Royal Flush

So basically I've been trying to decide what makes our modern civilization the most advanced ever thus far. How did we get here? I mean, we were already way more advanced than the Egyptians by the time electricity even came around, and I'm pretty sure Spinning Jenny kicks the crap out of anything the Romans ever did. You might say, "Rob, you're pretty awesome, though maybe not very humble, but this is not a new question and is unlikely to be answered in any meaningful way in a short blog entry." and you might be right, but might not be, because the answer is plumbing and democracy.
I know, I know, A couple of Egyptian Pharaohs had something akin to a flush toilet, and there are a few instances of pipes in Roman and Chinese palaces and such, and even what you think about when talking about plumbing wasn't even maturing until the end of the 19th century. But holy snooks, you couldn't build a steam engine without plumbing, and you couldn't proliferate water and gas to the population without plumbing. And really, it's infrastructure that make places great to live in.
How awesome is it to take a shower and be clean. Pretty friggin awesome, and you just have to look at the Egyptians or Romans to see how bad life sucked for the average Joe when there is no plumbing or democracy, or if you want to look at a more recent example, there's any number of examples in the 3rd world. Oh and you can build a potato cannon out of ABS like snap.

Silver Fury

So normally when i'm driving my Hyundai Accent, I like to go fast. Well, maybe only as fast as I can go without creating too many legal issues. Really the car isn't all that fast to begin with so that alone limits those legal issues. It used to be that I would gladly pass anyone that was, incomprehensibly I might add, not blatantly ignoring the speed limit. But, ever since gas went up to $1.45/L back in '008, I have a better appreciation for the speed limit. It is amazing how fuel-efficient my car is at 80km/hr. I must admit, I still like to go fast, but now when I come up behind some misguided driver concerned with safety or functionality over fun and thrill-seeking, I just follow them. I mean I have patience. I think it might even be a virtue,.. but actually I'm just cheap.

Warm action

So today I got a new toy. And it was free. It's an ancient snow blower. I know it's bad for the environment but I like burning gas. I also have a feeling I'm going to have a lot of fun fixing this one. It looks almost exactly like the one above except rustier. I'm just not sure if it's ever going to snow this year. It was over 10 degrees today and this warm action shows no sign of stopping. Now I have even more reason for wanting it to snow. That is besides the usual reason of fall sucking.

Event horizon

Holy smokes. You know that scene in Joe v. Volcano where Joe is dying on his suitcases in the Pacific, and the moon is super huge on the horizon. I used to wonder if the moon ever actually appears big like that. Someone told me once that the gases of the atmosphere can act like a magnifying glass because the light is passing through lots of it when it is near the horizon. I was like, yeah... could happen, but probably only on the Pacific. That is until Friday night. I was driving back to Peterborough from band practice and the moon was HUGE!! It wasn't a full moon like the movie, and it kinda looked yellowy. But it was huge. I almost drove into the ditch. It didn't last long though. In a few minutes it was up higher and already not nearly as impressive. Just thought I'd share.

Extreme bike

Hooey.
Today I fell off my bike. Let this be a lesson to you: Indecision sucks.
I was like "hmm... maybe I'll skip my locker and lock my bike up on the west side of the building, so I better go by the sports centre instead of the old folks home." Meanwhile I almost passed the Pioneer station. Now I have a skinned knee and another well placed bandage that makes me look like I had my appendix out. AND I bent the front wheel of my shiny bike. It now rubs against the front right brake pad. This does not bode well for shiny bike as its crank bearings are already wearing noticeably.

Painting a landscape

So I mowed the lawn for the first time this year. And may I say: It was excellent. I really like mowing the lawn. Not only does it allow you to get out and enjoy nature and such, but it also allows you to get out and destroy it a bit too. I’m also getting pretty good at small engine repair. But cutting grass is a bit more than that. It’s a little like an art. An art where you burn gas. Like that guy I saw on Daily Planet who paints with jet engines. Nevermind. On second thought, that might not be art – or maybe art for suckers - but he is burning gas.
Anways, back to the lawn. It’s like a game of snake, except you can mow over your tail, and when you’re done the lawn, it looks pretty and you have an excellent sense of accomplishment, and a sunburn. Awesome.