Even Microsoft doesn't trust Microsoft!

This is a security warning Windows XP gave me when trying to open a video in Yahoo!
Click pic to enlarge.

Oh and btw... for any "nielsen" types

I'm 49, female, married (sort of,) have lots of disposable income, travel, read, collect stamps, have a University Degree, work full time and have 2 children. Aren't I who you want watching?

T'was an awesome Heroes Episode

I loved it. I want more. I'm glad it's only one week, not eight this time, until the next one! See? There can be REAL tv shows, with REAL story lines, REAL actors, REAL sets and we will watch! Give me more, I'm losing way too much pretend money at online poker dammit!

hip hip... hooray!

Only 22 minutes until a new episode of Heroes!

Seriously what's there been to watch? Deal or no Deal? Bachelor? Biggest Loser? Wife Swap? (and bless is untalented little soul,) Sanjaya? Donald Trump's newest hair style... wait, it never changes unless it's really, really windy ... and now coming to a tv near you... National Bingo? The dumbing down of the tv viewing audience is advancing at such a rate that I despair for any future intelligent, well written, well acted REAL shows! (I'm also more than just a little embarrassed about what the history books will show about us when looking back!) Even Lost is lost, Law and Order... on the verge of cancellation. Studio 60? Hello? Where are you? West Wing... flown the coop.

Thank goodness for online poker! I love playing and collecting all that pretend money! Then there's the joyous hours pouring over my stamp collection!

Oh and what's with "Extreme Makeover?" So now you have to be a) recovering from/ the surviving family of, someone who's died/been killed in action or a Veteran in a wheel chair or suffered some other horrible fate. Don't average, struggling hard working ordinary folks deserve a hands-up too? I can't watch it anymore. I'm pretty sure George Bush is now funding this show from his war chest!

yawn...

Worked 9:30am to 10pm... Shot off all the new fireworks out back of the warehouse tonight for our wholesale customers and staff. It was much better weather than last year's snow, rain, driving winds and freezing temps! It went well, a great turn out but I did notice certain neighbours were'nt there? Bob, (next door, not husband) and Susan, (you were missed!) You'd have loved the display pieces, the guys at the airport control tower gave them high marks! :)

Virginia Tech and our "sensibilities"

I haven't blogged about this yet as I really don't know what to say. Today, however, I was driving to work, listening to AM800 CKLW's Lynn Martin call in show. The theme? Should they have shown the video of the killer? When is enough, enough? After commercials they played the audio of his rantings. With, of course, the swear words bleeped out! Last night onMSNBC, the swear words were ****'d out! On tv the bleep, the papers the ****. So let me see if I understand this correctly?

The part where he explains that he can no longer run but must take a stand for, "my children, my brothers and sister that you've fucked over" The word "fucked" is apparently the most threateningly offensive part of his ramblings.

Bleep out the profanities to protect our sensibilities. Well guess what?

The act committed 4-16-07, was one of the most profane things I have ever seen or heard. The nonsense of bleeping out the swearing just goes to prove that they really shouldn't have broadcast anything at all. If we cannot, tolerate profane language, than how on earth do we sit and watch this malevolence spew on our screens over and over again? The priorities of our society are so skewed as to be beyond straightening.

I'm not going to go into how "profane" it is that he apparently took a break, went for a walk, stopped in at the post office and mailed a package. Perhaps, had the University done something after the first killings, 30 others would still be alive. Had there been a visible police presence would he have carried on so casually? Would he have turned around and walked away? Would he have simply put the gun to his own head and ended it there? That my friends is profane. The word fuck is just the talk of the angry with limited vocabularies and I for one, will not shrivel up in horror to hear it or read it on a page.

Too busy to blog...

Well the day started out attending a City of Windsor "Licensing Commission" meeting but... no quorum! Two Counsellors and a member failed to show up so meeting cancelled. Then went to work then home to make dinner then... Yea! Patty (radio news reporter,) came over and we sat outside, on the rear deck, out of the wind, and drank wine until about 10 minutes ago.

Tomorrow night is the fund raiser for George Copland, the Firefighter so grievously injured in the accident of last month so I must go to bed to be bright and alert for the event.

Other than my fish all being terribly sick with what now appears to be a fungal infection - I don't want to talk about it as I just sent one down the great white porcelain chute to fishy heaven!

nighters and sweet dreams all...

A Weird Coincidence

If you google Pierre Trudeau under "images" you get 22,600 returns. I chose the pic below last night. Pierre and the Queen signing the "Charter of Rights and Freedoms." This week is the 25th anniversary of that signing...(which I did NOT know at the time, learned it from Rex Murphy on CBC Radio's Cross Country Checkup.)
Not terribly earth shattering I know, but a bit weird nonetheless. {cue "Twilight Zone" theme...}

My brushes with the famous...

I was thinking about going to see Camelot the other night and being in the same room as Michael York. That got me to thinking about famous people I have met or almost met... as in been up close to or had some other almost close encounter. So... here's my list.

Shared a smile/wave with:
Queen Elizabeth (corner of Erie & Ouellete - a personal/official Liz wave- have pics!)
George - Donald Trump's former right hand man, a smile in Trump Tower NY
Melanie Griffith - I'm 95% sure it was her on 5th avenue in NY - she had a ball cap on and sometimes I confuse her with Michelle Pfiffer - nice smile which ever person it was!

Almost been run over by their limo:
Elvis Costello - London, Ontario gates of UWO, his driver apologized to me. Elvis did NOT leave the limo.

Had drinks with:
Jean Cretien - Former Canadian P.M. (he was not P.M. then.) London, Ontario - he's very a funny guy at private, in-camera parties.
Judd Buchanan - London, Ontario - very nice man, worked for him and his wife many elections
Frank Gorshin - The REAL Riddler from Batman - Ponchatrain Hotel, Salamander lounge, Detroit, Bob, (husband, not next door,) Frank and I had drinks and a lovely chat, got his autograph on a cocktail napkin.
Margaret Trudeau - Capitol Theatre, cocktail party after her talk on mental health
Bunch of Republicans - when the convention was in Detroit in the 80's they all came over here and there was a party at the Cleary I think, I crashed it by wearing Trudeau buttons! (Those Republican guys were a pretty raucous bunch!)

Had lunch with:
Pierre Trudeau - London, Ontario - there were about 200 of us BUT... when Pierre was leaving (and he was not talking to anyone or stopping,) I held out my program and a pen and said, (M. Trudeau, s'il vous plait?) He stopped dead, put his hand on my shoulder, babbled away in French and signed my program!

Was on their Christmas card list:
Pierre Trudeau - thank you Judd.

Got a personal letter from:
Pierre Trudeau - grade 10 - can see a line of erasure where secretary forgot to double space (that's on a typewriter - google it!) I'm a huge Pierre fan... see pic at top right of my blog.

Have met/spoken to and now on a postage stamp:
Pierre Trudeau - after his death, Canada Post issued a commerative, I own it of course, two of my favourite things, Pierre & stamps!

Beanie Babies I own named after people I've met:
Pierre - you know who!

Met and shook hands with:
Joe Clark, London, Ontario

Met and have a pic of me with:
The Click Five - google them too

Have stood on stage just before or after they performed:
Limp Bizkit/Godsmack/DMX - Joe Louis, Detroit - after show
Bow Wow - Fox Theater - Detroit - after show, back stage before show
Backstreet Boys - John Labatt Centre, London, Ontario - before show with Fire Inspector checking the pyro.

Went to school with:
Brad Marsh - former NHL player Atlanta/Calgary/Philadelphia/Toronto/Detroit
Craig McTavish - Edmonton Oilers former player, now coach (was in jail in the USA for motor vehicle homicde once)

Known for years:
Dr. Alistar McLeod - writer - No Great Mischief, The Lost Salt Gift of Blood, As The Birds Bring Forth The Sun, (I have autographed copies) I'm quite lucky :)

Helped Mich stalk:
Cynthia Nixon - now if you're like me you say "who?" I had no idea who she was - she refused to take a pic with Mich and Jenny in NY... I say if your name makes people say "who?" you can't afford to snub anyone! (she was in Sex and the City which I've never seen even one episode of.)

Thanks all I can think of right now, I may edit if I think of more.

The Mich is exempted!

Michie was to have had 5 exams in the next couple of weeks. She called me at work today to tell me that as she already had an A+ in Science, Technology and Society, she was exempted! Can't get any higher than an A+! She and 6 others of aobut 70 are exempted. Not bad for 3rd year uni!

Now, I'm still not sure where all this science stuff comes from... just more ammo for my "I'm sure she's adopted or a changling" theory!

Spring? Whatever!

Spring has sprung? Yea right, tell that to the robins shivering in my evergreen. Don't tell me there's no such thing as climate change!

Home from Camelot

Well, "for a brief, shining moment there was Camelot." It was wonderful. Michael York shows how a seasoned actor, who may not have the booming Broadway voice of the other players, takes control. He can exhibit subtleties, ages, emotions with nuance, with a change of facial expression, with grace. The sets were amazing. The show flew by, the story was ageless and full of humour.

Thank you Patty. I can't believe I was in the same room, a mere few feet away, from Michael York! I also can't believe that the guy sitting in front of me kept feeling my leg but hey, that's another post!

Going to Camelot!

I'm very excited. Patty called and we're going to see Camelot tomorrow night at the Fisher in Detroit. Michael York is King Arthur! Yes, THE Michael York. Now for those of you too young to really appreciate him, let me put it into context... Austin Powers movies apparently he played someone called Basil Exposition. (Having never been able to sit through more than about 2 minutes of an Austin Power movie I have to take Google's word for it.) To people my age, his 40 year list of credits go a tad beyond Austin Powers... sigh. Wow just looked up the original cast, waaaaay back in the early 60's, Richard Burton, Julie Andrews, Robert Goulet...!

It's like when I tell Michie and my favourite God-Daugher Alex that I saw Maggie Smith, up close and personal at Stratford, they say... "who?" Then I tell them she's Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter movies... ohhhhh! (I do sit through and enjoy Harry Potter movies!) Oh and she's in the Sister Act movies too. To people my age, I would reference The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Anyway, I'm thrilled to be going and happy to have it to look forward too!

A little bit more about me

Well the past few days the defining thing about me is my disease as I've been in a major flare!

I have psoriatic arthritis. (PA) I've known since I was in my early teens that something was wrong. I knew other kids' hands and fingers didn't hurt like mine. I knew that their knees and elbows didn't ache. The Doctor told me I was "too young" to have arthritis and that it was in my head. My fingernails started going "weird" when I was about 14, they are very weird now!

This went on for years... actually decades. It wasn't until my mid thirties that I wrote my Doc and said "fine, if you think I need a psych consult, do it!" That made them pay attention. Still, I didn't get a diagnosis. Just a bunch of maybes. I have positive biopsies for Lupus, negative for the blood antibody. Huge family history of Lupus and many other systemic diseases.

One day I was in a book store and saw a book called "Arthritis." I bought it, it listed every type there is. I diagnosed myself and then noticed the author was a Doctor at St. Joseph's in London, Ontario. I wrote a long letter and faxed it. Well, his secretary called me the next day, told me to get a referral and voila... I was off to London. He confirmed my psoriatic arthritis and I was able to start taking the proper drugs. This after a full year of a swollen achilles tendon on my left foot, massive, painful idiopathic hives that showed tissue death when biopsied (though interestingly only appeared above the waist, below the knees and never on my face?) back pain, burst blood vessels and swollen fingers.

The drugs have changed many times over the years. I've even done one drug study. I don't qualify for most of the new studies as they are the biologics and any TB history excludes you. (I was exposed as a baby and still carry the TB germ in my lung. It shows up on Xrays and I always test positive on the skin test - I am NOT contagious and NOT sick though, it's held in check by my own immune system)

So the last few days I feel like I've been hit by a truck. I wake up constantly through the night from back/hip pain and I'm exhausted. I still go to work, do all sorts of stuff but feel horrible. The good thing is I know it will pass. The itchiness drives me to distraction and I'm scratching and breaking/bruising my skin. It's quite ugly and I'm glad it's long sleeve weather. The funny thing is I have very little skin psoriasis, just my elbows and my in my fingernails.

I have 2 cousins with Lupus, we're pretty sure my Grandmother and her sister both died of undiagnosed, untreated Lupus. A sister with psoriasis and my Aunt in Ireland tells me that "we're a scaly bunch back home!" You see, psoriasis comes in many forms some people have PA. There are 5 kinds of PA and you can have one or a combination of the 5. We're an orphan disease group as there's not a huge number and no money in it for the drug companies to find drugs just for us. They make the news ones for Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus, then test them on us to see if they work.

The good news is they've identified the gene that causes psoriasis so the next step is a cure hopefully. I"ve been going to work, enjoyed Easter dinner and my guests and am still doing everything I usually do. I'm just whinging because I feel so crappy, I'll get over it. This too shall pass... hey though if you've stumbled in and have a PA story, post it!

Easter Hoppenings... (yes, that was intentional!)

Well I awoke at 5:11am! Dang... don't know why, but it's now 8:40pm and I'm still going. At 5:12am I really wanted to start cooking but everyone was still in bed, no kidding? HELLO? 5:12am! So I turned to my trusty computer and played on line poker (for pretend money of course.) Got to love the machine, no time zones, no date lines, just people playing games. Now with all the snow lying on the ground I was tempted to go out and make snow bunnies and line them up on my stairs, but I fought that urge.

I started at 9am to get the bird in the oven and basically cooked all day. Patty, (radio reporter friend,) stopped by with a gift of Easter wine and candies and a lovely ceramic egg. I delivered all my bunny treats around the neighbourhood. Susan and Bob, (next door,) came for dinner and brought 2, not 1 but 2, pies! woo hoo...

Michie's friend Jenny Le, currently a UOW pre-med student came too as well as Matthew. A good time was had by all and I ate way , way too much! I may have had a tad too much Easeter wine too!

Happy Hippity Hoppity to all! (see how politically correct I am?)

ps... boy did I have to edit this post! I must have had waaaaaaay toooooo much Easter wine!

Vimy

My brother-in-law, Mike Lee, left London Ontario today for Normandy France. He is going to the Vimy memorial ceremonies. His Father, Frank and Frank's brother were in the RCAF during WWII. Frank came home, his brother did not. I visited Frank's brother's grave 14 years ago, in Germany in the Reichswald Cemetary. Michelle, my Sister Barbara and I were the first in the family to visit, see and photograph his grave. It was quite moving.

I also took pictures of, (and I still do not know why,) EK Wilson's grave stone. He died in 1944. He too was in the RCAF. His Service Record Number is inscribed on his stone. I tried DND but for them there are privacy issues. I called the Trenton Museum. They told me he was Edmond Kenneth Wilson from Oshawa. The Oshawa newspaper ran my story about having pictures of the grave. His Grand-nephew got hold of me. He had all E. Kenneth Wilson's medals and war memorabilia. I sent him the pictures. He sent me copies of the newpaper clippings of when he was reported missing and then confirmed dead, he was 21. They had never seen the grave site, I'm not even sure they knew where he was.

Canada's involvement in both WWI & WWII has always been of great interest to Mike, enough so that's he's flying over to be a part of a significant event in our history. He will be there Monday, with thousands of others, Queen Elizabeth, our Prime Minister and France's Dominique de Villepin.

I will watch the tv coverage and hope to see him!

I forgot to mention...

Two nights ago, coming home from work... I was almost hit by a blue dump truck and 5 minutes later... a train! Ask Mich, she knows the whole sad story. I DON'T want to talk about it! Whatever you do, don't ask my insurance broker... Gerry's a great guy but even he has his limits!

Comments that I've missed!

Sorry for all the comments I haven't seen and/or responded to! I post so darn much that sometimes I don't look back over previous postings and see if there are any new comments.

I've re-set my settings to email me when you comment. I shan't miss any more. Actually, I didn't even know I could do that, I really should learn how to do this properly eh?

At least this time I haven't lost my blog... there is some improvement.

Wow, many visitors from all over the world today... welcome :)

Not sure why, but I chose a world earthquake map...





thirtypoundsofcat
Recent Visitors by Location
Detail Country Location
1
China Jilin
2
United States Nantucket, Massachusetts
3
Brazil Goinia, Goias
4
United States Fairport, New York
5
United States Ruidoso, New Mexico
6
United Kingdom Norwich, Norfolk
7
Malaysia Petaling Jaya, Wilayah Persekutuan
8
Korea, Republic of Seoul, Seoul-t'ukpyolsi
9
China Beijing
10
United States Indianapolis, Indiana
11
Canada Windsor, Ontario
12
United States Dallas, Texas
13
United Kingdom
14
China Xinyi, Guangdong
15
Austria Absam, Tirol
16
China Fuzhou, Fujian
17
Canada Essex, Ontario
18
Canada Essex, Ontario
19
United States Melville, New York
20
Canada Montral, Quebec
[1] 2 3 4 5

Oh, by the way... there may be a jar of peanut butter sitting on the coffee table beside Bob's (husband, not next door) spot on the sofa... maybe, just because! (read three posts down!)

Vindicated, yet again! ha!

Michelle, Bob, (husband, not next door,though he's been known to mock me also!) and really anyone who knows me, mock me for my driving. I cannot help that I've been hit 11 times in 9 years or 9 times in 11 years, whatever... but did you know I avoid left turns? I hate them, so much wasted time, so many near misses, ask the guy going 85km in the 50 will tell you, and well... why do it if you don't have to?

Now, thanks to Time Magazine, I find that not only am I avoiding accidents, I'm greener! Me and all those cute, shorts wearing delivery guys in the brown uniforms can't be wrong! Eat that you gas guzzling left turning bullies!

I love CBC Radio Canada!

Driving to work in the morning need not be a useless waste of your time. Listen to CBC radio and learn. Now, Anna Maria Tremonte, has never been one of my favourite on air people but she does have interesting guests and interviews. Today I learned something amazing!

The sex life of corn...

Ok. Corn has both male and female flowering parts. The tassels on top, male, the silk in the ears of corn, female. The tassels make the pollen which falls onto the silk, and all around the field, the silks are the coolest part. Each silk, and there are gazillions of them on every ear, is a potential kernel. That I did not know! The silks must be pollinated to make a kernel of corn. So... when it's too hot, too wet and well, basically Windsor summer weather, no pollen, no kernels!

So I apologize for all the times, when I was a child that I ran through corn fields, pulling the silks off the ears.

oh and ps...
once when I was about 3 years old, I was doing that, I thought they were so soft and lovely that I was running them along my upper lip, just under my nose. I awoke in the morning with a huge swollen lip that covered my nose! Apparently I am allergic to corn silk or at least allergic to the point that if I rub it over and over again I swell. Yet I can eat corn?

Grocery lists, apologies or lack thereof!

So, Bob (husband, not next door,) hollers to me from the Kitchen... "didn't you buy any peanut butter when you went shopping?" I replied, "no, it wasn't on the list." The list is started by anyone who notices we need something then added to as the week progresses.

When I told Bob that it wasn't on the list, he said... "I wrote it, it was the first thing on the list, I only asked for two things, you didn't even read the list did you? You problably didn't even take it out of your purse... what's the point of making a list if you don't read it?, peanut butter and soya sauce that's what I asked for!" Then he went down to the basement carrying his poor me, no one cares what I want and always forgets me attitude with him.

Now the irony is, I had just taken the list out of my jeans pocket and thrown it in the basement trash can. I was upstairs, busy playing hi-lo poker online but still suddenly remembered that the two things he wrote were, SUGAR and soya sauce. No peanut butter to be found anywhere on that list! I jumped up, ran to the basement door and hollered down "hey, you asked for sugar and soya sauce NOT peanut butter." Vague mumblings could be heard wafting up the staircase from the basement but I was pretty sure it was my turn to check or fold so I ran back to my computer.

Mich came home from writing her lab exam, I told her the story, Bob flashed us a big grin from the sofa and went back to reading his paper! He looked slightly abashed but of course, never admitted to actually being wrong!

Just before I left for work, I took the list out of the trash, flattened it out and put it in the right pocket of his work smock/jacket. I wish I was going to be there when he finds it!

Husbands, cute little beggers eh?

He's 18 and he knows what he wants!

My favourite nephew named Daniel is 18 today! Congrats! Now you can, vote, join the Army, (as no one in our family would EVER join the Navy right Dad?) play bingo and buy lottery tickets. I like how his holding the spiffed up egg fits in with this being Easter week too.

As for what he wants? Easy... Yo, Leafs... do it for Daniel!

Happy Birthday Danny, I love you xoxoxo

What do I feed my cats? Cripes!

I was lucky, (so I thought,) my Purina One food was fine, my Friskies canned food too. Then Purina recalls Alpo pouched meat & gravy, so I'm nervous. Then, Delmonte, yes apparently the pineapple people make cat stuff too, recalls Pounce meaty chicken cat treats. Now I have those, different date, different lot number but they are in the garbage. The other Pounce treats are now off limits and my cats will be miffed when Bob, (husband, not next door,) goes to work without leaving them treats!

I think I may start making my own food for a bit.

I also can't help but wonder, wheat gluten is a huge part of our food chain too! Anyone see problems in that?

aside: see my post Oscar post about the movie "Soylent Green." We really don't know what we are eating!

On a dearly departed fishie

Peanut Butter, the big fat guy in the middle of the pic, did not survive the ich attack. The other 5 seem recovered and the 2 in the small aquarium seem not to have been affected by the ich prior to my moving them. I'm guessing that as PB was a "pure bred" fancy Ryukin, he is more susceptible and delicate?

Ode to PB

Fat he seemed, though t'was just his genes
a Ryukin fish is never lean.
He was king of the tank, the biggest therein
until the ich, started attacking his fins.
I tried hard to save him and his tank mates
though often it simply comes down to fate.
Now he's dearly departed, a late fishie persay
Buried in the garden on a warm spring day.

Chimenea Season is here!

Well, I went to work this morning, came home and went to Detroit with Bob (next door, not husband,) and Susan. We shopped Walmart, (Easter Buuny type stuff,) and Farmer Jacks, (grocery type stuff and way cheap stuff I might add!) and came home. We were grilled about quantities of eggs, milk. cheese and meat and were released from Customs.

Patty (radio reporter,) and Debbie came over and we fired up the Chimenea for the first time since last fall. T'was great! It was toasty warm, the wine was cold and the company was good. Well, except for the skunk that wandered into the yard! I was well up the deck stairs and ready to flee but Patty and Debbie scared him/her away. Now, there are many things I will stand there and fight but a skunk ain't one of them! They don't play fair, I can't beat them and I concead defeat!

On to my sick fish. I think there may be a funeral in the morning. Peanut Butter, the big. fat, fancy fan tail... not so good. I've pulled him out of the aquarium and wrapped a towel around his bowl as he is just too pathetic to look at! :(