Friday, February 16th

Listened to: Afganada, Freestyle, Static in Stereo, Age of Electric, Limblifter. I found myself in a "Todd Kerns" mood today for music. Also Ryan Dahle. They are much better together, I feel. It was very much a Vancouver indie-grunge-rock feel in my car today. If anybody knows what I'm talking about, that will help me not feel as old and dorky as I do now.

Delivered to: 30

Conversations had: 4

Moments of Awkwardness: 0 (one thing about this job, it has really prepared me to fact the gamete of awkward situations that life may throw at me. I give "mad props" to it for that)

Judgments passed: 2

Things Devoured: One Footlong Subway Melt on Wheat, 2 White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookies, Three medium size diet coke, one grande Kenya blend, two pieces of gum

Things Learnt: My memory for music is far more advanced than I care to admit. I had not listened to a CD for, probably, three years. Before then, I did not listen to it much. Today, I was able to sing along to it without hearing the song and knowing when the lead singer changed the melody or used harmony. It was sad.

The adventure continues: There is no blood in her stool, but she is gassy*

There is something in existence called a "Doomsday Vault." It is used to store seeds of all storable vegetation and plant life in a safe place just in case some sort of disaster strikes. Not as cool as I thought it was going to be when I heard someone say "Doomsday Vault."

Memorable Moments: I delivered to a house next to a graveyard. There were cars parked all around the graveyard, so I thought there was a funeral. I got excited. I's never seen a funeral or a gathering in remembrance in a graveyard before. Only on the movies. Alas, there were no people in the graveyard. There was also a school nearby so the cars must have been there for some special school event. Bah. At least no one died. I guess.

Percentage of Notebook I use to Take Notes that got Covered with a Coffee Stain Today: 35%

*for clarification, see previous blogs

Thursday, February 15th

Listened to: Evidence that Demands a Verdict, K-OS

Delivered to: 10

Conversations had: 1

Moments of Awkwardness: 0

Judgments Passed: 1

Things Devoured: Nothin'

Things Learnt: People who have the last name Tickle are not necesarily jovial by nature

Memorable Moments: I was sitting in my car, recording another person delivered to, and it started to rain. My stereo had not come on yet and the sound of the rain falling on my metal, or tin, whatever cars are made out of, roof. It was calming. I have missed the rain.

Thought: If your house is around 100 feet away from the road and someone driving on said road can see clearly what it is that you are watching on TV through your living room window, your TV may be too big. Our culture is stupid.

Wednesday, February 14th

Listened to: Freestyle, Matt Redman

Delivered to: 7

Conversations had: 1

Moments of Awkwardness: 1

Judgments Passed: 2

Things Devoured: Nada

Things Learnt: People are lonely

Memorable Moments: I turned down this side street that I often take to get to a group of retirement-type homes and there was this old man walking along the side of the road. As soon as I turned onto the road, he stopped, crossed his arms, began looking upset/constipated and just watched me come up to him, pass him and then, as I saw in my rearview mirror, drive away. I was not speeding, I was not swearing, I do not have dirty pictures on my car, I was not playing my music very loudly and my car is not fancy. Strange.

There is a man who often goes into dumpsters looking for anything useful who wanders around town with a shopping cart. I have seen him often and he is always alone. Today, there was a lady with a shopping cart walking with him. It was sweet. Happy Valentines Day, buddy.

During my drive to my last delivery of the day, the sky looked as though it were on fire. It was this beautiful orange and pink colour all over. It was a nice end to a fairly easy day.

Valentines Received: 0, which is okay. I don't think my wife would appreciate me receiving valentines from someone other than her. Plus, I know that I'm loved. I don't need cards to tell me, often anyway. Only sometimes.

Tuesday, February 13th

Listened to: Freestyle, Martha Wainright

Delivered to: 3

Conversations had: 1

Moments of Awkwardness: 0

Judgments Passed: 4 (most coming within the last half hour, as usual)

Things Devoured: One Grande Americano (are we sensing a theme to what it is I devour?)

Things Learnt: Lawnmower = bad Valentines gift

Memorable Moments: There is a family that I deliver to often, about once or twice a week. They have a dog that doesn't get out much and is kind of fat. She is a Lab, I think. Anyway, she has gotten to know me and always brings her ball over to me whenever I come because I kicked it once and she thought I was playing with her. So, now I have started playing with her. What can I say? I'm a sucker for dogs.

Frightening and Unnatural Noises Made by my Car: 4

Monday, February 12th

Listened to: Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell

Delivered to: 5

Conversations had: 1

Moments of Awkwardness: 1

Judgments Passed: 0

Things Devoured: One Grande Sumatra, a stick of gum

Things Learnt: Further adventures and developments in the wonderful land of Diarrhea from the old lady. She needs to see a surgeon about it. I can't imagine that's good at all. I also can't/don't want to imagine what that would be about.

Memorable Moments: There was this little white, yappy dog that came out of a house and just sat by my car as I was trying to leave. It disappeared as I was backing up and I didn't want to run it over, so I opened up the door to see where it was. Then it tried to get in the open door but I didn't want to steal it from its owner. That probably wouldn't reflect well on the people I deliver for. So, I had to back out of the driveway, door open, watching the dog and the rearview mirror the whole time. People should learn the concept of leashes. Or fences.

Currently Reading: The Thousandfold Thought by R. Scott Bakker

Semitrucks that I passed as I Drove from One End of Town to the Other (Which took Eight Minutes): 25. Apparently five thirty is the optimum travel time for giant trucks.

Friday, Feb. 9th

Listened to: Married life in the Spirit by Stuart Briscoe (he is an elderly British chap who is teaching through the book of Ephesians. It's awesome.), Afganada (which I have now started to like), Bloc Party (the new one. Boo ya!), Freestyle on CBC radio

Deliverd to: 26

Conversations had: 2

Moments of Awkwardness: 3

Judgments Passed: 5

Things Devoured: One Footlong Subway Melt on Honey Oat, Two White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies, Three Fountain Drinks of Diet Coke, One Grande Decaf Americano, a stick of gum

Learnt: All about a certain old persons adventures in the wonderful land of Diarrhea.

Webster's defines diarrhea as 1. Abnormally frequent intestinal evacuations with more or less fluid stools and 2. Excessive flow. If you went with definition number two, there could be a lot more things that have diarrhea than just the norm. That strikes me as interesting. "Hey look, the river sure has diarrhea this week." I like definition number one, mostly because it has the word 'evacuation' in it.

Memorable Moments: I was told by one of my regular Friday deliverees that underneath my smooth exterior (which was my first point of confusion) there is a thug wanting to break free. He then called his girlfriend (or who I assume was his girlfriend) over and asked her if she thought that. Clearly high, she said "F*** Yeah. Then put her fist out for me to pound and said her name was Brandee. I half-heartedly offered my own fist and name in reply. I was then told by the deliveree that they needed to get me into the gangster rap scene. But not the new stuff, like 50 and whatnot. That's for old women. But Tupac and Biggie. I disagreed by saying the message was too negative. He then told me that it was real life and how can real life be negative. I still disagreed. But I smiled, was friendly, because he is a nice guy, and went back to Battlecat where I continued to listen to "Married Life in the Spirit" by Stuart Briscoe. Fascinating.

Evacuation: Something evacuated or discharged

Evacuate: To remove the contents of: Empty; to withdraw from military occupation of.

Thursday, Feb. 8th

Listened to: Church Life in the Spirit by Stuart Briscoe, Lincoln Brewster

Delivered to: 11

Conversations had: 0

Moments of Awkwardness: 1

Judgments Passed: 2

Things Devoured: Nothing, except for maybe a bug and some humble pie.

Learnt: Nothing. The best kind of days.

Memorable Moments: I once again had to deliver to the Hospital. Not just the pharmacy, which is on the main floor and very simple to get to. I had to take the elevator, wander down a couple of hallways and then get to the main desk where there were lots of nurses and patients hanging around. I saw a person on a gurney. They actually do that. Who knew?

Diseases Caught: So far, nothing. And I don't think you can catch crazy.

Tuesday, Feb. 6th (Back Again)

I decided I should once again update. It has been awhile. I will not go back and review what I have done. I will just start afresh. Here we go.

Delivered to: 4

Listened to: Collective Soul, We are Scientists

Conversations had: 1

Moments of Awkwardness: 0

Judgments Passed: 1

*New: Things Devoured: Fruit Source plus Veggie fruit bar, Grande Gold Coast Coffee

Things Learnt: There are people in the world who do not understand what loading zones are for. They are not called waiting zones and they are mostly two spots large so that two people can stop there, not so one douchebag can fill up both spots.

Car detailing involves things I never thought it actually involved. It sounds quite meticulous. Thanks Sheldon.

Memorable Moments: Receiving Battlecat back from Toyota after he got rearended thanks to an idiot pedestrian and a tailgating, non-attention paying driver. I had to drive a PT Cruiser around for a week. I did not like. It was glorious to be reunited with my faithful steed.

Currently Reading: The Warrior-Prophet by R. Scott Bakker

Notable Books I Read While My Blog was Silent: I read a lot over the last little while as I have rediscovered my love for reading. I would like to highlight some of my favorites.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safron Foer; Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield (thanks Lorne); The Emotionally Healthy Church by Peter Scazzero; Eragon by Christopher Paolini; The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky; The Question of God by Dr. Armand M. Nicholi, Jr.; A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore.

I enjoyed these books immensely. Take that for what it's worth.