A Few Quick Notes 274

-We seem to be in the midst of another relatively passable day. Again, I haven't really had the pleasure of experiencing much of it directly, most of my experiences have been mediated through my bedroom window. Unfortunately, the forecast is suggesting that we are in for a fair amount of rain tonight and tomorrow. Fortunately I don't have any obligations that will force me to venture out in less than ideal weather.

-As I should have suspected, we managed to lose our final Ultimate game of the regular season by over 20 points. Unfortunately, I can't say that I helped the cause all that much as a number of my throws were blocked and I was even slower than usual.

That I am pretty slow is really starting to get to me. It seems that there are only a handful of individuals in this league that are slower than me, the rest of much faster. Given the size of the court, this speed differential makes a huge difference and makes much less valuable as a player.

Apparently there will be some kind of play-off structure, though as of yet no one on our team knows how it is to work.

-A few days ago I Neil and I had some black beans that I prepared in my pressure cooker. My plan for dinner tonight is to repeat my bean based success of last week, though with a few modifications to the recipe. I think that the most substantial change will be to use less liquid, as not all that much is needed in the pressure cooker. Also, I think that I may be more generous with a few of the spices.

-If I get my act together later this afternoon maybe I will be able to go for a walk, though the way things are going right now it seems that I will probably manage to just continue wasting my time until I need to start preparing dinner.

-Earlier today I spent a few minutes reading yesterday's Globe and Mail and came across a story about high-end dog services in Toronto and the impact that the recession is having on these businesses. I was moderately surprised that most of the business owners interviewed seemed to suggest that things were still going well and that they weren't really all that worried about the recession. Given the number of stories that I have seen about people abandoning their pets because of financial problem I found this story rather surprising. This story seems to suggest the opposite of the previously reported trend and suggests that people are unwilling to sacrifice the comfort of their pets, and if anything, willing to allow their own quality of life to drop so that their pet's can remain the same.

One comment in the story that I found particularly strange related to pet daycare. The owner of such a facility suggested that she wouldn't really be impacted by a recession because people really didn't have a choice, they would still need to send their pets to daycare. I found this shocking for a number of reasons, most notably because the concept of pet daycare is relatively recent, so people in Toronto would have had to survive without it only a handful of years ago. Furthermore, there are many places in Canada and the rest of the world that don't have access to pet daycare facilities, though this doesn't seem to impede pet ownership to any noticeable extent. I guess I found the idea of pet daycare being necessary laughable. I imagine that this business owner, as well as the other providers of high-end dog products, will be in for a big surprise if this recession gets worse or goes for any period of time. These business owners will find that such expenses are considered luxuries by most pet owners.

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