Tuesday Afternoon

Well it is 14 and Sunny here in the land of the Egg. Egg you say, this town has a huge Pysanka as it's claim to fame (attached is a photo, I have some, but not on iPad). So after you look at it, you'll know why it is significant at this time of year.

Had fire practice last night. It is becoming very active, not everyone does the same stuff. As much as I like crawling around in searches, I am getting older. I am learning pumps (again) on the trucks. We practiced pulling up to a hydrant, hooking up, and getting water. I will be the pump guy on several weekends this summer.

The budget axe will fall next week I guess. We were supposed to find out yesterday about job cuts, but you know how the government is, it was probably the upper echelons that found out and they had to digest it. Our department should not be hit that bad. Well I hope not anyway.

I joke that if it is, I will open a consulting business and make the real money. I am sure I will be treated with the greatest respect by my current co-workers.

Has anyone noticed that people who are texting or talking on a cell phone have priority over everyone else? When I was in West Edmonton Mall a guy came out a store and walked right through a crowd of people without even acknowledging their existence, texting all the way. Just a bit further down, a girl stopped at the bottom of an escalator to text her message. Are we going to have a distracted walking law soon?

Moved from religion to hand guns in discussions. Not so much the Trayvon saga, as it is still underway. Yesterday a pissed off student took his weapon to school and the silicone chip inside his head was turned to overload and no body's gonna go to school today....

I can't believe the gun mania in the USA. The NRA has people tweeting and blogging about President Obama and the possibility of taking guns away. Obama has never said this. But the Right are using the First Amendment to say things which threaten the Second Amendment and all the people that don't read, but watch Fox, believe they have to hunker down. I don't get it, if everyone is good, why do you need that many guns to protect against bad people? Handguns to boot, not the other ones. Oh Well.

I honestly think that when Canada's founders were meeting in Charlottetown (1867)and making the plans for the new country, they looked at the US Constitution and decided to stick with the British one. They had to do it fast though, the Civil War (1865)had just ended and the ruling President had embraced the policy of Manifest Destiny (1839) which basically included modern day Canada; that we would vote to be part of the US. Well I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Canada went the other way on militias, we didn't set up our own. The West was won by the Railroad, the Mounties and a pile of people from Scotland. There were some rebellions, Frog Lake and Riel, but for the most part it was a more peaceful building of a country than was occurring to the South.

Tonight I am at the first meeting of the recognition committee for the fire department. There are five of us, the Chief is going to give us his vision.

Nothing planned for Easter Weekend. Maybe a ride, but it is supposed to be colder.

Thelma (the guy in the cowboy hat) will probably want to do something. Maybe I will go to his place and set up his iTunes, iPhone and computer. He is 68 years old and no we are not dating, we just hang out. He used to be a flight attendant with Air Canada. Now he gets to travel a lot, for cheap.

Well going to the gym to burn some calories.