Something I've learned about myself

Well, friends ... I've learned a little something about myself over the last few weeks.

I've become addicted to talk radio ... but not just to talk radio ... Oh No ... I listen to CBC Radio 1. As a kid I remember my folks (especially my dad and paternal grandmother) listening to CBC Radio. Turning the radio off just before the hourly news was akin to intentionallly giving my grandmother a stroke. I could watch them grow blanched and clammy should they miss their fix.

As a teen, I roomed with some friends in Muskoka, for a year. CBC Radio played endlessly in the garage. When I say endlessly, I mean literally endlessly. I could get up at 2 a.m., go down to the garage and Andy Barrie or someone would be broadcasting to the barn cat who lived in the garage.

Now why is this Blog worthy, you may ask? Coming to the realisation of my CBC addiction has changed my perception about myself - a change that may mean that my self perception is finally catching up with reality.

In my radically conservative teens, I thought CBC and their ilk were far too left leaning. They were clearly the kind of people who would unseat good, conservative, normal Canadians - our culture was clearly at risk. I would imagine English profs from York, in tweed jackets (yes - with elbow patches and pipes), and burned out hippies sitting around a radio that was blaring CBC radio. All the while this imagined audience would pat themselves on the back for being free thinking liberals (as though being free thinking and being liberal were somehow magically conjoined).

Fast forward twenty something years. My wife is off to work, and I've just dropped my daughter off at daycare. As I prepare for my day, I'm sitting in my 'den', clad in my plaid flannel shirt and jeans, listening to CBC Radio on my computer. I am now in the latter half of my thirties. As I stoicly sip my morning coffee, I have to face the fact - I am definitely NOT the radical fringe element that I used to be (completely forgetting about being urban - whatever that is). Maybe I never was 'radical fringe'.

To make things worse ... CBC publishes Podcasts - electronic versions of their broadcasts, in a downloadable digital format. Just what I need to feed my addiction. Another couple of weeks and they'll figure out a way for me to mainline this stuff straight into my cerebral cortex.

Thoughts are plethora this morning ...

Maybe I've had too much caffeine this morning, maybe it's because it's the first day of classes for the semester (more on this in a minute), but my mind is revving like a hyper little hamster, all cranked out on sugar nibblies, on his exercise wheel.

Some of the threads are as follows:

1. What's with this new version of blogger? Every time I log in I keep being enticed to switch to an upgrade. Is it not enough that I bare my meager thoughts to the digital world, for all to read, without having these e-sirens enticing me to upgrade them somehow? Does this somehow infer, that my old, un-upgraded blog-thoughts are somehow inferior? Why do I need to set up a Google account to legitimise the airing of my dirty, digital laundry? I wonder if there are any of 'my readers' who have tried this new upgraded version? Can anyone provide comments or feedback? They'd be welcome. Does this Google account replace my Blogger account? And finally, why can't I just read the dang instructions, where these would all likely be answered?
   
2. As I alluded to earlier - today is a much anticipated day in my little world - the return to the classroom. While I have technically been pursuing academia consistently, without significant break, since September '05 most of it has been in the practical arena since this past April. Today, for the first time since April, I will return to the classroom. For those who have been asking - I have 7 credits left, which I expect to finish by Christmas '07. This means I will be part time, for the rest of my programme. Largely, this is because I haven't been taking a full course load of 5 credits per semester, but just maintaining a full time status with 4 credits per semester. With doing daddy daycare 4 credits a semester was quite sufficient. This is the first time I won't be studying AND taking care of our daughter, so I am going to try to set two days aside, per week, to spend on campus studying. This also means that I'm looking for part time employment, or possibly even full time employment that would offer flexible hours, and we'll see how this meshes with my study plans.
   

Well, I should probably log off now - don't want to overwhelm everyone so soon after a long absence. Have a good day, and see you all next time.