05.18.2006 || 09h19

A few news items

I'm not used to agreeing with the Conservatives, but I think their decision not to lower the flags everytime someone dies in Afghanistan is a good one. The fact is simply that lowering the Maple Leaf to half-mast everytime a soldier gets killed in action will give Canadians the wrong view of what our troops are doing there. It's not primarily a peacekeeping mission, it's a war. The peacekeeping and re-building are being done behind the lines in areas that our side has already secured. We're essentially there to crack skulls and take names, and in that situation, the etiquette is clear: the flags go down on 11 November every year, not everytime a soldier dies while fighting belligerents.

So, I find the province of Manitoba's decision to lower all provincial flags for Nicola Goddard to be a little ridiculous. She was a soldier in a combat role, not a nurse or a supply tech or anything that *might* be construed as a non-fighting role. She was shooting at bad guys, they were shooting back. In those cases, it's a military funeral with all honours to which she was entitled. not a half-arsed attempt at PR from a government striving for approval.
***
We did an on-line gig for some US-based on-line community a few days ago. It was weird. We set up in the guitarist's basement with all sorts of computers, soundboards, a PA system and our instruments, and let 'er rip. There was a feed from the virtual pub, where avatars were dancing and users were chatting and typing us song requests. It was bizarre.

Oh, we also got to play for Paul Martin. Not on purpose or anything, he came into a pub where we were playing and stayed for a set. Later, the fiddler and I were standing outside taking refuge from the smoke (can't *wait* for 31 May, when everywhere goes smoke-free), and he came outside with his handler. While the handler called over their secret service car via one of those stupid thingies in his ear, Paul asked us how were were doing and yadda.

I wonder if he's going to be needing security for much longer now that he's no longer prime minister? Or maybe the security was due to the fact that he's still the leader of a federal party, albeit one who's stepping down...
***
This Saturday's my last shift at CoffeeHellCo. I gave my notice last week after a bartista with a history of giving me lip flipped me off on the floor. I called the manager at home and said that he'd better do something, now. as we spoke, I realised that the little meat-fucker was going to get away with it, so I quit. It's going to be great, but a little weird. I mean, I've worked there for 3 1/2 years or so.
I sure ain't going to starve, though. I've been doing a contract that's been giving me $1100 a week, so I've been living fairly well *and* cutting a third (so far) of my debts.

Okay, and a couple of weeks ago I spent $2200 on one of these -- which has already been in the shop twice. I dunno... I try not to buy American because they generally make crap down there, but the bike I *wanted* to get this year (from a really cool Canadian brand) got discontinued, and my fave from another wicked Canuck maker was just too expensive for me right now.
***
In other news, Jazz has had a fairly sore shoulder of late. so sore that the pain's started to spread down her arm and back, and a little bit up her neck. She went for X-Rays and to see a specialist. The specialist seems to think it could be tendonitis or maybe a nerve issue, so she's been put on painkillers and she has to go back in a month... but the specialist hadn't yet seen the X-rays because Jazz's mother called his office and got her an earlier appointment that she originally had (having a mother who's a medical secretary has its advantages, I guess). On the X-ray, they found an 'ovoid-shaped opacity measuring about 1.5 cm.' the paper then goes on to say that it might be a composition shadow.

Which I really hope it is.



||Gods save the Queen,
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older shite

One last little note... - 09.21.2006

de-stressing, biking and terrorism - 06.06.2006

Mildly stressed... - 05.29.2006

More crime stupidity - 05.28.2006

Scary stuff - 05.25.2006

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