Occasionally Wright

Four Years In Georgia

It turns out this thing still work. It's been just short of a year since I've updated it. but I figured it was time to dust it off on this special day.

It was four years ago today that I successfully moved to Georgia from Ottawa (after a failed attempt on Sept. 17, 2005, but that's another story).

In the last four years I have:

1. Landed my dream job
2. Bought my first car
3. Gotten engaged
4. Gotten married
5. Adopted a cat
6. Bought a house
7. Adopted a dog
8. Bought my second car
9. Gotten a green card

And now I'm going to be a father... in April.

Yup. It's been a busy and good four years.

Debate Scoop

I didn't vote in this week's Canadian election and I can't vote in next month's American election. I technically could have voted in the Canadian election via absentee ballot but you're supposed to be planning on returning to Canada to live. Who am I kidding? That's not happening any time soon. Yes, I could have lied, but it wasn't worth it just to vote in an election that had little significance to me.

It is odd though to not be voting in either election.

I remember the last time I was living in this country for two elections. November 2000. Americans voted, Canadians had an election a week or two later, Canadians go their election results that night, and two months later Bush was declared the winner thanks to whatever happened in Florida.

Before that election I went to one of the presidential debates which happened to be at Wake Forest where I was going to grad school.

Now my former professor's name is all over the place. He was a debate expert back then and he's still one now, but the internet is a bigger deal now than it was then, so he's blogging about the debates as one of the founders and writers at Debate Scoop. I probably should have linked to it before the last debate, but it's still worth reading and it isn't blatantly partisan like pretty much every other site. Dr Louden is good that way. Yes, I still call him Dr. Louden, even though I lived with the man for a few months. Here's a nice feature on him if you want some background.

3 Years

It was three years ago Friday that I moved to this country after a little snag at immigration a few days earlier.

Since then I've gotten engaged, gotten married, gotten a cat, a house, a new car and a dog. Now I'm sitting in a hotel room in Nashville on the road with the team. In the next. Five days I'll go back to Atlanta, come back to Nashville and then spend some time in St. Louis and Detroit.

Who saw this coming?

A New Source of Music

Prior to trying out thesixtyone.com I had never heard of the following bands and artists:

Aron Wright
Bandwagon Device (from Saskatchewan)
Dust Rhinos (from Winnipeg)
Hudson
Paul and Storm
Sarah Donner
Squid
The Avett Brothers (who are downright awesome)

I came across all of them, and more, in the past 48 hours. Based on how I heard about the site (via an overenthusiastic advertising guy) I was skeptical about what I'd find, but it turns out there are a lot of great independent artists out there. I've mostly been listening to the folk channel includes lots of bluegrass and acoustic stuff too) as well as the rock, alternative and pop channels. The nice thing about the site is that a lot of the artists provide song to download for free, which puts thesixtyone.com way ahead of most other online radio and music sites.

You can check out what I've found below.

This is a test

If you're reading this it means I've successfully posted from my new Blackberry. If you're not reading it... Well... I guess you are, aren't you?

I'm not sure why I want to be able to submit posts from my Blackberry but it seems like a function that might come in handy some day.

Thankfully I have smallish thumbs for typing on this thing.

Music Mini-Crisis

No one ever warned me  a lot of the music I used to listen to would be a whole lot less fun after I got married.

It turns out I used to enjoy a lot of angst-filled music about relationships and break-ups. Now I can't relate to much of anything Dashboard Confessional sings about.

What brings this up is the new Matt Mays and El Torpedo album, Terminal Romance. The album is fantastic but as the title kind of implies the lyrics from some of the best songs are about a failed relationship. They're still fun to sing along with in the car, but I just can't relate any more. that's a good thing of course, but what am I supposed to listen to now?

Overreact Much?

Umm... right.

A French-language rights group is demanding an apology from Prime Minister Stephen Harper for a controversial poster hanging at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

The poster — used to advertise the embassy's Canada Day party — featured a picture of French explorer Samuel de Champlain holding a plate of poutine, Quebec's famous delicacy made with fries, cheese curds and gravy.

And then...

Perreault compared the poutine image to using a hotdog to promote English Canada.

The embassy removed the poutine from the poster as soon as Impératif Français complained, but Perreault said further steps are warranted.

He said Foreign Minister David Emerson should apologize, and Michael Wilson, Canada's ambassador to the U.S., should resign.

Really? Would anyone in English Canada be offended if a poster for a party had a picture of Sir John A holding a hot dog? I'd go so far as to wager that there have probably been posters made of him holding a beer.

If the poster had have had Champlain holding a hamburger it would of been seen as trying to anglicize him. If he had have been holding nothing it would have been construed as an attempt to make it look like French Canada doesn't know how to have fun. And let's not even start on the outrage if the poster didn't include a French-Canadian icon.

Somebody just wants to complain about something.

In sum- a special interest group wants an ambassador to resign over a poster of a French guy holding a food item made famous in Quebec.

New Member Of The Family (It's Not A Baby)

First there Sekai, our golden mix that Meg has had since shortly after she started vet school.

Then there was Eddie, who we got shortly after we got married in the fall of 2005.

Somehow we went from having a dog and a black and white cat to adding a black and white puppy that is a perfect mix of both of their personalities. Her name is Daisy. All three animals were adopted from animal shelters.



The shelter claimed that Daisy is a flat-coated retriever but they just make an educated guess so people can have a rough idea of what they're adopting. Meg happened to have a sample of a DNA dog breed test so we did a cheek swab on Daisy and sent it off to BioVet Pet Lab. According to them Daisy is a dachshund/papillion mix. Sure she is.

Here's a dachshund:

Here's a papillion:

If Daisy is a mix of those two then Sekai is a Great Dane and Eddie is a ocelot.

An Open Letter To Cook County

Dear Cook County, GA,

At no point in the future will I ever intentionally stop in your county to spend a solitary cent. If there was a way to get to Florida without driving through your county I'd do it. Who, in their right mind, imposes a 50 mph speed limit on an interstate through a rural area directly in between two 70 mph zones? I'm sure it's a great revenue generator for the county, but you won't generate any more revenue from me.

American Idol All Over Archuleta

My wife likes American Idol so I watch American Idol. It's that simple. I got sucked into this season because there was one contestant who was actually entertaining to listen to- David Cook.

It shouldn't surprise me that a show like American Idol set up the final for a David Archuleta but wow- could they be any more in love with this guy.

Here's the thing- David Archuleta went safe with every song selection and bored me to tears. David Cook experimented, showed he could sing something other than ballads, and actually had stage presence.

David Archuleta is a better singer. David Cook is a better musician and artist and will go on to have a much, much better career. Hopefully he loses so he isn't saddled with a stifling American Idol contract.

By the way, my wife pointed out that after David Cook's first song Randy said it was a great way to kick off the 2007 finals showdown. 2007? Really?