I know, it’s only the preseason. It’s the first game of the preseason. It doesn’t count in a week or so. But… still. Ow. I didn’t actually watch tonight’s game as planned–TV issues decided to surface, and it resulted in the game being missed. But still. Did we even show up tonight? Does anyone know? Yeah, this is not how I invisioned starting off the year. Good thing it doesn’t count.
-
Senators 5, Maple Leafs 0.
-
The NHL preseason. Like spring training, but cooler.
It never matters how bad a year it’s been so far, at least for me. When it comes time for the warm-up to the regular hockey season, there’s no such thing as stress, irritation, or that damned recession that just can’t seem to let go of the Ottawa valley. Indeed, in the James household, it’s hockey first, life, the universe and everything second. NHL’s preseason kicks off tonight, which means I escentially get to shut out most of the world with the exception of a select few and do something I haven’t gotten to do since the beginning of June–crank up the TV, kick back with something at least caffinated and at most alcoholic, and just let go. AIt may not be hockey night in Canada for real, but for tonight, it’s good enough for me. Go Leafs go. And this time, please don’t screw it up completely.
-
It’s amazing what some folks will call a disability now.
I’m still curious what the human rights people’s explanation is for this.
The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld rulings that denying two chronic alcoholics long-term support payments would violate the province’s Human Rights Code.
The Ontario Disability Support Program had argued over the years the men should be ineligible for benefits because their sole impairment was severe alcoholism.
That argument had been rejected by the Social Benefits Tribunal in 2006 and last year by the Ontario Divisional Court, and the support program director took the case to the Appeal Court.
The Appeal Court on Thursday upheld the earlier rulings, saying that denying benefits to Robert Tranchemontagne and Norman Werbeski — who died a year ago — would be discriminatory, based on their disability.
It rejected arguments the men should instead collect welfare, which would require them to look for a job and get help with their alcoholism.
Welfare payments would be about half of what recipients receive in long-term disability.
So because a couple people who can’t be bothered making use of the more than a few options open to them re: getting a halfway decent job, the appropriate counselling–paid for by us, most likely–so they can at least have a chance at not drinking, and generally having a far more decent life than they’re giving themselves now are too lazy to do any of the above, Ontario’s human rights commission–and, apparently, the court of appeals–escentially states they get to be lumped in with those of us who just so happen to actually be disabled because… why, exactly? They can’t drink as much on welfare? They might actually have to eventually work? Seriously, I’m clueless here.
How is it, exactly, that two people who’s only “disability” is the fact they can’t seem to let go of the bottle long enough to get their heads on straight get to sit there and say they’re disabled, meanwhile the actual disabled among us pretty much get the shaft, and are at the same time trying to wiggle their way off this fish hook Ontario’s government calls a support program? Okay, I get it–kicking the habbit’s hard. I’ve got an uncle who’s been quitting off and on since before I was born. It sucks. Just like quitting smoking sucks. Or getting over your addiction to pain killers. Or any number of bad habbits people pick up for one or more of several hundred reasons. I get that. But being addicted to smoking, or pain killers, or any number of those other bad habbits, isn’t a disability. Neither, contrary to what our lovely HRC would like us to believe, is alcoholism.
Not entirely too long ago–in fact, I’m pretty sure it’s still going on in one way, shape or form–a relative of mine ended up with some pretty significant health issues. Not to get into any major details–folks I talk to on a regular basis already know the specifics, but it’s resulted in some pretty unhealthy complications that pretty much kept him doing as little as humanly possible while he recovered, on doctor’s orders. That same doctor also told him 3 things he was to start doing, as soon as humanly possible after he was pretty well recovered, in order to avoid a repeat–and, yes, so he could eventually get back to work. In no specific order they were: knock off the smoking, get a reasonable amount of exercise, lose some weight. He did none of those three. Instead, he started the ball rolling to try and collect his own disability paycheck. I don’t believe he ever succeeded, though he may still be trying–in all honesty, I haven’t been bothered to ask. But, he took that approach because it was easier–because he wouldn’t have to change anything then, and he and his family could still keep living most of the lives they were used to. Of course, meanwhile while he was trying to pull off that maneuver, money was tighter than anything and his wife ended up having to take a minimum wage job just to keep the roof over their heads–she hadn’t worked for at least 25 years until then. I continue to maintain he shouldn’t get a dime from ODSP, and neither, in my honest opinion, should these two.
Now, yeah, I’m definitely not the biggest fan MCSS and the Ontario Disability Support Program have at the moment. I’ll admit that. But in this case, if only because it illustrates in its most simplistic way part of what’s making the rest of us come up with the short end of the stick, I’m falling in step right beside them on this one. Save the disability payments for those of us who’re actually, you know, disabled. And get the one guy who’s still alive some freaking help. Seriously.
-
Confirmed: IE 9 is not for XP. Yay?
Microsoft’s been on a “let’s find reasons to kill off XP” kick since the advent of Vista, let’s just get that out in the open right now. If Vista wasn’t a hugely steaming pile of crap, they would have probably done away with XP long before now. But, it was, and they didn’t. So now they’re coming up with new and some might argue better reasons for folks to not use XP. Like, say, Windows 7–which I’m told is supposed to have all of Vista’s cool and none, or at least less, of Vista’s suck. And XP service pack 3, which kind of lead to their dropping support for anything running an older XP version. And now their latest torpedo aimed at the USS XP. It’d been tossed out there as an unofficial rumor, but it’s since been confirmed. The newest version of Internet Explorer doesn’t like XP. And was probably designed that way.
Now, the million dollar question–is that a good thing? For someone like me, who’s machine was only purchased about 2 years ago now, I’d have to say yes. If only because it was originally clocked to be able to run Vista–it shipped with Vista on it already, not that vista *stayed* on it–and can therefore, by its very nature, more than likely support 7 and not break a sweat. But for someone who’s only machine is kissing 10 years old because that’s about all the computer they can aford, that might not be quite so positive. Even in this day and age, there’s a hell of a lot of people out there who swear by IE and very little else. Personally, I use it only because most of the things I do don’t work very well in firefox, and that’s only going to become more apparent if I land one of the two jobs I’m staring at.
So, pretty much, unless you’re in my technological situation, you’re going to be faced with a simple choice. You can buy a computer that can support Windows 7, then upgrade to Windows 7, or use Firefox. I’m going to put my recommendation behind Firefox. Now, to go find me a job so I can work on converting them to same. Blog ya later.
-
Your postsecondary tuition only goes in one direction. Who wants to guess?
Tired of guessing? Here’s a hint. In all but 3 provinces, tuition’s on a larger than life increase. I met up with this larger than life factoid when I started my own trek back to college and, well, we know how that ended.
When I went to college the first time, for a law clerk course I ended up not making it through, for the 2 years the program was supposed to take, it would have cost me about $5000 on the outside, not counting residence fees–I’d chosen to stay in Ottawa for that one. For the course I was looking at taking, which started about 9 days ago now, it would have cost me just about as much for the 3 semesters that one would have lasted–that nevermind all the extra fees Algonquin College wants to tack on, like their $60 per semester for the privelege to access the college network–which is almost mandatory given how much of their crap is handled primarily over the offending internal network. fortunately if I’d gotten in this time, I wouldn’t have been the one paying for it, but still. Ow doesn’t even begin to describe it.
On the bright side, if I do have to go back to college for any reason, I know to do it in Nova Scotia. Their tuition’s apparently decided to buck the trend and go in the other direction. Although even if it hadn’t it’s probably still cheaper out there than it is in Ontario. My wallet’s in tears just at the thought of it–and I don’t even have to be concerned about it at the moment. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. College education scares me.
-
The state of Oregon screws up huge, wants the victim to pay for it.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. a woman from Alberta, Canada, marries a US citizen who’s still maintaining a residence in the US. She takes her kid down there for a vacation, between the three of them they decide the kid will stick around down there while his mother returns to Canada. The dude’s pretty much been the kid’s father, even though he never officially legally adopted him. Kid gets stopped by the cops for riding a bike without a helmet, has a background check run on him. In the course of that check, the police unearth a Canadian social services file on him, set up at his mother’s request to get her hands on the help he’ll need, what with him having ADHD and/or anxiety issues. Police refer the kid to the department of human services, who show up at the stepfather’s house. They take the kid, toss him in the system. The police, compassionate souls they are, charge his mother with abandonment on account of the kid was left with someone who wasn’t his legal guardian.
If it doesn’t sound familiar, don’t be too surprised–it didn’t catch my attention until recently either. This apparently happened in 2008, and according to the state of Oregon, is far from being over. The kid has since been returned to his mother, and you’d assume everyone lives happily ever after, right? Except not so much. Now, the state of Oregon has taken it upon itself to sue his mother for the costs related to fostering and medically caring for this kid while he was in their custody. So, escentially for the majority of the last two years.
Now, at the risk of coming off as someone who thinks he knows everything, does it really have to be specificly outlined exactly where and how many times common sense has kind of been left on the side of the road, here? I’m completely failing to grasp any sense of an understanding as to how in creation their complete screwing up of a child becomes the financial responsibility of the parents who the state just ran over. I mean, alright–so his stepfather didn’t *legally* adopt the kid as his own. He’s married to the kid’s mother. If she wasn’t present right at that moment she was before. They knew this. They also knew, or were subsequently legally informed, they screwed up huge when they stepped in–hence why the kid’s since been returned to where he belongs. So how does that translate into the mother owes the state of Oregon one red cent? I’m not sure I can find me a clue by four big enough for this mess. Way to make yourselves look like assholes, state officials. You just qualified for moron of the year.
-
Stephen King’s being immortalized–again–with a TV series.
Only this time, it’s about an entire series of books rather than one of his stand-alones. The Dark Tower series is supposedly going to be the theme for two feature films with a TV series slapped in between them. Because, you know, I really needed another reason to get beyond just considering picking up one of the 400 million Stephen King books we’ve got scattered on one hard drive or another. Really. Thanks, media folks. I hate you, too.
-
And just like that, I’m marketable again, apparently.
So, I may or may not have mentioned about an interview I was scheduled to have with Online Support yesterday. It was only supposed to be an interview. By noon yesterday, though, it had become an interview here with OLS, and a potential interview in Ottawa with Davis and Henderson. And by 4:00 yesterday afternoon, shocking the everloving hell out of me, it had morphed again–into a tentative job offer from OLS, and a potential interview with Davis and Henderson. Keep in mind until recently, it had been very nearly a year since a potential employer had even returned a phone call, much less had me in for an interview. And now I’ve got two possibles on their way into my hands. I’d call that a marked improvement. I should know at some point in the near future whether or not I’ll be actually working for either of these companies–OLS is waiting for a few minor logistical things to be sorted out, as is the other company. But, even if it is what I’d call a less than ideal environment, it’s still a tentative job offer. Now let’s see what happens.
PS: Hey, Rogers? You’ve still got my resume on file. I’m still employable, albeit not for much longer in all likelyhood. Call me.
-
Happy birthday, Aidan!
The only relative of mine currently unable to read this blog anytime in the near future officially turns 1 today. And holy crap has he managed to grow like a bad weed. He’s dangerously close to standing on his own, and as long as he has something to hold onto with one hand, he can give walking a fair attempt as well. And just recently, he’s made a semi-convincing attempt at forming words that consist of more than just muffled baby noises. This only just in his first year. If he starts actually walking this week, I think I’d call that a birthday present from himself to himself.
They’ve aranged a small little get-together they’re calling a party for him, an, folks have even shown up with gifts–though I think he’s still at that stage where the box the gift came in is more fun than the gift. Still, if it’s not insanely fun, someone’s not doing something right.
Happy birthday, kid. Hope you have as much fun on this trip around the sun as you did on the last one. Now where’d I put that can of coke I was gonna split with you without mommy knowing…?
-
Because this video’s hillarious, and I’m not doing much else this morning.
Candice showed this to Jess and I while I was hanging out in Rochester last month. I only just now got around to finding, replaying, and then posting. In three words: funny. as. hell. So, uh, yeah. The below is entirely her fault. You like, thank me. You don’t like, blame her. You don’t care, your loss.