In Sequence

at he bottom of the computer screen , I see 13 / 12 / 2014
the way I write dates its 14 / 12 - 13
However ,some systems would have 12 / 13 /14 or a sequential date
Rare
Won't happen again for 20 something years

Well our country , is fumbling along. W/ falling oil prices , we fill up cheaper , but pay more for vacations i.e. in the States , but our products gain a competitive edge that boosts exports. Off set , of course , b/c oil isn't doing well , internationally.

In the news , fast food corps are having a problem. Even Mc D s is struggling for market share. Their latest attempt at connoisseur tastes is McCafe ( sold even in groceries ).
We don't have a pod coffee / drink maker. We ' ll undoubtedly be the last on the block to get one. M drinks , one cup a day , I drink the big C all day -  even ice coffee , later in the day. I dilute the coffee anyway , so brown liquid is good or all right

In travel hints , Arthur Frommer of Frommer's Guides , uses a $ 200 laptop. Small , light and not a money worry even if stolen.
I wonder if he went 2 GB for the memory. He wanted a simple typewriter ( but w/ a keyboard , b/c he types so much )
Heck , all our laptop is - is a typewriter that sends messages , occasionally , OK it connects to search or somesuch. And as we've said previously , our phones are getting useful a message machines.

Backyard maintenance included snow re - positioning. The steel roof lets snow slide off. The build up happens under the back picture window but a shade zone even in the afternoon. If the snow isn't moved , the pile gets higher and less likely to melt.
I shift the pile out three feet to catch the sun. Then if the stuff does melt , at least , the run off goes ravine - ward not house - ward
Last year , in late Feb , the pile under the window was over my waist and 3 feet wide , at least. I'm guessing that I moved approx 3 driveway loads of snow at a 1 ft average depth and our driveway is an 8 car area.

In all this , I noticed that a condo that sold in the inner city , had the same taxes as our house and maintenance was $ 670 / mo.
Crikey. The condo had valet parking and a car wash bay.
We have the car wash bay and you park your own car.

The Totals

You've heard it before. Unbelievable snow fall , whatever
Well , you can trust me Buffalo's Nov snow was record breaking
and more

For T.O., yesterday or the 36 h that snow fell , wasn't unbelievable
But
if you add up the snow depth since Oct 2014 , so far we've had 1 / 3 of the seasonal average ,and this before winter technically starts
Our driveway or really the bird bath showed a depth of over 6 in
The bird bath obviously won't get wind drift snow only the stuff that fell
I didn't shovel a snowflake b/c  the snow service came. And came back after the plow went through. That was unbelievable that the snow plow came. Our street seems to get forgot most times
The poker guys voted our house hardest to get to in winter.Windy streets w/ big dips and no plowing

On the buds , from  2 nights ago , yep , the stay awake all night night.
A National Geographic documentary contributor , is walking the human trail out of Africa. He is tracing the migration routes of humans radiating out of the Olduvai area of Africa in 7 years.
He noted the ' human deluge '  foaming out of Syria across the Turkish border. On a solitary trek , he found an ocean of people trudging from danger to anywhere less violent. BTW , he's now on pair of walking shoes # 3

On the show , ' You Gotta Eat Here ' or the Canadian    'Diners , Drive ins and Dives ' , ' Fancy Franks ' in Toronto is making ' Frankie Goes to Buffalo ' 
Frankie Buffalo ' is an all beef hot dog that tastes like chicken wings
How ? they use chicken bacon
Chicken bacon ? 
Chicken skins deep fried and layered on deep friedhot dog
Yeah , chicken bacon - deep fried hot dogs
My heart stopped and re - started after watching the deep frying
extravangza

Careful....

what you wish for or don't
I'm not sure if I slept last night
Must have dropped of for moments
No coffee or stimulants
Took cold meds and............... I lay there thinking of really dumb stuff
Cowboy pictures and I mean photo albums , and I couldn't get the computer or whatever out of picture mode
Imagine !

We got snow about an 1 1/2 in but it stopped and started up again
Rather pretty in the backyard  But I don't need to shovel the stuff

TV : I was critical of the series " Marvel Agents of SHIELD " earlier
The whole situation improved and I've been interested for the last 3 episodes , leading up to Tues when the ' winter finale ' ended
So , I'm apologizing to Phil Coulson and some of the others b/c I thought that they were ultra lame
And , the Captain America spin - off , Agent Carter starts in Jan

On the sicky front. Much better. Bit of a head cold , sniffles but over -all ( and not sleeping ) good 
No wobbles or headaches ( well, a little hollowness in the head )

In N. Carolina , a small town sheriff was indicted for murder in the shooting of an unarmed citizen. The victim was black. There was a series of events which are stupid but basically , the victim was in his truck. The sheriff ordered him to stay and receive a warrant , the driver moved the truck back and the sheriff shot.
The defence was ' stand your ground ' b/c the sheriff felt threatened.No dice and the charge was laid

In the Land of ....

.......living
Wasn't so sure all last night , it was miserable
This morning got of to a rocky start , wobbles and a throbbing head
By 11 ish , I was hungry and interested in things
Ran a fever in the afternoon but I'm drinking Pinot Noir and typing... I'm good
Snow is definitely coming but not the 30 something centimetres ( 1 foot , sorry there , boys ) promised for Eastern Ontario and Quebec and the unholy mess that hit the U.S. NE.

Again. I've started reading the " Tyranny of the Night ' Bk 1
I'm not sure , this could be number 5 re -read , probably 4.
And its still great , loving it - old friends
My favourite line ' in politics and war don't go looking for treachery and conspiracy if stupidity and incompetence will explain the situation  '

Have a good night , I will

Under the Weather

I'm typing in bed on the little laptop - the one that got the 2 Gb memory boost
This morning , I went to 'computer ' info and noticed that it wanted to do a speed test b/c of the new memory.
The base speed went down 0.1 - great !
Overall , I think the emachine is faster switching screens
However , on start up , the emachine needs about 5 minutes to get its house in order , so to speak , and begin acting like a computer , which is how its always been

So ,I've got a cold. Past history says - sniffles , followed by sore throat then bodyaches and chills - yep ! the whole enchilada.
Whenever , I see those comparisons  for ' cold v flu ' I look at both columns and pick and choose - crikey , no difference.
Then , there was the article on ' exercise and a cold  '- if the cold stays in your head and doesn't involve your chest , you can continue to exercise.
Doesn't involve your chest ?????  Since when ?
I figured it was a given , cold , sick and heavy chest

T.O. is an urban conglomerate , w/ massive transit woes.
Somehow , 400 000 people need to move around the downtown core. This means subways , streetcars and buses. And its barely working. Ridership is down overall but specific routes are clogged morning and night.
Our new mayor , yep , his name is John Tory , and no he won't be dancing on ' Jimmy Kimmel ' . Got started right away improving the most over loaded route - the King streetcar. Good for him.
The King route moves the population of small town each day.
We'll see how the changes work

The day is gray and cold - ish , w /windchill , maybe 26 F
We'll be close to freezing all week and perhaps above slightly
This is supposed to be a slow week for us.

M decorated the tree , last night. she did a great job. The tree and lights has been up for 2 weeks , letting the boughs drop down and get re - arranged. M thinks our star is sacrilegious. Its the ' Welcome to Las Vegas ' sign. The star flashes and the ' Welcome to Las Vegas ' is back lit.
So , our tree is a little commercial - its artificial anyway. We gave up hauling the cut tree across the park to the house.

Pleasant Thoughts

A trend in vacations is ' wellness ' tourism.
Your trip is based on a spa or health treatment

Relax , unwind or detox

Maybe , I should try
In Fla , possibly a cleansing week
?????????????
No booze , well , not that extreme
Good food , Check
Massage or something or other
Who knows !
I mean in 6 weeks , we should manage something

To- day broke cold or colder than it has been - blue sky and dry air
temperatures should stay above freezing for a couple of days

World news is a downer again , I'm not doing it , sorry , TorStar

We Went to Vegas

and didn't lose our shirts .... we broke even gambling
Thus , food , air and rooms added up to $700 for the week Mon to Fri

We both admitted that this was not the same as other LV trips.
We both had gambling over - load after being trapped in S. N.Y.
two weeks ago.
I don't think that we are real gamblers

Things that I learned  a) craps is gambling   b) its an interesting world out there   c) stay home

What you needed to hear from a world traveller ? I know

Flying home , yesterday and it was fast - they fed us , I watched most of  " How to Train Your Dragon 2 "  and " Maze Runner " and bingo bango , Toronto.           I kept saying           " and you do this because ???? "
Such a wimp

Vegas. We had three days of overcast and spit w/ drizzle thrown in
Damp air and Xmas decorations everywhere.
Food is expensive in Vegas. You get a lot on your plate but the meals are usually $ 14. I suppose splitting is the best policy and we did on ' take out ' food. At the restaurant , harder to do.

We didn't take the baby laptop and that worked out b/c it is a pain hauling that thing through the airports for internet ( primarily ) use.
We used our iphones for messages ,maybe twice. I haven't figured out how to do searches w/ the iphone except w/ Siri.
So , no blogs..... ha , you got a rest from reading.

Nexus , the fast pass , worked out great. Except that I , apparently , missed the part about food. You must declare food that you are carrying.
You go to this automatic kiosk - read the questions and then answer.
You meet a customs guy - and I say " we are Nexus travellers money under 10 ,000 dollars , clothes and snack bars "
The customs guy says " you didn't declare the snack bars at the machine " Hands me a page which says somewhere , that you must declare food items. But I swear . it is not one of the qualifying statements on the machine. anyway , I got a warning.
And to top it all off , coming home - the machine was only interested in ' Ebola ' - contacts and travel to and from Ebola prone countries.
Criminy !

Have a good one

We are recuperating to -day and this week.