Gas In Saskatoon, December 27, 2018.

Our last entry of the year sees another price drop.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 97.9 cents a litre at most locations.  But enjoy it while it lasts.  Alberta may reduce its oil output to drive up prices, which will probably lead to an increase in gas price whether it actually has a direct effect or not.

I first started regularly reporting the price of gas in Saskatoon in September of 2008.  On September 12th of that month gas was 145.9 cents a litre.  At the time people were speculating how long it would be before we saw 2 buck a litre gas.  But that 145.9 cent mark has yet to be surpassed here.

Really Big Spender.

The day after Christmas is known as Boxing Day in Canada.  It's become one of the big shopping days of the year in most of the country, with everyone out to spend their Christmas present money on deeply discounted stuff.  I braved the chaos of my local mall as well.

But I didn't actually buy anything there.  Rather I spent some of my Christmas money later on.  A whole 3 bucks on a lottery ticket.  The only place I went to look for something to buy of any note was the east side of Saskatoon Long and McQuade, and even there I was checking out something for a few weeks down the road.  Unfortunately the bass I was going to look at was sold.

We Wish You A...

....(insert appropriate seasonal event related greeting here).  The only thing I'll be doing this December 25th is sitting around the house eating cookies, candies, turkey, and chocolate pie.

Gas In Saskatoon, December 21, 2018.

A little bit further down we go.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 99.9 cents a litre at most locations.  I wouldn't be surprised to see it go down a cent or two more before year's end.

Mocking The Clickbait 14: Do It The Old Way.

Photoshop Didn't Exist Back Then So Yes These Pictures Are Real.

(The lack of punctuation is theirs.)

You don't need Photoshop to alter photos.  People were doing retouching work on photos from pretty much the moment photography appeared in the 1830s.  Just another thing that existed long before you could find a computer everywhere.

Gas In Saskatoon, December 14, 2018.

I didn't think we'd get this low, but here were are.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 100.6 cents a litre at most locations.  If you're doing much travelling this holiday season these low prices are a nice present.

The Universe Is Out To Get Me.

Seriously, it seems like that at the moment.  Monday I had a cold begin that made sleeping kind of nasty, leading me to wake up at 4 AM to take a painkiller because part of my mouth hurt.  Tuesday around noon I was almost hit by a car.  And this morning I almost slipped and fell when I stepped onto a large piece of bubble wrap that must have fallen out of someone's garbage can.  Hopefully some new threat isn't waiting for me tomorrow.

Gas In Saskatoon, December 7. 2018.

We're almost at the one buck a litre mark.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 102.9 cents a litre at most stations. 

Energy Pop.

This morning I picked up a half empty energy drink can to throw in my recycling pile.  Looking at the ingredients, which included 54 grams of sugar, got me thinking about the idea of energy pop.  It's a bit surprising the big boys haven't marketed energy drink variations of their soft drinks.  You'd think we would have seen a Coke Energy or Pepsi Energy.  I would imagine their marketing departments have come up with enough data to indicate such a product wouldn't be worth the bother.  It's also possible there might be regulations in some markets that prevent such products.  And they may not want to cannibalise their own product lines.  For example Gatorade is currently owned by Pepsi.

Little Out.

I was looking at the Western Canada Lottery Corp. website this morning, curious about whether I would have won on a lottery ticket I didn't play.(I wouldn't have.)  Looking at other winning numbers I came across the winning numbers for last night's Pick 4 draw.  There was one winner, who won 400 bucks.  The obvious question is how many people played that lottery yesterday.  WCLC doesn't put out the number of sales per draw on their website, but at one dollar a draw all they had to sell was 400 tickets to cover that win, and I would think they sell considerably more tickets per draw than that.  Whoever won last night played what's called a 12 way box, which has two unique digits, and two digits that are the same, which last night was 4294.  The odds of winning with that configuration are 1:833.

Gas In Saskatoon, November 30, 2018.

The end of the month sees another drop.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 106.6 cents a litre at most stations.  Will it reach the buck a litre mark before year's end?  Stay tuned.

Gas In Saskatoon, November 24, 2018.

Yep, it's a day late, but nonetheless here it is.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 111.9 cents a litre at most locations.  If the current trend continues we may see it drop below 110 cents a litre by month's end.

Gas In Saskatoon, November 16, 2018.

A bit further down we go.  Gas in Saskatoon is currently 114.9 cents a litre at most stations.  But something tells me it won't drop much further.

Calgary Surprised Me.

Yesterday Calgary held a plebiscite on bidding for the 2026 Winter Olympics.  56 percent of Calgarians voted no.  I had expected to see the yes side win.  The plebiscite is non-binding, but the Alberta government said provincial funding was contingent on a yes vote,  which makes sense.  A provincial election is approaching, but if the government changes it's hard to imagine the supposedly fiscally conservative United Conservative Party going against the voters, and spending a big pile of money.

Gas In Saskatoon, November 9, 2018.

Prices are slowly creeping down.  Gas in Saskatoon is currently 116.8 cents a litre at most stations.  It will be interesting to see how close we get to the buck a litre mark before the price goes up again.

Bad Luck Bumper Sticker?

This morning I found myself walking towards a car with a bumper sticker that said "I'm so gay I can't drive straight."  When I walked alongside it I found that it had a large dent in the passenger side fender, and the hood was bent.  So I have to wonder if that bumper sticker was on the car before or after the accident.  If before it would seem to have been bad luck for the driver.

Here We Snow.

It didn't take long for November to look like winter.  It's snowing and blowing a lot today.  We might see 5 centimeters today.  But Saskatoon got lucky.  Some areas to the northeast of us are under snowfall warnings, and may receive up to 25 centimeters.

If you need an excuse to use public transit more weather like this is a good one.  Less cars on the road means less change for accidents, and you can leave the worry of driving to someone else.

Tang Ruined It.

Like a lot of '70s kids I drank Tang.  I can't remember when or why we stopped drinking the stuff in my house, but I haven't consumed any in decades.  But it ruined my taste for actual unsweetened orange juice.  The stuff just tastes too sour to me.  I'm sitting here drinking a little carton of orange juice for the first time in a long time, and I don't like it any better than the last time I had it.  And it's not like it needs added sugar, as the 200 ml size I'm drinking has 19 grams of sugar in it. 

Too bad, as more vitamin C in my diet wouldn't hurt.

Meal Fit For A....

I really need to cut down on my eating.  I've put on some weight of late.  But since yesterday was the last Monday of the month I decided to have a cheap lunch.  Of late Burger King in Canada has been advertising their $4.99 King Meal Deal.  You get a small fries, small drink, and your choice of two cheeseburgers, 2 Chicken Jr. chicken burgers, or one of each.  I took one of each.

The Chicken Jr. is the equivalent of A&W's Chicken Buddy Burger, with lettuce instead of pickles.  I think it's a better tasting chicken patty than A&W's offering, although both are skinny.  BK didn't skimp on the lettuce on mine, and I ended up pulling some of the bigger chunks out.  The cheeseburger is the typical BK cheeseburger, and I think the size of the patty they use in this and some other sandwiches has shrunk over the years.  If you've had one before you know the taste.  I actually didn't mind the small fries here, but would prefer a larger drink.

All in all it was about what I expected.  It won't set the world on fire, but it's sure to appeal to BK regulars.

On the other hand I think I prefer the competition, in Saskatoon at least, for a five buck combo.  Various Dairy Queen restaurants here(I'm not sure all do) offer a five dollar double cheeseburger lunch special between 11 AM and 2 PM , with fries and a regular size drink.  I like their burgers better these days than BK's, and you get more fries and a larger drink.

Gas In Saskatoon, October 26, 2018.

I missed the last price change, so I wanted to make sure I didn't miss this one.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 119.9 cents a litre at most locations.  At least a couple of east side stations were at 117.9, so others may soon follow suit.

They Went There.

I hadn't been planning to watch it, but CTV happened to play the opening episode of The Rookie last night, so I decided to take a look.  The series stars Nathan Fillion as John Nolan, a 40 year old LAPD rookie.  He decides to join the force after intervening in a bank robbery in his small town, putting his life at risk in the process.  It seems to me that would be a red flag for any recruiter.  In any case he's assigned to the Wilshire patrol area, much to the discontent of his watch commander, Sergeant Wade Grey(Richard T. Jones).  Grey accuses Nolan of suffering from a midlife crisis.  And it's not hard to think he's right, especially given that Nolan is romantically involved with fellow rookie Lucy Chen(Canadian Idol season 3 winner/Dark Matter regular Melissa O'Neill), who is not surprisingly considerably younger than he is.  Yep, they went for the cliché.  We also go to cliché land with the third rookie, Jackson West(Titus Makin), the son of a veteran LA cop, whose first experience under fire may be an indication he's not up to the job.

We do have a surprisingly heavy regular female cast here.  Afton Williamson plays Talia Bishop, Nolan's training officer.  She has a friendly rivalry with West's training officer Angela Lopez(Alyssa Diaz), both women hoping to make detective.  Mercedes Mason plays Captain Zoe Andersen,  commanding officer of the various main characters.  Rounding out the regular cast is Chen's training officer Tim Bradford(Eric Winter), who comes across as a bad cop.  We learn he has a troubled wife he's estranged from, leading to the obvious question of whether he's nasty because of her problems, or  her problems are because he's nasty.

This being 2018 they've decided to use some footage from the perspectives of police car video cameras and officer body cameras.  Whether they'll keep this up as the series continues is an obvious question.  It no doubt complicates filming, and some viewers may not like the jiggling perspective of the body camera footage, which seems to be done using actual body cameras.

Will the show succeed?  Given that it's still a "cop on the beat" show, despite the hook of a 40 year old rookie, it will have to convince viewers that it's not just more of the same.

Part of what led me to watch is that it was immediately preceded by Magnum PI.  After watching the pilot I missed the following episodes, so it was time to give it another shot.  I'm still not convinced about Jay Hernandez.  I also found it odd that we have another episode with a kid in it.  The best part of the episode was a cameo appearance by Cyndi Lauper as a low rent defense lawyer.

He Was Actually Useful.

Donald Trump actually taught me a new word today.  Emergy.

W Day.

As  of today the wacky weedus, as the great British guitarist Fred Frith once referred to it, is now legal in Canada.  But don't expect to find any in my house.  I think recreational use of the stuff is a waste of time and money.  But I also think keeping it illegal causes more problems that it supposedly solves.  Just remember that you must be at least 18 to use it legally in Canada, with the exact legal age depending on your province.  Where you can smoke it depends on the province, so don't go walking down the street with a blunt the size of a ballerina's leg.  And it's still illegal to cross the US-Canada border with it, so don't buy some for cousin Fred in Tacoma.

Gas In Saskatoon, October 12, 2018.

Back down we go.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 123.9 cents a litre at most stations.  But I wouldn't be surprised if we see a price increase soon.  This week's fire at the Irving Oil refinery at St. John, New Brunswick may be used as an excuse, despite the fact that we don't get any oil from that refinery way out here.

Notebook.

I'm starting to think I need to carry a tiny one.  There were two things today it would have been helpful to write down the exact details of.

Check Your Cheques.

When was the last time you wrote a cheque?  I haven't got a clue when it was for me, but it was a very long time ago.  I had to set up an automated deposit to my chequing account, and it made me wonder if my cheques were still good, as they were obviously quite old.  A quick visit to my Affinity Credit Union branch indicated they're no good at this point.  I didn't order any new ones, as I can't see myself using a cheque in the foreseeable future.  But it's best to know in advance whether they'll be usable or not.

A Hint Of Winter.

It's going to be a cold one here tonight.  The forecast calls for a low of -9.  Environment Canada put out a frost advisory, and noted that the low temperatures are the result of an "unseasonably cold airmass."  Fortunately for me I don't have to go anywhere tonight.

Guess it's time to break out the winter jacket.

Magnum Redux.

Tonight was the debut of the 21st Century version of Magnum PI  As someone who watched the original when it was new I have mixed feelings.  On the one hand they definitely had some hints of the old show that people who saw it will recognise, including TC's Hughes 500D(as it was in those days) helicopter in its familiar striped paint job, the Ferrari 308 GTS Magnum drives in part of the episode, and Zeus and Apollo.  On the other hand there have been changes given the contemporary setting, such as that Magnum and his buddies are now vets of Iraq instead of Vietnam, and that Higgins is a woman this time around.  The latter is sure to upset some old fans, but it doesn't bug me much.  But it looks like they might be setting up a romance between Higgins and Magnum, which would be pretty cliché.

I'm not quite convinced about Jay Hernandez, the new Magnum, just yet.  To me he doesn't seem to have the charisma that Tom Selleck did pretty much from the start of the original series.  It will be interesting to see if that changes as the series progresses and we get more familiar with the new version.  Perdita Weeks will probably have an easier time of things as Higgins, since she won't face the kind of direct comparisons any male actor would to John Hillerman from the original.  But it remains to be seen how their versions of Magnum and Higgins  will play off against each other. 

One critique I have is the obvious use of CGI in some places.  They probably didn't want to boost their budget by doing certain scenes with practical effects, but they just didn't seem right for this show. 

Will the series succeed?  The revived Hawaii Five-0 has had a successful run, so it's possible.  But revived series have also flopped, like the new version of Ironside a few years back. 

Gas In Saskatoon, September 21, 2018.

Back up we go.  Gas in Saskatoon has risen to 125.9 cents a litre at most locations.  I heard Trump complaining about the Saudis pushing up oil prices, but I doubt they'll cut them just because he says so.

Quarter To Five Popcorn.

I had to get up before 4 AM this morning to drive my parents to the airport.(They're off to Ottawa for a vacation.)  So I decided that after I dropped them off I'd go buy some popcorn at 7/11.  As I've noted before Saskatoon is still not really a 24 hour a day city, but you can still find stuff open this early.  And I imagine things are about to get busier as people head off for shifts that start at 6 or 7 AM.

Calling Europe.

It's weird, but I haven't been getting any hits from Europe of late.  I wondered if it had something to do with changes in EU regulations regarding things like advertising, but that doesn't seem to be the case.  Maybe it's just because I'm not posting enough.

Were You There?

It's something I sometimes wonder when I see comments on old music on YouTube.  I just saw that sort of comment on a posting of Deep Purple performing "Highway Star" in 1972 on German TV.  It was the common "Oh, music is so horrible today compared to back then!" type of comment you see on all sorts of things.  But before you get too gushy about early '70s popular music(or any other period of pop music) consider the following:

"Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" was a big hit in 1970, with versions by three different artists getting chart action.  Middle of the Road's version was the most successful, making the top fifteen or better in 13 countries, and number one in 6.  Check out the charts for any year and you find stuff you're likely to think of as dross. 

Hey, Tom And Jennifer.

I appreciate the sentiment.  We do need young people to vote.  But seriously, you bring back 6teen for a US voting PSA, when you didn't even give us a 10th anniversary surprise back in 2014.  And you have Jonesy wearing a MAGA hat?  I can't say I'm too happy.

For any other 6teen fans who missed it, here it is.

Gas In Saskatoon, September 15, 2018.

Things have gone down just a little bit more.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 119.9 cents a litre at most stations.  However at least a couple of stations on 8th Street  were at 117.2 cents a litre, so the others may follow.

Unhappy Breakaway Day 2018.

Once again September 13th has come.  This is the 19th anniversary of the Moon being blown out of Earth orbit in at least one universe.  It's hard to imagine that it will be 20 years since 1999 next year.  I'm thinking that I'll sit down one of these days and binge watch the whole of the first season.

The Big 69.

No, sex obsessed visitors, I'm not talking about that sort of 69.

Today I did something I don't normally do, buy a 591 milliliter bottle of Pepsi.  And it's a good thing I normally buy diet soft drinks if I want to drink one.  Reading the nutrition information on it was interesting.  That serving of Pepsi contains 69 grams of sugar.  In other words the sugar weighs more than a lot of chocolate bars do.  That's almost a quarter of your recommended carb intake for a single day.  So it's not hard to see how drinking the stuff a lot will keep your weight up.

Incidentally Coke's 500 milliliter bottle contains 55 grams of sugar.  Somehow I doubt the extra 91 milliliters in a Pepsi bottle contains an extra 14 grams of sugar.  It seems Coke's formula is less sweet than Pepsi's.

Gas In Saskatoon, September 7, 2018.

It's back to school week, and so you might be driving more.  Gas in Saskatoon is currently 122.0 cents a litre at most locations, a bit down from last week.  Hopefully it will go a bit lower as September continues.

Warning, May Be Addictive.

If you're into guitars and other stringed instruments check out Jake Wildwood's blog.  He does instrument repair in Rochester, Vermont, and works on everything from 21st Century electric guitars to late 19th Century banjos.  Lots of cool instruments with lots of good pictures are featured.  But be warned, you might spend hours slowly going through the entries, because there is so much to look at.

Mocking The Clickbait 13: You Don't Know My Imagination.

Unconventional Baby Names You Haven't Thought Of Yet.

Au contraire, I did so think of calling a baby Vongpigulon or Likestoeatdogfood.

I have to admit I actually did click on this link.  It uses the typical clickbait slide show format, and the first 3 names are Ash, Atlas, and August. I didn't bother with the rest.  I'm pretty sure I've heard of more than one person named Ash, would be entirely unsurprised to hear someone is called Atlas, and August made me think of the late Mohawk actor August Schellenberg.

Gas In Saskatoon, August 24, 2018.

For the first time in a while we had more than a tiny drop in gas prices.  Unfortunately it was followed by a big jump.  At the start of the week gas was 117 cents a litre at most locations.  But it soon jumped to 124.9 cents a litre.  Just what we didn't need.

Blue.

For days the skies over Saskatoon have been grey or brownish grey as the result of forest fire smoke drifting in from British Columbia.  In fact the smoke has reached as far east as parts of Ontario, leading to air quality warnings across much of the western half of Canada.  So it was nice to get up this morning to a blue sky.  How long this lasts remains to be seen.

Gas In Saskatoon, August 17, 2018.

Another trickle down this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 122.1 cents a litre at most stations.  Hopefully we'll see a more substantial price drop soon.

Gas In Saskatoon, August 10, 2018.

The trickling down continues.  Gas in Saskatoon is currently 122.7 cents a litre at most locations, but it may fall to 122.4 before the weekend is over.

An Ironic Death.

Getting hit by a hearse while jay walking. 

This came to mind when I was crossing a local street with a hearse heading my way.  I was nowhere close to being hit, but I sure wouldn't want to go that way.

Gas In Saskatoon, August 3, 2018.

It's a long weekend in Saskatchewan, so a lot of people would have expected the price of gas to go up.  Instead it has trickled down.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 123.4 cents a litre at most stations.

Wasted Again.

No, I'm not wasted.  I don't get wasted.  Rather I found a McCain fruit punch juice box sitting on the ground today.  When I picked it up I realised it was just about entirely full.  As always when I run into stuff like this I can't imagine wasting something I paid good money for.  And once again I'll ask people to stop dumping crap on the ground.

Not that it works.

It's Sad I Was Right.

Back in 2013 I posted about seeing a piece of fanart for the DC Comics character Starfire on Deviantart.  I thought the artist made her look African American, and speculated what might happen if someone like Beyoncé was cast in the role.  5 years later a live action TV version of Teen Titans is on the way, with Anna Diop cast as Starfire.  The result?  A bunch of racist dumbasses complaining Starfire isn't black.  Well, yeah, but she's an alien.  So if you're going to go in that direction no Earth woman should be playing her period.  Which would make it damn difficult to have a live action Starfire at all.

Gas In Saskatoon, July 27, 2018.

Prices are a bit confusing at the moment.  Some places at the 124.6 cents a litre mark.  Others are at 124.3.  And at least one is selling at 124 cents a litre.  I'm guessing things will probably stabilise at 124.3 cents a litre late today.

Gas In Saskatoon, July 20, 2018.

Another trickle down this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 125 cents a litre at most locations.  And again we have a price that doesn't match previous practice, missing the typical X tenths of a cent.

Gas In Saskatoon, July 13, 2018.

We had some price relief this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 126.4 cents a litre at most locations.  But at one point it was at 127.1 cents a litre.  I've never seen gas sold at a .1 cent a litre division before in this market.

Instagram Is Dangerous.

I decided to look for a few things on Instagram.  The result?  Too damn much time spent running various tag searches through their search engine.  Even some pretty specific ones popped up several hundred results.  More general ones can pop up tens of thousands.  And when you look at the tags on the photos you find even more interesting tags to look at. 

(No, I won't tell you what I was looking for.  It wasn't anything horrible or explicit.  Just things that I'm keeping to myself.)

Melt.

It's 11:45 PM, and according to our thermometers it's 28 degrees Celsius at the moment.  That's over 80 degrees for any American visitors.  That's not a temperature you normally expect here this late at night even in summer.  So if you've got some cool weather to spare tonight send it our way.

Gas In Saskatoon, July 6, 2018.

It's not a good week for Saskatoon drivers.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 131.9 cents a litre at most stations.  It will be interesting to see if we get near the buck fifty a litre mark before the end of this year.

Happy Canada Day!

Hopefully you'll have a good Canada Day.  Saskatoon residents will probably be a bit disappointed at the moment, as it's raining.

Gas In Saskatoon, June 29, 2018.

It's been a while, but we've finally had a notable price change.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 120.4 cents a litre at most locations.

We've also had a new player enter the market.  Mobil is now in Saskatoon.  Last year Loblaws sold 200 some gas stations it owned to Mobil.  Billboards appeared a month or so back in Saskatoon announcing their arrival.  Loblaws had 4 stations in Saskatoon connected to the Real Canadian Superstores on 8th Street, and Confederation Drive, and at the Independent Grocers at Wanuskewin Road, and Herrold Road.  But even with the change in brand you'll still be able to use your PC Optimum card at those stations.

Take Care Of Your Teeth.

Seriously, if you can visit a dentist.  I didn't for a long time and I'm suffering the consequences as a result.  Things would be a lot better if I'd done something sooner.

My current dental clinic is Wheatland Dental if you're looking for a Saskatoon dentist.  They've done fine by me given the mess my mouth is.

Still Open.

To follow up my last post here's a correction.  The 7-Eleven on 22nd Street is in fact still open.  It will be closing on the 29th, so if for some reason you really feel the need to go there you still have time.

Three Down.

It might seem that 7-Elevens never go out of business, but we now have three less in Saskatoon.  The stores on 22nd Street, Broadway, and 8th Street across from Grosvenor Mall have all closed up.  Some posters on reddit claim that problems with theft was a reason for this, but I'll take that with a grain of salt.  Of course there are still plenty around if you need a Slurpee fix. 

One I'm surprised is still in business in the same place is the one on Central Avenue.  That's one of the first, or perhaps the first, stores of the chain in Saskatoon.  I can remember going into it in the late '70s.  It's small and cramped, and has a tiny parking lot.  So you'd think it would have moved to some other location by now.  Compare it to the nearby Circle K(recently rebranded from Macs) at 108th Street and Central, which is a much larger store with more parking.

Sprite Zero Versus Diet 7 Up.

Having had bottles of both in the last few days I have to give the edge to Diet 7 Up.  I like the taste a big better, and a 2 litre Diet 7 Up bottle fits into the door shelf of my fridge.  Sprite Zero's 2 litre bottle is just a bit too tall.  Other 2 litre Coke products have the same problem.

A problem with both in my market is that it's almost impossible to find an individual single serving size of either.  A few places carry Diet 7 Up, but I don't think I've seen Sprite Zero.

Beyond The Five Second Rule.

Some people practice the so-called five second rule when it comes to food.  Personally I practice the no second rule, unless it's something raw that can be washed off.  But this of course doesn't apply in dreams.  Last night I dreamed I was cooking fried potatoes on the sidewalk.  At night, while walking on the same sizzling hot sidewalk.  Somehow I wasn't getting burned, and I also mused that I didn't have a problem cooking them this way, despite not wanting dirt on other things in my life. 

Dreams are weird, aren't they? 

A La Beetlejuice.

It's been a good while since I've done this, but it came to mind today.  So, in today's episode of Shameless Hit Mongering, we'll say the phrase that hopefully pays three times:

Jordan Peterson
Jordan Peterson.
Jordan Peterson.

If you've been paying attention to online articles about Peterson you've probably seen the comments sections accompanying those articles balloon with Peterson supporters.  A good example was Ed Brayton's post yesterday on Dispatches From The Culture Wars.  A bunch of people showed up to set Ed and everyone else straight.  Not that it really worked.  So I'm curious to see if I suddenly get a bunch of hits merely by mentioning his name.  Not that Shameless Hit Mongering has worked much in the past.

Peterson won't be getting a blog tag at this time.  I suspect his fifteen minutes will be done sooner than a lot of people expect.

Gas In Saskatoon, June 1, 2018.

The big price jump a lot of people have been expecting still hasn't happened. Gas in Saskatoon has actually dropped to 122.9 cents a litre at most locations. 

Another (Stupid) Guaranteed Winning Strategy.

Back in October(I thought it was more recent than that) I presented a strategy for the Daily Grand lottery that will allow you to win on every draw.  We now have a new lottery in my neck of the woods, Pick 2, and once again I can guarantee you'll win on every draw.

Pick 2 is simple to play.  You pick 2 numbers, each ranging from 0 to 9.  If you pick the right first number you'll win.  So all you have to do is play every first number every draw, and you'll win.

The catch is that this will cost you 20 bucks, since each Pick 2 ticket is 2 bucks.  And what do you get if you get the right first number?   2 bucks.  So you'll be spending 20 bucks to win 2.  To win the big prize on Pick 2, which is 99 bucks, you need to get both numbers right.  For example to win last night's big prize you needed to play 17, while the people who played 10, 11, 12 etc. won 2 bucks.

How do you choose the second number?  I haven't got a clue.  You could either play the same second number for each ticket(01, 11, 21 etc.) or play a different one for each ticket(01, 12, 23 etc.), but as far as I can tell neither would be more effective than the other.

Is someone stupid enough to follow my strategy?  I sure hope not, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone does.  Of course if you're really stupid you could play every number every draw.  That would cost you 200 bucks, to ensure you win 117 bucks.  At least with just playing all the first numbers there's a chance you'll win the 99 buck top prize, and if that happens you'll have made 79 bucks by spending 20.  The odds of winning the big prize on Pick 2?  1 in 100.

Gas In Saskatoon, May 18, 2018.

Things are down again a bit.  Gas in Saskatoon has dropped to 124.4 cents a litre at most locations.  But a number of watchers expect a jump up in price soon.

Mocking The Clickbait 12: And They Can Stay There!

Putting Onions In A Zip Lock Is The One Hack You Just Have To Know.

I can actually sort of agree with that.  Putting onions in a zip lock bag is the best place for them.  Unfortunately these horrible people actually mean for you to use those evil creations later.  But don't listen to them.  Just say no to onions.

Turkey Sandwich.

I had a couple for supper, and I had to resist the temptation for a third.  They were very simple, just a couple of  slices of store bought sliced turkey, a couple slices of cheddar, some mustard, a bit of pepper, and white bread.  I threw a bit of Kraft parmesan on the second.

Compare that to the last sandwiches I had, last Sunday.  I got it into my head to make a couple of Monte Cristo sandwiches, since there was some sliced ham left over from a previous meal.  So I went out to buy some sliced turkey and some Swiss cheese slices.  I also threw in some cheddar.  In the end they weren't bad at all, but the egg batter didn't quite work the way I wanted it to.  There are so many different Monte Cristo recipes out there, and that variation includes how the egg batter is made.  No jam or other sweet stuff was involved in mine, since that isn't something I've seen with the restaurant versions I've ordered in Saskatchewan.

Gas In Saskatoon, May 11, 2018.

I had expected a major price change last week.  But it finally happened.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 127.9 cents a litre at most stations.  I expect it will probably go up again in fairly short order.

May Zap.

I just came in from my morning travels, and it was a good thing.  It's been raining for about 15 minutes, and I wasn't wearing a jacket.  But it's just rain so far.  The 11 o'clock forecast says there's a chance of a thundershower today.  That's something we usually don't associate with this early in May.  Lightning or not we can use the rain to damp down the dust a bit.

Tax Time!

Don't forget that tomorrow at midnight is the deadline for submitting many Canadian tax returns.  I did mine so I don't have to worry anymore.  Hopefully if you have a complex return you've done it already, especially if you use a professional service to prepare it.  I would imagine they'll be pretty busy tomorrow.

Gas In Saskatoon, April 20, 2018.

Not a pleasant week to gas up your car.  Gas in Saskatoon jumped to 122.9 cents a litre early in the week.  Today it dropped down to 120.9 cents a litre.  In any case I doubt we'll seen anything near the dollar a litre mark for the foreseeable future.

Snow Again.

Ugh.  I woke up this morning to find it's snowing.  The forecast says we might get up to five centimeters.  Conditions aren't likely to be as bad as some of you further east in North America have seen, and the high will be above freezing.  But it's still snow.  I'd really like some proper April conditions before the month is gone.

Gas In Saskatoon, April 13, 2018.

Another tiny drop this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is currently 114.4 cents a litre at most locations.  Hopefully it will drop further.

Willly Goes Abroad.

My latest hit at Where's Willy is a real cool one.  A bit that I had a hit on in December in Watson, Saskatchewan has turned up in Pago Pago, American Samoa.  It's the first hit I've had outside North America.  Hopefully this isn't the last hit for this bill, as it would be really neat to see where else it will go.

Sympathy For Humboldt.

I know me posting this is only a drop in the bucket, but if you've been effected by the Broncos tragedy I hope things get better for you in the best way possible.  There are lots of people out there willing to help, even if it's only by listening. 

For those of you that didn't hear about this late Friday afternoon a bus carrying members of the Humboldt Broncos, a team in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, was hit by a semi-trailer  truck near the town of Tisdale, Saskatchewan.  15 people were killed.  14 more were injured, at least one of whom may not walk again.  

Gas In Saskatoon, April 6, 2018.

A small tick down to report this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is currently 115.4 cents a litre at most stations.  There was a suggestion the price might go up this week, but it fortunately didn't happen.

Icebox.

Winter just does not want to go away in Saskatoon.  As I write this Environment Canada says the temperature is -13 C.  Not the kind of daytime temperature you expect for April.  Apparently we won't see above freezing weather until next Tuesday at least.  At this rate I wouldn't be surprised if there are still patches of snow around at the beginning of May.

Gas In Saskatoon, March 30, 2018.

A big jump to report this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 118.9 cents a litre at most stations.  Not a pleasant thing to deal with if you're driving someplace distant over the Easter weekend.

Gas In Saskatoon, March 23, 2018.

Gas is currently 109.9 cents a litre at most locations.  But don't count on that lasting very long.  I saw one Esso station this morning that was back to 114.9 cents a litre, and Esso seems to be the first station to change when the prices change.

Finally, The Original And Greatest.

For years I've tried to find this one on YouTube.  Finally it's turned up.  Possibly the greatest Canadian PSA ever, the story of the Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe and what happened one fateful night.  The later ones in the series are cute, but don't have the weight of the original.

Gas In Saskatoon, March 16, 2018.

My prediction of last week was right, unfortunately.  Gas was as low as 102.9 at most stations by midweek.  But today the price has jumped to 114.9 cents a litre.  I can't help but think prices will soon reach the buck twenty mark.

Low Output.

Sorry for the lack of blogging here lately.  As is often the case I get ideas while doing something else, but by the time I get the chance to write them something else has attracted my attention.  Hopefully I can turn that around a bit.

Gas In Saskatoon, March 9, 2018.

Back down we go.  Gas in Saskatoon has dropped to 104.9 cents a litre at most locations.  Unfortunately if the current trend keeps up we'll probably see the price drop another couple of cents before making an 8 or 10 cent jump.

Gas In Saskatoon, March 2, 2018.

A jump up to report this week, and a large one again.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 110.9 cents a litre at most locations.  Not a good way to start the driving month.

Consumer Alert.

Steven Seagal has a novel out, The Way of the Shadow Wolves.  Don't read it.  Why?  Just read this review.  Having said that I'm sure reading this book might be of benefit to some would be writers.  After all if Stevie can get such a badly written piece of nonsense published their much better stuff might stand a chance.

Gas In Saskatoon, February 23, 2018.

It was a confusing week for gas prices.  At the start of the week gas dropped to 100.9 cents a litre.  Wednesday it rose to 106.9 cents a litre.  But by the time most of you read this it will be 100.4 cents a litre at most locations.  I'll be total unsurprised if the price jumps back up again on Monday.

Such An Important Story.

I can't say I'm too impressed with the lineup editor for CTV Saskatoon's 6 o'clock newscast tonight.  The lead story?  That consuming marijuana is bad for dogs, and the number of cases is going up.  I don't know about you, but I'd say a report about someone being shot last night at Preston Crossing is more important than dogs getting sick from people being stupid.

Just As Well.

I haven't been watching the Winter Olympics, but I've been paying attention to the medal count.  At the time of this writing Norway is in first place with 29 medals.  Canada is third with 19.  The US?  They're in sixth place with 12.  Apparently Donald Trump isn't paying attention, since he hasn't Tweeted about it.  Which is just as well, as he'd probably go on a rant about how other countries are somehow cheating, things are stacked against the US and on and on.  After all the greatest country ever should be winning all the medals.

Gas In Saskatoon, February 16, 2018.

Back up we go.  Gas in Saskatoon has risen to 106.9 cents a litre at most stations.  Since it's a long weekend in Saskiatchewan some folks will assume that's the reason for the price rise.

"Do not take if you are allergic to..."

This is a line that's increasingly heard in US drug ads.  How does that work, exactly?  Do doctors have some sort of allergy test for such drugs?  Are people asking their doctors to prescribe drugs they already know they're allergic to?  Or is it just a general legal CYA for the drug companies in case people are hurt by such allergic reactions?  "Hey, we warned you not to take Zigsergon if you're allergic to it."

Gas In Saskatoon, February 9, 2018.

A small trickle down to report this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is 102.4 cents a litre at most locations.  With the price of oil dropping a bit lately hopefully gas prices will also continue to go down.

Scam Month?

Weird.  3 different scam e-mails have turned up in my e-mail spam folder since yesterday.  Is February International Scam Month?  At least there is some variety.  One claims to be from the UN, one claims to be from a US Army Sergeant in Afghanistan, and one from a DHL courier.  The DHL courier wants to give me a 5.4 million dollar "ATM VISA CARD."  Too bad, I don't have $245 handy at the moment to send them for the airport fee.

Needs More Optimuming.

Yesterday saw the beginning of the PC Optimum loyalty program.  It unites the previous loyalty programs of Loblaws brands, such as PC Points and Shoppers Optimum Points, into a single program.  But the software still needs some tinkering.  Not surprisingly there were a few glitches yesterday, but some of them seem to have continued into today.  I went to Real Canadian Superstore on 8th Street to pick up a couple of things.  When I was paying I whipped out my shiny new PC Optimum card, which I picked up yesterday.  But instead of giving me a new point total for my account the bill stated my balance was unavailable, and "Your account will be updated within 24 hours."  Oops.

It's not that much of a surprise though.  The various brands owned by Loblaws have a giant customer pool.  For example Shoppers Drug Mart has more than 1300 stores across the country.  So a lot of people have been replacing their existing loyalty cards and starting new accounts since early yesterday.  The strain on the system will be considerable. 

Gas In Saskatoon, January 26, 2018.

Back down we go.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 104.9 cents a litre at most locations.  So given the way things have been going of late that probably means a big price jump sometime next week.

Snow Returns.

No, the snow didn't go completely away.  But warm temperatures before Christmas saw lots of it melt, resulting in lots of bare patches.  But now it has returned, with quite a bit falling since last night.  It now looks more like a typical January out there instead of March.  The current forecast calls for snow or a chance of snow into Tuesday.   So if you live in Saskatoon I hope you didn't misplace your shovel or snow blower.

Buzzed.

As you may have heard there was a claim recently that Donald Trump drinks up to a 12 pack of Diet Coke a day.  That's a lot of caffeine.  How much?  Online sources, including Coca Cola itself, state Diet Coke contains 46 milligrams of caffeine per 355 millilitres/12 ounces.(Oddly standard Coke and Coke Zero only contain 34 milligrams a can.)  So 12 cans would contain 552 milligrams of caffeine.  Trump supposedly drinks little or no coffee, but that's still a lot of caffeine.

Health Canada suggests the average adult can consume 400 milligrams of caffeine without adverse effects, but suggests not exceeding that limit.  But even that presumably will give most of us a good buzz.  Trump drinks perhaps 150 milligrams more than that.  So there might be a good reason he tweets a lot in the early morning.  The caffeine keeps him awake. 

Uncola-ish.

This morning I skipped the familiar Coke Zero and Diet Pepsi to buy a Zevia sugar free cola.  I'd seen them before and finally decided to try one.  A can costs 99 cents plus tax and deposit at Sobeys.   

Even before you drink it you'll notice it's clear.  It doesn't contain colouring like a conventional cola.  When I drank it to me it didn't taste that much like a cola either.  Frankly it tasted closer to slightly flat Sprite.

Zevia uses stevia leaf, which has become increasingly common as a sweetener in North America over the last decade.  Perhaps this has something to do with the taste.  A while ago my dad bought a can of Coke Life, which is sweetened with a mixture of stevia and sugar.  He thought it tasted more like ginger ale than Coke.  On the other hand it may simply be the taste profile Zevia decided to go for.

I probably won't be buying any again anytime soon.

Gas In Saskatoon, January 19, 2018.

Today was not a good day to fill your tank in Saskatoon.  Prices jumped to 111.9 cents a litre at most locations.  Yesterday the typical price was 103.4 cents a litre.  Yep, an 8 and a half cent jump from one day to the next. 

"Free The Arm!"

That's what I joked I should shout at Saskatoon's Holy Family Cathedral.  The reason?  The severed arm of Catholic Saint Francis Xavier is on tour, and it made a stop today at Holy Family.  Touring a long dead man's arm like that seems foolish and kind of ghoulish to me.  And as always with supposed relics there's the obvious question of whether it actually is what it is claimed to be. 

I Now Have A Tumblr Account.

I didn't want a Tumblr account.  I'm not a fan of their user interface, and I have too many accounts at too many places as it is.  But you can't avoid it these days, and some pages aren't visible unless you have an account.  I even gave myself a user name that sounds like some angsty kid, instead of a sad middle aged person.  I won't reveal it right now, and perhaps never, to save you the bother of taking a look at a blank page.

But Facebook and Twitter?  You won't be getting your grubby little digital hands on me.

Gas In Saskatoon, January 12, 2018.

The confusing price changes continue.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 107.9 cents a litre at most locations.  Good luck trying to guess where it will go next.

Gas In Saskatoon, January 5, 2018.

Our first entry for 2018 unfortunately sees the price of gas go up.  It is now 112.9 cents a litre at most locations.  And we can apparently expect higher prices as the year goes on.

Nice First Hit.

I've received my first Where's Willy hit of the year, and it's a good one.  A bill I entered back in September of 2016 has turned up in Montreal.  I don't know when my last Quebec hit was, but it's been a while.  It's my sixth hit in Montreal.  Hopefully being in a big place like that will result in it getting a re-hit or ten.

Respite.

When I woke up yesterday the temperature was around minus 30.  This morning it was minus 12.  18 degrees warmer is much better.  The high temperature this week is projected to be minus 5 on Friday.  Hopefully daytime highs below minus 20 will stay away for the rest of the winter.  But don't count on it.

Welcome To 2018.

Well, we made it.  Into another year we go.  2017 wasn't the greatest year for me, but it could have been worse, and no doubt 2017 was worse for some of you reading this.  So here's hoping 2018 proves to be a better year for us all.

And if you're some evil creep I hope you get a flash of insight and stop being an evil creep in the year to come.