Through The Mist Darkly

Nothing makes a family stronger than a good erection.

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Noel Coward

>“I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.”

Posted this over at BlogsCanada egroup political discussion blog. Thanks to Jim Elve for letting me join.

I’m not a great fan of musicals, but Gene Kelly’s rendition of “Singing In The Rain” in the movie of the same name always brings a smile to my face. That’s what makes this updated version for Volkswagen’s GTI so much fun. Note: direct link to QuickTime movie.

Dan Bellack

>“Life is too short for traffic.”

While in Calgary, I learned that I had won the 649 Lottery pool at work. A free $400! What to do, what to do.

Off to Staples this morning to pick up a few more things to complete EyeNo Central Command. A new leather desk chair and a wireless keyboard/mouse combo. The chair went together in about 20 minutes and is mucho comfortable. Add a Logitech combo to get rid of the wires on the desk and this office is starting to look pretty sharp.

Perhaps it will improve my writing.

Flew home from Calgary last night on Air Canada. I’m not sure what to think about our “National” carrier nowadays. The flight was on time, the flight attendants were professional and the food was edible. I guess that’s all you can expect in this new age of efficient air travel. It’s hard to put your finger on it but I guess I could sum it up by saying there’s no soul evident.

I flew on an Airbus A321. A nice aircraft with comfortable seats and acceptable leg room. I was originally scheduled to leave at 5:20 but managed to get on the 3:15 flight. That’s a story in itself. I was flying on a Tango fare plan which means you can’t make any changes to your flight – you can’t even go standby for an earlier departure. I ended up paying to leave earlier instead of sitting around the airport for 4 hours. Why in hell’s name wouldn’t they let you change if there’s seat availability?? Do they really think that people are going to walk in 2 hours before a flight and pay full dollar for a ride? That sums up the new Air Canada percisely. The check-in agent was apologetic but he had absolutely no leeway to change the rules. I remember when a friendly agent could upgrade you just because he or she was having a good day. Not any more. There are rules and they have to follow them. Robert Milton has destroyed the soul of what was once the finest airline in the world. A sad, sad day.

Quite a bit colder here in Toronto than it was in Calgary even if everyone says it’s really warmed up.

Still in Calgary. Didn’t bother trying to reset my internal clock so I’m writing this at 4:15 in the morning local time. I’ll be back home tonight by midnight so this is going to be a long day.

Got everything done that I’d planned on so today is a day for catching up on emails, working on some problems and then we’ll take a departing employee out for a farewell lunch.

The weather here has been great for late January. Yesterday it got up to 10C and was sunny. Looking out at the mountains, you can see a line of clouds that looks permanent and the locals tell me this is a tell-tale sign of a Chinook wind which accounts for the warm temperatures.

Last night we went out for a feed of Alberta beef. Mad Cow be dammed, that’s fine eating!

Greetings from Calgary! Out here for a couple of days to conduct some business. Foggy as hell but at least it’s not snowing like it was in Toronto this morning.

More later!

Just ran across the sad news that Johnny Carson passed away today. Carson reinvented late night TV and spawned a thousand talk shows that could never hold a candle to his.