It’s just about noon and the temperature is racing towards 95F.
The humidity is high enough that the dog went for a swim, not a walk this morning.
The atmosphere is currently: 80% Nitrogen, 19% Pollution, and 1% Oxygen.
I am trying to imagine why so many people want to live here.
Technorati Tags: massachusetts, heat, humidity, east coast, pollution
I got the UniBall Power Tank in Golden, and it has replaced all of my other pens. A gel pen with a pressurized tank, it lives up to its reputation to write anywhere and on anything.
Effectively, it is a $2.95 Fisher Space Pen. And how can that be wrong?
In Canada, the norm is to have a community recreation centre, usually with a pool, an arena and a curling rink.
In the parts of the US where we have lived, community pools are almost unheard of. Private fitness clubs are the only places with pools, other than private homes.
This explains why my seven year-old still can’t swim.
While in Victoria, we have been able to enjoy
All of these locations have VERY reasonably priced swim sessions, as well as public lessons and swim teams.
And in Massachusetts and California? Well, I think that if you are privileged enough to live in Sudbury, MA or Palo Alto, CA, you might have access to a public pool.
Oh yeah, how’s that Protestant Work Ethic thing working out for you?
Technorati Tags: Canada, US, Recreation Centres, pools, protestant work ethic
I visited my mother on this trip to Canada.
To some, this would seem like a natural. However, my relationship with my mother has been strained over the years for a number of reason which I won’t get into here.
I was glad that my youngest brother and his family were there as well, or I would have cut and run a lot sooner than we did. This trip reminded me that my brothers are my family, despite the feelings I may have for (or against) my mother.
It’s always your relationship with your parents that make life interesting. They shape you, twist you, bend you, and sometimes break you. For me, the goal has been to try and escape the orbit my mother’s gravity pulls me toward. I see a lot of her in myself, and it scares the hell out of me. I know that I have to work hard to try and be my own person; but the baggage of my upbringing and genetics makes it a hard slog sometimes.
Seeing her reminded me that I have to continue to work, struggle against the pull, escape the potential disaster.
This trip home has been an eye-opener. It has reminded me why I want to call myself Canadian, and live in this country.
There is a flow here. A bounce. A knowledge that we are NOT as doomed as the United States is. Canada is not crippled by a devastating and useless war, a moralistic and divisive leadership, or a fatalistic sense of empire.
Even in the middle of nowhere, I knew I was in another place. A place where things get done. Slowly, but they do get done. A place where people all understand that there is a lot more to the world than navel-gazing introspection and misplaced imperialism. The world is a place to celebrate, not conquer.
Canada is home. The United States is the place I reside.
The next five years are going to be very interesting. And I know what side of the 49th Parallel I want to be on.
Technorati Tags: Canada, United States
Gee, I guess you don’t want my business anymore…
Technorati Tags: American Express, Web performance, outage
We made it back to Victoria yesterday, after a 14-hour marathon drive across Southern BC. I can’t think of a place I would rather be right now.
Yesterday was a six-summit day.
By the time we rolled into Hope, ZenWife was ranting that she never wanted to see another twisting mountain road again.
Two days to rest, then off to Seattle and back “home”.
Oh, and did I mention that the plunge into Osoyoos still scares the bejeezus out of me?
Technorati: Crowsnest+Highway Allison+Pass Paulson+Summit Kootenay+Pass Anarchist+Summit Osoyoos
We stayed at the Travelodge Merritt last night. A word of advice: don’t.
Pillows that were non-existent…errr, wafer-thin.
Ice machines that didn’t work.
Unheated pool (try about 75F — the boys were freezing in 10 minutes).
Breakfast? Sure, as long as you eat it in their cramped and soulless breakfast room, not your room. And selection was Superstore muffins and still-frozen bread.
Staff needs some hospitality
Avoid this place if at all possible. Please.
Technorati Tags: Travelodge Merritt, Merriitt BC, BC
I am ot sure why these happy discoveries have not made their way south of the border, but here in Canada, some of the Starbucks’ stores have drive-thru windows.
However, I can tell you that the one we had coffee at in Westbank, BC showed that the drive-thru folks got preference over the people in the store. This is a formula that needs to be improved.
Otherwise, a grand idea.
Technorati Tags: Starbucks, Westbank, BC, drive-thru
Tomorrow, we are moving off our Vancouver Island base and out into the British Columbia and Alberta hinterland for a few days. It’s highly unlikely that I will have ANY form of connectivity, mainly by choice.
BC and Alberta are highly wired, and even the small town where I grew up has a number of high-speed options to choose from, and my wireless roaming on Rogers Wireless should be seamless.
It has been five years since I ventured beyond Vancouver Island, and I am expecting more than a few changes, and some pretty substantial non-changes (hard to re-configure Roger’s Pass and the Rocky Mountain / Columbia River Trench in even 5 years). The small town of Golden, BC has changed substantially since the last time I was there, thanks to the addition of the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort.