A quick announcement that the Corporate section of the site is back! So I figured, that while I'm at it, I might as well add a new page or two.

Highlights include the new 'Assorted and Speculative' under Independent — sort of a mish-mash, but I'm liking the way it all looks together.

Congratulations are due Antony — the only person I know who can do messy-clean design.

Maher Arar was finally returned to Canada. I wrote about this when it happened (go way back). It's been something that I have been thinking about and following closely since it happened. All kinds of shifty, scary stuff is starting to come out now that he's back.

There was an interview with Dr. Imad Moustapha, the Syrian Ambassador to the United States, on As It Happens (hear it). He was discussing the Israeli bombing of a terrorist camp in Syria, but the Arar situation was slipped in at the end, and I found his comments very interesting. He basically stated that they were sent a "terrorist" from the United States during the work-up to war in Iraq. What, exactly, where they supposed to do? Release a terrorist and risk the anger of the Americans? I'm not sure I buy what he's saying, but there's a compelling argument there. The question of the RCMP's participation in all of this also troubles me.

CBC has put together a nice timeline laying out the whole situation.

In other, slightly damper news, our humidifier went bonkers and the basement got wet. The walls and carpet around the furnace room are definitely damaged — damaged enough that when it comes time to sell the place (years from now hopefully) we'll have to do some repairs. The more pressing issue was a leaky pipe and humidifier. So, instead of spending $300-$400 to have a plumber/furnace repair professional come by, I decided to do it myself! $20, 6 hours, and several very deep tissue burns later, it’s done. I now know how to cut and solder copper piping.

My long journey into adulthood continues.

Final note: Thanks to E-More for the tickets to the Shaw festival. We got them at our wedding last year and finally took advantage of them. Saw "The Widower's Houses". A study of the shattering of youthful idealism by the harsh realities of the shared culpability we have when people do bad things. There were questions of class vs. money (sort of a dated concept, but still interesting), and it was Shaw's first play, to boot. We got front row seats, which at the Court House theatre means 5' from the actors when they were at stage left. The spitting when they were at full steam was mesmerising. You could see the other actors having to not flinch when their faces were being covered by their compatriot’s saliva — very distracting.

But the live experience was amazing. Completely took me back to childhood plays that I saw and was involved in. There's a real energy with live theatre that I cannot describe, but feels wholesome and healthy. Highly recommended.