Blessed by the Potato

Well, it took a few days to unpack the router and everything, but we’re back up here.

The move was absolutely crazy, and we still have more to do! After that last entry, I ended up staying up until about 6 am doing “last minute” packing, and even then we’ve had to make a half dozen trips back to the apartment (to clean, paint, and take things like food, toiletries, clothes, etc.).

The election here was somewhat close, but my preferred candidate ended up coming in second (stupid Liberal stronghold!). Nonetheless, it’s seen as a victory as it’s the first time the Green party has beat out both the Conservatives and NDP. It was interesting to see the voting pattern displayed when strategic (or as some say, tactical) voting isn’t a factor (for most, that is — I’m sure many people still voted Liberal to keep the Conservatives out rather than because that was the candidate they liked the most).

Anyhow, I’ll probably post in more detail later, but for now I’ve got to put some stuff away in the kitchen and hit the sack!

So we’re moving first thing in the morning to our new [rental] house! Almost everything has been packed, and it’s been an intense process, but it’s amazing how much is left. 3 computers and a network to dismantle, the TV and its jumble of wires, plus all the dishes and cutlery. Doesn’t sound like much, but since the movers come at 9 am and it’s pushing 11 pm now this could get interesting. And that’s not even counting all the cleaning to be done (plus removing curtains and picture holders) which we plan to come back on Monday for.

Oddly enough, my Green Party lawn sign was stolen/removed less than 24 hours after I put it up on my new lawn. My landlord did visit that day, so it’s possible she took it, but if she did she didn’t mention anything about it. A bunch of others have gone missing in the neighbourhood, so something fishy may be afoot.

Anyhow, the site will go down for a bit during the move, but I hope to be back up late Monday night, or possibly as late as Tuesday evening.

I’ve been so pissed off at the LED christmas lights they’ve had out recently. LEDs have the potential to make great christmas lights since they’re efficient and can be all small and twinkly, so it was such a shame that most of the lights were those giant gaudy faceted ones. Today, however, I found some at Canadian Tire that have really small white lights with no crazy facets or anything. They’re perfect! They only came in the long strings of 100, but that works for me… and if they’re efficient enough, I might even use them to light my room after Christmas :)

I’m shocked and awed at the government’s latest motion to recognize Quebec as a “nation”. It’s a pretty dumb thing to do in the first place, and can really only lead to division down the road. I’m also really shocked that it’s the Conservatives doing this, since they’re usually the first party to stand up and oppose the “special needs” of the French community. It makes me wonder just what the heck is in the drinking water up in Ottawa: usually we can count on the Cons to make stupid, wrong-headed promises, and follow up on a few of them. Instead, with a shakey minority government, they’ve broken a big campaign promise* and broken out something crazy like this.

Yes, Quebecois have their own “cultural identity”, but so does almost every other group you can think of (muslims, scots, gansta rappers, liberals, protestants, gold prospectors, hockey players). Maybe it’s because I’m permanently locked into an English Canadian mindset, but I just don’t see the Quebecois as being all that special. Yes, they did play a big part in our country’s history, but we already recognize that with a huge amount of protection for the language and culture. [Plus, part of that history was losing a war to the English. Props to my man Wolfe, who included a promise of religious freedom for the conquered.]

I hate to make it an us-vs-them sort of thing, since we’re all Canadians together, but that’s what “nation” status will inevitably do. And from there, it won’t be too many decades before nation-within-a-nation status is transmuted into a full-blown seperate nation, and that will get really ugly.

* – Full disclosure: breaking of said promise has wiped out ~10% of my net worth.

I caught the all candidate’s debate on the Rogers community station on tape last night, and it was some good watching. Not so much for the political stuff (though my favourite candidate did do fairly well), nor for the fantastic local media camera work (pan over to the next candidate… ah! too far!… back… ok… crap, now the other guy’s talking!), but for the sheer craziness factor. One of the minor party candidates (Canadian Action) seemed to only have enough anti-crazy medicine to make it through 59 minutes of the hour long debate, because he finished off with a pledge to make London a world-class airship terminus. Air ships, as in zeppelins. Dirigibles. The moderator was stunned after he finished, giving him this “what the hell are you talking about?” look, which was a nice change from the soulless robot impartial moderation most other networks/debates aim for. I had to watch that part at least 4 times to make sure I heard it right (and to see that look on the moderator’s face).

The rest of the debate wasn’t particularly special. Dianne Hasket got booed when she said she was the only candidate who lived in the riding (past tense, perhaps, as all reports place her as living in the States for the last 6 years). Most of the candidates had real trouble speaking to the camera or the audience, having to read a lot (which was surprising as with 7 of them up on stage the responses were kept really short, and also gave lots of time for them to check their notes before speaking). Glen Pearson and Elizabeth May were the notable exceptions.