- $400,000 in student loan debt is too much to be a lawyer in New York :: “The size of this account is extremely unusual, but not surprising given that the customer took out 32 loans to pursue undergraduate, law and masters of law studies and has not made a single monthly payment over his 26-year student loan history,” Ms. Holler said. “We are performing an extensive review of his extraordinary case, and if we identify any errors we will quickly rectify them.”
- The best Canada Day e-card I have seen all day via
- “Moneyball” is in trouble :: The last-minute demise of a high-profile film project, especially one starring an A-list star like Mr. Pitt, is a rare spectacle in Hollywood — one that is painful, expensive and damaging to all involved. It also happened with “Used Guys,” a high-priced comedy at 20th Century Fox in 2006.
- The Beckham Experiment :: He makes $50 million, other teammates make $12,000 a year. Not a great combination.
- Terry Mattingly on franchising the church :: “In these franchise operations, you don’t say you’re a Southern Baptist or a Methodist or a Presbyterian or whatever,” Yeats explained. “No, you say you attend the local branch of so-and-so’s church. The whole thing is held together by one man. That’s the brand name, right there.
- As a Detroit Pistons fan, I would sure like to know what Joe Dumars was thinking before he blew all of their cap space on Ben Gordon and Charlie Villeneuva. I am sure a lot of people in Detroit are thinking the same thing as well.
- From Joseph Clarke in Triple Canopy, a comparison of the histories of the American megachurch and corporation.
- A short appreciation of the SR-71 Blackbird, an airplane that was literally faster than a speeding bullet.
Contextless Links
Happy Canada Day
To celebrate I’ll quote Malcolm Gladwell talking about what he learned about the United States.
In history class, in seventh grade (or as we like to say in Canada, grade seven) we learned the story of the American Revolution — from the British perspective. Turns out you were all a bunch of ungrateful tax cheats. And you weren’t very nice to the Loyalists. What I miss most about Canada is getting the truth about the United States.
Regina MP commits suicide
Dave Batters committed suicide yesterday after struggling with depression for years.
The family of Dave Batters released a statement Tuesday morning confirming the 39-year-old died on Monday.
"The family of Dave Batters is grieving the sudden loss of their beloved husband, son and brother, who, sadly, chose to take his own life at home in Regina on Monday, June 29," the statement reads.
"Last fall, Dave courageously made public his battle with depression and anxiety when he chose not to run for re-election as the Member of Parliament for Palliser. He entered treatment and his family and friends hoped he would overcome his illness. Tragically, this was not to be.
"Dave and Denise’s family greatly appreciates the support of their friends during this extremely difficult time and requests that the media respect their privacy. Funeral arrangements will be announced at a later date."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper also issued a statement Tuesday afternoon.
"Those of us who knew and worked with Dave will remember him as a friend and colleague who worked tirelessly on behalf of his constituents in Palliser," Harper said in a news release.
"Dave ultimately lost his struggle with severe depression, but we should use his loss as a reminder that mental health illnesses affect Canadians in every walk of life. Too often, Canadians, such as Dave, suffer in silence out of fear of being stigmatized for their illness.
Why the Globe and Mail is making a mistake
in charging $160/year for their online content. Warren Kinsella has the reasons.
6. Newspapers have to realize – but never will – that their news content is the best advertising for them. That’s what good, solid journalism is: good. It makes a case for itself. When MSM mavens hide content, people will mosey off elsewhere for news content that isn’t hidden. News is like water: it flows. It seeps out.
7. Google is the boss, not the news providers. If Google won’t agree to facilitate charging for news, that’s the end of the discussion. And Google won’t ever, ever charge: it’s contrary to its entire business model.
It’s an odd decision to make, instead of stepping on the neck of Canwest when they are down, they are tossing their entire network a lifeline. If that is where the free content is, that is where we will go. The Globe and Mail risks changing from Canada’s newspaper of record to being the newspaper that no one cares about.
Weekend at the lake
We just got back from the lake a while ago. We were going to head up on Friday night but some complications arose as Mark’s baby sitter took the kids to the zoo and they got back late. Wendy and I were dead tired and instead of driving up to the cabin, we decided to give Mark his gift for finishing grade three. He is going to Beaver Creek Camp in a couple of weeks and was stressing a bit over not having a cool bag to go to camp with. We were in Wal-Mart and saw a big duffel bag with a Maple Leaf and Canada on it. It screamed out “take me to camp” to Mark and so we got it for him. We also got him a iTunes card.
It was a good trip. It was quite windy and chilly on Saturday which I didn’t mind. I finished The Kennedys by Peter Collier & David Horowitz which is a really sad look at what the Kennedy family had to endure. At the end as I reading about Robert and Ethel’s older kids who bore the brunt of not only losing Jack but also Bobby in rapid succession, it was heart breaking. After I was telling Wendy about how much the Kennedy’s harassed and bugged each other, she quipped that she had no idea that she had married into the family as that is a little what we are like. We may be but none of us over pronounce our vowels or have a staccato voice.
We had planned to do some painting while up there but we never got around to it. Mark and Maggi went for an extended swim on Sunday that eventually included Oliver, Wendy and myself.
The Treat Spot was open for the first time we were up there. I had never been inside before but in addition to being the keeper of the mini-golf course, it also has an assortment of ice cream and pop.
We did manage to bring up a cabinet and and a simple end table that we repainted. The cabinet is a now a microwave stand and another pantry while the end table is in the living room. Neither piece of furniture was all of that attractive but both were painted a mochachino brown color and look passable as cabin furniture now.
The big change at the lake was the removal of the Cottonwood Lodge. I think it was an old ATCO type trailer that was made into dorm style rooms. It was used for a variety of things over the years and while it would have looked a lot better all fixed up, I won’t miss it now that it is gone.
The only thing that I didn’t like about the trip was that Wendy is sure that my ball glove belongs at the lake which means that I never have it at home to play catch with Mark. On the latest trip she not only thwarted my attempt to bring my glove home but managed to leave Mark’s up there as well.
Contextless Links
- The Nike Experiment: How the Shoe Giant Unleashed the Power of Personal Metrics
- Desperately Seeking Yeltsin :: For all our sentimental belief in the ultimate triumph of those on the "right side of history," nothing is inevitable. This second Iranian revolution is on the defensive, even in retreat. To recover, it needs mass, because every dictatorship fears the moment when it gives the order to the gunmen to shoot at the crowd. If they do (Tiananmen), the regime survives; if they don’t (Romania’s Ceausescu), the dictators die like dogs. The opposition needs a general strike and major rallies in the major cities — but this time with someone who stands up and points out the road ahead.
- Winners and losers from the NBA draft
- Jack Grover loses big to stop demolition of notorious slum house in Caswell. When I walk by there on the way home, you can smell the house from across the street. On Flickr
- 10 Important Business Lessons Learned the Hard Way
- Ticket prices at the new Yankee Stadium are so high that if a New Yorker wants to watch a Mariners/Yankees game from the best seats, it would be a lot cheaper to fly to Seattle, stay in a nice hotel, eat fancy dinners, and see two games.
- The Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church says it’s time to take the Ark of the Covenant out of storage :: Stuart Munro-Hay, author of “Quest for the Ark of the Covenant: The True History of the Tablets of Moses,” concluded that the object in question is definitely not the original Holy Ark.
A musical genius and an abused child
Andrew Sullivan writes about Michael Jackson
There are two things to say about him. He was a musical genius; and he was an abused child. By abuse, I do not mean sexual abuse; I mean he was used brutally and callously for money, and clearly imprisoned by a tyrannical father. He had no real childhood and spent much of his later life struggling to get one. He was spiritually and psychologically raped at a very early age – and never recovered. Watching him change his race, his age, and almost his gender, you saw a tortured soul seeking what the rest of us take for granted: a normal life.
But he had no compass to find one; no real friends to support and advise him; and money and fame imprisoned him in the delusions of narcissism and self-indulgence. Of course, he bears responsibility for his bizarre life. But the damage done to him by his own family and then by all those motivated more by money and power than by faith and love was irreparable in the end. He died a while ago. He remained for so long a walking human shell.
I was never that big of fan of Michael Jackson. Thriller was huge about the same time the Walkman became popular and as kids, us discovering pop music. Despite almost all of my friends owning his album, I don’t think I have ever listened to the entire thing. At the same time I saw what we all did and that was a tortured soul trying to figure out life and despite all of his millions, he failed miserably. If anything, his life is a reminder that money can’t buy the most important things in life.
Only a preacher
Pastors no longer automatically hold positions of community influence. But they can — and should — earn a place in their communities by participating in them, says pastor and author Nelson Granade.
If one only assumes the role of prophet, however, folks quickly will begin to avoid you. As in our congregations, we often earn the right to speak prophetically by serving well pastorally. On the morning of the 9/11 attacks, I was in a meeting at our Chamber of Commerce. The group immediately turned to me for prayer and comfort. I heard similar stories from pastors across the country. People, especially leaders in need, remember our care.
Done
Well Mark brought home his report card and when I joked that he was going to be in grade three again, he wept (and I felt horrible). So I quickly assured him not only did he pass but he did well. The truth is that despite having a horrible year at school, his marks were really quite good and I am extremely proud of him. On top of doing well in school this year, he got his yellow belt in karate last week. He spent weeks working on his technique and form and I was glad for him that he got it before the summer. I don’t know if I feel any safer as the father of a yellow belt but the coffee table trembles when he walks by.
The bad part of the day was in talking to the parents of one of Mark’s friends. They are moving him to Caswell School next year after he was badly beaten (it seemed to fall into the category of an asault) by yet another violent kid that was in Mark’s class. His dad saw the attack but was too far away to stop it. Their other children have experienced it as well this year. I don’t blame them for doing it. We spent most of the year walking Mark to and from school but then again, so did they and it still happened.
For Mark, he finished the day with his karate summer barbecue. Everyone chows down quickly on some hot dogs and then they pull out Super Soakers and shoot each other until ocean levels have gone down significantly. Lee left his ice core Super Soaker at the house when he moved out and so Mark froze it and took it over as a backup weapon. I could hear them yelling and laughing from a block away tonight. When he walked in he said, “I need dry gitch” which just about sums up his evening.
His summer is being spent with us at the lake and he is going to Beaver Creek Camp. Their four day camp is about perfect for heading to camp for the first time, some of his friends are going, and it’s pretty close to the city if it doesn’t work out. On top of that, I have gotten to know and appreciate the camp directors through work and they will take good care of him.
I have vacation booked for the last week of July which I think is my first full week off work since I went to the Bahamas in 2007. My boss looked dazed and confused as she signed my vacation request. We are heading to the lake and then to Mosaic Stadium to watch the Saskatchewan Roughriders beat the Edmonton Eskimos. In light traffic we are only an hour away from Mosaic Stadium.
I am going to take a week off in August as well. I imagine that will be spent out at the lake as well. Wendy will be working so part of the plan is for me to take Mark and Oliver out to the lake and let her chill out while not working. Between the three of us, we should manage okay without her but you never know.
Whatever happens, I hope it is a good summer for the family. It’s been a while since we all unwound together.
Public Meeting
As many of you know, the Salvation Army has been working on opening a women’s shelter in Saskatoon for over a year and a half now. It’s been a long process and one of the latest parts of the process has been asking the city to rezone a piece of property for us.
There is a process for that and on June 16th, the Salvation Army, the City of Saskatoon, and the citizens of Pleasant Hill got together to discuss our desire for a zoning change. While the meeting turned out really well, it did have some fun twists and turns.
Along the way, there was a mis-communication between the City and Pleasant Hill School and the school was locked when everyone got there. The city planners were knocking on all of the doors and Councilor Lorje was thinking of calling someone when all of us realized that it was the perfect night to sit outside. So instead of using the school’s auditorium, we used the front step and lawn. The result was we all got to enjoy the late spring weather and we had a good time getting to know our neighbors a little better.
Wendy was there and took some photos of the gathering. Some of them are below. You can find the rest on Flickr.
Off to Prison
I posted a little bit about the day over at the Centre’s weblog but I thought I would post some more thoughts here.
Each summer the Centre puts on a big barbecue at Riverbend Institution. Last year I was asked to go along and four of us headed up north to Prince Albert to cook and meet some of the guys who are at Riverbend. For many of the guys who are there, they are on their way out of the federal prison system and Riverbend is one of their last stops until they get to a federal half way house. In addition to this, some guys don’t do that great in a halfway house and are sent back and we have a chance to catch up with them.
Last year I took some photos. They were cool with it as I wasn’t taking photos of the guys there, just us setting up. Below is a photo of the four of us smoking out all of Saskatchewan Penitentiary.
This year they had us in a different location and there were always guys around helping so I never took any photos out of respect for the rules and the guys there (and let’s be honest, I was in the middle of a federal prison and I wanted to get out at the end of the night) but we had a lot of fun and yes there was a lot of smoke this year as well.
According to our two host chaplains, we had 130 guys come to the barbecue. About 20 of them were early enough to help us set up and over 50 of them swarmed around and helped clean up. While it was a lot of work to put on, I was told to take a seat in one of the adirondack chairs while clean up was going on.
While last year was a lot of fun, this year I was a little more comfortable with the guys which made it a more enjoyable event for me personally. Several of the guys came up and told me how much they appreciated the chaplaincy of the Major and several guys passed on greetings to the staff back at the Centre and even greetings for Wendy and Oliver. While they may be frustrated at themselves, their Parole Officers, and the system, they still like us and it is good to hear stories of them getting back on track.
It was a nice trip and I look forward to coming back next year.
The finances of a NFL team laid open
Yahoo! Sports has a great article on the finances of the Green Bay Packers. All NFL teams except the Packers are privately owned. With Green Bay being community owned, they lay open their books for their shareholders to see.
The Packers took in $247.9 million in total revenue, a 3 percent increase over the previous year. That figure was boosted by a 9 percent increase in money from national sources, offsetting a $5 million decrease in local revenue pinned largely on lagging souvenir shop sales.
Expenses were up 4 percent to $227.8 million. That includes $138.7 million in player costs, an increase of almost 11 percent from the previous year.
Rising player costs and sagging local revenue are disturbing trends to Packers officials. Since 2006, Murphy says 80 percent of the Packers’ increased revenues have gone to players.
And Murphy says other teams servicing significant debt on new stadiums are in even worse shape.
“I think that’s one of the things that we all hope to correct in the current negotiations,” Murphy said. “We want to reach an agreement with the players. We want a new agreement that’s fair to the players and allows us to grow the game.”
The Packers’ profit from operations was $20.1 million, down from $21.4 million the previous year. The franchise’s net income—including a substantial drop in investment income last year, plus taxes and other considerations—was $4 million, down from $23.4 million the previous year.
This is a fun fact as well
The team’s season ticket renewal rate fell by a fraction but remains a staggering 99.4 percent. That means 192 people who put their names on the team’s waiting list in the 1970s will be able to buy season tickets; most years, 75 people or fewer come off the list, which currently numbers approximately 81,000.
So if I sign up now, Mark’s grandchildren will have a chance to be Green Bay Packer’s season ticket holders.
Father’s Day
Well today is Father’s Day. It started out with Mark and Oliver waking me up and giving me some presents. The big one was this twin reversible fan for the cabin. They also got me the new Black Eyed Peas album. I’ll admit it, I have been listening to the Boom Boom Pow single for a couple of months on my iPod and on YouTube. While dance music isn’t usually my thing, I like this album. Maggi gave me a thermometer for the barbecue. Apparently she wants the table scraps she gets cooked a little more precisely.
After we tooled around a bit today as a family, Lee and a friend of ours came over for supper tonight.
I am pretty excited about the fan as the cabin takes a long time to cool down at night, even with the windows open. Hopefully this fan sucking cool air in and hot air out will make it a little more enjoyable once it cools down outside. It also is a lot cheaper than running the air conditioner. Depending on how well it works at the lake, I may get one for the house. There is nothing like a gift like this to also expose your families ulterior motives. Both Mark and Wendy have claimed their spot for it at the cabin. Apparently it being a gift for me means nothing.
I really enjoy being a father to Mark and Oliver. Both pose their unique challenges as a father but it is the best decision Wendy and I ever made was having kids and we have been rewarded with some great ones.
Speaking of the kids, I never blogged about this but Mark has his yellow belt now in karate. He worked extremely hard to get it and is pretty proud of himself. His year end karate barbecue also includes a water fight. We went shopping for a new water gun and suggested he tell his Sensei to “bring it on”. Mark replied, “I did that last year. He really did. I got really wet.”
As far as Oliver goes, he took his first step last week. Of course when he does, he does an immediate face plant. He obviously gets his agility and balance from me.
Saskatchewan Cottage Price Closes in on $300,000
The average waterfront, three-bedroom cottage in Saskatchewan goes for about $300,000, Royal LePage said in its recreational property report Thursday.
Measuring 1,000 square feet on a 100-foot lot, that average cottage in Manitoba ranges from $250,000 to $360,000 and $400,000 to $460,000 in Alberta, said the report.
The national average range is $370,000 to $600,000.
Our cabin was recently appraised at $2000. If you toss in our lot, add on another $4000. It’s not lakefront but it’s incredibly close to it. Paying $300,000 for a cabin seems a little insane to me. Of course the paper lately has been full of articles and listings of multi million dollar cabins so someone is buying them.
