personal

I had one of those Rockstar Energy Drinks today. I was in 7-Eleven and none of the usual drinks looked very appealing. I also felt a bit tired and so drinking an "energy drink" seemed like a good idea at the time. A while later I found myself at work getting very little accomplished. I was fidgety, uncomfortable, and overall, in a weird state of mind. For some reason I had no idea it was the energy drink that was the culprit. I had attributed my uncomfortable feeling to my new ergonomic keyboard and a new chair that I was test driving. Later at night I was telling my wife about it and then I remembered the Rockstar energy drink I had before work. I also remembered having a similar day many months ago, a day in which I had consumed a can of Rockstar. Apparently Rockstar contains 160mg of caffeine, twice as much as a Red Bull and more than the average cup of coffee. Since I never drink coffee (I've had one cup in my life) or tea, or consume any significant amount caffeine from any source the 160mg I had today must have felt like even more to my body. Stay away from Rockstar kids, unless you are used to caffeine.

I finally have the Internet at home again after our move to our new place and a switch to a new ISP (Telus - rant about that is forthcoming). Coincidentally it is 1am which is also the latest I've stayed up since moving to the new place. Maybe I'll post a couple blog entries soon...might even have some drafts that I didn't have time to finalize.

Just had my first piano lesson in 15 years tonight! The last time I had a lesson was when I was 12. It was so weird; I felt like a kid again. Felt especially like a kid after buying a book of songs called "Something for the Boys" (it's got arrangements for music from Star Wars and other such movies). I did feel like a grown-up when my teacher would say stuff like "Usually what I do for kids is but you're not a kid so . . ." I'm really enjoying playing piano again. Just bought a circa 1988 Yamaha Clavinova right before Christmas for about $500 and have been playing almost every day. Sometimes I lose track of time and hours can just slip by. My first lesson has already paid off as I learned a new technique for learning a new piece, then tried it tonight and it worked great. The teacher is also a few years younger than I am, rather than 40-50 years older than me which I like lot better. I'm working on Grade 4 Royal Conservatory, for anyone who knows RCM.

Here are my resolutions for 2007. Some of these are more like goals than resolutions. The theme this year is heating healthier and hopefully losing a few pounds.

• No high-fat foods, deep-fried foods, or other obviously fatty foods and limit highly-refined carbs too (thanks CBC for showing Fast Food Nation on January 1st, one of the wonderful advantages of having a publically-funded health care system and a publically-funded TV station). I am not going to forbid myself from having all "fast food" because sometimes I need something "fast" and not all fast foods (like salads for example) are bad.
• Eat more fruits and vegetables.
• Ride my new stationary bike at least 3 times per week.
• Limit TV to one hour per day.
• Practice piano at least 1 hour 5 times per week.

After some torrential rain and other weather stuff that I was totally oblivious to, a boil water warning was issued for the entire Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD). I wish I had bought some bottled water earlier; now I am pretty dehydrated. I would drink the water in our fridge that we boiled earlier but it is just so cloudy and gross-looking. You don't appreciate something until you lose it, and I definitely appreciate our normally clean drinking now.

Was playing Scrabble last night with my wife. She was kicking my ass and before I played my last "A" on the board to spell P-A-R for 6 points, and was beating me by about 30 points. As I played out, it was time to count her remaining tiles. She unluckily had a Q (10) left over and an extra piece worth 1 point. She lost the 11 points, but according to the rules, because I used up all my tiles I also get whatever tiles my opponents had left ADDED to my score. So another 11 for me and that was the game. What an awesome way to win! Neither of us will ever leave a high-valued letter on our racks again.