Geeky Cat Miusings

In the middle of last night while I was asleep I heard a big BOOM that startled me awake. I thought it must be thunder, but it was immediately followed by more booms in quick succession and I knew it couldn’t be thunder. I looked out my window and saw that the sky was pretty clear but there were explosions on the northern horizon — big balls of light, deep booming sounds, and clounds of smoke. I had no idea what was going on so I turned on the radio and television for news updates but there was no mention of the explosions. I heard fire trucks — lots of fire trucks so I knew the city knew something was up. I paced around for an anxious hour, looking out windows trying to see if anyone else was awake. I wanted to share the moment because I was frightened but I didn’t want to waken anyone. My mind raced through various possible scenarios and some of them very dark. It was a very stressful night for me, waiting to find out what was happening and I wondered why there was no mention of it in the news that night. When I woke up in the morning I found out there was a large explosion of propane tanks at Keele and Wilson and people were evacuated from the area. It really bothers me that there wasn’t a news flash on any channels within minutes of emergency crew arriving on the disaster scene to let people know what is happening. Where is the news when you need it?

Yesterday I took the bus home and I kind of noticed that the drive was a bit erratic. The bus driver was hitting the brakes pretty hard and a woman who was standing slightly lost her balance. It wasn’t blatantly bad driving, but you notice it. I was pretty focused on my book and just saw this in the corner of my eye. The woman beside me nudged me and asked, “he sleeping?” I looked at the driver and indeed his eyes were stuggling to stay open. They would flutter close and then he would pull them open. Fortunately we were close to the subway and were getting off, but that was scary.

I’m sorry about not having any time to write to you all, but it has been busy. I’ll be in Halifax so stay tuned for some pics and stories when I get back.

I’m very glad I have the unlimited browsing on my cell phone since I can use it in Halifax…I’ll be able to keep up with the news. I could blog from my phone but I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to look into that.

Currently I’m reading Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. It is a hilarious exploration of the strange lives of bodies postmortem. Here is one compelling quote from the book:

“The way i see it, being dead is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship. Most of your time is spent lying on your back. The brain has shut down. The flesh begins to soften. Nothing much new happens, and nothing is expected of you. ”

It is a funny coincidence that I am concurrently reading Thank You For Smoking! Smoking is one way to make the final vacation arrive at your doorstep, sooner rather than later.

And one more stiff joke pops up as I read the Urban Decoder:

“Honest Ed’s a corpse, but his prices will never stiff you.”

The ghost walk in Hamilton was really cool! A man who speaks and looks as though he suddenly stepped out of 19th century England guides ghost seekers through downtown Hamilton and describes the unfortunate suicides, murders, and accidents that occured at various locations and the subsequent ghostly visitations and other types of hauntings that persist in these locations. The tour starts at 8:30 pm when there is still some dusk light, but it quickly gets dark and the guide leads us with only a lantern to light the way through the streets and dark alley of the city. If you think that Hamilton is a quiet little place with no significant history, you’ll be surprised to hear about the famous mobster that lived and and worked there and that was a Jack the Ripper suspect living there.

I’m looking forward to going to the Niagara-on-the-Lake ghost walk sometime soon.

My passport arrived today! It was quite an effort getting it. The process started over six months ago and the events relating to getting the passport were surprising to me if not astonishing. I went to get a new picture after I received a call informing me that I was grinning in the photo, which isn’t allowed. When I brought in the non-grinning photo the passport officer told me I needed to show my ears in the photograph. What!…I was totally flipping here… I’ve never heard of this requirement and I wondered what other unwritten rules they might have under the table. No turtlenecks? No makeup? Hair pulled back with a headband? When the officer saw that I was going to go insane, he went to speak to someone and then said it was okay and that I could go.

Now that I have a passport, I’m free to go wherever I want. Where should I go? Who wants to come?

The week started off in a nasty way: When I took the escalator on the TTC, I placed my hand on a wet gooey, spot on the handrail. My hand had ketchup on it. Somehow someone got ketchup on the handrail. Yuck! You would think that if someone were to be eating on the run, they would also have a napkin for wiping their mouth, fingers, and handrail… should the need arise.

Perhaps a few people could use the $7 reimbursement from the TTC (to compensate for the strike days) to buy some tissues and wipes.

It is the end of the weekend and the TTC strike is over. The strike lasted two days, potentially crashing people’s weekend plans but it did not put much of a dent in my weekend. I enjoyed the local neighborhoods and tried a nearby restaurant that I never before had a chance to dine at. The walk there much improved my appetite and during the stroll I noticed the street lights shaped like trains for the first time, thanks to my newly awakened observation skills. Even though the strike did not interfere with my weekend, I’m glad the TTC strike is over.

A friend sent me a link to a quiz that asks various questions about every day objects with the objective of testing how observant one is in daily life. I know very well I am not highly observant since I often don’t notice what people are wearing, their hair colour, or any weight changes. If they are wearing something beautiful or they have changed their hair colour, I probably will notice, but not as a general rule and I don’t think I would be the greatest witness in a courtroom…though I would probably notice what book the bank robber was reading.

Here is an example: One day last week at work I had an envelope that I needed to mail. I was thinking about my surroundings and trying to recall if I had noticed any mailboxes close to the office. I thought there might very likely be one on the main street but my memory scan of the street failed to produce a mailbox. So then I called a co-worker and asked him if there was a mailbox in the area and he said there wasn’t one right around our work area but there was one at the nearest major intersection. So when I left work that day I planned to walk to the intersection. When I passed the bus stop that I have used every day over the past four months, I saw a mailbox. It has been there all along but I never noticed it!

I think it is time for me to be more observant.

Here is the quiz if you are interested though I can’t vouch for its value:
http://www.blogthings.com/howobservantareyouquiz/

What a spectacular snow storm we had: