Music Sampler

Browsing around today I came across this little tool for iTunes (which I had to redownload since I typically swear by Winamp and don't own an iPod) via Theron at Thought Mechanics. Bascially it allows you to select some options, and it builds an audio sampler of your music that you can share instead of listing your musical interests. I made a small and big sampler really quickly, but since I don't use iTunes I just had to let the thing work randomly through my 5000 tracks instead of picking the top rated. They still turned out fairly representative.

And while we're discussing my music anyways, I also sat down and made a list of the all the vinyls I have (the 33's anyways).

Dusty

Yesterday I woke up, and after going through my e-mail checking, fantasy sports roster updates, and blog reads, I promptly went to work on a 10 hour cleaning binge. I spent most of my time in the same room, and I swear you wouldn't know that it had been cleaned, with the exception maybe of the fishtank...which I've decided needs more than just goldfish in it again. A couple south american silver sharks and a plecostamus or two (I'm a big fan of ugly fish).

Of course that much cleaning leads you to finding an assortment of junk you thought you'd lost, or thrown out already, but found its way back to its niche in the corner of a wall unit. In the process of switching the positions of our boxes full of photos and my stack of vinyls, I came across a number of pictures that must have been pulled out of their original film developer store envelopes for all those poster projects you do as a kid, and never returned.

I actually still have some pretty clear memories of my first day of school, for instance pulling the emergency fire exit handle on the bus cause I thought it was a power window lever. Perhaps that stays in my memory cause of the trauma of the loud buzzer and the bus driver stopping the bus on a dime to check things out. I think the bus driver's name was Pam. She lasted until Grade 1, then the bus route changed, and did so every 2 years after that.

But gone are the days where I was so eager to run off to school in the morning, or the days where I got a fresh knit sweater from my mom for the first day of each schoolyear. Replaced instead with a less naive, more decrepit version of myself, with a tendancy of having breathing difficulties after inhaling dust for 10 hours, and only getting 3 hours of sleep because of it.

Vote Revisited

I've been sitting here thinking this morning about the way people voted in reaction to the Libral sponsorship scandal. I made a small note to myself last night that there didn't seem to be much change occurring in the metropolitan centres, but in the outside ridings. In reading the CBC, that feeling seems to be confirmed.

My theory on the matter? The metropolitan centres tend to be the hub for activity where there is an attraction for educated professionals in various disciplines. The kind of educated professionals who take the time to actually learn the policies of the political parties and sit to think about and discuss the implications involved, beyond simply falling to the tendancy to react against some wrong done unto them.

I agree with everyone who's said that some kind of change was needed, I'm just not sure everyone clearly thought out exactly what KIND of change was needed. Clearly every option always has its flaws, and there is no way to gauge how other people will choose to react, so there were few other options available. While voter turnout was relatively high, voter apathy was similarly high, and so limited exploration of the other options could be expected.

Suburb Of Buffalo

And so reactionary thought prevails here in Canada. Forget the actual platforms of all the parties, the Conservatives were successful in playing on people's reaction to losing money in the sponsorship scandal. It blows my mind how Canadians who pride themselves in having the benefits of relatively high standards in health care, and human rights, and social assistance, and careful consideration of military involvement keeping in mind a role in long accepted international bodies, decide to change their allegiance to a party that will very likely pursue the opposite of those general principles.

Since George W. Bush's election, and moreso his re-election, Canadians have reacted in a way reflecting the disagreement with the way he and his appointed staff have carried themselves. There is no denying that Stephen Harper's ideals are not a far cry from Bush's own, and yet in a system in which there are at least 3 viable party hopefuls in almost every riding, people chose to swing back against the Liberals, who by all means deserved to be held accountable for their actions, by voting for the extreme alternative, which makes no sense to me whatsoever. But logic in times like these is something one just can't count on clearly.

The only positive outcomes that I can find in the situation as it stands now are that:

-at least SOME kind of change came of these months of campaigning at the cost of the Canadian dollar (by the way, if anyone can find a figure on how much it costs to hold an election like this, I'd like to see it because I haven't been able to find one), and

-the government remains a minority, with strong results for the NDP, meaning that, unlike the current dominated systems south of the border, there is the potential for clear opposition to any drastic moves, without the need of simply attempting to stall the system.

I still however can't shake the feeling that I need to worry about a member of my family or myself getting sick enough to require proper health care in the next few years, or the bullseye we may end up painting on ourselves if we start getting involved in struggles that we have no place in. Only time will tell...

Now We're Cookin With Fire...

...okay, well I'm not so much cooking with fire, as a new more efficient electric stove. My day yesterday was almost entirely consumed with re-doing the wiring, or I mean, for insurance purposes, having a certified electrician come in and re-do the wiring for our new stove. We picked it up during boxing week, but only yesterday finally got fed up with it sitting in the dining room taking up space.

As much as I like living in an older house for its cozyness, and generally solid construction, there are certain things in this place that still make me go "huh"? 8 hours of saw, plaster and concrete dust, an old wrist injury reaggravated, and some torn up knuckles later, we should be saving some money on our electric bills over our 20 year old alternative.

I also have the feeling that the new stove is going to lead an increased amount of baked goods for a bit until the novelty of the new toy wears off.

To relax for the evening I went out to a buddy's place and caught the end of what seemed like a good indie Australian movie "He Died With a Felafel In His Hand". Random dry humour is always good times. I also finally saw The 40 Year old Virgin. It was alright I guess, but didn't live up to the way some people went on about it.

Today is all about football, american football, and trying to get caught up in the distance ed course I'm supposed to be doing but haven't touched yet. So far its been a struggle to maintain my attention, and that's why I'm here.

Here Nor There

Its been a moderately productive few days for me, but nothing special from the ordinary. Getting some job applications in, getting some work done, getting some guee-tar played, some TV watched, and some blogs surfed.

Of course, with election day looming, the Canadian focus has been on the unfortunate surgence of Stephen Harper's Conservatives or more the worry about said rise. And now on a quick google search, apparently 'surgence' isn't a recognized word, yet 'resurgence' is, what a difference a two letter prefix makes. Nonetheless I've been made feel slightly guilty about my decision not to vote, even though in my riding the Liberal candidate is generally a runaway.

Now that's not to say I would vote Liberal given a completely free choice...but the way 'democracy' works these days is that you vote strategically to keep the beliefs you absolutely disagree with out of any important positions. And to me that includes being against those who see against free marital rights, personal rights, and for making the people spend more money on services at the cost of tax cuts for all. I'm sure there are plenty that disagree with this philosophy, but the fact remains.

In such a riding where there is a clear run-away I should probably be compelled to go out to the poll and vote for the local candidate who actually supports my ideals, or at the very least spoil the ballot reflecting my disapproval of the way each of the major parties have carried themselves, and perhaps I might. I still have 3 days to decide at least..

That's more than many a person can say around the world, and that's why we see such a large contingent of landed immigrants running for these positions. They respect, and are downright giddy about the right to vote for, discuss, debate, and even run for significant postions in a federal office. As much as people out there are complaining about the door to door knocking, or the media coverage, or the fact that this election probably shouldn't have occurred in the first place in the interest of saving taxpayer money in what will probably be another elected minority government, we should be proud as Canadians, and downright grateful that we actually have a relatively untainted say in who leads us.

Holy Pat Robertson, Eh!

Canada apparently has its own Pat Robertson, minus the TV station, and so far, calls to assassinate foreign leaders, or claims that God is spiting other leaders for their actions (which I thought was beyond such an omnipotent being as written in the bible).

Okay so maybe he's not that bad, but Rondo Thomas of the Ajax/Pickering riding in Ontario is making a name for himself as evidenced in a video clip on Rick Mercer's blog. Certainly not the most sparkling display ever by a University of Waterloo graduate. Its early though, maybe this guy doesn't seem as crazy when you're awake.

Packus Ratillium

Its been quite the busy few days, some of which has even been productive. Last week I came through on a promise to my mom to get her a copy of season 1 of 24. In the process I realized that I hadn't actually seen any of season 1 as I only started watching towards the end of season 2. So on Saturday night I began a 3 day orgy of the season, and have now decided that I need to see the rest of the seasons sequentially too. I don't think its possible to overdose on Elisha Cuthbert anyways.

While waiting for my computer to finish with season 2, I got to work on some of the work that needs to get done around here in the next 4 months, starting with the workshop and fruit cellar in the basement. One can only wade through tool boxes and randomly stacked boxes for so long, and being as all the other renovations around the house will need me to know where the hell my tools are, I figured this was a good place to begin.

What a mess its been. Most of the mess is remnants left behind from when my father left over 8 years ago. It was a big mess then, and I didn't want to touch it, but it finally had to be done. Simply stated, the man was a pack rat. Old piping and fittings enough to probably re-plumb two homes, if only it wasn't all corroded and in infintesimally small bits and pieces. Old aluminum wiring, along with some copper stuff with a weaved covering around it so deteriorated that there is no way it wouldn't short against something if actually used. And somewhere in the neighbourhood of 100 pounds of nuts, bolts, and assorted fixtures and brackets. Nevermind the 50 rolls of random tape, all of which with the glue long dried up, or the half used bag of what was once concrete mix now hardened with ambient humidity over the years.

In the past two days I must have bagged and hauled 200 pounds of useless junk outside (as well as inhaled another 5 pounds of dust), and there's more to come. I think I'll be a nice guy though and spread it out over a few weeks for the garbage guys, even if it is ridiculously nice out for southern Ontario in mid-January. But I just don't grasp how someone could think that all of this stuff would be either essential, or valuable to hang on to down the road. I have a couple of my own probably useless collections, like National Geographic and Sports Illustrated magazines, or my rapidly expanding beer bottle collection. Things like that though have reusability, or at least the decorative value that a bunch of corroded copper pipe fittings and old wiring just doesn't have.

Next up - The attic:

The Southwest

Three years ago today I was on the road home from 2 weeks of sightseeing in Arizona and New Mexico. Disregarding that I have taken very few significant trips in my life, it was the best trip of my life. From the depths of Carlsbad Caverns to the rim of the Grand Canyon, with various other sights in between.

Hotel room drinking, a foray into a Mexican border town, watching a police fugitive search in the field behind our Tucson hotel after having just seen the mugshots on room TV, New Years Eve bombsquads, and some of the best sights nature has to offer.

I'm not sure what blew me away the most. The scale and intricacy of the Carlsbad Caverns; the pillars of Chiricahua National Monument that wouldn't have looked at all out of place in a scene from The Lord of the Rings; or the immensity and awe of the Grand Canyon, both with feet planted on the rim, and with feet ankle deep in the Colorado river at the bottom.

Of the time we spent there, we spent the most at the Canyon, where I got to take in two sunsets, and a sunrise on our day hike to the bottom and back out of the Canyon. Its not generally advised to make the hike in a day because of the heat, but being early January at altitude, it was only 4 degrees celcius at the rim when we set out. By mid day, and coinciding with reaching the river, the daylight and change in elevation combined to warm the air to a toasty 20 degrees.

I think its the strangely warm weather around here lately that has me feeling extra nostalgic about the trip, or perhaps the fact that I haven't been outside of Canada in the 3 years since then, but I woke up this morning and just felt like hopping in a car and driving down there. Being as my funds are somewhat limited at the moment, although I have almost all the time in the world, I had to settle for re-scanning the old photos I lost in my harddrive crash and reminiscing here.

The pictures in this post are links to the rest of the pictures I scanned. My one regret is not having owned a digital camera at the time because a lot of the quality of the pictures is lost in scanning, and I am just too lazy to sit and adjust the contrast, sharpness and dust filtering in each one. Maybe one day I will get an adapter to scan directly from the film negatives and digitize all of my pre-last summer photos. And when I do that, I finally might get one of my favourite pictures that I have ever taken blown up:

Following a duststorm at a truckstop outside Albuquerque, New Mexico

Jr. Canada!

Final Score: Canada 5 - Russia 0*.

I predicted before the World Junior Final tonight that Canada would have it won before the end of the 2nd period.

I guess I was right. But to be fair there's an asterisk next to that Russia score up there. Russia technically scored a goal with the score 2-0 but because of the hurried face-offs in international competition to get away from the dragging play more typical of the NHL, they were unable to go upstairs in time for a video review. At the time my thoughts were that the goal should be allowed when its so clearly a goal. Sure it can change the ebb and flow of the game, but I still think Canada had it locked up, and I sure I'm not alone in wanting to win fair and square than amidst controversy.

The TSN analysts too were quick to point out that if things were the other way, there would have been mass protest in the streets.

It would have been a closer game I think, but not much...Gretzky might have even been bang on in his 4-1 pre-game prediction. The bottom line here is Canada wins, and they're gonna have an amazing team coming back next year, watch out! And the Vancouverites managed to not completely blow the roof off GM Place so that our boys and girls can win the gold there again in the 2010 Olympics.

Great tourney guys!

Whoa! I've just been told its 2006.

Okay, so I kinda of ranted off on those end of year round-ups and lists and whatnot, but I got suckered into one cleverly disguised over at the Washington Post by Dave Barry. Funniest thing I've seen or read in weeks, and definitely worth your time.

Most of the observations he makes on the general public not giving half of two shits are sadly bang on. People feign concern and get worked up for a time, and then forget about it completely until the year comes to an end, and even then I really don't think many people this time of year are giving much of their thought to serious news, especially with the distinct lack of a catastrophic earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

Matt Good also made an excellent post yesterday on where our priorities lie. Again, well worth the read.

2006 is off with a chuckle and a bang!