Valentine's Day Blizzard

We got a substantial snowfall last night, resulting in slippery roads and slow traffic today. Too bad I had a million things to do in the car! I knew I had a casting call in the morning, but then Sheryl called from her daughter's house in Rosedale, where they were "stranded" without a car. I agreed to swing by en route to the casting, drop Sheryl at her condo and take Tamara to her office. Then another call from my agent added a "go see" to the end of my morning.

So the day started with a quick trip to a neighbourhood chocolatier for two boxes truffles and then down to pick up the girls. Trying to find a side street route to Sheryl's I managed to do an illegal right turn in front of a police officer and buy myself an expensive ten minute time out. I got to the audition late, but so did everyone else. Later in the day I got word that I'm on "hold" for the part. Lines and everything! Fingers are crossed...

Next I slipped and slid over to the "go see". Met the art directors in their lobby, shook their hands enthusiastically and showed them my portfolio. Waiting to hear about that one. Next stop was my agent, to pick up my first big cheque from the work I did back in December and leave them the first box of truffles so they don't forget me. The second box of truffles were for Sheryl as we were heading out for a celebratory lunch over the pay cheque.

Since it was Valentine's Day I had a card for her to go with the truffles. The card was actually a carefully planned practical joke... She's been complaining that since we "broke up" I've been spending more time with a mutual friend (Adrian the photographer) than I do with her. She's also been teasing that she suspects there is more to my friendship than meets the eye. So her envelope actually contained a pretend Valentine written to Adrian with lots of references to how much he has "taught me", has "opened my eyes" and how I look forward to "learning more." As she began reading the card with a puzzled look on her face I quickly pulled it away from her and told her I'd put the wrong card in the her envelope. I had her going for about ten seconds...

A quick technology "ha ha": Last week while Bill Gates was promoting the launch of Microsoft's new version of Windows (Vista) he stated that there is a new exploit of Mac OS X "every single day" but no one will be able to exploit Vista. Well first of all the slight against Mac OS X was blatantly incorrect, as Bill undoubtedly knew. There have only been a handful of exploits reported in five years and none of them have ever been used to actually compromise a Mac. Secondly, Microsoft has already released it's first security patch for Vista, a critical vulnerability in Vista's security tools! Microsoft has also admitted that they made a number of deliberate and significant security compromises in the name of user convenience. It's also clear that a sound file, played over a Vista computer's speakers and "heard" by its speech recognition can, under the right conditions, execute commands to delete files, go to dangerous web sites, or mail user's documents to a third party. Oops.

Politics: Prime Minister Harper admitted today that he intends to pick judges that support his ideology. That's an unsettling first for Canada, love 'em or hate 'em the Liberals did a pretty good job of keeping the judiciary qualified and apolitical. Also weasel words today from Environment Minister John Baird; in spite of Al Gore's explicit statement to the contrary Baird claims he is still justified in quoting Gore as supporting the Conservative government's do-nothing environmental agenda.

By the way, the worst snowfall this week has been across Lake Ontario in the town of Oswego. They've had 12 feet of snow!

Listening to: In the Beginning by K'naan from The Dusty Foot Philosopher.