I like that recent commercial for some cold remedy that has the sick woman waking up in the morning and trying to tell herself she’s well enouch to go into work that morning. It captures a dillema that all of us go through.

It used to be more clear cut though. If you weren’t ‘that‘ sick you could still have a stiff upper lip, pull up your boot-straps, take some antihistamene, tylenol, lots of kleenex, and soldier on. But it’s not so easy now. The social pressure is to avoid subjecting others to your illness and so to stay home and get better. I don’t remember my dad worrying about that. It makes me think this is a relatively recent shift. I’ve seen newspaper and magazine articles recently on it and heard it on the radio and tv with the onset of the cold and flu season.

I remember my dad telling me to “Get up, you’ll feel better once you get going. If you don’t then go back to bed”, but most often he was right. After I got up and got going I generally felt better because commonly it was just a head cold which is bearable and getting up clears out all the night time build up.

I wonder if it would be better and more productive if we were prepared to do the ‘mask’ thing as those in some Asian countries are famous for. I guess we have opted for the telecommute.

Well, I’m going to finish up my NeoCitron and go back to bed…I’ll check my email later.

What an singularly magnificent morning. The ride on the Skytrain was spectacular. The height afforded by it gave a wonderful view of the city and mountains. The cold has kept the snow clinging heavy to trees, branches weighed down, defining interesting patterns. Unblemished snow on rooftops with icicles framing the sides. White textured mountains in the distance with a blue sky and sunshine.

Fantastic!

I should have brought skates for the walk from the train to work though. Sidewalk was a sheet of ice. Had to do that silly stiff legged penguin walk and keep my head down to ensure my footing was sure. Made it without incident thankfully.

Last year there was pretty much one good dump of snow that melted very quickly and after that I rushed out and got a sled for the next snowfall and a little family fun. There was no next snowfall.

Saturday morning it did not look like the predictions of 10-20cm of snow starting that evening could have been correct but they were…And on a weekend no less. I was excited about the chance to take the sled and my three year old son out into the snow.  Myself and the little guy have head colds but I figure if we get bundled up enough we’ll be fine. Well Amy would have none of it. Told in no uncertain terms that we were not to go outside with colds and confined to quarters we lied on the bed together and watched cartoons. Nice, but what about the snow?!

Well, not to worry. It’s not OK to go and have fun sliding in the snow, but evidently shoveling it is just fine. Figures…

I can’t recall ever seeing advertising for Nikon or Canon digital SLR’s besides National Geographic and camera magazines.

Few months ago I started seeing Sony, Lumix and Samsung SLR camera ads and billboards… And lo, out of nowhere I’m seeing giant Canon Rebel billboards in a couple of places and TV ads for the Nikon D80 (twice last night – drool). Looks like the big boys are having to divert a little extra funds to marketing this season with all the new guys nipping at their heels and looking to take a chunk out of the wad of cash stuffed in the toe of their Christmas stocking.

I love that D80 ad. I mean, it’s nothing special; people frolicking about in some rural country settings with the fall leaves and such, freeze framing everyonce in awhile to show we’re taking pictures. But the money-shot D80 rotation at the end…I could watch that all day.

One of my favorite places to spend a Saturday afternoon besides Japan Bonsai is Garden City Greenhouses in Richmond. It’s not your typical nursery.  It’s arranged quite haphazardly and for the bonsai enthusiast there are treasures to be found around every corner.  You might find a 2 gallon hinoki cypress with a 2″ diameter trunk and no evident graft wound hidden behind some maples and larch, or a huge azalea with gnarled and interesting features in a huge, what must be, 4 or 5 gallon container sitting beside a koi pond under construction. Giant cryptomeria and the best nursery boxwood I’ve seen suitable for bonsai outside a bonsai nursery. It’s a treat to see what I’ll find every time I go.  They have a lovely system where a 1 gallon is somewhere around 9 dollars, a 2 gallon 15 dollars, and 3 gallon 24 dollars. This meant that last time out I found a great old juniper that had outgrown its 3 gallon pot for 24 bucks!

The pile of dead and discarded trees out back is quite saddening and there was a 3′ pine that had some pretty hard pruning with a 3″ or so trunk that would have made someone a nice tree, but was obviously going to be added to the pile soon.

Last weekend I found 3 huge (to me) junipers. They looked to be in 3 gallon pots but the trunks were huge and twisted. They were obviously old and kind of cast aside like a lot of the stuff there (which is the beautiful thing that facilitates bonsai treasure…), but with all this rain a soggy juniper won’t make it through the winter.  It’s my mission to get back there and save at least one of them! …I’m coming baby!! Hang on!!!