insert witty title here

This will be my last entry for a while as I'll be out of the country. It's probably just as well that I take a break from it, as I get the impression that my weblog has become a little stale and uninteresting these days.

Hell, even I don't want to read it.

So on that note, I'll wish everyone a happy Labour Day weekend (notice the Canadian 'u' in Labour?) and leave you with a little humour I dug out of the vaults...


We've all been interviewed for jobs. And, we've all spent most of those interviews thinking about what not to do. Don't bite your nails. Don't fidget. Don't interrupt. Don't belch. If we did any of the don'ts, we knew we'd disqualify ourselves instantly.

But some job applicants go light years beyond this. The Washington Post surveyed top personnel executives of 100 major American corporations and asked for stories of unusual behavior by job applicants. These were the most unusual:

1. Said he was so well-qualified that if he didn't get the job, it would prove that the company's management was incompetent.

2. Stretched out on the floor to fill out the job application.

3. Brought her large dog to the interview.

4. Chewed bubble gum and constantly blew bubbles.

5. Candidate kept giggling through serious interview.

6. She wore a Walkman and said she could listen to me and the music at the same time.

7. Balding candidate abruptly excused himself. Returned to office a few minutes later, wearing a hairpiece.

8. Applicant challenged interviewer to arm wrestle.

9. Asked to see interviewer's resume to see if the personnel executive was qualified to judge the candidate.

10. Announced she hadn't had lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and french fries in the interviewer's office.

11. Without saying a word, candidate stood up and walked out during the middle of the interview.

12. Man wore jogging suit to interview for position as financial vice president.

13. Said if he were hired, he would demonstrate his loyalty by having the corporate logo tattooed on his forearm.

14. Interrupted to phone his therapist for advice on answering specific interview questions.

15. Wouldn't get out of the chair until I would hire him. I had to call the police.

16. When I asked him about his hobbies, he stood up and started tap dancing around my office.

17. Had a little pinball game and challenged me to play with him.

18. Bounced up and down on my carpet and told me I must be highly thought of by the company because I was given such a thick carpet.

19. Took a brush out of my purse, brushed his hair and left.

20. Pulled out a Polaroid camera and snapped a flash picture of me. Said he collected photos of everyone who interviewed him.

21. Candidate asked me if I would put on a suit jacket to insure that the offer was formal.

22. Said he wasn't interested because the position paid too much.

23. While I was on a long-distance phone call, the applicant took out a copy of Penthouse, and looked through the photos only, stopping longest at the centerfold.

24. During the interview, an alarm clock went off from the candidate's brief case. He took it out, shut it off, apologized and said he had to leave for another interview.

25. A telephone call came in for the job applicant. It was from his wife. His side of the conversation went like this: "Which company? When do l start? What's the salary?" I said, "l assume you're not interested in conducting the interview any further." He promptly responded, "I am as long as you'll pay me more." I didn't hire him, but later found out there was no other job offer. It was a scam to get a higher offer.

26. An applicant came in wearing only one shoe. She explained that the other shoe was stolen off her foot in the bus.

27. His attache [case] opened when he picked it up and the contents spilled, revealing ladies' undergarments and assorted makeup and perfume.

28. He came to the interview with a moped and left it in the reception area. He didn't want it to get stolen, and stated that he would require indoor parking for the moped.

29. He took off his right shoe and sock, removed a medicated foot powder and dusted it on the foot and in the shoe. While he was putting back the shoe and sock, he mentioned that he had to use the powder four times a day, and this was the time.

30. Candidate said he really didn't want to get a job, but the unemployment office needed proof that he was looking for one.

31. He whistled when the interviewer was talking.

32. Asked who the lovely babe was, pointing to the picture on my desk. When I said it was my wife, he asked if she was home now and wanted my phone number. I called security.

33. She threw-up on my desk, and immediately started asking questions about the job, like nothing had happened.

34. Pointing to a black case he carried into my office, he said that if he was not hired, the bomb would go off. Disbelieving, I began to state why he would never be hired and that I was going to call the police. He then reached down to the case, flipped a switch and ran. No one was injured, but I did need to get a new desk.

35. Asked if I wanted some cocaine before starting the interview.

Back in 1999, an 18 month-old Down's Syndrome baby plummeted off the Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver, from a height of 154 feet (47 metres) to the river below. The toddler hit many tree branches on the way down, which saved her life by breaking her fall.

You can read the original story here: The story of Nadia Hama, the woman who dropped her baby off a B.C. bridge, is part fairy tale, part pulp fiction.

After a lengthy investigation, the police found the evidence too circumstantial and the mother was not charged, despite the husband's opinion that the baby's fall was not as accidental as she claimed. You can read that story here: Mother who dropped baby won't be charged

Last Updated Wed Feb 9 21:56:13 2000
VANCOUVER - A Vancouver woman won't be charged in connection with her daughter's 15-storey plunge off the Capilano Suspension Bridge last September. The Crown says there isn't enough evidence to prove that Nadia Hama was to blame for her baby's fall.

Five years have gone by and the (divorced and estranged from her surviving children) Ms. Hama is suing the owners of the suspension bridge for mental distress. You can read an except of that story here: Mother sues bridge owners for damages

Nadia Hama, who dropped her infant daughter from the Capilano Suspension Bridge nearly five years ago, cannot hold down a job in Toronto and suffers ongoing emotional stress because of the negative publicity still surrounding her case, her lawyer said yesterday.

Unfortunately the complete news article is unavailable in the online version at the moment, but it does go on to say that the reason Ms. Hama cannot hold down a job is because no one wants to hire her after learning who she is.

It sounds like another addition for the archives at Overlawyered Dot Com

Webster's defines the word compromise as:

1 a : settlement of differences by arbitration or by consent reached by mutual concessions b : something intermediate between or blending qualities of two different things

To my mind, the operative concepts in those sentences are 'mutual concessions' and 'something intermediate'.

I like to think of myself as an accomodating fellow, but over years I've realized that many people prefer accomodation to be as one-sided as possible - and usually not at their expense.

Call it naïveté on my part, but I don't see mutual concessions as a bad thing provided that there is a greater benefit for both parties as a result. To that end, I believe in approaching things with as open a mind and as large a view as possible, rather than with a less-than-broad what's in it for me philosophy.

I regularly find myself in situations where the brunt of any accomodation effort falls to me (if I so choose). Alternatively I suppose I could adopt a more hard-nosed approach to things from the start, but frankly that doesn't sit well with me. I think that if folks wish to take a more entrenched position then so be it: it's their karma to balance, not mine.

I realize the final responsibility lays with me to choose to accept their 'terms' or not. And by choosing their terms, I negate the option of complaining about it later. But it still rankles that it should have to invariably come to that sort of choice simply because so few people out there are willing to give to a level commensurate with what they want to get.

For example, every few years I fly back east to visit my friend Brian (you may recall him from my 'old guy at the club' post). I've made this trip three or four times over the years in contrast to his one visit in 1990 (for my wedding).

Every time I go I enjoy his company and we have a lot of fun together, but it concerns me that if it wasn't for my effort (and expense) that we would never see each other at all.

At the risk of getting all Norman Vincent Peale on you, I have to report another inspirational moment in my personal life.

Since attaining maturity (well, physical maturity anyway), my bodyweight has been an unwavering 157 pounds. While somewhat gratifying to know that my metabolism is so steadfast, it has made it challenging as far as gaining weight through a combination of exercise and diet goes.

This winter I set a goal for myself of reaching 180 pounds, but to get there while still maintaining my current bodyfat level of ten percent. And after months of bouncing between 176 and 179, today was the day I made it.

Now I realize that to most folks it really isn't much of an accomplishment, but like my bench press maximum, it's something that I never actually expected to occur.

So don't give up on your goals - no matter what they are - because the only limits you have are the ones you impose upon yourself.

The rooster's owners stopped by last night and informed me that they were going to send it to live with some other people for the next few months, because it's so noisy.

Starting when the sky starts to lighten at 0430, it crows at an average rate of once every 16 seconds (I've timed it) and is still "any-cock-lldoodling" away when I stagger to my truck and drive to work in the morning at 0650.

So I see this as good news.

The company I work for is big into employee health and 'wellness' (I loathe the term 'wellness', it's just so glurgy) and every two weeks they have a masseuse come in for the staff. It's not free mind you, but at a dollar a minute I suppose it's still reasonable.

Massages at the office aren't my cup of tea - I come to work to work (although some folks might argue that I come to work to fritter away the day writing personal emails and reading weblogs), not to get a rubdown and listen to someone prattle on about 'wellness' and touchy-feely group activities.

I guess that all this stuff does benefit some folks...I'm thinking particularly of those who tend to use their place of employment as a substitute for a social life. But at the same time I think that all that's really accomplished is that these same folks end up with even less motivation to have a life outside of work.

When it comes to an exciting and interesting social life, I realize that I shouldn't be pointing fingers; but nevertheless, I think it's healthier to force yourself to find a balance between work and home than it is to receive all of your needs from a sole source.

Then again, maybe I'm reading too much into it. It happens when you're sleep-deprived.

A big birthday shout-out goes to Honey. I hope you have a great year! You can offer her your own congratulations on her weblog.

There's a young fellow by the name of William who's been showing up at the gym lately. William has some sort of mild retardation (I know that's probably not the most politically correct way to describe it) and he's a good-natured and cheerful guy. He usually spends his time there walking around in his t-shirt and shorts and shaking people's hands. Yesterday it was my turn to be greeted. He came up to me, smiled, shook my hand and innocently said "I like your big body".

I just chuckled and said thanks.

He then went on to talk to another guy who looked at him with disdain and then abruptly walked away while William was still talking to him. I suppose that happens every so often...people being so uncomfortable that they'd rather just walk away than be polite. Personally I don't see what the big deal is, but I suppose that he had his reasons.

In other news:

Tooth used to save woman's sight

A blind woman can see again thanks to UK surgeons who used her own teeth to restore her vision.

Dare I say it?




Sometimes tooth is stranger than fiction...

Last night I took my boys to see Alien vs Predator, which is arguably the greatest movie to happen to 12 & 13 year old boys in a long time. Lots of violence and suspense and no mushy sentiment.

*Spoiler Alert*

The company who funds the expedition to find the Predator base is called Weyland Industries and is owned by a fellow names Charles Bishop Weyland.

Those of you familiar with the Alien Quadrilogy should recognize that Weyland Industries is the precursor to the Weyland-Yutani Corporation of the future. Also, two of the key character's in the second and third Alien films were named 'Bishop' and were played by the same actor who played Charles Bishop Weyland.


Jeez, I'm a trivia geek sometimes!

I see Blogger has been reformatting again, causing me to have to relocate my visitor counter to the bottom of the page...

After the middle of next week I'll be incommunicado for a while: visiting my mother and her husband in Mexico. They retired and moved down there about five years ago and now they're living the vida loca.

My daughter and I will be flying from Seattle to Mexico City and then I'll rent a car and drive the rest of the way. I thought about adding a connecting flight to save the expense of renting a car, but I'd rather not have to depend upon them.

The last time my ex and I visited them down there, we only had one baby and she was very pregnant with our second. They were still living in Montreal, but wanted us to come down there to spend Christmas with them. Since they'd been there so often before, they told us not to worry and that they'd take care of the car rental and travel planning.

My internal alarm bell started going off when their reply to our request that they rent a vehicle large enough to accomodate our son's car seat was: "oh don't worry, those things aren't mandatory down here so you can leave it at home"

I guess I didn't make myself perfectly clear because when we arrived at Mexico City International Airport, they were waiting for the three of us (plus luggage and a child's car seat) with a Volkswagwen Beetle.

Picture four adults (one seven months pregnant), a toddler in his car seat and all our combined baggage in a Beetle....for fourteen hours.

On secondary roads, because they wanted us to "see the Mexican countryside".

I lost track of the number of times I offered to take a turn at the wheel (thinking that I'd at least get us over that forty-miles-per-hour limit that her husband was keeping us at) but the reply was always the same: "you don't know the roads here, just relax and let me do the driving". At the halfway mark he wanted to stop off at a bar for several beers because driving was "thirsty work".

A little tension ensued.

When we finally arrived...demoralized, sweaty and sore...I vowed that I'd drink the local tapwater before I ever got in a car with him at the wheel again.

I'll be away again in another month and a half, arriving on October 1st to visit a friend back east. Of the two trips, I'm definitely looking forward to the second trip more!

An interesting ethics question in this morning's edition of the newspaper. I've tracked down an online version at the London Free Press.

In a nutshell, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) feel that the general public should pay at $0.25 surcharge on their monthly telephone and internet bills to cover the administrative costs of telephone and internet surveillance. The telephone companies on the other hand, feel that the public should not have to pay that sort of charge.

As taxpayers we all end up eating the cost regardless, so whether it's in a direct surcharge or whether it's buried in higher municipal taxes the bill still has to be paid. Nevertheless, it strikes me as a particularly bureaucratic attitude within the CACP if they are just waving their collective arm in the direction of the public and saying "let them pay for it" rather than feeling obliged to make any effort at finding efficiencies within their organizations to reduce those costs.

Here's the article:

Police want public to pay wiretap bills

OTTAWA -- Canada's police chiefs propose a surcharge of about 25 cents on monthly telephone and Internet bills to cover the cost of tapping into the communications of terrorists and other criminals. The suggestion is intended to resolve a standoff between police forces and telecommunications companies over who should foot the expense of providing investigators with access to phone calls and e-mail messages.

Police say they cannot -- and should not -- be forced to pay the often hefty costs involved in carrying out court-approved wiretaps and message searches, warning investigations will suffer if they are expected to pick up the tab.

"This is a very, very serious issue for us. It has a potential for really paralysing operations," said Supt. Tom Grue, a member of the law amendments committee of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.

But the country's largest phone company believes telecommunications firms and law-enforcement agencies, not subscribers, should split the costs. "We think there should be more of a partnership between the agencies and us, rather than getting the public to pay for it," said Bell Canada spokesperson Jacqueline Michelis.

The matter has taken on new urgency as the federal government prepares legislation aimed at preventing criminals from using new digital technologies to shield their communications from police and intelligence agencies.

Authorities argue the measures are needed to keep up with sophisticated criminals involved in such activities as terrorism, money laundering, child pornography and murder.

The legislative proposals, outlined two years ago, have raised the hackles of privacy advocates and civil libertarians.

Bubbling in the background is the equally thorny debate about money.

Under the federal proposals, service providers would be required, when upgrading their systems, to build in the technical capabilities needed by police and intelligence agencies, such as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, to easily tap communications.

The controversy revolves around the ongoing costs of looking up phone numbers, hooking up to networks and relaying communications from one city to another -- individual services that may cost anywhere from pocket change to thousands of dollars.

Currently, a hodgepodge of payment practices applies, from negotiation of fees by the parties involved to refusal by some police forces to accept the bills.

Grue, a member of the Edmonton police force, said the costs should be spread as widely as possible to avoid unduly burdening a small number of parties.

The association of police chiefs, which represents the majority of Canadian forces, argues one way to accomplish that is adding a fee to each subscriber's monthly telephone, cellular or Internet bill.

"We're thinking, amongst ourselves, 25 cents. Whether that would cover off all the costs, we don't know. We haven't done the analysis on it," Grue said. Grue compares the proposed fee to the one customers already pay to support 911 emergency service, which ranges from about 25 to 50 cents a month depending on the type of telephone plan.

Bell Canada's Michelis wants to pull the plug on the idea of a wiretap charge.
"We don't really think the cost should be flipped over to the general public," she said. " Twenty-five cents is a really significant amount to add to everybody's phone bill."

Tom Copeland, a spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Internet Providers, said tacking a fee on monthly bills "might work," but could create a burdensome administrative regime that hampers companies, especially small ones with few staff.
Federal officials have convened meetings of the various players to try to work out the issues.

Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003

I was out last night with a fellow from my office. He's recently gotten into the online dating experience after being in a 15 year relationship. A methodical fellow, he bought a series of books on how to relate to women. Over the course of the evening, he offered me several unsolicited pieces of relationship advice:

1. Keep women guessing. If they know too much about how you feel about them, they won't respect you.

2. Women secretly want you to cheat on them.

3. Don't hold their hand or hug them when they want you to. Be distant and standoffish.

So I put the question out there: is this what women want? From what I've observed over the years, I don't believe it is.

But I'm curious to hear what the fairer sex has to say...

I've been keeping this entry in draft form for quite some time but with my recent foray into religious commentary, it seems like a serendipitous time to post it.

A conversation in Heaven...

Mohammed: Hey J! How's it hangin'?

Jesus: Har-har...things are good Mo, what's up with you?

M: Same old, same old... just kicking back with the houris. What have you been up to?

J: Oh just staying close to home and keeping an eye on Mom. You know how she likes to wander down to Earth and appear on window panes and clouds and shit. We're trying to discourage her from doing that...it just gets folks all agitated.

M: I hear that - hey that reminds me, have you been keeping up on current events down there?

J: Nah...I kinda lost interest after they started the whole Auto da Fe thing up in my name in the fifteenth century. Vicious bastards. Why do you ask?

M: Some of those idiots are using my name to endorse all kinds of crazy shit.

J: I hate it when that happens. "Jesus says this, Jesus wants you to do that...blah...blah...blah..."

M: Yeah well it's pissing me off. How was I supposed to know that things like sanitation, psychology and health care would be invented? I lived in the eighth century for cryin' out loud. At least your people aren't dumb enough to try and recreate 33 AD today.

J: Hey they aren't my people. Besides, from what I hear most of 'em aren't much brighter.

Buddha: Whazzzzzupppp???

J & M:Hey Mr. B! Good to see you!

B: You two talking about those clowns down there?

J: Yeah, Mo was just letting off some steam.

M: Yeah

B: Screw 'em - we did our bit. You can lead those dummies to salvation but you can't make 'em think.

M: I hear that.

J: Anyone up for some frosties? I'm buying.

M & B: You're on!

More strange religious spam:


Now I'm not as up-to-speed on my biblical history as some, but it seems to me that there was something in there about Jesus' opinion on moneylenders...



In other news, the lovely and vivacious Honey mentioned that it's National Left Hander's Day today. As a Canadian leftie, I want to offer all my "sinister" bretheren south of the border a happy day and hope they have good luck finding scissors that work for them.

And the Lord said Let There Be High-Speed Internet and verily the messenger came at the noontime hour and delivered unto Christopher his residential hook-up.

And it was good.

~ Parisians 6:22

I received my first Islamic spam this morning. It was a rambling description about the wonders of Islam - and if you only changed a few words, it could have been Christian spam.

Actually the term Islamic Spam is a little ironic, considering what spam is made of.

Now I'm going back to my mailbox to see if the Jains or the Gnostics left me any invitations to find out more about them.

I signed out one of the dirt bikes from the warehouse this morning, loaded it into a truck and spent most of the day taking a look at a couple of logging roads. Truth be told, I could have done it by truck and on foot - but it's a beautiful day and I was missin' the feeling of being on two wheels.

I've always been partial to crotch rockets but I have owned and enjoyed off-road bikes too. Now all I have to do is convince my boss that I need one of these to improve my job performance.

Days like this just rock!

COPY CAT

A US company offering a pet cloning service has successfully cloned two cats: Tabouli and Baba Ganoush. BBC News Online's Maggie Shiels is the first British journalist to see them. Here, she tells of meeting the copy kittens.

The thing that offends me about the idea of cloning your dead pet is this (the emphasis is mine):

Five cat owners have already signed up at a cost of $50,000 to have their pets copied.

I think that's just a little excessive and self-absorbed given all of the other things that money could be used for.

Fluffy's dead. Cope.

Hypothetically speaking, if a person wanted to kill a rooster at 0430 in the morning, what would be the best way to go about it?

Don't you just hate it when you go to the bathroom at work and your belt buckle pops off and lands in the toilet bowl as you're undoing your trousers?

Or do things like this only happen to me?

Back on July 7th I reached a point in my exercise routine that I honestly never thought I'd acheive. It has to do with an exercise called the Bench Press, which is one of several chest exercises I do as part of my weekly routine.

Now normally when people lift weights, they include the barbell itself in the total amount of weight that they are lifting. I don't generally include it in my tally because I figure that you have the lift the bar regardless, so it shouldn't really count. For those who don't know, the bar by itself weighs 45 pounds.

Back in February, I was able to bench press 160 pounds (not including the bar) six times in a row. It took me five and a half months to reach that point and I produced a lot of sweat in the process. I remember being quite impressed with myself that I'd made it that far and I thought that I had probably pretty much reached the limits of my potential.

On July 7th I bench pressed 255 pounds six times in a row - which comes to 300 pounds if you include the weight of the bar.

Now I try not to toot my own horn, but this is something that I never thought I'd be able to do and I think that merits a paragraph or two. I've always been the quintessential 98 pound weakling and even now when I lay on the bench and prepare to lift, a small voice at the back of my mind says "you're not seriously going to try and lift this are you?"

Since then, I've worked up to 275 pounds (bar not included) six times.

It's been a real eye-opener for me to have this sort of hard evidence that there really aren't any limits, other than those you set in your own path.

From the Weekly World News comes this shocking headline straight out of Canada:

WORLD'S FIRST BIGFOOT HOOKER

THE hottest hooker in Beasley, Canada, is a sexy Bigfoot named Helen, say dozens of satisfied customers.

Fascinated by her incredible erotic powers, men are drawn to her like flies to honey. "Helen is over seven feet tall and covered with soft fur," says frequent patron Jacques Barbette.

"She is more woman than most men can handle. When she wraps her paws around you it's like wearing a luxurious mink coat you never want to take off.

"I fell in love with Helen our first time. The morning after, I bought a diamond ring and asked her to marry me. It broke my heart when Helen grunted 'no,' but it only made me admire her more."

No one knows where the huge hirsute prostitute came from. The other working girls say Helen just showed up on their corner one evening and started turning tricks.

"She can barely mumble a word, but I guess that's enough for guys because they can't get enough of her," says Candy Crennlowe, who was the first to spot Helen lumbering out of the forest in spike heels.

"When she came toward me, I screamed bloody murder. But I couldn't run because my pimp gets mad if we leave without a date.

"But Helen was so sweet. She smiled at me with those huge, yellow teeth, then started hiking up her skirt and whistling to drivers. Within seconds, there was a 20-car pile-up."

Local pimp Francois T. Francois says Helen is a dream come true for him.

"I've got the best car in town now," says Francois proudly. "Helen is a work horse. She starts at 5 a.m. for the before-breakfast crowd and doesn't complain about sub-zero temperatures like the rest of my girls. She doesn't even need a coat!

The only people in Beasley who hate Helen are the wives. "I send my husband Walter to a prostitute once a week just like most of my neighbors do with their husbands," says Jeannette Dawson, 34. "It takes the load off my back. But now Walter wants to go every night - we don't have that kind of money."

Candy says Helen lives in a cave and regularly motions for her new girlfriends to come over.

"She's a big fuzzy pal," says Candy. "We tell her our problems. She lets us cry on her hairy shoulder. She's the best listener in the world. I just hope Helen sticks around and doesn't vanish the same way she appeared out of nowhere. Everyone in Beasley would be crushed."

If I've ever claimed that today's youth have no sense of honour then I stand corrected. For that matter, he puts most of my generation to shame too.

Good Samaritan

RICHMOND, B.C. - A young Richmond, B.C. gas station attendant who was brutally beaten when he tried to stop the assault of a woman this weekend is now calling on her to come forward and identify her attacker.

Kevin Venn, 20, suffered a fractured skull, a broken nose, severe bruises and deep lacerations when he tried to stop the assault near the gas station where he works.

"I just hope she's OK," said Venn at an RCMP news conference Tuesday where he appeared bruised and scarred with swollen eyes. "And that she would come forward and put an end to the threat that this individual's putting on our community."

Around 12:45 a.m. Saturday, Venn said he heard a woman screaming and that he went to her aid.

He said he saw a man violently shake and try to restrain the woman.

Venn said beyond that, he remembers little about the incident.
He was apparently hit in the face with a glass object, beaten and knocked to the ground. Both the attacker and the woman he was trying to help then fled the scene.

The RCMP said Venn staggered more than 1,200 metres before he collapsed unconscious. He was found more than an hour after the assault by a police officer on his way to another call.

When asked by a reporter whether he thought he did the right thing, he replied: "Definitely, sir. Definitely."

"I know that I could take more of a beating than that female victim could have."

His parents deserve a round of applause for raising such a fine young man. Hopefully he marries and contributes heavily to our collective gene pool, it can use a good infusion of selflessness.

I'm settling in at the new place and so far everything is hunky-dory. It's situated on a larger property that used to be a hobby farm and the new owners have kept some of the chickens and one rooster.

I think the rooster may be gay, because his morning crow sounds suspiciously like "any-cock'll do!"

So I've named him Bruce.

Bruce the Gay Rooster wakes up at 0430 every morning and shouts out his needs to the world, waking me up in the process.

I can live with being woken up at 0430 by a gay rooster, but it would be nice if he only made his announcement once rather than repeat it endlessly for an hour.

Maybe if I find him a...companion, he'll settle down until later in the morning.

It's been moving weekend for me, having sold my place and 'downsized' to something a bit more...economical. The telephone company provided almost immediate service, however the cable company (and my dsl provider) told me that I have to wait until August 12th. so I've stopped in at the office to post this and check my email.

Tomorrow is a civic holiday here in British Columbia. According to my American friends, individual states don't have their own civic holidays (i.e. Idaho Day) which I find a little unusual. I'd think that the anniversary of that state's inauguration would be a perfect excuse for a paid state holiday. Maybe you folks ought to start organizing petitions...

On an entirely unrelated matter, this was a recent google search that led to my blog: "toddler pooping continuously". I imagine the follow-up google search was for corks.

Hang in there mom (or pop), junior can't poop forever.