speaking of gay (not that there's anything wrong with that)...

Some Japanese baseball player is apparently remorseful for his participation in a gay porn flick.

Apparently he was short on cash in university. We were all short on cash in university, but most of us didn't get into gay porn. Most of us just called our parents to ask for more cash. But really, what's worse?

only 36 percent gay!

According to this British online questionnaire, I am only 36 percent gay. Hurrah!

To contrast, Fraser is 43 percent gay.

ski update

Took Matthew skiing on Sunday up at Mt. Pakenham, despite a high of -23 C. After spending 45 minutes waiting to rent him skis the previous Sunday, I decided that I'd buy him a pair of his own - we figure that after Matt's done with them, Madison can use them. I found a great deal at SportMart, (not to be confused with the previously referenced sportchek).

Pakenham is 25 minutes away, and is a great little family oriented hill - it reminds me a lot of the hill I grew up skiing, which was only a ten minute drive from my house.

The first three or four runs frustrated Matthew a bit, but once he found his balance and understood how to snowplow, there was no stopping him. I remember being told (and don't ask me how or why I remember this) when I was learning to ski, that if you make your skis look like a slice of pizza that you could control your speed. The bigger the piece of pizza the slower you go. Them smaller the piece of pizza the faster you go. I guess this analogy worked, because after a half dozen runs he was going down the whole bunny hill without falling. Next week, he wants to go up the big hill, up the chairlift.

I guess I should try to teach him how to turn. However, I won't be teaching Matt for long. We plan on putting him in private lessons so that he takes instruction from someone who is certified, and someone who isn't his Dad so he doesn't tune out the instruction too quickly, and so that I don't foist unrealistic expectations on him.

site statistics

I have added a site counter to the right hand column, way down at the bottom (scroll a bit, you'll find it). The counter looks a bit weak at the moment, currently displaying just two unique visits. (Thanks Michelle! Thanks Fraser!).

While counters are somewhat of a retro site addition, I find it amusing that this free service includes many stats about my site that a company I once worked for that will go unmentioned (starts with a "w" ends in "ebHancer") was actually trying to sell! The company is still a float somehow. Perhaps the vencap people haven't visited sites like bravenet.com.

Free internet junk like this is cool.

went to buy ski socks at sportchek

At lunchtime today I went to sportchek to buy some ski socks. I got distracted trying on a pair pants and a couple of shirts that were on sale. I got the pants and the shirt, but came away sans ski socks.

Subconsciously, I may have done this on purpose to facilitate an additional trip to sportchek. I am a man of many layers. (Drifit, wool, leather, etc.)

and then there's this

Even worse than delving into a new driver, I'm still a year away from the lease being up on my vanilla 2001 Honda Accord, but I'm already starting to collect new car brochures.

Today I stopped at the Acura dealer. It was right beside the appointment I had at the doctor's office, so why not, right? Right?

Sweet sweet TSX / RSX (premium).

Fraser is telling me to look at the Saab 9-2, although unless you get the enhanced version, you're basically driving an Impreza. And how Swedish can it be after the GM takeover? Am I basically buying a Saturn? Not that there is anything wrong with that. I know some very fine people who are Saturn owners. Really I do. But back to the 9-2. At this point, there's not much more than an artist's rendering of this car kickin' around the net, so I must reserve judgement until later.

Mazda 3 (sedan). If I were truly a sensible human, I might just do. But, I'm really not that sensible. However, if I decide on the smaller two door RSX over the TSX, it might be worthwhile to give a second or third thought to the Mazda 3 sedan because a) it has 4 doors b) it has appealing lines and c) it has equal hp output (160 horsies). All that and d) i'd be saving around eight large in the process.

All this, for something that is yet a year away. Sad really.

ignite

Egad. It's only farkin' January and I'm already getting itchy. Dig this. I'm not saying that I'm gonna change my driver again, but I'm not saying I'm not either. I know myself better by now.

happy birthday dad!

Yesterday, January 21, 2004, was my Dad's 77th birthday. Doode doesn't look a day over 75.

But seriously, he's in great shape. When he joins my friends and I for a round of golf or a trip to the Corel Center to see the Senators, none of them can really believe that he's over 65 years of age.

Happy Birthday Dad!

shock the monkey

It's Chinese New Year. Apparently, it's the year of the monkey.

Shock The Monkey by Peter Gabriel is a good tune, but I always thought that the first two lines were "shock the monkey tonight", but apparently, as you can see on the linked page, it's "shock the monkey to life". That's jokes.

Anyway, I was born in 1967, the year of the sheep. Here's the lowdown on sheep people:

"Those born in the Year of the Sheep are said to be charming, elegant and artistic, who like material comforts. A bit of a worrier they also have a tendency to complain about things. Jobs as actors, gardeners or beachcombers would suit."

That is a somewhat apt description of myself. After all, I always wanted to hang with Relic, Jessie, and Nick to live the life of a beachcomber.

www.belinda.ca ...need i say more?

Well, perhaps I should say more...

Belinda Stronach has thrown her hat into the Conservative leadership ring. Before I go on, you should know that I have no idea what this womans' actual political stance(s) are. I'm sure she has some altruistic motives for getting into politics, but I'm also quite sure she has some business related reasons for doing so as well. She may turn out to be the bomb (which is a good thing yo), or she may turn out to be the stereotypical politician who tells us one thing to get elected, then does the opposite when she's in office. We'll see. But, until I have more than a superficial impression of her, here's my superficial impression:

A couple of interesting things about young Belinda (aka Boom Boom). First, it's weird that someone who could be the next Prime Minister is only a year older than I am (she's 37). Second, she was married to, but is now divorcing, Johann Koss, a Norweigian speed skater who's a quadruple Olympic gold medalist. Props to Johann. (This is her second marriage to go down the toobes btw.) Finally, and you had to know this was coming, she's a bit of a hotsie totsie, something that can only help Canada on the international stage.

Viz: She'll be able to gain the attention of other international big wigs by just walking in the room. One thing I think we can count on is that no one is going to smell as good as Boom Boom at the G8 meetings. Before you know it, Georgie boy will be agreeing to all sorts of softwood lumber deals that he'd never have gone for in the past.

in with the new, out with the old

Taking my 15 year old downhill skis and boots into Play It Again Sports today to see if they'll give me something, or anything for that matter, for them. I bought new skis about two weeks ago, but have yet to pick them up. We're planning on getting Matthew out to a hill soon to see how he likes it. Should be interesting!

new tires

Yesterday (January 15, 2004) was the coldest day in recent memory (a high of -26 centigrade), was the day that the front tire on the passenger side of my 2001 Accord decided to go flat. You can imagine my delight. -40 with a windchill, and I'm out there changing a tire. So I get the tire changed. No biggie really, aside from having trouble aligning the annoying jack with the slot under the car. After about 20 minutes I was back underway, heading to Frisby Tire, a local tire retailer who I was hoping would fix my flat, as I didn't want to be running on the donut all day. Didn't make it to Frisby. In fact, I didn't make it further than about 300 yards down the road when the donut goes flat. Excellent workmanship Honda! Well done.

Anyway, so I call Honda Roadside Assistance. They tell me it will be two to three hours before they can get a truck out to me. So, I decide to call Frisby. They had someone there in 20 minutes, who fixed the donut, allowing me to get to Frisby.

Cost? 100 dollars. Why does everything cost 100 dollars?

I get to Frisby. It's busy. Seems a good many folks have had their tires peel away from their rims on such a cold morning. So, after waiting about an hour, Frisby guy tells me that my tire is shot, and my other three tires a pretty much bald. No real surprise there. I have 60,000 kms on the car, and one year left on the lease. I was pushing the treadwear, hoping to make them last till the end of the lease. But, if I had brought them back bald, Honda probably would have charged me for a new set of tires anyway.

So, I ordered up the cheapest all seasons that Frisby guy had to offer (actually on his advice - no sense spending money on a higher end tire when you're only gonna be running them for a year at the most). Good times.

we're going streakin'!

In a scene plucked straight from this cinematic masterpiece, there was some interesting happenings going on during the wee hours of January 6th, 2004. Three male residents of SpringCreek Cresent showed their "mettle" during a midnight run that will not soon be forgotten.