Hodgepodge

• Final tallies for the election:
  

  Party	Elected	Vote Share
  CON	143	37.63%
  LIB	76	26.24%
  BQ	50	9.97%
  NDP	37	18.20%
  IND	2	0.65%
  GRN	0	6.80%
  OTH	0	0.51%

  
  
  My own riding:
  DISTRICT: Ottawa West-Nepean
  Candidate, Party, Vote Share
  John Baird, CON, 44.98%
  David Pratt, LIB, 36.12%
  Marlene Rivier, NDP, 11.52%
  Frances Coates, GRN, 6.36%
  David Page, IND, 0.74%
  Alex McDonald, COM, 0.27%
  
  
• Got an e-mail from my dad, re. our voting system. Made me sigh and roll my eyes because I've seen this kind of thing after every single election since I can remember voting. We all know the way the system is set up sucks. And every so often somebody gets organized enough to do a referendum-type thingy that is mostly voted on by people who probably don't even understand the question, and they decide to keep the system as is. Because change is bad, I guess. Or thinking is bad. Or thinking about change is bad. Or something.
  
  ( Electoral dysfunction, yet again )
  
  
  
• Jon Stewart, on the Daily Show last night: Stephen Harper, of course, is the leader Canada's Conservative Party. Now Canada is a relatively liberal nation; their Conservative Party is the equivalent of our Gay Nader Fans for Peace.
  
  
• I have not tried the recipe below. Getting into the habit of drinking this once a day is supposed to make your skin smoother or creamier or aerated within six weeks. Or maybe it's the cocoa that's smoother and creamier and aerated. I dunno, I just thought it was cool to be told to drink cocoa by a health-type organization. They also push blueberries, sweet potatoes, pomegranates, and having sex. Think I'll take their advice over the ones who push high fibre breakfast mush and running daily.
  
  Not that we need much more exercise. I think three times a week of TaeKwon-Do and biking everywhere (yesterday, for example, we biked 19.5K) is probably doing our bit. Dammit, we deserve hot cocoa after that!
  
  Super Simple, Healthy Hot Cocoa
  The secret to this easy recipe? Heat it slowly. Slow heat helps release the antioxidants.
  
  Ingredients
  1 1/2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder with 70% or more cacao (such as Scharffen Berger natural cocoa powder or Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa)
  2 teaspoons sugar
  Pinch of salt
  1 cup skim or low-fat milk
  
  Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and heat gently (do not let it boil), stirring frequently, until cocoa is just beginning to steam. Pour into a mug and enjoy.
  
  
• Tomorrow's to-do list
  
  • call the tattoo place
    
  • 2 more firms
    
  • e-mail Marcie re. basement
    
  • finish goals with kids
    
  • review music
    
  • 10 pages
    
  • post re. part ii
    
  • post re. finished fic, art stuff (none of it mine)
    
  • make calendar
    
  • go through dividers on my own fic and try not to swear too much at ff.n
    
  • reply to ff.n, sky, HBLN e-mails
    
  • make vet appointment