it's worth it if it saves one life

Sometimes you hear people say "it's worth it if it saves one life". The fact is we often sacrifice safety for convenience. Consider the number of people who day in traffic accidents. We could save MANY lives if we took all vehicles off the roads. In fact, we could just allow emergency vehicles on the roads. Sure you may have to walk 2 hours to work and you may never see your grandmother in BC but it would be worth it right?

live within your means (national daycare)

Just a thought....but if you cannot afford to raise a child then maybe you should refrain from having one. I realize that some people are forced into single parenthood by someone leaving or dying. However I know many single parents who chose to be in that situation. I also certainly don't like the idea of subsiding dual income families so they can buy their kids the latest gaming system while dumping fuel into their gas-guzzling SUVs. Maybe in those cases someone has to stay home and raise the child. Maybe they don't have to give their kids EVERYTHING they want.

yard by-laws

You can pay your mortgage and taxes and yet your neighbour can still tell you what to do with your property. I like my grass long. Maybe the car on blocks is a piece of art. Laws should not be in place to enforce personal tastes.

I have a message for our troops overseas fighting for our "freedom": Come on home folks, we never had it to begin with.

The Birds

Last summer I noticed that everytime I left my house a crow sitting on the telephone wire directly in front of my house would aggressively dive at me. He would then perch on my neighbour's shed...watching me leave in my car. It was going on for a couple of days when I noticed a distressed women standing in fornt of my house. I popped my head out the door to see what her problem was. She said "That bird attacked me!!", pointing to my aggressive new friend. I told her the tends to do that and it would be best to keep walking.

A day or two later I was looking into my yard from my 2nd floor. I noticed a crow walking around my lawn. I watched for several minutes and noticed that another crow was bringing him food. I then realized that this bird was injured and that other crow was protecting it. The injured bird would mainly hide in my raspberry bushes to keep hidden.

I figured I would try an experiment. I stepped out onto my deck. The guard bird immediatley started crowing. As I approached the injured crow other appeared. They were landing on my roof, garage and fence....surrounding me. I figured I better get back inside before they move in to kill.

I decided to not cut my lawn or barbeque intil the bird got better or another predator got to it. Within a week it was gone.

I've been planning on posting this story since Robin told his bird story on May 1st. Then, coincidentally, it started happening again 3 days ago. I get dived when I leave my house. Once again, a crow sitting on the telephone wire in front of my house. I have yet to determine what he is protecting. He gets very agitated when I go in my back yard. I see no injured bird. I am wondering if there is a nest in one of my trees or something. I wanted to just stay out of my back yard until it was over but I really had to cut my grass...it was getting very long. So I did do that....just before posting this. The bird was upset but did not attack once the lawnmower was running. I am guessing the sound kept him away. I actually felt guilty. I don't want to upset the bird while he diligently does his job. I will do my best to stay out of his way until whatever it is he is protecting is no longer an issue.

new tattoo

I got a new tattoo on may 4th. As well I updated one I already had.

http://my.tbaytel.net/tgallo/tattoo.htm

death and age

Many people find the death of a child more tragic than that of an adult? Why is that? Does life lose value with age. Is it a linear relationship? Maybe it stays steady from birth to 10 years then drops a bit and stays steady until 18 followed by a steady decline in value. Sure quality of life CAN dimish with age but is the life healthy 40 year old worth less than that of a healthy 5 year old?

Most deaths are tragic to different extents but I don't believe that the death of a child is any more tragic than that of an adult. What I do believe is that dying before your parents is more tragic than dying after them. In my eyes a 70 year old woman dealing with the death of her 55 year old daughter is equally as tragic as the 30 year old man dealing with the death of his 5 year old son.

So after your parents are gone....you're good to go.

I usually do a search before posting one of my blogs to see what others have said on the topic. I found the following link quite interesting:

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6939/1/1

duh

There has been a debate in our local paper about the existence of a set of traffic lights at a particular intersection. In the February 11th edition a reader wrote:

"Hopefully the light will remain to deter drivers who speed up the hill to get through it."

Mull that one over for a bit.

I'm ashamed to be of the same species with this individual.

sports team loyalty

What is the deal with some people and "their" team? Bob loves team A and Dave loves team B. If team A wins Bob will gloat to Dave and if team B loses he will ridicule Dave. I recently worked with some guys like this. Every Monday you'd hear "my team did well...how about yours" First guys, neither team is YOURS. Secondly, win or lose, you sitting on the sofa, drinking beer, watching the team play had no affect on the outcome of the game. You have nothing to gloat, ridicule or even lament about.

When someone is loyal to a team, what are they loyal to. It should be the players, seeing as they are the ones actually playing the game. But over time players come and go. The team they were loyal to 15 years ago no longer exists. They could love team A and hate team B. Over time with the right trades, theoretically, the lineups of each team could switch. Now this person loves this same group of guys he once hated. Coaches and owners change all the time as well. The only thing that is close to being constant (but still is not) is the city, name of the team and the logo. I suppose I can almost understand being loyal to your own city's team. But if your local hockey team is made up of mostly Europeans than it really doesn't make any sense.

In the early 80s I was a football fan for a couple of years. My fave team was the Atlanta Falcons. Why? Becuase the helmets were red, the logo looked cool and "Falcons" sounded cool. That's not much to hold on to. That coupled with the realization that basking in the glory of the work of others is empty made me lose interest shortly after.

I am now a big fan of the sport of paintball. (If golf and Nascar is a sport than so is paintball.) There are a couple of leagues in the US but I don't really follow them. I do, however, have a favourite team. The team is called DEMENTIA. I even have a favourite player...Tony Gallo. He's a good player and he's pretty sexy too. The best part of all is whether DEMENTIA wins or loses, I have a direct effect on the outcome.

shop and save

This phrase has bugged me for years. You CANNOT shop and save. I can save by NOT shopping. They should be saying what they mean: "shop and SPEND LESS than you would shopping elsewhere".

Next time you see a "shop and save" commercial, go to that place of business, grab some merchandise and ask for a fiver. That way you do indeed shop AND save. In fact there should be a law that forces them to do this....something about false advertising.

hernia surgery

I am currently recovering from hernia surgery. The procedure was done yesterday (Jan 5th).

Good thing: I'll be off work for at least 4 weeks

Bad thing: Thunder Bay liquor stores will be left unprotected


UPDATE: I got 7.5 weeks off. I will be returning to work February 28th.