Hi, B.

B's coming up to his six-monthiversary of unemployment. One of the (few) benefits of joblessness is the opportunity it affords to keep up with the latest internet trends. The past month has been all Merton and chat roulette, trolling and equals three, piano cats and endless teabagging jokes. I have never felt so in-touch with my culture.

B just announced that his favourite instrument is the vocoder, but he's just trying to be cool. In fact, it is the ukelele.

We are going to the Bahamas on Friday. B suggested for a laugh that he bring along a ukelele. I agreed that this would be funny, so I found one for him online. Unfortunately, it is the cheapest piece of crap ever and I'm embarrassed to have bought it. I am suggesting he leave it behind when we return from our vacation.

Our flight leaves at 5:00 am. I thought the security desk didn't open before six so I'm curious to see what happens. I got a big, fat book out of the library for the flight. It's practically War and Peace, it's so enormous, but it's a thriller. I don't normally read these things but it's kind of fun to have a page-turner on a plane.

This is a family effort. We are meeting the parents, Em and B-i-L there and we're all going to share a house for a week and snorkel. I can't wait, but B has pretty much had it with relaxing so he's not looking forward to it much.

I think there will be internet access at the house but no computer, so my intimacy with pop culture will be short-lived. For B's sanity's sake, I hope it stays that way.

Oh I do love you, One Great City!

I'm not avoiding the blog anymore. I just seem to have nothing to say. I had 56 posts in six months the first year I started this. I know the trick is to write anyway, because really I always have something.

Here goes.

Since the killer hockey final - where I was secretly cheering for the US after hearing a not-entirely-discreditable prediction that Canadians, blinded by golden patriotism, would hastily vote Conservative were an election to be called shortly following the Games - I have developed a renewed interest in a game that really hasn't captured much of my attention since 1986. Hockey fan WorkerB fills me in on the changes since then.

Fortunately, this is a good place to live should one want to know more about hockey. The NHL site is helpful, but last weekend, there was a live game, outdoors: old Jets vs. the media. Jets were better.

And then 'Death By Popcorn'. Violating all forms of copyright, this movie has been hard to come by, but thanks to the wonders of the interwebber, you can watch it right now if you want. I wouldn't call it a great movie, but it captures something about this place that is bang-on: that (almost?) indomitable spirit of the underdog. This is why I wanted to live here (but I tell people it was because of the quality of the planning school).

Some say they're coming back. Others say, never. It's all about money now and that's one thing that One Great City! does not have. But it sure has loyal fans.

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B took a video of that outdoor game which I haven't got around to uploading to the computer. This entry has been waiting for that upload to happen, but as it seems to make sense without the video, I will go ahead and post this now. Two weeks after the fact...