Itchy The Bear

The term anthropomorphize refers to the act of attributing human characteristics to non-human subjects, be they animals, plants, politicians or other inanimate objects. But if ever there was a creature that was a prime candidate for anthropomorphism, it is the bear. If you are one of those people who are ardent people watchers, you would enjoy watching bears – from a safe distance, of course. Bears seem so human in so many ways.  Anyone who’s ever spent any amount of time observing bears will notice that they usually appear to be just kind of bumbling their way through life, just like so many of the humans that we all know and love. I can see myself and my friends in many of the actions and behaviors of bears.

It Is The Silence That I Remember Most

Last summer my wife and I celebrated our 30^th wedding anniversary. After we got married, we went on a brief, one-week honeymoon at Hecla, here in Manitoba. But we had already decided that we wanted to go somewhere exotic for our real honeymoon and we were already planning a big trip. We were both into our 30’s and we knew that we wanted to start a family soon, so we decided to get at least one big trip in before we had kids and then, if we got to do more travel later, that would be great, and if not, that would be fine, too.

Memories of My Mom

I recently lost my mom. She was 97. In her final year she had some struggles. But the other 96? Healthy, happy and active. Not too bad at all. I will grieve but I will do so privately and it will not take long. It’s hard to mourn for someone who lived the long and bountiful life that she lived. My mother was the epitome of the phrase “a life well lived.” We should all do so well.

Thirty Years and Counting

The Most Bizarre Phone Call Ever

It started while I was dating a woman I met at church. Her name was Jan. We went out for about 3 months. The first 2 months were great but, as we got into the 3^rd month, things went sour. It was almost as if someone had flipped a switch. We starting picking at each other, getting on each other’s nerves, always being kind of annoyed. Just not great. 

I’d Like To Help You But…..

I’d like to help you but, frankly, I really couldn’t care less about you and your piddly little problems…..

I Miss You, Dad

I don’t know who said this old quote first. I’ve looked it up several times and there have always been multiple variations attributed to different people. So I’m just going to give you my spin on it:

“When I was 18 years old, my father was the stupidest man on Earth. When I reached the age of 25, I was astonished at how much wisdom he had acquired in just 7 years.”

I think most sons can relate to that. Most of us had that kind of relationship with our fathers at some point in our lives. I certainly did.

Thirty Years Ago Today: Happy Anniversary, Rob & Leanne

It started on Friday night. I had planned on working late to reorganize some databases. I had just taken the databases offline and started the REORG utilities when a co-worker, Josie, called to tell me that I should head for home right away. Her words, "Go home now or you won't be going home at all." There was a blizzard descending on Winnipeg and it was going to be a good one. So I grabbed a portable terminal and headed for home.

The Sights And Sounds Of Granville

I had intended to have this post up weeks ago. It was supposed to be a photo essay about Granville Island in Vancouver. But photo essays are hard to do without photos and I’ve been having a hard time processing our images from BC. I have managed to turn my back into a pretzel and sitting in front of my computer is proving to be one of the most uncomfortable places in the entire house. So photos are being processed, albeit very slowly. I can’t process photos because I screwed up my back and the way I screwed up my back was by….. (are you ready for some irony?)….. picking up a camera bag. Write a song about that, Alanis Morissette! 

An All-Too-Brief Four Days on Vancouver Island

We just got back from 2 weeks in British Columbia and it was a great trip. The bulk of our time was spent in Vancouver but we spent the first 4 days in Comox with my cousin Sue and her husband, Garth.

ThePianoGuys Get Close To Home

It’s 3 a.m. and I’m sitting in front of the computer typing this and listening to ThePianoGuys. We went to see them in concert at the Centennial Concert Hall last night. They were fantastic (as expected)! Such brilliant musicians with some of the best patter you’ll ever hear.

Telescope

Warning: If you are interested in astronomy and astrophysics, you might find this interesting (or you might not). If you are not interested in astronomy and astrophysics, you will probably find this to be an excellent cure for insomnia. And that’s okay. I’m writing this more for me than anyone else because I think the science behind this is incredible!

I saw a fascinating program the other night and I just watched it again. It has my inner nerd bouncing off the walls. The program is called “Telescope” and it is about the design and construction of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The JWST is the next step in the evolution of space telescopes beyond Hubble. It is necessary because, believe it or not, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has already reached some of its design limitations.

Debbie's New Shirt

Pour yourself a glass of wine. A big one. Or a Bushmills and Ginger, if you prefer. This is going to take a while…..

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Winter has finally arrived. It took its sweet time coming this year and that was just fine with me. Lots of people kept talking about how “lucky” we were this year. It was so mild and so warm. We were just lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky. I kept wanting to scream, “SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! JUST BE QUIET! YOU’RE GOING TO JINX IT!” But they didn’t shut up and it’s here now and all the “lucky” people are now sitting in coffee shops grumbling about the cold and ordering more coffee because they’re afraid to attempt the walk back to the car.

But, even with the cold weather and the snow, it still didn’t feel like winter for me. Something was missing and I couldn’t figure out what. I finally figured it out the other day. No Dukoral commercials. They were always one of my sure signs of winter. Late Fall/early Winter, as sure as the geese heading south, the Dukoral commercials would head north. I don’t know where they went but they’re missing-in-action this year.

Scientists Discover New Element

The heaviest element known to science was recently discovered by physicists at Caltech. The element, tentatively named ADMINISTRATIUM, has no protons or electrons and thus has an atomic number of 0. However, it does have 1 chief neutron, 75 senior vice neutrons, 125 vice neutrons and 111 assistant vice neutrons. This gives it an atomic mass of 312. The 312 particles are held together in a nucleus by a force that involves the continuous exchange of meson-like particles called morons.

Things It Took Me 60 Years To Figure Out…. And A Few Things I Didn’t....

In keeping with the theme of my last post,

Things it took me 60 years to figure out.....

It’s My Party And I’ll Cry If I Want To

My birthday is approaching….. rapidly. Like a freight train rumbling off a cliff. It is a “milestone” birthday. You know, the ones that end in 0? One of those birthdays. And, sadly, the first digit is not a 5. (heavy sigh)

Life Lesson #1. The Businessman and The Son

There was a man who had built a successful business from the ground up. Now, advanced in years, he wanted to retire. His son wanted to take over the company from his father but the father wasn’t sure that his son was ready. They had many discussions about it and the son was becoming increasingly frustrated with his father’s reluctance to turn the company over to him.

A Dummy's Guide to Restaurant Terminology

Winnipeg is blessed with a multitude of restaurants of every variety you might want to name. There are places on the internet that will tell you that Winnipeg has more restaurants per capita than any other city in North America. Whether or not this is true, I cannot say, but we all know that pretty much everything on the web is true.

The nice thing about having so many restaurants to choose from is that a great many of them are really good. By a simple process of natural selection, the bad ones die while the good ones flourish. We have several restaurants which we consider our favourites and which we frequent on a fairly regular basis (one of the things about being retired is that you have more time to eat out. The fact that you are actually earning less income does not occur to retired people). But even though we have several favourites, it’s also nice to try out new ones from time to time to see what other undiscovered favourites might be lurking out there.

And You Think You’re Having A Bad Day….

Unlucky driver or just plain bad driver? You decide.

I live on the western side of Winnipeg in an area called Charleswood. There is a 1,100 acre greenspace called Assiniboine Park and Forest very close to where I live. It’s a big park! It has 3 main entrances off of Roblin Blvd, the main one in the middle of the park and two more on the southeast and southwest corners.

One Saturday morning I was out running errands. I was driving past the park and I noticed that the police had set up a speed trap at the main entrance. When I got to the southeast entrance there was a second speed trap and they had stopped someone and were in the process of ticketing him. I remember the car and the driver very clearly. I remember the car because I'm a car guy. I remember cars. I remember the driver because he looked really mad.

Proudly Canadian

It’s Friday night and it’s been a terrible week in Canada. We lost two servicemen on our own soil to senseless acts of violence. I’m not going to call it terrorism because, frankly, it’s too soon to know what the murderers’ motivations were. But calling them senseless acts of violence seems like understating the obvious.

I am sitting here watching coverage of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo’s body being transported back to Hamilton along the Highway of Heroes. There are tears in my eyes. I, like many others, have spent time in the last 2 days thinking about what it means to be Canadian. It is not a simple question and it definitely does not have a simple answer.

2013: The Year In Review

So 2014 has arrived and that means that 2013 is now behind us. All together now, “Thank God!” The world did not end in 2012 as predicted and 2013 did everything in its power to make us wish it had.

First the good news. Under the current laws of physics, there is no way that 2013 can be repeated - ever!