Thought for the day: Don't get into a battle of wits when you're only half-equipped.

I don't think I've ever seen anybody with a dumber looking haircut than Bernie Ecclestone. Good ol' Bernie is literally the richest man in England (even wealthier than the Queen, believe it or not), so you'd think he could afford to pay for a decent barber. Seriously, he looks like he uses a flowbee or something. For this guy, a mullet would actually be an improvement!

I've posted some pictures from the Storm in Steinbach. Have a look at my website, under the "photo gallery" section.

Living in the middle of Canada, I have definitely seen my share of snow storms. But I have NEVER seen a thunderstorm like we had this evening. It was truly amazing! I was at a friend's house, in Steinbach, when the rain started coming down. We didn't think much of it at the time, but only a few minutes later the wind started picking up. This time we took notice. As we looked out of the window, it suddenly seemed that there were solid sheets of water falling from the sky. Trees were swaying and bending over at incredible angles. The house across the street disappeared from sight as the rain was came down even harder. Within minutes, the streets were completely filled with a lake of water. Then just as quickly as it started, the storm was over and the rain died down to a mere drizzle. We went out for a walk, splashing through the water as we walked down the street. A car stalled in the middle of the road as it tried driving through the deep water. After cheering and making fun of the guy, we asked where he lived. Since it was only two blocks away, we volunteered to push the car right to his own driveway (proving that we were nice guys after all!) After awhile, we decided to take a drive around town to survey the damage. I was stunned at what I saw... it looked like a disaster zone! There were broken trees everywhere, some of them blocking access to streets and driveways. Two huge concrete walls at a commercial building site, had crumbled to the ground. The roof collapsed at a nearby shopping mall. Fences were knocked over, water filled the streets. The power was down throughout the entire town, including all the street lights and traffic lights. For a quiet town like Steinbach, this was certainly a night to remember.

My family is simple. Yesterday at a small family gathering, my dad wanted us to hear the greeting message from his friend's answering machine. So we put the phone on "speaker phone" mode so that everyone in the room could listen in. Then he dialed the friend's phone number and we all laughed at the funny greeting message, which even featured banjo music! Then things started getting out of hand, as we were phoning other people to listen to their greeting messages as well. If anyone actually answered their phone, we simply told them that we'd like to listen to their answering machine, and asked that they NOT answer when we called them back a minute later. Uh... did I mention that my family is simple? Anyway, I went home so inspired that I decided to edit the greeting on my own answering machine. I think I did a pretty good job. I mean, anytime that you can feature the voice of Doctor Nick, Nelson Muntz ("haw haw"), and the Road Runner, you've gotta be doing something right!

I just can't get no respect! I sent another letter to the TSN website. The last time , they responded to my letter by asking if I'd been dropped on my head. This time around, they ended their written response to my complaint by saying, "And if that drives you nuts... good." Ah well, it's all in fun.

Is it just me, or is everyone getting more junk email (a.k.a. "spam") lately?

I was hoping to return to Spiritfest to see the Los Lobos on Sunday night, but unfortunately I couldn't make it. Anyway, I noticed a few things from being there on Saturday, and I thought I'd write them here:

1. There are lots (and I mean LOTS) of ugly people. Sometimes as we sat on the side of the street, I just had to start laughing to myself, because I just couldn't believe how many ugly people were walking by. It was totally incredible. I don't know when the last time is that I've seen so many ugly people in one place at one time. Not just "average" ugly. (I mean, I'd probably fall into that category myself.) No, I mean serious "window shattering" ugly.

2. There were tons of cops there. I have no idea why that is. Were they expecting something or what? I didn't see any "trouble" whatsoever, yet there were about 47 million police officers there. Guess that was part of a "make work" project or something.

3. It's very funny (to me) that all the little punk-ass boys think they're being all macho and rebellious. They dress weird and think they're so unique, yet every single one of them looks and acts exactly the same as each other. So really, they aren't being "different". They're just all being the same as each other, like a bunch of little copy cat wannabees. Very funny.

4. Why do all the guys that have incredibly skinny arms, wear muscle shirts? If I had arms that puny, I'd be embarrassed to wear a muscle shirt. I'd wear a baggy sweater so that nobody could see my skinny arms.

5. Speaking of sweaters, it was hot outside, about 28 degrees or so, and there were actually people wearing "hoodies" (ie: a kangaroo jacket.) What's up with that? Some were even wearing the hoods too. That kills me! Maybe these were people who were actually taking my advice and hiding their skinny little arms, but otherwise I don't get why you'd wear a hoodie when it's 28 degrees outside.

6. People who wear their shades, after it gets dark outside, are pretty cool.

7. Store owners are stupid. When I was in Montreal (during the F1 race), they have these big street parties there too. The stores will stay open until after midnight, because they know that there are literally thousands of potential customers who are walking by, so they hope to get some of that business into their store. In Winnipeg, every single store along Portage Avenue was closed. What a wasted opportunity for them.

8. The event organizers hired what looked like a couple of local winos, who were supposed to get the crowd dancing. But it didn't work at all. No-one else danced, except for these two old geezers, and they weren't good dancers either. Basically they just pranced around and made asses of themselves, which was greatly distracting from the actual feature shows. Dumb move. If they wanted people to dance, all they had to do is hire a couple of cute go-go dancer type chicks to entice all the guys onto the dance area. I guarantee that would have been much more effective.

9. The crowd wasn't bad, but they didn't seem very lively. Maybe there should have been more beer available. That way the police would have had more to do too!

Today was the downtown street festival on Portage Avenue in Winnipeg: Get Together Downtown, a.k.a. Spiritfest. Whatever the name, they were expecting over 200,000 people to attend during the two day event and I was one of them. It was somewhat of a novelty to be able to walk around on what is normally Winnipeg's busiest street. About a dozen city blocks were blocked off to traffic, which basically meant a lot of walking, and I mean a lot of walking. I don't think I've walked this much since the last time that I was in Montreal for the Formula One race. A highlight of the event was the concert by blues guitarist, Sue Foley. That girl can sure shred! Anyway, I've posted a few of my Spiritfest photos on my website, under the "photo gallery" section. Check 'em out!

I should have worn duck shoes to work today. There's about a quarter inch of water throughout much of the basement area where I work. We received over 5 inches of rain last night, and more is expected today. Perhaps it's time to build an ark?

On this day in 1946, Louis Reard's marvelous invention made it's debut in Paris, earning him the repect and gratitude of men throughout the world. The invention? You know it as the bikini.

In that most noble and time honoured tradition, I have decided to jump on the bandwagon as far as the game of soccer is concerned. I now consider myself to be a huge fan of the game. The final match of the World Cup, between Brazil and Germany, was the most exciting soccer game that I've ever witnessed. (Of course it should be pointed out that I've only watched about three soccer games in my entire life.) Anyway, now that I have become such a keen fan of the game, I'm looking forward to seeing the updated FIFA World Ranking, which will be released tomorrow. Go Uruguay!

Happy Canada Day!