Skinny Saturday 38

Hey all. Just signed back in for a quick post. I am still in a lot of pain with my back. It is perhaps a little bit better today and I had a very good night last night, being able to turn over without much pain at all. And this morning, getting up out of bed was the easiest it has been in days, but after walking around a bit and doing some errands, it is still really painful. If I don't see a marked improvement by tomorrow, I'm going to go to the after-hours clinic and get some stronger drugs. I've been off work since Wednesday afternoon and I hate not being able to do anything at this time of year when so much needs to be done. I did manage to write a few more Christmas cards today, so I am more than half way done that task.

Brad's gone out for a run right now, but when he gets back, I'm going to make him wait on me hand and foot. He's going to have to clean the bathtub so I can take a nice hot bath (I'm looking forward to that. I hardly ever take a bath, but I think this evening it will be just the thing to relax my back muscles before heading to bed with the hot water bottle.)

And Brad has already offered to make muffins for me and I'll get him to make supper too, as well as bring in wood and build a fire in the fireplace. And with that, it's as long as I can sit here and the this... Here's the Saturday boyz:

Ouch!

Aie, aie, aie... Oh, my aching back! The pain in my back had been getting progressively worse. I took yesterday afternoon off in the hope that laying down and resting would do some good. A friend and colleague generously offered to drive me home and make two stops along the way, one at the bank to deposit a Blue Cross cheque and a second stop to allow me to purchase my lotto tickets. (I feel absolutely forelorn if I don't have a ticket on the nights's draw!).

In any case, no sooner had I gotten home, had a bit of lunch and laid down in my bed than the phone rang. It was my sister informing us that they had just called her from mom's home saying that they were bringing her to town via ambulance for tachycardia (rapid heart beat). Brad came into my room and told me and at first, we decided that he would go up to the hospital, but the more I lay there, the more I knew that I should go up myself. So up I got and got dressed again (very painfully, I might add), and went up to the hospital. I got there just after she arrived.

Her heart rate was very fast at 150 bpm. And that was after they had already tried several drugs to slow it down. Here in town, they decided to try a different drug, and once it started dripping into her IV her heart rate started to go down, after about half an hour it was back to normal for a woman her age (around 80 bpm). At any rate, I was up there with her all afternoon, which certaainly did not help my back condition. Brad drove mom back to her residence after they discharged her from the hospital. Thank god, because I I don't think I could have.

I called my dr. this morning and was able to get right in (my doc. is retiring tomorrow, incidently, but there is a new doc. taking her place, thank god). She told me I was having muscle spasms in my lower back (d'uh!) and prescribed some meds. I hope they work. I have taken three doses so far, and not much seems to have changed, but hopefuly a good night's sleep tonight along with the drugs and a well-placed hot water bottle will do the trick. I hope so, anyway. I can't bend over at all and there are very few positions in which I feel no pain. Ugh. I guess it's true. I am no longer 23 years old!

Et puis ...

... pour les sportifs!

French football (soccer) player Yoann Gourcuff

Be nice...

.. don't bomb nobody during the holidays!

"PLEASE DON'T BOMB NOBODY THIS HOLIDAY" - By The Dan Band - watch more funny videos

Harper Über Alles!

And THIS... This is the funniest thing I have seen in a very long time. I was literally in tears watching it!

Jon Stewart's take on our political crisis!

Very funny. Take a look. I would have liked to have seen the whole segment!

Skinny Saturday 37

Phew... Making it in just under the wire! It's been a very busy day here. And the first time in ages that I didn't get my biking done on Saturday. I had to get both mom's stuff and our own groceries as Brad has a final rehersal for his concert tonight. (From which I just returned, btw, and it was very good indeed. Brad's in a Bel Canto choir and this was the Wassail or Christmas concert. He looked very spiffy in his tux!)

So after picking up and putting away all the groceries (and I told Brad not to even ask me what I paid - I picked up some extra things in preparation for people dropping by over the holidays), and grabbed a quick sandwich and a shower and then haded down to mom's. I also took her a nice Christmas bouquet with roses, lilies and carnations as well as pine and cedar sprigs. She was very pleased with that, and I also helped her do her Christmas cards. I also took down some of her winter clothes that she had stored here and brought back some of her summer things, as she only has a wardrobe in her room and needs the space. Oh what a dutiful son am I, eh! Someone's got to do it, I guess, and my siblings certainly aren't beating a path to help her out.

But I digress.... Let's just move on to the boyz, shall we? (And MoFo, patience... I will try to post some gals for you soon! ;-)

Better

For my Bradley

Prop 8: The Musical

Very cute and funny (and true!):

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

TGIF

Friday again. Thank god! It's been quite a week! The national political turmoil and intrigue have been absorbing. I was a little riled up. Perhaps you noticed?!

I've calmed down a little bit, but my resolve has also grown stronger. I will be renewing my membership in the Liberal Party and donating as much as Brad will allow me! Yesterday, I just about joined their Laurier Club, which you become a member of when you donate the maximum allowable amount of $1100 (annually). I knew Brad would have had a coronary had I done so, though, so I will be somewhat more, uh, conservative with my donation! I also intend to volunteer and do whatever I can for the Party at the local level.

Apart from that, Brad is singing in two concerts this weekend and I will have to pick up mom's stuff and make a run down to her home as well. I will probably do that tomorrow, as the forecasters are calling for periods of snow for Sunday... Ça commence, je pense. I also have to buy and start addressing our Christmas cards this weekend... This is always a busy time of year...

Have a good weekend all and here's a little something to keep you warm!

COWARD

So the snivelling, yellow-bellied, spineless little dictator from Calgary gets his wish. Unbelievable. The Governor General should not have acceeded to his demand. Now Canada is left without a sitting Parliament and with a lame duck Prime Minister as the world economy crumbles. And now we'll be treated to relentless bullshit Conservative propaganda and spinning throughout the holidays and well into the New Year.

History will spit on Harper's name.

Is Steven Harper capable of telling the truth?

The answer seems pretty clear:



And, as a clever wag on the Internet yesterday suggested, during Harper's "address to the nation" last night, he should have been hooked up to a polygraph machine and tasered every time he lied! He would have been writhing on the floor about 30 seconds in by my calculations!

And so this morning, in just a couple of hours, he will pay a visit to the Governor General. It's widely suspected that he will ask her to prorogue Parliament, thereby ending the session before it's hardly begun and taking the spineless and cowardly way out so that he does not have to face a vote of non-confidence in the House of Commons on Monday.

He's a lying, spineless coward.

In any case, he is only delaying the inevitable. Be it on Monday or late next month, he WILL have to face a vote in the House of Commons, and we will then be rid of the prick one way or the other.

Ottawa intrigue

So the political intrigue continues in our nation's capital, which all began as a direct result of the Harper government's do nothing "economic statement" that was nothing but a politically vindictive instrument designed to cripple the opposition parties and do away with the collective bargaining process in the federal public service. The opposition parties could not allow it to pass, and the Liberals and NDP parties agreed to form a coalition with the support of the Bloc Quebecois (BQ). Yesterday they signed a coalition statement and sent a letter to the Governor General indicating that a viable alternative to the Harper goverment existed in the current Parliament. They are determined to topple the Conservative government at the earliest opportunity by was of a vote of non-confidence in the House of Commons. That vote will be held on Monday, December 8, 2008, unless the coward Harper prorogues Parliament, basically ending the current session before the opposition parties have a chance to being his government down. Such a move would be feable and weak and would set a precedent in that no former Prime Minister has made such a move in the past so early into a session of Parliament when absolutely nothing has been accomplished. It is no doubt what Harper will do, however, simply because he has no backbone and he is feable and a scumbag who will use any measn possible to cling to power.

What the opposition parties are doing is completely legitimate and democratic in our Parliamentary system. Harper has lost the confidence of the House and since we had an election just weeks ago, it's the most logical thing in the world for the other parties to put together a workable coalition.

Moreover, should another election be held right now, the results would probably be similar to the current configuration in Parliament, so we would end up with the exact same problem.

I say let the coalition govern. Let them prove themselves for at least 2 and a half years and then let the voters decide on who would best lead the country. Harper had his chance and he blew it.

And at the very least, the bottom line to all of this is that Harper must absolutely go. His career in politics must end. He is a mean-spirited, vindictive, small-minded bully whose day has come and gone. The sooner he is removed from the seat of power the better!

Tin Man

Here is a link to an excellent article on our dictatorial Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. It was written by columnist Jeffrey Simpson and appeared in yesterday's Globe and Mail. He says it all so well. Please check it out.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

Thursday's economic statement was an economic lame duck and a political boner. It revealed, among other things, the kind of Conservative Party that all but its core supporters suspected would eventually be outed: a group of ideologues, led by a Prime Minister who discarded his campaign sweater to reveal an economist with a tin heart and a politician who looks everywhere for political advantage. [...]

The miscalculations have been stunning. Mr. Harper's strategy has accomplished already the near-impossible: to bring the Liberals and NDP together.

He had so many other, less partisan options at a time of economic crisis and grave national concern. That he acted in this fashion, at this time, was enormously revealing. And very sad.

Busy Sunday

Been a busy and productive day here for both spouse and me. Brad's been on a cleaning jag, vacuuming the house from top to bottom, doing several loads of laundry, including the dog's beds, cleaning up and scrubbing our back porch/mud room. We use the back door almost exclusively for our comings and goings as there is a bench to sit on while putting on our shoes or boots and there's room to towel down the dogs when they are wet, which has been quite a lot lately!

Me, I've been cooking and cleaning also. I made the carrot-ginger-peanut soup (the recipe for which I have posted before) and the Georgian (former SSR) bean salad, Lobio, for which I have also provided the recipe. These two will provide me with at least three lunches to take to work this coming week. My poor colleagues, though, when I take the Lobio, it's full of fresh garlic! (I always keep my office door closed and chew gum when I have to talk to someone in person.) I sweat it all out when I bike my 21 km. Brad doesn't dare go into the basement for a while on the days I have eaten Lobio or vegetarian chili for lunch! (An interesting fact about garlic that perhaps you didn't know: you shouild let it sit for about 15 minutes after you cut or mince it. The beneficial enzyme that gives garlic its very healthy punch takes that long to be produced, so if you use it before then, you are missing out on a lot of the stinking rose's benfits.)

Most of the morning/early afternoon, I've also been listening to BBC Radio 3's Breakfast show. This has become a tradition on Sundays for the last month or so. It's a great program that presents a wide variety of mostly classical music. I especially enjoy it when it's hosted by dishy Alister Appleton! I'll make links in the sidebar momentarily. In a similar vein, if you enjoy jazz, don't forget to check out the jazz program each night on Éspace Musique (that link is already there). If you want to listen to it live, simply click on "Écoutez en direct." The programs from the weekend are also saved and you can listen to them anytime. They are usually hosted by honey-voiced Dorothée Berryman.


Now, I've got to go down and do the dishes I've dirted. Then I'm off to the pool for a swim.

Here's a pick of some of this week's lunches:

Skinny Saturday 36

Not much going on today. The sun is finally coming out after several overcast and rainy days. The snow has all disappeared, which is a good thing.

There's a lot of political drama going on in our nation's capital. The Harper government is trying to pass an economic update, which basically does nothing with regard to the economy, but it includes a provision that would take away funding for political parties paid out by Ottawa. Right now, all parties receive a certain amount of money for each vote they get. It's a paltry amount, in the grand scheme of things (around $27 million), but the opposition parties in particular would be devastated if that funding was denied. And that's why Harper is doing it. Because he is a bully of the highest order. And he thought he could do it now just after we've had a national election and the Liberals are in the process of replacing their leader. He didn't think the opposition parties would dare to oppose him on this and force another election. But oppose him they are and if they band together and form a coalition, they would have more seats than the Conservatives, and they could introduce a non-confidence motion, pass it, topple the Harper government, and ask the Governor General to allow them to form a new government. And I dearly hope that just such a scenario plays out! We'd finally be rid of that asshole bully Harper and no doubt his own Party would force him out of the leader's job as a result. Oh, I really hope that this is the beginning of the end for that twit!

In any case, the boyz are getting impatient, so here they are!

Brrr...

I'm not so sure about this new ad for men's fragrance. The guy is def hot, but can you say SHRINKAGE???

FANTASY Real Estate Friday

And a major fantasy it is! A New York penthouse condo atop the Time Warner Building at Columbus Circle (my favourite part of town, incidently). The property is listed at a whopping $65,000,000! Can you imagine!? With monthly real estate fees of $16,332 and monthly maintenance fees of $13,361

Here's the description:

Nested in the New York skyline atop the Time Warner Center, this full floor, triple mint home with 360 degree views of New York City and beyond will take your breath away. From Lady Liberty to Greenwich Conn., from the Palisades to Wall Street, you can see it all from this full floor apartment high in the sky.

This penthouse features 14 ft. ceilings throughout, elegant and dramatic entertaining space and warm and inviting private sanctuaries. A master bedroom suite encompasses an office, his and her dressing rooms, gym and his and her bathrooms. The 41 ft.-long living room with floor to ceiling windows has the most incredible view of Manhattan. The red lacquered corner library/office also commands a special place of solitude in this apartment. A full dining room with views of the Hudson River is a room of understated luxury. A chef's kitchen and pantry, a full laundry center, four full bedrooms with en-suite baths and a screening room, round out this amazing property.

25 Columbus Circle represents the ultimate in five-star living and dining, pampering its residents with a complete array of luxury amenities: from a white glove concierge service, access to the gym, spa and pool of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, private screening room and a discrete basement garage, to the outdoor roof deck, children's playroom, board room with Park views, private storage and ballroom. In addition to the building's private services, the Time Warner Center is also home to the best in shopping, fine dining and entertainment, such as Jazz at Lincoln Center, Whole Foods, Per Se, Landmarc, Stone Rose Lounge, Hugo Boss, Pink, Calvin Klein and Williams-Sonoma, to name a few.

Residents of this five-star condominium also have access to Club 51, which offers magnificent party rooms with bar and catering kitchen, roofdeck, children's playroom, gym, massage room and theater.

And here are the pics:










Sigh... It's fun to dream. Have a good weekend all.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thankgiving to all our friends in the United States. You all have a lot to be thankful for down there this year! In less than 2 months, Bush will be relegated to the dustbin of history and you'll have a new, articulate, eloquent, and intelligent President! Yay!

Here's a pic of Pumpkin the turkey, who Bush pardoned this year... I doubt that history will be so kind to Bush!



Have a great holiday everyone!

Milk

No, not the stuff in your dairy section. The movie. It's out now. Go see it!