Location, location, location!

The old addage about making money in business being about location, location, location, can be extended to several things in life besides locating a successful business. House buying comes to mind quickly as does finding a job, and more recently, even protesting.

That's right even protests in the wrong place will be failures. Case in point, the series of protests by the Tamil community in Toronto. As they continue their protests on the streets of Toronto and in front of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, they claim more elaborate traffic stopping protests may be on the way since their message is not getting across to government. Perhaps there is a reason their message is not being heard: they are protesting to the wrong government.

Any military action or international support/aid directives come from the federal government, not the Ontario government. The Federal Government of Canada is located in Ottawa, not Toronto and therefore, much to the displeasure of many Torontonians, the power to do anything internationally or even nationally resides in Ottawa, not Toronto. Given this fact, any protest that deals with national or international situations would be better served by being held in the nation's capital, not Toronto.

Maybe, since the protests in Toronto are doing nothing more than angering a large population, it may be time to move these protests to Ottawa where the power to take international action resides. Just a thought.

To Dreamland and back

On the seemingly endless train ride home I generally try to sleep but very rarely do I ever achieve my goal. Thursday was an exception though. I had fallen into dreamland but it was far from peaceful. In my slumber I had totally lost track of time and had the scare of my life: I thought I missed my stop. That somehow I had slept through my stop (which includes 15 minutes of sitting idle) and was heading back into the City. While still mostly asleep I realized the noise on the train was too loud for me to have missed my stop. That conclusion only lead to an even worse thought: my work day was just beginning and had not just ended. In a panic I jerked awake to get my bearings and put my mind at ease. Unfortunately, once I realized where I was and which direction I was heading, I was unable to fall back to sleep.

After that incident maybe it is best that I don’t fall asleep on the train. It would be a lot easier on my heart anyhow.

May the 4th be with you!

Shortly after I got to work this morning and plugged in my iPod to my iLive player a song from Star Wars came on. Like most other times when music sans words comes on I skipped it. But then I decided listening to the music from Star Wars would be fun for the day. So totally oblivious to anything other than getting the work day finished, I began my listening with A New Hope.

Perhaps there was some cosmic reason why I chose today of all days to listen to Star Wars music. Did the force have anything to do with it? As it turns out, today is Star Wars day. Who knew such a day existed. I surely didn't but I am not overly surprised at the same time. The timing of my music choice is just a little curious though.

April 2009 Quotes

This World is bullshit.
- Fiona Apple

…an uninformed public tends to confuse scholarship with magicianry, and love life seems to be that factor which requires the largest quantity of magical tinkering.
- Isaac Asimov (Foundation and Empire)

So, you fucked this up again
- Our Lady Peace (Shaking)

Just because you're winnin'
Don't mean you’re the lucky ones
- Guns N' Roses (Breakdown)

Sometimes we're so far off the beaten track
We'll get taken for a ride
- Guns N' Roses (Breakdown)

But if someone really cared
Well they'd take the time to spare
A moment to try and understand
Another one's despair
- Guns N' Roses (Breakdown)

Remember in this game we call life
That no one said it's fair
- Guns N' Roses (Breakdown)

If I see the morning hours
I'll have one more yesterday
- Megadeth (99 Ways to Die)

But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regime of their barbarous ancestors.
- Thomas Jefferson

The great monopoly in this country is the money monopoly. So long as that exists our old variety and freedom and individual energy of development are out of the question….The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men...who necessarily, by very reason of their own limitations, chill and check and destroy genuine economic freedom.
- Woodrow Wilson

…it takes time to learn many new things and that if they are not learned right, there is a danger a man may lose his self confidence…
- Queen's Printer (Canada One Hundred 1867-1967)

…despite the supreme goodness of God, the nature of man, in so far as he is composed of mind and body, cannot escape being sometimes faulty and deceptive.
- Rene Descartes (Meditations on First Philosophy)

…humans have the elements of control within their grasp, but are too frightened to use them.
- Queen's Printer (Canada One Hundred 1867-1967)

…we should be careful not to lose our freedom in too vigorous attempts to save it.
- Louis St. Laurent

Canada keeps her word and always will.
- Charles Lynch

And if the time ever comes when such newspapers dictate or control the thinking of Canadians on national issues, then freedom ends.
- John Diefenbaker

…the chief evil was that fewer than one thousand persons made the basic decisions in our society.
- J Murray Beck (Pendulum of Power: Canada's Federal Elections)

…the only limitations on how far a student should be allowed to go in pursuit of his education should be the brains in his head and not the money in his father's pocketbook.
- the NDP party (noted in J. Murray Beck's Pendulum of Power: Canada's Federal Elections)

…when old beliefs weaken and dim the people become "charisma-hungry" and want a reassuring leader-symbol.
- Erick Ericson

The human mind resents control.
- Isaac Asimov (Second Foundation)

Every human being lived behind an impenetrable wall of choking mist within which no other but he existed.
- Isaac Asimov (Second Foundation)

…the spell of power never quite releases its hold.
- Isaac Asimov (Second Foundation)

…all life is a series of accidents, to be met with by improvisations.
- Isaac Asimov (Second Foundation)

If it's something you can't help, why hurt yourself over it?
- Isaac Asimov (Second Foundation)

A private point of view means nothing; an official expression of opinion carries weight and can be dangerous.
- Isaac Asimov (Foundation's Edge)

A person who expects the completely sophisticated and who guards against it is quite apt never to think of the primitive.
- Isaac Asimov (Foundation's Edge)

…zeroing in tightly on a particular problem is self-defeating. Why not relax and talk about something else, and your unconscious mind-not laboring under the weight of concentrated thought-may solve the problem for you.
- Isaac Asimov (Foundation's Edge)

I hate this feeling of forever talking to myself.
- Isaac Asimov (Foundation's Edge)

If I ask, it matters that I be answered…
- Isaac Asimov (Foundation's Edge)

I don't trust my cowardice not to sieze me by the throat and shame me for the rest of my life.
- Isaac Asimov (Foundation's Edge)

Savings amid tax harmonization

Recently the Ontario government agreed to harmonize the GST and PST taxes into one tax. This tax will now apply to more products and services than before because some of those products that were exempt from GST will not be exempt from the HST. In essence, this harmonization will cost each Ontario citizen more money to live. At least I can save $20 by not buying a new wallet because I am not going to have any money to put in it once this tax is implemented. Guess I’ll have to start shopping in the US soon.

Passwords

One of the programs we use at work has been set up to be fairly secure. Every 60 days or perhaps even 60 uses the program asks the user to create a new password. There are limits on what can be used and prevents recent duplications so every time I am asked to provide a new password it takes several tries before I actually stumble on one I can use. And of course this happens when my mind is not in any shape to remember a new password. Today is no exception so I have begun searching for words or terms that probably should not be allowed but are. Childish, I know, but it is all I can do to get back at the man.

One of my last passwords I chose I thought I would have no trouble remembering. It had to do with one of my biggest interests and it was even contained in a picture I used as a desktop background for a while. As it turns out I had more trouble remembering my password when it was always right in front of me than when I came up with some random word to use. Just goes to show that sometimes the most obvious is the hardest thing to see.

White noise

While trying to sleep at work this morning I realized just how much white noise there is in an office building. The hum of the cpu, the hum of air ventilation, two radio's competing for dominance from different corners of the office, the drone of people's voices while talking on the phone or to each other and noises from construction being done outside. Curiously enough there was no sound of keys being pushed.

If this stupid post is no indication for you, I am extremely bored today and have no motivation to do anything in the way of productive work. It is going to be a long, long day.

Useless Fact About Me

I realized something about me while having my blood stolen from me in the name of health. I have different views when it comes to seeing blood depending on the circumstances. I have no problem seeing blood when it is being taken from me with a needle but I don’t really enjoy seeing it from a cut, at least not in large quantities. In other words, I would make a terrible crime scene investigator, cop, health professional and any other occupation that may come into contact with large quantities of blood. Good thing I am an office bitch then, I guess.

Why Won't You Stop

The other day I went to a walk in clinic to have a spot on my back checked out. It had been bleeding for at least a day and showed no signs of stopping, even though the leak did slow down. So there I am sitting in the waiting area with no obvious signs of sickness while the others were sitting with swollen ankles/feet, swollen eye and various cough, sniffles and sneezes. I felt like quite the idiot. The spot on my back was so small and the blood was flowing so slowly that it paled in comparison to the needs of the others.

Anyhow, the spot was nothing and they pretty much had the bleeding stopped before I left but to get even with me for wasting their time, they made me take a blood test.

Stupid Is In The Air

Not sure what is special about today but there seems to be an unusually high amount of stupid people out there today. First off, a lady about a third my size decided to walk into my path needlessly (she angled into it from a safer position) and had she not taken evasive actions right away, it might have been ugly. Secondly, a few minutes later as I was exiting a building and heading down some stairs, another lady walked straight into my path. I moved to avoid her and she countered by moving in front of me again. I so wanted to continue on my path and send her back down the stairs but instead I veered to avoid this idiot. Lastly, a lady, walking on the sidewalk, stopped to allow a car to turn into a parking garage. If that was not stupid enough on its own, there was no one around her; the car would have been able to turn once she passed by.

Today is going to be one of those days.