Long time, no post again, eh? I even missed the second installment of The Friday Five! No matter. I couldn't really help it. I'll make this entry a grab-bag of things from the past few days, starting with my excuses.

You see, last weekend was the Festival of Lights, and we also did get that dog. On the FoL side of things, I only got to make it to the first night of music, plus the fireworks (from the better Stratford side). Mays was good. My fave tune was that new one about building a ship. It was kinda groovin' and definitely rockin'! Sammy was good as always, though I found the guitars quiet and the energy less than last time. I think the show last time, with way fewer people (on account of the biblical downpour), was twice as good anyway. Too many extended laid-back trip-outs this time. The Hip were as good or better than I thought they'd be. Gotta love Baker in the cowboy hat, looking cool and Jedi-like as always. Downie was a nutcase, but an entertaining one. I would have thought I'd think his lunacy would be annoying, but I liked it. Good unique showmanship. Their sound and lights were good, and so was the show overall. I liked their newer tunes they did... a couple of good rockin' tunes from the new disc. Lots of tunes I really wanted that they didn't play, though... like New Orleans is Sinking, Courage, Fully Completely, Twist My Arm, Little Bones... many good ones left off. Opening with Blow at High Dough was great, though. I think my fave #, surprisingly, may have been At the Hundredth Meridian. I'm not sure what my favourite rant was... the "Prime Minister Bush" Afghanistan bit, the "f*@#in' whales" speech, or about how to keep a microphone in its place. A very good show, overall. The fireworks were good this year, as always, and I think I like the view from Stratford more than the C'town side.


On that same day, Friday, the dog came over. We got him dropped off on Saturday morning. I think we're going to keep him, and so far, I'm rather indifferent about him, really. I'm not wowed by him, nor am I revolted by him. I'm middle of the road, so I guess we'll keep him. On the upside, he's cute, little, and friendly. He doesn't shed. He doesn't stink, just smells like a dog. He's cuddly. He's playful. On the downside, he's sometimes too playful / pushy. We have to get him to stop jumping on the furniture. He's turned the poor cat into a nervous hermit, and they both growl and hiss and bark at each other. He wakes us up really early. He barks at stupid things. He's needy at times. I'm not really glad we have him, nor do I long to get rid of him. So far, to me, he's just here. I think part of it is that he takes me out of my happy comfort zone routine. Maybe that's not such a bad thing for me.

Now, some short bits:

How fast can you type? My best score out of a few tries was 81.95 wpm (0 mistakes), 343.78 cpm. My real average is probably around 60-65 wpm.



Did you hear about those 3 asshats that sprang a leak on our war memorial in Ottawa on Canada Day? I mean, we've all watered some different things after a good night of drinkin', but how many different kinds of stupid do you have to be to pee on a war memorial? I hope they fess up, still get charged, and (to paraphrase Weird Al) have to clean all the toilets on Parliament Hill with their tongues.

Here's a joke that made me think of a few people I know:
Scenario:
You are driving in a car at a constant speed. On your left side is a valley and on your right side is a fire engine traveling at the same speed as you.
In front of you is a galloping pig which is the same size as your car and you cannot overtake it. Behind you is a helicopter flying at ground level.
Both the giant pig and the helicopter are also traveling at the same speed as you.
What must you do to safely get out of this highly dangerous situation?
(read the thread's comments to get the answer)

That should be enough for now. I'll catch up on The Friday Five tomorrow or on Friday (make it ten?), tell you all about Ron Hynes, and some other stuff.