Is it technically wrong to smack on the side of the head anyone who's cheering for France?
Bonus question: If France is victorious, would it really be morally incorrect to grab the nearest France fan and hang them by their toes from the nearest tree?
I heard an interesting conspiracy theory this evening. It goes as follows: "China ordered its puppet state, North Korea, to launch the recent missiles for one purpose: So it could monitor the frequencies used by the American missile warning system situated in Alaska. Why? So that they can jam it when they decide to attack Taiwan."
Don't know if I believe it, but it's certainly interesting. What's also interesting is that the last time North Korea tested missiles was just after the space shuttle was launched. Guess what was launched yesterday! Mere coincidence?
I got to spend the afternoon calling up people in Kelowna, telling them that one of the new volunteers of BC Digital Divide had just taken 7 computers up to their commmunity. Each of them would be a recipient of a computer.
The refurbishing and lifting and moving and driving and setting up of all these computers i snow mostly done by others. I get to hear the pure joy in the voices of the recipients. My life is truly blessed!
However, this past month I ran into a "gotcha". Shaw is strongly advertising 1,000 free minutes to several international destinations, including the UK. I made a call to England last month which lasted almost an hour. I had the option to call on my computer via Skype but chose to try out Shaw's service to an overseas location.
Everthing was fine until the bill arrived. There was a surcharge for $25.21!!! I immediately called Customer Service to see why it was there. The customer service rep asked if the call was to a cel phone. I responded honestly: "I don't know." The reason she asked is because apparently there's some fine print that the 1,000 free minutes doesn't include calls to Cel phones.
She was very kind and reversed the charges for me this time. But I doubt I'll ever use their service for overseas calls again. I just don't see myself asking someone whether the number I'm calling is a cel phone and I doubt others will either. My prediction is that there'll be a major media controversy about this later this year, much like the Rogers reverse billing fiasco a decade ago that effectively forced Rogers out of the province.
I do understand Shaw's position: They're billed for such calls so they have to pass the costs onto the consumer but they really should try to take more steps to warn the consumer against this hidden surcharge. Though the fact that I was told that their cost is "a few cents" and yet they're charging $0.46 per minute for calls to UK cel phones isn't going to help their case in the court of public opinion!
August 11 - 13, I'm organizing a Virtual Tourist "meeting" in Vancouver. You can read more about it here. In case you're not familiar with Virtual Tourist (VT for short), it's a travel site where 100% of the content is provided by members like me. So rather than getting the overly positive marketing spin on every hotel, restaurant, and destination, instead you get honest opinions from a variety of people around the world. The online forums are superb. Post a question about even the most esoteric thing and you'll usually get half a dozen answers within a few hours.
Once in a while, given members in a particular community host a "VT Meeting". This typically consists of dinner on a Friday, breakfast, a walking tour, lunch, and dinner on the Saturday, and a parting breakfast and optional second tour on the Sunday. I've attended such events in Los Angeles and Toronto and smaller ones in Chicago. They're great fun!
With Vancouver being so beautiful this summer, I thought it long over due to host a Vancouver get together. If you'd like to attend, just sign up for free at Virtual Tourist and join in the fun!
After the second World Cup game, I was pooped. Over the past 2 days I had gotten a total of perhaps 9 hours of sleep. So I took a rare afternoon nap ot recharge my batteries some. By 7pm I was in that state of being neither energetic nor tired, just sort of restless. My age old cure for that was to take my bicyle out for a spin.
It wasn't especially crowded around False Creek by that time, with just enough people dotting the path to make it interesting.
Science World's renovations are still ongoing.
This is not David Lam Park, but the one further west, the name of which I keep forgetting. The sun was causing some interesting shadows on the building. What you see is actually not one shot but 4 vertical ones stitched together.
The powers at be at False Creek had hung a gigantic Canadian flag from the old yellow crane.
It's often said that every village has its idiot. I learned today that so does every set of soccer fans. I woke up at 6:30am to join my friend, Dennis, at the Sunset Grill in Kitsilano to watch the England - Portugal match. Later, two more friends, Alex & Anna, joined us.
Afterwards we drove over to Commercial Drive to watch the Brazil - France match. Before we even got close, there were Portugal flags flyin' a plenty, celebrating their unexpected victory. The Drive was also packed with Brazilian fans, readying themselves for their almost certain victory. But we did find a table at a chic place called "Stella". Little did we know what we had stepped into.
Admidst an ocean of yellow Brazilian jerseys in every bar, restaurant, and pool hall, we happened to place ourselves beside a table of French fans ... and loud, obnoxious ones who were under the illusion that their team had an excellent chance of being victorious! Throughout the match they were banging on the tables, throwing out F-bombs every few seconds, and just generally shouting & screaming. Keep in mind that this was not a sports bar but a fairly nice restaurant/bar. Even my pregnant friend, Anna, wanted to whack one of these boors.
To add insult to injury, France won. They actually beat the best team in the world. It was just wrong, oh so wrong. :-(
Life is full of surprises. Sometimes you're walking along your regular path when suddenly you come across something absolutely magnificent and unexpected. Most of us are so caught up in our busy everyday lives, that we miss the opportunity to soak in and appreciate the great beauty of such moments. Little do we realize at the time that they may not be around forever. Seasons change, time moves on, and before we know it, the special moment is gone. Had we taken the time to breathe it in, to spend more time with it, perhaps, just perhaps, our lives would have moved forward in a very different, much more wondrous way.
I enjoyed an absolutely wonderful last day of the first half of 2006, setting the stage for what I know will be an even better second half! Hoping your 2006 - Part 2 goes well too!
Here's a great article about my friend's new company, along with a colour photo I took at their launch party. The company in question is Elastic Entertainment, which I think is going to be a growing force in the months & years to come.
I'm half-German so you know where my loyalties lie!!! :-)
I actually got up at 6:30am in order to go watch the game down at a pub-restaurant in Kitsilano, along with 3 friends, plus friends of theirs. Great fun!!!
Here's an interesting Canada Day quiz in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. It was sent to me by a lawyer friend in Seattle. He got 70% right. I got 75%. And you?
One couple who received a computer from BCDD were Ales & Hana. They're from the Czech Republic and moved here with practically nothing. But they're prepared to work hard and build a life for themselves. Ales has gone into business for himself. If you need work done, I'd highly recommend you call him for a quote.
I was out in Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver, visiting my uncle, and captured these photos in his garden.
There's an interesting set of volleyball courts set up beside the south end of Cambie Bridge in Vancouver. If you'd like to find out more, you can click here. Here are some shots I took there last night:
I had so much fun this past weekend watching the World Cup that I plan to watch at least 2 of these 3 upcoming matches:
Friday, June 30 - 7:30am : Germany vs. Argentina
Saturday, July 1 - 7:30am : England vs. Portugal
Saturday, July 1 - 11:30am : Brazil vs. France
The times shown are Pacific Daylight Savings Time
As I had hoped, the publicity from the program changed all that. We now have 2 - 3 people who will be able to help us get computers to the needy folks of Kelowna. And in the community is a pastor named John Kellogg, who is going to help us with the distribution once the computers arrive. What's most interesting is that Father Kellogg was a big time techie before he entered the seminary!
Ultimately I hope that a few people in Kelowna can form their own little BCDD "pod" so that donations can be received and redistributed entirely within the community.
People helping people, albeit of their own free will - my kind of socialism!!! :-)
This Vancouver production is truly spectacular, featuring a great cast, a well designed set, and terrific sound. It only runs until July 16th. I'd recommend you go see it before it ends.
If asked, I'd assume these Uhura wannabes would tell you that they look cool. But at a deeper level, I wonder if there's a parallel with drugs. Drug addicts have trouble coping with reality and their daily fixes help them separate themselves from it. Perhaps these earbud users also have trouble dealing with reality and their new affixed technology provides them with a coping mechanism?
What I fear is the next step forward into Dorkiness will be visors that provide real-time video of somewhere else ... anywhere else!
After Portgual beat the Netherlands 1-0 today at the World Cup in Germany, I'm sure the entire country of Portugal has exploded in grand celebration. Pretty much the same thing has occurred here amongst the Portugese community. My friend, Ravena, was down on Commercial Drive today and captured these wonderful photos:
The corridor along West Broadway, between MacDonald and Alma has had a long history of Greek influence. Unfortunately in recent decades, much of it has dissipated. But some influential public and private concerns have brought back Greek Day in a big way.
About 6 blocks of the West Broadway street were closed off to all traffic and people came out in droves.
This last one is a shot of Premier Gordon Campbell, along with Mayor Sam Sullivan in the background. Great to see these politicians of our great province joining in the fun!
Here's a photo I took on the walk home from Bard on the Beach. I love the contrast of colours and various shapes.
On a comfortable summer day like this, how many Vancouverites are thinking about a rocket being fueled on the other side of the Pacific Ocean?
Yesterday on the nationally syndicated Hugh Hewitt radio program, Canadian writer, Mark Steyn, pointed out how ironic it would be if the U.S. military shot out of the sky a North Korean test missile that was headed towards Vancouver. Why the irony? Because of the vociferous way our past federal government opposed getting involved in the missile shield program.
If you're interested, you can read more here. Just search for "Vancouver".
These might look like mere bagels to you, but in fact they are authentic bagels from Montreal and are ABSOLUTELY delicious! They were hand delivered by my friends, Micheline & Paul, who are gracing the Left Coast for the few days. Merci beaucoup, mes amis!
Yesterday the Supreme Court of Canada threw out decades of precedence of a sensible no-fault divorce law by ruling that the bitterness of a B.C. woman must be a factor in deciding whether she continued to receive financial support from her ex-husband. Sherry Leskun's husband left her after 20 years of marriage and ever since she has been very bitter, supposedly incapable of working.
Ms. Leskun had a well paying job at a bank and succesfully argued on her own in front of the Supreme Court. So she is clearly not lacking in intelligence or drive. Yet the "higher minds" of the court ruled her to be a victim and thus deserving of support.
This surely must represent the pinnacle of twisted Liberal thinking: S/he who cries loudest is most entitled. Mark my words, this continued "be a victim, get whatever you want" thinking is quickly destroying the fabric of our society. Just look at the poor example it is showing to children: "Don't get what you want? Just threaten child abuse or human rights violation and all adults around you will give you whatever you want!"
When my own parents separated after 33 years of marriage, I stepped in, mainly to protect my mom's fragile mental state. But I didn't continue to coddle her forever because I intuitively knew that she eventually had to stand up for herself. And she did, stronger than ever. All of us play the role of the victim at times but it's completely unhealthy to keep on doing so in perpetuity. The fact that the highest court in the land is supporting this behaviour is not in the best interests of Ms. Leskun, nor anyone else.
I don't know about you, but I've met several drama queens in my life. I thus have to wonder if certain women are going to go into full actress mode whenever they appear in front of the court, playing up on what is clearly an anti-male bias. Don't believe me? Here are some quotes from a recent Barbara Kay column in the National Post:
I had a rather stressful day so I was itching to get out on my bicycle for a long ride this evening. I'm glad I did! Along the way I took a number of photos. What a beautiful city I'm lucky enough to reside in!
