Sleepy Spider or Caught in a Lie?

The federal government recently announced that many of the promises made in the just-as-recent federal election a few months ago, are not going to happen, now that we’re in an economic crisis.

The federal election was just a few weeks ago, and we were in just the very same economic mess as we are now – the only difference is – well wait a sec – there is no difference.

Even the candidates in the American election were talking about what’d they would do to fix the broken wheels of the economy, and the American election ran several more months longer – and began much earlier – than the Canadian election.

So, how come Canadian politicians didn’t “know” about the economic situation when they were making all those big spending promises?

This is just another example of why society has lost faith in politicians. Lies, deceptions, and far worse – playing dumb – are the acts by our politicos which make professional cynics of us all.

Yes, the “recession” word is just starting to be used in an official capacity, but the economy has been brutally painful for some time now. Certainly prior to the American federal election, which started prior to the Canadian one.

The economy was one of the big issues in the past federal election – and when we went to the polls, we were supposedly electing someone on their promises to make things work.

But all those promises were just words in the air, or so it appears, as the federal government is pulling out from many of those promises, claiming they just didn’t know any better.

Excuse me, Mr. Prime Minister, but you were the prime minister before the election, and you knew the economy was slumping. Unless you aren’t doing your job – then maybe we should ask for your resignation?

But you were just re-hired, in a matter of speaking via your re-election, so nothing should really change your plans. Besides, you were in power during the start of this money mess, and you got elected again during the very same money mess – so quit your belly aching and start doing what you told us you would do.

Unless you overstated your qualifications? Many people these days tell little white lies on their resumes, hoping to just coast through their jobs. Is that your official game plan? Do you plan to just ride things out by hiding under a desk somewhere, until the coast is clear?

Canada used to be one of the greatest countries on the planet – we still do have lots to boast about. Though I’m starting to wonder how much longer that will last – with inept, lying scoundrels running the ranch, we’re going to suffer just as bad a fate as our dollars and cents.

The Longest Repair

Over a month ago, I took an old laptop to BestBuy to get repaired. It’s an old Gateway laptop – it was a great computer, and it really isn’t all that old – only a couple of years at most.

I figured, I’d give it to my dad, which would be a welcomed sight seeing as he’s using an old computer running Windows98. Yeppers, you read right, he’s using a computer which is probably over 10-years-old. When I go over an turn the thing on, you can walk the dog around the block several times, and it is still powering up.

BestBuy has yet to ever actually call me and let me know the status of the repair on this machine. I keep calling them – which isn’t good customer service at all. And to top it off, a month later, and the computer still hasn’t been fixed.

I’ve taken computers to BestBuy, and had their Geek Squad look after them before. Usually they are prompt, and reasonably priced.

But for whatever reason, this repair is taking too long, and I fear may be higher in cost than the initial estimate. Whenever there is a breakdown in communications, there usually are financial costs.

I know the system board has to be replaced on the laptop, and BestBuy tells me the system board is rare, and hard to find. That’s why it is taking so long.

But it would be nice if BestBuy actually called me every so often to tell me these things. So far, I’ve been the one calling them, to find out where and what have they done with my laptop.

It shouldn’t be up to the customer to keeping peace. That’s called customer service, and should be handled by the company that wants to keep their customers coming back.

Though I’m a technology geek, so I suppose I’ll always shop at BestBuy, even though I’m having a bit of a run around with them over a laptop’s service. Every time I go into a BestBuy, my eyes glaze over, and I start to salivate over the latest technological toys before me.

But I will think twice before dropping off one of those technological toys for service.

Oh No – Not Star Trek Too!

Being a writer-type I am always dismayed by the lack of creativity in the industry. Writing involves more than just stringing sentences together, it involves imagination.

That’s why I am so offended when I hear of the dreaded prequel.

Sequels are bad enough, but if done right, and not for too long, can be worthwhile ventures to continue a successful story of well established characters.
Prequels for the most part are just laziness. They did a prequel in Star Wars and now Star Trek is coming out with its own storyline, prior to the original show’s conception. The story line for the latest Star Trek movie occurs at Star Fleet Academy, where Kirk and Spock meet. This is long before they serve together aboard the starship Enterprise.

Problem is, when you have well established histories spanning decades of constantly moving forward storylines, creating something which is supposed to have taken place prior to these storylines blurs the line of reality, and throws out that history.

There are bound to be continuity errors in these prequels – there always are. It is impossible to catch all of them during production. But with the overzealous fan-base globally for Star Trek, just as happened with the Star Wars prequels, these will become big sore spots eventually.

I never got into the whole Star Wars phenomenon. But Star Trek – STAR TREK – that’s something I’ve followed since I was a little boy, lying on the rug on Sunday’s at my grandparent’s place, watching Kirk and Spock make Star Trek history.

And history is what this is all about. Writing a prequel is about coming up with a story based on an established history of events, one which should eventually lead up to those events. Problem is, it is human nature to spin the yarn, and come up with new events, which couldn’t possibly match exactly to the way things were before the prequel.

Maybe I’m old fashioned, or maybe I’m just an experienced writer, knowing full well what tragedies occur when stories of before, are written well in the after.
Either way, I am troubled by the whole notion of a prequel. Good things move forward, not backwards. Technology improves, and we as a race move improve too. Writing prequels is taking a step back, and so too, I fear, will the quality and continuity of the Star Trek universe.

Some cynics say all the great ideas ever created have already been created. I disagree – because the day we stop inventing new ways to do things, is the day we die.

I just hope the Star Trek universe doesn’t die because of a poorly written prequel.

Automotive Bailout My Butt

I can’t believe our federal government is still even talking with the automotive big bosses about bailing them out.

We’ve been in a recession for some time now – though economists are weak minded followers, unable to use the forbidden “R” word – AKA “Recession” – without a slap on the back from their employers.

Surely the automotive “big three” of General Motors, Chrysler and Ford had seen things coming for some time. If they weren’t so blinded by their own weak minded followers, they would have changed things up long ago, to prevent what has happened now.

Now, General Motors – GM – one of the world’s largest companies – is seriously considering bankruptcy, with Ford and the Chrysler Corp. bound to follow GM’s lead.

To stave off their creditors, GM and the other two giant’s of the automotive sector, are begging for a cash infusion from our federal government.
Granted, millions of people throughout North America depend on the big three automakers for their livelihood. The automotive sector is one of the largest employers in the world.

Problem is, governments really have no place in keeping companies afloat in a democratic, capitalistic society – which just so happens to be the one we’ve lived in faithfully since Canada and the States were founded many years ago.

We do live in a Darwinian social-state, so-to-speak, where companies fend for themselves in a fair market. Competition keeps prices fair – for the most part – and those that win produce the products and services we need and want, at the prices we are willing to pay.

Having a publicly funded government provide money to keep a business in business is just wrong – no matter how many people may lose their jobs.
The automakers outside of North America have suffered too, but they planned ahead, and although they haven’t made big profits, they certainly aren’t near death, like their North American counterparts.

While GM did everything it could to quash the electric car back in the 1990’s, Honda and Toyota worked feverishly to advance their technology around alternatively powered vehicles. It wasn’t until California imposed a law, forcing all automobile manufacturers to produce cleaner, more fuel efficient vehicles, that GM, Ford and Chrysler even blinked at the idea of hybrid gas and electric vehicles.

If GM goes belly up, so be it. When a business falters, it is no one’s fault but those of the brains behind the extinct organization. Maybe those now running GM will learn something from their failure, and go on to create a better, more viable company, which will succeed?

Or, if history repeats itself, as it often does, perhaps those at GM will just go on to create another mega-company, which will have a finite lifespan, only to beg for public funds once again.

That is of course, presuming our government makes the right decision not to interfere in the affairs of private business.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau once said, “the government has no place in the bedrooms of the nation.” He said this during a controversy about people’s personal sexual preferences.

If Trudeau were alive today, he’d be wise to utter the same comment about government’s role in the business world – because just like sex, where and how we choose to work, is our choice, and our choice only.

Annual Event Brings Out Idiots Everywhere

Last night we had our very first real snowfall of the year. It was a great sight to see, nothing but all white falling from the sky, everything covered in a perfectly white blanket of snow.

When it snows, it actually is quieter than normal outside. This is because the snow acts like an insulator and absorbs sound waves. It also is usually warmer when it snows, than other days in the winter, as the temperature must increase slightly, to allow the snow to be released from the clouds.

With the first fall of snow – we got about five centimetres last night – certain events are bound to happen.

First, the media hypes everything up, as if this is the first time we’ve ever had a winter storm. They toss around metrological terms like Alberta Clipper, cold front, and jet stream like everyone knows what these are. On a rare day, instead of some tragic event in someone’s life, the weather leads the newscast.

The media hype is somewhat useful – we need to know how the weather will be the next day or two, so we can be prepared when we head out for our daily lives. Still, why do they babble about things no one but a real weather watcher cares about – like those jet streams, high and low pressure areas – all I want to know is what the weather will be like tomorrow. That’s it, that’s all, I don’t need anything more.

Then there are all the car crashes, road accidents and my favourite – people that hit non-moving, completely inanimate objects.

Anyone who hits something which didn’t have any way of actually getting in their way shouldn’t have a driver’s license. These are the kinds of people that are a danger to themselves and others once a windshield is placed in front of them.

Yes, snow and ice are slippery, and can make driving a bit more challenging. But seeing as this is Canada, and we get snow every year, there really is no excuse for hitting something like a tree, a rock or a house.

“The house just suddenly appeared there, there was nothing I could do!”

Yeah right – stay off the cheap drugs buddy!

Speaking of road incidents and the first annual snowfall, and going back to the initial point about the media – how come some people on the news seem to get off on all these road accidents?

Not to mention any names – Kevin Frankish at CityTV – shhh – but these voices of authority on the news seem to go completely giddy with every fender bender. The bigger the traffic pile up, the more excited they get.

Get a freakin’ life! There is so much more to the world, than watching a traffic camera and just hoping to catch someone’s car spinning out of control.

Though it is interesting to watch – I’ll admit that – it isn’t the only thing out there.

With the annual fall of snow season, comes the dreaded winter bundle-up. People packed tightly into large winter coats, toques, scarves, gloves and big winter boots.

Though I guess there were some who didn’t see the media hype on the evening news, or maybe they just are too young to care, and would rather be fashionable than warm and safe – I saw many young girls going to school in their short little skirts, some even wearing flip-flops!

I saw one of these poor young kids slip and fall on her butt on the ice. Judging by the big dent she left behind in the snow, I’m willing to bet she lost a lot more than her pride on that fall.

Maybe it was the snow’s fault – it couldn’t have been her lack of traction due to her flip flops? Naw, that’s just too easy an answer . . .

When Scientists Goof Big

As awesomely powerful as modern science is, when they goof, they goof big.

No one is perfect, but last year the ouchie I got didn’t do squat. I’m talking about the annual flu shot. Living in Canada, we’re lucky to have access to many medical wonders, absolutely free. We do have the best health care system in the world.

I get my flu shot every year – have been for many years now. It is important to not only prevent my nose from running, my eyes from watering and my body to ache, but I’m also doing good for society.

By getting our flu shots, we help keep the nasty flu bug at bay, instead of causing a national – or even international – plague. Scientists for years have been talking about the next big plague which will wipe out much of the human population, kill economies (as no one can go to work, or go out and buy products and services) and essentially ruin society as we know it.

Last year, despite getting my annual shot in the arm, I still got the flu. At the time, I thought it was a fluke.

But now I learn, that scientists goofed – big time.

Every year, scientists from around the world, work with the World Health Organization, to monitor the spread of flu bugs globally. They use their scientific powers of reason to predict which strains of the flu are spreading faster and further than any of the others. And every year, they use this information, to create the flu shot, used here in Canada, and everywhere else on the planet.

As this year’s flu shots clinics are gearing up – I got my shot a couple of weeks ago – we are now learning the horrible truth about the goof. Last year, these scientific minds got the wrong strains of flu virus in the flu shot. They actually admitted to it being a totally ineffective vaccine!

It’s the first time ever, that they have admitted this, which they had to do because of how the flu shot is created every year. Every year, the previous version of the flu shot is used as the basis for the new one.

This year, the scientists say, they have tossed out last years version, and redone it completely from scratch.

We all make mistakes, that’s part of being human. But as the spread of colds and flu becomes more common, thanks to the ease of international travel and a constantly more global economy, mistakes about vaccines could be the cause of the next global pandemic.

Scientists say every century, living populations go through a pandemic – it’s mother nature’s way of controlling the population of living things. The largest pandemic was one which wiped out most of Europe and part of the Americas in the 17th century.

Medical minds are working hard to try to prevent or at best, predict the next pandemic. Pandemics are tragic things, leading to tragic results. But what could be most tragic of all, would be a pandemic spread by the very people trying to prevent one from happening.

We’re very fortune last year’s flu shot didn’t do anything. It should have immunized people against the flu. But worst case scenario, it could have actually given people the dreaded virus it was invented to stop.

Let’s hope the scientists got it all right this year.

Nakedness or Just About

For those following my blog on a regular basis, you know I live in one of those posh high-end, high-security high rises above the clouds.

I’ve lived here a while, and I enjoy it. I love high rise living – I have the best view of the world, right from my windows and balcony.

When you live in a high rise, you see your neighbours more often than you do when you live in a fully detached house in the burbs. I’m always running into my neighbours whenever I go up or down the elevators, or any of the other common areas of the building.

That’s not always a bad thing, as it is good to know things about the people around you. Though sometimes I think I know too much.

I was waiting for the elevator to go down, and as I got on, there was one of my neighbours from the floor above (I live on the second highest floor). I’ve seen her many a time before and we always ask how the other is. But today, she was wearing not much more than just a bathrobe and slippers.

Now, she’s not an unattractive woman, but even if she were, the common areas aren’t exactly private areas where you can walk around sans clothes. Yes, we have security cameras everywhere, and you need a special high-tech toggle thing-a-ma-bop to get into the building. But do you really want people you don’t really know that well, to see what you don’t wear while at home?

This building is huge, there have to be at least a thousand people living here, given the number of floors and the number of units per floor. Then you consider, all the guests constantly coming and going to visit people who live here, pizza and other fast food delivery dudes stomping through, and you have a vast assortment of total strangers who really are totally strange to those who live here.

I don’t know about you, but when I order a pizza, I make sure I’m wearing pants so the pizza delivery guy doesn’t run away before delivering my pie.

The same should hold for traveling throughout the building. My neighbour was trying to get hold of someone in property management, as she was having a water leak somewhere. Maybe she was in the middle of a shower, and discovered her water woes, and that’s why she was just in a bathrobe and not much else.

Still, when I go down to the pool, I always toss on a shirt, and make sure I’m fully clothed as I go through the halls to get there. And I know property management is always around, unless she was literally swimming her way out the door, she should have had time to toss on some decent clothes.

Maybe she was hoping the building maintenance guys would see her in not much at all, and hurry on up to fix her plumbing (pun, sadly intended)?

All I know is living in a high rise above the clouds, definitely isn’t dull.

The Miracle of the Season – Or Maybe I’m Just Getting In Touch With My Female Side

Sometimes, when I’m feeling down or sad, I go shopping. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, real men don’t shop – that’s a chick thing, right?

Maybe it’s just another distraction, like going to the movies, reading a book, or surfing the net – but I go shopping. Mind you I don’t shop for clothes, I’ll usually go to the technology stores and salivate over the latest electronic gadgets and gizmos.

When I was in university, there was one very enticingly hot babe, all the guys wanted to date. Well, all the guys would swoon all over her, practically stopping traffic to get her attention. Being the slightly crazy over-achieve-type, I asked her out.

She was happy to go out with me – but on one condition. First, I’d have to get in touch with my female side. I asked her what exactly that meant, to which she just giggled, and walked away.

Days turned into weeks, and as she sat in front of me in class, occasionally she’d turn sharply to me, smile, and ask if I’d finally got in touch with my female side.

I’d smile back – who wouldn’t, one of the hottest girls in class flirting with little old moi? But I always came up with some excuse, or quick-witted comment, because I really didn’t know what it took to get in touch with my female side. I didn’t even know if I had a female side.

Eventually, we did go out. Maybe I managed to entice her with my quick-wit and dashing good looks, or more likely, she just finally gave up on getting me to sense something I wasn’t able to figure out at the time.

Maybe this whole shopping thing is part of that female side of me? I enjoy other things too – but shopping is one of the surest ways to get me out of a bad mood.

And by shopping, I mean SHOPPING. Real shopping, in real stores.

The internet makes it easy to shop, without actually really going anywhere. You can go to just about any store online these days, fill up your electronic shopping cart, type in your credit card information and with a couple of mouse-clicks, buy until your eyes are blurry and your fingers numb.

But that’s not really shopping! Real shopping involves going out into the stores, getting bumped and pushed around in the crowds, listening to the dreaded “mall music” and being approached by overzealous sales people, or being ignored by sales staff that really just don’t care.

Real shopping involves going out and investigating what is what. I do a lot of research online before I go to the stores. I’ll compare items, prices, brands and selection online. But I’ll still take my leisure ass-time as I browse the stores, because not everything in the store is online (and vice-versa).

To this day, I still don’t know what that babe of a girl meant by getting in touch with my female side, and I may never really know. For all I know, she didn’t mean anything by it, she was just flirting with me.

But if there is a way for a guy to get in touch with his female side – and presumably for a woman to get in touch with her male side – then at least I can say, I feel a little closer to figuring it out, as the holidays approach.

As the Christmas season sales fill stores with red and green balls, snow flakes, and jolly old men with red outfits, I’ll be hitting the stores, shopping more and more, wondering: Am I getting closer to touching my female side?

Obama -- The Next JFK?

Okay, I’ll admit it – while everyone was watching the American general elections on TV the other night, I wasn’t. Maybe I’m one of the few people on the planet that already knew the outcome, and didn’t feel the need to see it live.

I predicted many months ago that Obama would take the oval office. He’s the star candidate. He’s a far better speaker than McCain, has new-ish ideas that at least differ from the current administration, and because race is such a big thing south of the border, he’s got that in his favour too.

Obama’s skin color drew out a huge group of voters that don’t usually vote, because they don’t feel represented – mainly the visible minorities, especially the poorer ones. This alone almost guaranteed him a victory.

Though he is also very eloquent public speaker, able to sway people towards his way of doing things.

Is it just me, or was he trying to sound like Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech, with his own words last night?

Whoops! Guess ya caught me – I saw a bit of the American election on TV last night. Hey, it was in between commercials and . . .

I was right about my prediction that Obama would win – now I hope I’m not right about my next one. The way I see things, and yes they aren’t always right because I do wear glasses, Obama and John F. Kennedy are very similar.

JFK was an amazing public figure, brash, good looking, a true ladies man (he dated Marilyn Monroe, among other well known Hollywood babes), and he had some pretty new-ish ideas. Most of the country at the time fell in love with JFK, or at least fell in love from a political point of view. Everyone was JFK crazy – sort of like they were Pierre Elliot Trudeau crazy when that man was in charge of our nation.

But not everyone shared the love, and eventually JFK was shot dead.

I have a dream, but it’s more of a nightmare – that Obama will too experience the rush of emotions, and then also be shot dead.

America is an oddball place. On one hand, it has some of the most influential people in the world, from politicians, actors, singers, songwriters, sports stars, academics and others. Yet on the other hand, it also has some of the craziest, nutbars, often with outdated notions of the way things ought to be.

All it takes is one nutbar with a weapon and the “bam” can easily be taken out of Obama. Sure, security is a better than it was way back in JFKs day, but that hasn’t stopped others from taking swipes at American celebrities.

American President Ronald Reagan was shot in the 1980s (and lived), and authorities have already broken up a group of people plotting to assassinate Obama – and he hasn’t even set foot in his new White House.

I really hope I am wrong, but given the far greater racial tensions in the States than up here in Canada, and the fact that being America’s first black president puts him under a very large microscope, I fear I am going to be right about this prediction as well.

When Cockroaches Out Rank You

I’ve been struggling with one of my recent clients for quite some time. Typically, when I do an on-site contract, all materials and resources necessary to do the work are provided by the client. This makes sense, as that’s one of the main reasons to work on-site.

These materials and resources include the very basic – such as a cubicle or office to work out of – to the just as valued but more role specific – such as specific computer hardware and software.

I’ve been working on site at one particular client for almost two whole months, and they have been exceptionally slow in providing me with the things I need to do the job for which they hired me. It isn’t uncommon to have to wait a few hours, maybe a day to for a new client to get setup.

But it wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that I finally got a computer. That’s right – a computer. And being in the writing and design business, it is kind of hard to do my job without one.

I just got an office too around the same time period – more than a month into my contract. Up until that point, I dutifully followed my naïve, pathetic excuse of a manager around the office like a little lost puppy, as she asked people who was away on vacation or ill. If I was lucky, I’d get a cubicle, if not, I’d get stuck working my manager’s desk, with her along for the ride.

I still haven’t got any software to do my work either – and my two-month mark on this contract is fast approaching. I have the basic MS-Office programs, but they expect me to create animated avatars, interactive online eLearning courses, and other wondrous things, which requires far more advanced technology.

And I think that’s what kills me the most about this gig – they aren’t fulfilling their responsibilities in providing me with the resources to do the job, yet they still demand that I fulfill mine. I’ve asked for more time, and the tools they keep promising to give me, but they constantly give me a song and dance.

Maybe I should have been a cockroach.

Today, one of my colleagues spotted one lonely cockroach in the office. Within an hour or two, someone had arrived from to spray some sort of anti-cockroach gel.
Cockroaches aren’t pretty, and can be pretty nasty. But, I find it deeply disturbing that one small bug gets an immediate reaction, yet the new hire still is sitting in a corner, fretting about an approaching deadline, which he can’t meet, because no one has bothered to order the software he needs to do his job.

I’ve been exceptionally patient – the longest I’ve ever had to wait for a computer and a desk to do an on-site contract prior to this fiasco was three-hours. In just over a week, it’ll be two-months – and I’d bet easy money that if I do hold out that long, they still will be playing these games.

And that is what it appears to be – a game – at least to them. They apologize for the delay, act all cute and make up every excuse possible. They tell me they’ve ordered the software, then when it doesn’t arrive, they tell me they forgot to send it – duh! They say that they are waiting for the corporate credit card to clear, or they blame someone else. All the while they keep harassing me, pestering me, to ensure I still do my job.

How I’m supposed to do my job is still unclear to me. It’s like asking a bricklayer to brick a house, but hiding the bricks on him.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll go in dressed like a cockroach?

The Infamous Canadian Ceiling

One of the ironic tragedies of being Canadian is the constantly propagated myth that you have to go to the United States to make it in this world.

This has long been the way it is thought to be in everything from big business, to the arts and everything in between. From the Alanis Morrisett and the Bare Naked Ladies, to Jim Carey, there are still even disputes about which side of the border Alexander Graham Bell originated from – Canadians aren’t recognized for their abilities until they make it in the States.

That’s probably why the American election is generating way more buzz up here, than our very own Canadian election did. Not that there are any Canadians running for the oval office, but if there were, they’d probably still not be supported by us – we tend to like to stick it to ourselves.

When the Canadian election was in full swing, and you’d ask someone about “the election” automatically they thought you were talking about the one going on in the States. Even after saying you were talking about our election, many were still stumped: “we have an election going on here?”

Sure, American politics has gone more Hollywood with every election. I remember when U.S. President Bill Clinton wore dark sun glasses, and played the theme from The Pink Panther on David Letterman. And everyone is still talking about Sara Pallin’s appearance on Saturday Night Live – which is really sad, because the woman isn’t attractive, intelligent or entertaining.

Canadian politicians do the late night Canadian comedy shows too – Prime Minister Jean Chretien has appeared on This Hour Has 22 Minutes and the Royal Canadian Air Farce. Prime Minister Paul Martin appeared on The Mercer Report with Rick Mercer, and former leader of the Reform Party, Preston Manning appeared on The Royal Canadian Air Farce.

Still, these events don’t generate nearly as much interest as when Barak Obauma appeared on David Letterman, why?

I blame our Canadian ceiling myth. It’s a myth which only carries weight, so long as we Canadians continue to allow it to function. If we stopped believing that the only way to make it anywhere, is to go to the States, then, and only then, we’d have terminated this horrible myth.

Going to the States opens up another economic market to peddle merchandize too, but it doesn’t change a person’s ability to do their job. If I went to the States for a job, I’d still be going with the exact same skills and abilities as I had when I was doing the job on this side of the 49th parallel.

That’s why it is a myth – it is all in our heads. Talent is talent, no matter where it is, or goes.

But changing attitudes, that’s the hard part. We have to stop believing in the myth, and start believing in ourselves, and then, one day, American’s will be watching Canadian elections just as intently as we watch theirs.