Welcome to Winter (Officially)

That's right, winter starts at 2:08 am AST tomorrow. Most people in Canada will tell you that winter started a month ago when the temperature fell into the sub-basement and it started snowing.

I'm also starting a much-needed vacation. And as the days slowly get longer from December 23rd and on, maybe there will come a day when I won't have to drive to work (7:10-7:55 am) and home (4:05 - 4:50 pm) in the dark. Grrr.

In corporate bastard news, a 17-year-old California girl has died while her insurance company did backflips about whether or not it would pay for a liver transplant that could have saved her. It shocks me that such life and death (literally) decisions are made by faceless corporations rather than the doctors on the scene. How about you save her life first and then worry about who's going to fork over the cash? Or almost as good, and better in the long run: call your congressmen and tell them that you'd prefer that some of that bloated military budget get redirected to creating a universal health care system.

Okay... think happy thoughts... go watch the Buzz report blooper reel over at CNet. Gets a smile even out of grumpy old bastards like myself.