Vet School Gone Bad

Labour Day Weekend

The new room-mate is coming tomorrow. I'm almost ready, but not really. Too many memories seeping through the knit. Reminder: it's different this time.

Katini Anyone?

Boston, Little Italy, 2006

Update

I just noticed that I actually joined blogger in 2002 so I will have to change that header graphic on Tuesday. I don't have the .psd file at home.

One Year Later

I'm back. I wasn't really gone anywhere of course, I just haven't been blogging. After 4 years of posting almost every day I took a sabbatical. It's no coincidence of course that I took this during the year that Leslie and I have been living together. In the past my postings have tended to be very personal and at times effusive. Being in a relationship I felt that I couldn't expose all of that in such a public forum as a blog.

Now Leslie is living in Philadelphia, attending University and on her way to becoming one of the world's top veterinarians. I'm extremely proud that she got into the program although I never doubted that she would. I miss her tremendously but at the same time it's really wonderful to see that she has taken this huge step towards making her dream come true. I can't wait to see you Leslie.

American Beer, Canadian Myth

Growing up in the late 70s early 80s in Central Canada I was taught that Americans made shitty swill for beer and Canadians made the good stuff. I believed it for years even though at the time all you could buy in Canada was straw coloured Molson, Labatts or O'keefe products. The story was that American canned beer was lower in alcohol and flavour. The truth was that American macrobrews were as bland as Canadian macrobrews.
To make a long sordid story short and clean I know that you yanks make good beer. Harpoon, Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams, and so many more as we make Maudite, St. Ambroise, Coup de Grisou, Sgt. something. So the moral of this story is drink it, taste it and don't worry where it was made. Focus on where it's going. In your gullet.

Last Friday we made a special beer run to Quebec and bought some gemful Cheval Blanc products. The weekend before we bought A case of Harpoon, some Magi Cat (Magic Hat?) and some Sierra Nevada. Oh and we ran into my Aunt and Uncle at a rest stop just across the US border near Brockville. We were all a bit freaked out by that.

American moves to Canada reach record high

Come on the rest of you. There's plenty of room.>>

The number of Americans admitted to Canada last year reached a 30-year high, with a 20 per cent increase over the previous year and nearly double the number that arrived in 2000.
from the CBC

Approaching

I've never been so nervous about anything in my life. Leslie is going to be living with me tomorrow. Another way to say that is that we will be living together. A subtle but significant distinction.I was never this nervous when we got married or at a job interview. If I have this bad a case of the jitters I wonder how she feels? It's nothing to do with being scared of committment either. What scares me is blowing the whole thing. Saying the wrong words. Doing the wrong thing. This isn't like before where you hang up the phone and go on with the day. This is life full time. I hope we are both ready!

I should stress that yes I am delighted. She is the best.

A Pause Before Midnight

I can't even begin to fathom my own excitement at the fact that tonight Leslie is arriving to live in Canada. I know that it is harder for her because she is leaving her familiar surroundings, her friends and family to start a new kind of life. I have to keep that fact in my own perspective. It's not going to just be all champagne and rooses for her. And yet I want her to know how happy she makes me and that I will do my best to listen and be understanding. She's so good to me. I hope this effusive post doesn't embarass her too much but I love her!

Update on Manhunt

They captured young Jesse >>

He was busting into a man's home near Portage-du-fort which is a few miles West of our cottage. you cross there to go to Renfrew on the Ontario side.

When Bad People Come to Your Neck of the Woods

Great...Leslie arrives tomorrow and there is a manhunt for an armed and dangerous serial killer in the Ottawa valley including up at Shawville where my parents are staying at the cottage. Kripes. This punk bastard strangled a man and kiled two old people. they found his truck up near Renfrew Ontario recently. I hope they find him soon or mayb a farmer will mistakenly shoot the bastard thinking it was a deer.
The story >>

The wanted man

The Witching Hour

"At last my love has come along" as the old song says. Leslie arrives tomorrow at the scheduled time of 11:59. I don't know what else to say. I can hardly believe we made it this far after so much time just dreaming.
Now we awake...

She's Coming Next Week!!!

Brutality

What the fuck is wrong with people? It's enough to make you give up on humanity >>

No Jewelers On Duty

Flickr: Photos from SNWEB.ORG Photography

An abandoned factory in Gary, Indiana. This photo is public © All rights reserved. Uploaded on May 30, 2007 · 0 comments. An abandoned factory in Gary, ...

Abandoned City

"Gary Indiana is about the closest thing I have ever seen to an abandoned city. It is becoming a modern day Mayan city, buildings remaining but people getting out.

Just across the border from Chicago, Gary is a city that has fallen on bad times. I heard a lot of things about Gary before coming there. It was supposed to have a high crime rate, white people had been warned to stay out of town. But David from Forgotten Detroit assured me it was safe to explore. Sure enough we had no problems when we were there. No one bothered us or gave us a second look. I didn't feel unsafe at any time. It was an okay place to explore. Even though whole city blocks had been abandoned and bulldozed it looked okay."

From urbanadventure.org

Gary Indiana - America's Ghost Town

I don't know why but the words Gary Indiana were ringing through my head so I looked it up. It must be mentioned in one of the millions of songs I've heard. Here is a tour of Gary Indiana courtesy of www.forbidden-places.ba




" Alecia Perkins
28 Mar 2007, 09:33
My husband and I are real estate investors and are buying properties in the Gary area. I was saddened by what I saw on a recent tour I took. The town is completely in ruins. And looks like a great plague wiped out the residents. Downtown is full of empty stores and abandoned buildings...sad indeed.

I will say that there are some efforts to revitalize Gary. However, there are brand new buildings right around the corner from the most empty and dilapidated city blocks I've ever seen. I guess efforts are being made but the new structures next to the existing crumbling ones looks really odd. I have heard contractors and developers saying that they would have better luck bulldozing the whole entire city and starting from scratch. :o( "



and don't miss The Furniture of Gary Indiana >>



Here are the lyrics. they are by LA 'punk' band X circa 1984. They were commenting on the Reagan USA but remain salient:

Honest to goodness the bars weren't open this morning
They must have been voting for the president or something
"do you have a quarter?"
I said yes because I did
Honest to goodness the tears have been falling all over the country's face
It was better before before they voted for whats his name, this is suppose to be the New World
Flint, Ford auto, Mobil, Alabama, windshield wiper, Buffalo, New York, Gary, Indiana, don't forget the motor city, Baltimore and D.C.
Now all we need is, don't forget the Motor City this was suppose to be the New World All we need is money just give us what you can spare, twenty or thirty pounds of potatoes or twenty of thirty beers, a turkey on thanks giving like alms for the poor
All we need are the necessities and more
It was better before they voted for what his name, this is suppose to be the New World
Don't forget the motor city this was suppose to be the new world

Stynx

OK here it is Lorelei by the Saint Clairsville Singers



Followed by everyone's favourite "I just realized I might have an alcohol problem" song "Who Are You?" introduced by funnyman Ronald McDonald

Bears Turned Inside Out

Yes I should be asleep. I'm sick though and I simply can't. So I've been up writing e-mails to old friends, playing online scrabble reading the news. I recently got in touch with my friend Alefia from Montreal. She has a fantastic gallery of photos from a trip she took to India where her family originates. You can see it here>>

I've also recently reacquainted myself with four other old friends ranging from Grad school to way way back in Vanier Rez days at York. All of this via Face Book. The internet has proven to be a radical social element in my life. Thank god for it. My god it's how I make my living even. the strangest thing is to think back to when I started University in 1984 and for all intents and purposes there was no internet. Imagine if someone told me how I would meet all of these people including and especially Leslie as well as make a career based upon presenting information through this medium? It would have sounded ludicrous.

Now for the bears turned inside out. This series of photographs takes me back to when I was a child. my mother sewed a lot of stuffed animals for us including a Pooh bear that I still possess. I not only appreciated the craft that went into making these creatures, but there was a magic seeing them go from inside out to a "living" thing. it was magic to my young mind when all the sewn up bits folded in on themselves and burst open as a bear or tiger or piglet. Ah piglet where are you now?

Here is the site>>