Well, it ain't Judge Judy! Spent the day in court trying to find out what the "system" is going to do with my prodigal brother. (Seems he slept through his court date, and lost his paperwork.) Its time to get him off the streets. He swears he is not ill...but my mileage may differ. There is still a very strong bias against mental illness in our society...every where I look there is another charity auction for the Children's Hospital, but never EVER have I seen a charity auction for the Royal Ottawa [mental] Hospital. Ahh...but that is a subject for another rant later on. Right now, I am still amazed at the antics of the court room!
Showed up at 7:30, to try and get some information about what and where. Lots of people, lots of courtrooms. Found the courtroom where the bail hearings were to be held. fortunately only one courtroom for bail hearings today so I got the right one first time. The crown prosecuter, obviously giving me the brush off was "on form" as the meanest dinosaur in the valley. Her behavior at the time struck me as interesting...and it took me a week to figure it out. The brusque manner, the brush off made sense, as did her unwillingness to talk to a friend of the guy in the dock. Her statement that "I don't have the time to talk to you...you talk to Mr. Lxxxxx, he is the defense attourney. Then she proceeds to spend the next 5 minutes or so exclaiming over a clerk's shoes and wondering where she got them! Didn't have time indeed! I suppose she figured I was like most families of perps and wanted an "in" to the prosecutor. I can understand that. Then, when I got this incredibly busy defense attourney to listen to me, he was agast that my bro had NO representation, and NO brief on him at all! So he broke into the "shoe" conversation to get his brief. Oh right, well, here you are...she says, as she pulls out the paperwork to give to the defense. Mr. Lxxxxx had almost 3 minutes to read the brief before showtime! This was not enough, though he DID get a chance to visit my Bro instead of getting his lunch.
Needless to say, we hung about until about 3 in the afternoon, to hear the defense explain that he needed the case to be held over until the next day so that he could prepare a proper brief. So the bro spends another night in cells because the Prosecuting Attourney was more interested in the clerk's shoes than in getting the correct paperwork to the defense.
Perhaps I am being needlessly harsh...because certainly once showtime started, the court was a hive of activity. Two clerks in full robes were bustling about being very officious, moving files about, two court reporters recording every utterance....two Crown Prosecuters, one Provincial, one Federal were busy sorting out federal and provincial responsiblities. Finding court dates and courtroom "slots" . It was kind of neat...they were speaking in code all the time! Imagine the poor kid wearing the hoodie standing behind the thick glass in the dock listening to this: This is John Smith, he is here under allegations of section 41 subsection 3, 7 and 19. "Does he have a form 1?" No, he doens't need one, He has a federal 31a. "Ahh, well, does the federal prosecuter have the 39w? Yes, good then. "I'll need a copy of that please" Here you go then. Thank You....a slot is available on Tuesday, 2:30 PM 14 September Is there a surety here? Good...Mr John Smith, you are released in custody of your grandmother, and you will appear in courtroom 13 on 14 September 2005. If you fail to appear, you will personally laible for 300 dollars bail and your grandmother will be liable for 300 dollars bail. Do you understand? The poor yob in the dock who hasn't understood a word up until this point understands "Bail", "Grandmother" and "release". Yes Your Worship, he says, and the cop with no gun takes him away and cuffs him again.
That was a week ago, and I am still shaking my head!
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Saturday, August 20, 2005
singing the blues
Ahhh...in the traditon of stealing only from the best, this was forwarded to me.
Subject: Fw: HOW TO PLAY & SING THE BLUES ----- HOW TO PLAY& SING THE BLUES
1. Most Blues begin with: "Woke up this morning..."
2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues unless you sticksomething nasty in the next line like "I got a good woman with themeanest face in town."
3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Thenfind something that rhymes, sort of: "Got a good woman with the meanest facein town. Yes, I got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Got teethlike Margaret Thatcher, and she weigh 500 pound."
4. The Blues is not about choice. You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in aditch. There ain't no way out.
5. Blues cars: Chevys, Fords, Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don'ttravel in Volvos, BMWs, or SUVs. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhoundbus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft and state-sponsored motor poolsain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the blueslifestyle. So does fixin' to die.
6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults singthe Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electricchair if you shoot a man in Memphis.
7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or anyplace inCanada. Hard times in Minneapolis or Seattle is probably just clinicaldepression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City are still great places tohave the Blues. You cannot have the blues anyplace that don't get rain.
8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the Blues. A woman with malepattern baldness is. Breaking your leg 'cause you were skiing is not theblues. Breaking your leg 'cause a alligator be chomping on it is.
9. You can't have no Blues in a office or a shopping mall. The lighting iswrong. Go out to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.10. Good places for the Blues:a. Highwayb. Jailhousec. Empty bedd. Bottom of a whiskey glassBad places for the Blues:a. Nordstrom'sb. Gallery openingsc. Ivy League collegesd. Golf courses
11. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be an old ethnic person, and you slept in it.
12. Do you have the right to sing the Blues? Yes, if:
a. You older than dirt
b. You blind
c. You shot a man in Memphis
d. You can't be satisfied
No, if:
a. You have all your teethb. You were once blind but now can see
c. The man in Memphis lived
d. You have a 401K or trust fund
13. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woodscannot sing the blues. Sonny Liston could. Ugly white people also got aleg up on the blues.
14. If you ask for water and your darlin' give you gasoline, it's the Blues.Other acceptable Blues beverages are:
a. Cheap wine
b. Whiskey or bourbon
c. Muddy water
d. Nasty black coffee
The following are NOT Blues beverages:
a. Perrier
b. Chardonnay
c. Snapple
d. Slim Fast
15. If death occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death.Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So isthe electric chair, substance abuse and dying lonely on a broken-down cot.You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or whilegetting liposuction.
16. Some Blues names for women:
a. Sadie
b. Big Mama
c. Bessie
d. Fat River Dumpling
17. Some Blues names for men:a. Joe
b. Willie
c. Little Willie
d. Big Willie
18. Persons with names like Amber, Jennifer, Tiffany, Debbie, and Heathercan't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.
19. Make your own Blues name Starter Kit:
a. Name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.)
b. First name (see above) plus name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, etc..)
c. Last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.) Examples:
Blind Lime Jefferson, Jackleg Lemon Johnson.
20. No matter how tragic your life, if you own a computer you cannot singthe blues
Subject: Fw: HOW TO PLAY & SING THE BLUES ----- HOW TO PLAY& SING THE BLUES
1. Most Blues begin with: "Woke up this morning..."
2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues unless you sticksomething nasty in the next line like "I got a good woman with themeanest face in town."
3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Thenfind something that rhymes, sort of: "Got a good woman with the meanest facein town. Yes, I got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Got teethlike Margaret Thatcher, and she weigh 500 pound."
4. The Blues is not about choice. You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in aditch. There ain't no way out.
5. Blues cars: Chevys, Fords, Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don'ttravel in Volvos, BMWs, or SUVs. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhoundbus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft and state-sponsored motor poolsain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the blueslifestyle. So does fixin' to die.
6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults singthe Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electricchair if you shoot a man in Memphis.
7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or anyplace inCanada. Hard times in Minneapolis or Seattle is probably just clinicaldepression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City are still great places tohave the Blues. You cannot have the blues anyplace that don't get rain.
8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the Blues. A woman with malepattern baldness is. Breaking your leg 'cause you were skiing is not theblues. Breaking your leg 'cause a alligator be chomping on it is.
9. You can't have no Blues in a office or a shopping mall. The lighting iswrong. Go out to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.10. Good places for the Blues:a. Highwayb. Jailhousec. Empty bedd. Bottom of a whiskey glassBad places for the Blues:a. Nordstrom'sb. Gallery openingsc. Ivy League collegesd. Golf courses
11. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be an old ethnic person, and you slept in it.
12. Do you have the right to sing the Blues? Yes, if:
a. You older than dirt
b. You blind
c. You shot a man in Memphis
d. You can't be satisfied
No, if:
a. You have all your teethb. You were once blind but now can see
c. The man in Memphis lived
d. You have a 401K or trust fund
13. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woodscannot sing the blues. Sonny Liston could. Ugly white people also got aleg up on the blues.
14. If you ask for water and your darlin' give you gasoline, it's the Blues.Other acceptable Blues beverages are:
a. Cheap wine
b. Whiskey or bourbon
c. Muddy water
d. Nasty black coffee
The following are NOT Blues beverages:
a. Perrier
b. Chardonnay
c. Snapple
d. Slim Fast
15. If death occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death.Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So isthe electric chair, substance abuse and dying lonely on a broken-down cot.You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or whilegetting liposuction.
16. Some Blues names for women:
a. Sadie
b. Big Mama
c. Bessie
d. Fat River Dumpling
17. Some Blues names for men:a. Joe
b. Willie
c. Little Willie
d. Big Willie
18. Persons with names like Amber, Jennifer, Tiffany, Debbie, and Heathercan't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.
19. Make your own Blues name Starter Kit:
a. Name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.)
b. First name (see above) plus name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, etc..)
c. Last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.) Examples:
Blind Lime Jefferson, Jackleg Lemon Johnson.
20. No matter how tragic your life, if you own a computer you cannot singthe blues
Another weekend, another lost week!
It took me all week to mow that darned lawn! Ah well, now I know that there are no rocks and stones which can damage a ride-on. But what can you do when you come home to find an acre of grass, burrdocks, and thistles waist high! I rented the neatest tool...its a five horsepower whipper snipper with a blade on it! Slow cutting....I have an antique sythe in the showroom which was almost as fast, except of course you have to spend half your day sharpening the blessed thing!
Hey now it is raining, I can have a fire in the fire pit! Oh right...didn't get a burn permit....darn!
Found my little brother...he called me Monday...needed some help. Turned out he needed a LOT of help. Well, you can pick your friends but you can't pick your relatives. A lot of the week seemed to be taken up with sitting in courthouses, and talking with lawyers and social workers. Bloody hell!
And there seems to be a problem with my Eudora email program...possibly not interacting properly with my Norton Antivirus. Not sure...NAV seems to be fine, scans well, the problem doesn't go away when I turn NAV off. I think I shall remove it from the computer totally. See if that helps. I can always re-install. I have heard that it is difficult to remove NAV from a 'puter...it puts its tenetacles into every little area. I figured I would blog a bit until I get the nerve to to the uninstall!
Well, it could be worse. Some of the lost souls in the courthouse were pretty heart wrenching. "Dude...its 28 degrees C out there! (94 degrees Farenheit!) Why are you wearing a hoodie and a watch cap? And you in the leather jacket...you think the judge is going to be impressed with the leather jacket? And girl, if you have to wear the pretty sun dress to make people think you just misplaced your friends the tin woodsman and scarecrow, perhaps you should wear a pretty little shawl to cover the tatoo "Born to FUCK" across your pretty shoulders. It really isn't fooling people!
The lines between low level criminal activity and mental illness seem to blur when you are in bail court at 9 in the morning...and perhaps people with strong opinions [of any kind] might do well to spend some time there...
Hey now it is raining, I can have a fire in the fire pit! Oh right...didn't get a burn permit....darn!
Found my little brother...he called me Monday...needed some help. Turned out he needed a LOT of help. Well, you can pick your friends but you can't pick your relatives. A lot of the week seemed to be taken up with sitting in courthouses, and talking with lawyers and social workers. Bloody hell!
And there seems to be a problem with my Eudora email program...possibly not interacting properly with my Norton Antivirus. Not sure...NAV seems to be fine, scans well, the problem doesn't go away when I turn NAV off. I think I shall remove it from the computer totally. See if that helps. I can always re-install. I have heard that it is difficult to remove NAV from a 'puter...it puts its tenetacles into every little area. I figured I would blog a bit until I get the nerve to to the uninstall!
Well, it could be worse. Some of the lost souls in the courthouse were pretty heart wrenching. "Dude...its 28 degrees C out there! (94 degrees Farenheit!) Why are you wearing a hoodie and a watch cap? And you in the leather jacket...you think the judge is going to be impressed with the leather jacket? And girl, if you have to wear the pretty sun dress to make people think you just misplaced your friends the tin woodsman and scarecrow, perhaps you should wear a pretty little shawl to cover the tatoo "Born to FUCK" across your pretty shoulders. It really isn't fooling people!
The lines between low level criminal activity and mental illness seem to blur when you are in bail court at 9 in the morning...and perhaps people with strong opinions [of any kind] might do well to spend some time there...
Sunday, August 14, 2005
A variant of the who's on first routine....
I wish I had thought of this one. I could not find out Hu wrote it, but if somebody knows, I'll buy them a Kofi.
George: Condi! Nice to see you. What's happening?
Condi: Sir, I have the report here about the new leader of China.
George: Great. Lay it on me.
Condi: Hu is the new leader of China.
George: That's what I want to know.
Condi: That's what I'm telling you.
George: That's what I'm asking you. Who is the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes.
George: I mean the fellow's name.
Condi: Hu.
George: The guy in China.
Condi: Hu.
George: The new leader of China.
Condi: Hu.
George: The main man in China!
Condi: Hu is leading China.
George: Now whaddya' asking me for?
Condi: I'm telling you, Hu is leading China.
George: Well, I'm asking you. Who is leading China?
Condi: That's the man's name.
George: That's who's name?
Condi: Yes.
George: Will you, or will you not, tell me the name of the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir? Yassir Arafat is in China? I thought he's dead in the Middle East.
Condi: That's correct.
George: Then who is in China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir is in China?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Then who is?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir?Condi: No, sir.
George: Look Condi. I need to know the name of the new leader of China. Get me the Secretary General of the U.N. on the phone.
Condi: Kofi?
George: No, thanks.
Condi: You want Kofi?
George: No.
Condi: You don't want Kofi.
George: No. But now that you mention it, I could use a glass of milk. And then get me the U.N.
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Not Yassir! The guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi?
George: Milk! Will you please make the call?
Condi: And call who?
George: Who is the guy at the U.N?
Condi: Hu is the guy in China.
George: Will you stay out of China?!
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: And stay out of the Middle East! Just get me the guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi.
George: All right! With cream and two sugars.
George: Condi! Nice to see you. What's happening?
Condi: Sir, I have the report here about the new leader of China.
George: Great. Lay it on me.
Condi: Hu is the new leader of China.
George: That's what I want to know.
Condi: That's what I'm telling you.
George: That's what I'm asking you. Who is the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes.
George: I mean the fellow's name.
Condi: Hu.
George: The guy in China.
Condi: Hu.
George: The new leader of China.
Condi: Hu.
George: The main man in China!
Condi: Hu is leading China.
George: Now whaddya' asking me for?
Condi: I'm telling you, Hu is leading China.
George: Well, I'm asking you. Who is leading China?
Condi: That's the man's name.
George: That's who's name?
Condi: Yes.
George: Will you, or will you not, tell me the name of the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir? Yassir Arafat is in China? I thought he's dead in the Middle East.
Condi: That's correct.
George: Then who is in China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir is in China?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Then who is?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir?Condi: No, sir.
George: Look Condi. I need to know the name of the new leader of China. Get me the Secretary General of the U.N. on the phone.
Condi: Kofi?
George: No, thanks.
Condi: You want Kofi?
George: No.
Condi: You don't want Kofi.
George: No. But now that you mention it, I could use a glass of milk. And then get me the U.N.
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Not Yassir! The guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi?
George: Milk! Will you please make the call?
Condi: And call who?
George: Who is the guy at the U.N?
Condi: Hu is the guy in China.
George: Will you stay out of China?!
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: And stay out of the Middle East! Just get me the guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi.
George: All right! With cream and two sugars.
Friday, August 12, 2005
Comment Spam!!
Wow, I feel blessed! Got my first "comment spam". A cut and paste without any relationship to the post whatsoever. Neat!
Thursday, August 11, 2005
New course dates! woo hoo!
Jean dropped in yesterday to discuss the new Chivalrous Sword Handling courses at Algonquin for the fall. He does not want to hang about until ten o'clock...who can blame him! He has to get up early to do his day jobs. On Wednesdays, we cannot start until 8 o'clock,and I refuse to go all the way into Ottawa for a one hour class. (I mean, you figure last spring with 60 cent a liter gas, it was costing me ten bucks to go from Metcalfe to west end Ottawa and back, and this fall, with gas at 95 cents, that would be 12 to 15 bucks in fuel alone to teach a one hour class. Not to mention a half hour on winter roads each way. it is just not worth the trouble to do a one hour class! So, we have decided pretty much to drop Wednesday evenings for the fall, and do the classes on Friday. One small glitch though....how do we teach two 8 week classes back to back starting 16 September? I'll see if anybody wants to start it a week early, then we will be able to end them 23 December.
(And here I was hoping to do it all Wednesday,and get my Fridays off....for a change)
So, drop Wednesdays like, totally, and two back to back courses on Friday.
The winter and spring months, no problems. Our Fridays will be clear, and we will be teaching Mondays and Wednesdays.
Really looking forward to it.
Bill
(And here I was hoping to do it all Wednesday,and get my Fridays off....for a change)
So, drop Wednesdays like, totally, and two back to back courses on Friday.
The winter and spring months, no problems. Our Fridays will be clear, and we will be teaching Mondays and Wednesdays.
Really looking forward to it.
Bill
Friday, August 05, 2005
Pirates and global warming...
I always knew there was a correlation between pirates and global warming. Here is the complete explanation....
Makes as much sense as teaching that God created the world in 6 days....
http://www.venganza.org/index.htm
This is an open letter to the Kansas City School Board, asking them to teach the theory that it was a giant floating spagetti monster that created the world. The logical reply is that not enough people are in this faith to take it seriously AS a faith, so they want 10 million people to stand up for this belief and demand that it be taught along side creationism.
They might get it. When Conservative premier Stockwell Day was asked if he wished to open the debate on abortion (after we had firmly slammed it shut after what...25 years!), he said, "Well, if there are enough people who want me to address the issue, I will do it". Wrong answer Stockwell! The next question was, "Well, how many people would it take to sign a petition for you to do it" Like a fool, he said, "I guess if a hundred thousand people want me to take up this issue, I will do it." Really, Stock, a hundred thousand? Nothing less? "Okay, if ten thousand people wanted me to do it, I would". That fine....so what do you suppose happened?
Oh sure, ten thousand people signed a petition for the Federal Government to re-open the abortion issue, but more than a hundred thousand people signed petitions to get him to change his name from Stockwell Day to Doris Day. The power of ridicule!
We notice these days that Stockwell Day is no longer a force in Federal politics.
Makes as much sense as teaching that God created the world in 6 days....
http://www.venganza.org/index.htm
This is an open letter to the Kansas City School Board, asking them to teach the theory that it was a giant floating spagetti monster that created the world. The logical reply is that not enough people are in this faith to take it seriously AS a faith, so they want 10 million people to stand up for this belief and demand that it be taught along side creationism.
They might get it. When Conservative premier Stockwell Day was asked if he wished to open the debate on abortion (after we had firmly slammed it shut after what...25 years!), he said, "Well, if there are enough people who want me to address the issue, I will do it". Wrong answer Stockwell! The next question was, "Well, how many people would it take to sign a petition for you to do it" Like a fool, he said, "I guess if a hundred thousand people want me to take up this issue, I will do it." Really, Stock, a hundred thousand? Nothing less? "Okay, if ten thousand people wanted me to do it, I would". That fine....so what do you suppose happened?
Oh sure, ten thousand people signed a petition for the Federal Government to re-open the abortion issue, but more than a hundred thousand people signed petitions to get him to change his name from Stockwell Day to Doris Day. The power of ridicule!
We notice these days that Stockwell Day is no longer a force in Federal politics.
Monday, August 01, 2005
Harry Potter...
Can't help it...just read the book. Am I the only one who has figured out the truth yet? I used to wonder if Dumbldore was really Voldemert in disguise (think about it, ever see them both in the same room together?) however the disgusting events which led to the assumption of the cat lady to the head mistresses chair seem to have put paid to the idea....no matter how titilating that would have been. Actually, I have a new theory. You see, that scar that Harry has on his forehead...thats one of Voldemort's horcruxes. Perfect timing....kill the parents, leave a piece of the old soul right there where no body would ever suspect. It would explain why it hurts when the big V is around, and also why Harry could speak parceltoungue...he has a lot of V in him! Also, the hat had trouble...wanted to put him into Slytheryn at first didn't it? The hat comes down over the scar, so the immediate thing is to assign him to Sly house. But the hat has second thoughts. This is unusual for a hat.... and puts HP into Griffindor. And its hard to confuse a hat! Like does this happen often?
Makes more sense than the idea that Voldemort couldn't kill Harry because in actual fact, he was Harry's father. But this is probably too biblical for JKR...{And Lo, Harry's parents could not find room at the inn....}
I can't wait for the tenth book..."There's Something about Harry".
Now if I could just figure out who R A B would be. Reuben Albus Bumbledore....naaah.
Makes more sense than the idea that Voldemort couldn't kill Harry because in actual fact, he was Harry's father. But this is probably too biblical for JKR...{And Lo, Harry's parents could not find room at the inn....}
I can't wait for the tenth book..."There's Something about Harry".
Now if I could just figure out who R A B would be. Reuben Albus Bumbledore....naaah.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Lazy days and lazy nights....
Ahhh..it is soooo good to be home. To not have to pick up and carry a lot of heavy stuff all day. Okay, so I had to move a fridge. And a futon. And a load of stock. Hey wait a minuit....grin!
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/explore/object.cfm?ID=BHC1821 here is a link to a collection of ship paintings. Just thought it would be interesting to see and do something different. I expect I'll publish more later, when I get back from the states with the new order. Rob did well at the new show for me....sold about 2 to three dollars per patron he did!
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/explore/object.cfm?ID=BHC1821 here is a link to a collection of ship paintings. Just thought it would be interesting to see and do something different. I expect I'll publish more later, when I get back from the states with the new order. Rob did well at the new show for me....sold about 2 to three dollars per patron he did!
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Wot a surprise!
The new show at the Royal Botanical Gardens actually happened. I couldn't believe it! I think they got 500 people on Saturday, and Sunday it rained....so I expect 300 or so. Lets see.....800 people....after taxes and RBG's cut, ten bucks a head. That would be 8000 bucks. Thirty five actors at 60 bucks a day. (or more...) The Tartan Terrors at $1300 bucks a day, The Limey Birds at $800 or more a day, Zoltan at a grand a day, (oh cummon Z....think you would even unpack a razor blade for less?) a dozen security guards, ticket takers, and a dozen kids picking up garbage. Nope....it'll have to do better than that! Here's a hint guys....drop the security guards...they don't do anything you couldn't do yourselves. Drop the actors to 20 or less! Get rid of the Morriss dancers...I know they are not doing it for nothing, and there are 25 of them at least!
Ah well....at least Rob was enjoying himself as owner of his own business.
Ah well....at least Rob was enjoying himself as owner of his own business.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Wildlife here on the site
Here is a very scared baby eagle....just learning to fly. His wings were just so tiny that he flew much like a chicken...that is, not at all. He looked fierce enough though when Bailey the dog got close to him!
Sucess!
Its been a long hot summer....heat emergency after heat emergency. The only good part of this heat is that the wood is being put in the container dry, not wet. Lots of ants in this wood. I can just imagine what is going to happen if I don't unload the container in Ottawa quickly...I'll go into it and find a huge load of sawdust! I found a lot of the ant killer in the local Rona store, and used it liberally, as well as the ant hotels. Don't know that any of it will work, but, better than nothing. I may try and find a company in Ottawa which will come in and fumigate the thing...or else put a "roach bomb" in it and close the door.
I just hope I have not trapped a racoon in there somewhere. If I have, well, it will get pretty whiffy by the time I open the container in Metcalfe!
Chatted with Jon Angel. He bought three more booths just two weeks before the show got cancelled. He gave Brenda one of them, and yesterday I took an hour out to take down the beams. 12 foot six by sixes. Would not want to leave them behind. Brenda wants me to build her a second story deck with them, and Jon thought that was just so cute that he gave Brenda the booth. Me get to take it down...grunt grunt!!
The new Abingdon Faire looks to be stalled in the water....not a lot of stuff being built there. Oh well, it is supposed to be a "soft" faire, that is, a faire made up mostly of tents, so perhaps things are better than they look. I have asked for the insurance information to be faxed to me, but as usual, I seem to be overlooked. Oh well....won't be so bad if I can get in on a group insurance plan, better than the several hundred dollars insurance it would cost otherwise.
Rob L.... will be doing the show in my name, but he will essentially be doing it on his own hook. I dunno....if I were offered a chance to run a business, use somebody elses merchant credit accounts, and get the stock provided free...I would be a lot more keen on getting my own pst numbers and register my own business. As it is, he seems to have an "employee" mindset which is hard to shift. Of course, it IS summer, he has a nice bike and a hot girlfriend, and a business would cut into his free time A LOT! Running your own business sounds good until you try to do it, and try to get some free time at the same time. I would almost be willing to state that you cannot run a business and a family at the same time, though I have known people who have done so. Me....I have the best of both worlds. As long as I don't get too big too quick, I will have a lot of "me" time.
Chatted with Darryl last week. He dropped in to pick up some cheap wood, and worked all day in the heat. As a blacksmith, he is not unused to the heat, but even he found it hard to keep on slugging it out.
Well, enough of this....time I got to work
I just hope I have not trapped a racoon in there somewhere. If I have, well, it will get pretty whiffy by the time I open the container in Metcalfe!
Chatted with Jon Angel. He bought three more booths just two weeks before the show got cancelled. He gave Brenda one of them, and yesterday I took an hour out to take down the beams. 12 foot six by sixes. Would not want to leave them behind. Brenda wants me to build her a second story deck with them, and Jon thought that was just so cute that he gave Brenda the booth. Me get to take it down...grunt grunt!!
The new Abingdon Faire looks to be stalled in the water....not a lot of stuff being built there. Oh well, it is supposed to be a "soft" faire, that is, a faire made up mostly of tents, so perhaps things are better than they look. I have asked for the insurance information to be faxed to me, but as usual, I seem to be overlooked. Oh well....won't be so bad if I can get in on a group insurance plan, better than the several hundred dollars insurance it would cost otherwise.
Rob L.... will be doing the show in my name, but he will essentially be doing it on his own hook. I dunno....if I were offered a chance to run a business, use somebody elses merchant credit accounts, and get the stock provided free...I would be a lot more keen on getting my own pst numbers and register my own business. As it is, he seems to have an "employee" mindset which is hard to shift. Of course, it IS summer, he has a nice bike and a hot girlfriend, and a business would cut into his free time A LOT! Running your own business sounds good until you try to do it, and try to get some free time at the same time. I would almost be willing to state that you cannot run a business and a family at the same time, though I have known people who have done so. Me....I have the best of both worlds. As long as I don't get too big too quick, I will have a lot of "me" time.
Chatted with Darryl last week. He dropped in to pick up some cheap wood, and worked all day in the heat. As a blacksmith, he is not unused to the heat, but even he found it hard to keep on slugging it out.
Well, enough of this....time I got to work
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Saturday Activity
The place is really rockin today! This is the sound of demolition....the Thud Thud of heavy mallets and the "krick" of boards being pried off. The sound of a Renaissance Faire dying....
I got the roof off, and the rafters for the dormers came off, though not without a struggle. Mattie, Dave's son, was watching me the whole time, and every time a piece of wood would crash down, he would yell out "Oy Vey! Timber!" I like Mattie....
There is a crane truck on site, and Brenda is checking out his hourly rates. I didn't think I would need a crane truck, but I wonder if it would be useful. Might be better than using an engine hoist chain fall. Hard to say. Next week, the beams will be coming down. Today, I pried off the nice grey barn boards from the front of the building. It looks very bare now.
Mood......don't ask.....
Bill
I got the roof off, and the rafters for the dormers came off, though not without a struggle. Mattie, Dave's son, was watching me the whole time, and every time a piece of wood would crash down, he would yell out "Oy Vey! Timber!" I like Mattie....
There is a crane truck on site, and Brenda is checking out his hourly rates. I didn't think I would need a crane truck, but I wonder if it would be useful. Might be better than using an engine hoist chain fall. Hard to say. Next week, the beams will be coming down. Today, I pried off the nice grey barn boards from the front of the building. It looks very bare now.
Mood......don't ask.....
Bill
Friday, June 17, 2005
Racoons, Blue Jays.
Pretty! impressive work by Paul, my truck driver. He slotted that container right onto the spot first time! Boy oh boy, is it ever big. Now, after two weeks of loading it with pieces of deck and rails, we are starting to wonder if it will be big enough. Oh well, its only a third full now, and the big beams are due to come down next week. Still a little scared of that project.
For those who are coming into this blog late...Brenda and I are taking apart my post and beam building in Milton. It has been up now for almost 8 years, and has provided a fine home for the local wasps, racoons, and chipmunks. This is a big job, and I'll try to get pictures up here in a week or so of the carnage. So far, nobody has been hurt...a good thing.
Dave E showed up day before yesterday, and we went to a Blue Jays game. Pretty neat, never been to a game before. St Louis Cardinals. A lovely stroll up Queen street, a bloody lousy veggie dog.
The roof is all off...the dormers are coming down today. I'm tired all ready, and have not even begun the day!
For those who are coming into this blog late...Brenda and I are taking apart my post and beam building in Milton. It has been up now for almost 8 years, and has provided a fine home for the local wasps, racoons, and chipmunks. This is a big job, and I'll try to get pictures up here in a week or so of the carnage. So far, nobody has been hurt...a good thing.
Dave E showed up day before yesterday, and we went to a Blue Jays game. Pretty neat, never been to a game before. St Louis Cardinals. A lovely stroll up Queen street, a bloody lousy veggie dog.
The roof is all off...the dormers are coming down today. I'm tired all ready, and have not even begun the day!
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Late nights
So my friend Jim decided not to purhase that parcel of land beside me after all. I think he was talked out of it by this dip stick of a realestate agent who probably has a neat little piece of land in her listing book that she can actually MAKE a COMMISSION on! Oh well...not that it matters much. I'll re-list the property and make a sale at going rates, rather than at "friends"s rates. I resent the wasted time I spent down town at the registry office this week sorting out "severances" and "minor variances" and so forth. The work time has to be made up, and here I am, nine thirty in the evening, playing catch up on my jobs. That ticks me off. I also resent the fact that now I might get neighbours I can't stand instead of really good people like Jim and Catherine. And I resent paying eight dollars to a registry clerk to punch up my name in her computer, and give me a printout on the history. I mean, really....it was, like, 2 minutes! What a scam this all is!
Oh well, now I know more than the average bear about zonings, variances, right of ways, covenants, and easements. Nothing like doing a thing to become knowledgable in it. My head is still spinning from the sheer mass of things involved in making a parcel of land "clean" for sale. The cost of doing all this paperwork is under 5 thousand bucks...(is that good news?)
Brenda got most of the stock packed for the summer shows....who knows..there may be a Ren Faire, but a "soft sided" faire at some location around Milton. Or maybe not...have not heard boo about anything happening, so I will assume there wont' be one. Ahh well...at least there is the Star Trek convention...which still allows vendors to carry knives and swords.... so far. She is not looking forward to the summer....a last chance to visit with David E, and D'Arcy, maybe ever! So many good bys. Think I will make some wine. Might have time for it to work before we have to leave.
Rob wants to take over the business. I will do my best to set him up as an entrpreneur, but I dunno...you either have it or you don't. Rob might be able to do it...if he can keep from chasing the girls all summer! Trouble with running a business is that you rarely have time for a business AND a family in the first few years!
Well, enough of this...time to get back to work!
Oh well, now I know more than the average bear about zonings, variances, right of ways, covenants, and easements. Nothing like doing a thing to become knowledgable in it. My head is still spinning from the sheer mass of things involved in making a parcel of land "clean" for sale. The cost of doing all this paperwork is under 5 thousand bucks...(is that good news?)
Brenda got most of the stock packed for the summer shows....who knows..there may be a Ren Faire, but a "soft sided" faire at some location around Milton. Or maybe not...have not heard boo about anything happening, so I will assume there wont' be one. Ahh well...at least there is the Star Trek convention...which still allows vendors to carry knives and swords.... so far. She is not looking forward to the summer....a last chance to visit with David E, and D'Arcy, maybe ever! So many good bys. Think I will make some wine. Might have time for it to work before we have to leave.
Rob wants to take over the business. I will do my best to set him up as an entrpreneur, but I dunno...you either have it or you don't. Rob might be able to do it...if he can keep from chasing the girls all summer! Trouble with running a business is that you rarely have time for a business AND a family in the first few years!
Well, enough of this...time to get back to work!
Friday, May 27, 2005
Trademarks and Tarrifs and Trouble
I remember when Walmart first showed up in Ottawa, and even before they put shovel into ground, they took on a little mom and pop operation for name copyright infringement. Wool-Mart had been in Ottawa longer than Wal-Mart had been in Canada, but that didnt matter to the lawyers. (an out of court settlement allowed Wool-Mart to change their name to Wool-Time) Then a few years later, Rockin' Johnny's restaurants are popping up all over Ottawa. A well established US company called Johnny Rockin' again took them to court,same reason, even though they were in a separate country, and no competition can possibly occur. Don't really know the results of that case, but the owner sold one restaurant in South Keys, but is still hangin in there on St Laurent blvd.
Now I see that the Supreme Court of Canada granted US toymaker Matel Inc permission to appeal rulings by the "Trademarks Opposition Board" (ever hear of that before?) that allowed a Canadian company to continue business as Barbie's BBQ Restaurant. This case is a little different though.....seems they really are blatantly ripping off Mattel, who registered Barbie and Barbie's marks many years ago for Doll related items, but neglected to register them for restaurant, and presumably clothing related items.
I am reminded of when KFC used to be Kentucky Fried Chicken. Until sometime in the late 80's when the state of Kentucky demanded huge licenceing fees for using their name...so they changed it to KFC. So why KFC Canada? Another lock step move from the parent company I suppose...
Ahh well...I remember when my friend D'Arcy came up from Texas and we drove all around the Milton Oakville area looking for the UPS depot. She said it looked so much like West Texas that it was uncanny! Same little strip malls, same big box stores, even the big traffic signs over the highway had a sort of universal look to them. She noted at the time that Ontario was looking more and more like just another midwest state every year. I wonder if that is all bad though....
Now I see that the Supreme Court of Canada granted US toymaker Matel Inc permission to appeal rulings by the "Trademarks Opposition Board" (ever hear of that before?) that allowed a Canadian company to continue business as Barbie's BBQ Restaurant. This case is a little different though.....seems they really are blatantly ripping off Mattel, who registered Barbie and Barbie's marks many years ago for Doll related items, but neglected to register them for restaurant, and presumably clothing related items.
I am reminded of when KFC used to be Kentucky Fried Chicken. Until sometime in the late 80's when the state of Kentucky demanded huge licenceing fees for using their name...so they changed it to KFC. So why KFC Canada? Another lock step move from the parent company I suppose...
Ahh well...I remember when my friend D'Arcy came up from Texas and we drove all around the Milton Oakville area looking for the UPS depot. She said it looked so much like West Texas that it was uncanny! Same little strip malls, same big box stores, even the big traffic signs over the highway had a sort of universal look to them. She noted at the time that Ontario was looking more and more like just another midwest state every year. I wonder if that is all bad though....
Friday, May 20, 2005
Bike rides and bone heads....
Yesterday, I was driving back from Kingston on my V-Star, and observed most interesting passing behavior. The cement truck in front was blocking the view, and the fellow right behind him kept sliding out into the left lane from time to time to see if it was safe to pass. At one point, he slid left, and nearly collided with the fellow who was passing BOTH of them. They sorted themselves out....and booted forward to finish passing...but by now, they were on a double solid, and should have simply hung back. Sure enough, over the hill comes some poor sap. The buggers slid back into the right lane with less than half a second lee way. Good scare right? naah...the one who was behind is determined to pass. The one in front, feeling no doubt that he was going too slowly, sped up. So we got two fools booting up the Canadian Shield side by side at over 140 km/hr. The cement truck driver just grinned at me and waved me to pass when I gave him the universal "thumbs up thumbs down" signal because I couldn't see around him either.
And these are people who wouldn't risk eating a bit of cheese with mould on it!
And these are people who wouldn't risk eating a bit of cheese with mould on it!
Monday, May 16, 2005
power politics, office politics...
I was planning out my future career, and was reminded how seldom we get a chance in our lives to actually do that. Usually, people do what they gotta do from day to day, to make other people happy. There is usually a payoff in the long run, same as there is a payoff in taking the wife to the Ice Dance finals. (something which I detest so much that I have been known to pay people to stand in for me....)
Back when I was in the military, they would always be working at cross purposes. They said they wanted one thing, but always rewarded another. For instance, even back in basic training, they "said" they wanted super shiny shoes, super shiny floors and so forth, but they always rewarded conformity. If they really wanted the shiny floors, they would not have objected to the self shining floor waxes, and if they really wanted shiny shoes, they would not have objected to the lacquer. After a while, it became a bit of a game...."sure you SAY you want such and such, but you really want...what?" After I graduated, right on the grade point average....where I expected to be because of course I was too good too flunk out, but too independent to get top dog...my career followed much the same path.
I was on Bill's blog, and he posted a thing about office politics...some academic who had a theory that not all politics is bad...an excessive amount of verbiage to state the obvious that if it works FOR you, it is good, if it works AGAINST you, it is bad. So you should learn to make it work for you. Fine...in theory. I would like to meet an organization that didn't know that from the get go!
Office politics is okay when it works for you, but not okay when you don't get what you want. It is there regardless, so it pays to learn how to play the game.
It helps to write down your goals, put it on a paper under your blotter on your desk. The first question you ask whenever somebody comes up with an idea is "how will this aid the achievement of my goals". Second question..."If I support that fellow on his tangent, will it affect me and my goals in any way?"
Unfortunately, if they are brutally honest, most goals people would write down on that paper they slide under their blotter is "I want to get paid, get promoted, and look good to the boss, my wife, her brother and my employees." Fair enough...of course, nothing will get done as long as management rewards that goal.
As a boss myself, I would ride roughshod over the office politics, making myself thoroughly unpopular with most people, getting the job done better than anybody had ever done it, but getting no loyalty from the organization when something goes wrong. And it did...eventually something blew up in my face, and I was disiplined not for messing up, but for not picking up a problem my idiot underling did.
When did I become cynical? Well, maybe it was when a person I trained got promoted over me who had never done anything but organize office parties and file log books. He never fixed a problem, just worked in the front office handling the reports from the workers, filing them, collating them, being in front of the bosses all the time. We were aircraft technicians, and this joker got promoted without ever setting foot on an aircraft in his entire career.
All cynicism aside, it was very instructive for me and my group to observe this, and re-define our goals based on solid observation....sucking up to the bosses works....so if you want to get promoted, buy the knee pads, and start organizing parties. We did that, the aircrafts languished, eventually being retired because they were "too difficult to keep repaired", and we partied like there was no tomorrow. In retrospect, with the loss of the aircraft, we all lost our jobs as well, but hey, ya gotta do what works. At least we didn't end up in jail as the last person repairing the aircraft which crashes frequently tends to do.
I saw how to make the organization work (define your goals), how to make it fail (reward the wrong goals) and how to thrive in either mode. Not bad...
Back when I was in the military, they would always be working at cross purposes. They said they wanted one thing, but always rewarded another. For instance, even back in basic training, they "said" they wanted super shiny shoes, super shiny floors and so forth, but they always rewarded conformity. If they really wanted the shiny floors, they would not have objected to the self shining floor waxes, and if they really wanted shiny shoes, they would not have objected to the lacquer. After a while, it became a bit of a game...."sure you SAY you want such and such, but you really want...what?" After I graduated, right on the grade point average....where I expected to be because of course I was too good too flunk out, but too independent to get top dog...my career followed much the same path.
I was on Bill's blog, and he posted a thing about office politics...some academic who had a theory that not all politics is bad...an excessive amount of verbiage to state the obvious that if it works FOR you, it is good, if it works AGAINST you, it is bad. So you should learn to make it work for you. Fine...in theory. I would like to meet an organization that didn't know that from the get go!
Office politics is okay when it works for you, but not okay when you don't get what you want. It is there regardless, so it pays to learn how to play the game.
It helps to write down your goals, put it on a paper under your blotter on your desk. The first question you ask whenever somebody comes up with an idea is "how will this aid the achievement of my goals". Second question..."If I support that fellow on his tangent, will it affect me and my goals in any way?"
Unfortunately, if they are brutally honest, most goals people would write down on that paper they slide under their blotter is "I want to get paid, get promoted, and look good to the boss, my wife, her brother and my employees." Fair enough...of course, nothing will get done as long as management rewards that goal.
As a boss myself, I would ride roughshod over the office politics, making myself thoroughly unpopular with most people, getting the job done better than anybody had ever done it, but getting no loyalty from the organization when something goes wrong. And it did...eventually something blew up in my face, and I was disiplined not for messing up, but for not picking up a problem my idiot underling did.
When did I become cynical? Well, maybe it was when a person I trained got promoted over me who had never done anything but organize office parties and file log books. He never fixed a problem, just worked in the front office handling the reports from the workers, filing them, collating them, being in front of the bosses all the time. We were aircraft technicians, and this joker got promoted without ever setting foot on an aircraft in his entire career.
All cynicism aside, it was very instructive for me and my group to observe this, and re-define our goals based on solid observation....sucking up to the bosses works....so if you want to get promoted, buy the knee pads, and start organizing parties. We did that, the aircrafts languished, eventually being retired because they were "too difficult to keep repaired", and we partied like there was no tomorrow. In retrospect, with the loss of the aircraft, we all lost our jobs as well, but hey, ya gotta do what works. At least we didn't end up in jail as the last person repairing the aircraft which crashes frequently tends to do.
I saw how to make the organization work (define your goals), how to make it fail (reward the wrong goals) and how to thrive in either mode. Not bad...
Friday, May 13, 2005
Power politics,
And they are not even Liberals! Some of my friends tried to play in the big leagues and buy the Ren Faire. Like fools, we trusted them, without considering that they didn't have any stake in the show at all, and now we find that they blew several really good chances to make the show happen on the same site. So I am looking at the loss of 80% of my income because some silly person couldn't get her own way and be a CEO!. Not that anybody who reads this really cares....but I just had to vent somewhere!
On a totally non related note, a good friend of mine called me, with jealousy issues. Seems that some five or seven years ago, I kissed his new girlfriend hello, she is now his wife and mother to his children, and he is still carrying this baggage...the kiss was just a little too passionate (he feels) for a hello kiss. It implied that we had had a fling, or something, and still had feelings for her. Even he saw how laughable it was...but there was no denying the existance of the baggage. I simply re-assured him that his wife was still very attractive, that I would love to make passes at her but that would disrespect her, and not incidently disrespect him. And of course, we did not have an actual "history". The last point was the most important to him I think. Its kind of nice to think that even and fat balding guy like me has to think about the jealous husband...what a nice compliment!
I am making my first anime armour. Normally I refuse to have anything to do with cartoon armours....but this one is for the guy's wedding, and may even work! I'll try to post a picture of it here when I finish it.
Time I got to work.
On a totally non related note, a good friend of mine called me, with jealousy issues. Seems that some five or seven years ago, I kissed his new girlfriend hello, she is now his wife and mother to his children, and he is still carrying this baggage...the kiss was just a little too passionate (he feels) for a hello kiss. It implied that we had had a fling, or something, and still had feelings for her. Even he saw how laughable it was...but there was no denying the existance of the baggage. I simply re-assured him that his wife was still very attractive, that I would love to make passes at her but that would disrespect her, and not incidently disrespect him. And of course, we did not have an actual "history". The last point was the most important to him I think. Its kind of nice to think that even and fat balding guy like me has to think about the jealous husband...what a nice compliment!
I am making my first anime armour. Normally I refuse to have anything to do with cartoon armours....but this one is for the guy's wedding, and may even work! I'll try to post a picture of it here when I finish it.
Time I got to work.
Thursday, May 12, 2005
The collapse in slow motion
Today, I witness the collapse of any reasonable sort of government by the Liberal Party of Canada. Despite a frantic attempt to buy votes with our own money, they are spiraling inevitably down the drain. Stephen Harper is bound and determined to nail the lid onto the Liberal Coffin by forcing an election.....and Martin has simply told the world that he needs some time to finish the Gomery inquiry. He "could" order the inquiry to proceed regardless of an upcoming election, but clearly he is keeping the threat that if the government falls, we will NEVER know what went on during the great scandal. Yeah, like Harper wants the Gomery inquiry to falter now! Don't worry Paul Martin, its a LIBERAL scandal, and the tories are not going to let it go away!!! Besides, if Harper becomes PM, you betcha the first thing on his list is to re-convene the inquiry!
And also, we have some vague news that there will definitely not be a faire on the old site. Doesn't matter, rumours are flying....makes no difference to me....the buildings are coming down regardless.
I have a line on a company which sells forty foot containers. A nice trucker named Paul will drop off the container, and later on, will even pick it up off the ground and move it to Ottawa for us. Will cost a bundle, but hey....I am NOT going to let the vultures pick over that nice post and beam building I built!
And also, we have some vague news that there will definitely not be a faire on the old site. Doesn't matter, rumours are flying....makes no difference to me....the buildings are coming down regardless.
I have a line on a company which sells forty foot containers. A nice trucker named Paul will drop off the container, and later on, will even pick it up off the ground and move it to Ottawa for us. Will cost a bundle, but hey....I am NOT going to let the vultures pick over that nice post and beam building I built!
Monday, May 09, 2005
Road Rage....risk and more.
Spent a week in Toronto. Yet again, I have been amazed at the courtesy of Toronto drivers. Maybe Darwin was right...all the stupid ones have died off. What they DONT do is let you dawdle along doing the speed limit without tail gating you. Some of the unsafe passing was a little un-nerving.
I was working out our future business with my wife now that the Ren Fest has closed, and we were wondering if we should put time or money into one of the alternative proposals. "I dunno" she said "I'm not sure I want to risk whatever we could mortage...twenty or thirty thousand or so... on a business venture. Just at that moment, a Passant passes up at 90 klicks on a double solid line. A little startled, I checked my dashboard...yup, its a 60 zone and I am already doing 70. "Hmmmm" said I, "that fellow who just passed us is risking at least that much in his nice new car, risking the rest of his life, and risking damage to any on-coming car which might be coming over the hill at us. And for a payoff? She looked at me....."so what is the connection?" "There are lots of people taking risk every day....huge risks, like that guy. Risk is part of life...no pain no gain....and of course risk can be evaluated. It helps if you don't think about it too closely." That guy is risking everything just for the hell of it.
My daddy used to tell me that you should never gamble more than you can afford to lose. He played crown and anchor, but never passed on a solid line. Like he said, don't gamble more than you are prepared to lose...and if you are going to do stupid things on the highway, or ride on "those" tires, or put off getting the new brake pads, you are not only gambling, but gambling stupidly because there is no payoff.
So what did we decide about our business venture....well for one thing, we decided that we had no control on the variables. We didn't own the show, didn't know how much the insurance would be, didn't know how much most of the expenses were. On the other hand, we had a fair idea of how much we could earn at the show. We have NO IDEA if earnings will exceed expenses. So investing in this show is like crossing on a double solid....we don't know what is coming over the hill at us. Obviously, most of these questions could be answered. For sure, we would earn SOMETHING....but will it be worth the losses?. The last question was...how much can we afford to lose on a gamble. JP Morgan once showed a broker the door when he said "well, this mining venture right here looks like a good gamble". Mr. Morgan replied..."I never gamble" and fired the broker. On the other hand...the broker went on to buy the mine, and made millions, and all his life regretted using the term "gambling" to describe a business venture. I think this venture is looking too much like a gamble.
This whole line of thought came to me when I read a story in the Winnipeg Sun about road rage,
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2005/05/09/1031641-sun.html
and it recalled to me our conversation as we were driving. This is kind of funny actually, though of course the results were a little tragic. Four seventeen year olds out for a drive, were in the drive through at MacDonalds, and for some stupid seventeen year old reason, threw candy at one of the other cars. The other car contained some "baaad dudes" who chased them down, trashed their car with a chain, beat them up and stole their wallets. A most interesting lesson in "consequences". They gambled and lost. They COULD have lost a lot more. Some would say, They weren't gambling at all, they were just being kids. Well, they participated in the high speed chase (that was a gamble that they could get away)....they provoked the conflict (gambling that what they did would have no consequences).....I think it was a pretty cheap lesson all in all.
I was working out our future business with my wife now that the Ren Fest has closed, and we were wondering if we should put time or money into one of the alternative proposals. "I dunno" she said "I'm not sure I want to risk whatever we could mortage...twenty or thirty thousand or so... on a business venture. Just at that moment, a Passant passes up at 90 klicks on a double solid line. A little startled, I checked my dashboard...yup, its a 60 zone and I am already doing 70. "Hmmmm" said I, "that fellow who just passed us is risking at least that much in his nice new car, risking the rest of his life, and risking damage to any on-coming car which might be coming over the hill at us. And for a payoff? She looked at me....."so what is the connection?" "There are lots of people taking risk every day....huge risks, like that guy. Risk is part of life...no pain no gain....and of course risk can be evaluated. It helps if you don't think about it too closely." That guy is risking everything just for the hell of it.
My daddy used to tell me that you should never gamble more than you can afford to lose. He played crown and anchor, but never passed on a solid line. Like he said, don't gamble more than you are prepared to lose...and if you are going to do stupid things on the highway, or ride on "those" tires, or put off getting the new brake pads, you are not only gambling, but gambling stupidly because there is no payoff.
So what did we decide about our business venture....well for one thing, we decided that we had no control on the variables. We didn't own the show, didn't know how much the insurance would be, didn't know how much most of the expenses were. On the other hand, we had a fair idea of how much we could earn at the show. We have NO IDEA if earnings will exceed expenses. So investing in this show is like crossing on a double solid....we don't know what is coming over the hill at us. Obviously, most of these questions could be answered. For sure, we would earn SOMETHING....but will it be worth the losses?. The last question was...how much can we afford to lose on a gamble. JP Morgan once showed a broker the door when he said "well, this mining venture right here looks like a good gamble". Mr. Morgan replied..."I never gamble" and fired the broker. On the other hand...the broker went on to buy the mine, and made millions, and all his life regretted using the term "gambling" to describe a business venture. I think this venture is looking too much like a gamble.
This whole line of thought came to me when I read a story in the Winnipeg Sun about road rage,
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2005/05/09/1031641-sun.html
and it recalled to me our conversation as we were driving. This is kind of funny actually, though of course the results were a little tragic. Four seventeen year olds out for a drive, were in the drive through at MacDonalds, and for some stupid seventeen year old reason, threw candy at one of the other cars. The other car contained some "baaad dudes" who chased them down, trashed their car with a chain, beat them up and stole their wallets. A most interesting lesson in "consequences". They gambled and lost. They COULD have lost a lot more. Some would say, They weren't gambling at all, they were just being kids. Well, they participated in the high speed chase (that was a gamble that they could get away)....they provoked the conflict (gambling that what they did would have no consequences).....I think it was a pretty cheap lesson all in all.
Friday, April 15, 2005
Victoria Island and the Knights.....
Jean, Shane, me and a couple of our students showed up at Victoria Island for a film shoot....Lee Anne Kusak and the news at noon. Nice bit of filler....no editing! Got about 15 minutes of free publicity in the Ottawa region, so can't complain.
Nice day for it too! Sunny! Ottawa river in full flood behind us. It was great! Full armour, bashing away at Jean...it looked really good. I wore chain mail...and Jean wore his Samurai Suit.
This will likely be the first of many "news spots", as journalists pick up on the story. Could be the summer of "Demo's".
Well, enough of this...time to get out and get to work. Got classes to teach!
http://www.southtower.on.ca/LiveSteel.html
Nice day for it too! Sunny! Ottawa river in full flood behind us. It was great! Full armour, bashing away at Jean...it looked really good. I wore chain mail...and Jean wore his Samurai Suit.
This will likely be the first of many "news spots", as journalists pick up on the story. Could be the summer of "Demo's".
Well, enough of this...time to get out and get to work. Got classes to teach!
http://www.southtower.on.ca/LiveSteel.html
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Separatists and Liberals at the same trough! My My!
Nothing like a great big bucket of money to bring people together! I see the ADSCAM hearings are proceeding just as predicted by the regulars in the "Logroller's Tavern" over on the Quebec side. It also explains why suddenly the Block Quebecquois has not been using ADSCAM as the hammer to beat on the Liberals lately! I wondered about that... One thing we can all agree on...politicians from Quebec are problematic...look at the last half dozen elected Prime Ministers!
Here is a little cut and paste just to give you a taste...grin!
This is from Greg Weston's column...I suggestd you read the whole thing here...
Greg is a helluva good writer....and one of the best in the business.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2005/04/06/984844-sun.html
ANTI-SEPARATISM CASH
The $250 million in sponsorships that the previous Liberal government pumped into Quebec was supposed to help fight the separatists after the near-miss referendum in 1995.
But another former Groupaction executive, Alain Renaud, said that while the firm was getting millions of dollars in federal sponsorship money, it was secretly cutting cheques to the separatist Parti Quebecois.
Renaud said that in one transaction, a total of about $90,000 was given to the PQ as part of Groupaction's getting a $4.5-million advertising contract for the Quebec liquor board, called the SAQ.
Groupaction apparently won the contract in a competition when a bagman for the Parti Quebecois had a meeting with the firm's top executives.
snip....
Renaud said Groupaction president Brault was personally involved in the tollgating deal. "I was there when he (Brault) was negotiating with the people of the PQ," he said.
Here is a little cut and paste just to give you a taste...grin!
This is from Greg Weston's column...I suggestd you read the whole thing here...
Greg is a helluva good writer....and one of the best in the business.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2005/04/06/984844-sun.html
ANTI-SEPARATISM CASH
The $250 million in sponsorships that the previous Liberal government pumped into Quebec was supposed to help fight the separatists after the near-miss referendum in 1995.
But another former Groupaction executive, Alain Renaud, said that while the firm was getting millions of dollars in federal sponsorship money, it was secretly cutting cheques to the separatist Parti Quebecois.
Renaud said that in one transaction, a total of about $90,000 was given to the PQ as part of Groupaction's getting a $4.5-million advertising contract for the Quebec liquor board, called the SAQ.
Groupaction apparently won the contract in a competition when a bagman for the Parti Quebecois had a meeting with the firm's top executives.
snip....
Renaud said Groupaction president Brault was personally involved in the tollgating deal. "I was there when he (Brault) was negotiating with the people of the PQ," he said.
Separatists and Liberals at the same trough! My My!
Nothing like a great big bucket of money to bring people together! I see the ADSCAM hearings are proceeding just as predicted by the regulars in the "Logroller's Tavern" over on the Quebec side. It also explains why suddenly the Block Quebecquois has not been using ADSCAM as the hammer to beat on the Liberals lately! I wondered about that... One thing we can all agree on...politicians from Quebec are problematic...look at the last half dozen elected Prime Ministers!
Here is a little cut and paste just to give you a taste...grin!
This is from Greg Weston's column...I suggestd you read the whole thing here...
Greg is a helluva good writer....and one of the best in the business.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2005/04/06/984844-sun.html
ANTI-SEPARATISM CASH
The $250 million in sponsorships that the previous Liberal government pumped into Quebec was supposed to help fight the separatists after the near-miss referendum in 1995.
But another former Groupaction executive, Alain Renaud, said that while the firm was getting millions of dollars in federal sponsorship money, it was secretly cutting cheques to the separatist Parti Quebecois.
Renaud said that in one transaction, a total of about $90,000 was given to the PQ as part of Groupaction's getting a $4.5-million advertising contract for the Quebec liquor board, called the SAQ.
Groupaction apparently won the contract in a competition when a bagman for the Parti Quebecois had a meeting with the firm's top executives.
snip....
Renaud said Groupaction president Brault was personally involved in the tollgating deal. "I was there when he (Brault) was negotiating with the people of the PQ," he said.
Here is a little cut and paste just to give you a taste...grin!
This is from Greg Weston's column...I suggestd you read the whole thing here...
Greg is a helluva good writer....and one of the best in the business.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2005/04/06/984844-sun.html
ANTI-SEPARATISM CASH
The $250 million in sponsorships that the previous Liberal government pumped into Quebec was supposed to help fight the separatists after the near-miss referendum in 1995.
But another former Groupaction executive, Alain Renaud, said that while the firm was getting millions of dollars in federal sponsorship money, it was secretly cutting cheques to the separatist Parti Quebecois.
Renaud said that in one transaction, a total of about $90,000 was given to the PQ as part of Groupaction's getting a $4.5-million advertising contract for the Quebec liquor board, called the SAQ.
Groupaction apparently won the contract in a competition when a bagman for the Parti Quebecois had a meeting with the firm's top executives.
snip....
Renaud said Groupaction president Brault was personally involved in the tollgating deal. "I was there when he (Brault) was negotiating with the people of the PQ," he said.
Monday, April 04, 2005
So this is baseball hmmmm?
Sports Commentary or Gay Porn?
Real quotes from the Louisville/Illinois game:
Williams is surprised by just how long Garcia is!
I think Pitino has to love what he sees right now by Garcia because he's taking Williams time and time again inside.
His teammate is pure energy when he comes in. He's so active!
Oh, he comes up short! That's got to be disappointing!
It's man to man now.
Garcia has to penetrate to make things happen. He's being much too passive.
He's wide open...oh, he gives it away way too easily.
He got a lot of good looks, but is just too passive for these boys.
Williams dominates now!
The final score is Illinois 72 to Louisville 57. I guess this isn't Kentucky's year. Well, at least the KY State Highway Patrol should be happy. I have to say, Illinois played a good game. I'll be rooting for them in the Championship. This is apparently a first in their history, so I hope they get it.
Real quotes from the Louisville/Illinois game:
Williams is surprised by just how long Garcia is!
I think Pitino has to love what he sees right now by Garcia because he's taking Williams time and time again inside.
His teammate is pure energy when he comes in. He's so active!
Oh, he comes up short! That's got to be disappointing!
It's man to man now.
Garcia has to penetrate to make things happen. He's being much too passive.
He's wide open...oh, he gives it away way too easily.
He got a lot of good looks, but is just too passive for these boys.
Williams dominates now!
The final score is Illinois 72 to Louisville 57. I guess this isn't Kentucky's year. Well, at least the KY State Highway Patrol should be happy. I have to say, Illinois played a good game. I'll be rooting for them in the Championship. This is apparently a first in their history, so I hope they get it.
Hmmmm...things are worse than I suspected...
Well, the great Canadian Corruption scandal has hit the high point of interest...easily shifting the Pope and Terry whatsername off the front page. I wonder why...its not as if Liberal government corruption is particularly newsworthy! In fact....we are finally getting to the point where we have paid more for the investigation than the buggers stole from us in the first place!
Oh well...be that as it may...I think I will put a proper rant on my Rant blog....http://yusefsjournal2.blogspot.com/ .... right now, I am pretty mellow. Have not turned on Lowell Greene yet...[local Ottawa right wing radio personality]... he usually causes me to work harder and faster. Since my business is pretty much hammering metal this isn't such a bad thing.
Interesting phenomonon........(love that word...never know when to stop spelling it...grin!)...just when I was thinking I would get a week off...another armour order rolled in! As I said, interesting...these "just in time" orders play hell with my bank, but suit my personal life style just fine. My father used to say "God will provide", and lived his life pay checque to pay checque, I seem to be hiring my staff on the not unwarranted assumption that orders will arrive in time to give them work!
I built a power planishing hammer out of an old air chisel.....now I am doing huge panels, planishing them all over just because I can! Much easier on the old shoulder ball! There may be a deposit of calcium up there....or there may be a couple dozen micro tears...might put paid to my profession in a few years at this rate. I have pretty much decided to drop the money on an English Wheel. I was vaccilating between an english wheel and a planishing hammer...but any planishing I need doing, I think I can do with this hand held air hammer. Lots of vibration though...I may have to buy some shot gloves. (Now arn't we getting profesh--I--on--all!!!)
Regards from the Great White North. Well, not so white...it has been raining the last couple of days....the snow banks are all sort of sootty, and dingy. And they have all melted down to make solid ice speed bumps...kind of neat watching the cars pulling in for the church service next door, they go up and over the ice thinking it is snow, and "crunch", I get another rusty old muffler in my front yard! Har Har! I expect the last of the snow will be gone by next week. There are some big piles of snow at the edge of parking lots however which sometimes hang in there until June!
Oh well...be that as it may...I think I will put a proper rant on my Rant blog....http://yusefsjournal2.blogspot.com/ .... right now, I am pretty mellow. Have not turned on Lowell Greene yet...[local Ottawa right wing radio personality]... he usually causes me to work harder and faster. Since my business is pretty much hammering metal this isn't such a bad thing.
Interesting phenomonon........(love that word...never know when to stop spelling it...grin!)...just when I was thinking I would get a week off...another armour order rolled in! As I said, interesting...these "just in time" orders play hell with my bank, but suit my personal life style just fine. My father used to say "God will provide", and lived his life pay checque to pay checque, I seem to be hiring my staff on the not unwarranted assumption that orders will arrive in time to give them work!
I built a power planishing hammer out of an old air chisel.....now I am doing huge panels, planishing them all over just because I can! Much easier on the old shoulder ball! There may be a deposit of calcium up there....or there may be a couple dozen micro tears...might put paid to my profession in a few years at this rate. I have pretty much decided to drop the money on an English Wheel. I was vaccilating between an english wheel and a planishing hammer...but any planishing I need doing, I think I can do with this hand held air hammer. Lots of vibration though...I may have to buy some shot gloves. (Now arn't we getting profesh--I--on--all!!!)
Regards from the Great White North. Well, not so white...it has been raining the last couple of days....the snow banks are all sort of sootty, and dingy. And they have all melted down to make solid ice speed bumps...kind of neat watching the cars pulling in for the church service next door, they go up and over the ice thinking it is snow, and "crunch", I get another rusty old muffler in my front yard! Har Har! I expect the last of the snow will be gone by next week. There are some big piles of snow at the edge of parking lots however which sometimes hang in there until June!
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Hookers and Casinos...these are a few of my favorite things...
I see that the female newspaper columnists have turned their sites on Casino Gambling and prostitution....the one wants legislation against casinos, the other has decided that legislation against prostitution doesn't work.
Now it seems to me that if laws against prostitution merely drive it into the shadows....causing crime and marginalization of both the men and women who participate in it, then what do you suppose laws against gambling would do?
Ah well, read it yourself....thank goodness the problems in this great nation are no greater than this!
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Edmonton/Mindelle_Jacobs/2005/04/03/980826.html..........Mindell Jacobs take on laws based on morality. She feels that any law which cannot be clearly defined cannot be clearly and reasonably enforced...for instance...the "community standards" test. Makes sense...commit a robbery in a back alley or commit a robbery in a restaurant...still a robbery. Turn a trick in my village...heaven help you, but turn a trick in your home... fine. A snippet here, just to whet your appetite....
"Given the difficulties in defining obscenity - the so-called community standards test - I think the provision is more troubling than it's worth. We could scrap the obscenity law tomorrow and still bring the full weight of the law down on those who inflict harm on others.
Another law we could do without is the one that bans "immoral, indecent or obscene" performances. If people want to watch sexual theatrics in adults-only venues, who cares? Where's the harm?
It's also illegal to mail anything "obscene, indecent, immoral or scurrilous." You can get two years in jail for that kind of mischief. But how is it determined what's illegal? The tricky community standard of tolerance test.
As long as no children are involved in any of these aforementioned activities and no coercion or concrete harm result, why should they be illegal?
And on the prostitution issue, there's overwhelming evidence that prohibition has caused - not prevented - tremendous harm."
(There is much more....worth the read!)
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Christina_Blizzard/2005/04/03/980964.html Christina Blizzard's article on gambling. Here is a snippet.... "Anne Murray is entertainment," says New Democrat Peter Kormos. "Gambling is gambling."
Kormos is right. There's is nothing wrong with a bit of a flutter for those who can afford it. But for those who cannot, it is a tax on the stupid. Gambling punishes people who can't do math or figure out that the odds are stacked against them.
Fifteen years ago, there was no legalized gambling in this province. Ironically, it was the NDP government, of which Kormos was a part, that built the Windsor casino, a move he now regrets. And the Tories just expanded the program. "
Now it seems to me that if laws against prostitution merely drive it into the shadows....causing crime and marginalization of both the men and women who participate in it, then what do you suppose laws against gambling would do?
Ah well, read it yourself....thank goodness the problems in this great nation are no greater than this!
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Edmonton/Mindelle_Jacobs/2005/04/03/980826.html..........Mindell Jacobs take on laws based on morality. She feels that any law which cannot be clearly defined cannot be clearly and reasonably enforced...for instance...the "community standards" test. Makes sense...commit a robbery in a back alley or commit a robbery in a restaurant...still a robbery. Turn a trick in my village...heaven help you, but turn a trick in your home... fine. A snippet here, just to whet your appetite....
"Given the difficulties in defining obscenity - the so-called community standards test - I think the provision is more troubling than it's worth. We could scrap the obscenity law tomorrow and still bring the full weight of the law down on those who inflict harm on others.
Another law we could do without is the one that bans "immoral, indecent or obscene" performances. If people want to watch sexual theatrics in adults-only venues, who cares? Where's the harm?
It's also illegal to mail anything "obscene, indecent, immoral or scurrilous." You can get two years in jail for that kind of mischief. But how is it determined what's illegal? The tricky community standard of tolerance test.
As long as no children are involved in any of these aforementioned activities and no coercion or concrete harm result, why should they be illegal?
And on the prostitution issue, there's overwhelming evidence that prohibition has caused - not prevented - tremendous harm."
(There is much more....worth the read!)
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Christina_Blizzard/2005/04/03/980964.html Christina Blizzard's article on gambling. Here is a snippet.... "Anne Murray is entertainment," says New Democrat Peter Kormos. "Gambling is gambling."
Kormos is right. There's is nothing wrong with a bit of a flutter for those who can afford it. But for those who cannot, it is a tax on the stupid. Gambling punishes people who can't do math or figure out that the odds are stacked against them.
Fifteen years ago, there was no legalized gambling in this province. Ironically, it was the NDP government, of which Kormos was a part, that built the Windsor casino, a move he now regrets. And the Tories just expanded the program. "
Mark Twain, Again!
With the death of the Pope, and announcement that there is NO WAY my beloved Ren Faire will open on the same site this summer as in times past, and the lack of orders in my "IN" box...I decided some light reading was in order. I glossed over Robert Service (fun, but not quite what I was after) and as I commonly do, pick up some Mark Twain. I don't know why, but his War Prayer seemed to suit my mood. (its not a comedy...be warned...) You might want to read the lead up to this "prayer"....it won't hit you so hard that way....
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/twain1.html
quote....
"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them! With them, in spirit, we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it – for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/twain1.html
quote....
"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them! With them, in spirit, we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it – for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Yeah, $43,000.00 dollars will get you laid all right....
Well, its good to see our elected officials are creative in their junkets. $200,000.00 is being requested so that Canadian MP's can travel to some of the worlds's brothels and bordellos, with 43,000.00 alone going to "fees and interpreters". Jerks! Just hire "Ed the Sock"! Bet you can get his un-dee-vi-dedd attention for a whole week with 200 G's!! Certainly you have mine!
here is the link....read it and weep as you fill out your tax form this month!
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/OttawaSun/News/2005/03/27/973276-sun.html
And a little snippet to whet your appetite....
MPs seek cash for study of European prostitutes
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, Parliamentary Bureau (you can email her here....kathleen.harris@tor.sunpub.com)
MPs would benefit from visiting these areas and meeting with law enforcement agencies, counsellors and brothel owners, the budget request document states.
The $143,678 travel budget request for Liverpool, Amsterdam, Utrecht and Stockholm includes $62,840 for transportation, $25,328 for accommodation, $12,000 for food and $43,500 for miscellaneous items like interpretation, official gifts and fees.
The trip by Davies, Tory MP Art Hangar, Bloc Quebecois MP Paule Brunelle and Liberals John Maloney and Hedy Fry was approved by the justice committee Thursday, but must still clear another Commons budgetary committee.
Justice committee chairman Paul DeVillers said the trip has merit.
"I think it will be of value for the subcommittee to go and speak to people in those countries that have different regimes and get a sense of which is the best way to go," he said.
here is the link....read it and weep as you fill out your tax form this month!
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/OttawaSun/News/2005/03/27/973276-sun.html
And a little snippet to whet your appetite....
MPs seek cash for study of European prostitutes
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, Parliamentary Bureau (you can email her here....kathleen.harris@tor.sunpub.com)
MPs would benefit from visiting these areas and meeting with law enforcement agencies, counsellors and brothel owners, the budget request document states.
The $143,678 travel budget request for Liverpool, Amsterdam, Utrecht and Stockholm includes $62,840 for transportation, $25,328 for accommodation, $12,000 for food and $43,500 for miscellaneous items like interpretation, official gifts and fees.
The trip by Davies, Tory MP Art Hangar, Bloc Quebecois MP Paule Brunelle and Liberals John Maloney and Hedy Fry was approved by the justice committee Thursday, but must still clear another Commons budgetary committee.
Justice committee chairman Paul DeVillers said the trip has merit.
"I think it will be of value for the subcommittee to go and speak to people in those countries that have different regimes and get a sense of which is the best way to go," he said.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Banned words.
http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php
Lake Superior State University 2005 List of Banished Words
good ole LSSU again! An excellent list of banished words and phrases. My favorites are "wardrobe malfunction", "Blog", "Webinar" (whats up with that????) and "All New" (as opposed to Partly New I guess!)
Lake Superior State University 2005 List of Banished Words
good ole LSSU again! An excellent list of banished words and phrases. My favorites are "wardrobe malfunction", "Blog", "Webinar" (whats up with that????) and "All New" (as opposed to Partly New I guess!)
Monday, March 14, 2005
Toronto Drivers are good. Yup, I actually said that!
Spent the weekend in Toronto. Not so bad going in...the 401 was its usual crowded, cut you off in the fast lane type of driving, and attended a good meeting. This is the meeting where we are going to figure out how to run the ren faire for another year. Interesting dynamics, but beyond the scope of this blog. On Saturday, they got an inch of snow. Yup...it brought the city to a standstill. But now that I am in the middle of it, I can see why! The snow almost immediatly became glare black, and the automobiles merely curling rocks on a rather dirty sheet of ice. Busses sideways on Eglington, salt trucks sliding off the roads into lamp posts. Remarkable! The salt trucks could not get up the hill at Bathurst and Eglington, so they went around. Would that the rest of the traffic could have thought ahead enough to do the same! Such as myself! "Put it in low people, and gently go up the road. That spinning tire has NO traction!"
Ah well...as usual Toronto had almost no snow. Ottawa on the other hand is sitting under a nice yard thick blanket of the stuff! My back yard is very pretty....the snow covers the derelict cars. Mind you, I have not seen the dog in a couple of months...he is no doubt under the snow somewhere feasting of the squirrels.
Ah well...as usual Toronto had almost no snow. Ottawa on the other hand is sitting under a nice yard thick blanket of the stuff! My back yard is very pretty....the snow covers the derelict cars. Mind you, I have not seen the dog in a couple of months...he is no doubt under the snow somewhere feasting of the squirrels.
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Baby, its COLD outside. Yes it is, yes it is......
Now this just goes to show how your life experience may NOT prepare you for your future actions. This numbskull grew up in California, and lived most of his life in the sunny south. Got into an internet chat with a babe in Quebec. Trouble is, he is a convict, and we won't let him in. So, he snuck across the border. Not just ANY border, but the North Dakota, Manitoba border. In February. By himself. Wearing gloves instead of mitts.
The whole story can be found here....http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Law/2005/03/07/953038-cp.html
U.S. man who snuck into Canada to visit Internet sweetheart won't go to jail
By STEVE LAMBERT
WINNIPEG (CP) - After sneaking across the border in bone-chilling weather to meet his Internet sweetheart, Charles Gonsoulin has learned that love can sometimes hurt.
The Los Angeles-born maintenance man pleaded guilty Monday to illegally entering Canada. He will be deported, but not before having all of his fingers and half of his toes amputated because of severe frostbite.
"He didn't really know that there could be any place on earth this cold, this inhospitable," defence lawyer Mike Cook said at Gonsoulin's sentencing hearing.
"This is a love story with a very, very sad ending."
There's more to the story. As far as I know, he never does get the girl. But maybe that is all to the good. Watching Darwin in action is always entertaining. Too bad he didn't freeze off his central member instead of just his fingers! Hey, I wonder how he will do the chat rooms without fingers for a keyboard! Women around the world may now rejoice.
Sheeiiit honey...you gotta find one with brains! I grew up around there...you know how hard it is to act cool, and not wear a hat when it is like, minus 30 degrees and WINDY. Where do you think Chicago gets its wind FROM? We send those clippers down from Winnipeg!
The whole story can be found here....http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Law/2005/03/07/953038-cp.html
U.S. man who snuck into Canada to visit Internet sweetheart won't go to jail
By STEVE LAMBERT
WINNIPEG (CP) - After sneaking across the border in bone-chilling weather to meet his Internet sweetheart, Charles Gonsoulin has learned that love can sometimes hurt.
The Los Angeles-born maintenance man pleaded guilty Monday to illegally entering Canada. He will be deported, but not before having all of his fingers and half of his toes amputated because of severe frostbite.
"He didn't really know that there could be any place on earth this cold, this inhospitable," defence lawyer Mike Cook said at Gonsoulin's sentencing hearing.
"This is a love story with a very, very sad ending."
There's more to the story. As far as I know, he never does get the girl. But maybe that is all to the good. Watching Darwin in action is always entertaining. Too bad he didn't freeze off his central member instead of just his fingers! Hey, I wonder how he will do the chat rooms without fingers for a keyboard! Women around the world may now rejoice.
Sheeiiit honey...you gotta find one with brains! I grew up around there...you know how hard it is to act cool, and not wear a hat when it is like, minus 30 degrees and WINDY. Where do you think Chicago gets its wind FROM? We send those clippers down from Winnipeg!
Saint Frances...The Patron Saint of Cars and Drivers
Oh bother, now I know who to pray for while test driving those new cars! Maybe I can get the priest next door to bless the poor old Aerostar. Or give it last rites!
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintf10.htm
Also known as
Franziske
Memorial
9 March
Profile
An aristocrat by birth, her parents were Paul Bussa and Jacobella de' Roffredeschi. Married at age 12 to Lorenzo de' Ponziani, her marriage lasted 40 years. Mother of three in 1400, 1404, and 1407. Widow.
Benedictine. Foundress of the Oblates of the Tor de' Specchi (Collatines). Said to have been guided by an archangel only she could see. Spent her life and fortune, both as laywoman and religious, in the service of the sick and the poor, including the founding of the first home in Rome for abandoned children. Dictated 97 Visions, in which she saw many of the pains of Hell.
On her feast day priests bless cars due to her patronage of cars and drivers. Frances certainly never drove, but legend says that when she went abroad at night, her guardian angel went before her lighting the road with a headlight-like lantern, keeping her safe in her travels.
Born
1384 in Rome, Italy
Died
1440 in Rome, Italy; relics at Saint Frances of Rome, Rome, Italy; entombed beneath the pavement of the Ponziani sacristy of the Church of Saint Cecilia, Rome
Canonized
1608 by Pope Paul V
Patronage
automobile drivers, automobilists, cab drivers, death of children, lay people, motorists, people ridiculed for their piety, Roman housewives, taxi drivers, widows
Representation
woman habited in black with a white veil, accompanied by her guardian angel, and sometimes carrying a basket of food; nun with her guardian angel dressed as a deacon; nun with a monstrance and arrow; nun with a book; nun with an angel with a branch of oranges near her; receiving the veil from the Christ Child in the arms of the Blessed Virgin
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintf10.htm
Also known as
Franziske
Memorial
9 March
Profile
An aristocrat by birth, her parents were Paul Bussa and Jacobella de' Roffredeschi. Married at age 12 to Lorenzo de' Ponziani, her marriage lasted 40 years. Mother of three in 1400, 1404, and 1407. Widow.
Benedictine. Foundress of the Oblates of the Tor de' Specchi (Collatines). Said to have been guided by an archangel only she could see. Spent her life and fortune, both as laywoman and religious, in the service of the sick and the poor, including the founding of the first home in Rome for abandoned children. Dictated 97 Visions, in which she saw many of the pains of Hell.
On her feast day priests bless cars due to her patronage of cars and drivers. Frances certainly never drove, but legend says that when she went abroad at night, her guardian angel went before her lighting the road with a headlight-like lantern, keeping her safe in her travels.
Born
1384 in Rome, Italy
Died
1440 in Rome, Italy; relics at Saint Frances of Rome, Rome, Italy; entombed beneath the pavement of the Ponziani sacristy of the Church of Saint Cecilia, Rome
Canonized
1608 by Pope Paul V
Patronage
automobile drivers, automobilists, cab drivers, death of children, lay people, motorists, people ridiculed for their piety, Roman housewives, taxi drivers, widows
Representation
woman habited in black with a white veil, accompanied by her guardian angel, and sometimes carrying a basket of food; nun with her guardian angel dressed as a deacon; nun with a monstrance and arrow; nun with a book; nun with an angel with a branch of oranges near her; receiving the veil from the Christ Child in the arms of the Blessed Virgin
Monday, March 07, 2005
Canadian Gold Medals! And Bronze is nothing to sneeze at!
Way to go Matt!
CHUNCHEON, South Korea (CP) - Mathieu Turcotte led the Canadian men to the gold medal at the short-track speed skating world team championship Sunday with victories in two races.
The Canadian women took the bronze.
In the team event, there are heats in the 500, 1,000 and 3,000 metres and a relay. A skater from each country races in each heat and the top three finishers in each earn points for their country. Relay points are doubled.
The Canadian men finished first in the four-country final with 43 points, beating defending champion South Korea with 36. China was third with 22.
CHUNCHEON, South Korea (CP) - Mathieu Turcotte led the Canadian men to the gold medal at the short-track speed skating world team championship Sunday with victories in two races.
The Canadian women took the bronze.
In the team event, there are heats in the 500, 1,000 and 3,000 metres and a relay. A skater from each country races in each heat and the top three finishers in each earn points for their country. Relay points are doubled.
The Canadian men finished first in the four-country final with 43 points, beating defending champion South Korea with 36. China was third with 22.
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Mark Twain's comments...
Mark Twain, from "An Innocent Abroad". He was much moved by the "statuary" made by pouring plaster into the voids created by the bodies dissolving away in the hot packed ash....
"But perhaps the most poetical thing Pompeii has yielded to modern research, was that grand figure of a Roman soldier, clad in complete armor; who, true to his duty, true to his proud name of a soldier of Rome, and full of the stern courage which had given to that name its glory, stood to his post by the city gate, erect and unflinching, till the hell that raged around him burned out the dauntless spirit it could not conquer. We never read of Pompeii but we think of that soldier; we cannot write of Pompeii without the natural impulse to grant to him the mention he so well deserves. Let us remember that he was a soldier -- not a policeman -- and so, praise him. Being a soldier, he stayed, -- because the warrior instinct forbade him to fly. Had he been a policeman he would have stayed, also --because he would have been asleep."
"But perhaps the most poetical thing Pompeii has yielded to modern research, was that grand figure of a Roman soldier, clad in complete armor; who, true to his duty, true to his proud name of a soldier of Rome, and full of the stern courage which had given to that name its glory, stood to his post by the city gate, erect and unflinching, till the hell that raged around him burned out the dauntless spirit it could not conquer. We never read of Pompeii but we think of that soldier; we cannot write of Pompeii without the natural impulse to grant to him the mention he so well deserves. Let us remember that he was a soldier -- not a policeman -- and so, praise him. Being a soldier, he stayed, -- because the warrior instinct forbade him to fly. Had he been a policeman he would have stayed, also --because he would have been asleep."
Saturday, February 26, 2005
Auctions and Armours
Took a thousand bucks worth of customers orders across the border Friday morning. The more I do this, the more I think I should just move my operation South of the Border, in around the Thousand Islands. Looks like more than 90% of my product moves to the US. And I see a couple of nice factories lying empty in the Rust Belt along the St. Lawrence. Well, that is just speculation. A couple of lads from the University of Potsdam asked me if I would do demos, and possibly even teach a class like I do here in Ottawa on sword fighting and/or armour and sword making. A few minutes at the border chatting with the immigration officials showed clearly that I have a huge amount of paperwork involved if I was foolish enough to want to work in the US without planning to become a citizen, and even more if I was planning to become a citizen. The guy told me if I want to do a demo at a college in the US, it would be no problem providing that I am invited (show the invite....) and that I don't work for money. Expenses are okay...but salary is right out. So out of curiosity, I just asked what would be the difficulties involved in moving my sales booth from Toronto (where the festival has been shut down) to Stirling (which has an excellent festival). The list of paperwork involved started growing again! He as much as told me that I need a US citizen as the "front man" to "own" the business and that I would have to operate it by remote control. I could be there to look over the investment just like any tourist, but I can't actually work there. Right! We all know that businesses run themselves...grin! And what about running a factory in Ogdensburg? Clearly he was torn between the idea of foreign investment employing his neighbours and the letter of the law, but the up shot was "do the paperwork". If it is a good business, the paperwork will be just a minor "cost of doing business". At least is wasn't shady like so many border businesses!
Ah well...food for thought. I think I shall simply build shops here in Metcalfe until the neighbours start to complain....I bought the adjacent lot, the back lot, and I see that the church property next door has just come up for sale....Hmmmmmmmmm. Brenda says "don't buy it". I say, hmmmmmm. its land...they arn't making it any more.... Besides, it goes UP in value, not like our tech stocks...grin! Hey, maybe they are going to make it into a parking lot. If so, it would be about time.
So, hit the auction on the way home last night. Lots and lots of stuff. I left after 5 hours and 75 dollars. There were several pieces of furniture which I liked the looks of, but could not justify hanging about until after midnight. I notice that cleverly, he has put some of the fine items like Hummel figurines into display cases. Guess he was getting tired of them walking out under their own steam. Well, enough of this...Perhaps I can convince Zanth to pick up the priests' house next door....we need a hard drinking deamon to dispell the odor of sanctity which wafts over the back yard from time to time.
Ah well...food for thought. I think I shall simply build shops here in Metcalfe until the neighbours start to complain....I bought the adjacent lot, the back lot, and I see that the church property next door has just come up for sale....Hmmmmmmmmm. Brenda says "don't buy it". I say, hmmmmmm. its land...they arn't making it any more.... Besides, it goes UP in value, not like our tech stocks...grin! Hey, maybe they are going to make it into a parking lot. If so, it would be about time.
So, hit the auction on the way home last night. Lots and lots of stuff. I left after 5 hours and 75 dollars. There were several pieces of furniture which I liked the looks of, but could not justify hanging about until after midnight. I notice that cleverly, he has put some of the fine items like Hummel figurines into display cases. Guess he was getting tired of them walking out under their own steam. Well, enough of this...Perhaps I can convince Zanth to pick up the priests' house next door....we need a hard drinking deamon to dispell the odor of sanctity which wafts over the back yard from time to time.
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Buying a car!
Forgot how much I detest the average gold bracelet wearing used car dealer. Not personally, you understand, but as a trade....they make me feel like a turkey being measured up by the farmer just before Thanksgiving. Though supposedly in the same business, I am sure I project the same vibes.
The old Aerostar is getting long in the tooth (shiny in the treads?) and Brenda and I have been checking out new and used cars. Now that the Ren Faire has become deceased, we may not need a bigger van. Perhaps a truck to tow a trailer would be better? Perhaps a station wagon with a trailer hitch? Perhaps suck back and look at the actual usage a car will get in the next couple of years? (Like how can you know?)
Anyway, looks like it is keeping Brenda happily buried away in Lemon-aid and other publications. Here is what a vehicle buying site had to say about the role the sound of a horn plays in the buying process....
Ford Mondeo: "Strong and assertive"
Honda S200: "Penetrating and aggressive"
Mercedes CLK: "Tense and rough"
Renault Clio: "Very loud and quite aggressive"
Vauxhall Corsa: "Strong and piercing"
Audi TT Quatro: "Perhaps just a shade too quiet"
Citroën Xsara Picasso: "A fairly thin and weak sound"
Fiat Multipla: "Low loudness and pitch levels"
Renault Scenic: "Assertive without being shrill"
Renault Laguna: "A somewhat thin and weak sound"
Maybe pretty blue rubber tires is next......grin!
The old Aerostar is getting long in the tooth (shiny in the treads?) and Brenda and I have been checking out new and used cars. Now that the Ren Faire has become deceased, we may not need a bigger van. Perhaps a truck to tow a trailer would be better? Perhaps a station wagon with a trailer hitch? Perhaps suck back and look at the actual usage a car will get in the next couple of years? (Like how can you know?)
Anyway, looks like it is keeping Brenda happily buried away in Lemon-aid and other publications. Here is what a vehicle buying site had to say about the role the sound of a horn plays in the buying process....
Ford Mondeo: "Strong and assertive"
Honda S200: "Penetrating and aggressive"
Mercedes CLK: "Tense and rough"
Renault Clio: "Very loud and quite aggressive"
Vauxhall Corsa: "Strong and piercing"
Audi TT Quatro: "Perhaps just a shade too quiet"
Citroën Xsara Picasso: "A fairly thin and weak sound"
Fiat Multipla: "Low loudness and pitch levels"
Renault Scenic: "Assertive without being shrill"
Renault Laguna: "A somewhat thin and weak sound"
Maybe pretty blue rubber tires is next......grin!
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Jellyfish, and sea urchins, oh my!
Well, we all got into the water just off the breakwater for the Malta to Gozo ferry boat. Bubbles catching the sunlight, breathing under water...little blue and yellow curious anchovies checking us out! Our wet suits were incredibly hard to get in and out of...but I am told that is the way it is. Once they were on, you didn't know they were there, except of course that they are very warm! Good to get under the water before I roasted! They were comfortable even in the wind and spray of a 15 degree Celsius day! (50 degrees F.) Once I was in the water though, they were very welcome. Every once in a while a trickle of water (same temp as the air!) would find its way in and slide down my back, feeling like an ice cube being drawn down it!
Is it ever salty! Even saltier than the North Atlantic!
All the things you have to think about kept my mind off the weather. Its hard to get that tank to stay on tight! Weights are so heavy until you are under the water, then we are scrouging rocks from the bottom to help you stay down! The suit is made from what looks like mouse pad material, and it crushes as you go down, so you float a lot less when you are at depth. I used a LOT of weight.
Somewhere along the line, I started to have fun! Anton, our Dive Master was very patient. The nice thing about diving in Malta in the winter time is that there are not very many tourists, and we had him all to ourselves! The extra attention made what could have been a miserable experience into a superb experience, worth every penny!
The second dive after lunch was a little rougher....my first breath from the regulator that morning had dislodged a lot of very fine salt dust, which got taken right down to the bottom of my lungs. Yup, you CAN cough under water... The Jelly Fish were really thich though...it looked like a scene from Finding Nemo.... Most of them were just tiny little things maybe an inch across, light yellow. Very pretty. The bigger white ones were much more scary....I got a couple of lines of venom across my hand as I pushed through the crowd. Not so bad...and no worse than hot drill shavings off my drill press in the shop. We went home that evening, went to bed at 7 and slept for 12 hours!
Then the storm blew in, which put paid to our diving. Still two dives to go to get certified. I figure I could get into the water all right, play around under it for as long as I would like, but getting out would be tricky. Maybe bang my head, or possibly damage those nice wet suits. If it was on sand, or off a boat, maybe...but those rocky reefs were a little scary.
Is it ever salty! Even saltier than the North Atlantic!
All the things you have to think about kept my mind off the weather. Its hard to get that tank to stay on tight! Weights are so heavy until you are under the water, then we are scrouging rocks from the bottom to help you stay down! The suit is made from what looks like mouse pad material, and it crushes as you go down, so you float a lot less when you are at depth. I used a LOT of weight.
Somewhere along the line, I started to have fun! Anton, our Dive Master was very patient. The nice thing about diving in Malta in the winter time is that there are not very many tourists, and we had him all to ourselves! The extra attention made what could have been a miserable experience into a superb experience, worth every penny!
The second dive after lunch was a little rougher....my first breath from the regulator that morning had dislodged a lot of very fine salt dust, which got taken right down to the bottom of my lungs. Yup, you CAN cough under water... The Jelly Fish were really thich though...it looked like a scene from Finding Nemo.... Most of them were just tiny little things maybe an inch across, light yellow. Very pretty. The bigger white ones were much more scary....I got a couple of lines of venom across my hand as I pushed through the crowd. Not so bad...and no worse than hot drill shavings off my drill press in the shop. We went home that evening, went to bed at 7 and slept for 12 hours!
Then the storm blew in, which put paid to our diving. Still two dives to go to get certified. I figure I could get into the water all right, play around under it for as long as I would like, but getting out would be tricky. Maybe bang my head, or possibly damage those nice wet suits. If it was on sand, or off a boat, maybe...but those rocky reefs were a little scary.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Big Guns!
Today I got to fire a 8 inch black powder howitzer. Admittedly, I had to pay for the priviledge, but hey, it was cheap at twice the price. I was up at the Rinella Gun Battery where the 100 ton cannon is, and they have a howitzer all set up. They have to keep pointing it in different directions because the blast scares the horses stabled in the area. Oh well. Shot by shot, the dollars will roll in, and they will be able to afford some more repairs.
A nice day, roughly 50 degrees Farenheight all day. Clear and sunny. I do believe I picked up a sunburn!
My friend Mila and I poked around fort St. Angelo this morning. It is a stunning fort...much in demand by many different groups. You can see pictures of all these places, and the big gun on my web site....www.southtower.on.ca, in the Library.
Had a lovely dinner in Mosta, at the Tal Koppola. The best desserts in Malta, in my opinion. And now I can say that I have found Maltese food I actually like...the rabbit in Spagetti was superb. The pizza (three cheese...mozzarella, blue and goat cheese) was well spiced, and sprinkled with sesame seeds. A pleasant change from the usual North American napalm on a crust. The water at 4 bucks a litre came from Scotland, and was a good choice...normally of course I would have had a "Kinnie" (as soft drink that tastes like a cross between a coke and a jar of marmalade...no, don't think too long about it...the result actually is great) or a cisk beer (good and cold Martyr!) but water was best.
Mila is enjoying herself, and is finally un-jet lagged. We moved to a larger room with a spare bedroom for her, and she seems happy. I think her back is still aching from one of the Layland busses which dropped into a hole whilst we were traveling through the "three cities".
Carnival is still on...kind of cute seeing all the kids in costume. Sort of like Halloween back home, but for the whole weekend.
Regards from Malta.
A nice day, roughly 50 degrees Farenheight all day. Clear and sunny. I do believe I picked up a sunburn!
My friend Mila and I poked around fort St. Angelo this morning. It is a stunning fort...much in demand by many different groups. You can see pictures of all these places, and the big gun on my web site....www.southtower.on.ca, in the Library.
Had a lovely dinner in Mosta, at the Tal Koppola. The best desserts in Malta, in my opinion. And now I can say that I have found Maltese food I actually like...the rabbit in Spagetti was superb. The pizza (three cheese...mozzarella, blue and goat cheese) was well spiced, and sprinkled with sesame seeds. A pleasant change from the usual North American napalm on a crust. The water at 4 bucks a litre came from Scotland, and was a good choice...normally of course I would have had a "Kinnie" (as soft drink that tastes like a cross between a coke and a jar of marmalade...no, don't think too long about it...the result actually is great) or a cisk beer (good and cold Martyr!) but water was best.
Mila is enjoying herself, and is finally un-jet lagged. We moved to a larger room with a spare bedroom for her, and she seems happy. I think her back is still aching from one of the Layland busses which dropped into a hole whilst we were traveling through the "three cities".
Carnival is still on...kind of cute seeing all the kids in costume. Sort of like Halloween back home, but for the whole weekend.
Regards from Malta.
Friday, February 04, 2005
Sunny and warm
Well, finally the weather broke. Guess I shouldn't complain, they had snow in Rome! Malta got off lucky. Visited the Wigancourt Tower and the Red Tower today....worth blowing off a morning! The view from the Red Tower is priceless! Gozo over there...the bay with its sandy beach down there...pity the water is too cold to swim in. I am such a wimp, when I was a kid I used to swim in Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba, and the water was 60 degrees...and I would play in it all day. Thats about 15 C, which of course, is the temp of the water in St Paul's Bay. I do remember my mother mentioning that my fingernails would turn blue though. But then, I was a kid then. I didn't know everything until I was a teen ager, at which time of course I left home. Now that I am a crotchety old phart, again, I know everything, and of course, again, I have left home. There seems to be a pattern here...this hotel is FILLED with crotchety old pharts, all of whom know everything...just ask them.
Tonight is Carnival in Valetta! Sort of a Mardi Gras. Lots of kids in costumes...it was great fun! Music was, well, LOUD and eclectic. Eclectic...a fancy word meaning they didn't know what was coming next. But dancing in the streets is not such a bad thing.
Regards from a slightly drunk Yusef.
Tonight is Carnival in Valetta! Sort of a Mardi Gras. Lots of kids in costumes...it was great fun! Music was, well, LOUD and eclectic. Eclectic...a fancy word meaning they didn't know what was coming next. But dancing in the streets is not such a bad thing.
Regards from a slightly drunk Yusef.
Sunday, January 30, 2005
The Sunny Mediterranian.....NOT!
Well, rain cancelled the big St Paul's Shipwreck day parade! Though of course it cannot compare with the 10 below in Ottawa, there is no doubt that 7 above with a whipping wind is pretty miserable!
You should see this place...geriatric central! This place is worse than Fort Lauderdale for blue haired old hags running out the clock with their leathery dates. They all look like they should be making "carry on" movies. Here I was expecting Italian cooking, English speaking and cold beer, instead I get warm beer, semetic speaking and English cooking! I am getting mightily tired of egg and chips butty! (A butty is a sandwich... but one that drips a lot.) As usual, we made the long trip all the way out to Fort St. Elmo, and just as usual, it wasn't open! Closed due to rain this time. You dopes, you only open it once in two weeks for a Police parade, and when you cancel the parade, you don't even put up a sign to say so!
Oh well...we had lots of company. Lots of grumbling people at the gates of Fort St. Elmo. If any body from Malta is reading this...you lost a LOT of money today you fools! When I was there, it was lovely, sunny and nice, though of course, the streets were flooded with over 6 inches of water at times. Its not like they make provision to drain off rain water...I think I saw the year's supply of rain this morning! There is not a lot of rain here...lots of cactus though.
Yesterday dropped into the Takali airfield. It isn't an airfield any more, of course, though it saw LOTS of action in WWII. Now the local craftspeople are trying to eke a living in the old nissan huts. Seems like an idea of the 1960's, with the tie dyed shirts and embroidered jeans, but these are just plain taudry, and well past their "sell by" dates. There is a plan to change it all...probably by putting up hotels...that seems to be the usual answer to urban renewal around here.
Well, more later, as you can see, my usual ascerbic comments are just going to have to wait until I get much more pissed off...so far though, this warm beer is not too bad. Maybe if I drink enough of it, I'll learn to play cribbage. (the hot game around here....)
From Malta, this is your intrepid reporter signing off.
You should see this place...geriatric central! This place is worse than Fort Lauderdale for blue haired old hags running out the clock with their leathery dates. They all look like they should be making "carry on" movies. Here I was expecting Italian cooking, English speaking and cold beer, instead I get warm beer, semetic speaking and English cooking! I am getting mightily tired of egg and chips butty! (A butty is a sandwich... but one that drips a lot.) As usual, we made the long trip all the way out to Fort St. Elmo, and just as usual, it wasn't open! Closed due to rain this time. You dopes, you only open it once in two weeks for a Police parade, and when you cancel the parade, you don't even put up a sign to say so!
Oh well...we had lots of company. Lots of grumbling people at the gates of Fort St. Elmo. If any body from Malta is reading this...you lost a LOT of money today you fools! When I was there, it was lovely, sunny and nice, though of course, the streets were flooded with over 6 inches of water at times. Its not like they make provision to drain off rain water...I think I saw the year's supply of rain this morning! There is not a lot of rain here...lots of cactus though.
Yesterday dropped into the Takali airfield. It isn't an airfield any more, of course, though it saw LOTS of action in WWII. Now the local craftspeople are trying to eke a living in the old nissan huts. Seems like an idea of the 1960's, with the tie dyed shirts and embroidered jeans, but these are just plain taudry, and well past their "sell by" dates. There is a plan to change it all...probably by putting up hotels...that seems to be the usual answer to urban renewal around here.
Well, more later, as you can see, my usual ascerbic comments are just going to have to wait until I get much more pissed off...so far though, this warm beer is not too bad. Maybe if I drink enough of it, I'll learn to play cribbage. (the hot game around here....)
From Malta, this is your intrepid reporter signing off.
Friday, January 21, 2005
Vacation...vacation....vacation...
So looking forward to taking off on my much needed vacation. Well, its sort of a working vacation...I'll be helping to set up and repair armours for the Palace Museum armoury in Malta. And perhaps get some use out of that Scuba training Brenda and I took last December.
Brenda has planned our trip to the last detail....a bloody long flight to Heathrow, then four days crawling around London. Fish and Chips, currys, and roast beef for awhile. I think I can handle it! Then three hours on the amazingly tightly packed Air Malta aircraft, and landing at some ungodly hour. It been a long time since I was in London, the last time was some twenty odd years ago, when I was a newly minted corporal, and took a standby military flight to London. They lost my bags then...it was three days before I could pick them up.
Things are crazy around here...worked until 11.30 this evening trying to get things ready enough for Henrietta to take the pieces back to her shop for welding while I am gone. Made a breastplate this afternoon...was not very happy with it. Well, it'll have to do! Should look great when I am done...oh, sometime in March!
Tomorrow morning a quick Allergy shot, then back here to guide Henry...and get her paid off for the week. She has picked up some contract work to tide her over, the weather has been too cold for her to work in her blacksmith shop. Well, minus 29 Celcius is bloody cold by any standards....think this is about 20 below Farenheit. Blacksmith shops have to be so well ventilated that us Canucks have to dress like Bob and Doug MacKenzie just to stand in front of the forge. Your face gets red from the heat, your back gets frost bit. You keep a stick in the slack tub to break up the ice. Heck lately she has taken to keeping the water in a pail, and putting the pail onto the forge when she fires it up, just to melt the ice in the pail. Then she can pour it off into the slack tub! Me, my biggest downer is trying to grab the long blacksmith tools and have the frost peel strips off the palms of my hands. Even the gloves don't seem to help much...the chill just goes through the leather. There is something kind of .... elemental.... about pulling a white hot bolt out of the fire with a pair of tongs, quenching it in the slack tup, and watching the frost form on the reins (long handles) of the tongs.
Yeah, I can see why she jumped at the chance to work in my nice warm lighted workshop!
Wednesday night, the second night of classes. Jean got stuck in traffic, so we started the course in the hallway. This is my "sword handling" course for those who are wondering. The first half is Kenjuitsu, second half is heavy broadsword. Think I could remember what the second kenjuitsu class was? Hah! I was so out of my depth, trying to think on my feet. I don't normally teach the kenjuitsu....just sort of go by what Jean wants. Its all breakfalls and wrist outturns if you are interested! Looks like there are too many people taking the basic class to provide room for an advanced class. Oh well, perhaps I'll run the advanced class at my place.
Well, enough of that. Time for bed. Hope to blog again before I go, but if not, well, I'll be keeping a diary like I did last time. WWW.southtower.on.ca, go to the library, and check out My Malta Journal. That is my diary from my trip last year....lots of great pictures of armour!
Brenda has planned our trip to the last detail....a bloody long flight to Heathrow, then four days crawling around London. Fish and Chips, currys, and roast beef for awhile. I think I can handle it! Then three hours on the amazingly tightly packed Air Malta aircraft, and landing at some ungodly hour. It been a long time since I was in London, the last time was some twenty odd years ago, when I was a newly minted corporal, and took a standby military flight to London. They lost my bags then...it was three days before I could pick them up.
Things are crazy around here...worked until 11.30 this evening trying to get things ready enough for Henrietta to take the pieces back to her shop for welding while I am gone. Made a breastplate this afternoon...was not very happy with it. Well, it'll have to do! Should look great when I am done...oh, sometime in March!
Tomorrow morning a quick Allergy shot, then back here to guide Henry...and get her paid off for the week. She has picked up some contract work to tide her over, the weather has been too cold for her to work in her blacksmith shop. Well, minus 29 Celcius is bloody cold by any standards....think this is about 20 below Farenheit. Blacksmith shops have to be so well ventilated that us Canucks have to dress like Bob and Doug MacKenzie just to stand in front of the forge. Your face gets red from the heat, your back gets frost bit. You keep a stick in the slack tub to break up the ice. Heck lately she has taken to keeping the water in a pail, and putting the pail onto the forge when she fires it up, just to melt the ice in the pail. Then she can pour it off into the slack tub! Me, my biggest downer is trying to grab the long blacksmith tools and have the frost peel strips off the palms of my hands. Even the gloves don't seem to help much...the chill just goes through the leather. There is something kind of .... elemental.... about pulling a white hot bolt out of the fire with a pair of tongs, quenching it in the slack tup, and watching the frost form on the reins (long handles) of the tongs.
Yeah, I can see why she jumped at the chance to work in my nice warm lighted workshop!
Wednesday night, the second night of classes. Jean got stuck in traffic, so we started the course in the hallway. This is my "sword handling" course for those who are wondering. The first half is Kenjuitsu, second half is heavy broadsword. Think I could remember what the second kenjuitsu class was? Hah! I was so out of my depth, trying to think on my feet. I don't normally teach the kenjuitsu....just sort of go by what Jean wants. Its all breakfalls and wrist outturns if you are interested! Looks like there are too many people taking the basic class to provide room for an advanced class. Oh well, perhaps I'll run the advanced class at my place.
Well, enough of that. Time for bed. Hope to blog again before I go, but if not, well, I'll be keeping a diary like I did last time. WWW.southtower.on.ca, go to the library, and check out My Malta Journal. That is my diary from my trip last year....lots of great pictures of armour!
Monday, January 17, 2005
Another Dentist Story!
Stag's comment.....the second time?
Toothache man finds nail in skull
Open wide... dentists were shocked to find a nail in Lawler's head
A Colorado man who went to the dentist complaining of toothache found he had a 4-inch (10cm) nail in his skull.
Patrick Lawler had been suffering pain and blurry vision since a nailgun backfired on him at work, AP news agency reported.
The machine sent a nail through a nearby piece of wood - but little did Mr Lawler realise another nail had shot into the roof of his mouth.
The nail was embedded 4cm into his brain - barely missing his right eye.
Six days after his 6 January work accident, Mr Lawler decided to visit the dental clinic where his wife Katerina works because painkillers and ice failed to stop the pain.
"We all are friends, so I thought the [dentists] were joking... then the doctor came out and said, 'There's really a nail,'" Mrs Lawler said, according to AP.
"Patrick just broke down. I mean, he had been eating ice cream to help the swelling."
Mr Lawler remains in hospital following a four-hour operation to remove the nail.
Mrs Lawler says her husband is thankful despite having no medical insurance and being faced with hospital bills of at least $80,000.
"The doctors said, 'If you're going to have a nail in the brain, that's the way you want it to be,'" she said.
"He's the luckiest guy, ever."
Doctors at the hospital said it was the second time a patient had failed to notice a nailgun had fired a nail into their heads.
Toothache man finds nail in skull
Open wide... dentists were shocked to find a nail in Lawler's head
A Colorado man who went to the dentist complaining of toothache found he had a 4-inch (10cm) nail in his skull.
Patrick Lawler had been suffering pain and blurry vision since a nailgun backfired on him at work, AP news agency reported.
The machine sent a nail through a nearby piece of wood - but little did Mr Lawler realise another nail had shot into the roof of his mouth.
The nail was embedded 4cm into his brain - barely missing his right eye.
Six days after his 6 January work accident, Mr Lawler decided to visit the dental clinic where his wife Katerina works because painkillers and ice failed to stop the pain.
"We all are friends, so I thought the [dentists] were joking... then the doctor came out and said, 'There's really a nail,'" Mrs Lawler said, according to AP.
"Patrick just broke down. I mean, he had been eating ice cream to help the swelling."
Mr Lawler remains in hospital following a four-hour operation to remove the nail.
Mrs Lawler says her husband is thankful despite having no medical insurance and being faced with hospital bills of at least $80,000.
"The doctors said, 'If you're going to have a nail in the brain, that's the way you want it to be,'" she said.
"He's the luckiest guy, ever."
Doctors at the hospital said it was the second time a patient had failed to notice a nailgun had fired a nail into their heads.
Sunday, January 09, 2005
Found the owner of the "Wisdom" below!
The stuff in the below post was culled from Texas Bix Bender's book "A cowboy's guide to life".
Hey, more Ho_T Krysp Chiks!
Gee, opening spam mail is getting more and more interesting all the time! Here is a list culled from bathroom walls in (maybe...)Texas. Yee Haw!
Sent: Saturday, January 08, 2005 11:53 AM
Subject: The Permian Basin Scroll
>
> These are some writings known as "The Permian Basin Scroll" found
> while digging for artifacts in an old abandoned corral in "No Trees",
> West Texas.
>
> Don't name a pig you plan to eat.
>
> Your fences need to be horse high, pig tight, and bull strong.
>
> Life is not about how fast you run, or how high you climb, but how
> well you bounce.
>
> Keep skunks and bankers and Lawyers at a distance.
>
> Life is simpler when you plough around the stump.
>
> A bumblebee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
>
> Words that soak into your ears are whispered, not yelled.
>
> Meanness don't jest happen overnight.
>
> Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads!
>
> Don't sell your mule to buy a plow.
>
> Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
>
> It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
>
> You cannot unsay a cruel word.
>
> Every path has a few puddles.
>
> When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
>
> The best sermons are lived, not preached.
>
> Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway.
>
> Don't squat down with your spurs on.
>
> Don't judge people by their relatives.
>
> Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
>
> Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back,
> you'll enjoy it a second time.
>
> Don't interfere with something that ain't bothering' you none.
>
> It's better to be a has-been than a never-was.
>
> The easiest way to eat crow is while it's still warm. The colder it
> gets, the harder it is to swaller.
>
> If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
>
> If it don't seem like it's worth the effort, it probably ain't.
>
> It don't take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep.
>
> Sometimes you get and sometimes you get got.
>
> The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with
> watches you shave his face in the mirror every morning.
>
> If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin'
> somebody else's dog around.
>
> Don't worry about bitin' off more'n you can chew; your mouth is
> probably a whole lot bigger'n you think.
>
> Only cows know why they stampede.
>
> Always drink upstream from the herd.
>
> If you're ridin' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and
> then to make sure it's still there with ya.
>
> Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad
> judgment.
>
> Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it
> back in.
>
> You can't tell how good a man or a watermelon is 'till they get
> thumped'.
>
> Never, never, miss a good opportunity to shut up!
>
> This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from
> http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm
Sent: Saturday, January 08, 2005 11:53 AM
Subject: The Permian Basin Scroll
>
> These are some writings known as "The Permian Basin Scroll" found
> while digging for artifacts in an old abandoned corral in "No Trees",
> West Texas.
>
> Don't name a pig you plan to eat.
>
> Your fences need to be horse high, pig tight, and bull strong.
>
> Life is not about how fast you run, or how high you climb, but how
> well you bounce.
>
> Keep skunks and bankers and Lawyers at a distance.
>
> Life is simpler when you plough around the stump.
>
> A bumblebee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
>
> Words that soak into your ears are whispered, not yelled.
>
> Meanness don't jest happen overnight.
>
> Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads!
>
> Don't sell your mule to buy a plow.
>
> Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
>
> It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
>
> You cannot unsay a cruel word.
>
> Every path has a few puddles.
>
> When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
>
> The best sermons are lived, not preached.
>
> Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway.
>
> Don't squat down with your spurs on.
>
> Don't judge people by their relatives.
>
> Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
>
> Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back,
> you'll enjoy it a second time.
>
> Don't interfere with something that ain't bothering' you none.
>
> It's better to be a has-been than a never-was.
>
> The easiest way to eat crow is while it's still warm. The colder it
> gets, the harder it is to swaller.
>
> If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
>
> If it don't seem like it's worth the effort, it probably ain't.
>
> It don't take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep.
>
> Sometimes you get and sometimes you get got.
>
> The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with
> watches you shave his face in the mirror every morning.
>
> If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin'
> somebody else's dog around.
>
> Don't worry about bitin' off more'n you can chew; your mouth is
> probably a whole lot bigger'n you think.
>
> Only cows know why they stampede.
>
> Always drink upstream from the herd.
>
> If you're ridin' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and
> then to make sure it's still there with ya.
>
> Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad
> judgment.
>
> Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it
> back in.
>
> You can't tell how good a man or a watermelon is 'till they get
> thumped'.
>
> Never, never, miss a good opportunity to shut up!
>
> This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from
> http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Economic World News!
Well, again, international events have a close impact on my business. Argh! The US dollar is down, making me less competitive. Well, actually, I am just as competitive, but with less cash on hand, people are not buying. Same difference... The world economy is going for a dump! Every where I look analysts are talking "economic bubble". As if the recent couple of years were high, now we can expect a low! (read about it all here...http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/GA05Dj01.html)
It is quite annoying....seems that me and my customers and friends can take advantage of any highs in the economy about a year or two after everybody else does, but we get hit by a low right away! When the "lows" hit, we might have had, what six months of prosperity? Less?
Oh well, its just me bitching, don't pay any mind. I am just blaming everybody else but my and my lazy ass. Time to get up and to work, we'll see what we can do about improving the situation.
It is quite annoying....seems that me and my customers and friends can take advantage of any highs in the economy about a year or two after everybody else does, but we get hit by a low right away! When the "lows" hit, we might have had, what six months of prosperity? Less?
Oh well, its just me bitching, don't pay any mind. I am just blaming everybody else but my and my lazy ass. Time to get up and to work, we'll see what we can do about improving the situation.
Friday, January 07, 2005
New tooth!
After 9 months of sitting in dentists chairs once a month, I finally got my new molar mounted into the back over there on the lower left side. I was quite attached to that tooth, been with me since I was a toddler. Even had a gold inlay put into it a decade ago or so. Trouble is, that glint of gold was too much temptation for some junkie on the next bed when I was lying dead in a hospital bed. The pain of him prying my tooth out kick started my heart, I came alive (bet that was a surprise dude!) and removed a couple of his with a short upper cut. Then I sort of sank back into sleep, trying my best to ignore the sudden activity around the IC bed. Thought it was all a dream actually until a few days later, when I talked with my dentist about this pain in my molar. He confirmed that "Yup, somebody was prying on it". We tried for 3 years to save it, but eventually, it sheared off at the gum line. Well, last February, they dragged out the roots, set in a piece of cadaver bone (Me and the dead guy, we get along fine!) and let it become one with my lower jaw. Then, drilled it out, and set in a nice solid spike, which had a socket in it. (Nice piercing dude!) Yesterday, the good doctor inserted a spike into the socket, and mounted a ceramic tooth on it! Yaaay!
You know, dental work is very finicky, very techy, very much underappreciated. Feels good to be able to pry beer bottle caps off with the left side again.....grin!
You know, dental work is very finicky, very techy, very much underappreciated. Feels good to be able to pry beer bottle caps off with the left side again.....grin!
Monday, January 03, 2005
A HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND!!! LORDY LORDY!!
My prayers go out to the lost souls. The ones who are perishing even now under piles of rubble, the ones who are starving but refuse to eat the fish brought in by the fishermen because those fish might have been feasting on their loved ones. The ones who are hopelessly dehydrated from diarrea, and bad water. The ones here in the west who are frantic waiting for news.
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Disaster, OMG!
As of this morning the death count from the Tsunami is greater than 60 000. As usual, India got hard hit....the population is so great that ANY natural disaster takes on biblical proportions. The floods 25 years ago, the Union Carbide disaster 20 years ago, and now this. God must have wanted to fill a new sub-division in heaven to call so many people home.
Don't get too complacent just because that was down there and we are up here....the same thing could happen in the Atlantic and especially in the Pacific. The big island in Hawaii has a crack running through it which is opening at the rate of an inch a year...some day that crack will suddenly open , a large chunk of Hawaii will fall off into the west,and cause the largest underwater landslide in history. Iceland had some extra real-estate arrive in the form of a volcano only 15 years ago, and where there are volcano's there are earthquakes. Imagine a wave like the one that hit India washing onto the streets of New York. Oh yeah, there was a movie about that just lately.... Would not want to be in the subway when that happens.
Legend has it that water lapped the clap boards of that 300 year old church up on the hill in Santa Barbara...some 60 feet above sea level. Undersea charts indicate that there is a shelf of sediment built up, just ready to slide away all along the west coast, except outside Santa Barbara, where it clearly slid away sometime in the past. Cause and effect...? Likely. A little quake at just the right time and I am trying to imagine what a 60 foot wave going over Vancover would look like. It wouldn't be a breaking wave like in the movie, but a big swell.
Well, enough of that...time to get back to work. Later on today, I shall drop into the Red Cross and donate a pint of blood....I suspect the world's blood supply is a little low right now.
Don't get too complacent just because that was down there and we are up here....the same thing could happen in the Atlantic and especially in the Pacific. The big island in Hawaii has a crack running through it which is opening at the rate of an inch a year...some day that crack will suddenly open , a large chunk of Hawaii will fall off into the west,and cause the largest underwater landslide in history. Iceland had some extra real-estate arrive in the form of a volcano only 15 years ago, and where there are volcano's there are earthquakes. Imagine a wave like the one that hit India washing onto the streets of New York. Oh yeah, there was a movie about that just lately.... Would not want to be in the subway when that happens.
Legend has it that water lapped the clap boards of that 300 year old church up on the hill in Santa Barbara...some 60 feet above sea level. Undersea charts indicate that there is a shelf of sediment built up, just ready to slide away all along the west coast, except outside Santa Barbara, where it clearly slid away sometime in the past. Cause and effect...? Likely. A little quake at just the right time and I am trying to imagine what a 60 foot wave going over Vancover would look like. It wouldn't be a breaking wave like in the movie, but a big swell.
Well, enough of that...time to get back to work. Later on today, I shall drop into the Red Cross and donate a pint of blood....I suspect the world's blood supply is a little low right now.
Saturday, December 25, 2004
arrived in my mailbox..Hot Crysp Chiks
This was interesting....this arrived in my mailbox with the header "Hot Crysp Chiks". Since I LIKE hot crysp chiks, I naturally opened it, and found this collection of pithy sayings. Kind of a spam blog.... looks like a bunch of quotes. I like number 7...."Abstain from beans" and I have no idea what A s'enterveir actually MEANS. Maybe they are taken from bathroom walls. They remind me of stuff I jotted down in my high school notebooks waiting for the pot fumes to clear. (evil grin!)
A s'enterveir
You are either part of the solution or part of the problem.
To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual.
I wept not, so to stone within I grew.
Life is a rollercoaster. Try to eat a light lunch.
There is something good in all seeming failures. You are not to see that now. Time will reveal it. Be patient.
The gods sell to us all the goods which they give us.
Abstain from beans.
Might, could, would --they are contemptible auxiliaries.
Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.The roads we take are more important than the goals we announce. Decisions determine destiny.
Better Counsel comes overnight.
Undermining experience, embellishing experience, rearranging and enlarging experience into a species of mythology.
Action conquers fear.
A picture is a poem without words.
We only think when we are confronted with problems.
From Paul to Stalin, the popes who have chosen Caesar have prepared the way for Caesars who quickly learn to despise popes.
There is a sort of exotic preposterousness about a lot of elections, the way arguments are made even cruder.
The superior man is modest in his speech but exceeds in his actions.
A s'enterveir
You are either part of the solution or part of the problem.
To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual.
I wept not, so to stone within I grew.
Life is a rollercoaster. Try to eat a light lunch.
There is something good in all seeming failures. You are not to see that now. Time will reveal it. Be patient.
The gods sell to us all the goods which they give us.
Abstain from beans.
Might, could, would --they are contemptible auxiliaries.
Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.The roads we take are more important than the goals we announce. Decisions determine destiny.
Better Counsel comes overnight.
Undermining experience, embellishing experience, rearranging and enlarging experience into a species of mythology.
Action conquers fear.
A picture is a poem without words.
We only think when we are confronted with problems.
From Paul to Stalin, the popes who have chosen Caesar have prepared the way for Caesars who quickly learn to despise popes.
There is a sort of exotic preposterousness about a lot of elections, the way arguments are made even cruder.
The superior man is modest in his speech but exceeds in his actions.
Friday, December 24, 2004
My FTP is finally working!
I knew it wasn't just me! It was Cyberus....the bums! For some reason my server defaulted to a 1 megabyte account! "No way" (I said) "I got 250 megs!" Plus, my usage stat section was completely screwed up, so I could not even troubleshoot my own site! They got it all fixed, so I can put up pictures on my web site, and on this blog! The latest is Maggie's armour, please check it out below, November 30th. I think it looks good. Very sexy armour! Hope she likes it...have not heard from her yet.
Rant mode off.....warm fuzzy mode on!
I have a guy from the neighbourhood coming in helping me from time to time. Steve is a good guy, and I can afford him for an hour a day. Mostly tidying up around the place, shoveling snow, some small bits of armour from time time as I find time to teach and supervise him. There is a lot more during the Christmas season for him to do though... get the floor in the garage nailed down, and maybe get my poor motorcycle in before it rusts to a fare thee well! He also helped me get some coloured lights up outside the house. Well...it was warm (good part) but it was raining (bad part).
Right now, it is cold. minus 15 Celsius....that was a 16 degree drop in fifteen minutes! The car is stuck in an ice sheet! They tell me that for once, this storm is NOT Canadian made, but rather, it started in Alabama! Go figure! We got an inch of rain, Toronto got half a meter of snow! Yay!
Rant mode off.....warm fuzzy mode on!
I have a guy from the neighbourhood coming in helping me from time to time. Steve is a good guy, and I can afford him for an hour a day. Mostly tidying up around the place, shoveling snow, some small bits of armour from time time as I find time to teach and supervise him. There is a lot more during the Christmas season for him to do though... get the floor in the garage nailed down, and maybe get my poor motorcycle in before it rusts to a fare thee well! He also helped me get some coloured lights up outside the house. Well...it was warm (good part) but it was raining (bad part).
Right now, it is cold. minus 15 Celsius....that was a 16 degree drop in fifteen minutes! The car is stuck in an ice sheet! They tell me that for once, this storm is NOT Canadian made, but rather, it started in Alabama! Go figure! We got an inch of rain, Toronto got half a meter of snow! Yay!
Saturday, December 18, 2004
Done...like dinner....
Friday, leading up to Christmas. Working through injuries, hired people on to make time, skipped going to my uncle's funeral and skipped parties all over the place just to finish these items. My supplier calls all chipper, and tells me that they have the things after all! (arrgh!) The life of a retailer in December. Saturday morning....first cup of coffee down.
Man my left hand hurts. Lets see...drill bit went through it "there", hammer bounced off it "there", sharp edge of metal dug in and cut inside the curl of the fingers "here", oh, and a second one of those "here" that I overlooked until now. Typing is a little slow....grin! Found that duct tape makes an excellent bandage. Hmm...maybe I should wear work gloves more often. Its kind of funny...I bought a package of a dozen work gloves, and the right hands are all clean and still in the glove pile, but the left hands are all worn, battered and torn up. How can you tell which hand holds the cutters?
Well, enough of that bitching...just finished a really nice Roman style helmet for a friendly customer in Toronto. There are a whole bunch of things I don't like about it, but hey, its a prototype... I rather like it....it represents a week's work, and more importantly, a new file of templates. In the same week I finished off a nice shield....customer sent me a nice griffin for me to enlarge and cut out into a stencil. She eventually decided on a white griffin on a blue background...doesn't look bad at all. I am going to try to put these up on my web site (if I can get my ftp working!)
My garage door is finally mounted and sealed off to the weather. Now all I have to do is mount the springs and cables, and I can have a "roll up" door instead of a wall! Should be a little easier with the heat on inside...this 9 degrees below zero weather we have been having tended to preclude any outside work.
And Brenda wants some Christmas ornaments dug out of the back room. So better get off this blog and get to prettying up the place for Christmas parties. Looking forward to a week of parties all next week, and then the big new years party in the hot tup! woo hoo!
Man my left hand hurts. Lets see...drill bit went through it "there", hammer bounced off it "there", sharp edge of metal dug in and cut inside the curl of the fingers "here", oh, and a second one of those "here" that I overlooked until now. Typing is a little slow....grin! Found that duct tape makes an excellent bandage. Hmm...maybe I should wear work gloves more often. Its kind of funny...I bought a package of a dozen work gloves, and the right hands are all clean and still in the glove pile, but the left hands are all worn, battered and torn up. How can you tell which hand holds the cutters?
Well, enough of that bitching...just finished a really nice Roman style helmet for a friendly customer in Toronto. There are a whole bunch of things I don't like about it, but hey, its a prototype... I rather like it....it represents a week's work, and more importantly, a new file of templates. In the same week I finished off a nice shield....customer sent me a nice griffin for me to enlarge and cut out into a stencil. She eventually decided on a white griffin on a blue background...doesn't look bad at all. I am going to try to put these up on my web site (if I can get my ftp working!)
My garage door is finally mounted and sealed off to the weather. Now all I have to do is mount the springs and cables, and I can have a "roll up" door instead of a wall! Should be a little easier with the heat on inside...this 9 degrees below zero weather we have been having tended to preclude any outside work.
And Brenda wants some Christmas ornaments dug out of the back room. So better get off this blog and get to prettying up the place for Christmas parties. Looking forward to a week of parties all next week, and then the big new years party in the hot tup! woo hoo!
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Pre Christmas Jitters and Passed my Scuba course
Brenda and I just took the Scuba course at Diver's Wearhouse. I think I came close to having a panic attack during the part of the course when they turn off your air, forcing you to breath with your partner's air. But, a fatalistic attitude helps, as does the lots and lots of practice you do on the surface. And last night, we took the final written exam. Not difficult, but a lot of stuff to remember and apply.
Trying hard to get everything ready for Christmas. My supplier didn't get in the ordered item for one of my best clients, so I have to make him a knife. Well, so much for my day off! I want to go out to a couple of movies this season, but as usual, I will be in my shop the whole time! Well, maybe January!
A blast from the past...the Barter Connection suddenly blew back into my life...this morning I made 500 dollars in sales on the barter. Hmmm....now I will have to see about spending some of my barter dollars.
Well, no sense complaining about the work load, it won't go away by my sitting here on the 'puter, so I'll sign off for now.
Stupid nails on boards at the dump! Flattening all my tires. Now I have 4 tires in the back and 2 of them have holes in them. They "COULD" have marked them for me.....but no!
Trying hard to get everything ready for Christmas. My supplier didn't get in the ordered item for one of my best clients, so I have to make him a knife. Well, so much for my day off! I want to go out to a couple of movies this season, but as usual, I will be in my shop the whole time! Well, maybe January!
A blast from the past...the Barter Connection suddenly blew back into my life...this morning I made 500 dollars in sales on the barter. Hmmm....now I will have to see about spending some of my barter dollars.
Well, no sense complaining about the work load, it won't go away by my sitting here on the 'puter, so I'll sign off for now.
Stupid nails on boards at the dump! Flattening all my tires. Now I have 4 tires in the back and 2 of them have holes in them. They "COULD" have marked them for me.....but no!
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Stupid Tires....stupid owner!
So, instead of paying for a dumpster to throw the junk into, I just threw it into the trailer. Well, yesterday, two flat tires in the car and a flat on the trailer! Argh...stupid tires...stupid owner! 80 bucks later....and still junk to haul to the dump! Maybe I can armour my tires....
Ah well....had a very pleasant evening after the car was towed to the garage. Just had a nice shower, and a good long soak in the hot tub. The real reason for hot tubs is to sit in them during a blizzard and up the core temp.
I have discovered a great new sport. Mugu baiting! http://www.419eater.com/ These are guys who are fed up with Nigerian fraud scams, and are doing everything in their power to legally waste the Nigerian thief's time, cell phone minutes and internet cafe minutes. Me, I just politely decline their incredible offer, and send them instead the lottery winnings I seem to win every second day. If I was to really get into mugu (Nigerian slang for moron) baiting, I would get an untraceable IP address, and a false name and phone number. But for now, it is just too much fun to watch others do it.
Ah well....had a very pleasant evening after the car was towed to the garage. Just had a nice shower, and a good long soak in the hot tub. The real reason for hot tubs is to sit in them during a blizzard and up the core temp.
I have discovered a great new sport. Mugu baiting! http://www.419eater.com/ These are guys who are fed up with Nigerian fraud scams, and are doing everything in their power to legally waste the Nigerian thief's time, cell phone minutes and internet cafe minutes. Me, I just politely decline their incredible offer, and send them instead the lottery winnings I seem to win every second day. If I was to really get into mugu (Nigerian slang for moron) baiting, I would get an untraceable IP address, and a false name and phone number. But for now, it is just too much fun to watch others do it.
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
This is WORK!
Oh man! I am NOT used to this! Working flat out! I thought I was retired and beyond this....! I am SUCH a whiner! Well, to heck with it...I am going to have a coffee and blog for a bit.
Freezing rain. The trailer is sitting out in the driveway piled high with junk I would take to the dump, but if I do, the trailer will be empty, and I will have no excuse not to put more junk into it! Well, hey, the logic works for me! So the rain will fall on all the trash, freeze and turn into an immovable lump. Even more reason to leave the blessed thing. Tomorrow is supposed to be 4 degrees Celsius and raining. Normal conditions for a dump run around here! Yesterday, we worked flat out to get Maggie's armour finished and delivered because Brenda was so worried about the freezing rain today. As it was, the day was pretty much blown off. Turned out to be a wise decision. If we had not gone yesterday, we would never have made it back today in time to get to my scuba course.
Yup, we are taking a scuba course. The PADI course...which is internationally recognized. (read expensive) There is so much involved with SCUBA...our heads just spun with the sheer volume of information. I suppose you COULD take it all in one day, but...you gotta be smarter than me. And every single bit of it seems relevent to keeping you alive and safe. The pass mark is set pretty high. Typical question...how long can you stay under water with your tank pressure below 100 pounds...answer....the rest of your life....
Something is wrong with my FTP, server, object path or some such...I simply CANNOT upload pictures to my server. (and by extension, to here!)Its like the server was blocking it. To make things more interesting, the monitor suddenly didn't like red. Even going to the settings....there was only blues and blacks and yellows! It fixed itself just as suddenly a couple of hours later, and no re-boots were involved. I have no idea what the problem is, nor do I have the time to figure it out. Hell, it was bad enough that we finally figured out why my Norton Anti-Virus wasn't scanning...seems that all this time my 'puter had been in "audit" mode...no I never heard of that either! Apparently, that is a testing mode from the factory, and should have been turned off! Well, hey, guess whenever I find three hours to kill, I will just re-install NAV. Poor NAV...it had been corrupted like a South American dictator by some invading worm....now nobody trusts it! I do know that if you have McAffee on your platform you better not change it for Norton..they hate each other, and will destroy your Windows in the resultant fight!
And Yesterday was the anniversary of two great massacres...the Montreal Massacre (15 years ago) which has come to symbolize the problem of violence against women, and the attack on Pearl Harbour, which has come to symbolize the problem of violence by Asian autocracies in the Pacific.
Well, enough of this...time to get my butt into the saddle. A word from Kipling...the tight ass Englishman with the work ethic....
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;
If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings -- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run --
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son
Freezing rain. The trailer is sitting out in the driveway piled high with junk I would take to the dump, but if I do, the trailer will be empty, and I will have no excuse not to put more junk into it! Well, hey, the logic works for me! So the rain will fall on all the trash, freeze and turn into an immovable lump. Even more reason to leave the blessed thing. Tomorrow is supposed to be 4 degrees Celsius and raining. Normal conditions for a dump run around here! Yesterday, we worked flat out to get Maggie's armour finished and delivered because Brenda was so worried about the freezing rain today. As it was, the day was pretty much blown off. Turned out to be a wise decision. If we had not gone yesterday, we would never have made it back today in time to get to my scuba course.
Yup, we are taking a scuba course. The PADI course...which is internationally recognized. (read expensive) There is so much involved with SCUBA...our heads just spun with the sheer volume of information. I suppose you COULD take it all in one day, but...you gotta be smarter than me. And every single bit of it seems relevent to keeping you alive and safe. The pass mark is set pretty high. Typical question...how long can you stay under water with your tank pressure below 100 pounds...answer....the rest of your life....
Something is wrong with my FTP, server, object path or some such...I simply CANNOT upload pictures to my server. (and by extension, to here!)Its like the server was blocking it. To make things more interesting, the monitor suddenly didn't like red. Even going to the settings....there was only blues and blacks and yellows! It fixed itself just as suddenly a couple of hours later, and no re-boots were involved. I have no idea what the problem is, nor do I have the time to figure it out. Hell, it was bad enough that we finally figured out why my Norton Anti-Virus wasn't scanning...seems that all this time my 'puter had been in "audit" mode...no I never heard of that either! Apparently, that is a testing mode from the factory, and should have been turned off! Well, hey, guess whenever I find three hours to kill, I will just re-install NAV. Poor NAV...it had been corrupted like a South American dictator by some invading worm....now nobody trusts it! I do know that if you have McAffee on your platform you better not change it for Norton..they hate each other, and will destroy your Windows in the resultant fight!
And Yesterday was the anniversary of two great massacres...the Montreal Massacre (15 years ago) which has come to symbolize the problem of violence against women, and the attack on Pearl Harbour, which has come to symbolize the problem of violence by Asian autocracies in the Pacific.
Well, enough of this...time to get my butt into the saddle. A word from Kipling...the tight ass Englishman with the work ethic....
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;
If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings -- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run --
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Closed the deal
Well, I closed the deal on the land here in Metcalfe today. This gives me three lots side by side...I could build a monster house if I wished! This should give me room to expand. And expand I shall! This will be interesting!
All the vendors are up in arms like crazy about the closing of the festival. If good positive feelings would help, then we would be opening tomorrow! Sadly, I cannot imagine getting into another Ren Faire which would allow me to have such a nice safe area, and allow me to stay with my stock. Well, Brenda will fight the good fight...I shall see if I can build this business into a powerhouse which don't need no ren faires!
Henrietta is a good asset. Has a good work ethic....and is quick to learn. We are making Maggie's armour....below are a couple of pics of it....should be finished by the time I go over the border on Friday. Not many orders right now. This is a good thing, it allows me to eat into my backlog of orders from the summer. Maybe I can get some stock made!
All the vendors are up in arms like crazy about the closing of the festival. If good positive feelings would help, then we would be opening tomorrow! Sadly, I cannot imagine getting into another Ren Faire which would allow me to have such a nice safe area, and allow me to stay with my stock. Well, Brenda will fight the good fight...I shall see if I can build this business into a powerhouse which don't need no ren faires!
Henrietta is a good asset. Has a good work ethic....and is quick to learn. We are making Maggie's armour....below are a couple of pics of it....should be finished by the time I go over the border on Friday. Not many orders right now. This is a good thing, it allows me to eat into my backlog of orders from the summer. Maybe I can get some stock made!
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