December 29th.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!...All the best in 2006! and drive carefully

December 27th.

Okay ... I had a great holiday .. a few days away from the hassles of work and the world .. and we come back to this .. 1 dead and 6 shot on Yonge st. Stories from around the world looking at our city/province/country, picking apart what is wrong with our nation and how we are becoming more Americanized in our cities. I can't find the stats for 2005, we are at around 70 violent deaths with 50 or so related to gun deaths, but the 1998-2003 stats by the Toronto Police .. sure as hell show that the rate of violent crime is holding steady, but that the rate of gun related deaths have been increasing.

We are entering into an election where everyone is promising everything, the liberals are promising to ban guns (a joke), conservatives are promising harsher laws (are we going to become like the US with over crowded prisons and no way to fix the problem), and as far a I have heard the NDP is keeping its mouth shut but attacking the other parties for not fixing this issue. I don't want a quick fix, I don't want a bandaid, I want people to figure out how to stop this senseless violence, I now have to worry about my wife going shopping, my son riding the subway to school, my girls playing in the play ground at school.. Something has to be done and none of the candidates that we have seem to be looking for the answer

December 23rd.

Merry Christmas Everyone! All the best in 2006

December 22 nd.

John Mellor aka Joe Stummer died 4 years ago today.

What can you say about a musician/activist who did what he believed in.

If you have a few minutes take a look at the peice that Alan Cross, at CFNY did on the "On Going History of New Music" as a tribute to Joe.

---

Part #1 Segment #1, Segment #2, Segment #3, Segment #4, Part #2, Segment #1, Segment #2, Segment #3.

---

White Riot

White riot - I wanna riot
White riot - a riot of my own
White riot - I wanna riot
White riot - a riot of my own

Black people gotta lot a problems
But they don't mind throwing a brick
White people go to school
Where they teach you how to be thick

An' everybody's doing
Just what they're told to
An' nobody wants
To go to jail!

All the power's in the hands
Of people rich enough to buy it
While we walk the street
Too chicken to even try it

Everybody's doing
Just what they're told to
Nobody wants
To go to jail!

Are you taking over
Or are you taking orders?
Are you going backwards
Or are you going forwards?
(Strummer/Jones)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Oh by the way I swore that I wouldn't mention the election until after Christmas .. waiting, just waiting so I can spout off my uninformed opinions. !!!!!Frikin Fraken, Fricken politicians !!!!!!

December 19 th.

Eldest and I went for our belt tests. He got his Green belt and I got my Orange. Feels pretty good to see an accomplishment from all these nights of hard work. I had to do {phonetic spelling} ge si di ch, fight off an attack. Master let me beat up on Eldest. Had to break a pine board with a kick, my first kick was a round house, I must have caught the board with my toe nail.. hurt like hell (the board rang off key, but didn't even split). This got me pissed off, I go back into fighting stance and I give the board a front kick. I barely felt it but the board blew apart into pieces. Felt damn good.

Though I don't really understand how the Master does his tests .. it seems that he believes in the Karate belt tests but prefers to teach us Taekwondo. When we were practicing the only way I was able to do the movements properly was once he explained what the hold or motion would do if you were in a fight. eg. Left arm raised block (keep the knife from your body) right arm punch and grab, bring back and break the arm with a downward swing of the left arm .. etc .. As long as I'm learning its okay with me.

December 14 th.

It's just before midnight of the 13th, and I just spent a few wonderful hours with my family (Minus Eldest, but we aren't talking about or to him right now).

Wife was invited by her rep at Astral Media to "Snow White and the Group of Seven"

Ross Petty's traditional (he's been doing it for 10 years at the Elgin Theatre and I think for 11 more at other venues) gift to the city of Toronto of a hysterical Christmas Pantomime

The show stars Canadian talent such as Sean Cullen (of Corky and the Juice Pigs fame) as Guy Endermeer (get it.. Guy In d' Mirror) one of the first jokes of the show and it sets the tone of the night, jeers, laughs and cheers. Ross Petty in drag as Queen Celine Poutine, Alan Frew (of Glass Tiger) as Pops, a plethora of male Canadian Idol Stars making up the Group of Seven. (no not them, a family of singers like the Jackson Five) Elena Juatco (another Canadian Idol Star, great to see them all working) as the innocent and strong voiced Snow White.

Look, I know this is starting to sound like a advertisement for the show, its not, it's just that I really enjoyed it. I had a great time watching my 11 year old, my 6 year old and her friend laugh and join in a great holiday tradition. I had a great time joining in also. Egging my daughters to boo when QCP (Queen Celine Poutine) comes on the stage, and getting them to cheer when Snow White enters the scene. Sharing this with your kids so out weighs going to the movies (you spend about the same amount of money) or renting a bunch of DVD's that your all going to watch at differnet times anyway. Theatre and especially the Christmas Pantomime is a wonderful tradition. If you have the time and the money, (yea I know I got in free) take your family for a wonderful evening of pure and simple laughter. I know we really enjoyed ourselves.

The Globe and Mail theatre critic has a interesting review. (I'm not sure if he liked it or not but he does say some positive things.)

For those of you outside of the GTA or Southern/Central Ontario (I know you hate the selfish arrogance of Southern Ontarians, the world revolves around us, etc etc...),
It seems that Ross Petty will be taking last years show on the road in the fall of 2006. Keep an eye open for it, it worth it.

December 12 th.

I couldn't handle the Christmas colours that I picked. I might change it again. It made someones "Eyes Burn".

Only 14 days till Christmas morning.

December 8 th.

Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isn’t hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possessions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I’m a dreamer,
but I’m not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.


Written by: John Lennon
© Bag productions inc.

On the morning of December 9th, 25 years ago I awoke to Q107, on my clock radio, announcing that John Lennon was dead. He had been shot down in front of the Dakota Hotel in New York City. At that time in my life (I had lived all of 17 years) it was the most traumatic thing that had ever happened to me (lucky aren’t I). No one important in my life had died before and John Lennon ((or at least at that time I believed) was apart of my life.

I listened to his music, I heard the poetry of his words, and I tried to understand and live his message of fellowship and openness. (I was never very successful). I idolized John Lennon, that day I promised myself that I would never mention or name the person who killed him. In my mind I might think the name, but it will never flow out past my lips. The killer will get no remembrance from me.

I know some very important anniversaries have occurred over the last two days. Pearl Harbour Dec. 7th 1942, the Montreal Massacre Dec. 6th 1989, and I know these two horrible tragedies should rank higher in my opinion then the death of a musician, but John’s assassination affected me directly. It was like a punch in the face for me. It was the end of my childhood. In believing in the complete good of the world. In believing that everyone had a core of goodness and you just had to dig for it to find it. I learned that day that there are truly evil people (like I said I was innocent) in the world.

John Lennon and the Beatles not only defined a “generation” but they defined how people could and should behave towards each other. I’m not saying that they are saints, they were human and made very human mistakes. For the most part they tried to show us the good in people.

This was my little piece in tribute to a life. Thanks John and I miss you.

Instant Karma

Instant Karma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you right on the head
You better get yourself together
Pretty soon you're gonna be dead
What in the world you thinking of
Laughing in the face of love
What on earth you tryin' to do
It's up to you, yeah you

Instant Karma's gonna get you
Gonna look you right in the face
Better get yourself together darlin'
Join the human race
How in the world you gonna see
Laughin' at fools like me
Who in the hell d'you think you are
A super star
Well, right you are

Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Well we all shine on
Ev'ryone come on

Instant Karma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you off your feet
Better recognize your brothers
Ev'ryone you meet
Why in the world are we here
Surely not to live in pain and fear
Why on earth are you there
When you're ev'rywhere
Come and get your share

Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah we all shine on
Come on and on and on on on
Yeah yeah, alright, uh huh, ah

Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah we all shine on
On and on and on on and on

Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun

Written by: John Lennon

December 5 th.

The Stella Awards are named after 81-year old
Stella Liebeck... who spilled coffee on herself
and successfully sued McDonald's for millions.

This years runners up are:
Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas. Won
$14,500 after being bitten on the arse by his
neighbour's beagle. Mr Williams was shooting it
repeatedly with a pellet gun at the time.

Amber Carson was paid $113,500 by a Philadelphia
restaurant after she broke her back from slipping
on a soft drink... which she had just thrown at
her boyfriend.

Kara Walton of Delaware sued a nightclub and
won $12,000 after falling from a bathroom window
and knocking out her two front teeth. This
occurred while Ms Walton was trying to sneak
through the window in the ladies room to avoid
paying the $3.50 cover charge.

But the winner is:
Mrs Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma who purchased a
brand new 32-foot Winnebago. On her first trip,
she drove on the freeway, set the cruise control
at 70 mph and went out back to make a sandwich.
She crashed. Then sued for the manual not
advising her not to do this.

The jury awarded her $1,750,000 plus a new motor
home. The company then changed their manuals
on the basis of this suit.

-----------------
Should you ever believe what is online? Nah!!! but its always fun to get juicy stories.
-----------------
By the way, I've promised myself I will not watch, participate or mention the election until after the Christmas Season.

December 2nd.

Hey .. it's only 23 days till Christmas .. playing with code to get the right colours .. enjoy.

November 28th.

Have to share this one. Reading NealeNews just now, came across this story on under water hockey. I had to do a google search, WoW. Check out the links to Canadian under water hockey teams at Underwater hockey Tourist. Wikipedia has a good article on it. Here are the rules. There has to be some where in Toronto that I can try this.

It's been two weeks since I last got a chance to post, time does fly when your busy. Trying to settle into my new position, help the guy leaving bring in as much as he can before he goes (even though it's going to leave me pretty dry on sales for December).

On Wednesday November 30th, Youngest turns 6 years old. She can't stop asking how many days till I'm 6, or how many sleeps till my birthday party. As opposed to the other two, the world seems to revolve around daily issues for her. Nothing can happen fast enough or soon enough for her. She is a ball of energy that Wife and I are trying to keep up with.

Middle has had incredible hockey games over the last few weeks, 2 wins/1 loss/1 tie, everything seems to have clicked (crossing my fingers and knocking on wood, I don't want to jinx her). Her team lost on Saturday but she kept it to only 4 points, even though she had to have taken at least 30 shots on net. All the goals were off rebounds, her defense just could not clear the puck or she didn't have time to freeze it. It's interesting to watch the coaches at practice, its gone from her being the goalie they feel sorry for to the goalie they all want to work. We told her that she could get a toy because her grades have been very good and she has been really trying at hockey (we are trying to give rewards for doing well, along with punishing when they do something wrong) so she asked for a Build a Bear, all her cousins have one. I've never been in the store, never even seen one out of the box and I always thought it a silly waste of money. Well, I've never had so much fun shopping as I did when we went and got it with her. You choose the body you want, voice box, stuff it, clean it and shop for cloths for it. They even have a Lacrosse Bear. If you want to spend a fun hour or so with your kids, though pricey (no worse than taking a family of 5 to the movies)it was fun.

Eldest is doing well, finally doing his homework, handing in assignments, trying not to lie, adjusting to puberty. He has such a thin skin, teenage boys are mean and nasty, but the smallest thing to him is a personal slight. Two weeks ago he had a select hockey game (only the third hockey game he has played this season), the guys on his line were pretty hard on him and he came out of the rink angry and sad. He wants certain guys to like him and takes whatever they say to heart. Words hurt him, I try to support him and let him know that people aren't worth knowing if that is the way the treat people.. But teenage boys treat each other this way. (Sucks growing up) He has meet a girl that he thinks he likes, (an older women, she is in grade 9) and is not sure what to do, swore me to secrecy when we talked about it. What do you tell a 13 year old? I told him to show interest in her, ask questions about her as a person and what's happening in her life, and not to rush anything. I've offered to let him take her with us to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (I've got to take him and his sister anyway). Not sure if he wants to have his old man on his first date though, we will see what happens.

Life if going ok with Wife and I, other then we are tired all the time (from running around) and both sick with colds. We have to settle on some type of get away for march break.

November 14th.

How FU**ING stupid are the opposition parties.

I know, I know, your all saying yes get rid of the Liberals, down with the Liberals, down with cronyism, down with criminal politicians.

Cr*p .. a december election. If you think American voter turnout is bad, wait to see what happens if they force a pre Christmas election.

You conservatives may just end up with a Liberal government again because of apathy. NDP, you might end up with a conservative gov't because of apathy. I'm sorry, but I don't think the general public gives two sh*ts about who is in power, as long as its not costing more money than the last party in power.

Yes I know the Liberal party has taken advantage of their postion in power, but have you forgotton Brian Mulroney and tunagate or any of the other political scandels in Canadian History.

Use the brains god gave you, give us a spring election. Then you can vote out the Liberals and maybe get a few years of resposible government before they turn into crooks also.

November 11th.

Kind of an important date today. November 11th 2005. It's been 87 years since the end of World War I, and only 60 years since the end of World War II.

I don't know to many people who still have a direct relative who fought in the wars, my great uncles have all died and my father in-law has passed away (he served in the Italian army). One uncle was with the Hastings & Prince Edward Regiment another was with the Grey & Simcoe Foresters and a second cousin served in the Canadian Merchant Marine.

My wife’s boss, who is in from New York, was surprised by the people here in Toronto wearing Poppies, she was impressed and embarrassed. She had never given November 11th a thought until the other day. She told Wife that you just don't see this in New York.

We can't let that happen here, we can never forget or become complacent. Those years can never happen again. My Father never had to go to war, I never had to and I pray my son doesn't. We can't forget what these men did. They gave up their lives (they either died, or came back very scared by what they saw and did) and then they guided our countries, cities, and families to what we have now. Without them and what they sacrificed where would we be now (that's for the Alternate History buffs to play with).

I just want to say thank you to all the veterans still alive, and pray for all those who have passed away. Thank you for the life that you have given us.

In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

- John McCrae

November 7th.

Okay, I don't want to crow .. Um .. yes I do. Do you remember a few posts ago where I was talking about how Middle was treated by our house league hockey club. (if you don't, click here and read away)

Middle has not been having the best of a season, the average shots on her per game have been 30 to 35 shots on net (not including the ones that miss the net) and the final scores have been in the double digit (10 - 14 points for the other team, not more then 3-5 for her team), not so hot right .. well she doesn't have much of a defense and she can stop the difficult shots, but she just couldn't seem to stop the easy ones. I was beginning to feel really bad for Middle and her team .. it's not her fault but maybe she just wasn't cut out to be a goalie, (I never told her any of this, I've been really good and kept my mouth shut) She's the one who wanted to be a goalie, so we are doing our best to help her. We take her for goalie classes once a week, house league practice on sunday etc..

Well on Saturday morning she proved that she is a goalie and one to beat at that. Her team went up against the best team in house league, (1st place so far in the season, 5 games 5 wins) The goalie is the son of the assistant coach to the team (the parent is really good goalie himself) .. Middle was incredible .. low, high, middle, 5 hole .. she couldn't be beat .. only one goal against her in the dying minutes of the 1st period. She kept it up all the way through the game, Wife and I were screaming yelling and cheering constantly .. Middle shut down one of the best shots on the other team (a real puck hog, who never passes), the kid was slamming her stick on the ice. Damn it was fun. By the end of the game .. Middle had taken 37 shots and only let 4 in. It was a tie game, 4/4 but it felt like Middle had won the Stanley Cup. A lot of parents and coaches came up to her after the game and congratulated her. She was so proud, she was smiling ear to ear. I was smiling like a Cheshire Cat, I was so proud and I hadn't done anything except sit on my ass and yell.

Not to forget Eldest and Youngest .. Eldest sprained the same ankle that he fractured and can't play for two more weeks (he only got the cast ofF two weeks ago). He tripped on a railing at the subway and stumbled down two steps. The kid is just not having a good year. Youngest had a good game on Saturday, but her best friend wasn't there and she just wasn't into it.

October 31st.

I've been on training for the last few weeks, missed posting. I've been offered a new position with the company, more money, double the workload (I get to do my own calling/cold calling, but I also get to do the outside sales.) We will see how it goes.

My blog is worth $38,388.72.
How much is your blog worth?

Thanks Paul, where the hell do you find all these quizzes?

October 18th

As I drove north to the cottage on the 400, I thought of grabbing the digital camera, taking pictures and creating a post from it. After two days of driving myself nuts trying to figure what to write about and how to post the pictures, I've decided that I am just not a good enough writer to make a drive north seem interesting. So, when you look at the pictures of the car ride north, I want to let you know I was seeing some of the most beautiful (in my eyes) land in Canada and listening to Rancid's "And Out Came the Wolves"


Around Waubaushene I got the camera out

Where Hwy 400 crosses the Musquash River,
the highway goes from 4 lane to 2 and we now enter Wahta, Mohawk Territory. Everything is under construction through Wahta,


until you reach the bridge over
the Moon River. This is the last section of the 400 that needs to be finished until just past Parry Sound.

I was doing pretty good on time and speed When this passed me it's only October and some guy is moving his old sleds around. You will not see something like this in southern Ontario. I followed the truck for a while
wanting to see where he might turn off. I decided to watch my speed as the OPP usually hides behing a rockcut to catch speeders. I was right, didn't get a photo of him but I also didn't get a ticket.


The time and surroundings speed by and you know your close to Parry Sound when you see these signs. When my sisters and I were kids going to the cottage on old hwy 69, we would all wait and see who could shout "Parry Sound sign" first. You didn't get anything but braging rights and maybe a sore shoulder from being punched, but for some reason it was fun.

With the new highway you now have to turn off
at the Bowes Street exit and the first thing you see when you hit Parry Sound is McDonald's. Welcome to the new north .. they cater the the whims of the cottagers.

Once you go through town you have to head up the Great North Roadand go under the CNR tracks
you head out along Emely St. towards the marina.


Met my sister, brother in-law and Dad a the marina, we loaded the boat up and took off for the cottage.



The swing bridge linking Parry Island (home of the Wasauksing First Nation) to the mainland, over 100 years old

Two Mile Narrows, the gov't dredges this every few decades to keep it clear for boating.



Photos of Five Mile Bay.








Heading south after a great weekend, no photos taken of the weekend

October 14th

This article caught my attention. You should see the different view points that are expressed around the world. From Zimbabwe, China, Bahrain, to the U.S. itself. Now I'm not an idiot and I know you aren't, the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe was up to something, but Mugabe is a tin pot dictator.

This lead me to start thinking about dictators and their effect on man kinds history. People should know of the twentieth centuries great dictators like Hitler, Stalin, and maybe Pol Pot.

A lot of people don't like the war in Iraq, I don't support it myself but Saddam Hussein was a dictator who came to power and took over completely. Do you remember dictators like President for life of Uganda Idi Amin leading to Entebbe Rescue Operation, or Papa Doc Duvalier, he and his family ruled Haiti for almost thirty years. These men only cover a few of the Twentieth centuries dictators/self proclaimed Kings or Leader for Life.

The name dictator in the classical Greek or Roman time meant something totally different - they elected a person to protect them in a time of emergency. Roman Dictators like Gaius Marius or Sulla changed the direction of not only Roman history but western civilization also. Without Gaius we would never of had Julius Ceaser. Without Ceaser would never of had Romanized Britain, without Great Britain we would never of had Anglo North American culture that for better or for worse is dominating the world at this time. I'm not trying to say that these despots are good for man or history/future history, but that their affects will and do reverberate through time. Who's to say that in during the dark ages the ancestors of the House of Windsor weren't just the equivalent of a outlaw motorcycle gang

We as Capitalistic Democracies have to be so careful of who we elect lead our countries, the cult of personality can influence how people vote so easily. Just a few steps either left or right can lead a nation/culture to some type of dictatorship.

I guess this is my way of saying its better to be non partisan or a fence sitter.

Have a great weekend.. going north to close the cottage.

October 12th

Which Historical Lunatic Are You?
From the fecund loins of Rum and Monkey.

Thanks Paul, via Patrick

Ok, here is a question for you. The officers of the Toronto Police Force have gone on a "job action". They are considered a essential service, so they are not allowed to strike.

This quote is taken from the same article.

Toronto Police Association president Dave Wilson said after a meeting attended by close to half of his union members that public safety would not be jeopardized, and that the most obvious sign of their protest would be officers wearing baseball caps.

Asked if their first phase of job action, which started at midnight, would also include officers ignoring traffic violations, Mr. Wilson said that it was left to the individual officer. "We have, as officers, the right to exercise discretion," he told reporters.

Does this quote mean that they are going to hurt the city by not fining people for traffic violations. Way to hurt the city .. in the pocket book.

You Are 27 Years Old

20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences.

What Age Do You Act?

October 7th

Have a happy Happy "Canadian" Thanksgiving this weekend.

Weekly news round up time.

I wish Bush or his handlers could make up their minds, Did "God" tell him to go to war or not, and if "God" did tell him to go to war, does this mean that the U.S. is the only country in the world with a direct phone line to "God". By the way, whose "God" told him to go to war.

The Tyee has a article, written by Peter MacLeod from the Planning Desk, on how Canada should be looking to the EU as a trading partner for the future. Since the US keeps on playing games with the softwood issue.

Neal News has a link to a really good article at Maisonneuve on the power or lack of power by Canadian bloggers to effect news coverage. Read it, somewhat humbling.

To be 9 years old and make the book of Guinness World Records

The Leafs have lost Mats for who knows how long. Lindros and O'Neill should be able to replace him on the ice, but what about leading the team .. Maybe we should trust in Tie, hey I'm serious here. Tie can step up, I believe in him. At least I'm in first place at Canada Blog Hockey League.

As you might have figured out, I used to work at the Corpse .. Oh! I did it again, the Corps .. I'm glad for all my friends who get to go back to work. Be grateful for Hockey Night In Canada .. But can you tell me why CTV is reporting this story. Oh to rub it in, that's right.

So our favorite martial arts actor Jackie Chan, can never die or kiss in a movie. No problem for me, I just want to see the 51 year old keep it up a while longer.

By the way Small Dead Animals is running Small Dead Blog Awards - Nomination Roundup. Interesting cross section of Bloggers. Take a look.

October 5th

It's my fathers 73rd birthday .. happy birthday Dad .... and it the first night for hockey in over a year.

I grew up in Bracebridge Ontario in the late 60's and early 70's. Life in winter time was centered on hockey. There was only three teams that mattered. Toronto, Montreal and Boston. In 1972 we had two players from the local Junior B Bracebridge Bears living with us. One was the brother of Steve Shutt. One of my classmates was the younger brother of Roger Crozier My claim to fame was a distant cousin who made the NHL and my white turtleneck sweater that was bought at Bobby Orr's store in Parry Sound.

Weekends were hockey practice in the morning, my coach was Bucko McDonald. I wore white plastic and felt knee pads on the outside of my corduroy pants, hockey gloves with the Toronto Maple Leafs logo them, hand me down skates (they belonged to my cousin), a helmet that only covered the back and front of my head, the crown was wide open. No shoulder or elbow pads (just a turtle neck and a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey sweater), and no jock. I played between 1969 and 1973. Dad would walk me to practice, I think that was the reason I quit playing .. I hated that cold walk first thing in the morning. I loved to play, or at least I think I did. I remember Bucko teaching me to stop on one foot, I remember scoring my first goal, I remember after practice running around the rink and through the stands with my friends, I remember my sisters taking me for the afternoon skate at the rink, all the boys would play ice tag and get the older kids pissed off at us. I remember going back to the rink and watching the Bears play towns like Huntsville and North Bay. I remember listening to the Habs on the radio as we drove home, then watching the Leafs on TV once we got home. This is what hockey means to me .. chasing your friends around the rink, watching incredible skaters playing a great game .. I want this for my kids .. memories that will last a life time.

I want to say thanks to the player and the owners for coming to their senses and bringing the game back .. Have a great season and may the best team win. (I really hope that its finally time for the Leafs)

September 30th

Today is going to be news day .. Links to articles that impress/shock/scare or thrill me.

Toronto City Hall is becoming a den of corruption or so the Globe&Mail and the Toronto Star are trying to tell us. Hold on a minute here, can anyone truly say that they don't think this has happened before and will continue to happen. What is sad, is that they got caught doing it.
Are our elected politicians this stupid, or is there something else hidden in the bill that they didn't want to let pass. (is the bill I linked to the same one? update .. thanks to Darcey .. Bill c-313 is the right bill ) And how stupid are British politicians. In a country that invented tabloid journalism, they would do something like this. These are the people we are allowing to run our countries. God help us.

More shootings in the GTA .. This was only a couple of blocks from my office, I wondered why Steeles was so slow yesterday morning.

Wife had a good comment about this story, "what about the responsibility of the people who are still smoking/starting to smoke. Why shouldn't they be paying for this also. Why should non smokers bare the brunt of the cost to our health care system. Big tobacco shares the blame, but where is it written that when you become a addict that you wave your right to carry any responsibility for your actions." She never smoked, I did. It took me over 10 years to quit completely, when I started smoking I was 12, I didn't know it was addictive, I just thought it was cool. God did I learn .. If you've started smoking in the last 25 years its your own fault, you have no excuse.

Such a wonderful and wondrous world we live in. We have to stop screwing it up.

A thrill of a life time. Oh to be 19 again.

This is a great read if your a Blues fan .. B.B. King interview. New CD "80"

Wife and I are going to watch two shows this fall .. The Amazing Race and Lost.

The "Media" is a interesting and powerful tool. It tries to do two things .. Make money (nothing wrong with this, Tanstaafl). This is the primary focus, to get you to read/watch/listen to their publication/news cast/entertainment so they can sell more advertisements. Then get you to listen to their take on the news/information, they have an agenda that is past down by the owners (who or what are these shadowy creatures .. Paranoia time). Media wants to change the way you look/think about the world and bend your outlook to their bias.
We all know this we don't need to have it spoon feed to us, but we (bloggers) are doing this ourselves now. We have right wing blogs, left wing blogs, non partiasan blogs, entertainment blogs and just plain good open journals for the voyeurs that we are. Are we just copying/competing with the largest Media organizations to get our viewpoint out, but if your already preaching to the faithful, why are we doing this?

September 29th

Just to make you happy over at "a day in the life of a terrible mother",

23rd post, the fifth sentence
"It really felt good to take some stress out by kicking things."

I truly am not violent, I'm really not. My son really did break his leg on his own... Believe me I'm telling the truth.

Here's the rules for any five people that I now have to tag.
Delve into your blog archive.
Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
Tag five people to do the same.

The first five who choose to do this please go ahead.

September 28th

Today's topic is kind of interesting. Sexism, Women, families and kids house league hockey. (this all happened last Saturday)

Middle is a goalie. She can be really good and she can have really bad games, just like every other kid. We registered her in the spring with our club as always .. When you're registering 3 kids you want the discount for registering early, she has advanced to house league PeeWee (11, 12 year olds) (mostly boys but who cares, girls can compete with boys, right!) . I told wife that it looked like there would be too many goalies in PeeWee in the fall and that we would probably have fun getting a spot for her. (two of the PeeWee goalies from 04/05 would stay PeeWee and all four of the Atom goalies from O4/05 were moving up to PeeWee) Well didn't my prediction come true? (it was even worse than I thought, Midget had 6 goalies, Bantam had 2, PeeWee had 6 and Atom supposedly had 6.) We received a call from the PeeWee coach, Middle will need to share a team this year because there are six goalies in PeeWee. On top of that we would have to work out with the other parent how we would have the kids divide the ice time. WTF! was wife and my reaction. In my opinion, even in house league hockey it’s the coach's decision, not the parents and second why wasn't this worked out before.

Anyway we got there for Saturday morning. Wife got middle dressed, (girls are supposed to have their own locker, When we got one I asked where she could get changed, one of the male executive replied that they don't have to supply a locker unless she was 13, screw that, she is no longer a little girl. I got Middle a room where she could at least get changed some what privately), and her coach intro'd me to the other goalie on the teams mother (does that make sense?)(note .. Hockey Mom). He walked away saying we would have to look after it. I was for the kids splitting a game. Either Middle or the other guy would start, and then switch half way through. She wanted her son to play a whole game. She had just gone and bought him new equipment, it cost her so much and she wanted him to play (inside my head, I'm going wtf, so did and do we! .. she made me feel that it was my daughters fault that we had two goalies on the team) So as not to make waves, I agreed to her way.

Then someone in club executive came up to me and asked if middle wouldn't want to move back to Atom (9, 10 year old kids) and play out (not in goal) because a lot of girls who should have moved up to PeeWee didn't and middle would probably be more comfortable with this. (by the way this was a woman saying this). My reaction, no, because Middle is and wants to be a goalie, but, I said I would talk to Middle and Wife. In our club there is hitting in PeeWee, but Middle is in the net anyway so she isn't going to be hit. So why the problem.

Wife came out of locker, Middle was sick and the other goalie would have to start. I told the coach, his response was, Its nerves .. I said no, she's sick, he walked away saying its nerves. WTF! Am I paranoid/protective or am I starting to see a trend here?

The next day we go to practice, they have a coach/father working with the goalies, seems to know what he is doing, after a while I had to mention to wife .. "Am I nuts or is that guy only taking a couple of shots on Middle and spending more time with the boy goalies." Wife agreed with me, we watched the practice even closer. We were right; he would take a few soft shots on Middle, and then drill the pucks at the boys. I'm getting more pissed off as it goes along. I'm proud of my daughter, she has no fear, she can take a shot off the face mask/chest protector/whatever and not flinch. We don't have her in girls’ competitive hockey because the cost and time involved. Middle wouldn't be able to do the other things she loves, dance lessons, swimming lessons, guitar lessons and extra Math classes (the thing she hates). We don't have her in girls’ house league because it isn't competitive enough (See below for explanation), and we always thought that our club was excepting of female players .. Boy was I blind.

The sexism from the male coaches and male executive bothered me, but it is unfortunately expected. The fact that the women in the club did not support our daughter in her right to play and in fact tried to have her play down a level and out because "it would make her feel more comfortable", when she wasn't uncomfortable, she wanted to play. The women didn't seem to think a girl could compete with there sons or they didn't even want to let her try to play. They expected her to play out and down. I'll lay you bets that the female executive didn't ask any of the other peewee goalies parents if they wanted to play out and down an age group. Then the Hockey Mom, who didn't want her son to have to share a position with a girl. My wife and I were okay with Middle having to share with the boy, so what is the difference for this woman.

It seems to have worked out, PeeWee supervisor called .. He wanted to move one goalie up to Bantam (13,14 year olds - Eldest is Bantam) and he wanted to know if Middle would be interested in moving to Atom as a goalie, as one goalie quit and the other has decided not to join the club. We asked Middle, she took two days to make the decision, is somewhat upset, said that she would like to have played one game as a PeeWee just to see what it was like, but she would go Atom.

Thank good Middle ignored most of this. She just wants to play hockey.

No insult intended to Canadian Girls House League Hockey .. We called the local organization, they explained to us that because of Middles age group she would be playing with 6-12 year olds in a junior division on a buzzer system. A (better players)line and B (learning players) lines. This means that there would be the rare shot that she couldn't stop, not very much fun for her or the kids trying to shot on her. Middle herself said that she didn't want to play for the girls league until she goes into the senior grouping.

September 22nd

You Are A: Bear Cub!

Bears are strong and independent creatures who roam in the forest in search of food. Bears are usually gentle, but anger one and be prepared for their full fury! You're big, you won't back down from a fight, you have a bit of a temper -- classic attributes of a bear. Intelligent and resourceful, though lazy at times, you are a fascinating creature of the wild.

You were almost a: Frog or a Monkey
You are least like a: Duckling or a LambWhat Cute Animal Are You?

Well J.D. Fortune is the new lead singer of INXS. He won the job on Wednesday night. I had planed a whole Wednesday post to preview the final show, I had grabbed links from Jam:Canoe, Channel News Asia, the Herald News in Australia, Metromix from the Chicago Tribune and even Reality TV Magazine. Each article runs down the final three, J.D., MiG and Marty. It was going to be a great post. Well things came up and I never got to post any of this. So Wednesday night I watched RockStar:INXS, and as we know J.D. won. I did a bunch of searches to get Canadian reaction to the win, Calgary Sun, Halifax Herald and Chart Attack reported on it. It's a Monkey, Passionate About Sports, Everything Skylar, A day in the life of a terrible mother and Goddess Girl all had something really interesting to say to say about the win. Once again, I could not get the time to post on the win by J.D., because I've spent the last two days at the hospital.

Tuesday at 11:00 am I get a call at work from Eldests school, "Mr. 42yearoldloser, could you come down to the school and pick up your son, we don't want to call a ambulance, but we think your son has broken his ankle". As soon as I could clean up what I was doing, I was out the door and jetting down the 400. Got to the school, there was Eldest in the office with a grin from ear to ear. He was in gym class, they were running around the track and his ankle had slipped off the raised side. Got his things together and headed to the hospital. Two hour wait for Triage, then another two hour wait to be treated. Yes I know that in Canada we have a socialist medical system, everyone has a right to medical help and no one can jump the line (at least they aren't supposed to). In that two hour wait for triage, I had to politely stop people from butting in front of my son. Even though it was clearly marked to wait in certain seats and that you would be helped in order, people expected to walk in and be helped right away. Hell even people brought in by EMS have to wait. To give you an example, a older women, with a bleeding head wound, is brought in by her son, he goes right into the traige room and kind of pushed to the front of the line. The triage nurse was nice, checked the woman quickly and asked her to got to the back of the line. If the nurse put the woman at the front of the line fine, if you in bad trouble you'll go first, but if not wait like everyone else.

So anyway, after x-ray's and a wait, the ER doctor says that he can't see anything, but for Eldest to use the crutches and come in the next day for a appointment with the Fracture Clinic. The next morning I told Eldest to stop depending on the crutches and try to walk on it. It hurt to much, ok fine, he has a very low pain thresh hold so I didn't push him even though I believed that if he tired he could do it. We head back to hospital and the fracture clinic, his appointment was for 10:30 am, we got in at 1 pm, and then had to wait another half hour to see the doctor. The doctor said there was nothing visible in the x-ray, but because the pain was so centralized in such a small area, Eldest probably has a cracked growth plate. He smiled at me a goes "I told you so" .. So he now has a air cast on his foot for the next 5 weeks.

Poor guy, he is supposed to go for his green belt in TaeKwonDo next week, his house league hockey starts this weekend and tryouts for select and his school hockey team are next week. He won't be able to do any of it. Kind of proud of him though, I mentioned to him this morning before he left for the subway, that I was going to class tonight, he said that he would come and do all the excersises except for the kicking.

Back to RockStar, its not the end .. The rockstars have a CD out, supposedly the contestants are going on tour, we have the new INXS CD due out on Nov. 29th, a INXS tour to look forward to, Marty was asked to open for them ont the world tour and as Brooke Burke closed the show she mentioned for people to send in their tapes .. What band could be looking for a new lead singer?

September 19th

The Great Canadian Blog Survey. Take it, what do you have to loose.

Guess I'm not going to be a hockey coach this year. The meeting to pick teams is tonight and no one has asked me to attend. Part of me is hurt, brain to me "did you suck that much as a coach that no one wants you back?". Other part is going, "thank god, I don't have to worry about all those asshole hockey dads and moms."

My main worry is did I do more damage to my sons ego by being his coach. He had such a bad year last year, what with bullying, me being his coach?, just life in general that I worry about him. He is fitting into school life, he's already joined the archery club and is looking forward to joining more clubs. So maybe this year will be better.

September 16th

I really do sit right on the fence ... thanks to The Last Amazon for finding this.

Your Political Profile

Overall: 35% Conservative, 65% Liberal

Social Issues: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

Ethics: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

How Liberal / Conservative Are You?

September 14th

It's strange but sometimes you're forced to wonder about the world in which you live and your place in it.

The 15 year old kid that I talked about in my post on September 1st turned himself into the police. What made him do it? Was he afraid of being caught? Was he remorseful for what he did? Will we ever find out? Or will we even care in six months as to what drove a 15 year old boy to kill someone? To make matters worse there has been two more shooting deaths in the Jane/Finch corridor. These shootings are a bit farther from home, but to close for comfort. Wife won't let me drive along Driftwood at night, can't say I blame her.

But for the Grace of God go you and I, as my parents always say. Paul Croutch was beaten to death by 3 Canadian Forces Reservists. Why did they beat a defenseless person to death? Was it mob mentality? Were they just drunk assholes? From the news reports Croutch was a sick, mentally ill man who once had a loving family, but his world fell apart. This could have been me/you/anyone. I don't want to disparage the Canadian Reservists they have had a long and proud history of serving this country. Anyone of us could have been on either end of this .. As I said, but for the grace of god go you and I.

I was out getting lunch today and met a person I used to work with at CBC Radio, our oldest kids were born around the same time. She is on permanent disability from work. She has a disease that makes it almost impossible to work, but at the same time she gets to stay at home and see her daughter grow up. The world just is a strange place.

September 9th

Trying something new with the post title, Wikipedia is a incredible tool, but tools can be only as good as the users. Here's hoping that Wikipedia will be around for a while.

My blog title calls me a 42 year old loser, but I'm not really. I have just about everything going my way. Or at least I think it is. I've got a great wife and three wonderful kids. I'm finally making good money after a very long time. We can afford to send our kids the school we want. We can even afford to take a vacation outside of Canada. We can even (almost) dream of retirement. But, why do I feel that this a just a house of cards that is just balancing on the edge of a cliff and its all about to fall right out from underneath me, because of past history.

I dropped out of college in my 3rd/2nd year ( I had to repeat a year because I had mono in 2nd year). I wanted to be a radio announcer, but since I have almost no sense of humour or at least such a dry sense of humour, I realized this was not the career for me. I went to work at a radio station as a audio tech, while taking night school art classes at OCA. I really believed I could make it as a artist, until I realized that OCA night school marked on a bell curve and that a certain percentage of students/people were being set up for failure and no one (teachers, other students or the school) really gave a shit. That kind of took the luster off of being a artist. Also I realized that I can't produce something on command. Anything I can draw/paint/sculpt comes from inside my mind, not from the "real world" and its hard as hell to get it out. How do you make a living off of that when your looking to get married and raise a family. So I stayed on at the radio station, for 3 years. One day at we were told to go to a meeting, I had tapes to edit for the weekend so I didn't go, listening to the noon news cast as I edited tapes I heard the station master say that the station was going off the air. Wife and I had just bought a house, we were thinking of starting a family.. all put on hold. Well that was the first time I was out of work.

I have been working full time (as a adult, sometimes I even act like one) since 1985, in that time I have worked for eight different companies (3 different Industries)(one was my own, I tried to be a freelancer, what a failure)... almost everyone of them has gone under/downsized or done what's called temporary layoff so they don't have to pay benefits, leaving me to find another job and putting my/our life on hold. The longest I have ever been with a company is five years. While everyone my age got on with their careers, wife had to put up with me constantly looking for work. Each and every time she was fantastic, supportive, giving me a reason to get up each day (I wanted to please her).

Now things are mostly ok. Other than:
a) I live in my mother-in-laws house
b) I drive my father-in-laws car (he's dead by way)
c) my skin is turning white (I already am white, but I mean fish belly white, because of vitilago (try going through life being two face)
d) wife almost makes double what I do, not really bad but hard on the ego sometimes.
e) making less money each year because the company I work for is constantly changing the bonus plan, making it harder to meet your quota
f)constantly living on edge, because your not happy doing what your doing, but need to do it so you can have the life style you want. (when I was 14 my Dad told me that a job was not something to be happy with, you just did it because it had to be done)

So this is a rough idea of why I call myself a 42 year old loser, I'm not, but sometimes it sure feels it.

My City

Ok, These are images that I took of my city, you don't get to see this unless you head out into the Toronto Islands, buy a postcard or do a tour cruise of the harbour. Wife and I were lucky enough to be invited on a evening cruise of the harbour by one of her clients, we had a great time.
Toronto has over 3 million people, from a multiple mix of cultures, trying to live together and hey I think we do pretty good. Its a beautiful place with a lots of parks, entertainment, cultural activities, sporting events and even though non Torontonians call it a cold place it has a lot of heart .. We still are Toronto the good.

But, and it's a big But things are happening lately that are just down right scary. There has been over 30 murders this year by gun violence .. I know the NRA and gun people say ..."Guns don't kill people, people kill people" ... That's crap, I grew up learning to shoot. I just don't feel a need to own one or use one. I've used target guns, shotguns, hunting rifles and even a fully auto FN (that's the Canadian version of the M16). Guns in the hands of people kill people, that's it. It's simple, make it harder to get the guns, harsher punishments for caring guns, harsher punishments for using guns to commit a crime and you won't have people driving around and shooting up the fucking city. I know, the Canadian government screwed up the gun registry, I know you have the right to own a weapon to protect yourself (hell in some of the states south of the border it's still legal to carry a concealed weapon), but it's not right to take another persons life. Our laws, most religions, and morals tell us this. Its also not right to put a city in fear because they are not sure when/where something horrible is going to happen. Look at this google map ..
Jane and Sheppard, a man was killed here a few days ago. I live a mile away. Oldest will be riding the TTC by himself this year to get to school, I'm worried about some asshole taking pot shots at buses. Middle and Youngest go to school very near our house. It's locked down, thank god, no one can enter without buzzing in at the front door, but what happens if there is gun play at the apartments beside the school.
I am scared, and I don't like feeling this way.
The Argos, private companies and community groups are helping to set up what seems to be a good organization called "Stop the Violence", lets hope it works, but will it be enough. I don't know, and I don't have a answer.

Quick note, Ty is gone and RockStar:INXS is suddenly getting very real. I don't like the clips/editing/sound bites of what is happening back at the house. Its two fractured, at least what we see in the half hour on Monday nights. The producers and editors are creating a bad vibe, it probably does exist but I think they are spending to much time on it, putting more emphasis on something that don't really matter, just to make good reality television. Part of me feels that J.D. is being kept around because he does stir up so much shit, even though he would make a good lead singer for INXS. J.D. is a asshole, but so was Ty, so is MiG and Marty. So are Jordis and Suzie, have you seen Jordis roll her eyes or curl her lips. These people are artists .. self centred, creative and demanding...What do you expect them to be.
INXS was right though, Ty, J.D., and Jordis each gave uninspired performances last night. The show has gotten very real and in a few weeks only one of five will remain. That kind of sucks, when you like everyone.

You love your kids, but sometimes you want to strangle them

Wife and I amassed a huge album collection when we were young and when we first got married, ranging from Ashford and Simpson (hers) to Dead Kennedys (mine). I've never had time to mix these albums to CD, like I used to make cassettes. So I've finally gotten everything I need together to do it. An ok Sound Card, MS Plus! to bring the analog audio in and convert it, a two channel editing program so I can cut and mix the songs, I fixed our Dual 505-2 turntable (the rubber drive belt had disintegrated), wires to link the old stereo system (Dual turntable, Dual Cassette and Sherwood PreAmp, EQ and Receiver) to the computer.

Well tonight when we got home from me driving Oldest and Middle to Drum lessons and Sylvan, I decided instead of sitting on my ass and watching TV, I would transfer a album. I got out David Bowie's "Hunky Dory", I was getting out the disc cleaner and noticed and bunch of albums on the table. "Oldest", I called out, "Did you leave these albums out, put them away when you done!" "Yes Dad" is all I got. I then put the album on the turn table, lower the arm, and watch in horror as the cartridge is dragged across the album. "Oldest, did you do anything to the turn table?" "No Dad", "Oldest what happened?" After about 20 questions (I was no longer the calm loving father that I try to be, I was the raging maniac audio file who was ready to kill someone for screwing with his system.) Oldest admitted to trying to putting a album on, his cousin, same age, was over and pushed oldest out of the way (likely story) saying he knew what to do and began to fiddle with the turn table. Not only did they break the stylus, damaged the cartridge ( a Dual DN 65E - anyone know where I can buy one of these?), they also scratched the hell out of Iggy Pop's "Blah Blah Blah". Have you ever wanted to kill your kid? Once I find somewhere in Toronto that sells the cartridge I need, he is buying it. No matter the cost.

To help me calm down and give me a dose of rock, wife and I watched RockStar:INXS tonight ...
- J.D. rocked with Elvis's "Suspicious Mind", but he really has screwed up in the last week because of his attitude and I think he is in big trouble with INXS.
- Suzie did a really good job with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", but I don't think she deserved the comments that INXS gave her. I think she got compliments because she nailed the Farriss brothers interpretation of the new song they recorded earlier this week.
- Mig did "Live and Let Die", but nothing to right home about.. he seemed to enjoy himself.
- Ty did "You Can't Always Get What You Want", he did a good job of making the song his own, I didn't hear the Stones I heard Ty. (does that make sense to you)
- Jordis did "Imagine" by John Lennon, I will buy this one. Wife didn't like it. I love hearing Jordis but the only problem is she doesn't seem to have a range in her voice, she can't hit the high notes. This must make her kind of limiting to write vocals for.
- Marty did a awesome job of "Wish You Were Here", by Pink Floyd (song was written about absent band member Sid Barrett), no screaming, just a soulful heartfelt song that made me want to cry, Marty should get the encore, he deserves it.

Please read... There once was and still is a reason for the CBC

For everyone who is trashing the Corpse, oh! Sorry I meant the CBC .. Please read this article from the Globe & Mail by Knowlton Nash, on why the CBC was founded and why it should still be relevant to Canadians. Hey, I may trash the place sometimes, but working in its creative atmosphere was one of the most enjoyable jobs I've ever had (and I've had a few, have to stop killing companies that I work for).

The US gov't is finally going after Pat Robertson .. if only they could put a muzzle on the guy. But its odd that Bush is being so quite.

These just make me mad .. why were they ever let out in the first place. The canadian or maybe provinical justice systems just doesn't seem to work.