Lilly Pad On Water

Lilly Pad On Water
Originally uploaded by *Bundy*

With the summer weather hit and miss this season I've had a tough time getting out to enjoy my photography hobby.

I did manage to pull off the side of the road at a local marsh last week. There was some light rain falling but I figured I wouldn't melt so I grabbed my Nikon and trudged through some of the reeds and tall grass to get near the water.

That's where I snapped this shot of a lonely Lilly Pad covered in raindrops and floating atop the still water.

I was quite pleased with how it came out. I manged to get a a few other shots from that day that you can check out on my flickr site if you like.

Clip of the Week - July 28/08

Time for another clip of the week.

There wasn't a whole lot to pick from this week. I guess it was a boring week.

I did manage to come across a quick clip showing a minor league baseball game brawl last week. This drives me crazy every time I see stuff like this.

People are always talking about fighting in hockey and how bad it is but when was the last time you saw a bench clearing brawl. They rarely happen in a hockey game at any level.

However, it doesn't matter at what level of play in baseball, a fight involves the benches clearing every time. Well, maybe this incident will finally bring about some changes...but I doubt it.

Having said that, I still enjoy seeing the odd hockey brawl from time to time.

When I Win the Lottery. . .

I have an Uncle and I believe his favourite five words are…”When I Win the Lottery.” Every time I chat with him, that’s what he dreams about. Let’s face it; who among us wouldn’t want to or hasn’t at one time had a dream about the big pay day?

Unless you’re one of the lucky one’s either born into wealth, a Prince in an Arab country or have some how managed to become a self-made millionaire, odds are quite high you’ll never truly know what it’s like to be “rich”.

Oh sure, I’m rich in many ways, just not in the pocket. I have a loving and supportive family, a few close friends, many other friendly acquaintances and my health, although not perfect, isn’t as bad as it could be. However, unless some long lost relative leaves me a fortune, I’ll likely have to worry about money my whole life.

So what do those of us without money dream about…winning the lottery of course. Here in Canada we have a couple of good lotteries that can at times get jackpots up to 25 to 40 million. When you compare that to the U.S. where the Power Ball pot can reach over 100 million, it doesn’t sound like much. Of course in Canada, our winnings are tax free which means if you win a 30 million dollar jackpot, you get the whole 30 million.

Since I’m quite sure I’ll never have to worry about it, I’ve never actually taken the time to think about what I’d do with the money if I won it.

For starters, let’s say I won 20 million. That’s a nice round number. The first thing I’d do after picking up the cheque and contacting my bank is disappear for a little while and take some family with me. I wouldn’t be going on a big spending spree; I just want to get away from all of those long lost friends and solicitors who have a tendency to show up at your door.

After a short period of time I’d resurface and make sure any debts are paid off to the bank to get me back to even. Luckily at this point it wouldn’t take too much to do that.

So now the fun begins. I’d probably put 10 million in the bank and leave it there for now and use the other 10 to do a few things, including giving some money to my family. I’d make sure all of my parents bills were taken care of and I’d give them a million to start. I’d do the same for my brother.

So with about seven of the 10 left I’d probably fly to Florida and start looking for a nice house. I figure I can get a very nice home for one million. I could probably furnish it nicely for a couple hundred thousand. And of course I’d need a couple of vehicles to go in my three car garage. Nothing too expensive…maybe an Escalade and something a little less flashy and more fuel efficient as well.

Did I mention I’d never work a job again? I suppose that’s understood.

I’d also make sure I had a new home back in Canada and make sure my parents are looked after. They would be more than welcome to stay at my place in Florida as well. Of course, if they wanted it, I’d get them a home down there. My parents aren’t the flashy type and my mother is not one to spend money frivolously so their money would last a very long time.

Once I’m established and my immediate family are taken care of, next I’d make sure the rest of my family is looked after. My aunts and uncles who I still keep in touch with would probably receive a gift of some kind…most likely in the form of cash.

Boy, it’s kind of fun spending this imaginary money. So where does that leave me? I have 10 million in the bank and I’ll say I have three million of the fun ten left.

Time to go on a trip and I think I’ll take some family members with me if they want to go. I’ve seen only a fraction of the world so far having been down to Panama, Belize, Costa Rica and the Caribbean. So I’d say it will be a month long trip to Europe as I’ve always wanted to see Scotland where my family comes from and see our family castle. I figure that should take care of a good portion of the remaining three million.

After returning I’d have the other 10 million to live off of for the rest of my life. I’m pretty sure I could do that as long as I don’t go crazy spending money. I can’t foresee myself building the “Bundyland Ranch” with a zoo and amusement park.

I think I could live my life quite happily from that point on.

Alas, the reality is I haven’t won the lottery and I have to resign myself to the fact that I’ll likely be working until the day I die and won’t likely see retirement. Even if I live that long I won’t be able to afford to quit working so I’ll just have to enjoy the relaxing times when I can and pretend that my weekends are my retirement.

Yikes…that’s pretty damn depressing. I think I better get to the store and buy some lottery tickets fast.

She See's Me Doesn't She?

So I'm sitting in the line to get gas on Saturday and we all know how exciting that is. Who doesn't love spending 50 bucks for half a tank?

Any way, I'm sitting there for about 45 seconds waiting for the guy ahead of me to finish when all of a sudden I notice some movement to my right. Sure enough, here's a woman in a small Chrysler product backing out of a parking spot.

Seeing that I'm only 5 feet away from her she has to see me in at least one of her mirrors doesn't she? At the very least she has taken a peek over her shoulder to see if any kids, people or cars are directly behind her that will prohibit her from leaving her parking spot immediately, right?

NOPE!

It wasn't until she put the back end of her car into the side of mine and came to a sudden stop that the realization came to her that she probably should have taken at least a quick gander to determine if someone might be in her path of travel.

"Oh I didn't even see you there", she says to me after we exit our cars. I'm doing my best to not be a hot head and to deal with her in as pleasant a manner as possible. I don't know if my grinding teeth were audible to her or not.

The gray-haired woman was obviously upset and embarrassed by the circumstances and was somewhat apologetic. I think she was in more disbelief than I was. Hmmm...I got hit by a woman driver...shocking.

Luckily the damage wasn't so severe to keep me from using my chariot. I think her car stopped when it hit my front right tire and that helped to limit the damage to the fender which is no longer aerodynamically shaped. The dents were quite obvious and my anger was still in check.

We exchanged insurance information and I bid her a good day. I finally got my gas and pulled away from the pump and stopped briefly in the parking lot well away from any listening ears and proceeded to vent my anger to myself. It was only a verbal venting and the tongue lashing I would have liked to have given her was only heard by the victim in this whole affair.

So now I have to make plans to get my car repaired during my vacation in August. Not exactly my idea of a fun time. I can only hope the woman who hit me gets nailed by her insurance company for being so stupid and irresponsible and that perhaps she'll remember the mirrors in her car serve a purpose other than for checking her make-up.

(True Story)

Clip of the Week - July 21/08

If you're like me at all then you've probably been sick and tired of all of the campaigning, mudslinging, hype and news coverage of the United States election this year. And the real campaigning is only just beginning!

I hate to say it, but I'm at the point where I'm almost hoping for a disaster somewhere in the world just so CNN will cover something other than politics for five minutes. Some days I'd like to sick the wolves on Wolf Blitzer and the rest of his politics covering counterparts.

Of course after the years of hype and anticipation, in the end they're just going to elect one of these two guys that everyone will eventually hate any way. They can either elect McCain who many feel is another George Dubya with a "kill 'em all" attitude or Obama who has no experience and will prove how over his head he's gotten himself in no time.

In the meantime, the folks at Jib Jab have come out with another fun political cartoon and song for us all to enjoy. Have a look at it below.