I learned something at Canadian Tire!

Most Canadians know how hard it can be to find someone to help you at Canadian Tire, but as I discovered this week, the people they do have there sometimes know stuff that I don't. I'm not much of a handyman; I know there are lots of people who know more about fixing stuff than I do; I just didn't know Canadian Tire hired those people.

I was trying to pick out a replacement flapper for one of my toilets and I had a couple questions. While I was talking to an employee (who seemed to be in a rush to stop talking to me), he told me that if a flapper leaves black marks on my hands, it's rotting through and needs replacement. I'd already confirmed that the toilet is leaking by putting some food colouring in the tank and then checking the colour of the water in the bowl a while later, and this confirmed it's leaking. But now that I know this thing about the black marks, I have extra confirmation that it's leaking.

Good job Canadian Tire! Now go and hire more of these people.

Snowing

I woke up this morning and saw snow on the ground, and I couldn't help but smile. This seems to happen every year when the first snowfall happens. (Technically, we have had some snow earlier this fall, but those light dustings barely count. This one might not last either, but it's more significant than the others we've had.)

But why do I smile when this means there are months of cold weather coming up? Maybe I like cold weather with snow more than somewhat cold weather without snow (which is how it's been for most of the last month or two). Maybe I'm looking forward to skiing. Maybe it's because a snowy landscape is more beautiful than the brown landscape I've been looking at lately. Maybe it's just a different kind of beauty, one I haven't seen in several months (except that one day in Banff at the end of August). Maybe it's because anticipating bad times is sometimes worse than experiencing bad times. (The cold weather made me anticipate winter. Now the snow makes me feel like winter is here.)

Unfortunately, I'm sure my happiness about this weather won't last. Hopefully I'll enjoy it today anyway.

Why it's great not having cable

I haven't seen a single American election commercial on TV, but I still get to watch them make fun of the candidates on Saturday Night Live.

Going the wrong way

On the way back home from a one-day spring skiing trip in Jasper, I saw a flock of birds flying south. I thought they're supposed to fly north in spring. My brother was there too and he is my witness.

Today on the way home from work, I saw a flock of birds flying north. Again, I would've expected them to fly the other way. I didn't have any witnesses with me, but shortly after that, I saw another flock of birds flying south, so if my sense of direction is messed up, there was still at least one flock of birds going the wrong way. A little while after that, I saw several flocks of birds quite close together, all flying north, and then another lone flock flying north.

I wonder what makes these birds go the wrong way. Maybe they got tired and thought, I saw a lake back there. I'll turn around and rest there. Or maybe they read a Yellowknife weather forecast in Fahrenheit and they thought it was in Celsius. Any other far-fetched explanations?

Fun with expired coupons

Peter Griffin isn't the only one with a good story about an expired coupon. Yesterday I was at my weekly Ultimate game (the last one of the year), and afterward we decided to go to Dairy Queen. We usually go out for some food after the game, but it's been a while since we went to Dairy Queen. I found some DQ coupons in my house a while back (probably at least a month ago) and I've been bringing them every week, but this was my first chance to use them.

We got to DQ and I started reading off the coupons to see if any of my friends wanted to use one or split a 2-for-1 coupon. One coupon was for $3 off a cake, so someone suggested we get an ice cream cake. After being indecisive for a few minutes, we became decisive. We got a Reese cake. But someone looked at the expiry date on the coupon. November 4. We didn't have much time left to use the coupon. Then I noticed the expiry date was November 4, 2007. D'oh!

We got the cake anyway, and we asked for plates or bowls to eat it from. They had small plastic bowls for us, and they handed us some plastic forks and knives too. Someone asked if they had a metal knife for cutting the cake, and they did. They even let us use it!

And it's a good thing they had the metal knife. Apparently you're supposed to let the cake sit outside of the freezer for a while before eating it. They aren't really meant for eating in the restaurant. It was tough to cut that cake! Three of us took turns and after several minutes of hard work, we cut the cake into five pieces. (There were only five of us at DQ this time.) They were big pieces, and of course quite tough to eat with a plastic fork. But we persevered! That cake didn't know what hit it. By the time we left, there was just one piece left (because the two girls shared one piece).

I guess that's not as exciting as a fight almost-to-the-death with a giant chicken, but it wouldn't have happened without that coupon. But maybe you had to be there.

The four most romantic words

"It's a minority government."
--Helena Guergis, a Member of Parliament from Ontario

With those four words, Helena Guergis convinced her fiance, recently defeated MP Rahim Jaffer, to get married that day. They went out, got rings, found a marriage commissioner, and got married. They had planned to get married on October 18, but called it off when the Prime Minister called an election. Although the election was over before the 18th, I bet it would've been hard to campaign and plan a wedding at the same time.

So they found a way to guarantee that an unexpected election (which can easily happen when there's a minority government) wouldn't interfere with their wedding. Congratulations!

Here's an article about it if you want more of the story.

Fearmongering

With the election less than a week away here in Canada, I guess it's time for me to comment on it. As usual, there's plenty of fearmongering, especially the governing party trying to make us afraid of the opposition party. The last few elections, the Liberals have warned us about the Conservative Party/Canadian Alliance's hidden agenda. Now the Conservatives are warning us that the Liberals' environmental policy will endanger our economy. They say these tough economic times are no time to try out risky new policies.

To be fair, the other parties want us to be scared of the Conservatives. But what's riskier: going too slow on environmental protection, or damaging the economy? And if Elizabeth May is right, a carbon tax (with an income tax cut) can actually stimulate an economy. She claims it worked well in Sweden. She even said it during the big debate, and I didn't hear anyone claim that's not true or give a reason why Canada is so different it wouldn't work here.

Speaking of Elizabeth May, I'm starting to warm up to her. During the last election campaign, I was impressed with the Green Party's claim that, "We're not left or right; we're forward." While that could easily be a nice soundbite with little substance to it, I liked it that they're trying to reach out to all ends of the political spectrum, recognizing that some conservatives want stronger environmental policies too. Then Elizabeth May became the leader. She became very critical of the Conservatives while forming a special agreement with the Liberals, despite the Liberals' lack of action on climate change when they were in power. And she decided to run against Peter MacKay in this election. She seemed more left than forward.

I was glad they let her into the leaders' debate last week. I may not have been a fan of the leader, but I like what she and the party stand for. But she impressed me in the debate. She seemed smart, passionate, and articulate. She showed that she values both the environment and the economy (for example, she talked about revitalizing our pulp and paper industry). And among leaders that seem to care most about insulting their opponents and scaring voters, she seemed to have an optimistic, long-term vision for this country.

Yes, she's a tad left-wing for my tastes, and she probably has some ideas that aren't so great. I don't think the Green Party has the Parliamentary experience needed to run this country either, but I'd like to see them elect some MPs and maybe even hold the balance of power in a minority government.