Day One...

And so it begins friends... and what a beginning it was. 4:30 this morning I left my house, my family, my friends and my life as I know it... it was an eventful trip friends.

I made it across the border, no worries... the guard was even kind of nice (but only kind of) as border crossing guards go.

Americans are constantly asking us Canadians what it's like to live in perpetual snow... and I wouldn't know. Today, I experienced more snow on the drive through New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland then I've seen in Canada in a long time. Which led to my harrowing experience. About ten miles south of Altoona PA, I went off the road. Yes friends, you read that right... off the road. I must've hit a patch of something, because the next thing I knew, I was spinning on the highway... then I was spinning in the ditch of the divided highway... now, I know what this sounds like... but it's not true. I'm fine.

See friends, I learned to drive in Canada... in the winter. And my mom taught me well... I didn't panic friends... I stayed calm, said fuck a few times, and turned into the spin... that's the important part friends, turn into the spin. Once I got the car under control, I gunned it, up and over the snow bank, and back onto the highway. It was harrowing to say the very least.

After this incident I stopped at a Wal-Mart just to get out of the car, and pry my fingers off of the steering wheel. Not knowing where I was, I stopped and asked a woman in the parking lot where we were. Her response... Wal-Mart. Thanks lady!

But I made it, I'm in Virginia, and I'm in my hotel... which brings me to my next story. What does a hotel do when the power goes out. Well, apparently nothing. I suppose that the least I could say was that they told me the power was out... but it didn't help that I couldn't watch TV, or plug in my computer, or even turn on the heat! So I went out.

Friends? Have any of you ever been in the Tysons Corner Center? It's HUGE!!! Three floors, the whole thing probably covers an acre or two, and I'm pretty sure that I saw more than one of the same store... that's a mall that's too big... and as I found myself walking through this mall, it suddenly occurred to me that I'm in Washington D.C. and I'm in a mall... and not the National one...

So I left the Tysons Corner Center and headed into the city. Now, I don't know how many of you friends have been to Washington D.C. before, but it's a beautiful city, and at night... simply gorgeous. But at night, with fresh snow on the ground... I haven't seen anything quite so pretty in a long time. And while out and about in the city, I happened to find myself standing at the corner of Pennsylvania Ave and 10th st, and who was sitting right there in front of me, enjoying his dinner? None other than Senator Al Franken. More than likely one of the few United States Senators that I'd recognize without a CNN or MSNBC graphic telling me who's head was talking (now that HIllary is Sec State, and Ted Kennedy is... you know... dead) and that's most likely because to me... he's good enough, smart enough, and doggone it, enough people voted for him. After they checked, double checked, and made sure that he was actually the winner.

And that was day one... see friends... we've gone from the mundane... to three good (ok, I might be playing it a little fast and loose with the word good) stories... in one day...

Just imagine what the next few months might bring... it all remains to be seen... and in order to do that, you need to...

Keep on Reading!
The Canadian

Today get's a good rating, because I almost died, and yet survived enough to sit here and write this blog so that y'all would have something to do with your time...
3.5 out of 5 Corporate Logos...

Most Ignorific Question on the Subject of Canadiana: It wasn't a question, but as a forewarning, anyone who says that Canada get's more snow than the U.S... try spinning in your car before going off the road ten miles south of Altoona PA... then talk to me about all the snow that me and my polar bear experience...

On This Day in Disney History:
December 5th, 1901:
Walter Elias Disney is born to Flora and Elias Disney in their two-story cottage at 2156 N. Tripp Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. The third Disney son is named to honor the family's pastor and friend Walter Parr, a preacher at St. Paul Congregational Church. The pastor, in turn, will later name his son Elias, after Walt's father. (The Disney family will move to Missouri in 1906 where Walt and his brothers and sister will grow up on a farm in Marceline, but the family will later return to Chicago in 1917.)