Monday, January 24, 2005
Today was not a normal day. It's only halfway through and already it has the feel to it of "one of those days". Often, days like this are talked about years from now, but this one - well, maybe months, at least.
Doomsayers are calling this "The worst day of the year", which would be a start, because the car didn't. Had it towed to the dealership and I got to the office less than two hours late (which wasn't as bad as it could have been). At 3pm I got a call saying the problem had been fixed. Seems the brake pedal sensor was faulty, so that the car did not know when the brake pedal was pressed. Not good for taking the car out of PARK, but even worse doing 100 and wanting to slow down in a hurry. Anyway, just off to collect the darn thing ...
We'd also planned on having a nosey round Best Buy this evening, to look at a big TV. With a view to purchasing, you idiot - not just to LOOK at a big TV. Tsk. Maybe that's still on the cards. Let you know ...
I had a spare minute to answer a few questions at http://politicalcompass.org and it told me that my political position was somewhere between Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. I can live with that. More Liberal than most, more Anarchic than most. Yup. Seems to fit. I'll dig out the link to the belief-o-matic if I find it. That told me that I'm a Secular Humanist when it comes to belief/religion. Again, seems to fit.
Carryball is having it's "Superbowl" in a couple of weeks. Count me as someone who'll be washing their hair when it's on. [Ooh, must get it cut sometime soon]. We were in a bar yesterday, and the choice on the TVs was either a really foggy golf game, or some too-soft-to-be-rugby-players standing around watching a clock tick down to zero. We went with neither and talked to each other. Much better :-)
As for what else is on TV, I try to make an effort to watch The Amazing Race, Corner Gas and Lost. If you don't have Lost on TV where you are, keep an eye out for it. It's great. Very character led storylines, and more often than not finishes each week on a cliff-hanger or jaw-dropping revelation. Ask your local provider when it's on.
Gotta go - have a date with a car dealer. Yuk.
Doomsayers are calling this "The worst day of the year", which would be a start, because the car didn't. Had it towed to the dealership and I got to the office less than two hours late (which wasn't as bad as it could have been). At 3pm I got a call saying the problem had been fixed. Seems the brake pedal sensor was faulty, so that the car did not know when the brake pedal was pressed. Not good for taking the car out of PARK, but even worse doing 100 and wanting to slow down in a hurry. Anyway, just off to collect the darn thing ...
We'd also planned on having a nosey round Best Buy this evening, to look at a big TV. With a view to purchasing, you idiot - not just to LOOK at a big TV. Tsk. Maybe that's still on the cards. Let you know ...
I had a spare minute to answer a few questions at http://politicalcompass.org and it told me that my political position was somewhere between Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. I can live with that. More Liberal than most, more Anarchic than most. Yup. Seems to fit. I'll dig out the link to the belief-o-matic if I find it. That told me that I'm a Secular Humanist when it comes to belief/religion. Again, seems to fit.
Carryball is having it's "Superbowl" in a couple of weeks. Count me as someone who'll be washing their hair when it's on. [Ooh, must get it cut sometime soon]. We were in a bar yesterday, and the choice on the TVs was either a really foggy golf game, or some too-soft-to-be-rugby-players standing around watching a clock tick down to zero. We went with neither and talked to each other. Much better :-)
As for what else is on TV, I try to make an effort to watch The Amazing Race, Corner Gas and Lost. If you don't have Lost on TV where you are, keep an eye out for it. It's great. Very character led storylines, and more often than not finishes each week on a cliff-hanger or jaw-dropping revelation. Ask your local provider when it's on.
Gotta go - have a date with a car dealer. Yuk.
Friday, January 21, 2005
Let me give you a little heads-up about the cold. In the UK, cold was when the outside temperature went below zero. Trains stopped running, offices closed, people panicked, there'd be mass hysteria in the streets and the country would grind to a halt if it was mixed with an inch of snow.
In Canada, things are ever so slightly different. You'd hardly notice the difference unless you looked hard. (yeah right ...) For instance, today I got up and looked at the remote sensor that reports the temperature from our back yard. -25C. "Chilly", I thought. It didn't occur to me until I was taking the 30 second walk from the car park to the office, that -9C right now would be "Balmy". -25C isn't by any stretch of the imagination a remarkably cold day. Sure there are warnings from the provincial government today, as there have been for the past three days, but that's only because at minus-double-digits it takes 10 minutes for frostbite to kick in. Get to -30 and exposed flesh actually freezes, not just has a chance of frostbite.
The Canadian answer? Put on a hat. And some gloves would be nice, though a scarf is optional depending on the type of coat you have. It takes a little longer to get to work, as the car has to warm up for a few minutes before you put it into gear, and if there's ice on the roads then you only do twenty above the speed limit instead of forty above it. This has a knock on effect of, well, not very much. People are used to it. There's no such thing as a silly looking winter hat in Canada. If you've ever walked out in -20C weather without a hat, you'll not do it a second time. People understand that you do what it takes to keep warm. I'm sure I could wear the most hideous head covering imaginable and I'd not get a second glance from anyone (but there's no way I'd stick a habs toque on my head).
It can snow here, and things keep running. The routine is only interrupted by ice storms, or snow fall greater than about six feet. But live further out of TO (and I mean w-a-y further out, a long way from the golden horseshoe even) and even six feet of snow doesn't stop anything. Albertans are not the only ones to look down on the city-folk of Toronto because TO called in the army a few years ago to deal with the white stuff. That sort of thing just isn't, well, Canadian.
So the landscape is white with snow, the roads white with salt, and the NHL rinks are still dark. That's about the only cause for concern right now, even when the mercury drops below -30C.
In Canada, things are ever so slightly different. You'd hardly notice the difference unless you looked hard. (yeah right ...) For instance, today I got up and looked at the remote sensor that reports the temperature from our back yard. -25C. "Chilly", I thought. It didn't occur to me until I was taking the 30 second walk from the car park to the office, that -9C right now would be "Balmy". -25C isn't by any stretch of the imagination a remarkably cold day. Sure there are warnings from the provincial government today, as there have been for the past three days, but that's only because at minus-double-digits it takes 10 minutes for frostbite to kick in. Get to -30 and exposed flesh actually freezes, not just has a chance of frostbite.
The Canadian answer? Put on a hat. And some gloves would be nice, though a scarf is optional depending on the type of coat you have. It takes a little longer to get to work, as the car has to warm up for a few minutes before you put it into gear, and if there's ice on the roads then you only do twenty above the speed limit instead of forty above it. This has a knock on effect of, well, not very much. People are used to it. There's no such thing as a silly looking winter hat in Canada. If you've ever walked out in -20C weather without a hat, you'll not do it a second time. People understand that you do what it takes to keep warm. I'm sure I could wear the most hideous head covering imaginable and I'd not get a second glance from anyone (but there's no way I'd stick a habs toque on my head).
It can snow here, and things keep running. The routine is only interrupted by ice storms, or snow fall greater than about six feet. But live further out of TO (and I mean w-a-y further out, a long way from the golden horseshoe even) and even six feet of snow doesn't stop anything. Albertans are not the only ones to look down on the city-folk of Toronto because TO called in the army a few years ago to deal with the white stuff. That sort of thing just isn't, well, Canadian.
So the landscape is white with snow, the roads white with salt, and the NHL rinks are still dark. That's about the only cause for concern right now, even when the mercury drops below -30C.
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Some things here need to change. It may be a federal thing in some cases, in others it may be a provincial or even just a general cultural thing, but certain pre-established norms must change.
For example - if I want to buy a case of beer, a bottle of wine, and some coffee, I need to visit three shops. In the UK I could get the whole lot by visiting Tesco or Sainsburys, so this needs to change. There are talks at the moment of relaxing the current government monopoly on the "off-sales" of alcohol, but these talks have to turn into something that makes the life of general public that much easier, and not be another pipe dream. Why can't it be possible to buy a case of beer and some wine at the local supermarket?
Next, why only 2 weeks vacation per year? Is 4 weeks excessive? Are the Europeans so third-worldly because they allow their workers twice the amount of vacation time that Canadians have? I don't think so! Why not give four weeks basic vacation per year instead of two? We have the number of national holidays - the UK and Ontario both rack up 8 statutory days each year. People will be much happier. Trust me.
Dates. Come on Canada. Pick a format and stand behind it. Is it 1/12/05 or is it 12/1/05? And does January 10 mean five years from now or two days ago? You're stuck between two worlds, one of which is a single nation just to the south of you, the other is ONLY THE REST OF THE PLANET. "Yeah, but January 5 means the date and January 05 means the year ..." Whoop-di-effin-do, this argument doesn't hold water for dates from 2010 to 2030. And it starts in five years time, folks. The kids in school right now will be running the world while you're in the retirement home, so aren't you kinda worried that they won't be able to communicate the simplest of dates between themselves? For two decades there'll be a larger possibility of mis-communication, and I can't see a reason to stick with mm/dd/yy. Either way, Canada, pick a format and run with it. Please.
Gas prices. (Petrol ...) Pin them, for heaven's sake. Stop all this jumping around, and outlaw the gouging of the public by fuel companies. 60 cents? 80 cents? No, wait, 70 cents, hang on, 85 cents - STOP, it's 65 cents now, wait, hang on, it's moved again. Why put up with this? It's insane, and I'm not the only one who's unhappy about it.
Can you hear me, Martin and McGuinty? Your citizens are less happy than they could be, but they don't know it yet.
(page count = 4434)
For example - if I want to buy a case of beer, a bottle of wine, and some coffee, I need to visit three shops. In the UK I could get the whole lot by visiting Tesco or Sainsburys, so this needs to change. There are talks at the moment of relaxing the current government monopoly on the "off-sales" of alcohol, but these talks have to turn into something that makes the life of general public that much easier, and not be another pipe dream. Why can't it be possible to buy a case of beer and some wine at the local supermarket?
Next, why only 2 weeks vacation per year? Is 4 weeks excessive? Are the Europeans so third-worldly because they allow their workers twice the amount of vacation time that Canadians have? I don't think so! Why not give four weeks basic vacation per year instead of two? We have the number of national holidays - the UK and Ontario both rack up 8 statutory days each year. People will be much happier. Trust me.
Dates. Come on Canada. Pick a format and stand behind it. Is it 1/12/05 or is it 12/1/05? And does January 10 mean five years from now or two days ago? You're stuck between two worlds, one of which is a single nation just to the south of you, the other is ONLY THE REST OF THE PLANET. "Yeah, but January 5 means the date and January 05 means the year ..." Whoop-di-effin-do, this argument doesn't hold water for dates from 2010 to 2030. And it starts in five years time, folks. The kids in school right now will be running the world while you're in the retirement home, so aren't you kinda worried that they won't be able to communicate the simplest of dates between themselves? For two decades there'll be a larger possibility of mis-communication, and I can't see a reason to stick with mm/dd/yy. Either way, Canada, pick a format and run with it. Please.
Gas prices. (Petrol ...) Pin them, for heaven's sake. Stop all this jumping around, and outlaw the gouging of the public by fuel companies. 60 cents? 80 cents? No, wait, 70 cents, hang on, 85 cents - STOP, it's 65 cents now, wait, hang on, it's moved again. Why put up with this? It's insane, and I'm not the only one who's unhappy about it.
Can you hear me, Martin and McGuinty? Your citizens are less happy than they could be, but they don't know it yet.
(page count = 4434)
Thursday, January 06, 2005
You know how it is. You get sidetracked, there are a zillion other things that demand your focus, and before you know it ... Ooh, squirrel!
Ahem. So, back for another instalment. Next one pencilled in for 2009, still a few years shy of a Leafs cup win, and at the way we're going lucky to have seen any NHL at all.
Which is where we start this rebirth of blogging. Hockey. There are plenty of people bleating about the demise of the NHL season, and wailing "bring back hockey", but really - hockey never went away. It's alive and well and in a rink near you. The very fabric of Canadian culture will unravel if hockey really goes away. It's part of the soul of Canada, and it's expression is in strapping on the skates, keeping your stick on the ice, and beating the crap out of the guys on the other team.
No, really - go see a CHL game, a minors game, even a pee-wee's game, but go see one. You get a feel for the heartbeat of this country, and it's pulse races whenever there's a slapshot, a boarding or (heaven forbid) the singing of "O, Canada". I've seen Guelph Storm play a number of times this season. Admittedly they lost each time, but it was still a fun time no matter what. In fact, we're off to see them again next week. It's much cheaper than going to an NHL game, you can actually get a ticket, it's closer, and maybe in a few years you can point to the player holding aloft the Stanley Cup and say "I saw him play junior hockey".
So get off your backside and stop moaning that you hanker for millionaires-on-ice.
PS Go Leafs!
Ahem. So, back for another instalment. Next one pencilled in for 2009, still a few years shy of a Leafs cup win, and at the way we're going lucky to have seen any NHL at all.
Which is where we start this rebirth of blogging. Hockey. There are plenty of people bleating about the demise of the NHL season, and wailing "bring back hockey", but really - hockey never went away. It's alive and well and in a rink near you. The very fabric of Canadian culture will unravel if hockey really goes away. It's part of the soul of Canada, and it's expression is in strapping on the skates, keeping your stick on the ice, and beating the crap out of the guys on the other team.
No, really - go see a CHL game, a minors game, even a pee-wee's game, but go see one. You get a feel for the heartbeat of this country, and it's pulse races whenever there's a slapshot, a boarding or (heaven forbid) the singing of "O, Canada". I've seen Guelph Storm play a number of times this season. Admittedly they lost each time, but it was still a fun time no matter what. In fact, we're off to see them again next week. It's much cheaper than going to an NHL game, you can actually get a ticket, it's closer, and maybe in a few years you can point to the player holding aloft the Stanley Cup and say "I saw him play junior hockey".
So get off your backside and stop moaning that you hanker for millionaires-on-ice.
PS Go Leafs!
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