Feb 29, 2000...

...was the happiest day of my life.

In New Orleans my wife and I got married at the New Orleans Wedding Chapel.

We have had three wonderful married years together in addition to the three years that we knew each other previously, and every day I find that every supposedly wrong step that we have taken has brought us closer together.

If we had listened to our friends instead of listening to our hearts, all of those stupid games that couples play would've ended our relationship very quickly. The time, the distance, the second-guessing...Everyone thinks that they KNOW the right moves as if there's some stupid playbook and all you need to do is call the right play to succeed.

Love can be hard, but it can also be easy, so very easy, when you are on the right road. If it's the right road, you just know it.

And we know that we are on the right road.

For my wife: It was very easy to love you. The road will always be ours.

But what of your teeny brain Mr. Landry?

I just couldn't resist posting about yet another stupid politician...

QUEBEC (CP) - An unflappable Premier Bernard Landry refused to apologize Wednesday for saying poor people should manage to feed their children because even birds - with their tiny brains - can do it.

Diet Evil

Wonder what it would be if I answered truthfully...

I have fooled them all again!!! [insert evil laugh!]



How evil are you?

New Title Graphic

The little guy up top left is Baron Sam von Schamm, star of the Warner Bros cartoon The Dumb Patrol. Everyone who says the cartoon actually starred Bugs Bunny and that Sam was only the nemesis/comic relief can leave RIGHT NOW!

Still here?

Good.

This is one of my all time favourite Warner Bros. cartoons. Despite Yosemite Sam's obviously American accent he epitomized the "Raging Kraut" that lived within all of my European-born relatives - my Oma and Opa, my father and especially my mother, who while technically not born in Germany, could go from zero to foaming-at-the-mouth rage in as little as thirty seconds...Many times when I was getting the crap kicked out of me at school I was more afraid of the punishment my mother would come up with if my clothes were ripped or had blood on them (mine, the other kid's - it was all the same to her)

It was Sam that actually inspired the name of this site. He is my alter-ego, and it is he who is writing here, not his mild-mannered disguise who lives his days outside of the world wide web. Bear that in mind as you read further.

Site Converted to MT 2.62

After about a week using Blogger I've decided to rebuild the site using Moveable Type 2.62. I've learned a helluva lot more about cgi scripts than I wanted to, however I'm happy to report the patient has survived. Now to figure out how to import my previous entries (if I want to keep them that is...)

Courage

Courage is an essay by Bill Whittle. It suceeds in defining the undefinable.

It's a long piece (make sure that you've nowhere to go and nothing to do) that pays off like little else does.

If the link has changed since my post, you can find this essay in his archives on February 15th, 2003.

More Spam Doing Harm

Received this in my inbox today from a good friend in British Columbia:

TODAY we are at a point of imbalance in the world and are moving toward
what may be the beginning of a THIRD WORLD WAR. If you are against this
possibility, the UN is gathering signatures in an effort to avoid a tragic world event. Please COPY (rather than Forward) this e-mail in a new message, sign at the end of the list, and send it to all the people whom you know.

On Edge

So I'm driving (well crawling, actually) along the 401 to work, wishing that I had actually woke up the 20 minutes earlier required for me to get to the Go Train when I hear this on 680 news about the Korean subway. I ponder the fact that a determined nut-job can do that much damage in this day of tightened security and international breath-holding...Maybe because it happened in South Korea, maybe they didn't think they were targets - not that awareness would do them much good: it seems that this is a random, untargeted attack by a lunatic.

The idiot in front of me driving the black-tinted Buick Rendezvous has yet to decide what lane he actually wants to be in. I don't think he's ever seen snow before by the way he's not getting into the bare grooves on the highway between the unplowed snow.

The radio then blurbs about Toronto's Subway being closed because of a chlorine smell

My brain is already thinking that I would've been in that part of the subway if I had made the train earlier. I'm already racing ahead to the possibility of now it being "our turn" and that my oversleeping is a "lucky break" that I'll tell in the stories afterward...Then it turns out to be nothing - subway service is returned and thousands of delayed commuters make their way as best they can through the wet white snow that blankets the city...Normality restored.

Or is it? Not once was I "scared" - there wasn't any indication that this was in fact an attack, and the Canadian media has not been as relentless in their coverage of Code Orange alerts. What's bugging me is the fact that something as innocuous as a gas leak can make the equation

Subway Gas Leak = Terrorist Attack

come to my mind so quickly. It makes me think that the terrorists have in fact accomplished their goal. They wanted us to know they can get to us, any time anywhere, and it could be totally random. We are touchable. And we know it.

Striking Now Prevents Catastrophe later...

To my loyal fans (all 2 of you):

Sorry about the time between postings - Stupid Accounting exams are getting in the way of my blog creativity!

Something has been bugging me for the past couple of months now:

A summary of what seems to be going on is as follows:

1. The United States is fighting a war against al-Qaeda in response to terrorist attacks made on New York and the Pentagon
2. The United States is threatening to invade Iraq to disarm the current regime (ie Sadaam Hussein) of suspected Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

1 does not equal 2.

The logic of many anti-war protests seems to be that if Iraq has no connection to al-Qaeda, then there is no reason to go bugging Sadaam. Let sleeping dogs lie. That seemed to be the stategy the US pursued in the 90's (thank you President Clinton) Sadaam even became a defanged caracature of himself (I'm thinking Hot Shots, South Park and Seinfeld here) rather than the evil bastard that used chemical weapons quite cheerfully in the Iran-Iraq war and on the Kurds in the north of Iraq.

The scary part is that I don't think anyone (even the most bleeding-heart) doubts that Sadaam is up to no good- he's had 12 years since Desert Storm to brew up as much mischief as he can (again thank you Neville Chamberlain sorry Bill Clinton) He needs removing.

The reason to do it now has nothing to do with al-Qaeda. With suspected WMD's but as yet no major capability to deliver them the world has an opportunity to stop Iraq now, whereas would could anyone even consider stopping North Korea now? Iraq isn't North Korea as many are fond of saying- but they could be; unless the world acts now.

Maybe the Government Can Save Us!

Can Tim's stay Canadian?

Oh, Good God!

Oooh shame on Tim Horton's for wanting to expand and be successful in the American market! Naughty Canadians aspiring to be a greater company than they should be, because of course we know that Canadian companies are second-rate and need protection from the big nasty beast next door! Stay home where it's safe! Grrrrr!

But McLean now worries the company's decision to expand south and roast its coffee beans in the U.S. will strip Tim Hortons of the things that made it distinctly Canadian.

-- No McLean's now worried that she's lost money because she thought she'd automatically pick up the U.S. business as well...Why would Tim's want the hassle of shipping coffee across the border when you can roast it and distribute it more efficiently there without border hassles...

Wendy's announced that the U.S. division of Tim Hortons posted its first annual profit, and that Tim's now amounts to 30 to 35 per cent of Wendy's total revenue. Thanks to a menu that's evolved to include specialty coffees, bagels, sandwiches and soups, the Big Mac is under attack."

-- McDonald's has problems: the market for greaseburgers is saturated. People want something healthy: or at least something they can pretend is healthy - The can put a "Mc" in front of anything they want: "McPizza" "McSalad" "McSushi" - but it's been ingrained in us for a generation that McDonalds=Big Mac. People expect grease when you walk through the golden arches. They've spent billions over the years convincing us of this. Is it any wonder I can recite two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun without thinking twice about it? And now they're trying to sell me Veggie burgers? I don't think so...

It find it irritating that any time a "CANADIAN ICON" wants to establish itself south of the border and reach MORE customers, there's always some yokel who wants to circle the wagons and scream about the influence of the "BIG BAD AMERICANS" and how that will make the "CANADIAN ICON" less Canadian.

Is Wayne Gretzky less Canadian because he played the latter half of his career in L.A. St.Louis and New York?

Face it: The Canadian dream is all about making it big in the US (actor, sports, rock star etc.) and then coming home and lording it over the losers who said you'd never leave Moose Jaw, then jetting back to your massive house in Bel-Air (or wherever...)

There are PLENTY of Canadian companies that can do well in the US without abandoning the core values that made them good companies here.

The world is a much smaller place and we can't afford to hide behind "Canadian Content" rules forever...