Where were you 10 years ago today?

It was shortly after 8 a.m. and I walked into work.  Thinking to myself  "Everyone is just standing around the trade floor watching tv, goofing off".  Thinking to myself "Oh great, I won't be leaving at 4 dot, because they've all seen me walk in shortly after 8".

That's not why they were standing there.  There were serious faces and the words "World Trade Centre", "crumbling down", "terrorists", "why?" flashed in and out of my ears.

I sat down at my desk after what seemed like an hour.  Turned on my computer monitors and tuned into the tv on the monitors.  A gaggle gathered around behind me and told me "CNN, no CBC, no CNN!".  The second tower came down.  What is going on?  What kind of world is this?  I just walked into work a few minutes later than I planned and now this?

All we could wonder from our safe desks in Manitoba was "What next?".  Is this the Apocalypse?

And then Washington.  Who was doing this to the Americans?  What struck a chord the most with me was the reading from a psychic that I had in April 2001.   She told me that someone hated the Americans and I sympathized with them.  I understood how they felt.  But this couldn't be the incident to understand.  Seriously, this is hate.  I've never hated anyone to wish this on them.

I looked over at my colleagues' faces.  There was fear, sorrow and disgust. Now, the worry came.  Two of our colleagues were there.  In NYC that week. As this was a notorious week for financial conferences.  They were not at the WTC but at lower-lying Merrill Lynch buildings.  How would we get them home from an otherwise safe country?  Both fellows were Canadian, but one was visibly going to cause alarm when coming across the border.  Our world had become instantly paranoid and we were a part of that paranoia.  From the connections of another colleague, he arranged safe travels by car to get them home safely to their families.  It was clearly the scariest moment for all of us and the reality check.  The wake up call.  This was entirely happening.

In discussing the sequence of events, everyone had stories; friends had moved out of NYC in the past 3 months; colleagues went to conferences in the WTC every year for the past 15 years and this was the first year they didn't attend; emails came from our Canadian comrades who were stuck on the 80-something floor of Tower 2 and watched the first tower fall and then they died after the email; colleagues who worked at the WTC during the bombing years prior.  The entire world shook and after all, the terrorists got what they wanted: terror.

No work was done for days.  We were the most unproductive in our lives.  We worried at night to what we would wake up to in the morning.  I swore that I would never bring a child into this world (3 years later, I forgot that quote).  We've recovered, but the world has changed forever.

signed, the willow

Should Canada's Military Really Worry about a 3 a.m. FOX Broadcast?

So while the rest of the world was asleep, some American moron who calls himself a tv host of the Fox News show "Red Eye" insulted the Canadian military on the eve of the death of 4 of our Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. Alongside him were 4 panelists who also insulted the Canadian police force (who are not all mounted on horseback by the way! Nor are they all members of the RCMP!), Canadian weather, Canadian intelligence and well all things Canadian. Have you seen this guy who calls himself Greg Gutfeld? It is so obvious that these morons are "comedians" and want to call attention to themselves. This is all they could come up with. What these particular Americans were either not aware of, or forgot to mention was Canada is cleaning up their bloody mess that they abandoned in Afghanistan. Canada has lost more soldiers in Afghanistan than any other allied country. And this whole war was once again brought to us by the Americans. Remember George W Bush? While Obama's shiny image is currently blinding the rest of the American public, some are still fighting for George's fear and greed of the black gold, Iraqi tea.

They have outraged the Canadian general public. We are ready to take a hakapik (and I use that term very cautiously during a time where Canada allows a seal hunt to proceed in record numbers - no, we aren't perfect in Canada) to all of these Yanks who have decided that they are the "most powerful nation in the Universe". Really? Have they been to the ends of the Universe? No and if they did, they'd probably perish the life of a few Canadians in one of their space shuttles to do the dastardly deed for them. Hmm, America, remember when you run out of oil resources - we have some north of you. And, America, remember how we still have trees? Oh yeah, USA, we also have an economy that is only slightly tanking and explicitly not as corrupt as the country who brought us Bernie Madoff. In perspective, FOX is, in fact, the network who provided us with a blue flashing tail attached to a hockey puck to teach their nation how to WATCH hockey. While the Canadians were actually playing the sport.

signed, the Canadian Willow

p.s. In a more promising moment for the Canadians & Americans living in harmony, Brad Pitt will appear on Mike Holmes' show "Holmes in New Orleans". Now, why can't we all live in peace? Perhaps we need the Hollywood looks of Brad Pitt and the contractor skills of Mike Holmes to get along.

During the Snowstorm

Here's what I'm looking at today.

The Shiny Squirrel

Imogen Slater

Here is what I'm sad about, Guy Lafleur.

An Obit for Brit?

It would seem that Brit, aka Ms. Spears, aka ex-Mrs. Federline, aka ex-Mrs. Jason Alexander (not Costanza!) has an obituary written about her and she's not dead. The Associated Press wrote her obituary and it is ready to go if they need it. Can you imagine why Britney is going crazy? I'm not a Brit fan, nor do I buy the National Enquirer (although *Steve* picked it up for me for Christmas thinking it was the gossip rag I was referring to), but I am starting to feel sorry for her. I went to TMZ's website yesterday and watched the paparazzi bombard her. She's even taken to dating one of the photog's that harassed her. Fame comes with a cost and the crazier you get, the crazier they make you. But, reading your own obituary? Or even finding out that someone wrote yours? They're putting her over the edge. Leave her alone and let's all focus on something far more important like this: Mark Malkoff living in IKEA.

signed, the willow

Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt

Happy Birthday Dad! Get married one day and wake up the next day one year older. Isn't it Ozzy Osbourne's birthday as well?

I was late getting for a run this morning and somehow remembered that Brad Pitt was going to be on the Today Show and luckily we have a Seattle channel or 5. *Mila* removed everything off the Expedit bookshelf and converted it into a Barbie condo refit. She sat there talking and playing, ignoring me. So I tied up my shoes and ran. I don't think she even knew at first. I was on the damn thing for 55 minutes and she still just played happily. I ran happily as not one telemarketer interrupted. I'm waiting and waiting for Brad. No Brad. Still no Brad. Later, no Brad. With the new TV I can't figure out how to use the closed captioning. I have to figure out if what Meredith Vieira and Al Roker is telling me is really serious or funny. Turns out you can really misinterpret news items when you can't hear it. The British teacher in Sudan was made to look as though she was going to host a new kids show on Nick Jr. Why is there so much smiling at the wrong times on the news? That's how stories get misconstrued. As for Brad Pitt, I had to google what his announcement on the Today Show was going to be. Pitt pledged $5 million to rebuild homes in New Orleans in an eco-friendly manner. Good for Brad. If only he'd get rid of Angelina Ballerina and I wonder what I'll have to answer to *Steve* tonight if he sees how many times I've googled "Brad Pitt"...Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt...hee hee, I'm giddy like a school girl just repeating it over and over.

signed, the willow