What's a Canadian doing in North Carolina?
Thursday, March 30, 2006
I thought this was funny...
I was looking for an on-line source for cheese curds so I could make some poutine, and in my travels, found this...http://members.shaw.ca/kcic1/canwhy.html (I don't have a link to the original source)
An American's View of Canada
(This editorial ran in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in August 2003)
It's not just the weather that's cooler in Canada: You live next door to a clean-cut, quiet guy. He never plays loud music or throws raucous parties. He doesn't gossip over the fence, just smiles politely and offers you some tomatoes. His lawn is cared-for, his house is neat as a pin and you get the feeling he doesn't always lock his front door. He wears Dockers. You hardly know he's there. And then one day you discover that he has pot in his basement, spends his weekends at peace marches and that guy you've seen mowing the yard is his spouse.
Allow me to introduce Canada. The Canadians are so quiet that you may have forgotten they're up there, but they've been busy doing some surprising things. It's like discovering that the mice you are dimly aware of in your attic have been building an espresso machine.
Did you realize, for example, that our reliable little tag-along brother never joined the Coalition of the Willing? Canada wasn't willing, as it turns out, to join the fun in Iraq. I can only assume American diner menus weren't angrily changed to include "freedom bacon," because nobody here eats the stuff anyway.
And then there's the wild drug situation: Canadian doctors are authorized to dispense medical marijuana. Parliament is considering legislation that would not exactly legalize marijuana possession, as you may have heard, but would reduce the penalty for possession of under 15 grams to a fine, like a speeding ticket. This is to allow law enforcement to concentrate resources on traffickers; if your garden is full of wasps, it's smarter to go for the nest rather than trying to swat every individual bug. Or, in the United States, bong.
Now, here's the part that I, as an American, can't understand. These poor benighted pinkos are doing everything wrong. They have a drug problem: Marijuana offenses have doubled since 1991. And Canada has strict gun control laws, which means that the criminals must all be heavily armed, the law-abiding civilians helpless and the government on the verge of a massive confiscation campaign. (The laws have been in place since the '70s, but I'm sure the government will get around to the confiscation eventually.) They don't even have a death penalty!
And yet ... nationally, overall crime in Canada has been declining since 1991. Violent crimes fell 13 percent in 2002. Of course, there are still crimes committed with guns - brought in from the United States, which has become the major illegal weapons supplier for all of North America - but my theory is that the surge in pot-smoking has rendered most criminals too relaxed to commit violent crimes. They're probably more focused on shoplifting boxes of Ho-Hos from convenience stores.
And then there's the most reckless move of all: Just last month, Canada decided to allow and recognize same-sex marriages. Merciful moose, what can they be thinking? Will there be married Mounties (they always get their man!)? Dudley Do-Right was sweet on Nell, not Mel! We must be the only ones who really care about families. Not enough to make sure they all have health insurance, of course, but more than those libertines up north.
This sort of behavior is a clear and present danger to all our stereotypes about Canada. It's supposed to be a cold, wholesome country of polite, beer-drinking hockey players, not founded by freedom-fighters in a bloody revolution but quietly assembled by loyalists and royalists more interested in order and good government than liberty and independence. But if we are the rugged individualists, why do we spend so much of our time trying to get everyone to march in lockstep? And if Canadians are so reserved and moderate, why are they so progressive about letting people do what they want to?
Canadians are, as a nation, less religious than we are, according to polls. As a result, Canada's government isn't influenced by large, well-organized religious groups and thus has more in common with those of Scandinavia than those of the United States, or, say, Iran.
Canada signed the Kyoto global warming treaty, lets 19-year-olds drink, has more of its population living in urban areas and accepts more immigrants per capita than the United States. These are all things we've been told will wreck our society. But I guess Canadians are different, because theirs seems oddly sound.
Like teenagers, we fiercely idolize individual freedom but really demand that everyone be the same. But the Canadians seem more adult - more secure. They aren't afraid of foreigners. They aren't afraid of homosexuality. Most of all, they're not afraid of each other.
I wonder if America will ever be that cool. ¶ 1:53 PM 1 Comments
An American's View of Canada
(This editorial ran in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in August 2003)
It's not just the weather that's cooler in Canada: You live next door to a clean-cut, quiet guy. He never plays loud music or throws raucous parties. He doesn't gossip over the fence, just smiles politely and offers you some tomatoes. His lawn is cared-for, his house is neat as a pin and you get the feeling he doesn't always lock his front door. He wears Dockers. You hardly know he's there. And then one day you discover that he has pot in his basement, spends his weekends at peace marches and that guy you've seen mowing the yard is his spouse.
Allow me to introduce Canada. The Canadians are so quiet that you may have forgotten they're up there, but they've been busy doing some surprising things. It's like discovering that the mice you are dimly aware of in your attic have been building an espresso machine.
Did you realize, for example, that our reliable little tag-along brother never joined the Coalition of the Willing? Canada wasn't willing, as it turns out, to join the fun in Iraq. I can only assume American diner menus weren't angrily changed to include "freedom bacon," because nobody here eats the stuff anyway.
And then there's the wild drug situation: Canadian doctors are authorized to dispense medical marijuana. Parliament is considering legislation that would not exactly legalize marijuana possession, as you may have heard, but would reduce the penalty for possession of under 15 grams to a fine, like a speeding ticket. This is to allow law enforcement to concentrate resources on traffickers; if your garden is full of wasps, it's smarter to go for the nest rather than trying to swat every individual bug. Or, in the United States, bong.
Now, here's the part that I, as an American, can't understand. These poor benighted pinkos are doing everything wrong. They have a drug problem: Marijuana offenses have doubled since 1991. And Canada has strict gun control laws, which means that the criminals must all be heavily armed, the law-abiding civilians helpless and the government on the verge of a massive confiscation campaign. (The laws have been in place since the '70s, but I'm sure the government will get around to the confiscation eventually.) They don't even have a death penalty!
And yet ... nationally, overall crime in Canada has been declining since 1991. Violent crimes fell 13 percent in 2002. Of course, there are still crimes committed with guns - brought in from the United States, which has become the major illegal weapons supplier for all of North America - but my theory is that the surge in pot-smoking has rendered most criminals too relaxed to commit violent crimes. They're probably more focused on shoplifting boxes of Ho-Hos from convenience stores.
And then there's the most reckless move of all: Just last month, Canada decided to allow and recognize same-sex marriages. Merciful moose, what can they be thinking? Will there be married Mounties (they always get their man!)? Dudley Do-Right was sweet on Nell, not Mel! We must be the only ones who really care about families. Not enough to make sure they all have health insurance, of course, but more than those libertines up north.
This sort of behavior is a clear and present danger to all our stereotypes about Canada. It's supposed to be a cold, wholesome country of polite, beer-drinking hockey players, not founded by freedom-fighters in a bloody revolution but quietly assembled by loyalists and royalists more interested in order and good government than liberty and independence. But if we are the rugged individualists, why do we spend so much of our time trying to get everyone to march in lockstep? And if Canadians are so reserved and moderate, why are they so progressive about letting people do what they want to?
Canadians are, as a nation, less religious than we are, according to polls. As a result, Canada's government isn't influenced by large, well-organized religious groups and thus has more in common with those of Scandinavia than those of the United States, or, say, Iran.
Canada signed the Kyoto global warming treaty, lets 19-year-olds drink, has more of its population living in urban areas and accepts more immigrants per capita than the United States. These are all things we've been told will wreck our society. But I guess Canadians are different, because theirs seems oddly sound.
Like teenagers, we fiercely idolize individual freedom but really demand that everyone be the same. But the Canadians seem more adult - more secure. They aren't afraid of foreigners. They aren't afraid of homosexuality. Most of all, they're not afraid of each other.
I wonder if America will ever be that cool. ¶ 1:53 PM 1 Comments
Petty people suck!
sheesh! Ok, so we decided to take our taxes elsewhere, because H&R Block were just not doing very well with it. I called the lady who had said to me previously that she'd like to place an order for Watkins with me. I confirmed what she wanted, and entered the order, and would have it shipped directly to her house, because we're going out of town next week. I was even eating 75% of the shipping costs for her! GAH!
She called back not 10 minutes later (after its already entered and confirmed!) to CANCEl the order! Why you say? Because we're taking our taxes elsewhere! grrrrrrr!
Petty petty petty!
hmph! :-p
I'll be glad to leave this town...this type of thing is more common than not around here, we get the same sort of pettiness at the pizza shop too. ugh. ¶ 11:22 AM 0 Comments
She called back not 10 minutes later (after its already entered and confirmed!) to CANCEl the order! Why you say? Because we're taking our taxes elsewhere! grrrrrrr!
Petty petty petty!
hmph! :-p
I'll be glad to leave this town...this type of thing is more common than not around here, we get the same sort of pettiness at the pizza shop too. ugh. ¶ 11:22 AM 0 Comments
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Immigration reform
There’s been quite a lot in the news lately about the US immigration reform. 11 million or so illegals currently in the US will be given amnesty, and will become citizens of the country in which they entered illegally.
As a legal immigrant in the US, I gotta say this annoys the heck out of me. I’ve seen protestors saying “these people are not criminal, let them stay!” hmph…if breaking the law is not what makes one a criminal, then what the hell is? By entering the country illegally, they broke the law, ergo, they are criminals!
It took me and my husband about 2 years to clear the hurdles and hoops that is US immigration. And I’m married to an American! We did it the legal way because we don’t want to live the rest of our life looking over our shoulder for The Men in Black to come deport me. I can’t recall now the number of people who said “surely you’ve done something wrong with the paper work, it can’t really take this long! I thought if you marry an American, you automatically get citizenship!” You watch too many stupid movies. :-p Immigrating takes time, and a box load of paperwork that nobody understands, not even the people who wrote the dang things!
Also in immigration news is the cleansing of Portuguese illegals in Canada. Yep, you read that right. Portuguese illegals. They’re there working in construction, farming, and other manual labour jobs, and now Prime Minister Harper is turfing them out of the country, here’s your hat, hurry up please! No amnesty for Harper, no siree! And the illegals are boo-hooing, saying they’re not criminals why are they being kicked out!? Uum…excuse me…you broke the law, you’re a criminal! Seriously, how can they figure that nobody would ever come looking for them? The certainly must have known that someday it would catch up with them? The mind boggles.
Now I know that people are only here to try to make a better life for themselves, I totally understand that, and can empathise. And, as mentioned, I totally understand the mess and frustration that is immigration, on both sides of the border! And however much I hate to admit it, and no matter how much I dislike Harper, can we really fault him for enforcing the law of the land? (we can question his motives tho!) Is Bush being too lenient with the illegals here by giving them amnesty? And will the amnesty be right across the board, to any illegal in the country, or just to Latinos?
To any Americans reading this, you may want to have a look at the immigration policy of these 2 nations. To any Americans who have blamed Canada for having lax immigration policy and letting in too many terrorists, consider these statistics. By the end of this year, Canada will have deported 11,000 illegals. The US plans to allow 11,000,000 illegals to stay and become citizens!. Now, whose immigration policy is lax? Hmmmmmmm? :-p
How is the US going to go about this amnesty? Will they be allowing just anyone to stay, or just certain people? Will they be doing background checks on all those 11 million people? Because that’s what we legals have to go thru! Complete background check with the federal police of our home country, as well as with the FBI here in the US. They have my picture, and my fingerprints, and they know where I live. If I move at any time, I have to send them an address change notice within 10 days. Every time I move, until I decide to either become a citizen, or am credited with 40 work quarters (approx. 10 years), or leave the country and hand in my green card. My husband does too, because he’s my sponsor.
I am not eligible for “means tested benefits” like medicare or food stamps and whatnot. Sponsored immigrants are not permitted these benefits, no matter how dire the circumstances. And yes, I pay taxes, and yes, I contribute to Social Security, and Medicare, and yadda yadda yadda. I pay into them, but I am not eligible to benefit from them, until/unless I become a citizen. You’re welcome.
Current Canadian Immigration Minister, “Solberg bluntly rejected the U.S. proposal as a solution for Canada, saying that letting illegal workers remain in this country would send the signal that it's okay to slip in the back door.
"The ideal, of course, is for people to play by the rules and to get in line like everyone else is forced to do," he said after a cabinet meeting.
Granted the Canadian Immigration system needs a complete overhaul. The points system they currently use for immigration is degrading and lopsided toward white collar (and lab coat) business owners, not blue collar manual labourers. If a potential immigrant does not have sufficient “points” their application is denied. Have a look and see how well you would do on the Canadian points system.
Now, add the processing times to the points system, if you’re a skilled worker coming from say the Middle East or Africa, the average processing time listed on the CIC website is 38 to 62 months. If you’re European, the shortest average wait time is 28 months. If you’re American it can take as long (or longer) as 19 months. Spousal and Partner applications are listed as anywhere from 3 months to 13 months. However, my own experience was somewhere around the year and a half mark, and we still got absolutely nowhere so we gave up. They kept losing things. I should mention here that any background police check more than a year old is by CIC standards “expired”, and is usually sent back to the applicant to re-do, and as you can see by the processing times, this happens to a lot of people! So yeah, I can understand the frustration of trying to do things the legal way, but don’t cry and say the PM is mean when he deports you for doing things the illegal way. Bush should maybe see how its done. :-p
Also in the news was a US border test of security. US officials went to border crossings in Washington state, and Texas to see how easy or difficult it would be to smuggle in nuclear materials. Both times they were allowed in, with forged documents to explain their "right" to carry these materials. Now, I can just hear it start all over again. Somehow this test will be deemed to be a fault in Canada or Mexico, rather than America. Why? Because the test subjects were entering from those 2 countries. People seem to forget somehow that the border officials are American, and work for Homeland Security (formerly Department of Justice). They are NOT Canadians or Mexicans allowing terrorists or criminals across the borders. They are Americans allowing this. Terrorists come from all over the world, but does it really matter where they come from, if its American officials allowing them into the US? Just a thought…
Well, I’m off to go annoy H&R Block some more. ¶ 11:08 AM 3 Comments
As a legal immigrant in the US, I gotta say this annoys the heck out of me. I’ve seen protestors saying “these people are not criminal, let them stay!” hmph…if breaking the law is not what makes one a criminal, then what the hell is? By entering the country illegally, they broke the law, ergo, they are criminals!
It took me and my husband about 2 years to clear the hurdles and hoops that is US immigration. And I’m married to an American! We did it the legal way because we don’t want to live the rest of our life looking over our shoulder for The Men in Black to come deport me. I can’t recall now the number of people who said “surely you’ve done something wrong with the paper work, it can’t really take this long! I thought if you marry an American, you automatically get citizenship!” You watch too many stupid movies. :-p Immigrating takes time, and a box load of paperwork that nobody understands, not even the people who wrote the dang things!
Also in immigration news is the cleansing of Portuguese illegals in Canada. Yep, you read that right. Portuguese illegals. They’re there working in construction, farming, and other manual labour jobs, and now Prime Minister Harper is turfing them out of the country, here’s your hat, hurry up please! No amnesty for Harper, no siree! And the illegals are boo-hooing, saying they’re not criminals why are they being kicked out!? Uum…excuse me…you broke the law, you’re a criminal! Seriously, how can they figure that nobody would ever come looking for them? The certainly must have known that someday it would catch up with them? The mind boggles.
Now I know that people are only here to try to make a better life for themselves, I totally understand that, and can empathise. And, as mentioned, I totally understand the mess and frustration that is immigration, on both sides of the border! And however much I hate to admit it, and no matter how much I dislike Harper, can we really fault him for enforcing the law of the land? (we can question his motives tho!) Is Bush being too lenient with the illegals here by giving them amnesty? And will the amnesty be right across the board, to any illegal in the country, or just to Latinos?
To any Americans reading this, you may want to have a look at the immigration policy of these 2 nations. To any Americans who have blamed Canada for having lax immigration policy and letting in too many terrorists, consider these statistics. By the end of this year, Canada will have deported 11,000 illegals. The US plans to allow 11,000,000 illegals to stay and become citizens!. Now, whose immigration policy is lax? Hmmmmmmm? :-p
How is the US going to go about this amnesty? Will they be allowing just anyone to stay, or just certain people? Will they be doing background checks on all those 11 million people? Because that’s what we legals have to go thru! Complete background check with the federal police of our home country, as well as with the FBI here in the US. They have my picture, and my fingerprints, and they know where I live. If I move at any time, I have to send them an address change notice within 10 days. Every time I move, until I decide to either become a citizen, or am credited with 40 work quarters (approx. 10 years), or leave the country and hand in my green card. My husband does too, because he’s my sponsor.
I am not eligible for “means tested benefits” like medicare or food stamps and whatnot. Sponsored immigrants are not permitted these benefits, no matter how dire the circumstances. And yes, I pay taxes, and yes, I contribute to Social Security, and Medicare, and yadda yadda yadda. I pay into them, but I am not eligible to benefit from them, until/unless I become a citizen. You’re welcome.
Current Canadian Immigration Minister, “Solberg bluntly rejected the U.S. proposal as a solution for Canada, saying that letting illegal workers remain in this country would send the signal that it's okay to slip in the back door.
"The ideal, of course, is for people to play by the rules and to get in line like everyone else is forced to do," he said after a cabinet meeting.
Granted the Canadian Immigration system needs a complete overhaul. The points system they currently use for immigration is degrading and lopsided toward white collar (and lab coat) business owners, not blue collar manual labourers. If a potential immigrant does not have sufficient “points” their application is denied. Have a look and see how well you would do on the Canadian points system.
Now, add the processing times to the points system, if you’re a skilled worker coming from say the Middle East or Africa, the average processing time listed on the CIC website is 38 to 62 months. If you’re European, the shortest average wait time is 28 months. If you’re American it can take as long (or longer) as 19 months. Spousal and Partner applications are listed as anywhere from 3 months to 13 months. However, my own experience was somewhere around the year and a half mark, and we still got absolutely nowhere so we gave up. They kept losing things. I should mention here that any background police check more than a year old is by CIC standards “expired”, and is usually sent back to the applicant to re-do, and as you can see by the processing times, this happens to a lot of people! So yeah, I can understand the frustration of trying to do things the legal way, but don’t cry and say the PM is mean when he deports you for doing things the illegal way. Bush should maybe see how its done. :-p
Also in the news was a US border test of security. US officials went to border crossings in Washington state, and Texas to see how easy or difficult it would be to smuggle in nuclear materials. Both times they were allowed in, with forged documents to explain their "right" to carry these materials. Now, I can just hear it start all over again. Somehow this test will be deemed to be a fault in Canada or Mexico, rather than America. Why? Because the test subjects were entering from those 2 countries. People seem to forget somehow that the border officials are American, and work for Homeland Security (formerly Department of Justice). They are NOT Canadians or Mexicans allowing terrorists or criminals across the borders. They are Americans allowing this. Terrorists come from all over the world, but does it really matter where they come from, if its American officials allowing them into the US? Just a thought…
Well, I’m off to go annoy H&R Block some more. ¶ 11:08 AM 3 Comments
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Just don’t know where to start today…
There are a few things happening in the news the past few days that I’d like to comment on, and not knowing where to start really, I’ll just start with what I feel is the most ridiculous.
Isaac Hayes, voice of “Chef” for 9 seasons on Comedy Central’s South Park, quit the show over arguments of religious intolerance by writers Matt Stone and Trey Parker. An honest enough reason to quit a job I expect, but really WTF? Matt and Trey have been making fun of religions of all types for all 9 seasons of South Park, and only now does Mr. Hayes take umbrage with it, because they made fun of Scientology, his own religion. NOW who is the intolerant in this scenario?
I must say that Chef’s demise last night on the season premier was not a surprise, but the manner of his demise certainly was! We laughed at how Chef’s voice over was obviously pieced together from previous shows. My eyes got wider and wider as it became obvious what the writers were doing. Near the end, the bloody end, I said “You Do NOT Fuck with Matt and Trey!” Isaac Hayes pissed them off, that is evident, but by the eulogy at the very end you can tell that he also saddened them with his decision to leave. He’d been with them for 10 years, battled Satan and Saddam Hussein, and all other kinds of blasphemous things, and then they trod upon *his* beliefs, and he wouldn’t stay around. Double standards are rather annoying, (to put it lightly) but I will here quote the eulogy given by Kyle:
"A lot of us don't agree with the choices the Chef has made in the last few days, some of us feel hurt and confused that he seemed to turn his back on us. But we can't let the events of the past few weeks take away the memories of how Chef made us smile. We shouldn't be mad at Chef for leaving us, we should be mad at that fruity little club for scrambling his brains."
RIP Chef. We hope you change your mind.
*****
Now, onto local news.
Last week, a local Public Safety officer (here in Morganton they pull double duty as police and fire fighters and call them Public Safety) died of a heart attack while putting out a house fire in his neighbourhood. When anyone dies, it is a sad occasion for everyone, when a Police officer or fire fighter dies while on duty, not just his/her family and friends mourn, but the entire community. But, if this officer dies of a heart attack while on duty, is it murder?
That’s what the locals are attempting to do with this death. The fire that crews were attempting to put out had been deliberately set by an arsonist. No other people where harmed in 2 fires that were set. The firefighter just collapsed from massive heart attack, never regained consciousness and later died in hospital. His funeral was yesterday, befitting any hero who dies in the line of duty. News choppers overhead the whole deal.
But was it murder? Should the arsonist, who was caught, be charged with anything more than 2 counts of arson? Is it the arsonist’s fault that the firefighter was overweight and likely had a lifetime of fatty diet and clogged arteries? The photo of him in the paper shows just his face, but it is quite obvious he’s carrying quite a few extra pounds. He was just 41 years old, too young to die, and too young to leave his wife and family behind. But murder? Honestly!?
North Carolina has the death penalty for first degree murder. No one, other than this firefighter, was harmed in either of the house fires that he set. Did the firefighter die as a result of the fire? No. He died as a result of a heart attack. It just so happened he was on duty at the time. It may just as well have happened while sitting watching TV, or in his sleep. I don’t want to in any way lessen the grief and anger that his family and friends are feeling right now, my condolences go out. But legally, was it murder?
***
And more on our tax return…we still haven’t figured it out because the State insists that we have to include a copy of my Canadian tax return as evidence that I have paid taxes to Canada. But Canadian law states that as I am a non-resident with no ties, I’ve paid my flat rate of 25% tax on exit, I do not have to file a return, my NR4 *is* the evidence that I’ve paid the tax. As it rests right now, I will have to pay the state over $1700, unless they can figure out how to get the full benefit of the $8000+ in taxes I’ve already paid. :-p
We sat with H&R Block for nearly an hour yesterday arguing this out, and finally we ended up with me having to get a number for H&R Block in Canada for them to talk to. Apparently for some idiotic reason, they don’t have access to H&R Block phone numbers. Yeah, riiiiiiiiiiight. Anyhoo…so I called H&R Block Canada this morning, got a name and number for the preparer here to talk to and hopefully they can figure this all out with minimal damage. The hard part here is of course trying to understand why the state is so dang greedy in making me pay taxes on this income twice. According to the tax treaty between Canada & the US, I shouldn’t have to. North Carolina says I do. *sigh* Greedy bastards. ¶ 1:04 PM 1 Comments
Isaac Hayes, voice of “Chef” for 9 seasons on Comedy Central’s South Park, quit the show over arguments of religious intolerance by writers Matt Stone and Trey Parker. An honest enough reason to quit a job I expect, but really WTF? Matt and Trey have been making fun of religions of all types for all 9 seasons of South Park, and only now does Mr. Hayes take umbrage with it, because they made fun of Scientology, his own religion. NOW who is the intolerant in this scenario?
I must say that Chef’s demise last night on the season premier was not a surprise, but the manner of his demise certainly was! We laughed at how Chef’s voice over was obviously pieced together from previous shows. My eyes got wider and wider as it became obvious what the writers were doing. Near the end, the bloody end, I said “You Do NOT Fuck with Matt and Trey!” Isaac Hayes pissed them off, that is evident, but by the eulogy at the very end you can tell that he also saddened them with his decision to leave. He’d been with them for 10 years, battled Satan and Saddam Hussein, and all other kinds of blasphemous things, and then they trod upon *his* beliefs, and he wouldn’t stay around. Double standards are rather annoying, (to put it lightly) but I will here quote the eulogy given by Kyle:
"A lot of us don't agree with the choices the Chef has made in the last few days, some of us feel hurt and confused that he seemed to turn his back on us. But we can't let the events of the past few weeks take away the memories of how Chef made us smile. We shouldn't be mad at Chef for leaving us, we should be mad at that fruity little club for scrambling his brains."
RIP Chef. We hope you change your mind.
*****
Now, onto local news.
Last week, a local Public Safety officer (here in Morganton they pull double duty as police and fire fighters and call them Public Safety) died of a heart attack while putting out a house fire in his neighbourhood. When anyone dies, it is a sad occasion for everyone, when a Police officer or fire fighter dies while on duty, not just his/her family and friends mourn, but the entire community. But, if this officer dies of a heart attack while on duty, is it murder?
That’s what the locals are attempting to do with this death. The fire that crews were attempting to put out had been deliberately set by an arsonist. No other people where harmed in 2 fires that were set. The firefighter just collapsed from massive heart attack, never regained consciousness and later died in hospital. His funeral was yesterday, befitting any hero who dies in the line of duty. News choppers overhead the whole deal.
But was it murder? Should the arsonist, who was caught, be charged with anything more than 2 counts of arson? Is it the arsonist’s fault that the firefighter was overweight and likely had a lifetime of fatty diet and clogged arteries? The photo of him in the paper shows just his face, but it is quite obvious he’s carrying quite a few extra pounds. He was just 41 years old, too young to die, and too young to leave his wife and family behind. But murder? Honestly!?
North Carolina has the death penalty for first degree murder. No one, other than this firefighter, was harmed in either of the house fires that he set. Did the firefighter die as a result of the fire? No. He died as a result of a heart attack. It just so happened he was on duty at the time. It may just as well have happened while sitting watching TV, or in his sleep. I don’t want to in any way lessen the grief and anger that his family and friends are feeling right now, my condolences go out. But legally, was it murder?
***
And more on our tax return…we still haven’t figured it out because the State insists that we have to include a copy of my Canadian tax return as evidence that I have paid taxes to Canada. But Canadian law states that as I am a non-resident with no ties, I’ve paid my flat rate of 25% tax on exit, I do not have to file a return, my NR4 *is* the evidence that I’ve paid the tax. As it rests right now, I will have to pay the state over $1700, unless they can figure out how to get the full benefit of the $8000+ in taxes I’ve already paid. :-p
We sat with H&R Block for nearly an hour yesterday arguing this out, and finally we ended up with me having to get a number for H&R Block in Canada for them to talk to. Apparently for some idiotic reason, they don’t have access to H&R Block phone numbers. Yeah, riiiiiiiiiiight. Anyhoo…so I called H&R Block Canada this morning, got a name and number for the preparer here to talk to and hopefully they can figure this all out with minimal damage. The hard part here is of course trying to understand why the state is so dang greedy in making me pay taxes on this income twice. According to the tax treaty between Canada & the US, I shouldn’t have to. North Carolina says I do. *sigh* Greedy bastards. ¶ 1:04 PM 1 Comments
Monday, March 20, 2006
Happy Spring
Here it is, the first day of Spring and what happens? It snows! Yep, that’s right, it snowed today. We had no snow all winter, then here were are with snow on the first day of Spring. Hmph!
Check this out.
The dogs are a total mess right now. I just got home from work and they were outside for about 5 and a half hours. Yuck! They’re locked in the kitchen.
While we’re on the subject of messy dogs. This is what happens when Saint Bernards get bored.
They break thru the bottom portion of aluminum doors and then break into the house so they can sleep on the couch while Mummy and Daddy are at work! Well, that’s what George does anyway. Errrr…did…last week. She opened the gate at the bottom of the stairs of the porch, broke the aluminum door, somehow pushed open the wooden door, and left poor Bruno out in the yard alone, unable to get thru the gate because George didn’t open it wide enough. She met me at the door when I got home. Twice!
I don’t know how she squiggled thru the small opening at the bottom of the door, maybe she’s not really a dog…maybe she’s a shapeshifter!
Bruno is convinced she’s sprouted an opposable thumb and just hasn’t told anyone. ;-)
Now we also have to get a new storm door while we’re fixing the house up. :-p Rotten mutt.
Here’s poor Bruno, sitting outside. You can see his feet thru the broken door. Sorta.
I’m going to have to mop the floor tomorrow aren’t I? bleah… ¶ 11:05 PM 2 Comments
Check this out.
The dogs are a total mess right now. I just got home from work and they were outside for about 5 and a half hours. Yuck! They’re locked in the kitchen.
While we’re on the subject of messy dogs. This is what happens when Saint Bernards get bored.
They break thru the bottom portion of aluminum doors and then break into the house so they can sleep on the couch while Mummy and Daddy are at work! Well, that’s what George does anyway. Errrr…did…last week. She opened the gate at the bottom of the stairs of the porch, broke the aluminum door, somehow pushed open the wooden door, and left poor Bruno out in the yard alone, unable to get thru the gate because George didn’t open it wide enough. She met me at the door when I got home. Twice!
I don’t know how she squiggled thru the small opening at the bottom of the door, maybe she’s not really a dog…maybe she’s a shapeshifter!
Bruno is convinced she’s sprouted an opposable thumb and just hasn’t told anyone. ;-)
Now we also have to get a new storm door while we’re fixing the house up. :-p Rotten mutt.
Here’s poor Bruno, sitting outside. You can see his feet thru the broken door. Sorta.
I’m going to have to mop the floor tomorrow aren’t I? bleah… ¶ 11:05 PM 2 Comments
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Now I've got that dang song stuck in my head
from www.thestar.com
Are we in the Age of Aquarius yet?
Because the Age of Pisces is really getting tiresome
Mar. 19, 2006. 10:46 AM
KENNETH KIDD
FEATURE WRITER
Phil Booth, astrologer, is running through a list of fellow Aquarians, fairly cackling with glee whenever he comes to the more emblematically outrageous members of the tribe.
There's John Belushi ("He was a quirky maniac") and Mozart ("He was a maverick"), followed by Christina Ricci of The Addams Family ("She was kind of bizarre in there, wasn't she?) and Nick Nolte ("There's another maniac for you").
Then it's on through Leslie Nielsen ("His shows were quirky and bizarre, weren't they?") and Barry Humphries, a.k.a. Dame Edna ("He's got crazy ideas") until he hits Matt Groening ("Simpsons, yeah, like that's an odd show").
Imagine the twisted mayhem if that crew ever descended on your house for Sunday dinner.
Now imagine them staying for the next 2,000 years.
Yes, children, welcome to the Age of Aquarius — which, depending on the astrologist you happen to consult, is already underway, just about to begin, or won't come for another 200 years.
"My own idea is, we're very close," says Booth. "We're moving into it right now, and I would say by 2020, we're in it."
Complicating matters, at least astrologically, is the "wobble" in the Earth's rotation, which means the planet's alignment with the fixed stars is always shifting. It's the wobble that, from the Earth's perspective, causes us to drift backwards through the zodiac, spending about 2,160 years in each sign.
So perhaps it's not surprising that things can get a little muddy on the ground.
But Booth does know this: The Age of Aquarius won't arrive because the Moon is in the Seventh House, or Jupiter aligns with Mars — although you'll be hearing a lot of that come the vernal equinox tomorrow, when the musical Hair begins its Toronto revival.
You remember the rest:
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
The Jupiter/Mars thing, it turns out, isn't even that special. Booth says it happens roughly every two years, so using that for the formal launch of an Aquarian age is "just lyrical fantasy and poetic licence."
There may, however, be another connection at work, at least for New York astrologer John Cook, an Aries who hears the echo of an earlier astrologer given to prophecy.
"You know where that was taken from, those lines?" he asks. "I'm pretty sure it was from Nostradamus's early quatrains, in 1550 or 1555."
Which, come to think of it, goes to the beguiling heart of astrology: Everything sort of fits, eventually.
So will the dawning of this New Age actually bring about a peaceable planet of love?
Or, as they sing in Hair in "Age of Aquarius:"
Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind's true liberation
Aquarius
Aquarius
That certainly sounds a lot more appealing than the Age of Pisces we've been enduring for the past two millennia.
As far as the astrological set is concerned, it's been an era of myths, monsters, spirituality and religion, and not always with grand results.
"It's a period of time when we've had religions fighting for supremacy, each one saying ours is the only way to go and we're going to kill you to prove it," says Booth. "It's reaching a crescendo now, so that's part of the indication we're about to enter the Age of Aquarius."
Just to complicate matters, he adds, the last two centuries have seen Neptune and Saturn focused in Capricorn, bringing on other developments.
"The last 200 years have been a very materialistic period in our history — the stock market and inventing refrigerators and flying to the moon and having cars and all sorts of things."
But here's the other thing about the Age of Pisces: All that religiosity (and recent materialism) tends to be offset by mass poverty.
"The Aquarian ideal is that everybody is clothed and fed," says Cook. "In Pisces, people suffer horribly."
You can, in short, be forgiven for looking a little more dreamily at the Aquarian hallmarks.
There's the independence, for one, being quirky and unpredictable. "Aquarians get themselves into trouble because they break the rules," says Booth. "They don't like to be controlled."
So you end up with renegades (James Dean) and humanitarians (Oprah Winfrey), in their own way all chasing after some democratic brotherhood of independent souls.
There's a reason Aquarians tend to do well playing quixotic, humanist characters in the movies (think Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable).
You can see this in Hair, too, with all that singing about love and harmony and the burning of Vietnam draft cards.
Little wonder that Cook proclaims John Lennon and Yoko Ono to be the quintessential Aquarian couple and "Imagine," the Aquarian anthem. (Technically, Lennon was born a Libra, unlike his Aquarian bride, but Cook says the moon was in Aquarius at the time of Lennon's birth.)
Aquarians, you see, tend to adore big ideas and innovations, from politics to science. Hence the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Charles Darwin and Thomas Edison in the team's starting rotation.
There is, however, one downside: All that idealism can drift into something less tolerant, more strictly ideological.
"Because they see a perfect ideal so clearly," says Booth, "they don't want anything to interfere with that."
So it may not surprise that the Aquarian tribe claims all of Gertrude Stein, Betty Friedan, Germaine Greer and Susan Sontag.
Then again, their little gathering would have to be rounded out with another Aquarian, one Helen Gurley Brown, she of Cosmopolitan and Sex and the Single Girl.
And the rest of the writerly ranks? Rabelais, Robert Burns, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll, Jules Verne, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Somerset Maugham, Sinclair Lewis, Norman Mailer... you get the idea.
But those not fortunate enough to actually be Aquarians needn't wholly despair, thinking the next 2,000 years will be completely unbearable.
"No one is pure Aquarius," says Booth. "You look at where all the planets are, where they are in the sky at the time of your birth."
Everyone, in other words, has a little Aquarius in them; it's just that those born under that sign have more.
"We're like a bottle of wine, a mixture of different grapes," says Booth. "We've got a little bit of everything."
And it's not as if the Age of Aquarius will sneak up on you suddenly — although one astrological group has already claimed that it began with the spring equinox in 2000, citing, among other things, the alignment of Jupiter and Mars.
That group's website also helpfully noted that, lest there be any uncertainty, people should "look in the east just after dawn to see your first sunrise of the Aquarian Age."
Most astrologers instead talk about a lengthy, sometimes uneasy transition. And because astrologers tend to go on about cycles within cycles and rare planetary alignments, they're busy deciphering a lot of stellar signs along the way.
Cook, for instance, cites three landmarks we've already passed en route. There's 1892, when Neptune and Pluto came together for the first time in nearly 500 years, ushering in the modern era.
Then there was Uranus and Pluto in the mid to late '60s, the revolutionary period that brought us Hair in the first place.
And finally, Uranus and Neptune in the early 1990s, which spawned some quintessentially Aquarian advances in knowledge and democracy: the Internet and the digital revolution.
But before you strike up a chorus of "Let the Sunshine In" and herald the Aquarian Age, there is, alas, the small matter of global conflict and religious strife to get over first.
"Some would like to think, yeah, we just move into it nice and smooth, and all of a sudden, there's world peace and everyone loves each other," says Booth.
"But it doesn't look like it's happening that way, does it?" ¶ 11:49 AM 1 Comments
Are we in the Age of Aquarius yet?
Because the Age of Pisces is really getting tiresome
Mar. 19, 2006. 10:46 AM
KENNETH KIDD
FEATURE WRITER
Phil Booth, astrologer, is running through a list of fellow Aquarians, fairly cackling with glee whenever he comes to the more emblematically outrageous members of the tribe.
There's John Belushi ("He was a quirky maniac") and Mozart ("He was a maverick"), followed by Christina Ricci of The Addams Family ("She was kind of bizarre in there, wasn't she?) and Nick Nolte ("There's another maniac for you").
Then it's on through Leslie Nielsen ("His shows were quirky and bizarre, weren't they?") and Barry Humphries, a.k.a. Dame Edna ("He's got crazy ideas") until he hits Matt Groening ("Simpsons, yeah, like that's an odd show").
Imagine the twisted mayhem if that crew ever descended on your house for Sunday dinner.
Now imagine them staying for the next 2,000 years.
Yes, children, welcome to the Age of Aquarius — which, depending on the astrologist you happen to consult, is already underway, just about to begin, or won't come for another 200 years.
"My own idea is, we're very close," says Booth. "We're moving into it right now, and I would say by 2020, we're in it."
Complicating matters, at least astrologically, is the "wobble" in the Earth's rotation, which means the planet's alignment with the fixed stars is always shifting. It's the wobble that, from the Earth's perspective, causes us to drift backwards through the zodiac, spending about 2,160 years in each sign.
So perhaps it's not surprising that things can get a little muddy on the ground.
But Booth does know this: The Age of Aquarius won't arrive because the Moon is in the Seventh House, or Jupiter aligns with Mars — although you'll be hearing a lot of that come the vernal equinox tomorrow, when the musical Hair begins its Toronto revival.
You remember the rest:
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
The Jupiter/Mars thing, it turns out, isn't even that special. Booth says it happens roughly every two years, so using that for the formal launch of an Aquarian age is "just lyrical fantasy and poetic licence."
There may, however, be another connection at work, at least for New York astrologer John Cook, an Aries who hears the echo of an earlier astrologer given to prophecy.
"You know where that was taken from, those lines?" he asks. "I'm pretty sure it was from Nostradamus's early quatrains, in 1550 or 1555."
Which, come to think of it, goes to the beguiling heart of astrology: Everything sort of fits, eventually.
So will the dawning of this New Age actually bring about a peaceable planet of love?
Or, as they sing in Hair in "Age of Aquarius:"
Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind's true liberation
Aquarius
Aquarius
That certainly sounds a lot more appealing than the Age of Pisces we've been enduring for the past two millennia.
As far as the astrological set is concerned, it's been an era of myths, monsters, spirituality and religion, and not always with grand results.
"It's a period of time when we've had religions fighting for supremacy, each one saying ours is the only way to go and we're going to kill you to prove it," says Booth. "It's reaching a crescendo now, so that's part of the indication we're about to enter the Age of Aquarius."
Just to complicate matters, he adds, the last two centuries have seen Neptune and Saturn focused in Capricorn, bringing on other developments.
"The last 200 years have been a very materialistic period in our history — the stock market and inventing refrigerators and flying to the moon and having cars and all sorts of things."
But here's the other thing about the Age of Pisces: All that religiosity (and recent materialism) tends to be offset by mass poverty.
"The Aquarian ideal is that everybody is clothed and fed," says Cook. "In Pisces, people suffer horribly."
You can, in short, be forgiven for looking a little more dreamily at the Aquarian hallmarks.
There's the independence, for one, being quirky and unpredictable. "Aquarians get themselves into trouble because they break the rules," says Booth. "They don't like to be controlled."
So you end up with renegades (James Dean) and humanitarians (Oprah Winfrey), in their own way all chasing after some democratic brotherhood of independent souls.
There's a reason Aquarians tend to do well playing quixotic, humanist characters in the movies (think Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable).
You can see this in Hair, too, with all that singing about love and harmony and the burning of Vietnam draft cards.
Little wonder that Cook proclaims John Lennon and Yoko Ono to be the quintessential Aquarian couple and "Imagine," the Aquarian anthem. (Technically, Lennon was born a Libra, unlike his Aquarian bride, but Cook says the moon was in Aquarius at the time of Lennon's birth.)
Aquarians, you see, tend to adore big ideas and innovations, from politics to science. Hence the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Charles Darwin and Thomas Edison in the team's starting rotation.
There is, however, one downside: All that idealism can drift into something less tolerant, more strictly ideological.
"Because they see a perfect ideal so clearly," says Booth, "they don't want anything to interfere with that."
So it may not surprise that the Aquarian tribe claims all of Gertrude Stein, Betty Friedan, Germaine Greer and Susan Sontag.
Then again, their little gathering would have to be rounded out with another Aquarian, one Helen Gurley Brown, she of Cosmopolitan and Sex and the Single Girl.
And the rest of the writerly ranks? Rabelais, Robert Burns, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll, Jules Verne, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Somerset Maugham, Sinclair Lewis, Norman Mailer... you get the idea.
But those not fortunate enough to actually be Aquarians needn't wholly despair, thinking the next 2,000 years will be completely unbearable.
"No one is pure Aquarius," says Booth. "You look at where all the planets are, where they are in the sky at the time of your birth."
Everyone, in other words, has a little Aquarius in them; it's just that those born under that sign have more.
"We're like a bottle of wine, a mixture of different grapes," says Booth. "We've got a little bit of everything."
And it's not as if the Age of Aquarius will sneak up on you suddenly — although one astrological group has already claimed that it began with the spring equinox in 2000, citing, among other things, the alignment of Jupiter and Mars.
That group's website also helpfully noted that, lest there be any uncertainty, people should "look in the east just after dawn to see your first sunrise of the Aquarian Age."
Most astrologers instead talk about a lengthy, sometimes uneasy transition. And because astrologers tend to go on about cycles within cycles and rare planetary alignments, they're busy deciphering a lot of stellar signs along the way.
Cook, for instance, cites three landmarks we've already passed en route. There's 1892, when Neptune and Pluto came together for the first time in nearly 500 years, ushering in the modern era.
Then there was Uranus and Pluto in the mid to late '60s, the revolutionary period that brought us Hair in the first place.
And finally, Uranus and Neptune in the early 1990s, which spawned some quintessentially Aquarian advances in knowledge and democracy: the Internet and the digital revolution.
But before you strike up a chorus of "Let the Sunshine In" and herald the Aquarian Age, there is, alas, the small matter of global conflict and religious strife to get over first.
"Some would like to think, yeah, we just move into it nice and smooth, and all of a sudden, there's world peace and everyone loves each other," says Booth.
"But it doesn't look like it's happening that way, does it?" ¶ 11:49 AM 1 Comments
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Spoke too soon
I'm going to stop posting good news or plans here, because every time I do, something happens to screw it up. :-p
H&R Block called yesterday to say that when they finally figured out how they should report my Canadian RRSP income from last year, it turns out that the State Revenue wants me to pay them about $2000. :-(
So now we're going to have to get a loan to pay the freakin taxes.
I'm tellin ya, some days I just feel like I wanng go back home and crawl under a rock. ¶ 3:31 PM 0 Comments
H&R Block called yesterday to say that when they finally figured out how they should report my Canadian RRSP income from last year, it turns out that the State Revenue wants me to pay them about $2000. :-(
So now we're going to have to get a loan to pay the freakin taxes.
I'm tellin ya, some days I just feel like I wanng go back home and crawl under a rock. ¶ 3:31 PM 0 Comments
Friday, March 17, 2006
Conundrums
Recently I have noticed that I may shortly be getting myself into a rather strange conundrum. Mainly, my website address Canuck in NC will be rather odd once we move to Wisconsin!
The blog probably won’t be all that difficult to change, I’ll just make a new one and maybe just link back to this one. The conundrum lies in my domain name, which is licensed I believe thru 2008. Should I keep canuckinnc even after we move? Hmmmm…
Any suggestions about what to call my blog after we move? Keeping in mind of course that we’re still not positive that we’ll be moving to Wisconsin, but it is likely. As it stands right now, the franchiser up there is strangely trying to talk James out of it, while the Franchise Regional Manager for Domino’s is trying to get him up there asap. The conflicting information is a bit annoying, so the plan is to first take a trip up there to have a look before we commit to anything. We’ll clandestinely spy on the shop for a couple of days before we make ourselves known. Sneaky yes, but we want to figure out why the current owner is losing so much money. It could be several reasons, we think it may just be because he’s spread himself too thin and is never there to mind the store, and when the cat’s away…
We may not be able to trip up there til mid-May however, mainly because of money and timing. We are hoping to go to Scotland early May of course then we figure we’ll just head to Wisconsin after that. James and his brother are still trying to get the estate settled, which isn’t going to happen until end of May, early June now, so we can’t do any moving house til after that is completed anyhow.
I went yesterday to H&R Block to get our taxes done. Yet again they’re “doing some research” to figure out how to report my Canadian RRSP income, but when I left their office yesterday, they had us getting a return of enough to pay for a portion of our Scotland trip. That will be nice! If we get the check back in time, if not we’ll just run up the credit card and pay it off when we get back.
This morning I spoke with a fellow Canadian in the US who also married an American. She is having one helluva time getting thru the adjustment of status phase tho! They’ve had to move (due to hurricanes and whatnot) twice since she arrived, and USCIS has not once forwarded her file to the appropriate district office. She’s now living in South Carolina, and has a biometrics (fingerprinting) appointment in Charlotte, NC and another appointment in Florida! ACK! I’m so glad we are done with US immigration for a few years! It really is so frustrating. Nearly as frustrating as Canadian immigration. :-p
I get a headache just thinking about it.
Last night we watched “History of Violence” with Viggo Mortensen on DVD. Ok movie I guess. A bit predictable.
Then we went to the cinema to see Ultra-Violet. I’m not sure what I thought of this movie really. Sometimes the storyline seemed broken and jagged and difficult to follow, but the CGI was cool, in a comic-bookish sort of way. It was something to do anyway. And the cinema was pretty much empty. I think there was just 5 of us in for this movie, and all the other screens seemed to be empty. I dunno how they stay open. But I guess the occasional block-buster opening that has people lined up down the block pays the bills. When we went for Harry Potter last year, it was pretty busy for a few nights in a row.
Speaking of Harry Potter, I need to get the DVD. Maybe this week. Today is payday, we’ll see how much I’ll have and if there’s “extra” (HA!) I’ll treat myself. When’s movie 5 going to be released? I know they’ve started filming, so I guess next year sometime. They should really just film 5 & 6 together, and start in on 7 as soon as the book is released. The kids are just getting too old to play these parts. If they wait too long, Daniel Radcliff will be 30 by the time they film #7!
I hope book 7 is better than book 6. I was rather disappointed with that one. I got the feeling that her daughter wrote most of it. :-p
Well, I think I shall go watch Good Night and Good Luck now before I have to go to work. ¶ 1:11 PM 2 Comments
The blog probably won’t be all that difficult to change, I’ll just make a new one and maybe just link back to this one. The conundrum lies in my domain name, which is licensed I believe thru 2008. Should I keep canuckinnc even after we move? Hmmmm…
Any suggestions about what to call my blog after we move? Keeping in mind of course that we’re still not positive that we’ll be moving to Wisconsin, but it is likely. As it stands right now, the franchiser up there is strangely trying to talk James out of it, while the Franchise Regional Manager for Domino’s is trying to get him up there asap. The conflicting information is a bit annoying, so the plan is to first take a trip up there to have a look before we commit to anything. We’ll clandestinely spy on the shop for a couple of days before we make ourselves known. Sneaky yes, but we want to figure out why the current owner is losing so much money. It could be several reasons, we think it may just be because he’s spread himself too thin and is never there to mind the store, and when the cat’s away…
We may not be able to trip up there til mid-May however, mainly because of money and timing. We are hoping to go to Scotland early May of course then we figure we’ll just head to Wisconsin after that. James and his brother are still trying to get the estate settled, which isn’t going to happen until end of May, early June now, so we can’t do any moving house til after that is completed anyhow.
I went yesterday to H&R Block to get our taxes done. Yet again they’re “doing some research” to figure out how to report my Canadian RRSP income, but when I left their office yesterday, they had us getting a return of enough to pay for a portion of our Scotland trip. That will be nice! If we get the check back in time, if not we’ll just run up the credit card and pay it off when we get back.
This morning I spoke with a fellow Canadian in the US who also married an American. She is having one helluva time getting thru the adjustment of status phase tho! They’ve had to move (due to hurricanes and whatnot) twice since she arrived, and USCIS has not once forwarded her file to the appropriate district office. She’s now living in South Carolina, and has a biometrics (fingerprinting) appointment in Charlotte, NC and another appointment in Florida! ACK! I’m so glad we are done with US immigration for a few years! It really is so frustrating. Nearly as frustrating as Canadian immigration. :-p
I get a headache just thinking about it.
Last night we watched “History of Violence” with Viggo Mortensen on DVD. Ok movie I guess. A bit predictable.
Then we went to the cinema to see Ultra-Violet. I’m not sure what I thought of this movie really. Sometimes the storyline seemed broken and jagged and difficult to follow, but the CGI was cool, in a comic-bookish sort of way. It was something to do anyway. And the cinema was pretty much empty. I think there was just 5 of us in for this movie, and all the other screens seemed to be empty. I dunno how they stay open. But I guess the occasional block-buster opening that has people lined up down the block pays the bills. When we went for Harry Potter last year, it was pretty busy for a few nights in a row.
Speaking of Harry Potter, I need to get the DVD. Maybe this week. Today is payday, we’ll see how much I’ll have and if there’s “extra” (HA!) I’ll treat myself. When’s movie 5 going to be released? I know they’ve started filming, so I guess next year sometime. They should really just film 5 & 6 together, and start in on 7 as soon as the book is released. The kids are just getting too old to play these parts. If they wait too long, Daniel Radcliff will be 30 by the time they film #7!
I hope book 7 is better than book 6. I was rather disappointed with that one. I got the feeling that her daughter wrote most of it. :-p
Well, I think I shall go watch Good Night and Good Luck now before I have to go to work. ¶ 1:11 PM 2 Comments
Sunday, March 12, 2006
The Rooster down the street…
Someone down the street from us has a rooster. And they keep hitting the snooze button on it! It starts crowing about 7:30 or 8am, then periodically all day long every 30 minutes or so! Dang bird! I didn’t know they came with snooze buttons!
¶ 11:51 AM 2 Comments
Friday, March 10, 2006
This week...
Well, James returned from Michigan late Friday/early Saturdy, with a sinus infection causing a bloody nose, and very impressive test scores on the Domino’s exams. Not sure if the 2 have anything to do with the other. ;-)
He went to see his doctor this week for his monthly visit (he goes monthly for monitoring of rheumatoid arthritis and renewal of prescriptions) and found out now he’s got high blood pressure. His doctor, in all his infinite wisdom (insert sarcasm here), chooses to do nothing about it, other than to say “come in for regular monitoring”. Ugh! This guy has totally got on my last nerve! >:-| He’s a cardiologist for crissakes, and here’s a 42, almost 43 year old, overweight patient with high blood pressure and he says don’t worry about it, just come in to check it regularly! GAH! Doesn’t give him a schedule, other than the regular monthly visits he’s already on, no suggestions about diet or anything. This is the state of US medical care. What a load of crap!
So of course I do a little researching myself on WebMD and it seems not all that difficult to lower blood pressure. Just simple dietary changes that really aren’t all that drastic. James of course is convinced he’ll have to give up all yummy foods and will never be able to eat junk food again (I’ve been trying to get him to cut down on junk food anyway :-p ) But really, its not that bad. Here are the diet suggestions from webmd.
• Add a serving of vegetables at lunch and at dinner.
• Add a serving of fruit to your meals or as a snack. Canned and dried fruits are easy to use.
• Use only half the butter, margarine, or salad dressing, and use low-fat or fat-free condiments.
• Drink low-fat or skim dairy products three times a day.
• Limit meat to six ounces a day. Try eating some vegetarian meals.
• Add more vegetables, rice, pasta, and dry beans to your diet.
• Instead of typical snacks (chips, etc.), eat unsalted pretzels or nuts, raisins, graham crackers, low-fat and fat-free yogurt and frozen yogurt; unsalted plain popcorn with no butter, and raw vegetables.
• Read food labels carefully to choose products that are lower in sodium.
Staying on the DASH Diet
The following is a list of food groups and suggested serving amounts for the DASH diet:
• Grains: 7-8 daily servings
• Vegetables: 4-5 daily servings
• Fruits: 4-5 daily servings
• Low-fat or fat-free dairy products: 2-3 daily servings
• Meat, poultry and fish: less than 2 daily servings
• Nuts, seeds, and dry beans: 4-5 servings per week
• Fats and oils: 2-3 daily servings
• Sweets: try to limit to less than 5 servings per week
• Salt: 1,500 mg per day (about 2/3 teaspoon)
There was also an article that said drinking dark colas (Coke, Pepsi, etc…diet or regular) could also be a contributing factor to high blood pressure. James drinks about 2 litres of diet Coke a day. The study showed that coffee and tea does not have the same affect, so its not the caffien, its something else in the colas. He said he’d switch to (sweet) tea.
Last night I made a really nice supper, one of my favourites. Crimson Pork chops with potatoes and a side salad with a light balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Very yummy, and James even ate it. He doesn’t like pork chops. Infidel!
Here’s the recipe (taken from Chatelaine (??) magazine decades ago, and modified now for ingredients at hand). My Mum used to make this for us when I was little, and its always been a fave. You can also substitute chicken breasts for pork chops if you don’t eat pork.
In a high sided frying pan or soup pot, sear pork chops with a small amount of vegetable oil. (I used Watkins Citrus & Cilantro grapeseed oil last night).
Peel and slice 2 large potatoes and par boil.
In a 2 cup measuring cup mix ¼ cup of Heinz Organic Ketchup, 2 heaping teaspoons of Watkins Honey Mustard, 1 tbsp Watkins Meat Magic add water to the 2 cup mark. Stir until well blended. Once the pork chops are seared on both sides, pour in the sauce. Slice one orange, and put slices into the pot. Add the potato slices, cover and simmer until done. Enjoy!
For dessert we had Breyer’s Heart Healthy chocolate ice-cream (98% fat free, and no added sugars) with a sliced kiwi fruit each. Very yummy, and the ice cream does not taste the worse for wear, without all that fat. I think I’ll switch for good! Oh! There was also another article that says cocoa is good for reducing blood pressure. So yes ladies chocolate is good for you! If its not laden with sugar and extra fats. The higher cocoa content the better. Which has always been my opinion anyway. ;-)
See, you really don’t have to sacrifice good taste or have a “special” diet to manage heart health. You just need to have a “proper” diet. And you can still have treats, just read the labels and check the ingredients and daily % on the nutrition information. Just because something says “Low Fat” or “Lite”, doesn’t necessarily mean its healthy. You have to look at the whole picture. It may have a lower percentage of fats, but it could also be loaded down with 18 different kinds of sugars, and full of salts. Marketing can be very deceiving. Don’t just look at the packaging.
Now, if I could just get him out walking more than once every other week…
Oh, btw, no I didn’t get to see Brokeback Mountain last week. I drove all the way down to Hickory, and for some idiotic reason the on-line listings hadn’t been updated recently. The listings said they had it playing 4 times a day, so I wanted to catch the 4pm show. They only had it playing at 9pm tho. :-p I wasn’t well pleased. Now I’ll have to wait for it on DVD, its gone. ¶ 2:18 PM 3 Comments
He went to see his doctor this week for his monthly visit (he goes monthly for monitoring of rheumatoid arthritis and renewal of prescriptions) and found out now he’s got high blood pressure. His doctor, in all his infinite wisdom (insert sarcasm here), chooses to do nothing about it, other than to say “come in for regular monitoring”. Ugh! This guy has totally got on my last nerve! >:-| He’s a cardiologist for crissakes, and here’s a 42, almost 43 year old, overweight patient with high blood pressure and he says don’t worry about it, just come in to check it regularly! GAH! Doesn’t give him a schedule, other than the regular monthly visits he’s already on, no suggestions about diet or anything. This is the state of US medical care. What a load of crap!
So of course I do a little researching myself on WebMD and it seems not all that difficult to lower blood pressure. Just simple dietary changes that really aren’t all that drastic. James of course is convinced he’ll have to give up all yummy foods and will never be able to eat junk food again (I’ve been trying to get him to cut down on junk food anyway :-p ) But really, its not that bad. Here are the diet suggestions from webmd.
• Add a serving of vegetables at lunch and at dinner.
• Add a serving of fruit to your meals or as a snack. Canned and dried fruits are easy to use.
• Use only half the butter, margarine, or salad dressing, and use low-fat or fat-free condiments.
• Drink low-fat or skim dairy products three times a day.
• Limit meat to six ounces a day. Try eating some vegetarian meals.
• Add more vegetables, rice, pasta, and dry beans to your diet.
• Instead of typical snacks (chips, etc.), eat unsalted pretzels or nuts, raisins, graham crackers, low-fat and fat-free yogurt and frozen yogurt; unsalted plain popcorn with no butter, and raw vegetables.
• Read food labels carefully to choose products that are lower in sodium.
Staying on the DASH Diet
The following is a list of food groups and suggested serving amounts for the DASH diet:
• Grains: 7-8 daily servings
• Vegetables: 4-5 daily servings
• Fruits: 4-5 daily servings
• Low-fat or fat-free dairy products: 2-3 daily servings
• Meat, poultry and fish: less than 2 daily servings
• Nuts, seeds, and dry beans: 4-5 servings per week
• Fats and oils: 2-3 daily servings
• Sweets: try to limit to less than 5 servings per week
• Salt: 1,500 mg per day (about 2/3 teaspoon)
There was also an article that said drinking dark colas (Coke, Pepsi, etc…diet or regular) could also be a contributing factor to high blood pressure. James drinks about 2 litres of diet Coke a day. The study showed that coffee and tea does not have the same affect, so its not the caffien, its something else in the colas. He said he’d switch to (sweet) tea.
Last night I made a really nice supper, one of my favourites. Crimson Pork chops with potatoes and a side salad with a light balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Very yummy, and James even ate it. He doesn’t like pork chops. Infidel!
Here’s the recipe (taken from Chatelaine (??) magazine decades ago, and modified now for ingredients at hand). My Mum used to make this for us when I was little, and its always been a fave. You can also substitute chicken breasts for pork chops if you don’t eat pork.
In a high sided frying pan or soup pot, sear pork chops with a small amount of vegetable oil. (I used Watkins Citrus & Cilantro grapeseed oil last night).
Peel and slice 2 large potatoes and par boil.
In a 2 cup measuring cup mix ¼ cup of Heinz Organic Ketchup, 2 heaping teaspoons of Watkins Honey Mustard, 1 tbsp Watkins Meat Magic add water to the 2 cup mark. Stir until well blended. Once the pork chops are seared on both sides, pour in the sauce. Slice one orange, and put slices into the pot. Add the potato slices, cover and simmer until done. Enjoy!
For dessert we had Breyer’s Heart Healthy chocolate ice-cream (98% fat free, and no added sugars) with a sliced kiwi fruit each. Very yummy, and the ice cream does not taste the worse for wear, without all that fat. I think I’ll switch for good! Oh! There was also another article that says cocoa is good for reducing blood pressure. So yes ladies chocolate is good for you! If its not laden with sugar and extra fats. The higher cocoa content the better. Which has always been my opinion anyway. ;-)
See, you really don’t have to sacrifice good taste or have a “special” diet to manage heart health. You just need to have a “proper” diet. And you can still have treats, just read the labels and check the ingredients and daily % on the nutrition information. Just because something says “Low Fat” or “Lite”, doesn’t necessarily mean its healthy. You have to look at the whole picture. It may have a lower percentage of fats, but it could also be loaded down with 18 different kinds of sugars, and full of salts. Marketing can be very deceiving. Don’t just look at the packaging.
Now, if I could just get him out walking more than once every other week…
Oh, btw, no I didn’t get to see Brokeback Mountain last week. I drove all the way down to Hickory, and for some idiotic reason the on-line listings hadn’t been updated recently. The listings said they had it playing 4 times a day, so I wanted to catch the 4pm show. They only had it playing at 9pm tho. :-p I wasn’t well pleased. Now I’ll have to wait for it on DVD, its gone. ¶ 2:18 PM 3 Comments
Friday, March 03, 2006
New Catholic Town in Florida?
I’ve seen in a couple of different places now people calling for a boycott of Domino’s Pizza because founder Tom Monaghan is attempting to build an all Catholic town in Florida.
Read about it here
Now, first things first…Tom Monaghan no longer owns Domino’s Pizza, he sold it several years ago to Bain Corp and pocketed several million dollars and skidaddled. Secondly, he’s not even on the Board of Directors, so boycotting Domino’s Pizza is not going to harm Mr. Monaghan in any way shape or form.
Secondly, I think we can all safely say that while Mr. Monaghan’s plans are grandiose and very likely will not be allowed according to the US Constitution, IF people want to live in such a town voluntarily, who are we to stop them? Sure, the Vatican’s rules regarding birth control and abortion are archaic, and even potentially harmful to general health and wellbeing of women, but, who are We to say that Others cannot believe and go along with such things?
I went to Catholic school from kindergarten to gr. 8, I know quite a bit about the restrictions of that particular religion, as well as others. I was never baptized into the Catholic church because my parents, being of differing religious backgrounds, and neither particularly keen on the church, left it up to us (me and my sister) to make that decision our own way. Kudos to my parents, they did at least one thing right! ;-)
But I do know quite a lot of very devout Catholics who go along with the church’s dogma and rules. That’s fine for them, if they find that it does not interfere with their lives in any way. Just because they feel that way, is no reason for me, or anyone else for that matter, to say that they shouldn’t think that way. By that reasoning, aren’t those people urging boycotts of Domino’s saying to Monaghan and other Catholics that they have no right to believe the way they believe? (again I’ll mention that boycotting Domino’s is in no way going to have any affect on Monaghan at all).
While I disagree with Mr. Monaghan’s and the Catholic church’s view, I see no reason why, if 30,000 Catholics want to all live together in one town in Florida, they should be discouraged from doing so. If they want to not allow birth control or abortions in this town, fine, the people living there are there voluntarily, so who are we to say what services should be offered by their doctors?
Now it would be a whole other story if Mr. Monaghan and his cohorts were *forcing* people somehow to live there, and forcing them to live according to Catholic teachings. But it doesn’t sound like that’s what this is all about. Its not like there currently is a town there, and they’re going to put a wall up and say “ha! You’re stuck here now! Neener neener!”
I’ve seen a few articles about this, and only one has mentioned toward the end of the article that Monaghan no longer owns Domino’s. I just wanted to clarify this, because really, boycotting the product is not going to stop this town being built. Even if he did still have anything to do with it. You’re just harming independent small business owners, most of whom have never met Mr. Monaghan, and aren’t even Catholic. Some may not even be Christians. ;-)
It is doubtful that this town will ever be built according to Monaghan’s dream. But so what if it is? We all choose where we live, and we all choose what religion we do or don’t follow. That’s what the constitution is for, who are we to infringe upon someone else’s religious rights and freedoms? I don’t believe what he does, but for those who do, and for those who would like to live there, all the power to ‘em. They’re not forcing it on anyone, what’s the harm?
*shrug* ¶ 2:49 PM 1 Comments
Read about it here
Now, first things first…Tom Monaghan no longer owns Domino’s Pizza, he sold it several years ago to Bain Corp and pocketed several million dollars and skidaddled. Secondly, he’s not even on the Board of Directors, so boycotting Domino’s Pizza is not going to harm Mr. Monaghan in any way shape or form.
Secondly, I think we can all safely say that while Mr. Monaghan’s plans are grandiose and very likely will not be allowed according to the US Constitution, IF people want to live in such a town voluntarily, who are we to stop them? Sure, the Vatican’s rules regarding birth control and abortion are archaic, and even potentially harmful to general health and wellbeing of women, but, who are We to say that Others cannot believe and go along with such things?
I went to Catholic school from kindergarten to gr. 8, I know quite a bit about the restrictions of that particular religion, as well as others. I was never baptized into the Catholic church because my parents, being of differing religious backgrounds, and neither particularly keen on the church, left it up to us (me and my sister) to make that decision our own way. Kudos to my parents, they did at least one thing right! ;-)
But I do know quite a lot of very devout Catholics who go along with the church’s dogma and rules. That’s fine for them, if they find that it does not interfere with their lives in any way. Just because they feel that way, is no reason for me, or anyone else for that matter, to say that they shouldn’t think that way. By that reasoning, aren’t those people urging boycotts of Domino’s saying to Monaghan and other Catholics that they have no right to believe the way they believe? (again I’ll mention that boycotting Domino’s is in no way going to have any affect on Monaghan at all).
While I disagree with Mr. Monaghan’s and the Catholic church’s view, I see no reason why, if 30,000 Catholics want to all live together in one town in Florida, they should be discouraged from doing so. If they want to not allow birth control or abortions in this town, fine, the people living there are there voluntarily, so who are we to say what services should be offered by their doctors?
Now it would be a whole other story if Mr. Monaghan and his cohorts were *forcing* people somehow to live there, and forcing them to live according to Catholic teachings. But it doesn’t sound like that’s what this is all about. Its not like there currently is a town there, and they’re going to put a wall up and say “ha! You’re stuck here now! Neener neener!”
I’ve seen a few articles about this, and only one has mentioned toward the end of the article that Monaghan no longer owns Domino’s. I just wanted to clarify this, because really, boycotting the product is not going to stop this town being built. Even if he did still have anything to do with it. You’re just harming independent small business owners, most of whom have never met Mr. Monaghan, and aren’t even Catholic. Some may not even be Christians. ;-)
It is doubtful that this town will ever be built according to Monaghan’s dream. But so what if it is? We all choose where we live, and we all choose what religion we do or don’t follow. That’s what the constitution is for, who are we to infringe upon someone else’s religious rights and freedoms? I don’t believe what he does, but for those who do, and for those who would like to live there, all the power to ‘em. They’re not forcing it on anyone, what’s the harm?
*shrug* ¶ 2:49 PM 1 Comments
Thursday, March 02, 2006
First Flowers
Here’s a couple of pictures of the first flowers to bloom in our garden. The first ones to come up, the crocuses are already spent and gone of course, but they were pretty while they lasted.
And here are the daffodils that are up so far. These are in the front garden right next to the steps to the porch. All of these flowers were planted by the previous owner of the house, who lived and died here.
There are a few others in the back garden/dog yard, but only one has bloomed so far. I expect the tulips should be blooming soon as well.
I really need to get out in the garden soon and start digging out the grass to make it look nicer. And before the hot hot weather hits us. Its already over 70F/21C today and yesterday I think it got up to 75! Its just the beginning of March for heaven’s sake!
Poor James is up in Michigan this week where its cold and snowy.
Today tho I’m going to go into Hickory to see Brokeback Mountain. James didn’t particularly want to see it, so while he’s gone I might as well go right? Of course he’ll regret it later when I make him watch it on DVD when its out. ;-)
The other day I got another new associate signed up! Congratulations to Becky Croghan, and the best of every success for her new Watkins business! :-) I hopefully should also have a couple of others soon, who have been quite inquisitive in the past month or so and are saving their money for the start-up kit. Its quite a lot less to get started with Watkins than a lot of other MLM companies, but still, if you’ve been out of work for a while, or have been living on minimum wage for a while, even small amounts of cash seem like boat loads, I can totally relate!
In local news this week, 3 more plants are closing their doors, 2 in Valdese, and one in Newton, putting more workers out on the street and in the unemployment lines. This is just crazy. They’re all citing “can’t compete with foreign production”. So many plants in this area have closed in the past 5 years it is rather frightening. This area of North Carolina used to be practically owned by the furniture industry, and the textile and hosiery industries. Not any more. Once company alone, in the year 2000 had 2600 employees, by the time they lay off these others with the recent closings, will have only 400 employees left! Some will find jobs within the company at other plants, possibly further away from home.
Some pundits say the US economy and jobless rate is improving…not around here it ain’t…its just getting worse. :-(
Now the area is run by retail and retail food. They’re about the only jobs around here in Burke, Catawba and Caldwell counties. Sure, there are a few office jobs here and there, but for every one job, there are several hundred applicants. That goes also for the few industrial jobs that remain. The only thing left is retail and fast food. Mostly at or just slightly above, minimum wage. Around here that’s $5.15 an hour, not much to live on, that’s for sure. Most people have 2 or more jobs just to make ends meet, and even still at the end of the month decisions have to be made as to which bills to pay and which can go another month before service is cut off. James and I are in much the same boat as most people around here, though hopefully we will benefit greatly by moving to Wisconsin. We shall see.
My credit card bill next month is gonna choke me I’m sure! James’ trip to Michigan and the registration fee for his franchiser training all got put on my card because his credit limit is not as high as mine. Hopefully we can get it paid off fairly quickly, because I really do want to go to Scotland in May, and quite a lot of that trip will also have to go on plastic! *sigh*
Tomorrow is payday, I wonder how much my paycheque (check) will be for only one week part time? Probably not much eh? But every bit helps, even if all I can do with my pay is buy the groceries. Its somethin’.
I hope James remembers to stop at Tim Horton’s on his way home tomorrow night. I could really use some donuts! ;-) ¶ 2:01 PM 0 Comments
And here are the daffodils that are up so far. These are in the front garden right next to the steps to the porch. All of these flowers were planted by the previous owner of the house, who lived and died here.
There are a few others in the back garden/dog yard, but only one has bloomed so far. I expect the tulips should be blooming soon as well.
I really need to get out in the garden soon and start digging out the grass to make it look nicer. And before the hot hot weather hits us. Its already over 70F/21C today and yesterday I think it got up to 75! Its just the beginning of March for heaven’s sake!
Poor James is up in Michigan this week where its cold and snowy.
Today tho I’m going to go into Hickory to see Brokeback Mountain. James didn’t particularly want to see it, so while he’s gone I might as well go right? Of course he’ll regret it later when I make him watch it on DVD when its out. ;-)
The other day I got another new associate signed up! Congratulations to Becky Croghan, and the best of every success for her new Watkins business! :-) I hopefully should also have a couple of others soon, who have been quite inquisitive in the past month or so and are saving their money for the start-up kit. Its quite a lot less to get started with Watkins than a lot of other MLM companies, but still, if you’ve been out of work for a while, or have been living on minimum wage for a while, even small amounts of cash seem like boat loads, I can totally relate!
In local news this week, 3 more plants are closing their doors, 2 in Valdese, and one in Newton, putting more workers out on the street and in the unemployment lines. This is just crazy. They’re all citing “can’t compete with foreign production”. So many plants in this area have closed in the past 5 years it is rather frightening. This area of North Carolina used to be practically owned by the furniture industry, and the textile and hosiery industries. Not any more. Once company alone, in the year 2000 had 2600 employees, by the time they lay off these others with the recent closings, will have only 400 employees left! Some will find jobs within the company at other plants, possibly further away from home.
Some pundits say the US economy and jobless rate is improving…not around here it ain’t…its just getting worse. :-(
Now the area is run by retail and retail food. They’re about the only jobs around here in Burke, Catawba and Caldwell counties. Sure, there are a few office jobs here and there, but for every one job, there are several hundred applicants. That goes also for the few industrial jobs that remain. The only thing left is retail and fast food. Mostly at or just slightly above, minimum wage. Around here that’s $5.15 an hour, not much to live on, that’s for sure. Most people have 2 or more jobs just to make ends meet, and even still at the end of the month decisions have to be made as to which bills to pay and which can go another month before service is cut off. James and I are in much the same boat as most people around here, though hopefully we will benefit greatly by moving to Wisconsin. We shall see.
My credit card bill next month is gonna choke me I’m sure! James’ trip to Michigan and the registration fee for his franchiser training all got put on my card because his credit limit is not as high as mine. Hopefully we can get it paid off fairly quickly, because I really do want to go to Scotland in May, and quite a lot of that trip will also have to go on plastic! *sigh*
Tomorrow is payday, I wonder how much my paycheque (check) will be for only one week part time? Probably not much eh? But every bit helps, even if all I can do with my pay is buy the groceries. Its somethin’.
I hope James remembers to stop at Tim Horton’s on his way home tomorrow night. I could really use some donuts! ;-) ¶ 2:01 PM 0 Comments
