I can easily say that the day I had today was well worth the hassle of being stuck in town for a few extra days.  I spent the afternoon/evening with some of my favourite people from my undergrad years.  We were able to relax with each other and have some of the fun that kind of got a little lost as we progressed through the years.

The last portion of a the day would have been terrible with anyone else, but the company made it bearable... therefore, here is a movie review:

High School Musical 3:

Ugghh.  Generally this movie was pretty terrible.

Do you ever wonder what life would be like if you just broke out into song at the drop of a hat?  It would be trite, fickle, and badly overdubbed - just like this movie.

The storyline was weak at best - a group of high-school students write a high-school musical to commemorate the end of their high-school careers.. how high school!  The movie starts off with the basketball team only having 16 minutes left on their last game of the season, and even though they're already talking about prom being around the corner, they have time to write, rehearse, and do a performance run of this elaborately tacky musical.  Of course, the musical has no real story, and it's pretty much just rehashings of songs that were sung earlier in the movie.

As a musical, this triple threat fell flat on its ass: Acting was horrific and unbelievable, much like most musicals, but really... this is a big budget one - at least try!!  Dancing was somewhat redeemable.  The leads were quite good, and there was some strong corps dancing by the guys, but the females didn't make the cut.  At one point there was a kicking chorus line, if you could even dare to call it that - feet were variable pointed... if pointed at all, there was a good 30 degrees variation on kick height, and they were pathetically low!  The singing... well, it was dubbed and way over-processed.  The female vocal lead was pretty bad and the use of pitch correction technology was horribly obvious and shouldn't even have been necessary.  If you're recording something... the professionals should be good enough that they can record something decent on their own, they have lots of opportunity to try, try, and try again... it's not like they are performing it live!  Goddamn, give me a recording studio and a Hollywood budget... I would sound like fucking Horowitz!  Most annoyingly was the slash job of dubbing.  Golly, they can match up voices to cartoon characters, so why can't they do the same for these so-called actors!

Besides all the the numerous flaws with this musical, there were a few good things:

The lead guy was a nice hunk of eye-candy, at first I felt a little guilty cause he was playing a high-school student, but I checked and he's 21, so it's all good.

It's a feel good experience.  As much as I mock, you can't not smile/laugh/pass gas during the overly cheesy romantic moments, or the overdramatized moments where every ounce of their soul is riding on how well they spontaneously dance in the middle of a basketball game.

In conclusion, this movie blows, but it was great fun to watch and make fun of!

vacation extension

I was supposed to be on a train to Toronto/London right now, but it got cancelled.  This change will see me flying home instead, on New Year's Day.

  It's not that I love London, or hate Winnipeg, but I was ready to leave and I was really looking forward to getting a lot of work done on the train ride.  With refund, the travel change is only costing ten dollars, so I got a good last minute flight deal, but I'm sad I won't be taking the train.

Taking the train would have meant missing new years in both cities, which would have been a tad lame, but maybe it would have been for the best.  We'll find out in a few days.

To make up for the isolated productivity of the train, I'm forcing myself to work here.  I went to the neighbourhood library today - I hadn't been there since I was a pre-teen, and I could tell why.  It was tiny, and filled with so many romance novels, self-help books, and junk.  The entire area of the main floor was probably only a thousand square feet, and the work/study area they claimed to have was three tiny tables with chairs.  I got some work done, but it was pretty ghetto.  This was a gentle reminder of just how different the academic world is from the real world.

Merry Christmas!

It's a day late, but festive greetings to all!
I guess it's not a day late, but my family celebrated Christmas a day early because my sister went out of town. Dinner was on Tuesday, and we did presents and such on the 24'th. Today, I did pretty much nothing, but played with Olive and did a minuscule bit of composition.

I'm rather happy with the things I got for Christmas this year; I had requested less 'stuff' and 'junk' because I don't have much luggage room to carry it home with me. Some highlights:
-Leather messenger bag/satchel for laptop and general work stuff
-A really nice blazer/sportscoat
-A sweatervest (*)
*So, I doubt she still reads this blog, but a long time reader and I had a special bond over our performance clothing. For pretty much all performances in our first 2 years of music school, she would wear her performance broach, and I would wear my performance vest. It was a plain black sweater vest with a light white trim on the arms and waist. Because of belly growth and structural decay of the sweater vest, I threw it out. This new one is just all black. In recent years, I've been thinking that I needed one for those performances when a button down just won't suffice, and I don't feel like wearing a jacket. Long story short, I like the sweatervest very much.

Family time has been good over the holidays. The time went by very quickly, and of course I haven't done as much composing as I needed to. Nevertheless, there are a few days left and I will make the best use of them.

This year, I put much less effort into being social while in Winnipeg. I've still seen quite a few people, and I'm wondering if I've missed out on anyone. It's hard to say - sure, I could see more people, but at the same time, I could do with seeing fewer people.
Anyway, there are but a few days left before my exciting train journey back home, so I will make the best of it. YAY!

Happy Festivus!

  Today is the official day to celebrate Festivus.  Last night the dinner went fairly well.  Unlike last year, we actually had a Festivus Pole - fashioned from a broomstick and aluminum foil - suspended from the lamp above the dinner table.

  Despite the short notice, we had just shy of a dozen people there and the food people brought made for a rather delicious meal.

  At the beginning of the night, it was rather delightfully awkward as people were not terribly talkative; they were constantly consulting me about what to do next.  At best, Festivus is a vague holiday, and I don't claim to be an expert, merely an enthusiast.  The best course of action was clearly to loosen people up by drinking while we waited for the rest of the attendees.  Eventually, more people came.  The conversation livened; bellies were filled with food, and hearts were filled with laughter and happiness!

  It wouldn't truly be the holidays without a grumpy gus, so it was truly a Festivus miracle to have had one person there who didn't seem to have been in the Festivus spirit.  Nevertheless, I think that a good time was had by just about everyone!

  Today has been a low-key day.  I've been doing some composing mixed with keeping an eye on my puppy niece.  She has been quite naughty: climbing on couches, reeking havoc in the kitchen, barking like a mad-dog, and general mischievousness.  Because my sister and brother-in-law are heading East on Christmas day, we are having our nice big dinner today.

I love my puppy niece!

Olive is such a delightful puppy niece!  She is filled with energy and spasticity.  She's also adorable and cuddly when she is tuckered out.

We're having Festivus tomorrow.  I intended to host again this year, but just like last time, I'm ghost hosting at Kyle's house - it's much roomier, and trying to control Olive during a dinner party would be a nightmare.  Festivus is coming together very last-minute, so who knows how many people will actually attend.

It shouldn't, but it does surprise me how quickly this month, this term, this year has gone by.  Let's not even mention the thesis...

I've ordered more infusion sets, and they'll arrive here tomorrow or Tuesday.  Tomorrow, I need to change my infusion site, and guess what - it's my last set... so I can't afford for it to not work.  This is cutting it perhaps a little close for comfort.

I've been on a regimen vacation for the last week.  Correcting has helped a bit, but I've not been as accurate with carb counting, and eating close to sleeping once again has caused problems.... I knew there was a reason I vowed to stop.

I know people always say they eat more around the holidays, but I've seen a tangible scale - My average daily insulin usage while in London was around 75 units - since Winnipeg, it's averaging more like 90.... oopsie.  Well, some days were really high, but today was only 63 units.

Winnipeg is cold.  I went tobogganing with some friends yesterday and it was super fun, until our faces couldn't handle the cold burning anymore.  I think it was -30 with windchill feeling like -47, but I'm likely exaggerating, a bit.  We bought 3 dollar crazy carpet things and had the time of our lives!

In Winnipeg for the holidays.

When I walked out of the airport, I was prepared for the worst. Yes, it was damned cold, but I liked it. There's something about the Winnipeg cold that I like. I guess it feels like home. Sure, I love to bitch about the cold, but I think I still prefer it to the humid crap bucket that is London in the winter.
My trip to Vancouver was great. Even though my host Jon had a crippling 'nass' injury, we were still able to do lots of fun things.
I haven't been terribly social since getting into Winnipeg. I spent time with my alway-out-late-at-night friend late-at-night after I flew in, but other than that, I haven't seen any friends. Actually, I spent some great quality time with Petra - my 5'8" 50 year old Czechoslovakian love of my life. She was tuned on the morning of my arrival, so she sounded gorgeous! I really do miss my piano, and piano in general. I hope that whatever next year brings, we will be reunited, or I will at least be able to play lots.
Ok, company has just come over so I need to socialize with friends of the family.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Tonight is my last night in Vancouver.  The time here has been short and sweet.

We did a fair bit of shopping, saw some different parts of the city and most importantly, I got to spend some quality time with Jon and Mai -who were wonderful hosts!

I fly tomorrow evening to Winnipeg, but I'm not excited about the fact that the weather will be around forty below when I arrive, and staying quite cold for the entire week...  As winter has been known to do, this will be a cold visit to my hometown.

I did a wee bit of Christmas shopping here in Vancouver, but I need to do all of my Christmas shopping once I get to Winnipeg.  My suitcase was full enough on my way here,

[This is the suitcase that must be around 40 years old now - it is a hard case blue suitcase with a wonderful duck sticker on it.  It was/is my dad's but I adopted it as my own even though it's not really big enough to fit much in.  Long story short, the front of the suitcase got dented this trip.  I didn't overfill it and it was no fault of my own, but I suppose it had to happen sooner or later.]

but now that I've bought a new light winter jacket best suited for London/Vancouver/non-Winnipeg weather, I'm going to have to struggle to cram everything in somewhere.

For the return part of my trip, I'll switch to a larger suitcase, as I hope to receive/boxing day shop for some new clothes.

I have no idea what to buy for people, but this year it will definitely be done on a conservative budget.  Oh yes, and with love!

Yesterday was, indeed a long day of travel.    

I worked at 10am playing ballet classes.  By the time I got home, I had one and a half hours to pack and get ready.  The last few minutes were a scramble, as they always are, to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything.

I took a shuttle service from London to the Toronto airport which got me there in great time.  From the time I arrived at the airport, it was approximately 6 minutes until I was through security and I had over an hour until my boarding time.  The flight boarded late, but left pretty much on time. 

  The flight itself was pretty good.  I talked for a good chunk of it with my neighbour, and it was really good airplane conversation.  I didn't get any sleep on the plane really, but kinda sorta nodded off during SNL.  By the way, it was actually a pretty good episode last night.  I haven't watched SNL in years because it has been so disappointing.  Perhaps, there is a turnaround in effect.

  We arrived on time in Vancouver and my luggage was one of the first to come off the ramp, so I went straight outside to wait in line for a taxi. I waited for a while, and people were impatient.  There was a woman whose job it was to organize taxi rides.  I felt so bad for her, because everyone was so impatient and rude to her.  Apparently because of some snow, there were a few accidents, and there was no traffic getting in or out of the island where the airport is.  I came inside and wasted some time on the internet, but eventually decided to wait in the line which had grown to about 50 people.  Most people left the line at some point because we kept being told that it would be a long time, and it was.  Having arrived at 11am, I did not get a taxi until 2:30am - 5:30 London time.

  Now I'm here at my friends Jon and Mai's apartment!  They are wonderful hosts and I had a great sleep, eventually.

  Yay Vancouver!

Well, I hadn't done it for quite a while, but I started back at it the other night. I stayed up until 5am on tuesday because of it.
I knit.
My new macbook inspired me to knit a case for it. I'm not the type that would waste my money on a case, especially when I can make one myself.
Therefore, here are pictures of the computer and its new home.


There's nothing really special about the pictures of the computer itself, you can get a nicer look at the computer and its features on the promotional website, but there you go anyway.

Below are pictures of the case I've spent several hours of procrastination time making. I haven't finished it yet, I need to sew the back of the apple logo together at the back so it doesn't stretch so much.
Also, I made it a little too small - it fits nice and tight so the macbook is safe and sound, but the stretch is especially noticeable with the logo. Once again, sewing it together at the back will fix that slightly, but hmm.. only time will tell.














In other news, I haven't gotten the gleaming results I've wanted from the pump this week. I meant to fast during the afternoon sometime this week, but it just didn't fit into my schedule. Tomorrow, I have my last phone meeting with my nurse, so hopefully she will have some helpful advice.
I leave on Saturday and will be spending the rest of the month out West. I will be treating it like a pump vacation for bits of it. In order to get a clear picture of my insulin's function, I haven't been allowed to correct for high sugars this last few weeks, but I will be taking care of that while away. Hopefully, this will remind me of the goodness that the pump promises. So far, it hasn't delivered what it is supposed to be able to do. I realize that I need to work at it, and I have, but it has been less than inspiring thus far.

Also, tomorrow I have my last meeting with my thesis adviser before he goes on sabbatical, and though I will still meet with him next term, I want to make the most of it. With that said, I haven't written enough for tomorrow, so I'm off to do that!

I sent in my applications to Toronto and McGill today!
I'm taking the day to relax, then I'll do some work on my thesis.
It feels good to have that dealt with. Now there are just a few things to deal with before I leave for my holidays.

Last night was a minor, yet aggravating setback - my printer ran out of toner! I didn't notice until after printing some orchestral scores, so I wasted about 40 pages of paper.
Today I will buy new toner and paper. I will probably miss the postman, but I still plan to get the packages to the post office today.

I finished writing both proposals last night and did an initial edit. Today I will edit them better and revise the Personal Statement so it will fit U of T.

After taking hours for my PC notebook to convert wma files into apple format, I woke up and copied the files onto my new macbook and now it has music. When it gets internet access, it will be complete!

I'm working on my research statement for McGill. I'm not allowing anymore procrastination - I WILL send off my packages tomorrow for McGill and U of Toronto. I need the rest of the week to work on my thesis.
I'm meeting a friend from Winnipeg for lunch tomorrow - inspiration to get up early and work hard tomorrow morning! Then after lunch, it will be a trip to Kinky-Kinko's and the post office.
Mailing early = cheapish postage. 2 years ago, I blogged about spending 11$ on postage for my McGill application implying that that was expensive... if only I knew how expensive last minute shipping could get!

Pump - sugars are acting pretty reliably, though high, but not too high. I'm leaving next Saturday, and I won't want to be tracking sugars as much while I'm on 'vacation', so this is the week to fix things!

Baby Steps

I'm staying in on a Saturday night, and I'm kind of enjoying my hermitishness.

I'm getting things done, little by little:
I did two loads of laundry.
I finished writing a draft of my personal statement for McGill.
I finished the online application to Boston University.

Things left to be done before I leave London:
Edit and finalize research statement for McGill.
Choose, print and bind scores for McGill and U of T.
Compile and mail application packages.
Compose and hopefully complete first movement of thesis.
Organize paperwork so I don't go crazy when tax time comes.


Updates on the standard topics:
Macbook - frustration = I can't get my music onto my new mac. It won't let me import wma files, and I can't get them to go from Ipod into Itunes.
Any suggestions would be most welcomed!

Pump - I'm wearing my infusion set more on this side than normal, so it's getting in the way - it snagged on a door earlier and though it's still intact, it was somewhat unpleasant.
I know it hasn't even been a week, but I'm still not getting used to being tethered.

Macbook

I left a note for UPS to deliver to the bookstore beneath me if I wasn't around today. When I got home around 4pm, there was a macbook waiting for me!
I had to deal with my pump first with a phone call from my nurse and an infusion set change, but eventually I unpacked it and did my manual reading and enjoyed.

It really is as wonderful as it has been hyped to be. Setting it up was intuitive and simple. I installed Sibelius in a flash and moved over all of my important files.
I won't have internet on it for a while because our wireless is IP specific, so my roommate needs to add the new IP address when he gets back after the weekend.

Photobooth = the most fun ever, haha!

I really don't enjoy being this emotionally flippant. As I'm sure you can tell, I've been up and down a lot lately due to my sugars.
I sent a bitchy email to my pump nurse earlier today and felt quite justified in doing so. Later, and especially while talking to her, I was reminded of how nice she is and how undeserving of my rage she is.
In theory, I won't let things get to me, but in reality, I can't help it!
Anyway, the nurse made a nice big adjustment that should make things better and she promised that in a week's time, I will be able to correct for high sugars again! YAYAYAY!!

Online shipment tracking is a wonderful thing.
I want my macbook NOW NOW NOW so I've been checking at least daily to see where my macbook has made it to.
Last time I checked, it had left Shanghai. Since then, it arrived in Anchorage, Alaska and made its way down to Louisville, Kentucky. Seems a little wasteful, why not ship it directly from Alaska to ME?!? Anyway, it's getting close; I'm going to be hopeful and tell myself that I'll have it on Friday, maybe Monday at the latest.

Sugars are much better than yesterday, thanks to waking up with slightly low sugars... eep!
As predicted, though, they climbed their way back up to around 11 by the time I got around to lunch.
Nevermind, I spoke too soon. Sugars are sucking again. I went up high after lunch for no apparent reason - same food and same bolus as the other day, but not the same effect.
Grrr.

Nothing says happy beginning of September like the remnants of one's body devouring itself due to lack of insulin.
It's been years since I've had ketones, and tonight I had trace amounts.
I fasted all morning and part of the afternoon then had some late lunch. The sugars all day were around 11-13mmol, so while they were high, I at least know that the basal rate is pretty close.
After lunch, I changed the infusion site.
At dinner, my sugars had gone up a bit, so I took a correction with my dinner. Low GI value and the correction taken with it should have seen my sugars actually drop down before coming back up and levelling off after dinner, but they never went down at all. When I tested for, and found even just trace amounts of ketones, I knew it was time to yank the site and try a new one.
I took a correction by insulin pen and I'll check to see that worked in a little while.

I'm trying to stay positive about pumping, I really am. I will continue to try, but this is wearing me thin- not literally of course, haha.
Nevertheless, I'm not a quitter. Between that and my love of spite, I will stick with this damned pump for a while yet.

My new reader pointed out that my last post seemed out of place.
I used to blog in that manner a lot more often a few years ago, but not so much these days. I'm generally a very happy-go-lucky guy. There aren't many things that get me pissy, but boy - watch out when they do, haha!

The background - I've been diabetic since I was 7 years old, totalling 18 years now. Over the last 3 years, I've been relearning Diabetes and making some strong improvements to my control and approach. I wish I had the time to add labels for all 7 hundred posts so that you could filter the diabetes ones...
Anyway, this last year I have felt IN CONTROL of my diabetes. While the numbers could improve, I had a good understanding of how my body worked in most situations and what to do to work WITH my body and its lack of insulin.
Since starting on the pump, I feel that I've lost that control. Don't be scared away by what I say- I'm sure I will love it in a few weeks, but this new regimen and all the change are testing my patience. Also, spending an entire day above 10 is something that I hadn't done in a long time, and I really really dislike it - as you gathered from my last post.

I want to wish Gary the best of luck tomorrow as he starts on his pump!
Congrats!
I hope that the experience is great for you, and I want to hear all about it. Are you keeping a blog also?

In addition to the pump, the company sent me the Contour Link glucose meter. It has a feature that allows it to communicate with the pump wirelessly. Unfortunately, my meter reads everything at 2mmol higher than my other 3 meters say. I will be sending it back for a replacement when I have time.
In terms of the Continuous Glucose Monitor - I bought the sensor and the things I'll need to use it, but the training I'm doing instructs us to not use it until we are fully operational on the pump.
I did however have previous experience with the CGM. Go here to see what I wrote about it, also check the archive for the days before and after that. Like here or here.

In conclusion, today was a better day.
I'm getting the physical manifestations of the cumulative stress in my life. Jaw tension and arm tension abound!
A quick view of things to do:
Lesson tomorrow that I haven't done much writing for - I'll do much tonight and tomorrow morning.
Anxiously awaiting both Macbook and pump supplies in the mail.
I've almost finished off a piece that I'm excited to hand over to the singer in the next few days.
Dance exams on Friday - need to find time to practice, AND they're at 9am! in the morning!
McGill and Toronto applications need to be sent out within the week. ish.
I need to have finished 25% of my thesis in a few days to stay on track.