Grazing Rites

Back in High School a friend of mine, Jeff, would always factor in what he called 5 minutes for my stupidity when making plans. It sounds bad but I never took it as an insult, partly because he was always right.

Jeff was a very wise man and I like to think I learned from him. As I’ve mentioned numerous times before I play the long game and plan ahead. The thing is, I periodically forget things I’ve done in the planning and foresight stage but the up side is this leads to pleasant discoveries down the line.

So I’m putting together my Halloween costume today, I’m phoning it in a bit by going as John McCain so I’m going through my clothes to see what I have that best matches what he most frequently wears.

Patterned red tie…check.
Patterned blue shirt…check
Suit…

Then I notice he tends to wear suits that are dark grey, often easily mistaken for black on TV also with a pattern that’s easily mistaken for solid on TV. I had just the suit I think, assuming I still have it. I go through my day-to-day closet and can’t find it so I go to the outerwear closet and find the jacket but no pants and I recall that I had thrown the pants out over a year ago as they had developed a hole so I find some other grey pants that will work. But when looking through my closets I made some fantastic discoveries of things I had bought but never worn that would be perfect for the Vegas trip.

A black pinstripe suit I bought well over a year and a half ago and have never really had opportunity to wear. I can’t believe I forgot about this suit that, other than trying it on and tailoring, I’ve never worn. I had planned to just take my plain black suit but it sounds like finally I may have an opportunity to wear this brand new pinstripe suit. This is a particularly big deal because this was one of those suits I had my eye on for years as I worked at Sears always wishing I could afford and have an excuse to wear and when they went on sale they never had my size but after years of waiting my day finally came when I got it at an amazing discount and in just the right size.

Then I remembered that I had bought some designer dress shirts at Ross during my weekend trip to Everett last March. I thought I just had a plain shirt similar to one I already owned but boy was I wrong, I discovered two beautiful striped shirts in my closet, never worn, one CK and one Kenneth Cole.

I wouldn’t have found any of these things if I hadn’t been scouring my closets looking for the best match for my costume.

So thanks to John McCain I have a brand new suit and 2 brand new dress shirts for Vegas. Of course I’ll get Jon to sign off on them on Election Night because my plain black suit is pretty awesome in its own right. I might just take both.

So now I’m not just excited for Vegas, I’m excited for what I get to wear in Vegas. Me of the past and me of the future both rock, me of the past made this happen and me of the future gets to enjoy it.

I love time travel.

The Vancouver Secondary Teachers’ Association has endorsed Alvin Singh for Vancouver School Board, more on that here:
http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/reportcard/archive/2008/10/03/vancouver-teachers-vote-on-candidates-and-2010.aspx

Added one more name to the list, we’ve officially hit the half way point:
Kelsey M
Erica
Jon C
Klynton & Katryna C
Peter
Mindi
Keshia
Ognjen
Joanne
Dave

Unfortunately as I have now entered what I call grey mode the $5 challenge will not continue beyond my pledge to add $5 to the first 20 people who donate to Alvin’s campaign, post a comment on my blog, and send either Alvin or I a screenshot. So if you want to make your donation count even more with an extra $5 act now as there are only 10 spots remaining.
http://alvin2008.wordpress.com

Here’s a funny yet informative ad about another COPE candidate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rVMFASz-Hg

Here are some strategies for dealing with what I while call Extreme Grey Mode, essentially grey mode with a debt. In this economy I suspect more and more people could benefit from this.

Beware the lure of coupons. Coupons are only good if they are for things that you would have to buy anyways and at an already reasonable price. For example 50 cents off a brand of toilet paper that costs $2 more than the stuff you would have bought otherwise is a LOSS of $1.50. This is why coupons exist; they generally have 2 purposes they either try to lure you to a more expensive brand or they’re trying to get you to try their product and get hooked. Now the latter option is often when you find the real deals as the company is willing to take a loss to build a consumer base. 50% off something that costs 60% more is a loss for you and your pocketbook. Don’t kid yourself and don’t get fooled by coupon marketing.

Convenience is often expensive. Making your own food is almost universally cheaper than having someone else do it for you. It may suck but it’s just during grey mode but pretty much ban yourself from any place that makes food for you such as restaurants and fast food joints. As a bonus you’re likely to end up eating healthier as well as thriftier. Pack a lunch, every day. Throw in an apple, orange, or banana – fruits and vegetables are usually very cheap given the demand for fast food. Farmers have had serious trouble for decades now; you can take advantage of this and help out the farming industry all at once by buying their inexpensive products: carrots, broccoli, lettuce, and tomatoes are usually fairly inexpensive. Stephen Colbert has tried to draw attention to the unhealthy amounts of high fructose corn syrup in just about anything you don’t make yourself, fight Big Sugar!

You have good stuff. You have a pantry and a fridge, you filled it. Do you suck? Probably not so the stuff you put in there shouldn’t suck either. Dig deep and you might surprise yourself with what you forgot you had. Get creative but use what you already have before looking for something else. I’m not just talking about Raman noodles every day either. Soup is good. KD is good. Side dishes are good. Soup can be a meal. Put enough cheese on it and even Chef Boyardee can be palatable. This philosophy also applies to entertainment. You have DVDs, board games, video games, the Internet and again you probably had a hand in selecting them – go back and enjoy them again – extract every bit of value from the wonderful things you’ve filled your life with already. If you live in North America you probably already have more than you need in the Entertainment department and not all of it requires power.

Saving money is like saving the environment. As an individual all you can do is take little steps, take control of the areas you can, and a bunch of small changes eventually yields a large result. There are little savings to be had everywhere. Tape up the windows to lower your heating bill in the winter, religiously turn off lights when you leave a room, get the laundry out as soon as it’s done so you don’t have to iron or re-dry to remove wrinkles. Every moment spent cleaning is a moment not spending money.

Put these three steps together and you can still have a wonderful life while getting through grey mode. Get a coupon for something you already had to buy like a budget food product, say a side dish of pasta. Get some fruit and veggies and make a little platter to go with the pasta. Use the noodles you already have in the pantry, make some fruit juice out of the frozen stuff in your freezer, watch Star Wars and then play some Trivial Pursuit - cheap, fun, effective, and efficient. It takes a little extra work and some creativity but you may discover some interesting new food combinations and rediscover some great things you already own. And then when all is said and done and grey mode comes to an end, a little sooner that it otherwise would have, you’ll be all the more appreciative when you can treat yourself again and proud of weathering the storm and getting back on track again.

I never liked the title A Perfect Storm, it seems counter-intuitive. Perfect is a word usually associated with good things; a perfect score in Rock Band for example. I understand that the modifier Storm reverses it’s meaning, like a perfectly horrible day. But as time passes the more I see the phrase’s utility – when things come together to screw someone over it sums the situation up well enough.

So today I’m trying to help someone with a problem. First they lost something so I make time to help them look for it; I’m told I’m making things worse so I let it go and try to give it some time.

The issue progresses and evolves and I figured my prior mistake was to try and act without enough information so when the problem comes up again in a new form I try to see it from all angles, asking a lot of questions, throwing out a lot of possible scenarios before doing anything, trying to make sure I understand it better so I don’t blindly rush in thinking I’m helping when somehow I’m making things worse. Then the questions make the person I’m trying to help upset.

Okay, give it more time I figure – it’s about the one thing I seem to have done right in the situation thus far so I figure I should stick to the only thing that seems to work.

Someone else eventually solves the problem so since the solution was in hand I figured I’d apologize for making things worse and try to explain that I was trying to help and how, so that maybe they’d understand. Somehow I guess the apology comes off as accusation and despite the problem having been solved I somehow in my actions made things worse than perhaps they had ever been throughout.

So for some reason I suck at helping in this situation and I have no idea how to resolve the situation. It seems my only hope is to continue giving it time and perhaps ignore the whole thing altogether lest my clumsy attempts find some way to make things worse still. Every time I touch it I seem to cause more damage so despite the best of intentions I figure I should just leave the whole thing the hell alone and shut my trap.

It’s like in Imzadi, the test where a friend comes to you with a problem and every attempt to help or find a solution is the wrong answer – the correct answer turned out to be just listen to the problem, cite an example where you felt the same way, and just let the person know you’re there for them.

Now I’d like to think I learned from that but it’s hard to do that when the person is unconscious and then you have to go to work. I guess I fell into the practical solution trap but then the problem becomes how do you know when someone wants actual help?

I guess when they ask for it which in this case the person didn’t.

Guess I just stumbled over what I did wrong.

Well, I guess this has been a worthwhile exercise after all.

Adult human relationships are hard.

Well anyways to all the people involved: I’m sorry and I’m here for you.

As for citing an example where I felt similar I guess my nosebleed earlier in the year seemed like a bit of a perfect storm, I felt helpless and lacking the resources to solve the problem and I had to ask for help and I felt like poo.

Hopefully I’ll have more luck with the written word than I did with actions or talking.

It just hit me the other day that I’ll be in Vegas in less than 2 weeks. The excitement from when we booked the trip has returned, and it brought friends.

This weekend I crossed a pretty big item off the vacation planning and personal health To Do list, I went and got a full check up for my eyes, which my mom will probably be glad to hear, and ordered new glasses which should be ready for pick up in a day or two. The good news is my eyes are perfectly fine and while I don’t remember exactly what my old prescription of 6-9 years ago was it doesn’t sound like it’s gotten any worse. In fact everyone was commenting on how light the prescription is. I did a lot of shopping around for my glasses to make sure I got the best pair at the best deal, Mindi was very patient with me and my brand-whore and yet still cheap-ass ways. I somewhat had my heart set on getting some Kenneth Coles just because I never felt particularly good wearing glasses no matter what anyone told me but it’s hard not to fell like, a Vic would say, a million bucks when you’re wearing Kenneth Cole but in the end a CK pair looked much more appealing at a slightly more reasonable price and then at the last minute Mindi found an even better pair at about half the price of the CKs. In the end after medical reimbursements I should be out just $70 for the whole episode – not bad at all.

Unfortunately today somewhat marks the beginning of Grey Mode for me. For those of you not in the know Grey Mode is when my hours at work get reduced so I have to become much more frugal and ultra-efficient with my money. Part of why I went a little spend crazy this weekend was because I knew this was coming; I got PJs, slippers, and glasses for myself plus a bunch of stuff for the kid like sweaters, slippers, and PJs. I had hoped I could get a little something for Mindi too before I had to tighten my belt but it just wasn’t in the cards.

Now the confusing thing is that I get about a week and change of Grey Mode, and then I go into Vacation Mode which is nearly the exact opposite. I believe that while you need not be frivolous I also believe that being a little stupid with your money is part of being on vacation. Now granted my American funds aren’t part of the household budget so I don’t really need to feel guilty about spending that but I do plan on using the credit card a little bit to stretch that money a little further. I’m not really concerned though, if anyone can help me shake off a case of the frugals, or indeed a case of most anything, it’s Jon.

Jon really is great for making you forget your troubles and jumpstart Vacation Mode. I remember one road trip awhile back (as sadly none of them were recent) where I was telling him a story about some stressful situation I had to deal with at work – crazy customer service story, that sort of thing. Anyways near the end of the story Jon told me I was yelling; now in my defense I WAS trying to talk over some rather loud music and the sounds of the car but it made me realize that I was a little more worked up than I needed to be and with that realization, and perhaps more than just a bit of embarrassment, I left all of my work stress behind me completely forgotten.

Unfortunately one thing on my shopping list for the weekend didn’t go as well as the glasses. I’ve been meaning to pick up a copy of James Darren’s CD This One’s From The Heart with the faint hope that I might be able to get him to sign it but I’ve been putting it off largely because I’ve been sick or busy with work or family but when I finally put a little time into my quest, admittedly just stopping by 2 HMVs I found it to be much more challenging than I first expected. In retrospect I think I had been picturing music stores of several years ago, in my defense the last time I actually bought a CD, rather than the stores of today that have less CD selection in favour of DVDs and video games – first time that’s been a bad thing for me. Near as I figure my only chance, given that it’s now too late to order online and expect to receive it before I leave, is to hit the Virgin Megastore downtown or luck out at a used place. Maybe James will have a merch table set up at the show…

Some good news though, it looks like Jon will be coming over to the mainland earlier than expected so he’ll be joining us for Election Night. I was toying with the idea of firing a confetti cannon every time a state gets called for Obama but that could get expensive and messy in my small place so I’m trying to think of alternative fanfare – suggestions are welcome.

Added one more name to the list:
Kelsey M
Erica
Jon C
Klynton & Katryna C
Peter
Mindi
Keshia
Ognjen
Joanne

Donate $5 or more to Alvin Singh’s campaign, comment on my blog, and send either Alvin or myself a screen shot and I’ll throw in another $5. http://alvin2008.wordpress.com

So I’m searching for Cheesecake Factory and Krispy Kreme in Las Vegas and discover quite by accident that I was an idiot in 2006.

It turns out there’s a Cheesecake Factory in Caesar’s Palace although in my defense they list it as a shop, not a restaurant.

Now Krispy Kreme on the other hand, I have almost no excuse for. There is one in Circus Circus and Excalibur. Now granted the Freemont one is apparently technically closer to the Stratosphere than they are but that’s not much of an excuse.

To add insult to injury, it turns out there’s a Jack-In-The-Box 1 km away from the Stratosphere. Seriously, if our room had been on a different side of building I probably would have seen it from our room.

So I dropped the ball…hard…on my foot.

Maybe all four are new since then?

Doubt it.

Although thinking back, with the exception of Election Night we never really had bad food per se. Yes they would have been nice additions but we got pretty stuffed at Quark’s, Wolfgang Puck’s, and the Hard Rock that we weren’t suffering from a lack of good options; but with the unfortunate and incredibly unfair demise of Quark’s though this trip could be a bit different.

It’s likely to have higher sugar content though.

Alvin’s campaign isn’t just helping create better schools, it’s keeping me from blogging about less interesting subjects like the flu, my son’s trip to the hospital, buses, people who hold up lines, and the minutiae of Vegas planning.

Adding one more name to the list, we’re almost at the half way point:
Kelsey M
Erica
Jon C
Klynton & Katryna C
Peter
Mindi
Keshia
Ognjen

How to become a hero of public schools: donate $5 or more to Alvin Singh’s campaign, comment on my blog, and send either Alvin or myself a screen shot and I’ll throw in another $5. The 8 people who’ve participated so far have picked my pockets for an additional $40 to Alvin’s campaign on top of the $79.22 I donated as soon as I could.
http://alvin2008.wordpress.com

Okay so my flu got quite a bit worse last night to the point where it has begun to affect my work in a serious way so I need to scale back my activities both political and otherwise until I get this thing under control. Now taping a few keys at my computer isn’t exactly a strain so the $5 challenge will continue but I don’t think I can be physically involved in the campaign or go to Fright Nights (sorry Burton) until I turn a corner on this flu.

One more donor added to the list today, 13 spots left:
Kelsey M
Erica
Jon C
Klynton & Katryna C
Peter
Mindi
Keshia

To keep the ball rolling and help us build momentum go to Alvin’s website, donate $5 or more, comment on my blog, send Alvin or myself a screenshot and I will donate another $5 and add your name to the proud donors list.
http://alvin2008.wordpress.com

Students First.
Schools For Everyone.

So it seems like we officially have an average of daily people cashing in on the $5 challenge, today we add 2 more names to list – just like we’ve done for the last 2 days:
Kelsey M
Erica
Jon C
Klynton & Katryna C
Peter
Mindi

So we’re about a third of the way there, 14 spots left! Get your donation of $5 or more in to Alvin’s campaign, then post on my blog, and send a screencap of your receipt to either Alvin or myself and I will toss in another $5. I’ve already paid out $30 in matching or top-up contributions thanks to the growing movement for seismic upgrades, course selection, representation, and transparency in Vancouver public schools. That’s on top of my original contribution of over $75. I’m very proud to be a part of this campaign, and you should be too:
http://alvin2008.wordpress.com

I just made two more matching contributions to Alvin Singh’s Vancouver School Board Campaign. So let’s update the Heroes of Better Public Education in Vancouver board:
Kelsey M
Erica
Jon C
Klynton & Katryna C

I’d particularly like to recognize my friend, road trip video costar, and periodic guest blogger Jon who doesn’t even live on the same land mass (he lives in Victoria) but nevertheless was moved to contribute.

Alvin recently expressed his thanks for everyone contributing in a comment on my blog and I just want to say a big thanks in return for him giving up his time and effort to ensure my child has a safer, better public education.

There are still 16 spots left on the Heroes board so go to http://alvin2008.wordpress.com and make a donation of $5 or more today, comment on my blog and send myself or Alvin a screenshot and I will throw in $5 of my own money to bump up that contribution.

And don’t forget to order a lawn sign!

I wasn’t sure how popular my $5 challenge would be when I first thought of it. Was it a crazy idea that people would just shake their heads at or would it become insanely popular and bankrupt me if I didn’t put a 20 person limit to start off? Reality, as per usual, has turned out to be somewhere in the middle.

So far I’ve had 2 people make claims on the $5 donation challenge. So first off I would like to thank our first heroes of better public education in Vancouver:
Kelsey M
Erica

I’ve just contributed my matching donation of $10 to Alvin Singh’s campaign for Vancouver School Board so I’m paid up for now.

There are 18 spots left so get your donation of $5 or more in, comment on my blog or e-mail me a screen shot of the receipt (blur out any personal information you don’t want to share) and I’ll throw in another $5.
http://alvin2008.wordpress.com

Alvin Singh has launched his website and ramped up his campaign for School Board Trustee in Vancouver.

I’ve already donated $79.22 to his campaign. No, that’s not my last penny – it’s just the balance of my PayPal account. I challenge anyone reading this to consider donating at least $5 to his campaign. Like Barack Obama’s campaign in the United States with online contributions a huge movement can begin with a small step. It’s a chance to own a part of this campaign and in the end part of your government. And you don’t have to live in Vancouver to contribute. If you know Alvin as I do you don’t even need to do any research or go to his website to know this is a noble cause. But for those of you who don’t know Alvin personally please take a moment to check out his website:

http://alvin2008.wordpress.com

And if you want to match or exceed my contribution by all means do so – and comment below! Be proud of being a part of this campaign.

In fact I will match any $5 donation that gets commented below – just e-mail me a screenshot of the receipt, redact any personal information you don’t wish to share, and I will match any $5 contribution. Or if you wish to give more I won’t match it as I have a family to support but I will throw in another $5.

So, if you donate $5 it will instantly become $10.

If you donate $50 it will instantly become $55.

I’ll get the tax breaks for my portions and only one match per person so no double-dipping on my offer (but don’t let that stop you from making multiple donations).

To make sure this doesn’t put me in the poor house the challenge will end once we’ve had 20 people complete the challenge. I’ll then take a deep breath and decide how to proceed.

Why am I doing this? Is it based solely on Alvin’s character? No, that’s not all. It’s not just that he’s been fighting to improve our schools for over 7 years. It’s not just the student lobby group he formed in 2001 that campaigned for seismic upgrades of all at-risk schools. Those are great reasons but here are three more:

First, let Alvin speak for himself. Here’s a brief excerpt from his first blog post on his website:
“Imagine a school board where meetings are cancelled so that motions cannot be discussed and passed. A school board that doesn’t release their key reports. A school board that refuses to advocate for students, and not even explain why. You don’t have to imagine, it’s been the reality for the past three years thanks to the NPA controlled board.”

Second, Alvin has spoken before about protecting diverse course selection.

Third, as a parent I know Alvin will fight tirelessly to ensure that our school receive the seismic upgrades they need. This is a pressing concern as these upgrades have in many cases not even begun since being first recommended 13 years ago! My son is several years away from entering the public school system and I want to know that once he’s of age he’ll be safe in his school.

Alvin wants to protect the physical and mental health of our children, I for one will sleep better once he’s given the opportunity to do so as well as give a voice to concerned parents.

Seismic Upgrades. Course Diversity. Representation. Transparency.

Somehow in my efforts to put the Vic Fontaine DS9 episodes on my PDA I stumbled across a way to post my old road trip videos on YouTube!

This is very exciting. And I couldn’t think of a better time to make this breakthrough than 19 days before the trip that will revive the series.

Had some difficulty with episode one, so I started out with episode two which is arguably one of our funniest episodes. So enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSPThfjD7QQ

Once I get over this cold I’ll see about posting more.

It’s funny how almost everyone thinks my enjoyment of Rock Band is a bit of a surprise. The fact is I secretly wanted to be a drummer for ages. The problem is it’s not exactly something one easily takes up as a hobby. For one thing the start up cost is huge as is the potential to annoy other people. And then what if you suck? You’ve spent a bunch of money and annoyed a bunch of people only to embarrass yourself. I was far too pragmatic to advertise my secret desire.

So when I first saw that Rock Band had a drum set I knew it was just a matter of time. And I was very glad to discover that I didn’t suck.

It would be nice if there was a freestyle mode where you could just play the instruments for fun and have the game create and perhaps even record the musical output. I guess I’ll have to save that hope for Rock Band 2 which apparently will allow you to freeplay the drums over any mp3 file. It’s not exactly what I was hoping for but it sounds damned close. Unfortunately I may have to wait awhile as Rock Band 2 won’t come out for the Wii until December and as those of you close to me may well know I don’t buy stuff for myself in the months of September or December.

Songs I can’t wait to play in Rock Band 2…
Alanis Morissette – You Oughta Know
Beastie Boys – So What’cha Want
Billy Idol – White Wedding
Bon Jovi – Livin’ On A Prayer
Dinosaur Jr – Feel The Pain
Duran Duran – Hungry Like The Wolf
Foo Fighters – Everlong
Journey – Any Way You Want It
Pearl Jam – Alive
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Give It Away
Smashing Pumpkins – Today
Soundgarden – Spoonman

It also sounds like Rock Band 2 will allow for DLC on the Wii and you can get 20 free DLC songs with your Rock Band 2 purchase. Here’s my DLC shopping list…
Duran Duran – Girls On Film
Duran Duran – Rio
Foo Fighters – Monkey Wrench
Oasis – Wonderwall
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Under The Bridge
Stephen And The Colberts – Charlene
The Offspring – Pretty Fly
The Offspring – Self Esteem

Now Charlene is actually free so that only takes up 7 songs leaving me 13 more before paying an extra dime so I’m pushing pretty hard on the Rock Band forums for a variety of groups including:
54*40 (One Day In Your Life, Since When, Love You All)
Barenaked Ladies (The Old Apartment, Thanks That Was Fun, Alternative Girlfriend)
Bryan Adams (Summer Of ’69, Heaven, Do I Have To Say The Words)
Counting Crows (Mr. Jones, Omaha, Round Here)
Depeche Mode (Enjoy The Silence, Policy Of Truth, Precious)
Duran Duran (New Moon On Monday, Save A Prayer, Ordinary World)
Goo Goo Dolls (Better Days, Big Machine, Here Is Gone)
Green Day (Basket Case, Brain Stew, Time Of Your Life)
Hootie & The Blowfish (Hannah Jane, Not Even The Trees, Time)
Moist (Sliver, Tangerine, Theme From Cola)
Oasis (What’s The Story Morning Glory, Hello, Champagne Supernova)
Our Lady Peace (Somewhere Out There, Clumsy, One Man Army)
Pearl Jam (Jeremy, Even Flow, Daughter)
Pet Shop Boys (Home And Dry, The Night I Fell In Love, London)
Public Enemy (Bring The Noise)
Queen (Bohemian Rhapsody, Who Wants To Live Forever, Princes Of The Universe)
Stan Bush (The Touch, Dare)
The Tragically Hip (Music At Work, Poets, Silver Jet)
Toad The Wet Sprocket (All I Want, Windmills, Walk On The Water)
U2 (Electrical Storm, Where The Streets Have No Name, All I Want Is You)
Weird Al (Dare To Be Stupid, Yoda, Callin’ In Sick)

So join the Rock Band forums and back me up so we can make this happen!

What a gong show yesterday was. I had about 6 people who didn’t vote because of the ID requirements, although I think some came back later – but 2 or 3 people refused to vote because of the indignity of having to present ID. For example here’s a sample of the beginning of one particularly unpleasant exchange.

Me: Hello. Do you have a piece of ID with your address?

Voter: Are you calling me a liar?!

Me: No, I am asking for a piece of plastic or paper with your address on it.

Voter: Why? Do you think I am lying?

Me: No, you hadn’t said anything yet so how could I accuse you of lying? The government told me to ask. It’s my job…and the law.

Voter: So you’re trying to blame them for you calling me a liar?

Me: No, I’m trying to follow the law.

Voter: This is ridiculous how could you do this to me?

Me: I am doing nothing to you sir, I don’t even know you; I simply asked you a question. Now if you don’t have-

Voter: I’ve been married to my wife for 50 years!

Me: Okay…congratulations…I suppose.

Voter: And you won’t let me vote if I don’t have ID?

Me: I didn’t say that. However if you don’t…

Voter: *hands over some ID* This is all I have.

Me: This is all I was asking for.

Voter: How dare you?!

Me: Sir, everything is fine, you can vote, there’s no problem.

Voter: This is outrageous! I demand to speak to a translator.

Me: A Translator? Do you mean Supervisor? I can get him but, there’s no problem, none at all, everything is fine. If you want I can get my supervisor and tell him there’s no problem if you like but I don’t know what we’d need a translator for.

Voter: *voter runs away, returns minutes later with a translator* Tell him!

Translator: Yea, I don’t speak the other language this guys speaks but his english seems fine to me. I have no idea what he’s mad about though.

Me: Um, I asked for ID, this man got mad, gave me ID, now I’m waiting for him to vote because he can and there’s absolutely nothing stopping him.

Translator: Um, okay. Bye.

Me: Thanks for your time. *Translator leaves* Would you like to vote now?

Voter: This is outrageous!

Me: That you can vote? What did you come here for, exactly?

It went on from there.

Rachel,
 
I just saw the segment with David Frum and his behavior on your show was inexcusable. I praise you for your response to his irrational attacks. Unlike anyone on Fox News or indeed the average person you seemed to take the time to take his comments seriously and reflect upon yourself and naturally came to the conclusion that he was attacking you without much cause to keep you from talking to him substantively on the issues - quite the bit of irony there.
 
Anyways my family and I have watched your show from day one and find you level-headed and as balanced as reality and common sense make possible. You try to respect and understand opinions you may not agree with but also point out when thing don’t make sense and my family appreciates it.
 
Don’t let Frum get you down!
 
Thanks

So every year my partner’s sister gets everyone at the Thanksgiving Day dinner table say what they’re thankful for. The first year I thought it was an anomaly, the second year it caught me off guard again but not this year. This year I had a plan. So when the appointed time came my answer was ready:

“I’m thankful for democracy because it periodically makes me a little money and puts on a hell of a show“

With so much going on these days, it’s far too easy to lose track of what’s important. Rock Band, Mega Man 9, the new seasons of The Big Band Theory and The Sarah Jane Adventures, the Halloween event at work, Thanksgiving, the Federation Election, the next Presidential Debate, Alvin Singh’s campaign for School Board, Halloween, the American election, the Municipal Election, the list goes on.

It’s easy, somehow amidst all the chatter, to forget that I’m going to Vegas in a little over 3 weeks.

I’m taking small steps to prepare but I’m not constantly aware that soon I will be in the place that makes My Heart Will Go On palatable.

Really the only critical cost saving thing we still need to do is book the car rental and if that ends up being somewhat last minute it’s not the end of the world.

I recently created a Top 5 list of Food and Entertainment to inspire Jon & Josh to think about what they might want to do in Vegas. This is what I came up with:

Food
Hard Rock Café
Courtyard Buffet (Stratosphere)
Planet Hollywood
Cheesecake Factory
Fellini’s Ristorante (Stratosphere)

Entertainment
Bellagio Fountain Shows
Rides (New York New York, Sahara, Stratosphere, Circus Circus)
Bowling (South Point)
Wayne Brady (Venetian)
Mystery Adventures (http://www.mysteryadventureslasvegas.com)

Of the 24 days left I have some kind of firm plans on 18 days, and some likely-to-be-confirmed plans on 2 additional days so that leaves 4 unplanned days until we leave. Things I should do before I leave (in no particular order)…
-Book car rental
-Encode some Vic Fontaine DS9 episodes for my PDA
-Figure out transportation to/from the airport
-Get new glasses
-Inquire about the dress code at the South Point Showroom
-Packing checklist
-Pick up a James Darren CD (to get signed)
-Research day trip to Hoover Dam
-Research Jon & Josh’s Top 5s
Of course everything will be fine even if I don’t do these things.

John McCain is not a racist but somehow he has become King Of The Racists.

He finally addressed the calls of “terrorist“, “kill him“, “bomb Obama“, and “off with his head” today but the crowd turned on him.

Clearly they weren’t there to support McCain so much as attack the minority guy.

Does John McCain really want to win this way? Talking about losing a war to win a campaign.

A woman told him “I’m afraid of Obama because he’s a Arab” McCain said “no he’s not…but thank you, thank you“.

Can someone give me a better definition of ‘mixed signals’?

At one point McCain said “he’s a decent guy and you shouldn’t be afraid of him being President” and the crowd went insane. Loud booing, shouts of “WHAT?!” and “No!“, they completely turned on McCain for his half-hearted efforts to bring respectability back to his campaign.

Is McCain responsible for what his supporters say? No. Does he share some degree of responsibility for taking over a week to address it, for saying nothing when people called Obama a “terrorist” to McCain’s face, and for his running mate saying Obama is friends with terrorists and isn’t “one of us“? Hell yes.

If Obama was assasinated McCain would feel bad, Palin would do a happy dance.

So what do you think of the new look of my blog? Personally I rather like it. If you’re curious about how I did it or what it is, in the words of SuperFly, “yo yo yo, check dis out!”

http://yeswecarve.com

Last night I downloaded and printed the stencil, bought a pumpkin, carved it, took some pictures, and made a new design for my blog. Enjoy – pictures of the whole process are on myspace.

Still catching up on topics that got delayed due to politics…

My girlfirend arranged for a surprise birthday dinner for me at my favorite restaurant with a bunch of my close friends this year. It was especially cool because it was the closest thing to a surprise party I think I’ve ever had. In fact it may well have been my best birthday in my adult life at home – it’s hard to compare to Orlando, that’s apples and oranges really.

At dinner I was further surprised by the gift of Rock Band that I to this day still shake my head at Mindi being able to pull off – with help from our various parents and one of her coworkers. Thanks everyone!

Then Burton joined us for some lasertag after dinner which was great fun, if a little exhausting. Okay, a lot exhausting – can you be only a “little” exhausted? Isn’t that like being “kind of” dead? “Sort of” asleep? “Not entirely” vomiting?

Sorry, that went to a gross and morbid place for some reason.

Anyways, I hadn’t been to lasertag in years, it’s one of those activities where you pretty much by definition have to let your inner kid out.

Today I finally broke down and joined Twitter.

Why?

All the better to follow Alvin Singh’s campaign for Vancouver School Board on:
http://twitter.com/alvinsingh

Seriously, I’m more excited about his campaign than the Federal Election and that’s not just because I already voted in advance polls.

Speaking of which, I recently checked with Alvin to see if we will be able to donate directly to his campaign specifically and if he plans to launch a website. The answer is yes to direct donation and he plans to set up a Blog so you better believe I’ll be plugging that sucker the second it’s up. Although he hasn’t finished his candidacy forms yet so that may be a bit of a way off.

This one’s been on the back burner for awhile, I apologize for the lateness of this post but politics have been somewhat all-consuming of late.

I was actually very impressed with Tropic Thunder.

My biggest concern was that it would be a cross between a Ben Stiller film (where he just throws up his arms and shakes his head while saying something in a condescending voice and somehow expects it to be funny) and a low-brow Jack Black film (where he relies on far too much physical humour) but I was very pleasantly surprised to see this was not the case.

I knew Robert Downing Jr would be fantastic and even he exceeded my expectations with one of the most unique character concepts I’ve ever seen but he did not rely on the concept to carry him. Every moment of his screen time is a joy to watch.

Tom Cruise was outstanding – not something one says often in a post-Minority Report world. Seriously, this is the first thing I’ve enjoyed him in since 2002 – that’s the end of a 6 year drought for a rather prolific actor. I’m not going to ruin any surprises except to say he steals the scenes he’s in not because of ego but care of his fantastic performance.

The story does break the fourth wall on rare occasion but doing so provides the film some great moments as well.

Basically you go into this film expecting a sad parody but what you get is hilarious yet mature and richly textured satire. The film is so full and so layered you frequently find yourself asking if gags or similarities to other movies are intentional, incidental, or just another layer. For example the spoof crossing Jack and Forrest Gump is apparent but the reference to Jurassic Park is easily missed. What looks like a throwaway mindless comedy you come out wanting to buy the DVD to see all the things you may have missed and pick up subtler gags and social commentary.

To some relying solely on trailers Tropic Thunder may seem low brow but this couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s intelligent, richly layered, and at times borders on the avant-garde.

This film really reminds you of why you used to like Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Tom Cruise. It’s been somewhat vogue to look down on these guys of late because, let’s face it, they’ve all made some pretty horrible movies but wiki these guys and you’ll be surprised to recall that you used to like about half of the movies these guys made. Work on this movie began in 1987 and it looks to me like they buried a Get out Of Jail Free card that has the potential to pull these three careers out of a respectability tailspin.

In conclusion this film is for everyone, intellectuals looking for something thought provoking and people just looking for a good entertaining time.

I have been asked to dig a little deeper into this riding, specifically to take another look at the NDP and Green Party candidates. I’m happy to oblige.

Green Party – Adam Saab

Well it looks like Adam’s gotten himself a Wikipedia page, I wonder if he saw my blog criticizing the lack of one. According to this page he completed a double major in Philosophy and Psychology at UBC in Kelowna (who knew there was such a thing?) and then spent an unspecified number of summers studying neurophysiology of memory formation. I would appreciate it if someone, anyone, could explain how this makes him qualified to hold political office, much less a Federal position. He’s under-qualified to run for school board for Pete’s sake (unlike Alvin Singh, for example, who has a history of advocacy, political education, and social involvement).

I strongly suspect he wrote his own Wikipedia page given the improper grammar and statements like “after his degree he moved to Victoria, British Columbia to further his schooling and be closer to his sister and his only niece and nephew”. It’s also worth noting that the page is up for possible deletion for not meeting the notability guidelines. I also question branding him as a politician given that he’s running for office as his first political act near as I can tell. His occupation is listed as “2008 Victoria Federal Candidate for the Green Party” but I don’t see that as a paid position to be honest. Thus far I see a trend of misrepresentation. I’m sure he means well but I detect and disconcerting lack of maturity and when the future of our country and our planet is on the line I don’t think it unreasonable to expect more than he seems to be offering or bringing to the table.

Apparently his parents were involved in municipal and provincial politics – somehow he thinks this qualifies him to go a step above without any relevant education or experience and shoot for the federal level.

There is one thing he seems to have going for him, according to Wikipedia he was a “professional political organizer in municipal, provincial, and federal campaigns. He has generated more financial and volunteer support than the Green Party has ever seen in his riding”. But I feel the need to point out the only support of this statement is a reference to his campaign website. It may well be true but given that everything else that seems publicly available about the man would seem to indicate a political neophyte this runs contrary to other indications. If someone like May or a person within the financial or organizational framework of the party were to support this statement I would give it more seriousness.

As for policy positions Wikipedia offers this summary: “He is committed to principled politics and practical solutions, believing Canadian prosperity and well-being depends upon the balance between a strong economy and a healthy environment. He intends to build a government that is prepared for the challenges of climate change and an aging population. Saab understands the strain retiring baby boomers will place on social services as well as the need for vibrant local economies and long-term resource management.” Pretty political words but the more you look at them the more you realize they say next to nothing and offer no practical or specific solutions. For example, show me someone who is against “principled politics and practical solutions” – it’s like saying “the children are our future” or “rain is wet”.

NDP – Denise Savoie

Formerly a teacher (although Wikipedia still lists this as her profession), she was elected to Victoria City Council in 1999. She was director of the Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition, where she pushed to make the city more suitable for cyclists. She was elected to the House in 2006. Were she an American I guess she would be qualified to be Vice President. She is currently the NDP’s Intergovernmental Affairs Critic, Post-Secondary Education Critic, Literacy Critic and Human Resources Deputy Critic (for Training). I think part of my misconception of her career in my earlier post came from her Wikipedia article being poorly organized and rather sparse. If someone from her campaign is reading this I strongly suggest adding a section on her policy stances and accomplishments in government.

Conclusion

I still say this riding offers very little to get excited about. With the Liberal candidate obsessed with Arts & Culture funding, the Conservative condescending to anyone not in government despite the fact that he is not in government, the Green candidate bringing a different definition of Green (i.e. inexperienced and uneducated in the relevant fields) to the table, Denise Savoie is clearly the frontrunner. My criticism of her may have been unduly harsh in my earlier posting. Compared to an Ujjal Dosanjh or a Dawn Black she leaves much to be desired, but compared to the other candidates in the riding she is a titan.

I just received some very exciting news for me personally, politically, and as a parent. Alvin Singh, a former employee of mine whom I have always had great respect for and seen limitless potential in has decided to run for public office.

Personally, I’m delighted to see someone I know get into the game.

Politically, I’m excited about voting in the municipal election for the first time.

As a parent, I’m relieved that my child’s physical and mental well being could have such a strong and qualified advocate.

I’ll probably be posting about his candidacy again and in greater detail but for now check out the announcement here:
http://www.canada.com/vancouvercourier/news/story.html?id=83a082c1-df19-4c43-9014-2e37afd948a8

And join the facebook group here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=37891244934

Better Know A(n Electoral) District: Vancouver - South

This one’s going to be abbreviated for a variety of reasons.

NDP - Ann Chambers
She doesn’t have a website but her very short write-up on the NDP site says “moving to Canada in 1986” – either she doesn’t understand grammar or she has a time machine and plans to go back to 1986 and then move to Canada – not an auspicious beginning. She was a nanny and has been involved in the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union for nearly 20 years. The NDP website offers absolutely no policy positions whatsoever. And she has no Wikipedia page so while I know a tiny bit about her background I have absolutely no idea what she stands for.

Green - Csaba Gulyas
Moved to Canada in 1999, then moved to Hong Kong in 2003, and move back to Canada in 2005 and only then moved into the riding. I don’t mean to discriminate but having only lived in the country for 5-9 years and only lived in the riding 2-4 years I have some difficulty believing he could adequately understand and represent its constituents. He also doesn’t have his own website so I have absolutely no idea what his policy stance on anything is, although presumably he cares about the environment. His write up on the Green Party site only mentions “social imbalance, corruption, and unfair taxing” as his policy concerns which is pretty vague to be polite.

Conservative – Wai Young
The issues section of her website contains exact copies of the issues pages of the Conservative Party website – she clearly doesn’t think for herself or have any specific issues that she thinks are important. And given that it’s the day after the first leadership debate and the first day of advance polls and the Conservative STILL haven’t released their economic plan leaves me very much in the dark.

Liberal – Ujjal Dosanjh
Do I even need to bother? The other candidates are so lackluster, so unimpressive, and so quiet on the issues how could anyone consider taking a risk on such unknowns? Alright, just in case. Ujjal has a law degree from UBC, he taught ESL at VCC, and he founded the Farm Workers’ Legal Information Service which led to the formation of the Canadian Farm Workers’ Union. So he’s already beat out the NDP candidate’s qualifications and I’m just getting started. He was elected MLA in 1991, re-elected in 1996, held cabinet portfolios as Minister of Government Services, and Minister of Multiculturalism, Human Rights and Sports. In August 1995, he was appointed as the province’s Attorney General. He became Premier in 2000 and was the first Premier to appear in the gay pride parade and before leaving office implemented tax cuts which I personally benefitted from. After losing his bid for re-election he returned to practicing law. In 2004 he won election as MP and was appointed Minister Of Health in the federal cabinet, he was re-elected in 2006 and was appointed National Defence Critic, later becoming the Foreign Affairs critic. In the leadership race he supported Bob Rae who I was personally rooting for as well. Sadly his website is also lacking in policy specifics but I know the man – I’ve met him on several occasions and watched carefully his role in both provincial and federal politics and I can’t think of a time when I found myself in disagreement with him. Particularly as Premier and Health Minister I felt he was passionate about protecting key aspects of the Canadian identity such as universal health care and equality. I find him to be reasonable, rational, well informed, intelligent, and I find his policy stances agreeable.

Conclusion
Don’t be an idiot, take 2 minutes to read the above and check a few websites and the only choice is clear: Ujjal Dosanjh. I’m not voting for a party or an issue (although he’s strong, wise, and experienced on health care), or a leader I’m voting for a candidate and so should you if you have a brain or care about the future.

Want to know when to throw popcorn at the screen tonight? Here’s a primer. Get the background so you can heckle more effectively. I’m hoping to get in a few zingers, why not play along at home?

Why is this important? Well beyond what I posted yesterday, 30% of all VPs go on to become commander-in-chief.

Palin has said she expects to do well without the “mainstream media trying to I think maybe censor some of my comments”.

Putting aside the absolute absurdity that she has been censored, indeed had she been censored it only would have served to help limit the damage she’s caused herself, wish-washy phrases like “trying to I think maybe” are not going to seem presidential or even confident. We’re in for a hell of a debate.

I think.

Maybe.

See what I mean? Either she’s uncertain because she doesn’t know or she’s afraid of being wrong – so wrong as to damage McCain, contradict McCain, or perhaps even break the law (think libel), much less misrepresent reality.

Note that kind of adjective too for the post-debate spin. “Misrepresent”, “misspeak”, “misremember”, “exaggerate”, “understate” are likely to be hallmarks of the conservative defense. Will anyone have the balls to actually say the word “lie”? How far from the mainstream media will we have to get before we have people with the courage to admit plain, simple, verifiable truth?

Will factcheck.org be overwhelmed and crash or become the most popular site on the internet?

Here’s some information on the format care of The Huffington Post: “Each candidate will stand behind a lectern, making them more likely to fire zingers at each other. Dick Cheney and John Edwards were seated during their mostly sleepy 2004 VP debate. The event will consist of 90-second answers, followed by two-minute discussion periods for each question. Each candidate will get a two-minute closing statement.”

I was toying with the idea of a drinking game. You know, take a drink whenever Palin lies, doesn’t know the answer to a simple question, says “you betcha” or “you know”. But I have an important meeting early tomorrow and I don’t want to die of alcohol poisoning.

Will she mention the bridge to nowhere that she was for until the funding fell out? Will she mention trying and failing to sell a plane on eBay?

Will anyone mention Troopergate? Or, to be fair, Joe Biden’s scandal…of…um…*checks Wikipedia* Well in 1987 he was accused of plagiarizing an Englishman for asking why he was the first in his family to go to university.

Will anyone mention Palin charging victims of rape for the testing supplies? Or…uh…er…Biden’s comment about minorities working in 7-11s?

Will anyone mention Palin supporting Obama’s position on Pakistan in direct contradiction or McCain’s position? Or…um…ask Joe Biden…ah…why he has some reservations about Clean Coal?

Will anyone ask Palin why she can’t name a newspaper she reads, Supreme Court case other than Roe v Wade, or an accomplishment of McCain’s? *shakes head* I’m out of bad or even vaguely questionable things Biden’s said or done.

Will people mention Palin’s comments about Biden’s age? Biden, who is younger than McCain?

Will people wonder how not seeing Russia and living as far from Russia as New York City gives someone foreign policy experience?

Will anyone ask why Palin didn’t have a passport before 2006 and why she never left the country prior to 2007?

Will it matter what anyone asks her? Someone who ran against her in 2006 said Palin is “a master of the fine art of the non-answer, the glittering generality”.

What would I ask the candidates if I had the chance? Here are 5 questions I would love to ask both candidates at the debate, followed by what I suspect their answers would be. Will any of my questions make it in? I guess we’ll just have to watch!

1) What has been your single greatest legislative accomplishment?

Biden would probably say creation of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and Violence against Women Act. Palin would probably mention the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (although probably not by name as I doubt she knows what it was called) which awarded an expensive government contract for a gas pipeline to a Canadian company.

2) Why should Roe v Wade be overturned or upheld?

Biden would say it should be upheld because it represents a compromise that has the flexibility for diverse groups, religions, and beliefs to do as they choose. Palin would say it should be overturned because she’d prefer states to outlaw abortion, not the federal government.

3) If we had Bin Laden in our sights, but he was in Pakistan at the time and the Pakistani government refused to act and we could take him out without any collateral damage or other loss of life, property, or infrastructure – should we strike within that foreign nation under those circumstances?

Biden would say yes, once its done we can deal with the diplomatic fallout afterwards and do what is necessary to make amends or reparations afterwards. Palin would say she can’t say because McCain told her you don’t talk about those things because it tips your hand to the enemy.

4) John McCain has said he would not meet with the Prime Minister of Spain, presumably because they pulled out of Iraq, but Spain is still our ally in the war in Afghanistan. Would you be willing to risk the stability of that alliance in a region where top US military commanders and Afghani politicians both agree they desperately need more troops immediately?

Biden would say no, he would work with the international community to build a greater coalition not risk further reducing the force currently deployed – he’d probably then launch into Obama talking points about Iraq being a distraction tying up troops needed in Afghanistan. I have no freaking idea what Palin would say, probably something like “you know, John McCain has a lot of experience with this sort of thing, he’s been involved in every major conflict since I was in grade school so I think he knows what he’s doing”.

5) The Premier of China recently said during an interview that they are not a superpower – do you believe this is an accurate assessment particularly given that China is the largest stakeholder of American debt?

Biden would probably acknowledge that it’s difficult to see oneself as a superpower when so many of your citizens are in poverty but internationally speaking China is on the rise and regardless of the label they need to be taken quite seriously. Palin would probably say they’re a dangerous superpower, like Russia.

Can you taste it on the wind? Feel it in the air? There’s a storm coming.

It’s not a strong storm by any means, but the weak hut it has to push over has almost fallen down all on its own. An asthmatic with a heart condition could blow this sucker down.

In case you haven’t figured it out, the storm is Joe Biden and the hut is Sarah Palin.

Jon wants to film me a bit before the trip for this grand video idea he’s got. So I asked him “Well if you’re okay with the video just being me yelling ‘that’s right b*tch, you just got told!’ at the TV over and over again why not just come by on debate night and bring your new camera?”

I’m having a debate party. We’re getting pizza and stuff.

Not since the Canadian Women’s Olympic Hockey team have we seen a lopsided battle like the one coming this Thursday night.

And the harbinger of Palin’s sorrow?

Bill Clinton just got on board.

Someone realized that to use Bill Clinton effectively nowadays you just have to focus his anger on a useful target. When Hillary was running he got mad at Barack and that’s taken some time for him to deal with but today he spoke at a rally in Florida and was at last unequivocal in his support for Obama. I think this is largely because he’s now mad at Sarah Palin. I see two reasons for this, beyond some improved Clinton-handling on the campaign. One, McCain has implied several times in the last week that she has about as much experience as Bill did when he took office. Two, I think the fact that she thinks she can do the job he once did with her lack of experience and airhead answers pisses Bill right off.

Think about it. Think back to the job at which you had to work the hardest, that you are most proud of. Now image that (if you haven’t) you’ve moved on from that job and the laziest, youngest, dumbest person you know proudly proclaims that they could do that job easy. You’d be pissed but you’d take heart that they’d never get the job. What if you heard they were seriously considering giving your old job to this moron? Wouldn’t you at least be tempted to call up the guy doing the hiring and tell him she’s an idiot? Because if she did get your old job, regardless of how miraculously she fails at it, it would by mere association make your efforts seem a little less honourable, much less of an accomplishment, and probably undo a lot of the hard work you put in.

This beauty queen who can’t name a Supreme Court case other than Roe v Wade or a newspaper she’s ever read or a single one of her running mates accomplishments thinks she can do what you did? Her interviews are like a kid faking his way through a book report on a book he never read.

Now don’t get me wrong, Bill Clinton will and should have absolutely nothing to do with the debate but I think it’s a great sign of things to come that her stupidity seems to have pissed him off enough to mend his fences that this debate is going to be a massacre.

And to hell with expectations-setting I say. You know what? The expectations for the White House be it President, Vice President, or Head Janitor should always be the absolute highest – there should never, in a place of such power and importance, be an excuse for accepting anything less than the best. So lower your expectations all you want but don’t dare lower your standards.

This is the arrogant village idiot thinking she can run the place and someone’s going to put her in her place. Who wouldn’t turn out for that? It will be a blood bath in the name of justice. If she cries I won’t feel an ounce of pity because she chose this and knew better but her ambition took over. This will be the victory of intelligence over style, seriousness over viciousness, policy over catch phrase. The harder Biden beats her into the ground the brighter the future becomes because the more bloodied she gets the more people will think “hey, am I qualified?” before trying to lead everyone else over a cliff. Stop Sarah Palin now and you stop an entire generation of idiots who think they don’t have to work hard, be professional, or take things seriously to be successful.

Gloves off Joe, gloves off.