The Royal Wedding

Just call me a complete and utter snivelling romantic when it comes to royal weddings. This one was no exception. It was a wonderful, happy spectacle, and I'm just going to let these photos do the talking.

First of all, though, here is a link to the UK's Daily Mail website, which contains the wedding programme.  

So, without further ado, here are some photos of the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge:

The invitation.

Miss Kate Middleton and her Maid of Honour, Pippa Middleton, as they arrive at

Westminster Abbey.

The bridesmaids and pages.

The bridal party as they walk up the aisle.

Kate arriving at the altar with her father.

Saying their vows, and placing the ring on her finger.

The ring, made of Welsh gold.

Leaving Wesminster Abbey, going to Buckingham Palace.

On the balcony of Buckingham Palace, waving to the crowd.

The crowd outside the Palace.

Their first public kiss as man and wife.

 

The happy couple leaving Buckingham Palace later, in Prince Charles' Aston Martin that had been given to him by the Queen on his 21st birthday.

A stunning, wonderful, happy day!

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The day before the wedding...

Well, the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton is tomorrow. I'd give anything to be able to stay home and watch it, but, as the old saying goes, "I owe, I owe, it's off to work I go". Sigh.

The rehearsals have all been done, the security is being tightened up, the royal watchers are congregating along the route. There's nothing left but the event itself!

I've been watching TV this morning, and it is all that's being talked about, but it's all just speculation - no one has any idea what will happen tomorrow. I'm not interested in hearing what the dress might be like, or whether she might have a long train or a long veil instead.

I did find, however, two articles on the New York Daily News website that I thought were worth reading, in the days leading up to the big event.

The first one is about Kate Middleton's parents, Carole and Michael, meeting the Queen for the first time at a lunch last Wednesday.

I have to wonder why it was left so long? I guess the Queen wanted to make sure the thing was actually going to happen. No point meeting commoners unnecessarily, is there?

The second article I found is about William and Kate going to visit Diana's grave in the week before the wedding.

What a wonderful thing to do. What impressed me even more is that there was not a huge media 'thing' made of this, just an article among many, many other stories.

I try to imagine the unimaginable, like how Kate must be feeling today. I somehow believe that she knows more about what she's getting into, and the man she's about to marry, and about his feelings for her, than her late mother-in-law did on the day before her own wedding. 

I hope that tomorrow is perfect for them, and that everyone, the throngs of royal watchers included, has a safe and wonderful and memorable day. I wish I could be there. 

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Getting to the 'core' of the Apple iPhone controversy...

Well, finally! After countless requests for a statement, Apple is finally admitting that a "bug", a "glitch" is responsible for the intrusive amount of tracking that is occurring with their iPhones and iPads.

"Bug" and "glitch"  my arse.

Read here for the details.

Read here for the question and answer statement from Apple. Just read the cock-and-bull answer to question #2. The question asks, "Then why is everyone so concerned with this?" The answer reads, in part: 

"Providing mobile users with fast and accurate location information while preserving their security and privacy has raised some very complex technical issues which are hard to communicate in a soundbite."

Huh?!?! Who asked for a soundbite? Nobody asked for a soundbite. The question begs an answer as to why this invasion of privacy was a concern to so many people. This is a ridiculous start to an answer that didn't get any better. With the miracle of websites, they could have given a voluminous answer, and saved the soundbites for TV. Bad answer, bad.

This is the best that Apple could come up after almost a week of circling the wagons? I'm embarrassed for them. I hope they're better at producing mobile phones than they are at spin-doctoring.

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Close encounter of the moose kind - but I'm no Patricia Regular!

I was hauling my tired butt to work at 5.30 a.m. today, cruisin' across the Crosstown Arterial, when what to my wondering eyes did appear but a galloping horse.

No WAIT!!! It was a MOOSE! Clippety-clop, clippety-clop, right through the intersection of the Crosstown Arterial and Old Pennywell Road. If he'd been another couple of hours later, there'd have been whacks of moose stew cooking up tonight! (T'would be a nice change from turkey, gotta say...)

Well, I saw the moose in time, thank God, and slowed right down to avoid him. It's getting quite a bit lighter at that hour of the morning, these days. Had it been much darker, I might not have seen him, and I could have had an extra passenger in the front seat with me if I wasn't paying attention.

I'm particularly happy that I am not as dangerously dumb as this broad from Conception Bay North. Remember her?!?! She's like a one-person moose-culling machine.

But, there's the rub... even for those of us with legendary lead feet when it comes to speeding, it's all about keeping your eyes on the road and paying attention. No fence on earth would have saved me if I hadn't been paying attention.

I hope my little moose-friend found his way back into the woods, and I hope he knows to stay away from the Hr. Grace / Clarke's Beach area!

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Playing by the rules - a hairdresser's bad hair day

Just imagine, for a moment, that you have a hairdresser's appointment, and let's say that it is for 11.00 a.m. on any given day, we'll call that day 'Thursday', just for the purposes of this discussion.

So, you realize that there is something else you absolutely must do on Thursday at 11.00 a.m., so you call your hairdresser and ask if you can come Wednesday, instead. Your hairdresser checks her schedule and says, "Sure! You can come in at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, would that be ok?" You blow her a kiss over the phone, and hang up. Wednesday at 1 p.m. it is.

Now, I ask you, would it be sensible of you to show up at your hairdresser's at noon on Wednesday, and expect her to seat you immediately? The hairdresser sees you, and says, "My, you're early! Have a seat there and I'll call you in as soon as I can." She was able to squeeze you in at your request, so is it now the right thing to do to then hover nearby, an hour early, and haunt her? To then walk away and return several times, making your presence felt? To ask if the currently-occupied chair is going to be your chair? In other words, is it reasonable, sensible and polite to annoy the crap out of your hairdresser and her current client, making her feel as if she should rush to accommodate you?

No, it is none of those things. It is unreasonable, insensible and impolite. Yet hairdressers the world over are catering to people who are all of those things, to the detriment of the ones who are willing to wait their turn, and play by the rules.

I am a lover of rules (except the ones governing speeding). They allow everyone to know the expectations, and provide a level playing field. There is consistency, and I love consistency.

I am so glad I am not a hairdresser, so I never have to be put into this kind of situation. That would be horrible.

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Mixmaster Monday

Hello, and welcome back to Mixmaster Monday!

Whoever would have believed that getting a photo of my late Mother's own Mixmaster would be such a difficult thing? One day, one day soon!!

As I promised last week, I am going to post the recipe for macaroons that I got from Chef Ron Cook, who worked with me on the last ship I was on down in the Gulf of Mexico. He didn't make these nearly often enough, but when he did... ahhhh... it was pleasure without passion!!

I got off work early today, and had every intention of making a batch of these, so that I could photograph and post a step-by-step guide, like I did for the meringue mushrooms a few weeks back. However, working the 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift has the funny effect on me that, once inside the door, I'm drawn to the couch and into a world of blissful unconsciousness that is next to impossible to resist. So, you're just going to have to use your imagination, and if I ever do get photos to post here, I will announce it in a future edition of Mixmaster Monday, ok? OK!!

So, without further ado, here is the recipe straight from Ron to me to you, for the best, tastiest, chewiest, delicious-est macaroons in the whole wide world. Thanks once again, Ron!!!

Boa Rover Macaroons

Ingredients:

·        1 egg white
·        ¼ can sweetened condensed milk
·        ⅛ teaspoon salt
·        ½ cup sugar
·        ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
·        ½ teaspoon almond extract
·        3 cups flaked coconut

Preparation:

Grease and flour baking sheets and preheat oven to 300°. In a small bowl , beat egg white and salt until egg white doubles in size. In another bowl put in all other ingredients. With a rubber spatula mix all together, add the egg white. Mix. The mix should be moist but not sloppy.

On the boat I used an ice cream scoop to form the cookies. Place them on the cookie sheet. You can top with a cherry or whatever tickles your fancy. The time in the oven depends on the oven being used.... and every oven is different, but it will take about 15 to 20 minutes, the outside should be browned and not black LOL. You may have to rotate the cookies halfway through cooking. The inside should be moist and dreamy. Wait 'til the cookies have completely cooled before eating. It's a simple recipe; I think the hardest part is waiting for them to cool. That’s how I made the Rover cookies.

So, there you have it, straight from Ron himself. I'm not sure if he meant to say the inside should be "dreamy" or "creamy", but either word works just fine as far as I can tell!

 

He used the cherry on top when he made them on the ship, and they looked so great! They tasted even better, and as you can see, it's not complicated at all. Enjoy!!

 

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Happy Easter!!

Easter.

I have often wondered why, in the great scheme of things, Easter has seemed to play second fiddle to Christmas.

I mean, there's Chrismas... with its 'peace on Earth, goodwill towards men' message, and the celebration of the birth of Christ. Definitely a worthy event. If He had not been born, the rest would never have happened.

But, it has always occurred to me that the event that cemented Christianity was the Resurrection. Had there not been a Resurrection, then Christ might have been dismissed as just another prophet. The Resurrection was where the rubber meets the road to Christianity, so to speak.

When it comes to Santa and the Easter Bunny secularizing these two events, I really don't get too caught up in the throat about it. These two characters played a role in my upbringing, but not to the exclusion of what Christmas and Easter were all about. As a child, I went to the Basilica with my Dad on Good Friday, went to Confession and did the Stations of the Cross. It's a tradition I wish, as an adult, I still had time to do. On Christmas Eve, when Dad was a Knight of Columbus ushering at the Basilica's Midnight Mass, I'd sit up in the front pew, good as gold, while he and others evicted the drunks out of the confessionals in the back. To this day, Midnight Mass is, to me, what Christmas is all about. The presents are nice, of course, and the turkey is yummy, but Midnight Mass, especially at the Basilica, is Christmas.

On Easter Saturday night, we went to the Easter Vigil at Mary Queen of Peace. The church was in darkness at first, very solemn during the many readings, and then the church lights blaze, the music begins and the flowers and decorations on the altar are all put in place by a number of parishoners, to celebrate the Resurrection. It is spectacular, and one really feels that this was, and still is, a wondrous thing that happened so very long ago.

Santa gives us presents. The Easter Bunny gives us eggs. Jesus gave His life so that we may have everlasting life. Jesus wins.

Happy Easter!!!

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When you gotta go...

A couple of years ago, a nifty product came on the market, called Just a Drop.

To put it delicately, this new product was for the elimination of odors caused by ...ahh... going to the loo to do number two, or, if you prefer, the elimination of odors caused by elimination.

The wondrous thing about it was, it worked! One little drop and you could let loose a 'contribution' of pretty hefty proportions, and the person coming behind you would get the faint scent of eucalyptus, nothing more.

Not only were there little bottles to perch on the toilet tank, there were also little envelopes called "Singles" that were ideal for purses, wallets, what have you.

The advent of the Singles made 'taking one's ease' in a public restroom or someone's home a whole lot less traumatic for all involved.

Such a little product, such a magnificent effect!

Then, the makers of Just a Drop came out with a little pink bottle with a whole new scent.

I guess that, in the Pavlovian way of things, people were starting to equate the original eucalyptus-y scent with the scent of poo, so something new had to step up.

I have tried the pink one, and I have to say I find it has little to no scent at all, yet it is still very effective for what it is intended to do.

However, at my sister's house, a box of Sea-Dog matches has now appeared on the toilet tank, right next to the multicolored selection of Just a Drops.

It seems that my youngest nephew, (who, for the purposes of this post, shall remain nameless or he will murder me in my sleep), detests the aroma of both the Just a Drop blue and pink. Both eucalyptus and floral scents now smell as bad to him as a very healthy (yet poopy-smelling) dump.

He has a part-time job at an Irving station, where he works long hours in close proximity to colleagues and the restroom. There is no job on Earth where we all cannot learn something, and what he learned on this particular job is that if one lights a match before exiting the loo after having 'lightened the load', the smell of the burned match masks the odor, and allows one to retain one's dignity, unscathed.

I was let in on this little secret just last week, and am quite amazed by it! It is nice to know that there are now so many choices one has, when wanting to poo-poo the smell of poo.

However, I think I will still stick with the Just a Drop Singles if I'm ever on a plane again. I somehow don't think the match theory will appease the flight attendants or air marshalls, and I'm not too eager to be thrown on the floor and spread-eagled by someone looking for a bomb. Unless, of course, the searcher is a pilot who looks like Colin Firth...!   

;-)

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Update to yesterday's post about iPhones and iPads...

It is scary to me that so many people think that this invasion of privacy by Apple with their iPhone 4 and iPads is unimportant and irrelevent. Scary.

I brought it up at work during lunch today, and - firstly - people were assuming that this was a feature of the iPhone whereby you can contact Apple if you lose your phone and they can tell you where it is. When they were told that, no, it's a tad more invasive than a simple one-off locator that Apple alone can access, they seemed uninterested.

Wow.

I guess most people are just willing to give up their personal rights and freedoms without a second thought.

Sure, government, go ahead and ban books and songs and censor great writers. Go ahead, I wasn't going to read that book anyway, and I don't like that song.

Sure, private businesses, create a device that literally everyone wants, pack it full of tracking technology and don't tell anyone, or respond when asked. After all, I'm not a criminal or stepping out on my spouse, so who needs privacy?

I guess nobody really cares about their rights and freedoms, until it directly affects them. But, by then, in way too many cases, it's too late.

The CBC posted an article today concerning Apple being pressured into responding to allegations of iPhone tracking, which up until the posting of that article, they still had not done. I am frothing at the mouth to see what they say. HOW can they justify it? There IS NO JUSTIFICATION.

The world has gone mad.

My desire for a desert island, a Kindle, and quarterly deliveries of essential supplies grows daily. But even then, someone will know what books I buy...

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Hold the phone!! Uhhh... not so much...

I'm one of those people who has been sinfully envious of those who own iPhones. Yes, I admit it. I would love one. A tad out of my price range right now, with other, bigger priorities and desires to meet, but it has always been my intention to get one eventually.

...until today.

What has changed my mind, you ask? Well, let me tell you!

It's all over the American and British news today that the iPhone 4 and iPad 3 both have the means of tracking everywhere you go, all day, every day, and storing that information for up to a year. Not only where you go, but the exact location and the time and date you were there.

What the HELL is going on?????

This ability for the iPhones to store this information is not something that the user can switch off. iPhone owners have no control over this. It will track you and document you whether you want it to or not.

What has happened, or what is happening, to an individual's rights and freedoms? It's getting to the point that I don't even want to watch the news anymore, because it seems that every day, the world is becoming exactly like what Aldous Huxley wrote about in "1984", that Big Brother is watching, and we're not even aware of it.

REALLY!!! That book should be required reading for everyone prior to earning the right to vote.

What was Apple thinking when they programmed the iPhones and iPads to have this ability? What were they thinking when they chose not to advise consumers of this invasive technology? And, why are they refusing to make a statement concerning it?

See, now the problem is this, for me anyway... Apple will come out and say any number of things, including maybe something like, "Bring your iPhone or iPad to your local retailer, and this accidental, unintentional 'glitch' will be deactivated." Uhhh... sorry, Apple. The fact that it was installed in the first place, and not disclosed, does not inspire me to believe that there is any truth to your assertions (should they happen), that the application is indeed disarmed, or that it will not be included in any future generations of iPhones or iPads.

They've made upwards of $5 billion (...yes, that's 9 zeroes) on sales of iPhones / iPads this year, so far. All I can say is I am glad that my few measly hundreds of dollars are not in their coffers tonight, and never will be.

That's a guarantee.

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Mamma Mia!! If this was an episode of Survivor, it'd be voted off the island.

I have finally watched the movie "Mamma Mia!!", that I have wanted to watch for quite some time. I had downloaded it onto my computer, but it was never the movie I chose to watch when I had the time to do so.

I think my subconscious knew what was in store, and was protecting me.

I actually started watching it on Sunday night, but fell asleep halfway through. Grand Marnier was more to blame for that than the movie itself. As I watched, though, I couldn't really decide if I was liking it or not. I knew I'd have to see it through to the end to make that call. So, Monday night, I started again, right from the beginning.

It goes without saying that the music was wonderful!! Anyone who was alive in the '70s loved ABBA. They had sing-along-able, catchy songs and wonderful harmonies. I'm just surprised, and I shouldn't be, at just how many songs ABBA had. A lot more than I thought.

But, as for the rest of the film, the non-singing part? In a word - ugh.

It was grossly overacted. The young star who played the role of Sophie was just way too intense.

I could go on about most of the characters, but what occurred to me was that it was being acted like it was a stage production, not a movie. Now yes, of course, I know it was (is?) a stage production!!! I know that!! But, there is a certain amount of 'emoting' that is typical on the stage. When that is carried over into film, it looks overacted and contrived.

I'm no expert, but I know what occurred to me, and that was what occurred to me.

It was as if the actors all wanted to be heard by the audience in the back of the room. Only thing is, the back of the room is all over the world, and sadly, they tried to meet and exceed that expectation.

So now, you have a movie with great music, but bad overacting. Then, there was the story itself.

Stupid-stupid-stupid.

If that was the best story-line that the ABBA guys could come up with to showcase their wonderful songs 30 years on, then I hate to say it but the ABBA guys are senile, old fools.

The bottom line from this particular film critic is that it was an overacted, stupid story with fabulous music.

Sooooooo, I take my opinion, and go to my trusty source of all knowledge, Wikipedia, just to see what it has to say about this movie.

First thing it tells me is that this overacted, stupid movie with the fabulous music is the 5th best-grossing musical movie of all time. Boy, did I feel dumb. But, happilly, that's not all that it tells me.

When it comes to critical reviews, by people who are paid to do what I am here doing for free, it seems that I was not so far off the mark.

The Times (London) gave it 4 stars out of 5. Channel 4 (UK) said it had "all the swing and sparkle of sequined bell-bottoms". This is true.

Then, it got interesting.

BBC's Radio 5 Live's film critic said, it was "'the closest you get to see A-List actors doing drunken karaoke". Now we're getting somewhere. This describes it perfectly!!!

Bob Chipman of "Escape to the Movies" said that it was "so base, so shallow and so hinged on meaningless spectacle, it's amazing it wasn't made for men". Ouch.

As to the singing, I'm just going to post the whole paragraph from Wikipedia...

"The casting of actors not noted for their singing abilities led to some mixed reviews. Variety stated that "some stars, especially the bouncy and rejuvenated [Meryl] Streep, seem better suited for musical comedy than others, including [Pierce] Brosnan and [Stellan] Skarsgård." Brosnan, especially, was savaged by many critics: his singing was compared to "a water buffalo" (New York Magazine), "a donkey braying" (The Philadelphia Inquirer) and "a wounded raccoon" (The Miami Herald), and Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing Charlotte said he "looks physically pained choking out the lyrics, as if he's being subjected to a prostate exam just outside of the camera's eye." "

Cruel as this sounds, it is absolutely true. I do have to say, though, that I applaud the use of actors not known for their singing. It did lend a certain degree of authenticity to the story. Not sure if 'authenticity' is the word I'm looking for here, but what I'm trying to say is that they weren't just going for a Broadway caliber performance for the movie. It's just too bad that, in my humble opinion, the actors didn't focus more on the acting than they did on their singing. The movie would have been much more touching and appealing and less 'in-your-face' if they had.

Will I watch it again? Probably. I often watch movies over and over again. Even though this one doesn't even rank on my Top 50 list, it was still not horrible. It just could have been so much better, I think.

(Imagine!! I get all the way through talking about a movie with Colin Firth in it, and I don't even mention him!! Who'd believe it?!?!)

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Mixmaster Monday

Welcome to this week's Mixmaster Monday!!

Well, I've been a very delinquent blogger this past week or so. Busy-busy-busy with work, and just too danged tired lately to get in a ranty-roary mood about very much at all.

However, I cannot let Mixmaster Mondays pass without posting a little something that is gastronomically significant, so here is this week's contribution to culinary excellence!

Earlier this year, when I first started this blog, I posted about the yummiest cupcakes on earth with cream cheese frosting, that were made by Ron Cook, the chef on the ship I was working on at the time. If you saw them (there were photos posted) - and certainly if you had the pleasure of tasting them - you would not / could not forget them. I begged and pleaded for the recipe for them, and it finally arrived today!

It seems there is no mystery to the cupcakes themselves. Rumor has it that they were made from a boxed cake mix. I don't care. They were awesome, and only grow in awesomeness in my memory.

All the magic lay in the cream cheese icing. Great creamy globs of cream cheese icing. A diabetic's nightmare. I have to post the photo again. It's just too good to pass up...

It's funny... just tonight on the NTV Evening News, Danielle Butt did her "Made Right Here" segment from Sugar Mama's, a cupcake store in Mt. Pearl. As Dad was watching it, he commented on how horrible and sweet all the icing on the cupcakes shown would be. I am assuming from this, then, that I got my love of sweet things from my dearest Mama. I thought they looked amazing, but I'm willing to bet they weren't as amazing as this little treat in the photo. Correction - it was anything but little!!

So, without further ado, here is the simple recipe for creating the cream cheese icing on these cupcakes, that I ranted and raved about back in January...

"The cream chesses icing is simple. It is any regular cream cheese icing recipe -  Cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla, but instead of using  just cream cheese, I use butter too! So if you're using a full block of cream cheese you would use ¾ of the block and ¼ real salt-free butter.  And at the end I add oil (vegetable oil for the icing is what I used on the ship). The oil softens the icing and adds a nice shine to it." 

So, there you have it. Straight from the cook, Mr. Cook!! I did ask him to clarify just how much oil is used at the end. I will add that here when he writes me back.

I really have to try this soon. I hope-hope-hope it turns out anywhere near as good for me as it was on the ship. Sugary, creamy, shiny, happy sigh...!!

UPDATE!!!

Here is Ron's reply to my question about the oil...

"No not much oil is needed, I just eyeball it. Maybe about two or three tablespoons per 250g block of cream cheese. Just to shine and soften."

"Shine and soften"... Ooooooo... I'm starting to drool here. Oh baby!!

(Preview of next week's post - Come back next week for the recipe for Ron's macaroons, which were also a treat and a half!)

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Garbage rules are a pile of garbage

Well, I now know what my municipal tax dollars are spent on these days.

Today, I received a letter in the mail, telling me that I did not have my garbage covered on April 4th, 2011, and was therefore in contravention of subsection who-the-hell-cares, and in future I may be subject to fines up to $5000.

This cost $0.59 to post, not including the paper and envelope.

My tax dollars at work.

See, the thing is... when this 'cover your garbage' nonsense first started several years ago, I boycotted the whole damn thing for that whole summer. I didn't put out any garbage at all, until the winter came and it was no longer necessary to use the stupid net. I took the garbage over to Robin Hood Bay myself and dropped it off. I don't accumulate that much garbage, so it's not like my garage was overflowing.

What bugged me enough to start doing that, though, were the claims by City Hall that birds were ransacking the garbage, making a mess, so the use of these nets was going to stop this. I had been putting out garbage for years, and not once was it ever molested by the crows / seagulls / whatever, because I was double bagging it. Now all of a sudden, I was being forced to spend money on a stupid, filthy, rotten, unsanitary and ineffective net. My 'neighbors', Scotia Recycling, on the other hand, had more old garbage spewing around on Rhodora Street and Portugal Cove Road than all of Airport Heights combined. I was so angry about these ridiculous nets that I even wrote a letter to The Telegram, which was printed. It allowed me to vent my spleen, but of course it didn't do any good.

I'll tell you this... I wish I had a dollar for every time I've seen birds picking at garbage THROUGH those stupid nets!!! It makes me laugh. Not funny ha-ha, I assure you.

So, off to Robin Hood Bay I'd go, every now and then, when it was necessary. As it turned out, I actually found it more convenient to do that. I didn't have to be up out of my bed at the crack of dawn on days off, so I didn't miss the flaming truck. I could put my garbage in Sobey's bags if I wanted to, not just the pre-approved bags.

(I'm not even going to get into the whole blue bag recycling nonsense, because I'm liable to have a stroke if I do. I'll just say this... TRUCKS MAKING TWO ROUNDS OF THE WHOLE CITY EVERY OTHER WEEK IS NOT ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY!!!! IT'S ENVIRONMENTAL AND FISCAL LUNACY!!!! ESPECIALLY WHEN FUEL PRICES ARE AS HIGH AS THEY CURRENTLY ARE. THEY'LL NEVER SEE A BLUE BAG OUTSIDE MY DOOR, EVER.)

Back to the topic at hand...

Right now, for instance, I have to have my garbage out by 8 a.m., because they come so flaming early. Not too long ago, my garbage wasn't picked up until after 2 p.m., so there was no big panic in the mornings. Now, I'm missing putting it out more often than I remember, just like I did this week. I wonder did the garbage man, who ratted me out to City Hall last week, notice? Well, now that I got my letter threatening me with a $5000 fine, Mr. Garbage Dude won't be doing any more business at my house, not until the winter when the nets can be put away.

And as for a Christmas envelope, I hope the rat bastard isn't depending on one. I usually do leave an envelope for him, but I admit I did forget this past Christmas. I guess this is his payback. Jerk. Saves me feeling guilty about it next Christmas, though I could leave the friggin' snitch a succinctly-worded note. Hmmm...

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Mixmaster Monday

Welcome back to Mixmaster Monday!!

I have to be at work at 6 a.m. tomorrow, so every minute spent here writing is a minute of sleep that's lost. BUT... I could not go to bed without posting about my wine & cheese party this past Saturday night.

I wanted to post a photo from the party. It is the same party that I wrote about last week. Five of us congregated at my house for a Girl's Night In / Wine & Cheese / Movie Night.

We watched "French Kiss" starring Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline. It's so funny!!! Then we watched "Love, Actually", which is also very good. I like both these movies a lot. So, with all the munchies, and wines from five different countries, and the movies, it was a good night! The last of the stragglers left at 2 a.m. *yawn*

Here is the photo...

What's not to love?!?! Starting from the small red bowl in the top left corner and going clockwise:

 - Mango chutney

 - Clementines

 - Stack of plates

 - Chocolate caramel biscuits in the dark brown bowl

 - Small cream cheeses with dried peppers on top (beige fluted plate)

 - One cheese platter, containing Canadian White Cheddar, Brie, Herbed Goat's Milk Cheese, Dutch Blue Cheese and Smoked Gouda and a sprinkling of red and green grapes

 - Pepperoni sticks

 - Heather's Cheese Ball, Jalapeno Cheese and Cheddar Cheese on the blue plate

 - Another cheese platter, containing Canadian White Cheddar, Camembert, Herbed Goat's Milk Cheese, Dutch Blue Cheese and Spices & Herbs Havarti and a sprinkling of red and green grapes

 - In the middle, a plate of two types of crackers, and a cutting board with a loaf of white French bread and a loaf of multigrain French bread.

It was a feast fit for five princesses. (Who needs to be queen? Too much work...)

Anyway, each guest was asked to bring a wine from a different country. We had wines from Germany, Australia, South Africa, USA and France. Gotta say, the French wines, both white and red, were awful. I hope they were just bad choices, and are not representative of typical French wines. The others were all really nice.

Unless my friends and rellies were all lying their hearts out, it was a really nice night, and the wine & cheese went over really well. So, if you ever want to have a wine & cheese party, just use the list above as suggestions.

The breads were really, really good. I highly recommend them. It was good to have the clementines and biscuits, they just added a change from the cheese. The chutney worked really well with the white cheddar, too. Like I said last week, Ricardo from "Ricardo & Friends" on the Food Network said that jams with cheeses are the latest 'thing', and the chutney underlined that point. Now, if only we could have found some Branston Pickles...

Keep in mind, this is not a meal. People should not come expecting to dine, but to enjoy the wine & cheese as a social experience.

All in all, it was a really nice night, with good friends and family, and a delicious spread. And best of all, it was an easy-easy-easy night to prepare for, yet for all that ease it looked amazing when it was all ready to go.

I'll definitely be doing this again!

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The trouble with publicity stunts - very one-sided and all about the theatrics

Oh. My. God.

I'm a nurse. A modern-day Florence Nightingale, an 'angel of mercy', out to meet and slay the ills of humanity at every turn.

So, why does this story make me spurt milk out my nose in disbelief?

Damn, people, where do I begin? There are so many things wrong here. Where do I begin?

OK, a brief synopsis in case the link goes inactive someday...

The 18-year old sister of former Paradise mayoral candidate Kurtis Coombs is in a car accident 2 years ago, and suffers some kind of back and leg injuries, leaving her in chronic pain. She was provided with an ergonomic chair to allow her to continue her studies at MUN, which, it seems, was not effective, and she eventually dropped out and stayed immobile, at home.

She was sent to Halifax where she received treatment, and upon returning to Newfoundland a month ago, her chronic pain returned. The family have been waging a war with Eastern Health and the provincial government ever since.

This is what I could establish from the article I read on CBC, which is linked above, as well as this one from The Telegram website. (The Telegram, in their leap backwards into the 18th century, indicates that there will be more details in their print edition of the paper. How very cavemannish of them. If they do decide to share any further details online, I will post the updates here.)

Apparently, according to a slip of confidentiality last week by Vicki Kaminski on Open Line, there is no hydrotherapy available in Newfoundland to accommodate a woman of Ms. Coombs generous proportions. That breach of privacy was very unfortunate, but does give some insight into a saga whose publicity is, by the family's design, decidedly one-sided.

No one in the general public knew anything about this tale of woe, until the Coombs family decided on Thursday to get an ambulance to bring this girl, on a stretcher, to the House of Assembly, where her shrieking in pain was so disruptive that the Legislature had to be put into recess for the day.

Their publicity stunt worked. And this is where my 'angel of mercy'-ness goes into hiding. If this young woman is in that much pain, did they really think a jaunt to the Confederation Building was going to be good for her?

Premier Kathy Dunderdale left the Legislature and went to speak with the family and the girl, and was, according to the video, unable to get a word in edgewise.

I can't post the video directly here. You'll have to go into the CBC.ca article, the first link above, to see it. Be sure to see the press conference by Kathy Dunderdale and Jerome Kennedy, too.

So, here's where I get all unsympathetic about their cause...

They stage this publicity stunt for the news cameras and newspaper, but muzzle everyone who can give any insight to the public on the other side of this issue. All they want is for us to know they're angry, not the responses they were given. IF those responses from Eastern Health and the provincial government were so outrageous, it would be to their benefit for the public to know them. BUT, if those responses would not support their freak show antics, then it would be best to keep everyone muzzled, wouldn't it. Yes, it would.

The fact that they, up to now, will not allow the Premier, Minister of Health or the CEO of Eastern Health to respond to their charges publically makes me believe that something in their story is not going to make the family look good in the court of public opinion.

Mrs. Dunderdale made it quite clear in the news conference - Eastern Health has been instructed to provide whatever care is "medically appropriate". She also stated that neither she nor Minister Jerome Kennedy are medical professionals, and are not going to be involved with the minutiae of medical decisions. What more can she do or say?

Why am I thinking that the family want's their home renovated on the government's dime to accommodate an 8-person Jacuzzi, and they're not getting what they want? If not this, then it is something equally outrageous that they don't want the public to know. They're happy flapping their own "how can you be a mother" gums, but not willing to let that person defend herself, or explain what steps have been taken to address the 30+ letters the government has received. 

Bringing that young woman to the House of Assembly on a stretcher, crying out in pain, was absolutely unnecessary and completely tacky and heartless.

They could have invited the media into their home, where they would have been interviewed and able to air their grievances. The media, though, might have insisted on being able to question the Premier and the Health Minister to get the other side of the issue, so scratch that idea. Any reporter, even the worst of them, would have asked questions that I believe the Coombs family could not answer in any way that would have garnered public support for their case. By showing up in this dramatic fashion at the House of Assembly, they got their publicity, without the necessity of being asked questions, or allowing for the airing of the other side of the story. THIS is the only scenario that was a win-win for them.

Notice that behind the yelling mother is Kurtis Coombs, mumbling something about 'freedom of speech'. How ironic that he's only interested in his own freedom of speech, while at the same time preventing anyone with any knowledge of the case to express their views. 

As one commenter at the bottom of The Telegram's story wrote:

"what's that?....i think I just heard collective sigh of relief from the entire community of Paradise for Coombs not getting voted in as mayor."

Ain't that the truth?!?!

All I know is this... if the government's / Eastern Health's responses to their demands were so outrageous, we would know about them. The government has asked for permission from the family to speak publically, but they're denying that permission. That says it all to me.

I wish this girl well, I really do. I think the biggest obstacle to her recovery is not the government or Eastern Health, but her family, who seem more intent on making a sideshow spectacle out of her dilemma.
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Air Canada - "We're not happy until you're not happy"

See? I knew if I missed ONE day, I'd miss another day, but that's the way it is in the life of a busy person!

Never mind. I'm here now.

Someone sent me the following link the other day, and I thought it was just brilliant. As someone who has done quite a bit of flying over the past couple of years, I am very well-versed on just exactly how airlines have taken advantage of what I like to call the "9/11 Phenomenon". In my humble estimation, the "9/11 Phenomenon" is what I call all the ways that airlines try to bleed the flying public dry, while they blame it on supposed drops in the numbers of flying public.

*P*O*P*P*Y*C*O*C*K*

Yeah, maybe, in the few months post-9/11, maybe there was a lag felt in the airline industry. But I have no doubt whatsover that 10 years on, the numbers of people currently in the air is larger than it ever has been, and grows every day.

But, that has not stopped the airline industry from sucking every last cent out of the flying public that they possibly can.

Meals? Gone.
Crap snacks? Expensive. Air Canada - bad. WestJet - worse.
Booze? Expensive. Air Canada - bad. WestJet - worse.
Movies? Air Canada - free. WestJet - costs ya. I can't remember how much, because I wouldn't give them the satisfaction.
Earphones? Now cost ya.
Cutlery? Plastic.
Luggage? Costs $25 / bag on Delta.
Carry on luggage? Air Canada considering fees for every piece of carry on baggage.

It's scandalous how the airline industry is taking advantage of the flying public. What used to be regular service in Economy Class is now the standard of service in Executive Class. What used to be the standard of service in Executive Class is GONE. Executive Class gets a meal, maybe even a choice of meals. On a tray. With stainless steel cutlery. Economy Class still gets plastic cutlery. I guess they think that terrorists won't pay the extra for the stainless steel. STUPID!!!

Air Canada. I've flown many many many miles over the years. Up until recently, I never had any issues about getting to my destination. Over the past couple of years, though, on some occasions, there have been weather issues that have come up, that made it iffy whether or not I was getting home. As it turned out, I did get home as planned, but as I listen to the horror stories of others who have not been so lucky, it is becoming more and more evident that Air Canada's customer service really leaves a lot to be desired. People getting stranded because of weather, finding themselves at the back of the line for flights home, once flights resume, is one example I've heard many times.

And then, there's the Aeroplan program. I've been an Aeroplan member for years and years and years. In the early days, you could collect points, and they did not expire. Now they do. Now, if you don't use them within a specified period of time, they're gone. That's crap. They cost a lot to accumulate. There's no reason on Earth why they should expire.

Not only that, but there was a time that if you booked a free flight with Aeroplan points, it was free. Now it costs you $100 / ticket, for the "taxes". What an easy word for them to bandy about.

Last year, my sister and I were going to go to Halifax to see Simon & Garfunkel. I booked the flights via Aeroplan. I paid the $200 taxes. Whatever.

The concert was then postponed for 2 months. I called Aeroplan, and changed the flights. To do that, I had to pay the taxes AGAIN, so now my "free" tickets to Halifax now cost $400.

Then, the week before the concert, Alice went online, and discovered that the concert was flat-out cancelled. Dammit all to hell. I called Aeroplan, and was told I had two choices... rebook the tickets yet again, for another $200 (now $600 for 2 "free" tickets to Halifax of all places), or allow the 25,000 points to expire. So, that's what I did. I lost 25,000 points, and $400, all of which went into Air Canada's coffers, for free. Free money for them, and nothing for me. I have no idea why that is not illegal.

I HATE AIR CANADA.

So, when I received the following link in an email the other day, I felt their angst, fecking right!!! It might not be directed at Air Canada, specifically, but in my mind, it sure is.

I can't beat 'em, but I can enjoy hating them!!!


  

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Consecutive posts - 107, consecutive days - 86

Well, yesterday was the first day since I started this blog that I didn't post something. I feel like Cal Ripken Jr., after he ended his record for the most consecutive games played in major league baseball (2131 games). It was bound to happen eventually, and now it has. Although I feel a like I've let myself down a little, I actually feel a bit of relief, too, that now the pressure is off. It's amazing how much pressure one can put on oneself when trying to keep up something like this, every single day.

I gave it a lot of thought yesterday, tried to come up with something I could natter on about for a bit, but my river of inspiration had completely run dry. I worked from 8.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., came home, shovelled a bit of the driveway so Dad could get in here unimpeded, cooked supper, then had to be in bed early to get up this morning to be at work for 6 a.m. That does not give a person a whole lot of 'creativity' time!!

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, too. I have to work at 6 a.m., take Dad to a doctor's appointment at 1.30 p.m., get him home so he can see the end of the Yankees afternoon game, then come home, cook supper, and watch last Sunday's 2 1/2 hour episode of Coronation Street with Dad and Alice. Not a lot of rant / roar time there, either.

But... I will do my best to come here daily, to vent about something! I think it'll be a bit easier to do when I start working 12-hour shifts; certainly it'll be easier to do during my days off, which will be a little more frequent than they are at the moment. Eight hour shifts, especially seven of them in a row, are brutal. Hopefully, I'll be done with them within the next month or two... fingers crossed...

So, faithful reader(s), stay tuned!!

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Mixmaster Monday

Welcome to this week's edition of Mixmaster Monday!!

I am in the process today of planning a wine and cheese party for a few friends for this coming Saturday night.

The invitations have been sent, and now all that's left is to pick up some wine and the food, and to clean my house sometime this week!

I hosted a wine tasting party once before, which was a lot of fun. Each guest was asked to bring a wine from a country of their choice, and to tell a little about that country. Then, each guest would have a sample of the wine, and grade it on a very informal, non-scientific scale.

I'm going to do the same for this party, too, minus the geography lesson, unless someone feels the urge. It started out as a wine and cheese movie night, and that's what it's going to be, with a little wine tasting between scenes.

At the first one I hosted, one of the guests brought a funny score sheet for wine tasting. I've been trying to find one like it online, but it seems that wine tasters are really a bunch of humorless snobs, so I'm either going to have to dig deeper, or come up with one of my own.

The Food Network had a show on the other day featuring wine and cheese parties. It was an episode of Ricardo & Friends. He made a couple of jams, which he said are all the rage now for having with cheese. I won't be going down that road just yet. I'm going to be putting more emphasis on the wine vs the cheese!

So, that's where my culinary thoughts are roaming around this week. Brie, Gouda, Cheddar, Stilton, Blue, and so on... I'm so looking forward to this!

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Forget the students... when will teachers learn???

Everyone who works for a living has aspects of their job that they enjoy, and aspects that drive them a little insane, day by day by day. This is especially true of those who have to deal with the public.

Often, I've heard - and said - the cutesy remark, "I have a great job - if it wasn't for the patients." It's hard to have a great nursing job without patients, of course! It's just a tongue-in-cheek way of saying that every now and then, like everyone else, I have a bad day when things haven't gone according to plan.

We all have those inside jokes like that, that help to resuscitate that last nerve that someone just jumped all over. As nurses, we used to say that they should have aerosolized Valium in the hospital ventilation system, for everyone's benefit. I don't believe there were any of us who really thought that it was a valid, seriously-considered measure, but it just felt good to fantasize about it.

I have no doubt that there are more than a few teachers who have said at one time or another, "This would be a great job if it wasn't for the students." I don't blame them in the least.

But when it comes to teachers, and their last nerve being trampled, I do have one niggling question...

Why do some teachers think that they will be the ones who are not fired, brought up on charges, and / or arrested, for taping a student's mouth shut?

I am frankly astonished at - #1 - how often this happens, and - #2 - that some (few, admittedly, but still some) teachers still see it as a viable option, even after so many incidents have been publicized, never in the teacher's favor.

This must be an example of inspirational posters on the walls in schools these days:

I would love to know what is going through their minds as they dig in the desk for the roll of tape, walk to the student, peel off 6" of it and go to town. What are they thinking? Do they imagine that none of the other students will notice, or say anything in the schoolyard? Are they stupid as well as temporarily insane?

These teachers who are vulnerable to this (how's this for an understatement...) 'lapse in judgement' should not have access to tape, period. They have that gummy stuff to stick stuff on walls. What do they need tape for, anyway? It's just a teasing torment.

If they have to have it in their desks, it should be in a box marked...

I suppose it's better than having the teacher with the after school duty throwing them under buses...

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Stuff is just getting on my nerves today

The Yankees won their second game of the season. I'm happy about that.

Otherwise, today, I'm all annoyed about sh*t. All kinds of it, in varying forms.

People going on and on about how awful our April weather is are getting right up my nose. It's April. It's Newfoundland. It's actually GOOD weather for us for this time of the year. I went camping on my very first May 24th weekend back in 1979. It was the first May 24th weekend in 17 years that it didn't snow. My nephew Joe was born during a blizzard-related power outage at St. Clare's on April 24th, 1985. That's what it does here: it snows. It always has, so why the big shock about it this year? GMAFB.

Then, there are those goddamned Muslims beheading and otherwise murdering people because some crackpot pastor in Florida wasn't going to be happy until he burned a Koran. He burned it, and now in Afghanistan, a dozen or more people have been murdered to 'avenge' it. The "Religion of Peace" strikes again, while politicians, bleeding hearts and the media bend over forwards to allow the Muslims to have their way with them. Meanwhile, Catholics are vilified for believing that, gee, maybe it would be nice to allow babies to be born. OH MY GOD!! Shut them up quick, and talk about the fallen priests. That'll put those outrageous Micks in their place. At the same time, Muslims are breeding like rabbits, because although they might be butchering terrorists, they're no fools, and they know better than anyone that there is safety for them in numbers. So, while the rest of the world's races are diminishing and diminishing, they are growing and growing and growing.

Then, there is the ongoing disaster in Japan. Nuclear power may be the bee's knees and all of that, but by God, it's damnably irresponsible for a country in the earthquake-prone Pacific Rim to not have had stringent contingency plans in place to deal with an earthquake-damaged nuclear reactor. There are building codes for condos in California for that reason, why not for nuclear reactors? That's getting on my nerves today, as well. And, they might as well just shut up reporting on it. No matter how serious it turns out to be in the long run, there is not a damned thing anyone can do to protect themselves, so why continue pouring fuel on the hysteria? If it turns out to be like Nevil Shute's novel, "On The Beach" come-to-life, I'd rather not know about it until my hair starts falling out.

I'm stiff and sore and achy for no apparent reason that I can come up with, and that's bugging the hell out of me, too. I hit 50 like I was hitting a wall. Hard.

Jake Doyle is still cavorting around that uppity skank Allison, while sweet Sgt. Leslie Bennett is enduring a broken-tho-suspicious heart. They have one episode left to put THAT right, or I'm going to be ROYALLY miffed.

I didn't win the $50 million last night. Grrr...

Yup, I'm growly as an old bear today. I'm going to bed, and hope tomorrow doesn't add to my grumbliness. Good night.

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