set times on stages 2 and 3, at least. I think Alberta has done a really good job of dealing with all of this; I just hope they remain as cautious and health-focused as things start opening up and the economy starts chugging again.
We don’t want to have to do all this again in a few months.
OUCH MY ARMS
So remember last summer when I told you that I’d been diagnosed with polymorphous light eruption, but I was a bit skeptical of this because the eruptions stopped sometime mid-July and I didn’t think I actually had the condition?
Yeah, now I’m pretty sure I have the condition.
It’s finally, finally warm enough up here to walk without a coat on, so that’s what I’ve been doing for the past several days. This is the first time my arms have been uncovered and in the sunlight since…man, I don’t know, September?* Yesterday night I noticed a few bumps on my upper arms that very quickly started to itch once I poked and prodded them a bit.
And today, after walking another 15 miles in sunny weather, my arms were really looking roughed up. They were getting that same rash-like landscape of red bumps that I was getting last year when I started exposing them to the sun. And they itched like crazy. These were the symptoms that led to the diagnosis last year.
I’ll be curious to see if my skin “toughens up” to the UV rays like it did last year, which is apparently a thing that happens for a lot of people with this condition. It flares up when skin is first exposed to the stronger UV lights in the spring/summer, but starts to calm down once the skin gets acclimated to the light.
Who knows? All I know right now is ITCH and BURN and WHY DOES MY SKIN HAVE THE TEXTURE OF A BASKETBALL
*We actually just tied the record of the most consecutive days without reaching 68 degrees. We reached that temperature today; we hadn’t reached it since the end of September last year. What the hell, Calgary.
Good Lord, United States
This is scary. Compare this to a pic of this website that I took back on March 26 (almost exactly a month ago).
Too bad I didn’t have Canada on that first screenshot. We’ve shot up quite a bit, too, but not nearly to the extent that the United States has.
And some states still want to start opening things back up soon, huh?
Confused about how to wash your hands?
Let HowToBasic help!
This is actually a pretty “normal” video for him.
AUDIO VIDEO DISCO
(Sorry, no video or disco occurring in this blog)
HI THERE!
So this article is from the Stone Age (2015) but I just found it now, so we’re going to take a look at it. For six songs, there are three samples provided (three for each song, that is). The task is to pick which of the three samples is of the highest audio quality.
SO.
I’m going to listen to each audio sample on 1) my $5.99 Koss headphones (the ones I use for walking) and on 2) my massive $600-ish Sennheisers (the ones that I freak out over nearly every day because they’re so damn good). I’m going to see if it’s easier to assess audio quality on the Sennheisers when compared to the Koss.
The tricky part is trying to be as objective/unbiased as possible for each song while still having to listen to each with both headphones. So rather than check my answers as I go, I’m going to first write them down for the Koss and then for the Sennheisers and then check my correctness. This will at least in part mitigate the issue of knowing which answers are correct as I go through the second round.
So let’s go!
Round 1: $5.99 Koss Headphones
Here are what I think are the best quality versions for each song:
- Speed of Sound: sample 1
- Mozart: sample 2
- There’s a World: sample 2
- Tom’s Diner: sample 3
- Tom Ford: sample 3
- Dark Horse: sample 3
[I waited about an hour between this round and the next and am not looking at my above answers as I do this process for the Sennheisers; I don’t remember what my above answers were]
Round 2: $600 Sennheiser Headphones
Again, here are what I think are the best quality versions for each song:
- Speed of Sound: sample 3
- Mozart: sample 1
- There’s a World: sample 3
- Tom’s Diner: sample 1
- Tom Ford: sample 3
- Dark Horse: sample 1
Ready for the results?
Score with Koss: 2/6
Score with Sennheisers: 5/6
Hahaha, wow. Wasn’t expecting that much of a difference!
Edit: turns out there’s a follow-up article. 29.7% of quiz-takers got a 2/6 score and only 4.5% of quiz-takers got a 5/6 score. Interesting!
Today, I downloaded all the info that Google has stored on me
Apparently takeout.google.com allows you to download all of your Google history.
Like, all of it.
Everything you’ve ever done through Google or a Google product.
So let’s give it a go and see what jives.
My collected data was big enough that it had to be split into four downloadable zip folders.
Oh shit, is this a list of every YouTube video I’ve watched while signed into my Google account? I think I started this account back in 2011 (when I moved to London), so…that’s a lot of videos. This could prove interesting.
Oh good lord, all my Google searches? This one took forever to load ‘cause there are like 8 billion searches. The above picture is the first search I did after getting my Gmail account, apparently.
There’s…there’s actually not as much stuff as I thought there would be. Maybe I just don’t do too much other than YouTube and Google searching. I’m sure my every move on this planet is in there somewhere as well, but it’s not super obvious where it is or what it’s called.
Google, I am disappoint.
(Google, I am not disappoint. Please do not sneak into my bedroom at night and implant a tracker under my skin.)
CAT!
Hi there sorry but this is adorable.
That is all. The rest of the world sucks.
BLAAAAHH
I feel like garbage.
Aimless garbage.
That is all.
Are You Ready for Some BASEBALL?!?
So Nate found this six-part series on the Seattle Mariners and it is absolutely enthralling. Only parts 1-4 have been uploaded so far, but the next installment involves ICHIRO which is really the first thing I can remember about the Seattle Mariners. Check out the vids here (I’ll just post them all here once they’re all uploaded):
(That third one is intense.)
Seriously, even if you’re not really a baseball fan, this is super interesting.
Has spring finally come to Calgary???
Maybe?????????
I was able to go running/walking without a jacket today, which was a fantastic feeling. I actually ran nine miles ‘cause it just felt so nice out and it was so much more enjoyable than the cold hell that it’s been up here all year.
Also, the skin on my arms didn’t erupt, which is good, but I remember that it took a little bit of time (and sun exposure) for that to happen last year, so we’ll see.
Maybe it won’t even happen again.
Edit: today was the warmest it’s been since September last year. That’s too freaking long for the temperatures to be lower than they were today, holy hell.
Nova Scotia
There was a mass-shooting in Nova Scotia today/yesterday.
That kind of stuff doesn’t happen up here.
It’s getting national news coverage. It’s all that’s been talked about today, even with the pandemic and all its fallout.
But in the US, something like this would probably just be a headline on CNN. Maybe not even the major headline. The major headline would be Trump being an idiot in some form or another. This would be “18+ people killed in mass-shooting” as a smaller headline somewhere further down the page. A lot of people probably wouldn’t even click on it because we’re so damn desensitized to that kind of thing in the States.
Ugh.
Pout…pout…LET IT ALL OUT! This is the weather we complain about, come on…
I love how every other day this week has been sunny/warm/both, but today was cloudy/windy/cold. Because Nate and I wanted to walk together.
But we walked together anyway, because it feels like we’ve only gotten like three weekends to actually do that so far this week.
And then we came home and I found a very relevant little map:
I love how Calgary’s in its own personal hell in Alberta (it’s riiiight under the title in that pink region). “You bitches are going to get a snowy April and you’re going to like it.”
Edit: goddammit, Calgary!
7,000,000,000
This video seems highly relevant nowadays.
Sorry, I actually posted this video in a blog way back in 2010*, but I’ve been thinking about it recently. Can’t imagine why…
*It was around the time you came to visit me in Vancouver, Maddie; let’s see if I can get the correct date…March 16, 2010? *checks* Fucking nailed it. Why do I have this kind of memory for stupid things like specific dates and entire movie dialogues but can’t remember if I had dinner last night?
Do you want to hear what Boney M’s “Rasputin” sounds like if it were sung by stoned demons?
Curious now, eh?
I can’t decide if this is hilarious or terrifying. And the first 1:20 sounds like it should be in a Breaking Bad episode.
O H T H O S E R U S S I A N S . . .
Blathering
LOL my 14-year blogging anniversary is coming up in half a month and I have nothing special planned for it because the world is basically spinning backwards right now and nothing that mattered matters and everything that didn’t matter matters and I don’t even know if I care anymore.
Eigenblogger 