A Wii Bit Strange

"A woman who competed in a radio station's contest to see how much water she could drink without going to the bathroom died of water intoxication."

"Jennifer Strange, 28, was found dead Friday ... hours after taking part in the 'Hold Your Wee for a Wii' contest in which KDND 107.9 promised a Nintendo Wii video game system for the winner."

"It was not immediately known how much water Strange consumed", but they "found evidence consistent with a water intoxication death."

"Initially, contestants were handed 8-ounce bottles of water to drink every 15 minutes. 'They were small little half-pint bottles, so we thought it was going to be easy,' said fellow contestant James Ybarra."

"Ybarra said he quit after drinking five bottles. After he quit ... the remaining contestants, including Strange, were given even bigger bottles to drink. 'I was talking to her and she was a nice lady,' Ybarra said. 'She was telling me about her family and her three kids and how she was doing it for her kids.'"

From this article.

BC Buries

There was another BC Ferries mis-hap (read: screw-up) recently. A guy driving a pickup truck was boarding - or at least attempting to board - when the ferry started pulling away. He braked, and the truck teetered on the edge: "It was surreal looking at ocean through my windshield". Shortly after he got out, the truck plummeted into the ocean.

This isn't the first time this has happened with BC Ferries. The above article mentions a couple of other cases, including "a 1992 accident that killed three people when the Queen of New Westminster pulled away early from Nanaimo's Departure Bay terminal, sending a van plunging into the water". (Not to mention the sinking of the Queen of the North, which had apparently been on autopilot. But that's another story.)

That a ferry can pull away prematurely even once is unbelievable to me. All it takes to prevent this is the same system that they have for the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland; the person in charge of moving the vehicle does not do a thing until the person (or people) in charge of loading the vehicle gives the thumbs-up. Talking with my parents about the latest incident, I came up with an idea for when I next take a voyage. When it's my turn to drive on to the ferry, I will drive towards the ramp. Just before the ramp I will stop the vehicle and get out. I will then walk onto the ferry carrying the rope that I have brought, loop one end several times around a permanent structure, walk off the ferry with the remainder of the rope, and loop the other end around a landbased permanent structure. Returning to the car, I will drive on, park, get out, and retrieve my rope. Sound good?

The best part of the article is the very end, where B.C. Ferries president David Hahn is quoted as saying, "There are 180,000 sailings a year and things are going to happen. The question is how do we handle them and do we make it better?" Things are going to happen - seems like a shrugoff to me. How about being proactive and avoiding accidents and deaths? It just seems to me that it's a very easy thing to prevent: Tie the ferry to the dock and don't untie it until all the vehicles are on - what a groundbreaking idea! And I sure do hope that it was the article writer, and not Hahn, that left out the "how" after the "and" in his second sentence.

My Soundtrack

If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?

The rules:
1. Open your music library (iPod, Winamp, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle and press play
3. For Opening Credits, type the first song that plays
4. For each new event, press the next button
5. Play by the rules - don't lie

My Creative Zen is on. Here we go...

Opening Credits: What Would You Say by Dave Matthews Band - "I was there when the bear ate his head, thought it was a candy"

Waking Up: I Know There's A Word For This by Aimee Mann - "that uphill climbing is never through"

First Day At School: I'm Your Man by Leonard Cohen - "the moon's too bright, the chain's too tight, the beast won't go to sleep"

Falling In Love: Falling From Above by Neil Young - "a little love and affection in everything you do will make the world a better place with or without you"

Fight Song: Running To Stand Still by U2 - "you got to cry without weeping, talk without speaking, scream without raising your voice"

Breaking Up: Man On The Moon by REM - "hey baby, are we losing touch?"

Prom: The Luxury by The Tragically Hip - "she says,'why are you partial to that Playboy con, when you can see me naked anytime you want?'"

Life's OK: Passenger by REM - "everything will be alright, yeah everything will be alright, everything will be alright tonight"

Mental Breakdown: Baby Watch Your Back by Nellie McKay - "you walk down the street and I follow, wearing my wig and funny glasses, and I will follow you wherever you go"

Driving: Get Back Again by The Tragically Hip - "we never could go back, and I could never leave my home, why'd they change your face like that?"

Flashback: No More I Love You's by Annie Lennox - "they were being really crazy, they were on the come, and you know what mummy, everybody was being really crazy, uh huh, the monsters are crazy, there are monsters outside"

Getting Back Together: O Maria by Beck - "everybody knows the circus is closed and the animals have gone wild"

Wedding: Momentum by Aimee Mann - "oh, for the sake of momentum I've allowed my fears to get larger than life"

Birth Of Child: Toronto #4 by The Tragically Hip - "tell me when it's imminent, so you won't have to rise and fall alone, or endure the wonder of survival"

Final Battle: Rant And Roar by Great Big Sea - "I can dance, I can sing, I can reef the main boom, I can handle a jigger, I cuts a fine figure"

Death Scene: Treefingers by Radiohead - [instrumental]

Funeral Song: The Last Of The Unplucked Gems by The Tragically Hip - "when the mystique varies thus you can send a man to bury us"

End Credits: Drawing Curtains by Buck 65 - "love sick how much deeper still can this get, show me where it hurts and let me kiss it, je joue à l'envers de l'amour étroit, je jouie le mystère de l'amour courtois"


Took this idea from Betty, who has a great driving song - titlewise anyway, I've never heard the actual song. Like Betty, I'm tagging whoever who wants to play. If you don't have a blog, simply spark the glow with your soundtrack. And then start a blog.

New Vids on the Blog

More videos added to the by us lot. The top additions, in my opinion: Dogs in the Snow; SOTW - The Crawl; and Happy Dogs II.

[Gotta give myself props for the title of this post - wicked awesome jblue, you've outdone yourself.]

Psychology of Language

If you see a small elephant and a huge mouse, does that make small bigger than huge?

Burnaby's First Baby of 2007

Congratulations R&J! Not only did they recently welcome their first baby to the world, their first baby was the first baby born in Burnaby in 2007 - arriving two and half weeks earlier than expected. He's already got a sense of occasion. Click here for proof in the media, courtesy Burnaby Now.

Canucks - 2007?

How early in the year do calendar makers make calendars for the following year? Based on the following, it's gotta be unnecessarily frickin' early. We were at Metrotown today, decided to get a 2007 calendar to replace our 2006 All-Blacks one. I looked at a Canucks one - no intention of purchasing - to see what images it had. Each month had a featured player, and included in the twelve were:

• Dan Cloutier - traded to Kings on July 5, 2006
• Jarkko Ruutu - signed by Penguins on July 4, 2006
• Ed Jovanovski - signed by Coyotes on July 1, 2006
• Todd Bertuzzi - traded to Panthers on June 23, 2006

From the date of Bertuzzi's departure, until 2007, there was over half a year; and yet there he is, in a Canuck uniform, in the Canucks 2007 calendar. And yes, I double-checked that it was for 2007, not 2006. FYI, we came home with a soothing waterfalls calendar.

verizonmath

Three posts in less than an hour - I'm prolific! That last item in my last post reminded me of a posting on Brad's blog. Is there a difference between point zero zero two dollars and point zero zero two cents?

Drive, Hike, Repeat

Took the dogs to Norvan Falls again today, but took a slightly different route. Last time I took the by-the-river path to the clearing; this time I took the more demanding up-and-over trail to the clearing. On the way back, I took the by-the-river path from the clearing to the parking lot. I expected falling snow, as rain was forecast for Vancouver, but there was no precipitation of any kind during the hike. I had told my mom about calling out "no bears" last time, she said that it'd probably be cougars if anything. I was even more on edge today, every sound getting 100% of my attention, even though I was aware that it was the nonsounds I should be concerned about, this being cougar country, they are surely a quiet hunter. Left the car @ 10:53am, returned to the car @ 3:06pm.

- Locked -

Looking for

Service..

When I got back home, Biscotti said that she had just gotten home after taking the kids, 9 and 4, for a walk. She told them it would be about a 20 minute walk, then walked with them to Trout Lake, around, and back, arriving back home two and a half hours after departure. I love it!

She's since gone out, and just called me from Future Shop at Metrotown. I asked her to return my Nellie McKay cd, not cuz I don't like it - far from it - but because three people made sure that I got it for Christmas. So she gets in the customer-service line at 4:20pm, with the store closing at 5pm. After Biscotti waits 10 minutes, the people in line are told that the person currently being helped will be the last person for the day - they don't think they will be able to help everyone before the store closes.. At this point there are four people ahead of Biscotti who have all waited a considerable amount of time. Why not cut off the line, and help everyone that is already in it? There's still half an hour! Person says "it's management - but we open at 9am tomorrow". One guy was quite upset and was making an issue of it, waiting to talk to someone higher up. Biscotti thought screw it, other stuff to do, and left. Well done, Future Shop, excellent customer service.

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