– My iPhone: No EDGE (unless I have a couple thousand dollars a month I want to give to Rogers to use their stupid data network) means all of my phone’s advanced features are disabled unless I’m near an open WiFi hotspot.
– My XBox 360: Movie rentals cost nearly twice as much here, and if I want them, I’ll have to discard my existing Gamertag and XBLM points.
– The Internet: All (legal) digital distribution systems, upon detecting that you’re in Canada, refuse to deliver content to you. Why? Because if the Canadian government can’t charge tax on it, then we’re not allowed to have it.
I never thought I’d say this, but at the moment, I miss the States and am totally fed-up with this backward country right now. Its looking more and more like I’m going to have to give Rogers some of my money, just to get even close to the kind of technology we had in the States… and that’s not acceptable. A more monopolistic, anti-competitive, consumer-abusive company has never before existed.
It’s 2008, Canada. Turn off the hockey game, and get with the program. We look like a bunch of cavemen up here. Unbridled capitalism may come with its own set of problems, but at least our American friends don’t have to bang rocks together to make fire…

I have the privilege of being the best man in two weddings this summer. Having never been a best man, I’m not exactly sure what this job entails, but I understand it involves some sort of speech.
Weddings are such a tremendous amount of work for the families involved — they’re invariably stress-inducing, and argument-inciting. As wonderful as our wedding day was, I do remember the huge amount of work that went into it.
To be honest, though, I’ve been ignoring my best-manly duties up until this point. The whole “moving to another country and buying a house” thing pressed more urgently on me. There are still a few problems in that area left to solve, our current home base has this oppressive feeling of temporary-ness in its mostly empty cupboards and very lived-out-of suitcases, and we have something of a vehicle crisis looming, but now that we’re back from our final wrap-up trip to New York, the upcoming weddings are being given some priority.
On top of the two weddings I’m in, Nic is also in one of her own, and there are two others we’ve been invited to. Each has significance for us in a different way, and we actually enjoyed doing some wedding gift shopping while we were in the States this past week.
Still, the idea of coming up with a speech of such great import to its subject (and his family and bride) is a little bit nerve-wracking. Especially given how well I know these guys! Anyone got any tips on how to write a good speech?