Cell Phone Confidential

I am a cell phone user....there I admit it. I only use it for 1) emergencies ie: Bernie paddles off to Seattle without Paula's knowledge 2) secondary emergencies ie: I'm stuck in traffic and am going to be late 3) phoning my mother when I've found a great deal on (insert: shoes; furniture; antique) to ask her if it is a great deal.

I don't use it continuely due to having mixed feelings about whether it does cause brain tumours and not really wanting to find out that it does.

I don't phone and drive either! One of my pet peeves is people who talk on their cell phones and drive. Get off the phone and drive!! Or pull over to the side of the road!! Too many cell phone talkers do not concentrate on the act of driving ie: not signalling that you are turning; or sitting at a red light that turns from green to red again while cars behind are honking and people are yelling at you and you just sit there chatting away on your phone.

Then there is what I call cell phone confidential. A term I reserve for people who walk down the street yakking on their cell phone. I don't need to hear you yell at your mother, boyfriend or sister. I don't want to hear about how you gave the guy you picked up in the bar the best b***j** he's ever had. Keep this for the privacy of your own home or your car (not while driving) or find some quiet place.

Oh yes, and two other things.....don't bring your cell phone when you work out at the gym. Some of us actually go to the gym to relieve stress, to get away from the office, which includes getting away from the phone.

And anwering a cell phone in a public washroom is just really bad manners....

It is now scented anything

After purchasing $40.00 worth of gas (full tank!!) I thought I should check on the price of windshield washer as I would probably need some in the very near future. Only two types were available -- the normal blue coloured type, only what the gas station had was for winter weather. This is June, Victoria June, which may not be that warm but certainly isn't winter weather. The other washer available was summer grade for removing bugs, etc, was pinkish coloured and came in spring rain scent. 1) I am not going to be able to smell the washer when I squirt it on my windows because my windows will be closed to prevent getting splashed with droplet of fluid 2) the car in front of me probably won't be able to smell this stuff either.

Why does the summer washer fluid get scented when the blue winter washer fluid isn't? And if the blue winter washer fluid was scented what scent would it be?

Victoria Golf Course

WOW! I drove home along Beach Drive near the Victoria Golf Course today--finally someone has installed bright yellow signs that caution about flying golf balls! I've lived in Victoria for 11 years and driven that road all the time! There has NEVER been any warning before!

The fee to be a member of this golf course is $100.00.

You would figure someone would put some of those fees towards warning people driving the road that golf balls can be a hazard!

I wonder if someone got hit and finally someone went, "um duh maybe we should put up a warning??" or did it just take this long??

An Inconvenient Truth

I went to see Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth on Thursday June 15 presented by Monday Magazine and KOOL FM.

Worth seeing! 2 thumbs up, 3 1/2 stars!

I wonder what would have happened if Al Gore had become president instead of Bush.

I mentioned this movie to my landlord. His comment was to be open minded and see both sides of the issue; Is this really global warming?, there was past ice ages, glaciers are receding but some are advancing.

I went and did some research on my own. Al Gore's presenation on CO2 emissions is true; yes glaciers are receding and some are advancing, but those advancing are small and those receding provide water to large numbers of people. What happens when those people don't have any water to drink or can't grow crops? Doesn't that warrent a disaster situation? Which is maybe why disaster planning is one of the fastest growing careers, but isn't actually advertised.

It is human nature to bury your head in the sand, to say "it won't happen here" or "it won't happen in my life time" and not see the bigger picture. I think we all need to change our way of thinking before we have to change our way of life for the worst. We need to make changes, we need to do something.

Plan on having children in the future? Do you have children now? Think about those future generations, think about what may happen to them.

I don't remember who said it but I think one of the best quotes I heard in a long time is this and I may not be quoting it word for word but the message is still meaningful:

"I use to ask my Dad what did you do in the war Daddy referring to World War Two, I wonder when my kids grow up and ask what did you do in the war Daddy how will I answer them and tell them what I did in the war on global warming."

I'm in a club

I wasn't one to ever really join clubs as a kid, at least I don't remember doing so. I was briefly in Brownies, once was a member of the St. Mary's Academy Athletics Club, but then all the students who attended school there were members because that way you could play sports either on a team league or during lunch hour. In some instances I formed my own club...like tree climbing when I was 8-10 which was an all girl "club" but only in an effort to out climb the boys in my neighbour. As always, it was fun until someone got hurt, in this case me, and we stopped the whole thing.

Sure I go to the gym, but I don't consider this a club. It is my choice, something I've been doing for years and where I find peace, a way to release stress and is good for my health.

Now I find myself a member of a club, only I'm not sure of the name if there is one or if it is merely a common bond. It started last summer, or rather the late Fall and has progressed to be something more ever since I purchased my new kayak. It is the casual eye contact of the passenger in the car next to me stopped at the lights, kayaks strapped to the roof of both vehicles, checking out my new boat and us both smiling. Me with delight that someone noticed my new kayak and the other person remembering what it was like when his own boats were new. It is the neighbour on my street strapping his kayaks to his van, and as I walk by mentioning I like his boats only mine is nicer, and then stopping to chat about kayaks, and where is he headed for the day.

It is the thrill I get when talking to one of the organizers of PaddleFest in Ladysmith and her "envy" that I own a Delta and how awesome my boat is. This from someone who has demoed many kayaks in her time. It is attending PaddleFest, taking courses and scoring some great deals.

It is talking to other paddlers about equipment, safety, and great places to paddle.

It is the secret smile, the nod of the head, the light in the eyes of a fellow paddler. It is forming our paddle group and expanding it. It is this blog....

If it is a club, then Groucho Marx was wrong!

Vampires

Why don't vampire stories have the same rules?? Lately I've been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- yeah yeah I'm behind the times -- and I've noticed that these vampires don't sleep during the day, they can eat and drink, and even go into churches! And they can cut their hair and it doesn't grow back the way it was when they were made a vampire. All different "rules" from the Vampire Cronicles by Anne Rice. And there are other movies and books that follow a different set of "rules".

Which makes one wonder if one did met a vampire what would one do??

A Farewell to Summer

Call it the September Blues, for some reason ever since I started going to school, September holds for me a time of feeling a bit sad. The air is crisper and the days are starting to be noticeably shorter. Summer is on the way out.....in some parts of the country the leaves will be starting to turn displaying wonderous shades of yellow, red and orange -- those Autumn colours. Why sad? Spring and Summer are my favourite seasons, a time of play and being outdoors. September has always seemed to me to be a "get back to business" month. And so I feel a bit sad that the summer months have slipped away. It has been a delightful summer!!

And yes, September does herald a time of new beginnings; a changing of the seasons. A time when we gather the harvest and prepare for those long winter nights. Here in British Columbia the changing of the seasons isn't so harsh and I can easily tolerate the change. Luckily the days are often filled with sunshine long into October and November. Why live anywhere else? I haven't forgotten September in other provinces that I've lived in -- the cold nights, the whisper of snow to come, the TV commercials for tropic get-aways and the sudden onslaught of Christmas advertisements.

So I bid farewell to Summer a little later now....but the feeling of "getting back to business" is there and all the more so for working in an educational institution. For as September begins our office knows "they're back....."

Welcome

Welcome to Lou'z Newz!

A little site that will keep you up to date on what's happening with me, jokes, interesting tidbits and life in the slow lane.

John helped me to create this blog on a sunny Sunday morning in August 2004.

Drop by, sit back, relax and check out what's going on!