Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Goodbye Summer...

Monday, August 29, 2005

I am WOMAN hear me ROAR!

So I was ripped off on eBay by this Jack Toomer guy, owner of comicsbytheweb.com. Back in June I won about 18 Star Wars miniatures from him totalling about 104.00 USD and I paid right away, via Paypal.

But I never got anything but empty promises that he would send me my stuff and that I should trust him and give him a chance. Being the person that I am I did give him a chance, but lo and behold once the deadline for filing a dispute with Pay pal (to get a refund) had passed I didn't hear from this Jack guy anymore. I sent him a bill through Pay Pal and several requests for a refund, but all have been ignored.

I can tell by his eBay feed back I am not the only one this has happened to. But that doesn't make me feel any better, so I filed an complaint against Jack and his "company" with the Internet Fraud Complaint Centre (run in partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White Collar Crime Center) for my loss of $102.67 USD.

Yep, I filed a complaint with the FBI. I was hoping that I might get my money back and that they could stop him from ripping off other people too. AND look what happened...

FEEL MY WRATH COMICSBYTHEWEB.

You picked the wrong eBayer to piss off.

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Food Fight!

Companies serving potato chips and french fries are required in California to provide warning labels on their products as they contain above acceptable levels of a natural chemical called Acrylamide. Of course the lay people only hear of this now because a law suit has been launched against 9 companies (PepsiCo's Frito-Lay Inc, KFC, McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's International, H. J. Heinz, Kettle Foods, Procter & Gamble Distributing and Cape Cod Potato Chips Co) who are currently failing to comply with this FDA regulation.

Acrylamide is a known carcinogen that affects the reproductive organs of mammals. In 2002 Swiss scientists discovered it to be naturally present in starchy foods when cooked or processed at high heat (like deep fat frying). The good news is that Acrylamide has not been found in foods cooked at temperatures lower than 120 degrees celsius, including boiled foods. MMmmMMmm... mashed potatoes never looked so good!

Saturday, August 27, 2005

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Boy


One of my fav pics of a long ago time


A year ago today was my brother's memorial service in BC. A whole 19 Days after he was killed. Believe it or not that's how long it took to get the neccessary permissions and arrangements in place to bury him. Way too long if you ask me - and almost hell for my poor Mother, who had buried my Father only 2 months before. It surprises me still, looking back at it, just how much harder a bureaucracy can make certain things, things that should be as easy for people to handle as it possibly can be.

I started something this year; I met with the Mayor about School Zones in Edmonton and he promised to take it to the Council, which he did. They debate it even now, and sometimes I can't believe the stupidity I hear bantered around about it (like school zones provide a false sense of security for kids). I've been thinking I have to get back into it, partly because if you start something you should see it through to the finish... but mostly because of this and this.

I might not be able to do anything about bureaucracy, but I can affect change in my world. Indeed, the time we spend here is so short that the only way the world really knows I have been here is by what I have changed within it.

Friday, August 26, 2005

Exit stage right... again

Being a party member I have become used to "shake up" and moving these past nine months. Actually, it's usually a good thing, as I suspect is this case with Mr Love. That's all I am going to say about that.

But I did get to thinking of the first time I met Rod Love, years ago now. He came over, shook my hand and this is what he said.

"Hello there. I'm the Love Rod..."

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Send up the Bat Signal!

"It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me."
- Bruce Wayne (Batman)


Today my friend Carol and I caught a bat while on our coffee break. The poor little guy was caught in the elevated link between the buildings, frantically trying to find a way out. I knew I couldn't just leave him there... a little bit of determination, diligence and maybe even some climbing up walls and I was finally able to catch him. It felt good to release him outside, good to be able to help.

It's interesting that this little fellow came into my life today. My contract at work ends this Friday and even though everyone keeps asking me where I will go next I haven't been thinking about it as much as maybe I should. Native teachings tell us that when bat appears in your life its message may be to examine your situation carefully to find bounty you may be overlooking, or to remind you to take a moment to get your bearings before going on. When Bat appears it is asking you to surrender yourself to the process of change; opportunities unknown to the conscious mind are about to manifest.

Change is good. Bounty is good.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Quote of the Day




"Every single Jedi is now an enemy of the Republic..."

Friday, August 19, 2005

Wingardium Leviosa!

"You're saying it wrong. It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa."

The "get-along" gang says "Zionists are our rightful target"

Modern Zionism is concerned with the support and development of the state of Israel, so technically every country in the world that supports Israel's right to exist is considered by most extremists to be Zionist, and thereby fair target.

Promising an attack soon in the Israeli city of Tal Al-Rabih (Tel Aviv), al Qaeda's "Martyr Abdallah Azzam Brigades" (cf Sinai 2004) have claimed responsibilty for three Katyusha rockets fired today at two american ships in harbour at Jordan. The rockets reportedly were fired from a warehouse rented only a few days ago "by four people of Iraqi and Egyptian descent." So while they were noticing the ethnicity of the new tenants, did they happen to miss the wheeling in of a rocket launching device and several rockets? Just how easy are these things to miss?

As easy apparently, as two ruddy great ships (the 40,500 ton USS Kearsarge is 844 feet long and the 16,000 ton USS Ashland is 609 feet long) sitting in the harbour mere feet away, but that was ultimately for the better.

Anyway, getting back to these rockets... Originally a Soviet construct from days gone by, the Katyusha rocket has repeatedly been modernized and not surprisingly, given their size, most newer versions are mounted on some manner of vehicle, including trucks, tanks and tractors.

Curious.

Although I understand that individual Katyusha's can be launched from a pipe using just a car battery, (now thats a handy feature!) these things aren't exactly small. And you'd think that harbour security might be a little tighter with american ships in port. But I digress...

When I first started studying the oft forbidden topics of religion and politics, a Prof of mine said "If we don't learn to live with each other religiously we will blow each other up." At that time I had yet to realize exactly how right he was. Religion and politics share the same creative power and destructive force, and it always seems to be in the wrong hands. Matter of fact through the years it has not been lost on me the apparent determination to actualize the prophecies of Armageddon in the middle east, almost like it is some form of birthright.

God - save us from your followers. The meek are ready for their turn.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Thought of the Day

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that the american government can track a cow born in Canada three years ago, right to the stall where she sleeps in the state of Washington (and track her calves to their stalls, and so on and so on)... but they can't find Osama bin Laden?

Maybe we should give him a Canadian cow. With BSE.

Saturday, August 13, 2005

15 Things I've Done You Probably Haven't


  • I have scaled a 4 storey building just to sit on it’s roof.
  • I was married to Duncan by Alberta’s Ambassador to the USA in Washington.
  • I once called Gorbechav in Russia (with my telephone).
  • I have been detained by Military Police during a bomb scare.
  • I was ordained as a Minister with the Universal Life Church 6 years ago.
  • I have crept around campus labs with human cadavers, brains and organs in the dead of night.
  • I have assisted in the arrest of a high profile criminal.
  • I have had a loaded weapon (SMG) pointed at my head.
  • I watched my son play hockey on the ice at the Saddledome.
  • I shook Princess Diana's hand, a hero of mine.
  • I had a boyfriend write a song for me that he then sang in front of 30,000 people.
  • I have given birth in front of an audience (eight people).
  • I ran/carried the Queens Baton for the 1994 Commonwealth Games.
  • I have seen the actual original Instrument of Surrender that was signed by the Japanese on the USS Missouri (and stood on the very spot it was signed).
  • I was a member of an Infantry Unit for six years.
This is a meme, of course, so feel free to throw up your own answers on your blogs. But don't forget to leave me your answers here in my comments so we can read them too! Oh, and if you can't think of 15 things shorten it to 10... but at least try first! Oh, and don't take this too seriously, it's for fun!

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Bush Whacked by the Stones



"You call yourself a Christian
I call you a hypocrite
You call yourself a patriot
Well I think you're full of shit.

How come you're so wrong
my sweet neo-con."


I thought the Stones' new lyrics (from "My Sweet Neo-con") deserved to be paired with my favourite Bush picture. The new Rolling Stones album, "A Bigger Bang" will be released September 6th (yes Duncan, that is a hint).

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

With the Greatest Gratitude; a Last Sunrise

The great bell atop our Peace Tower tolled 91 times as Sgt (retired) Ernest Alvia "Smokey" Smith (VC, CM, OBC, CD) arrived on Parliament Hill today, for the last time.

Ever wonder what kind of wisdom the experience of fighting in two wars (he re-enlisted for Korea) leaves someone with?

Master Cpl. Bud Dickson (aide de camp to Smokey for the past 10 years) once sat in silence with him while they watched the sun come up over the Mediterranean, and this is what Smokey told him:

"Try to do this as often as you can. You never know when your last sunrise is going to be".

*****************************************

After 91 years of sunrises this Canadian hero will be laid to rest, fittingly, in the year of the Veteran. After laying in state in Ottawa, a full military funeral will be held Saturday, 13 August 2005 at St Andrew-Wesley Church, 1012 Nelson Ave, Vancouver, BC (following a 24-hour vigil and funerary procession from the Seaforth Armoury, 1650 Burrard St). I encourage everyone who can go to do so.

Monday, August 08, 2005

Nothing Gold Can Stay...


There was a time in my life (a much simpler time) when things were fair: when gentle lullabies made all hurts go away; when days were endless and summers forever; when the wishing star was magic, when goodbyes meant nothing and there was always enough time to fix everything... And then there was a day when it all went wrong.

There are a lot of different kinds of moments to be found in 365 days. Today contains the moments known as the first anniversary of my brother’s death.

Now there are the times in life when I want to tell him something, but I can't; when I'd do anything to hear his voice, but nothing works; when I remember something funny he did, yet he's not here to tease about it... or there's the times I see someone who looks so much like him that my heart stops and I can’t breathe. I can’t help myself, but I still entertain the childish hope that it was all some crazy mistake, a case of mistaken identity, and that one day I am going to get a phone call, or an email, or I really am going to see him on the street with that "Surprise I’m here" smile of his (my brother would often drop out of life only to reappear when you least expected him to).

Actually, there hasn't been a day since Chris died that I haven’t thought about him in some way. His death, like non other I’ve experienced, has affected me in profoundly deep ways: it was so unfair; he was too young: he deserved more than to die in such a senseless manner and place; I couldn’t protect him. I feel as if he was stolen from me and I can’t describe the anger and the pain that accompanies something like that.

He adored me; he was my first friend, my first enemy, my first charge. My little, baby brother that was born, I was sure, just as a gift for me. The relationship between siblings is a unique one and we were supposed to have our whole lives to explore it.

But never less, one year ago today, someone named Christopher Braden Robinson from Edson Alberta killed my brother.

And he has never even said he was sorry.

Friday, August 05, 2005

I just died and went to Hazzard County...

GENERAL LEE speaking the Dukes of Hazzard kicked some serious ass.

I haven't laughed my way through a movie in a long time. I still have a huge smile on my face. And deep inside of me, in a place where I thought was maybe forgotten, is a little kid catching some air and yelling

YEEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAAA !

Thursday, August 04, 2005

My Hubby is "not so sober" this lovely evening...

Duncan: Where IS my shirt?

Allie: I don't know. You didn't come home with one...

Duncan: YES I DID!

Allie: IF you came home with a shirt, then where is it?

Duncan: I don't know! I don't know where the fox is either!

Allie: What fox?

Duncan: Exactly.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Best. Blog-post. Ever.