Ubalblog

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Drinking water in preparation for the ultrasound. ]
So I finished the next part of the great Harry Potter re-read. And wow, this book is as good as I remember.

What struck me the most is that you can really see the turn to the darker themes in this book, with the Dementors, Sirius and the whole Buckbeak subplot showing how incompetent the Ministry really is.

Plus this proved to be a nice break from very intense fantasy I am in the middle of right now.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[  Currently: Listening to CBC Radio ]
Without getting into too many details, my blood pressure has now gotten into the danger zone and can’t be controlled when I am at work. (Sounds like my dad!) So my doctor has yanked me off work.

I am not quite on bedrest, but I am to take it easy.

Not quite how I planned it, but no battleplan survives first contact with the enemy. So once the report cards are done, more time for TV shows on DVD, writing and books. Oh yeah, and light housework.

If you have any woman who has reproduced a child, give them a big kiss. It ain’t as easy at it looks.

[  Mood: Sick ]
[  Currently: Watching Daily Show ]
So remember when China got the olympics?

Concerns were raised about their human rights abuses. "Don’t worry!" the pundits said. "China will behave because the eyes of the world will be on them and they don’t want to lose face."

So how do we explain this?

What is clear to me that giving China the Olympics is akin to giving a spolied child a sucker to stop them crying in the store. You are just reinforcing bad behaviour.

This whole thing has just confirmed to me why I won’t be watching the Olympics later on this year. And maybe now I will find the time to send notes to major Olympic sponsors to tell them that I am most likely not going to buy their products given their association with a such a regime.

Going to wash a bad taste out of my mouth.

[  Mood: Silly ]
[  Currently: Listening to CBC Radio ]
So today is March 14, or 3.14, Pi Day. As a math teacher who is teaching the measurement of circles right now, this day is very important. So hopefully at 1:59 today you will stop and calculate the circumference or area of a circle.

Why not send a Pi Day Card?

[  Mood: Hypnotized ]
[  Currently: Eating Breakfast ]
So I was doing some surfing as I finished up my tea, and I came across this article/photo gallery entitled "Harry Potter and the Muggles of Doom".

Mixed in with the usual literary criticisms and dumping on fantasy literature, is this quote from Rev. Msgr. Robert E. Maher, Vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville, Texas:

So not only am I a sexual deviant (see Blog post on the results of being spanked as a child), but now I am in danger of consorting with the powers of Satan.

Thank goodness people like Rev. Msgr. Robert E. Maher exist to save me and my immortal soul.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[  Currently: Listening to CBC Radio ]
I teach in a very culturally diverse school. About a third of my students are Muslim. (Used to be half) So I am always looking for youth fiction that is interesting and relevant to a broad spectrum of my students. Hence, when I saw one of my students reading this book, I picked it up.

This novel tells the story of Amal, a sixteen-year old Australian Muslim of Palestinian descent. Her father is a doctor, her mother a dentist. They are affluent enough that she can go to a private school.

She is a typical sixteen-year old girl. She watches Sex in the City and Friends. She reads Cosmo. She has crushes on boys. And she sees herself as a devout Muslim. So devout, that one day she decides to put on the hijab.

This decision causes her life to change. Not in what she does, but how she is perceived by her friends, family and classmates. As a reader, you get a very good look into what it is like to be a woman wearing a hijab in a post 911 world.

Woven into the story are threads of Amal’s two other Muslim friends, one who comes from a more secular family and one who comes from a more traditional family. Add to that her completely westernized Aunt and Uncle, the devoutly Catholic next door neighbour, a Jewish friend at school, the weight problems of another friend, and the racism experienced by an Asian friend and you have a complete book.

And it all works. It is not an afterschool special. The characters in this book are real and so interesting. This is easily one of the best young adult books I have read in a long time. I am recommending my school buy a small group novel study of it.

Go get this.

[  Mood: Distorted ]
[  Currently: Eating Breakfast ]
Yesterday, I blogged about Wiarton Willy being a big fat fraud. Which I still think he is.

But then as I got up from the computer, I thought, if you are a conspiracy theorist, you might think that this storm was sent north by the Punxsutawney forces who are looking to discredit the Canadian groundhogs. Punxsutawney Phil, unlike his Canadian counterparts, predicted a longer winter. Either way, groundhog weather prediction has been thoroughly discredited by this week’s precipitation.

This inspired me to sit back down and write down my thoughts about Wiarton Willy, fraud and conspiracies and send them to my local CBC radio station. They read the letter on the air, stating that I deserved an award for being so witty that early in the morning.

I think I deserve my own show.

[  Mood: Confused ]
[  Currently: Eating Breakfast ]
Wiarton Willy is one of the Canadian groundhogs that predicts the coming of Spring every February 2. That’s right, one of. We are such a socialist country that we have three of them.

Anyways, this year, the rodent predicted an early spring. So did his comrades.

As I look out my window at the 56 cm (official final total) of snow that fell this weekend, on top of the 28 cm from Wednesday – bringing us to 410.7 cm in total this year – I have come to the conclusion that Wiarton Willy is a fraud.

I think it’s time this rodent becomes roadkill.

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
[  Currently: Watching Coronation Street ]
As of 4:00 am – we have had 49 cm, so I suspect we have topped the 50 cm mark by now. That’s half a yard.

Husband Unit has Bronchitis, so he can’t shovel. Luckily I have great friends. Two are coming over this afternoon to snowblow out the driveway. When they do that, I can go get groceries.

I’ll keep you upto date.

EDIT: The measurement is now 52 cm. Total for the winter 410.7 cm. 34 cm away from the 1971 record. And we have more coming.

Toronto the wimpy only got 30 cm, yet they are whining all ready. Our mayor, on the other hand, has just asked us to be patient. They plan to have the snow gone by Tuesday and have opened up the city parking garages for free so people can get their cars off the streets.

[  Mood: Cool ]
[  Currently: Eating Breakfast ]
Tanya Huff is one of the best sci-fi/fantasy authors in Canada today. Her books are smart, witty and don’t always follow a conventional path.

Blood Price is the first of her Blood series. I have read it before, but have picked it up again because I have been following the Lifetime series based on it. It sees Vicky Nelson as a private investigator in Toronto. She used to be a homicide cop, until she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa. This progressive eye disease means Vicki would have been stuck behind a desk pushing paperwork. Not one to sit behind a desk, she quit to become a PI. Now she spends her days sitting behind a desk find missing heirs and doing skip traces.

In Blood Price, Vicky witnesses a murder one night. The body is exsanguinated, but there is no blood. As similar murders mount, Vicky is hired by one of the victims’ girlfriend to find the murderer.

Into her investigation walks Henry Fitzwalter. He is a romance novelist who also happens to be a 450 vampire and the illegitimate son of Henry the VIII. Henry wants to find out who is committing the murders too. His motivation has more to do with the fact that if he doesn’t, he might be run out of town by the modern equivalent of peasants with torches.

The novel moves at a quick pace, with sexual tension and lots of supernatural goodness. Vicky is a no-nonsense heroine who is kicking butt and taking names. I recommend you pick this one up.