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More snow. Watching CNN’s weather reports, they call for snow amounts between 20 and 40 inches. Ack! Poor Carol and Paula. I can’t wait for live reports from around the snow front from nobody else than Anderson Cooper. Please, with real-time action commentary by Bob Novak.

Sookies. Last year we had those amounts too (and this year it looks like we’re going to break another record) but naturally, for CNN, Nova Scotia isn’t really an interesting subject to talk about. The only part I worry about is where we are supposed to put the snow.

It’s full in the back, it’s full in the front. It’s full of it everywhere. Snow, snow snow.

Ed. Non personal and clickable images have been uploaded. When I feel like it, I’ll add some of the 200+ digital photos online.

Is it too late yet, to look back at 2004? In conversations between the better-half and the mirror-half, we were reminded of our first flight back to Holland. But before I go too fast, it was a second reminder of Alfons that mom’s health was going downhill fast, sent on a Tuesday, September 19th. The text read something like:

   “I’d like to remind you that if you want to see mom alive, you have to plan something really soon.”

The next couple of days it was about decisions, permissions (I’m particularly thankful to my boss) and a Friday after-hours Emergency passport pickup (I also owe the Dutch consulate a gracious thank you). If I’m not wrong, the tickets were already ordered by then and we were scheduled to leave for Frankfurt am Main on Wednesday the 28th.

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It’s a mess outside. First of all we had a snowstorm yesterday. I ended up cleaning up the driveway last night but I should have known better. Today’s snow added another 5 – 10 cm. What to do with all that snow? Here’s my plan:

1. Export it to countries where they actually need this junk. I think of countries like The Netherlands and that.
2. Water? You need water? I’ve heard of a scientific process that makes water out of snow!
3. Invite a million of kids from snow-starving countries. Snowball tournament
4. Send snow by mail for every person who thinks ‘nofollow’ actually works! ‘No juice for you’ becomes ‘Another snowball in your face’!

Discuss! (Oh wait, forget about that part).

And thus started my winning entry for the Bulwer-Lyton fiction contest. Seriously: Today’s snowstorm was exactly like the Boxing day snowstorm. Same amount of snow, same mess and same wind. They could have been twins (I personally experienced the evilness of twins, you can trust me on that).

I’ve found a good way to describe the snowstorm today and (I hear) it’s being used all over town now too: ‘today it was pouring snow’. Yes, you heard that right, and you heard it here at Xsamplex first!

But to keep it on topic: I hope this was the last snowstorm of the season. I’m tired of it. I really don’t mind the shoveling. But just this afternoon, while clearing the driveway I was thinking if there is an easier way to clear the driveway without using a shovel. For a moment I had this ‘Eureka’ feeling: Why not just use the ‘roll the snow-ball technique’ instead? Wouldn’t that work, I wonder? But then, I don’t want neighbours to think that I’m going to make a gigantic snowman.

We added two movies to the collection: ‘Garden State’ and ‘The Manchurian Candidate’. I was surprised by a couple of scenes in Garden State, but on the overall it’s a reasonable good movie. The ‘Manchurian’ (directed by Jonathan Demme) had a couple of visual surprises (notably when the main characters have a discussion at the party headquarter). Confirmed in the ‘featurette’ at the end of that DVD.

There’s a couple of more good movies on my ‘should buy’ list: I noticed that ‘Blue Velvet’ was on sale over at Blockbusters. I also should watch for ‘2001: A Space Odyssee’ or ‘The Clearing’.

I have something with languages. When a foreigner is speaking English, I can tell right away where he or she’s from. I have no idea if that’s so special, but I know it can lead to weird conversations and funny run-ins.

The easiest to tell appart are Germans and Austrians (their English accent is the worst. This is a message to German teachers in English: DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT). It’s bad. I can’t get over the fact that, for example mr. Schwarzenegger, who is an American citizen for over 30 years, after all this time, still has that terrible accent. Sure, I do have an accent too but not as bad as Arnie’s. Earlier I wondered if this had to do because I was literally thrown in a ‘common-English-Canadian speaking’ community, eh. (This is not good either. I’ve been longing to update both my English written/spoken language. I have no idea where I would get those courses. Where’s the CIC when you need them?).
My mother-in-law was patient with me. I owe her.

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Remember that snowstorm? That left us with about 20 cm’s of snow?

It’s gone!

The last couple of days, the temperatures have gone way up above the 0 degrees Celsius. Actually, rumour has it, it’s supposed to top the 10 degrees today. Naturally, it will be cold as usual tomorrow. Minus 7.

The weather pattern reminded me a bit of what Burningbird’s Shelley noticed. I wonder if this is part of the Cassini-Huygens-Titan conspiracy (cold temps.), but since I have no proof, I’ll leave it at that. Must have to do with Global Dimming then.

The first time I was offered a slice of carrot cake here in Canada, I thought I was being set up or that somebody was trying to pull a trick on me. You see, there’s a Dutch joke about a rabbit, a bakery and a carrot cake. And everytime I see a carrot cake, I hear that joke’s punchline (‘Gross, eh?’) echoing in the back of my brain. I know it’s probably good (I tasted it once) but because of something cultural, I refuse to eat it.

A couple of months ago, when I rushed to Holland to meet up with family, I had a conversation with my 10 year old (or so) nephew and niece. They were telling typical kids stories, which I was playing all along. Have and have not stories, stories they wanted to know about what life was all about in Canada and what it was all about in The Netherlands. Naturally I was joking about us having polar bears in Nova Scotia. But they liked it anyways. And I do remember their faces (and facial expressions) when I told them about carrot cake. Yes, we do have carrot cake. Gross, eh?

I started this year crabby, so if you’re not getting used to it, tough luck…

I have been playing (and finishing) a couple of games since we bought our XBox. While I’m impressed with some of the graphics shown in some of the games, from a programmer’s perspective, I’m not that cheery about the quality of most of them. Take for example the game ‘Crimson Skies’. While the concept and graphics are really outstanding, the gameplay is almost predictable: you shoot down a wing of enemies (a wing consists of 3 or 4 other planes), expect another bunch to come up. And after that another. Sounds like the game Wing Commander, right? And that was a game conceived in the early Nineties.

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