Blessings and Curses from 2009

Columns that appear during the last week of December tend to have two common attributes. First, they run the risk of not being read by anyone.

After all, if you’re really smart this week, you’re in Mexico, Maui, or the Caribbean. Second, columns appearing in the last week of December tend to look reflectively and nostalgically at the year just passed.

I hope to disappoint you on both fronts, without saying anything about Tiger Woods, Avatar, or the balloon boy.

It's Monsoon Season. Again.

Ahh, autumn. In Vancouver, it’s the time of year when we clean out the gutters, check the sump pumps and the drain tile, invest in a new raincoat and umbrella, and try to figure out how to escape the monsoons that will keep hitting the west coast until oh . . . January.

Ironically, we call these annual monsoons “pineapple expresses” because the rain comes from Hawaii and other places we’d prefer to be by now.