Politics

I normally keep my views to myself, but, like a great deal of Canadians recently, I have been prodded to the point where I just HAVE to say something.

The Conservative party is only marginally a minority government in Canada. Of the 59% of voters that actually turned out to vote, only 38% voted conservative. This in turn means that a grand total of 22% of all eligible votes were cast for the Tories.

22%.
wow....

Why then, is little Stevie Harper acting like a schoolkid when he gets his hand slapped for being a bad kid? He ran off to his room and slammed the door.
With numbers like that, he should have been scrambling to kiss the asses of the opposition, rather than trying to kick them.

Recently, Steve Mercer reported that Tory staffers were ordered to line up outside Harper's house and applaud while singing O' Canada, to give Harper some measure of comfort (Much like a mother kissing an "owie"). He went on to compare Harper to a human-raised polar bear that gets depressed when it does not continually receive applause. Apparently, Harper believed the staffers were there of their own free will to show solidarity... What an EGO!

This is much like a big-oil demonstration which happened recently in Edmonton, where big-oil employees were given the day off with pay to demonstrate in front of the Legislature building against an increase in oil royalties, thus falsely representing the public opinion.

Despite Harper's "outrage" and claims that the Liberal/NDP/Bloc coalition is undemocratic, in truth, Harper issued a letter to the governor-general only a few years ago indicating that he would collude with the Bloc to overthrow the Liberals in the same manner.

He is manipulating his "reality" to suit his own power-mongering needs. From his recent actions, there is little doubt that he has no concern for the average Canadian's job, but only for HIS job.

As a Canadian, I feel that he is a source of embarrassment to me, much like a crazy uncle nobody talks about. I feel diminished by his continuing presence as "leader" of Canada.

Steven Harper, there remains only one option for you. If you are listening, do the right thing: Resign.
Let someone with the skill set and the support of the masses lead us out of the mess you created. Resign gracefully and quietly, and disappear from public view. This is the only reasonable option for you now.

Happy New Year!

Here's wishing peace, prosperity and happiness to all in the coming year.
This is the Chinese year of the rat. Hopefully we will see better times this year than last.

As promised, some photos of our trip to Cuba

The walk to the beach












The view from our balcony










The Che government building











"Old" Havana



















Towel art. Guess which day this was taken on.

We went to CUBA!

It was freaking wonderful!
We bit the bullet and went on a last minute trip to Varadero, Cuba.
There is such a mystique about the country, mostly due to our southern neighbors, who are, apparently, deeply offended by Cuba's socialist ways that they are willing to do without the best Cigars and Rum in the western world. Such a shame.

My wife and I have visited Mexico twice in the last few years, once to the Mayan Riviera, and once to Puerto Vallarta, and, as far as the both of us are concerned, we would be perfectly content to spend our next vacation in the same resort in Cuba as our last visit. The people in Cuba are simply that good. I can't stress enough how FRIENDLY the people in the Varadero area are.

More info, photos and comments to come!

Am I just a number?

About a year and a half ago, I took on a new position with the company I work for. I was "loaned" to another department for the duration of a large capital project. As it is a position of greater responsibility (and knowing the company likes to add work without first asking), I defined a clear scope of work, which was agreed to by management, then asked for (and received) about a 10% raise.

You should know that, being in Alberta, the cost of living increase reported by the government for the last year was 4.6%, making my raise effectively about 5.4%. Living here, I can tell you that the actual cost of living increase over the last year is more like 8-10%. Hardly anyone takes the $8-10 per hour jobs, as you can't make ends meet with such a "low" wage.

But I digress. Back to the story:

Since taking the position they have more than doubled my scope of work, and yet no attempt to increase my renumeration was made. So, about 7 months ago, I wrote a letter to the multitude of managers (I report to at least 5 people now) who have some say in my daily grind at work. The result? I'm not sure yet.

I had a meeting with one of the department heads, and he could not understand why I would want more money for doing two to three times the amount of work that was originally defined. I responded that the way I see it, if I'm doing the work of 3-4 people, I should at least get 2 persons salary. Now, I'm not really asking for that much, but they like to beat you down, so if I want a 10% increase, I scare them by asking for 20%, and let the manager feel he did his part by "talking me down" to 10%.
This manager told me he couldn't afford to pay me any more, and offered to discuss transferring me permanently to the department I was loaned to, as they have the resources to meet my request. Apparently, this idea was well received, and it was promised that my "new" manager would have a meeting with me about it.

Well, about 4 months later, after I sent several reminders, this manager had a short meeting with me, told me they would be happy to have me in the group, and indicated he would issue a letter to me, clarifying position, scope, remuneration, etc.

That was almost 3 months ago. Yup. you guessed it, nothing since. Zip. Nada.

It's amazing that the company can even function as it stands, when management does so little, and forces their employees to "go above and beyond" at all times, without even any recognition that they are working so hard. At a recent staff meeting, the management indicated that the were happy the staff was working at 110% capacity, but everybody needs to double that amount to meet the demands. (Sweatshop, anybody? There's another good blog on Employee Engagement here.)

The company is hemorrhaging good employees, who are leaving for greener pastures, and these are being replaced with whoever applies for the position with the lowest salary expectations. It's amazing how many people I deal with on a daily basis who really are not qualified, and should not be doing the job they are assigned.

So, after waiting about 7 months, what are the results? I still don't know! If the corporate ladder-climbers would at least have the guts to say "NO", it would be one thing, but they continuously defer the decision, or, through inaction or sheer apathy, never get around to making the offer. Don't get me wrong, the people I work with on a daily basis have good things to say about me, and it's not that have not earned a promotion or wage increase, it simply that management seems to think we are all just numbers on an accounting sheet, and the smaller the number, the bigger the bonus they receive at the end of the year. Bah!

So, after giving them the chance, and going through the my recent health "wake-up call", I'm now looking for other, more gainful employment, and already have been advised of two openings, which I will be pursuing in the upcoming week. The company certainly doesn't care about my lifestyle or health, so it's up to me to look after my own, and when I view it that way, I don't understand why I didn't leave earlier.

Not so bad after all?

Well, it's been a few days and no calls from the doctor. False alarm, maybe? I hope so.
It sure did put me on the right track, though. My eating habits have changed considerably, and I hope to lose 20-30 pounds before I start to level off again. Could be good news after all, huh?

Well, spring and summer are gone, and the leaves are all turning color outside, and the birds visiting our feeder are becoming fewer. It won't be long before the snow flies.
I've really got to find something to do outside during the winter that doesn't involve monthly membership fees or a $12,000.00 investment (ski-doo anyone?). Cross country skiing might be an idea, but I don't know of any trails in the Sherwood Park area. I suppose I could spend the winter in my shop building furniture or something, but with the price of wood nowadays, it's cheaper to buy pre-built furniture.
I'll think of something.


Speaking of winter, I'll have to winterize the back yard this weekend; blow the water out of the sprinkler lines, cover up the fountain, rake the leaves, etc.

How short life is....

So I'm in my early 40's.
Big deal.
I have a good paying, but very stressful job.
I have a wife, two kids, four grandchildren and a mortgage.

I also have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and I'm overweight, to boot.
This past Saturday, I sat down at one of the free blood pressure testers, hit the little green button and got a high score. Talk about a life changing moment in time!
I started thinking about the plans we had for the next few years, how the children and grandchildren will fare in the future, the things we could do after the house is paid for, and realized that, because of my grievous lack of maintenance on this, my only body, I might not get to see any of it.

So, Saturday afternoon, it all changed for me. I went to the doctor's office today, and anxiously await the results from the blood and ECG tests. I am eating healthier then ever before (Meaning I'm hungry all the time), I've reduced my sodium intake as much as I can, bought a home blood pressure monitor and now I'm holding my breath to see if it works.

This is where the second half of my life starts.