Like the moon...

(Again, I have no desire at present to type out an extended recap of the dinner in which my uncle played with morphine all night, and we talked about my stripper cousin. So, too bad for anyone who was actually looking forward to it. Although I can't imagine that anyone would fall into that category anyway...)

I am a very phasical (phasual? phase-ridden? phase-heavy?) person. I settle, short-term, into habits and perspectives that are extremely hard to break...until my next phase, of course. This goes for big things, such as projects for work, relationships, etc. ...but also for little things such as my morning routine, the same few songs that I listen to relentlessly on my iPOD, the TV show that I absolutely must watch.

I recognize that this is a part of who I am, but I can't quite figure out whether it's a positive or a negative. One thing that I can figure out, is that being this way helps me adjust fairly quickly to changes in my life...I've been accused from time to time of not liking (or adapting well to) change. Totally not the case, if my opinion counts at all. I just settle myself into a new phase, complete with new routines and that 'new phase' mentality.

I seem to be fairly entrenched in this latest phase...so deep that I wonder if I'm ever going to move on to the next one. I've settled comfortably into my routine and it seems to be treating me well. Currently on my daily list are:

- a little too much socializing and going out
- watching American Idol with almost a religious fervor
(now quit laughing!)
- over-involving myself (again) with the SU
- following the *exact* same morning routine, even on
weekends
- spending too much time on MSN
- a noticeable lack of meals of any sort
- listening to the same five songs to and from work everyday
on my iPOD (This Love, Surround Me, If I Ain't Got You,
One Great City and Can I Walk With You...in case
anyone is curious)

The good thing about this current phase is there really doesn't seem to be that much in the way of negatives. Even the "too much" points aren't all that detrimental. Many of you will notice that there's no...uh...school stuff anywhere on the list. That, unfortunately, is deliberate. Either than that, I'm fairly pleased with this little phase...so much so, that the next one seems impossibly far off.

Consistency is a good thing, but I think this may be getting to extreme for me...

1. Clean up the broken pigeon egg on my balcony that landed right below where those stupid, smelly birds always sit. Lay your eggs in a nest, idiots! On a side note, does anyone have any suggestions for keeping the pigeons off my balcony?


2. Scrub away the mold stain on my carpet. It's...uh...crusty!


3. Scare away the monster in my storage room who keeps moving my stuff when I'm not looking. I swear, all he does is lurk under my hot water pipes and wait for a juicy ankle to go by that he can feast on...


4. Figure out what the feathery wormy things are that just appeared in my tank. If it doesn't wiggle, I think it's all good...

Dear Friend,

We owe you an apology. First, the most important three words of this letter - WE ARE SORRY.

This Valentine's Day, our site was up and down all day. For many of you, that meant frustration and wasted time when you were simply trying to send or retrieve an e-card.

We thought that we were ready to handle a huge amount of traffic on Valentine's Day. Obviously, we thought wrong. We were suprised by double the amount of traffic that we expected. And we cringe at the disappointment we caused some of you.

In short, we made promises to deliver that were not kept. And for those of you who experienced that disappointment, we are so sorry for any frustration we may have caused.

Rest assured this experience will serve as a lesson for us. WE are now challenging our team to reevaluate every step we took to prepare for Valentine's Day...because it wasn't enough.

With our deepest apologies,
The Hallmark.com Team

• The Apprentice
• Webmail 2.0 Beta
• 4/$1.00 grapefruit at Save-On
• Driving everywhere! Wheeee!!!
• "CookieMonster TiVo" (a.k.a. my constant Bit Torrent download)
• The fact the my picture & profile is up on my work's homepage
• My giant, mutant monster of a new fish
• The new show "American Dad", in which "Steve Smith" (not this one) ran in his school election and won
• 12" Powerbooks (or, to clarify, staring at them...I can't actually *have* one until the summer)
• Sitting down in SUB and figuring out who's around by picking up their iTunes
• Planning the best. roadtrip. ever.
• Telling my mother that my priority while I'm home is going to the Brichardi breeder (*and* not getting into an argument about it)
• Not going to sleep until 9:30 am on Sunday morning, and still managing to wake up this morning feeling somewhat normal

Bill C-2
An Act to enact measures to restore balance to federalism and
to improve the quality of social services in Canada

Preamble
WHEREAS Canada was formed from two distinct nations with differing customs and laws;
WHEREAS Canada today has many different populations, each with differing wants and needs;
WHEREAS a federal system of government should allow for differing wants and needs of each population to be properly realized;
WHEREAS the Provinces can no longer fulfill their constitutional duties under the current fiscal arrangement;
WHEREAS the current fiscal imbalance is to the detriment of the peoples of Canada;
WHEREAS the inclusion of natural resources in the equalization formula impedes the growth of the poorest provinces;
WHEREAS the equalization formula arbitrarily uses five provinces instead of ten provinces to depress the equalization payments given to less bountiful provinces;
WHEREAS the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance recommended in March 2002 for the permanent elimination of caps to equalization payments;
WHEREAS the sovereignty of Provinces is threatened by their inability to provide services and, further, by the equalization program's depression of the poorest provinces' aspirations;
WHEREAS the federal government no longer pays the 50% cost of health care that it agreed to at the launch of national public health care in the 1960s;
WHEREAS the Government of Canada overtaxes its citizens;
NOW, THEREFORE, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and the House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

Short Title
1. This Act may be cited as the Rebalancing of Federalism Act.

Interpretation
2. In this act, "Minister" means the Minister of Finance.

Rebalancing the Finances of the Federation
3. The Minister will identify at least $5.7 billion in program efficiencies, reductions, and eliminations and will report these to Parliament by January 1, 2008.
4. The Minister will establish a Provincial Debt Reduction Transfer program to reduce the debts of provincial governments.
5. Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 3 and 4 of this Bill, the Minister will propose to Parliament by January 1, 2006 options for increasing the Canada Health and Social Transfer to be equivalent to 25% of the provincial health and education spending.
6. The Minister will present to Parliament by January 1, 2007 a proposal to eliminate both the Canada Health and Social Transfer and the Good and Services Tax such that heath and education spending by the provinces can be accommodated under provincial taxation powers.

Reforming the Equalization Program
7. The Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act is amended such that the "national per capita equalization standard" be the national per capita yield of all the provinces for all revenue sources.
8. The Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangement Act is amended such that for fiscal equalization payments, "revenue source" no longer be defined to include the following for a province unless that province does not qualify to receive a fiscal equalization payment:
(a) forestry revenues,
(b) conventional new oil revenues,
(c) conventional old oil revenues,
(d) heavy oil revenues,
(e) mined oil revenues,
(f) light and medium third tier oil,
(g) heavy third tier oil,
(h) revenues from domestically sold natural gas and exported natural gas,
(i) sales of Crown leases and reservations on oil and natural gas lands,
(j) oil and gas revenues other than those described in paragraphs (b) to (i), and
(k) mining revenues.

Restoring Provincial Sovereignty
9. Where a province chooses not to participate in a program funded by both the government of Canada and the governments of the provinces, that province will receive a payment from the government of Canada equivalent to the payment it would have received from the government of Canada to fund the aforementioned program.

Coming Into Force
10. This Act shall come into force upon receiving Royal Assent.