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One Year Ago Today, Donald Trump Was Elected (And The World Was Never The Same)

Posted 08 November 2017 § Humour § MemoryLane § News § Politics § United States § Wisdom ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , , ,

Julie Payette Reminds Us We Live In A Universe Based On Fact, Not Opinion

Canada’s new Governor-General (and former astronaut) Julie Payette, created some controversy after her recent remarks at a science conference where she pointed out the absurdity of politicians still using their personal opinions to debate indisputable scientific facts such as the reality of climate change and the lack of similar evidence for beliefs such as astrology.

Her remarks also took aim at creationists and so some religious people felt attacked while others felt it wasn’t keeping with the traditional non-political role of the position (although others defended her, asking how exactly is stating *facts* wrong?)

Without this basic and fundamental understanding of how to sort through declarations, our world is now overrun by opinions masquerading as facts. As a result, poorly supported assertions of faith and opinion end up forging public policy — all which have a direct effect on our individual and collective well-being.

Me?  I can’t wait to hear what she says next! 😉

Posted 07 November 2017 § Canada § Jobs § News § Politics § Wisdom ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , ,

Music Monday – “Karma police/I’ve given all I can/It’s not enough/I’ve given all I can/But we’re still on the payroll”

“Karma Police” – Radiohead

Posted 06 November 2017 § MusicMonday § PopCulture § UK ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

UFC 217 Might Be Best MMA PPV of All-Time?

I don’t pay a lot of attention to UFC for the most part unless it’s a big name or a big fight or when my love of pro wrestling intersects with the world of “real” fighting via someone like Brock Lesnar or CM Punk participating.

And I rarely to never watch the live PPVs, usually just catching highlights online after.

But when friends invited Shea and I to join them to watch UFC 217 at a local bar last night, I was pretty excited to see the return of one of the greatest of all-time, Canada’s own, Georges St. Pierre, after a four year hiatus.

It turns out we picked a really good PPV to watch – three champions got defeated (a new UFC record), the fights were all really good and GSP even pulled out an upset victory to cap off what many (including the head of UFC) are calling potentially the best UFC PPV of all-time!

 

Posted 05 November 2017 § Jobs § PopCulture § Shea § Sports § Wrestling ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,

Saturday Snap – Siblings

Posted 04 November 2017 § Family § Pace § Photo § Sasha ‡ Comments (0) °

Friday Fun Link – Hot Ones “Hot Sauce Challenge”

I stumbled across this YouTube series and am completely hooked.

The conceit is that a hot sauce company challenges various “B” level celebrities to eat wings with a variety of ever-increasing hot sauces on them while also conducting an interview.

I haven’t watched them all but here are some of my favourite interviews so far…

 

Posted 03 November 2017 § FridayFunLink § Humour § Meme § Randomness § Video § Wrestling ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , ,

Throwback Thursday – #tbt – At Least They Didn’t Lose Their House In Transit (Fall 2005)

I was looking through Facebook earlier this week when I saw a story that was almost sounded like the ultimate Halloween prank – a guy came home to his farm just outside Regina to find an abandoned ready-to-move house, still on a trailer but with no semi, no drivers and no note!

He posted some pics asking what he should do or what people thought had happened and I chimed in with the following comment as my in-laws had moved their home off a farm into the city of Weyburn about twelve years ago.

When my in-laws moved their house from their farm into Weyburn, the mover stopped for the evening in a farmer’s yard just outside Weyburn then finished the trip the next day so he had the full day to place the house.

But I’m pretty sure that a) he had permission from the farm where he stopped and b) he left the house and trailer hooked up to the truck when he stopped for the night.

(I gave my in-laws a call to confirm details of the story and their best guess is that the truck pulling this house had some sort of trouble and they maybe unhooked to go get fixed? Strange they wouldn’t leave a note or any explanation but they said it happened occasionally on their farm that a tractor or piece of machinery would end up being left in their fields without explanation and that was usually the reason.)

The land owner replied that my story could be it but that there were also power lines just down the grid road and perhaps that was the reason (which turned out to be the case.)

Anyhow, I was an early commenter on this story but it ended up going pretty viral with 345 shares plus media coverage across Canada, in New York, the UK and even Russia.

The actual owner of the house was not Facebook friends with the guy who found it on his land. But due to the Facebook shares, she saw it and posted a comment “That’s my house!” as she was even unaware of where exactly her house had ended up!

Anyhow, I already did one Throwback Thursday post about my in-laws moving their house into Weyburn but figured this week’s very “Saskatchewan” story of a lost house showing up in a random farmer’s field deserves another, more detailed post with a lot more photos of my in-laws very successful (in comparison) house move!

Videotaping The Show

 

Moving House Into Position (Didn’t Bend A Tree!)

 

I Can’t Back Up A Car With A Rear View Camera This Good

 

The Basement Awaiting The House To Be Placed

 

House Behind Basement While Final Preparations Are Made

Will they get to sleep in their own beds tonight?

 

Getting Ready to Move The House

 

Checking Out Positioning

 

Moving It Into Place

Getting Closer

Closer…

 

Finally In Place (Rear View)

Posted 02 November 2017 § Family § Jobs § MemoryLane § Photo § Saskatchewan § ThrowbackThursday ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ,

First Snow of the Year – Hawksley Workman

Every year when I mark this tragic milestone, I always try to remember – do I post this during the first snow of the year that stays or do I post it the first time we have snow, even if it warms up again and all the snow melts?

But this year, we’re looking at sub-zero temps for the next 14 days so I think I’m pretty safe posting it today either way (unfortunately).

Posted 01 November 2017 § Blog § Canada § Family § Meme § MemoryLane ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: ,

Happy Halloween!

A few random thoughts…

  • Shower thought: It struck me that Halloween was the original version of “Pokemon Go!” with kids roaming the streets, checking in at various locations and randomly encountering all kinds of strange and wonderful creatures.
  • Weird to realise how many people will pass by our house, even though we have the lights on, simply because we have a longish driveway and a few stairs to climb to get to our door.
  • Final count this year is 82.  I don’t know why we track this every year as I don’t really remember how many we get from year to year other than that it can really range, depending on weather, day of week and probably other factors I’m not considering.  I’d say we’ve had everywhere from a low of ~30 to over 100 over the years we’ve lived in this house.
  • I posted a picture of me (in a “hippy” costume I used for my library’s 50th Anniversary “Retro” Party last fall) and Sasha above but figured there’s no point in putting a picture of Pace since our “ten year old teenager” is now too cool for a costume and basically wore a ski mask that happens to have a zombie face on it but otherwise, all his regular clothes.
  • Was kinda fun to take Pace and two friends he was trick or treating with to some of the best “haunted house” displays in the neighbourhood, made easier to find this year due to a new web site I just learned about today.
  • Sasha’s at a pretty precious age.  “Dad, can we go home now?  My bag is heavy and my legs are sleepy.”
  • A big shout-out to the people who give full-size candy bars.  You’re the real heroes. (Er, to our kids.)
  • When I was growing up, we got a lot more apples and homemade treats (popcorn balls anyone?) but I can’t remember the last time Pace got a homemade treat.
  • There is a “teal pumpkin” movement that started in 2014 to promote giving allergy-free treats but I don’t think I saw a single one in our neighbourhood.
  • Maybe the best costume I saw were two parents, both in full bear costumes including giant bear heads with their baby in a stroller, in a “baby bear” costume.

Weather was pretty good and, as always, an enjoyable night where I had fun with the kids, handing out candy and occasionally sneaking a piece (or ten!) 😉

Posted 31 October 2017 § Family § Photo § Sasha ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Music Monday – “You know how we like to write nothing but hockey songs? Well, here’s another hockey song!”

If you’re still missing Gord Downie’s voice, his new solo record – a collection of 23 “Love Letters” to various people and places in his life, is pretty amazing and getting great reviews.

A member of Facebook’s largest Tragically Hip Fan Group has also uploaded an hour and twelve minute montage of some of Gord’s many monologues, quips and stage observations called “Kerfuffle”…

“Kerfuffle” – Tragically Hip

Posted 30 October 2017 § Canada § MusicMonday § PopCulture § Wisdom ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,