I thought it was particularly rude of Mother Nature to make it rain hard enough that I had to give the kids a ride to school. I'm supposed to get a snow day on my birthday, dammit.

We actually celebrated my birthday yesterday. Ice and the kids decorated the dining room with balloons and streamers and they made a really great dinner for me. Spoiled me with presents, too.

L documented everything with her video camera, from the dinner-making process (which included some dancing) to birthday wishes (even from the dog).

It was a good time. Thanks, guys. :)

We went for our annual gift card shopping trip today. It was a long day but everyone seemed happy with what they bought, including a bunch of new Wii games. Went out for dinner, too, which was nice.

While we were at the mall, Ice and I stopped in at the Telus store. They were selling a bag with five tiny stuffed animals, representing some of the creatures from their ads. It cost $15 and ALL of the money is going to Haiti.

I went downtown with L today and got a look at the fire damage from the other side. A big, gaping hole in the middle of the block. It's sad. And L tells me, from a reliable source, that they're probably going to have to tear down my favourite secondhand store too because it will cost too much to repair. I don't even want to think about that.

The grocery store, which is owned by a volunteer firefighter, is closed until further notice. The restoration crew worked late last night, and for most of today there were seven or eight of their vehicles parked on the street. They've taken down all of the ceiling tiles and they were hauling food out by the cartload and tossing it into dumpsters. I can't see much of what's going on inside because they've papered over the windows.

L also tells me that the other grocery store in town is going to take this store's dairy shipment for the week (or however long) and any money they make from selling it will be given back to the damaged store. I think that's pretty damn impressive.

That part of the street was not opened to traffic until late this afternoon. There are bits of debris on the streets and on the rooftops of other businesses. It made me glad that it's winter so that most of those rooftops were covered in snow.

The newscast that we were not able to see last night was put online today. In it, the reporter said road crews spotted flames shooting through the roof at 6am. This is absolutely not true. First, K went to school at 7am and she saw nothing. Second, who would spot a significant fire and not call it in until 7:30am? And ADMIT that they waited that long?

If you have a Flickr account, click on any photo to see it larger. They are MUCH more dramatic that way.

The fire siren went off about 7:30am this morning. It woke me up but I didn't think too much about it. Then J came into my room about 7:45am and said there was a fire behind the grocery store. I thought it was probably a dumpster fire and there would be a thin trickle of smoke but I looked out the window anyway. I think the first words out of my mouth were "holy shit".

L heard us talking and she got up and looked out her window. I think those were the first words out of her mouth too.

After J left for school (K had gone before any of this started), L and I stood outside for a bit and took some pictures and video. And then we went upstairs, where we had a better view.

They called in two other fire departments to help. When the ladder truck showed up, I told L that if she was going to have a shower, she'd better do it soon because I thought the water pressure was going to drop dramatically. It never did though.

The fire appeared to be under control by about 10am, although there was still a significant amount of smoke by mid-afternoon. The Salvation Army thrift store was destroyed and there was significant smoke and water damage to other businesses. I've heard that there was some fire damage to the back corner of the grocery store, too.

But I don't know for sure. Thanks to a screwup by either my cable company or the local(ish) TV station (each is blaming the other), the 6pm AND 11pm news broadcasts were not shown here or in surrounding communities.

More photos. And L posted a video on Facebook for those who have access. You can actually hear the building collapse.

Last updated: 3 February 2010

(C) Canadian author

Currently reading:

• The Jade Peony – Wayson Choy (public library) (Canada Reads 2010) (C)
• Boldface Names – Shinan Govani (my library) (C)

Finished:

1. Underground – June Hutton (public library) (C)
2. Bitter, Sweet – Laura Best (public library) (C)
3. Amphibian – Carla Gunn (public library) (C)
4. Cape Breton Road – D.R. MacDonald (public library) (book club) (C)
5. Red Snow – Michael Slade (public library) (C)

Previous years

• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006

My year in review post is going to take some time to put together. So, for now, a meme. As seen on The Indextrious Reader.

Take the first line of each month's post over the past year and see what it tells you about your blogging year.

January - The two weeks seemed longer than usual, maybe because Ice had 9.5 days off, maybe because Newt, MA, & K2 were here for the stretch between Christmas and New Year's, maybe because I did very little work. [note: this was not the first post of January but it was the first non-review, non-setup post]

February - The game didn't go the way I wanted it to but it was a pretty exciting finish.

March - Ice and I went to a local version of Canada Reads last night.

April - I didn't spend much time looking around today but, of what I saw, NIN's latest release was my favourite.

May - Ice fixed the garage door!

June - John Mutford of The Book Mine Set has declared June to be Read A Canadian Book Month.

July - We saw fireworks last night so we didn't really do anything today.

August - Tonight was Youker, the Euchre Drinking Game night.

September - The kids survived the first day of school.

October - J got stung by a bee today.

November - Went shopping again today but still couldn't find everything we needed.

December - The Canada Reads contenders were announced this morning.

So, this past year was about books, family, and friends. Just like every other year.

People in this house complained that I didn't post yesterday. They said they were hoping that I'd be so used to it that I'd forget and write anyway.

Yesterday, after I got up, I worked on the computer for a couple of hours, had lunch, had my shower, and then at some point while I was washing my face and brushing my teeth, my left wrist started to hurt. Actually, from the base of my thumb and past my wrist.

This has happened a couple of times before over the last five years or so, and on those occasions, it only hurt if I bent my wrist or put pressure on my hand. I would wrap it up and in a couple of days, it would be fine.

This time, it hurt constantly. Even more with pressure and wrapping didn't help. Ibuprofen did though and when I had my shower today, I let the hot water beat on it for a while, which also seemed to help.

It still hurts but it's usable now.

I have no idea what I did.