Getting Autumn underway

This week marks the start of post-Summer activities. A new season of basketball starts tomorrow and I'll be doing my first cyclocross race of the year on Sunday, if my licence arrives.

Basketball should be enjoyable again this time. I like the people I play with and I hope I can contribute. My co-worker, Victor, might also come out for a few games. We're normally a little short on players so we'll need a little help from a guy who's definitely not short on height. Victor and I are also not short on excess mass so we could both use the exercise. Victor claims to have played at a high level back in the CCCP so we'll see if he can shake the rust off. I didn't play at a very high level and it's about two years and counting for me and the rust shaking.

Sunday will be my first cyclocross race of the season and my first race in a long time. Since I last raced, my training has included doing nothing and eating cake. I've also bulked up by about 10 kg but this isn't football and I'm not worried about being pushed around by other large men so this extra weight is not going to help my performance. If you watch le Tour, you'd know that riders my height usually weigh about 25 kg less than I do. Lance Armstrong is just a smidgen taller than me and he was fairly heavy at 70 kg. I do believe I'm a sprinter and not a climber like Lance. My favourite rider is the great sprinter, Erik Zabel. He's also about my height and 70 kg. Ying says she'll come out to cheer on Sunday and I've made sure she won't be disappointed watching me tour around at the back. If I hadn't been doing my cycling commute to work, which is about the length I expect to race, I'd probably have to put her on the bike for a lap while I recover. Anyway, my goal on Sunday is to be last in the easiest category there is. I assure you there will be rejoicing should I exceed my goal and come second-last. I hope to post some photos from the race as Ying will be my official photographer so long as Julie isn't fussy during the race. If there are others around whom I know, I'll try and get some pictures of them too.

Privacy concerns

My As It Happens podcast was about Google's Street View. You can see it in action above. Some people are concerned that having a car driving around taking a picture of every single street in the world is an invasion of privacy; that they'll be caught on camera doing something they don't want the world to see or that a user of Street View will be able to see into their front window. I don't see how this argument stands up.

If you are doing something illegal on the sidewalk, chances are you'll be suspicious of a car driving down the street with a massive piece of technology on the roof. You'll probably be looking out for cars with technology on the roof that flashes blue and red anyway. For thousands of years, people have been walking down streets and witnessing illegal activity with the privacy of the perpetrator never questioned. Companies are also allowed to put up surveillance cameras around their businesses to watch the activity outside. I'm sure that 100% of those cameras are not trained on 100% private property. If you're cheating on your wife/husband, there are better ways for your wife/husband to catch you than scouring the Internet, hoping Google will drive by, take your picture so that you're both recognizable and post the pictures on the Internet in a timely manner.

With the number of roads in the world, Google will probably only drive down your street about once every two to ten years. Every year if you live in San Francisco. Had they driven down my street, I might use that picture when I give directions to my house; that would be pretty cool to do. Of course, my house numbers are legible so it's not that necessary. I've used Google Earth to show friends and family what my roof looks like. Chances are that Google will be driving down exciting streets first and more often. Businesses could use it for advertising! "As seen in Google Street View!" So, once again, the chances of Google driving down your street, taking pictures while your drapes are open and you're standing buck naked in full view is remote. If you're going to sue Google for invasion of privacy, you'd better also sue the retired couple down the block who have little else to occupy their time and the teenage astronomy buff neighbour who isn't looking for heavenly bodies in the sky. I don't think robbers or pedophiles are going to be using Street View for reconnaissance either. As one friend found out first hand, robbers are going to do a little more work than look at a still picture on the Internet. Luckily for his family, the robber attempting to pilfer from his neighbourhood was caught and the robber's notes mentioned the "big dog" at my friend's house.

That all being said, if you zoom in on the picture above, you can that that after about a minute on Street View I found Morpheus! But that's not Neo with him.

And if that mocking bird don't sing...

...papa's gonna buy you the Baby Einstein Be Musical activity jumper thingy.

Julie's developing quickly and is meeting almost all the development targets we've heard about from different sources. She's jumped up to the 90th percentile in height and, at three and a half months, she weighs what we were expecting at six to eight months. She also has her dad's massive cranium but that's still on the charts. So, those are the three statistics the doctors and nurses keep measuring and Julie's doing fine.

We were noticing that she wasn't reaching and grabbing or using her thumb when we helped her grab things so we headed out last Saturday in search of educational toys. She seems to have her parents small hands and her thumb is so small it's tough to wrap it around very much. We were looking for something that would help support her upright and have lots of cool things for her to reach for. After having Julie test a few out, we knew we were getting something she'd really like. As soon as we got our purchase set up at home, Julie was in it and reaching for all the coloured toys. Unfortunately, Julie has bad parents because they forgot to buy all the C batteries necessary to power the little piano. Half a week later and they still haven't bought any C batteries. Nonetheless, Julie's swivel seat has three other stations with a bright sunflower, a frog that spins and colourful beads in little domes that spin or pop. Due to her massive weight, she can stretch the springs enough to touch the floor and get herself bouncing.

I'd have to say the colourful chain that you can reposition and bouncing in the seat are her favourite parts of the toy so far. Ying and I love that we can position it near the dinner table so she can see us and entertain herself. Previously, we were eating in shifts since one of us had to distract Julie. She loves facing people, screeching and babbling away in her own little language but can become grumpy quickly if left alone. Of course, sometimes she also loves to just lie on our bed by herself and babble away.

Daddy's little sumo wrestler

Julie's off the scales for weight! On a diet of pure breast milk, she's gone from average to morbidly obese in just over two months. I don't know how she can keep this up. The nurse today would have suggested a change in feeding if Julie wasn't on breast milk but, since she's on it 100%, she can get as fat as she likes. We're noticing that her clothes are quickly getting smaller and have trouble going around her belly. She also has her dad's big, fat legs. If any of that baby fat turns to muscle, we'll have a great speed skating sprinter or track cyclist on our hands. But, for now, she only needs to keep practising sitting up and smiling. She's starting to get the hang of sitting and the smiling and laughing are going great. Sitting up might become tough because her head circumference has also gone from average to 95th percentile. Now we know where all the weight is!

I've also lodged my complaint with Canada's New Government about child benefits. Ying was turned down on a second benefit; again due to residency. I thought about reapplying on-line but it simply asks if you're a citizen, which she isn't, and then lists her citizenship as "not on file." I hope my complaint gets things done because all the literature clearly states that you only need to be a resident of Canada to collect benefits. One of Ying's friends is getting money and she's here on a student visa. She might have already gone back to China and, if so, I hope she's not still collecting.

The Great Mouse Hunter

We've got a mouse in the house! As you can see though, the trap is set. While I was in the hardware store, I considered being a good Buddhist and thought about how I will come back in the next life while looking at the catch and release traps. Of course, if I release the mouse close to home, it'll probably figure out the way back in. I don't feel like cycling, driving or walking with this mouse all the way to Nose Hill in order to keep it away from all houses. Ergo, I'm going for the quick, clean kill. I did ask to borrow one of Peggy's cats but she says they've gone soft and wouldn't be effective. I also wonder if my ceiling tiles in the basement can hold them. I don't think I'll post any photos of the next stage since it won't be of a happy, well-fed cat.

Non-universal child care benefit

Canada's New Government sucks. I'm not going to comment on their ridiculous insistence on calling themselves "Canada's New Government" and how they're trying hard to prove that absolute power corrupts absolutely after painting themselves as saints while, I guess you'd call it, Canada's Old Government got fried for the sponsorship scandal. I'm not even going to comment on my relief that Bush's invasion of Iraq has gone so poorly that Canada's New Government has forgotten that it would have sent our troops in too if they were in power at the time. I am going to discuss Canada's New Government's Universal Child Care Benefits program.

Now, one would assume "Universal" means that everyone can get it. One would be wrong. Yesterday, Ying and I found out that she didn't qualify due to residence restrictions. Now, I do have some beefs about some of the stories Ying brought back from her English class about all the free programs and cash given to "skilled" immigrants who don't seem very skilled at all. We were also dismayed because of the big push to get people into other courses to help immigrants but we would only run into dead ends as these programs were outrageously expensive. I earn enough money to prevent the organization from hitting up the government for the obscene amount of money required to attend. With all these stories in my head, I am glad you cannot arrive in Canada with a brood and start collecting Stephen Harper's pittance right away. However, I fail to see why Julie fails to bring in the cash for Ying and me. Since Canada's New Government is doing their best to force women back into the kitchen, we had to apply for the Universal Child Care Benefit under Ying's name since she's the primary care-giver. In the obtuse set of documents I filled out in order to collect the benefit, there were questions about Ying's residency and a bureaucrat's dream team of confusing questions if you couldn't just check the "applicant born in Canada box." We were refused and so I called Service Canada to get some answers.

My first call was answered by a machine which told me, "all our operators are busy so phone back later." My second call got through to a bitter, angry Quebecois woman who was determined to do her best to thwart me and ruin my day as well. She was not going to discuss my case at all since Ying was on title. She didn't even want to see if Ying has given me permission to handle tax and other bureaucratic topics on her behalf. I did trap the woman though. Since Ying was denied money due to residency and the woman wouldn't tell me why, I asked her what are the residency requirements. Simple question for one who's paid to answer questions about the Universal Child Care Benefit. She told me she didn't know and put me on hold. I assume she went on to other calls and was hoping I would go away. Since my New Government helper wasn't interested in helping me, I knew I should hang up and fight the Man some other way.

And I am going to fight the Man. I am going to get my Harper pittance. It's only $100 every month but it's Harper's crappy program and I'm going to take advantage. Even though that $100 doesn't pay for 20% of what child care will cost and even though you need to register your child for a day care space one year before the baby is born in order to get in when maternity leave runs out, I will fight to get my pittance.

If only more voters had small children, Stephen Harper would soon be able to call himself Canada's New Opposition. But then I'd have to wait another thirteen years for the Liberals to get their day care strategy underway.

Pedestrian

In just a week, we've gone from a two car family with just one driver's licence to a no car family. It's just a temporary situation though. Minutes ago, someone else drove away with my beloved Beetle. I bought it around Xmas 2000 and it's been a fantastic car ever since. I hope it does a good job with its new family. On Sunday while up at Lake Louise, our brand new car started to act a little strange and a non-critical warning light came on. Monday morning, I dropped it off at Fifth Ave to be fixed. They said they'd try and squeeze it in over the next few days. I phoned today and found out they've been swamped and it will be a few more days. It seems like such a short time ago that we had our Jetta in the garage, a Civic in the garage from some of Ying's friends and our Beetle in the driveway. That's all over and there's currently just a few bikes and a stroller in the garage. Well, good thing I haven't let myself go completely 'cause I'll be confined to the bike for the next few days.