yeegods... so we all wake up to pelting freezing rain, mushy snow and general ickyness.
This - surprisingly - does not translate into buses being canceled... so the kids are up and out the door... followed closely by yours truly.
Except... all I manage to do is drive out to the traffic zone and begin crawling to work. Black Ice covers everything.
It was quite something actually... my snow / winter tires were put to the traction test for sure.
I drive on these two beautiful roads that cut through the open country to join the seething throng of commuters from the "back"... instead of drving on the busy roads that act as the usual "collectors". One of the roads I take intersects with a road that climbs into the community we used to live in and is the main drag for the school buses bring the kids to the local high school. This particular stretch of the road includes a vast hill that drivers have to climb before they leave "the open country" and rejoin the "community". Well that road was bumper to bumper with a stretch of bright yellow school buses STUCK on the hill part. I'm talking... totally stuck. lol... a lot of kids were definitely going to be late for school.
It took me an hour and a half to get to work. It normally takes me half that.
Now, of course, it's gorgeous outside... sunny and cold. All the "mushy stuff"... has been turned to solid ice and, no doubt, the black ice is just screaming... :D
I'm looking forward to my big ol'drive home tonight.
Point of order: (in case it's not obvious). Social networking web sites are totally restricted from user access in the offices I go to when I work at my client sites. So I open up my lap top, and run my LJ client... skip the log-in and type my 'daily post' off-line. Then, when the stars align (after getting home and taking care of dinner, etc.) I log in and post. So my "now" when I'm typing is hours before my "now" when I post.
wearing
~ day two... beige... more tie fashion. I'm thinking tomorrow I'll go for the sweater thing without a tie. (weeeeeeee).
planning
~ working for all three of my clients today... and I'm going to bill... like 15 hours for the day... because I'm fricking awesome. (well, IMOHO). :D
~ try to write something about the travesty that was this weeks episode of Amazing Race.
~ rocking out a bit with Guitar Heroes (III). Holy crap man... this thing is mostly CRAP music that I wouldn't listen to for any other reason... but I'm really digging how good you can get when you try ... the fingers on my left hand never knew they could do so much independent work. :D
wishing
~ for my friend
debby... to catch a break... get a karma blast and generally... for some good news to wash over her family.~ that
designergirl would post more pictures... :D ... and that she enjoys grocery stores in the dead of night... ~ and that
danicia... gets what she wants. :)Birthday moments...
Happy birthday to my little sugar-cack aka
And to Miss Rarely posts, but not forgotten...
cattarina. Happy birthday sugar-cat. I hope you have a lovely birthday and that the year ahead keeps you healthy and happy.///
This is a most auspicious time in the world of Canada.
I cannot say this forcefully enough.
My perspective remains on the side of "change is good... because the way you guys (politicians) have been doing things for the last fifty years brought us to this ignoble point in history... so lets try something new ... mmmkay?"
Well... change is a'coming.
For those of you that have no clue about this...
Canada held a federal election two months ago. It was a waste of tax payer money.
The party in power had a minority government (multi party system can yeild "less than 50%" of the elected seats to a single party but they have more than any single other party so they get to play Leader)... versus an election that yeilds more than 50% to a single party... and therefore a "majority government".
Well the old minority government called an election and was re-elected with yet another minority government.
aka: Giant waste of tax payer money (no less than 300 million from the public purse to hold an election)
Now you have to get the notion of "votes of confidence" under your belt.
Certain classes of government business... i.e. Federal Budgets... are considered "convidence votes".
All bills presented in Parliament must receive 50% or more support to pass. Therefore a minority government has to garner support from some of their rivals in order to get their votes to fill in the gap between the total number of seats the minority leadership holds and the all important 50%. If they don't get 50% ... the bill is not passed.
HOWEVER, a "confidence vote" mandates that the government get 50% of the votes OR ELSE their leadership overall is called into question and the government falls.
This is supposed to mean that a minority government will be forced to work more closely with the other parties to ensure there is a concensus of opinion embraced by bills put to the floor for a vote.
The minority government in Canada responded to the global economic crisis by acting like they had majority power and made decisions that really did not resonate well with the other parties.
They have tabled a financial statement that requires a "confidence vote".
However, instead of letting it fail... and the country being thrown into another election... the OTHER GUYS... the three other losing parties that share (in total) more then 50% of the vote... got together and made a pact to screw over the minority leadership if the confidence vote is held.
Bottom Line: They other parties are offering the Governor General (the political systems figure head the appoints the government) an actual "coalition" that can simply replace the minority leadership without holding a new election.
I LOVE THIS.
Sure... there are potential problems... and they are most evident when you disect the retoric that winners and losers put out there during and after elections. But the bottom line remains that Canada is facing the real posibility of being led by a coalition of left leaning parties. WOW.
This has not happened since before World War I. It's wicked.
Exciting and heady times for Canada.
//
PLUMBING.
So first... thanks [Bad username: [info]applelard],
balljar, rudma, and ayoub for your kind offers... And especially
rudma... because I actually called you up to talk about my plumbing issues.We have a vast "water treatment system" (retention tank, iron filter, water softener) that appears to be inhibiting out water pressure.
We got the kick-ass "constant pressure tank" for our well when we built the house and I can crank that up to 70 no problem-o... but the pressure at the taps... still blows pigs.
So my question has to do with how to I measure water pressure in the house and between the various components of the water treatment systems...
Each "component" has a 'tap' that I can screw a pressure gage on to... but I wanted to know if there is such a thing... and what it would reveal.
Next stop: Home Depot to buy a pressure gage.
:)
/
"tech support" at client #3 showed up today to get me my log on credentials.
May I just say... long gone are the days of geeky tech support nerds.
This is her doing the "i have to take your picture for the system"
Which artfully covered her face for my iphone pic, so I don't feel guilty about sharing it. :)
... just say'en.
ps. You have the option of refusing the picture.
~ k... see ya. :)