Dec 19 - fresh pike !

The big news of the day was fresh pike for dinner.  Around 4pm, just when I usually have to decide on whether to bring the rigs in for the night, both flags went up.  That usually means that a fish has take the line off one and tangled with the other.  This time it was two fish well hooked.  There's nothing like fish caught just a couple of hours earlier.  It even behaves differently when you cook it.

The other news of the day was Ugh UGG.  We had ordered some UGG boots for Jason and were checking on the delivery, since we hadn't seen them yet and when Sandy went to the website it had been taken over by the rightful trademark owner.  Once again this proved the adage -- if it looks too good to be true, it is.  Whether these counterfeit boots will ever arrive from Beijing ...

DON'T USE DEBIT CARDS FOR PURCHASES.  Even if that debit card has a Visa or whatever symbol on it, it's still a debit card.  When you use a debit card the money is gone from your account.  When you use a credit card, you have lots of protection.  I called Visa and they reversed the charge.  Had it been a debit card, I'd have been out of luck. 

When I talked to the specialist, he was quite aware of the UGG fraud this year.  He said that last year it was Nike and Northface.  Who'd a thunk ?

Every time I get a new ATM card I refuse it and have to get them to issue one without the Visa symbol.  I use a debit card at the bank ATM; I use a credit card for purchases.  Period.

I did not got for a ride.  I did take Abby for a walk on the lake.  It was hovering around freezing so there was more slush.   This morning the temp has dropped to 7F so that slush will be freezing.  It will be a challenge to find an area for skating, if that's what the kids want to do.  The snow will have to be cleared as well ...

I did some work on my computer, physical work, installing the new SATA card that supports multiple external drives.  I did this in Florida too.  I pulled the 500gb drive out and put it into the external and replaced it with the 1TB drive.  That's for backups.

What else ... not much.  I watched Dr Who, getting into that series, now having watched three episodes.  I encountered the first character overlap with Torchwood -- actually it was the first actor overlap but she's a different character, a main character, in Torchwood.  

What else ... nothing ?

Today we head to Barrie to pick up the Megan and Lauren, dropping off Abby with Stef.  We then head to Toronto where we'll have dinner; the girls will go to the Nutcracker and I'll cool my heals at the Sheraton Centre hotel.  Tomorrow a.m. we will have breakfast and pick up some groceries at the St. Lawrence Market and then head back north.

Southward ! (but not far enough !)