(lygenztia *118) And now...for the "flip side" of the coin...

People are good, overall.

It’s in our nature to help each-other and we do it instinctively. Most of the time, without even thinking about it.

The other morning I was getting my morning Tim Horton’s coffee. One of the customers, a nicely dressed lady, took what could only be described as a wicked wipe out on the ice. She basically “went ass over tea kettle” (as my dad likes to say).

In an instant, before I could even get out of my car, 4 people were there to help her. They helped her up, helped calmed her………she was obviously shaken. Some were offering to buy her coffee, some offering to help her to her car. All were visibly and genuinely concerned.

Over a complete stranger. That’s pretty cool.

People are good, overall.

(lygenztia *117) You got a problem? Huh, do ya?

Why do some people have to be so miserable and inconsiderate? Is it in their nature? Do they gradually get this way from years of unhappiness, or do they simply “enjoy” being angry?

Case in point, I am at the grocery store the other day and the parking lot was busy. Not crammed, but busy. I am walking across the crosswalk to get in the store and in roars some crusty looking scrag, smoking a cigarette. She parks where she has clearly blocked one car in and has made it impossible for the other lane to get by. So, traffic because of her is reduced 50% and one person can't even get out.

She gets out of her car, takes a deep drag on her cigarette, throws it on the ground and casts a glance at me. All the time scowling at everyone…including me.

As she is wallowing in her anger and resentment at the human race, she looks over at me and says “you got a problem, asshole?”

I looked right at her and said..”honey, the only one with a problem is your poor, poor husband." (I have never met the man, but do I feel sorry for him.)

Oh ya...........she simply adored that little comment.

She swore at me some more and my laughing only fueled her rage. I think after that, she went in the store and told off a banana.

Poor, poor banana.

(lygenztia *116) HGTV..I hate thee.

HGTV may just be responsible for as many divorces as the internet. HGTV has caused North American home owners to be in a constant state of motion, tasks, planning and work.

Weekends are no longer about harmonious family relations. The “new” weekend is about getting up early on Saturday morning, rushing to Home Depot or Rona, buying “stuff” and spending the rest of the weekend installing it. (Don't beleive me? Head down to Home Depot on a saturday and look around at all the depressed husbands, pretending to look interested and eager.)

Anybody that watches HGTV will never actually complete, or enjoy, their home. Enjoying the home is simply not possible, because you have to constantly be tearing it apart and changing it.

Frustrated husbands, who are not carpenters, electricians, plumbers or drywallers, are expected to tear down their home at the foundation and rebuild it in less than a half an hour. (just like the show)

Men that don’t know a wrench from a hammer are expected to build a glass wall sitting room, because the guy on the show said it was “easy”. When men try to explain that they don’t actually know how, their wife gets mad and accuses them of being lazy, or not wanting their house to look like the one on TV.

Well, no actually ladies..it’s because sometimes we just don’t have a clue how to do the actual renovation.

This constant state of renovation that modern society is in, is not good for relationships. When your husband starts to look forward to Monday mornings more than Friday afternoons, you better start to watch something other than HGTV.

Or you might be watching the TV all alone.

(lygenztia *115) It's all about to change...pffht

Was talking to a financial advisor recently and had to laugh. I couldn’t help it.

The economy is in the tank, I get that. People have lost a good portion of their life savings…I get that. People will have to delay their retirement…I get that too.

Hard working, good people have watched their investment accounts, everything they worked for, dwindle away to next to nothing. Damn… I get that.

What I don’t get is how they can show me these fancy graphs that show that magically everything will be just fine in 2010. Perfect actually. Their beautiful graphs (complete with colour) have predicted without a doubt that in 2010, the mutual funds will rebound, we will all be rich and we will all be eating free chocolate from the big rock candy mountain. We will also be drinking free wine that will run in rivers from the North…it will all be ours for the taking.

So….they couldn’t predict the crash of 2008? (The worst financial disaster in the history of organized social economies.)

But, they can predict the rebound, without a shadow of a doubt?

Right now, my account, which I have held since 1990 has enough value (if cashed in) to carry us for about 4 months. That is not a long retirement.

So, don’t kid a kidder OK? It’ll come back, of course it will. But don’t you dare spit in the face of the hard working people that have lost their hard work and insult them by pretending to know what’s going to happen.

Because the reality is…nobody knows. Not even the fancy multi colour graphs.

(lygenztia *114) Facebook....the silent killer

Today I did something that I never thought I would do. I "deactivated" my Facebook account.

Facebook isn't evil. It's fun, it's a great way to stay in touch. It's a great way to vent.

It's also damn addicting. I got really active on Facebook about 6 months ago. Since that time, I spend way too much time there. I have only read one book in the last 6 months....and I love to read. No time to read, gotta look at my "friends" pictures and see their status!

One of the other more salient points are the Facebook "friends". At first you get all excited and add your co-workers. God bless every one of them. I work with some of the greatest people in the free world. But, there needs to be some boundaries. When they see photos of me loaded in a bar kissing a plant....I think they wonder.

Then there are the people that you add to your account that you vaguely know. They are your Facebook "friend", yet you see them at the grocery store and you do not even say "hello" to eachother. Weird....

It can be tiring and stressful. Having a Facebook account means having to "keep up" with the fun stuff that all of your other "friends" are doing. So, when your "friend" writes..."we're going to Bahamas" in their status, you can hardly come back with.."tonite, we are having a fondue with a guy we picked up hitch-hiking."

But don't deactivate your Facebook account in temerity. If you have the restraint to keep it all in perspective stay....and have fun.

It's fun...but it also can be a complete exposure of your soul. For the entire world to see. We all have skeletons in the closet.

But I think I want the skeletons to catch me reading a book.

(lygenztia *113) Appearances can be deceiving....

Went to lunch recently at one of my favourite burger haunts..North End Burger in Whitby. (or "Johnny Burger" to those that know the owner)

So...in I walk....anxious to get my feed of burger and fries and I see this young punk at the counter. All decked out in gangster clothing..looking the part. I think to myself, "great..just what the world needs...another punk ass hood."

Then the "punk ass hood" gave me a reality check that I haven't been able to quit thinking about. He was about 15....give or take. As he waited to place his order..a beautiful little girl about 8 years old came out of the washroom. She was not dressed properly for the weather....and her clothes looked like they had seen too many winters...and not enough washings.

The little girl stands beside the boy, he places his order..then he places her order for her...listening close as she whispered in a shy way. He took great care to see that it was perfect...exactly what she wanted. It was obvious that it was his little sister. He counted out the money, from loonies, quarters..dimes. It was also painfully obvious that he had just enough to pay. Then he did the most amazing thing....

He said to the owner... "Hey mister, here is the 30 cents that I was short the last time I was here. I didn't forget." and he hands the owner 2 dimes and 2 nickels. I felt like an absolute heel. Here, I had made a complete judgement on a kid, that was a complete mis-judgement on my adult part.

Eventually, we all got our food,and I ended up in a place where I could see the two kids. The little girl adored her brother...he made sure she got napkins. They shared a Coke...he made sure she got more than he did. Then, he did something that touched me so much, I couldn't finish my lunch and had to leave.

He took out a little toy stuffed bear and gave it to her..it must have been her birthday. Her birthday..... and here was big brother (who was just a kid himself) acting like a man. He was making her feel special and loved.....taking her out to lunch, seeing that she got everything she needed...and giving her a present. They way she reacted, you would have thought he just gave her the keys to heaven.

I will never forget that little white bear with a tiny bow around its neck.

And I bet the little girl won't either.

(lygenztia *112) Keep plugging away...this too will pass.

Times are bad. When you live in an area that is almost completely reliant on the auto industry, it can be difficult to have a “normal” conversation. You have to tap dance around a lot of topics…because you don’t want to upset others, or hit a nerve.

Autoworkers are fed up. They just want to work and do their job. They have had enough of the rhetoric, posturing and media. Almost nobody proposes solutions. Almost everybody is assigning blame.

The spin-off industries are fed up. They just want to get their customers and orders back and to have a business deposit that is worth taking to the bank.

The global economy is in a bad state, this problem is not only affecting North America it is world wide. Let’s face it..the autoworkers and auto makers had nothing to do with this mess. President Bush started this whole mess, by inducing the U.S. banks to give mortgages to people that had no business getting mortgages. Having no job, typically makes it hard to cover your mortgage payment. That caused the collapse of many U.S. banks and a resulting hesitation of other banks to loan money. Simple.

We are completely tied to the U.S. economy, so even though our banks are stable..the resulting chaos affects the great white north. That’s just the way the global economy works.

To me, the media is making the problem even worse. There is a problem no doubt, but to be constantly subjected to “doom and gloom” is wearing on the entire nation. And, it is severely affecting the spending of those that are working.

Approximately 6% of Canada is unemployed. Which means 94% are working. Government cannot get us out of this one. It is up to us, as a Nation.

For the 94% that are working…you have to help out. Buy a car, do some renovations, make sure you vacation in Ontario at least once this summer…..ignore the doom and gloom and live.

Things are going to change, but we’ll get through this one.

(lygenztia *111) For crying out loud, push the button.

Ever loaned your camera to someone to take a picture of you, or something else? Cameras nowadays are so unbeleivably easy to work that it is foolproof. Well..that is the key word..."foolproof"

Who in the heck wants to stand in front of a group of posing people and admit that they are a complete idiot? "Duuh..how does this thing work?"

We've all seen this..everybody poses, smiles abound..waiting patiently and Einstein yells over.."Hey, how does this thing work?" It is unreal, the camera is turned on..there is a LARGE button (the biggest one on the body of the camera) that you push. If you wanna get really fancy there is a toggle switch to zoom it in, or out.

So, inevitably the idiot looks at the camera like its a complicated mathematic equation and asks for help. On the way over, the person that is going to help usually hears this from the idiot..."Oh, I think I got it." Yes, yes of course, it was all so complicated...pushing that button.

Everybody mutters under their breath.."Oh for crissakes" and the magic of the spontaneous pose is lost. All because a fool can't push a button.

"Say Cheese"

(lygenztia *110) Mmmmmm..I am going to have some more of those!

Have you ever went to an "all you can eat buffet"and watched some of the customers? I enjoy these types of places, especially "The Pizza Factory" in Peterborough. I typically eat two plates...then I am done.

But watching others.....can be a freaky, sad, disgusting, shocking and funny sight.

Witness the "I am going to get my money's worth" type eater. These people are just gross. They eat and eat and eat...and waddle up to the heat trays like a lion that is about to kill a zebra. It takes them about 23 seconds to fix their plate and they eat real fast, because they have to beat everyone else back up. They are terrified that someone else might get the last deep fried cheese stick.

Being an inquisitive type and observer of the human condition I once asked the waitress.."what is the nastiest thing you see at the buffet?" Her answer???

"Oh honey, you haven't seen nothing. Some of these people eat 5 or 6 plates, then rest for about a half hour and then go up and start eating again."

Oh my gawsh....wow.

Then there is another favourite of mine. The cute elderly couple that come in and are going to "get their money's worth". It takes them about 23 minutes to fix their plate. They have a half bowl of soup, a quarter plate of food and then share a piece of pie and a glass of Jell-O. Then, they sit back, pat their bellies and give eachother a sly look that says.."Well Mabel, we sure ate this place out of house and home."

In reality, they paid 22 bucks and probably ate about 3 dollars worth of food. But hey, it's a day out, some activity, exercise and fresh air.

The sad types? The parents that are shovelling food in their kids mouths like a snowplow in a North Bay blizzard. You always hear the same refrain from these types...
"I paid good goddam money for your dinner, now you eat... so we can get our money's worth." (Welcome to an eating disorder, you poor child.)

But the worst? The foodwaster. These people really piss me off. They get a plate of food, eat one french fry, then leave the rest of it and go up for another plate. Overeating is gross, but at least its going somewhere. The waster is a selfish low-life that is trying to look "dignified" and "classy" in an all you can eat buffet. That's kinda like putting lipstick on a pig.

They can be a strange place, the "all you can eat buffet". Nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.

(lygenztia *109) No worries, we're all gonna play in the NHL.

I like that Canadians get upset at hockey games. I like that we have the odd dust up.
It makes me feel good to know that we are passionate about something…anything. And, if that something is hockey….. then so be it.

We have proven that we don’t care about politics, taxes or pressing social issues.

We don’t call our politicians when our soldiers are dying overseas, but we flood their phone lines when they threaten to take Don Cherry off the air.

Some jerk parent can attack a referee as he comes off the ice and nobody cares, because we are “passionate about the game”. The guy didn't even get charged.

Our voter turnout is just over 50%…because we have given up on our Country. But, God bless, we haven’t given up on hockey.

We'll yell and scream at a hockey coach because our kid missed a shift. We dissect, observe and analyze everything that volunteer Coach does. Yet, we won't even take the time to read our kids report card, or ask their Teacher how they are doing in class.

We’ll get up at 5AM in the morning for a 6AM hockey practice..and have no problem with it. But we’ll also go off on Workmens Compensantion for 3 weeks for deer hunting season, or call in sick to work to watch “American Idol” or reruns of “The Three Stooges.”

Yup, we’re passionate about Hockey. Best game on the planet.

And that, is what is going to propel Canadians through the new economy.

Somebody pass me a beer eh.

(lygenztia *108) It's off the ice, as much as on....

Went to get my skates sharpened recently at Pro-Cut. It's the only place that we get our skayes sharpened. Not sure what Dave's secret is...pretty sure I don't care, but do I ever like the edge he puts on them.

The funny thing, once you start to go there, you have to stay in a committed relationship. Dave can tell if you have taken your skates somewhere else to be sharpened, just by looking at the edge. One faithful customer once remarked to me if Dave knows you took your skates somewhere else, "it's like getting caught cheating on your wife."

Just kidding, he just smiles, shakes his head and puts HIS edge on them.

But another remarkable thing happens when you pass through the hallowed halls of Pro-Cut. Lots of people are around talking....hockey. Moms, dads, players, grammas, grampas, coaches, refs...you name it.

Every conversation is serious, within its own context and age grouping and it is so interesting.

Dad (son plays Minor Atom AA) says to his buddy..
"Hey, did you hear about the kid down in "A" that might be coming up to us next year?"

Grampa (grandson plays House League, tyke) says to everyone that will listen
"Hey, my grandson got his first assist on saturday!!"

Coach (coaches Minor Midget AAA)
"Hey, did you see that Smith kid that plays for the Marlies? Man, he is going to go to the OHL."

Ref (doing house league peewee) says to his buddy..
"Hey, how many games did you get last week?"

Ref (doing Junior A) says to his buddy...
"Hey, did you see the Coach get punted last week for spraying water on a reffy?"

And all of the conversations are so meaningful, so interesting and capture the attention of the listener.

And that is Hockey, as much as it is the game on the ice.

God love Pro-Cut
http://www.pro-cut.ca/