Wrong, Wrong, Wrong.

This afternoon I saw a car with a Romney/Ryan bumper sticker on it.  It had a Saskatchewan license plate.  From my point of view they were on the wrong side  in several different ways.

Another Off The List.

My taste in food is questionable, but I do have some discernment.  After years of seeing them in the frozen food section I decided to try Michelina's Zap'Ems Fries and Chicken Nuggets.  Even by my standards they're poor.  Yet someone obviously eats them, since they remain in production.  It just won't be me again.  Not very tasty, and the chicken nuggets are tiny.  $2.40, and I'm not sure they were worth the $2.40.

You Know It's A Cool May Day...

...when it's mid afternoon, and the furnace is running.  Well, not that cold.  But wet and rather windy, which may be what is making the house cool off.

Gas In Saskatoon, May 24, 2013.

Would you be surprised that the price of gas went up in Saskatoon this week?  I'm guessing the answer is no.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 135.9 cents a litre at most locations.  One observer expects it to go up another 5 cents or so soon. 

It's been higher here.  Back 2008 the price was 145.9 cents a litre the week of September 12.  Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico were being blamed, despite none of our oil coming from the area, or gas being refined in Texas refineries.

You Can Keep "Bohemian Rapsody..."

...this is a superior Queen tune.

A Welcome Distraction?

The latest allegation about Toronto's controversial mayor, Rob Ford, is making a lot of press, even in the US.  The purported video of Ford smoking crack, and making idiotic statements, has led to comparisons with former Washington, DC mayor Marion Bradley, whose own drug use caused him a world of trouble.

The cynical side of men wonders if there's one  person who is quite happy to hear about this, Stephen Harper.  The Ford mess may distract attention from the ongoing controversy over the expenses of Conservative Senators Mike Duffy and Pam Wallin, both of whom resigned from the Conservative caucus in the Senate this week as a result. Questions have arisen about the role Harper's chief of staff, Nigel Wright, and Harper himself,  might have had in trying to make this scandal go away. 

But that story revolves around questions of campaign spending and loans to pay off expenses.  Stuff that can be slightly confusing or dull to the average newspaper reader or TV watcher.  "OMG, the loudmouth, loose canon mayor of Canada's biggest city is a crackhead!" is much easier to understand, and  no doubt much more exciting for many folks.  And it's the mayor of Canada's largest city, allowing a large number of voters to be distracted. 

Gas In Saskatoon, May 17, 2013.

The price has gone up again.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 129.9 cents a litre at most locations.  Supposedly problems with a refinery in Alberta have caused the jump, but since this is Saskatchewan I'm a bit skeptical.

Elusive.

I don't know about where you live, but here in Saskatoon a single serving bottle or can of Diet 7 Up seems to be hard to find.  Few places carry them, and the places that do aren't the ones you can buy them cheap.  Is it just because no one buys those sizes, so they don't get stocked, or is there some other reason? 

Just Imagine.

I was just looking at someone's favourites over on Deviantart.  One of them was some fanart of Starfire and Wonder Girl from the Teen Titans.  The artist drew what I thought was a rather African-American looking Starfire, and the thought came to mind of Beyoncé playing her in a movie.  And with that thought came the thought of the howls of indignation that would probably result in the dumber and, to be blunt, more racist section of comic book fandom.   They would ignore the fact that Starfire, being an alien, doesn't fit into human concepts of race, and decide that the character is white.  All one has to do is look at the idiot comments that came from some Hunger Games fans when one of the characters  was portrayed by an African-American actress in the movie adaptation.  Apparently the fact the character was described as having dark brown skin in the novel somehow eluded their grasp, and they thought she was a cute little white girl.

(Beyoncé would obviously be the wrong choice to play Starfire in a Teen Titans movie, being too old, but would be a good choice if the character was portrayed in a context where she was older.)

When I Rule The World 16.

When I rule the world, all sidewalks will have to have that rubberised coating on them that some people put on their driveways.  I really like walking on that stuff.

And since this is number 16 of these, I  will add an additional requirement.  When I rule the world all homes will have to have all episodes of 6teen on DVD.  And the whole series will be put on DVD.

Seven To Ten.

Today marks the end of the seven digit phone number in Saskatchewan.  The existing 306 area code is almost used up, so a new area code, 639, will be used for new numbers in the province.  This means you will need to dial an area code before entering the rest of the number you wish to connect to.  Apparently most customers have begun doing so, although it might have something to do with the automated message that's been running for  a while.  It notified you that you would soon need to enter an area code to reach the number you are trying to dial, then would pass on your call.  Now if you don't dial an area code you get an automated message telling you to dial again with an area code.  I'm sure it will still confuse a few people for the next while.

Gas In Saskatoon, May 10, 2013.

A pretty big jump to report this week.  Gas began the week at 117.9 cents a litre.  But it has now jumped to 125.9 cents a litre at most locations.  I'm sure there is some excuse, but the cynical side of many will suspect that the prices are rising as vacation driving season approaches.  Monday, May 20th is Victoria Day, often considered the informal beginning of said season.

My Cake?

Hmmm, I'm not really sure about it.  It tastes all right, but not great compared to the cakes my mom makes.  Of course that should come as no surprise, as a.) she generally makes them from scratch and b.) she knows what she's doing.  At least it seems to have properly cooked.  And cheap icing out of a can?  This stuff at least I wouldn't try again.

My Technique Needs Some Work.

Fool that I am I got it into my head I should try baking a cake.  So I went out and bought some cake mix.  One thing I found out is that I don't know how to crack an egg properly.  I suspect I'll find a couple of pieces of eggshell someplace in the cake.  I also hope I mixed it properly, or it might be a very interesting cake.  Oh well, at least I'm the only one who will be trying my potential bad cooking.  In other words, no, you can't come over and try my devil's food cake. 

I also should have checked the label of the premade icing I bought.  It says "Product of Uruguay" on it.  No offence to Uruguayans, but I'd rather eat a product like that made closer to home.  Both cake and icing came from Dollarama.

Last Holdouts.

This morning I actually saw some snow.  It was a patch a couple of feet long and a half foot tall, hidden  in a shaded area that likely gets no sun.  There are presumably other such holdouts still present despite the recent warm weather, stubbornly trying to beat the fate of all snow in Saskatoon, melting. 

It will not win.

Online Zombie?

As I was out this morning I realised that Saturday was the ninth anniversary of this blog.  Nine years ago seems like a long time ago, and certainly is in blog terms. 

It seems every few months you'll see articles about how blogging is dying, or that the blog is dead.  Funny, but there sure seem to be a lot of us out here still engaging in a dying activity. 

Defeated!

I saw a headline this morning that Bob Geldof's daughter Peaches has given birth to a son, who she named Phaedra.  I snarked to myself that she named him after an old Tangerine Dream album.  Imagine my surprise when I read the associated article and found out she apparently did exactly that.  A comment ceases to be snarky if it's actually true, doesn't it?

If you're not familiar with the album, take a listen below.  It was originally released in 1974.

Personally I prefer their followup, Rubycon.

I wonder if Peaches knows that Phaedra was a figure in Greek mythology, and was a woman?  I don't think I've run into any in the flesh, but I'm pretty sure I've seen references to a few women with that name.  So she's reversing the modern trend of what were traditionally male names becoming seen as female.