A weblog about urbanism, technology, & culture.
In case you haven’t heard, the Village Guitar & Amp Co. has moved into Riversdale. As they put it…
Village Guitar & Amp Co. is a boutique guitar shop in Saskatoon, offering superior service and products to serious players and collectors.
It’s also on Facebook.
Wendy blogged about our weekend at the cabin. The photos can be found here.
The highlight of the weekend was falling (being tossed off) the hammock by Oliver. Here was my view after my eviction. He has a great future as a bouncer.
Ten years ago today I published my first post on this site. I wasn’t sure if this blogging thing was going to last but since then I have posted more then 11,000 times to the site and the traffic has grown quite a bit. There hasn’t been many changes to the site. It was first powered by Blogger, then Blogger Pro, and then back to plain Blogger again after Google purchased it. After 8000 posts, I moved the site to WordPress.
I started to post here because Andrew Careaga wrote a book called e-vangelism back in the early days of the interweb and he published a newsletter that talked about technology and faith. I never read the book (sorry Andrew) but I did read the newsletter. In it he talked about Blogger and how you could use it to keep a church website updated. That is how I discovered Blogger and the rest has been history. When I started blogging, there was Andrew Jones, Rudy Carrasco and myself blogging about the church and theological issues. Other than them I learned a lot from Doc Searls, AKMA, Jason Kottke, Caterina Fake, Jeneanne Sessum, and Rebecca Blood.
I am not really sure why I keep posting here. There never was a plan behind it. I had no ambitions to be a thought leader, create a movement, make money, or achieve fame. What I wanted was a place to explore ideas, keep track of interesting things and later on, share things with friends. Hopefully I have done that.
I have also made some enemies. One city councillor continues to block me on Twitter and called me an “first class asshole” over some comments I made last summer, one prominent Christian leader threatened to sue over comments, I think it’s a contributing factor for why my dad and I haven’t talked in eight years and more than one former colleague has questioned my Christianity over my more liberal views. Still the site has brought more joy than angst so it’s all good.
There has been a lot of friends made as well. Too many to list but thanks for the emails, comments, tweets, and time spent together over the last decade. Hopefully there is an interesting link or two in the future. Of course with entire companies moving from the open web to closed Facebook, I am now quite a bit behind the times but that’s the story of my life.
Not sure what the future brings. I am writing a weekly column now at The StarPhoenix so some of my longer (and better written pieces) will be posted there. I’ll still be posting links, sports (including my scheme to purchase the L.A. Dodgers) and some photos as well.
Thanks to everyone who reads this rather odd collection of links, rants, and articles. You have been the ones that have made this so much fun.
I attended a funeral for a long time resident of the Salvation Army Community Services today. He stayed with us for several years after the death of his wife and the alienation from his children. During the funeral today, the priest mentioned his time at the Salvation Army several times and each time he would mention it, I found myself thinking of our time together.
At the funeral there were some residents of the nursing home, not all of them were even aware what was going on and who Andy was and there were four of us from the Salvation Army and that was it. Now he was buried earlier and four other staff and officers attended that service and that’s it, eight of us over two services. No one else.
It struck me because if you wanted a visualization of the Salvation Army’s vision, that would be part of it. When there is no one else, we will be there and we were there a lot for Andy. At the same time Andy just didn’t take from us, he gave back in terms of friendship.
He never talked much and could never remember our names. He wouldn’t even try. He never called me Jordon but rather Susan, Joe, Frank, Peggy, or Patty. Apparently he wasn’t big on gender differentiation either. He remembered my co-worker Vi’s name and when he was a little ticked at her, he called her Viv. Not sure why but it made us laugh. While he never got my name right, we would hug me once a month and tell he that he thought we were going a good job. Getting hugged freaked me out but I appreciated the sentiment. He also said it like it was. One day he came down and said, “Give me a bucket, I just s— myself” and there was a trail coming all the way from his room and down the stairs. At least he offered to clean up after himself (our janitor took care of it). Another time a highly intoxicated man had some in and immediately passed out in the lobby, splitting open his head. He was almost bleeding out and there was paramedics and blood everywhere. As someone came in and asked what happened, Andy replied, “I told him not to mess with me” and didn’t crack a smile. Perhaps my favorite thing Andy ever said to me was he walked up to the front desk and simply said, “Damn Blue Jays. No pitching at all this year” and wondered off.
Andy was fiercely independent but he let the staff close enough to care for him and also for us to see a bit of his life as well. I’ll really miss him. As the priest said, Andy had a hard life but there was some good times as well. I’m glad I was there to see some of them. I am not sure what all of the ups and downs of his life were but I am quite sure the time spent with us was good for him.
During the service I kept thinking that Andy brought out the best in all of us. I can’t think of Andy without hearing my co-workers joking with him, fussing a little bit over him, or just chatting with him. It’s rumored that I may have shed a tear in the service thinking about all of it.
Of course since I have been rather sappy, I’ll spoil all of it for you with this story. One really funny part of the funeral was when the chaplain at the Sherbrooke Community Centre acknowledged that there was people there from the Salvation Army and a women said, “I’ve already given them money, I’m out of here” and stormed out of the funeral. One more really funny memory to cap of his life.
I turned 37 today. Not much of a milestone but it was an enjoyable day. I fell asleep on the sofa last night so I woke up early to the family and a really sore neck. After some stretching and straining I got up and opened some presents. Mark gave me a 70-210mm Sigma lens for my camera and a Lowepro Exchange Messenger camera bag while Oliver gave me a DSLR for Dummies book and a new camera strap.
Wendy gave me a mini Denver Broncos helmet, some new in ear headphones and some upgraded noise cancelling headphones while Hutch and Maggi got me an iTunes card so I could get some music. The helmet made it’s way to my office and Oliver isn’t pleased. He sees an Oliver sized helmet and doesn’t understand why there isn’t a football game breaking out.
While the Broncos helmet was pretty cool, our timing was odd with the negotiations breaking down between the owners and the players. For NFL addicts around the world, it gives new meaning to the Day of Rage.
Keeping with the audio theme, Lee gave me a Best Buy gift card and I picked up some iHome Rechargeable Mini Speakers which will be making a trip to Toronto with me in a couple of weeks (as will the noise cancelling headphones).
To celebrate, the family took me out to Alexander’s Restaurant for supper with Michaela and Taylah. Michaela decided that since we share three hugs a year (our birthdays and on Christmas), we must be family. I am not so sure. We just became Facebook friends last year.
Thanks to everyone who emailed, tweeted, and Facebooked today. I appreciated them all.
Not sure why I like this post by Randall Friesen so much but I do.
And I think to myself, Self, it would be good on days like this, to work in a small niche bookstore where few people come and go on any given day, and I am free to help those who come in and maybe dust a little or unpack new books for my benevolent, very wealthy, shop owner and manager who prefers to be elsewhere, and who likes the laid back version of myself and lets me read when the dusting and shelve stocking is done, and after a stressful day of three customers I walk home to my wife and family and in the evening I head out to play in the bowling league I’m a part of with guys I’ve known since birth and who won’t criticize me for only getting one strike the whole evening and instead they buy me one single beer to celebrate with, and we drink it with gusto and with that success puffing up my pride I return home and make love to my wife who is surprised because it’s not Thursday night and I sleep the sleep of the contented man because tomorrow is another busy exciting day.
… or maybe not.
The post made me think of when I want to get away from it all, what do would I want to do? If I was single, I would want to be at sea (which is odd being from Saskatchewan and having no sea legs). Since I am married I tend to think running a small town grocery store is what I would want to retreat to. Perhaps beside a Randall’s bookstore. Someone needs to take advantage of his poor bowling and sell him some coffee during the day.
Update: Randall’s fun response.
I see that both Wendy and Mark have posted about Christmas so I thought I might as well. I won’t describe the day as Wendy did a great job of doing that but I will ad in that it was a lot of fun to have friends and family around.
For my gifts, Wendy and Lee went in and got me a new 32 gb iPod Touch. My iPod Touch was a first generation one and I was quite excited to see the it finally shipping with both a camera and a video camera in it. I don’t have a Blackberry or smartphone but this does a good job of letting me both work and play when I need to. I bought iMovie, and a bunch of 99 cent EA games for it and I am good to go. Wendy also gave me a massive Rambo type knife. I am not sure what I will use it for but there is a small first aid and survival kit in the knife handle. Now that’s a knife.
Maggi gave me a Wilson CFL football. I have an NFL football but when I am watching the Grey Cup, you really need a bigger ball to toss around.
Oliver gave me a Team Canada Hockey seat cover and steering wheel cover for Hank while Santa brought me a portable external hard drive for my netbook. I have shot several hours of video for my documentary and I really need more hand drive space if I am going to get it done in 2011 (more on that in a later post).
Lee surprised me with a copy of The Pacific on Blu Ray which made no sense since we don’t have a Blu-Ray player. Of course then Mark unwrapped a PS3 that had Madden 11 with it. He also gave me a The Force Unleashed II and gave Mark Call of Duty: World at War. According to Sony VP Kevin Butler, it only does everything. As for our PS2, it will be donated to the Centre’s half-way house where I am sure someone will enjoy playing it in the lounge. He also gave me a new multi-tool set and flashlight.
Speaking of Lee, he was babysitting the boys this summer and Wendy walked in and all three of them were watching Predator. Seriously, he was letting a ten year old and a 2 year old watch Predator and both of them were a little nervous. To prove he learned nothing, there was a copy of Predator in Blu-Ray under the tree for Mark and Oliver. We all had a great laugh over that.
On Christmas Day we went to the Reimers for Christmas dinner. Reimers gave me a nice set of binoculars for use up at the cabin. With North America’s oldest bird sanctuary only a couple of miles north of the cabin, there are a lot of birds flying around. They also gave me Settlers of Catan which sounds like an ideal way to spend an evening with friends. Kristi helped make my Christmas tree a little more Riderish with some Saskatchewan Roughrider tree ornaments and a calendar of stupid quotes. I have a whole year of mocking stupid people ahead of me. The only thing that I didn’t like about the dinner was that Gloria won’t give me the recipe for an amazing green bean casserole she makes. It’s a family secret I am told.
I am not sure any of that was on my Christmas list but it made for a fun day. The only two things that were on my MUST HAVE list were a new zippered wallet (I hate it when I drop my wallet and my cards fall out) and a shaving brush and shaving soap which were in my stocking.
Thanks everyone, it’s been a great couple of days.
Shopping for Wendy has always been hard. She never gives me any ideas and the ideas that she does give me are things that two days later she no longer wants. For all of you who are married or dating someone who is hard to shop for, here is the list of Christmas gift suggestions for your wife or girlfriend. You can thank me later.
Amazon’s Kindle | If your wife/girlfriend/mom is an avid reader, how about getting her a Kindle? If you are undecided on whether or not you should be leaving paper for e-ink, check out this balanced review from a diehard book lover who fell in love with his Kindle. The new version is smaller, lighter, has Wifi and a higher contrast screen. One of the reasons it’s such a great gift is that your loved one doesn’t have to have it with them to still benefit from owning it. Amazon has readers for the iPad, iPhone, Android devices, Blackberry, WinPhone 7, Windows, and OS X. The killer feature here is Amazon’s multi-platform support. You can start a book on your Kindle, pick up a couple of pages here and there on your phone, and sneak a couple more pages on your desktop computer on coffee break. It even keeps track of what page you are on (across different machines and platforms). The best book is the one that’s always with you. It’s available at Amazon.com for $139.00.
Bose Wave Music System :: The famous Wave music system still sets the standard for quality audio and ease of use among one-piece, table top stereos. Its award-winning design adds a touch of distinction to almost any room. No wonder so many people use it as their main home entertainment system. Numerous reviews speak of the Bose Wave’s clarity and amazing room filling sound. If you are looking for the best all in one unit, this is the one you are looking for. If you are thinking of adding the CD changer, you may want to check out the numerous negative reviews on Amazon.com before picking one up. You can pick up the Bose Wave Music System at Amazon for $495.
Another interpretation of the all in one is the Cambridge Soundworks Radio 765i | As one Amazon reviewer described it…
Got rid of a DVD player, a VHS player (time to completely dump the format, at least for us), and an iPod speaker “donut” thing. Plugged in everything, connecting to our tube TV, & was very simple. Did a lot to make the whole area look much neater. Put in a Lion King DVD and was amazed at the sound (DVD sound is through the Soundworks, not the TV). You know in the movie theatre, when that THX Dolby piece comes up, the one that almost scares you by trying to stretch your ear muscles with high pitched and super-bass “strings”? It sounded JUST like it does in the theatre. My wife rushed in from the kitchen asking, “WHAT was that?”. My daughter then played one of her Star Trek TNG DVDs and for the first time, we could hear the sub-woofer “whoosh” when the Enterprise goes by on the screen — never heard any of this before.
Find it at Amazon for $285.
Saddleback Leather Messenger Bag | While Wendy is a tomboy and hates most purses, she still needs to carry things with her. The Saddleback Leather Messenger company has a bag that allows her to keep herself organized and allows her to keep both her tomboy and hipster potentials intact. It comes with a 100 year warranty, made out of 100% Thick full grain boot leather, has no breakable parts, e.g. zippers, snaps etc. and converts quickly into a backpack. It may be the perfect bag. $347 from Saddleback Leather
While Wendy looks amazing, living in Saskatchewan can be a challenge. Philosophy’s Hope in a Jar skin care products have a cult following and will help hydrate skin in even the driest climates. This air-whipped, therapeutic moisturizer has been described by Philosophy founder Cristina Carlino as, “like pouring a glass of water into my skin. That sounds unhealthy to me but apparently that is a good thing.
HP Mini 210 Netbook | It does a good job of running Windows 7 Basic, the HP Mini 210 lets you surf the web, stay connected, and be entertained wherever you go. Take just what you need And leave the rest on your primary PC. At less than one inch thin and starting at just 2.69 pounds, It comes with a 16:9 10.1″ diagonal BrightView Infinity display and nearly full-size keyboard. $307 and available at Amazon or for $359 at Future Shop.
iPod Shuffle | It has 2 GB capacity for about 500 songs and you can play up to 15 hours on a single charge. With a press of the VoiceOver button, you can hear the song’s title and artist, playlist menu, or battery status. You can get one at Amazon for $50.
Sennheiser CX300-B In-Ear Stereo Headphone | While the iPod comes with Apple’s iconic headphones, you really will want to upgrade those to something with better sound quality and that feels better in your ears. While not their top of the line headphones, they are a big upgrade over both the Apple headphones and most other in-ear headphones. $25 and available at Amazon.
Belkin Dock with USB Wall Charger for iPod | If you have a stereo that you really like and don’t want to replace it with a Bose Wave or another stereo system, add an iPod dock to your system that allows easy playing of your music while charging it at the same time. We have one at the cabin plugged into a compact stereo and it works great and makes sure all of our iPod’s are charged up for the drive home.
Wendy and I have been married for 13 years and I still hate buying things for the house without her feedback. Despite that, I am going to go out on a limb and recommend the KNUBBIG lamp from IKEA. It gives a room a soft mood light and since each is mouth blown glass; each lamp is unique. $18.99
Tetris Party for Nintendo DS | I bought Wendy a Nintendo DS last year and she really enjoyed it. Of course the definitive Nintendo game (going back to the Nintendo Gameboy) is probably Tetris and it will give your loved one something to do when you have parked yourself in front of NFL Redzone.
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks | This game was suggested to me by several people who grew up playing Legend of Zelda and love the latest incarnation for the Nintendo DS. It is an action/adventure game for the Nintendo DS and DSi that sets Link, the iconic hero of the Legend of Zelda series, on a daring new adventure. The game provides players with a new story, more puzzles, a new mode of transportation–by train–and a new companion in combat, the Phantom. Together these offer up new possibilities for problem-solving, adventure and fun to both long time and new fans of the franchise alike.
Brain Age and Brain Age 2 for the Nintendo DS | These two games were given to Wendy for her birthday and Christmas last year and she been frustrated by them all year. Brain Age acts like a treadmill for the mind and helps you flex your mental muscles with quick activities that help keep your brain in shape. Brain Age is inspired by the research of Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, a prominent Japanese neuroscientist. His studies evaluated the impact of performing certain reading and mathematic exercises to help stimulate the brain.
Apple iPod Touch | I gave a 3G iPod Touch to Wendy last year for her birthday and she loved it. While it was a great iPod Touch, the new version is even better. See friends while you talk to them with FaceTime. Shoot, edit, and share stunning HD video. Play games against friends, or unknown foes, with the new Game Center. And do it all on the Retina display–the highest-resolution screen on any mobile device. Available at Amazon.com for $223.
Samsung Link | Wendy has a horrible record with cell phones. She leave it turned off, forgets to charge it, never takes it with her. In other words I was playing for a pretty much useless cell phone. After losing her cell phone this summer, I went out and bought her a Samsung Link/Samsung Freeform and she started to carry it with her, had it turned on, and used it all of the time. The QWERTY keyboard makes it really easy to text and the 1.3 megapixel camera is fun to have along and grab photos of the boys or just take some photos while up at the lake.
Saskatchewan Roughriders Ladies Jersey | You can personalize the jersey with your choice of name and number. Using laser cut name and numbers system the Riders can customize the jersey you’ve been wanting. This system is used in several NFL, NHL and MBL stadiums. Same fonts and colors used by the team. Includes name on back and numbers on front, back and sleeves. $149.99 and available at The Rider Store
Kodak EasyShare C180 10.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and 2.4 inch LCD | Chronicle your life with great pictures and videos you can easily upload online. The camera even locates faces automatically so you can focus on more important things — getting that smile. Plus, you can even take stunning HD formatted photos and view it on your HDTV. $99 from Amazon.com or $59 from XS Cargo.
Holga Bent Corners 35mm Camera | If who you are shopping for is a photography fan, go old school and get her a modern Holga 35mm flash-less camera that takes the same vibrant-colored, dreamy high-contrast photos as the original, medium-format 120mm Holga – with totally dramatic vignetting and the ease of 35mm film that can be processed anywhere (the film size also means fully panoramic shots). Two shutter and aperture settings; uncoupled film advance and shutter (for multiple exposures in one frame!);manual zone focus with four distance settings. Get it at Urban Outfitters for $48.
Magno Cube Wooden Radio | Hand-crafted in an Indonesian farming village, the Magno Cube is a 4 band FM/AM/SW1/SW2 radio receiver with a highly appealing mix of retro and modern styling. Each wooden radio is made through an environmentally sustainable production process, which covers fair social standards for workers. The profits from the sale of the radios to the Design Museum Shop support the development of a plantation surrounding the production facility, including the ongoing education of 30 young people in handicraft and work skills. Only new growth plantation wood is used and for every tree that is used in production, a new one is planted. MP3 compatible. Each radio arrives with a wooden connecting cable to connect iPods and mp3 players directly to the radio, so it can be used as a speaker. £175.00 from Design Museum Shop.
Swiss Army Perfume for Her | As the Victorinox website puts it.
This fresh, floral and dazzling fragrance is for the active, contemporary women. She seeks stylishly natural, clean scent to carry her through the day. This unique blend of Lilly of the Valley, Peony and fizzy Ginger surrounds you in all of the glory of nature. It is the fragrance for the modern, spontaneous women with natural class.
Ork Posters | If you or the target of your affections lives in Toronto, Vancouver, Boston, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle among others. They are $22 a poster which makes them a pretty cool value. Of course they don’t have one of either Brandon, Manitoba or Georgetown, Guyana which makes them pretty much useless for Wendy but maybe you will have some better luck.
If the person that you are shopping for is starting to take a look into the world of DSLRs and has outgrown her existing camera, check out Sony’s a320 camera. It’s an entry level DSLR and is only $349 from Future Shop. It’s Sony’s smallest and lightest Alpha DSLR camera. It features a 10.2MP sensor, a large 2.7″ Clear Photo LCD, built-in SteadyShot inside image stabilization, and Creative Style settings that let you bring your shooting to the next level. This kit includes a versatile 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 SAM zoom lens. $349 from Future Shop.
I hesitate to post this because for the life of me I can’t see why one would need one but Wendy loves it. It’s a Sunbeam Tea Drop Hot Tea Maker which accommodates both bagged and loose tea. $58.95 from Amazon. While it doesn’t steep the tea, it does give you a fair amount of control over the strength of tea. If you are looking for a tea maker that does steep the tea, check out the Adagio Teas Electric 32-Ounce Tea Maker. This maker does it all – heats water, steeps leaves, and keeps tea warm so you may enjoy it all day long. Variable timer and temperature control lets you adjust the strength of an infusion, ensuring a perfect cup of tea each time. Works well with all tea varieties.
Wenger® Women’s Battalion II Diver Swiss Watch | Stylish enough for everyday professional wear, the Wenger Battalion II Diver stainless steel women’s watch is also rugged enough for extreme snow sports and scuba diving–thanks to its water resistance to 200 meters (660 feet). The mid-sized, round silver watch case is topped by a blue-plated unidirectional rotating bezel with elapsed time markings and a luminous marker at the zero position. The shimmery royal blue dial face is complemented by luminous markers and hands (with red seconds hand), small minute indexes around the outer edge, and a date window between 4 and 5 o’clock. Other features include a handsome triple-link stainless steel bracelet, knurled screw-down crown, classic Swiss Army insignia at 12 o’clock, a scratch-resistant mineral crystal, and precise Swiss quartz movement. $76 from Amazon
If you can find what you are looking for, make sure you check out one of the other 2010 Christmas Gift Guides
In case you are looking, here are the 2009 Gift Guides
If I missed anything or if my suggestion made you think I was absolutely crazy, let me know in the comments. You can access the current edition and previous years list of Christmas gift guides here.
The Hedge Society has been re-launched as a group blog. It’s a little blog about a lot of things and I will be posting some of the fun stuff from Jordon Cooper Outfitters over there as well as some of the stuff that may or may not end up here. I’m kind of excited about it because it’s other contributors are some of my favourite people online and I can’t wait to see their contributions. You can also follow Hedge Society on Twitter @hedgesociety
My friend Brooke Graham e-mailed me last night and let me know she is blogging again. Of course lots of friends are blogging and Twittering and I don’t always link to them but Brooke can rant like few can. Anyways, as I reading through her posts and trying to decide which one to link to, this one jumped out at me as being a must read: Just because you act like a nice guy doesn’t mean you’re not an asshole.
My friends Greg and Jackie’s adopted Haitian kids are in Canada tonight and they are able to give their twins a new home. After ten days of incompetence and indecision from the Government of Canada (while the rest of the world acted), things have finally worked out. The result is that God’s Littlest Angels orphanage has two more beds and more resources to help more kids, Saskatoon has an increase in population of two, the world is a little better place for four Haitian kids today, and Mondetta will be selling a couple more Haiti sweatshirts and hoodies for the next 80 years.
Update: Jason Kenney has announced the Government of Canada is expediting the process for kids who are in the adoption process. At the same time I am hearing that this is the same thing he said a couple of days ago and he didn’t announce any details which as you can imagine, is frustrating adoptive parents considerably. You can read the transcript of Minister Kenney’s speech here.
The CBC National is covering the issue in depth tonight.
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Some friends of mine are in the process of adopting twins out of Haiti. Jackie works across the hallway from me and I heard her shouts of joy and shock when the e-mail came to her that her and her husband Greg would be able to adopt twins. It was a mixture of joy and that same freaked out feeling that all of us get when we realize we are about to become parent. They had been approved by the Province of Saskatchewan and the Government of Canada but the adoption on the Haiti side of things would take a couple of years.
Around here we made plans to decorate their nursery for them (an offer they never took us up on), I lobbied Jackie to change their names to Walker and Texas Ranger, and a day has not gone by where I have overheard some excited comments about the boys, warnings about what it means to raise two teenage boys, and a general excitement for what this will mean in their lives.
When the earthquake in Haiti hit, all of us were sick and sick until we heard from Jackie that the boys were okay. All of us breathed a sigh of relief when we heard the orphanage they were in withstood the quake and all of the kids were okay. Within hours though we heard how important it was to get the kids out of Haiti and into custody of their adoptive parents because the resources and space the kids in the adoption process were taking up, was desperately needed by other kids. Within a day or so, the Haitian President released the kids and allowed them to be taken home.
While the rest of the western world arranged for planes to pick up planes and bring them to their new homes, France and Canada have been dragging their feet. Yesterday on Saskatoon’s News Talk Radio, the Hon. Jason Kenney was saying that it was just a rumor that other nations were allowing Haitian orphans in the adoption process to come home despite the images of planes flying home with children in the adoption process. While the rest of the world is acknowledging that the Haitian government and basic infrastructure has disappeared, Minister Kenney was making statements about reviewing each case on a case by case basis and blaming part of the delay on the damaged Canadian embassy in Haiti. In that he is right, the Canadian embassy is damaged and doesn’t have much capacity. The same for other nations. That is why they are loosening up the rules for kids from Haiti who have adoptive parents to go to.
The United States has also loosened visa requirements and one of those planes that was just a rumor is on the front of the New York Times homepage today and children have been connected with their new parents yesterday.
A group of 53 Haitian orphans landed in Pittsburgh on Tuesday morning, the first wave to arrive after the United States loosened its policy on visa requirements to expedite Americans’ adoptions of parentless children living in the post-earthquake ruins.
This isn’t just an issue of truth and spin in politics. Last night Jackie e-mailed me with these photos.
His name is Texas Ranger, err Wilson, and he is one of the twins. He is on intravenous and by the oxygen mask, you know he is having trouble breathing.
I don’t know if he is going to make it, no one does but I do know there is a good family in Saskatoon who can’t take him home or be with him right now because for some reason, Canada is afraid of taking in adopted kids whose adoptions they have already approved. The President of Haiti, has given the okay for kids to leave the country and WestJet has offered to fly down and pick up the kids. All that is left is permission from the Department of Immigration. Canada has a proud legislative history of cabinet ministers getting personally involved in cases like this and making bold decisions and I hope that the Hon. Jason Kenney will continue that tradition by allowing these children to come to their new homes. Not only may it make a difference in Wilson’s life but the space and resources he is taking up is desperately needed to help other children.
These kids need your help. Please e-mail and call your local MP, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Jason Kenney’s cabinet office in Ottawa and constituency office in Calgary and post a link to your weblog, Twitter, or Facebook and keep the pressure on. So often tragedies like this are so overwhelming that they lose a face. Well, this one has a face, a twin brother, a family. He also has a shortage of food, water, and medical supplies. He doesn’t need to die in Haiti. There is a family, a way to Saskatoon, and the resources to bring him into this “community of communities” we call Canada, all we need now is the political will to make a quick decision that will save lives. Help Wilson with that.
As my friend Scott wrote last week, he is now working as an addictions counselor.
i’ve grown up a bit since those days of security. for the second time since leaving the full time paid religious world i have had to look for work. it was a very humbling thing to not be called, day after day, for jobs that i was overqualified for. it was difficult to try to find odd jobs, ways of generating income when i had 8 years of post-secondary education. it is hard to describe how freaky it was. was. then the call came… a day later than they had said. i hadn’t slept in days. annette said it was like getting a call saying your kids were in a traffic accident – one call that changes your future.
i finally landed a good job yesterday. it is in my area of expertise (addictions counsellor) for good money with a great agency. i still have the club church on the weekends but i don’t take a salary – the orphans need it more than i do. all of a sudden i can breath again, think about christmas again, maybe order in chinese food occasionally. but something has changed inside. there is a subtle insecurity there now, an understanding of the tentative nature of life.
Congratulations. It’s good news and he will make a big difference in Maple Ridge.
We spent an early Christmas dinner with the Reimers and Kristy before the the Reimers head south to California for Christmas with their kids. It’s our family Christmas dinner and it is a really nice evening.
The food is always good and during dinner I was having my second helping of a bean and mushroom casserole when I realized that this was almost every food I hated as a kid. Jerry quipped that my mom should have just combined everything today and then I would like it. I am not sure if scalloped potatoes would have made the casserole any better.
After dinner we went downstairs, sat around the fire and exchanged Christmas gifts.
Gloria is quite easy to shop for as she is someone who likes to read widely. This is the first year we didn’t give her a book but rather we gave both Jerry and Gloria a mini DV camera so they could take some video of their trip and hopefully post it to YouTube. On top of the camera we found a rather excellent camera bag at XS Cargo which we tossed in some batteries and a tripod. Gloria is an Apple person and it instantly recognized both the internal memory and the 2 gig memory card in the camera. Wendy and I are rather particular about camera bags and were quite thrilled with the one that we found. Of course I didn’t do PC people proud when it took me about 5 minutes to get the batteries in correctly to the camera, the + and – on the batteries is apparently a little too complex for me. Maybe I am a Mac after all.
We also gave Gloria a fondue set. It actually has a Lazy Susan built into it because we all know how tiring eating fondue can be. Jerry can be a lot harder to shop for but over the may long weekend, I read Liar’s Poker and I knew right then that it would be perfect for Jerry. Just giving it to Jerry last night I realized that I should read it again.
We gave Kristy a lap desk and some external speakers for her new laptop computer. Of course it wasn’t the ideal gift as an ideal gift for Kristy would have been a lap desk with a personal heater built into it.
Kristy surprised both Mark and Oliver with some Calgary Flames gear. Some Flames pajamas for Ollie and a Flames shirt for Mark. She gave me a wonderful time wasting book, while she got Wendy a sweater along with a gift certificate for a photo shoot. I was given a gift card in my love language, Starbucks.
I was tossed into turmoil when the Reimers gave me The Clinton Tapes for Christmas. They knew I spend my summer vacation reading The Kennedys by Peter Collier at the cabin. I had planned to read a substantial book on each presidency each holiday at the lake but now I am torn. Do I wait until we return to the lake in April to read it or read it over Christmas and then maybe read Conrad Black’s biography on Nixon this spring. Decisions, decisions, decisions.
Wendy was tossed into turmoil when the Reimers gave her a birthday gift that she can’t open till Christmas. It’s Wendy’s 40th birthday next week and we celebrated last night. I actually gave her gift to her a little early. I blame Darren Friesen for this outlay in gifts as he got an iPod for his 40th and Wendy has never let me forget it. She was also given an anti-aging kit (Mark and I have been biting our tongues all day over that one), and a Josh Groban Christmas CD.
Mark was given a Halo Mega Bloks tank kit. He was a little excited by it as at 7:00 a.m. this morning he was waking us up to see if we could help him find a piece. I am sure Bill Cosby would have handles this differently but we just him back downstairs.
I am sure Wendy will have some thoughts on the evening later but for right now, she is chasing Oliver through the house.
Well next up on the Christmas agenda is the Salvation Army Christmas Dinner. Mark and I are helping serve 1000 people in three settings tonight at White Buffalo Youth Lodge. I am bringing my camera and will post some photos later tonight.
The Cooper Cabin
