lance_sibley | Well, this was... a day.

Signs had been posted around the building for the last week or so that they were going to be testing the fire alarms today between 9 and 5 (can't they be any more precise?). I was awakened by the first such alarm at 9 o'clock precisely (gah! I only went to bed at 5!), along with an announcement from the superintendent that they were starting up on the 15th floor (I live on the 12th). I managed to get back to sleep for a few minutes once it stopped, before it started again. Rinse and repeat. A little while later there was a knock at my door, followed precisely 1.8 seconds later by a louder, more insistent knock and the simultaneous ringing of the alarms again. I hollered, "Just a minute, I'm coming!", threw on a pair of boxer shorts and opened the door to find my superintendent standing there.

Him: "Can you hear that?"
Me: (groggy) "Yes."
Him: "Good. Now close the door."

Before I got the door closed, one of my neighbours across the hall opened hers, looking about as happy to have to do so as I did.

I do love the way the sign was phrased: "We will be testing the fire alarm system. Do not be alarmed." (Isn't that the point of an alarm? To alarm people?)

I stumbled back to bed and somehow managed to get back to sleep, though it was interrupted several times by more false fire alarms. I finally got up around 1, having decided that I wasn't going to be allowed to sleep any longer, and turned on the bathroom taps.

No water.

Oh, right. The other sign said that they were going to be working on the pipes again, and that the water would be shut off and the laundry room closed all day.

So I put on the same clothes I'd worn yesterday (disgusting, I know, but no point in dirtying clean clothes, right? and I did put on deodorant first, anyway) and stumbled up the street to Starbucks for caffeine. One of the usual baristas was working today:

Him: "Grande bold?"
Me: "Yes, please. I really need it today."
Him: "Oh?"
Me: "They're testing the fire alarms and shut off the water in my building again."
Him: "Was there a flood?"
Me: "No, they're just testing the alarms and repairing the pipes, apparently."
Him: "Oh. Well, here's your coffee."
Me: "Thanks." (Holds out a toonie.)
Him: "No, thanks. It's on me today."

Sometimes it's good to be a regular. A couple of them even call me by name now. :)

So I came back home, and some folks were standing outside the front door of the building while the alarms went off yet again. I stood with them for a bit until they were shut off, then came upstairs and picked up the newspaper. Around 5, I heard the rushing of water through the pipes. I waited about 45 minutes, in case they shut the water off again, then went and checked, and it was still running. So I stripped off the dirty clothes I'd been wearing all day and took a delightful, long, hot shower. So long that I got through about six songs while I was in there. :)

Then, putting on my shorts and a clean t-shirt and socks (it's been very warm in my apartment for the past few days, which no doubt made it even worse that I had to wear dirty clothes for most of the day), I had dinner and settled down to watch the Tuesday night lineup: Bones, House and Boston Legal.

About 45 minutes into Bones, the phone rang. It was my father, who wanted to know if I'd heard about any Christmas plans. I told him that I haven't spoken to my mother in months, to which he replied that she must still be angry at me over the inheritance issue. I told my father that I still hadn't gotten it, to which he said, "Really? She said you had. I guess she must've lied." Anyway, she says that she can't host dinner in her apartment, and I certainly can't, and my father is all the way up in Emsdale (and neither my mother nor I drive), so the choices are two: either have dinner at the condo (apparently my mother still hasn't moved in there) or have dinner out.

So I'm having Christmas dinner at the Granite Brewery with my father on Christmas Eve.

He said he'd call my mother and let her know. This is going to be fun (NOT!).

Anyway, having missed enough of Bones that the ending didn't quite make sense to me, I then watched House. I have to agree with

ozreison - the writers are teasing the fans. House's line about how he must be gay because he has no girlfriend and is always hanging around with Wilson made me laugh out loud, literally.

Boston Legal was pre-empted tonight for a Barbara Walters special. Shit. Isn't she dead yet? So I watched the last half of "The Birdcage" instead, likely chopped to bits because it was being aired on the Family Channel.

My weekly television fix having almost been met, I came over to the computer to play catch-up with my friendslist. Lots of politics today. It seems that Stephen Harper started the campaign with a promise to revisit the gay marriage law. He wants to hold a free vote to "restore the traditional definition of marriage." Some people didn't think he would dare to reopen this can of worms, but I can't say I'm surprised in the least. It seems that Pat O'Brien, a former Liberal backbencher who became an Independent because he disagreed with the Liberal policy during the vote on C-38, has teamed up with a former Conservative MP to form a lobby group called "Defend Marriage." According to the article I've linked to, "he says same-sex weddings are not accepted in the minds of 'millions of Canadians.'" That may be true, but they are accepted in the minds of millions more.

What I find particularly galling is Harper's comment that he will allow the roughly 3000 same-sex weddings that have already taken place to remain in force. Well, gee. Thanks a lot.

I was mildly amused to see Belinda Stronach quoted at length in the article defending gay rights against this attack by her former leader.

The CBC site has some interesting quotes on it as well: Jack Layton today said, "Canadians can get Parliament working again. Here's how to do that: elect more New Democrats."

Excuse me while I laugh my ass off. NDP candidates generally receive votes that bleed off from the Liberals, not the Conservatives. So Layton thinks that by electing roughly the same number of Liberals and Conservatives, Parliament will work better? An even smaller minority than last time - regardless of which party forms the government - will last an even shorter length of time than this one did. And nothing will get done. Harper is almost certainly not going to even entertain the thought of implementing NDP suggestions the way Martin did. Layton's best bet for influencing Canadian policy was to support the Liberals. If the next election is a Conservative minority (god forbid), he'll have next to no influence.

The next 54 days are going to be... interesting. Who wants to be in a pool to see when Harper next shoots himself in the foot?

montymark posted something interesting today that I'm passing along: here's a site that takes a photo of a person and compares it to a database of celebrity photos to determine the closest resemblances. With my normal hair colour, and using a picture that was taken about 7 years ago, I apparently look like Lech Walesa, Grover Cleveland, Ralph Waldo Emerson and a bunch of guys I've never heard of. Not exactly a bunch of palatable choices. As a blond, using a picture taken at this year's Gaylaxicon, apparently I most resemble Russell Crowe.

OTOH, if I ever want to do drag, apparently I could do Lindsay Lohan, Alanis Morrisette or Audrey Hepburn as a brunette, or Hilary Duff, Sigourney Weaver, Uma Thurman or Meryl Streep as a blond. (The scary thing is, looking at the picture of Audrey Hepburn that was used, from "Breakfast At Tiffany's", I can actually see the resemblance...)

And before I sign out,

h8torun, I apologize for taking so long, but how's this: