Alex said this was her favorite shot from the Hamilton Harbour fireworks last night, so here it is. O Canada! Two more fireworks pics after the cut.

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As you can see, I put this up because it’s such a ridiculously adorable picture, not to embarrass my adorable wife.

So I’m seeing this annoying trip in a different light. I got here fine (yay!), Alex drove without wrecking, happy reunion, etc.

So, given the nasty weather yesterday, one perspective is that it was fortuitous that I got stranded. I wasn’t hurt, Alex wasn’t hurt, I wasn’t permanently stuck anywhere, I didn’t have to spend a night in the airport (ick; I’ve done it before), and now we’re together and healthy and happy and sane. and all it cost was 1 day and $90 or so (the food wasn’t as expensive as I thought it would be).

Oh, and one pair of pants, but in fairness to the pants, I was jumping a fence at the time, and my butt got too close to the top of the chain link. Oh well. They were old.

Okay, I my previous parody of a news story about the U.S. gov’t targeting anyone with non-mainstream religious belief was supposed to be over-the-top and dystopian.

However, Cnet news today had a piece on directions the government is taking to combat terror by policing the potential hotbeds of terror. It seems there are those in the government of this fair country who get together in secret little meetings and make guidelines (rules come later?) about stopping homegrown terror. We should all, apparently, be concerned about the following dangerous things:

• anyone with an “extremist belief system”
• anyone who believes that “the U.S. government is infringing on their individual rights”
• anyone who believes that “the government’s policies are criminal and immoral”
• the internet (because it facilitates violent ideologies and because it “allows anyone to set himself or herself up as an authority figure.”)

I guess that last one chaps the hides of the folks who are annoyed that they already have too much competition for the title of “authority figure.”

I have got to get my dual Canadian citizenship going. You Canadians seem to be losing your civil rights at a slightly slower pace. I’m tellin’ ya, sometimes I think we’re about 3 friggin’ baby steps away from totalitarian rule disguised as homeland security.

Say, I think I’ve figured out the problem. It’s all because the government is infringing on my individual rights. Why, it’s not too much to say that some of the current governmental policies are downright criminal and immoral. I invite all like-minded individuals to use this here internet to facilitate a discussion of these radical ideals. After we have a few meetings, we’ll set one of us up as an authority figure. Doesn’t matter who. Pretty much anyone.

The (American) media industry is apparently pushing a law that would leave Canada’s consumers among those with the fewest media use rights on the planet.

Michael Geist reports that Industry Minister Jim Prentice is preparing to fast-track a Canadian carbon copy (except worse) of the horrendously terrible DMCA that has caused lots of problems in the U.S.
Mr. Geist (linked on boingboing) suggests the new law will hand unprecedented power to media companies to restrict the way you use their media, even if you have legally purchased it. For instance, no sharing your music or video, no matter what (in some bills such as these, it is technically illegal even to loan a CD to a friend). No shifting your media between devices (even if you own them). There will be DRM protection on most everything, and you will be legally in trouble if you break the DRM if, for instance, you want to rip a copy of BSG Season 1 from DVDs to your laptop’s HD so you can watch it on the plane; or if the company that produced your crappy DRM-disabled music goes out of business and no longer offers support.

In addition, this law is likely to remove traditional legal protections such as fair dealing, satire and parody. Make a silly remake of a Wal-Mart commercial: you broke a law. Show 3 minutes of The Simpsons to your class at school: you broke a law. Rip your CDs to your MP3 player: You broke a law.

Geist says, “Once the bill is introduced, look for the government to put it on the fast track with limited opportunity for Canadians to appear before committees considering the bill.”

So, if it comes up, kill it fast, much like a horrible dragon, or a zombie dragon, or something else that’s horrible and should be killed fast.

Otherwise, welcome to the corporate fiefdom. We Americans, having more experience in this area, will help you adjust to the reduced levels of liberty and justice.

Dead Chevy for Sale in Alamo

ONE: I was at Target today, and on the endcap, where they put the closeouts, there was some spaghetti. It was black. Pitch black. Pretty cool, no? After I got it home and started making dinner, I chanced to look at the ingredients (while I was chatting online with hot babes my hot babe, Alex). Let me reproduce for you the ingredients box on this package of spaghetti:

INGREDIENTS: SEMOLINA, SQUID INK, FERROUS LACTATE (IRON), NIACIN, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID.

Perhaps you didn’t notice the unexpected ingredient in there. Riboflavin?! <tgsvoice>That’s awesome!</tgsvoice>. No, seriously. It’s amazing how one single ingredient can make the whole list very, very weird. But it tasted fine with some sauce and cheese. I had seconds.

TWO: I have been avoiding booking my flight to see Alex, not because I don’t want to see her, but because I hate the expense and hassle of the entire process. Well, I got into the groove, and on a whim I checked the usually-insanely-restrictive continental.com rewards flight availability, and I found a flight! My travel for Christmas will cost me $10 instead of $500! So I celebrated by buying $75 worth of DVDs on amazon.com.

THREE: I have only committed one of the major sins today (not including Lust, cause I figure I get a bit of a free pass now, when it’s directed at my wife… what!? you knew what I was when you started reading this post). I have compensated for the lack of variety with frequency. Today I think I have committed about 3,000 separate instances of Sloth.

That is all.

Know what? Christmas is coming! I’ve hit on a project to make a present or two. This makes me happy, and makes me look forward to the holiday. I find that when all I do is buy presents, I really don’t look forward to it as much.

In other news, OSU continues to stomp heads. Yay! And the weather here is perfect and gorgeous. Just cool enough not to need the A/C all night, but not so cold that I need more than a light blanket. Sigh. “Fall” and “Winter” here are pretty sweet. And for summers… there’s always Ontario.

 I KNEW IT!!!

So, the above is a written confession of what I have suspected for some time. It is written–ironically–on a package notification slip. My mailperson apparently does not deliver mail when it is inconvenient to do so. I live in a kind of cul-de-sac with several mailboxes, in groups of 3 or 4, placed around the periphery. When I got home yesterday, there was one car parked with its nose toward my mailbox group. No other cars. The postal employee, in order to fulfill his or her sacred mail duties, would have had to actually get out of the vehicle and walk eight to ten feet.Neither rain, nor snow, nor gloom of night shall stay these couriers from swift completion of their appointed rounds. But don’t make them get out of the car. That’s not in the contract.I’m not sure how loudly I want to complain, though, because… you know… postal worker.

US vs. Canada postal service comparison (to date):
Delivery on Saturday: Advantage –> U.S.A.
General Delivery Speed: Advantage –> U.S.A. (small margin)
Hot Older Lady at Post Office: Advantage –> Canada
Post Offices Open Late: Advantage –> Canada
Any Little Thing Makes Them Not Deliver the Mail: Advantage –> Canada.

In Other News, Lore Sjöberg’s Luddite blog on Wired.com has some interesting, little-known facts about dinosaurs. Consider the following:

There Were No Tyrannosaurus Rexes Named ‘Rex’
These huge predators may have been designed by nature to be unstoppable eating machines, but they also knew a trite name when they heard one. Thorough investigation of late Cretaceous wedding registries indicates that the most common name for male T. rexes was “Jayden,” followed by “Palmer.” The three most popular female T. rex names were “Ashley,” “Ashlee” and “Ashlie,” in that order. There was one T. rex named “Dex,” but he had no friends.

See? You learn new things every time you open up the ol’ webs. Things about dinosaurs. Things about postal workers.

Redline fixie on campus

So, cool bike on campus, eh? I just happened to be out with my new camera, shooting all kinds of terrible pictures, when I saw it. First fixed-gear bike I’ve seen here. Kinda neat. I especially like the strapless MTB clips (I’ve seen those for sale, and they looked interesting) and the clearly homemade aluminum-from-Home-Depot rack (I should have taken close-ups of the welds; they look neat).

So, I went to a couple of Rio Grande Valley Icehole games this week. Interesting experience. I don’t think I’ll be joining up, after all. [warning: rationalization and excuses ahead]. It wasn’t just the deafeningly loud music blasting for the entire 60-minute game. It wasn’t just the hecklers in the crowd (after all, they didn’t heckle *me*). It wasn’t the increased pushing and shoving on the ice (I can get used to that, and shove back). It wasn’t the run-down arena with dripping ceilings and mounds and pits on the ice (actually, the arena is pretty endearing and cool in that way).

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[cat in the UTPA covered walkway]

I pumped up the front tire, and it held 80 psi. Miracle for those cracked, crumbling, barely-there tires. Cross fingers. The rear was a mess, but I patched it twice, then removed the (not working) patches and did it again. It held air, too. I adjusted the brakes, put a little lube here and there, and went for a ride. Also I put some lubricant on the bike.

A 3 mile ride went off without a hitch, as they say. Enjoyable. The rear tire went flat a few minutes after the ride, though. Screw it. New tube. The old one was flaking away in hunks anyway, when I was roughening the patch area.

The bike fit is not bad (I raised the seat an inch or so), but the drop stem may have to go, and the drop bars will definitely be finding their way into the spare parts collection soon. Also these 6-inch-wide handlebars. It’s weird to feel my chest actually constricted while riding, from keeping my arms in far enough to rest on the hoods or the drops. Ugh.

Turns out the seatpost diameter is 27.2mm, so I think the old seatpost from  Mr. Bikey will work. The one on there kind of suxxorz, even though it’s pretty light.

I’m doing this to take my mind off Alex. She left a few hours ago, and must be in the air even while I write. I had a rude shock a moment ago, when I realized that she will not be blogging in the other room when she reads this.

I live in three different worlds, it seems. There’s Canada world (which includes Alex), Texas-with-Alex world, and Texas-without-Alex world. More than Alex leaving, it seems like I just slid from one world into the other.