Missing it

The only thing I will miss about being in Texas: the humidity - it keeps my lips and skin really moist, and I have the best hair I've ever had in my life. However, I'll not miss the humidity for the simple reason that it makes the nasty heat even worse.

The things I'll be extremely glad to get back to:
- my honey and my kitties
- milk. Dear god I miss the milk. If I lived here I would quickly have osteoporosis.
- our reverse osmosis system
- food that isn't deep-fried/greasy
- having stuff to do at work. I don't sit around well.
- stuff to do outside of work
- more than one room in which to exist outside of work hours

Okay, now I remember

I miss my Roly. He's soft. I also miss Gizmo, but I only knew her for a week, so less so.

I had a reason for being here

I hate the speed my brain goes at. I had some idea for something to write about here, but that was 30 seconds before I got here, and now it's gone. Happens with groceries that I need, and things I want to talk to people about over the phone, too. I can't wait till people have built-in voice recorders.

I don't get it

I was reading this article today. I had to laugh. The ad idea blows my mind on so many levels.

How are the oil sands and tourism related? The last time I checked, the oil sands are nowhere near Banff, which is where a goodly portion of the tourists go, or near the major cities. And even if they were, Canada has rather strict regulations on environmental standards and cleanup, much higher than the US. Although I agree that it's not an environmentally sound plan to depend on a non-renewable resource, I don't see why the oil sands are being remotely coupled to the disaster that is the Gulf spill.

Besides which, the US is a much larger producer of oil than Canada. Canada/Alberta certainly isn't the reason that the States has an addiction to non-renewable energy. Even beyond that, the States went through a major kerfuffle several years ago with the WMD distraction in order to get more oil. They have a history of using misdirection and blaming Canada for their failings.

I don't know who came up with this plan, but next time guys, think a bit more first.

Updated: And also, just to get to Banff, one would need to drive/fly, therefore using OIL.

This followup says that the oil sands destruction covers an area the size of England. I've seen an oil sand well produced using steam, along with the resulting "mess" it creates. It was a pile of sand. Not a very big pile of sand. I'm inclined to believe the Albertan who said it's more like 550 km square. Environmental groups like to fly kicking and screaming off the deep end about situations they haven't fully researched. It's fun playing the Let's Get Sued For False Advertising game!

Brain... exploding... now.

Texasperated

I'm getting less tolerant of idiots the older I get. My uncle was right when he said that people don't change as they get older, they just become more concentrated. People think I'm joking when I say I'm a bitter old man, but I'm actually serious. If you say things in a laid-back manner, people don't believe you. I capitalize on that frequently as I have an aversion to lying. Therapy doesn't always have to sound like therapy, I just like to get things off my chest.

I'm in training right now and it's making me twitchy. At first I thought it was the after-effects of missing my honey, but then I described my trainer to Jay. He agreed with my assessment, so now I don't feel nearly as bad about my constant high level of annoyance. At least now Jay should be able to come visit me as planned. He's been in the hospital for the past week with an infection that was masquerading as kidney stones. Turns out he just has weirdly-placed organs which screwed up the doctor's diagnosis. I'm already making plans to go places while he's here, we're renting a car so NO WALKING! Although it is good exercise. Sweaty sticky exercise.

Or not so hot

This week it was cooler here, but even more humid. So still hot. I was in the pool yesterday and got a bit of a sunburn, even though it was cloudy almost the entire time. So today I slathered up good before going out.

Staying in a hotel is rather monotonous. I brought some things to do, but I don't have a huge attention span for any of them. Lately I've been trying to go out more and do more walking when the other guys want to go somewhere. At least it's something to do.

Today is the 4th of July, I can't figure out what people do on this holiday. We went down to Walmart this evening, there was very little traffic, almost nobody at any restaurants along the way or in the store itself. It was busier earlier today, so I'm not sure where they went. Someone told us that things stay open and have big sales on, so maybe they'll be closed tomorrow.