Tag: canada

Duel Citizenship

I have had three people recently tell me that they might qualify for citizenship to a country in Europe. Given the direction the USA is heading, I am seriously jealous. In 2017 there was talk of Ireland offering levels of citizenship to people whose family originated there. My paternal great-grandparents were from Ireland, but that was too far removed for me to qualify for anything.

Today, purely out of jealousy, I looked to a couple of other options. My maternal grandparents were born in Newfoundland. At the time it was still a British Dominion, not a Canadian province. What the hell, I checked on both options. Canada was a no. It said there might be possibilities if my grandparents served in the armed forces or worked for the government. My grandfather was a fisherman. He planned to enlist in the navy during World War I but the war ended just before his 18th birthday so he did not sign up. My grandmother was a house keeper. No government service at all.

I looked at the UK too, though after Brexit why would anyone want to sign up for UK citizenship? Since Newfoundland was British when my grandparents were born, the Google reported to me that there was a 13% chance I would qualify. How it came up with 13% I don’t know, but when I dug even a tiny bit deeper it was clear the answer was no.

Maybe I could hire a lawyer to dig a little and pull some legal strings. You know… just in case the USA continues it’s trend of flushing itself down the crapper. Just to have options, you know? Not that I would ever leave… it would be nice to know I had somewhere to go if I needed to… not that I would.

Kids in the Hall

The Kids in the Hall are back with the first new season since 1995 and it’s glorious. Instead of writing skits where they pretend to be old people, they actually are old people and it’s amazing.

The Headcrusher comes back in episode four and it’s incredible.

The old naked men part… that’s not so great, but everything else is phenomenal.

Thank you, Kids in the Hall. Thank you for coming back to us, especially when you’re not naked.

Dunville

My mother’s parents both came from a nowhere town in Newfoundland called Dunville. They didn’t actually meet until they moved to Boston, but they did live in the same nowhere town.

Actually, I don’t know that it’s a nowhere town. I don’t know anything about it except that there were people named Power there and other people named Murphy.

I also know that Google Maps says the drive, including two ferry rides, would take about 26 hours.

We should go there.

Olympic Hockey – USA vs Canada

I’ve had three heart attacks so far. There is no score in the first, but Canada is going onto the power play. We’re only nine minutes into the game and it’s already the most stress I’ve felt since the Cup Finals last year.

My step kids just started a spontaneous, USA USA USA chant.

Olympic Ice Hockey – Men’s Quarterfinals Results

The second round of four games in the Men’s ice hockey tournament Quarterfinals happened today. I mentioned earlier that Sweden beat the crap out of Slovenia. In the second game of the day we saw a gigantic upset as Finland (lead by Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask) beat Russia, 3-1. Russia had been one of the gold medal favorites, and here they are bounced out in the quarterfinal.

At noon today there were two huge games. First, Canada beat Latvia by the skin of their teeth, 2-1. At the same time, the USA was beating up on the Czech Republic, 5-2.

There are four teams left, and three medals to hand out. Team USA is in pretty good shape… except…

The Semifinal round match ups are all set now. All four teams have tomorrow off, and then on Friday at 7:00am Eastern time, Sweden plays Finland in a battle for Viking supremacy. I think Sweden is the better team in this one, although I will be rooting for Tuukka and the Fins.

Later on Friday, at noon Eastern time, the battle for North American supremacy will commence. Canada vs The United States of America. This is a rematch of the gold medal game from last Winter Olympics. That game was quite possibly the best hockey game I’ve ever watched. The only negative about that game was the the US had to settle for the Silver. Now I will be wearing the red white and blue on Friday, and there is no doubting where my hockey loyalty lies… but it’s hard to see anyone beating Canada. Although, they haven’t quite been the monster everyone has expected, and the US has been dominant in all but one game. I think we have a chance. I think we have a shot at making it to the gold medal game.

Coincidently, if my two predictions come true we will see a rematch of the 1980 gold medal game between The United States of America and Finland. I could definitely get into a match up like that.

Go USA!