Our Home and Native Land

Tonight I had difficulties receiving Emails on my Sympatico account, which is a division of Bell CANADA.
Now I pay my Bell CANADA account with CANADIAN dollars which is in my CANADIAN bank account, in LaSalle Quebec CANADA,
I checked and low and behold my contract was with Bell CANADA.
However when I called the help desk manned by people hired and paid by Bell CANADA, it turns out I was calling India.
It seems to me a shame that we can’t hire CANADIANS, who would in turn pay taxes to CANADA, with CANADIAN dollars.
I wonder where India calls for help probably not CANADA !!
A pox on us all

The Fat Lady Sings

Astral Photo
March 1974- April 2007

I coulda missed the pain, BUT I wooda had to miss the dance
Garth Brooks

Next time you Sneeze

A man and a woman were sitting beside each other in the first class section of the plane. The woman sneezed, took a tissue, gently wiped her nose and then shuddered quite violently in her seat. The man went back to his reading.


A few minutes passed. The woman sneezed again, took a tissue, gently wiped her nose and shuddered quite violently in her seat. The man was becoming more and more curious about the shuddering.

A few more minutes passed and the woman sneezed one more time. Again she took a tissue, gently wiped her nose and shuddered violently.

The man had finally had all he could handle. He turned to the woman and said, "You've sneezed three times, you've taken a tissue and wiped your nose, then shuddered violently! Are you all right?"

The woman replied, "I'm sorry if I disturbed you. I have a rare condition and when I sneeze, I have an orgasm."

The man was feeling a little embarrassed but even more curious and said, "I've never heard of that before. What are you taking for it?"

The woman looked at him and said, "Pepper."

Bye Astral

Hi, it’s Sunday evening at 10:43 and I have a glass of “courage” by my side.
Tomorrow starts the beginning of the end. Tomorrow I start my last week of +33 years at Astral Photo. In those years there have been resurrections and changes in the name but bottom line it’s Astral Photo.
There is a list of names I have worked with but in fear of missing some I won’t name one.
This week there will be a lot of “last times” Today for example I did my last “close” with Krystal and Auturo. The days ahead will bring their own “lasts” and I will be sad to see them all,
I am not sure how I feel. My emotions run from sad to anger then from emotional lows to feelings of revenge.
In the end I will miss the people I worked with to some of the fantastic customers I made contact with.
Since I heard the news of my demise I am still waiting to awake from this terrible dream, but this I guess is not to be. When I awake after Friday morning I will not have to go to “708” anymore
I’m not sure what I will do in the immediate future except to say I guess I have earned a mini vacation, so for now that’s the plan.
The sun will rise as it should in the morning and the world will turn as it should.
To all of my co workers who read my blog thank you. To family and friends who have followed this saga thank you too.
In the days and weeks to come I will attempt to keep you posted as to what goes on.
Happy to meet, Sorry to Part, Happy to meet again.

Breakfast ......

One morning a girl, called her friend and said, "Please come over and help me, I have this awesome jigsaw puzzle, and I can't figure out how to start it".

The friend asked, "What is it a puzzle of?"

The girl said, "From the picture on the box, it's a tiger."

The friend figures that she's pretty good at puzzles so she heads on over the girl's house.

The girl lets her friend in the door and shows her where she has the puzzle spread all over the table. The friend studies the pieces for a moment, then studies the box, and then she looks at the pieces again for a bit. The friend then turns to the girl and says, "First, no matter what I do, I'm not going to be able to show you how to assemble these pieces to look like the picture of that tiger. Second, I'd advise you to relax, have a cup of coffee, and put all these Frosted Flakes back in the box."

Open your Ears

A man was standing on the roof of his house, flood waters totally covering his house and lapping at his ankles. He prayed, "Lord, I trust you and know that you will save me."


A couple in a canoe came by and asked if he needed help.

"No," said the man, "the Lord will save me."

Later, the water now risen up to his waste, the man kept praying, "Lord, I know that you will save me from this."

A couple of fishermen in a rowboat came by then and offered to take him to safety.

"No thanks," said the man, "I know that God will save me from this."

Not long after that the water rose to throat level. The man kept praying to God, "Lord, I know in my heart that you will save me from this."

A National Guard helicopter came by, hovered overhead, and lowered a rope for him to hold onto. He refused saying, "I know God will save me from this flood. Thanks anyway."

Well, the water rose even further and he drowned. When he got to heaven he looked up at God and asked, "Lord, I prayed to you and trusted in you so much. Why didn't you save me from that awful flood?"

"What?" the Lord asked, "I sent you a canoe, a rowboat, and the National Guard in a helicopter but you wouldn't take any of them!"

For your Personal Edification

http://www.shibumi.org/eoti.htm

I May Have Done This Before But ......

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

A Few Hours Early

Out of respect for Good Friday. I present the site (s) of the month:

http://www.sklar.com/page/article/hous

and the biggest I could find …

http://www.llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.co.uk/

In Case you Haven't Puked this Year

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070404/ap_en_ce/people_keith_richards_10

There's a Low over Quebec City

When I was a tiny lad and watched the CBC news I was amazed by the weather. There was a weather man on the news (Percy Salzman) who “predicted” the weather for the Montreal area clear up to the next day.
He used a chalk board with the Montreal map & made squirls and circles to inform us of the weather.
Time ahead forty years ….. Don McGowan (now retired) and Frank Cavallaro continue to give us forecasts. Their predictions (with the aid of satellites & science) can tell us what’s going to happen in the next five days.
Even CJAD’s chief meteorologist Ed Cowell fearlessly tells us at what time the snow/rain will begin.
Let it be known…. None of them can hold a candle to Percy, who tossed his chalk in the air at the end of his segment and said “…….& that’s the weather”

Go Under the What ???

I recently received directions to a meeting. Part of the instructions was to proceed under the “fly-over”, now I quickly figured out what is, but it’s the first time I heard the term. I’ll be curious to know where the person I am to meet comes from.(my new job counselor)

May be it’s not that too unusual.

I know it exists, after all I DID find the image on Google.

An "Udderly" Funny Laff

A man and his wife were going to a costume party at a rural mansion. Just in sight of the mansion, the car broke down. They decided to walk.


Since the shortest distance was across a pasture and they were going as a cow, they decided on the short cut. About halfway across the pasture, they ran into a bull who became very "interested." The husband, who was in the back, said, "What shall we do now?"

The wife, who was in front, said, "I'm going to put my head down and make believe I'm eating grass. You.......... had better brace yourself."

IMHO

So….. It’s time for a digital camera, maybe the second or third.
Digital cameras have developed (good choice of words, huh?) into marvels of technology. From not so long ago when a two mega pixels unit cost five hundred dollars and ate batteries like I eat Lays, to cameras with ten mega pixels (by the way in most cases not necessary) and are battery friendly, for a decent price.

One of the most touted advances are the big screens to help you take pictures easier, However these screens can be difficult to see in bright light situations, so if you can by all means get a big screen but get a camera with a view finder as well.

Another personal preference is to but a camera that uses AA batteries. You still have the convenience of rechargeable batteries and if you’ve forgotten to recharge them you can always get a set of regular batteries at most depanneurs. They may not last long but you can keep on snappin

Agreed, cameras that take Lithium Ion batteries are smaller.

For the most updated information on digital cameras go to:
www.dpreview.com

Kilowatts Everywhere

I think it was Tuesday of last week when I received a message from Hydro Quebec (In perfect English), that there would be a maintenance power interruption on either Saturday or Sunday. It would last about six hours.

Saturday morning I woke up as per usual around six fifteen and glanced at the clock and awaited the arrival of the “dark:


At seven twenty the radio went silent and the fridge shuttered to a stop.

What to for the next six hours ? Answer ….go for a walk which I did, around four the power came back and I could relieve my “lackofinternetitis”

I am grateful the power came on when it did or I would have had to watch TV in the dark