Category: Journal

Got back from Mojave last night. Pictures will be up when I catch up on my sleep.

So I’m sitting at work, basically twiddling my thumbs while system tests are running, waiting to get on the road to Cali. So when I saw a quiz at Sheila’s I thought I’d write a bit.

1. Where were you when you heard that Ronald Reagan died?

I think I was at home, checking Instapundit or something. Because I wasn’t in north america in the 80’s it’s all a bit distant for me.

2. Where were you on September 11, 2001.

At home, getting ready for work. I had just gotten out of the shower, when I heard something on my clock radio about a disaster in New York. Turned on the TV just in time to see the second plane hit. Called my mom just to share the stupefaction of that morning. Finally made it to work, but didn’t get much done, because I was constantly on the web checking for news. Traffic was bad that evening because the borders were closed, and there were planes landing all day at YVR.

3. Where were you when you heard that Princess Diana died.

Heh. I was playing an online RPG in my apartment in Victoria, and a couple of people were giving another crap because he had shouted out the news in the town square. Took a while to realize he was serious.

4. Do you remember where you were when you heard Kurt Cobain had died?

Nope. I was never a fan, so this never really registered with me.

5. Take one for the Gipper: What’s your favorite flavor of jelly beans?

I’m not a big fan of jelly beans.

6. Where were you when Magic Johnson announced he was retiring from the NBA due to AIDS?

No idea.

7. Where were you when Reagan was shot.

In Liberia, I guess, but I don’t remember it.

8. Where were you when Challenger exploded?

In bed in Liberia. Dad woke me up and said that the shuttle had crashed. We spent a few minutes listening to Radio Canada on a crackling shortwave set. It was traumatic, since I was and still am a major space geek, but we didn’t really have much to go on in Monrovia those days.

9. Where were you when the OJ verdict was announced?

Agressively defending myself from any information related to the entire affair.

One of these days I swear I’m going to move to the US.

I’ve taken to saying this quite often in the past while, and the response has uniformly been incredulity. Why on earth would I want to do something like that?

Aside from the fact that it may soon be illegal to affirm the doctrines of my religion (c.f. bill C-250), here’s yet another reason:

Martin keeps saying that we can’t have US tax levels and Canadian health care. But the US spends more per capita on PUBLIC health care than we do. In fact, if you count the tax credits given to employers on their employees’ health premiums, they even spend more as a share of GDP. So it’s not because their tax rates are lower that 43 million people are uninsured. (And anyway, insured or not, no one goes without treatment. Whereas here everyone is insured, but not everyone gets treated.)

And who might you cite as an authority on this? Roy Romanow, that’s who. It’s right there in the Romanow report.

Flew to to Toronto on the weekend for my grandparents’ 60th wedding anniversary. A pretty nice party — they got a card from the Queen, even. Caught up with the cousins, whom I’ve seen about once every five years. Comes with growing up in Africa.

Pictures up later.