Vacation Time :o)

Ah vacation time. Now that school is finally out and the horrendous piles of corrections are done. :o) (Really happy all my kids passed and got pretty good marks, and no I didn't make up the exam, someone else did, so it's not me being nice. Anyhow they tell me that my exams are usually way harder. ;o) ) I finally have time to write this. This one will probably be the last one for a while since Mrs. Big Brother and I are leaving on Saturday for Merry Olde England for a month. London, the Tower of London, the British Museum, Stonehenge, the cathedrals and castles, Cornwall, Wales, climbing Snowdon, walking on the moors, York, the Cotswald, Dover, and last but not least, the pubs and the beer.(Already did all of Scotland, all the way to John O'Groats, the Orkneys, Cape Wrath, the Hebrides, the Highlands and also spent a month exploring Ireland)

I am a Guiness

Took the test and this is what came out. Seems to work cuz I love Guiness. Even went all the way to Dublin to drink a Guiness where it is made (from Canada that's quite a ways) ;o)

What Type of Alcoholic Beverage Are You?

You're a Pint of Guinness!
Take this quiz!

Coffee for me!

I tried this and I found it rather fun... thank you Hagletoast.

You are a Black Coffee

At your best, you are: low maintenance, friendly, and adaptable At your worst, you are: cheap and angsty You drink coffee when: you can get your hands on it Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

The number of the beast the day after

Yesterday was 666 day, Damien the remake was launched and I went to my physio whose telephone number ends in 0666. Nope nothing happened, the only joint twisting was done by the physiotherapist... oh well maybe in another hundred years or better still in 4460 years it'll be the real thing. Believe it or not the secretary was telling me that when some people see the phone number they refuse to come to the clinic... talk about weird.
We must however remember that for the Chinese the number 666 is lucky, so lucky in fact that I heard that Chinese couples were getting married on that date for luck. In fact if you add the numbers up the sum is 18 and in Chinese the character for 18 means "to be rich".
So all things considered I'd rather be rich than power puking and twisting my head around 360 degrees... remember "The Exorcist"?. As for Damien, the anti-christ, he'll probably end up getting blown up in a terrorist attack. ;o)

Same old thing :o(

I know it happened last week but I just didn't have time to write about it. Last week we had a little upset where Joe Volpe, a candidate for the leadership of the Liberal party, received 29 donations amounting to $152,700. Most of them came from twenty $5,400 donations from executives of Apotex Inc., and members of their families. He finally had to give back some of the funds because they had been donated by minor children. Amoung them, $10800 from two 11 year old twins and $5400 from their 14 year old brother. (Boy, don't I wish I had had that kind of cash when I was a kid... in fact don't I wish I had that kind of cash now! LOL)
While this is probably not illegal in the strict sense of the law, it surely contravenes the spirit of it. It seems that the Liberals just have not learned anything. No wonder people don't trust politicians... it's not that we are cynical, we are just being realistic...

PS I'm sure that the Conservatives and others are just as bad... just give them some time and it will all come out. ;0(

Snail Mail

How's this for slow? I was reading that the French postal service just delivered a postcard that was mailed September 29th 1910. It only took 96 years to get delivered to the recipient's daughter-in-law since the recipient had died in 1978.
Think about it, when the card (a picture of the Sémois valley in Belgium) was mailed the Titanic was not even completed, much less sunk. It was mailed four years before the First World War and 29 years before the start of the Second. The airplane was in its infancy and men walking on the moon was just a story by Jules Verne. Email? Forget it. There were telegrams, the telephone (if you didn't mind the neighbours and the operator listening in) and the Postal Service.
Gives a whole new dimension to the term "Snail-mail"

Been absent...

Finally got my cast off last Monday... it feels so good to be free of the weight and the hassle. Makes you appreciate having two hands, there are so many things in our world that can only work well with two hands.
I haven't written in a while since last week I was in Washington with my students. We went to see old uncle George. ;o) Mind you, I did see him in a big cavalcade riding down Constitution Avenue, with a huge police escort. There were police cars blocking traffic at each intersection, a motorcycle escort to make sure the way was clear, a bunch of big black SUV's with men armed with automatic weapons hanging out the windows. It was like watching an emperor driving by. I found the situation ironic in the land that professes that everyone is equal. Here in Canada the Prime Minister walks his children to school and then walks off to his office. I know that the need for security is different, but it is ironic none the less.
I must say however that Americans really know how to do a capital city. As the students said, "It's like walking in ancient Rome". The museums are really magnificent and they are all free. The Aerospace museum, the Museum of Natural History , the National Gallery, the Museum Of American History etc. We also saw the National Archives with the original Declaration of Independance and the US Constitution, and the Library of Congress and finally all the memorials. We also visited Arlington National Cemetery and the Holocaust Memorial Museum. (If you only visit one museum, visit that one. It isn't an easy museum to visit, my students came away from there somber and quiet, and for 14 year olds that's saying a lot, but I can guarantee that that it will touch you.) We were also impressed by the cleanliness of the streets and the flowers everywhere. You can see that they take care of the city. The people were also nice and very patient since the student's English was sometimes mangled. (They are French speaking and English is their second language) There was even an employee of the metro system that lent a student his cell phone to call his mom after seeing him trying to use a pay phone. We warned him that we came from Montreal and it was a long distance call but he said that it was OK. That was really generous of him and we greatly appreciated it. That is one of the nicest things about travelling, meeting nice people. :o)
There was really only one point that bugged me and that was the "over the top" security. At the Capitol there was a group of students with their teacher talking to a someone that worked there. They seemed to be trying to arrange a visit (something that is pretty much impossible since 9/11). On the top of the steps overlooking them were two soldiers? security? armed with automatic weapons and one of them had his weapon aimed at the group. Not casually pointing but deliberately aimed. That is frightening. Where they expecting the group of high school students to storm the Capitol and take the senate hostage. That's almost paranoid. God knows that after 9/11 they had to beef up security, but there is a point where it become a bit much. Thank goodness my students didn't notice. I am really glad to live in a country where that type of paranoia is not needed, and I hope that one day the American people will also be able to live without that kind of security.

A Friday Afternoon

Here I am on a Friday afternoon, the sun is shining, and all is well with the world. I haven't written in a while cuz to tell the truth typing with a cast is a major bummer. In fact the cast itself is a major bummer. It really takes a lot of energy to get along with it. You are always asking people to help you. Ever tried to open a juice bottle with only one hand, cut a slice of bread... squished bread, lousy slice... fustration assured. Makes you appreciate having all the bits and pieces working. (OK Jazz, I know... I'm not always all there...duuuh what's my name and where's my lunch box? but at my age I'm allowed.) It has been so nice this week and my bike and inline skates are sitting there in the garage going "Take me out for a ride please, pretty please", soooo fustrating. Well at least I could have my morning coffee on the patio before going to work and sit here after work reading a good murder mystery knowing that the situation isn't permanent. Have yourselves a good weekend.

Cleaning up

It was once said that he who controls the information controls the game. Our Prime Minister has promised a massive cleanup of our government. He is even proposing a new law to do so. Now that is all well and good, except that he has taken the reforms to the Access to Information Act out of the package to send to a commitee. Now we all know that sending something to a commitee is the kiss of death. They will mull it over, gum it to death and it will quietly slip into oblivion.
Now can someone explain to me how you can clean up corruption if there is no transparency. How do you know where the corruption is? How do you keep tabs on what the government is doing if you can't get the information. The Prime Minister doesn't even want his ministers to talk to the press, much less give them information about what is going on.
So from where I sit it is business as usual. If the politicians want us to respect them, they should maybe let us see what is going on. If not it's still the same old book with a new dust jacket.

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On another note, I was reading about a Los Angeles cop who gave a $114 ticket to an 82 year old woman because she wasn't fast enough to cross a five lane boulevard before the light turned to red. There's one cop who really wins the booby prize for stupidity. Instead of giving her a ticket he should have blocked the traffic himself to give her time to cross the intersection.
It really makes you wonder sometimes.

The Medical System...Thanks

Usually when you here about the medical system it is to complain or tell horror stories about the awful service/waiting list/hospital/employees etc. Well guess what? I'm not going to do that. Today I had to have minor surgery on my hand, nothing very important, just something that had to be done. Well the waiting period before the day surgery was very reasonable and when I went in to the Lakeshore hospital the service was courteous, professional and expeditive. The people where invariably nice, explaining everything that they were going to do and answering any questions I had. The surgery took place using a drip block (sort of like the dentist freezing your tooth) so they didn't even have to put me to sleep, so I was out of there in record time. The only inconvenience is the plaster cast that slows up my typing skills by 50% :o(
Thanks to the doctors and staff of Lakeshore hospital for their professionalism, courtesy, and humanity. It is greatly appreciated.

Of unused intellignece.

Spring is here and the daffodiles are coming out. At the same time road repairs are starting up again. Mind you, I have nothing against repairing the roads, lord knows that they need it, but it is the way they go about it.
Highway 40 is one of the busiest highways in Montreal and they are currently getting ready to start repairs, so they have deviated the lanes and made them much narrower. This of course slows down traffic. So far so good. Now comes the fun part. The city of Point-Claire in their infinite wisdom has decided to dig up the service road. They therefore have shut down one of the lanes. Now you would think that since they are repairing the highway causing major traffic congestion you would want to keep the service road open as an extra safety valve to help the flow of traffic, but oh no, instead they shut it down causing an even bigger snafu. Let me tell you that whoever thought that one up was really not the sharpest knife in the cutlery drawer or the brightest light in the Christmas tree.
As the saying goes...God must really love stupid people, he/she made so many of them.

The Commonwealth Games..good show!

Did you know that in the Commonwealth games offers full inclusion for atheletes with disabilities? In that way Chantal Petitclerc's gold and the seven other medals won by our disabled atheletes have been counted in the Canadian total. They are truly world class atheletes and regular atheletes would be hard pressed to do as much in those conditions. Finally these atheletes are given the recognition that they deserve.
I was listening to a report on CBC Radio about the Paraolympics at Torino and the reporter was saying what a shame it was that there were hardly any spectators or media at the events. I find that so sad, these atheletes have overcome so many hurdles and all they get is an afterthought. The Olympic Governing Committee should take a page from the Commonwealth Games. Include these superbe atheletes so that they get the recognition that they deserve. Let them have their place in the sun. How hard can it be? If there is a will they can surely find a way.
Finally bravo to the Canadian Team for having chosen Chantal Peticlerc to be the flag bearer for the team... I am sure, that for her, it was as great an honour and pleasure as winning her gold medal. After all, this was a gesture from her peers, recognizing her talent and perseverence.

Of seals and cod fish!!!

Don't you wish that international stars that are in need of an infusion of publicity would stay away from the "save the animals " thing. Bardot's back in Ottawa to shake a finger at we Canadians saying naughty, naughty, because of the seal hunt. There are about 5 million of the critters, and the population has been going way up since the 70's. They are far from being an endangered species. I wonder why McCartney and Bardot haven't shed any tears for the poor common cod fish, whose population has been decimated by overfishing. Certain nations of the EU being amoung the worst offenders... Could it be because the cod fish are not cute, are not photogenic ? Where were they when Canada was trying to control the EU fishing fleets that were scooping up all the cod they could, making a recovery of the population almost impossible. What about all the little lambs or calves being slaughtered in Europe to make lamb chops or veal parmesan?
Can we all spell H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E-S???

Of priorities and the public good

I think that this rant deserves a post all by itself. As I have said before I am a teacher in the public school system and as such have been told that the system costs too much and that we must do more with less, that we must find creative solutions. There is no money. So our students work on old beat up computers that have been donated and don't work half the time. There is no money... we are trying to find the $25000 it would cost to equipe a new computer lab but it is going to take some kind of miraculous finances to accomplish this. What services will we cut to do it?
In the mean time, our elected commisioners of the school board have voted themselves $65000 worth of new P5 laptop computers ($48000 for computers and $17000 for IT support such as WIFI and broadband internet at home). The students are using recycled computers and they are spending the equivalent of two new computer labs to "save paper and mailing costs". (But let's be fair, in fours years when they are obsolete, they'll be changed and the old ones then given to the schools... how's that for generous. )
We are always being told that there is no money, that we must cut costs. I just wonder sometimes what percentage of the billions in the education budget is really spent DIRECTLY on the students. (By directly I mean, money that goes into the classes, that the students profit from, either in equipement or direct services) I would not be surprised if it was less than 1%. Since the students are at the end of the line there isn't much left when everyone above have taken their slice. Then society wonders why so many students drop out and don't finish high school. The budget should be reversed... the students get what they need and whatever is left over can be used for other things. Gee what an inovative thought, the education budget actually being used for the education of students.

Luv that new car smell...

Last post car died... put it out of its misery. Got a new car, don't you just love that new car smell? That folks is the smell of hard earned cash going, going, gone... Bought a Subaru, cuz the last Toyata kind of soured me on Toyota's in general and Corollas in particular. I know they are good cars but I got the only lemon they ever built. (By the way I forgot one other defect in my last post... when we put gas in the Corolla's tank the revs would yoyo so you had to keep your foot on the gas or she'd die. Ever try to keep your foot on the gas, work the clutch and brake and pull out of a service station? After 2km the occilattions would fade and away you'd go until the next time. :o( ) The Impreza drives like a charm and I'm really happy since I no longer have to worry if I'll get home again.

Cars and things...

Last night the f***ing transmission/clutch of my Toyota Corolla gave out... The thing started to whine, grind and finally jolt. Acrid smoke started to come out from under the car. The only good thing is that I wasn't far from home and finally limped into the driveway. The language I used about the situation would have blistered the paint off the barn at 100 meters. (This is one advantage of being bilingual, it gives you so much more material for creative swearing) This car must have been made on a Friday at 4pm just before a long weekend... after a year changed the bearings on the transmission, after 2.5 years changed the linking arm for the wipers (took them over a week to get the part since this happens so rarely), the anti-theft stopped working, the A/C died when its bearings seized, the check motor light kept coming on despite changing just about every part in the pollution control system... the motor takes about a gallon of oil between oil changes and sounds like a farm tractor, the suspension always makes the ride interesting, and finally the transmission/clutch gave up the ghost with a screeching whine and a crunch... We've always had Toyota and never had any problems. We ran the cars into the 270000 km's and still they ran, yet this one was one big pain in the kiester. One thing is sure, I'm not pouring more money into the thing... to paraphrase Monty Python's Dead Parrot Sketch... "it is dead, defunct, passed away, this is a dead car... it is not sleeping, it is DEAD". So I guess I'll soon be paying car payments again but it won't be to Toyota.

Roots

We spent the March Break in "le Vieux Québec". For those of you that are not from Québec, "la Vielle Ville" is the old part of Québec City near the St. Lawrence River. It dates back to the the 17th and 18th century and has been largely restored. It is one of the first UNESCO hertitage sites in North America. It is the cradle of French America and most francophones have ancestors that come from there. This is where it all started.
As I walked along the snowy cobbled streets, that have a distinctly European flavour, I reflected upon what it must have been like to live there 300-350 years ago. You would have left a nice safe civilized country, sailed for at least a month across the stormy Atlantic, to end up in a place where nothing was the same. You had more freedom, but life was probably much harsher than back in France. Chances were that you would never see your family or homeland again. Yet people made a place for themselves and created a French culture in this strange land. They set out and explored a continent, going from Hudson's Bay to the far west all the way down to Louisiana and New Orleans.
This is where my roots are, and I can feel that even if I have spent most of my life elsewhere. It is a strange feeling, this feeling of being home. I was an airforce brat and as such lived all over the place but when I came to study in Québec, as I got off the bus, the feeling struck me, I was home. This place was home. It is a feeling that I have never had elsewhere. I know it sounds strange but that feeling has stayed with me all my life and though I have lived longer elsewhere than here, Québec is still my home, my roots.

March Break, Yeah!!!

Finally March break is here... in the darkness of a cold/cool dank winter we can all take a break in the educational world. Why, many you ask, do we get a week off in the first week of March? Well one very good reason is that both students and teachers are much more likely to do grievous bodily harm to each other at this time of the year, so in lieu of hibernating the winter away, we all get a time out to go back to our corners to prepare for the final half of the year. ;o)
So it's a week of taking it easy, undoing the stress and preparing for what is to come, for both the students and the teachers. Soooo...
Have a very good, relaxing, and safe March Break, doing all the things you love!!!

Sitting in the dark

The electricity went out last night on my side of the street, not the whole street, just our side of the street. (How come that always happens when the temprerature is -18 degrees celsius (0 degrees F) with a wind chill of -25 degrees(-13 degrees F)) We could look out of our cold dark house and see the lights in the houses across the street. Even the street lights were on.... but not on our side of the street.
We always take our modern convenience for granted until it stops working. Sitting there shivering in the dark reading by the flickering light of a candle, oh all right to the light of a propane camping lantern, made me think about how much we depend on our fragile technology. Makes me think of a quote from Carl Sagan, "Our society is exquisitly dependant on science and technology, yet very few of its members know anything about science and technology." How true it is. I know people who don't know how to connect their VCR to their TV. Look at how many people use a computer without having any idea of what is going on. Yet we all depend upon it for our very survival. How many of us could suvive without the technology?
A couple of years ago, we had an ice storm that shut down the electrical grid, in many places, for over a month in the dead of winter. People had to abandon their homes and go live in shelters. New Orlean's infra-structure is no more and the city has almost ceased to exist. Yet we still take it all for granted. Push a button, instant heat, light, and entertainment.
Makes you think when you're sitting there shivering in the dark. ;o)

St. Valentine's Day

Happy St. Valentine's day to all of you love lorne people out there. Did you know that:

• Approximately one billion Valentine cards are exchanged each year...the largest seasonal card-selling occasion of the year next to Christmas.
• Most Valentine's Day cards (83%) are purchased by women. However, the number of cards purchased by men (currently 17%) is gradually rising, thought by some sources to be due to the fact that men often purchase two cards for their siginificant others...an amusing one and the obligatory romantic one which they believe is expected of them.
• Half of all consumers prefer to receive a humorous Valentine, followed by a romantic greeting (31%) and then a more risque form of card (8.2%). More than one-third of women (36%) and 26% of males prefer to receive a romantic Valentine. 13% of males prefer a more sexy Valentine, whereas only 3.5% of women prefer this variety of card.
• February 14 is the most important holiday for florists, accounting for 32% of annual sales.
• 73% of people who buy flowers to send on Valentine's Day are male...only 27% are female.
• Approximately 110 million roses...the majority of them being red...will be sold and delivered within a three-day time period during the Valentine's Day celebrations.
• 36% of males and 28% of females put off their Valentine's Day shopping until February 14 or the day before...64% of consumers will plan to do their shopping a week or more prior to the date.
• Males tend to spend more money on Valentine's Day gifts than do females and are more likely to buy big-ticket items...the average amount spent being $95.00.
• Alexander Graham Bell applied for his patent on the telephone on Valentine's Day in 1876.
• The chief colors associated with Valentine's Day are pink, red and white. Pink is a delicate, almost innocent shade of red and is also connected with Saint Valentine, whose burial was said to have caused the pink almond tree to blossom. Red is a symbol of warmth and feeling...the color of the heart, while white represents purity and faith...a faith between two who love each other.
• from : http://www.novareinna.com/festive/valentine.html
  

For more St. Valentine facts for Canada see: The London Free Press