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.