First Snowfall

Mark this day on your calendar! The sky finally managed to squeeze out some snowflakes on our poor shivering heads today. Actually it wasn't just a few snow flakes, it was a good squall that brought some white out conditions through our area, but thank goodness none of the stuff stuck to the ground. The temperature was absolutely miserable; it felt like -10C with the wind chill, and N. and I concluded that we currently hold the worst job in the entire company right now. So, if anyone else from another crew or the office complains to us about it being cold, I'll probably want to beat them over the head with my frozen shovel.
This evening I went out and bought some better gloves (i.e. winter gloves that are waterproof), 'below zero' socks (they better work, because I totally bought the gimmick), and a new neck warmer. I suspect at some point I may either have to get warmer rain gear or some warmer pants to wear under the rain pants. As it is, I have been wearing my long underwear since the last week of October. For this site alone, I have spent over $100 in gear apart from the warm clothing I already own. It's really cramping my pretend savings account, especially since we are probably in the final weeks of working in the field and I will soon not have a paycheque for four months. That will not be a very happy situation.

But, in other news, I am the new proud owner of the entire Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv series. Yes, it was a frivolous use of money especially regarding my impending bankruptcy, but it was money from my birthday which I was instructed to use only on myself and not bills and other debts.
I've waited for years for all the seasons to be compiled into one glorious space-saving boxset and it was finally released this week. I blew most of my birthday money on it, so I will probably have to hide it from my parents who think that at the age of 25, it is a little ridiculous for me to own.*
However, in my defense, I was a devoted Buffy watcher from episode 1, which I first discovered on a Saturday night at home in 1997 with my sister. She was actually watching it on TV before I wandered into the room. It aired on YTV if you can believe it. It's a pretty dark program for YTV but they were surprisingly loyal to the show and kept it in their programming (unedited too!) until the very last episode of Season 7. So now I have something to occupy my spare hours with... reliving the story of the Slayer. That may sound sad, but I think I'll be quite happy. Lately, I have also been going through a lot of my cd's which I used to listen to a lot in high school. I've been reliving my love for Catherine Wheel, the cranberries, Ben Folds Five, Black Sabbath, and even silverchair. God, I loved those guys. I'll have to remember to add them to my iTunes library. Anyway, that was a bit of a digression.

Here's a bit of an issue I've been having lately. I don't have much to challenge me intellectually at the moment so bear with me. My daily routine at work has been bringing me to a Tim Horton's/Wendy's coffee shop everyday now in the morning and at lunch. It's pretty well the only decently well-rounded (menu-wise), cheap place to eat lunch. The bathrooms are usually clean and most importantly, it's warm. So, having spent an extended amount of time in the place, I have many criticisms which mainly consist of how I disapprove of all the changes they have made in the menu and their pricing. But apart from that, why the hell can't "Tim Hortons" spell their name grammatically correct? This is actually pissing me off more and more each day. Even "Wendy's", who own the company now, uses a cleverly situated maple leaf as an apostrophe to indicate possession. It makes me wonder if "Tim Hortons" was always spelled like 'Tim Hortons' or not. I'd have to take a trip to the first one that opened, down in Steeltown (aka Hamilton), to check this out. But seriously, Tim Horton was a hockey player, therefore, his doughnut and coffee shop should be called "TIM HORTON'S". As a company, they're really not doing much to encourage proper literacy in this country, which is a shame considering how ubiquitous they are. They should be ashamed.


Take note "Tim Hortons", this is how grammar works.


P.S. As a classical archaeologist, I try and keep up to date on what crazy stuff is going on around the world. Currently in Athens, this lovely little temple in the middle of the city is slated for destruction so that some jerkwad can build who knows what on the land. Please stop the evil and sign the petition for the Greek government to wake up and save their history!

Save the Artemis Agrotera temple in Athens:
http://www.artemisagrotera.org/en/petition.asp


*Perhaps it is also a little sad that I still have to live with my parents at age 25. I blame school loans. Wish I could declare bankruptcy.