worst case scenario

This summarizes my train of thought:

and now for something...

The podcast version of the Vinyl Cafe Christmas show is now online, and it has the best parts of the 2 hour show combined down to 1 hour. I'd recommend listening to it for those who have nothing else to do.

You can get it here

And for now, I'm at my parents for the week. Sleeping on a bed that actually fits and seeing friends and family and water (Lake Huron and the St. Clair River). It's going to be an ok week.

Back to Kitchener on Wednesday.

... the white stuff...

It's snowing again. The fourth spurt of Snowmageddon promises to be the last in a while as it brings with it some warmer temperatures tonight and into tomorrow. My car doesn't do too well in the snow, but I haven't gotten it stuck or spun out yet. I'm hoping to avoid that as long as I can. I don't have to descend down the icy ramps of the parking garage again until after I get back from home next week, and after the morning, I don't need to worry about getting stuck down there too.

I like snow. I really do. I just want to be able to go places to enjoy it... such as conservation areas, or waterfalls. Le sigh. I'll survive.

Home tomorrow after work (done at noon) until probably next Wednesday afternoon.

update

A few things:

1. I'm switching cell phone providers after some rough times with Telus in the past few weeks. My phone also is beginning to rebel against me. So my Virgin Mobile KRAZR is on it's way and should be here early next week.

2. My bosses (Husband and Wife) took our department(s) out to Hamilton to see a Vinyl Cafe Christmas last night. It was a great experience. Guest musicians included Dala, a female duo who have amazing harmonies. They've been featured on the podcast a few times too. The show opened with them singing the Huron Carol and Stewart McLean telling the story of the carol and Jean de Brebeuf's experiences 400 years ago. He then went on to tell a few stories about Dave and Morley (Dave goes shopping, Christmas at the Turlingtons, and Dave and Morley's first Christmas), got to hear some songs and stories, and it was an overall great evening. I think I'll be making it a tradition to go see it every year. There was also a turkey under the Christmas tree on stage.

3. I've applied to and been accepted to the University of Waterloo for Part time studies in a BA in Liberal Studies. I'm starting in January with an easy course. Should be fun.

4. And, I'm ready for Snowmageddon, are you?

fun with vocabulary

Environment Canada has just coined a new term: "Snow-Mageddon"

They just issued this weather statement which asks the question: "..Could this be snow-mageddon?.."

At least I don't need to go anywhere on the weekend.

searching

I saw this interesting article on GlobeandMail today. Turns out Canadians don't know the address for Google even when they're using it to perform their search... smart people.

Now if there was only some way to search the Internet, write a blog entry, create documents, search the map, use a calendar, look at images, and more...

civilized

Last week, my roommate and I were out browsing the Future Shop collection when I came across Civ IV for $27. Seeing as tires for cars cost money, I passed on the deal, but Gord decided to pick it up. He'd never played Civ before, as the first comment I heard from him was "It's turn based?"

Meanwhile, I've grown up with Civilization as one of my all-time favourite games. I had Civ 1 while much younger on the early PC's. I still remember one game where I was playing the Chinese and the only other country left were the Russians and we got into a Nuclear war that wasn't really going anywhere. Those were the days. Got Civ II for my birthday one year and loved it. I really liked the music that went along with the video for the Great Library. No games really stand out to me, but I liked playing as England on the Europe map. Not really sure why, but maybe it's because I liked the ability to grow my army and civilization without having any other countries interfering... oh, and for some reason, I kept getting advancements way faster than anyone else. No cheats, promise.

Then came my $10 purchase of Civ III. Although it has some upgrades in comparison to Civ II (Queues in building), I find myself missing one key feature - Sentry. You know, where you could leave units in cities and they'd automatically board the first available boat... and I was spoiled in Civ II with my quick advancements, so it's really annoying to have to wait a long time to get anything... Sigh.

I had a chance to play Civ IV the other day, and it's good to see they've re-included Sentry and added a few new features that are really cool. I'm not really a fan of when 2d games go 3d, such as Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 - 3 (I didn't get 2, but I think it's still 2D) because it throws me off... but oh well. I'll have to pick it up eventually, but until then, I'll survive with what I have.

the threat's not from elsewhere...

This morning I had some Oatmeal Crisp for breakfast. It was tasty, as it is almost every other morning that I've had it. I'm taking a break from Shreddies for a while, mostly because I keep missing the sales where it's on for $2 / box rather than closer to $5.

After returning from my day out, I went to find some food for dinner, and opened up the fridge to find I had returned my box of cereal not to the shelf, but to the refrigerator for the day.

Some days I wonder about myself...

sigh

Cowardice has won out. This is a sad day.

door and house update

I didn't get a place in the door decorating contest, however I did get the prize for Most Creative, meaning I won a brunch for two to Emmanuel Village, so that's an ok deal.

Also, did anyone else see Harper's speech tonight? I thought it was really avoiding the main issue and attacking the idea of a coalition (which are functioning in many countries around the world, not sure where he's gotten the idea that they don't work from, but that's another rant). It seems to be along the tune of what he's been doing as of late: no substance, just surface and attack others and hope that the bad press on the opposition will make him look more appealing.

Dion's spiel had more substance and still held the promise that he's stepping down in a few months. (CTV didn't have it, but CBC did, right at 7:30 when CTV went off the air.)

Not saying which one's the better choice, as neither really have much appeal at the moment, but if we had to have one, it should be legit, without prorogue... wherever that word came from.

a door and a house

At work, I took part in the door decorating contest for this year. The theme for each door had to do with a different aspect of Christmas, which we drew a few weeks ago. I drew "Angel" as my theme. Immediately, I thought of my friend Angela, who goes by Angel and came up with the idea to put a giant rasterbated picture of her up on the door. So I found her and asked about it, and she consented. So, on Friday, I put a picture 3x4 sheets large on the door of her acting as the angel on a tree for a contest we had in residence a few years back. Then, to add to the fun, I printed off a bunch of pictures of her and placed them in the corner of my door (not until yesterday because the creepy-factor came into play) there is also a tinsel halo on the door and a gift bag with a real angel on it. And to top it off, there are magnetic letters on the door frame that read "ANGELS". The judging was today and we find out tomorrow who the winners are.

I doubt I'll win, but I got a theme and took it literally, and many people around the school are liking it.

It'll be coming down tomorrow right after we find out who the winners are, so as to remove the creep-factor.

--

On another note, I'm paying attention to what's happening in Ottawa as of late. There's a mess, which comes down to a very bad move by Harper and his party last week with the economic update and the opposition not willing to back down. In the aftermath, there seems to be split opinions on it, right down the middle. I was considering a few things in my thoughts:

1. The US tends to be conservative in their viewpoints. They have the Republicans on the Right, and the Democrats not so much on the right, but still there.

2. Canadians are very undecided when it comes to voting as of late. They decided against the Liberals in 2006, however since they watched the horrors of a Republican government in the States under George Bush, they have been very hesitant to give Mr. Harper full authority over the country, hence two Conservative minorities to date, in the latter election, giving him more seats, but still not the majority Mr. Harper was looking for.

3. Because of the wishy-washy nature of Canadian voters, we have ended up with wishy-washy party leaders, of which, Ms. May is the only one I came out of the English Language debate having any reasonable amount of respect for. Canadians are starting to hope for change, but none of the current leaders are any inspiration for that change, so they're very hesitant to push too hard.

4. In a recent slew of Globe and Mail online surveys, the responses are along these lines: Sitting on the fence. Here's what I mean:

Economic Statement
Should the opposition parties support the Conservative government’s economic package?
Yes: 49% (11908 votes)
No: 51% (12151 votes)

Talks begin
Has the Harper government done enough to boost the Canadian economy?
Yes: 47% (7252 votes)
No: 53% (8174 votes)

Conservatives back down
Should the opposition now back away from coalition talks?
Yes:46% (4967 votes)
No: 54% (5936 votes)

Coalition is formed
Should the Governor-General allow the Liberals and the NDP to form a coalition government?
Yes: 53% (11298 votes)
No: 47% (10182 votes)

Agreement drafted
Do you support the Liberal-NDP coalition's bid for power?
Yes: 51% (15472 votes)
No: 49% (14930 votes)

I found the trends here very interesting. There's no clear choice as to which way the voters on the Globe would prefer. Almost like the last election.

There is now a viable alternative to the Conservatives as the governing party. Will this lead to a functioning parliament? Probably not, but it's something different, and government will work, according to the deal, for at least 18 months. If the parties hold to their word, that is. We'll see what happens.