London calling, yeah I was there too...
July 29th: Munich -> London
July 31st: London -> Toronto
August 1st: Toronto -> Winnipeg
August 4th: Winnipeg -> Toronto
August 4th: Toronto -> Munich
And you know what they said? Well, some of it was true...

I wish it was more acceptable to run indoors. We could divide hallways into express and collector lanes, and let people self-select accordingly.
I've got a three minute plus walk to get anywhere useful in the building I'm in now, and my average foot speed is frustratingly slow. Being able to treat the route as a high-speed steeplechase type of course would make my day immeasurably better.

When you've got no access to a gym for two months, massive overeating may not be your best stay-fit solution. Man, do I ever need some weights.

Picture a summer-themed company event in Canada. Some forced social interaction...maybe a beer or two if you're lucky.
Now imagine a summer corporate blowout in Germany...no special occasion, just an effort to make everyone feel good about their grindingly long six-and-a-half-hour workdays. Imagine free food, three kinds of free beer, two kinds of free coolers, and various women wandering about with trays of Capris Sun juice pouches that they're more than happy to inject with two-ounce syringes of vodka. Imagine people enjoying themselves. Imagine people getting completely tanked, while their superiors look on approvingly, only asking that they refrain from driving home if they've had a few too many. Imagine a massive sound system. Imagine a mohawked DJ.
Imagine something other than the Puritan-Founded, Quilting Bee and Barn Raising Culture we're used to. Imagine Last Call at Dawn, instead of Last Call at a Quarter to Two. Imagine No Last Call at All. Imagine Thirty Civic Holidays a Year. Imagine Enjoying our Pathetic Little Lives.

Anybody want a 2003 Protegé 5?
Silver, stick, A/C, power everything, 600 km or so.
I screwed the dealer over pretty nicely, and I might even be persuaded to knock a bit off what I paid for it too. Hook me up people.

So I'm skipping the Love Parade this weekend. In Berlin.
There's a whole host of good reasons, but I could have swung it if I'd really wanted it...two years ago, I would have given my left arm to be in Berlin for this. Maybe this getting old thing isn't all it's cracked up to be.

A valuable lesson that I'm in the process of re-learning: Don't buy it until you can use it.
I have a list as long as my arm of Stuff I Want. Now, the Wanting of Stuff is a fairly consistent thread throughout my entire life, but now there's a new variable: Income. I'm making decent money, and I have a little window in which my monthly payments will be less crippling than usual...the only problem is, I can't use the vast majority of the Stuff that I Want, due to the "never allowed to go home" nature of my job. It's helping to whittle down the list of Stuff, but it's not helping the mental shopping patterns. I caught myself pricing out a new desktop system today, fully intending to build it. Think about that: A desktop. For a guy who's "home" for maximum, three weeks of every twelve. When would I use a fucking desktop?
Unfortunately for my bank balance, I'm discovering the gadget-based joy that comes from making your life portable...so many new toys that I'd never Wanted before, having never travelled to the extent that I am now. Mmmmmm...small brushed aluminium Things.