White Christmas After All.

The ground in Saskatoon wasn't bare of snow.  But there were brown patches in places, and a lot of what was on the ground looked more like spring melt snow than winter snow.  That changed over night, so if you wished for a white Christmas things are probably more to your liking now.  Just don't complain about the snow you're going to shovel.

I hope you're having a nice Christmas day, even if all it is for you is a day off.

Gas In Saskatoon, December 20, 2019.

A drop is always better than an increase, even if it's a tiny one.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 105.9 cents a litre at most locations.  Hopefully there won't be an increase for Christmas week.

Almost Done.

My Christmas shopping is, as it is ever year. limited and simple.  So I only have one more piece to buy.  However I have to wait until Sunday to pick up that last piece.  Fortunately it's easy to find.  Hopefully whatever you've got left to do is equally easy.

Today's Cassette, Friday December 13, 2019.

It was time to listen to something on cassette again after not doing so for a good while.  Tonight it's Phaedra, Tangerine Dream's first release on Virgin Records in 1974.  The album proved a success for both TD and Virgin, reaching 15 on the UK Album Chart that year.  It was also the debut of the sequencer driven sound that the group would become famous for.

Gas In Saskatoon, December 6, 2019.

Prices have wandered around quite a bit this week.  The week started with prices rising to 112.9 cents a litre.  But by today they'd dropped back down to 107.9 cents a litre at most stations.  With Federated Co Op having locked out their workers at the Regina refinery, and replacing them with replacement workers, I suspect we're going to see some price instability over the next few weeks.

No Cyber Monday Either.

No, I didn't do any Cyber Monday shopping either.  Which I'm sure will disappoint whoever it is at Amazon that gave me a bunch of hits today. 

No Black Friday For Me.

Nope, I wasn't sitting in the cold freezing my rear off waiting to get into someplace at 6 AM.  I had to work.  I didn't go out after work for Black Friday shopping.  The only things I bought were things I normally buy.  Most of the stuff on sale was stuff I didn't want, and the stuff I did want was out of my price range right now.  Boxing Day is a much likely shopping day for me than Black Friday ever will be.

Gas In Saskatoon, November 29, 2019.

We actually managed to go below the buck a litre barrier, just barely.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 99.9 cents a litre at most locations.  I would expect the price is probably on its way back up soon with Christmas approaching.

XP Lives.

Microsoft may be about to end support for Windows 7.  Internet traffic is increasingly driven by smart phones.  Yet Windows XP isn't dead yet.  Windows Vista, 7, 8, and 10 have all come along, yet I still get the occasionally hit from machines using XP.  I guess if it works, why change it?

Gas In Saskatoon, November 15, 2019.

Another one cent drop to report.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 100.9 cents a litre at most stations.  I can't see it dropping much more, but I have been wrong before.

They Fight On.

Back in June I wrote about advertising for a local mixed martial arts promotion, Modern Fighting Championship  Today's flyer delivery once again featured advertising for MFC.  Modern Fighting Championship IV will be held November 29 at the Manhattan Ballroom.  Besides MMA this show will also feature 6 amateur boxing matches, and a Brazilian jiu jutsu "superfight" between Eric Wilson and Myke Lee.  The main event will be a lightweight bout between current MFC champ Jesse Boldt from Saskatoon against Winnipeg's Travis Gervais.

Compared to MFCIII the MFCIV card has several fighters with winning records.  And only one fighter will be making his MMA debut.  On the other hand one of the fighters, Josh Ladouceur, has a kind of disturbing 2-6 record.  That unfortunately sounds like a fighter who may be already in the "professional punching bag" category.  Interestingly 3 of the fighters come all the way from London, Ontario.  That's quite the trip to take to fight for a small promotion.

It would seem that the previous event did pretty well given that there's a sequel.  Good luck to the fighters. 

Gas In Saskatoon, November 8, 2019

One cent isn't much of a drop, but it's still a drop.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 101.9 cents a litre at most stations.  I doubt it will go much below the buck a litre mark, if at all.

Gas In Saskatoon, November 1, 2019.

Not much of a treat this week, but better than a trick at least.  Gas in Saskatoon has dropped to 102.9 cents a litre at most stations.

Very Slow.

We had almost no one knock on the door this Halloween.  And of the handful of people that turned up a couple were high school students doing a canned goods drive.  Very strange.  So I ended up buying some "just in case" candy we didn't actually need.  Maybe it's just that parents took their kids to safer venues like shopping malls to trick or treat this year. 

G Is King.

Looking at my posts this month I just noticed that so far only one hasn't begun with G.  This one won't change that.  I didn't do this on purpose, it's just one of those funny things that happens when you aren't paying attention.

Gas In Saskatoon, October 25, 2019.

A bit of a surprise this week.  Gas in Saskatoon has dropped to 105.9 cents a litre.  Given Monday's election I wouldn't have expected it to drop this much.

Goku Approved.

During my travels this morning I ran into something that left me shaking my head.  It was an empty can of Dragonball Z Spirit Bomb energy drink.  It has a nice picture on it of Goku about to throw a Spirit Bomb.  It's certainly one of the odder tie in products I've seen in a while.

But it is culturally appropriate.  The Japanese have been drinking what we'd recognise as energy drinks, there called eiyō dorinku, nutritional drinks, since at least the early '60s.  I would imagine someplace in Dragonball Z someone is portrayed as drinking what would be obvious to the original Japanese audience as an energy drink.

I'm sure someone would be upset at the idea of using a cartoon character to promote energy drinks, which are generally not recommended for kids.  But the North American audience for DBZ isn't really kids.  Most fans today may have been kids when the show first appeared here, but that was more than 20 years ago.

Go And Vote.

As always I encourage those of you who can to vote in today's Canadian federal election.  I don't care who you vote for.  I do have my opinions on who you should and shouldn't vote for, but in the end that's your choice.  And if you ever needed an incentive to vote it's an election like this, where the Conservatives and Liberals are neck and neck, and there's a high chance we'll have a minority government.  Early voting was up this year, so hopefully that's a sign the overall numbers of voters will be up this year.

Futile.

This week I spotted some election signs for the Christian Heritage Party.  It's one of those parties you look at and ask "Why bother?"  According to its Wikipedia entry the party has been around since 1987.  Yet in that time they have failed to elect even one candidate, not even coming close in any riding.   The party has pretty much no public profile outside its current supporters, leader Rod Taylor being ignored by the media. Their high point was in their first election appearance, 1988, when they won 3.56 percent of the vote.  In the 2015 election they won 0.97 percent of the vote, which was in fact an increase from 2011, when they won 0.84 percent.

The demographics become less in their favour with each passing year.  The percentage of Canadians who identify in some way as Christian is decreasing, and of course many who do have no interest in the conservative policies of the CHP.  They aren't likely to attract the support of those non-Christian voters who might agree with many of their policies.  And this election they face competition from the People's Party of Canada, which has former Conservative Party cabinet member and leadership candidate Maxime Bernier as leader. 

Having said all that I wouldn't be surprised if the CHP is around for future elections, which the PPC, which I suspect is as much a vanity project of Bernier as anything else, will not.  Stay tuned.

Gas In Saskatoon, October 18, 2019.

So much for that nice downward trend.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 114.9 cents a litre at most locations.   I assume the current escalation in Syria is probably not helping.

Gas In Saskatoon, October 11, 2019.

Another drop to report.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 108.4 cents a litre at most stations.  Nice to see it not go up before a holiday weekend.

Google Will Get You For That.

Recently one of the candidates for the People's Party of Canada put up some campaign signs in a local park.  This morning I took at look at them.  They're for Guto Penteado.  The Guto on the signs is presented in a font similar to one Google has occasionally used, and the letters are in several colours, again reminiscent of Google.  Seems to me that crossing paths with Google like that is not a good idea.  It's unlikely Google will have a chance to take action before the campaign ends, but why take the risk?

As for the PPC it will interesting to see if they're around this time next year.  To date they've remained under the 5 percent range in the polls.

Gas In Saskatoon, October 4, 2019.

We're down a bit again.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 112.9 cents a litre at most locations.  With Canadian Thanksgiving a week away it will be interesting to see if more change is in store.

The White Stuff.

Snow is back  in Saskatoon.  Not a huge amount yet, and a lot of it is actually water at this point because it's around freezing and there's still ground heat.  But it's a sign of things to come.  So take it a bit easy this morning as you drive.

Gas In Saskatoon, Septemberr 27, 2019.

I doubt anyone is surprised there's a price jump to report.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 114.9 cents a litre at most locations.  What did surprise me is that the price didn't go up almost immediately after the Saudi oil facilities were attacked.  Perhaps the fact the summer driving season had ended had something to do with it.

A Little More Paper.

Today was the day to redeem my beverage containers for the deposit money at SARCAN.  When I took my tally sheet to the payout window I got a surprise.  The clerk gave me a paper five dollar bill.  I haven't seen a paper bill in probably a year or more.  And this one is still very crisp.  I guess it must have sat in a safe someplace for some years.

Breakaway, 20th Anniversary.

Wow, September 13, 1999 is 20 years ago.   Space: 1999 debuted 44 years ago.  Time sure has gone by.  As always at this time of year we wish you an unhappy Breakaway Day. 

Despite this being an old fandom with virtually no chance of a revival someone thinks it's still worth putting out product.  Shout! Factory has released the complete series on DVD and Blu-Ray this year for the North American market.  I would imagine this is probably the last commercial release we'll see for the series, as I doubt there are too many under 40 members of the fandom.  This being the 20th anniversary I really should give the whole series a view again. 

40 Days.

The limited suspense Canadians had been feeling is over.  We now know the federal election will be held October 21st.  As I said, the suspense was limited, since there had to be an election in October, and the parties had all been unofficially campaigning for a while now.  Hopefully the turnout will be better than yesterday's Manitoba provincial election, which saw a dismal 53 percent of eligible voters turn out to vote.

Gas In Saskatoon, August 30, 2019.

As summer comes to an end we have a bit of a price drop.  Gas in Saskatoon is currently 106.9 cents a litre at most stations.

Mocking The Clickbait 18: You Need Better Scientists.

New Evidence Tells Scientists What Really Happened On Noah's Ark.

There's no new evidence to be had that will change the fact that there was no Noah, ark, or worldwide flood.  If a scientist actually believes otherwise they aren't a very good scientist.

Saying No.

I recently posted about a campaign billboard I saw in Saskatoon for the People's Party of Canada.  Now the company that has been hosting the signs is pulling them, after complaints the signs are anti-immigrant.  Pattison Outdoor Advertising initially said the billboards would remain up, but yesterday changed their mind, and will remove the billboards as soon as possible.  Interestingly the ads weren't actually paid for by the PPC, but do reflect the party's policy that immigration should be greatly reduced.  Canada currently takes in about 350 thousand immigrants a year.

Gas In Saskatoon, August 23, 2019.

A slightly more worthwhile drop to report this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 109.4 cents a litre at most locations.  With the Labour Day long weekend coming up at the end of next week it will be interesting to see if the price goes up or down.

You Will Anyway.

October will see a federal election in Canada, and more and more political advertising is staring to appear.  This morning I saw a billboard for the People's Party of Canada along Saskatoon's Warman Road.  On it was the slogan "Say NO to mass immigration."  My response was to think "Just say no to Maxime Bernier," the PPC's leader. 

But what I say definitely doesn't matter in this case.  Whatever your thoughts on current Canadian immigration policy you'll likely be saying no to Bernier and the PPC regardless.  The last I heard the party was polling a mighty 3 percent of decided voters.   I wouldn't be surprised if Bernier retains his seat, but the chances of them electing anyone else are probably iffy, despite planning to run candidates in all ridings.  The Liberals and Conservatives are running at pretty much a dead heat at the moment, so a lot of potential PPC voters aren't going to take the risk voting for them, because it might help the Liberals retain power.

Gas In Saskatoon, August 16, 2019.

It's a drop barely worth noting, but it's still a drop.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 111.4 cents a litre at most stations.

Gas In Saskatoon, August 9, 2019.

Further down we go.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 111.9 cents a litre at most locations. 

Pity The Call Screener.

Today's edition of CBC Radio One's Cross Country Checkup asked a simple question:  Is it wrong to eat meat?  A simple question, but the kind that will get a lot of people going.  I would hate to have been the call screener today.  I'm sure pro and anti-meat callers of the most unpleasant sort wanted to have their opinions heard. 

Gas In Saskatoon, July 26, 2019.

Prices have been heading down as of late.  Gas in Saskatoon is currently 117.4 cents a litre at most locations.

I'll Feel Less Safeway.

In 2013 the Sobeys grocery chain acquired Safeway's Canadian stores.  I'm sure I was not the only one surprised when instead of rebranding them all Sobeys kept a large percentage in operation as Safeways.  (23 stores had to be sold off as part of the merger agreement.)  But now we are going to see a rebranding of some.  In Saskatoon's case 3 of the existing Safeways will be converted to the Sobey's run FreshCo branding.  FreshCo is the Sobeys equivalent of the Loblaw budget No Frills stores.  Sobeys says FreshCo stores will replace "underperforming" Safeway stores, with construction taking place in Saskatoon early next year.

The 3 stores to be converted in Saskatoon are at Market Mall, Confederation Mall, and on 33rd Street.  I only go into the 33rd Street store once in a blue moon, but I'm not surprised about the Confederation Mall store, since that mall as a whole underperforms.  Market Mall has the problem that its located in the middle of what is supposedly the oldest per capita population in Canada, the area having a large number of older residents in seniors housing.  Some of them buy little or no groceries, so it's hard to see how lower prices will change that.  One thing all three stores share is that they're smaller than the other two Safeway stores in Saskatoon, making them more suitable for a budget branding.

As for the other two Safeway stores the only thing I can imagine happening to them in the foreseeable future would be a conversion to the Sobeys branding.  The Mall at Lawson Heights store is brand new, having replaced the old Safeway space in the same mall last year, while the McOrmond Road Safeway is only a few years old.  The Lawson Safeway would need little more than some new paint and signs to become a Sobeys, as it has pretty much the same layout as recently built Sobeys stores.  The McOrmond store would need more work, unless of course they just changed the appearance.

Didn't Expect That One.

I just had YouTube show me an ad for the Israeli military manufacturer Rafael.  I wouldn't have thought people watching rock music videos would be a demographic they'd think to advertise to.  I'm certainly not in the market for antitank or surface to air missiles.

Don't Tell Donald.

This year is the fiftieth anniversary of the World Series of Poker.  The Main Event, as it came to be called as more games were added over the years, is down to the last three players.  And one thing we know for sure, the winner this year will not be an American.  Current chip leader Hossein Ensan is an Iranian who has lived in Germany since 1990.  In second is Halifax native Alex Livingston.  In third place is Italian poker pro Dario Sammartino.  The last American player was Garry Gates, who will have to console himself with the 3 million bucks of a fourth place finish.

This won't be the first time a non-American has won the big prize.  The first was Iranian born, London based Mansour Matloubi back in 1990.  Jonathan Duhamel became the first Canadian winner in 2010.  And Swede Martin Jacobsen was the last non-American to win, back in 2014.

So please, don't tell Donald Trump.  He'll just go on a big rant about foreigners taking over "America's game," stealing American money etc. 

Gas In Saskatoon, July 12, 2019.

So much for the downward trend.  Gas in Saskatoon has risen to 121.9 cents a litre at most stations.  I'm guessing it will go up next week.

Gas In Saskatoon, July 5, 2019.

A slightly more notable change to report this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 116.9 cents a litre at most stations.  Hopefully the downward trend will continue.

Mocking The Clickbait 17: You Failed Geography, Didn't You?

30 US Cities With the Worst Reputations(Saskatoon's ranking might surprise you)

As you probably know Saskatoon isn't a US city.  It seems their location tracking software needs some work.

Gas In Saskatoon, July 28, 2019.

I sometimes wonder if half a cent is worth reporting.  But this time I am.  Gas in Saskatoon is 119.4 cents a litre at most locations.

As If The Name Wasn't A Tell.

Political parties come and go in Canada.  The latest group trying to get party status from Elections Canada calls itself the Canadian Nationalist Party.  Seeing nationalist in a party name is generally a good sign their ideology will be crap.  And that seems to be the case here, as the would be party is facing an RCMP hate crime investigation.  Party founder Travis Patron claims he's not referring to Jews in a recently posted video, but anyone familiar with the language of the hard right knows that "globalists" is commonly used as a shorthand for the international Jewish conspiracy they believe in.  Patron also uses the term "parasitic tribe," which is pretty hard to interpret as anything but a reference to Jews.  The party is also opposed to immigration and LGBTQ rights.

If the CNP does get party status it will be able to issue tax receipts for contributions.  If they manage to get 2 percent of the vote nationally, or 5 percent of the vote in ridings they run in, they will also get 50 percent of their election expenses paid.  But that's really not much of an if.  The CNP will be like most fringe parties.  It will get a handful of votes, which probably won't make a difference in any riding.  Chances are it won't exist 10 years from now.

"Sunnies?" Ugh!

One thing I don't bother with is running an ad blocker.  I often find ads interesting, and occasionally will click on an ad to help a website I like. But I would save a bit of annoyance if I did.  I saw an ad a bit ago for glasses which used the term sunnies as shorthand for sun glasses.  I find it a grating concoction.  Hopefully it hasn't been catching on.

Gas In Saskatoon, June 21, 2019.

And a bit further down we go.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 119.9 cents a litre at most locations.

Soak.

This April in Saskatchewan was probably the driest on record, with virtually no precipitation.  May wasn't that much better.  But we're finally getting significant rain here, at least in the Saskatoon region.  We're expecting showers or a chance of showers into Sunday.  How much this will help area farmers is another question.  I went for a drive to Humboldt with my parents on Sunday, and much of the farm land on the way looked dry.  Some of it wasn't even seeded.  At least area cattle farmers may see conditions improve in pasture land.

Glad I'm Not There.

Downtown Toronto is a giant blob of people due to the Raptors.  I'd hate to have to deal with that if I had any reason to be there.  Seriously, people, it's just a playoff victory, not the announcement of universal world peace or something really cool.

Gas In Saskatoon, June 14, 2019.

Another fairly long stretch of stability has ended.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 121.9 cents a litre at most locations.  But given growing tensions between the United States and Iran I suspect a price increase isn't far off.

That's The One.

If you remember the early '70s, and are a Canadian, you may remember this.  Canada AM, CTV's national morning show, debuted in 1972.  Its theme song was an instrumental version of the Moody Blues' 1968 single "Ride My See-Saw."  And now I've found the actual version used, which was by Ronnie Aldrich.

I'd never heard of Aldrich before, but it's a nice version.

This version was replaced at least once with another cover.  I'm not sure when they stopped using "Ride My See-Saw" as a theme, but it was the late '80s at least.  Canada AM was cancelled in June of 2016, after 44 years on the air.

"Fight!"

Wednesday is flyer day in Saskatoon, when the Star Phoenix sends out large flyer packages.  Today's "wraparound" flyer, which holds the other flyers together, was a bit of a surprise.  It's an advertisement for Friday's Modern Fighting Championship III, to be held in the Nutana Curling Club, and the local Modern Martial Arts Center.

One thing that stood out to me when I looked at the MFC III section is that none of the fighters have winning records.  That includes the headliners, Saskatoon's Jesse Boldt, and Lethbridge's Randy Mahon, who have records of 2-2 and 4-4 respectively.  4 of the fighters are making their pro debuts. (Yes, there is such a thing as amateur MMA.)  The guys with the most experience are Jose Rodriguez, at 7-7, Drayton Angus, at 7-8, and Justin Schmidt, at 4-9. 

One thing you can be sure of, none of these guys signed up for the money.  I have no idea what a tiny local promotion like this pays, but you can be sure it's not much.  Some these guys are doing it simply because they like it.  Others no doubt have the hope that this is a stepping stone to something bigger, even if they know it's a longshot.  But it's a long way from what is the equivalent of an A baseball team, and the big spotlight of the UFC and Bellator.

The promoters might not be making that much either.  There are a lot of expenses involved, including renting the Nutana Curling Club, paying for advertising, refs and other support staff, and whatever prize money and expenses the fighters might get.  For them it may be as much of a labour of love as it is for some of the fighters.  At least they have the advantage that several of the fighters are from Saskatoon, or within easy driving distance.  Tickets are 65 dollars for general admission, and 85 dollars for ringside seats.

Hopefully none of the fighters will be seriously injured Friday.

More Please.

Just before midnight a thunderstorm began to pass through the Saskatoon area.  I managed to see a couple of very clear, really neat looking streaks of lightning that were very close to us.  But of course the rain was the important thing.  But it wasn't that much, so we really could do with some more.  April saw us get only 2 percent of our normal precipitation.  May wasn't much better. And the little we got last night has pretty much dried out.   Hopefully the 30 percent chance of showers in the current forecast gets higher as the day goes on.

Mocking The Clickbait 16: And They Won't Do It To You?

Instagram Banned Her For Sharing This Method That Made Her Rich.

It seems to me that if they banned her for her method they'll stop you from using it, and probably ban you too.

Gas In Saskatoon, May 17, 2019.

After a month the price of gas has finally changed again, and surprisingly it went down.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 127.9 cents a litre at most locations.

Casualty.

There are a lot of jackrabbit in Saskatoon these days.  But I think we're probably down at least one today.  Walking down McKercher Drive I spotted a crow scavenging on a dead animal in the road.  From its size and colouring I'm guessing it was a jackrabbit.  Given how many of the are around I'm surprised we don't see more dead ones.  Hopefully if this was a female its offspring are old enough to take care of themselves.

It should be noted that if you find a baby jackrabbit please leave it alone unless there is no other choice.  Mother jackrabbits leave them alone most of the time, only coming back to feed them briefly late at night.  If you do need to move one use clean gloves to avoid getting human scent on them, as a mother may reject one that doesn't smell right.

Early Sunday.

This isn't normally a time I'd be up and out of bed.  But my parents had an early flight to Victoria, so here I am.  Driving at this time of day sure is nice, as there is virtually no traffic on the roads.  I was disappointed because my local 24 hour convenience stores didn't have any microwave popcorn for a very early snack.  Weird.

One Month.

Regular visitors may have noticed an absence of gas prices posts here of late.  That's because the price of gas in Saskatoon hasn't changed in a month.   The last change was the week of April 12.  That's pretty surprising.  You'd think they would have found some excuse for it to change.  Next weekend is the Victoria Day long weekend, generally considered the first long weekend of the summer season.  So it will be interesting to see if prices change over the next few days, presumably going up.

I Needed One Today.

You may find this hard to believe, but I don't have a cell phone.  It's not in my personal budget, and I don't have many people who'd want to phone me when I'm on the go anyways.  But I just had an experience where I could have used one.  Walking along I came towards a house.  An angry man was shouting at his wife.  Given how he was behaving I was worried he might attempt to attack her, but he decided to stomp back to his car.  If he had gotten violent all I could have done was run to one of the other houses, ring the doorbell, and hope someone was around to call the cops for me.  Trying to physically stop an assault would likely have just made things worse, as I have no training in any sort of combat art.

I hope the guy gets some sort of help, but I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't.

Paper Surprise.

I got a nice surprise this afternoon.  I dropped into the Centre at Circle and 8th Dollarama to buy a couple of things.  I paid with a ten, and in return got back a 2006 series five dollar bill.  When I expressed surprise at this the clerk mentioned he'd seen recently seen a twenty from the previous series of bills.  The 2006 series were a slightly modified version of the 2002 series bills, incorporating a new holographic stripe on the front, and gold metallic "dashes" on the back, to deter counterfeiting.  They were the last Canadian fives printed on paper, being replaced by polymer bills in 2013.

Besides the surprise of it actually being a paper bill this late in the day the bill itself is in terrific condition for its age.  The paper is still very crisp, there's little creasing, and it's very clean.  This all makes me wonder where this thing has been all these years.  Has it been sitting in someone's personal stash?  Did it come out of the bottom of a cash drawer, or the safe of some business?  It's a reasonable guess it didn't come from a bank, since they're supposed to return any paper bills to the Bank of Canada for disposal.  There's no way to find out of course.

Flakes.

I woke up this morning to find some flakes of snow lazily floating out of the sky.  Unfortunately they didn't last long, as we need the precipitation here.  We've had virtually none this month so far, and there have already been several brush fires in the Saskatoon area.  To the west of us the town of Biggar actually declared an emergency earlier this week as a result of a nearby brush fire.  The current forecast calls for only a 30 percent chance of showers today, but Saturday night and Sunday are supposed to see rain and snow.  Let's hope that forecast holds up.

900.

I've been waiting for this one for a long time.  I've finally had my 900th bill hit at Where's Willy.  It hasn't travelled very far since I entered it back in 2017, but a hit is still a hit.  My total hits at the moment are 1068, so the next big milestone will be hit 1100, which is probably some time away.

Global Flops Again.

If you're reading this, producer and lineup editor of Global's supper hour newscast, you screwed up again.  Why was Tiger Woods winning the Masters today your lead story today?  Woods is an American, and the Masters take place in Augusta, Georgia.  Bad weather in Eastern North America and Monday's Alberta provincial election are stories that should have been given priority.  Woods should have been placed near the end of the program. 

Gas In Saskatoon, April 12, 2019.

Time to dig just a little bit deeper into your wallet.  Gas in Saskatoon is currently 129.9 cents a litre at most stations. 

Double Deal.

I went out to get a snack a bit ago.  I got a nice surprise when I received a bill marked for both Where's Willy?  and Canadian Money Tracker at the Safeway in Market Mall.  It's the first marked bill I've entered into CMT since July of 2016, while the last marked bill I'd entered at Where's Willy? was in September of last year.  My entries were the second hit on this bill, which travelled from Saskatoon to MacDowall and then back to Saskatoon.

Gas In Saskatoon, April 5, 2019.

Up we go again.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 123.9 cents a litre at most locations.  I'm guessing we'll see 130 cents a litre pretty soon.

Done Early.

I actually managed to get my 2018 income tax return done this morning.  Usually I do it a couple of days before the deadline.  Hopefully if I actually get a carbon tax refund from it the cheque will appear by early May as a result.

Gas In Saskatoon, March 29, 2019.

I'm sure no one will be surprised to see prices have gone up.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 119.9 cents a litre at most stations.  On the first Friday of 2019 it was 97.1 cents.  Some sources expect it may be in the 130 cents a litre range by mid April.

It Could Have Been Better.

Baseball season is here.  Unfortunately the Blue Jays lost their home opener this afternoon against Detroit.  But it actually was a good game.  There was no score into extra innings because the Blue Jays and Tigers played well, not because both teams played equally horribly.   And Toronto hasn't won a home opener since 2011, so we probably shouldn't be surprised they didn't win this one.

Cool, I actually have a Detroit Tigers tag.

Up From Below.

I saw my first gopher of the year today.  It was standing outside its burrow, looking for whatever it was looking for.  Hopefully it hasn't come up too early.  And it may not be living in the best place, just on the edge of the University of Saskatchewan campus.  I'm pretty sure U of S groundskeepers have taken pest control measures against their burrows in the past, such as by the bus stop in front of the main library building.

Gas In Saskatoon, March 22, 2019.

Filling your tank got a bit more painful this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 114.9 cents a litre at most stations.  I won't be surprised if another increase is in the offing.

I'm So Out Of TV Touch.

This morning I came across an article about how the show SMILF, seen on the Showtime channel in the US, has been cancelled amidst allegations of misconduct against the creator and talk of questionable activities on the set.

Seeing the article was the first time I'd heard of the show.  To be fair it apparently aired in Canada on Crave, a service I don't have.  But it made me think about how much TV has changed.  I can remember a time when CBC and CTV were Canada's TV networks, and the US networks were NBC, CBS, and ABC.  So it was a lot easier to know what was actually airing.  These days you have who knows how many networks and speciality channels, and the streaming services like Netflix are producing their own material.  It's gotten to a point where you probably need to be a professional, or an obsessive TV junkie, to know and keep track of what's going on.

In my case it doesn't help that I don't really watch dramatic TV anymore.  I just can't seem to hook on to any series.  I thought I might watch Magnum PI to some extent, but a couple episodes was all I got around to.  A couple of years ago I had the idea that I would just pick one show and watch the whole season of it.  I may have to consider doing that again next fall.

Gas In Saskatoon, March 8, 2019.

Unfortunately a big jump up to report this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 109.9 cents a litre at most locations.

Gas In Saskatoon, March 1, 2019.

And just a little bit further down we go.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 100.6 cents a litre at most locations.

Nicest Weather Of The Year.

At the moment that's quite literally the case.  It's -5 Celsius and mainly sunny.  It hasn't been this warm at all so far this year until now, which is odd.  Unfortunately it won't last.  Tomorrow's high is -11.

Time Travel Traffic?

Weird.  I was just looking at my blog traffic for the last couple of days.  Yesterday I received a hit from a visitor that Statcounter says was using Internet Explorer 6 on a machine operating Windows Server 2003.  Was someone actually using such an ancient setup?  For that matter were they using mid 2000s vintage hardware to run them on?  It was a United States visitor, so it's not like they were visiting from some isolated corner of the planet where users have no choice but to use ancient gear.

Gas In Saskatoon, February 22, 2019.

It's already the last Friday in February, and we have a price drop to report.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 101.4 cents a litre at most locations.  I wouldn't be surprised if it drops below the dollar a litre mark over the next week.

Gas In Saskatoon, February 15, 2019.

Gas in Saskatoon is currently 103.6 cents a litre at most locations.  A year ago it was 106.9 cents a litre.  

Don't Sing It.

Singing "Let It Snow" in much of Canada today could get you assaulted.  Heavy snowfalls have been causing problems in much of the country, including surprising places like Vancouver and southern Vancouver Island.  The Montreal area is apparently pretty bad this morning.  Some parts of the Maritimes may see as much as 40 centimeters of snow.  So don't take the risk.

The Cold Didn't Get Me.

I just haven't found anything to write about lately.  Not even the freezing cold here.  Things have improved slightly, but I'd still like it to be at least 10 degrees warmer.

Gas In Saskatoon, February 1, 2019.

The first day of February sees prices down just slightly.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 97.4 cents a litre at most stations. 

Hello, Turnor Lake.

I received a Where's Willy hit from there today.  I have to admit I'd never heard of Turnor Lake before today.  It's 503 kilometers north of Saskatoon.  The hamlet has a population of 179,  while Turnor Lake 193B is part of the Birch Narrows Dene Nation, with 419 people.  I suspect there haven't been many, if any, previous Willy hits in Turnor Lake.

Gas In Saskatoon, January 25, 2019.

The 90 cent a litre mark is looking a bit further away this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 98.9 cents a litre at most locations.

Gas In Saskatoon, January 18, 2019.

And a bit more down we go.  Gas in Saskatoon is currently 94.6 cents a litre at most stations.  The 90 cents a litre range is getting more and more likely.

Solid.

Solid as in frozen solid describes Saskatoon this morning.  When I woke up a 7 AM it was around -30, depending on what thermometer you looked at.  Environment Canada has a extreme cold warning out.  It's been a good while since we've had a deep freeze like this.  And today is a day I have to work outdoors.  So it's wear heavy clothing, keep most of my head covered up, and do what needs to be done.

Of course people being people, and hence some percentage stupid, you'll see some stupid standing outside for ten minutes wearing a fall weight jacket unzipped, with no hat on.  No, that doesn't make you look cool, it just makes you look stupid.

But don't worry.  Before you know it July will be here, it will be 30 above, and swimsuit weather.  Maybe thinking about that will keep you slightly warmer.

My Mighty Bankroll.

The online poker world better look out.  By playing some freerolls on 888poker, and then playing some 10 cent sit and goes with the results, I've managed to grow my bankroll on there from nothing to a mighty 65 cents.  Give me another decade or so and I might be playing a one buck tournament, and then look out!

These days I'm playing exclusively on 888poker.  I used to play on Pokerstars, but their current freeroll selection really doesn't have anything for me.  And since they run Full Tilt there's no real point playing there either, as the setup is the same.

Gas In Saskatoon, January 11, 2019.

Another week with a price drop.  Gas in Saskatoon is 95.4 cents a litre at most stations.  At this rate I'd be entirely unsurprised if prices drop below 90 cents a litre soon.

Mocking The Clickbait 15: Our Beliefs Clash.

Moms We Can't Believe Were Allowed on 'Toddlers and Tiaras.'

I can't believe you watched Toddlers and Tiaras.

Gas In Saskatoon, January 4, 2019.

It's almost too small of a price drop to report, but it is a price drop.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 97.1 cents a litre at most locations.  This time last year it was 112.9 cents a litre. 

Welcome To 2019.

But seriously, 2019?  How did it get so late?  It certainly isn't the 2019 those of us who remember the '70s were expecting.  Far too few people off planet for one thing. 

I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions.  But one thing I am hoping to do is do rather more posting here than 2018. 

Someone is firing off fireworks nearby as I write this.  Not the best night to be doing so, as the current temperature is -24 degrees Celsius.  Keep warm, wherever you are.