December 1, 2010: If next Wednesday is going to be like this Wednesday, I'd rather just skip it.

You know how they say your entire life flashes before your eyes before you die?  Well, if I was dying and my entire life flashed before my eyes, a replay of December 1st, 2010 would seriously make me reconsider rescinding that do not resuscitate order.

I woke up late this morning – and it was downhill from there.  Because I was dropping my pug, Jelly, off at the vet's for her MRI, she was the only one who didn't get breakfast this morning.  And, boy, did she remind me – barking, whining, looking up at my with those big pleading bug-eyes as if to ask: "Why?  What did I do?  Why have you – and Nature's Variety Beef Formula – forsaken me?".  I did my best to ignore her like a persistent panhandler or fellow producer Carl Binder suggesting we sit down to watch a producer's edit.  I loaded Jelly into the car, said goodbye to the rest of the gang who would be cooling their paws until lunch, and headed off -

And directly into a traffic jam.  An early morning fire had shut down one of the city's main streets, West Broadway, for two blocks in either direction.  Interestingly – one might even go so far as to say "annoyingly" – motorists were denied access to the street but there were no signs directing them around the blockage.  And so, I took a left, hoping to take my next right and run a parallel course to the one I'd planned, only to discover the next block was inaccessible as well, forcing me to take another left and travel down another two blocks before taking another right to travel twelve more blocks before taking a right and eventually finding my way back to civilization.  Seriously.  Would it have killed them to put up a simple Detour sign directing us to the quickest and most convenient way around the problem area?  Time and again, it seem as thought Vancouver's city planners plan for everything, except for the possibility that cars may be on their roads.  They're far too busy building cycling lanes in order to curry favor with the city's powerful bike lobby.

I arrived at the vet clinic and dropped Jelly off.  After showing remarkable improvement following a stem cell procedure to treat her hip dysplasia and arthritic shoulders and elbows, she has deteriorated significantly over the past week and a half, leading her vet to suggest we investigate other potential causes for her condition.