Signs that your life is alright...

The two things giving me the greatest amount of stress today were:

1) Islands are playing at the Plaza on June 10th. I will be driving to Ucluelet for a salmon fishing trip on June 10th. This bums me out. Not only that, I will miss Islands in New York in May by a couple of days. And I won't be able to catch them in Seattle either because it will most likely be June 11th. You should go on my behalf.

2) I've been struggling for the last couple of days to come up with a really good insult for my company about section. I think I've settled on slack-jawed corporate yokels. It's tough to come up with a good insult sometimes.

So, in other news. I read this great excerpt from Mark E. Smith's book. Mark E. Smith being the head dude of the Fall. What a crazy-assed man. I think he might be a long, lost Uncle or something like that. He has very, very interesting perspectives on a number of topics.

And, I also read this article speculating on how the real estate melt down in the US is not even close to just getting started. A summary: Very shortly most people with a mortgage in California will owe far, far more than their houses are worth so it will be in their best interest to walk away from the mortgage. What I find interesting is how everybody insists this will have no effect on Canada and our housing values. Okay. I understand. We don't have a sub-prime mess like the US does. But...how the hell can our housing prices continue to go up and up and up when just across the border things are in the tank? Doesn't is seem like a bit of a sign as to how ludicrous things are right now that you can drive a few hours to a major city (Portland, Seattle) and pick up a house for a fraction of what it would cost here in Vancouver? We're a separate market, yes, but not that separate. I don't see how this can't affect us.