TGIF

A big thank god it's Friday! This has been a long week. Some late nights, 2 trips to the dentist (fillings and a mold for bleaching trays), and some busy days at work. This morning it's very mild and raining a pour. The rivers are really high and running very fast. A lot of water has come down in the last 24 hours.

Thankfully, this is an extra long weekend for me. I am taking Monday off as a vacation day and Tuesday is a statutory holiday (Rememberance Day), so after today, I won't be back to work until next Wednesday! Yay!

I'm elated that Obama won the US election. It's going to be great to have someone who's smart and articulate occupying the White House. My joy is tempered though by the passage of Proposition 8 (to ban same-sex marriage) in California and similar measures in Arizona and Florida. In California (and elsewhere, too, I'm sure), backers of Prop 8 (including the Catholic and LDS churches) lied through their teeth in order to get the measure passed. They said that freedom of religion would be threatened, that kids would be affected, that schools would have to teach about the "gay lifestyle." All lies, of course, but the tactic apparently worked. If I were a gay American, I would certainly give serious thought to moving to Canada or Europe. Same-sex marriage has been legal here in for going on 4 years. Somehow the sky hasn't fallen, my straight friends continue to marry, some have kids (or grand kids! ;-), the churches are still standing, and not one church has been forced to marry anyone it did not want to. Go figure.

How about a couple of pics to end with?

Here's Justin Trudeau and his son Xavier as Justin was being sworn in as a Member of Parliament. Jeez, he looks like his father!


A puppy sleeping in Iraq


And Michael Phelps - I miss him not being in the news everyday!