Thursday 10:33 AM: Underwhelming Blizzard

 

There was a hour’s worth of shoveling for me to do this morning.

And I done did it.

I also did the front:

and the driveway:

But really it was underwhelming.  I suspected as I looked out the window, in the early morning, that my hopes of Tony having a snow day were dashed.  It wasn’t snowmageddon. Not even close.  I saw normal traffic on the streets outside.

If this amount of snow had fallen in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China, it would have been a snow day, and the PLA would have clearing the snow.  Here, the government weather people, aka left wing climate activists, are probably too busy using red crayons to color weather maps to predict weather accurately. 

Any who.  Here is a video I made after having driven my son to school:

169 views already!

Icicles on my whiskers and other things I’ve noticed and suspected

 Hard icicles formed on my beard as I shoveled this morning.

The snow is too dry to make snowballs or snowmen with.

The city doesn’t have the money to clear the streets properly.

Teenagers still don’t like to cover their heads in the extreme cold.

Snow Piles & Lineups & Buying Boots

 I did some errands.

I bought myself some winter boots, graded to minus 30 cold, at Canadian Tire.  The CT in Brandon is cavernous with ten foot tall shelves packed with merchandise.  It is hard to get around.  I had to ask an attendant where I could try on boots, after I was able to find the boots.  He told me aisle 34.  I went to the aisle and saw a small bench that could seat two people.  I had to get an older gentleman, who was taking a rest.  to make room for me.  We struck up a conversation as I tried on my boots.  He was from Elkhorn and had ridden a horse six miles to get to school.  Imagine that!

I then drove to the liquor store.  The government liquor store.

I saw these piles of snow in the parking lot:

At the MLCC, I had to wait outside till the door could be opened.  They have this annoying security procedure for letting people in because no one in authority has the guts to deal sensibly and forcibly with people stealing liquor.  Normal people have to stand in line, and show their ID before they can be let in the store.  An attendant looks at your ID and then lets you inside if you’re legit.  Today, I saw a man not allowed to enter.  He seemed normal enough and was muttering “stupid!” as he walked away.  As he left, I entered the front corridor with a couple in front of me.  The attendant, who was behind a glass door, told me I shouldn’t have done that.  I should have waited outside until she had dealt with the couple.  I rolled my eyes.  I then was left with the impression that I was now a suspicious person.  The staff was overly friendly.  Four times, I was asked how I was doing and whether I had found what I was looking for:  super annoying.

David Warren on what we should do about healthcare

 And let us forget about healthcare, which costs far too much. (Get your exercise, and then die.) Being healthy is just a convenience, it is merely “necessary” for getting to work.

Read the whole piece here.

Wouldn’t want to live here

 Nothing good comes from Ottawa.  It’s a government town after all.  Ottawa needs to be stopped.

Citizenship Test Prep Booklet

 A student needed help with a citizenship test and so I had to peruse a copy of the citizenship textbook published by the federal government.  Naturally, I was annoyed.  The pamphlet tries to immediately bring a reader’s attention to Canada’s commitment to environmentalism — not to Canada’s natural beauty but to an ideology.  Disheartening!

OMG!

 What is the liberal party of Canada up to?

Seen while attending RCIA

 Mom says I was baptized at a Canadian Forces Church in Iserlohn, Germany. I will have to try and contact the Military Chaplain General in Ottawa for proof.

PD Day so my son Tony doesn’t go to school

 Tony has a day off.

The teachers are having a professional development day.

They never did that when I was in China.

Cross my fingers that I can get a new battery for my MacBook

In Wuxi, China, there was a wonderful computer market called Buynow where I went to get my Apple products repaired.  It was cheap and quick.  You could see the tech guy fix your phone or IPad or MacBook in front of you. No need to wait.

I now am smacking myself because I should have gone there to replace the battery on my MacBook before I returned to Canada.

A.I. told me that I could go to Best Buy to get my MacBook repaired. I went there and was told in no uncertain terms that they couldn’t do it.  So no uncertain that I will shudder at the thought of ever going back there.

So, I went to a computer repair place.  They told me that the battery could be replaced in three or four weeks. They had to order it.  

At Buynow, the battery would have delivered from another floor in the building.

China wins on this score.

In the nick of time

 It turned out that I got my driver’s license in the nick of time.  About 13 days ago, I got an email from Manitoba healthcare saying my application for a medical card was incomplete.  The list of things I could provide to make the application complete was in the email, but there was only one thing on the list I could provide: a photo driver license, but I hadn't gotten it.  

Yesterday, the license came in the mail.  I thought I would get around to completing the application next week, but something in me said to look at that email again.  It said that if I didn't complete the application in two weeks, it would be considered closed.  It turned out that I needed to complete the application today!

It was done in the nick of time!

Thursday Mass

 Today’s mass honored a Canadian born saint.

Before the mass, I was able to turn in my translation documents to MPI.  Hopefully, my license odyssey is over and done with.

I got my Manitoba Driver’s License

 I am a fully sentient being in Canada now. I have gained humanity in Canada! I got my Manitoba driver’s license.

No longer do I have to live in the shadows.

Funny thing, I got the license in the mail at the same time that I got the translation document I was told I needed to get my license.  Go figure!

The Postal Strike and the Verdict

 My translation documents are in limbo because of the postal strike, and so I can’t get my picture driver license, and thus can’t get my Manitoba medical card.

Since the postal strike started I haven’t heard any news of negotiations taking place.  If I didn’t have that document in limbo, I wouldn’t even care.

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber got conditional sentences. A travesty of justice!

Tuesday 8:42 AM View

The cloud is quite something here in Brandon, MB.

I was live streaming this morning and I violated the platform rules twice: the violations were seemingly innocent enough — I typed country names in the forum chat — but they turned off my mike for 30 minutes.

Here are the notices:

You can translate them if you want.

Translation Blues 3

 As I said in Translation Blues 2, I sent my Chinese license and translation documents to the Winnipeg Immigrant Centre for re-signing and updating so I could submit them to MPI in order to get my proper Manitoba License. I mailed the documents last week and assumed that I would get them this week.  Yesterday ( Thursday), they hadn’t arrived. My mother then told me that the postal workers had gone on strike.  Just farging wonderful, I thought.

I phoned the  Immigration Centre this morning and they told me they mailed the documents out on Monday. You would think they would have arrived at my home in Brandon the next day.  But it being Canada Post, assume an extra day, so they should have arrived Wednesday. But three days? And I am wondering if the strike started yesterday afternoon just as my documents were set to arrive.

What to do? Wait and see what happens with the strike? I am looking at translation services I found using Grok. 

Wednesday Morning View

This morning, I’ll try and resolve my translation issue.

This nonsense keeps me up at night,

I get riled at the thought that in a sane country, I should have gotten my driver's license in a week.  But instead, I have almost been back in Canada for nearly two months and I have to waste my time chasing down a piece of paper in order to get a license for which I have passed the necessary tests.  How is it that a translation should stop me from getting my license?  Any monkey could translate the document using the current software.  Arrrghhh!

Translation Blues 2

 My Kakfaesque odyssey continues.

The Association of Translators and Interpreters of Manitoba person told me she couldn’t translate my Chinese Driver’s License because it doesn’t have my English name on it.  The reason it doesn’t have my English name on it is because the licenses there are set up for short three character Chinese names.  My full English name is 19 spaces long (21 with spaces).  So on the Chinese license is a Chinese name that is a filler. The Chinese license number is my Canadian passport number which means it is connected to my passport and my English name.  Maybe the translator didn’t know that.

Anyway, I have to hope that I can get the people at the Immigration Center in Winnipeg to re-sign and re-stamp a copy of the translation document they did for me in July 2024.  If they can’t, I’m going to have to appeal to higher powers and someone’s common sense.

And the thing is, I have passed the knowledge test and road test already.  What exactly will be my status if they are insistent I don’t have a proper translation?  Make me take driver education again?

Before Covid, the rental place accepted my Chinese driver’s license without a translation.  They knew the license was connected to my passport. Now, it seems they have just gone stupid.

My wife really doesn’t think much of Canada at this point.

Translation Blues

 When I took my road test, I was told that the certified translation of my Chinese Driver's License had expired.  I had had it done 14 months before and it apparently, it was only good for a year.  The lady at MPI dealing with me said she would see if the highers-up would accept it or not.  I assumed that these people would exercise some common sense and just accept it.  But they didn't.

This morning I got a phone call from Manitoba Public Insurance and they told me the translation was rejected.  I asked immediately if this meant I couldn't drive.  No, they told me, but they would designate me as in the process of getting a new translation done.  They told me to contact Immigration centers and the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Manitoba and get the translation.

The instructions were more easily given than could be followed. Looking on the Internet, I could find no listings for translators.  The Association of Translators and Interpreters of Manitoba had a phone number that is now out of order. Their site listed people with email addresses.  Not much help as I was impatient to get it done.  The West Man Immigration Center in Brandon doesn't provide the service.  Then after asking acquantances,  I was told that they there were certified translators in Winnipeg.  But trying to get a hold of them in human form is of course not easy.

Kafka.

My Road Test is Today

Yesterday, I was able to get an appointment for this afternoon.  I had had an appointment for October 1.

Yesterday afternoon, I practiced my parallel parking in the downtown of Brandoon.

Wish me luck!