The Answer is Blowin' in the Wind

In recent weeks our Conservative government has awakened to the fact that the Canadian public considers climate change a serious issue that will affect their voting intentions. Now, having abandoned Canada's commitments to the Kyoto Accord, shown an disgraceful disinterest in international discussions and had their grand environmental plan literally laughed out of existence they are trying to paint themselves green. (Here's a preview: same plan, new words.)

Too bad letters from Mr. Harper are surfacing calling the Kyoto Accord a "socialist scheme" and praising the "essential to life" qualities of carbon dioxide. What an idiot! Or a panderer.

Looks like Mr. Harper's principled positions aren't so tightly held after all, just like his promise of a less divisive Parliament. Yes, that's what he promised, along with "accountability and transparency". Double oops. In fact the Conservative leopard is changing it's spots so fast that even a Liberal would blush. But they're still spots, and calling them green doesn't make 'em green...

Gah!

I watched two good TV shows this evening, the recent "Monday" episode of Studio 60 and the new "One Day, One Room" episode of House. I know Studio 60 is catching flak from the critics, but what I like about both shows is their meshing of serious issues and complex relationships with great comic dialog. A line from House resonated with me: "Life is a series of rooms, who we get stuck with in them makes up our lives". I think that's screenwriter-speak for "we are defined by our experiences and how we deal with them" which is true, true, true.

I saw another film yesterday while giving plasma and platelets; Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Kind of a detective novel comedy with snappy dialog and wild plot twists. Not to be taken seriously, but with very entertaining performances by Michelle Monaghan, Val Kilmer and especially Robert Downey Jr. Great fun!

Listening to: New Slang by The Shins from Oh, Inverted World.

Apheresis

I try to donate blood regularly, but with the triathlon season upon me I need to keep my red blood cells... So this week I tried platelet donation. This is a much more complex process - ninety minutes hooked up to a fancy machine that draws out some of your blood, removes the platelets and some plasma and then returns the rest. This cycle happens dozens of times over the session and each return of blood makes your arm feel a bit cool. I felt a bit light-headed at the end too. This kind of donation can be done every 14 days. Not sure how often I'll do it though! Although the nurse was a flirtatious buxom blonde...

Things are looking up on the job front, I've come across two positions that seem like a great match for my experience, and I expect to be interviewed by at least one of them next week. It's going to be a busy week because I'll also be driving down to my brother's place near New York to set up his wife's new company office. Sheryl will be coming along for the ride, which will mean she can finally meet my brother and sister-in-law.

Sheryl's back from Australia by the way. :-) She was down for almost a month visiting relations and got back last Sunday night. Good to have her back...

Listening to: Come Again by Thornley from Come Again.

One hour to live

I gave blood today, immediately after a short swim workout. It took four minutes for me to donate a pint! That was quicker than usual. Of course the administrative stuff dragged it out to a whole hour. (No, I still haven't "paid or received money for sex.") Given that the average man has twelve pints of blood I would have been drained in 48 minutes. By coincidence their records show that I've now given one pint of blood for each year of my life, so I'm going to assume that as long as I donate blood annually I'll never die.

Listening to: Pure & Easy (not available on the iTunes store) by The Dining Rooms from Numero Deux (my copy is from the Six Feet Under soundtrack).