A toilet is a wonderful invention, especially the seat part. I had to takes 3 shits in the woods this past weekend and since getting back to civilization, the toilet has been the highlight. Three cheers for Thomas Crapper! Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray! (Ok, I found out Crapper didn't invent the toilet, but if I mentioned another name you probably wouldn't know who I was talking about).

So ya, camping this weekend up at Cowichan Lake. It was Rol's stag party and it was fun. About 10 of us went and took over Bald Beach at the base of Bald Mountain on the northern shore. Quite a cool spot, except it's on quite a slope and I didn't quite get my tent on the level. So I slid. Some of us played Murphy's Law to a tee and forced the good weather out by not bringing sunglasses, it was truly a hot, beautiful weekend. Got windy in the afternoons, but it's always windy at Cowichan. Mornings, the lake was like glass and wakeboarding was on. Evenings, the wind eventually died down and it was calm as for sleeping. Spent a lot of time being dragged behind the boat on the tubes...my body is getting broken in for the behind a boat sport season which has now officially started. It's all good...except the sunburn.

Election day in Canada today. The NDP will be getting my vote, cause the Conservatives suck and the Liberals have had their chance for long enough. What's with politicians waving at cars from the side of the road? You think that's going to make me vote for you? Because you waved at me? Ya, ok...I want someone like you representing me in Ottawa. Fuckin' idiots. Like I wrote before, there's no real good choice in politics, but I feel I should vote so I'm just going with gut feeling.

Some couples are weird.

There's this middle aged couple I see fairly regularly walking on the Goose. Twice I've seen them wearing exactly the same clothes...I'm talking hat to shoes, same colours and styles. Why would you want to dress exactly the same? You think it's cute? It looks so lame. Fuckin wackos.

Some of the issues in this election seem pretty clear cut to me.

Abortion: Pro-choice, no doubt about it. The population is getting out of hand. If a woman doesn't want to have a baby, she doesn't have to. I agree, it shouldn't be used as a method of birth control, but it should be available as a last resort and for victims of rape or accident.

Same Sex Marriage: Let 'em get married, why should the government care if a marriage is hetero or homo?

Those are the 2 issues I seem to keep hearing about. Of course I know there are many others.

So I thing I'm officially becoming a bike commuter...partially. I don't want to take the time (or the energy) to bike the entire 40km into work from home (including hills), but I can do the 12km from View Royal quite nicely. I'm enjoying it...I have more energy when I get to work, plus I'm getting much needed exercise on a regular basis. The Galloping Goose is a good trail for riding.

There's this little bunny that's always sitting on the side of the trail near the hospital in the early morning. He's there when I bike to work for the early shift, and he's there when I bike from work coming off the graveyard shift. He just sits there...doesn't get scared when I bike past. Only in the early morning. Not sure why or what he's doing, but he's cute.

My back feels better, still not perfect though. I think the bike riding and climbing has helped. I've been biking to work this week..it's been going good. I drive part way, then pull the bike outta the truck and bike the remainder. I still clock up 12 kilometres one way, which is further than most people at work. I hope we win some prizes for bike to work week. I stopped at the BBQ they were having yesterday afternoon. The information I had gotten said they were going to have a bike mechanics around to help fix bike problems...but I saw none. My front derailleur isn't adjusted right and the chain is ticking against it. I tried adjusting it with some success on tuesday, but it's tough, cause it has to be in the right place to avoid the ticking, but to still be able to get the chain in the right place to take gear...the chain has trouble getting into the top gear up front and it often grinds against the side of the cog a lot. I'll get it fixed up some day.

I test drove a Mazda3 on tuesday. It was pretty cool. I like those cars, the styling is quite nice and they're well made. One thing that concerns me is Mazda's relationship with Ford, but I don't think the 3 is influenced too much by Ford. It is built on the same platform as the Focus and Volvo S40, but I'm not sure who developed the platform. It's tough to get away from Ford these days, they own or partner with a bunch of international car companies. Regardless of the Ford thing though, I like the Mazda3 and would consider buying one. I don't know if I want to buy a brand new vehicle though...you lose so much money to depreciation and interest. It would be cool though. I haven't denied the thought yet.

Owly Fuck! I think there's a nerve pinched in my back. If I move my arms in a certain way it hurts. The pain is coming from under my right shoulder blade. I don't like it. I haven't been able to crack it out...usually I lean backwards over the couch back or the railing and a couple things pop into place and all is good. This one, I've moved in all sorts of directions and it just doesn't wanna go away. I might have to go to a chiropractor or something. I'm going climbing...I hope I'm able to climb. Maybe as I climb it'll work it's way out. I'll be stretching a lot, so that should be good. Climbing is fun...I'm likin' it.

Saw this movie, Love Actually, last night. It's one of those "everyone is linked to one another" kinda movies. It was mildly entertaining. It's about how different people deal with love in their lives. Some of the relationships were realistic enough, but some were pretty stupid. Then again, what do I know about relationships. Maybe shit like that does happen and I'm just blind to it, or missin' out big time. If so, I think I need to develop a British accent and head to Madison, Wisconsin...

Saw the Improv Comedy All-Stars last night (being most of the crew from Whose Line is it Anyway?, except the black guy and the rich guy)...very funny, good fun. The songs they created on the spot were brilliant, and overall the show was hilarious. Improv comedy is quite cool.

Now onto a more "serious" topic. The great Canadian election (or "a big bunch bullshit" if you ask me).

I'm not a political person. I don't pay much attention to what goes on with the people who "run" our country, province, or region. Why? Because it doesn't have much relevance to me...and there isn't much I can do about it. I know some people follow politics like a sports fan follows his local team...politics are like a real live soap opera for these people. You listen to them talk about it and they're all caught up in the goings on of the politicians and their parties and who said what and who's screwing who, etc ,etc. These people live for C-PAC coverage. I know people do it with celebrities too...so why not politics? Maybe it's even a step better that people follow politicians lives instead of celebrities'...I dunno, nor do I care.

So we've got an election in Canada coming up at the end of the month. Do I care? no. Why? Because whoever gets elected to lead our country will do some good stuff and some bad stuff during their term. There is no way any political party or politician can satisfy everyone...that's just not possible in anything. Furthermore, there's really only 2 parties competing for the leadership...despite the fact that we have several parties in the running. Now I realize a choice of 2 parties is better than a choice of 1, but it's still not much of a choice. Of these 2 parties, they'll keep some of their campaign promises, and not keep some of them. The problem is, we don't have any control of which promises they keep and which they don't. This is probably my biggest problem with the political world. Yes, we get to vote...once. Once that party is in power, we don't vote again to determine what they actually do.

People will argue that voting on the issues, even if it's just the more major ones, is not feasible. I can see why...Elections Canada is filled with a bunch of morons. No kidding, we received our "Voter Information Card" in the mail the other day. It's addressed to all of us in the house, but the actual piece of paper (incorrectly being called a card) only has my name on it. It also lists the polling station that I can use...but this polling station is not the closest one to my house...nor is the address correct even if I wanted to go to this polling station. But despite the fact that Elections Canada hires idiots, it's jobs. Jobs that come around only once every 5 years I believe. If we voted on issues on a regular basis, there would be reason to have more permanent jobs with Elections Canada. Jobs are good...it's always a political issue isn't it?

Why should we vote on issues the government is dealing with? Why not? I've been told that we, the people, actually run this country...we just elect a party to help us out. So why not have that party address and research the issues and come up with some possible solutions or work arounds or whatever...then have the people of the country vote on what should be done. As far as I know, right now, the government or the senate or the supreme court is the one making those decisions. Example: the same sex marriage issue. Why was this decided by the supreme court? Why couldn't Canadians have voted to determine if these marriages should be allowed? It seems to me that you would get a better feel for the true feelings of the people of the country if the issue was voted on by all.

I'm getting a little lost here...starting to ramble. But you get what I'm saying?

One other thing I have some trouble with. I don't know what the Prime Minister gets paid, but I'm pretty sure it isn't less that $100K per year. Now, I've been told that the last few Prime Minister's we've had, have been personally quite wealthy on their own (or from scandals and embezzlement possible, who knows?). What I would like to see, is a Prime Minister (and other politicians) reduce his/her salary to a more regular amount. Say $60K. That would take balls, and it would really show us, the people, that this politician is truly in it to make a difference and not for any other monetary or celebrity or status reason. I mean, the PM is provided a house to live in, and I'm pretty sure the majority of their travel is covered by government expense...so why the big salary? Especially of they've got a healthy bank account beforehand.

So in conclusion, you may think I'm not going to vote after this rant. Well, I've been asked this question by a few people recently...and when I reply "I dunno", they tend to get a tad annoyed with me. How can you not vote? It's your duty to vote. You have to vote. Well, I don't have to vote...my one little ballot isn't going to make any difference, especially out here in BC. But, I understand the reasoning behind "having" to vote, and I do plan to vote. I'm told that democracy is better than dictatorship, even though as I said before, we don't have all that much of a choice. And you know what?...a lot of people back in the 40's...they thought democracy was worth fighting and dieing for. So I vote because of them...I vote in their honour and memory.

Hmm, look at me with my opinions and shit.

I'm drinking Coke. I've broken my no Coke rule. In the last 2 years, I've only had one other Coke, not including the odd mixed drink including Coke, and a few Coke slurpees. I cut down my Coke intake dramatically...I used to drink it quite regularly and in large amounts. An ulcer changed that. I don't miss it, and this one I'm drinking now is not the start of a Coke binge. It's not even that good.

I don't know why I didn't do anything about it, but I was biking on the Goose in town today (yes, I biked to work and back today...it was good) and I was behind a couple high school girls on roller blades. One girl had a slurpee and I saw her pull the lid and straw off and drop them on the side of the trail...then she finished off the end of the slurpee and dumped the cup on the side of the trail. I said nothing, but I should have. I'm just a confrontation avoider. What is it though? Why would someone just drop garbage on the side of a nice trail like the goose? It's got to be a bad up-bringing. I just don't understand it. I mean, I'll hold onto an apple core until I get home while driving in my truck, rather than chuck it out the window...and that's an apple core...it will degrade and compost. This girl didn't even look for a garbage can, she just dropped them without any thought. Dumb fucking bitch. I shoulda rung her neck.