Time keeps ticking, ticking, ticking away...

July 30, 7:05pm.

My canine guardian, Ruby Tuesday - Scourge of Squirrels - is whining at me non-stop as I stand at the counter of the local Pet Vet Hospital...

We'd just come from the examination room, where the friendly female vet (who looked smaller than Ruby) had just given her her yearly rabies et al. vaccinations and had trimmed her front toenails before Ruby had had enough of that and started barking to be left alone...

Everything has gone smoothly so far and all I have left to do is pay before I can go home for dinner. I tell Ruby to sit and then wait for reception to let me pay...

And that's when the "other" Kraut walks in...

He's an old guy in his 60s-70s and demands instant attention from the little girl behind the counter, who appears to be having a very bad first day so far. He has a five-week old puppy and wants to know the schedule and cost of the care plan that the vet provides and he wants to know it in minute detail.

Did I mention that I'm waiting to PAY THEM AND LEAVE?

Impatience wars with good Canadian breeding and I wait.

A week of Birthdays...

It's my wife's birthday today...

I could fill millions of pages ad nauseum about what she means to me and how I feel about her, but there's a simple word that sums up EXACTLY how I feel about her:

The word is PARTNER.

At first glance this is a singularly unromantic and utilitarian word.

- Business partners.
- "On a counta three, draw, Pardner!"

But it's the perfect word. Because I've never before known anyone that I've trusted so completely. Not even family. I know that my wife will back me up in any circumstance.

Even if I'm wrong.

I will do the same for her.

My roots are showing!

You're British Columbia. You're hip and happenin'
but also a nice person who isn't a snob. Career
is important to you but it isn't your whole
life. People assume that your life is perfect
and that you have it all, like you were born
with a silver spoon in your mouth. But it's not
true; you do have your own set of troubles just
like everybody else.


What Canadian Province Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla


Found this over at Light and Dark. I guess living half your life in a province leaves its marks...

SARs-stock

Well the big thing is underway at Downsview Park in Toronto...and aside from watching the Stones live tonight on CBC the only thing about this show that will effect me in any way will be traffic-related, as I have to drive by the park on my way home on the 401.

Call me a cynic, but I don't think that this is anything other than a damn-great rock concert.

• This will not undo the ass-kicking that Ontario tourism has received.


• This will not keep marginal businesses hurt by the botched handling of the SARs outbreak from going bankrupt.


• This will not salvage a decimated convention and trade-show season.

That being said, I think this is a cool event that will have people talking for a long time...

Knocked 'er up!

And a hearty congratulations to Kraut-buddy Greg, who called yesterday to inform me that he and lovely wife Alison are expecting their first child at the end of February (dangerously close to Kraut and Rue's anniversary date of Feb 29! Alison will have to hold it in if labour starts on the 29th...)

"May fortune favour the foolish!"

Slipping Away the moments that make up a dull day...

Today is my 33rd birthday.

Today is also the day that I learned that Bob Hope has died at 100 (technically he died yesterday, the 27th at 9:28pm PST, but that was 12:28AM Eastern time, so I'm counting it as today, July 28th.)

Do either of these events have any great significance?

Wildlife outside the Window

The Kraut and his lovely wife Rue are staring out of the kitchen window at the sidewalk across the street...

Kraut (staring at an upper-teens-aged girl across the way): "...No, I think she's just dressed slutty."

Rue: "Working girl."

Slut/Working girl gets into beat-up 70's Buick and the car hauls ass out of the apartment block's driveway in an impressive ludicrous show of white trash testosterone...

K: "What, and she gets into the car without negotiating?"

R: "Probably one of her regulars."

Enter 20-month old Princess Boo-Boo, 1st born heir of the Krautdom.

Boo-Boo: "buf-FY!!!"

K: "Wanna narc on her?"

R: "Only if her 'beau' parks in front of our driveway again. Moron."

K: "Ah, I see, so it's not disgust at the flesh trade, per se?

R: "Did you just say per se?

K: [in astonishment] "I think I did."

R: "po-SEUR!"

Boo-Boo: "Buffy! Buffy!

BUF-FY!!!"

K: "I think your wrong. I just think she's white trash with 21st-century skank fashion sense. Too bad "C" (name suppressed to protect the guilty) wasn't here- he has the incredible mystical power of "whore-sense."

R: "Pardon?"

K: "Yeah, he can spot a prostitute at 500 yards from a moving car and distinguish her accurately from background girls dressed slutty. He's incredibly accurate at detecting the ones that make guys pay versus the ones that give it up for nothing...The only problem is that at that distance he can't tell whether they're good-looking whores or not. So when he approaches to distinguish that fact, they detect him and start offering him all kinds of nasty things -- Or at least that's what he tells me."

R: "What a useless Super-Power..."

Boo-Boo (sobbing): "buffy?"

cue Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme in the background. Boo-Boo smiles and starts to dance...

Just go AWAY!

So Martin will win unopposed. Well, except for that whining hag Sheila Copps...Maybe regime change DOES begin at home. Our home. The Great White North needs a housecleaning...



It is very sad that the only "right wing" alternative in Canada comes from possibly splitting the Liberal party. Damn you to hell Brian Mulroney!



And also because Sheila's never had a problem wasting other people's money to amplify her own personal profile. GST promises anyone? Resigning means resigning, not giving up your seat forcing a useless by-election where the clapping seals in Hamilton send her back to Ottawa at a cost of a few hundred thousand dollars and a bunch of wasted time.



Last time I checked I was still getting dinged 7% on everything for GST. And guess who's still feeding off the trough...



Not if I get to vote for where you'll wind up!

I HATE HER HATE HER HATE HER!

Sovereignty costs money. Will she pony up the cash to re-equip our military properly so that our soldiers won't be operating machinery and equipment that are older than they are? Didn't think so. I know what she's thinking. We can do what we want, and if there's any trouble from a foreign power, well the 'States will have to defend us, even if our government has been acting like complete and total assholes (internationally this time, instead of just domestically...)

If Canada wants independence from the 'States in foreign policy, we will have to pay for it. I don't hear Sheila advocating this...then again, she's always been good incompetent at lying and spending other people's money. Bitch.

*note: before anybody gets on their high horse and tells me all politicians are like this...well, yeah, they are... But usually when they're caught and disgraced they get pummelled and ejected and humiliated and they LEAVE. Copps was one of the first Liberal Party idiots to get caught in a massive incompetent lie of her own making and...nothing happened. Which is now par for the course in Ottawa.

We get the government we deserve.

Gadgets Part 2

When last we saw the Kraut, he was pondering the choice of two devices:




Well I have made my choice and the winner is

The HP ipaq 2210.

Why, because first of all, the 2210 was in stock and I wanted my instant gratification satisfied right effin' NOW and also because the ipaq 1910 (looks exactly the same as the 1940) that they had as a demo kept slipping out of my hands, threatening to smash itself into the concrete floor not once, not twice, but three times in 5 minutes. The 2210 has rubber grips built into its sides to prevent such an occurence.

There is such a thing as too small. I chose power and expandability over snazzy tininess.

---

As for Palm, after doing some research I've come to the conclusion that they are falling behind in power and memory per price point...

Even though I will be accused of giving even more money to that devil Microsoft.

It's amazing how spending money for stuff like this can feel sooooooo GOOD!

Gadgets

’cause I’m a 21st century digital boy,
I don’t know how to read but I’ve got a lot of toys,