Rock You Like a Hurricane

Okay so somewhere right now in the Atlantic Ocean there’s a hurricane with my name on it. At last count it was sustaining winds in the neighbourhood of 135 km/h giving it enough juice to be considered a Category 4.

It looks like its going to avoid the east coast US altogether, and that’s good news because God knows those people have had enough bad weather in the last few years.

Hurricane Bill is right now a-blowin’ in the wind on its way towards Canada – Nova Scotia and the Maritimes to be specific. So here’s my question.

Am I a bad person because a part of me is rooting for the Hurricane?

Probably.

So here’s my hope. Bill reaches a 5 and blows and blows and blows and becomes the strongest hurricane there ever was… but never lands. After letting the world know of his awesome power, Hurricane Bill will unleash its rage upon the uncaring ocean and wend its way out to sea in a harmless blustery endeavour (that describes a lot of what I do – harmless blustering endeavour).

Go Bill!

How Facebook Saved My Neighbbor’s Cats

A harrowing story of how two cats almost starved (not really) but were saved by the awesome power of the Internet.

My wife is a nice person.

Most days I’m not. I’m not a bad person per se I’m just not necessarily one of those really thoughtful people. I’ve accepted it. I know what I am. Because I’m not thoughtful I don’t think about it.

Back to my wife. One of her friends and coworkers lives two doors down from us. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship as we can ask her to babysit occasionally and in times of need she can ask my wife to feed her cats should she wish to go visit her parents on Vancouver Island.

This past week however, we had ourselves a little perfect storm (by definition a perfect storm refers to a critical or disastrous situation created by a powerful concurrence of factors (Source: Meriam Webster Online). In this instance the concurrence of factors includes my wife being out of town for a week, my wife’s friend being out of town for a week and me being the sole person in the vicinity able to feed the cats. In a rare moment of consideration I volunteered to fulfill that role.

Where’s the disaster you ask? Well when you put me in sole charge of anything that breathes of its own accords you’re inviting danger in for a stay over.

On Sunday morning my wife departed for the lovely shores of Gambier Island with our 2 kids in tow. On Sunday evening my wife’s friend departed for the shores of Vancouver Island leaving her kittens in the hands of yours truly. The cats were fed, I wouldn’t have to do anything at all until the next day.

Sunday night went by peacefully and Monday morning being a holiday I had myself a sleep in; I awoke and leisurely enjoyed my morning. And what could be more leisurely than hanging out on the Internet playing Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook? (Highest score 210K if you’re wondering). That’s when I saw it.

In the list of scores your friends have gotten over the last week I saw a pic of my wife’s friend, reminding me of two things. One, while her high score was a good high score it wasn’t as good as mine, and two, I’d better feed her cats. I looked at the clock. It was 11:00am...

As fast as I could I walked two doors over and found two very p.o.’d cats. I promptly fed them (with no small fear for my life; I’ve seen that episode of CSI where the cats feed off the old lady) and went back home. When I got home I put post-it notes in very prominent places reminding me to keep up the feeding schedule.

The cats survived the week. I survived the week. The neighbor doesn't know... unless she reads this mind you, so let's keep it between you and us.