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Friday, October 29, 2004
There is an Indy-style automobile race coming to Edmonton! Yessiree, there will be cars racing around and around and around right here in River City!
I know, I never write about sports. I don't care about sports. Not even the few I enjoy watching grip me enough to seek them out on the television dial (for the record, those would be figure skating, beach volleyball, and surfing, the professional wrestling doesn't count because even though they are definitely athletes, it's not really a sport and I only watch because of muscular men in tights), so why would I get excited about this Indy-style racing coming to Edmonton?
Well, I'm not really. I would be though if they mixed things up a little at the venue. The race will take place at the Edmonton Municiple Airport. Oh, the potential! Cars driving around very fast in circles, trying to avoid airplanes that are taking off and landing! THAT would be something to see, my friends! That's a ticket I would buy! Car versus airplane, man against machine against machine! Granted I would be very sad if someone got hurt or died, but damn, without airplanes it's just cars speedily driving around in endless circles in an area set aside just for the racing. That's not exciting at all.
posted
by Tabby at 10/29/2004 02:50:00 p.m.
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Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Oh boy, the election burnout is coming. So far this year I've voted in a federal and a municiple election, and now next month we're having a provincial election here in Alberta. Throw the suspense of the American elections on top of it and I'll be happy to not see another campaign sign or commercial for three more years (every three years for municipal elections).
The one that has me the most concerned is the one I can't vote in, of course. While my provincial government is more than happy enough to contribute what it can to ecological destruction and putting business over people, at least it won't directly kill thousands of people. Enough of my anti-Bushness though, let me tell you something about the people of Alberta...
The people of Alberta are a conservative bunch, they are. I say "they" because even though I am an Albertan born and mostly bred (there was a lot of time spent overseas), Edmonton is downright communist compared to the rest of the province. As far back as I've been following politics, almost every member of the opposition was elected in Edmonton. The rest of the province invariably votes for the same party. For over thirty years now it's been the Progressive Conservatives, for decades before that it was Social Credit.
They really don't like change.
There is hypocrisy of course. The provincial government here can get away with things that would send our fine conservative Albertans into fits of apoplexy if the federal Liberals did it. After 10 years of the Grits in office, people here were complaining about those arrogant bastards and how it's time for a change. Yet 30 years of arrogance is just fine provincially, because hey, it's the Tories! It's not that people really mind arrogance, as long as it's their guys in power you see.
It's a little funny yet a little tiresome hearing the complaining about how liberals aren't listening to the conservatives who aren't voting for them. In my riding we have one of the only two Albertan Liberals voted to parliament, and it really got to me when I'd read the paper and people were hoping that my MP, Anne McLellan, would "speak up for Alberta" while in Ottawa. The thing is, when they say "speak up for Alberta" what they mean is to speak up for conservative Albertan values, things like opposing same-sex marriage or abolishing the gun registry. Excuse me while I call bullshit on that. While it is Ms. McLellan's job to speak up for Alberta in Ottawa, it's the liberal Albertans who voted for her she needs to give voice to. If I wanted a conservative in parliament, I'd vote for one.
Oh! Another fun example of hypocrisy! A few years ago there was a far-right conservative columnist named Ted Byfield. I remember two columns he wrote, one for a federal election, one for a provincial election. For the federal one, he wrote how we in Edmonton needed to vote for a Reform (or was it PC at the time?) candidate so we have a strong opposition in parliament. For the provincial election, he wrote how we in Edmonton needed to vote for the PC candidate so we have a strong voice in the ruling government. In other words, vote for the conservative candidate. Pfff. Not a chance.
But here we are, ready for another provincial election. It's a foregone conclusion who's going to win, but at least in my riding the incumbent is a Liberal so I have a good chance of voting for a winning candidate. At least that's something.
So in conclusion, if you're eligible to vote in Alberta, on November 22nd vote for the Liberal or NDP candidate in your riding! Whichever one has the best chance of winning, vote for them! If you're eligible to vote in the good ol' U.S. of A., on November 2nd vote for John Kerry!
posted
by Tabby at 10/26/2004 02:50:00 p.m.
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Monday, October 25, 2004
I bought a Rock Hudson and Doris Day DVD set the other day, the Romance Collection, consisting of three disks. I've seen their movies before, some time ago, and knew I'd enjoy them. I was correct in that. What I wasn't prepared for was that these films are a lot less innocent than I remembered. There's is nothing wrong with that, and they are pretty innocent in the way it's all presented in that a lot isn't said outright.
For example, in Pillow Talk, Doris Day's character is made to suspect that Rock Hudson's character is gay (oh, the irony of hindsight). At no point is anything said about him liking men, but there are more subtle, somewhat stereotyped ways of making it clear what's being talked about. Things like he may be too interested in recipes and too close to his mother. When Doris Day is trying to determine his orientation, she asks, "Are you attracted to me?"
The second movie, Baby Come Back, has even more. There was the one reference to sexuality when it came to a male employee of Doris Day's who has a lilac floor in his kitchen, but the thing that caught me by surprise was the unnamed mention of pot. Essentially the same plot as Pillow Talk, Rock Hudson's character was pretending to be someone else while persuing Doris Day, as her character hated his even though they had never met. When caught by her in his own apartment, he had to concoct a reason for being there. What he came with was not remembering anything after being offered a strange cigarette by his real self, one with no writing on the paper. If there was any doubt they were talking about marijuana, Doris Day's reaction to this outrage erased that.
The biggest shocker to me was how obvious it was that not only did Rock Hudson's character have non-marital sex, one well-timed phone call that revealed his true identity was all that prevented Doris Day from getting into bed with him. As it was, when they did get into bed it was only after getting married while very drunk, and that was annulled soon after. Of course they got married again nine months later, just as Doris Day was going into labour (he had moved to another city, so was unaware of her pregnancy).
I'm not complaining about any of this. It makes it fun looking for this stuff, and adds a spicy touch to the procedings. I've always been a fan of the two, and it's nice to know that Doris Day's non-Hitchcock movies weren't completely lily white.
posted
by Tabby at 10/25/2004 03:24:00 p.m.
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Sunday, October 24, 2004
Two two-day weekends in a row. They're going to spoil me! Luckily they're splitting up my weekend to Wednesday and Saturday with an evening shift thrown in Friday for good measure to keep me from getting comfortable with having a normal life. Ha, I know.
posted
by Tabby at 10/24/2004 04:03:00 p.m.
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Thursday, October 21, 2004
Oh bugger.
I went to pick up my boots yesterday, and when I got there not only weren't they done, they weren't even started. The man told me his boss said it would be too expensive, considering that my boots are "plastic" and it would be cheaper to replace them. When I asked how much it would cost, he said about $40 to $45.
Here's the thing... He was right. Damn it though, not only do I love those comfortable, warm boots, I brought them in to be repaired and I wanted them repaired. Don't be telling me it's "too expensive". So yes, to make a point I am going to spend enough money that I could go out and buy a new pair. I did briefly consider going back and cancelling the repair, but I didn't.
Yes, I think I am insane. But I want my warm comfy boots back keeping my feet dry!
posted
by Tabby at 10/21/2004 03:36:00 p.m.
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Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Have I mentioned the snow yet? One day it was beautifully autumn, the suddenly the snow hit. A lot of it. Seriously, it looks like January out there. It feels like it too, but that's only because we're not used to it. Come February, by the time it gets back to where it is now (it's been around -1 or so) we'll be walking around in t-shirts again. Until then, I can't wait to go pick up my boots after work today. I have a really great pair that I bought at Payless Shoe Source that are very warm, very comfortable, and until they started wearing out, very waterproof. Well, with a great pair of boots like that, better to get them repaired than having to seek out a new pair that might be inferior.
Besides which, I've joined in the atheist boycott of Payless that will be ongoing until Starr Jones is no longer their spokesperson. Jones has said some rather unflattering things about atheists, so I can't in good conscience shop there again until she is no longer representing the company. It's one thing to have hateful opinions, but it's another to voice them in public.
I know I say things here on my blog that might be considered hateful or hurtful by Christians and conservatives, and especially by conservative Christians, but I'm doing so anonymously and I am not a public spokesperson for my company or any others. It sucks, I know, but a private individual has more leeway on this than someone in the public eye. Of course there are people at all levels of business that have opinions that I would find horrendous. They're not being quoted in interviews though. They don't have the audience that someone like Starr Jones has. They might have the money to support causes I find abhorrent (thus my boycott of Dominoes Pizza a while back) or they might gave completely repellant business practices (my ongoing boycott of Wal-Mart) and that will cause me to reconsider who gets my money, but rarely do they come out and have their words published.
Is there any hypocrisy on my part? Maybe a little. I got upset over the way the Dixie Chicks were treated by many after their comments about Bush. But the difference there is that while I'm not buying footware from Payless, I'm not trying to keep other people from doing so. I'm also not going to boycott anyone who advertises on The View, because I understand all about demographics and that they are just trying to reach the audience. Payless chose to hire an outspoken spokesperson though, and that comes with consequences.
posted
by Tabby at 10/20/2004 04:24:00 p.m.
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Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Yesterday was civic election day, and my choice for mayor - a man who led in the polls for weeks then was back and forth with the incumbent for first and second the past while - came in a distant friggin' THIRD! How the hell did this happen, Robert Noce? How the hell did you finish so far behind Bill Smith and the new mayor, Stephen Mandel?
It was a suprise to say the least. Stephen Mandel has consistantly polled third, yet he somehow managed to finish miles ahead of the two supposed frontrunners. I'm glad Bill Smith is gone, but I'm concerned about Mandel. First of all, he's a former land developer. Will he put the desires of developers ahead of what's right for Edmonton? He's also a fiscal conservative, which worries me (especially concerning the arts), but he does have some reasonable plans concerning housing and transportation, so we'll see what happens there.
The good thing is that when it comes down to it, the mayor is only one vote on city council and there should be enough moderates and liberals on council now to balance out any extremes he may go to. Besides which, it may be good to have a little fiscal conservatism there for a while, as long as it's used wisely and not to line the pockets of business (I've long been of the belief that "pro-business" is usually "anti-people", and pro-business policies never fail to prove this belief as far as I've seen).
We have three years of this council to see what they can do. But I have faith in the people of Edmonton to re-elect Mandel in three years no matter what he does short of inviting Osama Bin Laden to live in City Hall.
This is municiple politics though, so social conservatism usually doesn't enter into things, but the outgoing Mayor Bill Smith refused to proclaim Pride Day until the courts forced him to. It'll be interesting to see if Stephen Mandel is more open when it comes to such things. As mayor he should be representing all Edmontonians, including the GLBT community, so let's hope he does represent all Edmontonians. And before any social conservatives bitch to me that this means he would be representing you, give me a break. The mayor's office issues countless proclamations every year. To include a group that doesn't hurt you in any real way is a lot more representative than shutting them out to protect your delicate sensibilities.
posted
by Tabby at 10/19/2004 01:54:00 p.m.
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Wednesday, October 13, 2004
I never post on the 13th of the month, and for a damned good reason. The number 13 is unlucky. Or not.
Look, here I am, a logical woman, a skeptic in the best way, and intellectually I don't believe in luck. But somehow, somewhere, I got a phobia about the number 13. A phobia is an irrational fear, and my issue with this number is definitely irrational. I know it's just a number, a numeral, a couple of digits thrown together! I don't consider 7 particularly lucky, so why does 13 give me the heebie-jeebies?
It's not helping that I'm coming across that damned digit everywhere I look today at work. Everywhere! That's okay though, I am a logical woman, a skeptic in the best way. The best way to deal with the phobia is to confront it head on. 13! Thirteen! 13! Thirteen! I'm writing to my blog today, the second time ever on a 13th. The only other time was a mistake. This time is deliberate. I've written the number out several times as you can see. I will control the phobia, it won't control me.
Now I'm going to open my umbella indoors and really tempt fate.
posted
by Tabby at 10/13/2004 05:04:00 p.m.
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Tuesday, October 12, 2004
The countdown is on! After this there are only two more days until my TWO DAY WEEKEND! WHOOOOOO!!! Damn! What am I going to do with myself for two whole days? I don't know, but it sure is a wonderful problem to have! There is certainly going to be some fine sleeping going on. Maybe some movie watchin'. Maybe even, dare I say it... housework? A little bit, maybe. But damn it, this is all about the resting!
I am going to miss those six-day work week paycheques though. Those were sweet. No more big spending from me until Christmas bonus time. There goes the fancy life I've been leading the past few months. I was looking forward to bringing caviar and goose liver pate sandwiches to work for lunch. Well, maybe I wasn't getting quite that fancy.
posted
by Tabby at 10/12/2004 04:51:00 p.m.
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Monday, October 11, 2004
I was happy to see a comment on yesterday's entry. I know people read this stuff (not a lot, but there are a few of you), but I don't get a lot of comments so it always makes me happy to see one there. What do I find? Spam. An invitation to join a webring. The invitation itself is fine, I wouldn't mind that, but at least make it look like you're actually reading the posts first. "I found your obsession with muffins today bizarre but amusing! Would you like to join our webring?" Sure! Well, maybe. I still haven't decided on webrings yet, but you get what I'm saying.
This is the first time I've had this in a comment. Guestbook spam is something I've had a lot of on previous websties. They were very obvious too, but I kept them around because they were so bad that they amused me. This one in the comments is nice enough, and maybe I'm wrong and it's not spam but someone who honestly liked what they saw and extended a sincere invitation to me, in which case I'm sorry for all of the above and am flattered by the invitation but I do need to think about it.
***
It's Thanksgiving Day here in Canada. I've probably mentioned it already last year but frankly I'm too lazy to go back and look it up so I'll just say it again, I don't really care about this holiday beyond the overtime I'm getting for working today. As far as I'm concerned, this is nothing more than our bastardized version of the American holiday. Perhaps I'm wrong and it has legitimate origins, but I don't care enough to research that. The only holiday in October that matters to me is Halloween, and damn it, that needs to be a stat holiday!
By the say, when did Hallowe'en become Halloween? But then the next question would be when did All Hallow's Eve become Hallowe'en?
posted
by Tabby at 10/11/2004 01:36:00 p.m.
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Sunday, October 10, 2004
It's October 10th and the hot air balloons are out today, wafting through the sky like very light muffins blowing in a breeze. Bad simile, I know. As bad as a drunken cowpoke in muffin store. Enough of the wordplay though, back to the story of the balloons!
There were going surprisingly fast. There is a bit of a breeze, but these were just zipping along. And even though you know how hot air balloons work, it's still disconcerting to see that flame shoot up. I guess they needed more heat though, because they were going past some fairly tall buildings.
Okay, maybe this anecdote wasn't really worth telling. I enjoyed watching the balloons though. It would be kinda neat to go up in one someday. But not travelling so fast, and over all these tall buildings. That would as scary as a vampire in a muffin casket.
posted
by Tabby at 10/10/2004 02:22:00 p.m.
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Saturday, October 09, 2004
Edmonton's centennial has come and gone, yesterday turning 100 years old. I could see a lot of the fireworks through my livingroom window, which hints at how I spent it. Yesterday was movie night. Fahrenheit 9/11, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Coffee and Cigarettes were my DVD's of choice (and all new rentals, so I had to get up early today to return them). Good movies all.
I can see how Fahrenheit 9/11 would piss off conservatives. For the most part it uses their own voices to show them for what they are. Why bash Dubya when he can do it his own damned self?
There are two movies in the works as counters to Michael Moore. One is Michael & Me, and the other one is Celsius 41.11. It'll be interesting to see how these pan out, because I can see them being nothing more than attacks on Moore himself. What would impress me more would be conservatives, who argue that Moore's films take things out of context and arrange them in such a way to make the subjects look back, take the footage (very little of which was shot by Moore's crew) and the facts and make a film that shows the whole story.
That's right. Make a movie that demonstrates that members of the Bin Laden family weren't spirited out of the United States before they could be questioned by law enforcement, make a movie that shows that BushCo. weren't planning on invading Iraq before September 11 and jumped all over the attack as an excuse for it like a kitten on a ball of yarn, make a movie that shows that BushCo. didn't brush aside warnings before the attacks, make a movie that shows soldiers aren't posing with hooded prisoners as trophies or touching the penis of a helpless older prisoner, make a movie that...
Screw it, that's too much work. Just attack Michael Moore, keep calling him a liar, and then nobody will believe a word he says. Even if it's someone else saying the words.
posted
by Tabby at 10/09/2004 05:16:00 p.m.
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Thursday, October 07, 2004
We have a municiple election coming up here very shortly in Edmonton, October 18, and it's so well organized that I still have no idea where my polling station is. That's not good, but it doesn't matter too much because I will find out this important information and hopefully others do as well. We need to because the incumbent mayor needs to go.
I never could understand how Bill Smith made it to three terms. A fourth should be out of the question but unbelievably he's pretty muched tied with his closest rival, Robert Noce. Noce needs to win this so very much. We need someone new in the mayor's office so very, very bad. Maybe some changes in the council chambers too.
I'll give you just one example for now. We had a lovely little park downtown called Sir Winston Churchill Square, or just Churchill Square as it is more commonly known. Benches, trees, grass, a statue, it was very nice indeed. At a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars (or is it millions of dollars now?) the grass has been replaced with concrete. I'm not sure of the trees, I haven't seen the completed square yet but this was something that virtually nobody in the city wanted their tax dollars wasted on. The park was nice! Most of us liked it just as it was! So why change it? For some sort of permanent legacy?
Yay, concrete instead of grass. Real friggin' improvement there. Maybe I'll go take a look at the finished monstrosity tomorrow for our city's 100th birthday.
Oh yeah. Edmonton turns 100 tomorrow!
It's my one day off though, so I'm torn between celebrating and resting. I could always just do something extra special for the bicentennial...
posted
by Tabby at 10/07/2004 05:47:00 p.m.
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Wednesday, October 06, 2004
The first words out of my mouth this morning were "Oh shit!" as I opened my eyes, looked at my clock, and realized I had half an hour to get to work. I made it, but dang I need a shower.
Too much information? Oh well. I'm going to have a bath when I get home anyway because I did wake up last night, this morning really, just after 1am with a really horrible cramp in my right calf. I could feel the lump in the muscle but it eventually went away. I can still feel the after effects of that some 14 hours later, so a nice hot bath should help with it. Dang, it surprised me though. I have no idea why it would cramp up like that in the middle of the night.
posted
by Tabby at 10/06/2004 06:34:00 p.m.
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Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Have you ever noticed that when you're a child you wear out the knees in your clothes, but as an adult the first thing to go is the butt? A least if the knees go you can at least make a pair of shorts or something. No ass in your pants though is a whole other matter. Of course, as you get even older still you find yourself being happy if your clothes fit long enough to wear out.
It should go without saying however that if you're keeping in shape and active enough so that your clothes continue fitting, the butts aren't going to wear out that fast either.
All this from the woman who, when she isn't in front of her computer, is enjoying some fine television programming. I might as well just give up and start wearing assless chaps.
posted
by Tabby at 10/05/2004 06:29:00 p.m.
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Saturday, October 02, 2004
I was just talking with two of the younger women here at work who were saying they don't care about politics and don't follow any of that stuff. Okay, not really caring about stuff that actually affects your life, fine. That's your choice. However, they still vote.
So if they don't follow any of this and they don't really care about politics, who do they vote for? Who their parents tell them to vote for.
That's right, they vote for who their parents tell them to vote for. This is nothing new. People have been voting for the party their Pappy voted for for generations now. This is also why democracy is so fucked up. I don't care about that whole "get out and vote" crap. If you can't be bothered learning the issues and voting based on what you actually care about, then stay home and those of us who can be bothered elect the government.
I was reading a survey the other day taken on Bush voters (in the interest of fairness, this isn't restricted to them). There were many issues they thought Shrub was for, that they too were for and cared about. The thing is, it turns out they were issues that are diametrically opposed to what Dubya actually stands for. Seriously, people like this... Stay. At. Home. I don't care if you're an evil conservative or a wonderful liberal, if you can't take the time to learn who stands for what and then vote based on that then don't bother taking the time to go down to the polls and screwing things up for the rest of us.
posted
by Tabby at 10/02/2004 02:30:00 p.m.
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This fucking job pissed me off so much. Sure it's something petty angering me right now, but that's just on top of all the other crap. Maybe it'll be better once I start getting two day weekends again and only have to put up with this shit five days a week. Maybe.
Let's see if expressing my pent up rage in the style of Ed Anger will help...
I'm madder than Martha Stewart with an incomplete tableware setting!
I'm angrier than a ballerina with a too-tight tutu!
I'm madder than Michael Jackson in bed with a woman!
I'm angrier than Ed Anger at a liberal tree-hugging protest!
Okay, that's not working. I'll leave that sort of thing to the fine professionals at Weekly World News.
posted
by Tabby at 10/02/2004 12:01:00 p.m.
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The
critics are calling
I
Was an Atomic Robot Jungle Vixen...
"Very
cool!" "Awesome!" "Good times!"
"Inspires
me..." A Critic - I
respect
"Cool.
And miles more exciting..." Someone Else -
You
might not know
"I
totally love it!" Whoo hoo! -
Posted
somewhere
"All
I have to say is... Cool!" Another Critic
"I
like the look..." An Opinion - YACCS
Comments
"You
think I have time to give you a quote? You're out of your
mind!" Wil Wheaton -WWfreakin'DN!
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