I don’t exactly know how

… but we made it home from Kamloops today, despite a ride on a Greyhound bus driven by an absolute crazy person, who drove well over the posted speed limits on the Coquihalla and passed semi trucks using the unplowed and unsanded lane; despite black ice from Mission to Coquitlam, which claimed six different cars over the same stretch; and despite even MORE snow falling in Kamloops as we got ready to leave. Seriously, this holiday weather is ridiculous. I’m done with it. I’m not getting out of bed until it goes above zero.

Please enjoy this photo of a burning car we passed on the Coquihalla, taken from my passenger window.

Christmas Plans 2008: ur doin it wrong

So on the eve of what was supposed to be our road trip to Kamloops, the weather report has gifted us with another 20cm of snow between now and tomorrow afternoon. Given that people in the lower mainland generally do not use winter tires - us included - and the last 20cm snowfall left the stretch between Surrey and Hope a giant ice rink (witnessed by my niece and nephew), and throw in the joy of digging our vehicle out of a snowbank yesterday, we’ve decided we’re not driving to the interior tomorrow. Unfortunately today would have been the best day to travel, from the weather and road condition point of view, but for some reason I had to go to work and the ladyfriend was scheduled to as well. We’re both upset that Christmas plans had to be changed so late (we’re both really sorry, Mom) but I am in no mood to crap my pants. Well, not involuntarily, anyway. We’ll be hitching a ride with my brother and his wife on Boxing Day instead, a day when the weather is supposed to be much more agreeable.

In other pre-Christmas news, yesterday I got an email from Ban-Ki Moon: yes, the Secretary General of the United Nations himself! According to him, the UN has decided to compensate everyone who was a victim of email fraud by giving each person one hundred thousand dollars!

We have been having a meeting for the passed 7 months which ended 2 days ago with the then secretary to the UNITED NATIONS. This email is to all the people that have been scammed in any part of the world, the UNITED NATIONS have agreed to compensate them with the sum of US$ 100,000.

This includes every foreign contractors that may have not received their contract sum, and people that have had an unfinished transaction or international businesses that failed due to Government problems etc.

We found your name in our list and that is why we are contacting you, this have been agreed upon and have been signed.

The best part is, this generous payment is being coordinated by a representative in Nigeria. Wait … the last time I sent someone in Nigeria my bank info, I actually lost money … ah, but this is the Secretary General. He wouldn’t lie to me. You know, maybe the United Nations needs some better administrative assistants; that message wasn’t entirely grammatically correct. Bah! It’s money! My prayers to Xenu have been answered!

Anyhow, this may be the last post before the Christmas hiatus. Please enjoy your holidays, say hello to Santa, don’t drink and drive, and please don’t forget the true meaning of Christmas.

That’s Why James Brown Loves You So

This blog post is brought to you by A Slow Work Day.

Christmas is less than a week away, and being a Disney employee means everyone on my shopping list got a Little Mermaid toothbrush and the Blu-Ray edition of Ernest Goes To Camp. Enjoy!

With the cold weather, evenings have been spent watching movies and television shows. A couple of weeks ago I decided to stop eating lunches on Mondays so I could subscribe to HBO Canada, which has gifted us with on-demand episodes of True Blood. It’s a show about vampires in Louisiana, brought to us by the team behind Six Feet Under, which I’ve described as the best TV show ever made. I really only started watching True Blood because it promised nudity, but along the way I got hooked by a really entertaining cast of characters and some dark humour. It’s refreshing to see a show about vampires that doesn’t take itself so Gothic-romance seriously. It’s just a fun show to watch. Plus, nudity.

As for selling the Wii, I’m sorry to inform everyone who commented on the previous post that I’ll be keeping it for the time being. While it doesn’t get used often, it is the only game system we own, and I’m not eager to drop a half-grand any other system plus games.

On Wednesday we’re supposed to be driving to Kamloops for Christmas, and I can’t say the weather has me excited about the drive. After last year’s pants-pooping trip from the interior back to the coast, I’m permanently nervous about what the highway conditions may be. I did buy tire chains this year, though, so if it gets bad enough at least we’ll have something new to try.

I promise one more post before Christmas, then there will be silence until our holiday traveling is over, and it’ll be time for another year-in-review writeup, where I’ll recount sweet memories of Mexico, shoe shopping, and election fever.

This Just In

It’s colder than a witch’s tit everywhere in BC. I’ve said it before, but I’ll take -10 degrees in a dry climate (like the one I grew up in) rather than -4 degrees in windy, humid conditions (like here) any day.

Anyway, there’s a week of work left before we head to the interior for Christmas, and I can easily predict the least productive week of work in months. A third of the studio is already on vacation, which means nothing of note will be accomplished. This means at least an hour a day of playing some games at work, be they Xbox or Playstation 3.

Speaking of games, I strongly suggest anyone who was thinking of getting a Wii to not do it. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve turned on our Wii over the past four months, and I know more and more people who are in the same situation. As I said to someone at work about this subject: the Wii is, unfortunately, a glorified toy masquerading as a video game system. In its two years of existence, there has been around ten legitimately good games - and I may be generous with that number. So trust me, save your $250, and if you really want to play games, get an Xbox or - perhaps the best pure game system - a Nintendo DS. Even the PS3 is looking more like the goat in this round of the Console Wars; it lacks great games, is WAY too expensive, and Blu-Ray players are dropping in price too fast to justify the PS3 as a movie-watching device.

TWIG Notes XV

It’s been a week full of Christmas preparations and that means little time spent blogging. Here’s some random notes of the last ten days.

- There’s not much left to say about the Canadian political mess of the past two weeks that hasn’t already been said. The only opinion I’m going to ring in with is that the Bloc Quebecois will now have a stranglehold on their province for the next decade. Harper supporters (if there are any that read this?) can say they want another election, to give him a majority, but it will never happen without winning seats in Quebec. The clowns in parliament better step down or start working together, as we’ll be having minority governments for at least two more elections.

- Quantum Of Solace is an average Bond movie. It was unlikely they could have bettered Casino Royale, and they didn’t. It’s not a bad movie at all, it’s just missing something. Lots of shooty-shooty and punchy-kicky, a basic storyline, and a bunch of stunts. Here’s hoping Daniel Craig’s next Bond film is a bit more special.

- I love the Starbucks gingerbread lattes, but why did they introduce chunks of candied ginger to it? The first one I had this season, I didn’t know what it was until I found chunks at the bottom of the cup. Note to Mr. Starbucks: finding lumps of anything in coffee is not enjoyable.

- I can’t believe they killed off Kristin Bell’s character on Heroes. Boo urns!

- Reading fiction has become difficult for me of late. The last five books I’ve read to completion have been nonfiction works about society (religion), war, and globalism. I already have my next read lined up: a history of Russia. It’s odd to think that many people I work with spend their free time reading about graphic design (which would be directly related to what I do for a living) or playing games (as competitive research or as fun). I don’t do anything in my spare time that’s related to my line of work. I’m either falling behind or just not interested.

- Mini-rant: almost all news stories about rampant consumer debt involves the talk of current debt burdens of common folk. Almost automatically, they talk of the debt from credit cards and car loans and how people have to manage those in order to pay their mortgage. Anyone notice the problem there? Since when is having a car loan an expected or necessary debt? It’s practically expected that adults should perpetually have a new car in the driveway - and I guess a lot of them do - but why? Troubles with debt? Here’s an idea - don’t buy a new car.

- Here are my recession-fighting make-work plans for the province: first, open recycling plants to handle the stuff we’re currently sending overseas to recycle. Is it not completely retarded that we have to sell our trash to China, have them recycle it, then sell it back to us? This is a problem that can be solved, and can create a new resource industry. Second, absorb Translink back into a government entity. Translink is constantly in need of millions of dollars that they can’t raise, but it’s a low enough amount of money that the government can provide. Get the provincial budget to pay for some real transit improvements. Third, start creating solar power farms in the interior. Have you been through Ashcroft and Merritt? They’re deserts. Start spending money, and lots of it, to create a new revenue stream and (again) a new industry. We keep hearing about the province not having enough electricity, and dozens of ill-fated new hydro projects. Screw that noise - it’s time to go solar. Hell, use the shade they provide in the flatlands to grow ginseng. Win-win.