In Today's News - Whining

Winnipeg is either going through an extremely slow news period or else the tendency to focus on the insignificant is just the way things are going.  It seems we have become a society of whiners.  The smallest complaint is news worthy and somehow it always seems to be someone else’s fault.

What’s brought about this line of thought is two specific news stories broadcast during last night’s evening news hour. 

The first was a number of people complaining about the snow left behind by street cleaning and the fact that they would have to shovel their own walks.  Hate to point this out but its Manitoba if you weren’t expecting snow you’re an idiot. My driveway is 100 feet long, I get tired of shoveling the snow and the remnants from street clearing and yes I do complain from time to time but it’s really not newsworthy.

The second I can no longer remember, what can I say the ole’ memory is slipping….wait I remember. It was complaints about store reward cards and that not all deals on their websites are available in all markets.  Well different markets have different availability seems like this should be a no-brainer.  It seems like something that you may grumble about to a friend in passing but it’s not really newsworthy.

To me it just highlights what seems to be an ever growing epidemic, rampant whining.  Every issue we face seems to be blown out of proportion, annoyances are now considered to be actual issues that someone else needs to step in and fix.   

I think this is where it really rubbed me the wrong way that not only did these individuals feel the need to complain in such a big way but that they seemed to expect it as a right that someone else should fix what they perceived as an issue.  

For the issue of snow clearing Manitobans pay enough taxes without more of our tax dollars going to clear snow from peoples walkways.  If you want to own a home you need to understand that it comes with certain maintenance requirements and that yes snow shoveling is one of those.

As for loyalty cards market differences are just that market differences not a personal affront and if you disagree with a company’s practices don’t shop there it really is just as simple as that.  Crying it’s not fair that one person is able to get something you are not is rather on the childish side.

I suppose this post could also be considered whining but hey it’s my blog I can whine if I want to. I think the difference is that I’m also not going to try to get it on the 6 o’clock news.

Baby it's cold outside!

Each year Winnipeg gets a deep freeze, some years it lasts a few days, others a few weeks, but it is something you can count on dealing with at some point over the winter months. Usually it hits at the tail end of January or the beginning of February and it is by far the worst part of winter.

While there are other major cities in Canada that are cold, the other prairie cities and to a slightly lesser extent Quebec, Winnipeg does hold the distinction of having the coldest winters. On days like today it’s not hard to see why.

While other cities are basking in temperatures as warm as +2 (St. Johns) most are sitting somewhere in the teens (Edmonton, Charlottetown, Whitehorse even) Winnipeg is currently -30 celsius, with wind chill it feel like -43.

That is actually as cold as it sounds and unless you’ve experienced it first-hand you are not going to be able to grasp quite how that feels.

The downside-

·         With wind chill heading outside today is absolutely numbing.  Exposed skin will develop frost-bite in under 2 minutes and let’s face it no matter how hard you try some skin will show…..and you WILL feel it. 

·         Just breathing on a day like today is difficult. Your lungs do NOT want to breathe in air so much colder than your natural body temperature and so particularly the first few moments outside will literally leave you gasping. 

·         Getting dressed properly will take a minimum of five minutes, ten if you are under the age of 13 (note that teenagers are even worse and may never actually dress appropriately).  

·         You will still be cold no matter how many layers you have or how well you are dressed.   

·         Eye glasses.  You have two options, either you keep your nose poked out of your scarf and risk frost bite to avoid fogging up or you can pull up the scarf, take off your glasses and walk blind.

·         If Manitoba Hydro were to ever have major issues half of Winnipeg is going to freeze to death.

·         Black ice forms and Winnipeg drivers are already scary enough.

·         Chapped lips, ha, try chapped everything!

·         IT IS MINUS FREAKING 40!!  

Not great selling points for experiencing these temperatures yourself I know.  

Here however are the “good” points.   

·         No mosquitoes, yes this is my first point and trust me it is the big one (as are our mosquitoes in summer).

·         It’s a dry cold and yes a dry cold really does not feel as bad as humid cold.

·         It’s warm inside and the desire to share body heat encourages cuddling.

·         It makes you appreciate the heat of summer

Ok that’s all I got.  A regular winter day has quite a few more good points but to be honest there really is nothing good about the experience of an arctic deep freeze.

I’m going to go hug one of the radiators now…….

The Great Toy Divide

I had a conversation the other day with another parent about Christmas gifts.  They’re having a hard time figuring out what to buy for their son and asked me for suggestions.  Well this little boy loves to carry around a baby doll whenever given the opportunity to do so and so it’s what I suggested, a doll.

Well the stereotypical attitudes about girl toys and boy toys reared its ugly little head and the suggestion was shot down. 

It got me thinking about this gender divide in toys.  As a mother to two girls who love remote control cars, building sets and other typical “boy toys” I’ve never really given it much consideration. I’ve always bought them toys they were interested in regardless of what side of the aisle they were on.

This attitude seems to be the norm for other parents of girls as well.  While nobody seems to care one way or the other if a girl plays with so called boy toys the same isn’t true the other way around.  It’s still looked at as odd or out of character for a boy to like things which have been labeled girl.  

Some argue that girls and boys are just fundamentally different and that boys just don’t like girl toys. I’ve worked with young children for many years now and while yes girls and boys are very different what they choose to play with has nothing to do with being male or female. 

Given the opportunity children of either gender will happily play with any toy placed in front of them regardless of whether or not it is traditionally a girls or boys toy.  This gender divide concerning toys or any other subject for that matter doesn’t begin until later when they begin to learn that some things are considered feminine or masculine. It is learned. 

While we remind our girls that they can play with whatever they like and that they can do/be/accomplish anything in life we seem to be forgetting to tell the boys in our lives the same thing.

The truth of the matter is that until we make it acceptable for a boy to play with dolls and in the kitchen that both sexes will suffer from those stereotypes perpetuating into adulthood. We will never have true equality between the sexes unless we remember to treat boys with the same ability to choose their toys and interests as girls.

What's with the Rush?

Last week was full of advertisements and hype about upcoming big sales and the oddity that is Black Friday.  This week has been all about the new IKEA opening up in Winnipeg and the rush to be first in line or just part of the first rush.

I don’t get it. 

While black Friday is a rather new thing in Canada, in the US its so called purpose is to mark the first shopping day before the holidays and coincides with US thanksgiving.  In Canada it admittedly has nothing to do with any holiday what so ever (really neither does the US version) and is all about getting consumers to spend their money in one spot or another.

What always gets me about all this is that out of all these so called amazing sales have I ever actually heard something really special.  I’ve yet to know anyone who has gotten a once in a life time price that couldn’t have been found during a regular sale another time of the year.   I’ve never heard of someone being hit with a great revelation or epiphany by being the first to buy a new item rather than second or 1000^th. 

What I have heard are the stories showcasing the worst of humankind in reports of black Friday, grand openings and door buster sales gone wrong. I’ve seen videos of literal mobs who appear more like looters than shoppers.  I’ve been baffled to see people lining up in freezing cold, pouring rain and other terrible weather conditions just to be the first shopper inside a new store or to buy the first of an item.  

In short I haven’t heard anything so special about participating in these type of events to want to do so myself.     

I see greed and displays of animalistic instinct that make one question what we are capable of. Is this after all really what we are becoming?  Animals so obsessed over the acquisition of things that the people around you whether stranger or friend is irrelevant?  A world where common-sense and basic decency are less important than our most base instincts to gather?

Perhaps I’m being dramatic but it’s undeniable that these sales often bring with them stories of stomach-turning events as well.  It’s something that really turns me off against these types of events and gives me a mild feeling of disgust simply to contemplate them. 

All these sales and events make me want to do is remind others of the importance of people over things, time over items and love over money.       

100 word count - The Best Laid Plans

We have a favorite weekend destination just south of the border that we used to go to several times a year.  Well our lives have gotten busier and we find ourselves heading that way less and less.  In the last year we only had one opportunity to plan a trip there and it was cancelled last minute thanks to a soccer injury.  Well same trip, same time of year and in great “it figures” fashion another soccer injury.  Sometimes your determination to make something happen is completely irrelevant to what will in the end occur.  The Best laid plans indeed…….

Jiminy Cricket!

Thanks you Disney for the full dozen previews on the DVD I just put in the player.  Just to point out the obvious there is a reason DVD remotes come with a skip feature or main menu button.  Sometimes, and I know this must be hard to understand, people don’t want to watch the previews.

I’m must be grateful though that you reminded me of all the great movies that you were releasing or promoting 5 years ago.  You know all the ones which are now either back in your damn vault or long ago relegated to the discount bin at my local Zellers.

Guess what Disney forcing me to agonizingly fast forward through each of these previews in absolutely no way makes me want to go out and buy another of your movies, even if they were still available.

Having seen “this operation is not available at this time”  for the tenth or eleventh time I was quite prepared to chuck the entire DVD player out the window along with any and all DVDs which have the lovely feature of un-skip-able previews.   

Oh and the 2 anti-piracy message displayed for 30 seconds each in English and in French, yeah your telling the wrong person because guess what I bought the movie and all your message is doing is encouraging me to never do that again.  

Maybe then I could watch my damn movie.

Between the Yellow Lines

Parking fees are really beginning to tick me off. Last night I ended up parking a bit of a ways from the entrance to the health centre as I’m really trying to avoid racking up any more parking fees than I already have.  I got just a wee bit chilly on the way in, and a little more on my way out. Of course on my way out I was also heading for a very cold car. Brrrr.

As I turned on the heater driving home a collection of half a dozen parking slips flew off the dash into my face.  Thankfully they didn’t distract me from my driving at all (yes sarcasm) and after narrowly avoiding a bloody calming circle (that’s a whole other rant) I realized that those little slips represented 30 or 40 dollars and I got all riled up.

In the past month, although I’ve admittedly spent a great deal of time at hospitals or health centers, I have ended up spending around a hundred dollars on parking alone.  These days it’s an annoyance (albeit a big annoyance) and not a disastrous impact on our budget but still it hurts.

Ten years ago we were in a much different financial situation and that extra hundred would have had a much larger impact on us.  I can’t help but think of those who are either ill or caring for loved ones who are on fixed incomes and what the parking fees must do to them.

The fact of the matter is for some driving is the only way to get to a hospital, and some cannot park farther away as I do due to illness or disability. Having parking near a hospital is simply a necessity however are parking fees? Not only any parking fees either but the highest fees found anywhere in the city?

Now coincidentally The Globe and Mail printed an article about this very issue a few days ago and there have been several others since (CBC, The Star, Global) . I’ve read them all with interest and I must say I find myself in favor of abolishing parking fees.  At the very least I wish a way could be found to make parking more affordable and accessible to those on fixed incomes or who are facing a long term illness or have immediate family expecting a long term stay.

The only question in my mind that really carries weight on this issue is this: Do parking fees in any way hinder access to our health care system?   The fact of the matter is that yes it is sometimes a hindrance to receiving care, as is not having relatives able to afford to visit a hindrance to healing. 

That right there is the only thing that matters and why a validated parking system or the abolishment of parking fees surrounding hospitals needs to be considered.  I believe as do most other Canadians that we all deserve equal access to our health care system, it’s why we have this system in the first place, if parking fees are presenting a barrier to some it needs to be remedied.

A Toothsome Diatribe

I had someone tell me recently that I use too many big words, in my speech and in my writing. I do concede to having occasionally confounded a few members of the populace using vocabulary which is infrequently employed however it is commonplace enough not to bewilder those with an intermediate level of intelligence.

Phew gave the old thesaurus a work out there. See that sentence, the somewhat run-on one there does perhaps contain a few “big” words yet I still feel it conveys the point. I understand each and everyone of those words and can't help but feel that most everyone should be able to do so as well.

English is a vast and colorful language finding the perfect word, the one that conveys a thought with precision makes more sense to me than leaving a sentence with an unclear, or dare I say ambiguous message.  I would rather use the word that fits.  

At what point does a word become too “big” anyways? Is it determined entirely by how abstract a word is or does it partly rely also on the number of syllables or letters it contains?

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is technically a big word but everyone, ok everyone over the age of say about 25, knows that it means something special, spectacular or out of this world.  It is long; by my count 34 characters, 14 syllables and rarely used yet I doubt many would allude to it is as a “big” word. 

In fact allude at only 2 syllables and 28 fewer characters than, you know which word and I’m not typing it again, is much more likely to be considered a “big” word. I suppose the whole idea of “big” words are ones which we don’t know the meaning of or have difficulty spelling.

If that’s the case and if a word such as allude is difficult to understand than perhaps the fault does not lie with me. Perhaps if there is that many words in what is purported to be your first language that you don’t understand (e.g. ambiguous, allude or purported) then perhaps you need to do something about it.

Seriously read a damn book, preferably one which isn’t illustrated, AKA no pictures.

p.s. I really need to learn how to take criticism better J

The Forgotten Land

Bah humbug I say, this past weekend we found ourselves having to cancel our plans.  We had planned a weekend trip to a place we visit once or twice a year just south of the border. The main reason we go is for the huge indoor water park and since E has a cast which can't get wet I thought taking her to a place for swimming wouldn't be nice.

So I was left to figure out what to do with a suddenly free weekend.  One of the things I thought to check out was if anyone of interest was coming to a particular comedy club which happens to be fairly close to our house.  Then I remembered something I live in Winnipeg.

The land that comedians, American and Canadian alike seem to forget exists.  It seems Winnipeg has fallen off the map for anyone who lives outside of Manitoba and it is skipped over not just by comedy acts but by any other type of entertainment you can think of. Invariably if I see an ad for some tour and check out where they will be visiting the closest performance will be in Saskatoon or Fargo. 

Ok I may be exaggerating just a little bit, Winnipeg doesn’t seem to be skipped over quite as often as it once was but this particular club doesn’t seem to have had a decent booking in ages.  I’ve been checking their website every few months for probably a few years now, and I rarely see a name I even come close to recognizing.

Except for one spot, in this spot I do see names that are recognizable these are found in the banner at the bottom of the page.  This banner has a rotating list of comedians who at one time or another have played here in the past. The only problem being that I don’t believe any of these comedians have actually played here since oh I don’t know my guess would be 1990 something. 

I would have loved to have seen Russell Peters, Scott Thompson, John Stewart or Greg Proops. I don’t know when they were last at this particular club but it has clearly been awhile. I mean Frank Gorshin is on the list and didn’t he pass away about 5 years ago?  

Claiming a comedian who hasn’t actually been to your club in half a decade or more due to death or otherwise as having been “recently seen on stage” is a blatant lie. That is not recent.  If it has become a club for new or upcoming comedians fine but then advertise it that way, not as a destination for known acts.

Ok I’m done. I just couldn’t fight the urge to go on a rant any longer.  I know there are other places and sometimes something good does come this way however this particular club seems to have forgotten how to attract anyone of interest. I think I understand now why they give out so many free tickets.  

So what if Winnipeg doesn’t have an exactly thriving comedy scene at all times and hey we may even be the go to city to poke fun off on both sides of the border but at least it doesn’t rhyme with anything.  I’m looking at you Regina.

Leftovers

I found something growing in my fridge yesterday, I swear it was so far gone it was probably sentient. Seriously though that thing was so fuzzy you could almost mistake it for a tribble/hamster depending on your preferred reference. It’s alive!

Yech, I’ll happily kiss that container goodbye.  Well no I won’t kiss it wave fondly perhaps for its years of sealed service.  Sometimes a container no matter name brand or knock off just needs to be tossed with what’s in it and this was one of those times. My last good one of that size unfortunately.

I’m usually pretty good at keeping the fridge clean but it has slipped a little the past few months and this container was hidden away behind some rarely used condiments and must have escaped my quick cleans.  Isn’t that always the story though? Really was only just this once.

Well at least I found it when I did, I think it wasn’t too far away from bursting the lid off on its own, that is one mess I wouldn’t want to touch with a ten foot pole.

Now I can almost be thankful for the copious amounts of pink cream soda my darling daughter managed to cover the fridge in as it’s what prompted a good clean. She had put, on the top shelf none the less, a 2 litre bottle of cream soda on its side with the lid on not quite tight enough.

Not a single shelf was spared a smear or two of bright pink stickiness, it managed to travel all the way from one side to the other, all the way down and under the crispers, in the crispers, in the door and on a good portion of the containers and items in the fridge. 

The funny thing is how little it actually must have been to make that big a mess, it was still about ¾ full and with one glass already have been poured it shouldn’t have been that bad. You would never have guessed the mess was from a slow leak and not a full bottle placed in the fridge with a lit stick of dynamite in it…..if a fuse could be lit while wet….never mind you get the point I’m sure.

Well its done and sparkly clean again, hopefully I won't let it get that bad again I'd rather not find some leftovers in there that starts talking back.

Canadian Wheat Board

It’s recently come to my attention that the Canadian Wheat Board may very well become a thing of the past in the not so distant future. 

In the prairies farming plays a major role in people’s lives, the small communities scattered across these provinces have come to be in no small part because of farming. These communities are sustained by it and live off it.

Having grown up in a farming community I’m well aware of the roll the CWB plays in the livelihoods and lives of prairie farmers yet I am completely unsure whether I should support the dismantling of the CWB or not.

In all the reports I have so far read or seen about the demise of the CWB no one is saying what the farmers themselves want. I for one would like to know.  I could care less what the provincial vs. the federal governments want it should be up to those it will directly effect.

I was somewhat surprised by these reports to see that the success of Canadian producers who are independent of the influence of the CWB are being used as the prime example as to why the CWB should end.

95% of wheat and barley is produced in the Prairie Provinces under control of the CWB another 4% is controlled by the Ontario Wheat Producers’ Marketing Board. That means only 1% of food grade wheat and barley is sold to international markets through individual producers. 

I hardly think a 1% market share is the best representation for all of Canada.

Another point not mentioned is the CWB by being the single seller of about 20% of the worlds exported grain, grain which is considered to be the gold standard, has a significant impact on grain pricing worldwide.  

Canadian grain producers are also significantly less dependent on tax dollars than many countries without a single seller desk.  In the US 49% of a farmers income is from government subsidy, The European Union states its farmer incomes are subsidized approximately 43%.  Canadian farmers are subsidized a mere 17% in comparison.

After being a part of Canadian farming history for nearly 100 years and continuously in place in one form or another since 1935 I don’t believe anyone can with 100% accuracy predict what outcome changes to or the elimination of the CWB will do to wheat pricing and the success of Canadian farmers. 

The point is that this is a risk that only those who will be directly affected by it should decide whether or not to take.  The government needs to put the choice of removing or revamping the CWB back in the hands of the farmers.   Allow them to vote on this issue and decide what should or should not be done.

Slow Walkers

I don’t get road rage although I have had my moments and it normally takes a lot to get me angry.   I have however begun to develop a certain amount of what you might call mall rage.

I now seem to develop a rather disproportionate level of anger and frustration every time I’m forced to face a large shopping crowd or god forbid a slow walker.

I am not a shopper.  I don’t mind the actual act of shopping but I simply cannot stand shopping crowds. I try to get my Christmas shopping done by November 1^st each year not because of my tendency to organize but because I don’t want to face the insanity of Christmas shoppers.

There is something about that particular type of crowd that just gets to me.  Concerts, outdoor events and other times I’m in a large crowd I can get a little cranky but I don’t get truly ticked off. 

Change that situation over to a mall or a grocery store and suddenly I feel like I’m about to pull an incredible hulk moment and start smashing something.

When I go shopping I don’t tend to browse around between shops I know what I’m after I know what stores I need to head to and I want nothing more than to get to them and out as fast as possible.  Except I always get stuck behind someone remarkably good at imitating a turtle.

They are completely unaware of anyone else as they stroll along no destination in mind as slow as humanly possible. They make sudden stops without warning and somehow always, always, zig when you zig and zag when you zag so that your desperate attempts to get past them invariably fail.  

Stuck behind these type of walkers each failed attempt to get past them or each consecutive slow walker I face quickly ups my levels of frustration until I think my head is going to explode. 

It seems the last few years that the malls are getting busier and busier, it’s no longer just at Christmas time it’s every single weekend and the weekdays aren’t much better.  I thankfully don’t find myself in need of a mall very often and mostly stick to strip malls and stand alone retailers.

I forget once in awhile though and when looking for something such as shoes I’ll decide I need a bigger selection of stores in one place and attempt to face mall shoppers.

I really need to stop doing that.

Automatic Doors

I was out shopping last night with one of my girls and as we left the automatic door decided I don’t exist and wouldn’t open for me. I thankfully managed to stop short before ramming my nose into the glass but it was a close call. I had to wait for my daughter to catch up and sure enough they opened for her.

This is not the first time it has happened to me and I have walked into a number of automatic doors.  I practically have to do jumping jacks to get the darn things to “see” me. 

How is it possible to walk up to a door wrong? Really I would love to know what I’m doing wrong here.  The ongoing joke/explanation around our house is that the problem is I have no soul.

I have troubles with automatic anything, I can set off most automatic things but never when I mean to or to have them work correctly. Public bathrooms with their automatic everything have made using them a real challenge. 

It is a guaranteed that at least one thing will not work right for me. I’ve even started carrying hand sanitizer simply because I would rather use it then attempt to wash my hands in one of these washrooms.

I’m somewhat convinced that electronics simply don’t like me.  Many years ago my husband had a Newton (think first palm pilots) which had the feature of translating writing on the screen to text.

 My husband to show me how this worked wrote my name.  We both ended up trying several times but every time one of us would write or even print my name it would produce the word evil rather than Erin.

The difficulty I’ve had with electronics since then makes me think perhaps that Newton was trying to tell me something.  I have tried to convince myself it simply wasn’t able to recognize a proper name as I see that happen quite regularly with my phone while texting but still Erin to evil?  I mean honestly, that is not even close.  

I really hope I'm not the only one who is ignored by these things, if I am I may have to start giving the idea of being evil or soulless some credence.

Adult-Proof

As I’ve mentioned previously I have had a cold that seems to want to stick around. It is more or less gone now but I seem to have been left with a bit of a sinus infection.  So I bought some sinus medication to try and relieve the pressure. I couldn’t get it open. 

To start with the box itself was wrapped in plastic. The type with no discernible edge to it but comes off easily enough once you manage to cut it and get it started.  No problem right? Well no but then I took out the bottle and that is where the problems started.  

It had that shrink wrapped safety seal that you find wrapped around the tops of various medication and foods. For some reason even our butter now comes safety sealed. Anyways if this had a “tear here” spot I couldn’t find it and after jabbing myself with scissors and trying to tear it off with my teeth I finally got under an edge with a knife and it started to peel off.  About half-way it ripped and I couldn’t find an edge to tear the rest off.  The rest of which was still keeping the lid firmly locked in place. At this point I’d been trying to open it for 5 minutes and was beginning to get a wee bit ticked off.  I finally got the rest off and could turn the lid which sure enough was child-proof.  

Couldn’t open the lid, it’s the type where you push down while turning and it will supposedly open. All I got were the little clicks that seem to mock you with each turn.  I decided to give up and try again later once I wasn’t a breath away from finding a hammer and smashing the bottle to teeny tiny little bits. I was too angry at this point to bother. Except then my 6 year old picks it up and says “I’ll open it for you mommy” and sure enough she did.  See that’s just not right she’s the one this “feature” is supposed to prevent from opening the container not me.

Finally I can take the overpriced medication that promises instant relief!  Nope, another safety seal.  This one the type you find sealing virtually every imaginable product available these days.  You know the ones that are sealed onto the mouth of bottles of ketchup, spices, salad dressing and every other condiment under the sun. The ones that are supposed to have that little tab so you can easily pull it off. Hah yeah right, back to the knife.

Thankfully the kids had left the room as by this point as my mutterings had turned into a full blown blue streak of cursing.  I’m not the type of person to curse much but if I get ticked off enough I can get quite creative.  Finally I got the last seal off and I even managed to do it without drawing blood.

Ahhhh finally relief.

Well relief that the bottle was actually open the medication didn’t do a damn thing. After all that it didn’t help at all in fact it just made my nose run which was actually worse.  Guess I’ll just have to stick to Tylenol and wait it out.  I’ll get my 6 year old to open the bottle for me.