I ought to buy a pair of ice skates

So its raining, or snowing, or hailing, or well uhm, basically some sort of water in a state somewhere between liquid and solid is falling from the sky and making the weather some state of miserable.

Obviously I will not be hitting the trail this afternoon. It is rather ironic, here I am in Canada, fourth, (or was it fifth generation?) Canadian. Should have been born with skates on and guess what I do not have. Used to borrow dad's skates for those few laps round the rink. But since I have fallen so madly in love with skating again why is it I don't have a pair of blades?

Well to be fair, look at what my options in the sporting goods stores are: hockey, more hockey and yet still more hockey skates. Fila makes a beautiful boot, but it's a 195mm mounting, to my knowledge most speed blades are 165mm, unless you want long track and as Eric Gee (see EGCSkates.com on the right) has pointed out, there are no long tracks in Ontario.

Actually there are some really nice looking short track boots out there, but my big concern is how well will they fit. In addition, ice season is only four months long, if I can only attach a short track blade (or frame) to this boot I can not get much use out of it come warmer weather.

To top it off, yesterday I spoke with my mechanic, the car itself is fine right now, but it is time for the timing belt change. I literally felt like someone gave me a good punch to the stomach when I heard how much it would cost. I know, I should have been prepared, I already knew the timing belt was about due for a change, but still, its just a freakin belt, why is it so hard to change? Its not like timing belts are a fancy new technology, according to Wikipedia, timing belts have been around since the end of World War II.

Ever get the feeling that some people around you are callous and cruel and don't care how much they impose on you? I won't give names or places, but I just encountered such a person, its remarkable how much one such person can ruin an entire day.