Sigh

On Friday afternoon, driving back to work from lunch, I rear-ended a van that stopped unexpectedly in front of me.

I wasn't speeding. I wasn't talking to a passenger or on the phone. I didn't have the radio on. I wasn't checking out the scenery. We took started from a stop light and just past the intersection she slammed on her brakes and I did the same. Even though the weather had not been raining or snowing at all that day the roads were damp and the tires refused to grip the road. As I slid I had time to think "damn, I'm going to hit that van". Then bamn.

The damage looked devastating on Friday but yesterday we had the car towed to the house and the intervening time has eased some of the anguish I felt and the damage looks repairable. Whether or not its fiscally affordable to do so remains to be seen.

The worst part of all of this is not the cost of the accident or the inconvenience of having only one vehicle again (although those are considerable weights on my mind), no the worst part is the reputation of being the bad driver, knickname "Crash", for my incidents in the past and this one to only re-open the wounds.

I really thought I had gotten past that. Over 5 years with no accidents despite over 2000 km of driving every month (that time I slid into the ditch doesn't count, the car had no damage and the stretch of road was unexpectedly treacherous!) and I was feeling confident that I was a better driver now. How many times did I drive through snow storms, ice rain, deer herds, and crazy city traffic without incident on my way too and from work?

All down the drain. Back to the sincere "drive carefully" admonishments and reminders from my parents as they shake their head in disappointment and it makes me want to bang my head against a wall. Its not like I drive dangerously without your reminder people! Sigh.

In the end, this too will pass. If I must wear the "bad driver of the family" medallion, so be it. I certainly have earned it.

That Time Of Year Again

Christmas season officially starts in the Dullemond household when we go to Belleville for Kim's family dinner like we did this past weekend. The trip was uneventful despite some flurries, the boys either sleeping or entranced by the passing scenery.

We stayed over at a hotel in Trenton and in the morning enjoyed the indoor pool with the boys. They seemed to enjoy it enough although I'm sure they were confused: "why is the bathtub so big and water so cold? And why am I wearing this weird diaper?"

On the way home we stopped in my Grandparent's place in Seeley's Bay for dinner and a visit, and got home in time to be exhausted and drained.

This coming weekend is decorate time, with our tree to go up and house decorated. Our living room is already quite crowded so it will be interesting to see how we manage for the month the tree is there. I'm sure the boys will enjoy the lights.

Christmas Season Is Upon Us

Ah December, the month of madness.

This coming weekend we have Kim's Extended Family Christmas Dinner. In order to let everyone get together, they typically have it the first weekend in December and it kicks off the season for me.

Then we have two more weekends until Christmas itself is upon us. Egads. One of those weekends will be the decoration weekend where we put up our tree and stuff. Good thing the boys are not crawling yet, the tree should be safe this year.

And I still have to do gift shopping for Kim. Its going to be a wild month!

Reality Check

The headline of the Ottawa Sun caught my attention as I filled up my car this morning (woo hoo, less than $20 bucks!). It screamed "NO! NO! NO!" and the sub headline was about how the three opposition parties were going to overturn the will of the people of Canada by forming a coalition government and tossing the Tories out.

Um, what?

The will of the people was that the Conservatives do not form the government of Canada, they just couldn't agree who to replace them with. After all, the Cons got ~35% of the popular vote, about one in every three voters. And with a 66% (I'm going on memory here) turnout that means that only one in four picked them.

The three opposition parties got MORE votes combined than the Conservatives. Their members were elected to represent the people. If the members of those parties decide to work together to govern than in essence the will of the people has been enacted. The system works and the Tories lost this round; get over it.

Inaccurate and inflamatory claims that the will of the people is being subverted and the opposition leaders are staging a coup are irresponsible and deserving of ridicule.

Asshats.