Cranky and disgusted. Thank god for the artist anyway.

Antarctica has updated again
with photos of the Antarctic, and his passage back through the Drake passage. Mercifully calm.

Feeling kind of crabby and despondent this evening. Probably partially because I am trying to adjust to life here now that the kids are off at school. Quite simply I would say I am kinda lonely. Though I would not say that is what I feel from moment to moment, it is probably what is going on. I am not as content as usual. This is compounded by the fact that the school hours are long, and there is always homework as well as the kids English work, and we are so broke right now that I cannot go out and do anything or go anywhere aside from going for walks, which I love to do, but, well, ... well.

Anyway, this is a passing and expected adjustment period, and we have a bunch of guest coming in February, and the kids birthdays are both coming up, so I know it won't last. I just have to get myself re-organized.

The general mood however has not been helped by some of the information that has been sailing by. This first comes from a post over at BooksEtc. Beth found this piece in her Globe and Mail this morning. This gentleman is living in Canada, and his son was arrested in 2006 for suspected terrorist activities. He is "a fundamentalist's fundamentalist" and is certain that his son could not be involved in these sort of activities because he drives a BMW. Well, that is just stupidity. The bit I found alarming came at the end of the post, where he described individuals, devout Muslims, who are infiltrating these groups as well as other's working to stop these groups.

"These are sub humans, these [police informants] and people like [Mississauga MP] Wajid Khan," said Dr. Abdelhaleem. ". . . They all sold their soul to the devil for a job. For money.

"Because in real life they are losers. They are not like my son," Dr. Abdelhaleem said, then left the Tim Hortons in his new Lexus.

Does this not sound a wee bit familiar? Is this not the ancient technique of reducing your opponent to animal status so that they are meaningless and expendable? Scares me witless.

I was also sent this today, which is comparatively light reading, and from a very British angle. The article cited is VERY long, but holds some interesting conclusions.

"I was just reading the paper and having a cup of tea and noticed this article which is quite pertinent to an earlier strand on your blog. It might be a bit too British. Just to fill in the back story. Celebrity Big Brother has been running in the country where various z list celebrities are locked up in a house together. Last week there was definitely bullying by Jade of a bollywood star Shilpa and really it could be considered racist. That's the first thing you might need explaining. Secondly Rotherham is in the north of England, it is ethnically diverse and quite working class.
Here is the article


And then there's this from an interesting looking blog I just found today.

"I'm sure Bob Nardelli is laughing all the way to the bank. The Home Depot CEO was given the boot after six years of keeping Home Depot stores in their messy state. As a nice going-away present, the board gave Nardelli some parting money to the tune of 210 million bucks."

Since this is more than some nations are going to make this year, and certainly more than the annual income of some towns in the developed world, and taken at a time when I cannot even go out for a coffee, and coming on the heels of having to tell a friend that I am not going to be able to go and visit her, this is biting me pretty badly. Yeah yeah yeah, I know, no one ever said life is fair, but this is simply filthy, and you can't talk me out of this stance. Especially as it appears to be a normal way of operating for many firms. This is hardly an isolated incident. The business community needs to figure out what the hell they are doing. At least that's how it looks from here.

Can you say BITTER?

I was well aware that coming here, and getting off the boat would be hard at times. I loved being on the boat so intensely there cannot help but be times when I am dissatisfied, even though we are so incredibly lucky in every way, and I know it. It is just a readjustment to a new way of being, and a new place, and I have to figure out what I am going to do at this point.