This is TORTURE!

Almost 3:30, and still no call to pick up my house keys! ARRRRGGGGHHHH!
Oh, the humanity!

This is just for Kitty

Not one for the squeamish! This is courtesy of my buddy Chris.


Woman swallowed whole by leopard

I thought it was one of those fake emails too, until I saw the photo below. Somehow the woman was lodged in the leopard's throat and they finally *cut the leopard's head off to let the woman escape.

She was unharmed.... Unbelievable!!

*CAUTION-
Photo follows...may be too frightening for some viewers

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Woman swallowed whole by leopard! You just had to look didn't you!

Is it ironic...?

...That the word pronunciation is frequently mispronounced?

Seven more sleeps...

Number 8 will be in my new home. MY home. Owned by ME.

Woot woot.

That is all. Thank you and good night.

I'm learning from Kitty

You'll be proud of me, Kitty.
This morning, there was a voicemail message awaiting me at the Assignment desk. It was from a sarcastic arsehole who called just before midnight last night, while evacuated from his apartment because of a suspicious package found in the building. He berated 'A' News as being number three in the market and a bunch of idiots, ending it by saying he would check with CBC today.
So I called him back this morning (thank Gawd our voicemail systems records the caller's number). You should have heard the nervous laughter when I identified himself and told him I didn't appreciate the tone of his call, but understood that he was in a stressful situation. He was amazed that I called back, and apologized. I pointed out to him that CBC doesn't even staff its newsroom on weekends, and that he would be lucky to even find a phone number for CBC or the local CTV station.
We ended the conversation sharing a laugh over the way police apparently handled the entire situation, ordering an evacuation, but some people ignored it, and leaving those who obeyed to freeze in the cold, damp night for over two hours.

I do believe you have emboldened me, Kitty. I also know that we should only use our Force for good, but can we use it for evil once in a while, just for shits 'n' giggles?

By the way, I met the fancy cat with the leopard spots last night. He's amazing!

My, like, language-related rant of the week

I challenge everyone under 30 to go an entire day without using the word "like".
Hell, I would be happy if one of you could get through an entire sentence.

Note to Steve, Steph, Gilles and Jack:

Canadians obviously were NOT in the mood for yesterday's election. Woe be the tide whoever causes us to have another one in the next three years.

And not to forget Liz: With all due respect to your Party's raison-d'etre, what the hell were you thinking, especially actually believing you could beat Peter MacKay in Central Nova? Give your head a good, hard shake.

Yours truly,
Bob

Verbing nouns drives me crazy!

I'm the cranky old fart in the 'A' Ottawa & The Valley newsroom who rails at young reporters and newswriters about things like using the wrong word, misspelling, misprounciation (including pronouncing pronunciation as "pronounciation") and many other things. I've even been referred to as being pedantic (look it up).

What really tightens my colon -- but not my semi-colon -- is verbing nouns, as Calvin and Hobbes call it. That is, using words like transition, reference and access as verbs.

Today, I thought of a couple other nouns that are commonly used as verbs: party and beer, as in "When we were partying and I finished a beer, I hollered over the music to you, who were standing near the fridge, and said 'Yo, Dude! I gotta dead soldier over here. Beer me!'"

Next week's cover of The Economist

With thanks to my old hockey buddy Chris...

So let me get this straight...

American financial institutions need a 700-billion-dollar bailout, using tax money paid by John and Jane Q. Public.
One of the companies leading the way down the financial toilet is Lehman Brothers.
Yet as the big hand was reaching for the flush handle, the top executives at Lehman's were being paid hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses and dividends, led by the CEO, who picked up a cool 200-million himself.
"Crass" and "criminal" aren't nearly strong enough words to describe this debacle. This, while nest eggs are being eaten by possums.

SHEESH!

"It's too late to turn back now..."

With apologies to The Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose for the heading...
All of the conditions have been cleared, and in exactly 30 days, I will own my own home!
Now, the fun part: de-cluttering, packing and the actual move. I have an estimator from a moving company coming over Friday morning.
Any packing and/or moving tips? Horror stories? Come on, dish.