Wednesday, July 29, 2009

My daughter - the Intimidator....

It's funny watching people's reactions to my 14 month old daughter.
As we are weaving our way through the isles of a grocery store, or deking the clothes racks in other stores, Ellery is constantly on the lookout.

She has a radar for those who fear babies.
She'll stare them down, often craning her neck just to peer past my shoulder.

As the person nervously makes eye contact, Ellery slowly raises her hand and gives them the cutest wave ever. Of course, to these people scared shitless, this wave looks like the way a Great White toys with their next meal by bumping into them before devouring them.

Some people try to play it off like they don't see her. I'll watch as eye contact is clearly made, then the person will quickly dart their eyes in another direction. When Ellery says "hi" in her sweet little voice, to me it's cute. To others, it sounds like a Lioness' roar....

At Safeway today, an older man actually fell out of line after the Intimidator said hi.
I laughed and rolled my eyes, and as we were walking away, Ellery gave him the biggest smile and waved goodbye to him. She was toying with the weak.

Monday, July 27, 2009

It's not mine.....I swear.


Today, I received a "Glow" magazine in the mail.

Advertised as "Canada's beauty and fashion magazine", this is a publication I've never paged through.
This mag was addressed to me, not Ali, so I'm confused.
Who has my name on a mailing list, and more importantly, did my neighbours see?

Friday, July 24, 2009

Watch what you say

Everybody has read one story or another about a person posting something on their blog site, their F.acebook account, or saying something in an e-mail that has come back to haunt them.

I'll give you two examples of idiots that I work with (or near).

The first girl has about as poor of a work ethic as you'll ever see. She's constantly calling in "sick" after a night of binge drinking.
When she actually does show up, she has to lay down and sleep for 3 hours of her 8 hour shift because she's "sick" again, or there's a "family emergency" requiring her to leave early.

A while back, one of her family members was having a social. Of course, this girl followed suit, and quickly called in "sick". A few hours later, her F.acebook status says "Uncle's party tonight. I need a date, ha ha ha!".

Not only is that stupid, it's also a slap in the face of all of her other co-workers that were working that day (me), leaving them short for their entire 12 hour shift.
Apparently, she got reprimanded for this, and I say it's about friggin' time.


The second example features another associate of mine, complaining about her fellow co-workers and peers - on F.acebook. I guess she forgot that half of her friends were on F.acebook, and she was quickly let go from her job. I don't know all of the details, but it must have been some pretty heavy shit to actually lose your job over.

So, ladies and gents, watch your P's and Q's.

(How often do you use the letter Q anyway?)

Thursday, July 9, 2009

I finally surprised her

As I was searching the Internet a few weeks back, I noticed that one of Ali's favorite bands was stopping in our city as part of a cross Canada tour.
I quickly looked at my schedule, and to no surprise, saw that I was working - again.
So far, I've worked during my birthday, Ali's birthday, our anniversary, so why not this day too?

After talking a co-worker of mine into making a switch, I got the day off. Now all I had to do was make sure Ali didn't find out about this evening.
I hired my cousin to watch Ellery for the night. Ali and I made our way out the door. She was asking me the whole time about where we were going.

"Are we going to the cheap theatre?"

"Nope."

"Ah, we're going to the IMAX aren't we?"

"No, it's better."

As we parked the car in a rather sketchy part of town, Ali was getting more nervous by the minute. She kept telling me that she was feeling sick to her stomach.

We walked around the corner, and there by the front doors was the band's van and their little trailer with the words "Said the Whale" on the side.

Ali let out an excited squeal, usually reserved for Christmas time, or good birthday presents.

That alone was good enough for me. Everything worked out exactly as I planned it.

It was a good night of music, and local beer. We have to do it again soon.

As a matter of fact, I think I'll take her to another concert on Monday. This is her belated birthday present, and I think she'll quite enjoy this one too.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Canada day, and the rules that apply

Today is Canada's birthday. Millions of Canadians show their pride by wearing red and white, and waving tiny Canadian flags about.

This day also holds special meaning to the hundreds of thousands of immigrant Canadians.
They leave their respective war torn countries, or poverty to find a new life for their families here in a peaceful country. Most of them, anyway.

We have an increasing number of immigrants here in Manitoba. I cannot even begin to fathom the shit that they saw from a very early age, be it from rape or starvation, to watching their own family members being slaughtered right in front of them.
Some of these youths find the transition to Canadian life hard. I put the blame on the Government for not giving these people a proper orientation to our laws, and the way things work here.

Young kids end up on the streets, forming gangs, and committing crimes. Sometimes it's just a "kids being kids" attitude from the law enforcement, and just like every other child under the age of 16, the criminal youth justice act protects them from any kind of true punishment.....

Here's the part that I don't fully understand. If these kids are coming from a violent country, why wouldn't they be the first ones in line to protest violence, rather than pick up a machete and hack some other kid's arm just to get their MP3 player?
Again, the law steps in and protects them by saying "They come from a violent country. It's all they know..."
Really? So there's nothing wrong with that? We can all just say "I didn't know we weren't supposed to shoot that grocery clerk in the face. It's all I know".

I love being a Canadian. I love this country more than any other place in the world, but our government really has to grow some balls.

The Canadian deported one violent immigrant, after numerous assaults and robberies, citing that he had no chance of rehabbing.
Maybe if they put the fear of sending people back to the hell that they came from, they would behave like human beings after all.

So, happy Canada day to the many people who truly appreciate and deserve a better life here. Just give that bad ass kid a kick in the ass for me, and tell them to smarten up. Then apologize, because that's what Canadians do...