Daily updates – Page 147 – a sibilant intake of breath

Incommunicado

I have returned home to find my internet connection at home completely disabled, the landline in our flat being strange and particular about who it will call, and my mailbox in Wadham College re-assigned, with my large pile of post dumped in a box with that of all the other people who have suffered the same undignified treatment. Wadham College has even disabled my access to the network in our Middle Common Room. I feel rather like Bilbo Baggins returning home from a long voyage to find his relatives auctioning off his possessions.

With luck, I should be back up and running by tomorrow. I certainly have a great deal to do.

Canada finale

Barring some final familial plans, frantic packing, and travel, this Vancouver visit has come to an end. The best part, of course, was spending time with friends and family. I am made up of parts from all of you, so seeing the whole of you makes me feel whole myself.

I will keep in touch from Oxford.

Hey Tiger… wake up

Now that I have enough RAM to be confident of being able to run Dashboard without making my iBook run like molasses, I picked up a copy of Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) from the UBC Bookstore today. Wish me luck – and no file corruption – for the cross-over. I probably won’t have time to carry out such an operation in Vancouver.

[Update: 6:00pm] Easiest operating system update ever. I started the installer, went for coffee, and came back to find my computer at the login screen. All my files and applications seem to have passed through the transition intact.

[Update: 7:00pm] Existing Tiger users: which widgets do you use, and why?

Matters logistical

Permit me to apologize quickly for the scheduling problems that have cropped up in the last few days. While I would dearly like to spend time with all of my friends in Vancouver, limitations of time and communication capability have reduced the scope of what can be achieved. As it stands, I have visited Lonsdale, the UBC campus, downtown, and Commercial Drive on basically every day that I have been in Vancouver – averaging some ten bus journeys a day, criss-crossing the city.

Therefore, if I have been confusing or unavailable, please do not interpret it as any slight against you. This visit has been a marvelous opportunity to connect with family and friends and be reminded of the kind of deep networks that can surround you. While Oxford has much to recommend it, there is nothing to take the place of familial relations and ancient friendships.

PS. Anything that is not actually Vancouver centred is entirely on the back burner at the moment. Things like the final edit of the fish paper will just have to await my return to the city of spires.

Departure countdown

To all those Vancouverites thinking “naturally, I am going to be able to engage in Activity X with Milan during the period before he returns to Oxford,” take heed. I now have only three full days left in the city: days that are increasingly full of existing commitments. Arranging new ones at times that do not conflict is thus becoming ever more challenging. While I do want to do everything and see everyone, I shall be constrained by the limitations of my time and other people’s initiative.

My flight home is in the evening this Saturday. I have a family dinner on Friday, but if people would be up for a group outing on Thursday night (after eight), to somewhere where a bit of food and beer might be had, please list yourself and suggested locations as comments.

PS. I have made good, but not complete, progress through my list of Vancouver tasks.

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North Vancouver hydrology

In the last few days, I have twice been up to the Capilano Reservoir. Located behind Cleveland Dam, it provides much of the drinking water for this part of the city, though it does not generate electricity. I don’t think I have ever seen it at low as it is now. At the top of the dam is a kind of huge rolling blockade that can be raised or lowered to adjust the water level in the dam across a particular range. At present, it is all the way down and there is no water flowing over it. Likewise, there is a larger section of the lake bed exposed than I have ever seen before.

Since the reservoir is normally fed by snowmelt and glacial runoff, every time there is a warm winter we start having water problems. It is even worse when what little snowpack there is is melted early in the summer by high temperatures. Since the dam is unable to hold more than a set amount, it can be necessary to vent a great deal of that excess flow – flow that would be much appreciated a few months later.

As far as I know, there are no rigorous water use restrictions in place, so the hydro engineers must be confident that this supply will see us out until Vancouver’s most rainy winter season begins. For the sake of water supplies next summer – and friends moving to Whistler to ski – I hope that most of that precipitation comes in a solid form, both above a certain altitude and in the area to the north of the city.

Tropika

Having dinner with Jennifer Schofield tonight was really enjoyable. We went to Tropika: a Thai and Malaysian place that has a well deserved reputation among my friends for excellent food. In particular, their scrumptious sauces deserve commendation. So too does the experience of conversing with Jenn, who is on her way from Calgary to Nanaimo. A co-graduate from UBC and a fellow member of the NORAD trip, I am sorry we didn’t take the opportunity to spend more time with one another while still in the same city.

Tomorrow, I am going for a hike with my father during the day. In the evening, I was meant to have dinner with my whole family, but it seems that Mica cannot make it. All told, I have spent less than two hours in his company since arriving in Vancouver, though much of that can be put down to his duties as a residence advisor in Totem Park. I must make a point of heading out there when he will be free enough for us to hang out together.

PS. I know that photo doesn’t do Jennifer justice, but it is the best of those I took this evening. We can only work with the lighting conditions we are given. Here is a better photo of her.

Officer and gentleman

While it is common knowledge that the Oxford Union is able to pull in some really amazing speakers, one in September is unusually notable. On the 29th, at 1:30pm, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will be speaking and taking questions.

Anyone with a Bod card can attend for free, regardless of whether you are a Union member. Since this person is the president of one of the world’s more important countries, it is probably well worth attending. Since he is the important world leader who is probably most likely to be assassinated, heavy coats and bags will not be allowed inside the hall.

Rather calmer day

Following the party, an early morning, a good walk in Capilano Canyon with Kate, and a frantic rush to the bus station to help her catch her ferry, I am pretty exhausted. This evening has been practically the only unscheduled time I have had since arriving. Tomorrow, it is back to the pattern of meeting people and zipping across the city. Naturally, seeing Kate was especially good, as I have not seen her for a period that we approximated to be four years. I very much hope that the coming year will involve rather more communication than the previous one.

I have Ireland photos to edit and upload, books to finish, and much else to do besides. Also, my iPod (is it the fourth or the fifth replacement I have had through the extended warranty) seems to have a failing hard drive, while my camera is now prone to memory card reading errors. I am going to slog away at all that for a while, then go to bed early. After all, I am meeting both Caity Sackeroff and Jennifer Schofield tomorrow.

[Update: 7:05pm] The Ireland photos are now up on Facebook. I am adding them to the blog posts written during the trip, as well, with Photo.net to follow.

[Update: 7:45pm] I have added photos to the major blog posts written in Ireland. They are all linked on this page.

[Update: 10:30pm] The best photos from Ireland are now on Photo.net.

[Update: 11:00pm] My best shots from Cabin Fever II are now on Photo.net.

Inter-Oxford party

Many thanks to those who attended the party, bringing good food, drink, and – in Drew’s case – enough musical instruments to keep us all entertained and my parents bereft of sleep well into the morning. He and Tristan jamming on the guitar and mandolin made for an interesting spectacle at two in the morning.

Not a lot of people have stuck around for the promised pancake breakfast, and fewer seem keen on hiking during this drizzling day while not well armed with well slept brains. That said, the possibility of spending a bit more time with Kate after such a long absence has an appeal that stacks up well against that of marching up Crown Mountain.

At least one or two photos from the party will doubtless find their way online, once I find an hour or so to spend with Photoshop. Since I have my prints and scans from Ireland back, as well, they should appear online in the next few days also.