Sunday, June 28, 2009

A Handfull of Sour Cherry


There are a few wild Sour Cherry trees close to home. Just a month ago they were full of blossoms, so beautiful. Now they are filled with sour cherries, black, red and pink. We stopped by and picked a bunch. tasty. Of course it's not as good as what you get from a real orchard in old country. Not bad though.
(Photo: Small sour cherries taste not bad)

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Shocked


I was at work on Thu. when F. F. called me and said about Michael Jackson's death. I was surprised and shocked. It was very unexpected! He looked fine just a little more than a month ago on TV when he was talking about his concerts, This Is It, in London, England.

Now he's dead at the age of only 50! I really felt bad for him when I heard that. He was in so much mental and physical pain in his last years of life. It seems nobody ever believed him. I remember when he was being tried for child molestation I saw his pictures on the net showing him ill and exhausted and said: What a liar! He's playing to get away from the punishment! Now I see that the poor guy was really sick.

I also remember the years of his Thriller album and the excitement in the society and the young. The clash between the police and his fans who would dress like him and listen to his songs, the principal of the school trying to ban the fanatic students, us getting his album on cassette, pining his photos on the wall!
He's gone. I believe there will ever be someone as good as him in the world of entertainment. He'll be always in my mind and heart as a legend.
(Photo: A short history of Michael Jackson's success. A legend never dies)

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The Three Unpredictable Ws

We were at a Tim Horton's with J. W., talking about businesses and everything and he mentioned something rather interesting: He said that in Canada there're three important and at the same time unpredictable things, all starting with W: Weather, Work and Women!
He's absolutely right but I would like to add that those are not only unpredictable. They're also inevitable! Of course the middle one is the most important one for every one including me. The third one is not as important as the other two but it helps to have a better life and the first one affects the daily life and changes the expenses!
Let's analyze them one by one a bit:

1- A large population of Canadians work in tourism industry. If the weather is not pleasant, these people get nothing. Restaurants, parks, shops and many other businesses suffer form that, enormously. White Rock is a good example: In a sunny and nice day you see herd of people walking up and down promenade, sitting on patios drinking and eating, shopping at the local stores, etc. That brings a good revenue to the City. The more customers, the more money for the businesses, the more tax for the City. But in a cloudy, rainy or snowy day, the entire town looks like a big graveyard! the only thing you hear is wind howling, seagulls screeching, and waves pounding on wave rocks! The scenario applies to other places like Stanley Park, Grouse Mountain, etc. Weather exactly performs the same roll as Swine Flu did in Mexico last month. Mexico tourism just lost $2.8 million in one week as a lack of enough number of tourists. Canada suffered almost from the same manner in the months of recession. The country lost huge money due to lack of enough visitors especially in Ontario and B. C.

2- In the society of Capitalism you're employed and happy one day and unemployed and sorrowed the other day. The moment the employer feels that for every $25 you earn, his company does not make that $300 and more, you're on your way home! I was talking to P. M. yesterday and he said that he had been asked to leave his job almost a month ago due to shortage of work. There's at the moment a huge debate between the Government and the opposition party about EI. They are trying to make it more helpful as it's a useless system for most of the employees now. The amount of money they receive and the length of coverage is so tiny and short that basically is no help but a little cod for a whale!

3- Only 49% of Canadians live in families. Why? Because you're married to someone today and the other day the lady feels that he needs someone else and leaves you! The more money you make, the bigger chance that you have someone beside you for a long time. Nevertheless money is not the only factor. Some people have to work irregular hours to earn enough money for their household. Police officers, firefighters, paramedics, nurses and many others. These people mostly have no family life because women first marry to them and then they don't control themselves, cheat on their husbands and start a relationship with others. Two short stories exemplifies the true meaning this fact: R. J., a former member of the RCMP told me that his 23 years of service on the force, cost him 2 marriages. He currently lives with his third wife of a Native origin and has seven kids from three of them! A. F. told me a story of a friend of his, a police officer, who came home unexpectedly and saw his wife in the arms of his neighbour! D. H.'s wife left him after 15 years of marriage with two little kids and I have already told the interesting story of S. J.'s marriage. Isn't that enough?
(Photo: Continuous Ws! I added this picture later. This in fact was taken in June of 2016 during a hike to Mount Burns which its story is available here

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Amazing Photo


Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup surprisingly last night. I didn't watch game seven but watched a few others. Detroit looked so determined and as strong as last season at the beginning and I was a bit shocked when I read Pittsburgh's victory today.
I just picked this amazing photo of the game seven and as this blog in no way a news blog I refer you to NHL's website and other related sites for the news. Just enjoy the art of photography.
(Photo: Fleury, the net minder of Pittsburgh blocks a shot in game seven of 2008-2009 NHL season. The penguins won the game 2-1 and as well as the Stanley Cup in Detroit)

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Introductory Trip


We took the advantage of today's off and first had a short trip to White Rock. It was nice, sunny, quiet and not very hot like a few days ago; just mild lovely weather. We checked the Tennis courts and then followed a path through the bushes and trees to the West Beach. The tide was out so we enjoyed walking on the beach and also watching a couple making sandcastles. Then we walked back uptown and took a bus to Vancouver.
Route 351 takes you through Delta and goes to Richmond and eventually Vancouver. I had never taken that road. It's scenic. Anyways we spent a little more than hour in Pacific Centre eating and window shopping and then went to the waterfront, Vancouver Convention Centre and Water St. It was just an introductory trip to to just see what we're going to do and where we're going to go.
So this is where we're goin' go to in near future in B. C.: Downtown Vancouver, Vancouver Aquarium, Ambleside Park, Grouse Mountain, Squamish, Whistler, etc. I've been to a few of course but still keep them in the list.
(Photo: This picture taken using an HTC Touch handset shows the two British-like accent people who were making nice sandcastles in White Rock beach close to its pier)

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Getting Worse!


Looks like the amount of my Cooper Test exercises are getting smaller every month! I only was able to finish 3 days in May! There're two reasons obviously: 1- The nights that I have to ride my bike home. There's no sense doing exercise. 2- The other days of the month which I usually am tired and lazy at the same time!
Today I went to the gymnasium to do the first exercise of June but after warming up and a couple of minutes, a short chubby Oriental woman showed up and asked me to leave the damn treadmill! She said that she had signed and I simply left with a smile and tap on her shoulder! Then I spent a few minutes on different machines and left. The gymnasium was busy because of the late hour and also the hot summer. I'm going to increase the number of days in June (the same promise was made last months as well!)
(Photo: I only concluded three days of practice on May. You can see the dates on this month's chart)