In the computer programming world when we speak of dependencies we mean “stuff that you have to install first, after which you can install what you really need.” So you want to install the “GrappleGrommit for Perl” module, but to be able to run that, you need to first install the “GrappleGrommit Enabler” module and the “XML for GrappleGrommit” module. These are the dependencies.

Sometimes — and often in an infuriating way — you run into a situation where two things are dependent on each other. Or where the “chain of dependencies” seems infinite (“to install A you must first install B; to install B you must first install C; and so on”).

I’ve been hitting real world dependencies recently. Oliver needs a new passport (hard to believe, given that he’s only 5 years old). To get a new passport you need a birth certificate. Which Oliver has. Except he doesn’t have the right kind of birth certificate: although the kind he has — a wallet sized model — was sufficient to obtain his first passport, for some reason he now requires a “suitable for framing” model, one that lists my name and Catherine’s as his parents.

So I had to trudge in the sleet and snow this morning to the Charlottetown Vital Statistics Office where, for $42 (which included a $7.50 “rush” fee), I applied for the new-fangled super certificate. And then returned four hours later to pick it up. The woman I dealt with was extremely friendly, and it all went off without a hitch.

Fortunately, I was the only dependency for obtaining a new certificate — I just had to fill out an application form, show some photo identification, hand over the $42 and we were in.

As I type Oliver’s second try at getting the new passport is Expressposting its way to Gatineau.

Sidenote one: on the envelope used to mail in the passport application, there’s no province listed for Gatineau, suggesting that it’s some trans-provincial virtual place that’s neither in Quebec nor Ontario. Although its postal code starts with K, indicating Ontario parentage.

Sidenote two: when I applied for my U.S. passport, I had to first apply for a Social Security card. Fortunately by the time I did so, getting one was no longer dependent on registering for Selective Service (aka “the draft”), so I didn’t have to sign up for a possible tour of duty. My U.S. passport expires in 2009; I can’t imagine what sort of post-9/11 hoops it will take to get it renewed from Charlottetown. I suspect several trips to Bangor will again be required.

The number of our friends who are taking “one last trip” with their kids this year — one last trip before their oldest child goes off to university — has now reached 4. I’m sure there are more. So far there are two Italys, a Scotland and a Greece. This makes me realize that the vast majority of people I know are 15 years older than I am.

Frank Gehry has designed a new hotel in Elciego, Spain: Hotel Marqués De Riscal. It opens on July 1, 2006. It looks stunning.

You can find photos and construction notes here (in Spanish).

Elciego is midway between Bilbao and Zaragoza, two of my favourite places. It may be time to take the next journey on the “Frank Gehry tourism cavalcade” that’s previously taken us to Prague (Fred and Ginger), Bilbao (Guggenheim) and Seattle (EMP).

I’ve spent one of those frustrating “searching lots of different airline websites to piece together a trip” days. It’s like walking on a constantly shifting desert: not only are the websites often abysmally designed, but fitting together flights from disparate airlines so that they match up is always exhausting.

After a day of surfing through trans-Atlantic flights running anywhere from $800 to $1500, I stumbled across an excellent US Airways flight from Boston to Dublin. And booked it:

That’s $1161 CDN for three people, all taxes and fees in. That’s cheaper than getting from Charlottetown to, well, anywhere, in an airplane.

As I have to be in New England anyway to visit Yankee, we’ll be driving down to catch the flight, which is somewhat inconvenient, but worth saving $2000 for.

Dublin is attractive to us not as a destination (although I’m sure it’s very nice) but rather primarily as Ryanair’s hub: from Dublin we can get almost anywhere for next to nothing.

The tail end of this trip will take us to Copenhagen for reboot 8 (word on the street is that the reboot wiki is being skinned as we speak); otherwise, we’re currently scheming for what else we’re going to do.

Must stand up from keyboard now.

There is some small quirk in my makeup that has rendered me somewhat obsessed with numeric patterns and cooincidence.

For example, I delight in the fact that Oliver’s birthday is October 1, 2000. Both because that’s 011000 or 100100 or 001001 depending on how you slice and dice, and because it means that it will always be easy to know how old he is at any given point in his life — 34 in 2034, etc.

For a similar reason (I think), I appreciate that our house is at 100 Prince St. Somehow it wouldn’t be the same if we were at 99 or 101. I like living at 50 Great George St. too, and somehow never got comfortable with 1360 Kingston Rd.

I have a friend who was born in 1933. I was born in 1966. The year she turned 66, I turned 33.

And just yesterday I found the following calculation tacked to the bulletin board at the uptown Formosa Tea House:

Of course Google is all over this, but I still found a bit of comfort in knowing that this is true.

Interlude is closing between March 24 and May 18 to give the owner time for a much deserved vacation. We’ll have to find an alternative location for Gung Bao Thursdays.

If you are thinking of traveling to Europe this spring or summer, here are a couple of resources I’ve stumbled across over the past weeks that are somewhat hidden from view:

• Canadian Affair has charter flights from Halifax to London.
• Zoom Airlines has similar Halifax to London flights, and they seem to be about the same price as Canadian Affair’s.
• German airline Condor has charter flights from Halifax to Frankfurt (at least in theory; they have a horrible search engine and I couldn’t actually find the actual flights).
• US Airways has incredibly cheap flights from Boston to Dublin (and Ryanair can get you from Dublin to almost anywhere on the cheap).
• Many of the flights on sale right now at Air Canada, including those to London, require flying before April 4. However certain European destinations like Frankfurt, Berlin and Copenhagen allow flying up to May 18.

Excerpt from the first genuine piece of Prince Edward Island spam, received this morning:

FINALLY a site dedicated to PEI from people living on PEI.

Finally!

Remember when the plans were being drawn up for the so-called “Entertainment Centre” at the Charlottetown Driving Park? Provincial officials, and those from the Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC) bent themselves over backwards to avoid using either “casino” or “slot machine” when speaking of the project; it was always “entertainment centre” and “video lottery terminal” (or the ALC’s preferred term: “electronic gaming device”).

Well today the rubicon was crossed: the CBC is reporting that ‘Slots riding to rescue racino’ and Robert Bourgeois of the ALC actually uttered the words:

“They wanted slot machines that they were more familiar with and they were more comfortable with,” says Bourgeois.

“So we will be introducing 30 slot machines that are similar to the different slot machines that are found in other similar facilities such as ours.”

What hell? “Other similar facilities such as ours?” You mean casinos, right?

Of course all this reticence hasn’t kept the Entertainment Centre itself from calling them as they see them (emphasis mine):

This new state-of-the-art facility features a gaming room with 225 slot machines, a Player’s Club and dining at the Top of the Park which showcases an all you can eat buffet, à la carte menu plus screens on most of the tables so you don’t miss a minute of the action!

Surely the time when “Entertainment Centre” gives way “Casino” can’t be too far away? One can even imagine Mr. Bourgeois being interviewed: “We’re calling it a Casino because our customers are more familiar with and they were more comfortable with…”.

See also Government Announces Plans for Crack Cocaine Sales.

Okay, this one takes the cake. Here’s a screen snip from the Air Canada website showing the fare breakdown for a return flight from Charlottetown to Copenhagen:

This flight may fly over Greenland (and I’m pretty sure that it doesn’t even do that), but I can’t conceive how Air Canada can levy a “Greenland Dom. Psgr. Service Charge” here. Is it a mistake?

What’s next: Srchrg. bcas. we cn.?