No blog today…

…I am too busy playing Plants vs Zombies.

iPad Review

I have had my iPad for a couple of days and I have to say that I really do love it. I have the 64 gb, wifi version. It is a device for consuming media, in my opinion. I have used it thus far to check email to see if there is anything urgent. Reading books on it is quite easy. I do like that you can change the font and point size.

I downloaded Plants vs Zombies for it and it is fabulous. The game play is quick and responsive and you can hold the iPad in different ways or even change hands and it is all seamless. I played for a couple of hours this afternoon and completely enjoyed it. I suspect that I will find more games like this Plants vs Zombies.

My biggest complaint is Apple’s case that you purchase separately. I have no idea what it is made of but I can’t stand how it feels. It seems like it sucks the moisture out of your hands. Since I have decided I will likely not take it out of the house for now I can take it out of that case. I will try to find a different one. I do find it a tad heavy to hold for any length of time unless I can lean it against something.

These are my initial observations. I will blog again with more thoughts on it after I have used it for a bit.

If there is a god(dess)

Tomorrow we find out how the Supreme Court of Canada is going to rule with regard to Robert William Pickton’s which may result in a new trial Pickton. Apparently some of the families of the victims hope there is a new trial because Pickton was only tried on 6 counts of murder rather than all 26. I hope Pickton does not get a new trial on the 6 charges he has already been convicted. It would be too much for those families who have already gone through a trial. It is time, however, for the families of the other 20 victims get justice for their daughters and sisters.

Oil Spills and Enbridge

I am sick of oil spills. In fact, since the days of the Exxon Valdez, I have not been able to engage with anything to do with them. From the oil soaked birds to the dead fish, it upsets me to the point that I cannot listen to or view the coverage. You can call me a coward or an ostrich however, I am not unaware, I am completely sickened by it. I can’t do anything about it except stop driving and protest. I can’t stop driving or I can’t work but I can protest. In 2010 there has got to be a better way to transport oil. It is hard to believe that there is not a material they could use that would not leak.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a catastrophe of epic proportions. It is going to fundamentally change the way people make a living in the Gulf. It is going to make poor people much, much poorer. In an area of the US that is reliant on resources, specifically ocean resources, the economy could not really take this hit. Bring in Enbridge. Enbridge, a Canadian company, has a pipeline running in the US. Now there has been another oil spill, this time the result of a pipeline rupture in Michigan. The leak has been stopped but not before millions of litres of oil had leaked into a local river. I cannot imagine how angry Americans are at the fact that two foreign companies have caused major oil spills in their country.

Enbridge is proposing to build a pipeline from the Alberta Tar Sands (don’t get me started) to the northern coast of BC to then be loaded on to tankers and sent to Asia. Kitimat, BC, the proposed end of the pipeline is also in a sensitive ecological area. An oil spill there would be just as devastating to the environment there as it was in the Gulf of Mexico. Traditional ways of life would be wiped out in the event of an oil spill. Just about everyone who lives in the area is opposed to the pipeline. I am sure everyone along the way is opposed as well. The only ones who seem to be in favour are local and provincial politicians.

I hope that this pipeline does not get built. Trucking the oil may be inefficient and expensive but if there is a spill it is only a truck full of oil rather than the millions and millions that can be leaked if there is a spill. Plus the pipeline will run through largely rural and inhabited areas of the province. How long would it take for an oil spill to be found there? I believe a pipeline is absolutely wrong for BC.

Dispatches from the Swamp – the I outsmarted a blind dog edition

• We have had Clio for 10 years. She is blind and extremely demanding. She will get what she wants by sheer perseverance. What she wants is me. She will climb up my leg until I pick her up. When I put her down because she won’t sit still or relax. Invariably she tries to climb up my chest and I put her. Wash, rinse, repeat every day, day in day out, for 10 years. Yes – 10 long years. When she finally settles she is very nice but it happens only about 10% of the time. Another thing, she bites. If you try to groom her in any way (and she is a filthy dog) she bites. She has gone from pondering biting and sort of trying to outright biting now. My big accomplishment today was the fact that I was able to pull some scudge off of her face before she knew it and could bite me. Huzzah! I win. I am still gloating.

• Clearly I spend far too much time in traffic. Today my rant is directed to the truckers on the Mary Hill Bypass. Why on god’s green earth do you need to drive side-by-side on the road? No one can get past you! It is seriously frustrating for the other motorists which, makes it dangerous. Move over! Cut us some slack.

• Ok and since when did it become ok for scooters to go on highway #1? I am not talking about a motorcycle, I am talking about a full-fledged tops out at 50 km/h scooter. Seriously, I am not sure what this woman was thinking. If she gets hit she is pretty much dead.

• I am very excited about the new Magic Trackpad from Apple. I am going to order one as soon as I am done blogging. It is for a desktop computer and it is a replication of the trackpad on the MacBook Pro – which I completely adore! I hated every other trackpad on laptop computers until I used the one on the MBP. It is completely intuitive and so easy to use. I will get one for work now and I may get one for home too. In other Apple news at the Swamp, Deb is loving her iPad. She has already read a couple of books on it and enjoyed it immensely. It is perfect for married couples where one wants to read in bed and the other wants to sleep – no light required!

I am noticing that I have been a little ranty these days. I will try to change that!

The Driving Lesson *YOU* Missed

Hey, asshole, ya, you, going *60 km/h* on the highway in the left lane!I have to pass you on the right to get by your sorry ass after you pulled in front of me. Did you not learn in driving school or read it in the manual where you learn that if you want to go slow you need to be in the right lane. In fact, the right lane should be your *default* position on the highway unless you are *passing* someone.

Now we need to turn to the topic of car maintenance. It would be great if your car was maintained properly so that it can get from point A to point B without causing a major traffic jan. To the guy in the blue car who caused a huge delay on Highway 1 Westbound between Langley and the Port Mann Bridge. It is bad enough that your car broke down but did you have to abandon it in the lane and leave? Yes, I saw you walking away without *even* trying to push it off to the side. Seriously Dude, I am sure you could have pushed it out of the way a little bit so maybe it would have been a bit less of a pain in the ass.

Thank you for your attention.

Not much to blog about today…

We started the day (or should I say afternoon) with pancakes and watching Chloe. It was a really good movie. It moved quite slowly but was completely worth it. I highly recommend it.

Then began the bubble gum for the brain. We have been watching season 6 of Nip/Tuck. It has always been a strange show and Season 6 has not disappointed. It has been hours of gratuitous sex, dysfunction and surgery. Seriously, I have never seen a show where people have so much sex regardless of their relationship status. If one were to sum this series up in a word it would be hedonism.

On a completely unrelated subject I have to say that I am completely and utterly tired of hearing that someone gave 110% or 150%. This is simply not possible. For those of your who do not pay attention in grade school arithmetic 100% is a whole. There cannot be more than 100% it terms of what one can give. A price can increase by more than 100% but that is about it. While we are on the subject of how things are expressed, I am tired of reading about iPod Touches. I think it is like a governor-general. To pluralize it would be governors-general, I think it should be iPods Touch. It would be just iPods. The word ‘touch’ is in direct relationship to the type of iPod. I wonder if Apple has thought of this?

I will be out in the real world tomorrow so perhaps there will be some more relevant content here tomorrow.

A strange thing happened the other day…

Last weekend, while my mother was here*, which made it much worse, one of our neighbours came to the front door. I went to answer it and she gave me a bag. In it was some canned dog food. She then told me that a friend of hers gave it to her and she decided to give it to us because we help so many dogs. Great. The neighbours think we are running a dog shelter.

*My mother already thinks we have way too many dogs.

PSA of the Day

Apparently there are more warnings out about salmonella and head cheese. I used to eat head cheese as a child when I was at my great-grandmother’s apartment. Once I knew what it was I could not even fathom the thought of eating it. So this PSA is for all of you who still eat head cheese.

Dispatches from the (mostly dry) Swamp – The Birkenstock Edition

• I am a little late this year to start wearing my Birkenstocks. I needed to get them repaired and I was not sure if I was going to bother if I could find another pair of suitable sandals. I have some lovely Naots but I don’t really want to wear them out. After looking around for something suitable and not finding anything I decided to just get mine repaired. I know from other years that I have to break in my feet. I do this year after year and eventually they are comfortable. I am not sure why I go through this ritual every year. It must be the cachet of wearing Birks. After wearing them for 4 days over the last 2 weeks seems to have done the job.
• I am feeling like crap this last couple of days. My white blood cell count is low. My GI doc has pulled me off the imuran for a week and then my dose is going to be lowered. I really feel crappy. I have had a number of the symptoms including a sore throat, fever, gastrointestinal upset, nausea, and vomiting. Plus I am tired, really, really tired. I am at risk of picking up a virus more easily. I am hoping that I escape the dreaded thrush.
• Madison is really starting to show her age. She is getting more and more confused. It is really bad at night. We are all keeping her close and making sure that she does not get left alone and find herself in a place alone. She is very insecure at times. She seems happy when she is with us. Her appetite is ok and she still has quality of life. Madison is a very old dog. We have decided that as soon as she does not have quality of life we will have her euthanized. I hope that day does not come for a long time to come as long as Maddie is happy.
• Zoe is continuing to change colour and do well. She is an active, healthy and very happy dog. She plays continuously with Sawyer. We can’t keep a collar or a harness on that dog because he constantly undresses her. She doesn’t seem to mind.
• Poor Sawyer. He lives with some crotchety old women. He is constantly getting in shit from Molly. Speaking of shit, Sawyer has a very bad habit of consuming it. We are hoping it is just puppy behaviour and it stops soon.
• We now have air conditioners in most areas of the house. I have a little portable in my office that works very well. We have added window ones to the kitchen and dining room. We still have a portable in the living room and our bedroom. Our bedroom is a bit like a wind tunnel we have the AC, the ceiling fan and a turbo fan. It works pretty well for us.
• We are very happy that my mother’s visit is over. It is very hard to entertain a 74-year old woman for 16 hours a day. She would say that she wanted to watch the news, so I would go in and set it up for her. Ten minutes later she would come down the hall and tell us she was lonely while we would be getting dinner ready. She would not offer to help make dinner or anything like that she would just expect to be entertained. It was monotonous to say the least. Plus there was no sleeping in as she had to be picked up at the hotel early and dropped off late. We were also doing things each day which I find difficult.
• I gave Deb an iPad for her birthday and she is thrilled. My initial thoughts are that it is pretty awesome. I could see myself using it to play games in the living room. I will not get one though. Perhaps I will get one after the next iteration.