Putting the "stmas" Back In "Christmas"

Hey all you Christmas Lovers, Christmas Haters, and People Who Don’t Have Much Of An Emotional Stake In Christmas One Way Or The Other, Sketch22 is putting on a show just for you!
That’s right.  We’re in the process of writing a bunch of Christmas-themed sketches and videos.  And the plan is to allow anyone who wants to, to come to the Guild in Charlottetown on any of 8 nights in December* and, after paying a small entrance fee, watch us act out those sketches live on stage**.

So, if you’re interested in seeing what a bunch of atheist or agnostic (and perhaps a Closeted Christian or two – Sketch22 enforces a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy) wildly-talented*** and boastful sketch comedians come up with on the topic of Christmas, make sure to attend.  I’ll bet that we surprise you****
It’s guaranteed to be the best sketch comedy show presented this December on Prince Edward Island”*””*.

*the specific 8 nights will be announced at a later date.
**video segments will not be performed live on stage.
***not an actual boast
****not an actual bet.
*****guarantee not valid on Prince Edward Island.

Eye Spy

On this website…
I spy, with my little eye, a word that starts with ‘p’…

And It’s Goodnight From Him

When I was growing up, The Two Ronnies was a show (imported from the BBC to the CBC) I enjoyed.  I cannot remember any specific comedy from any of the episodes I saw, but I remember the show to be smart comedy.  Writerly comedy.  I appreciated that. 

The only thing I remember, really, is the sign off: 

Ronnie Corbett: "It’s good night from me…"

Ronnie Barker: "…and it’s good night from him."

Yesterday, Ronnie Barker passed away.  And I bet ten pounds I’m the only one in the world who will have thought to use that headline.

Change of Email Address

Anybody who cares, I’ve changed my email address again.
When I started with email, I thought I’d be clever and use sendit2me as my name.  You know: "Hey, what’s your email address?" "Send it to me at gmail dot com".  I was so clever.  In my head.
When I have to tell people my address, I quickly realised, I have to explain that the "to" in "send it to me" is the number 2, not the word "to".  A pain in the butt.

Fortunately, I was smart enough to also snag the name robmacd.

So, from now on, if you want to contact me, please do so at RobMacD at gmail dot com  (use capitals if you want, or don’t if you don’t want).

Update your address books, peeps.

I apologize for that "peeps" thing.

Good Night, And Good Luck

"We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."
Edward R. Murrow

I’m looking forward to this movie.

Shining

This is great.
Click on this link to see a (quicktime) redux version of a trailer for The Shining.  A post-production house had a contest to see who could come up with the best alteration to existing movie trailers, to make them seem like different movies than they actually are.  This one won.

I’d love to see more of the submissions.  If anybody has a link, let me know.

via Screenhead, via Waxy, via Tattered Coat

Free Nucular Missiles For US Children

Here is a link to a video of one of George W. Bush’s State of the Union addresses.  Well, okay, perhaps he didn’t say all of those words in exactly that order, but a little bit of judicious editing of the video gets to the real subtext of his agenda.

"Our first goal is to show utter contempt for the environment. I have sent you a comprehensive energy plan to devestate communities, kill wildlife, and burn away millions of acres of treasured forests."
"One by one, the terrorists are learning we are building a culture to encourage international terrorism."

Did You Try Rebooting Your Vehicle?

I guess I never posted the outcome of my stalling vehicle problem from last week.  How could you all go on with your lives without knowing the status of my car?  I am so sorry for leaving you in the dark.

So, last Monday, we called Dave’s Auto Electric.  They had, on Friday, put in a new alternator, and still our car was stalling pretty much all the time.  We suffered through it through the weekend.  On Monday, Dave’s Auto Electric tell us they can’t see us on Monday, maybe can squeeze us in on Tuesday.  We get tired of their apparent lacksadaisacal disinterest in our car and call up Walter Piccott Chev Olds.  Usually, I’m reluctant to take a car to a dealer for service, but this being third option, seemed like a good time to try them out, service charges be damned.  They can’t take us on Monday, but if we drop by, say 7:45 on Tuesday, they’ll look at the car almost first thing.
So, Karyn takes the car in for 7:45, and heads off for work.  I stay home, because last week I was a bum.  At around 10am, the phone rings and it’s WPCO, and the car is ready to be picked up.  My father graciously offers to take me there and I go to the service area.
They tell me, that because the new battery we got, the car’s computer system "wasn’t reading the codes right" and so they basically reformatted the computer, put in all the correct codes, and the car should be fine now.
Uh huh.  I’ve heard that four or five times in the previous week, so I’m skeptical.  I pay the 44 dollars (basically it cost me an hour of labour, or there abouts, no parts, so that’s good), and get in the car to drive it away.  As I’m driving off the lot, the car stalls, just as it had so many times in the past week.  Totally frustrated, I prepare to park the car, get out and try to be rational and calm as I tell them they’ve missed the problem, just like everyone else.  Instead, though, I decide to drive it a bit, to see if it works itself out.  I go to my parent’s for a tea, and when I leave the car stalls again.  Before I take it back to Walter Piccott’s, I decide to drive it around for a bit.  So, I take it on yet another drive around the north shore to see it the long drive allows the computer to reset itself.
Not once during the long drive does the car stall.  It still doesn’t sound so great, though.  I don’t allow myself to get any hopes up.  I decide to drive it around in town, a real stop and start test.  It doesn’t stall once, yet it sometimes sounds like it wants to.  That’s not enough of a reason to take it back to Walter Piccott’s though, so I decide to wait until it begins to stall again.
So far, knock on wood, it hasn’t stalled again since.  And each day, its idle sounds more and more healthy.
Maybe it’s fixed.

Arista (1997-2005)

Our cat, Arista, the fourth member of our family of three, as much a sibling as our only child will know, died last night.
We are all sad today.
We noticed she, curled up in a corner of the house, had been panting labouriously and fast,  as if not enough air was reaching her lungs.  In obvious distress, I tried to massage her, to feel if anything was perhaps lodged in her windpipe, but found nothing but a distressing cack on each short breath.  I lifted her and took her to her water dish, but she’d have none of it.  She went to her litter box and did some business of the solid sort (which we thought may have been the problem, but still the breath was not coming easily).  She wandered off (with us following) to another, darker corner of the house, as if she wanted to be alone to deal with this troubling annoyance by herself.
Petting and comforting her was doing nothing but apparently annoying her, and she wandered away again.  This time to behind the couch, a sure sign of "leave me alone".  She couldn’t be left alone, though, when she started meowing painful, mournful meowings.  Pulled the couch out and picked her up. Now her breathing was labourious and was beginning to sound phlegmy. Not a good sign.  Nor a good sign when liquidy discharge started to come out of her mouth.
We called the vet (this was at 9:30 at night) and told the symptoms and he said he’d meet us at the clinic.  Karyn went by herself, I stayed home with Cameron.
She arrived home about half an hour later.  Not good.  The vet would give Arista oxygen and call us with updates.  Cameron was, by this time, in bed.
Phone call another half hour later.  The vet was giving the cat oxygen, but it wasn’t doing much..  He believed Arista had suffered a heart attack.  Also, there was substantial liquid forming in her lungs.  Perhaps, surmised the vet, she had taken some poison?  None that we were aware of.
As we were wondering what the next step should be, the vet says "hold on, she stopped moving".  When he came back on the phone, he told us Arista had died.

I was the one who told Cameron this morning, and that wasn’t much fun.  She was the only pet Cameron had had.  He was the one who picked her out at the Shelter, when he was three or four years old.  He was the one who decided upon the name.  Immediately, she was house-trained, and a great addition to the family.  She played games with Cameron when he (or she) was bored, like Hide and Seek and Eat My Hair (don’t ask).  She was devoutly jealous of almost every one of Cameron’s friends, and would take every opportunity to hiss at them whenever they were occupying his time.  Those were the only times she’d show any hint of a negative attitude.
I’ll miss those nights when I was falling asleep, Arista would jump up on my side of our bed and curl up beside me for five or ten minutes before heading off to her other nightly pursuits, and those countless times she’d curl up beside me on the couch and we’d watch TV together.

She was a great cat.  We’ll miss her.

Talk Like A Pirate Day

Today is Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Just like last year, I choose to speak like a pirate who is a bit more educated, and has a better grasp of the English language, than your more typical (one might say "stereotyped") pirate.

So, in my finest pirate voice, I say:  a good day to you all, my friends.

Also, today is my 40th birthday.