Back from Vacation
I just got back from a week with my family at the very pretty Fairmont Hotsprings Resort.
Unfortunately, the resort has only a single, very bad Internet kiosk. You have to keep feeding money into it to stay online, and the keyboard is securely fastened at a bafflingly unusable angle. I could only operate it for a few minutes at a time without severe wrist pain, which is why I haven't written anything on my blog for a while. I spent what little Internet time I had sending e-mails to Erin, who was, sadly, unable to come on holidays with me. 
But aside from missing my girlfriend, it was a good vacation; I don't get to see my whole family together very often these days. One of my brothers even announced his engagement while we were there!
Sometimes coming home from a resort is depressing--but I don't have to go back to work for seven more days, and Erin is here, so I'm still in a good mood. There are a lot of bike rides, video games, and comic books in my near-term future.
And since I've still got a week to relax, I'll probably find time to write a decent blog posting soon. But until then, if you're looking for something interesting to read, check this out. It's from the Skeptic's Dictionary, which, much like Snopes.com, is a great website for those days when you don't care if people think that you're a know-it-all ass, as long as they also admit that you're right.
The Greatest Bike Store That Ever Lived
I went out for a long bike ride near Leduc this weekend. Somewhere during the ride I managed to break my back wheel.
Actually, I remember the exact bump where it happened. It made me bite my tongue, and also spit blood and profanities for a while. That's probably why I didn't notice the damage to my bike right away. In fact, I rode for another hour before I felt the wobble, which had probably been getting worse with every passing kilometer.
It was clear immediately that my wheel was no longer perfectly round. But I didn't realize just how bad the wobble was until later, when I sat down to try to straighten it. I was starting to think that even my mad truing skillz wouldn't be up to the task, and then I noticed that one of the spokes had actually snapped in two.
Something like that is quite beyond my ability to repair. I don't keep spare spokes just lying around, and a bendy straw is definitely not strong enough. So I walked the bike down to Redbike, the Greatest Bike Store that Ever Lived.
I really like that place. The guy who fixed my wheel was sympathetic (in his way) when I told him that I had broken my only child. I think he even bumped my damaged wheel to the front of his work queue, because he had it fixed in less than an hour. When I got my bike back, it had a shiny new spoke, and both wheels were so uniformly circular that Archimedes himself may have done the repairs.
Since I bought my bike from Redbike a few years ago, they only charged me thirteen dollars for the new spoke. I would have paid fifty without hesitating, so the least I can do is give them a free plug on my blog:
If you live in Edmonton and you want to buy a bike, go to Redbike. They sell great bikes, they are honest and friendly, and their post-sale service is so good it borders on ridiculous.
Futurama 2008
Futurama is finally getting second chance! That's a big deal for me; Futurama is probably my all-time favourite TV show, and I was very disappointed when it got cancelled several years ago.
You might remember my earlier rumour-mongering about the show's possible resurrection, but now those rumours have been confirmed. The first new episodes will air in 2008.
Salaries are Higher in California
Are you curious to know what the best jobs in America are? CNN has a ranking (thanks Pascal!)
Of course, it's easy for me to approve of a list like this, since my job is prominently in the #1 position. However, I've noticed that two of the very best careers (Puppy Dog Amusement Technician and Sleepy Kitten Wrangler) are not on the list, so I'm not sure how accurate this really is.
The Urban Ninja
So there's this guy who wants a career based on his acrobatic talents. He creates a video featuring himself, and then distributes it online in hopes of being "discovered". Very clever, and effective, too, because he's amazing to watch.
But when I see something like this, I can't help but wonder if I really belong to the same species as this guy. I mean, if I tried to duplicate any 5 seconds of his video, I'd be hospitalized for weeks.
