This one follows the case of an oriental shopkeeper in Toronto being arrested for tying up a repeat shop lifter until the plice arrived (4 hours later). The charges were later dropped.
A rural Alberta man returned home from an evening out with his wife to find a strange vehicle in his yard and someone in his house. Grabbing a hatchet from the shed, he went in to find the place ransacked. When he returned outside, the perpetrator was trying to manouver his getaway vehicle around the homeowners' vehicle and tried to run over the guy's wife which prompted the homeowner to bust him in the chops with said hatchet. RCMP officers later arrested the homeowner and charged him with assault.
Another rural Alberta man heard someone in his yard and when he went out to investigate he found that some punk was in his shed stealing his ATV. The punk took off on the ATV, the homeowner ran and got his shotgun and gave pursuit in his pickup. When he got close enough he shot at the asshole on the ATV and captured him. Guess who got charged in this one?
Have we become a society that molly-coddles the bad guys and doesn't respect the rights of the law abiding citizen?
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Retired+soldier+charged+after+carrying+defend+property/3896047/story.html
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
From the Op/Ed pages of the Calgary Herald (couldn't resist)
This sounds like one very pissed off lady.
Hey, Mr. Transit person, I want my money back
For The Calgary Herald November 26, 2010 Dear Calgary Transit Authority Person (Your website does not list an actual person to address so there you are),
I wanted to take this opportunity to give you an update on how this city's fine public transit system is doing in its first week of winter this year.
On your website, it states: "If you wish to make us aware of a concern or suggestion, or leave a commendation for an individual or something you like in general, please click on one of the links below and fill out the form that appears." I'm going to forgo this suggestion as I'm not convinced that the forms you provide will have adequate space for my "concerns."
Before I begin, I'd like to mention that I have had the privilege of participating in Calgary's transit system, on and off for the last 15 years. There have been various low points and disappointments over that time period but after mulling over several of them in my head, I believe I would like to focus on Tuesday's experience. You know . . . while it is still fresh in my memory.
It began at 7:30 a.m. I don't know if you are aware, sir (or ma'am), but Tuesday morning was a particularly chilly one. Approximately -32 C and I don't know what with wind-chill. Actually, according to our own Calgary Herald, we had the unfortunate distinction of being the second coldest place on Earth . . . THE SECOND COLDEST PLACE ON EARTH.
I know this is hard for you to imagine from your plush downtown office with your heated underground parking spot, paid for by all those whiny taxpayers, but it was freezing outside on Tuesday. So freezing, in fact, that if you were holding, say, a scalding hot drink in your hand while waiting on the train platform for an hour for a non-existent train, the drink would actually begin to freeze solid. Much like the limbs holding onto it, and the miserable eyeballs looking down at it. Because that is what happened.
Within 10 minutes of being on that platform, a soft polite announcement came over the intercom to inform us that there would be a 20-minute delay in service and to thank us for our patience. I never quite know how to take these. Twenty minutes from the time that the train should have been there? Or 20 minutes from the time of the announcement?
These are the thoughts you think when you are stuck outside with no hope of shelter in the second coldest place on Earth. Minutes and seconds count a great deal. A few minutes can make the difference between finally calling a cab or calling an ambulance for yourself and the four piled-up frozen bodies around you.
A train pulled up at one point. This new development did no one any good. Do you know what happens, Mr. Transit Authority Person, when there have been NO trains for a longish amount of time during rush hour and then one pulls up? That's right. NOTHING. Between the platform and the train, the size of the angry crowd has reached Asian proportions and the train is already full. Oh sure, maybe two or three people manage to stuff themselves on board, but the rest of us watch it pull away like the last lifeboat from the Titanic and wonder not if we will make it to work that day, but if we will in fact make it to a hospital.
It was at this point that one of your helpful bus drivers yelled from across the street that we were standing on the wrong platform. Yes, all 200 of us. She told us to cross over to the other platform and that a train would pull up shortly. And like so many scenes in Dr. Zhivago, all of us shuffled our deadened limbs over to the other side of the tracks to the soundtrack of another "20-minute delay" announcement only to watch a train pull up at the platform we had just come from. I'm not going to lie. Things got messy at this point. I don't think anyone died, but there was much jumping onto tracks and various manoeuvres to get back to the platform that we had just been told to leave. Only about 20 people made it on time to throw themselves on board but it turns out the joke was on them. Because as the train pulled out, it was hard to not notice that it was going in the wrong direction. The people on board noticed too. You could tell by the look on their faces. I don't know where these people ended up. They are probably still on the train. At least they are warm.
The "20-minute delay" announcement came on yet again. Now I'm no expert, but I think you need to get a new template announcement for the "over 20-minute delay" category. Something along the lines of "Listen up everyone. We hired a new guy and he ran a bus onto the tracks and we can't get it off and apparently tow trucks are hard to come by in this weather. We also, after years and years of this sort of thing happening, have absolutely NO backup system to deal with this kind of emergency so will you all just sod off and go home and we will have Wendy in Human Resources give you a call when it's safe to come back outside?"
I think this would be highly effective. More effective than your current system of jack all.
When someone fails to pay to use the transit system, they are fined for not holding up their end of the bargain. But what happens when you fail to uphold yours? When we pay $2.75 for a service that is worth nothing, who is held accountable? I want my $2.75 back. I also would like a response to this letter. Call me sensitive, but the irritation from all this hasn't quite worn off yet. I'd like to say I will never again use this grotesque excuse for a public service that we pay scads of money for, but the truth is I will probably be on the train again tomorrow and the next day. Or until I get a car.
Until then, I invite someone from your office to research the transit systems of other major cities around the world and write down some tips. I suggest that you specifically look up what other cities do when a bus or train line fails. Then, after you have fired the genius who decided that doing nothing is better than doing something, you can all sit in a circle and discuss ways of lessening the chances of having the townspeople storm city hall the next time this will undoubtedly happen. I will even provide the doughnuts for your meeting. Free of charge.
Tara Remington is a Calgary writer who has just thawed out from Tuesday's Calgary Transit ordeal.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Transit+person+want+money+back/3887239/story.html#ixzz16PO8LxeM
Hey, Mr. Transit person, I want my money back
For The Calgary Herald November 26, 2010 Dear Calgary Transit Authority Person (Your website does not list an actual person to address so there you are),
I wanted to take this opportunity to give you an update on how this city's fine public transit system is doing in its first week of winter this year.
On your website, it states: "If you wish to make us aware of a concern or suggestion, or leave a commendation for an individual or something you like in general, please click on one of the links below and fill out the form that appears." I'm going to forgo this suggestion as I'm not convinced that the forms you provide will have adequate space for my "concerns."
Before I begin, I'd like to mention that I have had the privilege of participating in Calgary's transit system, on and off for the last 15 years. There have been various low points and disappointments over that time period but after mulling over several of them in my head, I believe I would like to focus on Tuesday's experience. You know . . . while it is still fresh in my memory.
It began at 7:30 a.m. I don't know if you are aware, sir (or ma'am), but Tuesday morning was a particularly chilly one. Approximately -32 C and I don't know what with wind-chill. Actually, according to our own Calgary Herald, we had the unfortunate distinction of being the second coldest place on Earth . . . THE SECOND COLDEST PLACE ON EARTH.
I know this is hard for you to imagine from your plush downtown office with your heated underground parking spot, paid for by all those whiny taxpayers, but it was freezing outside on Tuesday. So freezing, in fact, that if you were holding, say, a scalding hot drink in your hand while waiting on the train platform for an hour for a non-existent train, the drink would actually begin to freeze solid. Much like the limbs holding onto it, and the miserable eyeballs looking down at it. Because that is what happened.
Within 10 minutes of being on that platform, a soft polite announcement came over the intercom to inform us that there would be a 20-minute delay in service and to thank us for our patience. I never quite know how to take these. Twenty minutes from the time that the train should have been there? Or 20 minutes from the time of the announcement?
These are the thoughts you think when you are stuck outside with no hope of shelter in the second coldest place on Earth. Minutes and seconds count a great deal. A few minutes can make the difference between finally calling a cab or calling an ambulance for yourself and the four piled-up frozen bodies around you.
A train pulled up at one point. This new development did no one any good. Do you know what happens, Mr. Transit Authority Person, when there have been NO trains for a longish amount of time during rush hour and then one pulls up? That's right. NOTHING. Between the platform and the train, the size of the angry crowd has reached Asian proportions and the train is already full. Oh sure, maybe two or three people manage to stuff themselves on board, but the rest of us watch it pull away like the last lifeboat from the Titanic and wonder not if we will make it to work that day, but if we will in fact make it to a hospital.
It was at this point that one of your helpful bus drivers yelled from across the street that we were standing on the wrong platform. Yes, all 200 of us. She told us to cross over to the other platform and that a train would pull up shortly. And like so many scenes in Dr. Zhivago, all of us shuffled our deadened limbs over to the other side of the tracks to the soundtrack of another "20-minute delay" announcement only to watch a train pull up at the platform we had just come from. I'm not going to lie. Things got messy at this point. I don't think anyone died, but there was much jumping onto tracks and various manoeuvres to get back to the platform that we had just been told to leave. Only about 20 people made it on time to throw themselves on board but it turns out the joke was on them. Because as the train pulled out, it was hard to not notice that it was going in the wrong direction. The people on board noticed too. You could tell by the look on their faces. I don't know where these people ended up. They are probably still on the train. At least they are warm.
The "20-minute delay" announcement came on yet again. Now I'm no expert, but I think you need to get a new template announcement for the "over 20-minute delay" category. Something along the lines of "Listen up everyone. We hired a new guy and he ran a bus onto the tracks and we can't get it off and apparently tow trucks are hard to come by in this weather. We also, after years and years of this sort of thing happening, have absolutely NO backup system to deal with this kind of emergency so will you all just sod off and go home and we will have Wendy in Human Resources give you a call when it's safe to come back outside?"
I think this would be highly effective. More effective than your current system of jack all.
When someone fails to pay to use the transit system, they are fined for not holding up their end of the bargain. But what happens when you fail to uphold yours? When we pay $2.75 for a service that is worth nothing, who is held accountable? I want my $2.75 back. I also would like a response to this letter. Call me sensitive, but the irritation from all this hasn't quite worn off yet. I'd like to say I will never again use this grotesque excuse for a public service that we pay scads of money for, but the truth is I will probably be on the train again tomorrow and the next day. Or until I get a car.
Until then, I invite someone from your office to research the transit systems of other major cities around the world and write down some tips. I suggest that you specifically look up what other cities do when a bus or train line fails. Then, after you have fired the genius who decided that doing nothing is better than doing something, you can all sit in a circle and discuss ways of lessening the chances of having the townspeople storm city hall the next time this will undoubtedly happen. I will even provide the doughnuts for your meeting. Free of charge.
Tara Remington is a Calgary writer who has just thawed out from Tuesday's Calgary Transit ordeal.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Transit+person+want+money+back/3887239/story.html#ixzz16PO8LxeM
don't know what to call it
Yesterday I was having an e-chat with a former co-worker that I've kept in touch with for the last 7 years. Actually, for me that's a record considering that she's a she. For some reason I have never had many friends that of the female variety and I consider her a steady-eddie. Doesn't matter how long it's been, we pick up right where we left off and carry on again. I must have been having a 'moment' because when she asked me how I was doing the following response just kinda tumbled out on to the page.
I've been good. Working hard (that should read hardly working), same old routine. Get up in the morning, go to work, go home, rinse, repeat. You know, the same old thing we all do once we’ve wished away our youth so we can get older and make our own rules and run our own lives.
Her response?
I've been good. Working hard (that should read hardly working), same old routine. Get up in the morning, go to work, go home, rinse, repeat. You know, the same old thing we all do once we’ve wished away our youth so we can get older and make our own rules and run our own lives.
Her response?
Man, did you just nail it there! Very apt outlook on youth and aging Deb. So true.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
on grammar, punctuation and spelling
Is it just me, or are we regressing to a bunch of cave people in our use of the english language?
I'm hearing an ad on the radio that so bothers me that I definitely won't go there to buy whatever it is that they are selling. See how much it bothers me? I can't even remember what the product is. The line goes like this, ".....alls ya gotta do is....". Great big ol' WTF on that one. You're supposed to be trying to entice me to come in to your place of business, not repulse me.
As an estimator I read a lot of what could be termed as legal documents (they can, and have been, used in court) and the glaring spelling mistakes included in them irritate me to no end. You're supposed to be the professional, can you not use spell check because you obviously don't have a clue on how to use a dictionary? You're also the one getting paid the big buck, so start doing your job and looking at least half-assed professional!
Example: EC (Electrical Contractor) to supply and install 2 transformer's. Huh? Or my favorite: EC to supply and install 2 transformers'. Double Huh?
Another: EC to supply and install fixture Type A1 for all dinning rooms. Another Huh?
My all time favorite of words that get mangled is the word there. Context people, context! Is it their car? They're taking the car to the shop. Or are they parking the car over there?
Am I perfect? Far from it. I have my favorite shortcuts like prob'ly, y'all, and kinda but at least in business dealings I know to watch what I've written, how I've termed it and what the spell check button is for (and don't forget that spell check does not know context, just spelling)! Do I make typos? Yup, I'll be the first to admit it. I have a little medical condition called MS that has taken my fine motor skills and sometimes when I think that I've hit the letter m (for example), I've missed it and 'much' will come out 'uch'. (course I somehow miss these things before I hit 'Publish' on a consistent basis!)
But that could just be me.
I'm hearing an ad on the radio that so bothers me that I definitely won't go there to buy whatever it is that they are selling. See how much it bothers me? I can't even remember what the product is. The line goes like this, ".....alls ya gotta do is....". Great big ol' WTF on that one. You're supposed to be trying to entice me to come in to your place of business, not repulse me.
As an estimator I read a lot of what could be termed as legal documents (they can, and have been, used in court) and the glaring spelling mistakes included in them irritate me to no end. You're supposed to be the professional, can you not use spell check because you obviously don't have a clue on how to use a dictionary? You're also the one getting paid the big buck, so start doing your job and looking at least half-assed professional!
Example: EC (Electrical Contractor) to supply and install 2 transformer's. Huh? Or my favorite: EC to supply and install 2 transformers'. Double Huh?
Another: EC to supply and install fixture Type A1 for all dinning rooms. Another Huh?
My all time favorite of words that get mangled is the word there. Context people, context! Is it their car? They're taking the car to the shop. Or are they parking the car over there?
Am I perfect? Far from it. I have my favorite shortcuts like prob'ly, y'all, and kinda but at least in business dealings I know to watch what I've written, how I've termed it and what the spell check button is for (and don't forget that spell check does not know context, just spelling)! Do I make typos? Yup, I'll be the first to admit it. I have a little medical condition called MS that has taken my fine motor skills and sometimes when I think that I've hit the letter m (for example), I've missed it and 'much' will come out 'uch'. (course I somehow miss these things before I hit 'Publish' on a consistent basis!)
But that could just be me.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Stupid Cold
I haven't tried to start 'Blue' yet and when I do, (have to go get smokes) I'm fairly certain that she'll let a great big groan out of her and ask me if we really have to go out.
Not too concerned about missing the day. I started with a new company recently that has 30 guys in the field. Since I'm used to lining up work for 60 guys (by myself), making sure that 30 are kept busy is pretty much a piece of cake. I've been there since the first of September and I've already got enpugh work lined up to keep the lads busy until next August so I spend a lot of time lately twiddling my thumbs (which makes for extremely long and boring days).
Monday, November 22, 2010
I'm cold
After a summer that wasn't, we finally got a respite from the rain that plagued us from June until September. We had a couple of weeks of unseasonably warm temperatures that were greatly appreciated. Last Monday I heard on the radio that the temperature was going to go down and that it was going to rain, turning to snow over night. While I was out the back of the shop having a smoke I felt the wind coming out of the west and thought ya right, it's not going to snow. I went out a couple of hours later and the wind had shifted out of the east and the temperature had started to drop. When I went to bed that night it wasn't too bad but when I got up the next morning it was definitely a winter wonder land. Seems that every driver in Calgary had forgotten how to drive and it turned in to a major 'traffic day' (as I call them). Good thing that I leave early enough that I beat most of the ijits on to the road! It took me 45 minutes to get to work that morning. The next morning a whole lot of people decided that they too, would leave early and it took me an hour for a 30 minute commute. It's just so much fun to get stuck behind someone that's scared to death and doing the white-knuckle drive at a whopping 30kph in an 80 zone! (and no place to get around them!) I'm not saying put your foot in it and go nuts, but yeesh, the least you could do is try to keep up with the traffic in front of you! My favorite is seeing the ijits that think that they can sneak in to an opening in traffic as it's going along, not remembering that the intersections are greasy enough that all they're going to do is sit there and spin, or, god forbid, suddenly catch a solid patch and shoot out into the side of somebody.
It's snowed so much that the City of Calgary can't keep up with the snow removal and quite frankly, neither can I! Tuesday after work I got the shovel out of the garage and cleared a path from the garage, across the back sidewalk and across the deck and then ran out of gas. Wednesday when I got home I shovelled the front walk down to the street and ran out of gas again (we've got a good 6" in the last week). I think I'm going to give up for a couple of days; it's supposed to get back on the plus side of the mercury later on this week. (or the kid that comes to mow the lawn and was supposed to be shovelling for me might show up!)
I have a tendency lately to hibernate when it gets like this, poking my nose out of my burrow only for things that I have to do, like go to work, like get dog food, or the ever-important things like cigarettes and beer, but other than that? I'm in for the duration.
In the mean time, I think I'll have a hot toddy and dig out my long underwear............
It's snowed so much that the City of Calgary can't keep up with the snow removal and quite frankly, neither can I! Tuesday after work I got the shovel out of the garage and cleared a path from the garage, across the back sidewalk and across the deck and then ran out of gas. Wednesday when I got home I shovelled the front walk down to the street and ran out of gas again (we've got a good 6" in the last week). I think I'm going to give up for a couple of days; it's supposed to get back on the plus side of the mercury later on this week. (or the kid that comes to mow the lawn and was supposed to be shovelling for me might show up!)
I have a tendency lately to hibernate when it gets like this, poking my nose out of my burrow only for things that I have to do, like go to work, like get dog food, or the ever-important things like cigarettes and beer, but other than that? I'm in for the duration.
In the mean time, I think I'll have a hot toddy and dig out my long underwear............
Friday, November 12, 2010
Meet Murphy
Fast forward a couple of years and I was with my then boyfriend, Bruce, at his friends' place in Kelowna, the Zarrs. Their unusual last name struck me and I commented on the fact that I had watched the mare race and the wife asked me if I wanted to see her. Lo and behold, there she was, the very same horse that I had watched run and figured that would be one to 'go to the hills on' as dad would say. Somehow or other, Bruce got to negotiating with the Zarrs and bought that horse for me and that was the start of the longest lasting relationship of my life (no, not with Bruce!)
After her foal was weaned we went to pick her up and brought her back to Kamloops. I ended up putting her over at a friend's place who had an arena and round pen and spent a couple of weeks doing what I called 'lead and feed'. Go catch her, bring her in and feed her and groom her and then turn her back out. While I was doing that I ran in to her old trainer and asked him if he had any problems with her. His response? Just that she had a thing for bucking off gallop boys. All righty then.
We had been getting along pretty well so far and I thought it was time to saddle her and put her in the round pen. She did so well when I tacked her up and took her to the round pen and sent her around at a trot that I wished that I had worn my boots so I could just step up on her. Right about that time she dropped her head and bucked. Hard. Man, did she crack! And then as fast as it happened, it stopped. Ok, now I know what I've got myself in to.
We went that way for about a week and of course, all of my friend's buddies laughed at me and figured I was scared of her, but how could I be scared of a horse that was so sweet to deal with on the ground? The next thing we did was graduate to the larger round pen and when I took her in there the first time, she did the very same thing that she had been doing all along except this time there was a twist; as soon as she was finished getting what I called her ya-yas out, she perked her ears up and walked right over to me. The rest, as we say, is history. Any time I rode her after that the first thing that I did was tie up the bridle reins and turn her loose to do her thing. As soon as she was done she'd perk her ears up and walk right over to me as if to say "That was fun, now what?".
All of the 'cowboy' buddies of course had solutions to get ehr to stop that, but why bother? We got along. Why Murphy? I don't know if you're old enough to remember the sit com Murphy Brown with Candace Bergen, but she had a sense of humor just like Murphy Brown. She'd buck you off when you weren't paying attention and then come back to you and laugh! On the advice of my dressage coach (yes, I was taking dressage lessons on a Quarter Horse) I tried to ride her without letting her do it a couple of times and did not have any fun at all. She threw her head up, jigged along and would not relax.
'Course the dressage lessons only came after a couple of years of walk-trot, stop, back up. Because the only thing that she had ever known was run, we didn't even lope. Lots of time, patience and love went in to her.
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