Gas In Saskatoon, January 30, 2009.

No, I didn't walk away, I just didn't have anything I wanted to write until now.

Gas is currently 87.9 cents a litre in Saskatoon. A lot of people think it should be lower given the current price of oil and the price of gas elsewhere in Canada. Interestingly US oil companies Exxon Mobil and Chevron both announced record profits for 2008 on Friday despite the late year slump in oil prices.

Respite.

If you're in Saskatoon I hope you've taken advantage of the weather we've had over the past few days. After an extended stint of Artic cold the weather since Friday has seemed more like the end of March than the last part of January. It was two degress above freezing when I checked the thermometer last night about 10 PM, very unusual for this time of year. Unfortunately it seems the cold weather will come back by Friday, so get out there while you can.

Gas In Saskatoon, January 16, 2009.

Ironically as the price of oil dropped on Thursday the price of gas went up in Saskatoon. Gas is now 89.9 cents a litre, a jump of 6 cents from last week. I'm sure most won't be convinced by whatever excuse the gas companies might give for the increase.

The I Word.

Some people do not like the use of the term Indian to refer to the pre-colonial inhabitants of Canada and their modern descendants. An example of this got some press attention this week. Officials of a First Nations run theatre company were upset at the use of the term Indian in a Toronto Star review of one of their productions. Native Earth Performing Arts artistic director Yvonne Nolan stated the use of the term was an example of aboriginal Canadians lacking self-determination, since they can't name themselves. But I wonder if Nolan and other members of Native Earth have ever been to Saskatchewan. The term Indian continues in use in this province, specifically by Native organisations. The umbrella group representing 72 Saskatchewan First Nations continues to call itself the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations. Then there's SIGA, the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority. I haven't heard any widespread outrage at these organisations using the term Indian, and SIGA is a recent enough creation that the founders could have used some other term besides Indian.(Using aboriginal would have resulted in SAGA, which would have worked quite well.) Inaccurate as the term may be it seems unlikely it will stop being used here anytime soon.

Spiting Her Face?

I was thumbing through Bluff magazine today in a local bookstore. I was surprised to see a news item about professional player Clonie Gowen launching a 40 million dollar lawsuit against online poker room Full Tilt Poker and various members of Team Full Tilt, of which she was a member until November 11th. Gowen's claim includes a charge of breach of contract regarding an alleged verbal agreement promising her a 1 percent stake in Full Tilt's operations in exchange for her signing on as a Full Tilt endorser. When I saw the list of who she's sueing beside the actual companies involved my first response was "Wow, she's suing everybody!" An exaggeration of course, but if you're familiar with pro poker you know some or all of these names: Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, John Juanda, Phil Gordon, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Jennifer Harman-Traniello, Mike Matusow, Allen Cunningham, Gus Hansen and Patrik Antonius. These are some of the top pros on the circuit.

Seeing all this I can't help but wonder if Gowen hasn't done damage to her future poker career. Only the naive would assume that the pros all like each other and are one big, happy family. It's obvious to anyone who has ever seen the pros interact on TV they aren't. Some are friends, some are pleasant to each other at the table but otherwise probably have little to do with each other otherwise, and some obviously dislike each other. But this is different. It's one thing not to get along with someone. It's quite another to sue them for a large amount of money. Even if she only sued Full Tilt and its parent Tiltware it would have seemed less like an open personal attack on the character and integrity of these players, several of whom Gowen is said to be friends with. Certainly other poker companies may be leery of signing up Gowen as an endorser, and it's hard to say what pressure some of those involved in the suit might put on say the organisers of poker events regarding her participation. In fairness I should note that apparently rumours having been floating about that several of the pros named in the suit are less than happy with Full Tilt themselves, so it may be that they accept that this is a tactical move on her part, but even if that is the case I wouldn't assume everyone will take it as such.

500 And Counting.

I've finally made it. I had my 500th bill hit today at Where's Willy. This follows reaching the 600 hits mark on January 1st. Hopefully I'll see the 600 bills hit and 700 hits marks this year as well.

Gas In Saskatoon, January 9, 2009.

Gas prices have risen since the beginning of the year. Gas in Saskatoon is current 83.9 cents a litre.

A Winter Safety Tip.

If you are visiting Saskatoon in the next while, don't sing "Let It Snow." You may find yourself chased down the street by angry citizens with snow shovels, which they have used for snow shovelling too much of late.

The 600.

I was hoping it would happen before the end of the year, but having it happen on the first day of the year is quite cool. I just received my 600th Where's Willy hit. It would have even been cooler if it had coincided with my 500th bill hit, but I got a couple of rehit bills that put that goal to sleep.

Welcome To 2009.

Well, we made it into another year. Hopefully this year will be much better for us all than 2008 was.

Oh You Silly Parents.

It's that time again. Time for some of the unusual baby names given in Saskatoon, courtesy of the Star Phoenix.

On the very cover of The Baby Block 2008 we have a little girl named Iscis. Okay, I don't know about you, but I haven't a clue how that would be pronounced. Like Isis perhaps? It's certainly a name the poor kid will be having to explain to people over and over again for the rest of her life.

How about Daxon? A variation on the equally jarring Jaxon perhaps. Sounds more like a name for a construction company than a kid.

A bit of a head scratcher is a girl named Akira. This is usually a Japanese boy's name, and neither parent's names indicate they're Japanese.

Then we have a little girl named Kenley. Personally if I saw that name on a list of people I'd assume it was a boy, and not a girl. Enver, the name of another little girl, sounds more feminine, but comes across as some oddball variation of Amber, or perhaps a take on Ember.

Young Theoren Smith was presumably named after famous Saskatchewan hockey player Theoren Fleury. Quite a namesake to live up to if he develops an interest in hockey.

Dravyn is kind of a funky name, but it's his middle name that gets me. Ronin. Do his parents know this is Japanese for masterless samurai? He has a big brother named Lysander.

Akre is another name I'd assume at first glance was a male name, but again it's attached to a girl. How you pronounce that is another question.

It's not hard to figure out how Deklen is pronounced, but why not use the traditional spelling Declan? You can say that about a lot of the names listed. Why come up with some oddball spelling which will just cause the kid, and for that matter the parents, annoyance for years to come as they spell it over and over again? It doesn't make your kid any more special. Or is it a case of people naming their kids without looking up how to spell the names they give them?

Koston? Someone's maiden name perhaps. I imagine the line, "No, it's Koston, not Boston" will become very familiar to this boy.

Of course we have the inevitable Nevaeh, which is Heaven backwards. Why do people think this is a good name?

Blayze. Note the added y. Another name I think is more appropriate for a horse than a child.

Neven, another odd and to my eyes masculine name stuck on a little girl.

Then we have the parents who named their little girl Saddie. I assume they were going for a "special" way to spell Sadie, but I suspect a lot of people will pronounce that first sylable as sad until corrected otherwise.

I'm guessing Ajay is supposed to be a variation on A.J., but usually that's supposed to represent two given names, not be a name by itself.

Seeing a little girl named Jorja makes me suspect her parents are CSI fans given long running CSI cast member Jorja Fox.

Hopefully, as they've done over the past few years, the Government of Alberta will release a list of the names given to Alberta children over the last year sometime early in 2009. I'm sure some real monstrosities will be listed. Perhaps someone can convince the Saskatchewan government to release a similar list for our entertainment and befuddlement.

Gas In Saskatoon, December 27, 2008.

A day late this week, but I figured I should get one last one of these in before the year is over. Gas in Saskatoon is currently 74.9 cents a litre. With Christmas travel season coming to an end it will be interesting to see how much it might drop at the next price setting.

Hope They're There.

I hope you're enjoying the holidays, and more importantly your family made it home. My brother managed to make it here before things really went bad this week. Hopefully your relatives aren't sitting in an airport someplace.

I'm Disappointed.

Geez, Stevie old boy. You go and appoint a bunch of Senators so the Liberal/NDP/BQ coalition won't get the chance to if they by some miracle take over the House of Commons. That's bad enough, since you're supposedly all big on Senate reform. But what makes it worse is that you didn't pick me. Pam Wallin for Saskatchewan? Come on, isn't it time for some new blood outside the political classes? All you had to do was ask.

Stabilised.

It had to happen sooner or later. The price of gas in Saskatoon is currently the same as last Friday. Perhaps with heavy Christmas driving they don't want to reduce prices.

Has M Been Notified?

Oh, the things you find on YouTube. John Barry and Howard Devoto are two names that don't normally come to mind together, or for that matter Howard Devoto and Shirley Bassey. But here for your listening pleasure is Magazine's cover of the theme from Goldfinger, originally performed by Shirley Bassey.

Ban It.

Admit it. There's at least one Christmas song you just don't want to hear. For me it's "The Little Drummer Boy." Someone take the kid's sticks away! Better yet, feed the poor boy, find him some place to live, and get him into school. After all he's a poor boy, and needs some better way to make his way in the world than banging on a ratty drum for whatever deity happens to decide to incarnate within walking distance.

A Winter Tip.

If you're going to go through a fast food drive through, make sure you can open your window before you pull into line. Someone ahead of me just a bit ago didn't, and it caused them a bit of a problem putting in their order.

Less Bang, Less Bucks.

The current economic malaise is having effects on businesses that might not immediately come to mind. US firearms maker Smith and Wesson announced today that sales of its hunting line have fallen, offsetting growth in the handgun segment of the company. This lead to a second quarter loss for the company, and as a result their stock declined in trading today. S&W have been trimming jobs on their hunting rifle line as a result of the weakness in sales. You might think economic uncertainly might actually prompt some people to take up hunting again, hoping to save some money by eating more food they've acquired directly. But presumably most people who might do so aren't likely to shell out for a new gun, instead using an existing weapon in their possession or buying a used rifle or shotgun. The hunting market as a whole has been shrinking in the US, no doubt pushed along by an increasingly urban population and fewer young people taking up the hobby.

S&W report sales to law enforcement are strong at the moment, with a lot of interest in their M&P semiautomatic pistol, which has also seen a large order from the Iraqi government. No doubt they hope to increase their market share in a market that has in recent years been dominated by the Austrian made Glock, a large percentage of which are ironically chambered in .40 Smith and Wesson, developed in 1990 as an alternative to the 10mm load the FBI was then using, and which over the course of the '90s came to dominate the North American police market. Municipal police forces here in Saskatchewan for example all use .40 calibre Glocks, versus the 9mm Smith and Wesson pistols used by the RCMP.

Wanted: Heat.

Does your corner of the world have any heat to spare? If so, send it our way. We're really in the deep freeze right now, and the forecast calls for it to stay that way into the weekend and beyond. So send us all that spare heat that will just make you use your air conditioners too much. I'm sure you folks in the southern hemisphere can do without some of your summer heat.