Gas In Saskatoon, December 30, 2016.

The last Friday of 2016 sees us given an unwanted present.  Gas in Saskatoon has risen to 108.9 cents a litre at most locations. Compare this with January 2016, which saw gas as low as 69.4 cents a litre at most stations during the last week of the month.  So if your typical fill is 30 litres you're paying 12 bucks more today than you were then.  With predictions that the price of oil will continue to rise it's unlikely you'll be seeing prices in that range for a long time to come.

Big Snow.

If you were worried about Saskatoon not getting enough snow this winter your worries have probably been assuaged somewhat.  We got a pretty good dumping over the last 12 or so hours, and apparently we'll get some more New Year's Eve.   And the temperature won't be getting near zero for at least a week, so what's there won't be going anyplace.

I just did some shovelling, which will counter some of the calories I'm about to consume in the ham sandwich I'm about to eat.  It's a simple sandwich, with some slices of ham and a few pieces of cheddar on white, with mustard and pepper for seasoning.

Remembrance.

Given the number of celebrity deaths in recent days listening to this Rush tune seemed quite appropriate, although I didn't actually decide to listen to it for that reason.  But of course it's not just the famous who have just left us.  Hopefully you aren't facing a loss as you read this.

Man 1, Cougar 0.

Cougar fighting is not a recommended activity, but Will Gibb of Red Deer, Alberta seems to have some skill at it.  When his dog was attacked by a cougar in a Tim Hortons parking lot he attacked the cougar.  He eventually managed to chase it off and the dog, Sasha, was treated at a local vet clinic for cougar bites.  Sasha will make a full recovery.

There's no word whether the cougar was there to get a double double or not.

It's Not My Fault.

It seems that YouTube "stars" are having a bit of a problem this year.  Their viewership has apparently dropped heavily.  If you're one of those folks, and have by chance stumbled across my blog, I'd like you to know it's not my fault you're losing traffic.  The traffic here is so tiny it won't effect anyone's viewership.

Oh, by the way, if you're feeling nice you could mention this blog in one of your videos.  I definitely could do with the traffic.

Candy.

You might almost call that the theme of this Christmas for my family.  My parents and I both got quite a bit of candy from family and friends.  Some of mine I'll have to foist off on others, because it's not the kind I like.  Other stuff I'll end up keeping for my own personal use.

Gas In Saskatoon, December 23, 2016.

The gas companies saw fit to give us an early lump of coal in our Christmas stockings this week.  Gas in Saskatoon rose to 102.9 cents a litre.  As if it wasn't bad enough trying to drive this week, with all the desperate Christmas shoppers clogging the roads.

Mocking The Clickbait 5: I Actually Knew That One.

Food can make you older.

Indeed.  It's a long proven fact that people who don't eat food tend to end up dead fairly quickly.  So eating will make you get older, because it ensures you keep living.

I Predict Flop.

I've never had much luck with predictions.  But here's another one.  This morning I read that the first trailer for a big screen Baywatch movie is out.  Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will be starring in the David Hasselhoff role.

I have a hard time imagining there's a huge market waiting for a big screen Baywatch film.  Although the show ran for years it was utterly disposable fluff with the depth of a puddle in a parking lot.   The original fandom has moved on.  The younger viewers who you want to get into the seats probably have never watched the series.  Of course you could have said the same thing for 21 Jump Street, a series that ran for a much shorter period, and is primarily remembered now for helping make Johnny Depp a star.  Yet its big screen adaptation did well enough to spawn a sequel.  As always it's a crapshoot where tens of millions of dollars are spent in the hopes this one is the one that's the next blockbuster. 

Gas In Saskatoon, December 9, 2016.

Not good news to report this week.  Today gas in Saskatoon jumped to 97.9 cents a litre at most locations.  I wouldn't be surprised if it goes up more next week.  Definitely not an early Christmas present.

Mocking The Clickbait 4: Where Did You Go, Puppy?

20 Most Loyal Dog Breeds.  #6 Surprised Us!

On the other hand they weren't surprised that the Armenian Short Haired Disloyalhound wasn't included on that list.

(Is there actually such a thing as a disloyal dog breed?)

Another Voice Goes Silent.

In a year that has seen many musicians pass yet another one is gone.  Greg Lake has died at age 69 after a long battle with cancer.  Lake came out of the Bournemouth, England music scene that produced numerous musicians.  In 1969 his friend Robert Fripp recruited Lake as vocalist for his new band, King Crimson, and asked Lake to be the band's bassist as well, although Lake had been a guitarist.  The group's debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King was a critical success, but tensions in the band led Lake to decide to leave in 1970.  He soon teamed up with keyboardist Keith Emerson and drummer Carl Palmer to form Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.  With their complicated music and often bombastic image ELP, along with Yes, was the band that came to represent what most people though of '70s progressive rock, and against which the punk movement claimed to rebel. 

Although ELP originally broke up in 1979 Lake and Emerson would work together again in the mid '80s with the late drummer Cozy Powell as Emerson, Lake, and Powell, and reunite with Palmer as ELP in the '90s.  Lake also did solo albums, and a duo tour with Emerson in 2012.  His best known solo work was the 1975 single "I Believe in Father Christmas."

R.I.P.

I'm sorry.  Your existence ended all too soon.  You were wonderful.  Golden.  And now you're gone.

I really wish you'd been bigger, cake, because another few pieces of you would have been nice.

Maybe I Shouldn't.

Recently I stumbled across the Stingray Retro channel on my cable box.  All they do is play old videos from the '80s and '90s, with the occasional early 2000s vid thrown in for variety.  But I'm starting to wonder if I should be watching it.  I'll be sitting there, see a video from the '80s, and suddenly find myself filled with a mix of nostalgia and melancholy.  I remember a bunch of those videos, having watched them when I was a teenager, and it just reminds me the late '80s were 30 years ago already.  It's also sad seeing someone like Michael Hutchence, knowing he died too young.

One thing that's odd is the poor quality of some of the oldest videos.  They look like they were taken off someone's old VHS cassettes.  Did they come out of the vault at Muchmusic or something? 

Gas In Saskatoon, December 2, 2016.

The first report for December sees prices down a tiny bit.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 89.4 cents a litre at most locations.  However with the recent announcement OPEC may cut oil production prices may soon be on the rise here.

Mister Versatile.

Last night I watched a mid '70s Italian crime film  on YouTube, A Special Cop in Action, or to use its original Italian title, Italia a mano armata.  It was the final film of a trilogy about Italian police commissioner Betti, played by the late Maurizio Merli.  His main opponent in the film is gangster Alberteli, played by American actor John Saxon.  Watching the film got me thinking that there probably isn't a genre, other than porn, that Saxon hasn't done. Crime, westerns, martial arts(Enter the Dragon, supporting Bruce Lee),  horror, science fiction, prime time soaps, and more.  All in a career that began in the mid '50s, and which continues to today.

You can watch A Special Cop in Action below.  Be warned that besides the general violence you'll find in a crime film there's a sexual assault scene, so some viewers may want avoid this one.

Gas In Saskatoon, November 25, 2016.

The drop has stopped.  Gas in Saskatoon leapt to 93.9 cents a litre early this week.  This afternoon most stations had dropped back down a bit, to 90.4 cents a litre, but you're still paying 6 cents more today than you were last Friday.  And the obvious question is whether this was a Black Friday bonus or not, soon to be followed by another increase.

Tom And Jennifer Would Approve.

I had a nice surprise this morning.  I had to brave the icy streets that resulted from last night's snow and freezing rain.  As I was about to turn onto McKercher Drive I stopped behind a car that had the custom Saskatchewan license plate 6teen.  It probably had some other meaning, but I couldn't help but speculate the driver might be a fan of the cartoon series 6teen.  Hopefully I'll see it again at some point.

Gas In Saskatoon, November 18, 2016.

The price keeps trickling down.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 84.4 cents a litre at most locations.  Could we see the price drop below 80 cents a litre before year's end?  There has to be a limit to how low it can go.

Hello, Baltimore.

For some reason I dreamed last night I was moving to Baltimore to live with relatives, even though as far as I know I have no relatives in Baltimore.  Frankly any relative would find me a horror to live with.  I got the impression I was back in high school again.  And my relatives were very messy.  Oddly someone was coming to visit at the end, presumably to meet me, and she looked like one of my aunts. 

Of course I've had odder dreams.

Gas In Saskatoon, November 11, 2016.

My prediction from last week was correct.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 86.9 cents a litre at most locations.  Since the first week of October the price of gas has dropped 16 cents a litre here.  So if your typical fillup is 30 litres you're paying $4.80 less than you were then.

Today's Theme Song.

Sorry, but it's what a lot of us are thinking after the election.

Mocking The Clickbait 3: Rare Or Well Done, There's No Difference.

15 Rare Photos That They Don't Show You In History Class.

Well, yeah,  I wouldn't expect them to show that photo of your cousin Mike wearing his wife's bikini at that pool party a few years back.  Sure, it's rare, but it's not quite of historical significance. 

Vote, Americans!

Of course if you've already done so don't do it again, that's kind of illegal.  And if you're thinking about voting for Trump you should probably bang your head against the nearest concrete object over and over again instead.  That way you'll be probably be in a coma for the next six months, and won't have to deal with realising just how badly you've helped screw things up if Trump wins.

Too Late Or Too Early?

On a webpage I'm looking at there's an ad for Long and McQuade's free guitar setup day, giving the date as October 15th.  Of course I found myself wondering if that was an ad for last month's edition, or if it's for next year's edition.  Clicking on the ad brings up a page that says the event has expired.  Too late is it is then.  L&M might want to get in touch with their ad provider since it's presenting out of date content.

You Know It's Nice November Weather...

...when you see someone riding their motorcycle.  It's 14 degrees Celsius(50 degrees Fahrenheit), a temperature a bit warmer than usual for November in Saskatchewan.  And it's supposed to be 16 tomorrow.

Gas In Saskatoon, November 4, 2016.

Another tiny dip down to report.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 90.4 cents a litre at most locations.  A dip below 90 cents seems pretty likely at this point.

You Just Know It Will Happen.

Now that the Cubs have won the World Series for the first time in 108 years, they won't win it for another 108 years. 

Of course no one reading this in 2016 will be around to know I'm right if I am right. 

One More Long Week.

Just one more week and the seemingly endless US election campaign will be over.  Unfortunately the aftermath may be pretty awful.  The rhetoric from Trump and his surrogates could lead to some violence if he loses.  If he wins I suspect it will be a complete mess, and I still suspect Trump won't last long as President one way or another. 

And I'm just an observer from another country.  Imagine how long it's seemed if you live in the US.

Running Late.

It's 8:20 as I write this, and we just had some trick or treaters at the door.  Seems a bit late to be running around outside.  Then again we didn't see our first one here until after 5 o'clock, so I guess someone had to turn up late.

Gas In Saskatoon, October 28, 2016.

A bit more relief for Saskatoon drivers this week.  Gas in Saskatoon has dropped to 91.4 cents a litre at most locations.  I won't be surprised if prices drop below the 90 cents a litre mark for the start of November.

The Not So Big 40.

Yesterday was civic election day in Saskatoon.  Voter turnout was up this year, but only slightly.  In 2012 37 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot, while this year turnout was 40 percent.  But voter turnout was better here than in Regina, where voter turnout was only 20 percent this time. 

Civic politics is the level closest to the voter, but it never seems to interest a lot of voters around here.  Perhaps it's because there's not enough excitement, or because the issues don't seem as important as those in provincial or federal elections.  But it's worth remembering that not voting means you de facto voted for whoever wins.  Don't like Saskatoon's new Mayor, Charlie Clark?  Well, if you didn't vote you just made it that much easier for him to win. 

Even to the end some candidates were trying to get out the vote.  My mom had to answer the door two different times around 7 PM because of representatives of the candidates trying to encourage people to vote.  It wasn't needed in her case, as she and my dad both voted earlier in the day.  I voted as well.  Did you? 

Gas In Saskatoon, October 21, 2016.

I'm pleased to report we've had another drop.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 95.4 cents a litre at most locations.  Hopefully another drop is in the near future.

Mocking The Clickbait 2: But It Sounds Sciency.....

Stephen Hawking Says Smart Pill Is Proven To Double IQ.

First of all, IQ doesn't work that way.  Intelligence quotient is determined by taking a group of tests.  Your performance on the tests, and hence your score, can improve, but not dramatically enough to double, such as going from 100 to 200, which would be a jump from average to a high genius level.  No pill will change your brain in a way that makes this possible.(And all this is ignoring things like whether the IQ test is a legitimate way to determine intelligence, what determines intelligence, and so on.)

As for Stephen Hawking, he is a brilliant theoretical physicist.  He is not a doctor, a chemist, or a biologist.  Being really smart about one area does not mean you always know what you're talking about regarding anything else.  I'd no more go to Hawking for medical advice or information on the latest studies of the brain than I'd go to a heart surgeon for the latest information on string theory. 

Of course it's a pretty reasonable guess that Stephen Hawking said nothing of the sort.  But using the name of someone everyone knows is really smart tends to work better when you're trying to find new suckers to buy dubious medical products.

Gas In Saskatoon, October 14, 2016.

Another week where my guess at the gas price trend was wrong.  Gas in Saskatoon has dropped to 99.4 cents a litre at most locations.  Hopefully another drop will follow.

Speaking of Paper Bills....

I received a hit for a 2004 issue twenty on Where's Willy today.  Not only that but it was a re-hit on a bill that last received a hit in 2008.  I wonder what adventures that bill had over the last 8 years.

Still A Chance Of Paper.

The question "Paper or plastic?" refers to whether the person wants to pay with cash or a credit card.  In 21st Century Canada it's more properly "Plastic or plastic?" because all currently issued Canadian bills are made of polymer.  But a few of the old paper bills remain in circulation.  I got a five dollar bill yesterday as change.  It was from the last issue of paper fives in 2006, which had security features added to the 2001 design.  The first polymer fives were introduced in 2013, and quickly replaced the older paper bills.  But a few paper bills have escaped being sent back to the Bank of Canada for destruction, like the one I received.  It's the first one I've had in a while, and I suspect it will be a long time, if ever, before I see another one.

Goodbye, Mr. Ortiz.

David Ortiz's career ended tonight on a positive note, with Big Papi reaching base on an 8th inning walk.  Unfortunately for the Red Sox they couldn't get the runs they needed, and the Cleveland Indians beat them.  So it will be Cleveland versus Toronto for the pennant, with the first game Friday in Cleveland.

It will be interesting to see if we'll see Ortiz in a dugout again.  I can imagine someone wanting him as a hitting coach, but he may have other plans.  Whatever his plans if I were him I'd take a year off to just sit around the house, something he hasn't had a chance to do in his adult life.

Mocking The Clickbait 1: Those Dastardly Villains!

28 Photos Brad And Angelina Didn't Want You To See.

Yeah, like photo 21, that photo of the cute kittens.  I didn't see it, and my day was all the worse because of it.  Damn you, damn you both!

Cheer Up, Texas Rangers Fans.

The general suspicion amongst much of the Blue Jays fandom is that Rogers, the giant Canadian multimedia company that owns the Jays, won't pony up the money to insure a playoff viable team next year.  So next year you may very well not have to worry about facing the Jays in the playoffs.

And be nice to poor Rougned Odor.  Everyone makes mistakes.

Gas In Saskatoon, October 7, 2016.

This week the snow came down and the price went up.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 102.9 cents a litre at most locations.  With the price of oil having gone over the $50 a barrel mark this week I won't be surprised if we see another gas price increase in short order.

Not My Favourite Exercise.

Snow shovelling serves as exercise, but it's not my favorite exercise.  Especially when the snow is like what received over the last 24 hours, sticky and very heavy.  I would imagine someone in Saskatoon will have a heart attack today from shovelling snow given how quickly the weight on your shovel builds up.

3 For 2.

Baseball is a game where attention is paid to a lot of numbers.  Some are considered important guides to success or failure, while others are simply fun.  Sometimes they're both.  Last night we saw the Toronto Blue Jays win the American League Wild Card game with a 3 run home run by Edwin Encarnacion.  Tonight we saw the San Francisco Giants win the National League Wild Card game with a 3 run home run by Connor Gillaspie.    Back to back games won by the same method.  This will be even more cool if both teams make it to the World Series.

Swing.

Late Saturday and early Sunday we had thunderstorm activity in the Saskatoon area.  Today we have a snowfall warning for tonight and tomorrow.  Good old unpredictable Saskatchewan weather.

Someone Has To Do It.

Nasty person that I am I want someone to drive in a NASCAR race with a car numbered 666.   Would it freak out a bunch of people?  Given how the audience for that sort of racing supposedly skews I'd love to find out.

You Want Some Jacks? Okay.

For some reason over the past few days I've had hits from someone looking for mentions of jacks on the blog.  Well, here you go, another post with the term jacks in it.  I can think of worse words to generate hits than jacks.

No Kaboom.

Well, I didn't hear any at least.  The last observation on the Environment Canada webpage I saw last night said the conditions here were thunderstorm with rain, but I didn't hear any thunder or see any lightning.  A shame, since it would be cool to experience them in October.

October Thunder.

Talk about weird.  There's a line of thunderstorms passing through Saskatchewan tonight, which may reach Saskatoon.  That's not something one expects on the first Saturday in October in this neck of the woods.  Today was fairly cool around here, making their presence even odder.  And flurries are a possibility on Wednesday.

Gas In Saskatoon, September 30, 2016.

A small drop to report this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 95.4 cents a litre at most locations.  However with talk of OPEC reducing its production it wouldn't be surprising if the price goes up again next week.

Donald Trump's Theme Song.

If this isn't his theme song, it should be.  Not that Trump would probably get that it's supposed to be sarcastic and self-deprecating.

Gas In Saskatoon, September 23, 2016.

It's another week where a post will come during the middle of a price change.  Since the previous post gas had jumped to 99.9 cents a litre.  However today saw a number of stations drop the price to 97.4 cents a litre.  I would imagine most will follow suit before the day is done.

Traffic Crash.

My posting has slowed down of late.  But what's even slowed down more is my blog traffic.  This has never been the world's most viewed blog, but it's really gone down the past while.  I've been getting days with no blog traffic several times in a week, which is weird even for my traditional traffic levels. 

Of course knowing the way things go I'll get a day over the next week where it jumps up a whole bunch for some weird reason.

Gas In Saskatoon, September 16, 2016.

Yes, this week's entry is on time.  And it's good news as well.  Gas in Saskatoon has dropped to 93.4 cents a litre at most locations.  Hopefully it will drop below the 90 cent a litre mark before the next one of these posts.

Probably A Drop.

The Blue Jays are over on the West Coast at the moment.  They just won the first of 4 games against the Los Angeles Angels, and then will head to Seattle to take on the Mariners.  It would be interesting to see the ratings for the evening games during this road trip.  I suspect they probably drop some.  After all it's after 1:30 AM in Toronto as I write this, and even later further east.  Some eastern viewers probably skip the games entirely, knowing they can't stay up to watch the whole thing.  Others probably watch the first few innings before going to bed.  Even here in Saskatchewan the late innings of these games probably get skipped by a few viewers, since they take place around 11 PM.

I wonder if TV ratings might be an issue for anyone considering a MLB team for Vancouver.  Regular viewership for evening games might be pretty low for such a team in much of the country, compared to the Blue Jays.  Of course the lack of a suitable stadium, and potential opposition from the Mariners, are probably bigger concerns before the issue of TV broadcast revenue comes up.

Breakaway+17+40.

Once more it's September 13th, and as is tradition here on the blog we commemorate Breakaway Day.  On this day in 1999 the Moon was blown out of Earth orbit by a massive explosion of nuclear waste on the far side.  By an unknown process this led to the Moon being flung across the Universe, taking with it the crew of Moonbase Alpha.

The title to this post is a callback to last year's Breakaway Day post.  This year is the 40th anniversary of the second and final season of Space: 1999.  CBC in Canada aired the first episode of year 2, "The Metamorph," on Saturday, September 18, 1976.  I remember CBC advertising the upcoming season with a clip from "The Metamorph" some time before that date, although I can't remember how far beforehand it was. 

The second season did well enough that further episodes were considered, but ultimately series producers ITC/ATV decided that the lack of a major US network order didn't make future episodes viable. 

Gas In Saskatoon, September 9, 2016.

Better late than never.

A small tick down to report this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 96.4 cents a litre at most locations.  Hopefully a further price drop is on the horizon.

Already Gone.

It's great when your favourite team is in the running for the playoffs, like the Toronto Blue Jays are.  But for fans of other baseball teams they already know their teams won't make it, despite there being just a bit less than a month left in the season.  The teams we already know won't win their divisions are the Minnesota Twins, the Atlanta Braves, the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Cincinnati Reds.  The Oakland As will join the out of it gang either tonight or tomorrow, and several other teams aren't far behind.  The National League Central may have the most anti-climatic ending of all, with the utterly dominant Chicago Clubs having a 15 and a half game lead on the second place St. Louis Cardinals, although the Cards continue to be leading contenders for the National League Wild Card.  The Twins were the first team eliminated from Wild Card contention, and the Braves are probably the next ones out. 

Unintentional Luddite?

Could I actually be considered that?  After all I don't have a cell phone.  Not even a cheapy from a place like 7/11, let alone a fancy smartphone.  So I don't sit on the bus playing games, or texting, which I don't see much point in anyway.  I don't have a Facebook account, although I quite obviously do have sorts of accounts that could fall under the social networking banner.   Can one in fact be a Luddite without deliberate action or philosophical stance?  I don't have some grand opposition to cell phones, just no need to spend the resources needed for one at the moment. 

Gas In Saskatoon, September 2, 2016.

Despite the common expectation that gas prices go up just before a holiday the opposite was the case this week.  Gas in Saskatoon has dropped to 99.4 cents a litre at most locations.  Hopefully it drops some more next week.

Gas In Saskatoon, August 26, 2016.

This week saw us go over the one dollar mark.  Gas dropped to 98.9 cents a litre over the weekend, only to rebound to 103.9 cents a litre.  With a long weekend coming up next week, along with the school year starting, it will be interesting to see if the price goes up again.

A Geography Lesson Shouldn't Be Needed.

This morning I went into an Affinity Credit Union to use the ATM.  As I was going about my business I briefly looked at one of the monitors they have that presents news stories and current stock market information.  It had an Associated Press article about the Olympics, with the location given as Rio de Janeiro, Argentina.   Whoops.  You'd think after all the Olympic reporting it would be pretty hard for anyone to think Rio is Argentina.  Especially someone writing material for a press service. 

Gas In Saskatoon, August 12, 2016.

A mixed bag to  report this week.  At the beginning of the week gas had dropped to 94.4 cents a litre at most locations.  However prices rebounded, and now the price is 100.9 cents a litre at most locations.  Will next week see a similar pingpong?  Stay tuned, or tooned if you prefer.

The Ultimate Betrayal.

For many if not most of us the ultimate betrayal is from our bodies.  No matter how well you treat it sooner or later something will go wrong with it, and there are just so many things that can go wrong. Even if you're very lucky aging will ultimately do you in.  So if you're healthy enjoy it while you can.

The Big Money Rolls In.

Serisouly, I'm going to be rich soon.  Yesterday I made a whole one cent from advertising on the blog.  With revenue like that I'll soon be rolling in it.

Seriously though, if you're thinking blogging is the way to massive riches, it isn't.

Gas In Saskatoon, August 5, 2016.

Not a good week for gas prices in Saskatoon.  The price jumped 10 cents, with most locations now  selling at 98.9 cents a litre. 

Come And Gone.

It rained a lot yesterday in Saskatoon.  It got heavy enough in the evening that a severe rainfall warning was issued.  Yet when I looked out the window this morning after I got up the sidewalks were already pretty much dry, as were the streets.  Chalk it up to this being summer.  If this was fall the water wouldn't be gone anywhere near as quickly, and of course in winter it would have been snow instead of rain, and wouldn't be going anywhere quickly.

I Didn't Install Windows 10.

Yep, last night's deadline came without me putting on my computer.  I didn't see the point of doing so when my computer runs very well with Windows 7.  I also heard more than a few stories of people trying to install it and having major problems with their computers, not something that inspires confidence. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft tries another campaign at a future point to get people to install Windows 10.

Gas In Saskatoon, July 29, 2016.

Despite this being a holiday long weekend the slow downward trend continues.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 88.9 cents a litre at most locations.  I suspect we won't go much longer without a price increase, but I've been wrong before.

An Odd Desire.

For some reason this morning I got the urge to hear the Three's Company theme.  I did see multiple episodes of it when it ran, but it wasn't exactly a favourite of mine. 



The show was a big hit in the '70s and '80s, but by today's standards the premise seems a bit weird.  A man pretends to be gay so he can share a Santa Monica apartment with two women, because the landlord doesn't approve of co-ed living arrangements.  If it had been set in a small town in a more conservative part of the country it would have seemed a bit more believable, but in a city in Los Angeles County? Not to me at least. 

Gas In Saskatoon, July 22, 2016.

It would be nice if Saskatoon gas stations would only change their prices one specific day of the week, but it doesn't work that way.  Friday was the price change day this week, with gas dropping to 90.4 cents a litre at most locations.

Protect Your Brain.

Do not watch the Republican National Convention this week.  The sheer stupidity on display is likely to melt your brain. 

If you're from Cleveland I hope you're off on vacation someplace until it's done.  Or that you have a bomb shelter to hide in.  Definitely stay away from the area around the convention if at all possible.

Who Has The Receipt For 2016?

With the events of the past week, including a murder of a woman and her daughter in Alberta, the mass murder in Nice, France, and now a coup in Turkey, added to all the crap that's already happened it's pretty obvious this 2016 is defective.  Let's return it and get a replacement.

How about we get a hashtag going for this?  #2016isdefective

Gas In Saskatoon, July 15, 2016.

Another drip down to report.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 91.4 cents a litre at most locations.  I wouldn't be surprised if the price drops below 90 cents a litre over the next few days.

I'm Not Good At Math...

...but apparently I'm better at it than Australian politician Pauline Hanson.  Hanson was someone I would have assumed was gone from the Australian political scene, but it seems she's back in the news after Australia's recent election.  Her party got enough votes to secure a seat in the Australian Senate for Hanson, who had some brief popularity back in the '90s.  Like many anti-immigrant types she's latched on to Muslims as the target du jour, claiming that Australia is in danger of being "swamped" by Muslims.  Australia's Muslim population is about 2 percent of the total population.  Yep, they're going to be introducing Sharia Law any day now with that many Muslims.

Hopefully no one will let Hanson do their finances, because with math skills like that she'd probably really screw things up.

800 And Beyond.

It's been a while, but I've finally hit another Where's Willy milestone.  I received my 800th bill hit today.  Getting hits has always been streaky for me so this has taken a while since my last milestone, my 900th hit.  My next target?  1000 hits, which may also take a while, since I'm currently at 953 hits. 

Sploosh.

Saskatoon is under a heavy rainfall warning.  At the moment it's raining quite hard.  Yet, despite the warning and the forecasts for the last few days that said we'd get heavy rain today, I saw quite a few people going about their business today without jackets.  Admittedly it did look for a while this morning that we'd only have cloudy skies, but once the rain kicked it things got very wet very quickly.  I wonder if some of them are the same people who run around with an open jacket when it's -30.

I Ate Too Much Today.

Seriously, I ate a lot today.  It's surprising I can still walk.  Fortunately for me I did do some walking today, and perhaps burned off a tiny little bit of what I ate.  Hopefully I'll eat a bit less tomorrow, but I wouldn't count on it.

Gas In Saskatoon, July 8, 2016.

Just a tiny drop to report this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 93.4 cents a litre at most locations.  Down is down, but a bigger drop would be nice.

Bus Time Machine.

I finally got to ride a bus running under the new Saskatoon Transit route structure.  In a way it was like taking a time machine, since I rode the 18 College Park/University.  A route numbered 18 served our area prior to July of 2006, when the last comprehensive renovation of bus routes took place. 

My judgement on the new routes?  Too early to tell yet.  The actual times haven't changed from the previous Route 3 through College Park, so I catch the bus at the same time I had before.  And I can quickly reach the University of Saskatchewan and the Centre Mall simply by catching the bus on one side of the street or the other.  But now there's no direct route to downtown.  I'll either have to transfer at the Centre or the University to some other bus.  Nor have I had the chance to try some of the new routes, like the route from Centre Mall servicing the Stonebridge area.  But the changes aren't likely to bother me like they have some other bus riders.

Bounce Bounce.

I had my first jackrabbit encounter of the month this morning.  I saw one over on Park Ave.  Given how many I've seen so far this year there must be quite a few living in Saskatoon.  I would imagine the relative lack of predators makes up for the danger of being hit by a vehicle.

Ugh, That Last Post!

I had real problems getting it readable.  But finally it looks right.  Sorry for the annoyance.

Baturday.

You could of course call any Saturday during the Major League Baseball season Baturday(or perhaps it should be Batterday).  But yesterday seemed to especially fit the term.

Directly relevant to Canadian baseball fans was yesterday's 9-6 Blue Jays victory over the Cleveland Indians.  After Friday's 19 inning endurance match, which saw the Indians win in the 19th inning, a high scoring game was probably to be expected.  It ended the Indians franchise record 14 game winning streak.  On the other hand the Indians had something to cheer about in former Blue Jay Rajai Davis hitting for the cycle, the first time an Indians player has done so since 2003.

The biggest bash of the day was of course the Los Angeles Angels putting the beat on to the Boston Red Sox.  I went out to get a snack just before the 7th inning, with the Angels already ahead 9-1.  So I missed most of the top of the 7th, when the Angels scored 11 runs.  Nasty.  And the big heroes in the game were a couple of players you wouldn't have expected.  Albert Pujols having 5 RBI?  No surprise.  But unless you're an Angels fan you probably aren't familiar with C.J. Cron and Carlos Perez.  Yet Cron went 6 for 6, including 2 home runs, and earned 5 RBIs.  Perez went 5 for 6 and generated 6 RBIs.  Had Perez gone 6 for 6 it would have been the first time 2 players on the same team had gone 6 for 6 since the 1920s.  Perez also managed to increase his batting average 20 points if I'm not mistaken.  And to add insult to injury the Angels are not a good team this year, sitting 15 games below .500 even with yesterday's win.  John Farrell called Boston's performance embarrassing.

The weak beating the strong was also a theme in other games.  The lowly Minnesota Twins, at a dismal 26-54, beat the 52-30 Texas Rangers 17-5.  The wimpy Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins 9-1.  Atlanta's currently 28-53, while the Marlins are 5 games over .500.  And the Cincinnati Reds beat the National League East leading Washington Nationals 9-4, the Reds being another team who are a long way from .500.

Not all the games were big hitting affairs.  The closest was the San Diego Padres(another team with a seriously losing record) beating the Yankees 2-1 with a walk off home run by Melvin Upton Jr.  But you still have to wonder what was in the Gatorade  around the league yesterday.

Interestingly Toronto was the only American League East team to win yesterday.  So thank you to the Angels and the rest for helping them out.

Gas In Saskatoon, July 1, 2016.

This may be a holiday long weekend in Saskatoon, but gas prices didn't jump up this week as many would have expected.  In fact they actually went down.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 95.9 cents a litre at most locations.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Brexit turmoil pre-empted any jump up in price.

It's Canada Day.

So make sure you do something Canada related.  Go to Tim Hortons or buy some maple syrup.  Watch the Blue Jays game that's just about to start as I write this, or one of the CFL games later this evening.  Listen to some Oscar Peterson or Rush.  Even looking at some Canadian flag pictures would be acceptable.

It Feels Like Friday.

Knowing tomorrow is a holiday makes tonight feel like a Friday night.  Listening to the Riders-Argos game adds to the feeling.  And of course it's the last day of the month as well.

Gas In Saskatoon, June 24, 2016.

A nice gas price to report this Friday.  Since the last entry the price of gas has slowly crept down.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 98.4 cents a litre at most locations.  However next Friday is Canada Day, so a lot of people expect the price of gas to go up by then.

You'll Never Read Them.

I was thinking about comments I've made to various websites over the years.  I think some of them are the best things I've written online, often better than the things that get posted here.  But you'll never read them unless you happen to visit those websites.  I guess I need to up my game here.

Gas In Saskatoon, June 17, 2016.

After last week's big jump the price of gas in Saskatoon has trickled back down.  As of today gas in Saskatoon is 108.4 cents a litre at most locations.  Hopefully it will continue to go down.

Not Quite Who They Want.

In recent years there's been a lot of talk about getting more people to live in downtown Saskatoon.  This morning I saw a possible resident of the downtown area that isn't quite who they'd want to move in.  It was a jackrabbit, running down the sidewalk on 3rd Avenue.  Apparently it was a smart jackrabbit, since they weren't in the middle of the street.  Wherever he was going I hope he didn't get run over. 

Gas In Saskatoon, June 10, 2016.

Another week of topsy turvy gas prices to report.  At the beginning of the week gas had dropped to 107.4 cents a litre.  But yesterday saw a 10 cent jump, with gas hitting 117.9 cents a litre.  In mid January it was at just under the 80 cent mark.

Of course if you looked at the right stations it seemed as if the price of gas was zero cents a litre for part of the week.  Petro Canada stations had their pumps shut down due to lack of fuel deliveries, the result of problems at Suncor's Edmonton refinery   So their gas price signs displayed a price of zero cents a litre.  I bet at least one driver tried to fill up at one of those stations, thinking he could actually get free gas.

That Jose Cuervo Ad.

I don't know where else it airs, but you've probably seen it multiple times if you watch Canadian TV.  It revolves around the Rolling Stones' 1972 tour.  The music in the ad?  "Miss You."

Which was released in 1978, on the album Some Girls.

I find that annoying.  If you can get the rights to a Stones tune why wouldn't you use one heard in 1972?  Apparently the ad agency that created it, McCann, figured one '70s Stones tune was as good as another. 

I doubt Mick and Keith care, since they'll get paid for it.  But I personally find it kind of annoying.

Gas In Saskatoon, June 3, 2016.

Friday was not a good day to buy gas in Saskatoon.  By Thursday the price had dropped to 101.9 cents a litre.  But Friday saw a large jump to 111.9 cents a litre at most locations.  This may be attributable to a shutdown of Suncor's Edmonton refinery, which provides gas to Petro-can stations in Western Canada, and those stations are expected to have shortages.

Gas In Saskatoon, May 27, 2016.

The last Friday of May saw the price of gas go up.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 105.9 cents a litre at most locations.  With oil now above 50 dollars a barrel as a result of the Fort McMurray fires this isn't a big surprise. 

Back From Beyond.

It seems my Googlefu needs some work.  After a long, long absence webcomic artist Sage Leaves has returned from parts unknown.  Blip is once more being updated, although very slowly, and the archive of past strips is reappearing.  So if you were reading the series go over there and take a look around.

Gas In Saskatoon, May 20, 2016.

This afternoon was not a good time to fill up your car in Saskatoon.  Gas jumped to 101.9 cents a litre after having dropped to 94.4 cents a litre at the beginning of the week.  Since it's Victoria Day weekend people are not surprisingly blaming this for the price increase.

New Toasters...

...are kind of a pain in the ass.  You have to tinker with them to figure out how to cook stuff to the level you like.  And modern toasters tend to make that a bit more complicated than the old ones.

Waterloo, Ontario Region Cat Fans...

...there's an older cat looking for a home in your area.  Maybe you can help out.

Gas In Saskatoon, May 13, 2016.

Another pingpong week to report, and not in a good way.  At the beginning of the week gas dropped to 89.4 cents a litre.  But Thursday it took a large jump to 98.9 cents a litre at most locations.  A further increase to past the one dollar mark next week won't be much of a surprise. 

One Simple Thing Not To Do.

There's a recipe floating around at the moment for making "Bernie Sanders glowsticks."  If you've actually seen this do NOT attempt it.  The result won't be a homemade glowstick, but a chlorine bomb.  Chlorine gas can kill.  Don't make it.

Whoever posted it originally should be charged with something.

More Competition.

Last year it was announced that Save-On-Foods would be entering the Saskatoon market.  At the time I speculated the first one might be in Saskatoon's new Brighton neighbourhood.  This week signs advertising Brighton went up along the far end of College Drive, with one listing businesses that will be built within.  One of them is Save-On-Foods.

It will be nice to have some more competition in the market.  Safeway and Sobeys now have their sales prices synchronised, so products they both offer are on sale at the same time, reducing the change of finding a specific product on sale when you might go shopping.  Perhaps Save-On will carry some products the existing chains in the Saskatoon market don't, and it will be interesting to compare things like bakery products to what can be found here at the moment. 

But don't go running out to check it out just yet.  A Regina Leader Post article covering the opening of the first Regina Save-On-Foods on April 1 states the first Saskatoon location won't open until 2017.  That seems likely, since Brighton is in the early stages of things like roads being put in.  I suspect even opening for the Christmas 2016 season isn't likely, and probably we'll have to wait until March or April of 2017.

Gas In Saskatoon, May 6, 2016.

A small tick down to report this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 92.4 cents a litre at most locations.  However, I suspect the price will soon be going up due to the ongoing forest fire crisis in the Fort McMurray, Alberta  region.  Even if most oil production is unaffected the gas companies will probably use the fires as an excuse for raising prices.

Heavy Sleeper?

I don't think of myself as one, but apparently I was last night.  There was a brief shower sometime overnight, including at least one crack of thunder, but it didn't wake me up.  Too bad, as I would have liked to see if there was any lightning.

We need more than a short shower, however.  Conditions here are dry, leading to grass fires and poor conditions for planting crops.  The current forecast calls for a 60 percent chances of showers on Monday, but even that could do with improvement.  Got any rain to spare?

Ted Quits.

Too bad he couldn't drag The Donald away with him.

(And in case you visit, no, Ted, I'm not giving you a tag.)

Get Filling Those Forms!

In case you've forgotten it's tax time in Canada.  The deadline for most of us is midnight tonight.  They even gave us an extra two days this year, since April 30 was a Saturday.  So if you haven't done so  yet, you'd better break out the forms and get scribbling.

A Song For Today.

Here is a song appropriate for today.  Well, the title is at least.  Warning, it mentions cat kicking.



I'm sure most of you can figure out who Ronnie is. But Connie? That would be Konstantin Chernenko. If you remember who he is you're old like me.

Gas In Saskatoon, April 29, 2016.

Back over the 90 cent mark.  Gas in Saskatoon jumped to 96.9 cents a litre earlier this week before dropping to 94.4 cents a litre at most locations today.  I wouldn't be surprised to see a jump to just over the one buck mark within the next month or so.

Gas In Saskatoon, April 22, 2016.

The price of gas continues to wander around.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 89.9 cents a litre at most locations.

How They Got There.

One of the TV broadcasts on my current slate is Masterchef Canada.  While trying to find out who won last night's episode(CTV started airing Quantico early and cut off the end) I came across the application requirements for the currently running season.  Talk about a lot of work, and you might not even get close to being on the show.  I assume other reality competition shows have similar requirements.  After all the last thing you want is your winner to turn out to be a career criminal who ends up in jail, or learn that they're a wringer with an unfair advantage over other contestants.  The process is probably also intended to discourage people from applying on a whim, and causing the producers trouble when they decide they really don't want to take part.  It would be interesting to know how many entries they get, and how many of them are rejected without ever getting near being seen on TV.

Rabbit Time.

It had been a while since I saw a rabbit in Saskatoon.  But my stretch of not seeing any was broken when I was on East Drive today.  He still had a bit of white on his behind from his winter coat.  Hopefully he didn't run into the cat I saw soon after.  A patient enough cat might catch a rabbit, and I'm not sure a rabbit would recognise one as an enemy without experience.  On the other hand a jackrabbit might be able to injure a cat.

Gas In Saskatoon, April 15, 2016.

Gas has passed the 90 cents mark again.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 91.4 cents a litre at most locations. 

It Never Ends.

I'm just about to go out and buy a few grocery items.  This whole eating thing sure requires time and money, doesn't it?  And you can never get away from it.

I'm Not At My Physical Best, But.

I've got some annoyances that come with being a bit overweight and getting older.  But sometimes my body surprises me in a good way. 

(This one gets labelled as a cryptic statement because I probably won't remember the specific reason I wrote this a couple years down the line.)

Gas In Saskatoon, April 8, 2016.

A small drop to report this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 85.9 cents a litre at most locations.  I won't make a guess at what direction it will go next, as I can see it going either way.

Robin, No Batman.

I just saw my first robin of the year.  I'd heard a few recently, but hadn't actually seen one.

It Definitely Could Have Been Worse.

It must be a bit worrying living by a major intersection.  The thought must regularly come to mind that your building will be hit by an idiot driver.  This morning there was an example of this at Saskatoon's Acadia Drive and 14th Street intersection.  The apartment building there was hit by a minivan about 7 AM.  As you can see by the pictures the van ended up wedged into the building.  Amazingly the driver got out and ran away.  He was followed by a bystander, who tracked him all the way to the Centre Mall several blocks away, where the driver was apprehended by mall security.  Several charges have been laid, and Saskatoon Police say speed and alcohol were involved.

The accident could have been worse.  The basement apartment located where the van hit was empty.  The driver was alone in the vehicle.  And he managed not to hit any other vehicle passing through.  Potential targets could have included Saskatoon Transit buses 3 and 5, which pass through that intersection around that time, depending on how on schedule they are.(I was riding 3 several winters ago when it was t-boned there by a car unable to stop on ice in the intersection.)

This is not the first time this building has been hit.  An accident years ago led to damage to another basement suite.  Perhaps the owners are going to have to consider installing some sort of posts or other barriers so it doesn't happen again.

Caramel.

Delicious on ice cream.  But a sticky problem if you pour too much on and it starts to overflow the bowl.

Dark Horses.

It's amazing how narrow the focus of the US media is regarding this year's election.  With their fixation on Bernie, the Donald, Hilary Clinton and Ted "I wanna star in a teen tit film" Cruz they're ignoring the other candidates for President.

How many, you ask?  Why, some 1669, to be exact.  (Please note that some of them have names that may be NSFW if your workplace is particularly snoopy.)  Why doesn't the media give us some more details on these guys and gals?  One of them may turn out to be the best President the US has ever had.  But you won't know unless you get to know them, and that's not happening right now.

Time To Vote.

Well, it will be in a hour.  For some reason they decided to open the polls at 9 AM.  In any case if you can vote in today's Saskatchewan provincial election please do so.  Of course you might be one of the 100 thousand some voters who've voted in advanced polls, so you've already done your duty.  And remember, if you don't vote please don't complain about the results.  Especially when you have a lot of choices this time around.

Gas In Saskatoon, April 1, 2016.

Some things are worth joking about.  Gas prices?  Probably not.  In any case gas dropped this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 89.4 cents a litre at most locations.

Gas In Saskatoon, March 25, 2016.

Many people believe that the price of gas goes up before a long weekend.  I'm not convinced, but this week would confirm such beliefs.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 92.9 cents a litre at most locations.  I doubt anyone will be surprised if we're over a buck a litre within the next month or so.

The Truth Is...

...you don't want to go to Toronto.

The Nightmare Lottery Scenario.

I was just checking the numbers for the Saturday Western 6/49 draw to see if I would have won anything if I would have played my usual numbers.  I wouldn't have.(Not that I had a ticket of any sort.)  But it made me wonder if anyone has ever experience the nightmare scenario:  You look at the lottery numbers, and find out that if you had played your set of numbers that draw you would have won the grand prize.  Of course I'm thinking about a lottery like the Lotto 6/49 or the American Powerball lottery, where you have to get 5, 6, or more numbers to win millions of dollars.  Given the odds of winning such lotteries are in the millions to one the odds of not playing your numbers when they would have won should be identical.  

Gas In Saskatoon, March 18, 2016.

A minor drop to report.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 84.4 cents a litre at most locations.  But with the price of oil going up I expect we'll slowly see it rise to the 90 cent mark before long.

Fading Out.

If you've been paying attention to coverage of the death of Keith Emerson you probably know by now that he committed suicide.  This was apparently prompted by health problems in his hands that were increasingly effecting his ability to play.  Emerson had problems in the early '90s, but seemed to have gotten past them.  But that was 20 years ago, when he was 50.

It made me think of this Rush song, one of their lesser known pieces, from 1982's album Signals.  Ironically Rush themselves are currently trying to figure out their future as health problems make the rigours of touring hard on Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart.  We're going to be seeing this hit more and more rockers in the next few years. 

Gas In Saskatoon, March 11, 2016.

The price of oil is creeping back up, and with it the price of gas as well.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 86.9 cents a litre.  One station did try to push the price over 90 cents today, but it didn't catch on.  But if it goes up next week I won't be surprised.

Another One Passes.

Yet another rock musician from the '60s and '70s has died.  Keith Emerson was 71.  Emerson first came to public attention with the band The Nice before forming Emerson, Lake, and Palmer with bassist Greg Lake and drummer Carl Palmer in 1970.  Although the instrument had already been used on pop recordings Emerson was an early advocate for synthesizers in rock music, touring with a Moog modular synthesizer from the band's earliest appearances. ELP were successful for a number of years, but were often the whipping boys for the excesses of the progressive rock genre they were one of the biggest bands in.  After their breakup in 1979 Emerson would go on to do a number of film soundtracks, such as for Sylvester Stallone's 1981 thriller Nighthawks.  He would reunite with Lake in Emerson, Lake, and Powell in 1986, with Palmer in 3 in 1989, and with a reunited ELP in 1991.

In tribute here's the title cut from their second album, Tarkus. 

VROOM!

I saw someone driving a motorcycle this morning.  Definitely not the kind of thing you normally see during the first half of March in Saskatoon.

"I Heard The News Today."

There is probably nothing novel I can add to the stream of stories and tributes you'll see today.  But there is no way I could let the death of veteran record producer George Martin pass without acknowledgement.  Along with figures such as Sam Phillips and Berry Gordy it's fair to say the musical world would be a much different place, and my life with it, without him.  Without Martin's open mind and creativity the Beatles would likely have been a much lesser group than they became.

But Martin did more than produce the Beatles.  He produced numerous comedy records in the 1950s and '60s, including for British comedy greats such as Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan.  He worked with numerous pop and rock musicians, including the Beatles' Liverpool contemporaries Gerry and the Pacemakers, '70s soft rockers America, and jazz saxophonist Paul Winter.  He also had connections to the James Bond films, producing the theme song to Goldfinger, and scoring Live and Let Die. 

The past few months have not been good for the world of pop and rock music, with several prominent figures dying.  Hopefully this is the last such death we'll see for a long time to come.

Listen To Her.

I heard this Johnny Cash classic on the radio this morning.  Too bad more Americans don't listen to the kind of advice Bill's mom gave.

Gas In Saskatoon, March 4, 2016.

Last week's post indicated that gas was probably going to be 84.9 cents a litre at most locations by day's end.  That turned out to be the case.  That was followed early this week by a drop, to 77.4 cents a litre.  But that drop did not last long.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 84.9 cents a litre at most locations.  Yep, exactly where it was last Friday.  Why?  Don't ask me.

A Night Quandry.

There are times I don't want to go to sleep at night.  It just seems like time wasted.  Then there are times when I want to go to sleep, but can't sleep worth a damn.  Too bad things like that don't get in synch. 

A Rare Hit.

A nice surprise in the e-mail today.  I received a Where's Willy hit.  Getting a hit on February 29 is always going to be rare, especially when you have a hit rate like mine.  A quick check indicates I didn't get one for February 29, 2012. 

The day is still young.  Perhaps I'll get another hit.

Bonus Day.

I hope you enjoy our extra day this year.  It doesn't actually add any more time to your life,  but having a February 29 every four years is fun.  It's all about keeping events on our solar based calendar in line with the actual passage of time. 

Gas In Saskatoon, February 26, 2016.

Gas prices in Saskatoon seem to be in flux at the moment.  Earlier this week most locations dropped their price to 74.9 cents a litre.  However this afternoon several locations on 8th Street had jumped back up to 84.9 cents a litre again.  Which price will hold true?  Stay tuned.

Target: Looking Back A Year Later.

Via Randy McDonald here's Canadian Business magazine's look at the Target Canada disaster a year later.  For American visitors not familiar with the story Target Canada set up shop in Canada in 2013, with the first stores opening in March.  By the beginning of 2015 Target Canada was 2.1 billion dollars in the red, with no prospect of profits until 2021, and the decision was made to shutter all 133 stores.  The article elaborates on what we already knew about Target Canada's problems, such as poor product distribution and what could be considered an overambitious expansion plan.

You Are Hungry.

Of late I've been getting an uptick of hits on a post I wrote in 2009 about the disappearance of the Cadbury/Neilson Malted Milk chocolate bar.  That seems to happen every once in a while.  I wonder what it is that suddenly leads people to be thinking about that classic again.  Taking a look around this morning it seems some people think it's still available, but it's definitely not listed on the Cadbury Canada webpage.

Of course now I've got some of you thinking about it who hadn't in a long time.

A Foolish Machine.

I was just out running a couple of errands.  At one point I ended up parked by a Harley Davidson model Ford F150 truck.  I didn't know there had been such a thing.  On the other hand I can easily imagine who'd buy one, someone with more money than sense, as I'm sure they paid a premium to buy it over a similar normally branded F150. 

Hey, Bellator!

Do not let Mike Tyson do colour commentary, or whatever the hell it was he did tonight, ever again.  It was awful. 

Do not have a Kimbo Slice-Dada 5000 rematch.  That fight was awful, a complete and utter joke.  I probably could have won against them simply by getting them to chase me around the ring for a couple of minutes.

Do not have a Royce Gracie-Ken Shamrock rematch.  Shamrock looked bad tonight, even if he probably got hosed by the ref missing Gracie's knee to the groin.  Your "Night of the Living Dead" fight strategy just makes you look desperate for content.

Gas In Saskatoon, February 19, 2016.

Rather a nasty shock for drivers in Saskatoon this week.  The price of gas took an entirely unexpected jump of 20 cents a litre.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 84.9 cents a litre at most locations.  It's been a long time since we've seen such a jump, and hopefully it won't be followed by a similar jump next week.

Gas In Saskatoon, February 12, 2016.

Another drop to report.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 64.4 cents a litre at most locations.  A drop below 60 cents in the next while won't surprise me one bit.

A Bunch Of Sickies.

That's me and my parents over the last few days.  Mom caught some sort of flu, then Dad caught it, then me.  I had just about no appetite on Sunday, and had trouble staying awake at times.  I wonder if this is going around Saskatoon at the moment.  Fortunately for some Saskatoon residents I've spent the last couple of days at home, so they won't be catching it from me.

Crackdown On Vice.

If I ever needed more incentive to cut down on my consumption of sugary crap now I've got it.  The prices of some of the donuts and cookies I eat have gone up.  I suspect other junk food will soon follow.  So I should really stop buying it, and save myself a bit of money every week.  I could also do to lose a pound or ten.

Interesting Visitors.

I saw some interesting visitors to Saskatoon today.  First was a train heading along the train tracks by Warman Road.  One of the locomotives was unmarked, painted in a mustard colour.  The other was in the markings of the Central Kansas Railway.  Oddly the Central Kansas Railway no longer exists, having become part of the Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad in 2001.  A phantom train?  No, more likely the current owners never bothered to repaint it.  I'm not a railway buff, but after doing a little research I'm guessing it's probably used by the Carlton Trail Railway, which in the past has operated several ex-Kansas Central Railway engines. 

The other interesting visitors, if they actually are visitors, was a flock of Canada geese.  There were at least 15 or 20 of them, which is not something you normally see at this time of year.  Perhaps they know something about the upcoming finale to winter we don't.

No Theme Song Today.

Imagine what it would be like to have a blog that presented a piece of music as a theme song for every day of the year.  I know a lot of music, but I doubt I could come up with something every day.  Even if I did I suspect I'd repeat myself after a couple of months.

But if you think this is a cool idea for a blog/tumblr/what have you go for it.

Today's Theme Song.

Last week's weather in Saskatoon was nice, with temperatures reaching above freezing.  However that led to melting, and as a result ice when the water refroze.  In the last 12 hours we've had some light snow.  So it's likely to be quite slippery today, both on roads and sidewalks.  So take care.

Will Nikki Be Happy Or Unhappy?

It's really hard to say.  One of the things that defined the character of Nikki Wong on the Fresh TV cartoon series 6teen was her skepticism towards consumerism.  So it's hard to say how she'd react to the news that Toronto's Galleria Mall is probably going to be demolished, replaced by a condo development.  In the series a namesake mall is the centre of most of the action, other than the occasional scene elsewhere, and the place that Nikki and the other characters hang out.  Of course the fictional Galleria Mall is the kind of place you might want to hang out, while the real one is old and past it. On the other hand Nikki might not approve of yet another generic condo building popping up in an increasingly crowded skyline.  In any case if you're in Toronto, or visiting it, and you're a 6teen fan  you might want to stop in for a visit, while you have the chance.  At the very least you can check out Randy McDonald's pictures of Galleria at the link above.

Gas In Saskatoon, January 29, 2016.

Just a tiny tick down to report this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 69.4 cents a litre at most locations.  Small decline it may be, but it's still below the 70 cents a litre level.

And Speaking Of Dumbdumbs....

In the interest of fairness I must mention the other Republican Party frontrunner, Ted Cruz.  Sorry, Americans, he's yours.  Canada will not be taking him back, no matter how much he, or you, beg.  Besides, Calgary currently has a Muslim mayor, which should be more than sufficient to keep Cruz away from his birthplace.

And sorry, Rafael, you're not getting a tag just yet.

Shameless Using The Shameless.

Blog traffic has been down lately.  Perhaps the kind of people who come across this blog are on their winter vacations.  After considering this another factor came to mind.  I've been remiss in mentioning Donald Trump.  After all Donald Trump is the most important man in the Universe.  Just ask Donald Trump.(I'm sure someone will be disappointed that writing his name 3 times didn't make him appear in my room, like Beetlejuice.)  But what could I write that would distinguish my post from the zillions of other Donald Trump posts?  I could claim something like "Donald Trump wants to ban pancakes."  But that would make me a big fat liar, just like Donald Trump.

In all seriousness, you are a big dumb dumbdumb if you vote for Donald Trump.

Donald Trump, if you are reading this, no, I will not write a bunch of posts about you.  Even if you offer me lots of money.  Well, okay, maybe if it's no strings attached.  Like that would happen.

And to my surprise I actually have a Donald Trump tag. That should make The Donald happy..

This episode of Shameless Hit Mongering is brought to you by the letter D.  And the letter T.

Did It Ever Open?

I got a bit of a surprise today.  It had been a while since I walked down 2nd Avenue.  Passing by the building at 120 Second Avenue North I noticed a notice on the door.  Dating from mid December it advised that the building had been deemed unsafe by city inspectors. 

This building has had restaurants of various sorts in the lower level forever, such as the Greek restaurant Olympia.  The most recent occupant had been an Italian restaurant, Bottega, but it closed up sometime in 2015.  The space had been under renovation, and was supposed to reopen as the Oak and Iron.  Anyone know if it did?  I never saw any indication it did, but I may have missed it if it wasn't open long before the forced closure of the building.  The upstairs of the building has been occupied by The Heights bar.

It seems odd that whatever the problems the building has hadn't been spotted before December given how much work has been done.  You'd think they would have had inspectors in during construction who would have spotted something.  I would imagine there's a real financial mess building up around this, which may make the local news sooner or later.

Gas In Saskatoon, January 22, 2016

Last week I speculated we would see gas prices in the 70 cent a litre range this year.  Instead of this year, try this week.  Gas in Saskatoon has dropped to 70.4 cents a litre at most locations.  Could it reach 60 cents a litre? It wouldn't surprise me one bit.

Balmy.

Canadians have a stereotype/urban legend about Americans.  The idea is that large numbers of Americans think Canada is covered with snow and ice 365 days a year, that it's permanently winter up here.  I use the term urban legend because people will tell you someone they know encountered or saw Americans coming into Canada in the middle of July, expecting to engage in winter sports.  One I heard was someone seeing an American car with downhill skies on the roof.

In reality winter weather isn't even the same across Canada.  It varies considerably on where you live.  If you visit Vancouver in January you won't see lots of ice and snow unless they had bad weather come through.  Daytime temperatures are usually around freezing or higher.  Winnipeg on the other hand is well known for its cold winters, with stories about the horrible winds swirling around its major downtown intersection Portage and Main.

And of course the weather varies from day to day.  Last Friday the daytime low in Saskatoon was -28 degrees Celsius, the daytime high -17.  And that led into a weekend where the daytime high didn't break -24.  Today's predicted high?  0, the freezing point.  A wonderful temperature for the late part of January, when the temperatures are often their coldest of the winter.  AS I write this the temperature is -7, which would make a nice daytime high itself. 

A typical Saskatoon summer day might reach 30 degrees Celsius.  Which is 86 degrees Fahrenheit, American readers.  So the only skies you should be bringing are water skies.

Is Your Car Running?

You might want to go check.  My dad went out this afternoon, and forgot to turn off his car when he got home.  It ran for a couple of hours before he realised it.  Fortunately no one came along and took advantage, but conversely apparently no one else on the street noticed it running and warned him.  In a way it might actually be a good thing given how cold it is in Saskatoon today.

Gas In Saskatoon, January 15, 2016.

The first entry in the series for 2016 sees a price drop.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 79.4 cents a litre at most locations.

Where will Saskatoon gas prices go in 2016?  Given some of the reports about where the price of oil will go this year gas prices in the 70 cent a litre range would not be a surprise.  Imagine telling someone that five years ago, they  would have thought you were deluded.

Did You Win The Powerball?

I know I didn't, not having a ticket and all.  But I apparently did win a free ticket on the Canadian Western 6/49 draw last night.  The top prize for that lottery is only 2 million bucks, but the odds are a lot better, only 14 million to 1 or so.  If you did win part of the big Powerball prize, and want to give some to a random stranger I'm more than willing to take it.

Congratulations, Evakatrina A.

You were apparently the first person to get a video onto YouTube of this morning's demolition of the Traffic Bridge in Saskatoon.  For those not familiar with its story here's the Wikipedia entry.

I watched it live on TV, instead of going out and freezing my ass off on the Broadway Bridge.  A couple of seconds after the demolition I heard a loud booming sound way over here in the East College Park neighbourhood.  Coincidence, or the actual sound of the dropped spans hitting the water?  I didn't hear that sound on Shaw's feed.

Our Definitions Vary.

During my travels today I noticed an ad on the electronic signboard at 33rd Street and Idylwyld.  It congratulated Stephen Harper for "Ten Years of Excellence."  A quick check indicates the same sign has been seen in Edmonton and Calgary.  Apparently whoever is behind the sign has a different definition of excellence than I do.  The signs give no indication who had them put up, but I wonder if it might be Jim Pattison, since they appeared on electronic signs owned by his advertising company.

One Of Many Examples...

...why, as cute as they are, I'm glad I don't have a pet cat. 

Welcome To 2016.

We made it. 

It's kind of weird to think about living in 2016.  Once upon a time this was decades away for someone like me.  Yet now here I am, living in The Future(tm).   It's not the one we expected.  The world is different in so many ways that younger folks can't comprehend directly.  Yet much remains that would be recognisable to someone transported from say 1986 to now. 

Hopefully this will be a better year than 2015 for anyone reading this.  Unless you're evil, of course.