Gas In Saskatoon, December 18, 2020.

 I had thought there might be a price change before year end, and I was right.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 103.9 cents litre at most locations.  Which in one way is strange, because pandemic restrictions will limit the amount of Christmas travel in these parts this year.

Rare And Live.

 Don't worry, I'm still alive.  

Here's some rare footage for your entertainment.  It's Strange Advance in Montreal, from their 1985 tour.  In the past a couple of clips from this have been up, but subsequently disappeared.  Now you can see a hour's worth of them in action.  I think this was also aired on MuchMusic at the time.  It's rare both because it's a mid '80s TV broadcast, and because Strange Advance toured only a couple of times.

A reunited version of the group played several gigs in 2019, but any plans they might have had to go on the road this year were obviously cut short by the pandemic.  

Bad Image.

 I just saw an online ad that I was almost going to use as a Mocking The Clickbait entry, but the actual ad isn't intended as clickbait.  It's an ad for the Canadian Armed Forces, who are looking for aerospace control operators.  Except the picture that goes along with the ad is a US Air Force enlisted man in his dress blues, standing in front of an American flag.  Oops!  I don't know how those ads are designed, but hopefully the Forces didn't pay much for this one.

Big Snow.

 If you need snow Saskatoon is the place to be.  Since Saturday I think we've had as much snow as we saw in the winter of 2019-2020.  At least 30 centimeters has fallen, a foot.  But of course it doesn't actually just fall in a nice even depth.  Roads were a complete mess today, and as a result additional hours have been added to today's Saskatoon civic election, which was held today.  Voters will get a chance Friday to cast their ballots.  Conditions kept me away from the polls.  

Cancelled.

 Because of COVID 19 we didn't give out candy this year. This was a personal decision, as the Saskatchewan Health Authority didn't make an official call for people not to trick and treat.  But I get the impression most people decided not to take the kids out.  We didn't get a single person at the door, and the times I looked out the window I saw maybe one group of kids going down the street.  We did have the lights off, but I would have expected someone to come along with younger children before it got dark.

Gas In Saskatoon, October 30, 2020.

 Another drop to report.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 97.9 cents a litre at most stations.  I doubt we'll see a price increase until the Christmas season comes closer, and that might still be a long shot.

Gas In Saskatoon, October 24, 2020.

 We finally had a price change this week, and it's a minor treat.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 100.9 cents a litre at most locations.  Hopefully we don't have a trick in store with a price increase next week.

A Song For Mister Pence.

I know you'd prefer a flyswatter....

Breakaway Day Greetings.

 Another year has gone by, and once again it's September 13th.  It's been 21 years since September 13, 1999.

I was recently watching bits and pieces of 2001: A Space Odyssey.   Once again the thought came to mind that if someone had done a TV series spinoff of 2001 it would have looked a lot like the first season of Space:  1999.  The visual influence of the former on the latter is pretty obvious.  I'm guessing some of the plots would have easily been transferable between the two.  

And for those who didn't know September 13th is Barbara Bain's birthday.  She turns 89 today.  I wonder if this was coincidence, or if the choice of a date for Breakaway was because she co-starred in the series.

Gas In Saskatoon, September 11, 2020.

 A price drop to report this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 102.9 cents a litre at most locations.  I wouldn't be surprised if we see another small drop next week.

Gas In Saskatoon, August 28, 2020.

 The last Friday of August sees gas prices up.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 106.9 cents a litre at most stations.  It will be interesting to see how long this price lasts, as the summer travel season comes to an end.

Zero Day.

 Good news on the COVID 19 front.  Today Saskatchewan reported no new cases.  Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.  To date we have had 1601 cases, 1490 of which have recovered.  We've had 23 deaths.  

Gas In Saskatoon, August 21, 2020.

 Seems to me that it's time to bring this back.  Gas in Saskatoon is currently 101.9 cents a litre at most stations.  The price has sat at that point for a good while now, so it may be a bit before there's another one of these posts.  Or maybe not given that the Labour Day long weekend is coming up.

Willy's Not In Quarantine.

I've received another hit on a Where's Willy bill I'd definitely been hoping for.  On April 12, 2018, I received my first hit on a bill outside North America.  After turning up in Watson, Saskatchewan in December of 2017 it reappeared in Pago Pago, the capital city of American Samoa.  Now it's turned up in Strathmore, Alberta.  So to date it's travelled some 13,797 kilometers.  Hopefully it will turn up again.

He Can Take The Hit.

Major League Baseball may soon be playing again, but two big names won't be.  David Price has announced he will not be pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers this year due to concerns over COVID 19.  He's the second high profile player to make such an announcement, as Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals has also said he won't play in this year's abbreviated season.

Price will be losing 11.9 million dollars for not playing.  But he can take the hit.  He made 31 million dollars last year.  Zimmerman made a mere 2 million last year.  Of course an obvious question is how might the layoff effect Price's pitching next year.  He's 34.

Forgotten Concepts.

I was just looking through a bunch of old fragments of fiction pieces I've written.  Unfortunately I haven't got a clue what some of them were supposed to be about.  What was there just didn't have enough context to know where I was going with them.  A lot of stuff builds up over the years.

Mocking The Clickbait 20: Twice As Patriotic As You.

Canadian Canadian Casino Forced To Fire Manager.  Here's Why.

A Canadian Canadian manager.  As opposed to just a Canadian manager.

Definitely The Wrong Target.

I just saw a video ad for "KPop training."  I am definitely not the right target for that.  Any company producing KPop would laugh their heads off at the idea of me as a KPop singer.  I'm several decades too old for the job.

Reversion.

This afternoon has been kind of a throwback here.  It was 15 degrees this morning, but by mid afternoon it was only 3.  It's been raining for a good while, and now that rain has been joined by snow.  So you'd be forgive thinking it was November if you were spending time outside/  On top of that tonight's expected low is minus -2.  I'm quite glad I had no reason to spend time outside this afternoon.

45 Degrees.

April began with mid winter temperatures around -20 C.  April ends with summer type weather, with the temperature currently 25 C.  There's even the chance of an evening thunderstorm.   A 45 degree difference in 30 days.

Mocking The Clickbait 19: You Are Correct.

You'd Be Surprised How Many Canadians Rushed To Try These Casino Jackpots.

Definitely.  Canadian casinos are currently closed because of COVID 19.  It's kind of hard to gamble when the doors are locked, and the staff are staying at home.

Nature's April Fools.

It's fair to say pretty much everyone in Saskatoon considers April 1 to be spring.  But you wouldn't know it by the weather today.  When I got up this morning it was around -20 C.  It snowed yesterday, and a bit more today.  So it looks like November here.  It's not supposed to get above freezing until Monday.  This is one April Fools trick I don't appreciate.

"Try Not To Go Too Often."

This may soon be the order for sailors on the US aircraft carriers USS Gerald R. Ford and USS George H. W. Bush.  Reports are that the toilet systems on them need expensive maintenance to prevent clogging.  It's the kind of thing that leaves you scratching your head.  The Ford class are the US Navy's newest carrier design, so you'd expect problems.  But toilets?  You'd think shipboard toilet design would be a pretty well understood field.  The Ford cost 12.8 billion dollars to build

A Bit Unexpected.

I actually got a Willy hit today.  I was expecting that it might be a good while before my next one, since a lot of people will be spending less money due to staying at home more and trying to spend less.  There has also been talk that some people are avoiding bills because of the possibility of catching something off them, and that some businesses are asking people to use credit and debit cards if possible for the same reason.  I'm not sure how much difference that might make, since at many businesses you'll still need to touch the equipment in some way while using your card.

Gas In Saskatoon On Hiatus.

Because of the ongoing COVID 19 crisis I'll be suspending these posts for a while.  I'll probably be limiting my outings to the work I do and grocery shopping, so I won't be able to keep track of prices.  Earlier in the week it was 78.9 cents a litre, a price I never expected to see again.

Gas In Saskatoon, March 13, 2020.

Gas has long been flirting with the one dollar litre mark here.  Then COVID 19 and the oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia smashed the barrier.  Gas is currently 93.9 cents a litre at most stations, a price we haven't seen in a very long time.    I wouldn't be surprised to see it go below 90 cents soon, but probably not much lower.  But I've been wrong before.

COVID 19 Arrives.

Unfortunately COVID 19 has arrived in Saskatchewan, and Saskatoon.  A man in his 60s, who had visited Egypt, began to exhibit symptoms.  He is now considered a presumptive case, and is self isolating at home.  Hopefully that is all he will need to do.  It was really only a matter of time.  If we're lucky the number of cases here will be low.

Meanwhile Saskatoon Fire Station Number 4 is under a precautionary quarantine after firefighters were called to help a person who had been tested for COVID 19.  A pair of paramedics, and several people involved in dentistry, are also under precautionary quarantine.

The 49th annual Juno Awards, Canada's equivalent of the Grammies, were supposed to be held in Saskatoon on Sunday.  They've now been cancelled.

And nationally Prime Minster Trudeau, and his wife Sophie, are now self isolating. She began to exhibit possible symptoms late last night, so they will stay isolated until she's been tested.

Gas In Saskatoon, March 6, 2020.

I doubt it's much of a surprise that the price is down again.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 101.9 cents a litre at most stations.

Goodbye Market Mall Safeway.

I made my last visit to Market Mall Safeway.  I was kind of hoping to buy one last donut from them, but they didn't bake any today.  The store was supposed to close for the last time at 6 PM.  When it reopens it will be a FreshCo store.  Even if it hadn't been chosen for a FreshCo conversion the store was in need of some reno work.  It was looking kind of tired.

History Repeats.

Our last February 29 was in 2016.  On that day I received a Where's Willy hit.  Today I received one as well.  Unfortunately we'll have to wait another 4 years to see if the Leap Day hit streak continues.

Gas In Saskatoon, February 28, 2020.

February ends with a price drop, which is no surprise given the economic effects of the Covid 19 virus.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 105.8 cents a litre at most locations.  However I did see a station around suppertime that was at 103.8 cents a litre, so I won't be surprised if most stations are at that price by tomorrow afternoon.

How Did I See This?

YouTube sometimes recommends some surprising stuff that reminds me of my youth, like the following video.

Even before listening to it I thought that I knew the song.  Sure enough once it started playing it was obvious I did, as a mangled version of the chorus has occasionally popped into my head for over 30 years.

Righeira were an Italian duo of Stefano "Michael" Rota and Stefano "Johnson" Righi.  "No Tengo Dinero," " I have no money" in Spanish, was released in 1983.  It was produced by the La Bionda brothers, a successful Italian act from the '70s who had gotten into record production in the '80s.

I assume the version of this video I saw was the shorter 3 some minute version.  How I saw it is a real good question, as Spanish language dance tunes weren't exactly big on the Canadian charts in 1983.  I assume the catchy video caught the attention of some Canadian video show producer, who played it simply because it looked cool.  No doubt it got stuck in my memory because it was something unusual for Canadian TV in the '80s.

Snacking Is Too Expensive.

It was an early morning for me, as I was up at a quarter to 5 to take my parents to the airport.  Afterwards I decided to have a bad breakfast, and bought a bag of white cheddar popcorn.  It came to $2.10 with the tax, which is the same price you'll end up paying for the standard single serving size of Lays and Old Dutch chips.  This seems like a good excuse not to buy the stuff.  Of course if a Dollarama had been open I could have bought some there, as their smaller sizes are cheaper.

Tax Return Away.

I just submitted my 2019 Canadian income tax return to the Canada Revenue Agency.  I have never sent it out this early.  Today was literally the first day for this tax season you could submit it electronically.  I actually tried to send it in after 12 AM Eastern last night, but no dice.  Perhaps it was set up to only become active after it became Monday in BC.  As usual the deadline for most people submitting their tax return is midnight, April 30, which is a Thursday this year.

Oh That Weather.

We're on a bit of a ride temperature wise in Saskatoon.  Yesterday it was just below freezing.  Today's high is expected to be minus 22 Celsius.  Tomorrow the high is expected to be a much more bearable minus 10, and minus 4 for Friday.  And of course the coldest day so far of February is the day I have to spend a lot of time outdoors.  The timing of these cycles really needs to be adjusted.

Gas In Saskatoon, February 7, 2020.

Yep, I'm still around, and with a gas update for you.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 107.9 cents a litre at most locations.  However at least one gas station was closed today, the Co Op station at Centre Mall, due a supposed gas shortage due to the ongoing labour dispute at the Co Op refinery in Regina.

Gas In Saskatoon, January 24, 2020.

A small bit of price relief to report this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is 110.9 cents a litre at most locations. 

Missed One.

It would be a full time job to try to keep up with all the conspiracy theories out there.  It probably wouldn't be possible.  But I'm surprised I missed this one.  I overheard some kid on the bus ranting about Justin Trudeau, and one of the things he mentioned was claims Fidel Castro is Trudeau's father.

That was a conspiracy theory I'd never heard before, but some research shows it's been floating around since at least 2016.  The claim is that Margaret Trudeau had an affair with Fidel Castro, and Justin resulted.  Supposedly Castro's eldest son Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, commonly referred to as Fidelito, referred to Justin Trudeau as his half-brother in his 2018 suicide note.  Believers think Justin Trudeau looks a lot like Fidel.

Unfortunately for the conspiracy crowd there's no evidence Margaret Trudeau met Fidel Castro before 1976, when Justin was 4 and a half.  He was conceived in April of 1971, shortly after the Trudeaus were married in March of 1971, being born on Christmas Day of  1971.  So somehow Margaret Trudeau was able to meet Fidel Castro with no one knowing about it.  Yeah, no, didn't happen

But in the end the real question should  be "So what?"  It would be an issue for the Trudeau family, but not really for anyone else.  Being Fidel Castro's son would not legally disqualify Justin Trudeau from being Prime Minister.  Unlike the US there is no provision in the Canadian Constitution requiring a PM candidate being a "natural born citizen,"  and his mother was Canadian anyways.  The last Prime Minister not born in Canada, John Turner, is still alive.  He was born in England, and became PM under the 1982 Constitution.

Of course we did see this with the Obama birther theories.  Deviating from the standard "Obama was born in Kenya, so he can't be President!" nonsense some birthers decided his real father was either African America journalist, activist, and poet Frank Marshall Davis, or Malcolm X.  Since both men were born in the United States I'm not sure how they figured this was useful in their crusade to get Obama out of office.

It would be interesting to know what this kid has been reading, because he mentioned a couple of other crank ideas.  Something from some Wexit idiot seems likely.

Gas In Saskatoon, January 10, 2020.

After a period of stability we see a price increase.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 112.9 cents a litre at most stations.  Given the events of the past week I'm sure this is no surprise to anyone.

The Last Walk Off.

Rush drummer Neil Peart has died.  He was 67.  He had been fighting brain cancer for the past three years, which he managed to keep quiet about.  For those familiar with him that's probably not a surprise.  Despite being drummer for one of Canada's most successful rock bands Peart was a fairly private man.  He tended to let Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson do most of the PR side of things, and that tendency became even stronger after the horrifying double blow of losing his daughter Selena in a 1997 car accident, following the death from cancer 10 months later of his common-law wife Jacqueline Taylor.  The song "Limelight," from Rush's 1981 album Moving Pictures, reflected that introverted side of Peart.  He is survived by his second wife, photographer Carrie Nuttall, and their daughter Olivia.

Did Someone Keep The Receipt?

As crappy as 2019 was for so many people I'm starting to think we should go get it out of the trash and send this 2020 back to the manufacturer.  I think it's defective.

Welcome To 2020.

We made it.  So many didn't because of the events of 2019.  Hopefully things will go better for all of us this year.  That includes a whole bunch of people getting a clue and stopping their foolish behaviours.

Where did all the time go?  It just went.