Please identify the idiot who suggested moving the French news report from 6h PM to 5h30 PM and throw him/her off the Jacques Cartier Bridge. At 5h30 I am either stuck in traffic or making diner and, quite frankly, I don’t give a flying fuck about Vero and I don’t consider myself to be in the same socio-economic level as the target audience of TVA and TQS. There goes 60% of my tiny exposure to French-language television.

So I switched to CFCF where I got to see one of my good friend and colleague, Dr. Gerald Batist of the MUHC, talk about colon cancer.

It’s getting colder and colder everyday in Montreal. Having a coat when you go out at night really isn’t crazy. Our next door neighbor has already covered up his balcony in his backyard. I guess I should do the same thing before it gets really cold and I get too lazy to do it.

With cold weather arriving, work also piles up, both school work and work… work. For school work, it’s quite normal, but I really don’t see it for work work. For that to stack up just when I start school, that’s some timing… there must be a greater force at work challenging me.

Howdy!

In today’s La Presse, there is an article by Philippe Renaud that pretends to be the definitive word on podcasts in Montreal.

He starts on about baladodiffusion (or baladiffusion as preferred by the l’Office qu

We were on our way home when my oldest daughter called us on the cell. Dad, I won a car! Did I mention that she’s 14 and doesn’t drive yet?

She was going through a bunch of coupons that came in the latest PubliSac and found a scratch and win from the local Chrysler dealer. It says that we had a 1/100 chance to win and she did.

Assuming that this isn’t a scam or a printer error, we should get to use a 2005 Jeep Liberty for four months over the winter. It will be a nice break for our 6 year old Grand Vitara but if they think that we will fall in love and buy it from them they are seriously deluded. I want to finish my mortgage first and then we’ll get a Prius.

Anyway, I’ll grab the paperwork tomorrow and, most importantly, take them home for a very careful reading.

Many of us saw the Radio-Canada interview of two Montrealers who spent a lovely few days in the New Orleans Superdome. I was just told that they work in the same building as I do.

Superdome cooties! Uuuuuuuuhhhhhhh!!!!

Yesterday might have been one of the most unusual Yulblog meeting since the media circus. Blork has some of the gritty details (I was too tired last night), but lets just say that if you ever feel like doing some discrete drug importation to our fair city, getting arrested in front of 30 bloggers is definitely not the way to go. I also wonder if they would have been picked-up had they been driving a grey Taurus instead of a souped-up red SUV. “Unfortunately” the whole thing was pretty boring, no guns drawn or resisting arrest, which is just a well since I forgot to bring my camera. The dog was cute though.

For today’s list of participants, Marie-Jo suggested that each one of us should include our favorite 80’s band. Bloggers obviously have taste, or a sense of shame, nobody picked Poison or Culture Club.

Marie-Jo: A-HA
Martine: Split Enz
Antoine: The Cure
Jean-Luc: NOFX
Melane: B-52’s
Samuel: Violent Femmes
Eric: Pixies
cfd: Taco
m-c: New Order
Sylvain: Berurier Noir
Karl: Earth, Wind and Fire
Geoffroi: Bon Jovi
Stephan: INXS
Nika: Echo & the Bunnymen
Serge: Huey Lewis & The news
Alston: Duran Duran
Thomas: Iron Maiden
Mark: Talking Heads
Stephane: A-HA
Ed: Tragically Hip
Vincent: Too young…Passe Partout?
Michel: Gentle Giants
Michael: Northern Pikes
Patrick: The Police
Frederick: The Cure
Eric: Men Without Hats
Alex: U2
Jean-Pierre: New Order
Philippe: NWA (yeah right!)
Sasha: Run DMC
Eric: The Clash
and me: Rush

There goes my first day at school and I’m already beat. It’s been a very long time since I stood for so long. I’m used to be on my couch or the seat of my bike.

Like every year at the Ecole de Design at UQAM, the dean gives a speech mainly for new students and afterwards, there’s an afternoon party to initiate the newcomers to the school. An activity that has always been around is building the tallest possible structure with marshmallow and spaghettis. The real fun I find in that is crushing the whole thing when it’s over.

I have never thought that filling up my Grand Vitara would cost me $81. My last trip to the gas station was a week ago, the tank was still half-full but I knew that the storm would have some nasty effects on the gas supply…nevertheless, it didn’t really hit me before today.

And we’re not done paying, while driving a private automobile is essentially a personal choice, everything we buy has to come here on planes, trains and 18-wheeler trucks. I really don’t want to know how much it will cost to fill-up one of those but these costs will be passed down to the consumer, even if that consumer chooses to bike and to use public transit. Winter will also be much more expensive for those who heat their houses with oil or natural gas. My house is heated by electricity. Do you think I’m worried about Hydro raising up my rate by 2% ? My neighbor’s bill to Esso will probably be twice what it was two years ago.

As discussed here and here, the effects of the storm on the economy and public confidence could very well dwarf the recession that followed 9/11. Even without taking oil into account, any geography nut will point out that New Orleans was built there for a very good reason. Half of the US ships its bulk goods down the Mississipi while a lot of imports snake their way upstream. Although it’s harvest season in the Midwest, that grain is going nowhere.

A couple of days ago, I was encouraging people to make donations to the Red Cross. You should still do this but I was wondering why they weren’t in New Orleans. The following is copied from their F.A.Q. and the second point is one of the stupidest thing that I have ever read.