Feeling Old Part 3

   Hard as it is to believe, Pink Floyd's iconic album "The Wall" was released 40 years ago today on November 30, 1979. The album contains one of my favourite songs of all time "Comfortably Numb", although I admit I prefer the live version from the "Pulse" concert in 1995.
   I personally believe it's the 2nd best album they put out, after Dark Side Of The Moon. Not that their other albums aren't good, just personal preference.
   So, how does this make me fell old? I was 23 years old, and working in Prince George, B.C when it came out. There you go.
   I think when I get off work today, I might just give it a spin. It's been a while since I listened to it all the way through.
   And yes, I'm working on a Saturday.

TTFN

10 Year Challenge

   It seems everyone is getting caught up in the "10 year challenge", including yours truly. At the behest of GX94 morning show host Danny Ismond. The one on the left was taken during our trip to Norway 10 (ish) years ago. The other Danny took yesterday in our newsroom.
   I guess I've lost quite a bit of weight in the intervening years, and gained a few tattoos! Actually, I was rather surprised at the amount of weight I'd shed. Back then, I was well north of 250 pounds. Today, I'm down around 215, and am still hoping to lose even more. If I could get down to 200, I'd be very happy, although I'll never get rid of the "middle age spread".
   I also see a few bare patches of skin, so I might be lining up a visit with my local artist for another tat or 2.
   And to my American viewers, Happy Thanksgiving!

TTFN

A Much Better Weekend

   Unlike last week, weather and road conditions allowed us to get to Regina this past weekend, and get a good chunk of our Christmas shopping taken care of. For my wife, the trip wan not as successful, as she didn't get a number of things she had on her list. Unfortunately, a lot of her items are only available from specialty shops we simply don't have here (she can order it on-line). As was what we finally deiced for our son's present. I won't give details.
   It was a relatively quick visit, even though we stopped for lunch, of less than 6 hours, including the 4 for the round-trip. It will also be one of the last trips we make to the capital this year, with winter fast approaching, and me not wanting to drive at night.

TTFN

Not The Best Of Weekends

   First, an apology for not posting anything last week. While it was a busy week, there really wasn't much to blog about.
   We decided to go to Regina this past Saturday to get our Christmas shopping done. We don;t have many people to buy for, and those that we do are a little difficult to find the "right" gift. The trip to Regina (about 190 kilometers one way) would have taken care of it all in just a few stops. But Mother Nature had different plans. There was some minor pavement frost on the highway heading down, which isn't really a huge concern. Until it starts raining or snowing.
   Just about the exact half-way point in the trip is a small town called Balcarres. And ust before we got there, it started snowing. By the time we got through the town, it was nearly white-out conditions, and the highway was getting icy. So, I made the decision to turn back. Regina will still be there, and we can go there this coming weekend.
   Adding injury on top of everything, I took a tumble Sunday, and it was completely my fault. We had a large cardboard box we needed to get rid of, so I loaded it up and went to one of the large recycling bins in the community. The box was just a little too large for me to cram it in. So, rather than doing the logical thing, getting my knife out and cutting the box down, I took the lazy way. I put it on the ground and tried to stomp on it. Since the ground had ice and snow on it, you can guess the result. I went down, Hard. On my rear-end and right elbow. I also re-sprained my left wrist (which I damaged a couple of years ago), and wrenched my right knee. I did not hit my head, thankfully.
   The upshot is I'm now limping around the office (and home for that matter). My tail-bone still hurts, and I don't know how long my wrist will be sore.
   Lesson learned the hard way: Do NOT stomp on a cardboard box when it's icy/snowy.

TTFN

Feeling Old Part 2

   It was 30 years ago today, the Berlin Wall came down. Or at least started to. For 28 years, between 1961 and 89, it was the demarcation line, physically and ideologically, between the East and West during the Cold war.
   I won't get into the politico-ideological reasons why it went up (there are plenty of online resources for that), but it started going up to keep East Germans, specifically Berliners, from defecting to the West. Despite it, 100,000 people tried to escape, and some 5,000 made it. Anywhere from 136 to 200 died trying.
   While East German authorities opened the crossing points November 9, 1989, and the demolition of the wall started, it wasn't until 1991 the last remnants (aside from a few sections) were finally removed.
   The fall of the Wall, many believe, also marked the start of the disintegration of the former Soviet Union, although that didn't happen until 1991.

TTFN

Feeling Old

   And it's because on this date, November 4, 1979, the Iran hostage crisis began. Hard-line Islamist students stormed the U.S Embassy in Tehran, triggering a 444 day ordeal for 52 staffers. That's 40 years ago now. I would have been in my first job in radio, at a small station in Peace River at the time. The ordeal finally ended in January, 1981, when I was in Prince George, B.C at my 2nd radio job.
  And part and parcel was the so-called Canadian Caper, where 6 U.S diplomats were housed in our embassy, and later "smuggled" out of Iran on false Canadian passports.
   To mark the anniversary in Iran, people stood outside the former U.S Embassy chanting "Death to Americas" and "Death to Israel".
   And in just 5 days, it's the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which went up starting in June, 1961 at tr he height of the Cold War between the former Soviet Union and the Western Alliance.
   It does make one feel old.

TTFN

A New Month, And Time Change Weekend

   Welcome November, goodbye October. We have, as you can plainly see, started a new month. Last night, of course, was Halloween. We didn't get very many Trick or Treaters last night. Only about 6. But that's due, in part, to where we live. And the fact our street has very few homes yet. I think we had maybe 12 last year, which, for us, was a good crowd. Unlike last year, I only bought one box of candies, so my waistline shouldn't suffer too much, since it ain't going to get thrown out.
   This is also the weekend most of North America "falls back" to Standard Time

   Meaning a lot of people get an extra hour of sleep Sunday morning. The big notable exceptions are Saskatchewan, parts of Arizona and Hawaii, where we don't adjust out timepieces. Now, there's talk in British Columbia of them staying on DST year round.
   Saskatchewan's case is unique, since the line for the time change is the 105th meridian, which bi-sects the province, meaning no one could decide which time zone to go with. It's simpler and easier just to leaves the clocks where they are.
   I've said in blogs past I've never been in favour of the time change, and I never will be. Not that I'm against getting an extra hour's sleep in the fall, but I've always hated losing that hour in spring. I maintain that to this day.

TTFN