I loaded up Canoe.ca today and saw the headline above. Something I never knew about Jack Layton. He may be an NDP, but I never took Jack for the decapitating kind.

Update 3:57pm Glad I got the screencap, the story headline got updated pretty quickly.

I saw this on MurderBurger and had to share.

I think I might be the only person quietly reveling the fact this summer has been unseasonably cool. I love this kind of weather. To me, any weather above 25 degrees is too hot. I don’t like sweating my nuts off, it’s just not my idea of summer fun.  Here’s my top 4 reasons why summer sucks.

1. Clothing with a lack of pockets – During the other 3 seasons of the year you are rarely at a shortage for pockets.  Come summer you’re down to in some cases 2 short pockets and that’s it.  I’m not a fan of using the bum pockets so they’re just ruled out.  I’ll never understand guys who have the rear pocket wallet system.  I can’t stand sitting on my wallet all the time.
2. Air conditioning – I try and put off using the AC as much as possible.  Sure it does a great job, but it costs on your energy bill, or burns extra gas in your car.  The cooler weather is actually saving people money if you choose to turn off the AC and just let the breeze roll on through.
3. Sunburns – I’m of Scottish/English ancestry with a particularly fair complexion.  I’m ever vigilant of sunburns.  I’m the type that gets a sunburn on an overcast day.  Less heat = less UV index, which decreases the likelihood of sunburns.  I tend to like to live my life after 4pm so I don’t get sunburnt during the day.  I’m weird like that.
4. Insects – Nobody likes bugs, but the more humid and muggy it is outside the more bugs there are.  I’ll take the cooler weather tradeoff any day of the week then spitting out gnats.

This is a little late on the Easter stuff, but I just had to post this. I was at Shoppers Drugmart the other day when I spied this little number in the clearance Easter aisle, slashed in price by 50%. Who the hell would want a creepy moss, wicker and chicken wire Easter bunny to greet them come Easter morning? It just seems so weird. I think young kids would be mortified if this was their Easter morning surprise. We all know that Easter is supposed to be about chocolate, turkey and Jesus. This bunny doesn’t appear to fall into any of those categories. It’s wicker hat will haunt my dreams.

I just question how many bad decisions were made along the line by people that caused this to even appear on store shelves. It just boggles the mind.

I was recently at Liquidation World in Cambridge when I discovered this treasure. Leonardo DiCaprio – The Interviews II. The cover art is obviously from back in Leo’s post Growing Pains teen heartthrob days, but before the current phase of constantly having awkward facial hair in every movie role. I’m sure back in 1998 when this was released it was definitely a hot property for all 13 year old girls to pop into their VCRs. The part I found most amusing about this was the fact it was actually the second in a series, meaning there was enough demand after the first one was released to merit a second edition. Though sorry Leo lovers, this was unfortunately the last edition in the series. Notice the price was listed as $1.99, then has a couple of marker slashes crossing it out. I don’t know what the price was slashed to, but I’m sure any DiCaprio fanatic could get a great deal to add this to their VHS tape collection.

So many people these days have a hate on for Walmart. I hear the refrain almost daily as people rail on Walmart as being the scourge of the retail world and whatever other propaganda parrot. I’ve heard many smug comments in recent days about the downfall of Walmart owned Sam’s Club in Canada. I have a contrary view to much of these opinions.

To me, Walmart seems to be looking out for my best interests by offering me the best possible prices on pretty much everything. My loathing for retailers is typically aimed at other big Canadian retailers like Future Shop, The Source and Staples. They seem to take every opportunity to prey on consumers who just don’t know any better. Very rarely have I ever walked out of Walmart thinking the price for an item to be outrageously expensive compared to the competition, whereas I can’t say the same about the 3 companies I previously mentioned.

Walmart seems pretty forthright with their goals. They want to have the cheapest price anywhere and stop at nothing to get it. In the current economic climate I appreciate places that are trying to save me money instead of trying to rip me off. I’m a smart consumer and am willing to shop around and find the best price. Quite often Walmart does have the best prices on things I’m looking to purchase.

In the end I think Walmart has just become the scapegoat for many businesses that have failed to keep up with competition. It’s easy to pick on them given they are the biggest retailer in the world. Obviously they must be doing something right to keep people coming back through those doors.

This February 26th is the inaugural Do Over Day. I think the concept is pretty amusing and sorta allows you give pause to things that you might have changed, or want to revisit. Myself I can’t say I regret too much in my life. Sure there are aspects that everyone would love to apply some revisionist history to, but for the most part I’m pretty content with how things have played out.

Hanging upside down from the jungle gym by my legs
I was thinking awhile back about how this could very well be the point in my life where I lost some of that childhood fearlessness, at the tender age of 6. I used to hang upside down from monkey bars and jungle gyms by my legs all the time, until one day I was hanging upside down from one of those metal domes play structures made up of all triangles. You may not remember them since they were all dismantled because they were pretty dangerous. Anyhow, my leg slipped and I fell on my head to the sand box below. I took a pretty good knock to the skull and had to go to the doctors to get it checked out. In the end no permanent damage, but I definitely think this event. If I were to do that over I probably would try not to fall on my head.

My summer as a bum
In the summer of 2001 after my second year of college I decided not to work that summer. I basically sat around and hung out with my friend Chance all summer. I think everyone looks back fondly on summer vacations they spent when they were kids, mainly because once you get into the work force it just doesn’t happen anymore. This was my last summer vacation and I had a friggin blast. Partied and ate ice cream, what more could you ask for? I would do that over in a heartbeat.

What are you going to do on your Do Over Day? Is there anything you’d like a mulligan on?

This just made my Monday morning. I posted awhile back about how we had tried to fill Stu’s office full of balloons and I hadn’t received a comment on it in the 6 months since it was posted. That was until yesterday when I had these gems left for me.

There is nothing that cracks me up more then unbridled internet rage directed at me. Especially when it when it is derived from something as benign as Johnny Depp having a balloon penis in his mouth. It’s really what makes blogging worthwhile. I honestly hope that he does post my link on johnnydeppspace.com. More wrath from Johnny Depp’s legion of 14 year old fans would amuse me to no end.

Lately I’ve been using Kijiji a lot. Since I recently purchased an Xbox 360 I wanted to find some good bargains. As much as I like the Wii, I know that for music games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band the 360 is a lot better for downloadable content and whatnot, so I wanted to see if I could sell off my Wii instruments and get the equivalent 360 gear without incurring any cost. So far I’ve sold Rock Band 2 for $40, Guitar Hero World Tour(game + guitar) for $85 and been able to get Guitar Hero 2 and 3 plus the wireless Gibson guitar for $40, then I bought Rock Band 2 for Xbox new for $60. I just have to sell Guitar Hero 3 and the guitar and I’m all sorted out.

I love selling stuff on Kijiji. Even though it’s kinda the lesser known sibling of Craigslist, Kijiji is way better, at least in my area. There are sites for Cambridge, Kitchener/Waterloo and Guelph for Kijiji, while Craigslist only has a Kitchener page to service those same areas. I sold Rock Band 2 within 3 hours of it being listed. I find if you put a fair price on something people will jump all over it. And it’s a good way of getting value for old video games instead of trading them in at EB Games for next to nothing. It’s just generally a good way of getting rid of old stuff you don’t need anymore and to find good bargains on stuff you want.

Corina and I both got sock monkeys for Christmas. I had one made for her that was a rough facsimile of me, complete with glasses and goatee, lovingly crafted by Adam and Corinna from Gus Greeper. Then my sister made one for me which I thought was really nice. He is apparently sad though. Either way it’s pretty cool to have a couple sock monkeys. I didn’t even know that they were all the rage this year for Christmas, especially since I ordered it 2 and a half months beforehand.