6/29/2005
Too Much Glob Not Enough Wail
I think the Glob and Wail has finally run it's course after three years. I don't think this means the end of my on-line experience and I probably will be posting while I am in Boulder, but I do think the time has come to rethink what I'm doing here. I have some ideas in any case maybe while I'm in Colorado I'll start something new.
6/24/2005
Does Stephen Harper Know What He's Doing?
Last night the government passed it's budget in the House of Commons much to the chagrin of the COnservative party whose leader said:
Does he realize that these "crooks" are the elected representatives of the vast majority of the citizens of the country that he wants to govern? Hasn't he already alienated enough people? The man has proven himself to be a poor leader of his party. His public image is that of a whiner and spoiled child. People in general I believe would be happy to change governments if they saw an appealing alternative. The Conservatives aren't offering that.
He then goes on to complain that the other parties are working together as if that where such a horrible thing. Imagine a government where diverse political parties work in concert! The horror. Harper has painted himself as the man who would topple the government in order to take power for himself rather than as someone who has Canada's interests at heart. The Conservative Party would be doing themselves a huge favour by replacing him with someone people feel good about.
"So I guess what it should remind Canadians is that when push comes to shove, the Liberals will make a deal with anybody. It doesn't matter if it's with socialists, or the separatists or any bunch of crooks they can find."
Does he realize that these "crooks" are the elected representatives of the vast majority of the citizens of the country that he wants to govern? Hasn't he already alienated enough people? The man has proven himself to be a poor leader of his party. His public image is that of a whiner and spoiled child. People in general I believe would be happy to change governments if they saw an appealing alternative. The Conservatives aren't offering that.
He then goes on to complain that the other parties are working together as if that where such a horrible thing. Imagine a government where diverse political parties work in concert! The horror. Harper has painted himself as the man who would topple the government in order to take power for himself rather than as someone who has Canada's interests at heart. The Conservative Party would be doing themselves a huge favour by replacing him with someone people feel good about.
Good Times Bad Times
This is not one of the better days I have had for a while. Everyone I know seems to be sick (self included) and the stress is taking its toll on me. To top it off, as some sort of sign of things, a pigeon flew straight into my window this morning. The poor ragged creature banged herself up pretty hard and sat nestled in the corner between the wall and the window for a long while. All I can say is that tomorrow is another day and the pigeon did get up eventually and fly away.
6/23/2005
News of the World
Anyone remember that Queen album News of the World from the 1970's? Seems like the cover concept was taken from this cover from a 1953 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.
6/22/2005
Chillin
The weather has gone back to the cool side of things. My preferred meteorological state: warm in the sun and cool in the shade with a big blue sky and some light wind. My sister was in town yesterday overseeing a school trip. I was hoping to see her for lunch but I think handling a busload of grade 5 and 6 ers was probably enough to deal with.
I'll be taking a trip to the cottage next week where little Lu will stay with my parents while I am in Boulder. Leslie says it is hot there right now,but at least it is a dry heat. It's the humidity that drives me mad so I should be fine. Just one more Sunday between now and when I leave. Time does fly and so do I.
I'll be taking a trip to the cottage next week where little Lu will stay with my parents while I am in Boulder. Leslie says it is hot there right now,but at least it is a dry heat. It's the humidity that drives me mad so I should be fine. Just one more Sunday between now and when I leave. Time does fly and so do I.
6/21/2005
6/17/2005
How I Ended Up Going to Colorado
A year ago I moved to Ottawa and started a new chapter in my life. It's been a quiet year of settling down and focusing on being healthy, hardworking and tranquil. It was good for me to get out of Montreal. As much as I love the city it harbours a lot of memories of hard times for me and the weight of that was not good for me. Here I had a chance to breath fresh air and reassemble a self that existed before the emotional debacle called divorce blew me in twenty directions simultaneously. Of course we can never be the same after such an experience but I do feel a sense of being complete that just wasn't possible in Montreal.
One day last summer someone named Leslie linked to this blog and so began a regular correspondence that grew into something more. It's hard to explain all the intricacies of what happened within the space of those words, with these words, but somewhere in the exchange of music and gifts and old fashioned hand written letters a desire was born and a bond was formed. We never mentioned what we were both feeling and merely arranged to meet in Boston after 8 months of friendship at a distance (was it really that long?), without expectations but with the same dream. To our surprise and ongoing delight the dreams not only came true, but carried us on their own fantastic course.
Now I'm anticipating the next step in the great adventure of Leslie and James as I get set to go to Colorado to spend some time with the one I love. I can't believe it all started because of a random discovery of a blog. Who could have imagined what would come out of a casual e-mail inquiry? Certainly a year ago I would not have thought that my other half was a red-haired, horse loving, Wellesley graduate living in Boulder. But that is the truth. She's brilliant and funny and beautiful in so many ways and nothing has ever felt so easy and so obvious and so good. That's what happened this year.
One day last summer someone named Leslie linked to this blog and so began a regular correspondence that grew into something more. It's hard to explain all the intricacies of what happened within the space of those words, with these words, but somewhere in the exchange of music and gifts and old fashioned hand written letters a desire was born and a bond was formed. We never mentioned what we were both feeling and merely arranged to meet in Boston after 8 months of friendship at a distance (was it really that long?), without expectations but with the same dream. To our surprise and ongoing delight the dreams not only came true, but carried us on their own fantastic course.
Now I'm anticipating the next step in the great adventure of Leslie and James as I get set to go to Colorado to spend some time with the one I love. I can't believe it all started because of a random discovery of a blog. Who could have imagined what would come out of a casual e-mail inquiry? Certainly a year ago I would not have thought that my other half was a red-haired, horse loving, Wellesley graduate living in Boulder. But that is the truth. She's brilliant and funny and beautiful in so many ways and nothing has ever felt so easy and so obvious and so good. That's what happened this year.
6/15/2005
Squirrel Frolics
K-ob passed on this photo of Mishka pondering the activities of a couple of squirrels.
6/13/2005
Heatwave
The weather has been horrible here lately. Factoring in the humidex it was 41 C on Saturday, or about 110 F. That is insane heat. it's not much better today. However it is supposed to rain this evening which will be a big relief. The humidity clogs my brain and makes me sleepy, irritable and foggy headed. Really I'm just living to get through the next three weeks and go to Colorado and see Leslie. Time for a shower.
6/12/2005
6/11/2005
Meth Mouth
"At this point, I'm digging for roots. That's how I make my living." says Dr. Daniel D. Roberts of Tennessee.
Street Life
I went to the Westboro Street Festival this evening. It was interesting to note the differences between it and a Montreal street festivals. For one it ended at 11:00 pm and second it was boring. Then again Ottawa isn't really about street life. It's more about how easy it is to leave the city.
6/09/2005
6/08/2005
Cocaine and Stones
I'm not talking about Mick and Keif, rather it's curling stones. Yes one of Canada's top curlers has been tested positive for cocaine after he 'partied hard' at the Tim Horton's Brier. According to the TSN article "Cocaine as a performance-enhancer in curling seems incongruous...Sweeping is probably the only area where it might give an advantage".
Psycho Killer, Qu'est Que C'est
This was a freaky thing to wake up to this morning. I could only see the image from the eyes up on my monitor and had no idea what the story was. My first impression was that I was looking at a computer recreation of King Tut's face.No just another psychotic chainsaw killer stopped at the border and let in once his bloody chainsaw was confiscated.
More of the story here >>
6/06/2005
Canal Walk
This afternoon I set out to meet some friends in the Glebe for a sidewalk art show. I took Luna with me but it turned out to be far too hot for her with her dark heavy fur. Instead we sat in the shade and I read while she slept. I felt something I hadn't felt for a long time while we walked along the canal. I felt carefree, as if this weight had lifted off my shoulders, some of that was being out on a beautiful summer day after a long winter, but most of it I realized was because of Leslie and what she gives to me.
6/05/2005
Fizzy Water and You
Cleaning out the old wallet today I found this receipt from what might be called the first 'date' I had with Leslie the day we met in Boston. yes it was a fancy shmancy occasion!
6/04/2005
I think I've slowed down a little bit in the blogging department maybe because it's served its cosmic purpose in bringing Leslie and I together (joke). Lately I've been enjoying editing articles on the Wikipedia. When I first encountered it I was quite sceptical. An on-line encyclopedia where you can edit articles on the fly yourself. The problems with this resulting in a credible source of information seemed obvious, but instead I find the information quite credible where I am familiar with the topic.
It's an interesting project though because it is about collaboration where as so much of the web's interactive content seems to be about the individual, whether it is a blog or people posting there reviews and opnions. Article writing is very different. A given article might have a dozen or more authours and colloborators. If you like correcting grammar.
The site has a slew of guidelines for contributing, as the site says, this is not anarchy, this is not democracy. There is plenty of room for arguement over content and that is part of what makes this project so fascinating. Ideally multiple points of view get either synthesized or are placed next to each other as part of a spectrum
of how to approach a subject. Other articles are started (stubs) and left for others to add to.
Each entry has its own "discuss" page where the pros and cons of an entry can be debated. Entries that have been challenged can be labelled as such by anyone who cares to. However your challenge can be removed as a sort of negation challenge. It's knowledge as a battlefield in realtime.
It's an interesting project though because it is about collaboration where as so much of the web's interactive content seems to be about the individual, whether it is a blog or people posting there reviews and opnions. Article writing is very different. A given article might have a dozen or more authours and colloborators. If you like correcting grammar.
The site has a slew of guidelines for contributing, as the site says, this is not anarchy, this is not democracy. There is plenty of room for arguement over content and that is part of what makes this project so fascinating. Ideally multiple points of view get either synthesized or are placed next to each other as part of a spectrum
of how to approach a subject. Other articles are started (stubs) and left for others to add to.
Each entry has its own "discuss" page where the pros and cons of an entry can be debated. Entries that have been challenged can be labelled as such by anyone who cares to. However your challenge can be removed as a sort of negation challenge. It's knowledge as a battlefield in realtime.
6/01/2005
Colorado Countdown
Continuing my tour of American cities that start with the letters "Bo", I move from Boston to Boulder just in time for Independence Day celebrations. I am going to spend two and half weeks with my sweetie up where the air is rarified at 5400ft above sea level. It's a part of the continent I've never been to so I am thrilled about that but more so I am absolutely smitten by my foxy kitten.
