my battle with air canada continues

to all my faithful reader,

i apologize for the lack of regularity in my postings recently. but please don't be too angry or frustrated with me. instead, why not blame and take your frustrations out on air canada. they deserve it, and i'll prove it.

i've been traveling a lot this month with yet another trip to come before the month ends. already 8 flights survived, but not without having to endure air canada's seemingly unlimited supply of incompetence. so to help me bear this frustration, i've decided to keep track of all of the ways in which they have disappointed me in 2009. additionally, if you look to the right, you'll see that i'm also keeping track of how much money they owe me for wasted time. as i continue to be forced to travel with them over the year (because my company buys bulk tickets from them and forces me to fly with them), i will do my best to keep track of their incompetence in blog posts and the money they owe me in the new section on the right. perhaps at the end of they year, i'll send them an invoice.

so here's how my flights have gone so far this year:

flight #2: 30 minutes, plane was late arriving, 20 minutes making a claim for lost luggage
flight #3: 90 minutes, sitting on plane while they looked for our pilot
flight #6: 50 minutes, rebooting plane's computer (twice)
flight #7: 20 minutes, changing lightbulb in main entry
flight #8: 120 minutes, cancelled flight, had to re-route through toronto.

canada = cold... or hadn't you heard?

with the windchill, it is currently -42 degrees celcius. that's almost -44 degrees fahrenheit. today's projected high temperature is -38 degrees celcius.

and i don't even live in the coldest part of canada. in fact, not even close. at -42, washer fluid for the car windshield (designed for winter) turns to gel when it hits the windshield. frostbite occurs on exposed skin in only a few minutes. dogs would rather hold in their pee then go outside. homeless people die.

and yet the canadian, us, russian, finland, and several other governments are fighting over the rights for passage and land claim near the north pole. and for what? oil? natural gas? what a sad commentary on the state of political leadership. but we already knew how sad our political leaders were before now. i hope the leaders fighting for the rights to destroy the already deteriorating environment up there have to live there when they win the battle. but that would be just too perfect...

in other news, i'm venturing out into the cold at lunch today to have breakfast for lunch. a giant waffle with a mountain of bananas and drizzled with chocolate hazelnut sauce and whipped cream. well worth the risk of frostbite from walking the two blocks to get there.

and since the news is out...

i send my condolences to all the ladies out there...

here's something to read

you know, i can't think of anything in this whole world worse than a pen running out of ink in the middle of writing down someone's phone number.

oh yeah!

i was supposed to write an ode to something today. i don't think it was my wang... but maybe. my wang is as ode-deserving as any other thing. well, almost anything...

oh well. another ode-less day.

some days...

...i really just don't feel like working. perhaps it's because i'm generally more productive in three hours than most of the people i work with are in a whole day. and certainly more productive in three hours than most of my clients are in a whole week. so i feel as though i can take a break occasionally to do nothing. it's my way of sticking it to the man. whoever that is.

i really want to go on a safari in tanzania. anyone want to join me?

i remember when i was in high school (yes, t, a very, very long time ago) i took a typing class. at the time, i took it because it was supposed to be a bird course (remember that phrase? bird course? sure you do). now, i'm obviously glad i took it because i'd hate to have to do the one-finger thing i see people like my boss doing. where was i going with this train of thought? uhhh... crap. there was going to be a point. oh well.

shut up. that's my point. ok, it wasn't. but screw you anyway! ok. maybe not. i didn't mean it. i need a cookie. someone! send me a cookie!

what? i wasn't kidding about that part.

yes, another picture. i'm taking the easy way out

Busker in Old Town Square. Prague, Czech Republic (click to embiggen)

ok... so it's been a while. big deal.

London, UK (click to embiggen)