Move along folks, nothing to see here.

Hrm.  Yes.  Well, that's a little embarassing.

Sorry for the false alarm, folks.

Turns out it was a pulled muscle, after all.  Well, "Soft Muscle Damage" is what the doctor said, I think.  I didn't really hear much past "Your ultrasound was fine. There's no blood clot."

Advil, Aleve, whatever.  Let us know if it gets worse.

I'm good with that.

I have come to the conclusion that I may have a little bit of the ol' PTSD where my past health issues are concerned, as can be evidenced by my previous post.  I'll admit, I was not in the greatest of places last night.

Feeling much better now, thanks, and extra thanks for the support.

Cheers.

Source

Slip slidin' away or Winter Driving in Canada

I've spent a good portion of my day thinking about tires.  Talking about tires.  Getting quotes for tires.  All because I live in Canada, and our winters are a giant pain in the ass.

I hurt my Betty.  And for those who are under the impression that Betty is a code word for the lady bits, I will clarify that Betty is my car, with whom I am currently spending my third winter.  I hurt my Betty because I didn't take the time to remember that I live in Canada and our winters are a giant pain in the ass, especially where driving in snow is concerned.

Bessie and Lurch, my two previous vehicles had been outfitted with All-Seasons, so the issue of whether or not to get winter tires put on was never much of an issue.  For three years I did the 40 minute commute to school without incident.  However, my Betty came straight from the dealership equipped with plain old summer radials, and she has lumbered through the past couple winters with them, without incident beyond a good amount of fishtailing and a whole lot of gettingstuckage.

This year I said 'Not again.  I'm not going another winter with these damn radials on.'  But November became December, which became January and once again I found myself hemming and hawing, thinking 'Winter's halfway through.. what's the point now?'  A friend, much more automotivally inclined than myself, expressed concern not three days ago about putting it off, basically telling me I've just been lucky so far and it was a matter of time.

Did she ever call that one.

Yesterday it happened.  I hit someone.  Thankfully, that someone was in a car, but it was an eyeopener.  I was driving through downtown Barrie and came to a hill with a stoplight at the bottom.  Knowing my shitty tires, I started braking as early as I could, but halfway down the hill I could feel the ground sliding beneath me.  I tried to aim for the snowbank, but the car and the road had other plans for me, and I ended up rear ending the silver sedan that was waiting at the red light. 

I pulled off to the side of the road, threw the hazards on and fumbled with my seatbelt in an effort to get out of the car and see if she was okay.  The lady driving the car was shaken, and obviously none-too-pleased by the jolt.  On the verge of tears, I gave her my insurance information while apologizing profusely The damage, which was minimal thankfully.  I had hit her square in the bumper and nary a scratch could be seen, that we could tell.  My fender is slightly bent, (giving meaning to the words 'fender bender') but nothing that I need to rush right out and fix.

I got the call tonight that the full amount of the damage was a busted brake light.  She's decided not to go through insurance, has asked if I would pay the cost and time to get the brake light fixed.  I figured for her trouble, and considering how much much worse the whole thing could have ended up, this was a pretty negligible price to pay.

So today has been a day of quotes and questions and tomorrow I will go get the damn tires put on.  Because some close calls are too close for comfort.

I'm a freakin' genius.. or not.

I have battled the broken three-hole punch and emerged triumphant. I have made that three hole punch my bitch.

I am, indeed a genius.

erm.. if you ignore the fact that I punched the wrong side of 50% of the sheets I needed to punch.

and if you ignore that the sheet protectors I bought already have holes.. rendering it completely unnecessary to punch holes...

...or fix the hole punch.

*sigh*

So much for an apolitical Sunday..

.. however, it's raining and I can't mow the lawn, so what the hell.

I got some interesting responses to my last post, and to a Facebook thread on the same subject. One of my complaints regarding the G20 protests was that the message was getting lost in the shadow of destruction and mayhem, to where it was unclear as to what the message was.

A good friend of mine outlined the issue nicely, and has given me permission to reprint her comments here:

"How many countries currently exist? A hell of a lot more than 20. Many people are angry because some of the biggest global decisions are being made by only the most privileged countries (with some of the most corrupt leaders) and the leaders of the majority of the world's population are not even invited to the table. The issues discussed will effect the globe and include policy decisions that effect whether or not people can eat, afford health care, drink clean water, or have a mine or oil field in their backyard.

The issues on the table and the decisions that are being made without most people's knowledge or input are terrifying. People are resorting to violence because real people's lives are at stake in the decision-making process, especially the most marginalized people around the globe(People with NOTHING who can't afford for their lives to get worse because of policy decisions that result in ever-growing poverty).

I don't believe in thoughtless violence or romanticizing violent resistance, but I agree that the meeting must be stopped or held up and that some kind of force might be necessary (this is not to say that I agree with some of the current antics). This isn't a dumb protest or just an issue about money being spent on a meeting. When the most privileged countries in the world decide to alter international environmental laws, for example, it means that rural indigenous people in Latin America end up with an open-pit copper mine in their backyard which ruins their soil and drinking water and gives them cancer. The protest is becoming violent because people's lives are at stake -- a point which is getting lost on both sides of the media hype."


The bold emphasis was added by myself, because this is the misguided impression I was under.

Another interesting point was brought up by another friend of mine - so many people are quick to condemn the actions of the radical protest groups (just want to differentiate from the peaceful protesters) but will either support, or refuse to comment on state-sponsored military violence such as Iraq and Afghanistan. I will put on record here that I do NOT support our military interference, but granted, I'm less than vocal about it.

Another interesting thing that was brought up (although the thread no longer exists) was a statement that the 'Black Block', which to the best of my understanding is one of the anarchist groups at the G20 protests, feel a moral obligation to smash or destroy symbols of corporate greed and corruption (not a direct quote, I'm trying to go from memory here). This is where I call shenanigans. Smashing a scotiabank storefront downtown is not going to bring down these corporations any more than burning a local catholic church is going to bring down the Vatican. Once again I reiterate, this type of action only serves to alienate the general public, which in turn causes them to turn away and close their eyes and ears to the cause.

I'm inclined to agree that change is rarely ever affected by simply writing letters. However, I believe that acts of civil disobedience (from Martin Luther nailing his grievance to the cathedral door to Ghandi's hunger strike) are effective because they invoke curiosity, and make people question WHY, instead of alienating the general populace. When we are civil, we cannot be demonized by the powers that be, because we've done nothing wrong. Violence and aggression only serve to allow the governing bodies to invoke fear as a justification in increasing their own power in the name of our own so-called 'protection'.

I can be kind of a jackass.

So, to follow up on my last post, it seems my understanding of the odd, question-mark shaped stuffie was flawed.

Turns out, as my six-year-old explained to me, because apparently it sometimes happens that I need things explained to me by a six-year-old, that what it is actually for is this:

Mom is on the phone. Young child has a query. But, alas, mom is still on the phone, and mom has told child numerous times that unless they are broken, bleeding or on fire, that they have to wait until mom is off the phone. Instead of tugging sleeves, and repeatedly going 'mom! mom! mommy! mom!' and so forth, child simply hangs the question mark on mom's arm as a way to indicate "Hey Ma! I gots something to ask when you're done flapping your gums!" When mom is done on the phone, she has this bizarre thing on her arm to remind her "Right. Better see what the kid wanted."

SO in that light, it's probably more practical than I may have believed it to be.