Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Guilty Pleasures

Spent the evening playing Civ III with Duncan (who is terribly ill) and thinking about baby names. For a boy, Duncan favours the name Link. Actually, knowing Duncan, he might favour that name for a girl as well!

GIRLS NAMES
Michaela (or Mikhala)
Adele
Emily (Em)
Leia
Sariah
Arwen
Megan
Kashi (or Tashi)
Alberta (Allie)
Juniper (June)
Jana
Willow
Shiloh
Whitney
Aisha
Kayla
Dharma
Siobhan
Starr
Summer
Uma
Rayna (or Rayne)

BOYS NAMES
Darian
Blake
Joel
Elvis
Joseph (Joe)
Damian
Quynn
Isaac
Joshua (Josh)
Jeremy
Noah
Luke
Skye
Kougar (or Cougar)
Brendan
Logan
Caelhan (Cael)
Campbell or Cambell (Cam)
River
Malcolm
Lincoln (Linc)
Avery
Sasha


Monday, September 27, 2004

Can you study for a urine test?

I am trying to write my article for the paper. My deadline is already past, the paper goes to print tonight. I just got the material about an hour ago, and I despair. Problem is, I am soposed to be funny, but none of the material is funny. Actually, most of it's lame, the best stuff is a couple of potheads and a guy masturbating and thats all I have to work with. Inspiration, come to me.

Here's a Pot Head joke I just found on the internet:

A stoner called the fire department and said, "Come quick my house is on fire!" The Fireman asked "How do we get there?" The stoner says "DUH, in a big red truck!"

Sigh.

Together, Team Alberta!

Well, officially my last day on the job is this Thursday (Yay!). My first official campaign event is Friday (Duncan's is this Tuesday night). Things are really starting to pull together, we both have very good teams to work with and I am getting excited - even though I am facing the several small dilemmas one might expect to face when so involved in a campaign that is in another city. However, We shall perservere, that much is obvious.

I am not sure exactly when I will be opening the campaign office (likely just after Thanksgiving), but I am both looking forward to Calgary (election excitement, election events, friends, my fav gym, chinooks), and dreading it (missing Duncan, my kids and the puppy already). Actually, dreading is likely too strong a word, as they say absence makes the heart grow fonder... and between the two of us working in senior campaign positions in two seperate cities, we will still manage to find the time for one another. We always have.

Maybe during my time off (between this job and the Campaign Office) I can find my blogging groove again. I haven't written anything impassioned in a while, it's like a crude form of blogger's block. Suggestions of topics anyone?

Saturday, September 25, 2004

'What do we do now night' in Canada

Watch Star Wars, of course. All of them. Invite friends over to watch (and even friends' dogs). Eat, drink, be merry.

May the Force be with you.

Friday, September 24, 2004

You must Unlearn what you have Learned

Try not. Do. Or, do not. There is no try.

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

The Politics of Dinosaur Dung

I was reading the Globe and Mail this morning and I came across the plight of blogger Penny Cholmondeley, now of lovely Victoria, BC.

Fellow bloggers, there is a travesty afoot here.

Penny, who was living up north working in the tourism industry, described in her blog her experiences with the northern culture and landscape. She never once talked about her job or mentioned her employer, but she was honest with her opinion, like when she once said she didn't like a resturant she went to, and once used an artful picture of some trash on the tundra in a post. Mostly though, she illustrated her blog with beautiful pictures and positive words about her experience.

She was still on probation at work when her employer saw her blog and she was fired. They cited only disatisfaction with her blog.

Her personal journal.

Now, not only are blogs personal online sites that people visit of their own free accord, they are mostly descriptions of someone's life experience and the opinions that are formed from living that. Unless you are openly trashing someone (and breaking the laws regarding libel/slander) or breaking already agreed upon rules (like not giving away business secrets) then it all falls into freedom of speech and expression.

And I think those freedoms are important.

I am concerned that, if nothing is done, bloggers will face continued discrimination from employers who think they they own and/or have control of all aspects of a bloggers life. As far as I know, in Canada, you are allowed to have and express an opinion that differs from that of your employer. Even if it is completely contrary to your employer's opinion, and especially if you are expressing that opinion during your personal time.

I think this is worth defining and fighting for, not only for a specific number of Canadian bloggers, but really for all Canadians, because if we let some of our rights erode than pretty soon we won't notice that they are all gone.

Anyone?

See also:

Blogger fired for Blogging (includes the email address of the person who fired Penny)
Polar Penny (Ghost of a Flea)

Friday, September 17, 2004

Mama, Life Had Just Begun...

Sue Sapir-Niederer is angry that her son is dead.

At the tender age of 24 years, Army 1st Lt. Seth Dvorin was killed in Iraq this past February. Like any one else that loses a loved one Sapir-Niederer has questions that deserve answers, but when she dared to voice them, she found herself arrested.



Her real mistake was thinking that first lady Laura Bush might care about her war hero son, or other american families like hers. But after refusing to acknowledge Sapir-Niederer at a campaign rally and waiting for her to be dragged away, the first lady continued speaking about her husbands great achievements in the war on terror.

Police have since dismissed the charges against her. But there still doesn't seem to be anyone willing to answer her question. Having made the ultimate sacrifice for her country, I think someone should tell her why.

Thursday, September 16, 2004

Let Us Play



There are lots of Canadians who would happily play with a salary cap in place, lots of people dreaming of being able to play. It's our game. Bring it back. Let us play.

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

HOCKEY IS CANADA'S GAME

Dear Mr. Bettman:

No lock out please. That is all.

Allie

WE WON!!!

Yay Team Mike Smyth!

Now it is time to go to bed.

WE WON!!!

Yay Team Canada!

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

What does Momentum and Horses have to do with it?

Everytime I see Mayor Bill Smith's slogan of "Keep the Momentum Going" I can't help but think "Don't switch horses in mid-stream..."

Sunday, September 12, 2004

Oh come on. We all know it's NOT a Forest Fire...

Last Thursday, on "Foundation Day," the 56th anniversary of the Communist Regime in North Korea, a mushroom cloud (up to 4 kms in diameter) blasted to life in the remote Ryanggang province (Kim Hyong Jik county). This northeastern area is a heavily militarized area near to known Daepodong 1 and 2 missile bases. The damage and crater left by this explosion is big enough to be observed by satellite. North Korea has both been honest about their aspirations to test a nuclear weapon and recently vocal with their distrust of South Korea given recent reports from that country of testing their own nuclear materials.

All coincidence?

We just read a story in CNN that american sources are suggesting the mushroom cloud is just from a forest fire. Gimme a break.

Saturday, September 11, 2004

Some things never get back to the way they were

Three Years Today.

"Every day is hard, but this day is a little bit harder," said Nancy Brandemarti, who was attending the ground zero remembrance for the first time. "This day is just a day to think about him."

Today, parents and grandparents read the list of the 2,749 people killed at the WTC on Sept 11th 2001. The recitation lasted more than two hours. It's odd how just a couple of hours can have such an impact on the world.

Friday, September 10, 2004

Best. Spam. Yet.

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

One look from you, I drift away...

(In my best singing voice)
I live, my life, to be with you...
No one can do the things you do!
Anything you want, you got it.
Anything you need, you got it.
Anything at all, you got it.
Baby!
Anything you want, Anything you need
Anything at all!


I love you Duncan!

Thursday, September 09, 2004

Happy Birthday Raven Dawn



One day, shortly after Christmas in 1994 my sister told me I was pregnant. I laughed at her - ridiculous, I said - I was just starting to get my figure back after the first baby!

Two weeks later, my jeans didn't fit quite right. Peculiar. A week after that I threw up first thing in the morning. Maybe I was pregnant, but the doctor's office test was negative, and then it seemed my period had come. Hmmmm. So I can't be pregnant right?

It only took me one more week to come to the conclusion that I really was indeed pregnant. I informed my doctor, and after a few days decided it was a good thing, albeit bad timing (I was moving to another province the same month as my due date). The baby grew on me, and I (knowing it was a girl) began to refer to her as Raven. Everyone laughed at me but I didn't care... Where I lived the ravens would come and fly over me, circling, calling, laughing even. Every day. The name was perfect.

A couple of months before she was born I had solidified her name - she would be called Raven Dawn Christina Smyth (After my friend Dawn and my Mother). Still no one but me believed her to be a girl, but I knew her.

Raven joined us the evening of Sept 9th 1995, via C-Section, after I had accidently broken my water moving some boxes and the couch. It was just days after we had moved to Calgary. She was a delightful baby whom almost never cried and slept so much I dreamt of forgetting her places. I have very much enjoyed watching her grow into the fine young woman she is becoming.

Happy Birthday Baby. I love you!

Wednesday, September 08, 2004

How dumb is too dumb?

Oh dear. According to Bush, it seems many american's just aren't living the american dream.

Watch Practicing the Love on Angry Finger (link via WTF People).

Some things you just have to see to believe. He really is as stupid as he looks...

Sunday, September 05, 2004

Last Will and Testament

Well today Duncan and I wrote our Wills, Personal Directives and Power of Attorney documents. Enough people have died this year for us without Wills that we knew we didn't want to be intestate ourselves (especially with kids).

After dinner we even had the kids think about what they wanted in the way of funeral arrangements (I typed them up mini "wills") and hilarity ensued - the kids were surprisingly able to determine what they wanted done with their remains and what type of service they wanted in a fairly serious manner, but some absolute jems of thought made me laugh...

Raven wishes her decorative urn and ashes to be carried to her beachside memorial by a horse. The urn must rest on a pink pillow and have a crown drapped over it.

Wesley wishes to have a plain white urn that Duncan and I are to decorate/paint with any design that we want except for "anything pink, flowery or otherwise girly."

Ah, Peace of mind, here we come!

Saturday, September 04, 2004

My Brother's Last Words

A couple of months before he was killed my brother packaged up a box of his important stuff (mainly pictures and keepsakes) and sent it to his best friend Geoff, with a card and letter attached.

I doubt he had a premonition about his impending death, especially given it's sudden accidental nature, but he did manage to achieve what many of us are left to regret in the end, not saying what you really need or want to say to those you care about. My brother reached out and touched one person that meant the world to him, and he was lucky enough to do it in time. Here is what he wrote:

My Friend,

It would bring me great joy to have this letter find you well. You may indeed find my card to you puzzling to say the least, although I am in full confidence that you will get the meaning in the words and title, for my friend, my brother from another mother as it were.

Anyhow as odd as it may seem your Mother and Father both had a hand in raising me and I have come to think of you more of a brother than my friend!

As it is in all my new knowledge, friends and people I know seem superfluvious in the shadow of the man I would call the only friend I have and the only man I think of and miss more than a good woman.

I know the hour of this card is late, for sure you have more questions then I have the answers to. There has been much afoot in these many months since I have seen you and I am sure more in the past years since I had left that I have let on. Although and to be sure I now know the true meaning of pain, among other emotions. Seems my other friends were right in calling me "Isakawuarte" (benevolent, mischievious, amoral, cunning, sly, resourceful, antagonistic and sometimes destructive). Yes, of all things I have been called or named, I like Isakawuate and it's meaning best.

I digress - and somethings are better said in council of friends with the aid of Ale!

The contents of the box are just some personal affects and in no way dangerous or illegal but I do ask it remain closed for now. Please keep it safe as I shall follow it home.

I hope you could read this, it seems my spoken word still is better than my written. Anyhow, and without further adieu, I shall see you soon my friend, my brother, may your home be filled with Laughter and joy.

Chris.

Friday, September 03, 2004

The Winds of Change...

I figured out today that I have owned my domain now for 2 and a half years.

I'm thinking a complete overhaul is due. I don't know how long it will take to design and finish, but eventually this blog addy will change as I merge everything onto "one" site.

Election stuff is getting exciting. That's all I can say about that (for now).

Thursday, September 02, 2004

Observations of a puppy owner

Who would have thought that there could be something more challenging than childrearing? Who would have thought that "toddler rules" apply to puppies as well?

Duncan and Luna are very cute together. They bring out "the best" in each other, I can't believe we waited so long to get a dog... tonight they have entertained me to no end.

But I have decided that Luna is short for Lunatic and has nothing whatsoever to do with the moon, unless the phases cause her more lunacy...

*rolling eyes*

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Picture Perfect



Finally our professional pictures are done. It should be noted that whilst eagerly tearing off my garter my delightfully darling husband bit me. It was not the first time that day he had bit me, either - and it wasn't the last!