Friday Coffee Musing - v1.3

People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid.
- Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

Good morning folks. Another Friday has come and therefore I am here writing to you all my Friday Coffee Musing.

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It's been a very trying week for my family this week. We've all been sick, Christmas is quickly approaching, weather is gloomy and then there's work and day-to-day chores. I'm on the mend! I've been feeling under the weather since Saturday last week and just yesterday I started feeling like a human again. My son and daughter are both ill as well. A quick trip to the doctor told us it's a common infection that typically starts off with a few days of flu-like symptoms then moves into a week of cold symptoms. Yay for us!

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My wife somehow avoided the blunt of this. She was ill for maybe a day or two but it didn't let her get her down. I often marvel at the will of a Mother. It's in these times I realize how weak I truly am. I only hope some day I can become at least half the parent she is. She's quite amazing.

Other than being ill, a lot has happened since I last sat here and wrote. I'm playing DAoC on a very part-time basis. I had the pleasure of joining my fabulous guild mates on a romp in Mordred where we threw caution into the wind and did things no other level 20 would dare :). I've been blown up by a co-worker playing Battlefield 1942 (shakes fist at Vip) while playing on our work co-op server, and my son had his first Christmas pageant at his school which was quite fun to watch. Overall, minus the sickness, it was quite the productive week and a lot has gone on.

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Have you heard about this new 'flu' that's been going around? I heard on the radio this morning about two kids in Vancouver who died from this 'flu'. Despite what the doctor said, I still worry about my kids. These things can come from almost anywhere and if it's taking lives (especially young ones), as a parent, I can't help but be worried. Then again, how much of it is media hype? Since most of us are led to believe what the media has to say, it makes you wonder what kind of stories they're feeding us. Just the same way a parent can tell their children a story about three little bears who live in a house and eat pourage; how easily are we led to believe things that may (or may not) be true?

It's kind of interesting to sit back while you're at work and think of all the ways we gather information. Today, most of us use the internet and browse different news sites to find out what's going on. Others get their fix while driving to work in the morning. Then there are some who watch the evening and nightly news on television. Myself, I tend to get my fix during the morning while driving to work. Since it takes me almost 30 minutes to get here in the morning, I have a bit of time to kill. I'll sometimes browse CNN while at work and on the very odd occasion, I'll watch the local news at night (if there is something interesting in the headlines).

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Speaking of driving to work, I had a nice relaxing drive in this morning. It would seem that most of the city decided to take today off in preparation for the holiday season. I typically leave my house around 6:15 ' 6:30am and stop off at a nearby coffee shop and drive downtown. I drive a 2001 Toyota Camry. It only has four cylinders, but she has some nice pep to her :) I get great gas mileage, so I can't complain there. Typically $30(can) will fill the beast and I can go to work and back for two weeks (approx 80km/49Mi round trip).

This morning the freeway was very quiet. I was able to quickly get from the north part of the city to the downtown in about 15min. Parking was a non-issue, and I was at work a whole 10min early. I have lots of coffee left, so my day is starting off just great.

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Return of the King came out this week. I haven't had an opportunity to go see it but I will before too long. My sister had purchased advanced tickets to go see it on Wednesday and had the nerve to ask to borrow my car so she could go. That was all fine except she had purchased TWO tickets and was taking my other sister. I don't even think the two of them together give a rat's ass about Tolkien and his story; they just wanted to go see Orlando Bloom and Viggo Mortensen (ooooo). My wife had to break my older sister's heart and tell her that her 'Aragorn' heart throb was hung like a squirrel. She was devastated lol.

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Ahhh

Coffee is almost done; therefore I must begin to close. As I mentioned in a post the other day, I'm thinking of setting up a site dedicated to the coffee musings I write. I don't plan on being famous or anything, I just want to bore you all with my senseless ramblings and life stories :). I had planned on posting the responses from last week's question about 'uses for Velcro', but I didn't get any via e-mail. So, being the nice guy I am, I'll extend the deadline another week. So if you forgot shame on you! Remember, I'm looking for just a quick little blurb on a new and exciting way you could use Velcro around the house. Draft it up in an email and forward it to me at fiendz@telus.net with subject line: Velcro for Ralic cuz he's hot! I will include any and all responses (completely anonymous of course) in the next Friday Coffee Musing.

Take care you wonderful people. Have a safe and happy holiday season. If you've ever wondered what Christmas would be like in Poland, you can find out here http://www.polishworld.com/christmas/ :)

Take care