It was a busy week. First Monday was Remembrance Day. OK, technically Tuesday was the Remembrance Day Stat Holiday but my company decided to give us Monday off. Then half the staff took Tuesday off as well so it was nice and quiet. Now I’m still not sure how they can just arbitrarily decide to move holidays to give us three day weekends but they do. It’s probably fortunate that they aren’t unilaterally declaring Friday the 26th to be Christmas and Friday the 2nd to be New Year's Day. I guess that might be a bit much.

Wednesday and Thursday were busy as we had several big orders to get out. I’m still not lifting anything heavy so it was always a bit of choreography to either get someone to move the heavy boxes for me or figure out how to test them where they were. We did what we had to do and got everything ready to go by the end of day on Thursday.

Thursday was our milepost because I took Friday off. Remember that surgery I had a few weeks ago. The surgeon, in Victoria wanted to have a look at his handiwork. I offered to do a Skype session and hold the computer up to my side but no he wanted to see it in person. This meant we had to drive to Victoria and back, two hours each way, for a fifteen minute appointment. That would be annoying so I said to heck with it and took the day off. OK to be honest I told my boss I could come in for a couple hours in the morning, run to Victoria, run back, and put in a few hours at the end. He replied “Oh for crying out loud, just take the $^&!@$!!& day off. You deserve it.” So last Friday early in the morning we hopped in the car and headed south. We sang, and chatted, and ran lines for the play. It was a nice relaxing trip, partially because the weather was gorgeous. It’s been cold here but very dry. More on that later. 

Once we got to Victoria we went to a mall we wanted to check out. It was…odd. I mean it had a Walmart, and a Future Shop, and Urban Outfitters, and cell phone stores, and clothing stores, and restaurants and such. All the thing’s you’d expect in a mall but it was just strange. It was like… well, I don’t know how else to put it, it was inside out. The stores didn’t face each other, they faced a street. The stores had roofs, but there was no roof between them, just sidewalks outside of each store. And some parts were paved with fountains and such. And, oh my, there were live birds, seagulls and blackbirds and such just flying around. And there was no heating or AC to speak of. I’ve been told that this is how malls used to be. All the stores facing the street and people walking outside to shop. That’s just weird. Anyway while we were there we came across a table. Some people were selling stuff to raise money for the local SPCA or some such organization for their free spay and neuter clinics. What caught our eye was the sign that said “Spay or Neuter Your Pets.” It was flapping a bit in the breeze so Marsha thought it said “Spay or Neuter your Pepsi.” which would be an odd plan. I on the other hand thought it read “Spay or Neuter your Kids.” which I frankly think might not be a bad idea. Anyway after we chatted with them for a bit we donated a few bucks and left. After we wandered around the “mall” for a while longer and picked up a few things we left and headed for my appointment.

The doctor’s report was simple. Everything looks good. He snipped off a couple of stitches that were no longer needed. Then he said that the lung-lump was malignant but none was found in the surrounding lung tissue. We’ll just do scans and tests every few months and see if it pops up somewhere else. This was pretty much what I had been expecting so we hopped in the car and headed for home. 

And a few other items of interest this week. 

Ran across this edition of the cartoon Heavenly Nostrils.



Actually it’s only half joking. Canada is a wondrous land of unicorns and magical mists. Trust us, we know. Once we take the oath to become citizens we get our choice of a Unicorn, a Mermaid, or a Wizards Staff. I think I might take the latter. I’d have to feed the other ones.

Oh and we watched the Gopher and Vikings games this weekend. Looks like some of you back east are getting a bit of snow. Well, rest assured, we know what you’ve been going through. It’s been cold here. A lot of mornings it’s been below zero and the high has been in the single digits. [EDIT: Oh don’t let him fool you, that’s Celsius. It’s barely been below freezing. Marsha] I mean it’s been brutal. The guy who rides his motorcycle to work had to drag out his snowmobile suit. Look at the accumulation we’ve gotten.





I mean it’s been colder than a Key West Margarita around here. 

And finally, every once in a while you run across something that makes you think people have run out of ideas. I mean they’ve hit the wall and are just coming up with random stuff to fill the space. Case in point: The superstore has these premixed smoothies. Fruit and ice and such in a bottle you can just pour them into your glass. Today I walked by the case and noticed they had Mango Carrot Smoothies. OK, this seemed a bit weird, but then I’ve never been a fan of carrot juice so I let it pass. But then in the next bin was the masterpiece. They had big half gallon red bottles of Raspberry Beet Smoothies. Raspberry Beet? In whose mind, on what planet, heck in what universe would this be a good idea. I mean seriously Raspberry Beet? There are times in your life when you look at something and say “Nothing good can come of this”. This is one of those times. 

Thought for the week
“A day without sunshine is like… night.” (Steve Martin)

PIX: I learned how to make a traditional Japanese lunch item; Apple Bunnies, so Marsha got them one day with breakfast.