Frankenstorm Approaches

Angel of Death
Originally uploaded by *Bundy*

There was a time when I might have considered myself an optimist but with my life experiences so far I'm sad to report that I'm more of a pessimist these days.

When I read the weather reports and watch the news today, all I'm hearing about is this "Prefect Storm" that is bearing down on the eastern side of North America. In particular the Northeast U.S., Southern Ontario and the East coast of Canada.

Now maybe I'll be wrong but if history has taught me anything, it's that when bad storms are predicted for my neck of the woods, they usually fizzle out and die before they get here. Or they'll take a sharp turn to the north or south and do very little.

I can't remember the last big winter storm that was predicted for here that actually happened. Oh the media and weather folks love to hype it up and scare the crap out of people to make them think the worst will happen but most times it never does.

So you're probably saying, "well it's better to be safe than sorry." I agree with that. There's no harm in being prepared for the worst case scenario. However, the experts and emergency response people shouldn't be surprised when people don't heed the warnings.

Have you ever heard the story of the boy who cried wolf. Eventually after hearing over and over and over again that these storms are coming and they never do, people will just tune out the warnings. Sure they shouldn't do that because even a broken clock is right twice a day but you can see why they might not get too stressed out over it.

This current storm is supposed to get bad when Hurricane Sandy (not exactly a scary name for a storm) is expected to veer west and make landfall between Virginia and New Jersey where it will move inland and then to the north directly towards my location.

By the time it reaches here it will likely be downgraded to a tropical depression but it will collide with another front that is already bringing rain to us. The combination is supposed to create an even bigger storm with heavy rain, flooding and strong winds.

Having said all of that my response is, so what. I've heard this before and I'm predicting it will be soggy and damp and maybe a bit breezy but beyond that, it's probably not much to get worked up over.

That's not to say that the areas where the storm makes landfall in the U.S. and the early stages of it tracking inland won't see some nasty weather. I just don't think all of the hype for this area is warranted and once again I feel the meteorologists in Canada will come away with another layer of egg on their faces.

That's the great thing about being a weatherman, you never have to be right and your job is safe. You can always find an excuse to explain what changed to make your forecast look foolish.

If I'm wrong and we do get hit with the "Perfect Storm", I'll be the first to admit I was wrong and they finally got one right. I just hope I'm not eating my words while I'm talking to the angel of death.

Did you notice how I made my new photo relevant to my blog? I'm a sneaky son of a gun. Time to go buy a new generator, sandbags, canned goods and bottled water just in case. I wonder if I can send my bill to The Weather Network if I spend all this money for no reason?

Happy Turkey Day Canada

Downey Woodpecker
Originally uploaded by *Bundy*

One of my favourite holidays is upon us here in the Great White North once again. It's Thanksgiving!

Yes, in Canada we celebrate Thanksgiving at harvest time which is at the start of October and always on a Monday. We don't wait until late November like our neighbours to the south.

I always try to think of things to be thankful for and most years these things don't change much. I give thanks for my health, family, good friends...the usual stuff.

This year I'd like to give thanks for my golf game except I've been playing bloody awful since about mid-August. So I'm thankful that it's getting colder and soon the golf season will be over.

Also this year I'm thankful that I've been able to lose some weight. At last count I was down about 78 pounds. However, with all the turkey, potatoes, gravy and leftovers I'm likely to consume over the next few days, I probably won't be thankful that I have to starve myself and get a lot more walking in to make up for my indulgences.

Oh well, it's a small price to pay. I mean, it's not like I eat turkey all the time. I can count the number of times I get this favourite fowl. Lets see, there's Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. That's pretty much it unless it's a special occasion but they don't happen very often.

So I hope all of you who find yourselves celebrating Thanksgiving today, tomorrow or at some other time during the year take a moment to think about all of the good things in your life and give thanks.

I've learned over the years that there can and will be difficult challenges we will be forced to deal with but in the end it's good to be thankful for all we are blessed with every day.

Top 15 Sexiest Survivor Ladies

The 25th season of Survivor on CBS is underway so I figured it was time to update my list. The popular television reality series maroons a group of strangers in a desolate location to compete in a game to Outwit, Outplay and Outlast each other until the lone Survivor remains to collect 1 million dollars.

Each season is different in some ways as the producers try to reinvent the game to keep it fresh but even then, if the castaways aren't entertaining or they don't keep our interest, it's easy to turn the channel and watch something else.

The one formula to the show that never disappoints is the sex factor. Lets face it, I'm not the only red-blooded heterosexual male who will tune in to watch beautiful young women in bikinis frolicking in the sand and surf.



I'll suffer through having to listen to annoying castaways like "Shambo", Sue Hawk, Ace and that idiot Jonny Fairplay if it means I can also enjoy watching the smart and sexy women I have listed below. By updating this list from my original posting I am still clearly targeting my male readers more so then my valued female readers but I'm a guy so it's only natural. And of course I could be missing obvious selections that you feel are worthy of top 15 status but this is my list so don't get too upset if I missed one of your favourites.



To be honest, this list really hasn't changed much at all with only one addition to the previous posting and one lady removed. But there was one young lady this season who I feel is worthy of being added. So without any further ado, lets get to the list.



There are a few who were very close to making my new list including Elisabeth Filarski (Hasselbeck), Candice Woodcock, Alexis Jones, Kelly Shinn, Danni Boatwright, Ami Cusack, Monica Padilla, Stephanie LaGrossa and Eliza Orlins. They are all beautiful women from the show but I figured I'd better keep the list to the top 15. Here we go:

Top 15 Sexiest Survivor Ladies

Click on images to see them larger

Number 15 - Kelly Sharbaugh

Survivor Samoa

Number 14 - Chelsea Meissner

Survivor One World

Number 13 - Amanda Kimmel

Survivor China, Micronesia & Heroes vs. Villains

Number 12 - Sydney Wheeler

Survivor Tocantins

Number 11 - Heidi Strobel

Survivor Amazon

Number 10 - Sarah Jones

Survivor Marquesas

Number 9 - Angie Layton

Survivor Philippines

Number 8 - Ashley Underwood

Survivor Redemption Island

Number 7 - Kelly Czarnecki

Survivor Gabon

Number 6 - Jenna Morasca

Survivor Amazon & All-Stars

Number 5 - Mikayla Wingle

Survivor South Pacific

Mikayla has also posed in Playboy. NSFW

Number 4 - Jennifer Lyon

Survivor Palau

Sadly Jennifer lost her battle with breast cancer on January 20, 2010 at the age of 37.

Number 3 - Parvati Shallow

Survivor Cook Islands, Micronesia & Heroes vs. Villains

Number 2 - Amber Brkich

Survivor Australian Outback & All-Stars

Number 1 - Natalie White

Survivor Samoa

Do you agree or disagree with my choices? Leave me a comment and let me know.

September Already?

Wooden Foot Bridge
Originally uploaded by *Bundy*

I can't believe this summer is almost over. Seems like only yesterday I was driving out to the golf course for the first time in March to play the first round of the year. But here we are only a few weeks away from the arrival of Autumn.

The one complaint I heard from people this summer was actually surprising to me. We didn't have enough rain.

Okay, I agree with them that it was an unusually dry summer and everything is either dead or on it's way to being deceased. The grass hasn't been green for over a month now. The trees are already changing colour due to the lack of rainfall and many crops have suffered because of it.

But this goes beyond summer. For those in these parts we have had very little precipitation gong back to the winter months. I think I used the snowblower three times last winter and once was just to get the gas out of the tank.

The forecast for the fall doesn't look as though it will get any wetter with more above normal temps and dry conditions expected. Part of me thinks this is great but I can't help but wonder what if we're going to pay for it come January. Are the days of the snowstorms for Eastern Ontario over is Mother Nature just waiting for the right moment to jolt us back to reality. I guess time will tell.

This past weekend I took advantage of the amazing weather to go for a walk through Jobes Woods Trail at Presqu'ile Provincial Park where I took the photo shown here. Normally the forest floor is damp or even underwater in this area and this bridge / boardwalk keeps walkers dry. But at this point all it does is keep you above the poison ivy.

I Need Help For My Addiction

Of all the things I thought I could one day be addicted to such as food, sex, alcohol, porn or television, I would never have guessed as little as 20 years ago that I’d be addicted to my Smartphone. In fact, I would have been happy to be addicted to sex and porn but sadly that just never happened. I do like eating however...but who doesn’t?

The particular phone that has propelled me to addictive status is my iPhone 4. I love my iPhone and everything I can do with it. There’s really only one thing I don’t enjoy about my iPhone and that’s the crazy user fees charged by Bell to use my phone to its full potential. My service plan isn’t even top of the line yet the monthly charges Bell Mobility gouges from its customers is beyond ridiculous, bordering on theft. To be blunt, we get bent over and reamed hard by mobile phone companies in Canada. Yet nothing ever gets done about it. I envy my brother and his plan with AT&T in the U.S.

But bitching about “Ma Bell” can wait for another day, this is about my addiction. To be honest, my obsession isn’t so much about the actual phone but what it allows me to do.

The main thing I really like is how well the phone communicates with my iMac, either through iTunes or iCloud. I love the fact that I can add new contacts or calendar appointments on one and the other will automatically be updated with the new information. I haven’t figured out how to have my Notes and Reminders sync through iCloud yet but that’s not nearly as important as my other items.

One thing a phone must have for me to be happy above all other gadgets, apps and tools is the ability to actually make a phone call and have it sound good. I mean, it is a phone after all. This phone despite being almost two generations old (iPhone 5 is scheduled to be released this year) has great reception in areas where in the past I’ve had issues with other phones. Of course the Bell 3G coverage has improved in some areas but I still have major issues getting a signal in a few locations that are heavy tourist areas where you’d think Bell would have improved their coverage by now. Oops, there I go bitching about Bell again.

The Bluetooth integration works well and allows for easy hands free calling in my car. This is a must today with all of the new laws targeting distracted drivers in Ontario. On a recent trip to Florida it seemed every car I passed the driver was either talking or texting on their phone while driving. It’s a bloody disgrace. I’m 100% in favour of the new laws in Ontario but every day I still see people (mostly women) talking with their mobile phone to their ear and weaving all over the road. Hopefully they’ll get caught and fined and maybe learn a lesson before they kill someone.

I really like having internet access anywhere I go. I can browse the web and check email anyplace I can get a signal. Plus in locations with Wi-Fi hotspots I can use the wireless internet capabilities which helps save on my data plan usage.

But of course the best part of my iPhone is without a doubt the Apps I can use. Without my Smartphone I wouldn’t be nearly as active on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Google+. That’s not to say that I spend every waking hour tweeting or posting photos but they’re fun time wasters. I never thought I’d use Twitter as much as I do in my day to day life but it’s a great tool for keeping informed on news, sports and entertainment. Plus I can also follow the Tweets of some of my favourite actors and reality stars. Plus, as it turns out, I tend to complain and post things I normally might not say in day to day life. Twitter has sort of become my alter ego. Instagram is a great way to share quick photos taken with your camera on the phone with others. Plus there are a lot of hot ladies who think posting photos of themselves wearing very little may be a ticket to fame and perhaps a modeling career. Who am I to try and discourage them?

Other Apps that I really enjoy or make use of regularly include GasBuddy (to check local gas prices), Distant Suns (for stargazing), iBird Canada (handy birding field guide), Find Friends (to find out where my brother is at that moment in Florida), flyby (tells me the times that the Space Station will go over my location) and lots of other cool Apps like NASA, Kijiji, Mobile Photos, Flixster, YellowPages, Quake Watch, AppBox Lite and Coin Flip for those times I can’t decide on something. I have only recently started using Foursquare so the verdict is still out on that one.

Sports Apps are also very handy since I am a fan of sports in general. Among my most used are Score Mobile, NHL Game Center, TSN Mobile, MLB At Bat and CBC Hockey. I also have a Rules of Golf App put out by The R&A (The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews). You never know when I might need a ruling while out on the course.

And finally, the biggest time wasting Apps ever created are the Games. I don’t play them nearly as much as I used to but when I’m bored or waiting for my car to have work done on it, it’s nice to have something to help pass the time. Games located on my iPhone include three versions of Angry Birds, Bejeweled, Zombie Gunship, Tetris, Skee-Ball, Tiger Woods Golf 12, Sprinkle, Field Goal and Scrabble. I can safely say you’ll never find me playing any of those farming games.

So there you go...my one big addiction which seems to rule my life. I feel lost with when my phone isn’t nearby and will panic if I can’t recall where I set it down. I’ve never had the shakes yet but we’ve never been separated for any real length of time. If I lost my iPhone, I wonder if I could call the police and have them form a search party for me. I know it’s not a child but it’s the closest I’ve come to loving an inanimate object.

I’m always looking for new apps or apps I’ve missed that others find really interesting so if you have any you’d like to share with me, please feel free to leave me a comment and let me know.