July 5, 2000

My prediction of increased journaling on my part in my previous entry has proven highly innacurate. The juices flowed and ran dry all in the space of a day or two. Ah well.

Good and bad news on the vehicular front. The good news is that the air conditioning just needed a recharge and is now happily blowing cold air upon command. The bad news is that I made a driving error the other week and did some body damage to the driver's door. I was backing into a narrow parking spot and was concentrating on not hitting the car on the right side of my vehicle. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention to the parking sign and pole on the left side and ended up peeling back the moulding, putting some lengthy scrapes in the paint and denting the door. The signpost didn't fare particularly well either, as it ended up on a 60º angle. I swore profusely. I can't really afford to take the car into a body shop right now, so on week off work next week I'm going to attempt to glue the moulding back on and use some touch-up paint to cover the scars on the lower door.

I'm looking forward to having the time away from work next week. We are kitty-sitting the in-laws 2 felines while they go up north, so our options are hampered slightly. We had thought of going to Sea World in Ohio; that's now nixed. Still, plenty to do in the Toronto area. We're going to hit the Toronto Zoo one day, go down to the island another, possibly hit the Royal Ontario Museum as well. I'd like to squeeze at least one day trip in as well, if only to cure that wanderlust I get every so often. I do have a hunch that the weather gods are toying with me. This week of work is chock full of perfect summer weather - sunny and mid-20s, with moderate humidity. Just watch, next week will bring nothing but wet weather, spoiling any outdoor plans we may have.

Work is going to prove interesting this summer, once the early July quiet time passes. We've had consultants up the wazoo into the place over the last couple of months, all working towards some high falluting 3 year computing vision. Once it's decided what third party company is going to do the dirty work, there'll be a ton of changes to our network, preferably all working successfully by September 1st.

Lisa and I are going to take a minumum of a week off come November and possibly head to the Caribbean again. We were doing some online reasearch last night, and the early favourite is the Turks And Caicos Islands. We're finally turning the corner financially and are quickly reaching the point where we could take at least one trip per year without a huge hit to the pocketbook. Yay us!

For the seventh consecutive year, Canada has been chosen by the United Nations as the country with the highest overall quality of life. In a typically Canadian fashion though, this information was met with indifference. Sometimes I'd like to grab this country of ours by the collar and give it slap across the face to snap it out of its apathy. When it comes to patriotism, Canadians really suck, all beer commercial rants aside. I'm not advocating we go over the top with it like a certain neighbouring country does, but hey! We're number one! Let's do a little celebrating at least, and put some effort into keeping us there.

Running gag: "Hey, you Canadians are apathetic." Response: "Pfft! Like we care!"

Til next time . . .