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Friday, February 28, 2014

Bet It's Warmer Than Here.

I got a hit on the blog today from Tok, Alaska.  We think of Alaska as a cold place, but I'm guessing it's warmer in Tok at the moment than here.  Saskatoon is expected to see an overnight low of -39 degrees Celsius tonight, combined with high wind chills.  I don't think we've seen it go that low in several years. 

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Not A Canadian Trend.

As anyone who pays much attention to the US entertainment industry knows, they like to remake things.  This includes the TV side of the business.  Some are highly successful, such as the 21st Century version of Battlestar Galactica.  Others last about as long as a carton of milk, such as last fall's Ironside remake with Blair Underwood.  And of course some never make it to production at all, like the new version of Murder, She Wrote that was under consideration of late.  (That also seems to be the fate of the new, American made revival/reboot of Space: 1999 announced a couple of years back.)

Strangely we don't see the same thing with Canadian TV, which kind of surprises me.  You'd think someone would decide to revive hit TV shows of the past, like The Beachcombers.  It was the longest running Canadian dramatic series, with 387 episodes, so it would seem a perfect candidate for another attempt.  Yet we didn't even see something done for its fortieth anniversary in 2012.  Or SCTV, which would allow a new generation of comics to cut their acting chops.  The only Canadian series that I can think of that was remade was The Littlest Hobo, which originally aired in the mid '60s, and was revived in the late '70s.

The small size of the Canadian TV industry, and the pressures it faces from being next door to the American industry, doesn't seem to have made it risk adverse enough to go the remake route.  Instead Canadian TV producers tend to go for new concepts.  Well, as new as you can get with TV, where it seems like everything has been done before.

Monday, February 24, 2014

Gas In Saskatoon February 24, 2014.

It was another up and down week, before the price stabilised at a familiar mark.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 121.9 cents a litre at most locations.  The Safeway gas bar at the Centre at Circle and 8th was still advertising 115.9 cents this morning, although I'd didn't see what its sign said this afternoon.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

The Misery Is Ending.

Soon it will all be over.  The horror that is the Olympics will leave us alone for a couple of years.  Soon we can go back to paying attention to more important things.  After all, Major League Baseball spring training starts in a couple of weeks.  Unfortunately we'll be menaced by the Summer Olympics sooner than we think.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Get Out There.

If you've got something to do in Saskatoon that involves being outside, best to do it today.  Apparently it's going to get cold again tomorrow.  Yep, the warm weather of the last few days was too good to last.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Gas In Saskatoon, February 17, 2014.

It was a bit of an odd week.  Gas dropped to 113.9.  Then it jumped up to 121.9.  And then it came back down, giving us a current price of 117.9 cents a litre at most locations.  I'm not even going to think about predicting where it's going to go this week.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

A Google + Mystery.

Why it keeps suggesting I might be interested in a community about One Direction.  I'm a little bit too old to be into them.  And this is the first time I've mentioned them on here.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Wanted: One Minion.

Yep, looking for a minion.  Preferably one with a Land Rover or something along those lines.  Saskatoon got a big dump of snow today, and as a result driving tomorrow should be fun. So I'd rather someone drive me around than me doing the driving.

Salary?   Yeah, about that....

Monday, February 10, 2014

Gas In Saskatoon, February 10, 2014.

A bit of a price drop to report.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 116.4 cents a litre at most locations.  I suspect the next change will be an increase again.

Wednesday, February 05, 2014

First Down.

Canadian grocery chain Sobeys acquired Safeway's Canadian assets last year.  Back in October it was announced they would be closing a number of stores as part of the approval process from the Competition Bureau..  It was revealed that the store at the Centre at Circle and 8th, on 8th Street,would be one of those stores.  However it wasn't hard to suspect the other Safeway on 8th Street, at Cumberland Square, might also be closing, given that it's directly across the street from a Sobeys.

Those suspicions were correct. Cumberland Safeway will be closing April 5, when the current lease runs out. John Graham of Sobeys even mentions one of the factors I thought might be a problem, the costs of renovation.  Supposedly no one will lose their jobs, but given that the Circle Centre Safeway will be sold  it seems there will be more employees than positions in their Saskatoon holdings.

Concorde Properties owns Cumberland Square.  Their rep, Kyle Chatterson, states there is interest in the soon to be empty retail space.  One possible tenant that immediately came to mind to me is the Dollar Tree discount store chain, which has entered the Saskatoon market over the last year.   They have two stores on Saskatoon's west side, so an east side store on one of Saskatoon's primary business streets would be an obvious move.

When the other Safeway on 8th Street closes 2 locations will remain on Saskatoon's east side, the Market Mall and MoOrmond Drive locations.  Of course we don't know if they will stay under the Safeway name, so it's possible the Cumberland closure is the beginning of the end for a long familiar name in Saskatoon.

Monday, February 03, 2014

Gas In Saskatoon, February 3, 2014.

For the first entry in February there's a bit of a price jump to report.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 119.9 cents a litre at most locations.  I actually ended up not gassing up at one station the day the price went up in hopes another station would still be at the old price.  I got lucky and managed to find one.

Sunday, February 02, 2014

Stupid Weather.

It's late, and I'm in no mood to sleep yet.  But because of the current cold weather I really can't justify getting it the car and going someplace.  Doing so would mean running the damn thing for 5 or 10 minutes to warm it up, which would be kind of wasteful simply so I can be silly.  And apparently it's not going to get any better over the next few days.  The coldness of this winter has been really annoying. 

Meanwhile I'm starting to suspect local farmers may be starting to worry about a dry spring.  We've had snow, but some of it melted during the warm snap last week, and there's little chance of any in the immediate future.  Compare this with the winter of 2012-2013, where we had lots of snow.