Tuesday, April 26, 2005

New Members

Please give a happy, heapin' welcome to the Raging Ranter, and a Chick Named Marzi, the newest members of the Red Ensign Brigade!


The Raging Ranter has made this bold proclamation: "Dithers has pimped himself out to Jack Layton, and he can't even explain why. This is going to be remembered as one of the most laughable maneuvers in the history of Canadian politics."

I know I'm gonna like reading his blog.

As far as Marzi goes, any chick who says things like "I think I could actually *like* Duceppe's passion and articulateness if he wasn't a fascist separatist bastard. Duceppe was speaking solely to a Quebecois audience. I think it took him all of three seconds to mention the word "referendum" and it took him another three seconds to mispronounce fed-r-AL-ism and de-MOCK-rcy. He asked, in effect, if Quebeckers wanted to be part of a federal system that's *that* corrupt." and "Finally, Jack Layton hit the podium and reminded everyone that he'd be selling used cars in the parking lot as soon as the press conference was over. Once the crickets stopped chirping, he mimicked Harper and said that this was a LIBERAL scandal and not a CANADIAN scandal. With that out of the way, he used his five minutes with a microphone to pimp the NDP agenda as much as possible. Words like "environment," "Kyoto," "student debt" and "hemp products for all" started dripping from his mouth." is okay by me!

I wonder if she's single.

Go welcome them both.

Monday, April 25, 2005

Red Ensign Standard 20

Dana at Canadian Comment has raised the Standard!

And what a sweet-ass job he hath done. So go read it all, and click some Red Ensign linkage!

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Kill the bastard

He will pay for what he has done.

Army Sergeant Hasan Akbar was convicted Thursday by a military jury of premeditated murder and attempted murder in the grenade and rifle attack in which he killed two of his comrades and wounded 14 others in Kuwait during the opening days of the Iraq war.


The world will be a better place without this miserable shuntbag fouling up our oxygen supply.

I'm going to suggest to dictionary.com that his photo accompany the definition of dishonorable.

Not to mention asshat, coward, rat-bastard, filth-bucket, corrupt, untrustworthy, sleazy, treacherous, treasonous, sickening, and pooh-faced.

Saturday, April 23, 2005

Money for me

I've just applied to Google's AdSense program. I had thought about doing it a while back, but held back because I thought it might be more hassle than it's worth. I see some of the crazy ads that it generates on blogs, and I wonder whether I want that. I link to and post about some pretty crazy stuff. It's gonna be interesting to see what they come up with.

Also, I'm not entirely sure how this will all work out at tax time. If I actually can make money on this thing, how the heck do I claim it on my income tax? I guess as "additional income", and since it probably isn't going to amount to millions of dollars, I don't have to worry about it too much. Still, the more you make, the more they take.

I have taken the first step towards becoming a blogstitute. How fascinating.

Thursday, April 21, 2005

No class

Royal Asshat Loyal Achates on Pope Benedict XVI:

Hopefully, his reign will be short-lived.

BUT! He doesn't wish him dead.

Of course not. Liberals are always on the side of life, after all.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Great Word

This is the first blog I have seen to use the word pulchritude.

Oh yeah, and the post is great too, so go read the whole thing.

Of Drywall and Mold and Carpets.

One of the reasons there is such a lack of posting to WCC (besides Pei Yusei being a lazy-assed shyster) is that I have a job.

Yes, a job (a swear word to most socialists...).

But not just any job. I'm a carpet technician. My primary duties include cleaning carpets using the Hot Water Extraction method, flood restoration, fire and smoke damage restoration. I have, on occasion, cleaned furnace duct systems and industrial-sized grease hood systems. Now, all of that together is more than enough to keep a guy employed full-time. But the scope of my job is so much more broad than that. For instance, the "call-out". One of the wonderful bugs features of my job is that the company pays for a cell phone. I am to carry my cell phone at all times, in case of an emergency. This makes sense, as you can well imagine if you have ever had a basement flood! The last thing a flood victim wants is to leave a message on an answering machine on a Friday night, and not receive an answer until Monday morning. With the cell phone, I can be contacted at any time, and within one hour I can be ready to deal with the issue.

I really appreciate my cell phone. It has saved my proverbial arse many times. With it, I can contact the office and receive clarification on my next job, get directions to a house if I am unsure of where it is, and inform my customers if I am running a little behind (very handy, since showing up late is not pleasing to most people). As well, I can contact my friends and invite them out if I happen to be having coffee, or on my way somewhere. Since the majority of my friends are married, it also enables them to call home and let the wives know that we are going to the ol' watering hole for a couple of hours :-) Conversely, it enables the wives to get a hold of their husbands through me.

Alright, I didn't say having it was without blemish.

All kidding aside, there are a few times that I have wished I didn't have the cell phone. Last Saturday, I was in the middle of a rather large carpet cleaning job. My phone rang, and Karen from Carter's Jewellers proceeds to inform me that the float-chain in the public toilet at the Smithers Mall has broken. Naturally, no one at Carter's Jeweller's (or anyone else at the Smithers Mall, for that matter) has any inkling of an idea of how to re-attach a chain. Since the company I work for has contract to clean the public washroom, parking lot, hallway, and foyer at the Smithers Mall, it is up to me to repair the broken chain.

What a valuable commodity I truly am.

I drove all the way to the Mall (granted, in Smithers that is a maximum of 15 minutes from anywhere), spent a grand total of four seconds re-attaching the chain, and departed.

This is but one example of how the cell phone can be a beacon of irritation in my life.

************************

As mentioned before, part of my job duties involves flood clean-up. Today, I had the distinct pleasure of doing it twice. One was planned, the other was... not really. The planned one was a house in Kispiox Valley. The house is located north of Swan Road, and a couple of months ago had a water pipe burst near the hot water tank. From what I understand, the owner of the house was having some health troubles at the time (ie he was in Vancouver getting his ticker checked out), and was unable to fix the problem and deal with the water. For a month or so two bedrooms and a storage room were wet. I mean real wet. When I arrived last week to do the preliminary tear-out and emergency services, I happened upon three carpets that were moldy and stinky, as well as birch wood walls in the two bedrooms that were slighty moldy. But the worst was in the storage room where the water tank was stored. The drywall in that room was literally coated in mossy mold- walls, ceiling, everything! There was a cure for something on that wall, I guarantee it. Fast forward to today: my co-worker and I returned to the house to haul away the remaining debris, bleach any remaining mold into oblivion, and do a general check-up on the status of the carpets, walls, etc. Not bad, and nothing unexpected.

However, just before we went to that job, we were to check in at the Hazelton RCMP and treat the bad odour smell coming from their basement. They had some water issues as well last week. My co-employee and I went downstairs, and noticed a rather moldy odour coming from the locker-room. Upon closer examination (well, not really that close), we noticed a large forest of grassy mold growing on four walls, as well as the underside of the staircase. It was quite something, indeed. Keep in mind, this is the Police Station. An hour and a half later, we had hauled away a large pile of digusting drywall, bleached the heck out of the wooden studs and floor, and treated the remainder of the basement with a nice smelling odour counteractant.

On top of these two flood jobs, we also waxed the floors of the old "Hazelnut Grocery Store", which has been transformed into a rather nice office building. The owner wanted the floors shined up, so we shined 'em up real nice.

This may seem like a large abundance of work, but it was only a nine hour day for me. Yesterday was even more bitter: an 11 hour marathon of carpet cleanings, drywall tear-out, and general craziness. But you get the idea. When I get home from work, I'm sacked right out. My mind wants to blog. It really really does. And there is certainly enough stuff going on in the world to blog about. But my body is just weak.

To conclude, if you are a homeowner, and you have a flood/broken water pipe/etc CALL A PROFESSIONAL RIGHT AWAY. Make sure that they test any and all drywall that was affected. Mold takes no time at all to grow on drywall, and when it grows, it grows like mad.

As well, if you've got carpets in your house, it couldn't hurt to get them professionally cleaned once in a while. The Hot Water Extraction method of cleaning really is the very best way to remove dust, dirt, spots, allergens, and any other shunt in your carpets. I'm convinced that a large percentage of people who have recurring allergies/runny noses/sore throats are suffering needlessly. Imagine wearing a pair of socks for an entire year without washing them. Even if you don't walk through mud, those socks are still going to be disgusting. Or if you ate your meals off of one plate without washing it. You would never go without washing your dishes or your socks. Why are your carpets any different?

Update 8:18- No, I don't smile at work like these two.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Explain it to me

How is it that this guy is still a lowly insect?

Someone needs to hook this brother up with some linkage. His work is invaluable.

Slam Dunk

I don't often link to the NY Slimes, but when the Yankees are losing, how can I resist? The Times sports columnists beat up on the Yanks in a manner not seen anywhere else. Sadly, there is registration required to view, but it is worth the two minutes it takes to fill out the form.


But the Yankees do not expect to lose four-run leads to anyone, and with a payroll of about $200 million, they are not built to lose, period.

Yet the Yankees have done little but lose lately.
*******************
The Yankees' bullpen has been awful, with a 5.45 earned run average, and the starters have also struggled. In the last eight games, no starter has pitched at least six innings while allowing three earned runs or fewer. And with the Orioles going for a sweep Sunday, the Yankees will turn to their most erratic starter, Kevin Brown (emph. mine).
*******************
It is a feeling shared throughout the team, whose problems are not confined to pitching. The Yankees are batting .206 with runners in scoring position after going 1 for 10 on Saturday. With a chance to make things right, the Yankees only made them worse.


This makes Temujin smile.

Update 1:26- So does this.

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Buck Martinez

I remember hearing Buck Martinez say a couple of months ago that the Jays were not going to improve this year.

I wonder if he would like to retract that statement.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Zing!

I've never been to Utah but as far as I've heard Mormon Central ain't no party I want to go to.

Bwahahahahahahahaha!

From what I understand, a lot of ex-mormons think so too!

Bunny Blogging?

Temujin's attempt at Bunny Blogging

Bunny blogging, the latest fad in the blogosphere. Initiated in Taiwan by the Jakola's.

Too funny.

Has it really been two weeks?

Sue has raised the 19th Edition of the Red Ensign Standard.

Personally, I think she has done a fantastic job. But I'm still trying to figure out how she made two weeks pass by so quickly. Must be a new West Coast power-transfer thing I have yet to hear about.

Sunday, April 10, 2005

Better than nothing

An article in the Interior News caught my eye last week, I present it to you now, in West Coast Chaos Fisk-o-Vision:

The leader of the provincial Communist Lite New Democratic Party is getting a head start on the campaign trail with more than a month to go before the official election call.
Carole James was scouring touring Northern communities last week trying to con convince voters that the NDP can be trusted again in government (!!!) and will do a better job than the B.C. Liberals.
Her mission was to point out the differences in visions for the province between the NDP and the Liberals as voters prepare to go to the polls in the provincial election on May 17.
"New Democrats believe the economy needs to benefit everyone in B.C., not just a a few under Gordon Campbell and the Liberals," James said. "We believe you should be able to get good quality health care regardless of where you live in the Lower Mainland or Smithers or Houston."


Bwa-hahahahahahaha! Have you BEEN to the hospital in Smithers, Carole? It looks like a penitentiary, but you get the same level of "quality health care" there that you receive everywhere else. So how exactly do you plan on increasing the quality health care than people in the north receive? By allowing private clinics to operate, where people have a choice as to who serves them, or by funneling millions of dollars into the very system you think does not provide us with "good quality health care". Let me guess, the latter, right Carole?

But can the NDP be trusted to run the province again so soon after the fast ferry fiasco, the North Burnaby Inn casino licence debacle and other scandals?


Not a bloody chance.

James thinks so.


Color me shocked.

"New Democrats received a thunderous ass-kicking a very clear message from all the pissed off people who hate you the voters in the last election, we had two seats returned to the legislature," James said. "That's a damned trouncing pretty clear message. I wasn't part of that last government but I was a New Democrat.
"I've received a clear message from the people of B.C. that we have lost our connection to the people of this province. We've learned from that mistake."


"Lost our connection to the people of this province" Geez, gag me with a spoon. Spoken like a true Dipper.

As for taxes, James promised not to raise taxes (too much, except on those eeeevil rich folks, they'll pay for being rich!) if the NDP wins the election, but the NDP will not lower taxes either. "We need to look at putting back some of the programs and services that this government has cut," James said. "We believe in using targeted tax incentives to increase industry and business."


For example, a $300 tax credit for grow-op owners. And free hybrid cars for everyone.

James wouldn't take a position on the idea of a bear hunting ban to protect the rare white Kermode bear until she sees accurate data on the bear population.
She said there's a lack of accurate information because the Liberals cut funding for conservation officers.


We are talking about a genetically abnormal bear here. It's not even it's own friggin' species, for cryin' out loud.
Curse those right wing nutjob Liberals for cutting the research! CURSE THEM!!!!!!!

James won't take a public position on the Single Transferable Ballot referendum and neither will her party (reason enough to vote for it, ed.), but she said the existing system of electing MLAs is flawed considering the results of the last two elections.
"Two elections ago, you had the Liberals get the popular vote but the NDP won the election, and in 2001, the NDP got a large chunk of the popular vote and only two seats returned to the legislature," James said. "That shows there isn't a balance of seats and the vote that comes in (sic). We have to do something differently."


Well you certainly weren't saying anything about it in 1996, now were you?

Doug Donaldson, the CCCP NDP candidate for Bulkley Valley-Stikine said he will not become a 'Yes man' to James if the NDP takes power and he's elected an MLA.
"I put the riding at the top of my priority list and will make sure that the views of the people here and issues I'm running on are at the forefront of the NDP strategies by talking to Carole and other decision-makers in the party," Donaldson said.


*phew* I'm relieved. It is great to know that Doug Donaldson will fight for me.

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Trouble in Central B.C.

It would seem that the eeeeevil Gomery Publication Ban is having an effect on North central British Columbia! Our precious and beloved Interior News is experiencing technical difficulties.

How much you wanna bet our benevolent masters were worried that the I.N. was going to blow the lid off Gomery, and silenced the small-town paper? Any takers???

Anybody???

*phew*

I love this guy

Any of you that are fluent in the language of the blogosphere are well aware that the best compilation for all things Gomery, Adscam, and Publication ban is to be found at Dust My Broom

Thank you so much for your efforts, Darcey.

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Ouch

Warning: Graphic description forthcoming. Do not continue if you are squeamish

Lack of posting on my part for the near future is due to an accident I had yesterday afternoon. I was attempting to replace a halogen light lens cover, and the whole system came crashing down on me. Fortunately, I am largely unharmed, although there is a rather nifty looking patch where the bumps on the lens cover introduced themselves to my upper forehead.

As well, my right hand is currently bandaged rather heavily. I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but when the structure fell down, it managed to catch a piece of my right wrist. A rather large piece, in fact. After composing myself, and testing my head to see if it was bleeding, I happened to glance at my right hand (which was not hurting at the time). I had to do a double-take, because what I saw was rather shocking. Rather, what I didn't see was shocking. I did not see a large portion of skin that normally prevents the blood in my veins from squirting all over the place. Upon closer examination, the large cut (perhaps 4 centimeters long, around one centimeter wide, and varying degrees of depth) began to slowly turn from a nice pink skin color, to a deep red, as the blood began to bubble up through the remaining layers of new, fresh skin. I looked at my co-workers, and said "I am going to the hospital to get this looked at!"

Upon driving to the hospital, I quickly happened upon a nurse. She took a quick look at it, and told me to sit down and wait while she dealt with other patients (insert generic Canada Health Act/Socialized Medicine/Wasted Public Services comment here).
When she finally did get around to cleaning up my wound, I watched and listened and she told me that it was too large for stitches, but probably not large enough to warrant a skin graft. I wasn't too upset about that, since the thought of having a piece of skin from my ass transfered to my hand was a little unsettling, to say the least. After about a half hour of treatment at the hospital, she bandaged the wound and sent me on my way. But almost right away, I noticed the the bleeding was not stopping. The "second skin" bandage she placed on the cut was not preventing the blood from flowing (I am not a doctor, but I am quite sure that this link describes what she placed upon the cut). When I woke up this morning, a small but prominent amount of blood had seeped through the bandage.
My second trip the hospital in as many days was pretty much identical. Same nurse even helped me. She removed the bandage, cleaned the wound, and replaced it with the same "second skin" pad. So far so good though, I am two hours removed from my latest hospital visit, and there is no sign of blood showing.

In conclusion, this may be the last post from me for a little while. Even with two hands, I'm not very fast typist. With one hand bandaged up, this post has taken half an hour.

Maybe the Pei-master will make an appearance or two in my absence.

Friday, April 01, 2005

Young and the Restless

Neil Young suffered a brain aneurysm a couple of weeks ago, and has just gotten it treated. As the article notes, he will not be able to perform at the Juno awards this year because of it.

I've been a huge fan of Neil Young for a long time. Although his best songs were written before I was born, he has consistently and continually put out hit after hit after hit. Even though his political views vary from decent to down-right bizarre, there is something in his music for everyone.

Temujin's Essential Neil Young List:

10. Southern Man
9. Ohio
8. Harvest Moon
7. The Needle and the Damage Done
6. Piece of Crap
5. Downtown
4. Keep on Rockin' in the Free World
3. Sugar Mountain
2. Cinnamon Girl
1. Heart of Gold