thebitterguy

• 11:11 Not working as an information officer today, as I am sick and have no voice, which makes me a poor info officer at best. #
• 14:10 tinyurl.com/robotsvswerewolves The guiding light to my online life. #

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So, yes. Cynra & I took the Thanksgiving weekend to go and visit the family in Halifax.

Her father has been ill for the past year, but has held in there longer than the doctors had predicted, thankfully. He isn't well by any means, but I'm glad she was able to see him again.

While in Halifax, we took in the Citadel and did some shopping at Woozles and Strange Adventures, which are all within five feet of each other.

The Citadel is one of the great fortresses that the British built here in Canada during the Imperial era. On the highest spot in Halifax, it commands an impressive view over the harbour. We took in a bunch of exhibits, but didn't go on a tour. I got yelled at by a security guard, which is understandable, but the view was worth it.

Cynra got a crapload of stuff for her library from Woozles. There were a bunch of kids books with east coast themes and general Canadiana that we hadn't seen before. I saw a copy of the book on disc for Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book, which is scored by Bela Fleck so I probably will get it.

Strange Adventures was a good shop. It seems to be hewn from the same rock as the Citadel, although it's still got more natural lighting than Image Collectibles.

I got a few things from the 5 for $1 bin (three issues of Champions, an issue of TimeWarp which makes me realize why they cancelled it, and a Trek annual that makes me realize Dave Ross's art has improved immensely since the '80s), a Best of Trek tpb, and a few issues here and there.

We also got a few bundles of Halloween comics, which is a great idea. They've produced (no, I don't know who the "they" is, but I think everyone who reads comics should get a bundle of these for distribution) these half sized books of comic strips.

It seems like a FCBD thingy, but with more distribution. You get 20 for $5, and give them out with/instead of the candy.

Last year, we gave out issues of the Spider-Man: Skating on Thin Ice PSA that I stole got from work when I was at the A&P in my teens. I mean, fuck it, I've got a lot of them and they never appreciated.

We get so few kids I always think of just getting a box of full sized candy bars instead of those shrimpy little things.

We had Thanksgiving dinner with Cynra's sister and her family, including the two grandkids. The eldest, A, is just growing huge. I swear, she'll be six feet by the time she's in her teens. The youngest, P, is such a showoff it's hilarious.

Over the previous week, Cynra & I had each been fighting a cold. We particularly didn't want to let her dad catch it.

So, by the time the weekend came, we both had seemed to have beaten it. She'd launched into a full blown cold, and I had been fighting it with Cold F/X (The cold medication with heart!).

She was still having coughing issues, but I seemed to be clear.

Of course, but Sunday I had once again started having a full blown lung infection, so I got some cough syrup from the airport and survived the trip home.

We got Mexican (well, Mexicali Rosa's, since Chorizo and Sombrero were both closed for Thanskgiving) and couldn't eat the main dishes since we were full up from the appetizer.

I had to cancel on doing the election work, but since I have today off it's no problem.

So, yes, home with the cats. A little relaxation after the vacation is always helpful.

• 08:47 The instability of the iPhone's web browser is starting to annoy me. Any suggestions? #
• 10:45 The view from The Citadel is quite awesome. #

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Saw this posted to RPG.net:

The time has come to ask: What might happen to our country if we elect a black muslim terrorist president?
...Predictions: Within a few months of Obama's election, a couple of major U.S. cities will be the sites of a huge terrorist attack that kills thousands of Americans. The Obama administration will use this as an excuse for violating our civil liberties on an unprecedented scale, by setting up Gulag-style detention centers, where people will be held for years without any access to the legal system. Some of these people will be, I predict, actually tortured, as we all know the Left is completely dedicated to the idea that the ends justify the means, and that it has no respect for The Rule of Law.

But this will only be the beginning. Being a radical black militant, Obama will simply ignore any legal requirements that interfere with doing what he deems necessary to "protect" America. Indeed, I predict this power-drunk Negro will carry out secret and illegal spying operations against Americans on a scale Richard Nixon could only dream of. Then, in a veritable Maoist orgy of contempt for the very idea of law, he will demand that the legislature legalize his lawbreaking after the fact.

Then I saw THIS, posted by perennial north of the border wingnut favourite Adam Yoshida.

Do too much, rather than too little. Don’t shift these things around. Burn them down and salt the Earth. A future Liberal government won’t have the guts, the time, the wherewithal, or the money to recreate them all at once. Sell the land and the buildings. Shred the records. Disperse the staff. It’s easier to destroy than it is to create. A Tory government on a rampage could destroy in a couple of months what it took four decades to create – and what it would take another forty to recreate.

. . . Build big things. Canadians, for all that they claim to be a peace-loving people, want to love their country. That’s why, in the absence of a more compelling national identity, they hold onto the things that they do. Build a pair of Aircraft Carriers – giant, expensive, deadly, and useful symbols of Canadian pride that children can hang on their walls. Name them after Wolfe and Montcalm or something like that.

Quick! Which one's serious, and which one's joking?

• 16:29 Training tonight for my position as an elections information officer. #

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Cruel, really, taking something out of context and making it funny. Cruel.

So, I saw that the soundtrack for Repo: A Genetic Opera had been released on iTunes, so I picked it up on the weekend. It sounds nice, which got me eager to see the film.

I'm not going to be able to make it to see it at the After Dark Film Festival because I have a wedding that night. Well, I don't have a wedding, but someone else does and I'm going to it.

Anyway, I figured I'd just wait until it came out in theatres. Then I noticed that it isn't going to show in theatres (other than NYC, SF, LA & Vegas). Crap.

Ah, well. It'll be out in January on DVD, so that shouldn't be a problem. But still, theatrical shows are so much more entertaining.

In other disappointing news, Weird Al has a new single out today. I probably wasn't the first person to think this, but releasing singles on iTunes is a really good model for him to follow. It allows him to get parodies out while the songs he's doing are still fresh in people's minds. I don't think it's odd that a lot of his most memorable songs from recent albums have actually be parodies of classic rock tunes, considering the disposability of most modern pop songs.

Plus, I still have the sense of humour of a 12 year old.

It turns out, unfortunately, that the song is only available via iTunes in the US, although you can hear it on youtube.

It's annoying when you want to support an artist and the distribution system gets in the way. I know there are alternatives, but it's still frustrating.

• 09:19 You can't trust any training session that makes you listen to Limp Bizkit. #

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Yes, it's both overly silly and will happen to anyone who doesn't keep their inbox clean, but hey.



edit: see, it's "LEET". Heh.

Ah, man, I'm goin back to bed.