JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

At first, I didn't think much of reports that a major storm was going to hit SW Ontario yesterday. There had already been a few "Chicken Little" storms that had passed through. I took a day off work to leisurely make my way back to Toronto after spending the weekend in A'burg for my aunt's 70th birthday. If it snowed, I had time to play with. Driving wasn't too bad going through Essex County. The back roads were drivable, despite some drifting snow around Woodslee. Got onto 401 at Comber, with an immediate taste of things to come - at Tilbury, the westbound lanes were backed up due to a jacknifed truck blocking the road. Drifting snow dominated Chatham-Kent, with the odd vehicle in the ditch. I was carefully, rarely going the posted speed. Most drivers were equally cautious. Figured I'd reach London around 1-1:30 and grab a late lunch. Crossing into Elgin County, the drifting stopped and the road appeared fine. Remained cautious, stayed at or

Finally got around to watching Bowling For Columbine today. I enjoyed it for the way it took on the insanity of guns in the US. Sure, odd bits seemed forced or took jumps of logic, but overall I agreed with Moore's barbs at his country. Having grown up surrounded by the Detroit media, all we ever heard on the news was the latest shooting of the day, the coverage of which grew more sensationalistic over the years. Whenever I head home, I catch a local newcast just to see how much further down the toilet its gone. It never fails to meet the lowest expectations, as shown in the film by the behaviour of the reporter when the cameras weren't rolling (here he is covering the shooting of a child, and he's worried about his hair. Looks triumph over substance again). Lots of the local groups and events covered in the film were the butt of jokes while growing up...Gibraltar Trade Centre gun shows (advertised enthusiastically on billboards and TV), the Michigan Militia, the g

Even though there were a couple of cancellations from others intending to come along, I ended up shufflin' down to Buffalo on Saturday. All signs pointed toward a good day. First good sign - no lineup at the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge. Sign #2 - the first border guard I've ever encounter there who didn't have their humanity surgically removed (made jokes after he asked where I was going and I rambled off all potential destinations). Sign #3 - immediately finding what I was looking for (a new backpack). Then came the comedy. After spending an hour at the outlet mall, I headed back to the car. No sign of it. I wander the parking lot for 10 minutes, frantically looking but finding no sign of the car. My pulse quickened, my mind raced and a steady stream of obscenities flew out of ny mouth. I flagged down a security vehicle, who then did a search of the entire lot. He assured me that usually people had forgotten which entrance they came in and wound up miles away fro

1) Give 'Em Hell, Batboy! It's 99-cent week at Loblaws, which means lots of time spent in grocery checkout lines. Looking for reading material while my imitation crab flakes and lunch meat creep up to room temperature, I've been browsing through a paragon of journalistic integrity, The Weekly World News . Seems their mascot, Batboy, was there when Saddam Hussein was captured. Other enlightening stories included the musical genius of Britney Spears, a couple banned from all buffets in North America and the discovery that the Earth is shrivelling up like a prune. Worth a few laughs, especially the "Ed Anger" column parodying frothing-at-the-mouth conversative radio commentators. 2) Now It's Sal Came back from dropping off some of my mom's famous nanaimo bars at Mark and Jess's, decided to check if anybody had called. More junk phone mail, from our friends at Best Price Movers (in no way a division of the Warehouse). New twist - the pitchman is