He said, "Maybe you could give me 5 dollars!"

When we moved, we decided not to bring Katherine's vacuum with us across the country. We didn't think it was worth the bother. It didn't really do the job that it was meant to do. The smallest task made that thing work very hard. When we left it behind, it wasn't really doing a very good job. I guess we thought that we would be able to find one and replace it no problem. I know that I had a bit of sticker shock when I found out how much (new) vacuum cleaners cost. They start at about $60 and go to over $2000 for the really deluxe models. I don't know what a $2000 vacuum cleaner would do - I suspect it might suck the carpet right off your floor. On the other end of the spectrum, I guess that the $60 model wouldn't do anything much at all. It would probably just make a lot of noise. Needless to say, we have been without a vacuum since the summer. Earlier this week, our dreams came true when I saw an ad in the online bargain finder Used Ottawa.

This is what was delivered to my door. It was missing one of the wheels, I guess it fell off during transport. The guy who dropped it off said, "Friend, tonight you get a deal. I lost a wheel when we moved it and so I'm going to give it to you for nothing". I asked if it works and he assured me that it did, then he said maybe I could give him $5 for gas. He was driving an F-150 and I could appreciate that the $5 would be needed. So, I handed over a fiver and took my new prize inside the house. I plugged it in and the floorboards almost came up. It's probably only 60 years old but it's still going strong. Tomorrow, the car is going to be very clean.

This is a picture of Katherine trying to vacuum the cat. She likes to do that. The cat ran away.

Surveillance

For a number of months now there's been something strange going on in my neighbourhood. It might not strike you as odd at first, but when you consider the weather north of the 49th parallel in January and February, you might also become suspicious. At different times of the day, there is a man who stands outside the apartment building across the street. It doesn't really seem to matter how cold it is outside, he will be out there with a scarf wrapped around his face, a dark long jacket on, and some type of computer-ish device held up close to his face. Sometimes when returning from work, or an evening pursuit (usually curling), you can stand on the corner across the street and watch him for a while. He never seems to get self-conscious and never looks at you. This strikes me as a bit strange because you know that feeling you get when somebody is watching you...it feels like somebody's watching you. Well, I don't think that this guy gets that feeling. Anyhow, I've been trying to build up enough nerve to go and talk to the guy and find out what he's doing, but I thought that I'd put it out there and see if anybody had words of wisdom about this type of thing. If I go talk to him and find out what he's doing, maybe I'll get sucked into the goings on of the underground (gasp!). Maybe he'll start text messaging me all the time asking for hot beverages, or one of those hot packs that you can put in your mittens.

I have narrowed it down to three and three only potential activities that this man may be undertaking. Do you think he's: a) hacking the open neighbourhood wireless connections and making a fortune on ebay while avoiding paying for internet service to his home, b) using this computer type device to conduct surveillance of his own on any of the surrounding neighbours - including Katherine and I, or c) arranging drug deals for our super duper sketchy neighbours downstairs, who we highly suspect of running drugs from our apartment.