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I’m no longer actively maintaining or updating them but you can find my archive of Fred Eaglesmith Guitar Tabs and Hawksley Workman Guitar Tabs on this site.
Head Tale
Yet Another Librarian's Blog
Music Monday – “Can’t get out of the yard / I’m snowed in with the drifts / No one is coming to open these gifts”
I’m a big believer that the best Christmas songs are the ones with a sense of sadness and melancholy underlying them.
Corb Lund has jumped to the top of that category with his latest song. An 80-year old rancher buying gifts for his gifts just in case they show up for Christmas even though they’re on a family vacation in Hawaii? Ouch!
“Just Me and the Ponies (For Christmas This Year)” – Corb Lund
40 Maps That Will Help You Make Sense of the World
A few years back, I did a post about Reddit’s /r/mapporn sub-Reddit.
Now someone has compiled some of the best maps from that sub-Reddit that will blow your mind in one way or another.
Saturday Snap – Candy Cane Lane #yqr
As a follow-up to my post about SparkleTour.ca, Shea and I ended up doing a mini-sparkle tour in the north end last night after running a couple errands.
One of our stops was an area called Candy Cane Lane where the residents of the Normanview community are encouraged to decorate their homes for Christmas. One home, at 19 Champ Crescent, allows people to not just drive past but get out and walk through a massive display in their front yard, driveway and backyard.
They’re also collecting food and cash donations for the Food Bank and the home owner told me they collected half a ton of food last year and are on pace to double that total this year!
Weather-permitting, they’re open right until January 4 including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (which are their busiest days.) I think he also told me Santa comes every Sunday although I can’t remember what the times were for that.
Well worth checking out if you’re in the area! 
Friday Fun Link – Edmonton Is No Good
The Calgary Flames are having an amazing year as they move past the the quarter way point and head towards the halfway point of the season with no signs (well, maybe one or two) that they’re going to fall back to earth.
Being in a re-build mode and with predictions of a bottom 5 finish at the start of the year, they are currently in third place in their division. Meanwhile, their hated rivals, the Edmonton Oilers, are in the midst of an 11-game winless streak and holders of the worst record in the NHL, even with THREE number one draft picks on their current roster (and possibly a fourth who is being labeled as a once-in-a-generation pick if they continue to do so poorly?)
A couple notes…
- The Oilers have 6 wins on the entire season. The Flames have won 6 games after trailing going into the third period (normally a *very* hard thing to do!)
- Related to the last point, the Flames have more third period goals than the Oilers have total goals this year. (!)
- Various members of the Flames’ defense core is leading the entire league in points, goals, assists and +/-.
- As of this date, one Flame (Josh Jouris) leads the NHL in shooting percentage with 27.6% while another (Jiri Hudler) is in the Top 10.
- I can’t remember exactly but I don’t think the Oilers have won more than a single game against a Western Conference opponent.
- The good folks at Calgary Puck have a 700+ (!) page thread titled “Edmonton Is No Good” where they revel in the ineptitude of their provincial rivals. Started in 2004 when the board moved to a new design, this thread has been *very* active this year.
Throwback Thursday – #tbt – Southernmost Point in Canada (2006)
Shea and I at Point Pelee, Ontario, the southernmost point in mainland Canada…
A Christmas Tradition
Baby crying on Santa’s lap…
“Spirit of Giving” – WestJet Does It Again
Just like last year, WestJet has created a viral-ready commercial/marketing gimmick/promo video for the Christmas season.
Instead of surprising travelers on a cross-Canada flight with gifts they asked for at the start of their journey like they did in their inaugural video last year, this year WestJet provided personalized gifts for residents of a town in the Dominican Republic.
WestJet is a leader in using commercial messages that evoke positive, feel-good emotions and which work especially well during the Christmas season – something you should keep in mind as you watch (and enjoy) this video. Ultimately, it’s still a commercial and as “nice” as the company is being, they’re also purposely manipulating you to improve their bottom line (one article stated their bookings went up 77% after last year’s campaign while one commenter to that article pointed out that part of giving to charity is not expecting something in return – something that’s obviously not the the case with these marketing campaigns.)
Two Dozen Retailers Won’t Open on American #Thanksgiving (And They’re Shaming the Ones That Will)
Some of the best known companies in the United States including Costco, Home Depot and TJ Maxx have taken a family-first approach to American Thanksgiving after watching “Black Friday” (the day after Thanksgiving named as such since it’s the day many retailers “get in the black” for the year) increasingly encroaching on one of America’s biggest family holidays.
It’s always great to see companies that recognize the importance of their workers having good work-life balance and the difference this can make to their own bottom lines, even if it means sacrificing one day’s profits.
