tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74028292010-01-01T20:44:33.103-04:00hearing/lossA journal of a "post-lingual acquired hearing loss in adulthood", or how I went deaf - and got a cochlear implant - at 39.ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.comBlogger500125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-12226752567470143832009-12-31T14:35:00.000-04:002009-12-31T14:36:53.106-04:00Happy New YearHappy 2010, everybody. May the good guys win.ronnieronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-65055689391699749542009-12-30T19:16:00.005-04:002009-12-30T19:48:19.591-04:00Bad idea of the weekThe response to the very real threat posed by the prospect of terrorists strapping hard-to-detect PETN to their bodies and then blowing themselves up mid-air has served up some mind-boggling inanity since Christmas Day, starting with the proviso that passengers flying into the US must remain seated, are not allowed access to carry-on bags, and may not have personal objects on their laps - for theronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-13487191048767718052009-12-27T22:25:00.003-04:002009-12-27T22:34:26.411-04:00Help PortraitI just saw a piece on CBC News about Help Portrait, an international movement by photographers to give back to their communities by donating a day in December to take professional-quality portraits of people and families who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford professional pictures.Makeup artists and hairdressers are recruited for the cause. Some of these shoots have taken place at community ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-30514722581467107292009-12-26T20:13:00.002-04:002009-12-26T20:23:21.313-04:00Happy Boxing DayUnlike most other jurisdictions in Canada, in New Brunswick Boxing Day is still a real holiday, with almost nothing open. Our orgy of shopping starts tomorrow - ironically, a Sunday, when New Brunswickers couldn't shop at all until a decade ago or so.We haven't done a blessed thing all day except read our new books, play with our new toys, watch the endlessly-amusing interaction between our two ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-76602385683640758682009-12-25T21:52:00.001-04:002009-12-25T22:08:27.918-04:00Merry Christmas!ronnie, Husband, Mojo & Veronicaronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-18736905509132380652008-12-20T21:23:00.005-04:002009-12-23T19:18:10.510-04:00Countdown to NORAD Tracking SantaNORAD has started their annual countdown to their very, very serious work of tracking - and accompanying - Santa on Christmas Eve. I've written before about how emotional this particular tradition is for me. The Cold War was in full swing. The airspace between the North Pole and Canada was some dangerous territory, what with the Russians Right Over There. How comforting to know that NORAD was notronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-59391919559020424272006-12-24T12:42:00.002-04:002009-12-23T19:17:12.504-04:00...and to all a good night.According to this shot snagged from Norad's live Santa-Tracking website, Santa has just finished visiting Canadian troops, among others, in Afghanistan.Let's hope he brought them a peaceful night and some hope for a light at the end of the tunnel in the New Year.Merry Christmas, everyone.ronnieronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-78322864688408879862009-12-23T19:00:00.003-04:002009-12-23T19:16:52.672-04:00A wee reminder - NORAD tracks Santa!I've blogged about this before. Just a wee reminder that NORAD will be tracking Santa's flight tomorrow night. (In a bunch of languages!)Believe.ronnieronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-68382159430634781502009-12-19T22:12:00.000-04:002009-12-19T21:50:08.338-04:00A series of (un)fortunate events - Day 5Day 5 was sunny and bright - we couldn't have ordered better weather - and I was finally ready to turn in the crutches. I was out of Tylenol, and while I was semi-mobile, I was still in a lot of pain and the ankle was still ridiculously swollen, so after breakfast we went to the shop to buy some.Nope, no Tylenol - not at the shop. "The clinic might have some," the cashier said, in a tone that ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-22265966675104586122009-12-17T20:17:00.004-04:002009-12-17T20:24:30.504-04:00CLOTHES CAP SHUNNINGDerek comments below on my post, "Finally, someone understands", that this seems a good time to post this link to the ESPN Magazine sports blog.Derek is not at all OUT OF SINK with this blog.ronnieronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-65036068015130243272009-12-11T22:54:00.015-04:002009-12-12T22:05:16.962-04:00A series of (un)fortunate events - Day 4Day 4 dawned early, with us getting Husband ready to go on the day-long trip to Remedios and Santa Clara. Then he made sure I got some breakfast (you're not getting much nutrition at a buffet restaurant if both hands are full of crutches); and then I very happily sent him off to catch the bus to Santa Clara.As for me, this was my view for most of the day. With a ripping book about a particularly ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-88784767862269009832009-12-11T22:32:00.002-04:002009-12-11T22:34:40.377-04:00Finally, someone understands.ronnieronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-11616603404787596302009-12-10T21:47:00.011-04:002009-12-11T21:53:16.858-04:00A series of (un)fortunate events - Day 3So Day 3 dawned with my ankle swollen up like a Christmas ham, and Husband simply beside himself talking about going to Santa Clara for X-rays, and was it broken? and would our insurance cover it? and such and such. I was trying to reassure him that it was just a sprain, I'd had many sprains over the course of my life and this felt just exactly like every other sprain I'd ever had, including ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-77959525188058044362009-12-10T19:51:00.005-04:002009-12-10T21:07:25.934-04:00A series of (un)fortunate eventsThere are no direct flights from Atlantic Canada to Cuba until March, so for our early winter trips we fly through Toronto or Montreal, where a fat population base has them shipping metal tubes full of tourists to the Caribbean all year round.That's how we ended up on a plane transporting one of the Olympic Torches leapfrogging across the country from New Brunswick to Ontario. Even better, the ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-82506745212183215112009-12-09T22:02:00.006-04:002009-12-09T22:11:01.604-04:00Invisibl lifegardMore to come. Meanwhile, after coming home to the first snowstorm of the season, we're having 15-25 more cms tonight!ronnieronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-41988418004267059732009-12-06T18:03:00.001-04:002009-12-06T22:08:21.840-04:00Email is under construction. Thank you for understanding.I've been away for a week, and during that time my web host once again decided that my email was over quota and started bouncing emails back. (Thanks to Sherwood for alerting me.) The problem is that my email is nowhere near over quota, but this happens about once a year and I have to submit a ticket to fix it. I hate my web host but for a number of reasons (most relating to the large r.a.c.s petronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-67537892417423726682009-12-06T20:29:00.002-04:002009-12-06T20:30:40.450-04:00Cayo Santa MariaMore later. Sleep now!ronnieronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-52447909553238103892009-11-25T20:12:00.000-04:002009-11-25T20:15:06.427-04:00Moncton, too!ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-68101722830834008212009-11-25T16:46:00.000-04:002009-11-25T16:49:27.354-04:00Monctonronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-58484629509428511632009-11-21T20:52:00.003-04:002009-11-21T21:12:33.575-04:00Pet photos with SantaWe took the cats today for "Pet Photos with Santa", a fundraiser by the Fredericton SPCA in cooperation with local garden center and all-around good corporate citizens Green Village.We've been doing this now for too many years for us to remember. Not since Veronica was a kitten (she's 11 now), but certainly for 7 or 8 years. Every year, we're completely astonished at how utterly sanguine the catsronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-57445087689073422062009-11-20T19:33:00.003-04:002009-11-20T19:39:53.417-04:00That's us. Suspicious.see more Epic FailsCourtesy Failblog.org.ronnieronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-82836941028741981282009-11-19T21:00:00.002-04:002009-11-19T21:16:22.012-04:00Web 2.0 FailI watched a documentary tonight on the CBC called "Up Against the Wall". It was about how, since 9/11, a number of countries have erected physical walls with the intention of stopping migrants from the developing world from crossing into their countries. (Examples were the US/Mexico wall; the walls built in Spain to stop migrants from crossing from Morocco into the EU; and the wall Israel is ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-36439146528257468292009-11-12T15:19:00.000-04:002009-11-12T15:21:38.445-04:00Florencevilleronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-6430954704800496532009-11-07T19:42:00.006-04:002009-11-07T20:10:55.169-04:00You aren't paranoid if they're really out to get you.I had intended to get the H1N1 flu vaccination as soon as I was able. Not being part of one of the priority groups, I had anticipated that I'd have to wait two weeks or so after the initial rollout, when they'd start vaccinating the general public.Except that the deployment of the vaccine in New Brunswick, as in most locations across Canada, has been a ridiculous hot mess. People not part of the ronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402829.post-68451174316590589472009-11-05T21:19:00.002-04:002009-11-05T21:23:28.401-04:00Tony's Music Box Halloween Guitar Smash-a-thonThe Halloween Guitar Smash-a-thon held by our local independent music store, Tony's Music Box.Now you know why we patronize this place.Lessons learned: Acoustic guitars smash very satisfyingly. Hard-bodies, on the other hand, tend to be weapons of amp destruction.Unless you're smashing them against a brick wall. Then they smash real good.ronnieronniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.com4