Hi again, finally- long time no talk! I've been locked out of my blog since November, for reasons unknown. Today, I am allowed back in, so here goes with a bullet-form update.
-Obama was elected president,
-Wall Street was bailed out, and in return paid out $18 billion dollars in year-end bonuses
-The Steelers beat the Cardinals in a really great Superbowl,
- Harper and Flaherty were almost laughed off the stage, but launched a disinformation campaign about parliamentary procedure and then prorogued parliament in the face of economic crisis
- Both Canadian and US Big Oil declared the largest profits ever
- Obama was sworn in as president and is making good on his campaign promises
- Harper skulked back, presenting the most bizarre array of spending measures yet seen
- Ottawa Transpo and YorkU strikes ended, with employee issues effectively not dealt with
- The Ontario Pension Plan is in danger of collapse, since corporations have been underfunding it, and government has been scooping payments into general revenues for so long, what should have been a surplus is now a boondoggle
- Power went out in downtown Toronto for several days of -15 temperatures, and few were prepared for it
- Sales of iPhones, fast-food alcohol and cigarettes are all higher
In trailer-land, we've been busy too:
- we had another truck problem, and needed a new (reconditioned) alternator for $600 (!!)
- we stayed in the park until mid-January, but then winterized it and moved out
- we moved into a huge house in NE Waterloo as house-sitters for Spooky the Cat. It's almost a McMansion, and ironically we feel less safe and secure here, and less prepared to weather a disaster, such as power and water going out
- we do have a TV here, and two things have caught our attention: UFC fighting and "We'll buy your Gold" ads are ubiquitous. The first thing I am happy about.
- we sold a video and took a website contract
- we've debated over and over whether to work here for a while, as long as we're staying in Ontario...
- we've debated just how bad this recession could get
- we made Christmas-gift calendars featuring BC pictures and our summer of trailer-travel, and started fantasizing about returning to BC
- I joined Krav Maga, in my latest ploy to combine punching with fitness - stay tuned, because I have yet to try my first class.
That's it- assuming I can get back in here, look for regular updates of the mundane and inane in this space soon!
