Report # 1008

Hey everyone, I hope that you've all had an awesome weekend and are ready for a great first week of June. Finally the weather here has brightened up and brought some summery type days, though it was a real struggle to get there. After a cool and sopping wet last week of May, there was finally some sun on Friday afternoon. It was pouring again on Friday morning while I was working, but by the time I got off work, it was a super nice day. While I was on the bus on the way home an older guy was talking on his cell phone in Spanish to his daughter. It was kind of cool to listen in to the conversation ! I was going to ask him where he was from later on, but from what they were talking about, it sounded like he was Colombian.

On the way home I stopped at Tim Hortons like always, and then I just ate and studied French for a bit, watched an episode of Cachito de Cielo, and just relaxed for the rest of the night. I ran to Tim Hortons on Saturday morning and later in the day I ran with Parker and I walked with Molly. They both had there exercise again on Sunday, and I ran to Tim Hortons once again in the morning, and I even ran a bit after walking Molly to take a picture of an old house that I want to show everyone for a future blog post. So this weekend I definitely made up for my running; The challenge will be to keep it going this week. Yesterday was the nicest day in a long time as it ended up being super sunny and 21 C (70 F) and from what I've seen the weather will be very decent over the next two weeks with no more rain for a while.

I did manage to take some more pet pictures, so I will share some of the dogs and the cats. The first two are of Parker, then Molly, Shelby, Bentley, and Chance. Here they are:

So today once again I have to talk about guns ! It seems this has been an ongoing topic, but with all of the incredibly ridiculous things that I've been reading, and the outrageous things people have been saying, I just felt I had to comment. I'm going to start with comments from a Sheriff in Milwaukee who put an ad on the radio with his voice saying the following:

"I need you in the game. With officers laid off and furloughed, simply calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option. You can beg for mercy from a violent criminal, hide under the bed, or you can fight back. Consider taking a certified safety course in handling a firearm so you can defend yourself until we get there." - Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke Jr.

Now I'll be the first to say, if someone is being threatened and there only option between life and death is to do something to defend themselves, then yes, they should have every right to do something to defend themselves. Having a sheriff put an ad like this on the radio is very troubling however, as I just think it will encourage too many people deciding to take care of things themselves, and I have a feeling the sheriff's suggestion, if followed by many people, would lead to more problems than solutions. Some people would overreact in certain situations and end up blowing the brains out of a petty small time thief.

Of course anyone who has invaded someone's home is clearly breaking the law, but this doesn't mean they warrant being completely killed by a resident, unless they clearly are as suggested a violent criminal who clearly would have no problem harming the residents. The ad just makes it sound like the police are shirking their responsibility and not only is what this sheriff is suggesting a completely dangerous idea, he is showing no lack of leadership, and I think if that's the best idea he has for the people of Milwaukee, he should step aside and let someone else step in who clearly has some better ideas.

Next up I will move on to Arizona where I read that a program has started where free guns are being passed along to residents in Tuscon, the same city where almost two and a half years ago, there was a shooting that killed six people. I'll never understand why so many people think putting more guns out there will decrease gun violence... if anything it will increase gun violence. With this sort of program, guns will be put in the hands of some people who really shouldn't have them to begin with. They may not necessarily be criminals, but they could be people with anger problems, or just the type of people who shoot first and ask questions later.... and we all know there are no shortage of those types of people.

They may be parents, whose irresponsible and negligent parenting leads the guns getting into the hands of children who "play" with them, leading to an extremely unfortunate and devastating tragedy of having a sibling or family member die because a kid was handling what they think is a toy. And these stories do happen ! Someone just has to google stories to do with this and I'm sure they'd find several examples. And even though the program does background checking, that doesn't keep guns out of people who would be irresponsible with handling them, have any sort of anger problems, or could be the type of people who think first and ask questions later.

The program itself is a horrible idea, and to think that it is funded by people who made donations.... all I can say is wow. With so many important causes in this world to support, to know that some people have decided to put their money into a program promoting the distribution of guns is just extremely disappointing. From what I've read there are people split on both sides of this issue, so there will thankfully be opponents putting the heat on the one's who support this program, I just hope it doesn't really go through as it would just end up being a disaster with dire consequences.

Even stupider is what I read in the paper a few months ago about a town in Georgia that has made up a law that says that it would be against the law to not own a gun. From what I've read the town of Nelson, Georgia is a safe place, so I have no clue why something like this would pop up. I suppose it's just connected to all the talk about guns lately, and people there are just jumping on the bandwagon. From what I read, the law wouldn't really be enforced, so it just seems that it will be some sort of symbolic piece of legislation used to encourage the towns' residents to buy a gun.

Lastly, here is a comment from National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre:

"How many Bostonians whish they had a gun two weeks ago ? How many other Americans now ponder that life or death question ?"

Can someone please tell me how guns would have helped prevent the Boston Marathon tragedy ? I really don't get it ! To be honest I think if all of the people there were carrying fire arms, the chaos would have been even worse as some people would probably have gotten all defensive and suspicious and started firing shots in a terrified and crazed way. It's these types of comments such as the one made by Mr. LaPierre that just make no sense. They want to make their case for guns, yet what they say in support of what they believe in, really doesn't back up anything... it's just a plain ridiculous comment, and I'm sure there are many more from members of the NRA and gun fanatics in general.

Today I've provided what are a bunch of stories of just people taking things way too far in support of gun rights. At the end of the day these people want what everyone else wants I would think, and that's to be able to live safely. Unfortunately these people have let their extremist views on gun ownership completely blind and common sense they may have had. All I can say is that I really hope for the safety of many people, that these extremist views don't push ahead, because if they do, I just fear that there will be more violence than there already is, and that is something that no one wants. While then, maybe finally all the gun advocates and NRA extremists would understand their crazy ideas are actually contributing to the additional surge in gun violence, it would be such a tragedy to have to go very horrific and unfortunate events to get them to come to that view point.

Even in that case though, I highly doubt those gun advocates will ever change their beliefs. They are forever blinded by their love of guns and how they truly believe that owning a gun is such a right and such a duty, that they will never be able to truly understand how wrong they are with the agenda that they are pushing. So as I read about ludicrous laws being passed regarding the owning of guns, sheriffs telling people to basically get a gun and fend for yourself, and free guns being passed around like candy, all I can think about is how many tragedies will come forward in the future.

The saddest thing of all is that they would have been entirely preventable and avoidable, but the arrogance, the ignorance, and the narrow-mindedness of the gun lovers' agenda will have led to that. Unless these people come to their senses, which I highly doubt, all I can say is that those gun supporting advocates and politicians, the sheriffs only to keen to encourage the use of guns, and the parents too negligent and irresponsible that allow the guns in the house to get in the hands of their children, will be in a way responsible for what could and unfortunately will happen. When tragic happenings due to the irresponsible and stupid use of guns take place.... the blood will be on all of the hands of all of those people, and that is something they will have to live with for the rest of their lives.

For the next question:

What do you think about these measures that are promoting the ownership and use of firearms ?

I hope that everyone has an amazing start to the week. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Thursday, bye for now.

Sources: Surging NRA not giving up 'one inch' in battle. By Nick Allen, London Daily Telegraph. The Vancouver Sun, May 6, 2013.

Wisconsin sheriff tells residents that calling 911 is 'no longer your best option,' urges them to learn to use guns. nydailynews.com, associated press. January 26, 2013.

Plan to hand out free shotguns in Tucson stirs debate. By Judson Berger. foxnews.com. March 28, 2013

Georgia town passes law requiring everyone to own a gun. By Lindsay Jolivet. Daily Buzz. ca.news.yahoo.com. April 2, 2013.

Report # 1007

Hey everyone, I hope that you've all been having a great week so far. I've finished four days of work this week and now just today and I'll be done my second week already, so time is flying. I still haven't ran once during the week since I started working, but that is going to have to change, and that will change. Starting on June 1 I will get super serious with my running once again, even if it does mean I'll have even less time than I already have. Running is just such an important part of my life and I need to get myself doing it everyday. It's not a matter of being too lazy to do it... I love running, it's just a matter of time ! I will squeeze it in though because I do miss it, and of course if I'm not running, my physical condition will deteriorate like a comet heading towards the earth.

All this being said though, it was absolutely a miserable week whether wise. I didn't take an umbrella to work once this week, and it was never really raining in the morning, but it was absolutely pouring throughout the day, and one day coming home I got totally drenched. I really don't remember getting that soaked in my life any other day coming home from work, so I was really caught under a huge rain cloud. Fortunately from what I've seen, the weather will improve over the next few days, and there will finally be sun. At work I've got a system going where I take the biggest pile of work so I'm kept busy for the longest time possible. The first part of the day always goes by incredibly fast, though it's that time after lunch that seems to go a bit slower.

For the most part though, I was lucky to have found a job that is absolutely free of stress, where there is always something to do, and where everyone is super nice, so I really can't complain. Unfortunately there have been so many people sick at work, and I've managed to catch a bit of a cold. It's nothing major, certainly not like what I was going through while I was in Texas in February, but I've had a runny nose and a bit of a cough. I did take a Nyquil last night and I probably had my best sleep for a long time. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I'm thinking because of so many months of going to bed around 1:00 or 2:00 am in the morning, and now trying to get to bed earlier, and forcing myself up at 7:00 am, when I was getting up at 9:00 am or 10:00 am before, my body has just had a tough time adjusting to that.

Not helping is the fact that I've been drinking a large iced cappuccino everyday at around 6:00 pm... much later than the mornings I was accustomed to drinking it before. I hope I will be able to sleep better soon and not only with a Nyquil ! Hopefully when I get myself to run each day and get more used to this time I will be able to sleep better. And it would be nice if Shelby (my cat) doesn't keep waking me up every morning wanting food ! It's horrible to be woken up by her constant meowing day after day at sometimes 4:45 am, or 5 something. She's fast asleep on my bed as I'm writing this now, so I really hope she will stay that way until at least 7:00 am.

A few weeks ago my city had the Cloverdale Rodeo, which is an event that is always held over four days during the Victoria Day Long weekend each May. It's been around for many years, and attracts people from all over, and participants in the rodeo events from all over Canada and the US trying to win their particular event. Unfortunately it also attracts some people who get themselves in the newspaper for all of the wrong reasons.

A young woman was at the rodeo holding up a sign that said "Rodeo..... When Coward Boys Have Fun. This woman was there to protest the treatment of animals at the rodeo, which isn't out of the ordinary, as rodeos always attract protestors like her. However this woman somehow got into a spat with another young woman, and she started recording their altercation. The video was later posted on youtube. Now the woman was the victim of many racist words and clearly what was said to her was absolutely disgusting, and 100 % unacceptable. The protestor also claims she was spat on and attacked as well, though I'm not sure to what extent all that took place.

The police are investigating this now, and the name and the identity of the main woman involved in the attack has been revealed. For those of you interested in watching the video, it is here:

http://www.thenownewspaper.com/story.html?id=8421437

So first things first. The woman saying all of those horribly racist, immature, and cruel things should be absolutely ashamed of herself. She doesn't have to agree with the protestor, but that gives her no right to get involved in a racist spat with her and spew out such trash. So if anything this woman should be charged with harassment, though the police will have to determine if there was actual violence and attacks as well, which would mean she could get charged with assault as well. So I don't feel any sympathy for this woman, and in fact I think she acted like a total loser, and definitely should be called out on her utterly disgusting behaviour that was so filled with hate.

What is interesting in this story however, is that the protestor who filmed this incident, had also filmed another incident that took place before at a dog park. That video is posted below on the link that I put. So this brings questions that this protestor woman is provoking certain people into getting them angry, and then starting to film then, and posting the videos online in an effort to create some sort of story out of it all. The protestor has even said that she was leading on the woman who was attacking her, and that she films these situations because she thinks its a "good idea."

So the protestor herself is clearly not 100 % innocent here, and I can see why people are getting upset if she's filming her disputes with them and posting them online for the world to see. I hope after all of this passes over, she will have learned a lesson and come to realize that it's not a "good idea" like she suggested to be filming people who are upset and trying to get them to say or do something to get themselves in trouble. If she continues to do this, I think she'll have only more problems.

Still though none of this gives any right to anyone to bring racism or discrimination into this, and it's just so fortunate the woman having a problem with this protestor couldn't express her anger in a non racist and non violent way.... she acted stupid, and wrong and now she will have to pay the price for her idiotic and disgusting behaviour. As for the protestor, well she has succeeded into getting this story into the newspaper, and having myself and so many other people talking about it, but clearly she has missed out on her main reason for being at the rodeo.

She was there trying to bring awareness to the tough way animals are treated at the rodeo, and instead of stories about the treatment to animals at rodeos, all people are reading about is that idiotic racist lunatic lady and this protestor who just likes getting people to go crazy on video. So I think she should be sad about the fact that she was at the rodeo for the animals, but she failed in her effort to truly convey the message she wanted to convey. As for the Cloverdale rodeo it has already come and gone and I have a feeling organizers prefer if next year's edition doesn't have to involve this type of ridiculous story !

For the next question:

What do you think of someone filming certain situations between people and posting them on the internet ? Why do some people choose to bring racism into these situations ? What can be done to get people away from behaving in such a horrible way ?

Thats all I have for today. I hope that everyone has an amazing weekend. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Monday, bye for now.

sources: ca.news.yahoo.com. Cloverdale Rodeo 'racist attack' investigated. CBC News, May 21, 2013.

thenownewspaper.com. Racist rodeo rant caught on tape wasn't protestor's first video spat. By: Tom Zytaruk, Surrey Now. May 22, 2013.

Report # 1006

Hey everyone, I hope that you've all been having a great start to the week. The weekend went by pretty quickly for me and I didn't really do much of anything. I vacuumed the house and aside from there I just studied French for a bit, watched more episodes of Cachito de Cielo and ran with Parker and walked with Molly. I think next week I will start writing another story in Spanish to keep up with my writing as well. Even though I'm always typing with people in Spanish on Skype, it would be great to get some more practice. Considering that I've just been zooming quickly through online french lessons, I think I've picked up quite a bit in almost two weeks, so the site works. Anyone interested in trying out a new language should definitely check it out; www.duolingo.com

It's still been quite cool and wet here over the last few days, so really not very nice weather for the end of May. The last few years have been very similar with May and June really not providing much amazing weather, though we did have that amazing start to the month this year. Before work yesterday morning I called the corn place I worked at for one day and asked about my cheque and I was told they have it there but since I live so close they really don't want to mail it. The office there isn't open past 5:00 pm and not on weekends either, so hopefully my dad will be able to pick it up on Friday. I believe I will get my first cheque from my office job on Friday as well, so for the first time in a long, long, long time I'll actually make some money from working.

Unlike almost all of my previous job, this company pays twice a month, on the 15th, and 30th, or whatever Friday falls closest to those days. Usually I would get paid every other Friday, but I suppose it doesn't really make much of a difference. After work I headed home, stopping at Tim hortons along the way, and that was it for the day. I did want to go running, but seeing as it was pouring rain I just didn't bother. Yesterday went by incredibly fast at work, so while it's not the most interesting job in the world, it always keeps me busy, there is really no stress at all, and everyone has been very friendly and helpful, so there are certainly some nice things about working there. I've now worked five days, and I've learned the majority of the things that I'll need to know, but there are still a few more things to learn.

I've always thought of Canada as a pretty progressive country for the most part, but of course we have many small towns across the country where there are unfortunately some very closed minded people. Last month I read a story about a restaurant called Pots N' Hands, located in the small town of Morris, Manitoba, shut down due to the homophobic comments the owners received. Basically everything was fine and people enjoyed this restaurant, but when some people found out the owners were gay, they decided to voice their opinions. And these people didn't just say what they believed, they spewed out some very hateful homophobic things.

Now if people don't agree with the gay lifestyle for whatever reason, that is their choice, whoever it is 100 % wrong to be spewing hateful and homophobic messages. If anyone who had ate at that restaurant was seriously bothered by the fact that the owners were gay, they could have just silently stopped going there and taken their business elsewhere. Of course I think that is an absolutely ridiculous reason to stop going to a restaurant someone likes, but if someone is that against the gay lifestyle, I could see why they would do that.

Clearly though a lot of those clients, and probably numerous people who just live in the town and never ate there to begin with chose to be horrendously cruel and homophobic and say some extremely hurtful things. All I can say is that it's very sad there are people out there who harbour so much hate towards certain types of people just because they live their lives differently.

In my opinion homophobic people are no better than racist people.... they are both equally intolerant, equally hateful, and equally ignorant. Yet there are no laws saying someone can't be racist or homophobic, but certainly saying such mean spirited and hateful comments is a form of extreme bullying. I believe anyone responsible for starting up this kind of hate should be charged with inciting hateful propaganda.

What were some of the comments said ? Well here is a little sample:

"They should get the hell out of here. I don't really like them - the service and who they are."

In response to the owners sexuality:

"A lot of people don't like it. You don't know what they're doing in the kitchen."

While the first comment is just extremely homophobic and hateful, the second comment is more stupid than anything else. What they're doing in the kitchen ? They are cooking ! I don't think gay chefs would be doing anything different in the kitchen than straight chefs. So not only is there a lot of hate coming from people, there might be even more stupidity. The hateful losers making these comments are so blinded by hate they don't even think before they talk.

This isn't even the first time the restaurant owners, two men who are a couple, have experienced this sort of homophobia. Previously they had operated a restaurant elsewhere, and they experienced the same sort of thing. From the sounds of it, a lot of people were very supportive, but with the vocal minority being so full of hate, it was just understandably too much to go through for the restaurant owners.

And I can understand 100 %, when they are getting comments about what they are doing in the kitchen, and other customers thinking they could get a disease or something from eating off of one of their plates. So while it's a minority of the people, they have been very vocal, and it's unfortunate they have made the lives so hard for two people just doing what they enjoy, preparing food and running a restaurant. The homophobic and hateful losers should all be ashamed of themselves, though they should be even more ashamed by how stupid they are based on the comments they've made.

Stories like this show me that no matter how far the world has come in terms of acceptance towards gays and lesbians, there is still a long, long, long ways to go towards full equality and understanding of the lifestyle. As I said in the beginning, no one has to agree with the gay lifestyle, but that doesn't mean they have a right to be hateful and say homophobic things. That is verbal assault and bullying and personally I think those people involved in making such comments should be given a strict warning, and if they continue, be charged.

There have been some good people in the community of Morris, Manitoba who have really felt for the owners of Pots N' Hands. As shown by the following comments:

"There's a couple of village-idiot rednecks, young fellas that when they grow up they'll understand how their vicious tongues can hurt people."

"It's so unfortunate because it's not what our little town is about. It's certainly absolutely not what the majority of people's feelings are in this town."

It's very sad this has happened, that people have been small-minded enough to make them feel unwelcome. It certainly doesn't reflect well on the community." - Morris mayor Gavin van der Linde

And the owners had this to say with everything that has happened:

"We were very hurt by it. Some of the narrow-minded things that have been said to us are absolutely shocking."

"It's been very difficult for us. It's got to the point of being out of control by this certain group of people. This has been a very difficult decision. I cannot tell you how this affected us on so many levels."

So as everyone can see, words can, and they do hurt. And in this case, they have led to the closing of a restaurant, which for the most part was enjoyed by people. Despite a number of people in the community of Morris coming together to eat at the restaurant to show their support, it was all too much for the owners and they decided to close shop. As people have said, this doesn't reflect well on the community of Morris, nor does it reflect well on society in general. So shame on all of those homophobic and hateful losers. I hope they one day will mature and realize just how horrible they have been. And I don't say those words lightly... they were absolutely horrible those people making those comments.

As the world continues to become more open minded and accepting, stories like this show us all just how much further we still have to go. For the next question:

What did you think of this story ? Would you eat at a restaurant if you knew the owners were gay, why or why not ?

That's all I have for today ! I hope that everyone enjoys the rest of the week. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Friday, bye for now.

sources: Winnipegfreepress.com. Gay owners to close restaurant. By Mike McIntyre. April 2, 2013.

nationalpost.com. Homophobic insults force gay restaurant owners in small Manitoba town to close up shop. By National Post and Canadian Press staff. April 3, 2013

Report # 1005

Hey everyone, I hope that you've all been having a great start to the weekend. So I've finished my first week at my new job, though it was a short four day week. It's nice to get through the first four days, and each day I'll get a little more used to things, so from here on it should be ok. While it's certainly not a career or a dream job, it's work that is simple and keeps me busy the whole day, so I never have to sit around with nothing to do. The days go by relatively quickly and everyone is very friendly, so I really can't complain about anything. Of course I am hoping there will be a conclusion to this whole visa thing soon so I can better chart out my future, though for now I am working and that is about all I can ask.

Yesterday was a super sunny and nice day, though it's still been relatively cool, especially after all the super nice weather we had in the beginning of May. I didn't run all week after Monday, but now that I've got a routine going, I'm going to have to find time to run every single day after work... even if I don't have too much time. I know exactly what happens after working and then coming home each day and not exercising..... people get fat ! So I know what I have to do and it will just be a matter of doing it every single day, and starting on Monday I don't think that will be a problem. I've already ran with Parker this morning and I plan on taking Molly out later in the day. The house could use a vacuum, so I will get myself to do that as well.

I've continued going to Tim Hortons everyday, so I'm getting lots of entries for a contest that they have going on until the middle of July. With every iced cappuccino I buy, I can peal off a number and enter it on the website. Each day they do a $ 1,000 draw, and at the end, they will draw for $ 10,000 I believe, as well as a number of smaller prizes. I will have tons of entries by the middle of July, so hopefully I can get something. I've probably spent like $ 10,000 in my life at Tim Hortons, so it would be nice if they could give me something than iced cappuccinos, cookies and bagels ! I'll be happy with winning anything, it's just a nice feeling to win something !

I was browsing the internet the other day and I saw that the local NHL team, (National Hockey League) The Vancouver Canucks, fired longtime head coach Alain Vigneault.(pictured below) This in spite of the fact that since his arrival before the 2006/2007 NHL season, the Canucks have won their Northwest division six times, the NHL presidents trophy for most points twice, the Western Conference Championship once, and of course the head coach of the year award in his very first season. The Canucks won more games than they lost every single season under Alain Vigneault's leadership, and they missed the playoffs only once.

Former Vancouver Canucks Head Coach Alain Vigneault

This was by far the best period in the Vancouver Canucks history, and they came just one win away of winning the NHL championship, The Stanley Cup, in 2011, losing to the Boston Bruins in seven games. This of course happened right before the shameful Vancouver Riot... but I've already talked about that before ! So after all of this unparalleled success, why did General Manager Mike Gills (pictured below) decide to fire Alain Vigneault and his coaching staff ? I think what it came down to was the whole thing of "what have you done for me lately."

Vancouver Canucks General Manager Mike Gillis

While the Vancouver Canucks won the presidents trophy at the end of the 2011/2012 campaign, and won their division both that year and again after the lockout shortened 2012/2013 campaign, the team failed to achieve anything in the playoffs. Last spring the Canucks were unexpectedly dispatched by the 8th seeded Los Angeles Kings, who went on to win the Stanley Cup last year, in the first round of the NHL playoffs of their best of seven series in five games. This year, while expectations were no where near as high for the Canucks, they were swept in the first round by the San Jose Sharks. Dating back to the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup finals versus the Boston Bruins when the Canucks led that series 2 games to 0, the Canucks' playoff record was a horrendous 2 wins and 12 losses.

Of course that is downright terrible, and sure Alain Vigneault and his coaching staff deserve some blame for that miserable mark, but at the end of the day, the team is only as good as their players, and ultimately the players didn't do good enough the last couple of years when it really counted. This year, while there were several injuries to the team, it was clear to almost everyone paying even some attention, that the teams' roster was not deep enough and there was just not enough skill, offence and grit to go all the way and win a championship.

So while the Vancouver Canucks certainly should all be extremely disappointed with how things have gone in the playoffs in the last two springs, I don't think firing the coaching staff was the right move. Personally I would have given it one more year with head coach Alain Vigneault and his assistants, and if the same thing would happen next spring, then ok, a change in direction would be needed, but for GM Mike Gillis to pull the plug on the coaching staff this year, puts all of the blame on them, and after all they've achieved, that's just not fair. As the general manager, Mike Gillis is the man responsible for putting a team together, so ultimately he wasn't able to give the Canucks the team they needed to win.... that failure should fall on his desk.

It's not Alain Vigneault's fault that Mike Gillis signed goalie Roberto Luongo to an extremely long 12 year contract which pays him over 5 million dollars a year. Personally I think any general manager who signs a player, any player, for a contract that long is an idiot. Just because someone is an amazing player when they are 25 years old, does not mean that they'll be an amazing player when they are 37 years old. And in the case of Roberto Luongo, when the contract expires, he will be well over 40 years old... which in professional sports is considered ancient.

Of course it's not Roberto Luongo's fault either. After last year's playoffs, back-up goalie Corey Schneider, ended up assuming the starting goalie position, and Roberto Luongo has handled the whole situation with complete class, even making jokes about it. No one can blame the guy for signing the contract.... if anyone was offered a 12 year contract with over 5 million dollars a year in earnings, most people in the world wouldn't say no ! This contract however with the amount of money, and tougher yet, the length scared so many teams that were interesting in acquiring Luongo in a potential trade, and ultimately this hurt the Vancouver Canucks more than anything.

Imagine with that over $ 5 million each year, the Canucks would be able to get some really good players that could make the difference in them really competing for a Stanley Cup once again, or just being annual playoff disappointments. So really all of this was Mike Gillis' fault, but he took the easy way out and fired Alain Vigneault, who was an exceptional coach here for his seven NHL seasons... winning more games than any previous Canuck coach. Of course no one needs to feel sorry for Alain Vigneault as he was fired with I believe two years remaining on his contract, so he will continue making a very nice salary, and with all of his success here in Vancouer, I am sure he won't have a tough time finding another NHL head coaching job soon.

The Vancouver Canucks however I believe made a mistake, and the wrong person was fired. Obviously the whole team can't be fired, and some of the failure has to fall on the shoulders of the players as well.... they ultimately didn't perform well enough, but I just don't think that firing the most successful coach in the Vancouver Canucks' history was the way to fix things. I believe that had Mike Gillis done a better job managing the team, and by upgrading over this summer, the team would have been in a great position to start the 2013/2014 NHL season, but now with a new coaching staff coming in and so much uncertainty, who knows what will happen.

This is the life of professional sports though. As the saying goes, it's a business. If a team doesn't perform well, there are less playoff games played, meaning less revenue from lost home games, and the risk of upsetting season ticket holders and sponsors. Too many times though, the coaches take the blame when it's clearly not much their own fault. No matter if it's hockey, soccer, baseball, football or basketball, a sports fan would be able to think of a number of situations where great coaches lost their jobs when really they shouldn't have been the ones to go. It's seriously getting to the point where one has to ask, unless a championship is won every single year, what else can a coach do to keep their job ?

Of course for most people, getting fired and still receiving payment for two years would not be a horrible thing, especially if there are so many other options out there. So despite the whole cruelty involved in the sacking of professional coaches, they still have it made amazingly good compared to the majority of the people. So one can argue that with the high salaries and contracts given, teams have every single right in the world to fire a coach if they see anything amiss. And while that's all fine, if the firing of a coach does more harm than good, I really don't see the point. And in a number of situations in every single sport, a great coach was fired, and things just worsened under the incoming coach.

And obviously there are times when one coach is kept too long and they never get fired even though they should have been fired a long time ago, but that's a whole other story ! For the next question:

Do you think professional sports teams tend to throw coaches under the bus ?

Well that's all I have for today. I hope that everyone has an amazing weekend. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Tuesday, bye for now.

picture sources: vancouversun.com, vancouversunsportsblog.

Report # 1004

Hey everyone, I hope that you've all been having a great week so far. I can say without a doubt that yesterday was by far the coldest day we've had this May. It was pouring rain at times, and it probably only got up to 11 C (52 F), so it was just a messy day. After the super nice summer weather we had the first part of May, it just felt very chilly. I had my first day of work yesterday and I can say that it went alright. I woke up at 7:00 am, had a shower and got ready and caught the bus at the corner of the street at around 7:43 am. I arrived at work at 8:18 am, so it was perfect timing.

When I got to work I waited for a while before one of the guys arrived and got me to sign a few forms. After a while another lady gave me a tour of the whole office and introduced me to everyone. Later on the supervisor lady started to show me what I would be doing and got me working on one of the things I would be doing in this position. Basically I had to take a pile of client documents under a certain letter, and put all of the papers into alphabetical order. Afterwards I had to file them into the drawers, and if they didn't have a file or the right folder, I had to put some aside and look in some other places. So obviously it's not such an interesting job, but I knew that beforehand.

I will just show up everyday and do my best and make some money and hopefully eventually I'll finally get the visa authorization. It's a job I can get to by bus, and the hours are 8:30 am until 5:00 pm with an hour lunch, so I really can't complain with that. So my goal is just to show up everyday and do my best, make some money, and be ready to go back to Mexico when I can. It's been two weeks since I've heard from the lady from Teleperformance, so if I don't here from her in the next three days, I'll send her an email on the weekend and ask her if she ever did go to the migration office to find out what is going on with my paperwork.

After work I stopped at Tim Hortons and then headed home and just had dinner, studied french for a bit, watched my telenovela and that was about it. Now I want to get this typed up before I go to bed as I certainly won't feel like doing this tomorrow evening. Just as I thought I don't have as much time as I want to do everything. I didn't make it for a run today, though I will certainly try to make it tomorrow. I sometimes wish that each day was 30 hours long as that would give me enough time to do all the things that I want to do and have lots of time to sleep and relax as well, though that is not the case so I have to make do with the time I have.

Monday was a decently warm and sunny day though I didn't really do much. I ran with Parker and Molly and went for a walk in the evening. We had some tacos for dinner so that was good as well. I had pizza on Sunday night too, so lots of good food this week. That is all the more reason that I need to be running everyday, as I won't be getting much exercise being in an office all day. So just one day of work down, and seeing as I hadn't really worked in 9.5 months aside from the one 6.5 hour shift I did two weeks ago on the farm working with corn, I'm ready to do some more.

Every year from June 1 to September 30, there are water restrictions in Metro Vancouver. Basically this means that people can only water their plants and lawns on certain days of the week. This policy was made to preserve water as the summer months here are a lot drier than the rest of the year, though I can say, if we are running out of water here on a regularly basis, so many other cities in the world would be in trouble. The Metro Vancouver area has some of the best drinking water in the world... one of the benefits of the extremely wet months and the melting of the snowfall in the mountains. Even though we have an abundance of water here, it still makes sense to do what we can to conserve it as it would be stupid just to waste it !

We should all appreciate the fact that we have water, because there are many communities in the world where there is just hardly any water, and if there is, it's clearly no good. And even in a city as rainy as Vancouver, it's important to conserve the water that we have, as no one can ever be sure what could happen in the future with a changing climate and weather patterns. About the only people who would be happy of a water shortage would be those companies trying to fill their pockets by selling bottled water, but even they need a decent supply of water to get their bottles filled.

So to everyone, no matter if you live in a super wet region, or a place that it hardly ever rains, you should all do your part to conserve water in any way you can as water is truly a precious resource... one that we all cannot afford to abuse. For the next question:

Does your region ever have problems with water shortages ? Is the water in your region drinkable ? Do you ever think about water conservation ?

Once again I've asked like three questions... oh well ! I wish everyone all of the best with everything. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Saturday, bye for now.

Report # 1003

As I was on the computer earlier today I remembered that I had to type up my blog.... I actually didn't even think about it earlier. This was the first day in a long time that I actually kind of forgot to get it typed up earlier in the day like I usually do. Seeing as I'll be starting work on Tuesday though, I'm not exactly sure when I'll be posting my blogs. I suppose I could either get them posted right after midnight before I go to bed, or after I come home from work, which I won't really want to do. Tomorrow will be my final day off until Saturday, so I better enjoy it as it will be four straight days of working.... something I haven't done since the first week of August.

After all of this time off though I'm definitely ready to get going so it will be exciting, even though I'm not exactly sure what I'll be doing at the job yet. As long as it's something that will keep me busy throughout the day and where I get to learn a few different things then I'll be happy. Either way I'll definitely do the very best I can do, no matter how long I'll be working there. I just got back with running with Parker and Molly, and while I'll run them tomorrow, they won't be able to get out almost every single day like before. Seeing as I'll be working until 5:00 pm, and I'm not exactly sure at what time I'll be able to get home yet, I think my days will be pretty jam packed.

I'll have to devote my 45 minutes to watching one episode of a telenovela each day, and I would like to do an hour of French study and I'll have to run as well seeing as I need to keep up with my exercise since I'll be in an office all day. And then again every three days I'll have Xanga to do which also can feel like homework sometimes ! So it will be interesting to see how I fit all of this into my schedule, but I will do my best. After having so many boring days, it will be nice to be super busy for a change instead of having really not much to do. And I certainly won't miss spending so much time applying for jobs everyday.

On Friday morning I thought I would mow the lawn as it was cloudy and I knew it was going to rain soon. It was actually drizzling when I was starting, and seeing as the grass was wet, it was not a very fun day. I ran out of gas as well, but luckily my grandmother was able to come and drive me up to the gas station to get some. In total I was outside for three hours, so it took way too long. I'm hoping this coming week I get some cheques in the mail, one for a BC medical refund, and another one for the 6.5 hours I worked at that stupid corn job. If I don't get it this week I will definitely be calling the coming week as I won't let them get away with not paying me for 6.5 hours worked.

The sun is out now and it's actually a nice evening, not too warm and not too cool, 17 C (65 F). The weather certainly hasn't been as sunny and hot as that first part of May, but it's been nice enough. I was reading the newspaper this morning and there was an article about mothers in jail. Some of them had been arrested while they were pregnant, and others already had kids. One of the inmates was talking about how she'll never get the three months she lost with the child back while they were apart when she was in jail. While obviously no mother would want to be apart from their child for that long, these women are in jail for a reason, and they can't expect that they can raise their kids while they are incarcerated.

Apparently in BC there was a program in jails before where women serving less than two years of prison were permitted to stay with their babies while they were in jail. The program ended about five years ago, and some women are very upset about this. There is even a case that will go on in court to decide what rights mother's have in terms of being with their young children when they are in jail. Now I'm not going to judge anyone here. I realize that no one is perfect and that people do make mistakes. I can imagine a lot of those young women had very tough lives growing up and for whatever reasons they went down the wrong path and that has led them to where they are today. It's very sad that in some of these cases these women are pregnant and they have kids, but at the end of the day, people who break the law need to be punished accordingly, and given a chance to learn and rehabilitate themselves.

The obvious truth here is that prison or any sort of correctional facility is no place for any baby or child. So while mothers in prison certainly should have a chance to see their children, I could not see any positives out of having children raised in a correctional facility. These mothers have to take responsibility for what they have done, serve their time, and then get out and rebound and be the best mothers that they can be. Any men who commit crimes don't have the luxury of raising any children they may have in prison, so there really should be no differences for mothers. A crime is a crime, and there should not be any special privileges. It is my hope that any mother's who find themselves in jail, would miss their children so much, that they'd want to change their lives around for them, and I would assume, that would be enough for most of those women to really improve themselves.

So there is no need for a court challenge here, though it will go ahead... it will be interesting what the outcome will be. At the end of the day, I would hope the judge realizes what I think most reasonable people would... that a prison is not the type of environment for children. These mothers just need to serve their time, learn what needs to be learned, and then be allowed to get on with their lives. And as heartbreaking as I'm sure many of those stories would be about extremely sad mothers being apart from their children, it's a part of life. They are in jail and they should look at it as they got a chance to behave well, make the positive changes they need to make, and get out and be the type of mother, and more importantly, the type of person they really want to be.

So as sad as many of these cases would be, I am thinking the mother's love for their children will bring out the best in these women. It will push them hard to do what they need to do to rehabilitate and after serving their time, heading back to the real world with a new opportunity to be exemplary citizens and amazing mothers. And I think once they have gone through the tough road, they will feel so good about themselves, and be able to do so much more for their children. Short term pain will really help these women long term, and I strongly believe that most of the incarcerated mothers will be able to positively turn their lives around and be the type of people and the great mothers they always wanted to be. For the next question:

Should women, serving sentences two years or less, be able to raise their babies while they are serving time in jail, why or why not ? What sort of access should these women have to their babies while they are incarcerated ?

I hope that everyone has a great start to the week. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Wednesday, bye for now.

Sources: The Province. B.C.'s prison moms battle to keep their babies. By: Glenda Luymes. May 19, 2013.

Report # 1002

After a two month search I was finally able to get a job, which I'll start on Tuesday, May 21. I'll be working in the office of a company that deals with bankruptcy and it will be a Monday to Friday 8:30 am until 5:00 pm job, with an hour lunch. Though the wage isn't very high, that's ok, as I just wanted to find something while I wait out this visa process. It's a place all be able to get to easily by bus, so it will be pretty convenient. Hopefully now I'll be able to work for a while and get some more money saved up again before I would have to go back and start working in Monterrey.

I had a pretty easy day on Tuesday and I only applied for one job. Some days I would see many jobs that interested me, and other days not so much. I ran with Parker and Molly and just had a relaxing day at home. On Wednesday morning my grandmother drove me to the office for an interview, and we got there just a few minutes before 9:00 am, as there was a lot of construction going on. I was given a letter filled with errors which I had to find and correct, and also some simple math questions as well as a section where I had to put names into alphabetic order. It was just a general quiz to see how I would do I guess. After waiting for about 15 minutes, the guy returned with another guy, who was one of the partners at the office.

At first he seemed very surprised that I was applying for the job seeing as it was just a simple office job, and he was explaining to me what they needed there. He looked at my resume and went over the fact that I've been through a few jobs since I finished university and asked what I really wanted to do. I explained to him something in a marketing/ad agency, and he told me they did none of that there, which of course I already knew. So I was getting the impression that they weren't going to hire me thinking that it wasn't the type of position for me. They told me they had some more interviews to do, though they'd make a decision pretty quickly.

After the interview I went for lunch with my grandmother at Rickys and then I helped her with her grocery shopping, before stopping at her house for a while. I walked home, stopping at Tim Hortons on the way, and later went out with the dogs. In the evening I started French lessons, and while I won't be studying to the extent that I have with my Spanish, it will be great to pick up all the French I lost over the years, and eventually start with German as well, so if I can devote a little time to that everyday, while continuing watching my Spanish telenovelas and talking with people, I think I can pick up some other languages too !

At around 4:30 pm yesterday I got a call, and it was from one of the guys who had interviewed me at the office in the morning and he said that they would like to offer me the job, and of course I said I would take it. Originally he asked if I could start on Monday, but called me back when he realized that Monday would be a holiday. So I'll be starting work on Tuesday morning at 8:30 am, and it will be the start of my first job in 9.5 months..... about time ! So I should definitely enjoy these next four days, as they will be the last group of four days off in a row I get for a while. That is ok though as I've had more than enough time off. I'm ready to get back and get used to working again.

So thinking to the reason of why I think they hired me, even though they wondered why I was applying for the position, I think what I was able to say about the company they were impressed with. I had checked out the company online and read about the company, and I was able to tell them what I had learned from reading the website and their blog, so I definitely think that helped. I can't be sure or not whether that is why they chose to hire me over the other people, but it certainly would have been a small part of it I believe. It's so important for people going into interviews to have already researched the company and be able to talk about it during the interview. Anyone who has not done that and goes to an interview is just not properly prepared.

So I am super thankful for the opportunity, and no matter how long I'll be working here, I'll definitely do my very best every single day and try to learn everything that I can learn. I've already been out with the dogs today, and I've vacuumed the house. My grandmother will be coming over for dinner, and I'll probably be helping her with that. Speaking of help, the British Columbia New Democratic Party could have used a lot more help than they got on Tuesday evening, as their party stunningly lost the election to the BC Liberal Party, who has been in power in British Columbia for twelve years. I had voted for the NDP, and I was pretty certain that they would be able to win, but they lost and did actually worse than they did in the previous two elections of 2009 and 2005.

The first thing to take for this is that all of the major polling companies were very wrong. All of them predicted an NDP victory. Some of them had the NDP in front by as much as 20 %, and while in other polls the race was much closer, no one thought the NDP were going to lose this election. So I'll be the first to admit that I among with many other people believe the polls too much. This has got me thinking, do we really need to know these polls ? I would say no. While political parties should be able to conduct their own polls to find out how they are doing before an election, the public really has no need to know. As it's been said by so many politicians, the only poll that matters is the one on election day.... the actual results from the voters.

The BC Liberals said all along they believed that they could win this election, but what else were they going to say ? No one in politics is just going to admit defeat without fighting to the end. I could say that the pollsters were all incredibly wrong, and that the liberals ran a much better campaign, which both may be true to some extent, but I think the real issue here was voter turnout. From what I have read, not even 50 % of eligible voters bothered to vote ! So I am guessing so many of those people that wanted change and have been complaining for the last 12 years, just didn't bother to show up to vote, and that is what I think the main reason that the NDP failed to win the other night.

There is no question that the pollsters screwed up somewhat, and that BC Liberal Party leader Christy Clark was able to run a better campaign than BC New Democratic Party leader Adrian Dix, but those two things alone wouldn't have been enough for the BC Liberals to come back from the brink of supposed electoral disaster and not just win the election, but rout the NDP to an extent. So I will assume that a lot of the 52 % of the eligible voters who didn't bother voting, would have voted for the NDP, though they have only themselves to blame if they are unhappy with these election results.

It's horrendous that over 50 % of the potential voters decided not to even bother voting. Are these people truly that ignorant and/or lazy ? If they truly don't care and really think voting is stupid and pointless, they should be forced to live in a communist country or under a military dictatorship to see how much they like living in a place where people don't have the opportunity to vote. Quite frankly, people who don't ever vote don't really deserve to live in a democracy as they are just taking advantage of the quality of life that was won by others over the years and not even putting in a few minutes of their time to bother and vote every few years.

Now I know some countries such as Australia have mandatory voting laws, and while they certainly work in ensuring that elections have almost full voter participation, I really don't think it's a good idea. If people are forced to vote by law, they will do so grudgingly and not really caring about what the election is about, and just making an uneducated vote in selecting anyone. So I don't think the results of an election would be so nice if we have like 40 % of the voters, not even wanting to vote in the first place, just voting for any random person.... that is not a very reliable way of doing democracy either.

So really all that continue to be done is having politicians engaging youth in the political process, doing things that will interest them, and getting the young people interested into politics at an early age. As for the rest of the potential voters, it's up to politicians to do a better job in meeting these people, and truly listening to them and getting a sense of what issues are important to them, and truly bringing those issues to the light when they get down to work. A lot of people don't vote because they feel like politicians are all the same, or they just lie and are only in it for themselves. So it's up to the politicians themselves to show voters that this isn't the case, and truly represent the voters... not their parties !

And while I know a lot of people really have almost zero interest in politics, and that's fine, we should all be able to find at least a little amount of interest to care about the places we live and actually learn about who is running, and what they stand for, and casting a vote for who we believe the best person is. The BC NDP will now spend the next four years waking up as the opposition party, just like they have everyday for the last four years, wondering how they managed to let what just two days ago seemed like an inevitable victory turn into a complete mirage and excruciatingly painful defeat. And all of those lazy and ignorant people who didn't even bother to vote better keep their mouths shut for the next four years, because they have not given themselves any right to complain !

As for the victorious BC Liberal party, they did win, though they did so with taking under 45 % of the the votes, and far less considering over 50 % of the people didn't bother voting. So really only about 22.5 % of British Columbians who were eligible to vote, voted for the BC Liberal Party. So this party will have to be super thankful they have managed to win a fourth term, and they will certainly have to do better than they have the last four years, else chances are they won't be able to pull of a miracle victory again. As for the pollsters, those companies should stick to helping the parties see where they are at during the election.... people don't really need to know !

And chances are a lot of people who didn't vote saw the polls and just assume a victory was imminent for the NDP and didn't bother, so it's a lesson learned for everyone here. Polls don't decide elections, voters do, and when over 50 % of the people didn't bother voting, that would decide an election as well. So to finish up, we all need to do better. Politicians have to do a better job engaging voters, focusing on issues important to them, being honest and not corrupt, and just doing the best job they can do. Pollsters need to take a back seat and stick to working for political parties, not announcing poll numbers to the public every three months each year. And most importantly, people need to stop being so lazy and ignorant and spend the small amount of time necessary to actually learn about what is happening in an election and vote for someone !

So the ball is in the court of the politicians to do a much better job engaging people. If they can manage to do this, I can see voter participation going up in the future. If they fail to do this however, voter participation will continue to drop, and elections will be decided by not even half of the electorate and that is just unacceptable. If the politicians do their part of engaging with people, learning what issues matter to people, and providing efficient and honest government and the majority of eligible voters still decide not to vote, well then these ignorant lazy people taking advantage of our democracy should be given the boot and sent off to live in a communist country or a military dictatorship. Maybe then, just maybe, they will learn what life is like for people who don't have the option to vote, and that could finally remove some of their ignorance.

For the next question:

Does the public need to know about poll numbers before an election, why or why not ? Do you always vote, why or why not ?

I hope that everyone has a wonderful next couple of days. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Sunday, bye for now.

Report # 1001

Hey everyone, I hope that you've all been having a great start to the week. I spent two hours on Friday afternoon doing lawn mowing, and after I ran with Parker, so I was pretty exhausted. I did spend some time in the pool and managed to cool off and relax though, so that was nice. While I was outside I had received a call, though they didn't leave a message. I saw the number, and checked up some of the jobs that I applied for and was able to find out it was for one of the office jobs that I applied for. I called back, and I scheduled an interview for Wednesday morning, so that was good. I ran with Parker and Molly on Saturday and spent some more time in the pool, but aside from that it was a pretty laid back day.

Yesterday it finally cooled down and clouded over, and it was actually pouring at times, though most of the day it didn't rain. In the evening I went for a Mother's Day dinner with my parents and grandmother at a Greek restaurant. It was the first time we had all eaten out together in like two years so that was nice. I ordered a plate which had shrimp, calamari, rice, and vegetables and it was delicious. There was also pita bread and a Greek pastry called Ekmek for dessert. Afterwards I was completely stuffed and even when I woke up in the morning, I was still feeling full. I really can't remember the last time I had that much food in one meal !

I woke up this morning just before 8:00 am and my grandmother came to pick me up and I went for a job interview at 9:00 am. This was at a place that carries hydraulic supplies, and it would actually be an interesting job that I would enjoy doing. I have done similar type order jobs before, so I know that I would be able to do it. Unfortunately I didn't get the feeling that the interview went overly well. There was one guy asking the questions, as well as another guy and girl there as well who gave me a quick tour of the place. He seemed to ask questions about if I knew about metric/imperial conversions and how to use certain measuring devices. I don't really know much, but it would be something I could certainly learn.

They have some more people to interview, so like always, there will be no shortage of candidates to choose from. The job interview that I have on Wednesday morning is one that I would be very interested in, so I would really want to do well on that one. So like before I just have to continue applying for jobs and going to interviews and one of these days I have to get something. The lady from the company in Mexico hasn't gotten back to me since she said she will go to the office and find out what is going on with my paperwork, so I have to wait on that as well.

After my interview this morning my grandmother and I went to have breakfast at White Spot before stopping in at Willowbrook mall to buy some cloths. Now I'm back at home and that has been all for an eventful morning. So as I continue to be looking for jobs, one company I certainly would never apply for, nor even shop at would be Abercrombie & Fitch. Aside from the fact that I find their styles to be free of any originality and true design, the people who shop there are just a bunch of drones without any true personality. I mean they say dress for success, but unless you want a job at I guess those type of clothing stores, who is going to hire someone going out in a beachy looking tank top, and the notoriously bad fashion combo of ripped jeans and flip flops ?

Now I'm not here today to go off on Abercrombie & Fitch for the clothes that they choose to sell, but rather their attitude against plus sized women. The store has made it painfully obvious and clear that overweight women are not welcome. I mean sure they can go to the store, but they won't be able to fit into anything ! So why is this the case ? Well Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries is surprisingly honest. Here is what Mr. Jeffries said in a 2006 interview:

"Good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don't market to anyone other than that. A lot of people don't belong (in out clothes) and they can't belong. Are we exclusionary ? Absolutely."

sources: Shine On website, yahoo.com. Abercrombie & Fitch CEO slammed for targeting thin customers in comments made seven years ago. By Shereen Dindar. May 9, 2013.

I have to hand it to the guy... he is being 100 % honest. At least he is not trying to come up with some sort of ridiculous excuse or reason for why there are no clothes for larger women. And of course his stores have every right to sell what they want, and to not sell what they want, however I really don't think by not having clothes for larger women they are helping their business. First off, would slim women who shop at the store stop going there just because there were larger women shopping there as well ? Maybe a couple idiotic and discriminatory losers, but I would assume most people wouldn't care !

Sure there are probably some mean spirited people who would want Abercrombie & Fitch to continue selling only the sizes they do right now, but I think most of the slim women would be supportive of the store being a store for all women who want to shop there. I really think that if Abercrombie & Fitch chose to carry all the sizes, they would greatly expand on their market and they'd rake in even more money. Of course women would be better off shopping at more fashionable stores in the first place, but if they want to go there then it would be greatly beneficial to the company to offer clothing in sizes for all of the women. Clearly the company has absolutely zero intention of ever doing this, so all I can say is that they are missing out on a large market.

Now obviously Abercrombie & Fitch isn't the only store that caters to slimmer people, but they are probably the only company to have a CEO that would say something so honest yet so politically incorrect. So as I said before that the store has every right to carry and not carry what they want, and that I think they are the ones missing out on greater potential sales, since it's obviously not something they'll ever consider, it's important to look at this in a more serious way. Personally I think what Abercrombie & Fitch and other stores are doing is 100 % wrong. Sure they have every right to do it, but it's just something that I find is morally not a good thing to be doing.

When people and places in this world are dividing people against one another and operating under an exclusionary mindset, no one wins. We are all just taking part in a more closed-minded and hateful world, and that is just a very sad thing to think about. We all have feelings, and how do these stores think that larger women will feel about this ? They are being unnecessarily cruel and that is something they should be ashamed about. So I would say anyone with a good conscience who truly cares about good people in this world will avoid shopping at Abercrombie & Fitch and the other stores that operatre under simular small size only available plans.

The biggest way for society to send Abercrombie & Fitch a lesson is with their money. If tons of people stop going to Abercrombie & Fitch over the stores refusal to carry products for all types of people, the stores profit will take a hit, and I am 100 % sure that if they took a major blow to their profits financial period after financial period... the store would do something to change. So as someone who has never shopped at Abercrombie & Fitch in my life, I strongly encourage everyone who reads this to do the same and avoid that store. Companies that choose to be dividers and not uniters and choose to leave out certain types of consumers, for whatever reason, should certainly be taught a lesson.

And while a lot of people couldn't care any less, I think if they truly understood what this was all about, they too would be supportive of what I've said today, no matter if they are extremely skinny, or very overweight or anything in between. I just think all types of people regardless of their weight need to be treated with respect and any company or person that is not giving them that respect definitely  needs a good slap in the face. And in the case of Abercrombie & Fitch, I hope their slap in the face is a huge drop in earnings for the coming quarter of 2013.

And seeing as I haven't worked in a year, it's too bad I couldn't start some sort of running group or something. I could certainly help people drop pounds faster than stupid companies like Abercrombie & Fitch drop their stupid discriminatory policies ! And overly skinny people too, if you  need help just come and visit me and I'll take you to Tim Hortons everyday and you can have bagels toasted with cream cheese... that would work wonders on anyone needing to put on some weight ! So anyways in all seriousness, I strongly encourage everyone to leave Abercrombie & Fitch out of their lives, and encourage other people to do so as well. If the message can be spread, soon enough the company will feel the heat, and will be forced to apologize and change their ways.

And while a forced apology isn't great, it's better than nothing at all ! Besides this whole issue is not an issue about apologies, it's an issue about sending important messages to companies that decide for whatever reasons that they are going to incite discrimination and hurt others for stupid image reasons. And this is an issue that we all should care about at least somewhat. For the next question:

What are your thoughts on the admission from the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch ? Would you support boycotting this store and other stores that operate under similar policies ? Why or why not ?

Well that's all for another day. I hope that everyone has a great week. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Thursday, bye for now.

Report # 1000

Finally I've made it to # 1000 ! It only took eight years, two months and about 17 days, but I've done it ! I really can't see myself making it to 2000, but who knows, anything is possible. It's just been a lovely week here and definitely one of the best starts to May that I can ever remember. Everyday has been super warm and sunny and around 23 C (73 F) so it's just been great. I've been going out with Parker and Molly each day as well as sun tanning and swimming in the pool so it's been really nice. On Wednesday I walked to a community hall down the street and voted during one of the advance polling days, so I have done my duty for another time. The next time I would have to vote would probably be the civic elections in November 2014.

Afterwards I took the bus to Cloverdale and got my first haircut since January 19. My hair was incredibly long, probably longer than it's been at any point in my life as I can never remember going almost four months without getting a haircut before. I went to the place I always have gone for the last 10 years and it's still just five dollars ! The guy cut it kind of short, but that's ok, it will grow back again so it's really not a big deal. On Wednesday I applied for more jobs than I had applied for on any other day, as I applied for 14 jobs. They were all positions I would be interested in, so it was a good day to be applying. I applied for two more yesterday, and I'll probably apply for some more today as well. I got a call this morning and I've set up an interview for Monday at 9:00 am, so that's something, though it's a bit disappointing that I've only got one call out of 16 jobs... maybe some more places will call next week.

The lady from Teleperformance didn't send me an email yet, so maybe she hasn't had time to go to the migration offices to find out what is going on with my paperwork yet, but she said she would do it, so I just have to wait. I definitely hope that she can find out at least something. Yesterday I vacuumed the house, which was the ninth consecutive Thursday that I have vacuumed the house since coming back from Mexico. I don't think I've ever had a streak of vacuuming the house on the same day for that many weeks before. Seeing as I've had so much spare time and my life has been super boring, I suppose I keep track of these not so fascinating facts a little more often. I did change the colours of my Xanga page and my profile picture as well yesterday. There was a time I had done that once a year, but this was probably the first time I changed anything for at least four years !

Just like before I never seem to like the changes at first, so it will take a while for me to get used to the layout again. If I knew more about website design I'm sure I could come up with something a little more interesting, but sometimes super simple is good enough. It's not like I have a product and I'm trying to get people to come to my site and buy stuff, so it shouldn't matter too much. I might do some lawn mowing today, and of course I'll run with the dogs, and afterwards I'll enjoy some time by the pool as I think after today it will cool down and maybe rain.

So it will be a super boring topic that most people won't care anything about, but seeing as the 2013 British Columbia Provincial Election is on Tuesday and I've never really talked about it in previous years, this year I'll do a quick update on that, at least to say I've done something. And while a lot of people have zero interest in politics I definitely think it is somewhat important to at least know what is going on. People who knowing nothing and just don't care are being incredibly ignorant and they are doing their countries, provinces, states and cities no favours by showing their ignorance. Not only that, but they are practically slapping in the face the veterans and those who have passed away and or been killed during military duty. It's because of those efforts of those brave people who fought for democracy that we enjoy living in freedom today. To think that some people value this freedom so little and can't be bothered to spend a few minutes and vote is just not cool and no one should be proud of that !

I do understand that what I write about today will not interest many of the people who read this, because they don't live in British Columbia and would have no idea what I'm talking about, so you can all feel free to skip the following if you like and go straight to the question.

So for today I will do a quick write-up on the four parties and their leaders running in this election here. I'll start with current British Columbia Premier Christy Clark of the BC Liberal Party.

BC Premier Christy Clark (BC Liberal Party)

sources: storage.canoe.ca

She has been premier of this province since March 2011, and while I think she's done a decent job, she will unfortunately be paying the price for a lot of the political baggage left by her predecessor, Gordon Campbell, who was in charge from 2001-2011. While I think she's a good person and has good intentions, she made some clear mistakes with her handling of the HST, which she should have just spoken out against, and with her handling of some scandal involving using government funds to convince ethnic voters to vote for her party. While she still has a chance to win this election, it would be a huge upset win for her, so she could very well be in her last days as British Columbia premier.

Next up is Adrian Dix of the BC New Democratic Party

BC NDP Leader Adrian Dix

sources: timescolonist.ca

This is the opportunity for the NDP to finally win an election in British Columbia. After being defeated in 2001, 2005 and 2009, if they can't win this year, they are extremely incompetent. I've read of them having leads in the polls up to 20 %, though some other polls have suggested that it will be a lot closer of a race. The BC NDP was in power for almost all of the 1990's, and the memories of those days are very dark for anyone here, but the truth is it's 2013 now, not 1999. Times are different, and people learn from past experiences, and if all the BC Liberal Party can come up with is that the NDP of the 1990's was horrible, don't vote for them, then they have nothing good to say about themselves.

While I certainly don't agree with everything in their platform, I personally voted for the NDP this time, as I think it's time for change and they would certainly bring change. Whether it's positive change or negative change that remains to be seen, but of course if they are eleced and fail to deliver, they would be kicked out again in 2017 !

Next up is the Green Party and their leader Jane Sterk

BC Green Pary Leader Jane Sterk

sources: theglobeandmail.com

In the 2011 Canadian election, British Columbians on Vancouver Island elected the first green party member of parliament in history, and now the provincial Green Party is hoping to be able to do the same. From what I read, Ms. Sterk has run a very good campaign and she impressed a lot of people with her debate performance. While the Green Party has often been criticized as only caring about the environment and nothing else, this is certainly far from the truth. They manage to get a lot of support, and if they can get enough support in certain ridings, they could elect some MLA's this time around. (Members of the Legislative Assembly)

So while they certainly have a 0 % chance of becoming the next government here, I think their future is bright and they will continue to grow over the coming elections. I definitely think this party has a lot to look forward to in the future, and who knows, one day they might very well be a super competitive party with a change of forming government.

And lastly, the BC Conservative Party and their leader John Cummins

BC Conservative Party Leader John Cummins

sources: cbc.ca

Now Canada has been led by the Conservative Party of Canada since early 2006, but this provincial party is entirely separate from that party. Here in British Columbia, the BC Liberal Party is basically a mixture of liberals and conservatives working together to keep the more socialist NDP out of power... though as I said above, those NDPers look to really have a shot to win this time around. The Conservative Party of BC has had a rough campaign. They didn't get candidates signed up in all 85 ridings, and a few of them have either had to resign or been fired based on some stupid things they've said and posted on blogs... I guess my chances of ever running for office are already over, as I'm sure someone can find out stupid things I've said !

I would be surprised to see the BC Conservative Party win a seat, though it's certainly a possibility. If the BC Liberal Party collapses, and the Conservatives ever get their act together, maybe they'll have an opportunity to actually grow in the future, but for the time being, they are what I would call a fringe party. It will be interesting to see if they can manage to pull out a win this time around !

So with the election on Tuesday, I will predict an NDP victory, though I think it will be close. My prediction will be 50 seats for the NDP 33 for the BC liberals and one seat each for the conservative party and the green party. It will be interesting to see how close I am ! Anyways I'm done with my political posting and hopefully I won't have to write about politics for a while. For the next question:

Who is governing the state or province where you live ? Did you vote for this person ? Are you happy with their leadership, why or why not ? If you didn't vote, why did you choose to not vote ?

I stuffed like four questions into one, but that's ok ! I hope that everyone has a fantastic weekend. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Monday, bye for now.

Report # 999

Hey everyone, I hope that you've all been having a wonderful week so far. It's been a pretty busy last few days for me, though it's been nice that that they've been different from the previous days. On Saturday I ran with Parker and walked with Molly in the afternoon and after getting home, I went outside and sun tanned by the pool for a while. It was around 26 C (79 F) so it was just a lovely day. I got kind of hot just lying in the sun for a while so I forced myself into the pool, but the water was absolutely freezing so I only stayed in for a minute to refresh myself. My dad has heated it the last few days so it should be a lot nicer now... maybe I'll go in later today.

On Sunday I headed downtown to Vancouver to walk around the seawall with a friend. This was the first time I had walked around the whole seawall in almost two years, so it was great to do again. I wore pants as I thought it would be chilly by the water, but it was a lot warmer than I thought it would be, so I clearly had made a mistake. A lot of people were sun tanning on the beaches, and some people were swimming in the ocean, so it was just an amazing day. In fact the last couple of days have been around 28 C (82 F), and even warmer further away from the ocean. This is definitely one of the hottest starts to May that I can remember. I know i 2009 June started out incredibly hot, but I don't remember a start to May this hot before, but no one is complaining.

After running to Tim Hortons yesterday morning, I headed upstairs and started applying for jobs. I applied for one job which was super close by that said "General Warehouse Personnel." After reading the ad, I thought it would be simple work that I wouldn't mind doing, which would be like getting orders ready to be shipped out, similar to some jobs that I had in the past. Ten minutes after I applied for that job, my cell phone rang and the guy asked me if I could come in for an interview at 1:00 pm. (It was already after 11:30 am) I said I could, and he told me that I could bring  a lunch too, meaning that I would be working that very day.

My grandmother came and drove me to the place, which was down the street where I live, but like 7 kilometers away, so a bit too far to walk to. I headed inside and the guy asked me maybe one question and then got me to fill out all of these forms, meaning that I had basically been hired. He drove me to the facility which was a block or so away down a small street. As I got there everyone was starting to have lunch, so I didn't actually start work until 2:00 pm, but I could tell the job would be nothing like it was advertised. I did however want to work the day and at least give it a chance. Basically the job was ripping off the leaves from corn (husking as my brother told me)

For the majority of the day I was husking corn and putting it in a crate where other people inspected it and prepared it for packaging. Once in a while I'd have to take out the full barrels of the corn husks and dump them on some flat trailers... and they were super heavy. Later in the day I had to dump the corn on the machine so it could be placed on the conveyor and I had to be the person to take the corn out of the machine as well. I wasn't fast enough doing that so they had to replace me ! I was put off by the sticker on top of the machine showing a hand with fingers cut off and blood. It didn't really make me want to put my fingers inside the machine. They told me that there was no danger, but the sticker had to be there for a reason.

At the end of the day we had to pick up all of the corn husks that had fallen on the floor (and there was a lot of it) and take out all the garbage and just clean the whole place up. We finished the day at 8:30 pm, and the guy told me that we'd be starting tomorrow at 7:00 am ! So I worked for 6.5 hours, but the majority of the people there had been there since 7:00 am, working for minimum wage, and doing that everyday during the week. Clearly it was not my type of work, though I am glad I at least tried it. I understand that someone has to do that kind of work, and while some people may enjoy it, I can't imagine the majority of the people wanting to work 13 hour days husking corn five days a week... that's almost like slave labour !

I don't understand why they don't just run two shifts and have two eight hour shifts, and allowing the people who want to work super long days stay on. And everyone at the place was speaking in Punjabi (language from India) so I didn't really fit in there so well. My grandmother picked me up in the evening, and thankfully she remember my jacket, which I had left inside the building along with a water bottle, so I was able to retrieve those items before heading home. This morning I called the company and just told them that I got another job and I gave the lady my name and address, so they should mail me a cheque for the 6.5 hours I worked that day. I am estimating the cheque would be around 57 dollars, so it would be something for my experience.

So while I can't say it was the worst job I ever did before, it had to be number 2. The worst job I ever did was in the summer of 2005 when I agreed to work on a Saturday in a bottling plant. It was far away, and the shift started at 6:00 am. I just had to stand around and watch bottles go by on a conveyor belt and pick the very rare bottle that fell over up again. It was supposed to be a 10 hour shift, but thankfully we finished by noon. So while I was able to get through yesterday, I only worked what that company would consider half a shift.... I just couldn't imagine working 12-13 hour days. Not only would I have no time to do absolutely anything, I would be extremely depressed going through that on a day to day basis.

I certainly admire the people who are able to do that. It's not easy work, and working such long days would be a challenge for anyone. The only way I could seriously see myself working 12-13 hour days is if I had a job I absolutely loved. After seeing some of these jobs in the past few weeks, I definitely took some of the jobs I had before for granted. I had no idea how good I had it in comparison to some of the jobs that exist out there. I would say to anyone who has a job that they aren't crazy about but is decent, they should definitely hang on to it unless they know they have found something better, because a lot of times there really isn't anything better out there.

I did look up some internships yesterday and I found one that would really interest me. I think I will send an application, and if I get chosen I would certainly do it if they pay something.... though I won't do another three month internship without getting paid ! On the bright side however, yesterday I got an email from the lady from Teleperformance in Mexico and she was asking me if I had heard anything about my visa authorization. I sent her an email on April 8 explaining to her that I called the foreign relations people in Mexico and they told me that they can't tell me anything over the telephone. Also the Mexican consulate in Vancouver can't help me either until I have received the authorization. Based on how the lady responded to me yesterday however, makes me think that she never received the email I sent her on April 8.... that or she accidentally deleted it or something.

I explained everything to her again in an email as well as forwarded her the email that I had sent her on April 8. She responded to me later in the day saying that she would go to the immigration offices and find out what is going on with my paperwork. So hopefully she can get some answers that I wasn't able to get. It's been over three months since my paperwork was originally sent to the foreign relations department, so the people there must have at least seen it by now. And if they wanted to deny me and not give me the visa, I would have think they would have made that decision before now. So I will continue to be patient and optimistic. It was good to get that email from the lady yesterday. From now on I will have to ask people to confirm if they've received my emails if they are important to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.

This morning I got up at 8:45 am, and I walked with Molly and ran with Parker. Seeing as this whole week is still going to be pretty warm and sunny, I thought it was better to get the dogs their exercise in the morning. Two cars stopped and commented how nice of a dog Molly is. That has now happened four times.... so many people are impressed by her size and beauty ! My friend said that I should take her down to the seawall in Vancouver, but that would be quite a trip for Molly, and a lot of people would probably be interested in her. She could be shy with all of the attention that she would get !

So today I'll see about applying for that internship, because if it pays something I would definitely be interested in doing that, and of course I'll check out some other jobs as well. Clearly I have to do a better job applying for some of the jobs I'm applying for. I shouldn't be applying for jobs that I'm sure that I would hate, though the one yesterday completely fooled me. It was absolutely nothing like the ad said it would be like ! Anyways, for the next question:

What was the worst job that you ever had ? How long did you work there for ?

I might have asked a similar question before, but that's ok ! There is no rules on Xanga that I can't ask the same questions twice !

I hope that everyone enjoys the rest of the week. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Friday, bye for now.

** I also watched Dark Tide, which is a movie with Halle Berry where she runs a tour boat company in South Africa. The company is struggling, so her husband, who she is estranged from, finds a man willing to pay $ 100,000 to go on the boat and swim with sharks. It's a very interesting movie and has some good lines too. I would definitely recommend it !**