Busy, busy …

While it was certainly tempting to crawl into a well-heated cave and hibernate until Spring during our recent deep freeze I was, instead, taking advantage of some of the many things Toronto has to offer.

Yes, with the exception of only a few breathtakingly cold days cocooned at home, wrapped in a blanket, I bundled up in multiple layers of sweaters, scarves, hats, gloves and down-filled coats, braved the sub-zero temperatures and enjoyed some great films and an assortment of terrific breakfasts, lunches and dinners with family, friends and former colleagues (some of whom I haven’t seen in years and years). And

What’s the big deal?

We’re just days into the New Year and here I am, complaining.  Well, not really complaining.  It’s more like ‘wondering’.  Or making an observation.  Or questioning.  I’m confused, is all.  For the life of me I can’t figure out why we make such a big deal out of New Year’s Eve.  Okay, okay, okay, I get the significance of beginning a new year.  Truly I do.  But why the insistence on wearing silly hats and cranking noisemakers and watching balls drop and drinking ourselves into oblivion?  What’s the point of all that?

Speaking strictly for myself, I’ve never liked New Year’s Eve.  In fact, I kinda loathe it.  Too many people trying way to hard to have a good time.  Way too many people who can’t hold their liquor getting way too drunk.  Drunk to the point of crying, drunk to the point of sharing the most intimate details of their lives with virtual strangers, drunk to the point of making passes at their best friends’ husbands (or vice versa), drunk to the point of passing out or, even worse,

Day 255. Stop Already!!!

When will the news media learn their lesson? What will it take? What has to happen? How many mistakes do they have to make? How many faces have to turn red? How much crow must be eaten? How many heads have to hang, in shame? How many slaps on the wrist do they need? How many reprimands?

There I was, minding my own business, having lunch. Eating and scrolling through Facebook to see what my friends were up to. Suddenly BuzzFeed reported a suspect in the Boston bombing had been arrested.

Yeah, I put the TV on. CNN. There they were. John King, Christopher Cuomo and Anderson Cooper. Joining them was Juliette Kayyem, the former homeland security advisor to Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick.

They were tripping over themselves to break the story. Insisting they had spoken to “very senior, very credible sources”, they announced two separate videos showed the same suspect dropping the bag containing at least one of the bombs; and then running away from the scene as soon as the blasts went off. The accompanying video coverage went so far as to circle the image of the guy, just in case viewers couldn’t figure out who he was