Weekend Roundup

A few mini-posts. Enjoy!

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I saw the movie Constatine on the weekend with Kim and her sister. I enjoyed it as it didn't try and dumb it down for the "average joe" but neither did it bog down in mindless minutia. I enjoy flights of fancy into the occult and religion and this had what I felt was the right mix.

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During the drive to Kingston to see the movie, Kim and I had a rational discussion on Same Sex Marriage. She's far more religious than I am and much more in the mainstream of the religious conservative stream. Her view of the matter was that while she had no issues with homosexuals having civil unions and enjoying the benefits of having a spouse regardless of the sex, she couldn't conceive how they could be married since marriage was a covenant between a man, woman, and God. God doesn't approve of homosexual activity so they could never be married.

The real issue continues to be the word and not the actual deed. Interesting.

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I Hit 215 lbs this morning, down 39 lbs from when I started at the end of September 2004. All my jeans except one pair are super-baggy on me now, so pretty soon I'll have to go clothes shopping. I've been losing exactly one pound per week for a month now so my current goal of getting to 200 lbs by May 24th looks to be in trouble as its only 12 weeks to go. Hopefully nicer weather will allow me to get more exercise.

BMD Is Still The Wrong Solution To The Problem

Holy Smokes, there has been a lot of posts about BMD lately. Here, Here, here, and here for starters. 

Does is strike anyone else that if a nuclear weapon is denotated on U.S. soil, its more likely to come by sea through a port than by air? Am I the only one who thinks that BMD is obviously the wrong solution to the problem? I can't be, I mean, the US Administration is not that stupid.

Which begs the question, what problem would BMD really be a solution to?

I'm a Mandarin

I'm a Mandarin!

You're an intellectual, and you've worked hard to get where you are now. You're a strong believer in education, and you think many of the world's problems could be solved if people were more informed and more rational. You have no tolerance for sloppy or lazy thinking. It frustrates you when people who are ignorant or dishonest rise to positions of power. You believe that people can make a difference in the world, and you're determined to try.

Talent: 33%
Lifer: 48%
Mandarin: 56%

Take the Talent , Lifer, or Mandarin quiz.

 

(Hat Tip Paul Wells)

Bloggers = Rappers

Josh Levin compares rappers to bloggers in Slate:

Essentially, blogging is sampling plus a new riff. Political bloggers take a story in the news, rip out a few chunks, and type out a few comments. Rap songs use the same...

(Hat tip Daniel W. Drezner )

It Just Does Not Compute

Here's the short news story: Charges in Penis Case

OK, follow this with me.

1) Man wants to end relationship and they argue.

2) They decide have sex.

3) Man allows himself to be tied up.

4) Woman gets knife. Hijinx ensue.

How, just HOW, do you go from 1 to 4 by going through 2 and 3? I just don't get it. Story has happy (sort of) ending though:

 Water utility workers retrieved the penis, and police said surgery to reattach it was successful.

I hope they looked for the guy's brain while they were down there.

Reaction On the Budget

Or more accurately, on the Conservative Party's reaction.

From Jay Currie:

What he has done is give the Grits a free ride on the budget. It would have been much smarter to have had ammendments prepared which would have forced the Liberals to actually discuss issues like tax cuts.

[...]

these ammendments would, perhaps, go down to defeat. But they would ensure that the CPC positions were front and center in the budget debate. they would also ensure that the Grits were kept of balance with the necessity of having members show up in order to avoid defeat on budget particulars.

Harper's position lets the Liberals off the hook.Which is dumb.

And from CalgaryGrit:

So what does this all mean? Well, to me, it looks like an absolutely brilliant strategy from the opposition parties. I think we can all agree that Martin "won" the last election by convincing voters that Stephen Harper was a scary, scary man. I think it's also not a stretch to say that the few times the Conservatives have had success since World War 1 has been when they've offered "Liberal Government without Liberals". With Martin set to move left on Same Sex marriage and Missile Defense, it's imperative that the opposition parties convince Canadians that there's no difference between him and Stephen Harper. The Conservatives need this if Harper ever wants to become Prime Minister, and the Nouveau Bloc Democratique needs this so that their voters aren't scared into voting for Martin to stop Harper.

When the attack adds against Stephen Harper start next election, Jack Layton will be able to stand up and say that the Liberals gave Canada a Conservative budget and that there's no difference between Martin and Harper. Harper meanwhile will be able to subtly imply that there's little difference between him and Martin. I think voters are looking for an excuse to boot Paul, and if Harper doesn't look too scary, they'll make the switch.

I'm with CalgaryGrit on this one. The CPC needed to be seen as less extremist and more central and this reaction does that.

Paul Wells Strikes Again!

From Paul Wells "The ballad of Frank Mckenna":

Government by gaffe. We always knew Martin would find a way to innovate.

I found that line hilarious. Maybe its just me.

Setup of New PC Almost Done

Last week my work computer started taking unauthorized breaks on me. The led to my bitching for a new machine since my current one was over 2 and a half years old (which is like eons in the IT industry) and I succeeded in securing a new machine. Except it had the wrong hard drive, wrong OS, and no installed software tools I required. Sigh.

Well, I persevered and today have accomplished my goal of setting up my new machine (with new hard drive, OS, and installed software). Hence, here is my first post from the new PC. Voilà.

It Has Begun

Paul Wells writes:

Ontario pays $23 billion more into Canada than it receives in federal-government services, Choudhry wrote, "an astonishing and potentially explosive figure." The surprise, he wrote, is that "in the war of numbers that characterizes the politics of fiscal federalism, this figure has never been mentioned in public." Why? Choudhry says it's because Canadians understand that co-operation is fundamental to the country's success, and inter-regional bickering undermines that co-operation.

But now the explosive cat is out of the bag. McGuinty is telling anyone who'll listen that the rest of Canada is into Ontario's pocket to the tune of more than $20 billion a year. Simply saying so will increase regional conflict. Choudhry argues two other issues will add fuel to the fire.

After the last federal election someone from Alberta asked why Ontario never complained about equalization payments like Albertans often do. I suspect it was mainly because we didn't know. Well as Paul said, the cat's out of the bag now and Dalton McGuinty realizes the political mileage he can get out of it. Think about it, $23 billion dollars. Holy. Moley. That's, like, almost 12 gun registries! Wow!

Seriously, this could be the nail in Confederation's coffin. And while I weep for the death of the ideal of Canada, I don't know if I can weep for the reality.

My Condolences

Andrew's beloved grandmother passed away today and I wanted to express my heartfelt condolences. I know what it is like to lose someone that means so much to your life. I still look for my grandfather and grandmother at the family farm when I go to visit and feel a little surprised and sad when I remember they passed away years ago.

National Daycare versus Infertility

The current estimate is that the National Daycare Initiative will cost between $5-$10 billion dollars a year to implement so that anyone in Canada can choose whether or not to make use of daycare for their children.

Let's think about this: our taxes are paid to the government, who then pay it back to anyone and everyone who want child care for their children. So in effect, a childless couple like myself and my wife are helping to pay for childcare for anyone who happens to have kids, whether they can afford the daycare themselves or not. (Look, if I'm wrong and low income families get more of a break then higher income families, then I think that's worse. That's like saying the government thinks low income children are more valuable than high income children. I say if you're going to do it, pay everyone the same per child.)

In turn, do you think fertility treatment is covered by our medical insurance? Not a freaking dime, not for a single service beyond diagnosis. Whether you try hormonal drugs, In Vitro fertilization (IVF), etc it all comes out of your own pocket. Unless your insurance through work covers some of the costs you have to find the money yourself. And its not cheap. A typical round of IVF can cost almost $10000 when all is added up and has only about a 33% chance of success. Hormonal treatments can cost upwards of a $1000 for drugs. And all of it is hard emotionally on the people involved, especially if it fails.

I don't know if a National Daycare is truly vital or not to our society, but it disgusts me that our government would implement this while fertility is still considered non-essential health care. If you ever experience infertility (and I sincerely hope you do not), you'll quickly realize that is not true.

Smackdown!

Over at Ianism, Robert McClelland from My Blahg gets a severe smackdown:

The Middle - Or Not

Hey McClelland.. if you ever want to learn how to operate a manure spreader, let me know. But I fear we’d have to have a specially regulated manner to dispose of the shit that you like to write.

Totally agree. Sometimes Robert has a point about commentators that he disagrees with and forces me to analyze my own positions, but often he is far too harsh and sweeping in his statements.

'Cause I'm Canadian...

I have to say something about the NHL Lockout. So read this whole post by Colby Cosh first:

In memory of Frederick Jackson Turner

The lockout does, clearly, open the door to the creation of some sort of Euro League. Ask yourself why one didn't exist already. It's only because the NHL's Wild West frontier was so attractive--but the frontier is now closed, and Eastern Europe now has its own crazy, bored multimillionaires. If the Europeans get their act together and construct a superleague, it is likely to be as strong as the NHL. Depending on the CBA that's eventually hammered out on this side of the Atlantic, it may be stronger. If the owners are too successful in this labour fight , the danger is created that we may become stuck with an NHL that's like the Canadian Football League--a poor second cousin to a foreign superstar. Fortunately--though I like the CFL--I don't think Canadian fans, or fans in the Maine-Minnesota U.S. hockey belt, would settle for this.

The good news is that this possibility opens up a new vista for hockey as a truly global sport. Bettman & Co. want very much to turn the NHL into the NBA, but should it necessarily settle for that when it could be transformed into Formula One or soccer?

That's an interesting thought, isn't it? Instead of one league called the NHL, have a World Cup of Hockey competition for the Stanely Cup, something that has global appeal. I find this idea greatly attractive. That means the guys in charge are sure to ignore it and continue on their path of destruction.

On a side note: my work PC has appeared to have recovered, but I'm in the process of setting up a new one anyways since my current box is over two years old.

Stupid Computer

I was halfway through the day when my computer started having problems. The kind where things stop working. Spent the rest of the day trying to recover, hence, no new post til now. Needless to say, with the way work has been busy lately I really didn't need this distraction.

Hope to be back up and running smoothly tomorrow.

Taking Responsibility

I'm a big fan of taking responsibility for your actions. Being able to admit that one has made a mistake and will attempt restitution or accept punishment is a sign of good character in my ever-so-humble opinion. I also think that being responsible means that people you put in charge of tasks or projects are an extension of your responsibility and hence you must take credit and blame for their actions. I believe that if you are a responsible person with good character than you will usually assign similar individuals to the tasks at hand.

Which brings my to the Gomery Inquiry. I watched with mild interest as Chretien and Martin came and went from the stand and one thought went through my head: neither of them have good character. I don't know if they lied, but the fact of the matter is that they are responsible for the people serving under them and one of those people acted in a manner that if not illegal it certainly should be. I'm not saying they are guilty by association but they should at least stand up and say, its my fault the people responsible were in the position of power they were in.

Politicians don't take responsibility when its attached to blame of course, the mindless public has long seen to that.

Kicks In The Teeth

Not literally thankfully, but metaphorically.

At work I've been having a rough patch in terms of what my job is and what my boss wants me to do. When I started as a temporary team lead I had a mandate as to what tasks needed to be done by my team, but for the past few weeks certain other tasks have been flying my way and because they are not part of the original plan my handling of them has been a little less smooth. Unfortunately, the guy lobbing these hardballs at my head while I'm juggling my normal tasks is my boss and he only sees that I didn't catch his tasks.

This all came to a head when he asked me in a team meeting yesterday about something and I said, "I don't know anything about that." and he responded with, "Yeah, I'm getting a lot of that from you lately." Ouch. Turns out my Outlook was slow and the email didn't arrive until after I had left for the meeting.

Its frustrating especially because its coming up to performance review time and he is the master of my fate so to speak. I have a couple meetings with him today, I hope to turn things around here and get back in his good books.

UPDATE:

The meeting went well, and I seemed to have recovered some momentum. I just need to keep it going. Of course, that means I got a lot of work to do. Yeesh, can't win for losing.

Birthday Trip Blues

Kim planned a surprise get-away for my birthday on Friday, February 11th and all I knew was that it involved us staying in a hotel room for a night. So noon on Friday we packed up the car and took off. The surprise location? Calabogie Peaks Resort!

What's that? No, no, Kim and I are not downhill skiers. I mean, I used to when I was younger but Kim is terrified of the concept. The thing is, Kim sees the word "resort" in the name of the place and it conjurers a vision, especially when she reads all the things we could do besides downhill skiing: skating, tubing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, indoor pool and outdoor hot tub. As well as our very comfortable room. She didn't quite get the concept that the whole point of the resort is the big freaking hill with snow on it, and the rest was merely window-dressing.

But it was a good intentioned idea and I was happy and willing to make a good go of it.

We got there in the afternoon and checked in. Our room was amazing, with gas fireplace, lots of space, huge windows, and a jacuzzi tub. After checking in we walked around and checked out the resort, finding the skating area. Basically what they did was scrape the snow off a couple adjacent tennis courts and flood the area. It was OK for us, but not great skating. After skating it was 5:30 and we decided to try and find some food. This is where things went downhill very fast.

The restaurant in the lodge is very formal, and Kim and I are very casual people. Not wanting to risk the hoighty-toighty atmosphere with our jeans and sweaters we decide to drive into town and eat at a local bistro that was advertised on the internet. Get there ten minutes later and the windows are dark and newspapered over. Uh oh.

We saw three other eating establishments on the way into town, but two of them were holes in the walls and not exactly birthday dinner quality. In fact, I don't think it was healthy-eating quality either. The third restaurant called Buckhorns looked a bit more respectable, and the posted menu outside on the wall had a decent selection of food including the regular hamburgers and fries as well as Chicken Teriyaki which caught Kim's eye. It wasn't the Keg but it would do. We opened the door to be assaulted by a wall of cigarette smoke. It was disgusting. We beat a hasty retreat and went back to our hotel. Side note: can't wait until smoking in public places is banned province-wide.

When we get there we check the menu of the restaurant there but they have some Valentine's Day menu with food that didn't appeal to Kim and I with our peasant-like tastes. The closest thing to appetizing for us was a chicken dish, but it had a strawberry brie sauce. I don't even know what brie sauce is, much less why I would want strawberries in it.

We were a little frustrated now, but after quick consultation decided to get takeout from Buckhorns and eat back at the room since it had a nice little dinning table. We call up the diner and try to order the Chicken Teriyaki for take-out only to be told, "Sorry, we only do take out for Hamburgers, fries, and wings." Not exactly my ideal birthday dinner.

We decide that we have no choice: hoighty-toighty food for us, jeans or no jeans! We head downstairs to the restaurant and get seated, comforted by the fact that some other patrons are not formally dressed either. However, this is where the fun really begins.

Our order is not taken for thirty minutes after we are seated. We never got the drinks we ordered and had to make do with water (which they filled often to be fair). We ordered the chicken with no sauce and with rice instead of yams, we got chicken with the sauce and with yams (but they realized the mistake and brought us side dishes of rice). The meal took over an hour to arrive so when it came wrong we were very nervous about sending it back for fear of starvation. The chicken was absolutely tasteless despite the weird sauce. And it cost a lot money. We were not impressed.

So, after three hours of looking for food we finally returned to our room demoralized and tired. We spent the rest of the night enjoying the creature comforts of the room which made up a little for the earlier experience.

The next morning we get up and start getting ready. Checkout time? Call the front desk and find out it is 10 AM. What!?! Check in time is 4 PM, and we have to be out by 10 the next morning? We pack up our stuff and take it to the car and checkout. Its now 10 AM, and what should we do for breakfast? Run the risk of the hotel restaurant after last night's debacle? Hardly, but we have no choice other than to head home. Fed up, we climb in the car and head back to civilization. Kim was depressed because we hardly did anything in the resort, I was frustrated with them for ruining her plans, and generally we were quite miserable.

By the time we got back to Carleton Place we were both in a funk, Kim because her big surprise turned out so badly and me because she was down in the dumps. Kim mentioned her parent's were going to downtown Ottawa to look at the snow sculptures and although it wasn't my idea of a birthday fun time I pretended it would be fun because I knew Kim likes spending time with her folks and it would cheer her up. We met for dinner at Swiss Chalet and I splurged a little and got some chicken and ribs for a birthday dinner. And it only took 30 minutes from walking in the door till I had my food! With drinks! What a concept. I suggested to Kim that they should rip that restaurant out at Calabogie and put in a Swiss Chalet, would have made our experience a lot better.

So that was my Birthday Adventure (TM). Next year we pack emergency meals!

After 30 They're All The Same

Birthdays that is. Tomorrow is my birthday and I'll be 31 years old. Doesn't seem to matter much.

I mean, before now birthdays seemed like a big deal, the difference between being 21 and 26 a huge margin. But after 30, its not so much a big deal. I'm thirtysomething, hear me yawn.

Last year my birthday was a big deal to me, and not in a good way. I felt old. A lot of that had to do with being horribly overweight, my knee and ankle starting to give out, my heart pounding when walking up stairs, and breathing being hard all the time. This year I feel a lot younger so that makes the passage of time a little easier to mark.

I'm off work tomorrow and Kim's taking to somewhere that's a surprise tomorrow night. Needless to say, blog will be non-existent until Monday. Have a good weekend!

Ethics

I'm in an event with a bunch of friends and acquaintances from around Ottawa. Its a friendly competition involving a website with usernames and passwords.

One person in the event went too far in terms of the spirit of the event, and although did not cheat  by the letter of the rules (we think, investigation is underway), he definitely crossed the line from friendly competition to outright sleaziness.

It blows my mind how some people could feel the need to win something that has no prize so much that they would bend or break the rules and ruin the enjoyment of the event for so many other people. It truly makes me lose faith in humanity at these times and I begin to understand how corruption in business and politics can be so widespread.

Woe to us all.

You Have Got to See This!

It blows Mapquest out of the sky.

Boo-Freaking-Hoo

CBC Sports Disappointed At Losing The Olympics

To wrestle the Olympics away from the CBC, a consortium consisting of Bell Globemedia and Rogers Communications teamed up to pay $90 million US for the Vancouver Games and another $63 million for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

I'm glad. Do you want to know why? I'll tell you.

1) The Olympics are nothing but a massive display of corporate sponsorship and pseudo-amateur (and pro!) athletes hoping to cash in on fame for earning medals for their country. What a load of nationalistic and opportunistic crap.

2) We pay the bills for the CBC. Where oh where, pray tell, do you think the CBC would come up with the tens of millions of dollars required to bid for and host the Olympics on Canada's airwaves?

So based on 1 and 2, when the CBC gets to show the Olympics I'm partially funding something I despise and has nothing to do with unique Canadian culture that requires preserving or sharing. Cause let's face it, the Olympics are about as Canadian as baseball.

If the Olympics ever goes back to amateur athletes only AND they massively crack down on steroid abuse across the board for all athletes, then I might consider the Olympics worth watching.

Appendum: For the record, I don't consider Olympic Hockey to be part of the actual Olympics per say. Its more of a World Cup type deal.

Weekend Roundup

I'm tired today, didn't get enough sleep last night. I was too warm and tossing and turning, finally drifted off around midnight only to have to get up again at 6 AM. Some people can function just fine on six hours of sleep, I am not one of them. Here we go.

Winterlude

I spent all day Saturday at Winterlude in Ottawa and Gatineau. I had Kim and three kids with me, and we all had a good enough time... but... Man! Lineups were horrible! We spent most of the day simply waiting for something or other. I was done after four hours but we stayed for another two. I was dead tired when I got home. The kids had fun though and that was the whole point of the exercise.

Interference

It appears some religious groups in the U.S. want to influence the debate on Same Sex Marriage in Canada. (Hat Tip Voice in the Wilderness) I find such interference distasteful, but not surprising. I think that as long as they are not directly funding politicians then their opinion can be expressed to those willing to listen. Just make sure you are aware of where the information is coming from.

 

Ruin Me Too Please!

Sucks To Be Me

Alfonso Gagliano would like you to know that his life has been ruined, ruined I tell you, over allegations of impropriety arising from his role in AdScam. No one wants to hire him and he's the subject of rididule. Of course, this is the same Alfonso Gagliano who is now eligible for, and collecting an MP's pension worth over $90,000 per year.

I should be so lucky to be ruined like that.

Ditto.

Not a Pretty Picture

Michael Harris of the Ottawa Sun paints a bleak picture.

 If the retreat from the U.S. dollar became "disorderly", the American economy could be turned into a wasteland of high interest rates and tight investment capital and even more massive trade deficits. In those circumstances, Vice-President Dick Cheney's blithe pronouncement that "deficits don't matter" might not sound quite so plucky.

I don't know how much is accurate, but I've been hearing similar rumblings from other sources around the internet. I fear if America goes into major economic meltdown, Canada cannot be far behind.

Looking for Philosphy

I've decided to investigate what my philosphy really is. Does anyone have any suggestions of a good beginners book on philosphy I could read?

Makes Me Sick

Read This. Read all of it. And if you still support what the Bush Administration did Iraq, what the majority of Americans implicity gave approval for in the last election, then you need help. (Hat tip to Ianism)

Valentine's Day

February 14th strikes mortal fear and dread into my heart unlike any other. I grew up in high school dreading the day because I never had anyone to share it with and I felt so lonely (although I do remember fondly the time JC and Anne-Marie bought me a flower each as a sign of friendship. It was such a kind gesture and it warmed my heart).

More recently I've had issues with the date because I suffer from a debilitating illness called Lackitus Romanticus Bone Disease. For example, one year I thought I would be romantic and pick up some Swiss Chalet dinner for two and use a coupon for flowers on the way home from work. But, the Swiss Chalet I went to turned out to be a Pizza Hut ( I was very surprised) and the flower shop would only give my candles for the coupon and not flowers (buggers). So when Kim came home I had a couple cheap candles and pizza.

However, compared to last year pizza and candles was brilliant. Last year Kim was out of work so we agreed to not do anything for Valentine's Day. (For the record, I also sacrificed any birthday presents.) Feb 14 rolls around and Kim gives me a card and a mix CD with songs I like. I've got nothing. I mean, literally, NOTHING. I. Made. Her. Cry. To me, "not doing anything" means not doing anything!

So basically, this year I would have to physically hurt her in order to do worse than last year. Fortunately, I may be dumb but I'm not stupid. I got some gold earrings and a small teddy bear with something endearing written on a pillow it holds. And I got a card that says the right things. Perhaps I'll even remember to sign it.

For good measure, I'm getting some flowers too. Can't hurt.

Anyone Seen The REAL Republicans Lately?

Via Tilting at Windmills:

John Rogers Misses Republicans...
...and explains why you should miss them too....

Right on.

Busy Busy Busy

I'm sorry my posting has been very light for the past couple days of this week. Work being extremely busy combined with my being away from the office all day yesterday created condition for a "perfect storm" of activity and no rest time. I finally have time to breathe again right now, but its only a lull in the storm.

Andrew at Bound By Gravity has been discussing the Right to Die issue that became hot recently with the suicide of Ian Tremblay recently. Andrew has come out saying he feels that people do not have the right to die and "Euthanasia and assisted suicide are morally wrong. That is my stance." I can respect that.

I've never really thought hard about the subject myself. Part of me feels that people in their right mind should have the choice of ending their own life in certain circumstances but I can understand how that would be a slippery slope of what constitutes "right mind" and how this decision affects others. I can see how euthanasia could be taken too far and used to kill (I was going to say end the lives, but let's not use euphemisms for this important topic) those deemed "in too much pain". Who makes that decision? Its getting dicey for me now, it feels a lot like the arguments I used against the death penalty and who gets the right to make the decision for the rest of someone's life.

In the end, I have to agree with Andrew's position that euthanasia and assisted suicide are morally wrong. I can understand why some people want to choose their own time and method of death when they are in terrible pain, but I do not feel we should allow the floodgates to be opened on this complex issue.

Paul Martin is... Walking Eagle!

On a recent public relations trip through Orillia, Prime Minister Martin visited the Rama Casino. He met with the elders of the Mohawk
Nation. He said he had a plan to improve the income of every Native American by $60,000 a year.

Details of the plan were not presented despite frequent requests to do so. Martin also informed the elders that he favored every Native
American proposal be sent to him for his approval.

Martin was adopted as a member of the Mohawk Nation and given the name Walking Eagle. After the Prime Minister left, one of the elders was asked the significance of the name Walking Eagle.

His response---" Bird so full of shit it can't fly "