Why do we pay people to predict the weather?

Seriously though, monkeys could predict our local weather more accurately. I think I'm going to start consulting the Magic 8 Ball for weather forecasts. There's nothing worse than getting up in the morning, checking the forecast, hearing that it's going to be miserable and rainy all day, so you dress accordingly only to have it end up being sunny and hotter than heck. Yes, I spent the entire day in black dress pants and a long sleeved shirt only to sweat to death in 35°C weather! And that's not 35°C with no humidity - that's 35°C with 98% humidity. BAH!

Only humans do it

Come on, get your mind out of the gutter - I'm not talking about "it", I'm talking about strapping themselves into pieces of metal hanging from other pieces of metal that then proceed to go hurling through the air at 90 km/h. I'm referring to the wonders that are roller coasters! Chris and I went to Canada's Wonderland on Friday and I finally worked up the courage to go on Top Gun, pictured below.

Yeah, it probably doesn't look too scary from where you're sitting, but let me tell you... I screamed like the little girl I am. SO FUN THOUGH! I can't believe I spent all that time being afraid of roller coasters!

Now there's a legitimate reason to complain about this...

And by this, I mean gas prices. It's sick, disgusting and outrageous to be living in the city of Kingston, Ontario, right now. I know that there are other parts of the country that are paying more than $1.00 per litre, but I have my doubts that in these other parts of the country, you'd see a $0.17 difference in prices in a 70 kilometer area.

I'm referring to the fact that while we Kingstonians are paying $106.6/litre for our fuel, the people lucky enough to live in the city of Brockville or Prescott, a mere 72 kilometers down the road, are paying $0.833/litre. Is this right? I think not!

If you're looking for cheap gas prices in Ontario, check out:

http://www.ontariogasprices.com/

For cheap prices in Canada and the US, visit:

http://www.gasbuddy.com/

Is the Canadian government killing the independent convenience store?

According to most of my customers, the answer to that question is "YES".

I can't tell you the number of conversations I have on a daily basis with customers along my travels who are thoroughly discouraged by the lack of support they get from the federal government. Most of these conversations are centred around cigarettes and other tobacco products and the newly placed restrictions on the sale of these products.

The number one complaint is that the government recently placed all sorts of restrictions on store owners about the sale of cigarettes. Signs indicating prices could no longer be placed in windows, a display can only be black or grey, no cartons can be displayed, stores cannot advertise they sell cigarettes, etc. The list is almost endless. Today, while listening to a customer complain about it, he handed me a copy of one of the local aboriginal publications and pointed out more than 15 ads for stores on the reserve selling cheap cigarettes, including one on the front page that indicated they would ship cartons anywhere in Canada. His frustration hit a boiling point when I told him that the prices he's charging for cartons is, in some cases, more than $20/carton more than what they are charging for the same product.

The government has turned a blind eye to the fact that when you drive through the reserve, you can't go more than a kilometer without seeing at least one sign for a "store" (and this is in quotes because there are "stores" set up in refrigerated transport trailers) selling cheap cigarettes. The reason these cigarettes are so cheap is that they are sold tax free - yep, that's right, no GST at all. Somehow, I can't imagine the government would let it slide if one of the stores in downtown Kingston did the same thing.

I shake my head because the whole thing is making many store owners decide to pack up the business and look for some other form of work. This doesn't just affect the store owner, but also the companies that service that store, whether it's bread, milk, snack food or video rentals. It used to be that small businesses were the backbone of the Canadian economy, but if things continue on this track, the government will have to raise taxes on citizens who aren't business owners because they'll have squashed the small stores that used to be able to make a valid tax contribution.

Why EVERYONE should see "The Break Up"

Normally I'm not one to spout the virtues of a perfectly normal Hollywood romantic comedy other than the usual, "Because it's really cute, or funny, or whatever..." but this movie was very good for a couple of reasons.

1) Girls, we totally do what Jennifer Aniston's character did. We expect men to be mind readers and when they aren't, we get pissy and try to play mind games to get them to admit that they're wrong. This backfires almost always because even if the guy admits that he's wrong (even if he isn't actually wrong) he's usually only admitting so that we'll stop being mad and he really has NO idea what he's just admitted to or apologized for. Talk about a waste of time and perfectly useless anger.

2) People give up too easily. Maybe that's why everyone's getting divorced? It's easier to jump ship and cut your losses than actually try to make things work. If it were easy then everyone would be in blissful, movie-worthy relationships.

Is your car happy?

Today it struck me how angry and mean police cars can look. That may sound a bit strange, but it's true. As they come racing up behind you on the 401 doing 120+ km/hour, the ramming bars they have on the front look like eyebrows that are all scrunched up growling at you. It's funny what you see when you're freaking out about speeding, eh?

That got me thinking about happy looking cars. By far, the happiest looking cars are the Dodge Neon and the Volkswagon Beetle. I'm still wondering if I've got a happy looking car. It sort of looks happy, maybe with little dimples and buck-teeth?

Is this the death of my own perceived feminism?

Now I'm not saying that I am (or ever was) a feminist - hell, I love nothing more than having a man open a door for me or pull out a chair, or stand up if I leave the table during dinner - I don't understand women who berate men for doing these things - I think, more than anything, it's a polite respect that is missing in today's society. However, there are some aspects of feminism that I was seriously on board with, things like equal pay for equal work and employment opportunity irregardless of gender.

During my travels, the radio provides me with limitless entertainment and lately, I've found myself listening to quite a bit of talk radio when I can tune it in. More specifically, I've been listening to Dr. Laura, if you can imagine. I know, I know, to the feminist world, she is the anti-thesis of all that women have been striving to achieve over the past 50 or so years, but lately, I'm starting to see her point.

Before you gasp in shock and want to send me to the gallows, hear me out. She basically encourages women to look at how they treat people (generally men) and teaches people to look at their own faults before lashing out at the faults of others. Today I was listening in the morning and she said something that made me really think for the rest of the day. She told a woman who was calling to complain about her boyfriend that she needed to love him as though she'd never been hurt. This rang true for me and I found myself nodding in agreement as she proceeded to say that women hold on to the "crap" that happens to them in the past and it prevents them from really recognizing or allowing themselves to be open to the positive things that can happen to them in the present and the future. It got me thinking about all of my friends who've been hurt in relationships (heck, I've been there too), and how easy it is to get trapped in the "crap" and to end up constantly wondering if the person you're now with is going to do the same thing. We, as a society, need to learn to let things go! Live in the moment and give the people that you're with the benefit of the doubt before you automatically assume the worst - because if we don't, we're not going to see a decrease in the divorce rate anytime soon and all of our relationships will be doomed to past failure before they even begin. So tonight, when Chris gets home, I'm going to give him a kiss and tell him that I'm lucky. I'm lucky because I'm now aware of the "crap" and I've stepped around it...

And I didn't even get to throw a bouquet...

Today is the day that the government made me a married woman - at least legally. Chris and I have been living together for six months so now we're officially "common-law spouses". Stupid government. It doesn't make a bit of difference!

$29 million dollar Lotto 649 jackpot tonight. Wouldn't that be nice? Can't help but be bombarded by messages to buy a ticket, seeing as how the commercials on tv make it look so fun to win - I'd love to dance around like an idiot too, and probably would if someone told me I'd won. Needless to say, my work situation would change dramatically - I'd actually work at something I like doing (what exactly, I'm not sure...) and all of my crew would be going on one fantastic voyage with me, all expenses paid. Oh the things I could do with that sort of money...

If only life were like a video game...

Have you ever been on a highway driving along when you come up on someone driving the same car as you? Not necessarily the same colour, but exactly the same model, right down to the engine? Well, today that happened to me and the guy was driving slow, so I passed him (driving with cruise control on the ENTIRE way), no big deal. A few minutes later the guy goes zooming by me and another car only to literally slow down to a crawl again once ahead of us. Needless to say, I was not impressed and immediately thought (while passing him), "Dude, you're making us Fusion drivers look bad - cruise control has a purpose...USE IT!!!" I am constantly surprised at how many people manage to weasel their way into drivers licenses when obviously, they're a danger to both themselves and other drivers on the road.

After my drive-by with this guy, I thought, "Wouldn't it be great if life were like a video game?" Chris and I recently purchased an XBOX 360 and a game called "Full Auto". The purpose of the game is basically to drive around and if someone gets in your way, you blow up the car. I'm not suggesting that we blow up cars, but wouldn't it be cool if you could send a loud message into the car? Something to the affect of, "Learn how to drive, M***** F*****!!!" I probably wouldn't care so much if I didn't spend 5 of my 7 days of the week on the road with a bunch of complete idiots...

Ciao

No longer a blogging virgin...

Ha ha ha - I've finally joined the world of the blogger! Woo hoo. I have my doubts that anyone will ever read this, since it's just a bunch of randomness, but I have all of these random thoughts as I drive around and I thought, "Hey, why not share this junk with the world?"

I called this blog "Social Lubricants" for three reasons: 1) I heard about social lubricants (alcohol) in a movie once and it made me laugh out loud; 2) Because random thoughts are also a type of social lubricant because they get people thinking outside the box, so to speak; 3) Lubricant is a funny word. :-)

So that's about it - my thoughts will come as they may and if you've got any comments or thoughts of your own, please don't hesitate!

Ciao