10:32 p.m. - 2004-04-17
Surf's Up
My youngest was quite sick last night, so I didn't get much sleep between the last post and this one dear diary. Severe headaches and vomiting. Kind of scared him, since he's not used to such things - thankfully. Flu maybe. I had a milder version today, although feeling like one's head is about to split open doesn't seem mild at the time.
Number two son and his partner dropped in just after lunch. I needed to have my daughter in law swear an oath for the position I want her to fill - that can't be done over the phone. They both went away with manuals to study after they took me over to the post office to pick up all the boxes Elections Canada decided to ship to my home last week. We weren't warned about them and obviously they forgot that I've rented storage space to receive them. The shipment this week was 22 more large cartons so the cats' room is nearly filled up. My assistant has the storage key in his wallet, he's still in hospital. I'll think about that tomorrow.
I ordered groceries on-line today. We're all out of things, especially for the cats. I couldn't face the trip to the local store today, so front-door delivery first thing tomorrow sounded just fine. I wanted to test out the service before the election is called anyway just to be certain all the ins and outs are known. Less stress that way when things get really intense in the office.
One google e-alert (environment) that I receive didn't give me much information about the topic in question today, but it led me to several really interesting sites. I was really happy that I followed the Miami story - it led me to Dave Barry. Our local paper used to carry his columns on Sundays and it was one of my favorite reads. I didn't know he had a weblog too. Today's feature "strange" story was about snake retrieval. blog. I missed his humour and I'm glad I can find his columns again. That isn't to say, dear diary, that our local paper eliminated humour from it's pages. The new columnist on the "society" page, that I wrote about a few posts ago (the one who reports on the downtown denizens and transit riders), has turned out to be very entertaining. A playwright by avocation he tells tales of the local inner city, trying different writing styles nearly every column. I like that. His story today was a little different in that it was about a play he wrote - "Inn From the Cold" - where his purpose appears to be two-fold. It is about the homeless situation in our city, so it is meant to be instructive. Secondly, performance revenue is donated to helping those the story is about. That is a very creative form of philanthropy - donating one's talents as a perpetual fund-raiser. His daughter is his partner in most local productions, so it sounds like it is also a good way for him to organize family time through and within his work. Neat parenting that is.
The next article took me to an omnibus webpage for Northeast England - York don't you know. I've worked with a couple of Yorkies and one of my ex's grandfathers emigrated from there. A very different way of seeing the world compared to Brits from the south of England. I found my way to this bulletin board for ex-pats who want to keep in touch with old friends and family who are still at "home". I've been wondering about Bill and his wife who lived and worked in Canada - Bill at the same company as me for three years - just so they could be near enough to their grandchildren to see that they were "properly fetched up". They returned to their farm in Yorkshire about four years ago when they were certain their grandkids were old enough to travel safely on their own to the "old home". Geordies. Great grandparents, I think. The message board does have local jokes, but darned if I can get the punchlines on some of them.
The next two stories came out of a Chinese newspaper. Several years ago Canada sent some of our judges over to China to assist their judges in revamping some of the practices used in their courts. I think it was to prepare China so it would be accepted into the World Trade Organization. This story tells how there is now an opening of the door to foreign law firms wishing to practice corporate law in China to facilitate the increased international trade. law_in_China. As a bonus I came across this photo essay about the life of modern Shaolin priests - blessings Grasshopper! Shaolin.
The fascinating thing about reading this newspaper was that even though world news was extensively covered, it was viewed from a very different perspective. Sometimes when we experience Cognitive Dissonance it is because we aren't taking off the blinders we've chosen for ourselves. Studying other points of view not only brings enlightenment, it often also offers solutions to problems that seemed intractable before. An experiment that showed me that very early on was the simple act of attending parent council meetings at my childrens' schools. Often twenty parents all discussing the same test of their skills at the hands of their off-spring - like potty training or sibling rivalry - would come up with 25 very different, yet effective, ways of addressing the problem. Sometimes community service has huge hidden benefits. Right? Or, at the very least misery found a lot of company. At least a mom didn't feel so isolated or incompetent - everyone was experiencing the same feelings. An extension on that thought was found in this study done in Australia reflection.
Anyway our hockey team is playing in overtime in a game that might move us to the semi finals in the Stanley Cup. So dear diary I think I'll just go check out the action. Talk with you tomorrow.
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