After a week in Winnipeg, and sitting through countless hours of regional planning meetings, it's good to be back home. When you're used to spending 24/7 with your best friend, spending a week with virtual strangers isn't my version of a good time.
There's a three hour store tour coming in on Wednesday, and I've got a ton of things to get into shape before they arrive. There's always stuff that head office tells me to do, that I just filter out and only complete what I see as a benefit to my store. It's easy enough to do when they're thousands of miles away, but now that they're coming out for only the second time in two years, I've got to quickly bust my butt to complete as much as possible. I need to at least make it "look" like I'm following orders.
Same old same old. It's Sunday morning, we didn't get any freight yesterday, and there's three twin otters scheduled to bring us various freight from around the countryside. Of course they spread them out perfectly to kill at least six hours (if they're actually on time). I guess that I should be happy that the dead time between he cargo flights will force me to be at the store on my day off and get a head start on all of the crap that needs to be completed prior to the early Wednesday tour.
That's it for today. Big Sharks game tonight.
Stay tuned.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
NDP Rookie MPs
I fully realize that all MPs were rookies as some point. But a cabinet chock full of rookies all at once? I also know that there are some veterans sprinkled in there, but can they really be up to the challenge of being the official opposition? A 19 year old, a cocktail waitress that spent a week's worth of the campaign in Las Vegas because she believed that she had no hope of winning, and a couple of students. Doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the only party capable of stopping the Conservatives from running roughshod through any bills or budgets that they feel like. I sure hope that Jack Layton knows that he's playing way over his head, rather than thinking that this is just a building block to something much bigger and better.
I've been invited back to Winnipeg for some planning sessions next week, so it's not likely that there will be any blogs from the "Peg". This is actually a meeting for some of the folks in much higher positions, so it is at least slightly humbling that I am one of only three store managers out of 140 that have been invited to take part. Of course the down-side is having to leave Fran behind to deal with the northern insanity by herself. Buddy will cry.
That should be the last of the political rants for the next short term, but there are two more series that could be done in the playoffs tonight, and I haven't really spoken about hockey for a while. That should change tomorrow.
Stay tuned.
I've been invited back to Winnipeg for some planning sessions next week, so it's not likely that there will be any blogs from the "Peg". This is actually a meeting for some of the folks in much higher positions, so it is at least slightly humbling that I am one of only three store managers out of 140 that have been invited to take part. Of course the down-side is having to leave Fran behind to deal with the northern insanity by herself. Buddy will cry.
That should be the last of the political rants for the next short term, but there are two more series that could be done in the playoffs tonight, and I haven't really spoken about hockey for a while. That should change tomorrow.
Stay tuned.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Conrad Black Has An Opinion?
Not that's it great to be back in Salluit, but it is good to be back to a regular routine. The wind is currently gusting well over 100Km/hour (I'm surprised that we still have power), the windchill is less than -20, the house is shaking, and the dogs refuse to go outside (I don't blame them). Environment Canada states that our sunrise is at 4:30am and the sunset is at 9:30pm, but that's taking into consideration the fact that we're between mountains and those times are for when we can't actually see the sun. In reality, when I take the dogs out before bed at 11pm there is still light in the sky behind the mountains, and I don't care to know when the sky starts getting light in the morning.
Long before the polls closed on Monday, Conrad Black (no relation... I get asked all the time) made a few comments that I found very interesting. His first comment was that it was a good thing that we might now be down to a two party system again (the way it's supposed to be). That's of course assuming that the Liberals and the NDP will merge, or one of them become non-existent. As an aside - when I was taking political science in university, my professor always mentioned the pointlessness of the Liberal party and that he couldn't understand how they ever come into power. Our political system is basically founded on the idea of having a left-wing and a right-wing party, and generally the balance of power would swing back and forth creating some middle ground. The Liberals really are just middle ground, so it seems kind of odd.
The other comment he made was that since the NDP (left-wing side of the pendulum) party has been traditionally Anglo, and the majority of their seats are now Franco, this could drastically change the dynamics of the whole foundation of the party. My question becomes - if the foundation is built on catering to Anglos, but they'll be forced to cater Francos (the majority of their voters), will that make them more left-wing (and therefore less likely to merge with the Liberals), or closer to centre (which would make a merger seem more attractive)? Very interesting.
Stay tuned.
Long before the polls closed on Monday, Conrad Black (no relation... I get asked all the time) made a few comments that I found very interesting. His first comment was that it was a good thing that we might now be down to a two party system again (the way it's supposed to be). That's of course assuming that the Liberals and the NDP will merge, or one of them become non-existent. As an aside - when I was taking political science in university, my professor always mentioned the pointlessness of the Liberal party and that he couldn't understand how they ever come into power. Our political system is basically founded on the idea of having a left-wing and a right-wing party, and generally the balance of power would swing back and forth creating some middle ground. The Liberals really are just middle ground, so it seems kind of odd.
The other comment he made was that since the NDP (left-wing side of the pendulum) party has been traditionally Anglo, and the majority of their seats are now Franco, this could drastically change the dynamics of the whole foundation of the party. My question becomes - if the foundation is built on catering to Anglos, but they'll be forced to cater Francos (the majority of their voters), will that make them more left-wing (and therefore less likely to merge with the Liberals), or closer to centre (which would make a merger seem more attractive)? Very interesting.
Stay tuned.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Majority Government!
Boy... did I ever blow the call on that one? Talk about your all-time backfires on the idiots that decided to have a non-confidence vote! Hopefully we get to coast through the next four and a half years without any more election talk.
I noticed that on the Business News Network yesterday, the statement was made that internationally it is considered that there really is no difference between any of the Canadian parties, and therefore the world markets were not affected by the election in Canada. Doesn't that sound eerily familiar to what I had just said the other day?
Off the topic, but not really. Did you pay attention to the last NDP commercial over the last few days, (the one where he said I will not stop until the job is done)? He's saying each syllable separately and pointing his finger at the end of each one. Am I the only one that thought it looked suspiciously familiar, like another short politician with a little mustache? Not that I'm making any comparison. I have also been to a leadership communication course in University where the professor freely admitted that most leadership speaking styles are intended to imitate Hitler, since he was one of the most convincing public speakers of all time.
There's plenty more wild political accusations to come.
Stay tuned.
I noticed that on the Business News Network yesterday, the statement was made that internationally it is considered that there really is no difference between any of the Canadian parties, and therefore the world markets were not affected by the election in Canada. Doesn't that sound eerily familiar to what I had just said the other day?
Off the topic, but not really. Did you pay attention to the last NDP commercial over the last few days, (the one where he said I will not stop until the job is done)? He's saying each syllable separately and pointing his finger at the end of each one. Am I the only one that thought it looked suspiciously familiar, like another short politician with a little mustache? Not that I'm making any comparison. I have also been to a leadership communication course in University where the professor freely admitted that most leadership speaking styles are intended to imitate Hitler, since he was one of the most convincing public speakers of all time.
There's plenty more wild political accusations to come.
Stay tuned.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Osama Down - Obama To Go
I was obviously going to talk about the election tonight, but nobody even gets to start talking about results until 10pm our time, and I'll be long asleep before things get finalized. Especially since last night's wind storm kept us up most of the night. The house was shaking, our locked bedroom window popped open anyway, and the power went out several times. I've got a flat of plywood beside my house, but there's only a strap on one end of the load. The wind actually lifted up the first two sheets, ripped them off at the metal strapping, and blew the 6x4 foot sheets several blocks down the street!
So that brings me to Osama. Does everyone actually believe the stories to be true? Somehow, this sounds suspiciously like the "one giant leap for mankind" hoax that so many fell for in the sixties. For ten years, there's no sightings, or even half-decent intelligence to say that they're anywhere close to tracking him down. Suddenly, one day they just find him, kill him, and dump his body in the ocean. Nice and tidy. Seems to me like some desperate "straw grasping" by a President who's only noteworthy event so far is a multi-billion dollar bailout that went mostly to the back pockets of fatcat executives who undeservedly got to keep their highly paying jobs, while those that needed the bailout lined up at the soup kitchens. I guess Obama's got to do something to prevent getting labeled as a "democratic single-termed Jimmy Carter".
Election results tomorrow.
Stay tuned.
So that brings me to Osama. Does everyone actually believe the stories to be true? Somehow, this sounds suspiciously like the "one giant leap for mankind" hoax that so many fell for in the sixties. For ten years, there's no sightings, or even half-decent intelligence to say that they're anywhere close to tracking him down. Suddenly, one day they just find him, kill him, and dump his body in the ocean. Nice and tidy. Seems to me like some desperate "straw grasping" by a President who's only noteworthy event so far is a multi-billion dollar bailout that went mostly to the back pockets of fatcat executives who undeservedly got to keep their highly paying jobs, while those that needed the bailout lined up at the soup kitchens. I guess Obama's got to do something to prevent getting labeled as a "democratic single-termed Jimmy Carter".
Election results tomorrow.
Stay tuned.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Election Eve
Not surprisingly, on the last day before a pretty large federal election... I'm really not that concerned.
The second round of the NHL playoffs are underway, and Steinbach product Ian White is looking like a well seasoned playoff veteran (despite this being his first ever taste of the post-season). Among defensemen, he's second in assists, second in points, second in +/-, 5th in power-play goals, 10th in goals, and 10th in shots. That's together with the fact that several of the guys ahead of him have already been eliminated from the playoffs. Way to go Ian!
MLB is now into their second month of the season, and the Blue Jays are about normal where they usually are (13-15). Jose Bautista is leading the league in several categories, including: batting average, homeruns, runs scored, walks, OBP, slugging percentage, and slugging plus OBP (a stat that has been gaining in popularity in the last few seasons).
April and October are the best two months in sports, which seems to take priority in my mind over this election. So the polls are suggesting that the NDP might take a significant amount a seats away from the Bloc in Quebec, and could end up as the official opposition for the first time in history. This doesn't take away from the fact that the Conservatives will win another minority government. My biggest problem with the whole thing, is that none of the parties are sticking to their traditional platforms. With everyone just trying to be popular (instead of actually standing for something), all the platforms start to look the same. The next problem, is that ever since the Reform party broke onto the scene and were quickly followed by the Bloc, it's virtually impossible to win a majority. Constant minority governments just result in continued crappy bickering, totally unwarranted non-confidence votes, and millions being spent on an election that will possibly change the official opposition, but obviously very little else.
Not that I'll let that stop me from watching the election results tomorrow (during hockey commercials).
Stay tuned.
The second round of the NHL playoffs are underway, and Steinbach product Ian White is looking like a well seasoned playoff veteran (despite this being his first ever taste of the post-season). Among defensemen, he's second in assists, second in points, second in +/-, 5th in power-play goals, 10th in goals, and 10th in shots. That's together with the fact that several of the guys ahead of him have already been eliminated from the playoffs. Way to go Ian!
MLB is now into their second month of the season, and the Blue Jays are about normal where they usually are (13-15). Jose Bautista is leading the league in several categories, including: batting average, homeruns, runs scored, walks, OBP, slugging percentage, and slugging plus OBP (a stat that has been gaining in popularity in the last few seasons).
April and October are the best two months in sports, which seems to take priority in my mind over this election. So the polls are suggesting that the NDP might take a significant amount a seats away from the Bloc in Quebec, and could end up as the official opposition for the first time in history. This doesn't take away from the fact that the Conservatives will win another minority government. My biggest problem with the whole thing, is that none of the parties are sticking to their traditional platforms. With everyone just trying to be popular (instead of actually standing for something), all the platforms start to look the same. The next problem, is that ever since the Reform party broke onto the scene and were quickly followed by the Bloc, it's virtually impossible to win a majority. Constant minority governments just result in continued crappy bickering, totally unwarranted non-confidence votes, and millions being spent on an election that will possibly change the official opposition, but obviously very little else.
Not that I'll let that stop me from watching the election results tomorrow (during hockey commercials).
Stay tuned.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)