The Duke and the PM together in Beijing...be afraid, be very afraid...

"laissez les bons temps roulez..." - The Duke

The Duke is currently *working* in China and because his adventures seem far more interesting than mine he's allowed me to share them here, photo and all:

Colleagues,

I promised most of you an update on the scene here in the Forbidden City, et voila.

I live in East Lake Villas, a foreigner compound 5 minutes walking from the Embassy. Like many things in China the name is a little misleading, making you think it's rather better than it is. Take for example "Excellent 1000 Lotus Blossom Soup". Those aren't lotus blossoms and they aren't excellent, ergo I don't live in a villa, and there's no east lake. You have to understand the Chinese are a figurative people.

Most days I get up and walk through the cutting wind blowing off the Gobi Dessert to the office. This wind is full of grit, pollution and other particulate matter that I don't even want to think about. I imagine what the average Beijing resident's lungs look like when they slice them open and it makes me shudder.

The town itself is full of contrast. Sleek new skyscrapers and dirty hovels exist side by side. You can see that they are ripping this place apart bit by bit and rebuilding for the Olympics. I've watched them pull buildings apart by hand, quite amazing what you can accomplish when peasant labour is abundant and comparatively free. Add in the lack (or interest) in building codes and zoning and it's pretty much a free for all. It's the wild west of property development.

The food is surprisingly cheap and delicious. A giant feast for 20 or so with all the fixings and beer flowing like water ended up costing us about $120. This was in the most famous resto in Beijing, except you wouldn't know it from the filth on the walls, threadbare chairs and curious smell. I couldn't quite place what was making my eyes water, the heat from the chillies or the cooks b.o. I guess I'll never know. Mostly I eat at a Singaporean resto for lunch where the little girls that serve the chow all wear the same track suit as uniform. Today it was red Adidas, tomorrow (Tuesday) must be blue Puma.

One of the fun things to do in Beijing is haggle for pirate DVDs on the street. I've recently watched Oceans 12 (trash) Spanglish (a surprise), and King Arthur (Braveheart redux). A family bucket of KFC and 2 pirate DVDs cost me $10. Chinese people in the office are scandalized by this obvious lack of any care with money and common sense, but I figure if I'm happy with the deal it's all good. Plus, in a neo-colonialist paternalist oriental fetishist way I feel decent having overpaid because it benefits someone worse off than I while making no relative detriment to my wellbeing. Or so I tell myself, the DVD guy could be driving a Mercedes
for all I know.

The other alternative to DVDs (besides trolling the Mongolian working girls) is watching TV chez moi. Something must be said about the state of expat satellite TV. Mostly it consists of endless loops of English soccer, followed by news about English soccer, and then replays of famous matches. I know far too much about Arsen Wenger and Nicky Butt, and if you know what I'm talking about then I feel deeply sorry your life has taken such a tragic turn.

The other alternative is this curious version of HBO which is run through a "family values" filter, so that the cursing is removed and anything beyond a kiss is quickly cut away from. Last night they played American Pie 3, but Stiffler just isn't as funny saying lines like "Flick you martian farmer". In any case since I hadn't seen American Pie 2, I was completely lost and couldn't piece the plot together.

3 more weeks then back to the house of pain, By-town. It's an interesting place and I'm glad I've seen it. I was starting to warm up to it but I went to Tokyo for the weekend and the difference was stark. I think I much prefer the cosy confines of 1st world Japan to the developing dustbowl. In any case my sojourn has given me lot's to think about and reflect on. Tim Cole is coming over from Nagoya next week for a 3 day debauch, so that should provoke at least a couple hilarious east meets drunken west stories. I've included a photo snap just to prove to you guys that this diplomat business is not all champagne and caviar.
~Duke

Song Du Jour: Say It Ain't So ~Weezer

A family collage made by my cousin..

"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." - Sir Winston Churchill

Well today is one for the scrapbook. I played my first game of Shinny hockey..Okay, well *played* might be a bit of an exaggeration...But I did participate and that was pretty damned cool.
I spent most of the first hour on the ice trying become a better skater and trying to get over my fear...I even did a little stick handling and passing!
In my head I could hear myself "Don't fall down, don't fall down, don't fall down..."

But whilst playing the game I wasn't thinking about my skating at all. Instead you are more focused on the puck and the game...And well, if you are me, it is about not getting mowed down by the players who can actually play. Some of the funny quotes heard at the rink:

"Lady, turn around!!" (I have yet to master the backwards skating making it awfully difficult to play defense)
"uh you better not fall down anymore I'm out of bandaids.."
"Nice save"
I have been waiting a long time to hear that last one, I saved a few goals! The Dude even came over and tapped me on the chins to congratulate me...It was one of those moments where I did something I really always wanted to do.
So, there you have it, a wee bit of progress, a little bleeding but nothing too major, and a successful day. Not to mention a really wonderful afternoon spent on the outdoor rink hanging with my peeps.

"Although you'll crack three ribs, the TV footage will concentrate on the puppy you saved and pretty much ignore you."

That's from my horriblescope from the Onion.com...I had to go there because Steve Smith made me. That pretty much sums up the week for this lady...

So I take it from the dearth of comments on that last post that most people don't care for George, or his hour, on CBC. Hendy said, "it sucks. First thing they need to do is change the name to The Half-Hour..."

Roadrunners game was....well, sensory overload combined with punch dancing. The boys got the "W" and it was interesting to see a game from the 5th row (as opposed to seeing it from the 38th like we normally do). Personally I like the 38th row better, not so many screaming 8 year olds up there...
I also finished my first paper of '05 this morning. Woo hoo! Midterms are looming large on Monday, I have two back to back. Ummm...can you really call it a 'midterm" in January?

The other day I was wondering...what does Alphagetti look like in Japan?

The Pandas hockey team won tonight vs. Regina. Final score 7-1. It was suggested that the "Cougars" might actually pull out a win...ha ha.

Song Du Jour: Choral No. 10 ~ Johann Pachelbel (The "Jesus que ma joie demeure" arrangement or just for Catrin: "Jesus bleibet meine freude")
Why can't they make the names of these beautiful classical songs easier to figure out? hrm?

"the truth is that CBC Newsworld wanted his “no-BS” attitude"

The fact that I have no cable leaves me with two channels I can see clearly and four channels I watch through snow (I call it ghetto-vision). Newsworld (15) and YTV(14) get great reception. CTV(3), CBC(5), Global(13), and A-Channel(107) all come in a little fuzzy.

The newest addition to CBC Newsworld is one George Stroumboulopoulos and his show The Hour. Do we like this new show? What is it we think of Georgie boy? (no, ladies, I don't want to just hear about how hot he is...)
Yesterday there was another meeting to dicuss the fate of the NHL lockout...what I liked the best about The Hour was when George got up and walked himself up the stairs and then down the hall to the HNIC office and asked them. Now that rocks. Why not go to the source and have a sit down chat?
They also have a segment called Fact or Fiction...
IT'S A FACT! George reads out a statement and then two panelist label it fact or fiction...it makes for some good debate.

Last night on Fact or Fiction they were discussing NAOMI.

" Up to 470 Vancouver heroin addicts will take part in a North American first – a study that will give free heroin to junkies. As part of the North American Opiate Medication Initiative – or NAOMI project – carefully chosen addicts will be given free heroin or an unrestricted amount of methadone for 12 months. After that period, the doses will taper off."

They had two ex-heroin addicts on and they got into a sweet fight about just how addictive the drug *really* is. Should the government provide clean drugs to addicts to allow them to control the crime rate and heath problems created by the drugs? It really showed that there is a huge difference of opinion even from addicts. I am torn on this one...I have no opinion of this simply because I want to see the results of the initiative. Thoughts? Who is outraged?

I will admit it, when The Hour got lame, I switched over to YTV to see what was up with Busy...By the way...why did they name their kid Busy?

Song Du Jour: Another White Dash ~ Butterfly Boucher

"Take this soul, Stranded in some skin and bones, take this soul and make it sing" ~ U2

U2 announced their tour!!!! Thank Yahweh!! I *needed* good news today...
Looks like I'll be in Vancity at the end of April. Now, I just have to figure out a way to get tickets...Here's hoping they announce more concerts after the first one sells out in 60 seconds.

Song Du Jour: Yahweh ~ U2

"This love is like a drop in the ocean..."

Mike Vick's part time jobity-job....

Hawkeye: "I can't say that I've loved you all. But I've loved as many of you as I could!!"

Alan Alda. That dude from M*A*S*H* and now the guy from Scientific America. Today in Psych we watched a clip about animals and language. Alan Alda communicated with a seal! The girl beside me freaked right out when she heard Hawkeye's voice.
"Alan Alda! Omigawd!" Then she wispers to her friend beside her...and they giggle. I wonder if Alan Alda knows the chick in my psych class has a crush on him?

The seat I sat in had no desk table. It was literally ripped from the hinge and I was forced to write, mostly illegibly, on my lap with a notebook. That class is packed so I was not going get up and move all my crap to another seat...there were none available. Once again my 'prof' was hilarious. He's talking about how people talk in a higher pitch to children, the elderly and their mates and making funny jabs at those couples in SUB who talk all lovey-dovey to eachother..."why? Why on earth would people do that?" It is hilarious to catch two people in the middle of that "couple-pitched" conversation...
"No, I wuv you more snookums..."

Went to the Symphony last night. It was very good but I have never understood how people can be content to just sit and listen to music....if it has a good beat I want to dance to it...I can't just sit there. It is odd to me. Maybe it has something to do with all the mobility aids I saw there. Rich, old people really like the symphony. I kept likening it to sports games...People who clap at the wrong time like between movements are like people who boo icing or offsides at hockey games. I didn't get a lot of chances to yell out "HIIIIT HIM!" but instead you can yell other things...more pompous things like "Bravo!!" The conductor actually took requests at the end.
And just like at hockey games some people started to get up and leave during the last selection. These are the same type of people who leave with 5 minutes left in the third period...I have never understood that. Speaking of sports...

This is my favorite weekend in the NFL. I mean sure, I like the superbowl, but it is usually a blow out and not really a good football game on the whole, it is ussually pretty one sided. But this weekend you have the best teams in the NFC playing eachother and the best teams in the AFC playing eachother. It usually means these will be the best NFL games of the season. The Superbowl is more about the entertainment of the halftime show and all the hype about the commercials...big-whipty-do. I bitch and moan about the sheer number of commercials I have to suffer through during regular season games. If you showed it without any commercials...now that I would get excited for. I've decided to put my bets on The Falcons and New England.

Song Du Jour: The Promise ~ When in Rome

"I gotta tell you, I gotta tell you, I need to tell you...
I'm sorry, but I'm just thinking of the right words to say.
I know they don't sound the way I planned them to be.
But if you'll wait around awhile, I'd make you fall for me
I promise you, I promise you..."

"Leggo my Eggo"

So last semester my English prof would pronounce certain words in a strange way...I just used to chalk this up to his level of intelligence...He's obviously more educated than I am so who the hell am I to judge? It was Dr. Studer who taught me that. Somebody in my 210 class questioned a passage of Shakespeare's and she, in her special way, berated him and suggested that we should assume Shakespeare is smarter than us...Not the other way around. But I digress.

It was little things My English prof would say...Like pronouncing Circa...Not with a soft c sound, like an s, but he would pronounce it with a hard C sound, like James T. "Kirka".
Kirka? What the hell? Whatever...It's his class. I figured I should give him the benefit of the doubt. But it was weird...

This morning my English prof was talking about ego, and the super-ego...But he pronounced it eggo....Never heard that one before.
Made me think of waffles and syrup....
I wondered, is it bad form to put up your hand and ask about these odd and sometimes confusing pronunciations?

"Rest is the sweet sauce of labor." ~Plutarch

Sweet, sweet sauce.

You know when you fall into bed at the end of the day exhausted and it feels so good to sleep? Is there anything better than the feeling of a good night of sleep? It certainly makes Monday a whole lot easier to take.

So, I went skating yesterday. I'll give you a second to get the hilarious mental image of that. It may be really embarrassing and I was rather intimidated at the beginning, but hell you have to start somewhere right? There was another rookie out there with me but he used the boards the whole time, carefully moving himself around the rink...I only use them to stop. Boys skates are way different than girls figure skates and when you fall down, and as you can imagine I did over and over, it is much more difficult to get up. I don't know what hurts more, my legs from skating, my arse from falling, or my abs from laughing so hard...At least I can laugh at myself....That's half the fun.

Song Du Jour: Give Me Novacaine ~ Green Day

"So, uh, you married old Norm son-of-a-Gunderson?" - Mike Yanagita

Yeah, real good.

If you have never seen the movie Fargo, go out and see it. That way you will understand what the heck we're talking about if you spend any time with us. Went out to sing Karaoke last night...didn't plan on getting drunk, but pitcher after pitcher kept arriving at our table, so I tried to keep up...
At one point though we were all talking like Margie and Jerry...I am so grateful for the Coen brothers.

Bogg sang The Itsy-Bitsy Spider and I provided the visual component, for the deaf-mutes in the crowd, by doing the hand movements that accompany the song. I got a lot of compliments on my t-shirt which says "Talk Nerdy to Me". I got it from Janners who is selling them for the PSUA. Best T-shirt ever.

The hangover was another story all together...ugh...too many Budweisers...yes, the king of beers...it was good times. Old school good times. And nobody can beat Tim Cole's Janis Joplin at Karaoke...he's still the best I've heard. I think "Dirty slut Hobag" will need to practice a bit before the next Karaoke outing...The rendition of "These boots were made for walking" was okay, but I think we nailed, "Everybody's Working For The Weekend".

Who's excited for the NFL division playoffs? hmm? Just me? I can't seem to contain my excitement!

Oh and there is a U of A night at the Roadrunners on Jan. 27th. Email me if you want to come with the 8 or so of us who are already going. It's only $14.
I saw Ruffie (the mascot of the Roadrunners, *technically* they call him Ripple or Razzle, but we call him Ruffie) in SUB yesterday along with Baumer and Stolly, *and* I got to boo Snowdude and his Flamers Jersey......and I thought that was the highlight of my day, but Bogg's punk rock version of the itsy-bitsy spider wins out as the highlight du jour. Or more specifically when he yelled into the mic after the second verse, "Stupid spider never learns!!" ah Bogg...Four More Years!!

Song Du Jour: Sometimes you can't make it on your own ~U2

"All along the meadow where the cows grazed and the horses ran, there was an old stone wall..." Frederick by Leo Lionni

I love school. I love learning and being inspired. It makes me want to work harder. I love our campus...Even when it is -30 outside. In my 4th year political science class we have over 50 people in it...In a 4th level course! Everyday I see the impact of the lack of investment in the arts...the way the faculty has to cut back to save pennies.

This morning I was in my Kiddy lit class we were discussing Aesop's fable about the Grasshopper and The Ants and the moral that you have to be self-sufficient. The fact that the ants would not offer up "welfare" to the Grasshopper and The prof wondered if we thought that was still a moral we should teach our kids...Shouldn't we help others in need? He pointed out that the Ants are much like the Alberta Government and reflect the "pull yourself up by your boot straps" mentality they possess. That is a good thing to teach kids too though, no?

Then our prof read aloud a children's book to us. It was very comforting and a little nostalgic...it has been a long time since a teacher read aloud to me from a story book. He carefully read each page and made sure we could all see the illustrations...just like in grade one. The story was about a wee mouse, Frederick, who spends all his time soaking up the sun, looking at the colours (saving them for the grey of winter) and making up poems while the rest of his small group works diligently to gather food for the winter. When winter comes they ask him where his contribution is and he asks them to close their eyes and imagine the sun...Warm on their fur and they all feel a little warmer. He reminds them of beautiful colours and then he recites a beautiful poem. They all thank him for that and praise him for being such a great poet. He uplifted them in a moment that they were feeling mighty low, and that was just as important as gathering food.

Over the last years of my education I have heard many people defend the arts and try to voice how important arts are to the quality of life. And yet I live in a province that has little respect for that line of thinking and seemingly little money to dedicate to preserving the arts. The story of the wee field mouse Frederick seemed to me to be an allegory for the situation we have in The faculty of Arts...Sometimes it seems like everybody thinks Arts makes no contribution to the world around us. I hope one day people will see the importance of Political science, Comparative Literature, and English, etc.... I wonder if Arts will end up being something I just talk about nostalgically when I am older...a long, lost faculty that taught us such important things...

"Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow." - Aesop

So the SU has failed to secure funding to move the Universal bus pass initiative forward. I wrote a letter to my representatives and I hope to hear back from them soon. I thought I would post it here in the hopes of hearing what others think about the presentation Alex made in council last night. I personally think taxing students any more that $60 is not the answer to this....I've even gone so far as to suggest corporate sponsorship:

Dear Jordan and Alex,

I have a few questions for you about the presentation last night on the U-pass initiative. It seems that the only thing the SU has managed to do is to bring City Council, and its Transportation and Streets Department, down to $94 dollars/semester. Kudos to you on that success.
What I don't understand is why you have failed to secure third party contributions to make up the difference between what ETS wants and what students are willing to pay. The whole point of going to referendum last year was to give us some leverage and that has been somewhat successful, but the point was to find a multilateral agreement and cease trying to force The City to meet our price in a bilateral agreement. It seems that the SU still needs to come up with the difference and stop focusing on getting The City to drop its price.

If Vice President Abboud encouraged council to bring forward a motion to go to referendum with these new figures I am curious to know why he won't move the motion himself? Why is the only option a higher tax, and more of a burden, on the students?

As both of you probably already know the provincial government subsidizes all secondary passes to the tune of $18 per pass. (ETS sells the pass for $42 dollars and the public school board applies the subsidy and only charges the student $24) I was wondering if the SU has approached the Premier or the Ministers of Education or Environment to see if some kind of subsidy would be offered? Was this topic discussed at the recent meeting that Jordan had with Mr. Klein?
The whole community of Garneau would be behind the SU on this initiative and it should be rather simple to mount an effective media campaign to apply pressure on the province to subsidize a portion of the $34 dollars we still need to make the U-pass a reality. Garneau will support it because of the potential to relieve traffic congestion in our community. They seemed keen last year when I met with them at the community hall.

It seems to me that coming back to council with nothing more than the same old bilateral agreement is not much of a step forward and I would hope that a little more work can be done before we waste $2000 on another referendum question that would most likely fail. It seems unreasonable to ask students to pay $94/semester. Have any other options been investigated? What about private sponsorship? I know that many corporations are currently seeking community initiatives to support. I can see it now... "The Uni-pass brought to you by Walmart" This would allow students the opportunity to travel to the outlying areas, where Walmart (or other stores) stores are located, and increase their consumer base...perhaps they might be willing to fund a portion of the pass for a sweet sponsorship deal? It may not be the ideal situation but it is time to start looking at other options to keep the tax on students to a reasonable amount. U of C could have never moved forward with their u-pass with out SAIT contributing $2 million dollars to the initiative. These third party contributions are what the SU should focus on and try to secure.

The Administration will have to address this issue at some point with the expansion to south campus, why hasn't the SU been able to move up their time frame on this?

I would like to thank you in advance for your consideration in this matter and I look forward to discussing it further.

"Logan missed me so much he sat on my lap the whole way home when we picked him up from Oma and Opa's house!!!" ~ Baby Jacob
 

If the Jacksonville Jaguars are known as the"Jags" and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are known as the "Bucs", what does that make the Tennessee Titans?

The Miami Dolphins have renamed their stadium to the "Dolphins stadium". How Clever! Let's hope that Saban can pull the team out of the tailspin and revive it to a bit of its former glory. I am loving the NFL playoffs right now....

Today was the first day back to school for this lady. My first 2 classes look promising. My "Prof's" are both grad students so that should make it more interesting. Oddly enough this semester I have to read a text book called Listen. It's a first year music course...yay fine arts!! I already have 2 midterms, back to back, on January 31st. Good times.
My Psych Prof looks like a really tall, bald Matt Brechtel, minus the dreamy eyes, and he is rather funny. He offered us some tips and tricks for how to *barely* pass a multiple choice exam. "If you are cramming the night before, not that I recommend that but hell I know half of you will do it anyway, but just focus on one or two chapters and just embrace defeat. You're going to fail, but you might just pull out a D+ if you don't skim over all the material..."

He also commented on people who study at the Power Plant and gave us the psychological reasons for why this method of studying is useless. It made me think back to last year and how often I found myself "studying" in Ratt with a Beer. I love it when our professors give us study tips based on their own study habits.

I went to Heather Wallace's birthday party, which was lots of fun, where I noticed that I had lost my ability to taste ethanol. ~ Catrin

Catrin is too funny...that made me laugh out loud....For the record, I don't *usually* serve ethanol at my parties but if you mix it with a little Glogg, apparently, it tastes like ass.
So this wee quiz is making it's rounds on the local blogs so I figure I'll jump on that bandwagon....

Name three names you go by:
1)Weeds, Weedly, etc...
2)Winter Weather Heather (ah...the frenchies...)
3)Lady, Snappy

Name three screen names you've had:
1) hj
2) evenbetterhj
3) hjay

Name three things you like about yourself:
1) I am literate...okay semi literate...
2) my eyes
3) I know when the bus comes without having to look at a schedule

Name three things you don't like about yourself:
1) I have to wear glasses, stupid nearsightedness...
2) I have to see or experience something before I really understand it
3) That I failed typing 10 because I never went...Who knew how badly I would need typing skills?

Name three parts of your heritage:
1) Scottish
2) Irish
3) Debauchery

Name three things that scare you:
1) self-doubt
2) cancer
3) clowns

Name three of your everyday essentials:
1) Water
2) sleep
3) music

Name three things you are wearing right now:
1) Cozy blue hoodie(bunnyhug)
2) striped socks
3) gold earrings I got for christmas

Name three of your favorite bands or artists:
1) U2
2) Sarah Mclachlan
3) Depeche Mode

Name three of your favorite songs at this moment:
1) Sleeping In ~ Postal Code
2) Pass That Dutch ~ Missy E
3) City of Blinding Lights ~ U2

Name three new things you want to do in the next 12 months:
1) Play hockey
2) appreciate every day
3) Run the *whole* way on my route through Hawrelak, that bloody hill still kills me.

Name three things you want in a relationship(love is a given):
1) trust
2) honesty
3) intimacy

Name two truths and one lie:
1) I had a big freckle on my face shaped like a diamond when I was a kid
2) I am 22 years old
3) I was once a hostage and had a robber hold a gun to my head

Name three things about the opposite sex that attract you:
1) intelligence
2) sense of humour
3) an open mind

Name three things you just can't do:
1) Sushie
2) Cheer for the Flamers
3) clean up somebody else's puke...ugh

Name three of your hobbies:
1) sports
2) reading
3) blogging

Name three things that you want really badly right now:
1) 5 million dollars
2) meet Bono
3) Proportional Representation (only because it is a step in the right direction)

Name three careers you're considering:
1) Sports announcer
2) Journalist
3) bureacrat for the UN development program or the Feds

Name three places you want to go on vacation to:
1) Ireland
2) New York
3) Cayman Islands

Name three potential kids' names:
1) Wayne
2) Jari
3) Mark
*I'm kidding*

Name three things you want to do before you die:
1) Brad Pitt (he *is* single again...)
2) fly a plane
3) own an NHL team

"We're here to anally rape you....and no we don't use KY" ~ Alberta Student Loan Centre

That could be the new slogan of Alberta Learning or Edulinx. I love bureaucracy. I love how over the holidays I spent more time on the phone waiting in queue for an operator at Alberta Student loan than I spent studying for my exams. I love how, even though *they* told me to send in the wrong form and I sent it, they still pulled money out of my account to pay back a student loan (which I am still in the process of spending on my education). I love that said payments, taken without my authorization, will not be refunded to me which means I am now over $100 dollars short on this month's bills. Oh, how I love student Loans. For those of you who are lucky enough not to have them please take a moment and thank the almighty...or your parents or whoever it is that saves you from the nightmare that is Edulinx.

So there you have it...today is clearly a day for ranting. I ranted in my last post about Newsmakers and critics of Canada and the bureaucracy and red tape surrounding Tsunami aid and now here I am ranting about the bureaucracy and red tape surrounding my student loans.

Hammers, you will be glad to know that for the next while I will not be posting incriminating photos on my blog because my computer crashed and I had to format the hard drive and lost everything on my c drive. That is what I did on my birthday...I was on the phone with (very patient) customer service agents trying to get my computer working. I've said it before and I will say it again, people like me should not own computers (and when I say "people like me" I mean those of us who are computer illiterate). Whilst speaking with 6 or 7 customer service agents at Dell I realized that if you call something a "thingamabob" or a "round doohickey" then you have no right to complain when said thingamabob or doohickey breaks down. My *holiday* has been filled with fabulous fun on one end of the spectrum and belligerent bureaucracy on the other end of the spectrum. It has certainly been interesting.

Once my computer is back on track I hope to be blogging again with more frequency. It is amazing how much I missed having my computer at home. There was a time when I didn't have a computer or a cell phone...and now it seems like without them I am lost. How the hell did that happen?

On a more somber note Lois Hole passed away yesterday. She was a very nice person and was always so gracious to me even though I only met her a handful of times. The last time I saw her was during the Kids Christmas party the SU held last year. She was our lieutenant-governor and when she came in the theatre the kids had no idea who she was and all the pomp and circumstance surrounding her arrival was lost on them.

The protocol dictates that she walks in with her Aide-de-Camp and then once she is at the front you are supposed to remain standing as the the Vice-Regal Salute is played which consists of the first six bars of 'God Save the Queen', followed immediately by the first four bars of 'O Canada'. The Vice-Regal Salute is not sung but it confused the wee bairns and they didn't know what the hell was happening. All they knew was Santa was up there and they wanted to get up on that stage and meet him. You could see from the confused looks on their faces that most of them wondered, "who's that lady standing with Santa?"

We waited for the kids to file along saying hello first to Santa, and then to 'Her Honour, the Lieutenant Governor, The Honourable Dr. Lois E. Hole.' What made me laugh out loud was this one little kid we had in our group, Tyler, walked over to me totally beaming after having met Santa, and he said, "That *Mrs. Claus* sure is nice, I told her I wanted a bike for Christmas and she said she'd tell Santa..."

Just Before Dr. Hole left I told her that little anecdote and she laughed and said how uncomfortable the pomp and circumstance made her feel sometimes and how she wished she could just enter a room and kick back and have fun...She was such a super lady. She touched my life with her generous nature and kind words and today I feel the loss of such an incredible individual.

Song du jour: Full Of Grace ~ Sarah McLachlan

"We saw people beginning to pick up the pieces of their lives and that tells us something about the resilience of the human spirit," Annan said.

They found another 7,000 dead today...over 150,000...Jesus.

So did the Canadian Government drop the ball on Tsunami relief? The more I hear these jackasses (mainly critics and the press) talk about how our contribution was "slow in coming" or the fact that DART wasn't deployed fast enough, blah, blah, blah...I just want to bitch slap them.

I personally think that any aid effort would be ripe with mistakes and problems. I just wish they'd stop bitching and moaning about how the government screwed up. Should Martin have come back from his holiday early? No, I don't think so, isn't that why he has ministers?
When this crisis happened everybody underestimated the impact. Could Canada have done more? Of course. But so could the media...they underestimated this event just like governments did. I am glad the Feds took the time they needed to assess the situation and organize the aid so it would go where it was supposed to and be effective.

I don't really understand what the media or the military critics expected. A bloody miracle? Should Martin have pulled out his crystal ball and predicted the massive death toll and humanitarian crisis? Who could have predicted this? Whatever the case, I am tired of it and sad that the Feds had to spend time on defending themselves rather than organizing the aid and such to the countries who needed it. It served more as a distraction than anything else. Kudos the Feds for putting out the moratorium on debt, I wish they would just forgive that debt but that's another matter. So let's see...$80 Million from the feds, $5 million from Alberta, and even city council pumped funds into the aid effort. I donated $10 to the Red cross at the Roadrunners game. Will it be enough?