Vote, Damn It!

Posted on October 8, 2008 by Heather

Yesterday I spent some time writing an entry about the upcoming elections in Canada and the U.S., and the ongoing stock market and banking collapse. But, after sleeping on it, I figured that no one really gives a damn what I have to say. This isn’t blog about politics or finance. It is a blog about my life.

So, with that in mind, I’m going to tell you what I’m going to do. First, I am am going to vote in the upcoming Canadian election, and I urge you to vote in your election too. While my one vote may not make a huge difference, a whole bunch of votes from people like me (educated, informed, concerned with education, health care, the environement and the economy) will make a difference! I am not going to vote for the party that I would normally affiliate myself with; I’m going to vote for the party that I feel has the platform that best suits meets my concerns.

Canadian and not sure which party to vote for?  You can try this site: The Undecided. You might be surprised which party is your best match.  I sure was!

As for the economy, I’m going to worry and watch my investments.  But I’m not going to panic.  Our investments are for 30 years, not 30 days.  And, while in the sort term we may be down a lot, it will come back.

We are living in a difficult world right now, but really no more or less difficult than other generations have been through.  With Thanksgiving on the way, I’m going to take some time to be thankful for my family, especially the wonderful little Baby Man.

As a note to my American readers, please vote, and please vote intelligently.  Vote for the candidate who will lead your country best, regardless of how you might feel about him personally.

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Homes for Childhood

Posted on October 4, 2008 by Heather

I was reading something the other day that got me thinking about my childhood home.  Actually, it would be more accurate to say it got me thinking about how I don’t really associate any of the houses I’ve lived in as my childhood home.

If you count the home where my parents were living when I was born, we lived in a total of five house before I moved out.  That isn’t really a large number, but at the same time, it is still quite a few. The last house is the one we lived in the longest, from the start of middle school (grade 6) until the end of my five year university career.  Thirteen or so years in one place does tend to lead to fond memories.  When I dream of home, it is there that I dream of.  And yet, I don’t think of it as my childhood home, since I was into my teenage years when we settled there.

Since leaving home, seven years ago, quanta and I have lived in four different places.  We’ve been in the last, a condo we purchased, for just over a year.  My hope is that when we move in a few years we can find a place to settle for a while, a place that the Baby Man will come to think of as his childhood home.  But I wonder if such places exist any more, since it seems everyone seem so intent on upgrading and moving on to the next, bigger place.  Maybe memories of one special childhood home will be rare, and rarer still will be the ability to return to that home and show your children you childhood bedroom.

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Book Review: Balance Training by Karon Karter

Posted on October 1, 2008 by Heather

Exercise books are difficult to review.  The results one sees from the exercises presented in a book is a subjective thing, as is the level of enjoyment received.  And, when I am looking for an exercise book or DVD, I’m looking for something that works and is fun.   That said, I think that Balance Training: Stability Training for Core Strength and a Sculpted Body by Karon Karter is both fun and effective.

Balance Training presents a series of exercises to develop core strength and a toned body using five different pieces of equipment.  Ms. Karter makes use of the foam roller, balance ball, BOSU Balance Trainer, balance board and balance cushion.  I will admit up front that I only have a balance ball, so I wasn’t able to try all of the exercises in the book.  However, I did read over the other sections, and feel that the exercises in them are just as enjoyable and effective as the ones I tried out.

One thing I really appreciated about this book was how much care was taken in making sure the reader is doing the exercises correctly.  Not only are there plenty of clear pictures, there is also section explaining exactly how things like natural spine should look and feel.  This makes following the exercise directions much easier.   Beginner and advanced directions are also included for some exercises.  A series of workouts is provided, showing how to string together different exercises in the book in the most effective ways.  It is true that no book is ever going to be as good as a DVD (and no DVD will ever be as good as a class), the pictures and instructions in this book are close to the best I’ve come across.

The biggest issue I have with this book is all the equipment required.  It is likely that you have a balance ball at home (or can pick one up fairly inexpensively), but some of the other pieces, like the BOSU Balance Trainer, are quite expensive.  There are plenty of exercises that just make use of the balance ball, but I felt like I was missing out on a lot because I’m not willing to spending around $300 to pick up the other four pieces of equipment.

I would happily recommend this book if you are looking for balance training and core strengthening exercise, and you either have access to or are willing to buy the required equipment.

Buy Balance Training: Stability Training for Core Strength and a Sculpted Body from Amazon

Publisher: Ulysses Press

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Violence and the City

Posted on September 22, 2008 by Heather

Last Tuesday, a teenage boy was shot outside his school on the other side of Toronto.  The boy survived but ended up in the hospital.  That day there were three other violent attacks in Toronto, which lead to a lot of dicussion about how violent the city, and its schools, is becoming.

A day or two later, it was discover the the boy who was shot was actually trying to rob another student with a gun.  So the victim became the suspect, and the conversation changed a little bit.  The schools are still too violent, everyone says, but there is something fundamentally wrong with our children.  Why have school yard fights moved from fists to knifes and guns?  Why are young men shot and then dumped on the highway?  What is going on?

Although studies show that violence is actually on the decline in most parts of Canada, it seems like quite the opposite is true. (Toronto Police Services reports crime overall is down 11.4% over last year, and murders are down 22%.*)  I believe this is partly because, while there may be few crimes, the ones that are happening are more violent, often involving guns and/or knives.

I am actually a little scared to send the Baby Man to school.  I know that crime isn’t as bad as the news makes it out to be (I mean, good news is hardly news, is it?), but he is my only child and I know I will be crushed if anything were to happen to him.  I suppose the best any parent can do is to teach their child to do the right thing, to avoid people who have no respect for the law, and just to live the best life they can.

* Note that these statics are for the period ending August 26, 2008, and were vaild on the day this post was written.  TPS will likely update this page in the future.

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Rude? WTF Does She Mean?

Posted on September 17, 2008 by Heather

I just finished reading Lynne Truss’ Talk to the Hand, a short look at how increasingly rude British society has become.  She looks at six different areas of manners that, well, piss her off.  It is bitingly funny, very cleaver, and all true.  And I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that uses Eff Off so often, without being offensive.

Ms. Truss suggests that one of the reasons people are so rude now is that we are taking our personal space bubble just a little too literally.  Just because we think that space around us shouldn’t be invaded without our permission (subway riding excluded), doesn’t mean we have the right to do whatever we want within our space.  When we are in public, we are in public! I completely agree.  I don’t want to see people making out on the street, or listen to someone’s overly loud phone conversation.  While we may be on the go more often these days, there are still some things best done in the privacy of our own homes.

Ms. Truss didn’t really touch much on my personal pet peeves, though.  I am really horrified by the almost total lack of common courtesy nowadays.  When I was pregnant (and very visibly so), it was rare for anyone (even women) to give up a seat for me on the subway.  Now that I am trying to manhandle a baby carriage through doors, it is a miracle if someone helps me out by holding them open.  More times than I can count, someone has gone into a shop just before me and sailed through the door without a second glance in my direction. (Believe me, the stroller is bright red and very noticeable.)

I really don’t know what drives this lack of courtesy.  I regularly hold open doors, give up my seat, say please and thank you to everyone, etc.  It isn’t hard, and doesn’t take away anything from my life.  Rather, I think it adds to it.  Why not try saying “thank you” to someone today, or even better, say “you’re welcome” instead of the “no problem” that seems to jump so easily to everyone’s lips.  See if it doesn’t cause the other person to smile, and maybe brighten up your day too.

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So, I Guess We Are All Still Here… Where’s the Pudding?

Posted on September 10, 2008 by Heather

This morning, CERN’s new Large Hadron Collider started up… and it looks like the world didn’t end.  Darn, I guess I really need to look into that diet.

Anyway, you may remember me mentioning back in March that some scientists were certain that this new, extremely large particle accelerator would cause the Earth to disappear into a giant black hole.  Or, uh, turn us all into pudding or something.  Clearly that didn’t happen.

quanta and I admitted to each other this morning that we were glad that it came to pass with nothing more exciting happening than an abnormally large number of accidents on the highways around Toronto.  (Unrelated?  I think not!)

Seriously, there are some events that, even though you know nothing is going to happen, you can’t help but dread their approach.  The anniversary of September 11th is one, Y2K was another.  The sane part of your mind tells you that it is just going to be another day, and there is no rational reason to worry.  But that media-soaked, crazy, caveman part of your mind can’t help but say “WHAT IF??!?!?  OMG!!!”

So, tomorrow with be another one of those days, at least for North Americans.  But remember, September 11th, 2001 started out as a normal day.  Disasters don’t happen when we expect them to.

Comments Off on So, I Guess We Are All Still Here… Where’s the Pudding? | Posted in Media & Politics |

Visiting the Real World

Posted on September 6, 2008 by Heather

I don’t get out much anymore.  Or, rather, the Baby Man and I don’t go beyond our little neighbourhood; a place where people have come to recognize the lady with the baby in the red stroller.  Today, though, I ventured out into the real world: Downtown Toronto.

The area around Eaton Centre is, at best, extremely busy on a good day.  Today, though, there was the addition of the tourists attend the Toronto International Film Festival and all the frosh from U of T adding to the chaos.  (A note to tourists: taking pictures of yourself sitting on the sofas in Pottery Barn really does make it obvious you are not from around here.)

I realized, as I angerly fought my way through the crowds, that I have become very cocooned in my current life.  Things have gotten much slower, and the only urgency occurs with the Baby Man spits up or needs his diaper changed.  I like things they way they are now, much more than being part of the daily madness.  While I may not have time to meditate (or even think) anymore, in some ways the pace of my life is a bit like an ongoing meditation, at least compared to how it used to be.

Things will begin to speed up soon, though.  I’m starting back to work this coming week.  At least I am lucky enough to be able to work from home and have a lot of control over my hours.  Maybe going back to work will return some discipline to my life.  Goodness knows, beyond cross stitching, oh, and raising the Baby Man, I haven’t gotten much accomplished this year.

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