A Patch of Blue

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

More Charts and Graphs

Soggier Still
The rains have now reached the point where everyone is now almost urging them on. The record for the most rainy days in a row for Vancouver is 28. We are at 24 today, and no end to it is seen on any of the forecasts (although every once in a while I’d see a sun appear next to Saturday or Sunday, but I suspect this was just wishful/wimpy thinking by some meteorologist). After just 5 more days, we have bragging (or perhaps whining) rights. Worst Winter Ever. Most Rain in Recorded History. Even George Stroumboulopoulos, the twenty-something hipster host of CBC’s The Hour took pity on Vancouver and had them put an inset of footage of a sunny beach on the screen during half of the news last night. (Pam and I are both becoming fans of The Hour. Sure it’s a little goofy at times, but it sure is nice to see a newscast that is targeted at younger viewers — probably about 25-35 — and it doesn’t talk down to them. You’d never find anything like it in the US, where the evening news is supported almost entirely by pharmaceutical companies and is clearly aimed at the over-60 crowd).

It’s not just the Rising Water Level
Accumulated days of non-stop rain are not the only records I’m keeping my eye on.There’s also the case of the Canadian versus the US dollar. I know, I’ve mentioned it before, how the US$ keeps dropping and dropping and the CAD$ keeps rising and rising. I remember a discussion with our investment advisor about what to do if it hit $.85, as we still had (and have) some funds here and back in the US in US dollars. Well, have a look at this:

The Canadian dollar hasn’t just hit .85. It’s roaring on past it. At the rate the Canadian Dollar is climbing, by the end of the year (by my estimates), the US and Canadian dollar will be equal. While this is bad news for our savings, it is good news that I’m working and being paid in Canadian dollars. Still, one wonders what happens after parity. Do we keep going? Does the US start to become a bargain for all us Canadian shoppers? More seriously, does this mean that trade with the US takes a hit? That could hurt the economy here pretty badly.

I keep wondering if the lack of confidence with the US currency is somehow linked to the US’s fall in the world’s esteem. As they roll around like some dying animal in unending war, multi-trillion dollar debt and one corruption revelation after another, perhaps the financiers and investment bankers of Europe, Asia (and Toronto) are starting to take a cue from all of those crowds of protesters. According to my parents, the port of Canton in China was not merely catching up to the US. “It’s there.” stated my father, meaning that it was clearly showing the signs of an economic superpower that had surpassed the US in infrastructure.

Nevertheless, fear of following the US politically seems to be on the wane. The Conservatives, led by Steven Harper, seem poised to win the election (sorry, no poll graph here of the opinion polls of Harper). While Harper is definitely not my choice, I have to keep telling myself that he’s no George Bush, and to be sure, he isn’t. Still, whenever I hear the words ‘Conservative victory’, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and my blood pressure probably follows that graph.

Our Friend the Beaver

My friend Matt got me a copy of the book “How to Be a Canadian“, and I’ve gotten through about a third of it already: It’s a scream. One of my favorite parts so far is:

Official Role Model
The Russians have a bear, the Brits a lion, and the Americans a mighty eagle. In Canada. the national animal is a beaver. Renowned for its hard work, even temper, industrious nature and … oh, who are we kidding? The beaver is a forty-pound water rat whose most heroic trait is that he thinks to slap his tail and warn his buddies before he runs away. And cripes, it’s not like Canadians were short on choices. The country is filled with nobler, more awe-inspring animals. The timber wolf. The grizzly bear. The mountain lion. The woodland bison. Hell, even a caribou or a muskox would have been better than a buck-toothed, webbed-toed, waddle-happy rodent. But nooooo, when Canada’s national animal was finally made official in 1975, it was the beaver that was chosen.

I remember that when we were looking for some land to buy in Vermont, the Real Estate agent showed us one dramatic home site with a pond below it, and what looked like a swamp further down from that. The swamp was the result of a beaver dam, the agent told us. If we wanted to get rid of it, we could end up in a battle with the beavers, until we had them relocated (or, I assume, we relocated and left the next battle to some other poor humans). Needless to say, we didn’t buy that plot of land. Even if we had, Plan B (moving to Canada) made sure that Mr. Beaver and his fellow furry civil engineers wouldn’t have us to dam up anyway. So it’s a moat point. Ouch. Sorry.

It’s Still Raining and Everybody has a Cold

When I got back to work after the holidays, I found out that several people had gotten sick over the vacation (in fact, one had his entire family sick and even made one trip to the doctor’s office). So, I guess it was lucky that I didn’t get a cold last week or the week before. Of course, in keeping with my out-of-synch health these days, I have a cold this week instead. I’m clearly not alone. Not only does blog after blog that I read tell of cold suffering, but every third commercial on tonight’s TV has been for cold medicines. The most intriguing one I’ve seen is a eucalyptus tablet that you put in the shower. Sort of a cross between a bubble bath and a vaporizer, I guess.

I’ll bet a lot of people get a cold this time of year. It’s been raining on and off for about 3 weeks, and it’s due to keep doing it for another 1 or 2, at least. I know, I know, I was warned. It’s actually not bothering me that much. The only real drag is if I happen to be out without an umbrella when there’s a break. My quota for getting caught in a downpour (and it’s not usually that strong) is 2 times in a week. As for the rain quota, we are now just about at the point where the accumulated precipitation is average for the year, as shown by the chart at the top. The one on the bottom shows what it’s been like, and as you can see, it has indeed been raining for 3 weeks (apart from a brief lull of drizzle right on New Year’s when we were out of town. Doh!)

Fortunately Pam hasn’t gotten a cold…yet.

Happy 2006!

Our visit with my brother’s family in Seattle went by in a whirl. After some Holiday partying, shopping, and what felt like tons of eating, we returned via Trailways bus. The bus trip back wasn’t quite as comfortable as the train we took down, but it was fine, and certainly beat the expense of a rental car or the tiring drive and potentially long wait at the border. I’m hoping that we can do a repeat trip some time soon, or perhaps they can visit us here again.

If felt good to be back, and both Pam and I noticed that it was great to see familiar landmarks as the bus started to get near to town.

One More Surprise Stat
Since New Year’s Day fell on a weekend day (Sunday), many people in the US and Canada apparently felt cheated out of a holiday. So in some back room, someone placed a check (or an x) in a box, and lo and behold: Monday is another statutory holiday (a ’stat’ for short). I didn’t know this. In fact, I got up at the usual time, took the bus in to work and found the door to the office locked (and no answer to knocks or phone calls; I could even hear all the phones ringing!)

So, I had lunch with Matt (who is back from his visit to Lubbock with Oana) and got caught up. Later, Pam and I did some grocery shopping, so we’re much better prepared for the week. An extra final vacation day, even if somewhat unexpected, was appreciated.