Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Chained to the Desk

Wednesday December 12, 3:12 p.m.

Well, it's the 12th day of the 12th month of the 12th year of the 21st century. This will be the last time for numerical alliteration for me at least in my lifetime....unless immortality is discovered sometime in the next 50 years.

It's been a bit of a slog over the past few days. Nothing but translation which means I've been pretty much tied to my chair and desk for many hours a day since Monday. Not too bad, but I'm happy that I'll get a chance to get out tomorrow and Friday. I've gotta get some Christmas stuff done over the next couple of days....plus get a flu shot nearby.

Had lunch at the neighbourhood Pizza Hut yesterday since my parents were out all day. Quite a few more customers in there than usual, but that just meant that the place was one-third full. Perhaps the nights are brimming with pizza lovers, but I can't honestly believe how long this branch has stayed open with the seeming emptiness of the place. They had their buffet on so I was able to have my 6 slices of various types of pizza, plus a couple of runs to the salad bar for salad, pasta and garlic bread. Believe me, I am semi-retired now when it comes to engorging. It's one of the things I'm grateful for since returning to Canada last year since except for one particular franchise, none of the big pizza chains in Japan have sit-down restaurants; it's all delivery there. That one lone franchise is a domestic deal named Pizza Salvatore, and it's an expensive one....$35 for a medium pizza! Quality fare, though.

Speaking about Japan, the other shoe finally dropped across the Japan Sea. North Korea finally fired off that missile yesterday to much fanfare and celebration in the Hermit Kingdom of Kim Jong Un. CNN reported that the missile flew over Okinawa but Japan didn't fire a shot. NHK told a somewhat different story by showing that the missile actually went due south...perhaps shaving over the very southernmost little island in the Ryukyus. If we're to follow NHK's report, then Taiwan or The Phillipines had more of an issue to shake their fists than Japan did.

That tunnel collapsing in Yamanashi Prefecture got me thinking about the state of Toronto's Gardiner Expressway. Today, the news outlets here have been talking about the report that the decrepit highway may be in even worse shape than was previously thought. I'm just wondering when we're gonna get that CP24 Breaking News of cars falling through the pavement.

And I hear that Mayor Rob Ford has cancelled his annual New Year's Levee at City Hall. Gee, I wonder why....