On the road again...

I know and sorry. Not much blogging happening here lately. Too busy, too much travel and well, I have places to go and people to see. I will be back! Save the comments for then ok? :)

When the headline proves the point!

You've got to love the irony! Click the picture to read it clearly.

3 computers, 3 different operating systems! HELP!

We just bought Mich a brand spanking new lap top with the works, including an external hard drive! It's Vista. The machine I'm using right now is XP. My oldest machine... well it's Windows 98. Not a pretty picture! I did make the XP and the 98 machine play nice. I have just finished making the Vista and the XP machines play nice. I will NOT even consider making them both play nice with the 98 machine at the same time. Not gonna happen! I suppose I'm going to have to upgrade my "spare" PC. Or... just go buy another one! hehe, don't tell Bob ok? He's stressed enough with having 3 machines and only 2 users. The 98 machine is a good one, not too old, just an old operating system. So, my home network is 3 machines with only 2 of them playing together at any one time. Works for me!

Oh, if you're in Windsor Ontario and want to buy a machine go to PC Outfitters... they are great! Google for the number.

Fireworks & a firestorm

(Time)


The Russian Prime Minister is in Beijing watching fireworks, the Russian President is at home starting a war? One's watching athletes proudly parade, one's ordering a formation of tanks to rumble into South Ossetia, Georgia.

Kwame Kilpatrick... From the Mayor's house to "the big house!"

Why this man is still in office is beyond me. Detroit is a laughingstock. Though now that I think of it, Clinton stayed where he was too.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Courtesy CNN

I just flipped over to CNN and saw this, I actually gasped out loud. I spent my 17th summer lying in the back yard, by the pool reading, (well, trying to read, I was very young,) The Gulag Archipelago. It is not a book that reads easily. I put it down, picked it back up and really spent an entire summer reading it; it's over 1800 pages long but worth every single tree that died for it's publication. I re-read it in my twenties. I then went out and got every book I could find by Solzhenitsyn. Cancer Ward, A Day In the Life of Ivan Densiovich, Warning To The West, August 1914, The First Circle... anything I could find. What a man, what a mind, what a shame. His life, one of exile, hardship and love for his Country, but not it's leaders leads one to realize how lucky we are.

Yet another Microsoft problem in IE!

If you are using Firefox, you can read my blog. If you are using IE good luck! This started last night and at first I thought the problem was my machine. It seems to only happen in pages that have the site meter code. If you are using IE, you can't read this anyway but maybe seeing the pic for a second or two will give you a clue. The error message reads:

Internet Explorer cannot open the Internet site http://______________ Operation aborted.

Hopefully Microsoft fixes this soon. I assume they will be inundated with complaints from the throngs who visit the popular celebrity gossip blogs as they all have site meter code.

Man decapitates passenger aboard Greyhound bus in Manitoba

(photo: CBC)

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/07/31/greyhound-transcanada.html

I seriously had to read that headline twice! It's true. CBC.ca has an interview with a witness who was on the bus, one of 37 passengers including small children.

Apparently, the alleged killer was calm and expressionless during the entire event.

Windsor Ontario - Canal proposal

Stupendous! Exciting and completely doable! Welcome to Windsor. The lands expropriated years ago for the arena that is now being built waaaaaaay out East will finally be something besides an empty parking lot. I love it!

I actually have faith in this one happening. Our City Council and to be fair, not just the current one but the ones preceding this one, have a sad history of talking something to death. This one is different, one big reason for the difference? Mr. Schmuel Farhi. If Mr. Farhi wants it done, it happens. Period.

Welcome visitor # 10,000 !

Shame on Maariv

Some things are sacrosanct ! The Wailing Wall is one of them. My beliefs, or lack of them, aside they should be held accountable. If you are in Israel, you should cancel your subscription. Send them a message that hundreds of years of tradition, of acceptable behaviour and Rabbinical teachings cannot be ignored simply to boost sales!

Caroline Henderson, "Letters From the Dust bowl"

Being a stamp collector, I look at old postcards, not for the cards but for the stamps affixed to them. A year or so ago, I found a bunch of cards in a Harrow antique store to/from Mrs. W. Henderson of Eva Oklahoma. Her first name was Caroline. For some reason this sounded familiar to me and I googled her. She is Caroline Henderson, teacher, mother, farmer and writer. She lived from 1877 to 1966. She wrote articles in different publications. She wrote about farm life. During the drought, dust storms and privation she was also published in The Atlantic Monthly.

Yesterday I went antiquing along Wyandotte St. E. here in Windsor. I walked into a backroom of one store and found about 8 issues of the Atlantic. Now this journal has been publishing since 1857, one hundred and fifty one years! Of the 8 issues in stock of the over 1800 they've published, I actually found the May 1936 that carried Caroline's "Letters from the Dust Bowl!" This kind of thing always happens to me. I'm very lucky in many ways! (Not the lottery kind of way but lucky none the less!) A wonderful addition to my postcard collection.

Her letters have been recently published in a new book, (the one pictured,)and I plan to order it also. The one postcard I have scanned mentions that they have been "putting everything in order... but it is no purpose though there has been plenty of wind. I am still hoarding about a gallon of water for wetting out throats. Fortunately it is warmer and the cattle for the present can drink from the snow water pools."

Another exciting day!

I suppose I should start by explaining the picture. Mich and I were at Pier 1 Imports when we heard a fire truck. It stopped across the parking lot at Best Buy. There was a car on fire. My pic does not do it justice. At one point you couldn't see the lot for the smoke. The firefighters pried the hood open, giving the fire oxygen, huge flames came spewing out. (Of course I didn't think of taking a pic at that point!) They ended up having to use foam to put it out. Then they had to wash down the parking lot to get rid of the foam. The black car parked in front of the car on fire was a couple of spaces over so should be ok. The owner of the car was out pacing around his car when Mich and I were finished shopping, he looked quite dejected. The car was toast.

For Sandra and the rest of the world.

I mentioned in an email to my sister Sandra that Michelle was feeling much better, other than the lower left side where that wisdom tooth must have given some resistance and the extraction left a green bruise on her face. Sandra replied that she was glad to hear it and perhaps I should update my blog so "the rest of the world can stop worrying too!" So here it is world... hehe

Matthew left to go back to Alberta this morning. Last night we all went to the casino buffet dinner. (Thanks Robin!) Michelle found a plethora of soft foods that appealed to her, especially in the desert section! Then we played some slots. I hate slots. They are boring and mindless. No time for poker games though so I went around dropping twenty dollar bills into machines. Then I went into the "High roller" room... I put 3 20's in it in a matter of 2 minutes! Luckily I won $121.00 and cashed out immediately. I still have no bloody idea how I won it or why but I'll take it. I came out about even. I did offer to drop my $121.00 into a $50.00 machine for two pulls but the family put the kybosh on that!

So that's my update for the worriers. :)

Wisdom teeth extraction - the aftermath!

The day of the surgery, not too bad. Of course the anesthesia and drugs helped. That night... not so good. Mich learned that Tylenol #3 does not work on her and went to the ibuprofen. The next morning... really, really not so good but with ice and drugs was brought under control. I was a fanatic about the icing and her swelling is minimal, just more of a "puffiness." She calls me the "pill nazi" as I dole them out according to the labels and not a minute sooner.

She'd been complaining about her left arm since the day of the surgery. I told her it was just the IV and not to worry about it. Yesterday afternoon she comes running into the room telling me "OMG, I'm going to faint" and holds out her left arm. There's a big lump between her wrist and elbow. Mich isn't good with anything to do with blood/veins oh and eyes since we're on the topic. I called the surgeon, he said to put compresses on the hand and it's just inflammation from the IV drugs. I told him it wasn't the hand but well up her arm. He then "recommended" we go to the ER and have them look at it "just in case." yea... ok... Good thing she's too old for someone to call the Children's Aid eh?

Off we went. Mich has thrombophlebitis as a reaction to the IV drugs but unusually, it's up her arm instead of the IV site. I did not know this could happen. So, it's ice on the face, warm compresses on the arm. Oh and now something for her stomach as the drugs are eating away at her!

She's always rather high maintenance so really, it's no big deal!

Wisdom teeth: T minus 40 minutes

In about 40 minutes, Michelle will be less wise, less toothy and a whole lot stoned! (Oh and her mouth will be worth about $10,000.00 if you add the braces, regular dental visits and this surgery!

UPDATE! All went well, we were in and out in an hour even with anesthetic! Those suckers must have popped out with little trouble. Hopefully that means little swelling or bruising.

The many misadventures of Pat!

There are certain things that have been deemed out of bounds for me. The "eversharp knives" at my house, the paper cutter at work and "Krazy glue" at both locations. Well... this weekend I broke my hairbrush. Dropped it on a cement floor and the handle snapped clean. I got out the krazy glue. Bob shook his head, I ignored him. I opened it with a flourish, proceeded to put a dollop on the brush handle and put the pieces together. I then held it upright with my left hand, and pushed down with my right hand to ensure proper bonding. It bonded alright, to my left hand! Bob shook his head. I quickly disengaged my hand and moved to a clean part of the handle. Then I needed something to put it in to keep it upright and dry. I took a Tim Hortons cup, put the brush in it and put the cup down. Well, I tried to put the cup down, it was glued to my hand. Bob shook his head some more. I ignored him with a vengeance. One day his head is going to fall off from all that shaking and then I'll have the last laugh!

Monday morning, I shattered a glass bowl. I carefully picked it up and swept. I didn't vacuum as Bob was sleeping and I didn't want him to jump up and start shaking his head again and get all dizzy or something. I figured he was still recuperating from the Krazy Glue incident. (Thoughtful eh?) I, of course, ended up with a shard of glass in my left foot.

Fortuitously, I was going to the Doctor today. I mentioned the glass shard, he found it, got it out and then jabbed me with a tetanus shot! Sneaky bugger. I assumed he would just shake his head in a Bob like fashion and move on. Men, you can't trust them!

Happy me!

Matthew's home from Alberta for a visit and Michelle is back from a 2 day trip to Toronto, (at 4:30am today!) It's nice to have a full house again.

To blog, or not to blog... that is the question.

My neighbourhood was awash with bloggable happenings this weekend! Seriously, it's staggering the number of people pushing me to post. I don't know where to start so... I'll think about it for a bit and see if anything happens in the next while to influence my final decision.

The invisible M.P. speaks! There really is a Jeff Watson!

For years, I've heard rumours of there being a Conservative M.P. in Essex County. I've not seen nor heard much of him aside from the purported death threats.

Now he's in the news! Taking a stand... making a stink... about, Dr. Henry Morgentaler receiving the Order of Canada. Whether or not I think Mogentaler should or shouldn't get the honour is moot. Do I think the humble Doctor should have said, to the cameras "I deserve this award?" No.

Now, back to Mr. Watson, aka The Invisible M.P., this is what he chooses as his... hey look at me, I'm an M.P. and have an opinion moment?

Speaks volumes about the man. The Essex County issues... nah. National issues... nah. But by golly lets pick abortion as a way to get attention. I'm thinking he's confused and should be representing a population in the American mid-west.