no heat

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We had the furnace ducts cleaned yesterday by the 4 Seasons Home Comfort people.  $262.50 later, we have clean ducts.  But it didn’t do any good at first because a transformer blew apart.  How?  Something about a faulty ground wire.  There is normally a buzzing noise from the furnace (the old transformer did that), but this morning – no buzz, and no heat.  Another technician came today to fix it, no charge.  Now all is good.

holiday outside the box (or inside the box)

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Now here’s an idea that, upon first look, seems kooky.  Vacation in prison.  But, having lived in South Korea for many years, I know that work can take its toll on a person.  The busy busy busy, go go go, workaholic lifestyle wears a person thin.  Enter: Prison.  Well, a place that apparently resembles prison.

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Google Console and searches

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It occurred to me a while back that my websites were not searchable in Google, Ask.com, Yahoo!, Duckduckgo, or anything else.  Why?  Didn’t people search for seaweed soup or ESL classes?  Weren’t people interested?  I was hurt!  Not really, but it was weird nonetheless.  Back in the day, when static HTML pages ruled and students logged in, my website was searched for many times.

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the The (the article)

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Long ago someone asked me why I said, “my wife,” as though she belonged to me.  That someone was a man-hating feminist vegan lesbian artist.  I gave her a ride home once.  She seemed nice.  I didn’t know she had a hate-on for men at the time.  I was just offering a ride home.  “Do you own her?  Does she belong to you?” she asked.  I jokingly said, “No, I think she owns me.”  That didn’t go over well.  No, “belong to” in my thinking doesn’t mean “ownership”.  It means “membership”, as in “I belong to this group”.  A member of a team.  Without the team (read: community), I am incomplete.  Without me, the team (again, the community) is incomplete.  I should have started with that!

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Oolong

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I’m drinking Oolong tea these days.  I did a search on Ask.com.  According to Caffeine Informer, the average cup of Oolong has 37mg of caffeine.  My Starbucks Americano (tall) has 150mg.  And their Pike Place – I was surprised at this – has a whopping 235mg of caffeine!  Good gawd.  So this is why I’m switching to tea as my “second cup”.  Eventually I plan to go without caffeine.

You probably don’t know this, but my nickname from way back is Oolong.  The Wife gave that to me.  Why?  I still don’t know, but it’s probably because it sounds like Allan in some languages & cultures.  Good enough reason to switch to tea.

arrived at Fernie, BC

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I’m here.  I arrived at Fernie yesterday afternoon.

The place I’m staying at is actually someone’s apartment with the largest bedroom for their guest (me).  The rest of the apartment is shared.  They spend most of their time in their own rooms.

There is a music festival here this weekend, but I haven’t heard any yet.  I don’t even know where it will be.  I’m sure I’ll catch wind of it sooner or later.

It rained pretty much all yesterday and this morning.  The sun has come out now, in time for the festival.

More later.