Commuting

Most people probably aren't aware of the fact that this week is the Campus Commuter Challenge 2006, brought to you by Resource Conservation Manitoba. I know this because I registered my morning commute, and was one of only 70 of approximately 25000 University of Manitoba staff and students to have done so. I almost took the bike this morning, but the wind and temperature discouraged me. Even so, the bus counts. (All modes of transportation that do not consist of a single-driver in a multi-passenger vehicle are eligible). The prizes aren't bad, so if you're a student, you should sign up.

I've also been tracking how many kilometers I've done on my bike since the end of August and I'm up to 400. The number is approximate since I don't always take the ideal Google Maps route, but it is pretty close. That means, on a per day basis, I'm cycling a lot more than the last time I was keeping track.

FP and FF

I don't know how much proofreaders for the Winnipeg Free Press are paid, but whatever it is, it's too much. From an article on scooters in Wednesday's City & Business section, page B1:

Palmquist said he was stopped at the corner of Fort and Broadway when a women walked passed him and stopped her cellphone conversation to say she liked his Vespa.

And later, from the same article (page B2): "It's a good view form the Vespa". It looks like a couple of mistakes that are easy to spot, but your typical shift-F7 spell-checker won't find.

In less uninteresting news, I saw the Final Fantasy show last night at the West End. Openers Magali (from the Phonemes) and Bob Wiseman had their moments, and some of Bob's films that he showed were entertaining, but they're not the reason I went to the show.

I was there for the one-man symphony that is Owen Pallett, Final Fantasy. Compared to the last time I saw him, opening for the Arcade Fire in Amsterdam in May '05, this was a more impressive show. Maybe in order to fill in the more orchestral sounds of his recent He Poos Clouds, the performance this time around was boosted by a keyboard and some new looping pedal tricks, including the rather cool octaval displacement (my terminology), allowing the violin to sound like a cello or double bass. Also new this time around was a somewhat perplexing, yet well done, overhead projector show centred around the 8 schools of magic (from Dungeons and Dragons, I think).

Yesterday's show did nothing to change my opinion that the guy is a genius. He has mad violin skills and writes good tunes to boot. Overall, it was a bowstring-breakin', foot-pedallin', Mariah-Carey-coverin' (something like this) good time.

18.9.2006.update: This fiddler is now richer. He's probably the one I would have picked out of the Polaris prize candidates, but I didn't expect Final Fantasy to win.

With great trepidation...

I like football. More to the point, I like watching football games, in person. I've probably been to over 20 CFL games by this point, and a couple of CIS events as well. Not unrelated to my enjoyment of these events is the fact that, until quite recently, my attendance guaranteed victory for the home team.

I simply call it the streak. It was inexplicable, really. Of my first 14 or 15 CFL games, the Bombers won all of them. This included all 3 wins in Jeff Reinebold's 3-15 season (I'm tempted to fill up this wikipedia stub with bad things about him). It included wins that shouldn't have been, like a remarkable 21-point fourth quarter comeback. It included memorable blowouts, like a 63-18 win over Hamilton, as the always-classy student section chanted "We want 70!".

But somewhere along the way, I lost my mojo. Of my last 7 or 8 games, I've witnessed 3 losses. Still not bad considering Winnipeg's record over the last few years, but not the unblemished record that part of me never thought would end.

So it is with great trepidation that I agreed to go with some friends to this Sunday's Banjo Bowl against Saskatchewan, with two displaced Saskatchewanians (is that the correct appellation?). Part of me is interested in the spectacle of Roughrider fans driving up in large numbers (pictured below). The large crowd expected because of temporary Grey Cup seating is also a draw. And, in a perverse sort of way, it is easier for me to go to games now, without the spectre of the streak haunting me.

Hopefully I have as much fun as these people seem to be having.

POSTGAME UPDATE: Success!

Keys to success

These two are together at last, thanks to the much larger dimensions of my new living space. With a combined age of 39 years between the organ (1977) and keyboard (1996), it not exactly a cutting-edge setup, but it is still fun to play with.

Things to look forward to: Final Fantasy show next Wednesday (13 September), cooler fall temperatures (the 3rd floor is pretty toasty so far).