I've been working on a personal web project a lot this summer, and it's finally ready for a beta run. I've sent out an invitation to many of my trusted friends and colleagues to beta test, and if you're interested in becoming a beta tester, drop me an email and I'll tell you how.

SmartShoppingList.com is basically a way to manage your shopping list online, with the ability to record your purchases, and have the system automatically predict when you'll need to buy something based on your past purchases. (It's locked down right now, but if you want the username and password, drop me an email).

There's a lot more coming down the pipe, but the mantra in web applications is "release early, release often," so I'm putting it out there in phases.

So I'm still eating reasonably healthy compared to my usual diet, and it tastes pretty good, too. My main complaint is that it takes a lot of prep to cook vegetables, and a lot of planning in terms of all the stuff you have to buy. Pictured at left is acorn squash with pecan butter glaze and a spicy-rubbed corn, both done on the BBQ.

Pictured next is the same squash, with some grilled asparagus. I've found that asparagus is one of my favourite things to grill; when cooked correctly, it's fantastic with just a bit of oil, salt and pepper, and even if you overcook it, it's still pretty damn good.

I can't imagine being a vegetarian-- I love eating meat too much. But I say that the same way that any addict says they love their fix. Eating meat is as much habitual as it is nutritional, and I'm taking an overdue look at my eating habits.

This is all prompted from a video I watched on TED.com presented by Mark Bittman about how meat production adversely affects the world. It's not a political or moral polemic, it's just a scientific look at how things would be better if we'd eat less meat.

I know that I like to BBQ, and I do enjoy how some BBQ'ed vegetables taste, so I've decided to spend a week trying to eat vegetarian via my BBQ.

After some quick Googling, I picked out a half-dozen recipes and bought all the ingredients. It was the most vegetables I'd ever bought at one time. Tonight I made mediterranean grilled vegetable sandwiches with grilled asparagus and prosciutto with orange mayonnaise (pictured above).
The verdict? The asparagus was delicious, but the mayo was a bit fatty and overwhelming. The sandwich was much more bland than I'd expected-- some fresh basil will spice it up-- and I need to use a roll, or simple split bun instead of slicing the french bread diagonally (which lets the juices leak out, and shreds the roof of your mouth). In fact, the sandwich was so bland, I had to have another to be sure.

I also really underestimated the portions. When the recipe says "serves 4," it's not like how a pack of Kraft Dinner, or a large steak can serve 4. I couldn't have eaten another bite, and I have at least two full portions of everything left over.

Funny thing: a little while after dinner, I had an orange. It was fantastic. Then I had an almost nervous tic for some chocolate; I had a brownie in the fridge given to me by a student, but after a couple of bites, I felt kind of grossed out and couldn't finish it.

Yes, that worries me too.

Lots of folks have asked me how the run went. I know this is just out of politeness, but I thought I'd wrap up what happened.

At the 1km mark, I noticed that I had run for 5:30, which would be way too slow to finish under 25 minutes. So I tried plan B: sprint for 30 seconds, then jog very slowly for 1 minute, then repeat. Plan B is also known as "a very stupid idea." After three minutes of this nonsense, I gave up and went back to just jogging slowly.

At about the 3.5km mark, I was ready to just walk for a bit, when I was passed
by a pair of cute girls with very nice butts. Their butts fell directly into my visual range, what with my head tilted pathetically toward the asphalt and all. My spirits were now buoyed, and I drafted in this fine view for the remainder of the race.

It turns out that my published race time (29:16) was the GUN race time, not my CHIP race time. My chip race time was actually 27:56, and I finished 33rd out of 176 runners in my age category. Stats like that start giving me the crazy idea that if I trained, I might be able to come first in my group. How hard could it be? Heck, I'm already in the top 20%!
When I crossed the finish line, I scooped up my free swag (juices, fruit, water, yogurt tubes, etc.), and headed straight for the free massage tent-- it almost makes running worthwhile-- but after a great 10 minute rub-down, the poor massage therapist-in-training had to wipe my sweat off the table. I forgot that your body keeps sweating after you stop running. Seems like a design flaw to me.

Then I jumped on the C-Train for the gruelling 3 minute ride home. By that time I was feeling great and wondering why I hadn't run harder...

...well, there's always the Breast Cancer run in the fall!

Thanks to everybody who so graciously contributed to my run fundraising efforts.

Click on the video below to watch the Official Draw Results.

This year's Mother's Day Run was a great event, and the turnout was over 14,000 runners, walkers, and wheelchair racers. I know you don't really give a shit about this-- what you really care about is Where's My Money?!?

Yes, of course. The money.

So the completely unsurprising news is that I didn't even come close to running the 5K in 25 minutes.
Which means that somebody is going to win DOUBLE their money back! Yay!

Again, THANK YOU to all the folks who ponied up-- at the end of the day, we'll have raised over $1,100!!! I say "at the end of the day" because a couple of stragglers are coughing up their dough this week, so I will be putting off the draw until next weekend as promised in my last email.

Thanks again, and stay tuned for the draw results!

Growing up, I can remember my dad saying on more than one occasion that every time he came into some extra cash, some expense, often unforeseen, would appear that was almost that exact amount. I rarely came into extra cash as a youth, and my emergency expenses were always my parents', so this week has been a great confirmation that I am indeed becoming my father.

In our recent contract settlement, Alberta teachers received a one-time lump sum payment of $1500. Fantastic.

So Calgary has been getting really warm lately, and I can almost feel my winter tires melting on the pavement. I called my mechanic and scheduled to buy new summer tires and have them swapped.

"Are you sure?" he said.

"Yep."

"Seriously... are you sure?"

It had been in the high teens on and off for a couple of weeks. June is around the corner. Of course I'm sure.

I drop my car off for the tires, a tune-up and road test. It's over 15°C. Everything's on track. The next day I get a call from the mechanic. The tune-up was great, and the car is in incredible condition, except that I need brake shoes to go with my tires. The total damage now? $1271.

The insult adding to that financial injury is that I picked up the car yesterday, and the weather today? An unpredicted 20cm of snow.

Heee-larious! And my run on Sunday is calling for rain. You can bet that the winner of the draw will have donated $100, and I will run in more than 25 minutes
which will mean that of my original $1500 windfall, I will have $29.

That should buy just enough alcohol to help me forget this ever happened.

Some experiences take some work. Sort of like relationships. It took a lot of effort to stay engaged in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind after a very slow, disjointed first half hour.

By the end of the movie, I realized how uncannily appropriate that feeling was; how the work you put into following the plot lines and cuts was rewarded by the fantastic ending, just like in a relationship.
Make sure you stick it out through the first little bit. Don't fight it-- the story melts into you eventually, intuitively. It's incredibly well-done.

I was buying a birthday card for a friend today, when I saw a new category: Gay Wedding.

One card had two guys at the altar, with the Justice of the Peace saying, "You may now exchange recipes." Another had two guys in tuxes holding hands, carrying huge happy face lollipops.

It would be interesting to see how greeting cards have changed over the years to reflect society. I'm sure somebody way smarter than me, with more time on their hands, is already putting together a doctorate on exactly this topic.

It's great to see that gay wedding cards are hitting the mainstream.
My only complaint? Most gay people are way funnier than these cards.

It's all about the little things. And what I've learned is that these little things have always been happening, but I've gotten better at seeing them, and appreciating them.

A class full of kids, different learning styles, different computer-savviness, all riveted at being able to get the computer to print out "Yer Mom" on the screen.

A punk with a mohawk and a Muslim girl in a hijab, laughing and skipping arm in arm down the hallway.

Meeting with a concerned parent and his son's teachers. The parent would like us to shame his son by announcing the boy's low mark to the entire class. Shame will motivate. He may be right, but I explain it's not an option. FOIP. Professional standards. Self-esteem. The father gives me a look that says, "Fuck your FOIP. Make my boy learn."

The track team is training in the hallway because there is snow on the ground in April. One athlete, winded, complaining to another: "Yeah, but I run the 400. You run the 3000. That's like... 4 times longer!" And then after a moment, "At least four times."

Later, as I leave, I see that student and his teammates and coach stretching. I ask him about his math. He has since concluded that 7 is a better estimate than 4. Which leads to a fun conversation about why math is important. Everything from being able to do your taxes to telling how much time is left in class.

Tomorrow will be different.