December 30th, 1999

1. Live in Thornhill Condo just off Young Street, about one km away from good coffee.
2. Christmas was spent at my mom’s house in Gravenhurst.
3. One cat lives with us.
4. Worries include the dreaded Y2K – how will the world survive the click into the new millennium?
5. If a Canadian Solider died in a training exercise, it would be the lead story on The National.
6. The occasional glance at the RRSP profile was reassuring.
7. Main exercise was walking around the block – maybe.
8. Ticking off wedding anniversary dates by the month.
9. Had major dental surgery earlier in the year – whew!! That was rough, Valium and Demerol drip, laughing gas, and Novocain. Had to take day off work.
10. Wondering why I pay all that money into OHIP.
11. Appalled at guns and gun owners.
12. Still used Walkman.
13. Goodie, Goodie, we are flying to Tampa – we had better get there at least an hour early in case the airport is busy.
14. Thought that Prorogue was just a mispronouncing of the band Pogues.
15. What I would not do to be Conrad Black.
16. A solid group of friends that I can meet up with any night of the week for counsel and wisdom.

December 30th, 2009

1. Live in the country, west of Ottawa about 12 km away from really really good coffee.
2. Christmas spent at our house – just the two of us. My wife’s parents died in the nineties as did my father, my mother died in 2001.
3. Three cats officially live with us, one cat boards with us, one beagle does whatever he wants.
4. Worried about terrorism, Afghanistan, global warming, financial meltdown.
5. We are not so blasé and “used to it” that the news does not report a military death, but still …..
6. Just getting back to looking at RRSP statements.
7. Up until late October active kayaker, runner, walker, cyclist. Still “all of the above” - just in holding pattern.
8. Ticking off wedding anniversaries by the year with train rides.
9. One less than competently done stress test, one colonoscopy, one echocardiogram, six + ordinary cardiograms, one myocardial perfusion scan, one angiogram and I have lost count of blood samples.
10. OHIP – why is so underfunded?
11. Still not a fan of guns, but sure glad that the neighbours got ‘em.
12. Embarrassed that my 2008 iPod is so big …. Just gotta swallow my pride and live with it.
13. Flying to the US? Ahh, maybe we just cash in the tickets and buy a slimmer iPod.
14. It must be winter so Parliament is being prorogued.
15. And the punch line is ……. Conrad Black.
16. A solid group of friends that I can meet up with any night of the week for counsel and wisdom.