Enjoy this classic parody song with a bit of fan animation.
Christmas Vacation Cancellation
We’ve been planning our Christmas vacation to California since last June but with the new omicron variant throwing a wrench in the gears we finally pulled the plug on the trip last Tuesday. Now I’m just hoping we can still get our kids together with their cousins and grandparents over the Christmas break. Such is life in a pandemic.
Back in June WestJet’s website said we could book with confidence knowing we could cancel our flights and get our money back with no fees or hassle but when I called them on Tuesday, the customer service rep told me that I will get the money back as a credit and that the credit will last for two years before it expires.
I was livid. After a moment of almost losing my cool I realized I needed to keep it together and asked her if there was anything she could do to help me get a refund. As it turns out there is a website that I could go to and fill out a form to apply for a refund. I’m still mad that they were pretending like they weren’t giving out refunds but at least things worked out for us.1
- At least it appears it might work out but I can’t actually apply for our money back until after our original departure date on Saturday; give me a break! Anything to make getting our money back just a little bit harder. It’s so shady of them.[↩]
Defunctland’s Deep Dive on Disney Queues
Just in time for our family trip to California this December, Defunctland does a deep dive on the complicated history of Disney’s FastPass. I still haven’t decided if we are going to hit the original Magic Kingdom while we are down there. The prices, the crowds, the lines, and most of all the fact that our kids are still probably too little for most of the attractions makes me doubt the prospects — it’s killing me.
(via)
Jurassic Park but with a Cat
It’s silly but I can’t stop thinking about this cute mashup.
See the entire OwlKitty collection.
Apple Financial Results Q4 2021
Yesterday, Apple released its financial results for the fourth quarter ending September 25, 2021.
The Company posted a September quarter revenue record of $83.4 billion, up 29 percent year over year, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.24. They announced quarterly dividends of $0.22USD per share.
| iPhone | $38,868 million | (up 47%) |
| Mac | $9,178 million | (up 1.6%) |
| iPad | $8,252 million | (up 21.4%) |
| Wearables, Home and Accessories | $8,785 million | (up 11.5%) |
| Services | $14,549 million | (up 25.6%) |
| Total Net Sales | $83,360 million | (up 28.8%) |
CEO Tim Cook explained that because of supply constraints the Total Net Sales were down about $6 billion from what they otherwise would have been. Macworld has the story:
Six. Billion. Dollars. That’s cash that Apple’s customers slapped on the table in the last three months, saying “shut up and take my money“… and were denied. Because Apple just didn’t have the products available to sell. That record $83.4 billion quarter should’ve been a record $89.4 billion quarter, but for all the woes in the international supply chain. And here’s the scarier part: it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
“What we’re saying is that the nominal amount of supply constraints for Q1, we estimate to be larger than $6 billion,” Cook said. “And so it’s important to know that we’re getting a lot more supply in Q1 than we had in Q4, obviously because our sequential growth is significant and we have very solid growth year over year. And so the amount of supply is growing dramatically, it’s just that the demand is so robust that we envision having supply constraints for the quarter.”
Jason Snell has some preliminary graphs, and don’t miss the revenue overview in his fun with charts post.
Running for Mayor
Last August while traveling through Medicine Hat I met-up with an old high school friend, Linnsie Clark. I’d heard she was running for mayor and I wanted to hear more about her campaign and catch up.
We talked for hours. She told me about some of the concerning proposals within the current council and why she was running and how she didnt even have a Facebook account before this and how difficult it was to find the right people to help with a campaign.
Clearly she found a great team because last week after the election I woke up to the news that not only had Linnsie won, she won in a landslide making her the youngest and the first woman mayor in the history of Medicine Hat.
The Medicine Hat News has a Q and A with Linnsie Clark.
Covid Test
I woke up with a sore throat this morning and pulled the trigger on getting a Covid test. I didn’t want to because, as everyone knows, once you sign up for a test you’re legally obligated to quarantine until results are back. So no playdates with the kids and my friends’ kids (at least not with me, Ange took them out to the park). And the big stress of the day became whipping up sub plans and trying to find someone to go in for me tomorrow.
Luckily enough, I couldn’t find a sub right away and before I had someone booked (less than 12 hours after the test) the relieving negative result arrived via text message.
On the other hand, I was already starting to look forward to a day in bed watching the Apple event tomorrow. I’m strongly thinking about getting a new MacBook Pro and I’ve been patiently waiting for this day since the rumours first started circulating in 2018. I guess I’ll just have to catch it on the replay.
Ted Lasso perfectly balances absurdity with simplicity
I quite enjoyed season one of Ted Lasso. I haven’t finished season two yet but my friends tell me after a couple of rough episodes the final episodes recover and it’s worth watching.
(Via Cynical-C)
New Rule: The Slow-Moving Coup | Real Time with Bill Maher
(Via Cynical C)
Lawyer wants inquiry into alleged threats of retaliation against MLA and CBC journalist by Lethbridge police
A Calgary defence lawyer is calling for a public inquiry into allegations that members of the Lethbridge Police Service have threatened retaliation against NDP MLA Shannon Phillips and CBC journalist Meghan Grant for exposing misconduct within the force.
— Read on www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/lethbridge-police-threats-public-inquiry-1.6195354