Rudy’s recent post about curiosity reminded me of my last weekend.

Our neighbours who own the empty lot next to us have finally started building their house on it. Over the last couple of weeks they’ve excavated the driveway and the basement area.

I decided to take a walk around our property on Sunday and after winding through the forest I ended up looking over at the development going on next door.

I could see a very large tarp covering the entire basement excavation. The tarp seemed to be resting on top of something large that was about 15 feet higher than ground level. It looked like it might have been covering the excavated dirt pile. Consider all of the rain, snow, and wind we’ve been experiencing, this was a good idea.

It was difficult to visualize though because it was twilight and I was using a flashlight to navigate the forest. I decided to go closer to get a better look.

As I approached the excavation from between the trees surrounding the site, I could make out that the tarp was indeed on top of something very large. It looked large enough and stable enough to walk on. So, in order to get a better look, I did. I stepped on the edge of the tarp.

Picture Wile E. Coyote running off the edge of a cliff, windmilling arms and legs, then dropping like a sandbag to the bottom. Now picture me doing the same thing except I didn’t have time to windmill anything.

The part of the tarp that I had stepped on had nothing but cold air under it. It gave way like wet paper under me. The thing that stopped my fall about 4 feet into a 20 foot pit was part of the scaffolding that had been erected in the pit. This is what the tarp was covering.

I managed to eventually extricate myself from the pit. That took some work because of how steep the walls were. Once I got out I tried to affix the tarp back to the edge of the pit so that it would look undisturbed. I then limped back home for the tongue-lashing.

Moral of the story: When snooping around the neighbour’s place, do it during the day so you can see better.

Again, there’s nothing outstanding about this case, but as I looked at the final film, I couldn’t stop looking. The fill density, gentle curvatures in the mesial canals, coalescence of those canals, and the apical canal split in the distal root left me thinking that the endo looks kind of…well…sexy.

I remember our department head once talking about a sexy endo. I also remember thinking how cuckoo that sounded.

Oh well, I guess this is what dentistry does to you eventually.

Fellow Canadians will remember the “I am Canadian” Molson Canadian beer ads from a few years ago. I was just organizing my dozen or so MP3′s that I own and found some clips from radio stations related to the “I am Canadian” ads.

Listen to “I am Canadian”:

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Quebequois listeners can try “I am not Canadian”:

When I used to teach I remember thinking to myself how the incoming students seemed to be getting younger and younger each year. That’s before I realized that it was I getting older.

I’m approaching that age when I’ll feel the urge to buy a convertible sports car, have an affair with a young bimbo, and start to invest in high risk portfolios. Getting older has been an adventure that I wouldn’t change for the world.

Watching The Guardian with Kevin Costner (I wasn’t with him, he’s in the movie) last night, those thoughts were driven home by this quote:

Ben Randall: When the heck did we get old?
Maggie McGlone: Hell, I’ve always been old Ben. Ya’ know what though, I don’t mind. I mean if my muscles ache, it’s because I’ve used ‘em. It’s hard for me to walk up them steps now, its ‘cuz I walked up ‘em every night to lay next to a man who loved me. I got a few wrinkles here and there, but I’ve layed under thousands of skies with sunny days. I look and feel this way, well cuz I drank and I smoked. I lived and I loved, danced, sang, sweat and screwed my way thorough a pretty damn good life if you ask me. Getting old ain’t bad Ben. Getting old, that’s earned.

And as The Girl and I both age together, she’ll remain as young in my heart as the day I first laid eyes on her through the rear view mirror of her car.

I know it’s only Monday, but I’m hoping that we won’t see any more of these for the week.