Rideau Falls, Ottawa, Ontario

I stopped by Rideau Falls today to check out the ice. They had crews there monitoring the ice flowing into the Ottawa River. My guess is that they just opened the dam. There must have been 20-30 people there all watching. It was pretty cool.

I took some photos and posted them online.

Suitable for all audiences

While watching the Sens vs Leafs game tonight on TV a Kia commercial came on.

At first it looked like the controversial one, where the lady cop is making out with a young guy in his car. This one...



Various police forces didn't like it because they claimed it was degrading. I thought it was funny. And I don't think any less of female police offers because of it. Anyway, the police got their way and KIA backed down and pulled it.

I was surprised when it came back on. I started to say to my wife, "Hey, I thought they pulled that..." and then around 5 seconds into it, just before they pan back to show the cop car, it cut to a message on the screen that said:

And now a new ending that
is suitable for all audiences.

The next thing you know, we're looking at a goat standing in a field, happily eating grass and wagging its tail. Too funny. :) I couldn't find a clip of the new commercial, but I did find this story about it.

Anyone who has seen the original commercial knows that the woman in the front seat with the guy is a cop.

It'll be interesting to see if the police forces complain about it again.

Daylight Savings Time @ 2am, Sunday, March 11

Don't forget to set your clocks and other time devices forward by 1 hour at 2:00am Sunday, March 11th! Of course, this only applies if you live in Canada or the United States.

For the last day or two I've been trying to figure out what devices we own, other than the computers, that automatically adjust themselves for DST. My GPSr does. I was checking out its DST settings last night, and it allows you to set "custom" change dates, but unfortunately I can't find a way to set it for the second Sunday in March. It has First and Last. Ugh.

Cycling and Geocaching

The team I'm cycling with for the RONA MS Bike Tour in August met last night at one of the members' apartments. We met to toss around fund raising ideas and to... well.. meet each other, since some of us had never met before. We had a great time.

We're all linked by our hobby -- Geocaching.

After the meeting, we all went looking for a micro geocache hidden about 500m away. It was pretty cold out too. Some of the members had already found it in the past and got a good laugh out of the rest of us searching this small traffic island for a tiny cache.

MADD - drunk driving petition

I just received an email from a friend. It was a petition for MADD, entitled "Somebody Should Have Taught Him" and contained a poem about drunk driving. A quick visit to Snopes.com proved it to be an urban legend.

According to Snopes...

Unfortunately, no matter how well-intentioned, this petition is actually having a negative impact because people who don't know what to do with it are bombarding MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) with it, clogging their e-mail and taking up the time of staff members who now have to spend time responding to it rather than helping drunk driving victims. People who truly want to help should visit MADD's Activism page instead. For those who seek a legislative solution to this problem, contacting one's congressional representative(s) directly, by U.S. mail, telephone, fax, or e-mail is likely a more productive action than signing an e-petition.

Although it was sent with good intentions, I really wish people would take a minute and do a little research on any email petitions they plan on forwarding to find out if they're real or not. 90% of the time, you'll find it on Snopes.

My visit to the Dentist

My dental appointment went a little better than I expected.

First of all, I no longer have the same hygienist. It seems that she no longer works there. :(

The one who cleaned my teeth today appears to be a temporary one, picking up the other ones appointments. She said that they're in the process of hiring a new hygienist, so she said she doesn't know who I'll get in September when I go back.

I told her about my sensitive gums near one of my molars. She had a look at it and said it did look a little inflamed. She took an x-ray of it and showed it to me on the computer in the room. The tooth itself looks good, and so does the root. But the gumline around it is lower than the gum line around neighbouring teeth. She called it "bone loss". I guess my jaw bone is wearing away? I dunno.

After the cleaning, the dentist came in to have a look at my teeth and said the same thing. I didn't think at the time, but I should have asked if the occasional pain I have with my gums around the will clear up on its own. It's more of a nuisance if I'm not careful when I eat.

I will have to go back in two weeks though. The dentist also noticed that the filling on the tooth beside was chipped or cracked. Greeeeaaaaaaaat. :(

Senators 5 - Leafs 1

The Ottawa Senators played a great game tonight, breaking their 3-game losing streak and NOT losing a lead in the third period for the fourth time in a row. *phew*

Ray Emery played a great game, making more than a few really nice saves.

Of course, the victory is that much more sweeter by the fact that it was the Leafs that we beat. :)

GO SENS GO!