What's Deb been up to?

Well I hate to tell you this but not much of anything except watching curling.  The Scotties Tournament of Hearts (ladies only) was on last week so we tuned in as soon as we got home and stayed glued to the teevee until the broadcast was over (which eats up a whole lot of time I'll tell you).  But it was well worth it. 
The reigning skip of Team Canada had unceremoniously dumped her third (throws third in the team rotation) in April and said third, Cathy Overton-Clapham, was scrambling most of the summer to put a team together.  Cathy O got it done and qualified to showed up at the SToH which is no small feat.  You have to be the best in your province to get there and women's curling has come a long way.  Well they ended up in a game against each other and of course the media made a huge deal out of the match-up and how was it going to end up.  Were there going to be fire-works?  Nope, Cathy O has way too much class for that.  She just handed her her ass on the ice and out curled her with every shot.  Tried to find a video of the last couple of shots, but they're only up on TSN's site, go to the right side of the page and click on MAN 8 CAN 6 to have a look.  Team Canada did make it to the final, but guess what?  They lost to Saskatchewan.  They didn't just lose the game, they also lost the distinction of being Team Canada which comes with a bunch of perks, one of which is $260,000 a year.  OOPS.
The future of women's curling is looking so very bright.  The Ontario team's average age is 22.  Dang puppies!  Their skip, Rachel Homan is one helluva shot and managed a multiple take-out to score 5 in one end.  Now that's a whole lot of precision and talent all rolled into one li'l bundle and I can see a bunch of titles and medals in this young team's future (prob'ly Olympic material).  They made it to the Bronze medal round and were unfortunately defeated but took home a cheque for 75 hundred bucks which isn't a bad pay day as far as I'm concerned.  I looked for a clip of the great shot that I was telling you about but they haven't hit the Tube of U yet and aren't up on TSN's site either.  Maybe they didn't think it was as good a shot as I did.
Looks like we'll be distracted for another week, starting the 5th.  The Tim Horton's Brier is on (men only) and the men can really throw some howitzers down the sheet so it should make for some exciting watching.  Kevin Martin's team took the gold medal at the Olympics last year and he's up against some pretty stiff competition.  Oh, did I mention that I'm in love with his third?  John Morris is a fireman in a little town not too far from here.  I was going to call him up and offer to polish his....  truck.  Ya, that's right, his truck.  Yummy......  Go have a look.

And this was one of the moments that I felt most patriotic during the whole 10 days of the Olympcs.

stuff

I know, gentle reader, I've been away for a while.  No, I haven't forgotten you just seems that life has gotten in the way (or the weather has finally got to me).

First, the weather.  In the 10 years that I've been home, never, not even ONCE, has my spring prognostication gone so horribly off the tracks.  Remember I said a few weeks ago that spring was in the air?  WRONG. As in EPIC FAIL.  Jesu Cristo, last week we were in the deep freeze, more seasonal type temperatures over the weekend, only to end up back in the deep freeze all week.  Saturday and Sunday, seasonable temperatures and then back in the deep freeze starting Monday.  Forecast highs next week of -16*C.  Global warming, my ASS!  Somebody, please make it stop!  Has the weather finally got to me?  Yup, 'bout to go nuts here.

Did myself damage yesterday when I was packing the groceries in to the house.  Instead of taking my boots off with every trip out to the truck, I just left them on and when I was headed across the kitchen to put the last load on the counter, the snow on my boots caused a slip-and-fall.  Both knees blown up and black and the same with my shoulder that hit the corner of the counter on my way down.  Damn it, that hurt.  When I finally caught my breath, I got up and let the girls back in, it was definitely too cold for them to be out for much longer than they were.  Actually, it was a good thing that they were outside; if I had fallen on one of them we'd have been headed to the vet!  Funny how I don't bounce like I used to.  Was sore enough this morning that I didn't go to work (I know, bad girl) but once again, I don't have anything pressing on my desk and the lads were ok with it.  One of them even sent me a text that said "You know, slip-and-falls are a sign of old age."  Cheeky bastage.

When the bills started coming in in January I couldn't figure out why I hadn't paid any of them in December and then it struck me.  Duh, I paid over $700.00 for my glasses, no wonder 'the cheque got lost in the mail'.  Do I like them?  Not really.  Searching for my focal point while I'm on the computer not only annoys me but it makes my neck sore by the end of the day (and also makes me look like a snob, looking down the end of my nose).

Moving to the city has kinda turned into prob'ly one of the worst choices I have made in the last few years (aside from my last live-in, who cost me a ton of money).  I've already told you that I don't do well in traffic to begin with, and dealing with it every day, twice a day, is not a whole lot of fun.  It used to be that I had a chance to take my 'work hat' off and put it on the passenger seat on my way home, but now not so much and I find myself leaving it on and taking out my frustrations on the girls.  Even if it took me three hours to mow the lawn wth a riding mower, I miss my great big yard.  The night-time quiet and dark are sorely missed.  If I'm really careful and at the exact right angle, I can look out the window of the ensuite and actually see 3, count 'em 3, stars at night.  The best part?  STARS air ambulance soaring overhead or even better, the cop-chopper flying around in the middle of the night.  I really miss having the little horse around, she was a real card (even if I don't miss the feeding and watering ritual that goes along with it in the winter).

Finally, from the Op/Ed pages this morning:  (regarding public sector workers having a 50% wage increase over the last ten to fifteen years more than private sector workers)

How true (and sad) is that?

from my email inbox this morning

HT to Dad


The Fix



There recently was an article in the St. Petersburg , Fl. Times. The Business Section asked readers for ideas on: "How Would You Fix the Economy?" I think this guy nailed it!




Dear Mr. President,


Please find below my suggestion for fixing America 's economy. Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan.


You can call it the "Patriotic Retirement Plan":


There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:



1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.



2) They MUST buy a new AMERICAN Car. Forty million cars ordered - Auto Industry fixed.



3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - Housing Crisis fixed.



It can't get any easier than that!!



P.S. If more money is needed, have all members in Congress pay their taxes..


Mr. President, while you're at it, make Congress retire on Social Security and Medicare. I'll bet both programs would be fixed pronto!



On another note, Obummer is thinking of introducing a head tax of $5.50 on Canadians entering the US to generate money.  Ya gotta be pretty broke to put a tax on your friends coming over for a visit.  Mighty neighborly, mighty neighborly..................  Read more.

Dealing with telemarketers

I don't know how you feel about them, but I find telemarketers to be a royal pain.  I'm fortunate that I don't get too many of them but when I do, I'm not very nice to them.  There was an email that came around saying that cell phone numbers were going to be publicly listed and to get your number on the national 'Do Not Call' list to go to a website, put your number in, and Bob's-yer-uncle, you're not listed.  Ya right.
I'd been running with only a cell phone for quite some time and with air time charges what they are, I didn't want a bunch of unsolicited calls billed to me so I signed up. It turned out to be a mistake to put my number on this list because that's when it started.  At first I'd just say that I wasn't interested and hang up.  It kept up.  Time to change tactics.  Next was to say I'm not interested and do not call this number again.  We have a law here in Canada that if you've been told to put me on your Do Not Call list, you cannot call me again.  Ok, looks good on paper.  Anybody that knows me knows that I will not answer a personal call on my cell during business hours and won't call during work time. 
One day my phone rang and I answered, thinking that maybe there was something wrong with family or friend.  Nope, Bell Mobility calling; we can get you better service at a lower rate than you're paying.  I prob'ly would have been a little nicer if said telemarketer had been able to speak the language and I was able to understand her but she couldn't and I couldn't.  So I told her, "You're calling me on my personal cell phone during business hours?  Do you not realise that you are wasting my time and my employer's money. Do not call this number ever again."  End of that one.
Once I had moved in to the city there was a knock on the door one day from the local cable company (ok, one of them) and they had a smokin' deal on a bundle with cable, internet and land line.  Well, I didn't need the land line but ok, we'll sign on.  There are only a couple of people that know that number and really I should have it disconnected, nobody ever calls on it.  (but then, who ever calls a land line anymore?)  One evening the land line rang and I picked up.  "This is John from Telus and we have a terrific promotion on now for cable, internet and a land line."  "Telus?" says I.  "Yes Ma'am."  "Well, I've dealt with Telus before and as far as I'm concerned, y'all are a bunch of highway-robbin'-bastards and I'll never deal with you again.  Do not ever call this number again." 
For some unknown reason they haven't called back.

from my email inbox this morning

This is so true.  HT to Andy, a some time contributor.

The Lighting Seminar

I attended a lighting seminar this afternoon that was put on by one of the electrical distributors here in town.  It was pretty interesting and there was quite a bit of information about LED lighting and retrofits for parking lot lighting and parking garage lighting that could be very useful for some of the car dealerships that we have as customers.  Don't go out and buy any yet, the technology isn't quite there yet (for residential use) and the price is coming down.
When it was over I ran into a guy that I worked with at the last contractor's that I was with and we started talking.  It was good to see him, but (big but) he had taken a run at the old cougar when we worked together and I came to the conclusion that if we were in a relationship, I'd have to kill him.  I don't think that I've ever met anyone who had owned their own business that was as disorganized as he was!  As my neice would say 'Oh My Grapes!'.  He spent more time running around the city being unproductive and losing paperwork than you could shake a stick at.  And forgetful?  Oh my.  I had pointed out to him that it really wasn't a good idea to even go out once as we worked together and then had to do it again on  a couple more occasions.  So what to do when he asked me for my number?  EEK.  Being the polite person that I am, I gave it to him, but now what?
On a different note, I realized the other day on my way home that the leaf buds on the trees are thickening.  Even as I look out my dining room window as I type, I can see it and I've seen a couple of flocks of geese coming back (I'm fairly certain that they aren't any of the resident flocks that stay here, though I haven't stopped any of them to ask).  Yes, it's only February and I'll get lots of argument that winter isn't over yet.  You're right.  But spring, she's a-comin'.  YIPPEE!  And no, it's got nothing to do with global warming.  I'm just paying attention, and after the winter we've had I'm glad to see it.  I think that I might even plant some flowers this year now that the truck is paid off and I have a little more jingle in my jeans.

from the OP/ED pages of the paper today