My cold turned out not to materialize; I don't know what was wrong. Allergies? Anyhow, Mary and I returned to the gym a couple more times and I'd like to sign up. But perhaps not there. Ray Friel also has fitness equipment and programmes, and they've got a pool, too. All for half the price, but restricted hours. That last item might be a problem since I can't imagine never needing the "after 8pm Saturday" timeslot. Mary's got an appointment tomorrow to be shown around, and we'll decide after that. Both facilities are equally close to home, and it's very important that it be convenient.

This morning I played the flute in church. People seemed a lot more impressed with the fact that I played the flute than they were with the flute music. I don't think I played any wrong notes, but I did miss a few. I'd like to keep practicing and get my chops back, since the flute is such a nice instrument when it's well played. That's something I never felt I did, but it's been kind of a dream of mine to make it happen someday.

I was conked after church. I sat down to chat with Mary and the cat curled up in my lap. Soon I was dozing off. Before I could fall right asleep it was time to start making supper. Pizza again. And a repeat of last night's salad, which I think was excellent, in spite of the fact that I forgot the most important ingredient, roasted red pepper. I roasted the pepper I bought expressly for this dish and threw together another round of salad. Mixed greens, goat cheese, nuts (pistachios and sunflower seeds), avocado (optional), and the all-important roasted red peppers, and a home made raspberry vinaigrette to top it off. Excellent!

I had a few extra slivers of red pepper after making the salad so I threw those on the pizza. That was a good idea. Those peppers have such a distinct flavour, and what I added was just enough to give a hint of the taste but not take over. I used the more expensive "pizza mozarella" this time, too. I can't say it made a big difference, but it didn't hurt.

There's lots of pizza left over because Peter stayed with a friend after church, the drummer from the band. We all convened at the church this evening for the band concert, and as usual Peter did an excellent job of dressing up the long notes and soloing between verses. I get so many compliments on his playing.

Mom and Dad gave us some money to treat the family for Valentine's day, and my idea was for all of us to go play a round of pool after the concert. Unfortunately I didn't know that after 6pm on Sundays you've got to be 19 or older to be admitted. That's two strikes for them. Earlier I phoned to make a reservation, and the guy told me that they only take reservations by e-mail. A better company would have hidden that fact and just sent themselves an e-mail message on my behalf. I think they took a giant step backward with that policy. I'm not anxious to return. After we walked out Peter informed us that he has to type up an assignment anyway, so our evening kind of disintegrated rather suddenly. I was desperate to find anything to fill the "Oscars" timeslot, but it appears I have lost my wife to it already.

Saturday morning Mary and I went back to Goodlife to give it a whirl. A guy gave us a good long orientation, explaining how to use each individual machine in the beginner programme, and talked about health and fitness in general. We each tried each machine on the absolute minimum settings (but different weights), and I finished about half of a single workout. After that we're supposed to have a cardio workout, and I lasted maybe five minutes on the treadmill after fiddling with the settings and being humbled by where I ended up.

I was impressed by how I felt afterward, which was slightly tired, slightly invigorated. It seemed fairly comprehensive and I resolved to return. I wanted to go again yesterday but the Olympic hockey game blew a big hole in the day. By the evening I was changing to go back and then gave up. I wasn't completely recovered from the day before, and I was starting to feel pretty lousy. I changed my plan to go this morning, and now that it's morning I feel even worse. I'm sneezing and aching all over. I tlooks like I caught the cold that leveled half the company last week.

Next Sunday morning the choir is doing a piece that has a flute accompanyment. I've been practicing the flute, but I don't think I've put in quite enough time. My tone is horrible, and I'm pretty sure it's because I just don't yet have the muscle strength I need. I'll give it another week, but I'll switch back to the organ (flute stop) at the last minute if I can't play the flute part well enough. It gets up pretty high where I find the fingerings complicated. If I concentrate really hard I can play it, but not every time without error. More practice.

Just for fun on the way home from work today I'm going to stop at Paul's house to see his large stunt kite. He said it's too much for him to handle; once it dragged him partway across the experimental farm where he was trying it out. I'm just curious to see it, and he lives within walking distance of my workplace. I wish I had known he had it when Sandy's lake was frozen. It would have been awesome to put on my skates and fly it there!

On the weekend I started to build a small step-stool. All that really means is that I scribbled out a design on paper and rummaged around for some wood. I want to build it quickly and easily, but the only board that seemed suitable on its own is 1" thick oak, and it's too nice a board to just throw together. Plus I don't have enough of it. Other wood I have is also too small, which implies glue-ups and more complicated joinery. So much for simple. So I stopped. I've got some 2x8s in the shed that might be better suited for this task, though 8" is a bit narrow for what I had in mind. I want this thing to be strong and stable, since I plan to use it for doing work on or near the ceiling.

I also tried an electronics experiment on Saturday. It took awhile to find all the parts I needed, but I wanted to repeat in real life an exercise at the end of a chapter of a book I've been reading. It's just an op-amp circuit. I didn't get anywhere near the result I calculated, but one of my power supplies is suspect. I'm going to have to try again. This is why I do these experiments. Almost always some mystery appears and I end up learning something new.

Time to go. I sure feel lousy. If it gets worse I'll just leave early, but usually I feel better as the day wears on.