As you can see from the Webcam at Jericho Beach, the rain has stopped. In fact, it ended yesterday. So, we missed the record. In fact, we fell a few days short of it. So, nothing to brag about, unless you consider ‘nearly as long as the record for number of days of rain’ exciting.
I’m glad that I can go out without the nearly constant drip of water on my head or feet, but I suppose I’d secretly wanted to see what truly unique rainfall levels would be like. It does give us one less thing to talk about, I suppose. I’m told that Canadians always do talk about the weather, but it’s nearly always in the form of a question (and I have witnessed this): It’s not ‘Gee, it’s been raining a long time.’, it’s ‘Wet enough for you, eh?’
More baby steps, and a busy week ahead
We fêted the arrival of Pam’s Work Permit. She already has some contract editing work, and is glad to be reentering the work force, even if it’s a part-time gig here or there until she finds something permanent. We also received two interesting governmental items in the mail this past week: First, there was a shiny white card with my new Social Insurance Number (or SIN). I guess this means that they can start deducting that from my paycheck, so I am also a participant in the Canadian Safety Net. As for you who don’t have one of these and disparage socialized government benefits, Let he who is without a SIN number cast the first stone… Sorry, couldn’t resist one last pun on SIN (as if I was the only one to make one of those, yeah, right).
We also received a bill for the premiums that we’ll have to pay to get socialized health insurance. So, per person, per quarter, as many people know, the bill is $94 CAD (that’s about $81 US according to the latest exchange rate). For the two of us, it means that we’ll be paying $288 * 4, or $1,152 per year for our Health Insurance. I’ll be getting dental and optical from work. This takes some of the sting out of those sales (and now income) taxes we’re been paying. As some Septic Tank Maintenance guy said in some commercial I saw years ago: “You can pay me now, or pay me more later.”
This week has a full calendar: On Monday there’s a meetup for the Graphic Designers of Vancouver, Tuesday is Gamelan practice, Thursday is the BC Apple User Group, and Friday is the Grand Old Man of Minimalism, Terry Riley (along with the poet Michael McClure) at the UBC Chan Centre.
written while listening to: Schreker: Chamber Symphony — i. Langsam, schwebend “, performed by The Musikkollegium Winterthur conducted by Hanna Weinmeister