Bootwhistle
Well, seems like a lot in the world is just a keeping on keep'en on... not much I can say that would be worthy of comment especially in current state. Actually have had very little opportunity to read/watch news or any other informative program. So pretty much out of the current loup, so I thought I'd take an opportunity to blog about the current environment in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. As a current Calgarian I've come to notice quite a few things about this city... firstly every native Calgarian seems to give this undefinable aura of arrogance and self importance. I'm not sure how they manage it but if you meet anyone in Calgary that isn't horrible self involved they must either be tourists or too new to the city to have picked up any bad habits. Actually that is another thing that boggles my mind concerning Calgary... why on earth would tourists be coming here? Honestly there really isn't anything very relevant to see in Calgary itself, maybe if you went to Banff or Jasper. Anyway I digress (I'm not even sure what that means), Calgary is a city full of people going somewhere... it may not be anywhere important but they have to get there in a hurry and damn any unconcious homeless guy the pass on the way. Yeah, that pretty much sums up the Calgary environment.

Bootwhistle
I've been quite busy working two jobs so haven't had much time to do much of anything besides sleep. Finally got some free time and decided to take a look at my blog and see if I had the energy to create a new post... to my surprise I found an entry I couldn't remember writing (see previous post).
Though I think I can piece together what I was trying to blog about - pretty sure at least (and no I'm not currently drunk). Anyway putting aside the effects alchohol has on mind and body, let's all move on to the original idea behind that particular post. Oh and in case anyone gets the wrong idea that was my first night drinking anything stronger than coffee in about 4 months.
So anyway about the service industry, which basically includes servers (waiters/waitresses), bartenders and at the lower end of the spectrum cooks (of which I'm a current member). I honestly believe that the most interesting people are found in the service industry, although my definition of interesting is very wide indeed. Aside from the part timers composed mostly of students, at the core of the service industry are the odd, disgruntled, and just plain insane (in a good way). For in truth no one really wants to be part of an industry that looks after regular idiots day in and day out - believe me normal people are mostly idoits. So our industry tends to attract or 'catch' the people who are a little different, still intelligent and mostly coherent but with their own quirks or circumstances that made them choose a different path than is considered "normal".
This is where my drunken brain was trying to go in the last post, since at that time I went out to drink with said industry people and met serveral characters of note, so of course thought that it was a wonderful meeting such interesting people (though that may have been an effect of the alchohol). Actually have something else more important to post later on, but unfortunately time runs short, and don't feel like editing this post or saving it to do later. (Welcome to the Night Shift)

Greeetings, at the time of this post, I am quite quite drunk, it is only through a perserverance of quality and spell checker that words be formed in recognizable form.
Was thinken for a while what to post but really nothing came to mind. but due to current state of mind alteredness, feel that there are more stuff to said be. For instance the "industry" which referes to the coalition of peoples making up the service industry - which would sinculde servers, bartenders, cooks, ect. I' ve worked on and off in the industry for a few years and it's interesting to note the certain trends or composition of people working in the "industry".
maake more later tired, and only one eye will focus, one last note, I hate you all.

The forgotten...

Been catching up on some old news and came across some extraordinary events in Cuba... hmm, well, maybe not in the same league as Lebanon and Iraq but interesting in it's own right. So anyway, seems that Castro had surgery and decided to turn over his authority to his brother Raul (every time I think of "all hail Raul" I can't help but laugh... but that's beside the point), so seems that this unprecedented event was to be followed by mass uprisings of the Cuban people, democracy flowing through the streets like an off season flood, and apparently a US invasion? The last part seemed particularly ridiculous, I mean it's not as if Cuba has any oil or anything, and I doubt that Bush is a cigar smoker (though his predecessor apparently loved them... a lot).
In the end, nothing really happened - Castro had surgery, recovered and if the news I read was semi-accurate, people just went about their daily lives. ... but I still can't get over the fact that people were actually expecting a US invasion to take advantage of Castro's surgery - maybe after having US attention for so long Cuba is getting a bit jealous of Iraq... okay, that last sentence was stupid enough to be insulting so best to ignore it (I could have deleted it, but really who has time delete things nowadays).
Anyway from what I gather, Cuba isn't doing too badly in comparison to other Latin American countries, it does seem that inspite of being under a dictatorship Cuba is stable and progressive in education and medical needs. However, one has to wonder what will happen once Castro's reign ends? Will Cuba fall into chaos akin to what happened to Yugoslavia once Tito died?
Ah well, one can only ponder so many crises at once, and I think at least for now Iraq and Lebanon have the unfortunate honor of taking centre stage.

The not so recent events in Lebanon are something I've been avoiding talking/thinking/looking and most relevantly blogging about. One reason being that I doubt any one person could do either side in this conflict justice, when there is more than enough hatred and death to last generations how can one have the arrogance to claim moral superiority?

I know people of both Israeli and Lebanese decent, and all are good people, they're ... well, just normal average people. As expected everyone is disgusted by the violence in the middle east, and again as expected each person rationalizes their side of the conflict. I could try arguing for or against one side, highlight media bias, or even provide a time line of events and cross reference to international events while drawing parallel's to instigations of certain superpowers... but in all honesty it isn't necessary. People with open minds and a little curiousity can easily find most information on their own and if they have any intelligence are already taking any broadcast news as less reliable than anything on the cartoon network (and probably a lot less interesting).

So where does that leave the purpose of this post my opinion on the conflict?
In all likley hood no where... about the only thing I can be definate about is Lebanon needs a strong spiritual leader, their own Ghandi if you will. A movement to non-violent resistance is needed, although realistically all but impossible, since any leader would undoubtly be targeted by both Israel and militant factions in Lebanon. Actually I think the best solution would be to send a 5 year old to the negotiation table and have her explain in the simple and honest terms why they should stop fighting. (well not really but it did seem like a cute idea)

*sigh* I've been trying to keep to a weekly blog schedule but unfortunately work and tv watching have been taking a priority... well that and the fact my computer is still out of comission - actually interesting story...(cue wavy flashback sequence)

It all started a few months ago when I moved from Victoria BC, to Calgary... I decided to ship most of my stuff including my computer via UPS as they had pick up service (actually that involves another story, but another time). So first few packages arrive in Calgary no problem. Then I had to leave town for a while and since UPS doesn't deliver outside buisness hours no one was at home to accept deliveries, thus it happened that UPS decided to ship my computer, monitor, and box filled with financial and personal papers back to Victoria.
So when I got back, had to call the UPS customer service and get the packages returned, also instructed them to HOLD the packages at the shipping centre so I could pick them up instead of always missing the delivery guy (the temptation to use dude was high - MadTV reference). Well guess what UPS did? The packages were held for one day and then shipped back to Victoria again! So called them and asked them to return it... again, and instructed them to hold it and contact me once my boxes arrive... again.
A few days pass and I manage to get my computer, but somehow the monitor and other box got seperated and for some reason being shipped to 'overgoods' which is the UPS lost and found of sorts. Now at this point I think most people would be screaming bloody murder at any UPS employee, but unfortunately for me it isn't very easy to get me angry... so I just thought 'okay, they know where the boxes are, I'll get it in a few days... no worries'. Boy was I wrong... my packages get back to Calgary and then the same $%^ing day UPS sends the packages back to Victoria!!!! After that they tell me the packages are lost... and UPS has a policy against compensation for personal goods shipped... I actually feel sorry for the lady who answered my call to UPS that day, because the damn burst and any and all rage was probably transmitted pretty clearly over the phone line. I think my whole ranting rage went on for a good 45 minutes covering her and then her manager, who didn't do a damn thing either except repeat the UPS policy. She also had the nerve to suggest buying a new monitor when I complained that I couldn't use my computer without the one UPS lost... that probably lengthened my tirade by a good 15 minutes.
Anywhoo, UPS actually found my box containing my financial info... but my moniter is still gone - and that is why it has been hard to update my blog on a weekly basis, thank you and good night. Also boycott UPS as they are an incompetant organization (well at least the Calgary shipping centre is).

Bootwhistle
Oops, took a bit longer than I tought to blog again, oh well.
Recently during the Canada day celebrations in Ottawa, some youths (or yoo'ts) were photographed urinating on a war memorial, one of the pictures made the front page of the Ottawa Citizen. Needless to say veteran groups were outraged by this, and rightly so - then began the complaints about the 'disrepectful youths', 'decaying values' ect. ect. Thus the only apparent solution was to for veteran groups to demand a full time police presance at the memorial... sigh. I wasn't sure whether to be amused or saddened by that, it's funny since law enforcment is highly unlikly to have the budget and manpower to act as full time security guards, and it's sad because a more reasonable and mutually benifical solution would be to simply educate the newer generation about the significance of WWII and the surviving veterans. Why hasn't it occured to anyone that perhaps having more veterans visit schools to tell their stories would be far more effective than posting guards?
Unfortunately it seems that education is often overlooked in favour of more short term and in the end detrimental solutions. Meh, what do I care, it's not like I fought in WWII...