Blog or white ... because it never is.

A few random thoughts.   I think my sweetie is one of the good guys.  I think he is respectful towards women.  I know he would rather cut off his right arm before he ever raised it to me.  However, he used to tell what he thought was a witty comment when people asked him if he had any children.  He would say, "not that I know of."  I used to tell him that comment was not witty and was in poor taste.  He would tell me to lighten up.  The #MeToo movement has taught him many things and he no longer says that comment.  I don't care that he didn't listen to me, the point is that when he knew better, he did better.  He has evolved in his thinking.  It means that even the good ones are not perfect but a work in progress.  It explains why some feminists are perceived as radical.  It is just because we feel if we take our foot off the gas pedal, we will lose ground.  Something happened to me once.  I think I have all but gotten over this in my mind but my body is st

Maybe I expect too much from journalism.  But, I do expect them to be be aware of their power to influence.  Page 1 of the City/Business section has a large picture of Bowman.  It is actually a small picture of him but he is surrounded by 12 campaign signs.  So, the feeling you get is he is one of the little guys, just a regular Joe.  You also get the feeling that he has a lot of support.  Including his dais, Mayor Bowman is shown 10 times.   In the article, he is described as pressing rivals on road revival plans.  As far as I know, this is his first big offensive.  He must be worried.  Yet, him challenging his rivals behind the guise of a press conference is just like me criticizing someone from behind my keyboard.  Pretty easy to do since I am not giving them a forum to reply.  But, I am not a journalist, I am just a local blogger.  There has been tons of debates this week.  Why did he not challenge his opponents when he actually had the opportunity to do so an

Some good news for Manitobans today.   The deficit is smaller than what was anticipated.  Regardless, our province, our city, and our country has massive debt loads.  We don't seem to mind.  I guess that is because so many of us live with crushing debt.  Every six months or go, the Governor of the Bank of Canada releases statistics on the debt load of Canadians.  It has always been going up and every time he makes an announcement, he announces it is a new record.  What happened to not buying things until we could afford them.  I remember 25 years ago being horrified when I saw someone put their groceries on a credit card.  How could they not budget effectively to put their groceries as part of necessary expenses?  Now, I confess, I have done the same thing.  We are comfortable with debt.   Also, in Manitoba, the minimum wage will rise in Monday by $.15.  I guess it is good that it is increasing, but hardly close to a living wage.   We are in the midst of a civic electi

Dear Sir: It looks like the last three decades have been prosperous for you.  You have distinguished yourself as a Jurist and you have had a good marriage and are raising a family.  You have made a positive difference in our legal system.  You have a lot to be proud of. I recognize that the last few weeks have been difficult for you, but your behavior yesterday has made you a national joke.  Regardless of what you did over 3 decades ago (and, of course, we believe Christine Blasey Ford), your behavior made you an embarrassment to your gender.  The images of you crying and losing your temper are forever etched in the minds of the world.  From that, you can never recover.  Even if miraculously you get your nomination confirmed, you will never be taken seriously.  There will always be an asterisk (either figuratively or literally) associated with you. Your behavior yesterday did irreparable damage to the judicial system, and made the Senate, one of the strongest institutions of

When I was in grade 10, I had a very close friend who was the little sister of one of the best looking guy of all times.  My best friend had a huge crush on him.  I would have had a crush on him, too, but, he was out of my league.  My friend did have a legitimate shot.  The little sister let us know about a weekend that her parents were out of town.  Her brother was having about 8 guys over to drink beer and just hang out.  These guys would be the really popular guys.  They weren't inviting anyone else as they just wanted to hang out and not have a big party.  So, my friend said that if he could have people over, she could invite her two best friends.  I don't remember some details like I don't remember how we got there.  I know I didn't drive.  If I had driven, I wouldn't have gotten drunk.  I am guessing this happened before I got my driver's licence.  So, there we were. 3 younger girls and 9 older boys and lots of beer.  And this was a long time ago, wh

I had a 1:1 meeting with Jenny M so I thought it would be only fair to do an entry on the other Mayoral candidates.  So, I sent out an email.  Seconds after I pressed "send", I heard from Umar and we set up a meeting the next day.  I spent an hour with him.  No one will ever be able to say that I talk too much again.  If they do, I will tell them to go talk to Umar.  I was exhausted after spending time with him and I couldn't even keep up to him.  The photograph is a good summary of our time together.  He never stops smiling and he is so much fun that you can't help smiling in his presence.  He is running for Mayor and says he is probably the poorest candidate in terms of  campaign resources.  He is basically operating his campaign on social media.  He has been trying to get the attention of mainstream media for two months.  He is hoping now that debates are happening, that they will be interested in giving him attention.  He is not a fan of the current Mayor.

I am trying to evolve as a blogger.  One of my friends told me that I needed to start adding my pictures to my blog so that people would know who they are communicating with.  So, good, bad, or ugly, I am adding my picture as much as I can.  It makes me feel vulnerable.  Not as vulnerable as I would feel if I was running for Mayor of a major Canadian city. I can't imagine how vulnerable I would feel, having every move and every word analyzed and taken out of context.  Perspective always defines your reality.  For example, I could tell you that I witnessed a murder by the Superstore last week.  That might bring up some powerful images in your mind.  Then, there would be those who know that a group of crows is called a murder.  That gives my previous statement have a whole different image in your mind.  So, when I spent an hour with Jenny Motkaluk that was my biggest impression.  She doesn't mind being vulnerable.  She just wants an opportunity to explain herself fully. That

People will surprise you, but you have to let them.  I have been learning that lately.  Listen to understand, and people might surprise you.    No, my beautiful grandson is not in jail and he is not in a cage.  He is looking proud because he made it to level 3 of the McDonald's climbing structure.  A year ago at this time, he would go in the climbing structure and then go one level down (floor level) and he would hang out in the "basement" of the structure.  Also, last year, he was afraid of slides.  This year, he is fearless.  I saw him at McDonald's and I saw the wheels turning in his mind.  He looked up at the cars and figured out the only way was up through the climbing structure.  He almost got to level 4 but it was just too much of a difference.  Of course, I am biased but going from level basement to level 3 was pretty fantastic.   That was not the only surprise at McDonald's.  In the play palace, they always assign an employee to help and clea

Every election, regardless of the level of government, there is always one or two candidates who are young seeking election.  When I was young, I dated a guy running for MP.  We both had a blast.  He had no hope of winning, so he really shook things up.  He made bold promises because he knew he would never have to fulfill them.  He got lots of media attention because he was young.  He basically set the agenda for the election and the incumbent kept having to respond to his ideas.  He would wear a t-shirt and jeans to a debate where the other candidates were in their suits.  He knew he wasn't going to win, but he did want to use the experience to advance his own interests.  It worked.  He also had an amazing sense of humour.  A few years later, he was asked to be a panelist at a community meeting.  When he started to speak, someone yelled from the audience, "hey, I know who you are, I voted for you."  He yelled back, "so, you're the one!!"  During the last

  I joined a North Kildonan Community Facebook Page a few years ago.  I confess that I have a friend who lives in the Ward who is not the biggest fan of Jeff Browaty.  Since I don't live in the Ward and really don't know much about him, I joined the site to read a bit about it.  I've stayed a member, well, because, Winnipeg is a really small city and I have used a lot of information that I have gotten from that site.   I think Jeff Browaty started the page and is its administrator.  It has 12,000 + members and is truly a community site.  People post looking for recommendations for pizza, they promote community events like the Fall Swap.  They ask questions about recyling and city policies.  Last week someone wished everyone in the community a happy day.  People post their addresses and say that they are leaving their extra zuchini out on a first come first serve basis.  Someone running against Jeff in the upcoming election posted his lawn signs pictures.  There ar

I'm expecting some sad news.  It is little over a year from when I received some similar sad news.  A little over a year ago, one of my mother's friends died of alcoholism.  I actually don't know what was on her death certificate, but the cause of her death was alcoholism.  She was in her early 60s. Through my mom, I knew her for about 20 years.  I remember few times when she wasn't under the influence of alcohol.  She had many positive qualities.  She was efficient at multi-tasking and she had a strong intellect.  Unfortunately, one of the tasks that she would do while multi-tasking was drinking.  Her employer was very compassionate and begged her to go to treatment and offered to do a lot to support her.  She denied she had a problem.  Her employer had to let her go.  She was devastated and never got over the humiliation.  She had a lot of supports and we all tried to help.  She pushed us all away.  We didn't go anywhere, but she was determined to drink hersel

https://spitfiretakesontheworld.blogspot.com/2018/09/cancer-causing-glyphosatebut-just-in.html https://spitfiretakesontheworld.blogspot.com/2018/07/weekly-anti-tims-rant.html https://spitfiretakesontheworld.blogspot.com/2018/07/tims-tries-too-little-too-late.html https://spitfiretakesontheworld.blogspot.com/2018/04/brewing-disputes.html https://spitfiretakesontheworld.blogspot.com/2018/03/roll-up-rima-scam.html https://spitfiretakesontheworld.blogspot.com/2018/01/why-we-think-tims-are-bullies.html https://spitfiretakesontheworld.blogspot.com/2018/01/no-tims-tuesday.html https://spitfiretakesontheworld.blogspot.com/2018/01/every-cup-tells-story.html https://spitfiretakesontheworld.blogspot.com/2017/12/et-tutim-hortons.html There may be a couple of more, but the above links explain why I don't patronize Tim Horton's.  Also, I can have fresh made coffee at home, with my french vanilla flavoured cream, anytime I want and without waiting in a drive-thru l

A couple of days ago, one of my friends posted on question: I know this is a bold question but can anyone buy or cook me breakfast today.  I really need something positive from the universe.   I saw this at about noon.  I looked at her comments and someone had said that she just sent her kids off to school and to come over.  My friend responded that she would be right over.  That was the first comment.  There were many following indicating that they would open their homes or wallets and provide her with breakfast.   I confess when I first read her post, I breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn't seen it hours earlier.  Then, I would have been in a dilemma.  My floor is really dirty and I've been procrastinating getting it clean.   It doesn't matter how many times people say, I am going to visit you and not your house, I'm still not comfortable allowing people to see that I am not perfect.  Which is about the silliest thing ever.  Everyone knows tha