Why the future looks more grim than Green to me.

I live and work in Southwestern Ontario. It's no big secret that our Liberal leaders Dalton McGuinty and Dwight Duncan sold our future prosperity to the wind industry. Our landscape is forever changed by behemoth turbines. Our wallets will continue to feel the pinch for many years to come as we pay for that heavily subsidized electricity.

In their race to prove themselves "Green" and line their pockets with as much of our green as they could, our politicians and the wind industry forgot one simple truth. Some of the biggest pay-offs come from the smallest changes. Easy changes that can be adopted by many so their effects are multiplied - many times over.

What if instead of forcing these monstrous turbines onto Ontarians, the government had instead focused their energies on encouraging contractors to adopt new technology. Every home in a new subdivision could be contributing to reducing our environmental footprint.

Small changes that are not terribly expensive in new construction, repeated many times over.

Things like Drain Water Heat Recovery systems that recover some of the heat rushing down the drain as you shower. Even better those systems could be coupled with Tankless Water Heaters that heat water as you need it instead of maintaining the water at a ready to use temperature 24 hours a day for the four or five hours people are actually home and using hot water.

Better insulation such as the expanding foam insulation that provides an excellent thermal barrier and vapor barrier at the same time. Even something as simple as changing roof lines to allow for future solar panel installation. Solar panels which are quiet and while they may not yet be the best solution for generating electricity, they are efficient at heating water. Water that can be used to heat your home. Something we do here for 8 months out of 12.

Any of these and other innovations could have been easily encouraged by offering incentives such as rebates or reduced development fees. Rather than driving away manufacturing jobs and leaving us with minimum wage call center jobs as a feeble replacement, the government could have encouraged growth in the construction industry - another well paying employment sector.

Instead, we've been shafted by our elected officials, and the shafts are 120 meters high.

Goldilocks and the 3 bears, only it's really Vanessa and the 3 bathrooms.

When I'm at work, I have my choice of three possible washrooms. It's kind of like Goldilocks looking for the right chair.

Washroom A is in the most convenient locale. It's also at the coldest end of the Pack House. I stopped using it this winter. When the ambient air temps are a balmy 55 Celsius I can guarantee you the toilet seat will be minus 20 Celsius. That's colder than 32 Fahrenheit by the way.

Washroom B is not so convenient, but warmer. As an added benefit the toilet seat is securely attached to the toilet. The problem with washroom B is the paper towel dispenser is defective. It's also at head height. So by the time you get enough paper towel to dry your hands, your sleeve is wet clear up to your elbow from the water running down your arm.

Washroom C has not just one, but TWO well functioning paper towel dispensers. The problem with C is the toilet seat is only anchored to the bowl by one bolt. One must sit very gingerly to make sure the correct positioning is maintained. If I ever walk in and see a turd beside the toilet, I'll know what happened.

Today, Washroom C was the bathroom of choice. You know why? Because A and B both reeked of urine like a port-a-potty after October Fest.

Seriously guys - there's a urinal in there. How freaking hard is it to hit the damn thing? You're every one of you adults, by now you should have better aim. Do we need a bulls eye around the drain for Pete's sake? Also? Peeing on the lid of the toilet next to the urinal just isn't cool.

Another thing - when you're done it may seem as if all the pee just magically went away but there's a flush handle on those things for a reason you know. It's so that a magical gush of water takes away all your nasty smelling piss. I'm getting kind of tired of walking into the bathroom and flushing the urinal for you. Plus I almost thought I broke it the other day. I guess I shouldn't have hit the flusher so hard with my foot.

Why my foot? Because judging by the puddle of piss under the damn urinal who knows how much was on the handle.

Weekend Funnies - Link up your funny post of the week.

Cavaliers don't jump ramps - Weekend Funnies #5

When my guys were little, Good Friday was the day for coloring Easter Eggs. One year, we were blessed with lovely spring weather, so the boys and their friends spent the afternoon outside jumping ramps with their bicycles. We live on a dead end alleyway, so all the kids used to hang out over here.

After supper we colored eggs and once finished it was time to give a couple of boys rides home. It had gotten dark by this time. I backed my car out of the driveway and then went forward. One tire went up and over something.

The bicycle ramps.

So now I've got two boys who need a ride home and a car that's hung up on two plywood ramps. Fun stuff!

Weekend Funnies #5

This is a hang out for your funny post of the week. If your post isn't attempting to be funny then this isn't the place for it.

Backlink is required so please either insert one of the buttons from the sidebar in your post or add a link to www.myhalfassedlife.com

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It's a small link up so please read the other posts that link, maybe tweet or leave some comment love. Being Easter Weekeend we'll probably be very laid back this weekend.

Tomatoes don't celebrate Easter.

My head may still be a little bit fuzzy due to the accumulation of snot on my brain, but I'm finally able to stay vertical for longer than 15 minutes at a time. I feel like a bit of a wimp for using sick days but at the same time grateful I did. I would have never made it through two 14 hour work days like that.

Next year? I'm totally getting a flu shot. There's no way a simple little cold would knock me down like that.

I've been up in the air all week as to whether I should hold weekend funnies this weekend or not. On the one hand, most of you will have family functions to attend and might not have time to participate.

On the other hand, it's a long weekend and some of you might not have a lot happening with all that free time from work. For me, it's the same old same old. Tomato plants don't celebrate Easter, so they continue to produce tomatoes. I'll be working tomorrow and Saturday - as usual.

In the end, I've decided to hold it and keep my expectations low. So if you have a funny post to share, I'll be here for you. You'll be able to link up at 5pm Friday until 5pm Sunday.

While I was laid out by the man flu, I wasn't able to do much of anything else so I got some reading in. Most of my reading is done on my tablet with free Kindle books.

Most of the time the free books are new or lesser known authors. Sometimes there's a gem in there though. Unconventional by J. J. Herbert is one of them. The book details one young author's struggle to get his novel published, all while pushing a janitors broom. Through the story James Frost finds love and faith. For me, as a decidedly non-religious person, I found that James's faith only added to the story.

I was kind of sad when I finished it. The sad you get when the last cookie is gone and there is no more to be had.

Now I'm alternating between a Denise Domning book - A Love For All Seasons (I love me some Historical Romance once in a while) and The Books Of Rachel by Joel Gross. In between naps and work of course.