Day of Whoa, Whoa, Whoa

It’s Wednesday and time for another discussion on how some things in Canada are so completely out of whack with the rest of the world.  For example, Air Canada can oversell their flights, bump you off and compensate you with a mere $100 while American and European airlines will compensate in the $800 to $1350 range.  The disparity in grocery staples between eastern and western Canada ranges from one to three dollars for a bottle of milk or loaf of bread.  Compare that with what you would pay across the border:

       http://www.parl.gc.ca/content/sen/committee/411/nffn/rep/rep16feb13-e.pdf

       These are small consumer issues but then we have the case The Hogs, our greedy politicians who take from the poor and pay the richer because for them, enough is never enough.  The senate scandal continues to grow and we will have an investigation but will heads roll (figuratively speaking, of course)?  Doubtful, very doubtful.  Will we see changes to reduce spending by our elected and appointed officials?  Not likely.  Will the public be hit with more taxes and less exemptions?  Extremely possible, in fact it is practically a guarantee.

       It is baffling to me that we Canadians will allow ourselves to be so misused and then merrily go to the polls and vote the same greedy pigs back in to give us a little bit more of the you know what.  Are we masochists?  Or are we just plain ignorant about what parties really stand for?  I cannot understand why there is not a bigger outcry when our politicians behave outrageously.  Is it any wonder that they will go to any length to get more money in their pockets when they know we will just shake our heads and then move on?

       Shame on us for not telling them to whoa, slow down there pardner, hand that over.

High Tea in High Winds

My annual time to host my book club rapidly approaches and Mom and I are dashing around the house trying to make everything respectable.  The preparation time can sometimes be so exhausting that it is difficult to not yawn once the hostess duties begin.

       Now we have had coaching from Oprah’s various specialists who have advised “relax, use your best china daily, don’t fear judgment from guests” and so on and so forth but the truth is we still want to make a good impression with our friends.  There is also a little thing, a very little thing, called house proud that keeps us motivated to dust the furniture, vacuum the floor and hide all the stashes of magazines and stuff in the basement, under the bed, in the closet, or any other convenient hide-all.  But in my mind it is all still there and that means the following day I have to pull it all out again, sort through it and determine what can really go in the garbage or how can I really use it.  Exhausting!

       Mother Nature has cooperated with me this year by raining enough to make the lawns green but at the same time it has been cool enough that I don’t have to go out and cut the grass.  Yard work minimal today.  Everything looks so nice and fresh and the air smells clean.  The birds haven’t started singing yet but they will soon enough.  A nice welcome for my friends after their long drive from the city to my latifundium (remember, that means country estate).

Education, Trades & Debt

That ding-dong Elizabeth on The View opened her mouth again today and said “I refuse to believe” . . . that’s your first mistake Elizabeth; refusing to believe is not any way to start a hot topic.  She missed the whole point of Barbara Walters’ item on New York City’s mayor speaking about the fact that it is not shameful to opt out of college and choose instead a trade as a career.  Elizabeth went off on a tangent to say that college is the only way “to better your class” and right away I thought “but isn’t America supposed to be classless”?  Oops Elizabeth, there goes another illusion for the American people.  Barbara tried to set her straight by remarking that the major was being uplifting towards those who chose to work in a trade rather than go on to college.  Not putting them down, which Elizabeth so blatantly did when she opened her mouth and refuse to believe.

       Decades ago both my parents wondered why Canada had so few apprenticeship programs.  They recognized that not all children are disposed to continue on with their studies and that this lack of interest had nothing to do with lack of intelligence.  Some people (male or female) will be much happier pursuing a trade rather than struggling through 12 years of public school and then another 6 or 7 years in order to, possibly, get a professional career in medicine, law, engineering, education and so on.  Today we have a dismal lack of experienced trades such as plumbing, electricians, welders, mechanics, millwrights, shoemakers, and so on. 

       The other point Mayor Bloomberg made was that by going into the trades the debt level of the individual would be much less.  The amount of debt students carry today is staggering and shameful.  Canada and America both need to get a grip on the cost of university and college educations; it is out of this world expensive and completely unreasonable to have young people start their careers with such a huge debt load. 

       Let’s bring industry back to North America and let’s get our people working in meaningful, well paying jobs.  And taxes will follow.

Picking One's Battles

When one listens to the news it seems inevitable that there will be at least one story that will send one over the edge.  I actually prefer not to listen to the news on the weekends because I don’t like to get annoyed by all the stupidity that goes on around the world.  I think 5 days per week of listening to the news is adequate for my psyche and quite honestly I am at the point in my life where I realize that I have to pick my battles carefully. 

       Oh, oh, where am I going with this?  Here it is, last week we heard again about the incredible amount of abuse the politicians have done with respect to expensing items.  It never ceases to amaze me that individuals can be so darn greedy that they lose all sense of integrity, that they have no comprehension about respecting taxpayers’ money, or that they see no limit to squeezing every possible cent out of “the system” while at the same time they deplore “taxpayers’ sense of entitlement”.  If I hear that word entitlement used one more time in relation to ordinary citizens I think I will go berserk and I really don’t care where I am when I do so.  It absolutely infuriates me that politicians of every stripe, in whatever country, seems to have jumped on this bandwagon Entitlement but in brackets (but it doesn’t apply to us, of course, darling).

       What is even more exasperating is that ordinary citizens are parroting these words to the point where I want to “slap them upside the head” (to use Oprah’s expression) and knock a little sense into them.  Wanting value for our tax dollars is not Entitlement.  There is nothing wrong with expecting a better quality of life for humanity in the 21^st century compared with what we had 100 years ago.  To use another aggravating phrase “whose going to pay for it” continues to make me crazy.  We are going to pay for it as soon as we get some sensible people into government who understands that having a Senate that simply is there to grab money for toadeaters (yes, Pamela Wallen, Mike Duffy, and all you other ex-CBC cronies, that means you) needs to be abolished.  We need to eliminate expense accounts, travelling (in this day and age with video conferencing technology we don’t need our politicians to go on ‘fact finding missions’ as though anyone didn’t realize that it was a paid vacation), patronage appointments, superboards for health care (that is a whole separate Rant), and many more expensive non-productive spending.

A Little Bit of This & That

I spent time this weekend working on my lessons and then I put some of what I learned into practice.  I can pretty much say that I am sure to Ace Retirement but in the meantime I am having a terrific time in pre-retirement wherein I am getting the most out of my work day as well as my weekends, vacations and after hours.  Naturally I find the spring, summer and fall the most invigorating of times while winter sets me into the doldrums.  I believe that is due in large part to sun deprivation and so I am hoping that when I am home all day that I will be able to get outside more frequently in the wintertime to enjoy the sunshine and thus build up my enthusiasm for winter as well.

       As the countryside turns green, warm and more occupied I find that my spirits lift tremendously and as I stroll around the malls, streets and hallways I notice that people around me generally have that same uplifted quality.  Is it any wonder that people in tropical areas are so friendly and happy when we meet them on vacation?  And yet, they continue to discover that Danish people are the happiest people in the world, why is that I wonder? I don’t believe it is because they are “taken care of from cradle to grave”, not at all.  I think they are predisposed to be more easy-going in life, generally speaking, as well as being satisfied with less. 

       The other day I had 2 mule deer roaming about the acreage and they did not get overly excited when I stepped outside.  They looked at me for a long time, then went back to nibbling on the grass and slowly they wandered around to the other side of the bushes.  Perfectly laid back and very Danish.  My kind of critter.

Where the Heart Lies

In the Gospels Matthew and Luke both quote Jesus as saying “For where your treasure lies, there your heart will also be”.  In working through my lessons I find myself working the other way, determining what is in my heart and thus finding my treasures.  It is quite an excavation process.

       It has been noted that frequently people will sign up for some sort of diet plan or they will buy a magic pill and that is as much of the work as they do as they continue down the same old path of eating.  I find that I am judging myself in realizing that I have read so many books and done so much research but while I have done the exercises “in my mind” I have not papered them.  It is amazing to realize that there is a huge difference in writing things down, in papering the exercises and simply reading, believing you have understood and absorbed the lesson.  It is really only skimming the surface when you read self-help books.  That is only the first step in the process of trying to find the solution to whatever it is you are seeking.  Sitting back and expecting results is going to be a long period of nothing.

       I’m sorry to break it to you, but there it is.  As much as you may enjoy reading, that is not enough.  You need to do the work which is what I have been discovering as I work determinedly through my lessons.  A true Aha Moment for me.

       But I am finding my bliss, what can be better than that?

Inspiring Acts

I have found another role model in a colleague who has gone running into retirement with arms outstretched and enthusiasm in her heart.  She impressed me beyond words when she told me how she had been reading about planning for retirement and the very next day she told me that she had called up a place, got some emails back and forth and boom, she had a new opportunity, just like that!  And it was something she really wanted to do.  Wow.

       What lesson did I learn?  I learned that not just reading, but writing down in the workbook helps bring thoughts into focus and from there into action.  Now I have pulled out my notebooks, taken down the volumes that have inspired me and will set to work on doing the exercises that will bring everything into sharper focus.

       Meanwhile I have been hearing comments from people who say “you’ve been talking a lot about retirement, when are you planning to go” and I respond “we have several people retiring in the next few weeks, I am involved.  It’s not just about me, I am interested in everyone” and then a little bell rang in my head.  I like people and I have a lot of concern about people’s welfare.  Like my retired colleague who realized that she likes to teach, I like to help people.  Perhaps this is a path I should pursue further, but only once I’ve done my lessons.

       One statement, a smile, a look, sometimes the simplest things can inspire a person to great adventures.  We just have to be open to it.

Tuesday, the day of energy

After 40 years of working I hope most people have noticed that while Monday and Friday are generally the “getting in gear” days Tuesday is a day of productivity and energy.  Not that I’ve heard any research to that effect but even though Mondays have always been busy days for me, and productive, I find that by Tuesday I am in full swing, the week has been planned and I am go, go, go.  Therefore when something puts a crimp in the “planned week” I can be a little off kilter.  Not that it is a bad thing, but when one is a structured person it can be unsettling.

       Life can catch one like that as well, just as we think everything is going down the known path something will come along to throw everything out of whack.  Anything from political upheaval, to high winds that tear off your eavestrough and throw the planned budget out the window even as you call the insurance company.  Deductibles get you every time!  Even a minor hiccup can throw a body off “The Plan” and a simple statement may send someone sailing out of control.  Something like that happened to me the other day while I was doing a simple “planned” duty to assist a friend.  I was approached by a complete stranger who tossed out a statement to me that blew me away and I admit, I did not handle it as well as I could have.  While serving cake to masses how do you handle it when someone you don’t know tells you they have breast cancer?  I was thrown off balance and I’m only surprised that the cake didn’t land in someone’s lap.  The first thing out of my mouth was “I am not sure why XYZ told you to talk to me because I haven’t had breast cancer” . . . and then I thought to myself “why didn’t I first say “I’m so sorry to hear that”? ... except I was so thrown out of balance that I was confused.  A dozen thoughts at once screamed through my brain but afterwards I felt terrible about the way I handled the situation even though I immediately took her hand and said I would get the help she needed to support her.

       I have noticed that I do handle crisis situations poorly.  I never know what to say when someone has lost a loved one, when disaster strikes them, and then I am conscious of making it about me rather than them.  I know I am not alone in this conundrum and even at this moment I wonder why I didn’t remember any of the training I took only 3 short weeks ago called “next-of-kin” training. 

Hello, I think they sent the wrong person to the course! 

Post Work, Retirement, Whatever

We have several colleagues retiring in the next few weeks and some of them being my team members I have been involved in planning events and gift buying.  Naturally I am also having conversations with them to discover what they are planning to do post work and all the answers are very general.  While I won’t say it is cause for alarm, I am alarmed nevertheless so off I went to find some practical reading material for them!  Of course, being a two buy shopper there was also a copy for me.  One find was particularly helpful with a number of worksheets to complete that gave direction as to whether or not you were ready to retire.  Happily for me, I am prepared and ready. 

       We have 168 hours to fill up in a week and I didn’t have any trouble doing that.  Yippee. 

       For people with my mindset take heed, if you require structure, you better have a plan or plans for post work otherwise you are going to have a not so happy time of it.  Lessons after reading this book include writing down ideas or plans, giving yourself positive statements such as “I am signing up for a course in this and that” rather than simply saying “I plan on taking some courses”.   One must have definite plans and not simply a vague idea that “I will be so busy with stuff”.  Sounds easy?  But have you done it yet?

       Another nugget of valuable information, most people have 30 plus years in “their golden years” so you sure don’t want to simply be sitting on the couch watching Jeopary.  Think healthy, eat healthy, work out gently, keep your friends close and family closer.  This is a time to put away regrets, bitterness, unpleasantness and move on to the best years of your life.  You are in complete control, make every day count in the happiest, most positive way possible.

       Your cup runneth over.

One Day Snow, Next Day Summer

 

Billy Balzac our southern Alberta groundhog sure called it wrong this year when he predicted an early spring but thank the Lord, we leaped over spring and bounced into summer.  The leaves are unfurling steadily this weekend, tulips are now six inches high and the lilies of the valley are suddenly above ground.  I hear lawnmowers out in full force as I drive through town, deadheading the grass is well underway and things are green all over.  There are few things more invigorating than seeing nature and people become energized because the next season, my favorite season, is upon us.

       We humans are incredibly sensitive creatures who are influenced by so many seemingly small things.  Whether we are influenced by the nuances of climate, by the news, or by our work or family dynamics, we frequently become affected without recognizing the cause.  One area that I have noticed for many years is how quickly we can become affected by the work situation.  Simply by hearing something going on with another colleague can rock our world, most frequently in a negative way.  When something good happens though we find ourselves smiling and walking with more of a bounce in our step.

       I think the important thing in this lesson learned is that we become more conscious of our feelings and where they are coming from.  Self awareness is not a new thing but I believe that it is something we are rarely in tune with even though we know it is healthy for us both mentally and spiritually to be conscious of our feelings.  Today, as I go through all the plans of the day, I plan to be aware of how events affect me, whether it is enjoying the honking and landing of geese couples on the lawn, making calls, writing blogs, eating healthy or just plan vegging with Mom.  Life is good, I feel great, and it’s thank to a multitude of sensations.

       The world is friendly, if we let it be.

Government on Slippery Slope

I just finished reading an article this morning about the Alberta government’s behaviour after the jail guards returned to work on Thursday.  To quote the union leader Guy Smith,

“We are doing everything we can to calm the waters and instead the government is throwing gas onto the fire. It is really dangerous and irresponsible,”

Furthermore, the government says they will not deduct the union dues for 6 months which will cause the union not to get their funding.  And Premier Alison Redford is also backing away from her original agreement of “no retribution” by saying that those guards who put others at risk will be dealt with – which goes against her amnesty agreement for all guards.

       This type of misbehaviour by our politicians illustrates how far we have strayed from the ideals of governing laid out more than 2,000 years ago by Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.  Goading, bullying, lying, taunting and then attempting retribution to employees is not the way to win friends or influence people.  At least, not in the style of Dale Carnegie had in mind.  What we have been seeing for the past decade and in particular since Stephen Harper began leading the government is a flagrant disregard for individuals and a meanness of spirit with regard to unions that puts us back 100 years in labour relations.  What is even more astonishing to me is that to date the unions have been mild in their reactions to the methodical and unjustified legislating of back to work acts, as well as identifying some ludicrous union jobs as “essential services” (airport workers for instance).

       If we are not careful we will see one of two things, violence as labour fights back or a new born slave class.  We are on a slippery slope.

Time Marches Onward

My best friend had her 60^th birthday recently and she went “WOW” and then “WHOA” which is exactly the way I think as my own time comes galloping at me.  Reaching this milestone is an achievement in and of itself, which may sound strange since it’s just another year gone by and we don’t have a lot of control over time.  But in the age we have grown up in we were tempted and subjected to many trials that we did have the power to say no to and possibly contributed to our staying healthy and able to reach this age. 

       It’s an achievement to survive life even though it may appear that in our “civilized” world we have few of the challenges of bygone days and yet when you really stop to consider what we are subjected to daily it is a wonder we make it through our lives.  If we can do so with grace and dignity how great is that?  During the course of my work day I continue to remind myself to be grateful that I work for a good company, that I have many wonderful colleagues that I can call “friend”, that my wages are such that I can enjoy the luxury of a trip once a year and that my work is interesting, my boss is kind and my team is great.  En route I have the challenges as many others on the road, surviving those drivers who feel entitled to break rules, put others at risk and generally cause us to run a gamete of danger.

       Yesterday in our meeting we also discussed security safety and I spoke up about how many of us are outside our comfort zone when we challenge a stranger from tailgating into the office behind our scanned pass.  Whenever we don’t do so we actually put lives at risk because we never know when that stranger might actually be a lunatic like those brothers in Boston a couple of weeks ago.  We really do live in a comfort zone that lulls us into believing Canada is immune to the same madness that seems to run rampant in the USA but we really shouldn’t allow ourselves to be so naive.  I sound paranoid, I realize that, but as I said to my mother last night while watching “Revolution” we have been a very lucky generation to have lived our lives without witnessing war or chaos.  Mom doubted that people could become so violent when I reminded her that only 60 years ago people went mad in Europe.  Not only that, you only have to consider the popularity of shows such as “Survivor” to realize that people have not evolved much since the days of the Roman gladiators.  People in general enjoy looking at blood and guts, just consider how many rubberneckers slow down traffic just to stare at an accident scene.  I shudder at the thought.

That's the flow of the brain this morning.