Thinking Out Loud

The world is just getting too small. And maybe a little scary.

Google Earth has street views of a bunch of Canadian cities, and I wondered if I would actually be able to see my street.  After all, it’s a pretty insignificant gravel road in Moose Jaw (Where the hell is that)

But it’s there. If this works you should be able to scroll around and see my street and eventually my house… You can click on the little arrows (or cameras, depending on if you are using the full version of Google Earth) to move down the street

View Larger Map

Also, there’s one for Amy and Bert’s house from Oxford St:

View Larger Map

(you can actually zoom around and move down 3rd Ave to get a view of their house from the front – click (or right click if full version) on the little cameras or arrows

and Sherry and Herb’s house. 

View Larger Map

If you need (or want) Google Earth, you can get it at Google Earth and I’ve included the files you can load into it to get the full meal deal…

My House Amy and Bert’s House Sherry and Herb’s House

and you can remove the appliance curse at any time.  I will never, ever, bring up your new microwave.  In fact I wish I had one like it.  I want one just like yours.  You are so intelligent in your choice of microwaves.  Did I mention I love you and admire you and you are my hero?

There.  Remove the curse.  Please.  Over the last two months here is what has happened… I’ve probably missed a couple… Read the rest of this entry »

You need to be a Beatles fan to read this post.  Simple as that.  It will not likely make sense or be appreciated by anyone else…

I usually avoid re-mastered oldie CD’s.  Especially favourites like the Beatles.  The “Love” collection re-mastered CD was not the Beatles. And to tell the truth, the CD’s I have of the Beatles just ain’t the same as the original vinyl.  Good sound, but missing something.  I could never put my finger (ear??) on it, but it’s more than the snap crackle pop that goes with those big old fashioned antique analogue disks (notice the “k” – that’s how we spelled “disc” back then)

I was browsing through the CD’s at Wal-Mart today. I picked up and put down and walked around and came back and picked up and put back and pondered some more about a hundred times before I finally decided I would get the remastered Sgt Pepper CD.   Honestly, I’ve bought cars with less consideration.  Oh well, if nothing else, it came with a T-shirt.

And to be really daring, I grabbed the remastered “Let It Be” CD. The one without the T-shirt.  I wasn’t convinced that these new versions would really be better than the ones I already had at home, so a second free collectors t-shirt (for an additional 10 dollars) didn’t seem necessary.

My old records are back!  At least the way I remember them… Read the rest of this entry »

I’m at work today.  I just got in from a smoke break (my second for the day, and it’s almost 2:oo pm. – that’s pretty good for me) and I saw something I had to write down here.

The smoking area is in the back parking lot, and you can see the street where a lot of the people park to go to the casino.  I watched a couple of older couples (does that make sense) walking to their car.  In typical senior fashion, the two men were walking side by side, and the two women trailed along three or four steps behind.  When they got to their car, the two ladies jumped into the back seat, and the two men got in the front.

It’s not their fault, because the snow removal plan is a little lacking, but it was soon obvious they were stuck.  The guys got out to push, and one of the ladies got in the front to drive.  Unfortunately, co-ordination seemed to be a stumbling block.  One of the gents went to the back of the car, the other went to the front.  And they both started to push.  Despite this marvelous effort, the car was still not moving.

In a couple of minutes, the lady wound down the window, and I imagine she told them they should both push from the same end.  The men accepted this idea, and both of them walked to the other end.  The key word is BOTH. Not one.  BOTH of them walked to the other end.

They were once again pushing against each other with all their might. and the car still wasn’t going anywhere.  I could see the woman waving her arms at the one at the front, and I’m just thinking here, telling him he should go to the back where his helper is.  I’m pretty sure there was a remark about lack of intelligence I could hear even from my viewpoint, but I’m not positive.

I was just about to walk across the street to help out (after all, there was still two free sides to the car that I could push against) when a group of teenagers came along and basically lifted the car out of the ruts.

Aw well, back to work.

When the kids were living in this house, the old toilet “pooped out”  and went into continuous flush mode and needed some attention.  We bought several of the “universal fit” repair kits, but none of them actually fit, probably because the old fixture was a prototype for the new concept of indoor plumbing.

Anyway, we bought a new lo-water, lo-profile model and all should have been good.  Except for the fact that it actually flushed “#1″ sort of haphazardly, and any deposit you could actually be proud of was at least a double flusher.  All of that made the lo-water, environmentally friendly feature redundant.  The only solution was a “How to Use the Plunger” poster displayed prominently on the bathroom wall.

The fact still remains, it’s a good looking, futuristic toilet. I’m sure if I could hook it up to the internet, or use a USB plug and connect it to my computer, I could download an important update that would actually make it functional.  But alas, www. toilets-R-us.com seems to be down for the moment, so I need to revert to the old fashioned plunger and sewer snake method.  Or perhaps a sledge hammer.

I’m leaning toward the sledge hammer at the moment…

I can’t believe you don’t really know.

It’s a carnivorous dinosaur that lived in China. But that’s not the news. It’s actually the first dinosaur that they can actually prove the true colour.   And it ain’t lizard green! They found tiny amounts of pigment in the feathers (you did know some dinosaurs had feathers right?) and the colour is “ginger” (according to CNN International)

I call it orange, but I’ve been told that men don’t have any clue about colours. Read the rest of this entry »

It snowed for two days.  I called it a blizzard.  According to environment Canada though, if I understood the weather report, we were having a heavy snow fall.  You need to have falling snow, winds over 50 km/hr and extreme cold weather and wind chill.  It was actually only about -5 degrees, so we didn’t qualify.  But our heavy snowfall (read blizzard here – my opinion) did close all of the highways, and pretty much made driving in the city impossible.

Here’s some photos:

where's the car

My car is under there someplace.

Read the rest of this entry »

I wanted to re-do an old picture I did years ago of Gollum (from Lord of the Rings) on a skateboard.  I think it was painted on an scrap piece of drywall, and I think I gave it to Graham, and I’m actually not sure if it was ever really finished.  This is more demon-ish than gollum-ish, but I had fun anyway.

Hell on Wheels

Almost everyone knows the big reason I watch NCIS is because I’m infatuated with Abby.  Just for fun, I tried to come up with a picture of her and her farting hippo.  What can I say?

…then don’t say anything at all. When I was growing up, I heard that little proverb quite regularly.  I didn’t know it had an “or else” on the end of it.

A little while ago, I might have, maybe, perhaps, possibly, accidentally made fun of my brother’s new microwave and his absolute amazement that the new appliance had a popcorn button.  And a turntable.  And a coffee button.

Okay, I’m still making fun of him, but there’s  a couple of other old sayings that come to mind right now -  “You’ll get what’s coming to you,” “God will get you for that” and the ever popular “Now, what the f— ?!!!”  Read the rest of this entry »