Weekly Rant for Week of June 22-28

Finally I’ve caught up to the present. This morning I’m plugging away at my editorial duties with past episodes of Pipe Dreams streamed from NPR as a backdrop. The idea of listening to hand-built instruments valued at up to $50,000,000 capable of tones from 16 to 25,000 hertz streamed electronically on $350 speakers leaves something to be desired but lacking the opportunity to drop in on Notre Dame de Paris, Chatres, the Washington Monument, St. Paul’s Cathedral and other far flung locations this will have to do.

To begin lets get the weather out of the way:

As the above aptly illustrates our weather has been unsettled at best for the past month. Thankfully Oakville has been spared major flooding, major lighting strikes save for the one that put a quarter of the town in the dark, or tornados though thirty miles away in Toronto’s East End is close enough.

Now for some aphorisms:

An intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex.

Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963)

He is one of those people who would be enormously improved by death.

Saki

He's simply got the instinct for being unhappy highly developed.

Saki

The young have aspirations that never come to pass, the old have reminiscences of what never happened.

Saki

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for an evening. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

What's the difference between a boyfriend and a husband? About 30 pounds.

Cindy Gardner

And finally three for someone who will recognize himself:

Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate.

Thomas Jones (1892 - 1969)

"Who is more busy than he who hath least to do?"

-- John Clarke

You can only be young once. But you can always be immature.

Dave Barry (1947 - )

This supervisor has been bucking for recognition in my blog so here goes: What if you made the class clown a boss? Hope that Sicilian is happy now and that my kneecaps survive the vendetta.

Last Saturday, June 21^st, I got out of my apartment to make the trip to Burlington to help a ‘friend’ move his computer. These days getting somewhere in Southern Ontario is not about finding the shortest route but the one least likely to find one in stop and go traffic. The drive took longer than the actual task. I should have billed for my fuel mind you.

Back to work on Monday. Had the technicians in to repair the office photocopier—the task took 2 days. Miscreants with too much time on their hands torched a Community Mailbox. Lighting an incendiary device in the outgoing mailbox is one things, getting the resulting mess doused by the fire department is another—thankfully they showed restraint this time. Only two badly soaked letters. Made it home early on Tuesday to make necessary arrangements for my planned odyssey. On Wednesday I got to ride along with the single rural route driver in our office. The last time I did that it was as a child with my Mother’s cousin in rural Nova Scotia, this time the driver was over half my age and North Oakville can hardly be accounted rural. Being complimented on my delivery skills left me slightly bemused after 37 years experience. I really am preparing to retire. This week I cleaned out my locker, wiped the Kingston Traveler—flash drive—I’ve been using the past few years, and went through the traveling office cum leather case I’ve been using—it was my high school book bag so it’s over 45 years old. Went into work early on Friday and encountered the myriad road closures and detours necessitated by over-night construction. Arriving at the railroad tracks just as the barrier came down was the final straw. Went on a tour of West Oakville despite the heat and marveled at how the trees have grown over my tenure in the area, the shade was a welcome respite.