Be humble

...go and read this.  Please!

If it does not break your heart, you simply don’t have one and are a waste of skin.  You might even give more than a passing thought to the issue.

Thanks, CG!

No, not me, I am just pissed.  I know it is like admitting I visited Wal Mart, but I read the local paper.  This morning, I read that a local man who is in chronic, intense and disabling pain is deemed to be requiring elective surgery and must wait 3 years.  How the hell can this be deemed elective.  I am aware of good people who have left this province due to concern regarding the health care their loved ones might receive.  I am familiar with others who are considering leaving for the same reason.

Have we reached a third world status where only those who have a connection receive prompt and quality care?  Most of us are aware of people who have seemingly jumped the que because of a connection with someone in the system.

Oh, they are doing a study!  Study should be done in a few months.  Great for the poor buggar who is suffering.  What happens to the study?  Does it get passed to the political masters who dole out our health care as they see fit - always with politics in mind.  Perhaps they will allow the same paragon of virtue who set up the bent Aliant deal to pass judgement on the study.  (BTW - we hear that Aliant has backed out of the high-speed to every door project, now that they have their multi-year contract with the business wizards of government).

Make it an election issue.  Hold the politicians hand in the fire.  Make it clear that you will not vote for a politician who’s party can not articulate a way to fix the problem, explain to you how the plan will be implemented and provide a time frame.

If they can’t - cast your vote elsewhere.  Vote elsewhere even if daddy, granddaddy and great granddaddy all voted party lines.  We deserve better and we can have better.  If you don’t, you got what you deserved.

Oh yeah, don’t forget to ask them where your high speed Internet access is.

There is so much I miss about having the old boy in my life, but perhaps it is at the supper table that I think of him the most.  He was a busker.  Of the pack, no one could work the table like he could.  Most of the time I would look to my left, and this is the face I would see. Me dad, me.  He was the original chow hound, and loved to eat.  If this expression did not work, he would move to the other end of the table and try a different one on Herself.

Last evening, as I struggled to not nod off through the evening gossip hour (Compass), I heard Dr. O. and AVC mentioned.  Those who were watching will have seen Dr. O. performing chiropractic services on a horse.  A comment was made that chiropractic services will now be available for dogs.  As I have mentioned here before, Que was the first at AVC, and because of the bond that developed between he and Dr. O., the service will now be available.  The fact that other dogs may benefit from a service that Que helped to bring to our community is not a bad legacy to leave behind.

When you share your life with someone who cares for sick animals, there will be bad days.  I have learned that there are some evenings that limited conversation and distance is what Herself requires.  Thursday was one of those days.  I arrived home to find Herself sitting quietly with three dogs at her feet.  It was a bad day.  “Bad day"”, I inquired.  “I hate that fucking place”, she responded.  Space, silence and support is needed.  Eventually she will speak, and I learn that Thursday was an awful day.  Multiple dogs had died in ICU.  It is what she does, and she deals with it - but it is never easy.

Friday I arrived home to find her sitting in the same spot.  This time, with a sense of peace and a smile.  Again, a careful inquiry.  She showed me a beautiful box.  It was hand crafted, carefully stained and sanded.  Clearly someone has spent time and care in the preparation.  On the front were two words, “so loved’.  It was Que’s ashes.  In Chris’s head, in some way, her boy was back home.  As with Kes, Chris had arranged for a private cremation.  Usually, the ashes are return in a nice unfinished box.  One of her co-workers had arranged something special. 

Some time in the future, when she is alone and ready, Que’s ashes will be buried with Kes’s.  It will be her final good bye.

There will be many who will not understand the connection that can develop between a person and a dog.  Others will understand and I suspect there are a few who will read this and nod and smile.

Yesterday was a good day.

...inside - your cardholder agreement has been changed.  OK, I am one of those weird people that read this shit.  If you have a credit card, you probably received on of these important letters recently.

If you read it, you will note that the good and benevolent banking community is RAISING your interest rates on unpaid balances, and, under certain conditions, shortening the period that you have to pay off the balance before incurring interest charges.

This is being done at a time when banks are accessing money at unprecedented low rates, and withholding credit from many credit worthy customers.

I hope I live long enough to see banks get what they deserve.  (doubtful)

IF you are going to permit web shoppers to inquire about complex products by e-mail, do not respond with something along the lines of:

Thank you for your inquiry.  Due to large volume of e-mail inquires, it may be 24 to 48 hours before we reply.  Thank you for considering (insert merchant) and we appreciate your business.

My reply:

Thank you for your mind numbing automated reply.  I already got past the need for instant gratification (it was a struggle) and gave serious consideration to your firm for my purchase.  If you really appreciate my business, you would not suggest that you are to busy to provide basic service.  Thank you again for your automated reply.  I will  consider your firm in 5 to 10 years.

I was inquiring about fitment of an expensive item.  As a result of their automated response, I purchased the item from another vendor who understands how to use e-mail communication as a marketing tool.

Cripes, even our local Canadian Tire store - known for the fact that you could fall down in the corridor gasping for breath grabbing your chest and be ignored for 10 minutes -provides better service.

Harper bucks announced.  My client gets work from his client spending Harper bucks.  My client employees people who buy stuff.  My client has to buy stuff from me.  My boss makes a margin on the stuff I sold.  My boss uses the margin to buy stuff or employee people who buy stuff.  All of the people who sold us stuff, make a margin on the stuff and they take that margin and buy stuff.

Cool - I am part of a mini economic stimulation project.

Snow coming.  No one seems to be forecasting a significant accumulation.  The bub’caster says 25 CM (maybe more). 

...through sites like Twitter, Jaiku and Faceboook), while addictive, is, for me, the digital equivalent of empty calories. It took 24 hours out of the loop to realize that while microblogging has the appearance of substance, it shares more in common with a nervous tick than with writing a novel.

The above from something written at ruk.ca

I have looked at all of these services.  I looked, I clicked, I grunted and rubbed my chin and left.  My initial reaction was, and still is, these are great places for teen age girls.  Each time I visited, I had an image of a sleep-over of teen age girls, all huddling in the bedroom and giggling as they hovered over their cell phones.

Equally interesting is the evangelical zeal with which some devotees sing the praise of what is (seemingly) silliness (IMHO).  It is almost as if they have been struck my the same bolt of lightning that hits the born again Christians in Mississippi.

Encouraging words from a competitor.

How surprising, Liberal members of the Accounts Committee have blocked an inquiry into the bent deal that granted Aliant the ‘high speed Internet to every door’ project as well as a the continuation of the contract for telephone services to the Province.  The shame continues.