I read this news article last week and it really touched me. I think everyone should read this and smile. It will give your day a boost. :) (This is local news.)

Three year old saves brother's life

Full text of the article under cut )
The Canadian dollar is the highest it's been in 31 years. I know that this can pose problems for Canadian businesses, but seeing the dollar so high excites me.

The dollar today:

1 Canadian dollar = 1.0056 US dollars

1 US dollar = 0.9944 Canadian dollars
I heard this on the radio this evening on my way to work. I tried to google and came up with nothing. Well, the story is finally online.

Gang members raped pregnant woman (story link)
police: Two men arrested, two others being sought for repeated sexual assaults over two-day period

This disturbs me because last week a woman killed a pregnant woman and cut the fetus from her womb. Then she drowned the pregnant woman's other 3 children and stuffed them in the washer and dryer. (story link)

I'm half temped to google "fetus snatching" and see when the latest online news source reported it because it happens far too often too.
I just woke up and am getting ready for work. I turned on the radio, and OMG I can't believe what happened!

There was a shooting in Montreal at Dawson College.

The story from CBC is here: 2 gunmen dead after Montreal college shooting (The news article subject will change as the page is updated.)

If you want to listen to CBC live (no need to download anything), *click here*.

EDIT: He had a blog on that Vampires site. Here's a cached page if you want to see it before it goes down. *click* Traffic is heavy so it might take a couple seconds to load. This guy could've been *anybody.* I've seen blogs like his before.
I am reading news articles on Corporal Boneca, the latest Canadian to be killed in Afghanistan. This one hit close to home because he's from my home town, Thunder Bay. He was a reservist who volunteered to go to Afghanistan for a second time.

I was on shift when Cpl Boneca died. I knew all the details, and didn't plan on reading what the media had to say. I wasn't even going to post about it. There are too many people losing their lives in the Middle East. But, I was chatting with my mom and she mentioned that the media is saying he wanted out of Afghanistan.

So I googled, and what I found is really sad. The media is saying he hated it over there and was considering lying to a padre about being suicidal so that he would be discharged.

The father of his girlfriend is saying that he wasn't trained properly and wasn't prepared for what he was up against. That really pissed me off. He was a reservist with 4 years in (that explains why I don't know him; I left T Bay almost 5 years ago). Our military is given the same training standards across the board whether you are a full-time reservist, a part-time reservist, or a member of the regular force. With 4 years in, you can bet that most of those 4 years were spent on courses and doing drills and exercises. Having been overseas myself, I know that you have to go through a month of mission training before you are deployed. My mission training was detailed. They had experts come in and give classes on the cultures we would meet overseas. They even went into the types of dangerous bugs and animals we might encounter. Oh there was more than that, including mine training, weapons training (on weapons we'd come across, not ones we'd use), etc.

With Cpl Boneca being a reservist, that means he ASKED to go. We get missions offered to us, but unless you request it (put paperwork in to your boss), you aren't going anywhere. They said that this was his second time in Afghanistan. I know that we have upped our role over there, and we are more active than before, but he should have had SOME idea of what he was volunteering for. If he had seen the news at any point since his return from his first mission, he would've known that things are more intense. Given that he was an infantry soldier, he knew what his role would be, and that it was a dangerous one.

I am pissed because the girlfriend's father really shouldn't be saying such bullshit unless he attended training with Cpl Boneca and knows for a a fact that he wasn't trained properly. I am pissed because the girlfriend's father is trying to portray Cpl Boneca as a naive young man. I am upset that the media is making Cpl Boneca look unprofessional when he should be honoured for giving his life for his country.

I don't doubt that Cpl Boneca was depressed and wanted to go home. My mission wasn't nearly as dangerous as his, and I was depressed as hell. Every time I called home I'd say "I cannot wait until I go home. Only xx days left." There is nothing wrong with being miserable when you are so far from home, eating strange foods, being thrown in with different cultures, and being separated from your loved ones. And maybe after a few months Cpl Boneca doubted his purpose in Afghanistan, that's ok too. I don't think he was naive and misled or under trained like they are trying to make everyone believe.

Cpl Boneca should be honoured for the job he did on his mission. Saying anything else about him is disrespectful.
Man, the new 10 digit dialing is sooooo annoying. #&^$%@ I don't think I'll ever get used to it.

I kept forgetting to post my disgust at that drunken idiot who pissed on the War Monument on Canada Day. Can you believe that??? How disrespectful!!! A lot of people don't know that it's not just a monument, but the burial site of The Unkown Soldier. When I came to Ottawa for Canada Day 6 years ago, I remember we went down to the monument after the fireworks and people were paying their respect and laying flags on the tomb. Other people were coming up and stealing the flags! We gave them shit and told them what the flags were for. They didn't know it was a grave and felt bad so they put the flags back right away and apologized to us. I can't believe what someone did to it this year. Their face was plastered all over the news, pictures of them caught with their dick hanging out. Here's the full article for anyone who's interested: Reward prompts callers to ID man desecrating war memorial

Oh yeah! I have some good news too. This isn't so new anymore, but I kept forgetting to update about it. Remember that girl who was murdered in my neighbourhood? (Click here to read my original post about it.) Jennifer Teague got off a late shift at Wendy's, and wasn't seen again for 10 days until they discovered body. Her neighbour had confessed to the murder. Aparently he was high when he did it. I've been waiting for a while for them to announce her killer. I feel better knowing that he knew her and it wasn't a random act. I hope he gets what he deserves. Here's the article on this news event for anyone who's interested: Teague's accused killer has court appearance

In other news, I took a video of Vicki and some random video of around the yard. I'm trying to download Windows Movie Maker, but I can't find the actual link to download it. It says to go to Windows Update, but I am having no luck finding the thing. I'm losing my patience. lol I hope to post it tonight anyways. Now my mouse is dying, so it looks like you'll have to wait a little while longer.
al-Zarqawi killed

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed overnight in an operation by U.S. Special Operations Forces, U.S. military officials told NBC News on Thursday.

ABC News reported that he was killed in a U.S. air attack on a house in Baghdad.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was expected to make an important announcement at a news conference in Baghdad on Thursday, one of his advisers said.

Al-Maliki adviser Adnan al-Kazimi told The Associated Press that he had heard a report that Jordanian terrorism mastermind al-Zarqawi may have been killed late Wednesday in Baghdad.

Al-Kazimi said he could not confirm the report. He said al-Maliki was scheduled to shortly give a news conference along with the top U.S. general in Iraq, Gen. George Casey.

Editor's note: This is a breaking news story. Please check back for more details.
I've decided how I want to spend part of my two weeks off. It came up in a few comments, and I'm really excited now. I want to paint some of the rooms in the house. We've lived here for 2 years and the house still has most of the paint from the old owners. All we've done so far is the kitchen, family room, and office. I'd like to at least do the dining room and living room, and maybe the downstairs bathroom. That would cover the main floor. I'd like to do the master bedroom and our ensuite soon 'cause that's where we spend the most amount of time. We did pick out some colours a few months back. I hope I can locate those swatches.

Work is going not so well, and quite slow. I'm coming up to just over the half-way mark now. Funny, I've had this window open since 8:11pm, but haven't had a chance to type anything out till now. In reference to my post on Afghanistan, it has just been released that Master Corporal Wilson, who was injured in the LAV III rollover, has died from his injuries. (I am unable to find a photo of him at this moment.) My thoughts go out to his family.

I hate driving home when I'm so tired like this. I also hate that when I get to the front door the cats are begging me for food and the dog has to go pee... when all I want to do is crawl into bed. I almost want to stay up so that I can enjoy my first day off. But I know that there's no chance in that happening; I'll be exhausted.

I was doing random blog searches and found a couple interesting things. One blog contained quite a bit of information on someone, and I was surprised they'd divulge so much over the internet. He was a soldier, and when I looked up the name he gave in our military address book, sure enough there he was! I know I give personal info on here, but usually only under private entries. Moving onto the next thing I found... Have you ever done a blog search on your own journal, or done a random blog search, and noticed that you can read part of a protected post? I saw a couple live journals in my searches, and when I clicked the entry link I was denied access, but from the search page I saw a good bit of info from the post. I told my husband about this, and he said he heard that there's a way that someone can view your entire locked post if they wanted. Apparently there is a hole in live journal, so your posts aren't as protected as you might think. I'd like to find out more on this.

Maybe now that it's slowed down again, I'll get a chance to catch up on some LJ reading. I can't wait for this night to be over.
Crash of armoured vehicle kills Canadian soldier in Kandahar

A Canadian soldier died and seven people were injured Thursday after a 21-tonne armoured vehicle smashed into a taxi, flipped and came to rest in a twisted heap. The accident killed Cpl. Paul Davis of Bridgewater, N.S., and seven other people were injured.

The crash happened just before 10 a.m. on a routine patrol from the main Canadian base at Kandahar Airfield. The soldiers were heading out to meet with local Afghan officials.

An Afghan interpreter and six Canadian soldiers were among the injured, including two servicemen who were in serious condition Thursday night.


Cpl Davis


"The accident appears to have been caused by our vehicle striking the vehicle," said Col. Tom Putt, deputy commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

Three soldiers and the interpreter in the passenger cabin at the time of the accident were injured less seriously.

The other soldiers would have likely been driving or manning guns to ward of would-be attackers on the dangerous road from Kandahar Airfield.

Canadian officials suggested the taxi might have failed to yield, causing the accident.

After hitting the taxi, soldiers say the light armoured vehicle - known as the LAV III - flipped twice and came to a rest on its wheels in a cloud of dust about 15 metres from the road. The gun turret and rear axle were detached from the main body of the mammoth eight-wheeled vehicle.

Two of the wounded soldiers are in serious condition. Canadian doctors sent Pte. Miguel Chavez, originally of El Salvador, to a U.S.-run hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. Master Cpl. Timothy Wilson of Grande Prairie, Alta., was the other soldier in critical condition.

One soldier ended up trapped beneath the turret but survived.

Four soldiers were immediately flown to the airfield hospital, including Davis. The other three soldiers and the interpreter went to Camp Nathan Smith by road. Two were later flown to the airfield for X-rays.

The soldiers in stable condition are Pte. Nathan Justice of Dauphin, Man., Pte. Mark Taylor of Prince Rupert, B.C., Pte. Thomas Wong of Edmonton, Alta. and Sgt. Darren Haggerty of London, Ont.
On the way home from work I went to the McDonald's drive-thru to pick up supper.

[livejournal.com profile] minxy_baby *pulls up to the speaker and rolls down window to hear*
McDonalds employee: Just a second please.
[livejournal.com profile] minxy_baby: *freezes in car with window down*
*1 minute later*
McDonalds employee: Hi, may I take your order?
[livejournal.com profile] minxy_baby: I'll get the crispy McChicken meal.
McDonalds employee: With a coke?
[livejournal.com profile] minxy_baby: No, diet coke, please.
McDonalds employee: Is that for here or to go?
[livejournal.com profile] minxy_baby: Say whaaaaa?
[livejournal.com profile] minxy_baby: Hello?
*another minute later*
[livejournal.com profile] minxy_baby: Ummmmm?
[livejournal.com profile] minxy_baby *still freezing*
[livejournal.com profile] minxy_baby: Can you tell me how much I owe, please?

McDonalds employee: That's $6.92 at the second window.

Hey, well at least she got my order right!


Hubby showed this story that he got off one of his most frequented sites, BoingBoing. The guy made an updated post. I understand why he didn't post the names or phone number, but man, if I knew that this family lived in my city, I'd call them daily and probably pay them a visit. *scowl* I hope he gets his camera back.


I lynched this from [livejournal.com profile] mslesa. Just a word of caution: make sure you're not drinking something when you click the link. Turn up your speakers to hear teh funny!

EDIT:
My husband showed me this on Valentines Day. Actually, he started describing it to me and I was LOL'ing so bad that he had to show me. I had to go find the link again. Here it is. Enjoy!
Yes, I am going there. I've held my tongue on some of your journals, so I've decided to post my thoughts on it in my own journal. Our media keeps spoon feeding us this volatile topic and it doesn't seem to show signs of disappearing.

Warning: You will find all kinds of offensive things under this cut )
Lee Valley Tools is a big name in Canada. They produce woodworking and gardening tools and distribute their products worldwide through mail-order. In 1998, Leonard Lee, owner of Lee Valley Tools, founded the branch Canica to work closely with Ottawa doctors to design instruments to meet the ergonomic and safety needs of the hospitals in Canada and the US.

Mr. Lee has taken action against Canada Post with a full page newspaper ad in Wednesday’s Ottawa Citizen. He has correspondence, and the history of problems going back to December 2003, documented on his website. If you have a few minutes, it’s a very interesting read. Mr. Lee is very well spoken, and does not beat around the bush.

I hope something good comes out of this publicity. I always thought Canada Post overcharged. We send 2 – 3 medium parcels out for the Christmas holidays every year and it costs us about $100 for postage. Mailing a small package of cookies to the US costs $20. At their price you’d expect prompt delivery, but half the time the mail is late.

Down with overcharging!
Did anyone hear about that poor guy who lost his job at Zellers? (For my American friends, Zellers is the Canadian equivalent of Walmart, where the lowest price is the law.) Apparently, Zellers was going to throw out some chocolate bars that had passed their expiry date so the employee figured he'd take them home. He put about 30 chocolate bars out the back door of the building, and planned to collect them after work. He was going to spare them from the trash and give them to his kids as stocking stuffers for Christmas. Instead he got pulled into the managers office and was fired. He admitted that he didn't ask for permission, but they didn't say whether he knew it was against store policy or not.

That story makes me sad. This poor guy is trying make ends meet, barely earning a living at Zellers, tried to do something nice for his kids on his small budget, the chocolate bars were going in the garbage anyways, and they fired him a couple days before Christmas.

It's been about 2 years since I've shopped that store, but I'm going to boycott Zellers now. I always found the store trashy - even worse than Walmart. The employees weren’t always the friendly helpful type you'd expect in a store like that, but now I know why. They don't make much money and are treated like shit by their employer.

EDIT: I originally heard this story on CBC Radio 1 last night. Here's a link to the story at Canada.com.

Minxy is sad now. :,(
0.o I HATE the cab drivers here! This shit always happens.

Woman Dies after Being Dragged by Taxi

A woman in her 20's is dead after being struck and dragged half a kilometre by a taxi in the city's west end.

Police say the incident happened at around 2:40 a.m. Sunday in the Kanata Centrum parking lot.

Investigators have closed the eastbound Queensway between Terry Fox Drive and Eagleson Road as well as Kanata Avenue from Centrum Plaza to Aird Place as they piece together what happened.

Police have not released any names and have not said what taxi company is involved.

Good & Bad

Nov. 24th, 2005 04:09 pm
First, I'd like to wish all my American friends a happy Thanksgiving! Hope you all enjoy your meals, and the time you spend with friends & family.

I just finished making a vegan dessert, and it smells delicious. I hope it tastes as good as it smells. I licked some batter off my finger and it was yummy. I also made a batch of peanut butter dog cookies for the pooper. I cut them with little animal cookie cutters. Even the dog cookies smell good to me. The true test will be if Vicki likes them. They are just cooling now, and I plan to dip them in melted carob that's left over from the vegan dessert.

This is Vicki's first winter. She's 8 months and 1 week old now. If it doesn't get too dark soon, I'm going to take some pictures of her in the backyard. She's thrilled about the snow that fell this morning. We got quite a bit so far. I swept off the deck and all the furniture on it. The snow blew in threw the screened sides. Munchie went out on the deck briefly, but I don't think he cares for the snow.

We lost a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan today. :( Four were injured and one died when their vehicle rolled. That's all the information that's been released to the public so far. They're going to give more details later today. If you would like to support our troops, please visit this site to make a donation. The link will be permanently on my sidebar.

Lastly, I'd like to welcome anyone who wants to join [livejournal.com profile] snapshot_hunter to our community. It's a fun picture challenge we play. We are currently on the voting round, so join up now to participate in the new challenge to be announced shortly.

First Snow

Nov. 15th, 2005 04:21 pm
We had snow last week, but it was so light and the weather was too warm that it melted as soon as it hit the ground. Today we got our first *real* snow fall. The weather is calling for freezing rain and more snow.

2 Pictures of My Front Yard )

Weather Forecast... the reason I hate Ottawa this time of the year )

My husband is out in that shit right now getting gas for me and picking up my lunch for tonight. I'm leaving for work real soon, and I'll be taking the long way, avoiding all highways. I can't wait until Ottawa cools down to a normal winter temperature and only snow falls from the sky. I broke my pelvis in a car accident 2 years ago because we got caught in freezing rain. Ugh I hate this weather.
I found a couple articles (CFRA local & Ottawa Sun) on the incident that occurred Friday in my neighbourhood. As I feared, a 16 year old biker was hit by a truck. I didn't see the truck pulled over, but it says the accident happened at 4:30pm, and it was 7:30pm when we drove by. Thankfully, it wasn't a hit & run as my husband thought it might be. I would have felt better if I saw the truck pulled over, but now I am a relieved that it was just an accident. Both articles say the boy's injuries are critical, but the Sun reports it's not life-threatening. The 55 year old driver of the truck was not injured, and the police say alcohol was not involved. This intersection is about a 20 minute walk (or 3 minute drive) from my house.

I never heard about this one:
A 45-year-old male cyclist was struck and killed near the same intersection almost two months ago.
We seem to be in the news far too often.

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