MapleMonkey

Is it magic?

2011-04-14T06:58:00.003-04:00

This feels like magic. The ground is freshly turned, weeds pulled, clumps pulverized. I drag a shallow trough in the soil, then another one parallel, but twelve inches away. Like the package tells me to do.

I open the bag and stare down at the seeds. Miniscule, like something I would see in a spice jar. Scattered over a salad or sprinkled into a soup. These little specs will stretch into carrots?

The package tells me these coloured carrots were grown and eaten in Europe and Asia 1,000 years ago. Red, purple, white and yellow. The drawing on the front looks like a mistake, the creative colouring of a child who thinks orange is too ordinary for a carrot.

I carefully pour the seeds into the troughs, wondering if I'm doing it right. There's too many, it seems to me. The package tells me I should space the seeds one inch apart, but I'm lazy. I'll thin them out later, I decide.

The package is my teacher. It tells me what to expect from these tiny seeds and how to ensure that they reach their full potential. Someone has discovered when they are expected to emerge and when their growth will have reached its climax. So I blindly trust the package.

As I fill in the troughs with soil, shutting the seeds off from the sun, I feel like I am participating in a great show of magic. Tiny seeds hidden in the soil will have, in "65-75 days", transformed themselves into crunchy, colourful carrots.

If it wasn't written on the package, my supernatural gift of skepticism would scoff at the idea. But I have decided to trust the writer, trust the inherent promise. And see if it's true. It's not attempted magic after all, I decide, but an act of faith.

Faith that I'm not wasting my time. That something will come of this careful staging of anticipated growth. Faith that what I'm doing will someday bear tangible results.

I stand up and stare down at the ground. Nothing but dirt lies before me. A narrow strip of bare soil. An empty package gripped by earthy fingers is the only sign that anything out of the ordinary has just occurred in that patch of garden.

The Seeds of Spring

2011-04-12T19:42:00.007-04:00

Thirty little seeds placed carefully in a row while a curious yellow lab watches... I count each one before I gently push them down with my finger, just a single inch into the damp soil, then pat some soil on top. Like I'm tucking them into bed.

I'm stretching my faith to its limits with this exercise in early Spring gardening. Waiting for plants to push through the shell of the earth and stretch to the sun is agonizing. Veiled progress tries my patience. I've been known to rip open the ground and scratch through the soil, looking for the seeds that refused to meet my expectations. Ruining any chance for the germination of new life.

This year I will plant and I will wait. I will protect, I will nurture, I will watch. I will wait. And when they are ready they will crack their shells and inch upwards. And one morning, when I am tired of waiting, I will be rewarded for my patience. And I will begin to imagine the pods of peas that will one day hang from the vines.

Is this the story of the Creator as He looks at me? Planting, waiting, hoping, believing. Nurturing, waiting. For growth. For fruit.

U2's Magnificent Claw

2009-07-24T06:57:00.006-04:00

I saw this photo from an article in the Belfast Telegraph and my anticipation started anew for the upcoming U2 concert in Toronto. When you need cranes to set up your stage, you know it's big.

'Course, I've never been to a concert of this magnitude before. Roxette in the early 90s was probably the extent of my experience, unless you consider the Bare Naked Ladies worth mentioning. B.J. Thomas anyone?

The Irish Times has an article on the number of international fans arriving in Dublin for U2's three "home" concerts. Between 10,000 to 20,000 foreigners are expected at each concert. What a thrill that would be.

"Aaron Sams (36), from Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada, arrived in Dublin yesterday morning from New York.

"'The flight was packed with U2 fans. There was a woman on stand-by for two days just looking to get to Dublin for the concerts.'

"He has seen U2 31 times, '32 if you include the rehearsal in Barcelona', including the last series of concerts the band played in Croke Park on the Vertigo tour.

"'If it is anything like the 2005 experience it will be worth it,' he said.

"The excitement among fans and the band is mutual. On U2’s official website, the Edge said the only way to describe the atmosphere at homecoming concerts is 'metaphysical peaks.'

"'If you ask any U2 fan anywhere in the world, the place they want to see the band is always Dublin. A lot of times when we do play Dublin there is a magic that happens that doesn’t occur anywhere else.'”

Bono said the rehearsals for their Dublin concerts had been going well.

"'We were rehearsing in Barcelona, Paris, Milan and Amsterdam,' he joked. 'The main event will go even better.'”

Moon messages of peace

2009-07-19T11:31:00.005-04:00

"Man has reached out and touched the tranquil moon. May that high accomplishment allow man to rediscover the Earth and find peace there." Pierre Elliott Trudeau, prime minister of Canada

--one of the 73 messages of peace on a tiny silicon disk that astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin deposited on the Moon on July 20, 1969. (Telegraph article)

The silicon disk was left underneath the US flag which Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planted on the Moon's surface.

How do you live a fearless life?

2009-07-18T07:06:00.003-04:00

Max Lucado is a writer that for me sometimes borders on the syrupy, but his poetic, gentle approach is often the right way to get across an important message. Deeper truths lie beneath the easy words.

I saw this new release (Sept/09) advertised on Facebook and the topic caught my attention. As Believers, fear shouldn't be a problem--you'd think. Backed by the Creator, nothing should worry us. Nothing should paralyze us. Nothing should make us shrink into the corner. "Fear not" should be our motto. We should be full of courage and worried about nothing.

But in reality we deal with fear all the time. I found Don Miller's comment interesting...it speaks to my category of fear: taking a risk.

"If there is an emotion that leads to a life of boredom, it's fear. Consider this book a pep speech in the corner during a boxing match. It's you against all your imagination can throw at you. Thanks Max for giving us the courage to actually live!" - Don Miller, best-selling author of Blue Like Jazz

From Publisher's Weekly:
"Lucado, called by some 'America’s pastor,' offers his faithful base a timely primer on living fearlessly. The author, whose sales exceed 65 million books, provides those within the Christian faith (and without) an inspirational can-do appropriate for the turbulent times Americans are facing. Citing key common fears—violence, overwhelming challenges, sickness and other worst-case scenarios—Lucado offers welcome wisdom about those solely internal battles individuals face daily.

"People are afraid their lives don’t matter; they’re afraid of disappointing God; they’re afraid of an afterlife; and they’re even afraid God is not real, Lucado says. Skillful as a surgeon, he discerns and identifies the cancer of fear that touches every human being, and with like precision speaks healing words that cut right to the heart. While there exists no fast fix or simple cure for the fear-bound individual, Lucado’s tempered counsel and faith-driven remedies will offer day-by-day spiritual medicine of the most potent kind." (Sept.)

Look for it in stores in September.

Michael Jackson's hair on fire (1984)

2009-07-16T06:42:00.003-04:00

I'm sure this will be everywhere shortly, but if you're interested in seeing the moment when Michael's journey took a sharp turn for the worse, check out this video on US Weekly's website. (Don't worry, it's not disturbing footage...just bizarre.)

It's "exclusive, never-before-seen footage" of Michael Jackson's Pepsi commercial accident, filmed in L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium on Jan. 27, 1984. On the sixth take, his hair caught on fire.

"He was never the same after the accident, reports the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands today.

"To relieve the second and third-degree burns on his scalp and body (and later to help him tolerate multiple surgeries on the scorched spot on his head), Jackson was prescribed several medications -- which kicked off his addiction to painkillers and obsession with plastic surgery, multiple sources tell Us."

GM's Transforming Cars

2009-07-10T07:01:00.005-04:00

It's only fitting that I feature GM vehicles today, on the day they pull out of bankruptcy after only 40 days in the pit. Here's hoping they can get their act together and become a brand we can be proud of again. Rumour has it they'll be changing their name and/or logo, possibly moving it from blue to green. Hopefully they'll do a lot more than that.

If you've seen Transformers 2 and wondered about GM's Chevrolet cars featured in it (as I did), here is what they were....

2010 Camaro (Bumblebee) - already seen on the road
2011 Volt (Jolt) - much anticipated electric car
2012 Spark (Skids and Mudflap) - a mini coming to the U.S. in 2011 (pictured above)

The car I was most curious about was one that looked like a souped up Corvette. I looked it up and sure enough, that's pretty much what it is. The Chevrolet Corvette Centennial Concept (Sideswipe) is influenced by the design of the original Stingray Race Car, which was introduced in the year 1959. It supposedly is not on track to be produced but that's also what they said about the new Camaro, so who knows. The link above has a video review of the concept car.

Here are some videos related to the Camaro's appearance in the movie.

Don't upgrade to Win7...switch sides

2009-07-08T18:00:00.003-04:00

As much as I love the Mac environment and most things Apple comes out with, I try not to be an Apple-thumper. It's hard sometimes, especially when I get asked, "should I buy a Mac?" I usually instantly blurt out "yes" and then try to explain why. I would never switch to a PC as they currently are.

Today I read an article that made me shake my head. It was essentially an article to help people decide whether or not to pre-order your upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 when it comes out in October.

What made me shake my head was how complicated it sounded. I'm used to a three step process when I upgrade a newer OS X on my Mac... (1) Insert CD into computer. (2) Click on install. (3) Restart computer.

That's it. I don't have to decide which OS X to upgrade. There's only one. I don't have to upgrade any of my purchased software or change my hardware. I do have to make sure my computer is modern enough and with enough RAM, but the minimum is plenty. Once installed, updating software is automatic and easy to execute. Then you get to play and discover all the new features.

The one line that got me in the article was: "The Upgrade Advisor gave my XP machine a green light for Windows 7, though it listed several programs I'd have to uninstall first, then reinstall after."

Uninstall and then reinstall? Wow.

Anyway, I don't wanna be a Mac snob so I'll stop. Truthfully, use whatever you want and are comfortable with. I've had nothing but joy with the Macs I've worked on so I can't help but want others to enjoy them too. But if you like your PC, more power to ya.

Bottom line: computers should be easy (and fun) to use, secure from danger (virus-free), and rarely a headache (stable). That, for me, equals a Mac computer.

Here are some links I suggested to a friend contemplating the big switch:

Switching to a Mac:
www.apple.com/getamac/
www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/#tutorial=windows
www.apple.com/support/switch101/

www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/38285
online.wsj.com/community/groups/apple-inc/topics/switching-pc-mac

Office for the Mac:
www.microsoft.com/mac/products/Office2008/default.mspx
store.apple.com/ca/product/TQ744LL/A?fnode=MTY1NDA0OA&mco=MjE1MjQxOA

First complete NT now online

2009-07-07T07:15:00.003-04:00

If you like ancient historical documents, specifically of the Bible, this story's for you:

"The Internet has done what decades of theologians and scholars could not: brought together the books of the oldest known copy of the Christian Bible.

The 1,600-year-old Codex Sinaiticus, possibly the last surviving copy of 50 Bibles commissioned by Roman Emperor Constantine after his conversion to Christianity in the 4th century, is now available in its entirety at codexsinaiticus.org.

The website contains images of the actual pages of the codex, along with translations of selected passages from the original ancient Greek into English and German, with more translations planned." (Read complete Toronto Star article)

"The Codex Sinaiticus offers a glimpse into the religious world of the 4th century, a key turning point in the development of modern Christianity.

At the time, there were great debates about which books to include in the Bible, and how they should be worded. The codex contains passages and entire books not found in modern versions of the Bible, and those that are included sometimes appear in slightly different order. There are even corrections in the 800-page handwritten text, hinting at some of the theological debates of the time."

The sacrifices that bind us together

2009-07-06T06:55:00.004-04:00

As I was reading about the latest Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan today, I noticed a link on the Toronto Star's site that showed the home towns of all the killed soldiers.

Every province except PEI has sacrificed at least one son or daughter in this war, as well as the territory of Nunavut.

Maybe it's just me but I found seeing all the little pins spread across the country to be a strangely nationally unifying image.

And I know that soldiers go where they're told, but in this country I get the sense that they join because they believe in it. That's what we're told, anyway. If that's true, and these men and women are sacrificing themselves because they believe in making the world a better place, it makes me wonder if I'm doing anything to make the world a better place.

Tundra Trek opening soon in Toronto

2009-07-05T09:05:00.007-04:00

Good news for Toronto Zoo fans and polar bear lovers: the new 10-acre Tundra Trek is opening next month and will have two of its cutest little guys back--just not so little anymore. (Toronto Star article)

We saw Nikita and Aurora eight years ago as orphaned cubs in the Toronto Zoo, but then they were moved to the Polar Bear Habitat Heritage Village in Cochrane. Now they're back to bask in their new environment which is scheduled to open August 1st.

Here's a map I found of the exhibit on zoochat.com, thanks to "quartz92" who has a number of photos showing the progress of the exhibit.

"The 10-acre Tundra Trek is set to open early next month and will also feature Arctic wolves, reindeer, snow geese and snowy owls. In a polar bear exhibit five times the size of the one that was closed a year-and-a-half ago, Nikita and Aurora will be joined by 6-year-old Inukshuk – a male who was also orphaned as a cub when his mother was killed by a hunter near Fort Severn."

Whether you love zoos or not, this is one exhibit that should be good for the animals and visitors alike.

On a side, but somewhat related, note, The Life of Pi is an interesting read about an Indian boy who ends up in a little boat with a zebra, orangutan, hyena, and tiger. (Don't read the plot summary on wikipedia if you're going to read the book!)

In one chapter the protagonist expounds on why good zoos are great for animals. I had often wondered about this and sometimes felt sad for animals stuck in in a boring zoo exhibit, thinking they were better off in the wild--free. The author, Canadian Yann Martel, has a different viewpoint that I thought was interesting. (I still feel bad for birds, mind you, since they can't really do what they were meant to do--fly.)

The secrets will come out...eventually

2009-07-03T06:40:00.002-04:00

One lesson is abundantly clear following Michael Jackson's death: all your secrets are free game when you die, so live a good life.

Of course, most of us won't have to worry about the media attention our death will provoke. I highly doubt The Record will be curious about my will or the drugs I do or do not take. Go ahead, dig a little. You'll get bored in no time.

But it's just one of those things that we forget sometimes. When I die, I will have lost complete control over what I've left behind. What legacy am I leaving those I love? Will there be secrets that my wife, family and friends will discover after my funeral that will shock and disappoint them? Will all I've done in life (a pretty humble collection right now) be swept away because of some scandal that no one knew about?

It's just another reminder to live one's life with dignity, honour and integrity. You should never have to be worry that someone will find something out about you later. If you don't want someone to know about it later, don't do it now. Follow God's laws and you'll be fine.

Playing Jenga in Iraq

2009-06-30T08:16:00.003-04:00

This morning as I was reading about Iraq's National Sovereignty Day, I had the same feeling as when I play Jenga and I have to pull out that one crucial piece.

You know the game. Using blocks you build a tower as high as you can--until you have to start re-using the blocks from below without bringing it all down.

For six years the U.S. military has been on a mission to reboot Iraq. Capture the country, clean out the viruses, kill the trojans, then reinstall a new operating system and get it up and running again.

Once they'd embarked on this mission, there really was no turning back. Since March of '03 there have been over 4,600 coalition soldiers killed in Iraq, combat-related or otherwise. According to one website, there have been between 92,000 and 101,000 documented Iraqi civilians killed in that same time period. That's a whole lot of death and sorrow.

What was accomplished? Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure--now it's up to Iraq to figure out its own destiny. Although American troops will be on the outskirts of the cities for another year, they have released control of the urban areas to the rightful owners.

What a joy that must be for those who have resented the foreign military presence. But it must also be a little scary. The violence is not over. Bombing will still occur by warring factions until the police and government find their legs.

I disagreed from the very beginning with Bush's decision to attack. I still stand by that. However, what's done is done and now it's important to let Iraq rebuild without a dictator at the helm and without a foreign army mixing things up.

As they play a national game of Jenga, I hope and pray that the whole thing doesn't come crashing down. It's time for peace and healing--for everyone.

Texting fools

2009-06-29T22:41:00.006-04:00

Really? This is what $25,000 is worth today? I'm obviously out of touch with the world and don't have a clue what skills are classified as important in today's world.

A girl won $25,000 today because she was the fastest person to TEXT a phrase in a competition put on by LG. Her phrase: "Of course you can say it backwards, which is Suoicodilaipxecitsiligarfilacrepus!" (Apparently Mary Poppins said this in her movie.)

Don't get me wrong--I couldn't text that if I had a whole afternoon. I'm lucky if I can text someone to call me.

But $25,000? Really? What lesson does this teach the young ones? If you can text really fast, someday you too will be rich? You might not be able to spell real words, but as long as you're fast, it doesn't matter?

I just don't get it. I'll be over here listening to my record player scratch out some Jackson 5 hits.

MJ on YouTube

2009-06-27T12:29:00.004-04:00

Last night I was doing some YouTubing and discovered a couple of videos of Michael Jackson meeting Princess Diana in 1988. He's a very different man in the movie than last we saw him. Young, open, smiling, happy. It's weird how so many big stars die young. Granted, drug addictions and poor lifestyles help, but the brightest stars seem to burn out early.

Other videos I found:
-- MJ's first moonwalk on TV
-- MJ meeting Frank Sinatra, another giant in the industry
-- A recording by Babyface and Stevie Wonder singing MJ's Gone Too Soon on MTV

-- A TV news release in 1977 announcing Elvis' death, with many similarities to MJ's
-- An interesting video that gives a sense of the moment when Elvis died

Hidden MJ treasures

2009-06-27T09:27:00.007-04:00

So last night as I'm making supper, I'm watching Global news. One story highlights the disappearance of Michael Jackson products from store shelves due to a sudden popularity. It's also mentioned that MJ items are now skyrocketing in price.

Suddenly I remember that I have a box of cassettes in the closet upstairs. Might there be one of Michael's?

Sure enough. I discover Thriller and Dangerous sitting there with all my other 80s and 90s cassettes (see photo at left). Over the years I've been "encouraged" by my wife to downsize some of my "memories", which is valid and helpful. I can get attached to a stick, for heaven's sake. But some things I made a point of keeping.

It's not an outstanding collection, truth be told. I wasn't a music machine. Other cassettes in the box: Madonna's True Blue, U2's Joshua Tree, Police's Every Breath You Take (The Singles), Roxette's Look Sharp, Top Gun soundtrack, Duran Duran's self-titled '93 album, a number of Christian cassettes from Amy Grant, Michael W Smith, Stryper's In God We Trust, and a rare Crumbacher-Duke cassette that no one's ever heard of but me.

I visited eBay to see if there's any action on MJ cassettes. Not much money to be had, it looks like. Which is fine. I wasn't intending on selling them anyway.

The real trouble is that I have no machine to play them. Guess now I'll have to find me a cheap cassette player if I want to do any moonwalking.

Remembering the lost boy

2009-06-26T17:18:00.004-04:00

It's difficult to add anything of note regarding Michael Jackson in the midst of the post-death information deluge. Browse the online news outlets and every one has a headline or two about it.

It's become another information tsunami that washes over the world for a few weeks.

I have little to add. I was a kid in Africa when his popularity crested. I saw his Thriller video there. We Are the World was big on TV there as well and I still enjoy hearing that song. I was in Canada for the rest and found some of his stuff catchy. I remember watching TV when one of his music videos was shown for the first time. Do You Remember the Time? I think it was. Each new one seemed to be a big thrill. I did buy a cassette of Thriller, just to say I owned the best-selling album of all time.

But in all honesty, to me he had already left this world. He had descended into a realm only he could understand and photos and stories seemed to emphasize that the younger Michael Jackson who had thrilled us with his genius music had been replaced by a lost boy who couldn't figure out how to grow up. When you start viewing your body as a wooden toy that can be chiseled into whatever shape you want, you need someone to step in.

So it's sad, really. I don't know enough of either of them to make any judgment, but I look at pictures of the older Elvis and I feel equally sad. Both of these artists had somewhere along the way fallen off the rails. And instead of stopping and correcting their course, they just kept motoring along, destroying themselves in the process.

I suspect 10 years from now we'll have forgotten the lost boy and will only remember the genius entertainer who inspired us to walk on the moon Michael Jackson style.

Comfort for my Root Canal

2009-06-25T07:51:00.003-04:00

In preparation for my root canal today, I stopped by Mr. Youtube's place to see if he could tell me anything about the procedure. Turns out he has plenty to say--and show. I was amazed to see what has been posted!

I first clicked on one called Root Canal Demonstration, but couldn't finish watching. A little too real for me, but if you like to watch procedures, go for it.

This video, on the other hand, is a great visual illustration using simple animation to show what happens. I found this helpful so I can imagine what the great dentist will be doing.

A dentist tells me why NOT to get root canals. I didn't watch this because frankly it's too late, and if I can't trust my dentist, who can I trust?

Then, to top it off, there was a clip from Little Shop of Horrors where Bill Murray sits in the dentist's chair of Steve Martin. I couldn't watch the whole thing this morning--too close to the operation--but it looked funny.

I've never been that nervous about visits to the dentist, but I was for my wisdom teeth extraction and I am today. Oh well, nothing to do but just get it over with. If it means I can use my tooth again, then let's gitter done. Thank God for coordinated benefits!

Garbage Strike Talk

2009-06-24T07:03:00.004-04:00

There's nothing quite like a strike to get the blood boiling, huh? For either side. Want to polarize a conversation really quickly? Say such-and-such group shouldn't be striking. Look out. Someone will defend them, either from a general workers' rights angle or because they're part of a union or because they have a family member in one.

As for me, I get why we need unions. The ugly side of human nature tends to take advantage of people in low-power positions. Management will do whatever it can to make money, even if it sometimes means taking advantage of someone. They'll rationalize it somehow.

On the other hand, strikes make me crazy. There are certain vocations or certain situations where I completely disagree with their position. And in today's global economy, certain demands are ludicrous. It's such a confrontational style of conflict management.

But I haven't yet found a conversation about strikes that doesn't get heated, even in nice Christian conversations. Which usually makes the evil side of me want to get one started!

So good luck Toronto with all your garbage! Good thing the heat finally showed up this week.

GG would love the iPhone

2009-06-09T07:09:00.004-04:00

On the day Apple introduced their latest and sweetest iPhone wonder (3GS), I happened to pop in Wallstreet, the 1987 movie that starred Michael Douglas in his Oscar winning role as Gordon Gekko.

Full of late-80s images that make one's head spin (including dinosaur-like monochrome computer screens and a new 8-inch portable TV), the one that stood out for me was seeing Michael Douglas taking a stroll on the beach with his cell phone. As big as a brick, that phone could do double duty as a weapon.

How times have changed. Here's the pitch for the iPhone: Shoot video, then edit it right on your iPhone.
Make a call or play a song using Voice Control.
Search across your iPhone using Spotlight Search. Let Compass point you in the right direction.

Phone, camcorder, camera, GPS, music player, calendar...and it goes on and on. Gordon Gekko would love this phone.

I was just reading this morning that Michael Douglas is slated to do a sequel to the movie. No news on whether Charlie Sheen will make a cameo, but rumours have Shia LaBeouf as Gekko's apprentice this time around. Let's hope Darryl Hannah comes back--you can never have too much bad acting in one movie!

Remembering D-Day

2009-06-06T08:52:00.003-04:00

All along the beaches of Normandy there are memorials and grave markers for the men who gave their lives on June 6, 1944. On this page are a few of them that we saw last month.

I sometimes wonder if we make too much of that day 65 years ago. There were, after all, many other battles and invasions that we could also focus on. Thousands of lives were ended on those beaches and hills and plains also.

But there's something about the invasion of Normandy that is different. It stands out from the rest and makes us take notice. It was a massive undertaking with a vast array of weapons and machinery. It was complex and risky and involved several national armies.

Furthermore, it many ways it shouldn't have worked. Bad weather. Illogical crossing choice. A German wall of concrete, guns and superior vantage points waiting for them. The possibility of so many things going wrong.

But it worked. It actually worked. And because it did, our world was spared the potential extension of Nazi evil past the shores of Europe. It had already done so much harm and represented the worst in mankind.

So today we remember those men who didn't make it past the shores of Normandy 65 years ago. We remember courage, the horrors of war, the responsibility of upholding and embracing the freedom their deaths helped preserve.

Today is their day.

Laziest Pancakes Ever!

2009-06-03T06:58:00.005-04:00

It's the quickest, cleanest, funnest method of making pancakes...ever! Introducing Batter Blaster -- a product that's the ultimate in lazy. (Love it!)

No fuss, no mess. Just fluffy pancakes right out of a can. Do they work? Absolutely. And they were delicious. No bull.

I tried them for the first time this morning, wondering if they would be: (a) as easy to make as the can said, (b) as fluffy as they can said, and (c) as delicious as the can said. Results? Affirmative to all three. Warm up the pan, spray in the batter, cook, and eat. No bowls to clean, no flour scattered on the countertop, no egg goop trails leading to the sink....just a barely used frying pan and spatula...and a smile on my face.

Keep in mind, when it comes "delicious," I eat a lot of weird things, so take point (c) with a grain of salt. I've eaten a lot of things out of cans that left the good Lord shaking His head in disbelief, I'm sure, not to mention my wife.

In any case, check out their website and make sure to watch the Demo Video. And then go to the store and buy yourselves a tall, cool can of Organic Batter Blaster. We bought ours at Costco.

When "what if" comes true

2009-06-02T07:14:00.002-04:00

My heart goes out to the family and friends of the victims of Air France's flight 447. Most of us have been in a flight situation where there's turbulence, or bad weather--and our minds start creating 'what if' scenarios. You try not to worry, you try to focus on everything working out fine, but deep down you begin to play it out. What will I do if...will there be time to grab the oxygen mask, will I be able to find the inflatable thing under my seat, what will happen to my wife, will it be painful, will it be quick, am I ready to die....

With our flight to Europe so fresh in my mind, I feel so grateful for the safety that has surrounded me at 30,000 feet in the air. As many times as I've imagined it, I know I have no real idea of what it must have been like for the passengers and crew of the Air France flight.

I can only pray that God's hand and heart will be very active in the lives of the people now hurting.

Don't forget your passport

2009-05-30T07:09:00.003-04:00

If you're heading to the U.S. from Canada and you don't have a passport, you may as well start the paperwork. As of this Monday, (June 1/09) the requirements of crossing the border have changed.

"Canadian travellers to the United States will require a passport, enhanced driver's licence or 'trusted traveller' card (NEXUS card or FAST card) to enter, as will Americans returning from Canada."

Apparently there will be some leniency at first. " 'We're encouraging travellers to have approved documents for Monday,' Joanne Ferreira, spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said in an interview this month. 'But we're going to be flexible and practical . . . We won't deny entry to U.S. or Canadian citizens.' "

"Fifty-four per cent of Canadians own passports. Passport Canada has been processing up to 22,000 passport requests a day in recent weeks, up from the usual 17,000 handled during the high season of November through March, spokesperson Jean-Sebastien Roy said." (canada.com)

By air, you have to have a passport. By land you can get an enhanced driver's license instead, which is more convenient to obtain. However, you have to make an appointment to apply for one and it will cost you $40.

What does an enhanced driver's license (EDL) have that's special?

a vicinity Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip that will signal a computer to pull up your biographic and biometric data for the CBP Officer as you pull up to the border, and
a Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) or barcode that the CBP officer can read electronically if RFID isn't available.
no personal information is stored on the RFID card – only a number, which points to the information housed in secure databases.

People who don't have a driver's license can instead get an enhanced identification card (EIC).

The fee for an adult passport is $87. More than the license, but it gives you complete flexibility to travel, so why wouldn't you just get a pasport?

On a side note, the government has explained where the money goes when you pay for a passport:

"Of this amount, CAN$25 is used to recover the costs incurred by the Department of Foreign Affairs in providing consular services to Canadians abroad.

As for the remaining CAN$62, the breakdown is as follows:

47% towards security fees (e.g.: examination, guarantor checks)
43% towards production fees (e.g.: material, printing)
6% towards administration fees (e.g.: business sustaining)

Museums: pain or pleasure?

2009-05-27T06:42:00.004-04:00

Do you know who your favourite painter is? Do you know which areas of the big museums you'd want to visit--and which ones you'd avoid?

These are things I haven't had to really think about until the past several years. My wife loves museums so I've begun visiting them with her. I didn't really think my museum inexperience was a big deal until we hit the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York City a couple of years ago. She headed straight for Monet and the Impressionists exhibits and I followed.

That's when I decided I wanted a favourite too. I had never taken an art appreciation course or studied any of the painters, but I set about to choose who I liked best. So I wandered the halls and scanned the walls of the Impressionists. Nope. Nope. Nope. Okay. Nope.

While I did like Monet, I finally landed on a couple of paintings by Jean-Baptiste Camille Carot, a French painter. I liked how he painted trees and water, soft, almost blurry. Not all his stuff, mind you. I've since discovered that I only like a certain category of his works, while with Monet I like a broader range.

Beyond paintings, however, I'm still unclear where my tastes lie. Last week when we found ourselves in the Louvre in Paris, I discovered I was way out of my depth of art knowledge. I hadn't prepared properly and it was overwhelming. It was again a case of not knowing what I liked--and when the museum is a huge, HUGE palace converted into halls and halls of paintings and sculptures and antiquities (a fancy word for old stuff in fairly good shape), you should probably know where to start.

My wife knew three specific things she wanted to see: the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and the Nike of Samothrace. So we saw those three. But after seeing those three, we wondered somewhat aimlessly as we tried to figure out what was important to us. The Louvre being as massive as it is, this was a tiring exercise and somewhat unproductive. We found the map confusing and often ended up in the wrong areas of the museum. We definitely need to do that museum over again.

We also saw the Musee d'Orsay, which is a converted train station, and is primarily filled with paintings. I enjoyed that museum quite a bit. I found a painting there that I thought was extraordinary, called "Slave of Love and Light of My Eyes" by Etienne Dinet in 1904 (above). He, it turns out, was an Orientalist painter.

So museum-going is a skill, I now believe. You need to educate yourself to truly appreciate the works of art, and often do it before you go. Many works have signs beside them, but often they're too brief or are hidden behind throngs of visitors. Or, as in France, written primarily in French and thus not a big help.

I have yet to decide what I like in the area of sculptures and antiquities--again, because I don't have an understanding of what's difficult to create, why certain old things are amazing and others are not, and what is considered "art" instead of just nice.

Overall, I think the element of story will help me with art. Who did it, what was their life story, what happened in their life, etc. and how is their painting important in the grand story of art in general.

Tranquil B & B

2009-05-26T06:51:00.003-04:00

In case you're looking for a nice bed and breakfast this summer, here's one we learned about this past weekend during a youth group reunion.

The retired parents of my wife's high school friend own and run a bed and breakfast up near Huntsville, Ontario, called Tranquil Woods Victoria Inn.

With several rooms to choose from, each with an ensuite bathroom and two with satellite television, you're likely to have a very comfy stay up in the beautiful forests of Ontario. On their website they've listed a wide variety of things to do in the area, plus they have several testimonials that give glowing reviews.

The owners are fun people with big hearts and I have no doubt they'll do what it takes to ensure you have a great stay. So be sure to add this one to your list when you need a break from the real world.

Here--in their eyes

2009-05-25T21:37:00.005-04:00

Part of my post-trip analysis is examining my own town and looking for reasons why a tourist might be interested in visiting. To be honest, I'm having trouble making a list. I can't figure out why someone from France would want to visit Kitchener-Waterloo.

I'm interested in Europe's old towns, their architecture, their history, their food, and in certain cases, the way their outdoors looks different from mine. Everything from their roofs, to their cobble stoned streets, to their cars, to the difference in language--it's all different and new. I suppose if I lived there the differentness would lose its luster, but that's not the point, really. It's the temporary uniqueness that sparks the appeal to travel.

Would Europeans find Kitchener or Waterloo intriguing? Would they find our houses and streets and cars and stores interesting? Would the fact that all those things are different from what they're used to from home be enough to be worth a trip? To me they're boring and plain. Our Wonderbread compared to their baguettes. Our shingled roofs to their clay tiled peaks. But perhaps to others they're interesting.

It makes me want to engage in the world of "the foreign visitor", the traveler--to make my path intersect with theirs on a regular basis. To see the country I love through their eyes. To help them find their way around and embrace a little of Canada and take it home with them.

A new coat of paint

2009-05-23T07:13:00.004-04:00

I'm almost back from vacation. It always takes a few days for the new coat of travel paint to dry, the new layer blending in with the others. Reluctantly I settle into old rhythms and routines, reorienting myself to the tasks at hand.

The new coat isn't always easy to see, but I usually find that I've introduced new ideas or thoughts into my life. This time around I'm more frustrated than before with intersections. Yesterday I shook my head at a red light and told my wife they needed more roundabouts in this city. Slowly pulling out of a parking space, I bemoaned the fact that we have so many massive vehicles in this country. Why? They don't need that big SUV. People in other parts of the world don't understand this need for oversized cars and trucks. They figure out ways to make good use of a smaller version.

And the plethora of bakeries in Paris...I just want that warm, flaky croissant for breakfast and that scrumptious ham & cheese crepe for lunch.

Often what results is an addition of something to my life due to the traveling. After traveling in Europe in '97 and becoming addicted to train station cappuccinos, my girlfriend bought me an espresso machine. After our trip seven years ago, we added gruyere cheese to our list of purchases and made tomato and bococcini sandwiches regularly.

This year I determined to learn how to make crepes. To that end we borrowed a crepe maker from my parents and now we'll look for recipes. Our Swiss friends also gave us a different kind of espresso maker than I'd used before (pictured), so I'll add that to my routine. My wife had a brie sandwich outside of the Notre Dame that I'm sure she'll be making regularly.

Life is different here, but that's the way it should be. If it wasn't, I'm sure it wouldn't be as interesting to visit other places.

The Guns of Normandy

2009-05-22T06:33:00.006-04:00

Having read a fair bit about the D-Day invasion, I was keen on visiting the shores where history was turned on its side. You see the battles portrayed in movies, you see photos of monuments, and you imagine what it must be like...but I wanted to go there and see for myself.

So I hauled my wife and mother-in-law three hours north of Paris, promising them it was going to be worth it. They'll tell you today that it was.

We started at Pegasus Bridge where the first airborne landings took place via Horsa gliders early on June 6, 1944. I wasn't sure what would still be at the site, but we arrived just at dusk to find a museum (closed) with a replica glider, the actual bridge now removed from use, and a number of guns and monuments. On the other side of the river was a tank that fought later that day in the battle. Running across the bridge over the Orne was itself strangely moving.

The next day we drove up to the area around Juno Beach where we found a number of monuments dedicated to Canadian soldiers, including the Winnipeg Rifles. Another recovered tank was on display, as well as the Juno Centre museum. We walked the Juno beach and my wife chose a stone from the sands as a memento.

We continued up the narrow road that wound its way through small coastal towns with "sur Mer" at the ends of their names. Some buildings were obviously new while others looked like senior citizens who could still remember the sound of guns and tanks from 65 years ago. I found myself constantly trying to imagine what it must have looked like back then, not in a glamourous Hollywood way, but in shades of grey and quiet resolve.

At Arromanches we had some lunch (a delicious ham and cheese galette), popped into a couple of tourist stores and saw one of the restored components to the artificial harbour they built shortly after the invasion to allow for a larger deployment of military materiel. Some pieces of the harbour can still be seen out in the water. This area was part of the Brit's Gold Beach.

Up the coast a bit was the highlight for me: the German battery of Longues-sur-Mer. This is the only battery that still has the actual WW2 guns still in place in the bunkers. As you can see in the photo, the guns are huge. It's slightly eerie to walk through the bunkers knowing who used to man them. There's also a bunker down by the coast which was used to guide the guns in their aim. It was an extraordinary experience to stand there and imagine what it looked like to see the Allied ships in the channel.

Next was Omaha Beach and the American military cemetery. What struck me about the beach was how exposed the men would have been when they landed. A flat area that suddenly rises to cliffs is not where you want to be sitting when your life is in danger. The cemetery (seen in Saving Private Ryan) was impressive, but for me not moving. It was too perfect and grandiose. Too over the top. It seemed less about the lives lost and more about making a statement. No offense to the U.S. but I think it would have been more moving if it was less perfect.

Our final stop was Pointe du Hoc where U.S. Rangers had to scale the cliffs to conquer a high point along the coast. The soldiers were unaware that the guns had been moved but command still wanted the area captured as it threatened both the Utah and Omaha forces. The craters here were huge and the tunnels and bunkers fascinating to walk through.

Overall it was an incredible journey back in time for me. Seeing the coast, walking the beach, touching the bunkers and guns...it put a face on the stories I've read so much about. It was moving for me to realize that my countrymen had done their part to burst through Hitler's Atlantic Wall in only a couple of days.

Gripping the Wheel in Europe

2009-05-21T06:54:00.003-04:00

It didn't take long before I realized that driving in Europe was going to be (a) challenging, (b) occasionally frenetic, and (c) just plain fun.

Picking up the rental at EuropCar in the CDG airport took a while, but when we finally left, we were sitting in a diesel, 5-speed Ford C-max. Never heard of it, but it ended up being a great car that I wouldn't have minded bringing home (even if it was a Ford).

The biggest challenge was the sign system in Europe. While the maps I had printed and bought all indicated numbers on roads, the actual signs often did not have any numbers. What they did instead was indication a direction, i.e. a significant town along the route. For example, if we wanted to go from Kitchener to Orangeville, the signs would say "Guelph". Later they would say Orangeville, but for now they were indicating that this road led to Guelph first. The key was obviously knowing what cities were along your desired route.

Roundabouts are everywhere and, until we reached the cities, were the primary intersection control. Here we're used to a standard 4 direction circle. There they had anything from 3 to 7! There was usually a sign on the way into the roundabout to prepare you for the options, but after that there was only a sign at each outlet letting you know the direction. A couple of times we circled around again because we were like "take this one....no wait....not this one, the next one....no wait....crap....okay, go around again, I think we missed the one we wanted!" Cool heads are a requirement for driving in Europe.

Just like here, you have to be ready for a change of plans. On our last leg with the car, we were heading into Paris from the west, planning to circle around the south part of the ring road (which goes around the whole city) and then enter the thick of things at the Bercy exit. Well, as we approached the city, we discovered that they had shut off the south part of the ring road! Now we had to wing it. I had planned our route very specifically and printed maps for a certain exit, but now we had to circle the city on the north, keep our eyes open for an alternate exit, and hope we didn't get ourselves lost.

I had also planned to pull up to the curb at the hotel, drop off all our stuff and then drive the car to the nearby station since we were done with it. Well, the street was jammed with cars, bumper to bumper, and the one way street had only enough room for one car to drive by. There was no way I was going to infuriate a Parisian on my first day there, so we abandoned that plan and whipped out the maps to try to figure out where we were going.

It all worked out and more than anything else, this trip proved to me that driving in Europe can be a lot of fun. The speed limit on the "interstates" was usually 130 km/h, there are numerous rest stops on them, and the other drivers are courteous and safe. Driving the little back roads is a challenge navigation-wise and a little hair-raising due to their narrow lanes, but you see so much countryside that it's more than worth it.

I can't wait to go back to rural France and see more from my little rental. It's so addictive and such a treat to see another part of the world at your own pace. We saw signs for Mont St. Michel and wanted to turn off the highway to Paris and head for that part of France instead.

If you're considering a driving trip to Europe and you like a little adventure, don't hesitate. Please do it. You will not regret it.

Au revoir, monsieur Eiffel

2009-05-20T06:40:00.007-04:00

Stepping off a carousel...that's what it always feels like for me when I reinsert myself into normalcy after a vacation. A little disorienting, my head spinning, usually a bit of a letdown...

As we sat on the Air France bus on the way to the Charles de Gaulle airport on Monday, we found ourselves craning our necks for one last glimpse of the tower. It's only a tower made of steel, but it has become a symbol of everything Parisienne, and for us a symbol of an intriguing way of life and a wonderful break from the usual.

Paris centre, where we spent most of our time, breathes history at every corner and is architecturally stunning. Stop for a moment on a bridge over the Seine and you won't find a direction that doesn't capture your eye. Creperies are as numerous as our Tim Hortons. Chairs outside the cafes face the street in a row, inviting you to stop and sip a cafe au lait while the frantic tourists pass by.

The picture I'm painting is a cliché, I know, but when you see it first-hand it is impossible not to be drawn in. You begin believing that this is where you belong. You could be one of those people sitting at a cafe eating a pain au chocolat before walking to work. That person stepping out of the apartment building that looks like it was there when Napolean was conquering Europe--that person could be you. You could be driving that cute little Peugeot scooter, weaving between cars to get to the front of the line. That man sitting by the Seine painting something on his easel--that's so you!

And then you find yourself on a bus back to the airport, trying desparately not to let the Paris dream fade away too soon. In the airport you shell out a few needless Euros on gifts and mementos--again hanging onto the dream. Then, seven or eight hours later, your plane thumps down onto Canadian tarmac. You're home.

And suddenly the phrase "we'll always have Paris" means a whole lot more than it used to.

In the next few days I'll attempt to share a little of our Euro '99 adventure with you, but truly you need to go yourself. It's worth every penny.

Croissants, cappuccino... a perfect morning for the Eiffel

2009-05-16T02:13:00.004-04:00

The Beauty of Thun

2009-05-11T11:44:00.004-04:00

I sometimes wonder if people are aware of the beauty which surrounds them, or if it becomes as familiar to them as the pictures on their wall.

Standing in the shadow of a castle overlooking Thun today (pronounced 'toon', not far out of Bern), that thought again entered my mind. The town sits at the edge of a lake with the great Swiss Alps in the background. A stunning view, to say the least, and one that I hope the natives appreciate.

Winding through the town is a river edged with walkways reminiscent of Venice, and sitting above it all is a castle built in 1195. I didn't tour the castle but walked around it, snapping a few photos and enjoying the view. The season is perfect for touring. Not too cool, not too warm, and flowers blooming everywhere.

We weren't in the town long, but enough for me to hope we can come back someday and spend time exploring the bajillion little stores and visiting the restaurants.

City of Bears

2009-05-10T10:01:00.003-04:00

Time seems to move at a different pace when you're traveling. Sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, but always in a fashion that leaves you slightly disoriented. I suppose it's mostly due to the elimination of one's routine and the daily structure that usually marks time.

Today, for example, I'm sitting in my friend's apartment in Bern. It takes a moment to remember that it's Sunday, it's Mother's Day, and I've only been in Europe for about a day. The roofs outside my window are all made of clay tiles. The calendar, poster and Karen Kingsbury book in the room are all in Swiss German and I have no idea what they say. The keyboard I'm typing on is laid out differently, so the 'z' and 'y' are swapped, and a number of other keys keep annoying me with their output.

But only yesterday we were driving our little diesel Ford in French country, learning the signs and trying to choose the right outlets from the numerous roundabouts. (We were also learning what public washrooms can be like in Europe--a 'hole' other story.) Today I keep wanting to say 'merci' instead of 'danke' and 'bonjour' instead of 'gutentag'--although apparently in Swiss German you say something different altogether. It might be the jetlag, which hasn't been too bad but could be messing me up a little.

I had to check the sports scores back home to see how much I had missed--thinking I'd been away SOO long. (Dude, it's only been two days!) However, I discovered that the Canada-Russia game is in town here tonight, so we're going to head downtown into the old part of the city and watch it on a big outdoor screen. I decided to save my 60 francs for something else. Maybe I can find some other Canadians to cheer with while my wife enjoys her one night in Germany at the foot of a beautiful castle in Germany.

So I guess in a way time just stops when you travel. And that's what a vacation should be.

Cars, cars, cars

2009-04-29T06:34:00.003-04:00

I saw my first 2010 Chevrolet Camaro yesterday on my way to London to pick up my wife's new car. A couple of car carriers were loaded to the gills with the shiny new sports car in a variety of colours, on their way down to the U.S., most likely, from their Oshawa birthing grounds. They looked pretty sweet.

My wife's car is pretty much a Camaro. Well, there are a couple of minor differences, but generally speaking...okay, never mind. They're not even in the same universe.

But nevertheless we have embarked on a Toyota experiment. Everyone claims the Toyota is THE car to get for reliability, mileage and resale value, so we picked up a 2003 Echo with just over 100,000 km on it. Now we'll see what the truth is. Our Cavalier had almost 300,000 km on it and was now requiring a grand's worth of repairs--so we had to kiss it goodbye. It was a good car despite its mediocre reputation.

Our other car, the Vibe, is also part Toyota (the engine) but the rest of it is now a collector's model with Pontiac going the way of the dodo bird in a couple of years. Kinda sad to see a nameplate with so much history disappear like that.

Anyway, it's been all about the cars lately, so hopefully we'll have a few months with no car issues. We had both our cars for over 10 years, and suddenly we have two new ones to love. That's the way life goes.

"Look, Mom, no hands!"

2009-04-24T07:00:00.004-04:00

We've been given a couple of months to adapt to the new reality of banned "cell phone holding" while driving. The government wants us to use our hands to DRIVE--that's it. Can you believe it? They believe texting while driving or calling with your cell phone pasted to your ear is dangerous. That's crazy. Next they're going to tell us to wear seat belts and strap our kids into safety seats. It's a conspiracy, I tell you!

The bill that the Ontario legislature passed was all about distracted driving, and cell phones definitely apply. I'm not sure that making them hands-free is all that better, mind you. Hearing a voice in your earbud is just as bad. And how will the cops know when I'm texting someone? A $500 fine is no small amount, but unless they can prove an accident was caused by "distracted driving", how will the fine stick? I can just imagine the creative lying that will occur.

Naturally there will be exemptions. "The government is looking at exemptions for communications devices for dispatching, tracking and monitoring commercial drivers. Emergency services vehicles are also exempt from the prohibition on talking, texting and emailing using hand-held devices. As well, calls by motorists to 911 are exempt." Toronto Star

So my question is what about "speaker phone" calls? Can I dial my wife and put the phone down on the seat and talk to her like that? Only if I'm not driving while dialing, I guess. And "not driving" means "stopped", I guess, so if I dial the number while at a red light, then talk to her without touching the phone, I guess that would suffice.

Then I'll use my foot to hang up the phone--hands-free!

Why are you crying?

2009-04-12T09:44:00.002-04:00

The sun is bright, the air is cool, and my heart is full of hope today. Life doesn't always turn out the way you think it will, and sometimes you're left with a deep ache for what might have been. The scary truth about anticipated joys is that they have the potential to crumble and you're left staring at shapeless sand instead of a beautiful castle.

My little widget dictionary says one definition of "hope" is grounds for believing that something good may happen. In the midst of any heaviness that comes with disappointment this weekend is exactly that truth. God is good and He has filled our life with so many good things. The future is wide open with possibilities.

I was reminded this morning of one part of the Easter story that I especially like...

Twice in one excerpt a woman named Mary is asked why she is crying? I'd paraphrase it, "Dude, what's with the tears?" She's staring at an empty tomb, confused and hurt, and the angels standing there are also confused. They know that Jesus has conquered death and is alive. So why the tears?

Then Jesus asks her the same question. "Why are you crying?" She doesn't recognize him for some reason, but then He says her name and instantly it comes to her. That's Jesus! And He's alive.

So that's what I'm clinging to today. Easter is filled with so much hope. Death no longer has power over us, and integral to that truth is the removal of fear and dread. We are not subject to the whims of random forces. God is in control. I may not understand it, but by grasping His hand and walking forward, I know I'll be okay.

Here's the passage I was referring to, starting from John 20:11 (NLT). Happy Easter!

Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.

“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”

She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

“Mary!” Jesus said.

She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).

Kitchener Dog Park (spring '09)

2009-04-11T07:23:00.003-04:00

I blogged last summer about the opening of the Kitchener Dog Park, but haven't gone all that often since. With the nice weather yesterday, we decided to take our yellow lab there and found a bustling little hub of activity. We were quite astonished at how many dogs were there. (Click on picture for larger image.) GPS location: +43° 25' 7", -80° 29' 6"

We had parked on Barwood Crescent instead of the McLennan Park lot which is a couple minutes walk from the facility. I should add, though, that it's a short but steep climb if you park on Barwood and use the little path between the houses.

The park is currently a little wet if you're concerned about your dog getting muddy. You may want to wait until it warms up a little. Right now there's a decent sized mini-lake smack dab in the middle of everything that our lab loved running through, plus a number of smaller watering holes.

Nevertheless, it was a great social time for our dog and the 12-15 other dogs bounding around.

What does Good Friday mean?

2009-04-10T07:19:00.003-04:00

How can I wrap my head around the events of this day almost 2,000 years ago? I can't comprehend living in a country where they execute people by nailing them--nailing them!--to a board. Spikes through the hands.

Like a live corpse you hang there. You've already been beaten to a pulp, spat on, humiliated, laughed at, marched through the streets so everyone can see you like this, then stripped down naked and laid out on some splintered boards where they take a couple of spikes, drive them through your bloody limbs, and finally--the worst part of all--lift you up so gravity can slowly kill you. Blood is pouring out of you. You're hungry, thirsty, exhausted. Pain is searing through your body, but somehow you have to breathe. People are below you, watching you suffer. Some of them love you, others are enjoying seeing you suffer. The sun is hot and by now you just want to die. There's no chance of escape. There's no relief in sight--except death. But it comes too slowly.

The spiritual part of Christ's passion is a mystery to me and no matter how much I think about it, I can't really comprehend what the Bible says happened that day. He came to bridge the divide between where I stand and where God is. In between the two of us is a chasm with no end--a vacuum caused by every rebellious, selfish act I have ever, and will ever, commit. Acts that defile me and exclude me from even being near Him.

The very thing I need and want the most--the one thing that will make me feel whole again--is impossible because I'm filthy in comparison to Him. And therefore my own death will be my eventual destiny.

Somehow what Christ did that Friday solved the problem. He stepped forward and offered Himself as the solution--by dying, thus taking our filth and washing it down the drain, but also by then breaking the chains of death, throwing them off and coming back to life.

It's hard to understand for me, but by faith I've accepted it. It makes sense even if I can't grasp every point or comprehend all the logistics. Everyone's messed up. We all have a selfish, rebellious bent to us and we do stuff we regret. We hurt people, even the ones we love. And it leaves us feeling horrible about ourselves. If we're really honest, we get why God has a problem with us.

But in my heart I believe I have been forgiven by my Creator, even though I don't deserve it. For whatever reason, He decided I was worth it. He wanted to save me from myself.

Today is Good Friday, the day Christ died for me--and he did it for you, too. Accept it. It's true. Read the story in the Bible. You'll get what I mean.

Dead Sea Politics in Toronto

2009-04-09T06:40:00.005-04:00

It's frustrating when something unique and intriguing is overshadowed by politics and sandbox quarrels. The Toronto Star this morning has an article about the stir that's occurring due to an upcoming exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). While it would initially seem that having the Dead Sea Scrolls on view in Toronto in June for six months would be a good thing for Canadians, apparently that's not the case.

"In letters to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and top executives at the ROM, senior Palestinian officials argue the scrolls – widely regarded as among the great archaeological discoveries of the 20th century – were acquired illegally by Israel when the Jewish state annexed East Jerusalem in 1967."

So the Palestinians are in a snit because they say Israel took toys from Palestinians' side of the sandbox and thus are breaking international law by letting Canada have them in their museum.

Thank you for ruining the moment.

I know, I know. It's complicated. Israel probably didn't have the right to take them. But to be honest, I don't really care who owns the right to the scrolls. It's like a legal battle in a messy inheritance case. Who gets the armoire that was built by Great-Grandpa Whitebeard?

I say no one owns the scrolls and therefore everyone should have the opportunity to see them if they want to. That's a simplistic answer to an allegedly complicated issue. (insert rolling eyes here) Blah blah blah.

The point should really be, "come see an amazing archaeological discovery that has impacted and validated the holiest of books in the Judeo-Christian world." It's a great opportunity and something I'll consider seeing this summer.

Keep politics out of it.

Inventing the Sand Octopus

2009-04-08T07:12:00.005-04:00

It's always inspiring to read about men and women whose passion for life continues way past normal retirement age. The Globe and Mail has an article on 79-year old Guy Bergeron of Manitoba whose invention called the Sandbagger is working wonders in flood-prone places like Fargo and Winnipeg.

"Fargo officials have been singing The Sandbagger's praises to an international audience. The Army Corps of Engineers has recently been in touch, as have flood experts as far away as Britain and Australia.

For 14 years, he harboured his idea for an improved sandbagging machine. In 1990, while he was convalescing from open-heart surgery, he finally found time to draft plans.

At first, his wife was worried. 'After his surgery, the doctors took me into a room and warned that the drugs he would be taking could cause him to get emotional or angry,' Ria Bergeron says. 'So when we get home and he tells me about this machine, I just assumed the medication had made him crazy.'

Within months, he had a working prototype that appears identical to his latest models. The whole steel mechanism looks like a massive 12-legged octopus. A conveyor belt transports sand to a rotating head four metres off the ground. Turning a full rotation every 7.5 seconds, the head funnels sand down 12 spouts, which trail off like tentacles toward someone holding an empty bag.

Bergeron has no engineering experience and dropped out of high school at age 14. "But I'm not a great salesman. Nobody really wants to think about buying one of these things until the water is up to their eyeballs. By then, it can be too late."

The restless Mr. Bergeron is already onto his next invention. 'It has to do with truck tires,' he says coyly. 'The application is already at the patent office.'

Seen this Google car?

2009-04-07T07:11:00.004-04:00

The Toronto Star reported this morning that Google is in the process of capturing Toronto for its Street View feature on GoogleMaps. Many cities in the U.S. and Europe are already viewable this way, but Canada is not. Click here to read an ariticle on the legalities of doing this, an issue which I believe has prevented these views from happening until now.

"In the coming weeks, web users will gain a compendium of millions of eye-level snapshots arranged to provide a 360-degree panorama of the country's major metropolitan areas – easily searched through Google Maps and Google Earth."

Apparently people in Toronto have reported seeing a similarly equipped set of wheels (as pictured above) trolling the city, snapping panoramic pics. You can let them know via email if you've seen the vehicle (including date, time and location) and send a photo if you've got one. Or include "#streetviewTO" in a Tweet if you're on Twitter.

Here's a snapshot of what streetview looks like in London... (click for a larger image)

Faith Family Books peek

2009-04-06T06:59:00.007-04:00

Yesterday my wife and I had our first look through the windows of the new Christian bookstore in Toronto. Having heard about it and having read the press releases, we were curious to see just how different this store would be from the R.G. Mitchell Family bookstores we'd spent a number of years in. Our reaction: a combination of being underwhelmed, impressed and curious.

Underwhelmed because in some ways it looked like a more modern Mitchell's store. The shelving, cash machines and category headers appeared to have been bought from the bankrupt MFB stores. I don't know why, but I expected to be blown away. I expected them to have completely redesigned what a Christian bookstore looks like in the 21st century.

Impressed because they had gone in a couple of new directions--generous cafe area, wicker seating area, imitation trees scattered throughout, fresh looking signage on the walls, big bold sign on the store front, floor tiled throughout.

Curious because we wondered if they'd done enough to be different than other failed/floundering Christian bookstore models. To me it looked like an MFB store with a refreshed look. Is that all it will take to be successful? Who knows. I haven't experienced their customer service yet, nor actually browsed or price-compared, so I can't fairly judge Faith Family yet.

Their location is great (Town Centre Plaza, 45 Milner Avenue, Scarborough) with a Licks and Starbucks next door, as well as a Winner's store. Scarborough Town Centre is across the 401 from them, another plus. So they have a few things going for them in terms of location.

As we drove away, my wife mentioned that seeing the old MFB shelving units standing in the store made her feel good--that something of the old stores was continuing to live on. The old stores hadn't completely died. And that's a good thing. It feels good that all our blood, sweat and tears has a legacy after all.

These photos were taken from outside peering in, so my apologies for the quality.

Take Note, Argo Owners

2009-04-05T07:32:00.005-04:00

The Argos should take a page out of the latest development in Blue Bomber land. A deal is done that will see the Blue and Gold play in a new stadium in 2011 on land owned by the University of Manitoba. David Asper has negotiated the deal and will be taking ownership of the team as well, moving it from community-owned to private.

It's a great deal that works at several levels: the U of M Bisons get a great new facility, the Bombers have a new home finally, fans will love it, and a bubble dome will make the field usable in winter.

The stadium will be expandable to 45,000 seats for major events such as the Grey Cup, and will also feature a five-story bubble dome capable of covering the field during winter months for community soccer and other activities.

Based on the ‘bubble’ experience in other cities, David Asper expects demand would be strong right from the start. “In other cities, soccer teams have been the largest users,” he said, “but there is also strong usage by high school football, Ultimate Frisbee, lacrosse, baseball and softball." --blueandgold.ca

Of course it means a move from the city's north end to the south end, which I'm sure will annoy a part of the fan base while pleasing others. I'm curious about the parking ramifications. Some fans are already saying they wish the stadium could be covered for the cold October games. My response to them would be that I know what they're saying (I've sat on those metal Winnipeg benches in minus degrees weather with the north wind blowing), but based on my experience here at Argo games, the outdoor experience makes it real. Indoor football, while comfy and cozy, just isn't the same.

So good on ya, Winnipeg, for raising the bar for CFL football stadiums. It's exactly what Toronto should be doing for their Argos. I look forward to seeing it for myself.

The Camaro is Back

2009-04-04T08:06:00.005-04:00

I'll never be able to afford one, but they sure are nice to look at. Domestic retro-sport car makers have certainly made some head turners lately with their rugged, old school American car designs. They harken back to the "good old days".

The newest one isn't out yet, but will be soon. Assembled in Canada, the 2010 Camaro has attitude written all over it and would be my pick of the three pictured below: Chev Camaro, Dodge Challenger and Ford Mustang (Shelby). I'd like to see it in some racing stripes, just to compare, but I love the "growly" look on its face.

Here's hoping the Camaro will help GM turn its fortunes around.

The Power of Earth Hour

2009-03-30T06:44:00.003-04:00

Yahtzee by candle light--that's how we spent Earth Hour. We turned off the Leafs game, shut off all the lights in the house, and huddled around a collection of candles, trying to read our Yahtzee score sheets.

When 9:30 rolled around, the lights came back on. Life continued as it had before. Or had it?

This is the question I've been answering in my own head after reading an article that criticized the Earth Hour movement. The writer essentially said indignantly that it was a waste of energy on our part because all the big energy wasting machines of the world continued to operate while we switched off our little lights. He also used the phrase "leftist political skew of environmentalists" and "apparently melting earth". His response to Earth Hour was to do the opposite: he switched ON everything in his house that used electricity.

I think he missed the point of the movement. No one expected great power savings to occur during that one hour (although Ontario alone had a decrease of 6%). We didn't believe the five flickering candles in our house were going to tip the balance of waste in our world and save us all from destruction. That wasn't the point.

The point was symbolic. Earth Hour at the grassroots level was supposed to make us think about energy consumption, environmental waste, climate change.

Symbolic expressions are like that. When we pin a poppy on our coats in November, we're remembering an event and the sacrifice of thousands of lives. When we take Communion on Sunday morning we're remembering what Christ did for us two thousand years ago. When we participate in the 30 Hour Famine, we're symbolically sitting alongside hungry people somewhere in the world. When we celebrate Christmas, we're remembering a birth--one that did not even happen on December 25th. We just picked a day to remember.

That's how I view Earth Hour. I'm discovering that as humans we need visuals and symbols to help us remember. Some of our Evangelical churches have moved as far away as possible from symbols in an attempt to protect us from idol worship. The motives are good, but at the same time we may have hurt ourselves at the same time. By removing the symbol, we're removing the memory trigger. And by forgetting, we're hurting ourselves.

Earth Hour wasn't meant to change the world. It was meant to change us. It was meant to encourage us to collectively think about something important--taking care of our planet. God gave us this world to look after and we haven't done a very good job of it. So I think it's the least we can do to take 1 hour out of the 8,760 we get in a year and think about that.

Whether or not you buy all the facts and figures that scientists are telling us, forget about the environmental conspiracy theories and your fears of leftist propaganda swallowing your souls--for one measly hour. You're not bowing to any golden calf. Rather, you're recognizing that we need to do more to take care of the one planet that God gave us to live on. Is that really such a bad thing?

The Cure for "Sexting"

2009-03-25T06:42:00.006-04:00

You know times have changed when you read stories about "sexting". New word for you, too? It's a word describing the action of sending a sexy photo via your cell phone. I read the article and was just left shaking my head.

"When I was a boy..." is already working, even at my age. Cell phones were science fiction when I was a boy, or at the very least, something they only used in ahead-of-their-time movies. Computers were primitive and we saved information on cassette tapes. Cameras used something called "film" which you inserted into the back of your camera, wound it a little, then shut the back so you didn't expose it too much.

So in the old days, if I wanted to send someone in another town a sexy photo of myself -- okay, stop laughing -- I had to take a few pictures (no preview, remember), finish the rest of the film so it wasn't wasted, then go to the store and get them developed, wait a couple of days, then go back and get the pictures (if they allowed them through the censors), then pick the best one, put it in an envelope, slap on a stamp, drop it in the mail and expect them to get the photo in a few days.

The biggest advantage of all that? You had plenty of time to change your mind. Spontaneity had a filter, a "wait a minute!" period built in so you could see the error of your ways. Today everything is so instant. Snap a photo, punch in someone's phone number on your highly computerized phone, and "send". Bam. It's out there. Not only is someone else getting it, they now have the power to ruin your life. The article mentions a girl who committed suicide because her nude photo was broadcast to her entire school by her ex-boyfriend.

So here's the answer. You give your teen a phone that can only do what phones are supposed to do: talk. I have an old Nokia phone that's about 8 inches long and weighs a ton. If nothing else, your daughter can use it for self-defense.

Traveler's Checklist

2009-03-19T20:23:00.005-04:00

With less than three months to go until we fly to Paris, I thought about looking for a good checklist so we don't forget things until it's too late.

OANDA.com has a good one that is quite detailed and meant for the traveler to print out. It included items I won't likely need, like duct tape and malaria pills, plus stuff that I hadn't thought of, like a "Sink Stopper for Hotel Sinks." Hmm, not sure about that last one.

Number 10 in their 10 Essentials List: "A Positive Attitude—Travel sometimes means expecting the unexpected: delays, detours, unfamiliar surroundings, strange languages and funny money. So, remember always to take along a big smile." So true.

GoEurope.about.com has a list broken down into sections, starting with "6 months before leaving" and ending with "right before leaving". I fall in the "6 weeks to 2 months before leaving" and sure enough--I'm supposed to be arranging my car rental during this period. I was just about to dig into that again. I already have my International Driver's License, so I guess we're on the right track.

Gary Goodyear sparks a debate

2009-03-18T07:00:00.003-04:00

Sometimes the most fascinating part of a story is the debate it creates amongst readers. A local MP "sparked a controversy when he refused to tell the Globe and Mail whether he believes in the science of evolution." Gary Goodyear happens to be the Canadian federal minister of state for science, so that's why the act drew any attention at all.

Reading the online comments of readers provided the most entertainment, however, than the article itself. It's fascinating to see the rhetoric used from the polar ends of the creationist-evolutionist debate, and then a few jumping into the middle of the pack. Words like "neandrethal" and "Christian zealot" are used to heat things up while others earnestly try to defend their traditional opinions.

Growing up in a conservative Christian home and school, evolution was basically put in the same camp as devil worship, and thus discounted entirely for me. It took God seven days to create the universe. Period. If you wanted to understand our beginnings, you read the first couple of chapters of Genesis.

I remember hearing for the first time the arguments of theistic evolution--God wound up the universe like a top and let it evolve. It was difficult for me to understand how a Christian could reconcile that belief with Genesis 1.

Today I have more questions than answers when it comes to how our world began. The world and the exquisite creatures I see everyday are too complex for random chance to have created them. They were put together by a Creator, of that I am convinced. But I'm not sure how He did it. We have a rough layout in Genesis, but is it a detailed journal entry, or is it a simplified account that paints the picture in a way that tells us all we need to know from a spiritual point of view: God did it.

In the meantime, my recommendation to people is to stop labeling others in a disrespectful manner, simply to win your argument. We're all trying to understand our universe and explain scientific discoveries in the most accurate way. Yelling at each other and calling each other names doesn't help.

Phantom Sequel to Open in Toronto?

2009-03-17T07:07:00.003-04:00

Below are excerpts from an intriguing article in the Toronto Star today, if you like big time musical productions...

"According to reports from reputable New York City casting agencies yesterday on playbill.com, Love Never Dies, the long awaited follow-up to The Phantom of the Opera, will open at the Canon Theatre under the auspices of Mirvish Productions [this fall].

The premiere performances will take place nearly 20 years from the day the Phantom opened on Sept. 20, 1989, in the venue then known as the Pantages Theatre, ushering in the era of the mega-musical in Toronto theatre.

The new show is set in New York City in 1907, on Coney Island, where an unnamed "Maestro" (a.k.a. the Phantom) has invited renowned soprano Christine Daaé to come from Paris to sing. She brings along her husband, Raoul, and her son, Gustave, 10, who may (or may not) be the result of that marriage.

Rumours have been circulating for several weeks now that three companies would be rehearsing the follow-up to the Phantom simultaneously in London, and that they would open in New York, London and Shanghai this fall.

But possibly because of the success of his production of The Sound of Music in Toronto, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has decided to launch the North American version of the show here.

Some observers suggest the reason for the Toronto opening has to do with the presence of [Iranian-born but Canadian-raised] Ramin Karimloo (pictured above), the 29-year-old who is currently playing the Phantom in London's West End."

Obi-Wan Explores Africa

2009-03-15T15:42:00.004-04:00

A couple of years ago, my wife and I watched Ewan McGregor and his buddy Charlie take a motorcycyle ride around the world in Long Way Round. Captivating, entertaining and educational.

Now we're watching Long Way Down with the same duo riding from Scotland, through Europe, across northern Africa, and then down to South Africa through countries like Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania and so on.

The one thing that has struck me the most this time 'round is their openness to cultures far removed from what they're used to. They try foods, step into homes and interact with nations which couldn't be more opposite from their usual world. Not a risky-taking adventurer myself, I'm amazed at their willingness and openness, which is strange considering my background of living in Nigeria as a missionary kid. I was never prone to moving out of my comfort zone, though, and as I watch these two wealthy Scots do it, I see the wealth of experiences they derive from that mind frame--experiences I missed out on because I wasn't willing to try.

There's an added chapter on the one disk that highlights their involvement with Unicef. It's a moving, sobering segment--a reminder of the imbalance in our world's distribution of healthcare and standard of living.

Long Way Down has less swearing than the first DVD set (which Ewan alludes to at one point) and more chatter from Ewan as he rides his bike. The best thing about both of these series is that you experience these countries at ground level--literally. You see the roads, meet the people, experience some of the cultural differences, and once in a while get to sample some of the touristy stuff. In Tunisia and Libya, for example, the team went to some Roman ruins that I had never heard about before. Ewan also visited the area where they filmed some of the original Star Wars movie--without anyone recognizing him!

Highly recommended viewing if you want something different than your normal fare.

Paul Giamatti and Ewan McGregor

2009-03-15T10:47:00.004-04:00

Name the movie that stars those two actors...well, actually it just stars their voices. Can't think of it? I'll give you a moment.

In the meantime, I have to recommend a TV mini-series in which Giamatti stars and does a brilliant job: John Adams. It landed him an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe, and I suspect further marks him as a leading man of choice for many years to come.

John Adams looks at the historical circumstances in the earliest days of the child called the United States of America. Adams played a vital role in the forming of the Declaration of Independence, was a representative of Congress in Europe during the Revolutionary War, was the first Vice President, and the second U.S. president.

Fantastic casting and spare-no-expense sets give us a fascinating glimpse into life at that time. We also get a snap shot of other historical figures like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin--all played extremely well. Laura Linney plays Mrs. Adams and paints an intriguing picture of the woman behind the second President.

I loved this mini-series but that may be a result of my interest in history and having learned about this moment in time back in school. But more than anything, it's just so well done. Giamatti plays his role to the hilt and is believably complex. I've liked him in two of his recent roles (Cinderella Man, Lady in the Water) but was surprised to see that he was in Saving Private Ryan, Sabrina and The Truman Show. I'll have to look for him next time I watch those flicks.

Figured out the answer yet? Remember Robots, the animated movie from Twentieth Century Fox? He was Tim the gate guard. I know, pretty small role, but that's what trivia is all about. I'll talk about Ewan McGregor next time.

Can I bum an e-cig off ya?

2009-03-14T09:27:00.003-04:00

I heard something about this on the radio the other day, so I checked it out online. Yes, they have invented electronic cigarettes. From wiki:

"An electronic cigarette (or 'e-cigarette') is an alternative to smoked tobacco products, such as cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. It is a battery-powered device that provides inhaled doses of nicotine by delivering a vaporized propylene glycol/nicotine solution. In addition to nicotine delivery, this vapor also provides a flavor and physical sensation similar to that of inhaled tobacco smoke, while no tobacco, smoke, or combustion is actually involved in its operation."

"Some flavour varieties attempt to resemble traditional cigarette types, such as regular tobacco and menthol, and some even attempt to mimic specific cigarette brands, such as Marlboro or Camel. Solutions are also available with candy-type flavoring, such as strawberry, orange, mint, vanilla, caramel, coffee, etc."

From a CNN article released yesterday: "Makers of e-cigs tout their product as the first healthy cigarette, free of harmful chemicals and tar typically found in tobacco products. The only ingredient: pure liquid nicotine. 'Our product is comparable to the nicotine patch except people still get the oral fixation, which they love,' explained Elicko Taieb, CEO of Smoking Everywhere, one of the largest distributors of electronic cigarettes."

Health issues: "Health experts say the idea of an electronic cigarette is a great alternative to tobacco smoke but more evidence is needed. 'Nicotine is not the thing in tobacco smoke that causes cancer, but inhaling pure nicotine may be dangerous,' said Dr. Steven Schroeder, physician and smoking cessation expert at the University of California-San Francisco Medical Center. "We have no clue what the health effects could be.' "

Interestingly, at this stage a number of countries list them as illegal, probably because they haven't figured out the long term health effects of them. Technology meets smoking addiction and solves the problem of smoke-caused cancer and smelly clothes. For now....

A Canadian TV show that works

2009-03-11T22:06:00.004-04:00

It's a rare day indeed when I can in good conscience recommend a Canadian television show. Being Erica is one of those rare programs produced in Canada, starring Canadian actors, and shot in a Canadian city, that does more than not suck. It's enjoyable to watch and has very few of the 'cringe' moments that I'm used to in most Canadian programming.

Little-known Erin Karpluk headlines the comedy-drama (set and shot in Toronto) and does a fantastic job playing a single thirtysomething with a long list of regrets in her life. She meets a wise, quote-happy man who has the unique ability to send her back in time to those key moments she'd like to do over. Perhaps somewhat enviously, we watch her re-experience limited moments in her past and attempt to correct mistakes she made. An excellent supporting cast helps fill out the storytelling.

Relationship-driven with a predominantly female focus, the show nevertheless touches on universal subjects we can all relate to. Couched in historical events like Y2K, overlaid with musical soundtracks from days gone by, and reliving fashion trends like acid wash jeans, the contexts add lightness to sometimes heavy topics.

Trust me. This show is not your typical Canadian fare. Finding it on CBC was an even bigger surprise. Watch Being Erica Wednesday nights at 9 on CBC. In Canada you can watch the episodes online and it looks like the show's been picked up by SoapNet in the U.S.

Doing the Shuffle...smaller

2009-03-11T21:02:00.003-04:00

Okay, so the latest and greatest teeny weeny MP3 player is now on the market. Check out the 3rd generation of the iPod shuffle--now with a voice of its own!

"VoiceOver is the exciting new feature that makes iPod shuffle the first music player that talks to you. It entirely changes the way you browse and navigate your music. Say you’re listening to a song and want to know the title or the artist. With the press of a button, VoiceOver tells you—without interrupting your music.

"But the fun doesn’t stop with songs. For the first time ever on an iPod shuffle, you can have multiple playlists, because VoiceOver announces their names, too. So you can easily find the right mix without taking your eyes off your run, your ride, or whatever you’re doing."

There you go. Next generation? The size of a button!

Does Barbie like U2?

2009-03-10T06:47:00.007-04:00

Two things caught my eye today in pop culture news. First, in their upcoming concert tour U2 is switching from Apple to Blackberry. Smart move on the part of local Research In Motion, but is it good for U2? What's their angle on making the switch? Like someone wrote, are we going to see a special edition U2 Storm?

"Still, the partnership may have more to do with other players than U2 and BlackBerry. The tour is presented by Live Nation, which recently merged with Ticketmaster. Late last year, Ticketmaster announced that Research in Motion and Blackberry was their official “smartphone partner.” Together, the two were expected to collaborate on software that would allow Blackberry users to easily buy event tickets from Ticketmaster, Ticketsnow.com and getmein.com." (moconews.net)

And then there's Barbie. The creepy little doll has just turned 50, but instead of aging like most 50-year olds, she's going glamour. I felt compelled to check out her site, both to see where she started and where she currently is. Below is an original Barbie and one of the anniversary editions (also available as an African American, of course). I'd say she had a rough start.

"For 50 years a certain American blonde with the figure of a Playboy bunny, the hair-do of a USC cheerleader, and the arches of a Conde Nast editor has been channeling the zeitgeist and fashioning her wardrobe accordingly.

She wore a pillbox when Jackie Kennedy was in the White House, and a mini dress when Twiggy was rocking Cool Britannia. Bob Mackie, Ralph Lauren, and Calvin Klein all lobbied to dress her. But the girl wasn’t just a bubble-headed fashionista. She had ambition, growing from gigs as a Candy Striper and flight attendant, into serious roles as an astronaut, NBA star, and Presidential candidate...

...Still, as a cultural icon, Barbie has done better than many other American diplomatic initiatives. Some 18 million global users are registered on BarbieGirls.com, and there are 1,000 YouTube channels devoted to the ubiquitous doll, which is the #1 worldwide property in the traditional toy industry."

I don't fully get this doll thing, but whatever. Full article from "FastCompany.com" here.

TripAdvisor: a life-saver

2009-03-07T10:18:00.003-05:00

I can't say enough about TripAdvisor when heading out to a place you've never been. I mentioned a couple of blogs back about the part it's played in our Europe trip planning. This morning the advice of other travelers about the Chateau de Versailles ended up dissuading me from visiting that opulent palace this time around. Their experiences made me realize this wasn't the right trip for that destination.

My experience with travelers' advice is mixed, mind you. Reading through a list of reviews for the same hotel can be quite perplexing. How can people have such different experiences at the exact same place? Some of it, I suspect, is based on expectation going in, but there's probably a multitude of reasons. You've been driving for eight hours, your kids are crabby, you're hungry, and the lady at the front desk has a headache so she's not the friendliest staff member at that particular moment. Thus everything seems horrible and a poor review is written.

I find it best to get an average of all the write-ups. TripAdvisor has a system of ranking their hotels based on traveler reviews. Our hotel in Paris, for example, is rated #216 out of almost 2,000. It's only a 2-star hotel, but based on positive reviews, good location for rail lines, and a half-decent price relative to Paris, we decided to book it. Were there poor reviews for it? Sure. But they weren't the kind of things that made us nervous, and there wasn't a trend of any one thing that seemed to come up over and over again.

Other great things about the site:
1. traveler photos and videos (reality check from what hotel sites show)
2. mapping function in conjunction with GoogleMaps
3. interaction between travelers if desired
4. currency conversion to CAD $
5. ability to save trip info re: hotels when you log in

So if you're heading out on a trip, try using TripAdvisor in your research. It's a life-saver.

Trade Deadline Blues

2009-03-04T06:59:00.002-05:00

I remember when NHL trade deadline day was exciting. Way back in the early 21st century when the Leafs actually made the playoffs. All day I'd check online for the latest and greatest trades. Who had the GM landed to help get us to that next round of playoffs? What last-minute wrangling had occurred to free us of one of our useless guys and pull in a veteran who wanted to win one before he retired? Remember those days?

Today? Pffff....what difference does it make? So they'll trade a guy or two like Nik Antropov and add some more youth to the roster. Big whupdeedo. Another coupla draft picks. Wooo, hold me back! 'Cuz there's nothing more exciting than watching young inexperienced guys play just as inept as old experienced guys.

Since we bought our house, I haven't been able to watch the Leafs in the playoffs, for Pete's sake! Back in our apartment I'd rig the antenna "just right" in the sunroom just so I could get a good sense of where the puck was at any given moment. Now I have CBC crystal clear but my team's not in the playoffs anymore!

Last week after the owners of the Leafs announced they were upping ticket prices again, I declared to my wife that I was putting the Leafs on probation. They had 2 years to win back my heart. I used to be a Winnipeg Jets fan. When they moved to Phoenix and became the Coyotes, I had to pick a new team. Since I was living in Toronto, I figured that made the most sense. Now I'm trying to figure out what I'll do if they don't pass probation?

Nevertheless, I'll still be following the action today, more out of glee to see the losers on my team get picked by other teams who think they're good players. Suckers.

Kindle 2 Hits the Market

2009-03-02T07:01:00.003-05:00

Saw a review of the new Kindle on AppleInsider, then clicked over to Amazon to read their spin on it. Interesting product, I have to say. I'd love to try one out. They're going for $359 (US) right now, so a little out of my league. Maybe later...

Here's what Amazon says on their promo page:

Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines
Lightweight: At 10.2 ounces, lighter than a typical paperback
Wireless: 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle, anytime, anywhere; no monthly fees, service plans, or hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots
Books in Under 60 Seconds: Get books delivered in less than 60 seconds; no PC required
Improved Display: Reads like real paper; now boasts 16 shades of gray for clear text and even crisper images
Longer Battery Life: 25% longer battery life; read for days without recharging
More Storage: Take your library with you; holds over 1,500 books
Faster Page Turns: 20% faster page turns
Read-to-Me: With the new text-to-speech feature, Kindle can read every newspaper, magazine, blog, and book out loud to you, unless the book is disabled by the rights holder
Large Selection: Over 240,000 books plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs available
Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99 (US), unless marked otherwise

Cheating the Paris Experience

2009-02-28T08:44:00.004-05:00

As my wife and I plan our upcoming trip to Paris, I'm amazed at how technology is helping the planning process. Back in 2002 when we last ventured across the Atlantic there was nothing called Google, not to mention GoogleMaps. MapQuest existed already, but with the internet still developing, finding information for hotels and tourist sites would have been very limited. I've been trying to remember how much we knew about our Rome accommodations before we actually arrived there. A Frommer's book was our primary resource and I remember faxing information to one of the hotels.

Today's a different matter. We've been immersed in pinpointing a hotel in Paris. Using TripAdvisor.com as my primary user-review source and GoogleMaps as my geographic tool, I narrowed my selection down to 9 -- from almost 2,000! I arrived at 9 by using a personal sifter that took into account price, ammenities, nearby attractions, proximity of Metro lines, and most importantly the opinion of travelers like us (which I'll blog about later).

The biggest "wow" factor in this planning process has been the mapping information online that is available. With GoogleMaps you can virtually walk the streets of Paris without traveling there. Here's a link if you haven't seen the "street view" element of GoogleMaps. You can "walk" down the street, see the shops in the area, get a sense of the neighbourhood, discover the views available and basically get an almost real idea of what that city is all about. Something might look great on a flat map, but when you step onto the street you discover that it doesn't feel at all like you'd imagined.

While extremely useful for this trip of ours, I sometimes think that all of this technology is robbing us of one component of travel: surprise. In the old days, before there was the internet, you trusted the information of other travelers, trusted travel agents and trusted your own instincts. You obtained a map, booked a flight, and reserved a hotel room, sight unseen. There was no GPS, no iPhone, no internet cafes, no online review sites.

Can you imagine if Christopher Columbus visited us today and saw what we used to plan our trips? He'd be astounded at how easy it is, how impossible for anyone to get lost, how we've stripped the surprise factor out of traveling. For some of us that's a good thing. We don't like the surprises. When we travel halfway around the world we don't want to be surprised by the hotel we've booked. On the other hand, do we all really need a GPS for driving around our home town?

So, I wonder, is all this mapping technology gradually stealing away our sense of adventure? Probably. In the meantime, I don't value a feeling of adventure when I'm picking my French hotel. I'm cool with the "cheater" label this time around.

Which blue box for my satellite?

2009-02-12T07:07:00.002-05:00

I saw this article today in the Australian Herald:

"Two satellites have collided in space in the first such reported mishap. The satellites, belonging to US and Russian interests, collided over Siberia on Tuesday. NASA has revealed the US satellite owned by the the Iridium company hit a disused Russian satellite at high speed at a height of 485 miles.

The impact produced a massive cloud of debris, which authorities are hoping will not affect other satellites in the area. The Russian satellite had been launched in 1993 and weighed 950kg. The Iridium satellite weighed 560 kg and had been launched in 1997."

That's just what we need. Not only are we dealing with how to manage our trash here on solid ground, but now we need to manage our space junk. Seriously? Have we learned nothing in the thousands of years we've lived on this planet? If I'm supposed to recycle my phone when it's dead, perhaps they should recycle their freaking satellites!

A Pregnant Pause

2009-02-04T07:07:00.002-05:00

I used this term yesterday for some reason, and this morning I feel like it applies to elements of our world. Obama squeezed through the machine and has popped out as a squeaky clean president. Now what....

Stephen Harper and his party have survived a political scare, issued a deficit budget, and kept the Liberals at bay. Now what....

The auto industry received a massive bailout to survive a few more months. Now what....

In my world, the ship of a company in which I lived for 14 years finally slipped quietly below the surface and is gone forever. Now what....

It's the quiet after the storm. Breathe. Take stock. Enjoy the stillness. No matter how calm it is right now, it will never stay that way. It's what makes life so challenging and demanding.

I just turned 39. Now what....

Three DVDs of Note

2009-01-10T10:07:00.003-05:00

The Duchess (Ralph Fiennes, Keira Knightley)
If you're into period movies, you might enjoy this film based on the true story of the Duchess of Devonshire (eventual descendant: Princess Diana). Among other things, this film looks at two sides of the same duty, bearing a male heir, and how the weight of it bears down differently on people. Duty is a word we don't use in a positive sense much anymore. Duties are more like chores today, things we have to do but would much rather be doing something else, something fun. We don't have a sense of pride in fulfilling duty. So afterward I was left musing on the place of duty in our contemporary lives and whether or not the lack of duty today is a good or bad thing. I think perhaps we use the word "responsibility" in its place.

Eagle Eye (Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan)

A fast-moving, energetic, entertaining movie that opens the viewer's eyes anew to the potential of Big Brother. What Will Smith's Enemy of the State did for me in terms of highlighting what technology allows the government to see, this movie takes to a whole new level. Science fiction? Perhaps. But that's the thing about this stuff--who really knows what invasive informational powers already exist? I highly recommend this one as a rental. Full entertainment value.

Traitor (Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce)
I originally saw this one on the shelf and wasn't sold. Then family members highly recommended it so we checked it out. I'm glad we did. This is a unique film in the genre of terrorist-hunting thrillers that line our movies shelves today, largely because the protagonist is a openly Muslim African-American. I can't say too much about the storyline without spoiling it, so I'll just suggest you rent it. We need more movies like this that show another side to the world, especially for those of us who live in sheltered corners of the world. Rent this movie.

Feeling the Vibe...

2009-01-07T20:43:00.003-05:00

Best of 2008

2009-01-01T16:11:00.003-05:00

While 2008 certainly had its downers (like watching our company sink like the Titanic, and saying goodbye to my trusty Honda) it also had its uppers as well. Here are a couple of notables:

Sports Moment: Simon Whitfield's Silver at the Beijing Olympics
No one was more surprised than I at my emotional involvement during the Men's Triathlon at Beijing. But following Whitfield's progress from start to finish was absolutely captivating--and I found myself cheering him on in my living room. Yes, out loud.

Movie: WALL-E
Something about that little robot just captured my heart. I'm sorry, he did. Sue me.

Book: Holy Bible
Its very existence opened a door for a new job with The Gideons. Since my hiring, I've been exposed to a reawakened awareness of its power to change lives.

DVD purchase: Dan in Real Life
This was a great, great discovery for me. Juliette Binoche and Steve Carrell have moving performances and the storyline as a whole made me want to have a family. Runner-up: Once

New Local Restaurant (Kitchener): Bangkok Cuisine (Thai; 1500 Weber St. E.)
We absolutely loved their food the first time we tried it, and the price was great too.

Person of the Year: my wife
Watching my wife bravely finish out the life of the bookstore she'd devoted nine years to has been inspiring to me, although sometimes hard to see. Dealing with daft customers incapable of sensitivity or Christian virtues is difficult at the best of times, but doing it while you're watching your store literally get dismantled in front of your eyes places it for me as one of the hardest things you'll have to do. Julie handled it all with amazing strength and integrity.

For 2009, here's to new jobs for the searching, new joy for broken hearts, and new hope for the lonely.

Infuriating Headlines

2008-12-29T22:23:00.003-05:00

Are there ever times when you see an international headline...and you turn away because you just don't want to know? Kind of an "oh no, not again" reaction?

Tonight I find myself wondering what to do with the bad news happening all over the world. Israel attacks Gaza. Hundreds slaughtered in some African country. More soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Like files dropped on my desk, the headline links sit on my computer screen waiting for me to do something with them. Do I click on them, ignore them, or promise to read them later?

None of the options are good. Clicking on them exposes me to the violence, hate and death in countries I've never been--quite likely never will. But is it my responsibility as a fellow human being to learn about these events? If the violence were occurring in my city, would I be hoping others around the world would know about it?

If I ignore the files, what does that say about me? Am I uncaring, unsympathetic, unmoved? Am I too involved in my own comfortable life?

Putting it off is no solution either. The files don't stay there forever; they get replaced by other bad news. And like a bad news telegram that gets ignored, the story of someone's misfortune is never, ever read; hundreds of failed SOS beacons that drift off into space.

I guess that's why some people don't watch the news or read the paper or listen to news radio. They don't know what to do with the information they've been given. Eventually it all starts to sound the same. More death and destruction in a land they couldn't point out on the pretty globe in their office. Why should they care? It's not like they can do anything about it. And even if they could, how would they choose who to help? Everyone needs money or food or shelter somewhere. Every day there's an appeal for aid waiting for them in their mailbox. It's an overwhelming list of needs.

That's why it's just easier to ignore the news and live your own life. It's too infuriating to see history repeating itself over and over. The same countries, the same tribes, the same reasons...why can't they just figure it out once and for all and be done with it? WHY?

I don't have any answers tonight. I've been avoiding reading the Israel/Gaza story. I've been avoiding reading the Africa stories. I'm just too frustrated. I know that doesn't do anybody any good, least of all the poor people who are once again victimized by the situations they find themselves in over there. I just don't know what to do about it.

2008: Year of the Storm

2008-12-26T10:06:00.002-05:00

I suppose it's only fitting for us that the end of 2008 is marked by one snow storm after another. As the snow heaps surrounding our driveway start to resemble the Great Wall of China, my mind wanders back over the past twelve months, remembering what it felt like to weather each blast of change. Bracing our hearts. Boarding up the fragile spots. Hunkering down when the wind whistled loudest.

One night in October during a daily walk I told God I didn't have the energy to be angry with Him. All I could do was hold His hand and let Him walk me through it.

That was a turning point for me. After nine months of job uncertainty, office relocation, wage decrease, pet death, company bankruptcy, personal loss...it was too much. More than I could handle. So I clung to a higher power. For the first time in a very long time, I was completely out of control. The storm was raging and I could do nothing but survive it. Dig down. Put one foot in front of the other. Trust. Hope.

It took a while, but finally in the midst of the storm, the sun popped its head out, breathing heat into the chill. A great new job found its way to me. New colleagues. New ideas. New opportunities. New friends. New life.

This month another storm began. A car accident and my wife's job loss marked the advance of the next hurricane. More hunkering, bracing, trusting, hoping...

To all those in the midst of a storm--job loss, personal loss, financial loss, physical loss--I know it's hard to remember the sun. But it's still there, I promise. And it will pierce the clouds again. Hold God's hand as long as it takes. He can see past the hurricane and will lead you to the moment where you feel an embrace of warmth again and see a sky painted in blue.

I pray Hope for you this coming year.

I'm NOT a Statistic...or am I?

2008-12-17T19:35:00.002-05:00

I absolutely hate proving statistics right. Being lumped in with millions of other people is not cool. I'm an individual and I cannot be measured or my behaviour predicted. Right? Wrong.

Tonight on my way home I added myself to an existing pool of data that measures where accidents happen: close to home. No, not close--very, very close. Studies done by insurance companies consistently prove that over 2/3 of car accidents happen within 5 miles of home. That's a "holy cow" stat. Why does that happen?

Lucky me, I was 1.5 km from home--pretty much exactly 1 mile! A lady making a left turn off a road (at a stop sign) didn't see me driving along on a busy road and two seconds later, BAM! As it turns out, she was even closer to home than I was. Now my 1989 Honda Accord looks a little more like a bulldog than it should.

So here's a report from Britian that explains why accidents like this seem to happen. (I agree with it generally, but I wasn't switched off. Let the record show that I was not the one switched off in this case!)

"A report released today revealed that a third (32%) of all car accidents happen within a mile of the driver's home and a further third within five miles.

The Churchill Car Insurance* poll revealed that drivers experienced a 'switching off' syndrome on familiar roads which is a common cause of car accidents.

Journeys within a five mile radius of the home are typically made up of short trips to work, the weekly supermarket shop and taking the kids to school. The report shows that during these trips, drivers’ minds are wandering, thinking about work, family or home chores.

Almost three quarters of respondents (72%) admitted to paying less attention on local roads and 60% said that their driving became lazy when they neared their home. Despite recognising that their driving was becoming more relaxed and erratic, a quarter of drivers believed they were unlikely to have an accident close to their neighbourhood.

Darren McCauley, Head of Car Insurance at Churchill said, "Drivers tend to make many preparations for longer journeys but on routine trips they can be far too flippant. For longer journeys drivers tend to take an early night and make sure the car is safe. However, they can work a 50 hour week and then tackle an hour's drive home on a Friday evening without a second thought."

*Research commissioned by Churchill Insurance amongst 1768 drivers in May 2005.

Hope and Honour for our Soldiers

2008-12-08T06:57:00.004-05:00

As we think of the 100th Canadian military casualty in Afghanistan this week, it's good to know that the military is taking steps to reduce the toll exacted by the enemy's deadly roadside bombs.

"A newly-launched air wing has significantly increased the capabilities of the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan by reducing their reliance on ground transport, say Canadian military officials.

Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson, commander of Task Force Kandahar, said the Joint Task Force (Afghanistan) Air Wing has given Canadian Forces the kind of operational air support that has not been seen in decades.

The air wing includes four units made up of 450 troops and has six CH-47D Chinook helicopters (left), eight CH-146 Griffon helicopters (above), six civilian Mi-8 helicopters and various unmanned surveillance aircraft included in its inventory.

Most of the 100 Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan have died from road-side bombs as they travelled in convoys, while British and U.S. troops rely on helicopter transport.

The Chinook helicopters will be of particular benefit for moving troops in and out of various battlefield hotspots, officials said." --CTV.ca

Let's hope these choppers will help keep our soldiers alive. I was moved again this morning to read about the people who come out to line the Highway of Heroes and honour the soldiers who were killed last week. Snippets from the article....

"Tens of thousands are expected to line Canada's Highway of Heroes today to pay tribute to the three soldiers killed in Afghanistan, marking both their sacrifice and the grim milestone of 100 Canadian soldiers killed on active duty there.

The public tributes for Canada's fallen along the 172-kilometre route have caused commentators in other countries, including Britain, to take note and wonder why its own military victims aren't similarly honoured.

Toronto police, fire and EMS officers will be at the scene to tip their hats in salute.

Veterans will also gather along the route and dip regimental colours. The Maple Leaf flag will be on display on overpass railings, flown at half-mast on poles and waved by onlookers.

Someone else who planned to be there today, Marlene Livingston of Richmond Hill, said observing the repatriation from a distance was the only way to show the families her appreciation.

'I'd love to be able to reach out and hug them ... this way, I am hugging them. They see there are a lot of people who appreciate their sacrifices,' she said." --Toronto Star

Poll Results (early December)

2008-12-07T09:05:00.003-05:00

This probably won't last, but it's interesting to see how opinions are formed. Right now the Conservatives are doing fine. Will it last?

"Canadian Prime Minister Harper has mounted a crushing polling lead as the result of a political crisis in which an opposition coalition sought to take power, three polls released over the past two days showed.

The surveys showed Harper's Conservatives would take well over the 40% needed to convert his minority in Parliament into a majority, and a lead of 20 percentage points over the main opposition Liberal Party.

A Strategic Counsel poll in Friday's Globe and Mail newspaper put the Conservatives ahead of the Liberals 45 to 24%, with the New Democrats trailing at 14%.

This compares with the Oct. 14 electoral result of 37.6% for the Conservatives, 26.2% for the Liberals and 18.2% for the New Democrats.

An Ipsos Reid survey released on Friday in Canwest newspapers put the Conservatives at 46%, the Liberals at 23% and the New Democrats at 13%.

An Ekos poll released the night before showed a 20-point lead for the Conservatives.

56% of those polled by Ipsos Reid said they would rather go to another election, even though one was just held, rather than let the coalition govern." --Reuters

Are you Prorogue or Conrogue?

2008-12-05T07:05:00.002-05:00

The Governor General agrees with Harper and sets the MPs free to stew for 7 weeks. And as far as I'm concerned, that was the best thing to do. They deserve a restless Christmas season. I'm kinda glad their minds will be thinking about job security while they sing We Three Kings.

The rest of the country has been released temporarily from the crisis; we can put our focus back on supporting our local economy with our debit and credit cards. Sure, there'll be talk about it around the mantel hung with stockings. Some will say this was a bad thing the GG did, setting precedent and all that. Let Harper face the wolves and get it over with.

But as far as I'm concerned, it was too close to the previous election to have sense of this government's direction. Now they'll have time to really figure out where they stand and what to do about the economy. Plus now we'll see how strong this coalition really is and whether or not they really can function as a unit and offer an alternative stability to Harper's clan.

I predict the coalition will not remain united. I predict Harper will provide a good budget and economic stimulus package--at least good enough for the rest of the country. And I predict he will survive the vote in the House. These next 7 weeks will reveal the true nature of every member of this current crisis. The stripes will be revealed.

So I'm definitely pro-prorogue. Yup, the GG set a precedent. Big deal. There's always a first. But keep in mind, you naysayers, that every precedent happens in a certain environment with certain factors. This whole situation was unique. It required a unique solution. That's what the GG did.

Prime Time Politics

2008-12-03T19:59:00.003-05:00

Nothing says a relaxing evening like pre-taped messages from politicians. Frivolity all around. Here's to men with nothing but the greater good of ordinary Canadians on their minds. It's not about their careers, after all. They truly care for you and me.

If I could, I'd roll my eyes bilingually.

Harper was short and sweet and basically demonized the involvement of the BQ in the coalition. Well, he also (finally) indicated he cares about the economy and will offer some "stimuli". Dion was so cuddly and warm I just wanted to give him a big hug and say, thank you, Uncle Stephane. You're swell. You're the just the nicest man ever. Well, except for that one time you jumped into bed with the separatists and tried to hijack the government we just freakin' elected!

As far as I'm concerned, you can make all the promises you want about "stimulating" the economy, but can the government really be the saviour of how the global economy is affecting Canada? Do we really want the government propping up failing businesses in the auto sector? Maybe they should be allowed to die. I don't want anyone losing their jobs, but I'd rather pay for their unemployment cheques than pay GM to keep losing money.

Furthermore, just because other countries are pumping billions into "stimulating" their economies, does that mean it's the right thing to do? Maybe the guys we electing know what they're doing and have done their homework.

Geez. All this ruckus. Thanks, Brits, for bestowing this style of government on us. God bless the Queen. (And the Governor General.) (Oh, and the Lieutenant Governors.) (Oh, and Prince William and Prince Harry, too.)

Survey Says...

2008-12-03T07:16:00.003-05:00

Slightly more than a third of Canadians said they would support a coalition government formed by the opposition, when asked about their preferred solution if the government falls:

Opposition coalition: 37%
Holding a federal election: 32%
No sure: 24%
Allowing the opposition to run by accord: 7%

According to the survey, 57% agreed with the statement that they were "worried about the Bloc Quebecois becoming involved in the federal government." Another 30% disagreed.

Meanwhile, 64% of Canadians across Canada said they would be uncomfortable with Dion as leader of the government, while just 25 per cent said they would be fine with the idea.

In Ontario, where the Liberals traditionally pick up the lion's share of their votes, 60% said they would be uncomfortable with Dion as prime minister. In Alberta, the Conservative heartland, it was 83%.

A full 75% thought the government should implement a stimulus package as soon as possible, while 17% disagreed.

34% supported political parties receiving public funding based on $1.95 per vote in the general election, while 48% thought the parties should rely solely on their own fundraising.

Source: CTV.ca, based on an Angus Reid poll

Ottawa's a crazy town

2008-12-02T20:54:00.005-05:00

Interesting stuff online about this political crisis we're facing...well, interesting to me, anyway.

"CFRA's Lowell Green, QR77's Dave Rutherford, and Bourque Newswatch are reporting that the Western Canadian MPs may take a drastic measure if the Governor General allows the coalition to form government - they will resign en masse.

This drastic measure - effectively removing significant political representation from a large portion of the country - would certainly push the Governor General and or the coalition to consider dissolving the House and calling an election." (Greg Farries' blog)

* * * * *

Another interesting question: If the governor-general agrees to dissolve Parliament, what would the election look like? (See thoughts on this here.)

* * * * *

Just a few of the political terms being thrown around these days. I had to educate myself on them.

Prorogue - To suspend a parliamentary session or to discontinue the meetings of a parliament without formally ending the session. Parliaments, once prorogued, remain in recess until summoned again by the Governor General, and a new session is begun with the Speech from the Throne.

Banana Republic - a pejorative term for a small country that is politically unstable, dependent on limited agriculture (e.g., bananas), and ruled by a small, self-elected, wealthy, and corrupt clique. In modern usage the term has come to be used to describe a generally unstable or "backward" dictatorial regime, especially one where elections are often fraudulent and corruption is rife.

Governer General - the vice-regal representative in Canada of the Queen of Canada, who is the head of state. The monarch appoints the Governor General on the advice of the Canadian Prime Minister, after which the Governor General maintains direct contact with the monarch. The governor general will decide whether or not to accept the coalition's offer, or send the country to another election.

Can there be a change of government without an election? Yes, provided the governor general is satisfied that the proposed alternative to the current government allows Parliament to conduct business with some stability.

Past Coalition Governments - Since Confederation there has only been one coalition government in Canada’s history: the Union Government of World War I. This was a coalition between the Conservative Party, led by Robert Borden, and Liberals and independents. The coalition was formed in order to broaden support for the Borden government and its controversial conscription policy. (Interesting article)

Dear Governor General....

2008-12-02T12:38:00.002-05:00

I'm going off the deep end about this political stuff. But that's okay. I need to get emotional about something once in a while. Anyway, I sent off the below letter to the Gov. Gen'l and copied it to my M.P. Harold Albrecht.

If you're a geek like me and care about this stuff, feel free to copy any of it, if you like it. Or, if you disagree with me on this stuff, send me your comments. I just needed to do something. Hopefully you won't see me on the news getting dragged off to prison because I was throwing eggs at Stephane Dion...

Excellency,

The current crisis in the halls of parliament is of great concern to me and I'm writing to encourage you to REJECT THE COALITION PLANS and instead INITIATE A NEW ELECTION if the government should be defeated next week.

Here are my reasons:

1. A majority of Canadians did NOT vote for any of the three coalition leaders to be our prime minister. NONE OF THEM have a mandate to be our leader!

2. Stephane Dion was overwhelmingly rejected as a potential candidate for prime minister. This past election was the Liberal party's worst result in their history. As a whole, CANADIANS DO NOT WANT HIM TO LEAD their country!

3. One of the coalition leaders is part of a SECESSIONIST PARTY! How can a Canadian government be formed with one member rejecting the very notion that Quebec should be a Canadian province? This is absurd to the highest degree and would make our government a complete mockery to the INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.

4. The current Conservative government was not given sufficient time to affirm their right to govern. Thus, it is obvious that the coalition has only one thing in mind--STEALING POWER. They have no case for upending this government so quickly, no matter how strongly they may oppose the decisions of Stephen Harper.

5. Although they just underwent an election, Canadians would rather go to the polls again and CHOOSE THEIR LEADER than have their government chosen for them. If you choose to let the coalition take control of the government, YOU ARE ACTING AGAINST the most important principle of democracy.

So I am appealing to your Excellency to do what the vast majority of Canadians want--to choose their own leader. We do not want to live in a country where power can be wrested away from the people, simply to satisfy the power hunger of dissatisfied politicians. LET THE PEOPLE CHOOSE.

Say It Ain't So!

2008-12-02T07:08:00.003-05:00

Surely this isn't really happening. This must be a really, really bad dream I've found us all in. We're Marty McFly arriving back from the future at the beginning of Back the Future 2, discovering that's something gone horribly awry.

How in tarnation do we find ourselves on the brink of being governed by Huey, Dewey and Louie? Or is it the Three Stooges? It's like an episode of Clue: Professor Plum in the library with Colonel Mustard and the Lead Pipe.

In all seriousness, I cannot believe we have come this far off the path so quickly. How is it remotely possible that in a week from now, we could be governed by a coalition of a Liberal leader who received the lowest votes in Liberal history, an NDP leader who doesn't know the first thing about governing anything, and a BQ leader who doesn't even like Canada!!!

I'm just flabbergasted. And I feel powerless to do anything to stop it. Coalitions should not be a legal option in our parliamentary system. What a load of crap that is. The leader of our country should be elected--as the leader. They shouldn't be allowed to form some sort of pirate clan that can throw the captain overboard. How is that even remotely democratic?!

I'm sending an email to the Governor General. This is a preposterous turn of events. "Great Scott!" And in case you're wondering, I'm serious about this. I only add some lightness to this discussion so I don't completely lose it. We elected the Conservatives into power. For better or worse, let them do their job!

This is crazy.

Hotspots of Hatred

2008-11-30T07:27:00.003-05:00

Listen, I know my life is relatively easy and cushy compared to much of the world. I get that. And I know that I don't understand the complexity of the problems of the world. Nothing is as simple as it appears. Furthermore, I recognize that sometimes conflict is required if justice is to prevail. I know all that.

But I have to say that this morning I'm frustrated that in spots all over the world, peace is continuing to be shoved aside and the stupidity of senseless violence embraced instead. Riots in Nigeria in the midst of an election. Seriously? That's going to make things better? Burning a church or a mosque is going to solve a longstanding argument? Gunmen/terrorists in Mumbai killing foreigners. Yup, that makes sense. That'll win people to your cause. Let's kill innocents visiting our country and then people will say, oh, now I get it. Now I understand what you're trying to say. Congo. Afghanistan. Iraq. Thailand, of all places.

Then there's the non-violent conflict in our own capital. Now, let me just say that I rarely get worked up inside about Canadian politics. I'll shake my head or mumble something like "idiots" or just sigh and wish they'd act like grownups instead of schoolyard numskulls. But what happened this past week, and what will continue this week, makes me really, really annoyed.

I voted Conservative this past election. I voted Conservative the one before that. But I haven't always voted Conservative. I vote for the party who I think puts forward the best plan or party leader. One year I voted Reform--not something I remember fondly--and I voted for Chretien once. So let's be clear (as Harper likes to say), my blood does not run blue. It's purple. Red and blue but no green or orange.

Here are my beefs:
(1) I'm annoyed at the Opposition for not letting the governing party do what they were elected to do. Why would the Finance Minister propose something to harm this country? Would he really propose something that would bring about the downfall of this country in such categorical terms that the opposition is using? Is he really that stupid? Is Stephen Harper that stupid? Maybe we should trust them. They were elected to govern our country, to look after us. Let them do their job. For heaven's sake, they just got there. Give them a few months before bringing the whole house down.

(2) Unfortunately Harper was stupid in not forming an alliance BEFORE bringing this motion to parliament. You're a minority government, dude. You don't have the luxury of doing whatever you want. You have to work together. I don't understand why he didn't do that. That's frustrating. I'm guessing he gambled that the Canadian public would support him on this and that he didn't figure the opposition parties would get so upset. Bad gamble, buddy. We may support you, but now you're on your own. You made this bed.

(3) I'm frustrated in general that the people we sent to Ottawa seem like a bunch of selfish, power-hungry, self-rightous school children. And that they have to bring in past politicians to help them get what they want. Seriously? Chretien and Broadbent? Those are the boys we bring in to help win the fight at recess? It's petty, stupid and childish. They don't truly care about what's best for the country.

And I guess that sums it up. People care most about their own interests, not the interests of the whole--whether it be a political leader or the leader of a rebellion. They act emotionally, irrationally, and selfishly, and we end up in violent scenarios where innocent people get hurt. Forgiveness, grace, mercy, selfless peace-making...that's what we need sprinkled over all these hotspots of hatred. We need it on a personal level and at a national and international level.

I'm not naive. I know we'll never live in a world without violence. But it would be nice, wouldn't it? Let's work it out, people. No guns. No grenades. No killing. We can do this. We can work it out.

I know, it's easy for me to say. But I'm sorry, from my perspective all this violence is senseless and achieving absolutely nothing.

Puppy Cams

2008-11-29T09:44:00.003-05:00

My wife saw a sidebar in this week's People magazine called "Puppy Cam" that led me to compile a short list of the same. Sometimes the streaming is offline, but check back later. There are lots out there, but some I found at this location...Enjoy!

Shiba Inu Puppies
Havanese Harbor Puppies
Dalmation Puppies
Samoyed Puppies
Border Collie Puppies (due end of Nov/08)

And for something a little different--Hamsters!

If you find a better/cuter/just as good cam, send me the link as a comment.

Priscilla Ahn - "Dream"

2008-11-26T21:32:00.005-05:00

I heard this song on my music-mining wife's iPod playlist, and was blown away. Click the title for a YouTube video.

Dream

I was a little girl alone in my little world
who dreamed of a little home for me.
I played pretend between the trees, and
fed my houseguests bark and leaves,
and laughed in my pretty bed of green.

I had a dream
That I could fly from the highest swing.
I had a dream.

Long walks in the dark
through woods grown behind the park,
I asked God who I'm supposed to be.
The stars smiled down on me,
God answered in silent reverie.
I said a prayer and fell asleep.

I had a dream
That I could fly from the highest tree.
I had a dream.

Now I'm old and feeling grey.
I don't know what's left to say
about this life I'm willing to leave.
I lived it full and I lived it well,
there's many tales I've lived to tell.
I'm ready now, I'm ready now,
I'm ready now to fly from the highest wing.

I had a dream

A Dinosaur's Musings

2008-11-24T06:38:00.002-05:00

Yesterday's 96th Grey Cup was the first CFL championship that I didn't watch a single minute since 1987. That's 21 years. And you wanna know why? It's really simple: I'm old school. I have rabbit ears for my TV.

That's right. You heard me. Rabbit ears. You've seen them before. Two shiny straight pieces of metal that usually stick out in opposite directions from on top of a television. They have one singular mission: capture transmission signals so I can watch popular shows.

And until yesterday, I hadn't been seriously burned by my unwillingness to pay for shows. I get the three main channels that have most of today's most watched programming: CTV, Global and CBC. Once in a while there are a few bonus channels that come through clearly, but the point is, I've done more than fine with what I get.

Don't get me wrong. I've always had a bit of cable envy. I know what's out there. I could use some of that sports programming, or the Discovery Channel or Animal Planet. Even the occasional CNN wouldn't hurt. But there's a lot of other garbage (morally or otherwise) or completely unnecessary programming that I don't want piping into my house. My wife and I like moving images enough as it is. Stick 40 more channels on our TV and you may never see us again!

So when I heard that the next few Grey Cups were only going to be on cable, I knew my CFL watching days were numbered. It meant I had to spend more time in bars (an inconvenience) or at friends' houses (most of whom couldn't care less about the CFL).

It bothered me, too, on the level of not liking to be told how to change. Kind of like how in February I'm going to have to pay $30 to buy a digital converter for my TV if I want to watch anything. That really gets my goat. Pretty soon they'll be telling me I have to buy a widescreen TV if I want to see the whole picture!

It's just annoying. I know I'm in the minority--I don't know many people in my situation. It makes me feel like a dinosaur, and we all know what happened to them. But do I seriously have to pay just so I can continue watching one of the best sports out there? Is that what being a sports fan has come to?

Sorry, Lord Grey. I'm glad your cup was hugged and kissed and passed around the room, but this year I missed it. Maybe next year...

Kuli-kuli craving

2008-11-20T21:33:00.003-05:00

We all have our cravings from previous homelands. Tim Hortons for Canadians abroad, for example. I usually get farmer sausage and Bothwell cheese from Manitoba when I can. But for me getting things from Africa is the ultimate.

The one that always brings the biggest smile is kuli-kuli. My wife calls it something I shouldn't print here, but essentially the process is mashing roasted peanuts to a paste, adding some spices including hot pepper, molding it into a variety of shapes, and frying it in the oil that was extracted from the peanuts.

I was surprised that Wikipedia had a listing for it, but they got it right. There's a recipe here and here online for it as well. Another blogger shares her memories of it in Ghana and her method of making it, as well as some photos.

Anyway, they were a favourite snack back in my Nigeria days and whenever I can, I request it from those traveling to West Africa. Other Africa cravings: Fanta, guavas, real yam...

Yummy...

Just a Dream

2008-11-19T06:35:00.002-05:00

I dreamed of Mr. Crouch last night, just a few minutes before I woke. Then, like lake water dripping off as you emerge from a lake, the dream fell away. And I was left with an exhilarating feeling of having experienced something surreal.

The first thing I thought was that I would never see Mr. Crouch like that ever again. That chance was gone now. Was I okay with that? I wondered.

My dream had evolved from me walking up the Jr. High boys dorm hall, to me stepping into the lounge area and finding a large fabricated rock cluster where the pool tables had been. Then, like so many years ago, I and a couple of other old schoolmates, decided to climb it. Of course we did. That's what always happened. Find a rock--then immediately try to be the first to scale it.

I wasn't the first to conquer it. Chad Winsor was this time. (He went up an easier way!) When I did reach the top, I looked down and there were many others from my KA past, watching us climb. I hugged the top of the rock and named it "Pretend Rock"--because that's also what we always did. We named rocks: we were amongst the great foreign explorers of Africa, after all.

When I ran down the other side of the rock cluster, I ran into a beaming Mr. Crouch. We shook hands or high-fived or something and he asked me how I'd slept. "Like a baby," I told him, and ran around to where I'd been earlier--only now there were scores of other people I knew. I somehow had the sense that he was intending to get a game of soccer going.

Feeling the exhilaration of being with people I knew and loved, I ran past several of them to a place on the other side...and then I woke up.

I felt so awake as I lay there in my bed. Mr. Crouch, I thought. I didn't get to talk to him again after leaving KA. How did I feel about that? And was there anyone else that I would like to talk to again before they too have gone "home"?

It was just a dream. But it felt so real. The water is still dripping off of me and all I wonder is what else was going to happen? I woke up too soon.

Icing World

2008-11-16T07:26:00.003-05:00

Every year I have a secret denial growing inside and the only time I realize it's there is when it snows. A part of me always believes that maybe this is the year we won't get any snow. At all. None. Not a flake.

It's a ridiculous and impossible notion. Of course it will snow. It always snows. I'm living in Canada for heaven's sake. The powdery white snow will eventually blow in and rest its weary butt on our landscape.

Like this morning. The fields are white. Icing has been sprinkled on my little world. It's kind of pretty, I'll admit. But it's also a very one-sided relationship: snow gets everything, I get work. Snow gets to lie there; I get to push it around. Snow gets to pile up wherever it wants. I get to push it around. Snow gets to build up higher and higher; I get to push it, and dig at it, and heave it.

So every year I imagine it won't come at all. No icing on the cake this year, mom. I like it plain.

Sigh.

Legacy: what will yours be?

2008-11-15T10:11:00.003-05:00

My grade six teacher died on U.S. election night this month. Well, not just my teacher, to be clear. Coach, trainer, spiritual "guru" and whatever else he was asked to do at my foster home called boarding school. Coupled with the collapse of my employer of 14 years, it got me to thinking about the concept of legacy.

The more I think about legacy (simply put: a thing handed down by a predecessor) the more I'm convinced of its slippery nature. Sure, if the legacy is a physical object, it's pretty clear what the legacy is. A book. A ranch. A new formula. A piece of legislation.

But I'm talking more about an abstract legacy. Let's take Mr. Crouch, my teacher, as an example. His legacy to me is a certain way of viewing my Christianity--an all-encompassing, always on my mind Christianity. You take whatever steps are necessary to keep your mind on God and keep your life focused on His truths. Post-it notes on the mirror. Scripture verses in your pocket. Prayer on your mind.

Others may not view it the same way. His legacy to them is a heavy cloud, a burden, a legalistic methodology of remembering God, an absence of freedom. A cage.

The slippery nature of legacy is the communication of it at a more public level. The reinvention of the man. The specific focus on the good (or bad) to satisfy a personal or corporate agenda. Even my own opinion of Mr. Crouch isn't completely rosy. He helped mentor many lives, but he wasn't perfect. He espoused certain theological viewpoints that I didn't agree with. His thoughts on spirituality could be labeled obsessive by some.

So the public legacy will start as a mixture of truth and myth. The big question is, 30 years from now, how will Mr. Crouch be remembered? What will his legacy have evolved into? Will he be remembered as one of the greatest teachers Kent Academy ever had? Will scandals be revealed, tarnishing his clean reputation? Will his children maintain the good reputation he had? Will the stories passed down about him reinforce the good, or chip away at it until there's not much left?

And that for me is the crux of the matter--the long term legacy. A 4,300 year old pyramid was recently discovered in Egypt. That's quite a legacy. But what's the legacy of the queen for whom that pyramid was built by her son? Isn't that more important? What kind of queen was she? Was she good, or was it only her son that loved her?

R.G. Mitchell Family Books: what is its legacy? How will that company be remembered in 30 years? What kind of mark did it leave on Canada? Its mission was to distribute Christian books across the country--to change lives for Christ. Were they successful? Will people remember the company with fondness? Will it be missed?

I don't have any answers to those questions today. The legacy of RGM to me is a safe place to grow in my abilities as a designer, grow in my knowledge of the Christian book industry, and gain some close friends. It had a rich heritage of accomplishment and growth for almost 75 years. It had aggressive goals. For better or worse, it stood like a tall oak in the industry and everyone saw its height. However, for a tree as big as it was, I think we all believed it had deeper roots than it did.

If I were to predict its eventual legacy--the legacy distilled over the next few years--I would suggest it will be a mixed bag. It will be remembered for its pioneering ways, for its years of stability, for its founder's passion and perseverance, and for its ability to lead the pack when times were good.

But in the bag, I suspect, will also be questions about the continued passion for the mission on the part of the next generation. There will be suggestions that there was too much growth too fast. Were the financial roots nurtured carefully enough? Did the company stray from its core competencies? Was there a reluctance to replace key leaders when it was needed? Did every division care first for the customer, then for itself?

I don't know. But I do know that you only get a legacy once: when you leave or when you die. In the meantime, you have an opportunity to build something that will last for many, many years after you're gone. Sure, it might get spun in ways you can't predict. But if you live a life of integrity and truth and love, your legacy will take care of itself.

Mr. Crouch, thank you for your life, for your words, for your consistency of actions. Your legacy will never be tarnished. More importantly, your legacy will continue to do what you always wanted for us--to focus our eyes on Christ. Enjoy your rest.

Kitchener Dog Park

2008-07-13T23:26:00.004-04:00

The new Kitchener leash free dog park is open. It's a little awkward to get to at this stage, compared to the other ones in the area, but it's worth checking out. It's a little smaller than the Bechtel leash-free in Waterloo but this one has lots of trees/bushes/grass, which is good for our Lab but might not be for other little dogs, and doesn't allow for large packs of dogs to tear around (also good or bad depending on your view point.) A couple of benches along the perimeter. Doggie bag dispensers and a bin for the filled bags.

Place: McLennon Park, which is between Block Line and Ottawa St., just off of Strasburg. Follow this link to see a development map of McLennon Park to help you figure it out. (Click on "Phasing Plan" for a PDF.) Here are the GPS coordinates, which you can also dump into GoogleMaps to find the precise location: +43° 25' 7", -80° 29' 6"

The park (otherwise known as Mt. Trashmore to some) is being constructed in stages so it's not easy to park right beside the dog park yet. I parked on the south end of Barwood Cres. (off of Strasburg) and then walked through a partially constructed path between two houses in the "elbow" of Barwood. You can also follow the Hydro Corridor path up from Strasburg.

It was great for our dog and a lot closer to get to than the Cambridge dog park on Maplegrove and the Waterloo dog park near University and Bridge.

Babel: 3 1/2 out of 5

2007-01-21T20:18:00.000-05:00

If you're planning to see Babel (Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett) before it disappears from theatres, I have several pieces of advice...

1. Don't sit in the second row. Two words: motion sickness. There is so much use of handheld cameras in this movie that it's a much better idea to sit further back and get a wider perspective. I didn't have that option, unfortunately, but would have enjoyed it even more I'm sure.

2. Bring your reading glasses. Much of the movie is subtitled, and as the title suggests, not in just one language. Japanese, Spanish and Arabic. Oh, and sign language.

3. Be prepared to see parts of a Japanese woman that you may not have before. A few times.

4. Don't expect to see the usual fare from Brad Pitt. Although he shares the screen with many other actors in this one, his role is more mature, serious and sober than usual. He looks older too.

5. Expect it to be different. It's not like any other movie I've seen, mostly in the sense of using three different settings around the world to tell three different storylines that interest in large and small ways.

When I watched the Golden Globe awards this year, I hadn't seen a single one of the best picture nominations. So I wasn't really rooting for any of them (Babel, Bobby, The Departed, Little Children and The Queen.) Having seen this one now, I'm not surprised that it won but I still wouldn't have expected it to win. It's different, that's for sure, but I wouldn't say it's spectacular. I wouldn't give it an Oscar for Best Picture. But what do I know?

Anyway, it's an interesting picture for those who like their movies different than what's usually on the marquee.

New Blue Bomber Stadium?

2007-01-19T22:14:00.000-05:00

Ah, the memories of frozen buns on metal bleachers at the Winnipeg Stadium. Toque, parka, mitts, long-johns, boots, couple more layers, hot chocolate in hand...and still shivering. Did life get any better?

Well, I have to admit it's great to hear that they're hoping to build a new stadium in Winnipeg. I was just reading the official line on the Bombers' web site. I also found two other images related to possible design options at this location. And a movie on YouTube that has a presentation of one of the designs.

Of the three designs, I prefer the first one, which also happens to be the one they're featuring on the Bombers' site. Looks the most modern, seems to have a progressive feel to it, and has a great plan in terms of using it all year round. Make it a destination for more than just football. Maybe they could host an NHL game there like they did in Edmonton. Go to the Blue Bomber link to see a bigger view and alternate views.

I'm assuming they can't afford a covered stadium, or perhaps they want to maintain the outdoorsy feel of football, which to be quite honest is the best way to watch a game. It's the main reason I don't enjoy Argos games as much. There needs to be a connection with the outdoors, in my opinion, a sense of vulnerability to whatever nature brings. That's the true test of a great team--being able to win no matter what the weather is like.

Anyway, hope it works out. I have a lot of great memories at the current stadium and it would be somewhat sad to see it torn down. But it's old, very basic, and just isn't something anyone can point to with a great deal of pride.

Now if they could just get a good solid team back on the field this year. It'd be great to see them come to Toronto for the '07 Grey Cup in Toronto. Wouldn't that just irk my Argo-loving friends.

Rotten eggs

2007-01-13T12:15:00.000-05:00

I'm on a streak. Four for four now. Renting movies has never felt more pointless than the last couple of weeks.

All the King's Men (Sean Penn, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins) -- You'd think from the listed cast that this was a British monarchy movie. Right? Wrong. Believe it or not this is a movie about a famous Louisiana governor from the 20s/30s. I'd heard about it back in Fall when it was playing at the Toronto Film Festival and had high expectations. Boy, what a dud. Half the time I had no idea what Penn was saying, the other half I couldn't understand what was happening. When I watched the extras and saw what the real politician was like, I couldn't believe they had cast Penn. He missed so much of what the real man was like. (1/2 a star)

Little Miss Sunshine (Steve Carrell, Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Allan Arkin) -- A friend had recommended this one as being an amazing movie, but I have to say I was very disappointed with the story line and the lack of emotion it evoked from me (other than disappointment). Great performances by all, I'll admit that, and I like the quirkiness of it, but it just left me feeling blah. I couldn't put my finger on it specifically, but there just wasn't anything I could point to and say, that was fantastic. Just doesn't live up to the hype. (1.5 stars)

The Last Kiss (Zach Braff, Casey Affleck, Rachel Bilson, Blythe Danner) -- I put my own hopes up for this one, and it almost reached an acceptable level. But the material of faithfulness in marriage and sticking with it no matter what fell short for me. I like Zach as an actor and overall think he has a lot of talent in movie making in general, but I wanted more from this one. The one decision that his character made in this movie wrecked it for me. I needed his character to be stronger--I guess so that it balanced the really bad decision-making of the other characters. (2.5 stars)

Scoop (Woody Allen, Scarlett Johannson, Hugh Jackman) -- I'm not giving this one any stars at all. It was a complete disaster in my opinion. I've liked Scarlett in most of her other stuff, though I'm not all ga-ga over her like other guys, but she did not work in this one. While I'm not really a Woody Allen fan, it takes a certain kind of actress to work successfully with him. Scarlett is not her. I could probably be persuaded to see this one with another actress in this role, that's how much difference I think it made. The storyline was suspect, too, but it might be redeemed. I couldn't wait for this one to be over. Seriously. I have to stop from saying too many mean things. Just let it go.

Big and little thoughts

2007-01-10T23:06:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I typed anything here. Is it a coincidence that the invasion of a yellow lab puppy occurred at about the same time as my last round of entries? Life changes when a baby comes into the home, furry or otherwise. It's all good, but the routines are shaken like the letter cubes in a game of Boggle, and when they settle back down, it's a whole new set of words.

Things I'm thinking about:

An interesting article from TIME this week: "The $10 Solution." How to help stop malaria from killing African kids at such an alarming rate. Is the answer really so attainable?

The arrival of the newest, sweetest iCandy: the iPhone. Would someone please get Steve Jobs to solve the really big problems of the world? He has a knack for bringing us great new toys, but do we really need them? (I'm waiting for the next generation of it. Let 'em fix the bugs first.)

I never thought I'd be so happy to see an inch of snow in my back yard. I can literally see the flu germs dying on my icy sidewalk. And I smile. Now maybe the geese will finally fly away instead of congregating in the corn field across the road, looking confused and lost. Fly, fly now!

When are they going to make a truly great movie again, one that leaves you awestruck as you dump your bag of popcorn in the garbage on the way out? I'm tired of cute, funny, touching, interesting etc etc movies. I want a movie that takes me somewhere else and leaves a permanent imprint on me. Do they make them anymore?

At church on Sunday we were asked if we truly loved God with all our hearts. As in LOVE him, with real emotions. Do we FEEL our love for Him. Because you can't love God from a distance.

Carnival Cruise - Two Weeks Later

2006-10-13T10:12:00.000-04:00

Yesterday's ridiculously early snow makes our Caribbean cruise feel even more of a faint memory than it already did. Was I really waist-high in clear, warm waters just two weeks ago?

To tie up this section of my blog, let me close with my overall impressions and advice:

1. Once you get onboard, cruising is a nice, lazy way to let yourself be pampered for a few days without having to worry about meals, entertainment and when to get out of bed.

2. Unless you're hyper-sensitive, seasickness is not an issue. I never got remotely close to being seasick, nor anyone in our party. Not once. And I get carsick fairly easily, so that should tell you something.

3. Cruising is a good holiday to spend with friends as well. The ship's big enough and busy enough that you can spend time together or apart--as long as you start off the trip by laying out the rule that you can be alone if you want to.

4. Spend a little extra and get a window. It's worth it and you'll never regret it later.

5. Port-hopping is fun but you have to be realistic about what you'll accomplish when you're there. The time goes by very fast so plan wisely and don't expect to see everything.

6. It's okay to be a tourist, but you can feel less like one of the "herd" by planning your own excursions. You'll feel more like an explorer and assuming it turns out great, you'll feel better about having braved something new.

7. Above all, allow yourself the opportunity to be pampered--just this once. Leave the guilt at home. Wait for the sell-off tickets, if that helps. But have fun! Sometimes you need a treat.

I'd go again. Definitely. But probably not for a while. There are other places to see first.

Carnival Cruise Day 5

2006-10-11T19:57:00.000-04:00

Last day at sea. Skies are clear again and the sun shines bright and hot. Maybe I'm getting used to it but it doesn't feel as hot as other days. I'm feeling my sunburn a little, a keepsake from yesterday's spectacular snorkeling, but I really can't complain. As white as I am, I got off lucky.

I'm sitting on the highest deck of the ship on a deck chair, the big blue sea all around me, the ship's big red fin to my right, the bow to my left. I wanted some time to soak in the view and memorize this feeling before I have to return to reality. iPod tuned to a soundtrack, this is so relaxing--but not completely so. The knowledge of tomorrow's debarking hovers over me and I wish I could push it away for a few more days. One more port. One more day at sea.

I love the feeling of being unreachable, of knowing that we're in the middle of water, moving slowly--no rush. Thoughts of home and work sometimes try to land on my mind but I swat them away. Not yet. That will come. Now is the time to enjoy this minute--of big sky, wide seas and warm winds.

Carnival Cruise Day 4

2006-10-07T22:18:00.000-04:00

Sometimes plans don't work out the way you'd hoped. Our Cozumel stopover is a case in point. The plan seemed solid at the outset. We'd get off the ship, browse the pierside shops, head out to Paradise Beach for some snorkeling, then take a taxi back to San Miguel for some more thorough shopping.

The fly in the ointment? A one-hour time difference that messed me up.

Cozumel is Mexico's largest island and it's economy is largely dependent on tourism. So when Hurricane Wilma decided to sit over the island for a few hours about a year ago, the island was devastated. Since then they've been persistently trying to get back on their feet, and while some popular places like Chankanaab Park with their famous dolphin discoveries are still not completely back, many others are. This fact eliminated some options for an excursion, but not all. We noticed the effects of the hurricane even on the pier we set foot on. We could tell it had been rebuilt in places, but it was a work in progress. The Carnival Pier just down the beach was still in ruins and apparently it was only the Inspiration that had the chance to use this pier instead of using tender boats.

Since my snorkelling experience was incomplete the previous day, I was determined to have a second chance. Cozumel was reputed to have some of the best snorkelling reefs in the world, so I persuaded the others in my team that it would be a good idea to go to Paradise Beach and join a Fury catamaran snorkel tour that departed from their pier.

Here's where I goofed. I had read that the tour left at 12:30pm, and when we went to the beach with that in mind, I had forgotten that their time was an hour behind. So when I thought we only had a half hour wait, it was actually an hour and a half. By the time we'd figured this out, we'd messed up any real opportunity to get back to San Miguel to do the shopping we'd planned. My wife, disappointed as she was, took the generous high road and said we should go ahead and snorkel, even if it meant skipping the shopping.

So that's what we did. While we waited for the catamaran's departure, we had lunch at Paradise Beach's restaurant. (One of us had discovered that in order to stay on a beach chair, you had to order a minimum of $10 worth of food or beverages--something I hadn't read about anywhere. In fact, their web site states "Free Entrance, including comfortable chairs and umbrellas.) At 12:30 local time (1:30 ship time) three of us gone on board the catamaran while the fourth returned to the pier. As it turned out, there would be only five guests on the catamaran--supplemented by four or five crew! It was an odd feeling to have the whole "boat" to ourselves, but it also meant more personalized service.

We headed out with storm clouds approaching, and en route we ran into some rain. We could see some of the devastation the hurricane left behind, even a year later, as we scanned the beaches from the boat. By the time we got to Palancar Reef, the rain had moved on and we got set for some another snorkel adventure. We would be swimming to the Columbia Reef after an hour or so, then head back to the beach after that one.

It turned out to be spectacular. Seeing sea turtles, a stingray, a pair of barracudas, schools of colourful fish, and groups of fish darting in between us only inches from my finger tips--it was all amazing. As I looked through my mask into the clear, beautiful waters, I had such a desire to go deeper and explore the actual reefs themselves. It was a whole new world down there and I never felt afraid of any of the creatures we encountered.

By the time we were back on the Inspiration, after some time of shopping at the pier, I had mixed feelings about leaving the island. I felt very badly for ruining the chances of shopping in town, something we'd all anticipated doing. I felt humbled since I had scoffed at others' stories of messing up their plans because of time differences. But I also felt glad for having been able to experience the waters of the Caribbean again.

I went to bed early again that night with thoughts of underwater creatures swimming in my head.

Carnival Cruise Day 3

2006-10-06T20:45:00.000-04:00

I can’t remember ever dreaming as a child that one day I would be standing on a Caribbean sandbar with the sole intention of letting a stingray suck squid out from between my fingers. Nor do I ever recall ever wishing I could kiss one!

But on day 3 of our sea adventure, that’s exactly what occurred. We rose bright and early--6:30 on a holiday!--so we could catch one of the first tender boats that would take us from the ship to the shores of Grand Cayman. George Town was just rousing itself when we landed and most of the shops were still closed. (We were on ship time, an hour ahead.) We paid the Moby Dick Tours rep who met us at the pier dressed in teal (for a bargain, I might add--half the price that Carnival was asking for the same tour!) and then wandered the streets for an hour.

Before long, after a short ride on an old school bus with twenty other tourists, we were boarding a little boat that would take us out to Stingray Sandbar. Anyone who’s been to Grand Cayman will be familiar with the name. Along with visiting the Turtle Farm, dropping by "Hell", and sitting on Seven Mile Beach, encountering stingrays at close proximity is the biggest thing to do when you only have a short time to work with. Sure, there’s lots of high-priced shopping to do, but what’s a fancy watch when you can do the "Stingray Shuffle" in beautiful Cayman waters?

We arrived at the sandbar and our boat circled a group of other tour operators already feeding the rays. Once we’d anchored, we fit ourselves with snorkel masks and jumped into the waist-deep water. Our tour guide went ahead of us and snagged himself a four-foot stingray, then proceded to introduce each of us to Madame Stingray. I watched my wife plant a kiss on the “nose” of the ray, while others took some chunks of squid and held them for the ray to suck up like a Hoover.

Ducking my head below, I watched through my mask as the rays flew on the bottom of the sea like enchanting science fiction creatures. They were spooky and beautiful in the same moment. I eventually had my own turn to kiss the creature, touch its leathery “hide” and feel the suction against my hand. I have to admit that it was quite a unique thrill to literally hold one in my arms. Smooth and wet on its underside, it took a moment of courage for me to accept what I was doing. I knew there was little danger, based on the guide’s explanations, but the ray is just such a unique looking creature that looks slightly ominous as it skims along the sand, the sides of its body waving it forward. Eyes on top, mouth below, I wondered to myself if the designers of the Stealth bomber had taken a page out of Creation when they crafted their plane.

Later we dropped anchor at another spot and jumped in to do some snorkelling. I’d never done this before and quickly learned why everyone fastened on a life jacket. It keeps the salty water from slipping down the air pipe quite as often. We saw some fish but truthfully I only got a brief taste of what tropical snorkelling could be. All the way back to shore, I sat on the top deck of the boat and kept thinking about what an incredible trip this was turning out to be. Warm sunshine on my face, unbelievably beautiful, clear waters below, and the security of knowing that my bed and all the food I’d need would be waiting for me when I got back to the ship. Most of all, what a treat to have snorkelled with my wife for the first time.

By 2pm, after another brief time of shopping along the pierside street and picking up a couple of souvenirs (like Tortuga Rum Cake and coffee) we were back onboard the Inspiration. My choice of booking a local tour operator had been a good one and I’d recommend Moby Dick Tours to anyone. It saves you money, is much less crowded and gives you more personalized guidance with the rays than if you book with Carnival. It might feel a little less secure when you're sitting at home thinking about the options, but if you do your homework and pick the right tour, you won’t be disappointed. Just think of it as part of the adventure!

Carnival Cruise Day 2

2006-10-05T18:59:00.000-04:00

I woke this morning, after a complete night of sleep (no cat meows, no construction noise) and peeked outside. Clear sky, gentle waters, no land in sight. Today’s our first full day on the good ship Inspiration and I feel refreshed already. A few more solid sleeps like that and my tank will be full.

I decided this morning that this cruise-thing is really a compromise of two holidays. On the one hand it’s essentially a stay at an all-inclusive resort. On the other hand it’s a sea voyage that takes you to ports you may not normally see. Not exactly a unique observation, I know, but that’s the only way I can describe it. Embedded in this holiday is a sense of anticipation, a feeling that there’s more adventure ahead, just waiting for our arrival.

The hotel side of this compromise is evidenced by the fact that if I didn’t look out the windows, I’d likely forget that I wasn’t in a Vegas hotel. The décor is bright and colourful—and on this ship, not exactly classy. With a casino, gift shops, bars, restaurants, lounges, live music and floors of state rooms (bedrooms), it’s essentially a hotel. That moves.

I’ve felt no seasickness at all. Sometimes the slight rocking motion feels more like a train than a ship, but I have no idea why that is. Right now I’m sitting at a table in front of an enormous window on the starboard side, the choppy sea stretched out with nothing on the horizon. My travel mates are in the Paris Lounge learning about all the shopping opportunities at our two port stops.

The food’s been good overall, but other than the more formal dinner last night (where I had New Zealand lamb) I haven’t been blown away by the meals. The buffets have been very average. Tonight’s dinner is extra formal, suits and gowns, with lobster on the menu.

Surprises thus far: the international nature of the ship’s staff (27 countries represented); plastic plates, cups and mugs; much younger demographic of guests than I’d thought; more places inside to sit and think in relative quiet than I’d anticipated; not nearly the crowd-factor that I had predicted—sometimes I wonder where everyone is!

Other highlights of the day: learning about the Carnival-sponsored excursions available for Grand Cayman and Cozumel; wandering through works of pre-auctioned art with a glass of champagne in hand; snapping some photos from the top of the ship against a clear, hot sky; spending an hour on a deck chair trying to reduce my farmer tan; enjoying a mango daiquiri while guests made fools of themselves in the karaoke lounge.

The evening featured the formal dinner where everyone dressed to the nines, took fancy portrait photos and enjoyed a meal with lobster as a option. It felt wonderfully old fashioned, like stepping back a hundred years.

My main fear today as I write this: it’ll be over too soon. There’s a sense of security and stability on this trip that surprises me. It started when we emptied our suitcases into drawers and closets. We’re not going anywhere—but yet we are!

Carnival Cruise Day 1

2006-10-05T18:28:00.000-04:00

We arrived at the Tampa cruise pier well in advance of the embarkation window. The Blue One shuttle bus dropped us off at the entrance and a porter snatched up our luggage and wheeled it off. Left to our own devices, we decided to see if we could check in already and avoid the lines later. The pier staff, all remarkably friendly, directed us to the check-in area. Ten minutes later we had our “Sign & Sail” card in hand and were officially ready for boarding once 1:30 rolled around.

In the meantime we decide to check out the Florida Aquarium that sat right next door. A construction discount helped our decision to pay the admission fee. Inside we were pleasantly surprised with the variety of sea life represented and the way it was laid out. We were allowed to touch a little alligator, some starfish and anemones, and I was enraptured by the massive fish “tank” that stretched at least ten feet above me and was probably as big as a house. It was like a miniature ocean and was so peaceful. The fish inside seemed to be moving in slow motion, like a computer screen saver. We were also treated to a little educational show where a couple of scuba divers entered into the shark tank for a quick swim.

After leaving the aquarium (which I highly recommend if you’re in the area) we did some browsing in the relatively new Channelside shopping area. My wife picked up a nice hat for the cruise and I think we were all fairly eager at this point to get on the ship. So at around 2pm we began to make our ways through the winding halls, up a set of escalators, and finally past the watchful eyes of the security personnel.

Then, just like that, we were on Carnival's Inspiration ship. Live music was playing when we entered the atrium, and we were directed to the elevators. We descended to “M” deck, also listed as deck “5” in the elevator, then followed a long corridor (that ran the length of the ship, I think!) to cabin 181. We opened the door, curious to see just how small it really was. We were pleasantly surprised at the size. They had moved the two single beds together, making a king bed instead, but even then, the room felt bigger than we’d anticipated. There was plenty of space for clothes in the drawers and closet, and a mini-safe was stashed inside the closet as well. The bathroom was small, but seemed roomier than our hotel’s bathroom in Rome!

We were immediately glad that we had paid extra to have an Oceanside stateroom, and also that we’d insisted on having a full window instead of a porthole window. It made a huge difference, making the room feel like a real hotel room. A television sat in one upper corner of the room (with a short list of satellite news channels, TNT and a couple of ship-produced channels), there was a single power outlet, several bed lamps and a selection of beverages we could purchase.

After unpacking, we went upstairs to have some lunch before they closed down the buffets. I found the décor strange in the Lido dining room, not at all what I had anticipated. It felt more like Vegas than the classy, stately ship I had expected. It became obvious to me as the day wore on that this cruise was about the “everyman” of America, not the duality of rich vs. poor depicted in Titanic. Here we were all the same and we all ate in the same areas of the ship. No one was treated more special than anyone else. And we were all treated very well, let me add. I was amazed at the level of hospitality by everyone, including the cleaning staff. Everyone met your eye when you walked past them and greeted you with a smile. There were a few exceptions, of course, but overall I was amazed by the service. They really were there to make sure we had a great holiday. Either that or they were all very good actors.

Before our ship set sail, every single guest on the ship had to return to their cabin to retrieve the life jacket that was stowed in their cabin. Then we followed the route marked on the walls (“M6” was ours), which was ostensibly our escape route should the ship run into trouble. Once we were on our assigned deck (Lido deck for us) we were told to put on our lifejacket while we listened to the instructions. Being a typically hot Tampa day, it wasn’t the most comfortable drill, but everyone understood the importance of the drill, and very little complaining was heard.

At 4:40 the ship pulled away from the pier and our adventure had begun. We slowly made our way through the channels, passed under the Sunshine Skyway bridge, and eased our way into the Gulf of Mexico.

For those interested in details, Inspiration is a 10-year old ship with these key stats:
* Total Staterooms - 1,026
* Private Balcony Staterooms- 54
* Decks - 10
* Passenger capacity - 2,052
* Total crew - 920
* Tonnage - 70,367
* Ship length - 855

In comparison to the Titanic, which we all know about, here are her stats:
* Gross Tonnage - 46,239 tons
* Dimensions - 852.5 x 92.5ft
* Passengers - 1,034 1st class, 510 2nd class, 1,022 3rd class

Our first semi-formal dinner introduced us to our waitering team, one from Guyana, the other from Indonesia. The four-course menu had an excellent selection of delicious-sounding choices, and it was comforting to know that we didn't have to hand over the credit card for this one. We were also introduced to George the Greek, our extroverted maitre d'.

In the evening we partook of some of the entertainment on board, with my wife winning a coveted "ship on a stick" trophy in the Paris Lounge trivia game show. An expensive and futile round of BINGO followed, after which we decided to check out the late night buffet.

We tucked into bed after midnight, glad to be on the good ship Inspiration.

My Hurricane Watch

2006-09-15T18:56:00.000-04:00

It's funny how a person can ignore an everyday meteorological occurrence for most of his life--then suddenly take an urgent, avid interest in it.

Take tornados, for instance. I don't know a whole lot about them, other than some story about a girl and a dog getting swept up into some alternate universe because of one. Oh, and there was that other movie where a cow went flying across the screen because of a tornado. Not a lot of knowledge, right? But plop me down in Kansas and I'm likely to learn pretty quickly just how important it is to know when one's headed my way.

And that's what's happening to me with hurricanes. Sure, I saw the footage of Katrina and have vague TV memories of other ones like Ivan. But now that I've got a cruise booked for the Caribbean during the last week of September, the whole topic seems a lot more important all of a sudden. The last thing I want is to be stuck in a hurricane in the middle of the Gulf, knowing full well that everyone at home is nodding their heads with a smug "told you so" gleaming in their eyes.

So the first thing I did was search the internet for sites that could help me track any incoming bogies. I figured it was better to know what was on the way than head down to Florida and get smacked up the side of the head with a doozie of a storm. I landed on a few, starting with the National Hurricane Center, the government's watchful eye, and the organization that the other sites point to. I also regularly check Central Florida's Hurricane Center, and a site with a great name, Skeetobite Weather, plus one called Wunderground.

Despite my best intentions, I've discovered it to be a fascinating mix of surveillance, forecast, technical jargon and history. Discussion boards relate opinions, observations, theories--and a general sense of watchfulness. A hurricane is a type of tropical cyclone and moves up a ladder of intensity ranks. It starts off as an "Invest", then becomes a "Tropical Depression", then a "Tropical Storm", and finally, a "Hurricane". The cyclone only gets a real name when it hits the rank of Tropical Storm. After that, like an army general, it can continue to move up the ranks to Levels of hurricane. A Level 1 Hurricane has reached wind speeds of 74 mph. The worst is a Level 5 Hurricane, with winds over 155 mph.

As an example, the current Tropical Storm that is a potential threat to my cruise is called Tropical Storm Helene. It started in Africa as Invest 94L, then became Tropical Depression #8, and then Tropical Storm Helene. See the chart below for the path (real and projected) of Helene. You can see the direction of the trail, but also how it gets wider as it grows in intensity.

The coolest part of this whole storm world (for me) is the presence of great maps and visualizations of the storm's paths. I've seen them used in weather broadcasts on news programs and always kind of scoffed at them, like, "oh sure, that makes sense, mr. weather man." But now I get it. Wunderground has a Flash chart, for heaven's sake. One site has plotted key points on GoogleMaps. That's my kind of information source.

Anyway, so far things are looking okay for our cruise. Hurricane Florence turned north before it hit the mainland, though the edges of it did hit Bermuda. Gordon did much the same, though it didn't touch Bermuda and was stronger than Florence. Helene is due to become a Hurricane soon.

Here's the latest on Tropical Storm Helene:
HELENE IS DEFINITELY STRENGTHENING AT THIS TIME AND IS VERY NEAR HURRICANE STATUS. SATELLITE IMAGES SHOW AN IMPRESSIVE CYCLONICALLY-CURVED CONVECTIVE BAND WRAPPING AROUND THE CENTER. THE OUTFLOW IS WELL-ESTABLISHED AND IS MOST IMPRESSIVE TO THE WEST AND SOUTH OF THE CYCLONE...THE EXPECTED STEERING PATTERN WILL FORCE HELENE TO GRADUALLY TURN TO THE NORTHWEST AS INDICATED IN THE OFFICIAL FORECAST. NO MODEL BRINGS HELENE PAST 60W LONGITUDE IN FIVE DAYS IN THE LATEST MORNING RUN...AND IN FACT...MOST OF THEM TURN THE CYCLONE NORTHWARD.

In other words, we should be okay. But hurricanes can change their minds. Stay tuned. It's amazing what you can learn about new things when you've got good money invested in it, huh?

Toronto Film Festival

2006-09-11T19:48:00.000-04:00

It's not often I find myself sitting in a movie theatre, popcorn in hand, while a real movie director personally introduces his movie and invites his lead actor to join him on-stage. It's even more remarkable when the two men take the stage later with the final credits scrolling on the screen behind them, and proceed to field questions about their creation.

Surreal, yes, but quite common when the movie is being shown at the Toronto Film Festival, an event that springs to action every September for ten days. This year I coaxed my wife and a friend from Montreal to jump on the Yonge subway line bright and early on a Saturday morning to head into the film fray for a day. Earlier that week I'd struggled online to purchase tickets for several of the films on the schedule, but was only able to snag seats for a German film that I'd never heard of, playing at 10 a.m. "But it's the Film Festival," I explained. "It doesn't matter what time it's showing."

We arrived early at the Paramount theatre near John and Queen, and three hours later emerged with a new appreciation for the Festival. We promptly pulled out the cell phone and ordered tickets for a 3pm movie at the VISA screening room at Elgin Theatre.

We crossed Queen St. and found a restaurant across from CityTV, where over a patio lunch of Tibetan dumplings and Butter Chicken, we talked more about the film we'd just seen, The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen). Powerfully acted, well-written and ending in a way that satisfied us all, we were left pondering the life of the average East German living behind the Berlin Wall in 1984. Although sub-titled, the movie's most powerful language was the tranformation of the lead character who began the story as a hard, Stasi intelligence officer.

It was played so well by Ulrich Mühe (left) that when he stood on stage during the Q&A, I had to remind myself that the man standing there was the actor, not Gerd Wiesler, "HGW XX/7". Although, they did tell us that Ulrich had indeed live in East Germany during the time portrayed in the film. And perhaps that fact made the experience all the more moving. This film received several German-equivalent Oscars for this film and I now know why. I highly recommend it. 10/10 from MapleMonkey.

When we arrived at beautiful Elgin Theatre at Yonge and Queen about 30 minutes before the next movie was to begin, we picked up our tickets and headed for the line. It gradually became clear as we strode north on Yonge that the queue was longer than we thought. When we came to the end of the block, we discovered the line took a ninety-degree angle east--and only stopped in front of Massey Hall's front entrance.
But in the spirit of the Festival, it simply became an opportunity to talk about movies to another young man in line.

This film was called The Fall and turned out to be a very different animal. Directed by Tarsem, an Indian film maker, this is IMDB.com's synopsis: "In a hospital, a little girl with a broken collar bone meets a bedridden stuntman who starts telling her a fantastical story which reflects his state of mind. As time goes by, fiction and reality start to intertwine in this uplifting epic fantasy."

TIFF's site describes it like this: "The Fall was filmed in twenty-three different countries and features a cast of thousands. Fantastical creations derive almost entirely from Tarsem’s incredible eye for locations and visual effects. In a sense, the film is as much about cinema and its possibilities – reinforced by a heartbreaking montage of classic silent film stunts at the movie’s end – as anything else."

Once again it was introduced by the director and we briefly saw two members of the cast (regretfully not the incredible little actress, Catinca Untaru, who played Alexandria with incredible ability). I've read mixed reviews on this film and I understand where they're coming from, but I'd still give it 8/10.

Film buffs need to take in the Toronto International Film Festival if they can. It's addictive and fun, and it's a wonderful opportunity to spend some time in a unique city with hundreds of other movie fans. This is your chance to see movies that you may not even be able to rent on DVD from your corner video store. Celebrity hunters have a field day during TIFF. This year Toronto was treated by the faces of Brad Pitt, Kate Winslet, Will Ferrell, Matt Damon, Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, Jude Law, Sean Penn and many more. TIFF is becoming the first stop before the Oscars, so it's a chance to see good films before the rest of the world.

We'll be seeing one more movie on Saturday (Amazing Grace, directed by Michael Apted, about William Wilberforce and his crusade against the slave trade) and I'm looking forward to it. (Releasing March 2007 by Walden Media.) It's story telling at its most creative and boundary-pushing.

Movies with MapleBuzz

2006-09-01T20:49:00.000-04:00

Fall always seems to be a good time for movies. Here are the ones that caught my eye when I looked over the Fall 2006 list.

Hollywoodland (Sept. 8, Adian Brody, Diane Lane, Ben Affleck)
June 16, 1959. The glamour of Tinseltown permanently fades for actor George Reeves, the heroic Man of Steel on TV's Adventures of Superman, as the actor dies in his Hollywood Hills home. Felled by a single gunshot wound, Reeves (portrayed in Hollywoodland by Academy Award winner Ben Affleck) leaves behind a fiancée - aspiring starlet Leonore Lemmon (Robin Tunney) - and millions of fans who are shocked by his death. But it is his grieving mother, Helen Bessolo (Lois Smith), who will not let the questionable circumstances surrounding his demise go unaddressed.

All the King's Men (Sept. 22, Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Anthony Hopkins)
Willie Stark, a charismatic, larger-than-life Louisiana governor, holds sway over his constituency and threatens the powers-that-be with his vaguely socialist principles. Based on Robert Penn Warren's popular novel, which was in turn based on the life of Huey P. Long.

The Last King of Scotland (Sept. 27, Gillian Anderson, Forest Witaker)
In an incredible twist of fate, a Scottish doctor (James McAvoy) on a Ugandan medical mission becomes irreversibly entangled with one of the world's most barbaric figures: Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker). Impressed by Dr. Garrigan's brazen attitude in a moment of crisis, the newly self-appointed Ugandan President Amin hand picks him as his personal physician and closest confidante. Though Garrigan is at first flattered and fascinated by his new position, he soon awakens to Amin's savagery -- and his own complicity in it. Horror and betrayal ensue as Garrigan tries to right his wrongs and escape Uganda alive.

Flyboys (Sept. 29, Jean Reno, James Franco)
In 1914, WWI began in Europe. By 1917, the Allied powers of France, England, Italy and others were on the ropes against the German juggernaut. While millions of young men were dying overseas, arguing that the freedom of others was none of its business, America chose...at first...not to fight. Some altruistic young Americans disagreed. They volunteered to fight alongside their counterparts in France; some in the infantry, some in the Ambulance Corps. A handful of others had a different idea: they decided to learn how to fly. The first of them - a squadron of only 38 - became known as the Lafayette Escadrille. In time, America joined their cause. The Escadrille pilots became legendary. FLYBOYS is inspired by their story.

The Departed (Oct. 6, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen)
An all-star cast brings this remake of Wai Keung Lau and Alan Mak's INFERNAL AFFAIRS to the screen. Martin Scorsese's film follows the story of two Boston police officers, one of whom is a member of the Irish Mafia who has infiltrated the ranks of the police, and the other is a bona fide cop sent on an undercover mission to join the Irish Mafia.

Stranger Than Fiction (Nov. 10, Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman)
An IRS auditor suddenly finds himself the subject of narration only he can hear: narration that begins to affect his entire life, from his work, to his love-interest, to his death.

Happy Feet (Nov. 17, Elijah Wood, Nicole Kidman, Robin Williams, Hugh Jackman, etc.)
Animated penguins! Elijah Wood voices the character of a misfit Emperor penguin who can't sing his mating song to his girl (voiced by Nicole Kidman), so he learns to tap dance instead. Directed by George Miller (BABE), and costarring a bevy of heavy-hitters.

For Your Consideration (Nov. 17, Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara)
Actor/director Christopher Guest fashions another scathingly hilarious mockumentary with FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION, this time setting his sights on the absurdities of the movie industry through the story of three actors who get caught up in the awards-buzz surrounding their small indie film.

Deja Vu (Nov. 22, Denzel Washington, Jim Caviezel, Val Kilmer)
Everyone has experienced the unsettling mystery of déjà vu - that flash of memory when you meet someone new you feel you've known all your life or recognize a place even though you've never been there before. But what if the feelings were actually warnings sent from the past or clues to the future? In the captivating new action-thriller from producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Tony Scott, written by Terry Rossio & Bill Marsilii, it is déjà vu that unexpectedly guides ATF agent Doug Carlin (DENZEL WASHINGTON) through an investigation into a shattering crime. Called in to recover evidence after a bomb sets off a cataclysmic explosion on a New Orleans Ferry, Carlin is about to discover that what most people believe is only in their heads is actually something far more powerful - and will lead him on a mind-bending race to save hundreds of innocent people.

Summer Movies: The Dudlies

2006-09-01T19:42:00.000-04:00

The summer of 2006 was a complete movie bust. There, I've said it. Seriously, it was ridiculous. I mean, am I just getting too old for the summer movie blockbuster thing? Was it there but I just missed it? Now that I have a house to pay for, am I readjusting my priorities and thus labeling all movies a waste of time?

Let's look at the evidence. For starters, I asked the friendly Blockbuster movie store manager if I could get a printout of the videos I'd rented. All I got was the last three months, so June to August. Now, I'll admit right from the get-go that this was a fairly busy summer so I didn't watch as many as I have in the past. But still, what were my video experiences?

Firewall -- couldn't buy Harrison Ford as a smart computer guy -- 5/10
Dreamer -- great performances, heartwarming story -- 8/10
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang -- not for everybody, but we actually liked it -- 6.5/10
Underworld Evolution -- Kate, yes, movie so-so -- 5/10
Syriana -- dark, confusing and needed another viewing -- 6/10
Fun with Dick & Jane -- cute, sometimes funny, but not that great -- 5/10
The Matador -- liked elements of it, but not that memorable -- 6/10
Cake -- shouldn't have bothered -- 4/10
Den of Lions -- interesting European setting with my boy Stephen Dorff -- 5/10
Tsotsi -- unique South African movie, memorable but harsh -- 7/10

There were a couple more that don't require mentioning due to their lack of interest, but you have to admit that when Dreamer is my best video of the summer, something's wrong! We also bought Armageddon, Cinderella Man, Memoirs of a Geisha and Water for good previously viewed prices.

Now, as for the movie theatre, I will admit that I stayed away from some of the supposed blockbusters this year. As of today, this is the TOP 10 LIST of movies as per imdb.com

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
Cars (2006)
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
The Da Vinci Code (2006)
Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
Superman Returns (2006)
Over the Hedge (2006)
Click (2006)
Mission: Impossible III (2006)
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Out of those I saw:
Pirates: dark, stupid, confusing and a waste of time (4/10)
Da Vinci Code: previously reviewed, 6/10
Ice Age Meltdown: cute, but just okay, 5/10
Devel Wears Prada: funny, good performances, and some memorable elements, 7/10

In some cases I was turned off by the trailer (Superman Returns). X-Men was another sequel and the idea bored me, the same for MI:3. The rest I didn't even think about seeing. Interestingly, this year's Pirates movie is now the 4th best-selling movie of all time--go figure! Da Vinci is 21st, and Ice Age: Meltdown is 29th.

Instead of those "blockbusters", I went to see The Lake House (not bad, interesting concept, and a good reunion of Reaves & Bullock, 7/10); Lady in the Water (I actually liked it a lot, 8/10); and Talledega Nights (I mistakenly thought there would be funny parts that weren't in the trailer, 4/10).

I guess every year there's a couple of great ones and a lot of duds. This summer felt more dudly. Looking back I can pick a couple of great movies per year, and they're often not released in summer. Time to readjust my expectations.

iSight Solution

2006-08-29T17:55:00.000-04:00

I bought an iSight a few weeks ago with birthday money that was growing moldy in an envelope. Never one to spend free money without hours of careful thought, I finally parted ways with it by handing it over to my local Apple retailer.

The truth is I've been eying the iSight for some time. Not necessarily because I needed it that badly, but because webcams for the Mac are about as common as polar bears in the Sahara. It also looked pretty cool and had a mic built into the camera unit. Plus, with parents living in Thailand, it made some practical sense as well to get with the times and get visually connected.

It didn't take me long to realize that the world of webcams is fraught with serious obstacles. I had read there might be problems connecting to PCs, but surely I'd be fine. Nice dream. I first connected to a friend with a Mac in Montreal. No sweat. Easy peazy. Then I tried my dad. No luck. I could hear him but we couldn't connect. I had him downloading AIM basic after the newest AIM didn't work. No luck. Later I found out from another Mac owner that she was having trouble connecting with her PC friends too. Once again I could connect to her no problem.

I finally found the answer last night. My sister suggested downloading the latest version of Skype. So I found the Mac Video Preview download and tried it out. Voila. Both audio and video came through for both of us. 'Course I don't have the highest speed broadband so everyone has a tinge of alien to their appearance, but it's better than nothing, and it's a free conversation over hundreds of miles.

So if you know anyone else who's been struggling with this Mac-to-PC via webcam issue, tell them about Skype Video.