HAPPY NEW YEAR

All the best for a good and successful 2008.

Cheers,

P

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS

To all of you from Liz and I.

Cheers,

P

ANOTHER FESTIVUS MIRACLE!

So Liz was sorting out the basement this morning and guess what she found at the bottom of a box of old childhood stuffed animals... go on guess...

MY LOST CDs! The last time I saw them was on the banister of the house in May of 2006. The best part, aside from getting my music back was the special nature of some of those CDs: First off the SIGNED! copy of Heated by Big Sugar. I couldn't have replaced that if I tried since the band broke up 4 years ago. My Matt Osborne collection, my collective soul, my crowded house live! All recovered.

This news almost (ALMOST) made waiting 30 minutes for a bus bearable.

Cheers,

P

WEEKEND OF SNOW

It started out with a lovely Friday of drinks with colleagues, wings with Adam and the Golden Compass (movie) with Liz. In fact I would heartily recommend the Golden Compass to all. I don't think there was one thing I didn't like about movie. Now having said that I admittedly have not read the books, which I plan to do shortly. My opinion of the movie might change but certainly watching it cold was just a fantastic experience.

Saturday, I went skiing for the first time. While I didn't do as well as some Liz has taught, I did better than most. Still ended up falling over most of the way down the hill but I did enjoy it a lot more than indoor rock climbing. I think the trick next time will be to make sure I get technique down on a bunny hill before the wife throws you down a mid-level hill. Then again, I'm sure having done the mid-level hill getting the real hang of a bunny hill will be a helluva lot easier.

Sunday, and the storm did come, and the heaven's did empty themselves of voluminous quantities of snow. My driveway and front path now look like the tunnels on Hoth. Also spent most of the day watching movies and and reading my magazines. You know, even though I know 'the Day After Tomorrow' is pulp watching it with a major snow storm out the window makes me look at the film in a whole new light.

Sunday evening it was homemade meatloaf and xmas movies.

Cheers,

P

THERE'S A PROBLEM... QUICK BLAME SOMEONE ELSE!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071211.wisotope1211/BNStory/National/home

Is there anything these arseholes will actually take responsibility for? Truly, regardless of who is blocking what or for what reason (safety strikes me as fairly important concept when it comes to nuclear technology) the point is there is a problem here that needs sound decision making to resolve.

A normal and professional government would, rather than blaming 'the other guys' like some third rate African dictator desperate to retain power without responsiblity, actually knuckle down and work, in good faith with all involved, to fix the problem.

It truly astounds me how a government with such strong religious backing can work with other parliamentarians in such bad faith. It also astounds me that instead of tackling the problem head on, the current government prefers to blame others for the situation. Why not just spend the time fixing the problem? No one will care 'who's fault it is' when the problem is fixed.

Cheers,

P

BACK

If anyone wants to have a look to what I've been up to please have a look at the summit website at http://www.earthobservations.org/.

If you have a look at the report on progress I was the lead author on section I and II although the end result is the compilation of input from about 40 countries. Further there are a number of excellent Canadian examples in "GEOSS the Full Picture".

Cheers,

P