Ramblings

So I guess spring's been cancelled this year.
A quick 10 cm of wet snow today knocked out our satellite dish for the first time in years. It's been out for something over four hours now...which figures, because the Leafs are playing the biggest game of the year tonight.
I'm listening to that game over the Net as I write this. It's a new twist on what used to be my standard routine on game nights. For more than five years I had no television. Not "no digital", not even "no cable"...no television. I became very well acquainted with the radio dial.
Now, of course, just about every radio station has a Net feed; there are about a thousand million billion all-music stations online; not to mention iTunes, which is the closest thing to online crack cocaine I have yet found.
Just after I joined the legions of iPod people, a colleague of mine at work told me he was getting unlimited downloads from iTunes.
"Yeah, right. How much is that costing you?"
"I dunno. But I downloaded 1500 songs last month."
"???"
"Yup. 1500. And it didn't try and stop me or anything, so I must be getting unlimited downloads."
I went home, booted up iTunes, and searched in vain for any way to get unlimited downloads...any way to get any number of downloads on any sort of monthly plan. No such thing existed (still doesn't, either).
The next night I conveyed my findings. "Whatever," he said. "I'm just sayin' I got 1500 songs. Actually, I got another coupla dozen this morning."
Two weeks later his Visa bill showed up. For those of you who don't do iTunes, songs cost 99 cents apiece...
Here's the capper: the day before that bill came, he dropped his iPod, which shattered.

I've said before that I don't feel schadenfreude--ever--but I should probably amend that. When the consequences of stupidity assert themselves, I'll be right there chortling every time. Even when it's my own stupidity...ever hurt yourself in some ridiculous way and been forced to laugh through tears of pain?

Eva's joined a gym. Actually, "gym" is far too pedestrian a word for what this place is. I toured it last night with her and had my mind blown. Spotlessly clean, of course, but that's just for starters: the equipment is all brand new, state-of-the-art, incredibly high tech. Free with your membership, you get what they call a PET: a Personal Electronic Trainer that plugs into any piece of equipment you use and tracks everything you do. Big fluffy towels are provided, gratis. Satellite televisions are built in to every piece of equipment: your choice of 24 stations. Cafeteria serving healthy food. Day care. Dry cleaners. Physiotherapists, massage therapists, even a dentist on site. An ATM that doesn't charge for withdrawals.
There's a change room built in to the shower for total privacy. Also a separate women's gym, only accessible through the change room.
No, here's just how special this place is: THEY CAP THEIR MEMBERSHIP. That's right: once they reach capacity, they will not accept any more members: you go on a waiting list, and good luck with that...there's a six percent dropout rate
I almost joined too, but decided not to: we've got gym-quality equipment at home. (After hundreds of miles logged on our treadmill, the arthritis in Eva's knees spoke up and demanded more sophisticated equipment.)

And that's my life in a screenshot.