When life gives you lemons....

When life gives you lemons, you are to theoretically make lemonade. Right now, I would derive far more satisfaction from taking those lemons and cramming them up something, but the trouble is that I can't, because there is no one person against whom I can direct my rage. You see, the water main coming into my house has sprung a leak. The leak is located in the basement, in a tiny crawlspace, and whill require a few hours of cutting away sub-floor and shelving to access. Then, a plumber will come in tomorrow and fix the problem. Until then, we have no water access, and the city charges $45 per visit to either turn on or off the water.

Ask me if I'm impressed.

Last night helped make the weekend bearable. My beloved and I went out to dinner with some former colleagues of hers, and we then all went to see Alfie Zappacosta. he's kind of one-dimensional, and tries a little too hard sometimes, but has a good voice, and had a phenomenal violinist and pianist backing him up..... and some okay lyrics. It was nice change in pace. Afterwards, we rented "The Lion Winter" which features Patrick Stewart as Henry II at the height of his power- and power struggles against his wife and children. I thought the movie kicked ass, and was pretty historically faithful, if not accurate. Henry II of England had a complex relationship with his wife and children which is not always done justice by reading the sheer events and battles that marked the history of that era. The movie highlighted some pretty neat hypotheses, including a controversial one that asserted the manly Richard the Lionheart was really quite gay. This of course deeply offends the meat and potatoe "great men" theory historians, but too bad for them.

Some other, random thoughts: The opposition parties in the Canadian parliament are pissed that we have a $9.1 billion surplus, and have accused the Liberals of underestimating revenue and overestimating expenses, and then cutting the expenses. I love how these people are talking about these things as if this is a problem. I never used to be a Liberal banner-waver, but this government is for once modelling what Canadian households should be doing. We have over $500 billion in federal debt alone, and I view it in the same light as credit card debt. It's money that has already been spent. We may have social programs crying for dollars, but if we don't pay down the debt, they'll have even less in the future. I'll one day start more detailed ranting about the unsustainable nature of our Western lifestyle at a later date, but, needless to say, I believe that the country has to give itself a reality check about what can truly be afforded.

Oh, and John Kerry one the third presidential debate, much to my non-suprise. The US election is still up in the air, but as democrat put it best, "John Kerry is the best election closer in US politics"... it is true... historically, and even in this past year, Kerry takes a while to hit his stride, but rarely loses once he gets going.

Let's hope this year isn't an exception.

I'm done for ze moment.