I was successful in finding a last minute uke for my belt test last night and proceed to go through it swimingly. The sparring part was exhausting, I need to improve my endurance more yet still. I find out the official result at the Friday noon class but if I didn't succeed I would be horribly shocked.
Next stop: Orange!
I looked in my Junk Suspects email folder this morning and see my spam filter made a huge error. I had an email from Jesus!
Subject: yo
It has been months since we've talked. Just wanted to see how things are.
How is ur family. Hope everything is going well with you. As for me, I've really changed a lot about myself, especially with my weight.
http://NotaRealAddress helped me with that. It has really been a saver and everything w/my life has been different. he insight was of had various reinforced provokingTalk to ya
Jesus
*Snort* Jesus said "yo".
I'm happy to read in today's Canoe Ottawa headlines the Smoke Free Ontario Act comes into law tonight at midnight. In my opinion, its long overdue.
Usually I'm a conservative when it comes to government interference in rights of citizens, that is to say, the less government involvement the better. But the issue I have with smoking in public places is that it is not something that has no ill effect on others near the smoker. In fact, it has well documented side effects both long and short term. The argument that one does not have to go into establishments where smoking is allowed but can go somewhere else is useless because if one establishment can do something to attract customers that another cannot it creates an uneven playing field for competition. Smoking sections in businesses are a joke; if there is smoking in one room, it spreads throughout the building. Believe me, I know.
The only solution in my view was to ban smoking from all public places like the government has done. Its the right thing to do for everyone, an easy case of utility where the "sacrifice" of a few results in improved happiness for many more.
... Go see the Cirque de Soleil. Kim and I saw the Quidam show on Saturday evening and it was amazing. Words alone cannot express what a spectacle it was. From the performers in the air doing acrobatics with nothing holding them up but a long red drape, to the performers on the stage doing amazing feats of balance and strength, it was well worth the price of admission.
Go. You will not be disappointed.
Mike Strobel wrote an opinion piece over on Canoe.ca in which he states:
Which leaves us with the thorny question of women serving in armies that are hellbent on slaughtering each other.
To me the answer is simple: Do not send women into combat.
He then proceeds to tell us just how much harder it is to see the pictures of the faces of the women who have died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It would be terrible if those faces were of young men.
I'm sorry, but it is even worse that they are of young women.
Either he cares less that young men are dying, or he is a sexist who believes women need to be coddled and protected. I don't buy into that old fashioned thinking.
Why our gut reaction to those photos of Capt. Goddard and her American comrades-in-arms?
This has naught to do with equal pay or equal rights or equal access or equal anything.
It has to do with the female of our species being kinder, gentler. The nurturer. Mom, for crying out loud.
So in his little world, if women are not allowed to be soliders, does that mean men are not allowed to be nuturers? Of course we know that is absurd. In out enlightened times we recognize that not every man is a deadly solider and not every woman is a nuturing mother. Just as we would allow a man to raise a child, we should have no compunctions about a woman raising a gun if she so chooses.
And if people like Mike Strobel have a problem with it, maybe they should talk to the female soldiers before demanding they are removed from duty first.
(Also, I object to him lumping me and the rest of Canada in with his opinion. I assure you no extra-large lump formed in my throat when I heard it was a woman who was killed as opposed to a man. All death in war is a tragedy and making a bigger deal out of one of them regardless of the reason trivializes the rest.)
Hearing the news that the Wii won't exceed $250US was very welcome because it means I can think about how to convince Kim to let us buy it. When I heard that the PS3 could go for as much as $500US I was worried that all the next gen consoles would be as expensive. Good to know Nintendo still has half a brain left.
This reminds me, I need to finish Prince of Persia 3. I was enjoying it but got sidetracked.
Last night I got home from work. Kim gave me a card for our anniversary. I opened it and started laughing. She looks at my strangely and asks, "What's so funny?"
I gave her the card I got for her and she opened it to find the exact same card.
Great minds think alike.
OK, I know I'm late, but the Buffalo - Carolina series is tied at 1-1 and I don't have a clue what is going on in the other series, so for what it worth:
Carolina in 6
Edmonton in 7
Ok, now why am I so late? Well, I left work at Thursday at noon and didn't get back until today. Thursday afternoon Kim and I had some running around to do and Friday I had off to spend with Andrew and relax. Saturday morning Kim and I took off for Kingston to visit her sister and on Monday we swung back through the boonies to go to a Birthday party for one of the Kids. So basically from Thursday noon until this morning I was cut off from my usual news sources.
So now you know. Normal posting resumes today. (Yay!)
You remember how yesterday I complained about the fact that I was told I needed a couple more classes under my belt before I could get my third white belt stripe? Well, in today's class Sensi Pat took me aside and gave me my test, much to my surprise. I'm not sure what happened, but I suspect my exchange with Sharon was overheard last night and someone put a word in someone else's ear and they got the impression I was in a hurry, maybe thinking I wanted to do my belt test at the end of this month.
But as I said, I was just annoyed at the changing goalposts rather than the inconsequential extra classes. I still plan to do my belt test next month. Now I'm all paranoid that they bent the rules a bit for me and someone will be annoyed with me! Gah.
The output of all this is now I have my red tip review tomorrow night pending wife approval.
Check out this news bulletin on CNN:
BLACK JACK, Missouri (AP) -- The City Council has rejected a measure allowing unmarried couples with multiple children to live together, and the mayor said those who fall into that category could soon face eviction.
Olivia Shelltrack and Fondrey Loving were denied an occupancy permit after moving into a home in this St. Louis suburb because they have three children and are not married.
The town's Planning and Zoning Commission proposed a change in the law, but the measure was rejected Tuesday by the City Council in a 5-3 vote.
Read the rest.
Via Pesky Apostrophe
This morning on the way to work I nearly hit the rear end of a car that nearly hit a deer. That's twice in one week that I've had close encouters with the woodland kind, whereas in previous years I've had very few.
Anyway, happy to report no contact was made with deer or rear end of the blue Monte Carlo in front of me.
And another thing...
Last night I was at class when I went to book my third stripe test. The lady at reception tells me I don't have enough classes yet and I become confused. "I have six," says I.
"You need 8," she replies.
"But, I got my other two stripes after 6 classes," I confusedly answer.
"Well, someone was being nice to you those times," she said with a slight tone of impatientence.
Nothing frustrates me more than changing plans or objectives and although this merely adds one inconsequential week to my training, after the day I had yesterday it was enough to put me in a foul mood. Even though she offered to book it later down the road for me last night I told her I will come back next week and try again. I was just too uptight at that point to think clearly and I wanted to leave the situation before my frustration showed.
The good news is that I should still have my yellow belt by the end of June as planned.
My beloved Ottawa Senators were unceremoniously bounced from the playoffs in the second round again. Sigh. Whenever this happens I think back with pain to 2003 when the Sens were one goal away from the Stanley Cup Finals and probably victory. This time they were nowhere near close.
A lot of finger pointing is going to go on here in Ottawa over the next few weeks, and a lot of the blame (including my own) will fall on Alfie. The fact of the matter is that after they lost so horribly in Game 1 they never recovered any confidence and that is where the Captain has to step up and lead the team out there on the ice to regain momentum. It almost looked like Alfredson panicked and took the rest of the forwards with him, clutching their sticks to their chests and were trying too hard to score from the perimeter when really they needed to be in Miller's face. But as much as I blame the captain of the team, I wonder if I would be typing this had Hasek been healthy. Consider: one less goal for Buffalo in regulation time in any of the games they won and the Senators are winning the series 4-1. Even just preventing an extra goal in two games is enough for a tight series instead of the walkover we experienced. I'm not saying Emery was bad, just not great enough for the Stanley Cup. Not yet anyway.
Apparently, my workplace upgraded their internet connection hardware and software which included a neat little feature of blocking certain website domains. Like www.blogger.com or anything.blogspot.com for instance. More than a little frustrating, and makes me wonder if someone in the comapny is was abusing blogs (either posting or reading).
Anyway, the result is that I am going to have to switch my blog reading to home from now on. I've transfered all my RSS subscriptions this morning and caught up on the blogs that were blocked. I still plan to make posts from work as I can make those via email. So expect regular posting on Monday.
Cheers!
I haven't had a "This and That" since midway through April, so here you go. Enjoy!
What hockey gods did the Ottawa Senators piss off so much that they still have the worst luck scoring goals when they need it against Buffalo? How could a team outplay Buffalo like Ottawa did last night and still end up losing? Gah!
On CNN this morning I heard about a gas station / bank that allows people to buy their gas in bulk for future fillups based on the current price. One guy bought his $3000 worth of gas three years ago at 0.95 cents per gallon and the price now at the pumps is over 2 bucks. I just wonder how the company stays in business if people buy when gas is low and get it when prices are higher, who ends up paying the difference?
I'm reading a book called Pandora's Star by Peter F Hamilton, book one of a two book series. At first I didn't like it because the story jumped from character to character to character without any seeming rhyme or reason. So many characters that keeping track of them all was difficult for me especially since most of them had no relation to each other's storylines. Then they started to intertwine and reveal the bigger picture and how they all play a part in this space epic. I love the book and style now and I'm on the last chapter and I plan to head out at lunch today to pick up the sequel, Judas Unchained. So excited!
Note to WB network executives. If you don't fight hard bring back Supernatural on the new CW network you are setting up with UPN, I will personally see to it that every single pair of your socks has holes in them and every pair of underwear has a brown streak down the middle so when you are getting busy with the wife or the girlfriend and she busts a gut laughing at you or is so grossed she kicks you out, you will think, "Dang! I should have brought back Supernatural."
That's all. Carry on.
Through Colby Cosh's roundup of international news items comes this article:
Sahar is a 16-year old high school student living in Tehran. She suffered a bruised and swollen arm that was painful enough to prevent her from attending classes for several days. "I was walking on the street with my friends that suddenly a police patrol pulled over," she said. "All of my friends started to run away as soon as they saw the car, but I stayed there as I thought to myself I have done nothing wrong, why must I run away? But then the police stepped down, pushed me to the corner and cursed me. He called me a rotten grass and told me to cover up the half of my elbow that was showing down the sleeve. When I told him that my sleeves are short and they won't come lower than this, he hit my arm with his stick."
Although such behavior from the police force is not yet common, similar incidents have some concerned that physical confrontations might become the norm. The situation reminds some Iranians of extremist-dominated conditions which existed before the Khatami presidency.
Thirteen Things On My Desk Right Now
1. Lego Darth Vader.
2. Computer.
3. Dilbert Appointment Book.
4. Two framed pictures of Kim and I.
5. Plasma Globe Thingy.
6. Centrum Multivitamins.
7. Ear phones.
8. Box of Kleenx.
9. Telephone.
10. Cell Phone.
11. Pens,
12. Tantrix Hex Puzzle.
13. Pot containing Cactus and Spider Plant.
First off, how did I do in the first round?
East:
Ottawa (113pts) versus Tampa Bay (92pts) -> Ottawa in 6
[Ottawa won in 5]
Carolina (112pts) versus Montreal (93pts) -> Montreal in 7
[Carolina in 6]
New Jersey (101pts) versus NY Rangers (100pts) -> New York in 6
[New Jersey in 4]
Buffalo (110pts) versus Philadelphia (101 pts) -> Buffalo in 5
[Buffalo in 6]
West:
Detroit (124pts) versus Edmonton (95pts) -> Detroit in 4
[Edmonton in 6]
Dallas (112pts) versus Colorado (95pts) -> Dallas in 5
[Colorado in 5]
Calgary (103pts) versus Anaheim (98pts) -> Calgary in 6
[Anaheim in 7]
Nashville (106pts) versus San Jose (99pts) -> San Jose in 7
[San Jose in 5]
So I got the winner right in 3 out of 8 guesses, and the number of games in those three I was off by 1 game twice and 2 games once. OUCH! Hopefully I will have a better second round.
East:
Ottawa versus Buffalo -> Ottawa in 6
Carolina versus New Jersey -> New Jersey in 5
West:
Edmonton versus San Jose -> San Jose in 6
Colorado versus Anaheim -> Colorado in 4
There you go Andrew, hope I did better this time.
Pharyngula has a post up admonishing those who are pushing for more brutality in Iraq for fighting insurgents. Powerful stuff, reminding me why I was against the invasion of Iraq in the first place.
I pulled a muscle last night in Jiu Jitsu class. Right at the beginning before warmup or anything, we were getting up after the ceremonial kneeling bow and I pulled a muscle in my groin at the top of the right leg, inside the thigh. Ouch! Doesn't hurt when I walking, only when my thigh is at 90 degree angle to my waist and I bend forward. As in, I'm sitting down and if I bend forward to touch my shoes, pain.
Fortunately it is far less today than it was last night and hopefully it will be 100% by Friday. I'll have to be careful getting up on that leg from now on now that I know what can happen!
Continuing with the story I commented on yesterday, now a US Senator is introducing a resolution that the anthem and Pledge of Aleigance only ever be said in English. Holy over-reaction Batman!
I used to say Quebec's Language Laws would never stand in the USA, but now I'm not so sure.
(Hat Tip: Stupid Evil Bastard)
I wanted to write a scintilating post about some important subject that would dazzle readers and make them fawn at my wit and clarity. Unfortunately, all I got is "the trees are getting their leaves... pretty....".
So, instead of intelligent discourse on the state of the country / world / metaphsyical realms, let's down our IQ a bit and talk about sports.
While I'm surprised that the 8th seeded Edmonton Oilers defeated the 1st seed Detroit Red Wings, I'm not shocked. For one thing, to get into the playoffs a team needs about a 100 pt season which means that they have to win well more than half their games. So even the 8th seed is a decent team. For another thing, Detroit played in a division filled with weaker teams that were easy wins to build up their point total. Maybe in a tougher division the Wings would have finished further down the pole. For me the bigger shock is Colorado defeating Dallas, a series many thought was a sure thing for the Stars. To lose the series 4-1 is downright unthinkable yet it happened. Ouch.
OK, back to work.
The United States, especially in the southern states, are starting to experience the joys of multiculturism. Recently, a Spanish recording of the national anthem produced a bit of an uproar:
"Would the French accept people singing the La Marseillaise in English as a sign of French patriotism? Of course not," said Mark Krikorian, head of the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that supports tighter immigration controls.
Having grown up in a country where you learn the national anthem in two languages right from the start, it seems odd when another country protests the translation for the benefit of a significant number of americans. For example, the estimated population of Hispanic people in United States in July 2004 was 41.3 million. That's about 10 million people more than live in all of Canada, and more populous than most European countries.
Dear American cousins: news flash, this anthem is only the beginning. Eventually you will have to face the fact that government services will need to operate in a bilingual manner, and products will require double labeling. And hundreds of other little things Canadians have been living with for years and for the most part, are happy with.
Supporting more than one language in your country is not a sign of weakness, its a sign of openness and tolerance. Don't let fear of the unknown future guide your actions but embrace this new facet of american culture, because like it or not, its here to stay: its estimated that by July 2050 the projected Hispanic population in USA will be 102.6 million, or 24% of the total population.
(Hat Tip Pesky Apostrophe)
