andrewsund.net

yesterday i went grocery shopping

it was a case lot sale and one of the things on sale was a 12 pack of canned pears.  i quite like pears and so i was humming and hawing over the purchase.  $1.08 for a serving of pears?  surely that’s a little too extravagant for my blood.  i took a devil may care attitude and decided to buy them anyways.  the cashier took forever to ring in my goods, eying the french side of the tomatoes, trying different codes on the register.  only when i walked out did i realize that he had rang my pears through as peas and i basically paid half price.  how sweet these pears taste!

Bulletin C

     INTERNATIONAL EARTH ROTATION AND REFERENCE SYSTEMS SERVICE (IERS) 

SERVICE INTERNATIONAL DE LA ROTATION TERRESTRE ET DES SYSTEMES DE REFERENCE

SERVICE DE LA ROTATION TERRESTRE
OBSERVATOIRE DE PARIS                                   
61, Av. de l'Observatoire 75014 PARIS (France)
Tel.      : 33 (0) 1 40 51 22 29
FAX       : 33 (0) 1 40 51 22 91
Internet  : services.iers@obspm.fr

                                               Paris, 14 January 2010
                                                           

                                               Bulletin C 39
                                
                                               To authorities responsible                   
                                               for the measurement and 
                                               distribution of time             
                                                                                        


                          INFORMATION ON UTC - TAI
                      

 NO positive leap second will be introduced at the end of June 2010.
 The difference between Coordinated Universal Time UTC and the 
 International Atomic Time TAI is :		
		
     from 2009 January 1, 0h UTC, until further notice : UTC-TAI = -34 s

 Leap seconds can be introduced in UTC at the end of the months of December 
 or June,  depending on the evolution of UT1-TAI. Bulletin C is mailed every  
 six months, either to announce a time step in UTC, or to confirm that there 
 will be no time step at the next possible date.


                                           Daniel GAMBIS
                                           Head			
                                           Earth Orientation Center of the IERS
                                           Observatoire de Paris, France

continuing on the topic of glasses/bed

i’ve had two separate dreams recently where my glasses could barely correct my vision to recognize someone across the street while squinting.  back in real life, my prescription has held relatively stable for a number of years.  what could this possibly mean?

before bed

i took my glasses off before bed, reached over and dropped them into a jug of water.  this morning they were completely submerged.

i saw a man in a grocery store wearing a shirt

the shirt said “smoking is my choice too, so fuck off!” on the back.  the man was scary looking and the shirt had seen some use so i didn’t ask him where he bought it.  sorry tom.

luggage

i have a backpack-style duffel bag given to me by my sister for my birthday one year.  it’s probably one of the most useful gifts i’ve received.  it needs the straps to be resewn; the thread is pulling away and i’m worried that they will rip off with every shouldering.  i try to use the side handle at all times because of this.  anyways, the purpose of this post was to let people know that airports aren’t safe places for these types of bags.  i travel pretty often and less than half of the time my bag makes it through the whole system without being opened up.  it’s pretty hard to open my bag deliberately, so i think there’s something else going on here.  the bag in question has three grommets, a loop and a latch that fastens it.  the grommets are a little too large and the latch actually gets pulled through them, making it impossible to open the bag unless it is pulled back out and disengaged.  anyways, the purpose of this post is to let people know that baggage searchers can’t properly close bags of this type.  most of the time, i find the latch hooked on to a single grommet, closing the bag, but not securely.  two major annoying incidents stand out:

1. going YVR to YYZ.  my bag arrived closed, half deflated.  a short while later, my camera arrived wrapped in pillow on the baggage conveyor.  someone had actually removed my pillow wrapped camera and closed my bag again.
2. just recently, coming home from SYD to YVR.  my bag had a giant wire twist tie wrapped around the grommets, but looked to be fine.  i closed it properly again before going through customs.   when i got home and unpacked, the several leftover cans of chickpeas and “baked beanz” that i had in there were missing, but everything else was present, including an australian plug adapter that was packed with them.  some asshole took my legumes and carefully repacked my bag.

what am i to do but take a normal looking bag next time?

new years resolutions

i did this last year and they look a little dated now.  here we go 2010:

• finish basic construction at my place
• speak up
• motorcycle tour
• bicycle tour
• go on a trip somewhere

i’ve been pretty happy lately

yesterday (christmas)

a drunk guy called me harry potter and told me to go back to hogwarts

bc hydro

my hydro bill was $12.83 for the month of november