2006 "To Do" List

Yeah, well, I'm slightly better at managing To Do lists than at keeping resolutions, so here goes:

1. Get our debt under control. (Easier goal than "get out of debt.")
[We have a plan. We may revise the plan, but for now we are going the simple route: we made a list of all our debts, arranged by interest rate then principal and we are just going to take aim at the highest interest debts first. I have already eliminated my two highest by transferring them; one to my line of credit and one to a new card which offered really low interest for 5 months, but even after that, about 10% below the store card.]

2. Visit Ottawa.
[My brother and his family live there. It would be nice to go out there sometime in the coming year, maybe even for Christmas with the hope there will be a bunch of snow for kiddo to enjoy. Unfortunately, it's not cheap (about $600 per passenger) -- it's cheaper for us to fly to Hawaii, London, or Mexico!!]

3. Finish 3 knitting projects (a. scarf; b. slippers for kiddo; c. Jayne hat)
[The scarf and slippers are in progress; the Jayne hat is the next project I want to start ('cause I just love it and it's a good opportunity to learn how to knit with circular needles).
Photo of the scarf in question: ]

4. Win lottery or earn/find/collect extra cash/stuff.

5. Fill in some blanks in my "cultural knowledge" -- literature I "should have" read and films I "should have" seen.
[Expect a list and/or solicitations in the near future. To give you an idea, I saw 2 of the 3 Godfather films over the break and I am currently reading Call of Cthulu as a start to this goal]

That should be enough, I think.

Oh, and Happy New Year, if you choose to celebrate. :)

My Choice: Best of 2005

Best on TV:

1. Arrested Development (All of it. Pure gold.)
2. Six Feet Under (in particualr, the series finale -- the song Breathe Me by Sia still brings me close to tears by reminding me of the final few minutes)
3. My Name is Earl (best new comedy this year)
4. Dr. Who!! (best sci-fi for my buck)
5. House (yes, it is getting a bit tired, but Hugh Laurie is just so watchable)/The Daily Show/Colbert Report (funny and topical)

If Arrested Development dies on the table, then so be it. I will just have to buy all three seasons on DVD, along with all the other clever people out there.

Best on the Big Screen (out of the 19 theatrical releases I saw this year):

1. Syriana
2. Serenity
3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
4. Wallace & Grommit: Curse of the Wererabbit
5. Broken Flowers

OK, the first three are definitely set in stone; both Syriana and also Serenity surprised me with their connections to humanity and Goblet of Fire surprised me with its ability to boil down a huge book into a tightly wound adventure. Curse of the Wererabbit was definitely the best family film I saw this year. Broken Flowers could as easily be exchanged for Jarhead -- both were enjoyable on the same sort of level; I got a lot out of them in the theatre, but don't need to see either again. I'd have included Constantine -- which I liked enough to buy on DVD -- but it was all eye candy with little if any substance.

Best Music:

This one is simple. For me, this was the year of Kanye West. Hubby and I bought both Late Registration and also College Dropout because:

1. He said "George Bush doesn't care about black people!" on live TV
2. His performance on SNL kicked ass (as did the backstage with Mike Myers skit -- a nod to the live TV rant)
3. His single "Jesus Walks" was used in the trailer for Jarhead -- and it just lodged itself in our brains.

I'm not going to write about Best Books because I don't think I read a single book on any bestseller list ... or in fact much of anything published in 2005.

BBC Film - Viewers Choice for 2005

This is a very interesting list.... not quite how mine will look. (Which reminds me, I need to make one.) The BBC list puts Serenity at the top but also includes Team America: World Police (albeit at number 10).

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Phony Sony Graffiti

Sony ad execs thought they were being clever with their latest ad campaign to target "urban nomads." Basically the ads are painted on abandoned buildings and other places you'd expect to find graffiti in urban centres.

I love the response in San Francisco:

...the ads were defaced soon after they appeared as word spread that Sony was behind them. "Get out of my city!!!" and "Fony" were written on one.

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Boxing Week Madness

For some reason, post Christmas sales (called Boxing "week" rather than Boxing Day for the past few years) have been insane this year. I don't mean "insane" as in "wow, I can't believe this stuff is so cheap" but "insane" as in "WTF? Why is the entire population of Victoria trying to park at the same [expletive deleted] mall?"

We did go out on Boxing Day; we skipped Mayfair mall and went to Hillside (where HMV actually did have some insane prices for DVDs -- we bought both Supersize Me and also the Aviator for $5.99 each -- we figured even if we hated the Aviator it was only 50 cents more to buy it than to rent it.). After Hillside, we hit what hubby calls the gexus (geek nexus) -- a cluster of comic and gaming stores downtown. Legends Comics had a fantastic sale -- all their recent reads comics* were on sale for $2 each (or 10/$15 or 20/$20). We got 20.

Today, we went to Mayfair, thinking that it would be a bit quieter. We were wrong. The parking lot was jammed and the stores were crowded with people trying to burn off gift cards. Most unpleasant, really.

---

*Reasons I really like Legends Comics include the fact that the owner presumes most his customers are idiots and he is terribly sarcastic about it. The sign for the sale comics included this note:

Comics have staples.

In other words, don't try and bring me a collection with a glued spine, the one priced at $9.95, and try to argue that it was on the recent reads shelf and so I should sell it to you for $2. Dumbass.

et tu, Shatner?

I was getting really excited about the William Shatner DVD Club until I dug through the FAQ to learn that subscribers must be 18 years old and reside in the United States. Awwww, hell.

Otherwise, it looks pretty sweet: sci-fi, fantasy and horror films hand picked by Bill and mailed to your address for only $47.99 a year.

Hey, Mr. Shatner, if you happen to read this, consider extending the offer to your Canadian fans!!

Updates

Just in case you were on the edge of your seat, here are some follow-ups on recent blog posts.

It turns out that the DHS vs. Interlibrary Loan story was in fact a hoax (as was suspected within hours of the original story being released). (Thanks for the tip, Tim.)

The charges against Gary Glitter are likely to be dropped(!) due to lack of evidence.

Christmas Annuals are all over the place (I found the 2005 Rupert Annual in Bolen's today for only $18.99) -- so apparently I just asked the extra-stupid clerks -- oh, pardon me, I should have said knowledge-challenged clerks.

Hubby found white cornmeal retail -- at the Italian deli on Blanshard at $3.25 for a 1 kg bag, in case you were dying to know.

Kiddo is still a little obsessed over Channukah (which you may recall she thought was the "third Christmas") -- today on our way home she was singing this song:

Jew-ish people cel-e-brate Hann-u-kah
Jew-ish people cel-e-brate Hann-u-kah
We don't cel-e-brate Jew-ish things
Jew-ish people cel-e-brate Hann-u-kah.
The end.

She then proceeded to explain to us how the menorah worked. Right now, though, she is playing with her Mutant Stewie action figure playset.

Thanks.

You might have been expecting my post-xmas wrap up to be somewhat sarcastic or snarky... but overall it was a good Christmas, so I'm just going to say some "Thanks" to people:

Thanks to my hubby, for spoiling me as usual. Aside from doing 99% of the cooking, he suffered through several rounds of (*ahem*) discussions in the past two weeks around the scheduling of the holiday celebrations.

Thanks to my kiddo who, though seriously overstimulated by everything, still managed to say thanks to her family (with some prompting) and even wish people a "happy boxing day" on their way out.

Thanks to mother nature, who started the day off very drizzly and rainy but who kept the sun streaming in through the windows through to the early afternoon and kept the temperature around 10° C (about 50° F) -- warm enough to keep our windows open.

Thanks to our cat Max, who steered clear of the action for most of the day -- no thanks to our cat Sierra who got underfoot and at one point sprang from under the tree across the room and almost over the coffee table, knocking over a mug of tea into the gifts. (After that, she got shut into the office for a couple of hours to "think it over" which to a cat just means she got some alone time.)

And of course thanks to all my family for the lovely gifts -- oodles of DVDs (To Kill a Mockingbird, Rear Window, Time Bandits, American Gothic series, Night at the Roxbury), CDs (Garden State soundtrack & Matthew Good In a Coma), a Corpse Bride, giftcards, a TMCM mug, books, La Senza flannel pyjamas, a wicked hand-crank LED flashlight, and enough coffee to last us through into at least February.

Now it seems we have settled into a Battlestar Galactica (original series) marathon on Space. Could be worse, I guess. ;)

Button-tastic

OK... so I finally caved and added a bunch of those little blog-friendly 80x15 pixel buttons to my sidebar. I sacrificed the calendar but it took too much effort to maintain anyway. I've added links to my CafePress store; Medianook and Apollo Guide (homes to my reviews); and my wishlists at Amazon and TheThingsIWant.

Otherwise, I replaced image and text links for the other items -- and for the hell of it, I created a little steal-this-button style button for this blog: ... actually, I made a few: cause I am considering changing my blog colour scheme.

To tell the truth, I went a bit nuts... I created buttons for almost all our sites and projects (current and in development) including: .

Well. That was a colourful post, anyway. :)

HO! HO! HO!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

50 Years of Gadgets

PC World lists the 50 Best Gadgets, with descriptions, photos and histories of each item. They also summarize with a complete list and offer a list by decade.

Looking at this list, I realize I was often the person in our group of friends to get the first knockoff of these items -- I am pretty sure my first "personal cassette player" was Sanyo or maybe even Citizen brand (there's no photo of my model over at the walkman museum and database); we had a Merlin instead of Simon; we had an Apco computer instead of Apple. Anyway, this list is an interesting look back at "the stuff I envied other people having."


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Two More Sleeps!

I created this artpoem ten years ago and it is still one of my favourite pieces. This year when I brought it out, it inspired kiddo to make her own collge art!

Better (worse?) than coal

Aaaagh! This is SO awful. I think if anyone on my list was really naughty, I'd stuff a Talking Ann Coulter doll in their stocking!

(From the same folks who created the Talking George W. Bush doll).

And Lo, God Smote the Local WalMart!

Today, we had a rare thunderstorm. We were grocery shopping at Thrifty Foods just before 5:00 when the thunder hit and we were sure there had been an explosion outside. (Seriously, the roof shook to the extent that we cowered next to the store fixtures, expecting the roof to cave in.) We soon figured out that we had heard thunder (there was another strike soon after) and we knew the storm was right over us. It turns out what we actually heard was lightning hitting the local WalMart. HAHAHAHAHAH! Can you believe WalMart having to evacuate the store three days before Christmas? Hah!

The rain that came down was crazy-heavy -- lots of flash floods in intersections. Add to that the fact that power was knocked out across a chunk of the city and rush hour was a complete snarl. Thankfully, Hubby chose a quick and direct route home that avoided almost all the traffic.

I have one more day of work but I feel like I got my Christmas gift early this year!

Children's Christmas Annuals

When my mom was growing up in England, she always looked forward to getting an Annual under the Christmas tree. Annuals are still popular today in the U.K. (just do a search at amazon.co.uk for "annuals" to see the variety available) but they are almost unheard of here in Canada. You can actually order the traditional titles through amazon.ca (e.g. Rupert, Beano, Dandy or the Friendship Book) but most bookstores won't have a clue when you ask for them. The exception to this is used bookstores who often have a 1950s Rupert or Beano annual collecting dust in the childrens area.

In the library, we have a large collection of annuals going as far back as the late 1800s. In general, you can expect an annual to contain stories, pictures, puzzles, riddles & jokes, and more recently comics. The bulk of our collection runs from the 1920s through the 1950s though there are some earlier titles and a few later. A notable late entry is the Canadian Children's Annual (warning: webpage appears to use 1996 web technology including spinning logo) published from 1975-1988 -- we have the whole run. Here are a few images of the older ones we have (click for larger views):

I just love the art in these, and some of them are quite collectible. CollectingBooksandMagazines.com has a great (if cluttered) article with images; and there are a few more images over at Fulltable.com.

Festivus Is Among Us...

Festivus, the holiday "traditionally" celebrated on December 23rd in the Seinfeld universe, is moving into the "real world" with some alarming speed...

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Is Letterman Psychic?

Hubby introduced me to Digg.com today (here's my profile) ... so you can expect the odd nugget of weirdness or amusement to be posted from there... like this:

A woman has filed a restraining order against David Letterman for using code words, various signals and "mental abilities" to harass her. She claims it has caused her to go bankrupt, and suffer from "mental cruelty" and "sleep deprivation" since May 1994. Amazingly a Judge actually believed her!

read more | digg story

Little Red Hoax?

Apparently I've been duped. I'm not the only one, but perhaps before I get all bent out of shape about alleged raids by DHS agents, I'll read the article with a little more care. In fact, I might want to wait until more than one source reports the story.

First, John McAdams commented on my post with his concerns, then I read that Jessamyn West was critical of the story. Aside from the fact that the student isn't named (which raised my eyebrow) there is the fact that the library in question does not require a Social Insurance Number for interlibrary loan (which, now that I think about it would be very unlikely at any library) and the Little Red Book is widely available -- from the corner book shop to online book behemoth Amazon.com. The only question is whether or not the authorized Peking edition (reportedly the one requested) is of more interest to DHS than the translations more readily available.

At any rate, I will try to be a little less gullible in the future. Sorry if I raised anyone's hackles.

Homminy Quest....

Gonna do a bit of bragging about my most fabulous spouse... but first a question:

Why is it impossible to find white cornmeal in my city?

Seriously, if anyone knows of a retail source for white cornmeal anywhere on the South Island (Nanaimo? Sooke?) or even on the Lower Mainland -- hell if you know of anywhere in Canada that ships the stuff -- let me know. Why is this so important? Because to make "grits" one really needs to use white cornmeal; it has a slightly different texture and taste and comes out creamier. The only place we have found in town that serves grits is, of course, Denny's.

So the bragging. This morning, hubby could not sleep (apparently I was snoring like a lumber jack -- not unlikely, actually) so he got up a half hour early, drove to Denny's and got an order of grits to go. Then he came home and cooked bacon and eggs to accompany the grits.

Il est un mari parfait, non?

Yes, Virginia...

... there is such a thing as too many Christmas lights:



And it was animated to music. GAH!!!! I captured the world's crappiest video of the garish display, just for you. [Of course it is child's play compared to the monstrosity hubby tracked down for supertimewasting.]

Fairytale of NY Re-Released

It's no coincidence that A Fairytale of New York, is being re-released today, on the 5th anniversary of the death of Kirsty MacColl. Proceeds will be split between a homeless charity, Crisis at Christmas, and the Justice For Kirsty Campaign, which is "petitioning the Mexican government to more thoroughly investigate the circumstances of Kirsty’s death".

This is one of my favourite Christmas songs, despite being about two drunks/junkies wishing they were dead. [Lyrics] It reached number 2 on the UK Christmas charts in 1987 and since that was the year I was in England for Christmas, I heard it played many times over -- no doubt it is permanently burned into a few brain cells.

Oddly, we were discussing this over the weekend. I had been playing the Ghosts of Oxford Street CD, and explained this was the track that made me purchase it. I had no idea that Kirsty MacColl had even died let alone that there was such an uproar over her death. Now, though, I am really curious.

Hmmm... went searching for more info about the Ghosts of Oxford Street and find that it is the soundtrack to a BBCChannelFour-TV Movie (of the same name) from 1991. The show, put together by Malcolm Maclaren, included appearances by Kirsty MacColl, Shane MacGowan, Tom Jones, and Sinead O'Connor. Anyone know where I can see this show?

I'm not the least bit inventive, I guess.

I'm not alone in trying to find a multi-faith greeting this year. This was on the window of Lululemon in Downtown Victoria:

(In case you have trouble reading it, it says "Solstichristmakwanzukkah") And I'm sure I saw another one somewhere that included Ramadan...

EDIT (19Dec): ACK! Here too: Virgin Mobile: http://www.chrismahanukwanzakah.com/

Library: Use with caution

From the [Connecticut] Standard-Times:

A senior at UMass Dartmouth was visited by federal agents two months ago, after he requested a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's tome on Communism called "The Little Red Book."
...the student told them he requested the book through the UMass Dartmouth library's interlibrary loan program.
The student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for Professor Pontbriand's class on fascism and totalitarianism, filled out a form for the request, leaving his name, address, phone number and Social Security number. He was later visited at his parents' home in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the professors said.

While Libraries have been very vocal about their attempts to keep borrowing information private, apparently interlibrary-loan (ILLO) presents a large loophole. These days, most ILLO requests are sent through large networks -- networks which can presumably be incercepted by the Department of Homeland Security. This is very creepy, folks. Very creepy.

Variety.com - 'West Wing' thesp Spencer dies at 58

Bummer. I really liked his acting, and I was liking his role in this season's West Wing. Now I wonder how many episodes have been filmed and how much will have to change. NBC and producer Warner Bros. Television praised Spencer's talent but did not address how his death would affect the Emmy Award-winning series, in production on its seventh season.[Gainesville.com]

Kind of eerie after his onscreen heart attack near the beginning of last season (Season 6 episode 2, "The Birnam Wood").

Here's a PBS interview with Spencer about his role as Leo McGarry from 2000.

Ummm... Yay!... I think...

Anti-terrorism Patriot Act blocked in US Senate | Reuters.com

OK... so the most confusing thing here is those who voted to end debate were voting in favour of the USA PATRIOT Act (yes, that should be capitalized, because USA PATRIOT stands for: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) -- those who voted to continue debate were voting against the Act.

So... at what point can the Senate actually strike down the Act? Do they either debate it ad infinitum or pass it? Is it possible to ammend the Act during debate? This makes no sense and if someone can enlighten me, I'd be grateful.

Breakdown in the Education System

My daughter proudly proclaimed last night that "Channukah is the third Christmas!"

I immediately corrected her, but then wondered what the second Christmas was -- Solstice/Yule or Kwanza? Hmmm.

On a slightly related note, after all the back-and-forth between the Daily Show and the O'Reilly Factor I think I will start wishing people a "Happy ChristChannuKwanzTice."

tired enough to actually sleep

Last night I went to bed at 7:30 p.m. Seriously. Slept through to 2:45 a.m. then convinced myself to go back to sleep until 6 a.m. I actually feel a bit better for it too.

Now it's back to the busy busy busy prep for our Festive Open House this Saturday (combination Christmas party and house re-warming to show off the renos. Kiddo has agreed to be our littlest hostess. :)

Sunday should be kiddo-free for at least a portion of the day so hubby and I can go out for a peaceful brunch at a local pub.

Underwhelmed...

After much anticipation, we went to see the Chronicles of Narnia today. After a crappy start to our outing, we settled in for the film. The opening sequence depicting the London Blitz was astounding and affected me emotionally, quite unexpectedly. Perhaps that is why I was so underwhelmed by the remaining two hours.

Don't get me wrong: Narnia looks amazing. The CGI is some of the best I've seen and the scenery is stunning... but at some point the story stopped moving. I don't remember being bored by the book, yet I found myself bored by the film... Hubby said afterward that in comparison to the Harry Potter movies and the Lord of the Rings films, Narnia would come third. Unfortunately, I have to agree.

Two Days of Leisure... one to go.

We have been enjoying some amazing weather lately... driving over the Malahat today, the air crisp enough to keep the snow crunchy at the summit, I got out of the van to brave a very c-c-c-old porta-potty [b-r-r-r-r-r-r-R-R-R!], and was drawn to the view. The photo above doesn't even start to do justice... it was stunning.

Anyway... we (me, hubby, kiddo, my mother-in-law, and our neice & nephew) all stuffed ourselves into the van and headed up-island for shopping (two thrift stores, Whippletree Junction, one BIG dollar store, and what I think may be the biggest mall on the Island) and then back through Ladysmith to see the Festival of Lights:

Friday was a vacation day for me. I spent the morning with kiddo -- doing crafts, a long visit to the library, and lunch together at Boston Pizza. After dropping her at school, I met up with hubby. We went downtown so he could pick up a copy of PHP Architect (he has an article in this month's issue) then went for lunch (well, I had dessert!) at Pagliacci's. After lunch, he headed home and I wandered through some of my favourite stores... pondering the remaining Christmas shopping (to be completed after payday) and just enjoying the time to myself until it was time to pick up kiddo. Friday evening we (mostly hubby) filled out, addressed, and stamped all our Christmas cards (we mailed them today!!!) -- kiddo even got in the act.

So... the place is decorated; we've mailed our cards; and we are almost done shopping. We still need to do a bunch of baking... but I think we're in good stead for the festive season. Yay us!

Remembering & Thinking

If you read Medianook, you know I saw Syriana last night. Now I will shut up or the hype will start to outweigh the film, and it deserves better. That's the thinking part of this post.

Almost twenty-five years ago, I was getting ready to go to school (the morning of December 9th). We had just gotten into the car and the radio announcer said that John Lennon had been fatally shot overnight. My Mother was startled (she may have reacted with a surprised "Oh!") and we listened to the remainder of the story in silence while the car warmed up. Then I asked, "Mom, who are the Beatles?"

I was only eleven and the closest I had heard to any Beatles songs were the Boston Pops cover versions. Needless to say, that changed. I went through a big obsession with the group a few years later in grade 9 and while the intensity has waned, I still really dig some of their tunes. I never quite got into the solo careers of the individual Beatle members, including John Lennon, though I do appreciate some of their singles.

So, to better reflect on the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's accidental martyrdom, I have loaded half of the White Album on to my mp3 player.

This is going to have repercussions.

From CBC News:

U.S. air marshal kills plane passenger

A U.S. air marshal has shot and killed a plane passenger at Miami International Airport after the man warned that he had a bomb in his bag.

...

One passenger, Mary Gardner, told a Miami television station that the man ran toward the front of the plane.

"He was frantic, his arms flailing in the air," she told WTVJ.

She said a woman followed him, calling "My husband!" and told airplane officials that the man was bipolar and hadn't taken his medication.

-----------------

This is what makes me want to *drive* to my vacation destination rather than take a plane. Of course, I would never ever in a million years even joke that I had a sparkler in my luggage, but still, the response is extreme.

It also brings me to a familiar rant: why do police and other security types shoot to kill?? Why don't they aim for a kneecap or a wrist? It's time to consider updating those targets at the shooting range because really, there was no need to kill this person. They only needed to stop him long enough to check his bag.

Goblet of Fire - Full review

In case you might be interested, the full review I wrote for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire has been posted at Apolloguide.com.

Also, hubby and I are off to see Syriana tomorrow -- expect a review or two for that one on Medianook and Apolloguide shortly thereafter.

Fallen Angel Wrap

Heheh. Sometimes I love the people who promote Virgin products.

Risque angel wrap pulled from theatres
Chris Wattie, National Post

Famous Players has hurriedly yanked a pre-Christmas promotion from theatres across the country after a parent spotted a pair of what he called "naughty angels" groping each other on Christmas wrapping paper given to his 13-year-old daughter.

...

A closer inspection revealed a male angel fondling the breast of the female angel, while she grapples with a conspicuous bulge in his white gown.

heh.

Internet Archive: Bookmarks

I love the Internet Archive. There are a lot of reasons I love this resource... but I'll spare you the soapbox.

After pondering the Moving Images archive earlier today, I thought I'd go back and take a closer look -- I ended up signing up which means I can write reviews and store bookmarks that I can share with the planet -- Internet Archive: Bookmarks my username is medianook1 (obviously named for my other blog). I have been watching wonderful animated cartoons...

Fab. Truly fab. Great for research, entertainment, and supertimewasting, too.

Ultimate Box Set Collection

From the lovely Kino on Video (which also sells DVDs, of course!) comes Kino's Ultimate Box Set Collection. At 8763 minutes (over 146 hours -- before the extras) this should keep one busy for a very long time.

The set has been designed to appeal to movie buffs -- or perhaps movie snobs, you know the type, they go off on a rant about how today's directors owe everything to [insert pet obscure director or school of film here].

I have to admit I have little interest in some of the movies included, but it is an amazing collection. I'd actually like to get some of the individual sets -- The Movies Begin (133 early movies on 5 dvds) and the German Horror Classics sets in particular.

OTOH, if I had the patience, I'd merrily download some of the thousands of open source movies from the Internet Archive -- including Nosferatu and others included in the Kino sets.

Missions (mostly) Accomplished.

Busy weekend... and still, I feel like I haven't done everything I should have... and this evening has been very very relaxed (read as"I haven't done bugger all since dinner"). However, we did:

• Set up and trim the tree
• Set up and trim kiddo's teensy tree
• Festive-up the joint
• Bake over 3 dozen cookies
• Take kiddo out for a haircut
• Deal with a bunch of banking
• Get groceries
• Buy and wrap Christmas gifts
• Put up outdoor lights
• Created a folder for winter photos and wallpaper (for screensaver purposes).
• Ran assorted errands
• Did some tidying and basic cleaning
• Burned a couple of CDs including one for kiddo

I didn't finish tweaking my resume or writing my cover letter, nor did we get around to mailing the gifts bound for Ottawa. Oh, and there are a couple of Christmas projects that I have been dragging my heels on... but whatever... there's still a little bit of time.

Know your Narnia

Guardian Unlimited presents "Know your Narnia" an A to Z guide so you can bone up on the basics before the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe premieres next weekend.

Some of the entries are pretty funny, too like this one:

Q is for Queen of Narnia

She calls herself that, but she's not a real queen. It's like those titles Idi Amin used to make up.

And if you'd like a more detailed synopsis or other info, have a peek at the stuff on Narniaweb.com. You can also get a spiffy countdown banner thingy, though it might be seen as a wee bit obsessive. (Note: I was going to put one on here, but it requires one to download a zip file then upload part of it and paste code into the webpage... which seems pretty labour-intensive for a counter!)

Provincial Government RSS

Coolness. The Province of BC now offers a number of RSS feeds by ministry or by topic, plus one overall general feed.

File that under useful propaganda!

Hey, I DO live in Canada.

Well, oddly it snowed today. Odd because I live in Victoria where we get maybe a week of snow through the year -- usually in February. So anyway... big heavy wet flakes started falling around noon.

Around 3:00 I braved the wind and flakes to go take some photos. I was pretty much the only idiot wandering around -- sure a few people brushed past but they were in a hurry. At one point I had to laugh out loud though, as someone suddenly went wheeling by on a unicycle. Weird. Luckily, I had my camera ready:

I got another laugh later, after I walked back to the library through -- say it isn't so! -- an entire half inch of slush and when I got to my computer found an email from kiddo's school warning of a possible snow-closure tomorrow. Gah. Victorians really are the weakest of all Canadians.

Today was also the library craft fair and I duly hauled my booty up to campus -- 22 Cuppa Joe Cozies (and a dozen patterns), 10 1/2 dozen shortbread cookies, a half dozen mini-loaves of banana bread, and a basket full of last year's unsold ornaments -- marked down to half price.

By the end of the sale, I had sold zero Cozies, a few ornaments, most of the cookies and four of the banana loaves. All told, I made about $15 if you ignore how much time I put into it all. Every year I think, "Why did I bother?" and yet every year I glide into autopilot and stockpile stuff that probably won't sell.... Sigh.

So, if any of you, my readers, would like your very own Cuppa Joe Cozy for Christmas (or New Year, depending on mail speed and your location on the globe), just send me your postal address (you can send it to me at "triviaqueen" on gmail you know... at gmail dot com and all that) and I will happily pop one in the mail for you. You can even make a colour request if you want. Heck, I might throw in some ornaments, too (they're small).