Thoughts on a Snowy Day

[jamesq]

Shovelling the walks this morning was fun. And by "fun", I mean "a back-breaking Sisyphean chore". Since it's still snowing, I imagine I'll have to do it again when I get home.

I blame global-warming for this. Seriously. I'm not one of those idiots who says "hyuck, it's cold out so global warming is just bullshit, derp derp derp." More energy in the system means more heat. More heat means the atmosphere absorbs more moisture. Large masses of moist air coming over the Rockies to Alberta means snow and lots of it. The bad news is that the same weather systems in the summer aren't going to be making it past the Rockies.

I actually made it (along with a bunch of other people) to my 7:30 Weight Watchers meeting. The bad news is that I've gained again, so I'm now at 257, which was the weight I joined at. I am not going to let that depress me. I would really like to run again, but the climate is making that difficult. Oh well, I might as well get back on that wagon again.

I'm always surprised when I see slim women at the meetings. My knee-jerk reaction is "what the hell are you doing here", but then I usually remember that there are people who are successful at Weight Watchers.

I didn't watch the English Leadership debate. Mostly this is because I've decided to vote for the New Democrats this year (barring some unforeseen revelation). I was waffling between them and the Liberals, but they came out pretty strongly for Net Neutrality. I've been informed the Greens are pretty much for it too. I'll have to compare their platforms.

In the romance is not dead - it's spawned numerous modern languages department, everyone in Mexico who had to pronounce my last name got it right. I'm guessing that Spanish and French are similar enough in structure that they just know how to do it.

I'm leaning towards a Vancouver vacation. I can probably do it for about $1K. I'll do my taxes this weekend and see how bad things are. If I end up paying an additional couple thousand like the last few years, it may not be in the cards. Sadly, I waited a bit too long on the San Francisco option and now the flights and hotels are well out of my reach.

Current targets for sloppy-make-outs: 0. Sigh.

I read a new-ish Wild Cards trilogy: Inside Straight, Busted Flush and Suicide Kings. Each book was better than the last. It's a great introduction to the Wild Cards universe and I recommend it to anyone who likes weird-modern genre fiction.

I also spent the last couple weeks watching the first two seasons of Leverage. Think of it as "Oceans 11 - the TV Series". It's popcorn, but it's tasty popcorn.

Finally, it's nosarious' birthday - wish him a good one.

Comments

[danceintheabyss.livejournal.com]

"Since it's still snowing, I imagine I'll have to do it again when I get home."

Naaaah, your lucky its all melty already.. at worse you'll need to ice it come morning if the temp drops below zero.
Side note.... the building managers shovel MY walk... neener neener neener... LOL

[laughingmagpie.livejournal.com]

I'm girding my loins to talk with someone at the Rob Anders campaign office to tell them to 1) stop calling me with their automated calls, 2) stop sending me offensive, fear-mongering letters asking me to support his campaign and 3) correct the error in their phone message that says their government fell on the budget instead of Contempt of Parliament....

In the meantime, I'm also struggling with who I'll actually vote for. There's an interesting website here that asks you a series of questions and puts your answers in alignment with the positions of the federal parties:

http://votecompass.ca/

ETA: Also, a website from Project Democracy that helps you decide if you want to try voting strategically (my riding is so depressing... they basically say it doesn't matter who I vote for):

http://www.projectdemocracy.ca/

[wendy-licious.livejournal.com]

Two bits of possibly good news.
1. The walks will likely not need to be reshovelled. Mine don't.
2. Today's Westjet weekly Thursday special is on flights to California. I didn't look at the details since I'm not going there but it might be helpful.

[jamesq]

Pbbbt!

[jamesq]

My boat is even worse - Ablonczy is like Anders, but not actively offensive. The local centrists don't have to hold their nose to vote for her - though they probably would if they paid attention.

Those quizzes usually put me slightly left of the Liberals. I tend to vote NDP because they've been coming in second in Calgary - Nose Hill, and because I want to drag the country farther to the left.

[jamesq]

Sadly, Westjet doesn't fly to SFO this month.

[mallt.livejournal.com]

I don't see the Conservative candidate in my riding losing... Stephen Harper.

[jamesq]

You were, however, completely right on the sidewalks being clear.