Bulky.

I don't know how long it had been since I last weighed myself, but I decided it was well past due this morning.  I wasn't surprised that I've put on some weight, but not as much as I thought.  I'm planning on cutting down on some of my unnecessary eating in 2018, but I've still got some Christmas goodies around to munch on. 

The Right One.

I entered my last bill of the year into Where's Willy this morning.  Appropriately it was a 2017 $10.  They were issued in 2017 as part of the commemoration of Canada's 150th birthday.  So far I've entered 27 bills from this series, and have 2 hits on them.

Gas In Saskatoon, December 29, 2017.

The last entry of the year sees some price relief.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 107.9 cents a litre at most locations.  Will the first price change of 2018 be down or up?  Stay tuned.

Don't Freeze.

Seriously, if you're in Saskatoon don't be one of those mindless sheep who has to be at Bestbuy for its 6 AM opening.  No piece of consumer junk is worth freezing your butt off for hours on end at minus 30.  And I'm sure someone is getting ready to get in line even as I write this, so they can be first.

That Smell.

No, not the Lynyrd Skynyrd tune.  Rather the lovely smell of turkey is getting stronger.  It's nice to have turkey for Christmas.  So, I might be making you hungry.  On the other hand if you don't like eating creatures I might be making you less hungry.

Amazing.

A Fight Network ad break that doesn't include a Dr. Ho pain relief ad.

Yes, I've been watching Fight Network a lot the last while.

Last Presents.

For Christmas my mom gave me a t shirt and a pair of pants purchased at Sears.  These will be the last gifts I received that were purchased at Sears, as Sears Canada is going out of business, the stores currently well into their final liquidation sales.  Back in December of 2014 I mused whether that might be Sears last Christmas in Canada.  I was only off by three years.  Yet another victim of the changing retail market.

Mocking The Clickbait 11: Wanna Date?

5 Psychological Traits of EliteSingles Men.

My guess is that one of them is that they're arrogant enough to think they're an "EliteSingle," but I doubt that's one of the ones they list.  It's generally not a good idea to insult your customers.(Unless of course you're trying to sell something to specific people who like that kind of thing.)

Glad To Stay Home.

Barring a major emergency I have to reason to leave the house.  I'm very glad, because it's horribly cold today.  It's currently minus 29 C. with an extreme cold warning in effect because of the wind chill.  Daytime highs are supposed to stay below the minus 20 mark for the rest of the week.  This will be the coldest Christmas period in several years.  Last year's daytime high for December 25 was -14.6, balmy by comparison to today's predicted -24. 

Wind does make a difference to what a cold day feels like.  Minus 29 with a wind feels nastier than minus 29 with no wind. 

What I'm going to do tomorrow remains to be seen.  I had some plans, but this weather makes them somewhat more difficult to pull off than it would if it were warmer. 

Christmas Eve On A Sunday.

I went out a couple of times today, and surprisingly it didn't seem much busier than any other Sunday.  I was at Centre Mall during the lunch hour, and while it was busy it didn't seem like a Christmas Eve shopping day.  Perhaps it got busier as the afternoon progressed.  I just came back from the 8th Street Real Canadian Superstore, and it too didn't seem extra busy.  Of course it was busy, simply because that store is always busy in the afternoon, no matter what day it is.

Hopefully if you had to do some shopping today it wasn't a madhouse.

Gas In Saskatoon, December 22, 2017.

Someone definitely deserves a lump of coal in their stocking.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 112.9 cents a litre at most stations.  It jumped up twice this week after being  at 98.9 cents on Monday.  So for every 10 litres a driver puts in their vehicle they're paying an extra $1.40 compared to Monday. 

Another Blip.

It's alive!  There's actually been an update to Blip this month.  Hopefully this is a sign we're going to see more soon.

Brown Christmas.

That's what appears to be in store for Saskatoon.  After several weeks where the temperature frequently came close to or went above freezing it's getting colder.  But that cold weather apparently isn't  bringing any snow.  So all the patches where the snow melted away will remain uncovered.  So don't expect to make snowmen or what have you if you're visiting Saskatoon for Christmas this year.

A Cooking Tip.

If you're making Puritan Beef Stew try throwing some frozen peas in when you start heating it up.  They seem to work pretty good for me when I use them.

Gas In Saskatoon, December 15, 2017.

There's a bit of relief to report.  Most Saskatoon stations are now selling gas at 101.9 cents a litre.  Hopefully the decline will continue next week.

Oldies.

I was just doing some cleaning, and in a bag of random stuff I found a couple of Radio Shack brand AAA batteries.  Since the now defunct Circuit City purchased the Canadian outlets of Radio Shack in 2004 those batteries had to be at least 13 years old.  I suspect they were older than that.

No Endorsement Offer Forthcoming.

It was reported over the weekend that Donald Trump, along with his already known overfondness for McDonalds food, drinks as much as a 12 pack of Diet Coke daily.  That's a lot of caffeine a day, which might explain his early morning Twitter blasts.  He probably doesn't sleep much, and might be edgy at times.  It's probably worse if he drinks any amount of coffee.  He probably has to make a lot of trips to the bathroom as well.

Even if he wasn't as unpopular as he is I doubt Coca Cola would be offering him an endorsement offer.  "The Drink of Presidents" might work if he drank a can or two a day, but not a dozen.

Gas In Saskatoon, December 8, 2017.

So much for declining prices.  Gas in Saskatoon jumped to 106.9 cents a litre today.  Hopefully it won't go up more next week.

Let's Buy The Blue Jays!

In case you hadn't heard Rogers is thinking about selling the Toronto Blue Jays. If they actually do put it up for sale why don't we buy it?  I can probably put up a couple hundred bucks.  You've probably got a billion or two lying around, right?  Know someone who does?  Maybe we could start a GoFundMe page.  It can't be that hard to scrape together 2 billion dollars.

To be slightly more serious I wonder who would buy a Canadian market MLB team.  Perhaps Rogers Centre will be Loblaws Dome in a couple of years.  Or Jim Pattison Group could decide a baseball team would be a nice addition to its portfolio.

I Want A Cut!

This fall we've seen a couple of revivals of old TV series.  Back from the '70s is S.W.A.T.  The series has done well enough that it's been given a full season of episodes by CBS.  So if there's a market for '70s revivals here's my suggestion: Quincy, M.E., with Gilbert Gottfried as Quincy.  If you've ever seen the original you might guess why.  So if you read this, Gilbert, and go for it I want  a cut of the profits.

Reverse From Expected.

Tim Hortons dominates the take out coffee business in Canada.  There are more than 3500 outlets in Canada, and that number continues to grow.  So it's kind of odd to think of one shutting down, but that's exactly what happened to one of Saskatoon's Hortons.  Driving by on the weekend I noticed that the sign had been removed from the front of the store at 8th Street and Acadia Drive.  A visit this morning proved my suspicions were correct.  A small sign announced it was permanently closed as of December 1st, and there was someone who was removing chairs from the restaurant. 

This was one of the oldest Hortons locations in Saskatoon.  I'm not sure if it was the first, but it was definitely amongst the first.  In a way it's surprising it stayed around this long, as another Hortons is a short walk away at 8th Street and Moss.  The store was renovated a few years ago, but apparently that wasn't enough.  One of the disadvantages it had was that it had no drive through, unlike other stand alone Hortons.  The one on Moss Avenue does, meaning it generates a lot more revenue.  On the other hand I could imagine a Hortons kiosk going into the nearby Centre mall at some point, as it would be unlikely to steal customers from the 8th and Moss outlet.

At the moment the Tim Hortons website lists 26 Saskatoon stores, but one of those is the one that just closed. 

Gas In Saskatoon, December 1, 2017.

We've gone back below the dollar a litre mark.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 98.4 cents a litre at most stations.  Hopefully the downward trend will continue.

Blogger Ate My Post.

Never had that happen before.

Operator error?  What operator error?