Holes in the Ice....an update to Black Water, Thin Ice

A view of the warming up area for the Winnipeg Police Dive Recovery operation.  In the background is the Disraeli Bridge, near where little Nathaniel and his brother fell through the ice just before Christmas....His older brother was rescued but little Nathaniel is yet to be found.

Sgt. Rob Riffel, Team Dive Leader, observes the Sonar from the warmth of the tent.

Several ice auger blades have been spent in the efforts to recover Nathaniel.  As of January 28th, 2011 it is estimated that 1,000 holes have been drilled into the 40 inch thick ice on the Red River.  The depth of the river here is around 18 feet and the current is sluggish.  The team wants the recovery before the spring thaw because this year the forecast is for massive flooding.

From near perfect temperatures of minus two centigrade on the 28th to today's temps of minus 30, minus forty with a windchill, conditions are not the best for these divers but perservere they will and must if anything to bring closure to the family of this boy.

Newslink for today, January 31st - Dive Recovery Called Off.....

Memories of a Guatemalan camping trip....1993

A Brief Foreward.......

I love to go back to other blogs where I have left comments just to see what has been followed up. This morning I was left somewhat disappointed in that one remark, pointing to a bit of veteran travel and expat living humour I had left, really stung and it stung in a way that still speaks to the sexist notions in that women are not expected to be adventurers or possess a certain "edge" when it comes to their discourse. That women with strong voices are "scary". Then again, I could be wrong but because I run into this so often an unclear remark can be taken the wrong way.

It got me to thinking that if this person thought my humour or attitude was scary now then he or she should have been traveling with me back in 92/93' back when road tripping solo as a woman was downright dodgy. Still is in some regards but back then I had no idea as to the craziness of the times such was I immersed in my missions of photography, learning Spanish and learning to believe in myself.

Yes, very scary at times but it was always my strange sense of humour that got me through some surreal moments. I guess some folks just cannot handle certain realities. To them I say what is the purpose of your snarky remarks if not to cast aspersions on someone who through years of experience has learned that it is best to be who you are for that honesty and integrity of character is so appreciated in many countries. And in turn I learned that one does not know everything. That is often the hardest lesson of them all - to body check one's ego. (and yes I am being a bit egotistical right now) I am older now (20 years have passed since that inaugural road trip to become the first of many) but still just as feisty if not more so - I just move a wee bit slower and laugh at myself more.

So, Mr. or Miss Anonymous judge keep in mind that being scared is limiting....and a terrible way to be.

Oh well, let us move on to the stories.....always fun to take a trip or five down memory "rutted road"!

CAMPING AT MAYA RUINS.....

I had already been driving since December of 1992 through Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras where upon "discovering" the Bay Islands I called my husband John in Canada and urged him to fly down to meet me for some dive time in Utila. Once he rendezvoused with me we both completed our Advanced certification and I had an invite to come back the following year to do my Dive Masters.

He had taken three weeks off and was raring to explore the back roads as was I. A nice component I had worked into my months of travel was the documentation of the many Maya sites and ongoing archeological works - at that time I think there were five "new" sites (since then many more "discovered") some of these sites accessbile only by boat. For this part of the trip though being that I had to drive John back to Belize City to catch his return flight we mapped out a strategy that would not have us rushing around, one that would play nicely into my readings of Linda Schele's examinations of glyphs and the great society that once was.

We caught the Cessna from Utila and waiting for us at the La Ceiba airport, quite dusty with the musings of Hondurans finger-written into the dust was my trusty Honda Accord sedan. The teens who hung out at the airport were quite proud that they had "guarded" my car so well and were thus rewarded as I had promised two weeks prior. That seemed to be a theme for those many months, folks wanting to look after my wheels whilst I took off back country....

Santa Rosa de Copan and onwards.....

I had stayed in Santa Rosa at the Hotel Elvir believing that I was going to meet up with some other Winnipeggers a few weeks back (they went to Roatan and I wound up on Utila - that story to be told another time)...to this day the gang of us still laughs at the mixups but this was back in the day when the net and cell phones were virtually unheard in many places.

John and I arrived mid-afternoon and the staff was very happy to see me again. Within minutes of checking in there was a timid knock on my door and upon opening it I was greeted by the laundry lady, grinning and holding up a pair of fancy hiking socks I had forgotten. I loved their rooftop washing area and would go up to work on my diaries after a day of exploring, cold beer beside me.....I made sure before we left that a "propina" got into her hard-working hands.

After a night of relaxing it was off to the ancient "city" of Copan, not be confused with the village of Copan nearby that since then has grown to accomodate the needs of the thousands that arrive each year to take in this Honduran wonder.

There are not enough superlatives to describe in full the wonder of this place, of any of the ruins sites for that matter for each one has its own particular history and style. The world of the Maya was not homogenous but was rather more like several city states, sometimes warring with each other and other times engaged in commerce. There is so little we know but I highly recommend the writings of Linda Schele. That we never crossed paths (and we did come close) is one of the few travel regrets I have.

Majestic Trees and Killer Bees.....

It is difficult for me sometimes to tell some of these stories, the ones where for portions of these travels I was not alone for the person with whom I shared some of these journeys with is no longer my traveling companion and co-conspirator in all things adventurous.  Not to be a downer here but I had to eventually come clean.


The plan that day was to hang around Copan and cross into Guatemala sometime in the afternoon.  Given that we were only 7 miles from the El Florida crossing it made sense.  We figured we would keep driving until we got closer to the next Maya site in Guatemala, Quirigua.  

Copan that day was blessedly uncrowded and very quiet except of course for the gaggle of children who laughingly accosted us in the parking lot hoping to sell some handicrafts to us - later we were to oblige these entrepreneurs, the necklaces made out of local plant bits still hang in spots in my home.  We were quiet as we took everything in trying to guage the light and make the most of what we figured would be about two hours of good shooting before the light got too harsh.

In the background, blending in with the sounds of cicadas that would rise and fall, was the sound of men grooming the expansive lawns with machetes.  These descendents of those who once ruled, perhaps, these cities, still small in stature compared to their ladino countrymen, maintained a connection to their heritage and took great pride in their tasks at hand no matter how menial it may have seemed to a casual observer.  These men whom I came to have great respect for in subsequent years traveling, working and living in the Maya diaspora were very eager to drop what they were doing and teach us things that being on a tour would rarely be revealed given that the tour guides invariably were well-off "blanco" students from the cities who had nary a clue for the most part as to what rituals were still performed, in subtle ways, on these manicured grounds.  I will not go into here, the plethora of plants growing there that have been proven to have medicinal qualities....so much to learn.

more to come regarding bees and such.....

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

I keep thinking of that cheesy song....of that same title.....but yes, as of January 28th, 2011, this blog has been ONE YEAR STRONG!!! And what a year it has been!

Ok, I congratulate myself, me and I.....I have provided entertainment and vexation to and for folks from places like Turkey, Bosnia, FYROM (former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia) , India, South Africa, Finland, Denmark, Holland, England, Wales, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Columbia, Brazil, Iceland, Ireland, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Greece, the United States of America, most of Canada, somewhere near Nigeria on a sailboat, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Norway, Germany, Spain, Portugal......and YES france!!!!

I love you all.....my fans, stalkers.........tomorrow I update....maybe? Tomorrow is another day and the beginning of a new blog year.

We are in fractious times.....but good times in that social media is becoming - or is it already - a force to be reckoned with.

Cook good food, make love, make art, speak, sing......love your children if you have them.....hell, love anyone who deserves it.

Sirius Satellite Radio - good customer service but issues nonetheless

I love radio......I have loved radio since I can remember which has been for a long time. Growing up on the prairies and tuning in for skip signals from Chicago back in the glory days, the last glory days, of "hit" radio when Deejays ruled and not the corporations.....ahhh, nostalgia - it hurts sometimes.

Yeah right it did when I fell down into the granary from the barn loft messing around with my jerry-rigged antenna....hahaha....man, was my ass ever sore!!! But to hear Wolfman Jack and that one station from Nawlins' and the Grand Ole' Opry....wow.

I grew up and discovered college and FM radio in the late seventies......I am not going to give a history lesson here but let it be said right here and now radio is but a shadow of its former self. It is now a conglomerate, faceless, nameless and without soul in some cases as dictated by the folks at Clear Channel amongst others and no I am not gonna link to you bastards.....not unless you pay me to.

Hey, does anybody remember Radio Free Europe? Or the "real" Pirate Radio that operated in a converted trawler in the English Channel? That was pure radio.

In my many journeys worldwide I could still find fascination with this medium for in other countries there were not the corporate shackles nor programming ones.....well, in some cases anyway. One of another long set of fave radio memories had me driving at 12,000 feet up in Guatemala on some shite road getting skip signals from Guatemala City where the DeeJay said para it ahorra LOS GUNNERS!!!! His reference to Guns N' Roses......I had to stop the car just so I could "feel" the music as the mountain fog enveloped me......yes, something classical may have been better but for some reason that moment, that heavy music of Sweet Child o' Mine worked its magic.

That being said another radio evolution had to happen, that of satellite/internet radio, an almost-live experience, free of censorship and one that allowed its "personalities" to do what they did best, explore their tastes and in turn educate in so many ways via the rich history of music - but not just music but talk too.....Howard Stern, are you reaching? I think he pretty much made Sirius.....and as much as sometimes I think, no, believe that he embodies the archetypal neurotic and insecure JewGEEKboy (of whom I love dearly) who really wants to be loved? He is also a very astute arbiter of what the public will not only tolerate but crave because there is a JewGEEKboy in all of us.....oh yeah. (BTW I can make these assertions because I am OTT so fuck you any PC detractors)

When Sirius Satellite Radio first came out in America I was ecstatic and could not wait for it to be implemented here in Canada. Once certain concessions were made to the CRTC by Sirius with regards to CanCon they were good to go here and I was one of the first of the 50,000 subscribers. I regret to this day having not dropped the five hundred bucks for a "lifetime" subscription but back then we did not know how well this company would fare.

Maybe Sirius will toss me a bone?

I did this for a very good set of reasons, one primarily being that at that time I did a hellacious amount of road travel throughout North America and points south. I was a great guinea pig so to speak in that I could track just how well this system worked within this hemisphere.....all one has to do was look at the sat tracking and take it from there.

But history aside this is not why I write this piece today. I write for another reason and one that involves access via particular operating systems online. I had been running my craptop via Microsnot Vista and it crapped out in terms of net access so I installed a Linux CD, not full install, changed the BIOS and pretty much did a backdoor entry for my net.

That methodology had been working great up until I wanted to log on for Sirius....seems that online Sirius does not recognize a Linux platform.

The customer reps at Sirius were good in that they extended towards me a small concession on my bill but since I pay for a year's worth of service in advance it is but a small consolation when I cannot access a service that I "own" via the means that I choose for whatever reason.

Yes, I have one of the original receivers but because I live downtown the signal can get corrupted so I access Sirius online.....I run a cable to my speakers.....works great, that is until this past week when I switched to Linux.

Today, with regards to customer service, I had to educate the good folks at Sirius in that more folks out of sheer frustration will be switching to Linux from Microsnot and sorry folks but you cannot tell me that net access is complimentary from the receiver that I pay for because I have this account and it should not matter a fig in terms of how I get my signal.....get it guys? If I have to supply a password then I have an account - a paid-for account. Logic rules okay, don't be obtuse.

Time for Sirius to take seriously the fact that there is a world outside of Microsoft and Apple.

Now if I could I would tell of Sirius hacks that I know of but no, I pay, and pay gladly and thusly will not "broadcast" as such certain "services" that would serve to undermine my integrity.

So dear Sirius corporation it is time for you to step up to that plate of progression that you so readily tout.....I am waiting.

BTW more links to be added....I need a tea break.....

KINDER EGGS - another Weapon of Mass Destruction?

This story has to be filed under another yet WTF moment.....maybe I should have a WTF Hall of Shame...hmmmm, that sounds cool. Tragic in some cases but in others definitely cool.

Anyway, today's WTF moment comes courtesy of the border folks at the Pembina, North Dakota, key port of entry from Manitoba to the United States of America.

It seems that a Winnipeg mom was crossing the border with her children and what should have been a routine crossing turned into a farce.

Now for those of you who need to be schooled in terms of cool things made of chocolate that also contain really neat toys I have found no better example than that of the Kinder Surprise egg. Man, these are so much fun to eat and to open up (to find the surprise toy) that many of my friends who own businesses no longer stock these concoctions because they wind up eating them and opening them up and.....you get the drift.

Kinder Eggs, not just for children but for us old farts too!

It seems the Americans have deemed these treats "dangerous" and thusly have banned them. Hmmmm......yet, even if one is a total psycho they can go out in some states and buy a gun and ammo without having to have a vetted permit and perhaps subsequently kill children amongst other humans or critters? Yeah, file that one under "farcical".

Kinder Eggs have been available in Canada since.....hmmmm, decades. I cannot recall hearing a story on the news whereby some kid died as a result of the egg itself. Of course there are many stupid and uncaring parents out there who whilst passed out or busy on angry conservative chatrooms may not be able to watch their kids.....oh that is a load of crap. We have I would imagine just as many per capita stupid, neglectful parents in this country! So why ban the egg?

I mean seriously, look at this chocolate egg.....the "surprise" is encased in this plastic capsule and trust me on this, it is a hard bugger to open up. I lift weights and make bread and I still have to get a guy to open this thing up! And logic would follow in that if I cannot open up the capsule what makes the US government believe that a toddler could do that?

Stupid, stupid and stupid....and not fun. But you wanna hear what is really stupid? The woman has to now send a letter to the authorities giving them permission to destroy said contraband but that if she wishes to challenge their authority she will be charged for storage of said $2 chocolate egg.....the cost - $250.

You know guys, readers, fans, stalkers? - if this is not crazy I do not know anymore....btw that their edicts and such were worded in a seven-page letter? How many words does it take to say, sorry, but this is not permitted, have a nice day?

I think I will have some chocolate now.....mmmmmmmmm. Better already.

21st CENTURY ANGRY MAN - music, mayhem and murder in Arizona

I wrote about this tragedy today for another site that I blog for on a weekly basis. In light of today's shootings in Arizona where a child of nine was murdered I am left wondering why all this anger in our privileged society? Why?

I cannot write anymore about this until more details come out.....for now though I will send positive thoughts to the survivors, primarily though Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who is in critical condition after taking a bullet to the brain.

Please follow the title that links to the full article.....thank you.

Winnipeg - One weird City.....

Okay Homies this gal is vexed and for those of you out there who know me you know that this is not gonna be good for those who have raised my ire. I will comment to my anger in a short while but first please allow me to entertain you with what I see to be a huge cosmic error......the tale of the two Sam Katzs.

On the right is the very lovely South African model Sam Katz and on the left is the Mayor of Winnipeg, Sam Katz.

Which one, when looking at the picture, does not create an urge to vomit? I leave that up to you dear readers to decide.

Now that that bit of weirdness is over and done with (Google you win again!) let us get to what is pissing me off (other than this bitterly cold weather) today. (If I am not pissed off about something at least twice a week then I have lost my purpose for living)

Our wonderful mayor, a man who is known to have done some ahhhhh very "creative" things in his business affairs decided to implement some time ago this informational system whereby you, the citizen, dial 311 and speak with some person on the other end of line instead of dealing directly with the civic department that you need to speak with. Yep, the City of Winnipeg is closed for business in my opinion. Its public servants no longer want to deal with the public - not as if they ever did anyway but that discussion is for another day.

Now this is nothing new as this system has been in place for at least two years but because I had to call them, reluctantly, I get to bitch about it now.

Last night coming back from a meeting I had to catch a bus. I am an infrequent user of the bus systems being that I really hate being around people who are coughing and sneezing and who wear knock-off perfumes....tacky, tacky, tacky.....but I digress. I love to walk (when it is not brutally cold) when I can but there are times when I do not walk too well and in the summers I am on my bike so my experiences with Transit Tom are few and far between.

I decided to take my chances and catch the one bus that would get me within a block of my house as I was reluctant to walk any further in the cold. I was lucky, or so I thought, as I looked at the schedule - I would only have to wait a mere five minutes. Fifteen minutes later.....good thing he showed up as my toes were getting numb....not good.

I boarded, said hello and laughingly said dude you are late! He glared at me. He was not a happy man. Minutes later I am about to get off at my stop and yes, I exit through the rear door as is proper unlike most folks in this city who even though they are closer to the rear door will still jostle and shove and exit through the front one as folks are trying to board but that discussion is for another day....Winnipeg - so much to bitch about and not enough time.

The door opens and what do I see but one of those ubiquitous piles of snow....as I said earlier some days I do not move too well and this day was one of them. I politely brought this to the driver's attention and asked if he could move the bus up just a couple of feet. The bastard ignored me. I asked again and still there was no response.

It is difficult to exit from these newer buses at the best of times in that one hand must be kept on the door in order to prevent it from closing on you so imagine what it is like for someone who has balance issues like most MS sufferers like myself do....makes life really fun sometimes. I exited but was extra cautious because I did not want to slip on the snowbank - that would have landed me under the bus and with this asshole driving who knows what would have been done....probably fuck-all.

I made it off safely if but awkwardly and shook my head in disgust and yelled out thanks to you asshole!!!! I hope he heard it.

So now this brings us back to the 311 BS......I call, hoping to be connected to someone in the Transit Department who can handle my concerns but no I have to talk with some flunky operator who tells me that it could take up to 27 days for my concern to be dealt with. I had to request that someone actually call me. The operator said why and I said because I want to talk with someone in that department. This is not going to be swept under the rug I said.....so my information was taken.

I am not going to wait no stinkin' 27 days. Oh no. I am tossing down the gauntlet here and giving these jokers until Monday - high noon. If I hear from nobody by that time I will then contact my blind City Councillor and make that bugger work. Since this is an issue of disability rights and safety I figure he may act on it.

311 is a joke and an insult to the citizens of Winnipeg. It is high time this system got scrapped and that the city workers deal directly with the public. After all, what have they got to be worried about? They are doing a fine job right?

FUBAR - A really neat word

Ahhhh, FUBAR.......a wonderful acronym that means "fucked up beyond all repair" and today I had my first New Year FUBAR moment. Vista, a pig of a program if there ever was, has been acting persnickety for a couple of months now, slowing down my system when I am online making data entry painfully slow when I am FaceCracking and other bits of surfing a pain in the neck. I had been considering for the last while to strip my system and start from scratch but had not gotten around to it yet....blame it on procrasturbation.

Sometimes it takes a good kick in the ass to foment needed change and action. Today, again, my ass is sore. I think this will be the theme for 2011 - having a sore butt. Oh well, no pain, no gain right? Aaarrrgghhh!

The day started pleasantly enough, the sun was shining, my coffee perfectly brewed and a game plan already formed in my head as to what I was going to tackle creatively-speaking. I go to check my email and nada....same thing with the social network....no forward momentum to be had. Do a restart. Wait, and wait and wait....only to get the "problems with connection" BS on Mozilla. Go next to the evil Internet Explorer because who knows, Mozilla could have been inaccessible right? Nada there too at good ole' IE.

Did more restarts, full shutdowns, checked router and unplugged that - everything I could think of and then got my son to start researching via Microsnot on his machine. He did everything as well that they suggested and still no connecting to the outside world.

Hours had dragged by this time. To say I was frustrated would be an understatement. I was worried as well for what if my data was to disappear too?

We decided to risk data loss by engaging in a system restoration. Nope, that did not work either so we were left with one possible solution - Ubuntu, a linux-based CD computer bypass.....neat. Basically we halted Vista and used this CD as our operating system. Yes, I can still read my hard drive and retrieve stuff to send out if need be but I am limited for now to basic functions. At least I can be online and get my work done.....sigh.

FUBAR no more but I am angry for the frustration and loss of productive time. I will not be going back to Microsoft products after this. I call bullshit on that company after having been a loyal PC user (but yes I love Macs too) who has seen equipment and service deteriorate over the past few years. I could go on for pages as to the corporate ethos, or lack thereof, these days but I think I would be preaching to the choir here?

If Vista was such a "crap" program as even Gates has been quoted as saying then why did Microsnot force it on folks such as myself when they knew fully well that it was a transition program between XP and Windows 7? I was told that because I missed the "window" by a couple of months when I had purchased this fab Toshiba that I work on, I would have to pay to have Windows 7. Unfortunately Microsoft I could not afford to wait another two to three months to acquire a computer and I was out of the country working so I could afford the computer. Not everyone was lucky enough to have shares in your company Mr. Gates.

I call this extortion. I call this computer fascism. How dare this company use millions as guinea pigs in this fashion? I do not mind having to exchange something or to have it fixed if it is a problem that goes back to faulty design and such but why should I have to pay to call your company up, once via my cell (where I could be on hold for over an hour) and secondly being charged by your so-called tech support which is contracted out to god knows where?

Your shoddy design repair should come off of your dime and not mine.

When I strip this bitch I will not be loading up Windows 7. Hells NO!!! I will make the switch to a Linux platform. Yes, it will be difficult at first to change certain habits and adapt to new protocols but I think I can handle that. What I cannot handle or abide however is being handed shoddy goods and being told "too bad, your problem, not ours".

BTW that was a good seven hours of mine and my son's business time today and because we are both incredibly multi-talented individuals? Hmmmmm I believe my time and stress and his time and stress shall we say valued at - oh this is tough cuz' I don't wanna come across as an arrogant bastard - oh, fuck it - one fifty an hour for the both of us, shit, that's a deal Bill.....now that comes to the grand sum of $1,050.00 Now surely even in these tough times your company could afford that invoice?

Maybe I just may be a cheeky bastard and do just that.....why not? At the very least this sort of exercise would be time wasted by my choice which in that case would not be a waste at all.

Cranberry juice is not healthy......

Okay, I lie.....it is very healthy unless one mixes it with massive amounts of Vodka.......but hey, I rarely go out and the urge came over me last night - I had to be fabulous. Besides, my ticket proceeds were for a very good cause (Gio's Cares) and there was a trip to Vallarta to be possibly had. Plus, for a change I decided to end my year of forced, horrible frugality by spending money on my favourite charity of all - ME!!!

It really was a perfect night even though it was colder than the proverbial witch's tit. Alcohol consumption makes one feel all nice and warm inside.....and then you wake up the next day and realize that it is not a party in your mouth you are tasting.....hahahaha. No regrets. I danced my ass off and had my ass smacked several times (quite hard actually) by a DUDE.......now some of you are wondering what is so weird about that? Well, the party was at the gay bar and in these modern times of blurring the lines, sexually-speaking, I suppose it is not weird after all. My ass BTW is still a little sore.

2010 was not a spectacular year for me but it was not a bad one either. I only see my "stock" going up, slowly, but this next year should be okay if certain malcontents do what it is right by me and allow me to flourish as being tragic is just not my style.

Today I extend to my friends, fans and stalkers (yeah, I know who you are, where you work - hehehe) wishes for prosperity (nothing wrong with being prosperous) reasonably good health and in the case of the one stalker, that her bosses figure out that she is using company time to follow my fabulous life. Oh well, when one is not fabulous I suppose the charitable thing to do is to not concern myself with the shortcomings of others and give them a taste of something interesting.

I had a great time. It may have been brutally cold but so what? People in this town know how to have good time no matter what.

BTW the photo was taken last night - a tropical theme in a cold prairie city. Happy New Year.....now I can go back to watching Daniel Craig - too hot for words. I would not mind slapping his ass.....oh boy. Yummy.