Kids, Don't Play With Fire!

On the occasion of my first fire-alarm-related evacuation from our building, I present my list of things I would love to save, but did not actually gather today:

• the husband
• the cats
• the photo albums
• the important files in the filing cabinet

Taking these in order, here's why none of them actually accompanied me out of the building:

• leapfish is in Fredericton, so I suspect he's a safe distance from the building
• the cats hate their carriers, so I chose today to leave them home while I evacuated rather than subject them to the agony of their carriers and the outdoors, betting that even if it was a real fire, it was on a different floor and they'd be OK. I was very worried and spent about a minute considering this. But I did check the floor for smoke and general panic, reasoning that if the fire was on this floor I would be able to tell. Probably a foolish assumption on my part.
• the photo albums are very unwieldy, so I put them in the same "probably just fine" category. This reminds me to come up with a better backup system for our digital photos too.
• Which files to take? I don't even know what's important in there. I better think about this, maybe cluster those ones at the front or something. Or better yet, fireproof safe time maybe.

I was actually kinda startled by the alarm, it was a loud school-type alarm bell, but ringing in bursts, not constantly. I looked out the door and saw curious neighbours doing the same. I put on my shoes and jacket, looked out the window for any people already outside, unplugged the TV and stereo, petted the cats and told them to stay safe, grabbed my keys and cell phone, and hit the stairs. I left the condo unlocked which helps the firefighters but also helps thieves. Downstairs almost the entire evacuee population milled around in the lobby, rather than outside in the rain and cold. The building's median age is easily 65+, so it was like going to a church supper or a bingo game or something. I chatted with the board president and some board members we know. Out of roughly 65 units in the building, I counted only about 35 people outside. Some people were using the lobby intercom to call upstairs and talk to people who had not evacuated. Nice.

I guess I better make a plan, just like they say in school when they're talking fire safety. Damnit. I was hoping to get out of that extra homework. In roughly order of importance:

• find leapfish, place near front door.
• put cats in carriers that are stored near door. Carriers each have a can of cat food in them already, and a comfy towel.
• grab both cell phones, ID, camera and keys
• turn off everything you can reach quickly
• close all windows and doors
• grab emergency overnight bag, stored in front hall closet (still to be created)
• put laptop and ac adapter in backpack or emergency overnight bag (it has copies of all digital photos)
• if time, grab duffel bag stored in closet beside photo albums, and stuff them into it
• carry overnight bag, duffel bag, and two cat carriers out the door, down five flights of stairs, and outside.

Looks reasonable. I suppose it's having a plan that matters, not the quality of it at first. I always tell my students that procedures that aren't written down are useless, because everyone is just making them up. Once they're written down, they can be changed. Until then, it's all just make-believe.

Finally, I just want to complain in general about the severe lack of cute fire safety imagery out there. Damn you, Fire Safety Councils of Canada and the US! The London Fire Brigade, Mesa Community College in Arizona, and (oddly) Simian Fever came to my rescue though.

OK, enough procrastination. Time to get stuff done before the weekend is over.

ELXN

In news releases on the wire, election-related stuff appears to have the "word" elxn on it. Is that laziness? Seriously. Anyway, the government will fall tomorrow, and Tuesday morning the Prime Minister will visit the Governor General and ask her to dissolve Parliament. She will do so (it's been 17 months, reasonable amount of time) and we'll all head for the polls on January 16 or 23. I hope January 23rd, so I can hold a reasonable party. On the 16th I have a rehearsal, so it will be a late party if that's the date.

Trivia: Canadian federal elections can be any length, so PM the PM could call the election for just about any date he chooses. But it must be a Monday, at least 36 days in the future from the date the writ is dropped.

I wrote some predictions in a comment in a friend's journal, and decided to save them here too. My predictions (which I'm notoriously bad at):

1. Green won't win a seat. Their best candidate ever won just over 10,000 votes in Saanich-Gulf Islands, only 16.7% of the vote. This election, being a rerun of last time (but nastier), will probably drop his tally.

2. The NDP, as much as I want them to get back to 40+ seats right now, will not do even 28. Our flirtation in 1988 with a three-party system ended in 1993, and they'll be fighting the same demon as last time: "vote liberal to stop the tories, even if you like the NDP." As my friend nihilicious points out, if you vote for someone you don't actually support, you're simply guaranteeing a government you don't support, rather than risking it. I see the NDP at 21 seats, because they can target the close ones from last summer and give up on the distant ridings.

3. The Liberals will either win a ten-or-less-seat minority, or the Tories will win a 10-or-less-seat minority. I agree with you that it will be very close. I am so disappointed with Paul Martin that I think a low Tory minority might be good for us, but I'm not sure yet.

4. Martin's gone unless (a) he wins a majority, or (b) he wins/loses and tiny minority, where there will be another election within a year. Starting fresh under those circumstances are dangerous, and Martin still controls the entire party machinery.

5. Harper's staying unless they get less ridings than last time. The Tories may, possibly, have figured out that Canadians dislike him less the more they see he doesn't *actually* breathe fire. If they replace him, they lose the familiarity that is actually growing. Also, hopefully they've realized that the more Harper is exposed to reality, the more down-to-earth and realistic he gets. Also good.

6. Jack Layton is doing good things for the NDP, but if the riding count drops back to say a dozen or so, I can't see him being happy, or others feeling like it's working. He should stay, and I want him to stay regardless, but we do like our knives-in-the-back here in Canada.

7. I want to say that the Bloc will only do 55 if we're lucky, but I suspect it will approach 60. How many anglo ridings are there? Only a dozen, I think...

Hmmm.

Elections Survey

Do you think that fixed election dates -- meaning the set scheduling of elections every (for example) 48 months, rather than at the whim of the Prime Minister -- are a good idea? Why or why not?

Good: The PMO loses some power, and it's fairer to all the parties.

Bad: The election campaign starts essentially as soon as the last one finishes, like in the US.

Question mark: I'm not sure how we would deal with minority governments.