All riches have their origin in mind. Wealth is in ideas - not money.

O.K. I get it you are very liberal, way to go! everyone else is too. It is not the early 90's were there were a few hot-button issues that were up for debate. So you two over their in the corner of the local coffee shop who just exchange ideas back and forth and then affirm each others ideas immediately after one of you shares it. You are not ragging against the machine you are part of it.

I have just come across so many people as of late, specifically around the university, who spout how free and forward thinking they are with their ideas. What irritates me about this is not the ideas themselves, as for the most part I agree with what the ideas that they are putting forward and what they are saying, no what irritates me is the general attitude they project well saying it. It is as if they feel they were the ones to come up with the certain liberal ideology of day and are out on a quest to save people from their ignorance. The truth is we live in a liberally leaning country and around universities it is harder to find a conservative thinker than a liberal thinker so calm down your ideas are not that radical. I feel society is starting to be so overwhelmingly left leaning that the same problems that occurred when society was very right leaning will repeat themselves. Specifically I am talking about the lack of discussion, debate and conversation about alternative views to popular opinion. I feel that often the greatest insights gained from an issue are not coming to some conclusion or outcome but from the conversation or discussion about the issue itself. However it is becoming taboo to even bring up conservative based view points when it comes to certain topics. There in lies the tragic irony that under the premise of free forward thinking the liberal viewpoint now dominates, but it in fact often discourages counter opinions.

Just to clear up, I would place myself as a left leaning moderate and think it is great that a more liberal viewpoint is accepted in Canada. I just hate how people become so caught up in their ideas being the correct idea that they do not allow room for ambiguity. Ironically I find uncertain people are the ones that fear ambiguity and uncertainties.
The other day, for arguments sake, I started saying to an avid Bush hater the different things I thought Bush did better than the Clinton administration. This guy flipped out on me, "how could you say Bush has done anything worth while" he basically walked away from me at that point. Bush is to stupidity as Hitler is to dictatorship. Example: You have a strict Boss or Prof and you say this person is like Hitler. I have heard it said about a perceived dumb co-worker that "this guy is like working with Bush"

I do think Bush is a bit of a frat boy and he did for the most part screw up royally. He screwed up so bad in fact he ruined Edwards chance at being President of the United States. Yes I know Edwards is a democrat and a lot different than Bush but he was not different enough. All the democrats were saying how it is time for a change and a white dude was not a big enough change from an older white dude. So it came down to a white lady of a black man. In the end the Black guy was thought to be the bigger change so he won out. Every president of the USA has been a white male so to have people want the furthest thing from that as president gives us some idea of how bad people think Bush screwed up. Think about it, that is like the NBA saying they don't want to draft any black basketball players this year, a comedy club saying they don't want any Jewish comedians on stage, or Haralack park saying they don't want Mormons there in the summer.

I am a white guy am i allowed to say what i just did? i don't know I feel that racism is a dead issue compared to classism. The people society really pisses on is the poor. Money and fame are what are placed as most important and people with money are worshiped. Paris Hilton is a bird faced 12 year old boy but is treated like royalty cause she is rich. In a recent study a survey was taken asking grade school kids what they want to be when they grow up. The answer most often given was that they wanted to be "famous". Is that even a job? No. People are always complaining about sex and violence in the media but i think a show such as "CRIBS" or "The Hills" does more damage than the most violent of shows. Those shows make wealth seem like what everyone should have and if you don't have it get it cause tell you do you are basically worthless. That perceived need for wealth is what is going to lead to violence or have people act out violently. There are whole countries far worse of than most of even the poorest in North America and in those countries depression is way less frequent as is crime. Being poor is not as big a problem as being poor and seeing how good other people have it is. At least that is what I am thinking today.

Thanks for the comments made by my small but dedicated blog readers. i wouldn't have it any other way. Check out Spencer's blog to find out a few things I hate. (like that tie in)
Ricey if you read this we miss you and i think it is time to come home. I say twice a week minimum "I wish Ricey was here" Cindy, just like a beautiful bird Ricey needs to fly North and nest. Cindy we will embrace you with open arms too.

If life gives you lemons you can always say screw it and bail

A few things that I have come across as of late that have a desired certain objective but make me want to do the exact opposite of what they want.
1) They now include the recycling fee with every bottle or can of beverage you buy. They say this is to increase recycling so everyone will want to take their bottles and cans to the bottle deposits we all know this is crap though and it is actually just so the powers that be can make some extra cash. Here is an idea if you want to increase recycling how about having a place I can turn my bottles that is remotely convenient or at the very least how about having a bottle deposit in a place where I do not fear I am going to get mugged or my car ripped off. Those places are crawling with homeless trying to steal your bottles or asking for change when you come out from trading in your bottles and they don't by my old stand by telling them I don't have any change when I walk out of there with my pockets full of dimes. Does the government go out of their way to put bottle deposits in places where the homeless reside as a means of easy income for them, or do the homeless just flock to these places after they are built. Regardless the new scam of charging me the recycling fee has caused me to by only products that can not be recycled, Styrofoam cups, lead lined bottles, Lysol cans whatever just as long as I don't have to pay there made up fee. One last question: Why not encourage people to buy recyclable products by making them cheaper and non-recyclable more expensive instead how currently it is the other way around. May work better.

2) I rented a car for a week and it had a stereo that would get louder every time I started driving faster and this was suppose to inform me to slow down. So basically the inventors of this brainstorm thought that landscapes, buildings and other cars whipping buy you at an incredible pace was not tipping people off that they were going faster, after all maybe the car is going the same speed and the earths rotation is just making everything around me go backwards, so we need something inside the car to let us know we are going faster, how about a speedometer, oh have one of those, uh yes music gets loud when you go fast, perfect, best idea ever. Besides being an idiotic idea it had me speeding all over the place trying to listen to my music and in the worst areas. Think about where you need the music loud, in places where there is a lot of outside noise, places like construction zones and school zones. Kids are screaming, jack hammers going I just keep going faster and faster to here the music.

3) What the hell is with the area code before I dial any number now in the city. . . How much of my life will now be waisted because of this. Dialing it, listening to a computer voice tell me the times I forgot to dial it and so on. They say it is to increase phone communication so everyone can have unique numbers, there is no way I am asking for a persons number anymore, way too long, 7 numbers was pushing it 10 numbers is a prison code. A warning if I do not have your number already I will never get it, sorry but 10 digits uh, you would have to get two napkins to have enough room to even write it all down.

Unrelated . . . So I saw this add the other day in which all these middle aged men where engaged in outdoor activities giving each other high-fives and fist pumps all over the place. The add was for a drug called Teamocyle. Some side effects where listed but I was two busy watching these guys canoe and rock climb to pay attention to what they where. I did here at the end to ask your doctor about Teamocyle. So I really want to but i dont know how to bring it up. I have had a sore throat lately so I am thinking of going into the doctors and after he checks things out and writes a prescription I am going to look at the note with whatever the drug he subscribers on it and say excuse me doc are you sure you did not mean to put down Teamocyle. What was that you said . .. (the doc replies) That is right doc the jig is up I am asking you about Teamocyle. Where the conversation goes from there who knows my guess is if the drug company is telling you to ask your doctor about Teamocyle to basically self-perscribe yourself the doctors themselves may not know much about Teamocyle but it would be nice to have a question or two for them.

I would rather visit people than places

I am in a land where eating is considered exercise and the state vegetable is cheese fries . . . can you guess where? If you went with Wisconsin, you are correct. Specifically I am in Milwaukee and as I am finding out it is a cool town. Granted as a passer through all I do the good stuff and see the things worth seeing but as a whole the city is far better than what I thought it was going to be.
One thing they have all over the place here is signs that tell you "Rough Road " that you see just as you are about to drive on some giant potholes. It is as if them putting a sign up telling you that the road ahead sucks is enough and gets them off the hook to actually do anything to fix the road. Down at the the Milwaukee mayors office: "we've been getting complaints about the crap roads we have" "hmmm how can I deal with this so it is not a surprise to people that the roads are terrible, I know put up some signs so people know that we know that the roads are the worst and then no one will call thinking we may not know".
I see where they are coming from it is the whole "let the pot soak" mentality. How much does the soaking of the pot actually help, not much but it does help one get out of cleaning it that second. Or the fact I only do laundry when I am absolutely out of options to wear. Until it hits crisis, avoid.
The elections are big in the news down here and it strikes me that having the presidential elections every four years so everyone knows when the vote is coming up allows for the hype to build for the years in advance that it does so by the time the vote occurs everyone is sick of it. I don't know if Canada is any better which sort of surprises the country with an election, you wake up one morning and you see a sign on your lawn and and listen to a couple hours of CBC radio and hope you make a solid choice. USA voting process takes the aprouch of slowly taking a band-aid off makes it hurt less where Canada just rips it off, maybe more painful but at least you get it over with.
In the end it doesn't matter who you vote for or how you vote, you can't win, the government always gets in.

Who you are is not what you do . . .sometimes

What are you? I have been contemplating the difference between what I am and what I do. What activities do a participate in at a deep enough level that I internalize them to be part of me? I would say I blog, but I am not a blogger. In contrast I would say I am a runner I do not just go for runs. Are you you getting the difference? I am one who has faith in a Deity, I go to church. I am a Rehab Med student, I work at the Glenrose Rehab Hospital. I am bald, I shave my head. I am a LOST watcher, I watch Entourage. I am an outdoors enthusiast, I like to take naps. I am part of some great friendships, I treat other people like friends. I am single, I hope to meet someone that would be fun to date. I am soft spoken, I am more likely to get taken advantage of than to take advantage of someone.

I thought of some things that come to mind when trying to determine what one is but they did not seem to have any tangible meaning to me. Some examples include "I am Canadian", "I am male", "I am white", "I am 6'4ish" . . . All of these descriptions are literally and technically true, however, i do not feel I am these things. It seems to me that it is these sort of labels that people seem to rely on when figuring out someone. Perhaps it is easier to group people into categories with no real validity or many common denominators within them so peoples assumptions of what a white guy, who is sort of tall from Canada is like. I understand the importance of labels as far as meaningful communication goes i think though sometimes labels actually make us lazy and make interactions less meaningful.

I understand that the what I am verses what I do, set up in the first paragraph is faulty as well as people constantly change and what was once a do could become a what I am. I am not getting at much of anything except the fact that people are a lot of things and most of what people are is not what we collectively group them as.

So what are you? Good luck with that, I certainly don't know. I don't know what I am just a ruff idea of who I want to become.

Flying Grandmas Bomb Canada With Socks!

Everybody hates cold weather, don't we. And there is no mystery why. When its cold we are all crouched over blowing our hands, we are as pale as a corpse and end up all becoming a city of hunchbacks of NotreDame, never leaving our homes, afraid of the cold and keeping hidden in hopes that no one will see you. In the same token it is no mystery why people get "spring fever". People come out more, their posture is corrected, they are not wearing 50 pounds of clothes and look generally a lot better. Its not that there is some magic dust floating around in the air its just the fact that we all don't look like a member of the Addams family. Have you ever wondered why all these people in LA and the tropics look so good, it is because they never have to deal with winter and the physical percussion's that come with it. I’d like to see a Baywatch episode take place in Alaska, I bet they are not so eager to rescue a drowning kid in the glacier water and if you think that David Hastlehoff is something special now, imagine him in a Speedo, skating across the ice to rescue a drowning polar bear. Why he is rescuing a polar bear in the first place? I’d tell you but that would ruin the episode. Side note the hormones are in full gear and ready for a healthy spring session. It is fox hunting sesson, not sea donkey or tire bitter hunter time. Those permits are easier to get but the game is undisirable to the taste or touch.


Clothes seem to always go missing somehow don't they. No matter what you do to keep them in order and in place some clothes are going to slip through the cracks. Especially socks, they always vanish. And its not a pair that goes missing its just one from the pair. I have like 500 single socks looking for some one they can cling(static cling get it) to if you know of any available socks that you think would be a good match with my socks I'm interested. Is there someone out there who steals one sock from a pair and if so why? Is there really a hot black market for these things. "Hey, psst, you there with the lack of socks, I got one with blue strips here, I'll be willing to part with it for about two fabric softeners. Do we have a deal?" I've actually tried to get my missing socks on milk cartoons but they've refused saying something about stinky socks being a turnoff to the average milk buyer.


Department stores always get people that fit there stores image don't they? Go into a crafts and quilts shop guaranteed there will be about a hundred old grandmas working there, go to a Hemp shop and guaranteed the person who is selling you clothes is nicely baked. The stores that really get me though are the sports department stores. They have the biggest most intimidating guys in there selling you shoes. To top it of they wear these headphones with mikes attached to them so if you don't get the tennis racket you were looking at you're pretty sure they are going to report you into the workers who are off duty and beat you to a pulp. I think there should be a week in every year all department stores switch their employees with an others. Personally I think Id rather buy a pair of shoes from an old lady than some retired high school football player and besides it makes more sense for old people to be wearing headphones with mikes attached, so we can talk to them and they can actually hear us.

A thin line between dude and Dude? . .. and robotic dogs

Watching a fair bit of sports in my time and also just through observation of male behavior as a whole I have noticed that in some situations there are some innate mechanisms employed by fellows when dealing with other dudes to eliminate awkwardness. These are in no particular order:

Basketball teams like to link arms on the bench to show team support and unity. I was watching a game the other day when a team was down by 20 with 4 mins left in the game and the arms where still linked. Coach may have made it a rule our no one wants to be the guy who starts up the conversation . . . "so, uh we are going to loss yeah, maybe you can get your elbow off my groin and we can just watch the game normally now" I guess that is the guy lacking team spirit but in most cases guys just know down by ten points with less than 10 to go no arms locked.

At restaurants the ideal for two straight fellows out getting a bite to eat is a four seater. It is just known to not sit on the same side of the table and to also avoid sitting across from each other.

Movie theatres. With the bigger seats it is acceptable now to sit next to each other unless your guy buddy is a heavy breather than provide the buffer zone. The main thing here is the established cup/candy holder for each person is the one on the right side of the seat.

Eye contact. Pretty much guys avoid almost all eye contact in conversation with other guys. the less eye contact the more easy going the conversation can be.

Bathrooms. There are a series of guy codes for the washroom, I don't want to dive into to that sort of stuff though. Just remember the best washroom experience to have is one where no one else in the washroom knows you had one.

Black guys having a prayer circle at the end of a football game is cool, white guys a little preachy. I think it is great though when there is interracial football prayer circles at the end of the game, I find usually the white guys are not allowed to hold hands in the immediate circle and just float on the outside.

In a group of guy friends the fellow who has gone the longest without a lady gets first crack.

Your allowed to eat anything another guy puts out at his house until the last bit. It does not matter if you ate the whole bowl beforehand a guy needs permission to eat the last "BLANK".

I think more than females which seem to make groups of friends of comparable physical traits, guys seek out physical diversity in their groups. I know for me I avoid hanging out with other bald guys usually, if more than two balds are together it looks more like a cult meeting than a night out. The exception to this rule is club guys, they seem to try to look as identical as possible.

That is enough of those. I have been thinking lately about how I think I could have a pet if it was robotic. I have never been big on pets for a number of reasons not the least of which is dealing with them dying. A robot does not die they just break down, if it ran out on the street or I forgot to feed it it would just need a oil change or something. Still provide the companionship and exercises a regular pet would only none of the responsibility. Win, win. My robot dog will be called Mega-maximus Emerson the third, and hopefully it will be able to fly, cause how cool would that be to go to dog parks and say "fetch" and then have old Mega-maximus Emerson the third fly high into the sky like a rocket and get the ball or stick and just stay up there for a while. People would ask "how did you teach your dog to do that?" I would reply "science" and then give them a wink.

I am in a computer lab I always come to, I have come to this computer lab all through my undergrad years and still come here even though I don't need to and it is a bit of an in convenience actually. I think it helps me feel connected to the student body, plus I love the sound of key strokes and how intently people stare at their computer screens. I also love random laughter amongst the silence that must be due to a funny email or face book message. Oh the shenanigans.

Where is Waldo?

I remember as a youngster spending hours immersed in the series of books "Where is Waldo?" For those of you unfamiliar with the series, on each page of every book there was a new scene in which you attempted to find a man with a striped shirt, this man was Waldo. These books shaped my life in some ways, anytime I walk into a restaurant which has gone with the random everything on the wall (canoes, sports memorabilia, moose heads, etc. . .) I think this would be a good place for Waldo to hide. Whenever I see a person in red strips I think "hmmm ... there goes Waldo".
Looking back on my Waldo filled childhood it has made me ask a hard question: Why was I looking for Waldo? Waldo had nothing too special about him. He was a nerdy looking, middle aged white guy who wore sweaters and a toque at all times, even during safari scenes. I would not want to hang out with him, all he had going for him was that he got to see a lot of places. Perhaps Waldo is the cause of so many people in my generation placing their self-worth on where they have been not who they are. I'm off track, the original question: Why was I looking for Waldo?
I think the only answer I have come up with is that I was told to look for him. The whole series of books was named after him so I went along for the ride. The bigger question than becomes what else have I looked for or tried to find simply because I was told to do so and not out of an organic curiosity. In many classes over the years I have studied books worth of material that I did so simply because I was told to. Religions of all types seem to have that built in, look or do something because you are told to theology. Marketing is based on the idea that they can tell the consumer what to do and that they will do it because someone with nice bone structure tells them to.
I think I need to not worry about finding Waldo and just enjoy the looking. What I mean by that is we are told a number of things that we are suppose to look for and obtain and if we don't find whatever has been social ingrained in us that we are suppose to find, we are told that we can't turn a page and move on in the book of our lives. I say rubbish destinations are overrated the journey is where the joy comes in. Not limiting myself to one objective will allow me to find things I would have missed if my focus was to narrow. The new series of books I am now into is “Where is . . .” .