The master, and perhaps the best musical artist on the planet right now, turned 50 today. Happy birthday, Nick.
Monthly Archives: September 2007
My American Dollar.
Unless you’ve not been paying attention the financial news of late, the U.S. economy is not very strong, at least compared to most other countries. In Canada, the exchange rate between the Canadian and U.S. dollars has been inching towards parity. Today’s rate is almost exactly at 1.00, whereas even two years ago when we moved to Canada, the rate was .85. In other words, I could go to the bank here, and with my USD 1.00, buy about CAD 1.15. That was nice, for me.
Today, I went to the bank and bought USD 1,500.00 worth of Canadian dollars. You know what I got? I received from the teller $1,475.50. That’s right, for the first time, for me, I received less for my U.S. greenback at the bank; in fact, I lost about $25.00, enough for a dinner out, a couple of movies, or a good book about the future of the United States in the global economy.
Postscript: Here’s the press release.
Technologically Correct.
Boy, they got this one right in the year I was born. It puts Marshall McLuhan and Guy Debord to shame. Note: I’m not entirely sure if this video was filmed, edited, and crafted by some 2007 video art students.
Cat's Cradle.
My cat is dying. It’s a slow, probably painful, dying. A few months ago, he gained a small, weird sore on his front paw and it didn’t heal. It was weird: bloody on occasion, crusty on others, green on others. It changes constantly. I’ve taken Inky to one vet and then another and then another. The first one I went to was okay. Honest and trying, he ultimately recommended I talk with a veterinary surgeon to have his paw removed. But at 15 or so, it’s doubtful he would make it through that surgery; or so says the fourth vet we’ve seen and I think he’s right. At this point, it’s palliative care. It’s hard to know how far the cancer has spread from his paw, though it’s definitely spread. An x-ray shows that it’s near his heart. This has been going on for about six months now and it can’t be painless for him. We’re doing a “pulsing” regimen of antibiotics to keep the infection from overwhelming him and now he’s also on daily pain relief drops. Inky is the smartest cat I’ve owned or seen. He knows what is happening, I think, and he’s taking it on like the tough guy I know he is.