Well, finally there’s a break from the horrendous heat and humidity though the weather is still warm, sunny and lovely. It’s difficult to find motivation, including writing blog entries, when the temperature indoors is over 90/32 degrees for days and weeks at a time. No air-conditioning, no happy face.

This Saturday Matt is off to Dublin for a week-long physics conference, and I’ve decided to make a trek to NYC. If you’re reading this and will be in the city next week let me know! I’ll be touring around on foot taking photos. And I’ve managed to find a perfect and economical sleeping arrangement in midtown for the duration via craigslist. Big thanks to Craig!

In other news I have crossed the line and become a bonafide Flickr addict. If you’re in the mood to browse some incredible photography then I encourage you view a slideshow of my accumulating favorites. Awe-inspiring!

Happy Canada Day, July 1st!
Originally uploaded by David Wyman.

It’s a beautiful day for patriotism :O)

Keep up with the day’s antics by checking out photos on flickr tagged ‘Canada Day’

Since I’m posting this from the USA I’ll say for the record that I don’t believe Canada is part of any Axis if Envy (as Fox News dude John Gibson rants in this essay in Macleans mag.

We like to mind our own business as a country, and the only sense of anti-Americanism in Canada as I see it is more like caution when Administration USA tries to meddle with our ways. Sharing the largest trade border in the world often brings up instances of this, of course.

Some people also say Canadians think they are somehow ‘above’ Americans. Aside from that being geographically true, Canada is just being protective of our identity. Maintaining our identity on this continent isn’t always easy, so sometimes in conversations with Americans we talk about what makes Canada so great. And it is great.

How is that anti-Americanism, really?

Canadians strongly believe in freedom. That’s why same-sex marriage is OK, why there are successful efforts to legalize marijuana, why we try to use humane methods to combat drug addiction, why we honor a doctor who fought for abortion rights, and why we respect Aboriginal Self-Government.

There’s a lot we don’t get right, but when it’s good it’s really really good. I love you Canada!

That’s 646 pound of catfish right there. Grizzly Bear-Size, says National Geographic.

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A cancelled wedding in Everett, Washington turns out OK. The non-bride and her parents decide to invite homeless people to their already-paid-for reception!

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Fauja Singh is 94 years young. He started running marathons at age 81, and has done 7 to date.

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Bill Cosby (who has been accused of drugging and fondling women) plays the role of a bitter, strict and loveless dad to the entire African-American population - again.

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Surprise surprise. The Washington Post documents an audit revealing how “TSA Lost Control of Over $300 Million Spent by Contractor to Hire Airport Screeners After 9/11″. Improper budget spending includes these line-items:

· $1,540 to rent 14 extension cords at $5 each per day for three weeks at the Wyndham Peaks Resort and Golden Door Spa in Telluride, Colo.

· $8,100 for elevator operators at the Marriott Marquis in Manhattan.

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And last but not least, that’s one cute, laid-back puppy dog:

If you have a blog, go help a guy with his PhD research!

We had a whirlwind Saturday preparing an Indian meal for 15 people! It was a lot of work and involved deep frying countless pakoras and samosas and pan-frying what seemed like a million parathas.

This endeavor started a few weeks ago when I read a post seeking Indian catering for a party on one of the Ithaca newsgroups I subscribe to (ithaca.general, ithaca.marketplace & cornell.marketplace). Since Indian is my favorite cuisine and I cook it often (and well), Matt encouraged me to respond. I prepared some samples for them to try and that was successful enough to get the gig. I thought it quite hilarious that a couple of Canadians were about to cater Indian food for a party of people from India, and I think it was equally entertaining for the party people!

They wanted vegetarian dishes, so here’s the rundown of the menu we made:

Pakoras with cauliflower, carrots & onions
Samosas with potato, peas & corn

Raita
Apple Chutney
Mint Chutney

Spinach & Chaana Dal
Mutter Paneer
Aloo Gobi

Palau Rice with saffron & peas
Parathas

I spent a couple of days preparing what I could beforehand such as making paneer, the Indian cheese, and cleaning, chopping and peeling lots of veggies. By the time we should have been out the door to deliver, we were still frying last-minute parathas - it was organized mayhem but I’m still dizzy from the experience.

The good news is that all the Indian dishes were a hit, especially the samosas & pakoras.

The bad is since it was a birthday party we also made a chocolate cake and unfortunately that didn’t go over so well. It seems they tossed it out actually, which is embarrassing, but hey we got all the tough stuff right!

Another (brief) thunderstorm, another show:

Somehow I’ve got material for yet another bird post. Upstate NY is bird-crazy and there’s an abundance of birds here, so there you go. To prove my case I could now link to a bunch of birding sites and mail lists (which I actually subscribed to for a short time until the infighting got out of hand) but just trust me on this.

Some recurring themes are taking shape when it comes to my personal relationship with birds: Again this particular story involves an impending birdy death (like here); and uncanny coincidence (like here).

Very early yesterday morning I carried the laundry down the block, started three loads, then headed toward Gimme! for a coffee. A few feet ahead on the sidewalk I saw what I first thought was a large, pinkish flower petal, and for whatever reason made a point not to step on it. Hmm, that was strange-looking, so I glanced back at it and thought that actually looks something like a funny-shaped slug. I closely studied it for a few more seconds, realized it was a breathing, living thing, and what looked like a little distended tummy took shape. Suddenly I had an idea what this curious thing was…. a freshly-hatched bird left to die on the sidewalk! YUCKY.

I bee-lined home to grab my camera so I could now share what I saw. Back on my way down the block I also mentioned this little phenomenon to a woman walking her dog (a well-mannered Jack (FYI now Parson) Russell). I invited her to come take a look because I didn’t know if anything could possibly be done to save it, and I thought it only right to share the burden of my discovery with someone else. She said her hardcore vegan friend would just kill it. The alternative, which she did, was to take a couple of twigs and move it off the sidewalk.

Now for the kind-of-gross but fascinating part - PICTURES!
Click only if you really really want to:

About an hour later I walked by and the bird was gone! What became of it?

Moving on to the bizarre coincidence. When I returned home I transferred the pics, then browsed me some internet. Awhile back, like 6 weeks ago, I entered a draw for some art at Art Prostitute so I decided to check in to see if a winner has been announced and as luck would have it no, not yet.

But this image on their site looked freakishly familiar to me:

And when I visited this Site of the Month, I saw more than a few images of dead baby birdies, like this one which is more developed than the above.

Weird coincidence, no?

Finally we’re getting some rain after a solid week of an epic heatwave. I was watching TV when the thunderstorm started at about 7-ish, got up to shut some windows and sat back down. About 10 minutes later a National Weather Service buzz came on warning of severe thunderstorms coming through. A few minutes late but hey, it’s a Syracuse channel, so I guess it was relevant timing for them.

At this moment I’m listening to our neighbour next door practicing cello on his back porch. It sounds particularly beautiful with the rain as backdrop - which is perhaps what inspired him, because I haven’t heard him playing before.

So how do you like it? The new blog design, that is.

There’s a whole lotta changes going on behind the scenes, and some functionality isn’t up to snuff yet. Life in Ithaca is now powered by Wordpress, a switch that should have happened a long time ago.

On the surface migrating from Movable Type to Wordpress seems kind of easy, but lots can go wrong. The only real trouble I’m having now is ironing out the RSS2 and Atom feeds. If anyone out there knows how to modify the feeds to publish an entire entry instead of just an excerpt, I’d appreciate you sharing your secret mojo with me. I’d think it should be simple but I can’t locate proper documentation to guide the way to reaching feed bliss. I know you want it :O)

Also, a few of the wonders of this blog are still missing. Photo albums and other goodies are on the way very shortly.

Last night we caught the tail-end of the parade that kicked off this weekend’s Ithaca Festival. I took a few photos but we showed up too late to jockey for a good viewing position. I actually forgot what day it was, but we heard the sound of beating drums around 7:30 and remembered ahh yes it’s Parade Day! It’s surprising we didn’t hear the crowds gathering sooner, since the parade rounds the corner just a block away.

In just an hour and a half the Commons should start rocking (at least the bellies should be, since the Mirage Belly Dance Troupe is scheduled for noon).