More Bombardier BS

"Toronto city councillors will debate a controversial proposal Wednesday to award a $700-million subway contract [the single largest purchase the city has EVER considered] to a Canadian company without seeking any competing bids."

You'd think the fact that it's such a large purchase would make councillors even more interested in having competing bids. But you'd be wrong. At least they'll be OUR subway cars though!

More here.

Swing on the Spiral

Embrace my desire to
feel the rhythm, to
feel connected,
enough to step aside and
weep like a widow, to
feel inspired, to
fathom the power, to
witness the beauty, to
bathe in the fountain, to
swing on the spiral of
our divinity and still be a human.

High is the way, but our eyes are upon the ground.
You are the light and the way, they'll only read about.
I only pray heaven knows when to lift you out.
Ten thousand days in the fire is long enough, you're going home.

Fetch me the spirit, the son, and the father
Tell them their pillar of faith has ascended.
It's time now,
My time now,
Give me my wings!

ITIL Certified

I received my Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management the other day. My employer is adopting ITIL best practices within the organization to coincide with the deployment of a major software project. The exam was proctored by Loyalist College and training was provided by Sierra Systems. While I was already familiar with ITIL, having used it in my previous job, the course was a good refresher and it was nice to come out of it with a valuable certification.

Those Crazy Kids

Good Bye Alice

I saw Jewel live in Minneapolis over the weekend, and I have to admit I was quite impressed. I've always liked her music, but I've never been a real fan until now. Her performance was one of the best I've seen and she sounds even better live than on her CD. She's up near the top of my list of [living] singer/songwriters now, though still behind Tori Amos and Ani DiFranco ;-)

The only downside was that she shared billing with Rob Thomas and so her set was rather short. When he started doing Eminem gestures and "raising the roof" while performing "Something to Be" the irony was just too much to handle, so we left.

Doubleplusungood

According to the Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench, calling Jews a "disease" and praising Hitler for "frying" them is OK. (Just don't deny that it happened)

The Greatest Competition on Earth Has Begun

While in other football news, I played all 90 minutes of our match on Monday and about 80 minutes of our match on Thursday. That's fantastic given my health. Perhaps I've turned the corner and things will begin to improve. Only time will tell.

Nevermind the War on "Terra"

More casualties in the decades old War on Drugs.