Nice quiet weekend, for a change

Jodi and I spent a nice quiet weekend for the first time in recent memory — no big projects, no major interruptions from work, just finally putting No More Heroes to bed (what a twisted plot it has, video game or not!), then watching Heroes (right after No More Heroes, the irony isn’t lost on me) and a great documentary miniseries called Miracle Planet.  We also had a full, homemade, roasted chicken meal, complete with stuffing and my first successful stab at making gravy, though I used far too much gravy browning and it came out looking approximately like molasses.  Tasted fine though.

Work is still work.  I’m still taking on more responsibility than I should by rights have to.  I’ve been told a new guy was offered the position for the other centre, but he has to put in his notice at his current place of employ, and even then I’ll likely have to train him up when he takes the position properly.  So I’m not out of the tunnel, but I can see the light at the end.  Here’s to hoping the light isn’t a train (which I guess in this metaphor would mean that they’ll have hired four complete wrecks in a row for the IT position in that centre, and I’ll just end up being tapped for even longer).

I’ve made a deal with Jodi, that she’s to read the Dune series if I promise to read the Belgariad series.  On reading the first few pages, I really hope she’s right about it picking up and not being as low-fantasy as it seems right now.

We haven’t gotten voter registration cards yet, likely due to our moving recently.  Tomorrow’s the deadline on calling Elections Canada — and I damn well want to vote this year more than any previous, so I’m going to make a point of taking time out of my usually-busy Monday to exercise my duty as a citizen and flex my electoral muscle.  Which is hopefully better defined than my other muscles.  I can’t bring myself to rage about the economic meltdown, but I will point you to this article at the Great Orange Satan and tell you that were I offered the $200,000 to give up on the $0-or-$1,000,000 suitcase, per the Deal or No Deal reference, I’d take the $200,000 in a heartbeat.  Not an instant of hesitation.  Call me a pragmatist.  And a populist, because I’m definitely that too.

If you haven’t gotten your voter registration yet, call Elections Canada first thing tomorrow at 1-800-463-6868 and do your part.  And yes, this does matter, so get informed, and vote.  If we all end up in the poorhouse or fighting over scraps of food and the last of the unpolluted water in some freaky Mad Max scenario, all because the uninformed electorate was swayed by commercials wherein puffins poop on politicians, then I’ll be the first to blame you.  Right before I roundhouse kick you and take your moldy cheese.  Fucker.

Nice quiet weekend, for a change
{advertisement}

Super Linking Post!

I have a ton of links to share on a bunch of disparate topics, all of which deserve their own proper post but honestly I’m still swamped.  It pains me to know that I am depriving you, my loyal readers, of my opinion on everything, because I know how some of you live and breathe for those opinions.  So, I’ll give a short blurb with each.  Savvy?  And as an added bonus game, you can guess who or what led me to each link, and I bet you’ll be surprised.  LET IT BEGIN!

Continue reading “Super Linking Post!”

Super Linking Post!

Status bars stuck at 57%!!!

I’m going to try for a two-fer tonight, but I’m going to split the posts up, not only because they’re disparate topics, but also because I’m not 100% certain I’ll finish the second right away.  If not, oh well, I only have three or four regular readers still.  I think I’m putting in a phenomenal amount of effort given the size of my audience, and given that I’ve done nothing thus far to actually grow that audience beyond my “base”, that being people I actually know in real life.  Sure, the search engines are linking me a lot, and I link to other blogs frequently which generates pingbacks, but I’m small-time, a very specialized blog.  I don’t even do much actual Canada material, which is something I’ve been meaning to amend as soon as possible.  Either way, once I get a bit more audience, I’ll probably throw on a Google Ads block on the left column, which you can dutifully ignore.

The house situation is cruising along, but it still doesn’t feel real.  Jodi’s extremely frazzled by the lack of specificity with regard to the timetable of the final few pieces of the puzzle — the final inspection, the trading of money for papers, the keys — and I can’t blame her, but I’d prefer to just take the last two weeks as they come.  I have a U-Haul booked, phone and internet due to be hooked up along with power, all on the 18th, the closing date.  I go get the U-Haul at 7am, pack the truck as soon as humanly possible (with what looks like possibly just myself, ReformedYankee and Jodi at the moment, unless by some miracle anyone else manages to free themselves from their pre-existing appointments), get to the new place in time to meet with the power / internet / phone folks (noon-6), get some food into us all, and get the U-Haul back to the service station I rented it from.  Should be a slice of pie.

Especially since we have one less big appliance to deal with — I sold the dishwasher that I had, just last year, rescued for free from an ignominious death at a curbside during spring cleanup, repaired (replaced the power cord and added a seal that turned out to be unnecessary), having sold it for a decent $30.  I not only got a dishwasher out of it for a year, but I made $15 after the repair supplies.  Not a bad profit margin.

We’ve been packing Jodi’s mother’s things, though she can only move into her new apartment on the 13th, as that’s the soonest power can be hooked up.  Unfortunately we live near a university town, and that means near the start of school, the utilities get swamped with hookups.  We’ve already moved a bunch there, though, and are slowly dragging stuff (like dishes) up out of storage as we bring her stuff to the apartment.

Otherwise, life is going swimmingly.

Status bars stuck at 57%!!!