First Lines of My First Blog Post of Every Month of 2022

January – “If I was taking bets on who wouldn’t make it to midnight, it’d be Shea or I before these two! ?”

February – “I always had this sneaking suspicion that my memories of massively high snowbanks as a kid was influenced by the fact that I was, well, a kid, at the time and therefore, a medium-sized snowbank would’ve seemed like a mountain.”

March – “[Sasha] stumbled upon this video on YouTube a couple weeks ago, actually *wrote* out the joke before memorizing it then recited it word-for-word to me, her mom, her brother and anyone else who would listen!”

April – “I’m up to playing three Wordle variants daily – the original Wordle, Heardle which is where you try to guess a song as they progressively play longer clips and Worldle where you see the outline of a country and after you guess, it tells you roughly how far away you are from the actual country.”

May – NHL playoffs start tomorrow!!!

June – “Unlike the Flames’ controversial “kicking motion” goal that seemed to go against numerous previous rulings in similar situations, the Colorado “off-site-that-wasn’t” *has* happened before with a similar ruling.”

July – “I accidentally ripped this decoration off a kid’s bike during a Bike Parade for Canada Day at Nickle Lake when my father-in-law and I were trying to work around it to help him get his chain back on.”

August – “‘Remembering’ – Ashley Campbell”

September – “9/11 was caused by religious extremism but an ever-longer lasting harm of this attack is the culture of conspiracy theories that sprang up around the attacks which continues to affect our society in ways ranging from vaccine hesitancy to lack of faith in government to the idea that mass shootings are actually false-flag operations.”

October – “‘Too Sober To Sleep (To Drunk To Cry)’ – Justin Rutledge”

November – “I didn’t blog this week as I ended up having an unexpected journey through our overloaded healthcare system the past few days with an ill family member.”

December – “The Hotel Saskatchewan always feels magical during the holiday season…”

Throwback Thursday – #tbt – Photocopier Training (October 2009)

I recently took delivery of a new photocopier at the branch I’m currently working at and it reminded me of my first job at RPL where I oversaw all staff training and development…including organizing training on what were, at the time, brand new, full-featured photocopiers!

Tuneful Tuesday – “It’s these little things, they can pull you under/Live your life filled with joy and wonder/I always knew this altogether thunder/Was lost in our little lives”

Sweetness Follows” – R.E.M.

Music Monday – “Get off your sled and go to bed/Don’t you ever tire?/Throw a bone, I’m finally home/Curled up by the fire”

Christmas Is Going To the Dogs” – Eels

Secular Sunday – Oh, Come All Ye Faithful?

With Christmas falling on a Sunday, some churches are moving or canceling their services in recognition that a lot of people would prefer to stay home in their PJs opening presents on a Sunday morning instead of going out to church. (via Reddit)

Saturday Snap – Merry Christmas!

Friday Fun Link – How Human Is Your Dog’s Name?

Fun little web tool

Throwback Thursday – #tbt – Decorated University Hospital, London ON (Nov 2006)

Shea heading into work a month before Christmas in 2006 just as I was wrapping up my Masters program…

Xmas Gift Ideas For Someone Recovering From Covid

I decided against posting a pic I took of a blood-spackled loogie I spit up into a Kleenex to illustrate “recovering from Covid” – you’re welcome!

  1. Kleenex
  2. More Kleenex
  3. Lozenges
  4. Fresh coffee or scented Epsom salts (to monitor when sense of smell returns)
  5. Ice Cold Water
  6. Hot Tea
  7. Netflix Subscription
  8. A Good Book (They Won’t Read It But Will Have It Nearby During Constant Naps)
  9. Box of N95 Masks (I Have A Feeling These Will Be In Short Supply Again Soon)
  10. Did I mention Kleenex?

So You’ve Had Covid…

I’ve probably been overly obsessive about reading and rEsEaRcHiNg about Covid ever since the pandemic began – all aspects from the science of it to the economic and political implications to the occasional conspiracy theory (well, blitzed with them every time I open a social media site!)

Now that I’ve finally had Covid, a lot of that reading takes on a more personal context – in terms of thoughts about possible long-term effects (read an interesting debate on Twitter about whether calling it “Airborne HIV” is a better analogy to get people to realise it’s a virus that affects your immunity and vascular system rather than the popular “it’s just a mild cold” narrative or if that’s too stretched of an analogy that could cause more confusion and bring in a lot of the stigma that AIDS/HIV had and still has) to my own day-to-day situation (for example, I’m not sure if I’ve *ever* found a definitive answer about what a continuing line, even faint, on your rapid test after you have Covid means – I’ve seen pretty legitimate sources say everything from “any line, no matter how faint, means you’re still contagious” to “you’re probably not contagious after five (or is it ten?) days, even if you still have a line” to “we honestly don’t know.”) to whether my 5G reception will get better (er, I read that on a conspiracy site I think.) 😉

Anyhow, I would probably be more long-winded but one reality is that Covid has made me *really* tired all the time.  (I’ve had more naps in the past week then anytime since I was two years old!).